I'm OLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I am sure everyone by now knows that Wednesday, March 28th was my 40th Birthday. My children have enjoyed telling me how old I am!!!!!

Barry and I had a date on Tuesday night to go to a travel auction for an organization he belongs to. But he took it one step further and arranged for the kids to stay with Janine and Kurt (THANKS GUYS!!!). He picked me up early from worked and we went to the Renaissance Hotel Downtown and check-in. We had a marvelous time. He also gave me my present early! I got a digital camcorder! I LOVE IT! Some of the pictures below were taken from it. I was rather impressed.




Barry and I had breakfast at the Hotel on my birthday and then he escorted me to work. Below is what I found when I got to work. Thanks Tammy! I loved it.

For lunch, Barry, Tammy and Paige took me to the Spotted Dog. When I got home the kids gave me a new pink gym bag that I wanted and we celebrated with dinner at home and we all shared one slice of the double doozy cookie slice. YUM YUM YUM.

Below is Raven trying to moooooooch some.

Athletics Championship - Day 2

The girls were really excited this morning. We had an earlier start than yesterday, but they were ready to go. The pressure these girls put on themselves is amazing. I'm not sure who was more nervous, the girls or the mom's. It was a relief to hand them over to the coaches for warm ups, but then the real wait began.

The girls did a good job. Not as good as the day before, but still good. We were really proud of them and they took 3rd place! GREAT JOB GIRLS!

Our mini team got first place as well as grand champions! I've not heard about the level 4 junior team yet, but they also had a shot at grand champion.

Emily and I had a good ride home (she slept all the way to Chattanooga) and then we ate at Chili's and headed on home. I was glad to get home and see Barry and Devin.

Barry and Devin will be heading out this coming weekend to Universal. I know they are going to have a magnificiant time.

Athletics Championship - Day 1

Emily and I got up bright and early Saturday morning for Day one of the competition. We went down and had breakfast at about 8:00. Below is the just got up photo.



After breakfast we went back up to the room to prepare for the day. What a change! Even her shiner is hidden. I almost don't recognize her when she is all made up. Kind of makes me sad because she is growing up. But proud, because she is turning into a beautiful lady.


We headed over to the convention center about 10:00 and everyone was really excited. The girls know they have a chance to do really well this weekend! Good luck girls.

The girls did marvelous! We were so excited. They are in 2nd place. First place is .01 ahead of them so they have a chance to take the lead tomorrow! It's in your hands girls!

After a day of cheering it is time to dress up and have a fun dinner!

While we were waiting on the rest of our folks to eat the girls hung out in the lobby. Amazing that they are all playing on computers! When did this happen? They know more than we do!!!!

Hey coaches! They were hanging in the lobby with everyone. What a great day. We have 2 in first, one team in 2nd and the opportunity for 3 grand champions. Pretty exciting.

We walked across the street from our hotel and had a great seafood dinner. 8 girls and 6 ladies. We had such a good time!

Back to the hotel after stuffing our selves so the girls can play in the pool till bed time. It is really amazing what hairspray does to our hair. Isn't she lovely! No clips or pony tail holders. YUCK. All that hairspray is going into the pool.

Now the girls are ready for bed and hanging out in our room! What a fun day!

Knoxville, TN - Just us Girls

Well my day started pretty poorly with a day at work that did not go as planned. However, it improved as they day went on. I picked Emily up at school and you could really see her black eye aquired the night before at cheerleading. An elbow to the eye from her flyer and she looked lovely. Below are a few shots of her shiner. We covered it up with make up for most of the weekend. She did not want it to show.

On our way to Knoxville, we stopped and I showed Emily the hosptial she was born in. It did not look the same as I remembered, but it was almost 11 years ago now. She loved seeing it and it was as much fun sharing it with her!

Once in Knoxville, several of us went to Tomato Heads for dinner. It was pretty good and the girls really enjoyed themselves.

After dinner we went back to the hotel for fun in the pool till about 10:00 and the bed.

Reading Bowl

Devin was asked to be in the Fairplay Middle School Reading Bowl this year. They are required to read between 15 and 20 Newberry award books and then they compete with other schools on comprehension of these books. Saturday was the County Reading Bowl.



While they were waiting to get started they continued going over notes and getting in a few more study questions.

They explained all the rules and then sent each team to a classroom to compete. Middle school competed against 5 other teams. 5 kids on each team compete. First one to buzz in gets to answer the question and each round consists of 10 questions.

Devin answered several questions in the first round and then at the very end he answered the tie breaking question for 2nd place. Fairplay will now get to compete in the regional Reading Bowl next Saturday at West Ga College. I was so proud of him! What a cool kid!

Below are some photos of his team celebrating.

Bela Fleck Concert

Friday night the family went and saw Bela Fleck (Banjo virtuoso) and Chick Corea(a piano playing Jazz legend and Bela's idol) at the GA Tech concert hall. We had a fantastic time.

We started the evening at Chow Baby, then headed to the concert. What awesome music. It was their 3rd appearance together and they were really incredible. After the concert we waited around until almost everyone in the theatre was gone and Bela came out on the stage and greated us. He gave Emily an autograph and was happy to pose for a picture. What a great night!

Honor Band

February 9th - 11th, Devin got the opportunity to participate in the County Honor Band. In the 6th grade you are chosen (a few instruments from each school), but after that everyone must try out. He spent all weekend at Chapel Hill High School working on their music and then on Sunday afternoon performed in a concert. Devin had an incredible time and was very excited to play more difficult music than in class.

I was very proud of Devin. He has an incredible drive to do the best he can at whatever he tries to do. What an awesome kid!!!!

Cheersport

Cheersport was the largest competition we have gone to this year. It was at the World Congress Center in Atlanta and it was massive. Our girls started the weekend off at a disadvantage. One of the girls came down with the Chicken pox on Friday morning. Life happens. But the coaches made some adjustments and the girls rallied and did an awesome job! We were so proud of them. Below is a picture of them heading to warm ups on Saturday morning. They chanted all the way and had a marvelous time.




Here are the girls right before they headed into warm ups.

Emily and I decided to stay all day at the competition and watch the Universities and higher level cheerleading events. OH MY GOODNESS! They were incredible too! Our two favorite teams were GA Tech and Univ. of Western Ontario. As matter of fact, they took second and first in their division.

As you can see below, the girls were a bit smitten with the guys from the college teams. They were literally gitty after the Ga Tech guys posed for pictures with them. They were wiping their hands on their shoes to rub luck on them for the next day! They were certain this would make a difference and the girls were not washing their hands (so they said).

Then we found the Univ of Western Ontario cheerleaders and they were really cool. They took time to talk with the girls and when we asked for a picture they just scooped the girls up in their arms and as you can see, once again they were in heaven!

Not only did we stay late Saturday night, Emily was eager to stay and watch on Sunday night too. Below are more pictures with the two teams. Girls will be girls for sure and I'm going to have to watch Emily VERY CLOSELY when she gets older. She enjoyed this way too much.

Emily and I had a marvelous time hanging out and spending time together. Thanks Emily for letting me hang with you and Alexandra!