Lily's soccer season is in action!

 There have been some cancellations and then some rain delays so last night Lily was PUMPED to finally get her season going!

I have to say...it has been a blessing because now Alexis' volleyball season is over so we dont have to worry with bouncing everywhere for both! We can just focus on Lily and her season!

The game was a late one and I was not a fan of that! Tomorrow's game is the same and I am not happy about it. It is already chilly {COLD} outside :) and I am just not a fan of it. I like warmth! :)

The team played good and Lily loved being in her element. They tied the 'yellow' team! Lily said that she was the one that named her team and apparently she chose and they agreed on 'Green Gators!'

Ready to GO!

These two have been on the same team since forever....but this season...they were enemies! It was odd not to cheer for Elyn and it was more odd for Lily that she had to take the ball from her! Lily looked at her and said...'My team is going to win!' .............................basically even before she said hello! SMH! But...Elyn laughed and said that her team was going to....so it was funny to see their competitive side!

Wordless Wednesday!

 

 This is 100% me! :)

Allll these cats!

 I just dont know about these cats of mine! It is the craziest of things to me so I felt it deserved its own post!

We have 3 cats. Aubie, Tickles and Soccer. After each picture I will explain a little about each one and how all of their personalities are and HOW they prefer their drinking of water................. yeah....that's what I said.....

Aubie

He's our oldest cat. We got him as soon as he was able to be away from his mom when Alexis turned 6! He is the sweetest cat and understands and obeys pretty well! For example...the other night we were all curled up on our bed watching tv when he came walking in and walking towards our master bathroom. I said 'Aubie....noooo...' He stops walking, turns around and looks at me and just meows this meow like...'okay...fine...I want to but you told me no so okay.' :) He is the most skiddish of all the cats and doesnt like to be in rowdy situations...especially the ones that Soccer put him in...constantly! :) 

He is sooooo soft and just has the most beautiful fur! He has the worst and biggest hairballs too! OH my goodness they are not fun to clean up as I have never had a cat that does that. It is gross but at least I know he isnt dying when he starts coughing one up like I thought he was the first time he did it! ha! He loooovvvveeessss Lily. Let me tell you. He LOVES her! That is his person. He doesnt care for Alexis....tolerates Tyler and gives me just enough attention and tries to lay in my lap just because he knows I am the one that feeds him, etc! We all love him and know that he is just a perfect match to our crazy crew!

Now......one of the reasons for this post. Drinking water. As you will later see from the other two cats....they have issues with water! ha! Aubie, as shown in the picture, is the rule follower. He does what he is supposed to! He listens and knows what not to do. As shown, he drinks his water from where he is supposed to and he does it every.single.time.like.he.should. He's so good! :)

Tickles

We got Tickles not too long after Aubie. I distinctly remember Tyler and I having a conversation that we thought Aubie needed a 'friend,' well, we were set to go to Georgia to get the cutest little kitten and adopt it and that very night..... and into the next morning I heard the fainest whimpers and meows! Couldnt figure out where they were coming from and finally discovered Tickles outside! It is just the wildest thing! We decided to not go to Georgia and had hopes that she would stay around. We went back and forth about her name and Lily chose Tickles, though at first she was Pickles! ha! She is SO smart and though we have had her since like 2015 she hasnt changed at all in terms of her size or her sweetness! I asked around if she belonged to any of our neighbors and thought she would run off eventually...but nope, she loves our back porch, loves us and hasnt gone anywhere! I have no idea what her original name was/is {as I feel she still goes to her original home...though I dont know where it is} :) but when we say Tickles, she comes running! She loves for us to hold her and play with her but when she is ready to be left alone and go about her business {even if it is laying and taking a nap on someone else's porch} then she does it! She has 'friends' that she lets eat her food on the deck but then if she doesnt allow it, you will know it! She will go into scary mode and hiss you off the deck! {I was shocked when she did this to a boxer puppy that ran up on our deck one time!} She also allows the opossums and raccoons for  some crazy reason that I just dont understand! She LOVES to torture chipmunks. That is forever her favorite thing to do! She will carry them around and around and then finally drop them....only for them to become undizzy and start to run away....for her to swoop them up and do the process all over again! It is a sight to see. She never kills them or hurts them just carries them around and chases them when she decides to let them go! She will let us know when she wants to be an inside cat but for the most part she loves being outside. When she decides she is an inside cat it isnt long until she is sitting by the door wanting back out. She was fixed already {come to find out when I took her to the vet} so someone loved her and took care of her before she decided to 'adopt us!' I swear someone bathes her because random times I will pick her up and swears she smells like flowers/clean! ha! And...she is always sooooo clean. Spotless all the time! My favorite thing about Tickles is that she loves to be with the girls every single morning as they are waiting on the bus. She waits with them every morning! She will stand right with them and just love on them and keep them company! Now...when the bus starts coming...she always takes off, but up until then...she is right by their side! ha! :)

Now.....for her water drinking habits! THIS! She will NOT drink out of a bowl of water that I used to put out with her food. Fresh water everyday. NOPE she wont drink it. I have stopped putting it out because it is just a waste and a treat to the rest of the neighborhood friends she allows from time to time. She prefers to drink like a bird out of this! She will jump up there and most of the time lay down and sip when she feels she wants to! It is the craziest thing!

Soccer

Last but certainly not least, Soccer! This cat is a MESS! He is a night owl to the core. I will hear something clang or bang and half the time I will get up to see what he's done and cant really find anything but him just laying there like 'Im not going to tell you what I just did!' He has only broken a lamp and chewed more computer power cord {when he was a baby} but WHEW...he is a stinker! He will get in these moods where he will bounce off the couch...run as fast as he can to the dining room...then run back into the living room and jump up on the recliner to then bounce off it and take off somewhere else! He loves to mess with Aubie. Aubie doesnt like it 99% of the time but will give him a run for his money when he's up for it! He is so full of energy but when he is done..........WOW he crashes. Like doesnt move a muscle for hours passed out! I purposely will go wake him up because of how he keeps me up at night with his shenanigans!  He is the sweetest and most social out of all the cats. He loves to be right beside everyone and all up in the business! His favorite thing is to run beside me and as soon as I open Lily's door in the morning he jumps on her bed and licks her nose! He wont do that to anybody else...but Lily because he looooovvvvesss Lily probably just as much as Aubie does! He likes to cuddle with us all but Lily is his person! He doesnt have a mean bone in his body but for whatever reason he loves to bite at Aubie's fur! He will do it and then have a mouth full of his fur that we have to chase him to get out! 

He is so intrigued with water! I have no words for him! He will try and get in the shower when we are in. He will sit out from the shower and just look so intently trying to see what is going on and what this wet stuff is. He went through a phase where he would dunk his paw into his water bowl {you know the one that Aubie uses correctly} and then lick his paw and then shake it allll over my wall and floor before dunking it again. He did that for like 3 months! THANK goodness...he finally stopped that....but now....he does this! He will jump up real quick or even jump into the sink and just sit there and then  puts his nose like he is doing in the picture against the faucet. Nothing ever comes out {in terms water for him to actually drink} but he just does it all.the.time. He knows what he is doing because when sees me coming he immediately jumps down because he knows he is about to get in trouble! Gracious! :) {at least he has stopped his dunking of his paw in the water because that was so frustrating} :) :)

We love alll of them....and alll their crazy ways! :)

First home game!

 Alexis had her 1st home game of the football season last night! Its been crazy that they have had all away games so far and it seems like the season is almost over {only 2 games left} and it is just now the first home one. 

They blew Weaver out of the water. 46 to 6 or something like that! It was a great game!

They did great at half-time but I took this while they were warming up before the game started!

LOOK at her in action! Last night was the first time I have seen her do more than one backhand spring and she did so good!

Friends came to support! The weather was perfection once the sun set! A great Eagle win!

The rest of our weekend!

 Volleyball pretty much dominated our weekend...but we did find some time to do other things!

The high school pep rally took the walk down to the Elementary school Friday. Alexis was bummed because the JR. cheer wasnt able to go but Lily was pumped because she got to be apart of the pep rally!

Lily was pumped to see her favorite Varsity cheerleader! Alexis Johnson! So sweet when I received this picture!

And then this one too!

Smores for the win on a Saturday night! Ya know...Tyler built a fire pit....yeah....we never use it...just the blow torch!

Then...these lazy bums enjoyed the rest of the night doing this! :)

We had Church this morning and currently Lex is cleaning her room {trust me...she needs to} Lily is doing schoolwork....Tyler is gone to the land in Piedmont and I am finishing this up as two loads of clothes are currently waiting on me! :)

County tournament!

 Alexis got to experience her 1st volleyball County tournament and it made me proud to see her how excited she was for her team. They played so good and made it to fourth! It was Ohatchee,  Weaver, Aleandria and then Jacksonville!

Pretty awesome!

Alexis got to serve.....once....and..... yeah....

needless to say during some downtime she was out on the court practicing to make her serves better. So that made me proud and happy to see her do!

We are thinking that this is her last season of volleyball so she gave it a good whirl and proud of her for trying something new and putting herself out there to work hard and be apart of a team!

I have loved watching and cheering her on! I actually woke up this morning with a very horse voice from all the cheering....alll day long!

We had to be there at 7:00am! They they lost to Wellborn  {and by goodness...it was so frustrating because I just dont know why they get in their heads because they lose the game...Wellborn does really nothing because they arent good, they are okay!} so then we werent supposed to play unti 11:30 {first game was at 8} thank goodness....we were told we had to move from Weaver gym to Alexandria gym and then once we got to Alexandria, it would be time already to play. So we left Weaver and headed to Alexandria and our 11:30 game turned into 9:30. Then we waited and played the rest of the games bouncing back and forth from Alexandria and back to Weaver and then back again. Our remaining game times were supposed to be one thing and then they would tell us that it was this and then changed to that. It was a crazy...crazy day! We all made the best of it and the girls had a great time together and that is what Alexis is going to miss the most next year but she understands how it is just hard to do both cheer and volleyball!

We ended up playing Wellborn again and BEAT them! BOY was it a great game! We played White Plains and Saks and beat them! Then we couldnt pull it out with Weaver. So we got home about 5:00ish...and spent the rest of the afternoon/night watching football and having smores!

Alexis got a lot of action....while gearing up for the games! :)

My volleyball girl!

Love how these girls had fun!

3 Things! School yearbook picture style!

 It has been forever since I have done a 3 Things post! I just love these! So....here is 3 Things...Fall edition...with Alexis' school yearbook picture and all!

 Her picture turned out so good for the yearbook! She has gotten so good at fixing her hair different ways! I could never do that when I was her age!

 Alexis!

1. Allll the things.She bounces from school to cheer to volleyball then back to cheer then to volleyball games then to cheer competition practice and then back over to something else. I have to say...I did it all while in High School and maybe its because I am just 'old' now...but I just dont know how I did and just dont know how she does either. She loves it all and her grades are still all A's.............so there is that!

2. Teenager. OH my. I have to say...the struggle is real! ha! When she was 3...that year was 'hard' for me. Maybe because it was I had her and then a newborn baby.....but I think it was more of....goodness she is so stubborn/sassy and determined! ha! I feel like {most days} I am back to like she is 3. {and not in all the cute/sweet moments!} :) She is 100% typical teenager if you look up the definition including her room! OH my goodness she has always been pretty neat and clean! Well.....now I can barely see her floor and she is always hungry so she sneaks food into her room leaving empty wrappers, random spoons........you name it! Sigh! :) She officially 'feels' like a teenager, though, because I let her have an Instagram account. All is right in the world now with her getting to have that! :)

3. She got her bottom braces on this week and its been real fun for her. She has only had top braces so having both now is showing to be an adjustment. She already cant wait to get them off...and she has a good 2 years at least with them on. 

 Lily!

1. Well....where do I begin?! The other day.....she decided to clean out her drawers. I made Tyler go back there and bag it all up because I literally couldnt. I really think she has NO clothes left and will be up a creek when she really needs something....but she has officially stated and determined that she is too old and big for anything unicorn, sequins, stripes, leggings, cute pictures on it, 'wild colors'.............the list goes on. Tyler asked me when he brought out the 6th bag if I wanted to go through anything and make her put it back as he just stuffed and didnt look. I told him no because I am just over it and its just not worth the fight because let me tell you...Lily has made it clear that she is no longer a 'baby!' She dresses herself...she even put on make-up today {which thankfully right now only consisted of a little eye shadow, blush and some lip gloss} because it is her school picture day. She is into the shorter shorts {not NEAR as bad as Alexis and how she used to...and still does...roll them up way too short!} into jeans with allll the holes in them and crop tops are 'cool' to her. OH me....time just flies on by! Thank GOODNESS the teenage attitude has not hit and hopefully and prayerfully I have a couple of more years until that kicks in and hoping it wont. Yeah....I know...wishful thinking! :)

2. Her two top teeth have FINALLY come in! She didnt have them for like 2 years and now she finally doesnt have two holes in her smile! :) She keeps begging for braces but she needs to lose more teeth first. I know the dentist say it is a 'good thing' for you to be later losing teeth but I think she has that beat for the longest! I am just not going to be okay with her wearing braces though because that is really going to solidify that she is growing up!

3. All things soccer is her name. I asked her if she wanted to cheer this go around or try volleyball...and NOPE...she wouldnt have any of that. She loves soccer and that is all she is wanting to do! Her response to playing volleyball was...'Why would I want to play that?!?!...all they do is hit the ball with their arms!' {as she was making a weird face and 'acting' like they do when the volleyball is hit} But.....yet....all you do is kick the ball in soccer.....with your feet........... yeah.....there's no talking to her when she has her mind made up! :)

Wordless Wednesday!

 Love this!

End of season volleyballing it!

 Alexis' regular season for volleyball ended last night. They do have the County tournament Saturday but other than that, season is over. 

They havent had a winning season but they have won a good bit and learned a lot! Alexis has learned a ton especially with how to balance all she does and I have been very proud of her with it all!

I  have loved watching her learn something new and get better and better each time! 

Yesterday was a long one. She got her bottom braces put on so I had to check her out of school. Then we rushed back so she could make competition cheer team practice which was before her (2) volleyball games!

Getting ready for the game! They should have beat Oxford in the 1st game. They won the first match, then lost the 2nd 24-23 which then made them play to 15. Well...the lost 13-15. BOO! Then they played Donoho and beat them both times so they didnt have to play the 3rd match!

Go Eagles!

Alexis didnt start but she played a good bit in the last game where they beat Donoho!

Alllll day in a gym!....volleyball tournament style!

 From 7:45...........until 6:15..............we were in the Wellborn gym watching the Lady Eagles play their favorite sport! 

They didnt win....had some not so good moments....but then had some great ones too! We loved watching Alexis do something she loves and I have enjoyed watching her get better each time she plays!

She even started two games too! Proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and learning something and giving it her all!

We headed to the Soriano's to watch the Auburn game after the tournament. Happy to hang out with them....sad....Auburn couldnt pull the win!

Today was filled with all things cleaning, Church, cheer practice and gearing up for the week!

These girls love hanging out with each other! Sweet memories being made!

Starting girl! LOOK at her go!

In action!

Cheering and clapping after a great play!

Lily's 10th birthday friend party!

 I realized I didnt get a single picture of the family dinner party at Effinas on Thursday. BOO!

Lily's soccer game was cancelled so we bumped up dinner since we were supposed to eat after. Well...that got me all kinds of out of whack! ha!

We enjoyed a great dinner with Gran, Ben, Pawpaw, Nan, Brandi, Lex, Sydney, Lily, Tyler and ME! :)

Then...fast forward to Friday!.............

I picked up all the girls in the car rider line...with Gran's car ALL decked out! One teacher was so excited to see it and said it was a party in a car!

That is exactly what I was going for! :)

We took off to Birmingham and they sang and played with a TON of fidgets and games that Lily had me pack for the ride!

Well........I didnt monitor ALL that Lily packed....

well....{LUCKILY} we were 10 minutes out from our destination.......

but I hear several 'UH OHs!!' from the very back.... {Lily Pearson and Caroline} I am trying to see what is happening in the rearview mirror and it wasnt working out so well as I am trying to drive. I do see some mouths wide open in shock. All of them start going 'OH my goodness....' So, Im like....WHAT did yall do?!!?!

Well....Lily.... a long time ago made some stress balls. Well....some//most of the stress balls she made were made of flour. NOTHING but flour....

well...they ripped {on accident} one of the FLOUR stress balls....

meaning....

there was flour.............

everywhere.

Luckily....

again...we were 10 minutes from destination.....

Well...to make it MORE fun....

literally right when all of this happened...out of nowhere....it started flooding rain! FLOOODINNGG!

So...I had NO idea what I was going to do because I knew the mess that was in the back....and rain and flour doesnt go well with each other....so I decided to pull into Wells Fargo bank that is right up from PF Changs {where we were set to eat} soooo...I pulled under their drive-thru line and pulled into one that was closed and made alllll the girls get out. The tellers were looking at me like WHAT in the world is happening...as all the 3 covered in flour were dusting off! They looked like a big smoke cloud as it was all coming off of them! I got in the back and got it all up....and BOY....were we getting looks! bahaha! So...they climbed back in...the ground was an inch of white when I pulled out from under the drive-thru.....and OF COURSE....as I was driving right down to PF Changs...it STOPPED raining! 

Yeah....

soooo......

ya know! Never a dull moment! Meagan met us for dinner and then went to the Learning Express {toy store that Lily has been begging to go to} and then to DEFY to continue the fun with us! It was so fun to have her with us and catch up!

We all had a great night! We stopped at Buc-ee's in Leeds to finish out the 'best day ever' per alll of them! 

Glad they all had fun and glad Lily had a great 10th!

We ready to ride!

Party in a car! BOOM! :)

They were 'so fancy!' ha! Dinner at PF Changs for the win! {Lily's favorite restaurant!}

LOVE her!

SO glad she joined us!

The waitress brought out THIS huge thing! They were alll amazed as it shot and sparked! ha! They sang happy birthday while it went off! Lily sang to herself and P and her used their forks as microphones!

It lasted forever!

Happy birthday to you!

Blowing out her candles!

Shopping time! I did NOT think I was going to get them out of 'the coolest store EVER!' per them! They just could not decide what they wanted...because they wanted it all! ha!

Next up...DEFY! They had a BLAST! We have been wanting to go here for a long time and so glad we did! It was awesome inside!

They would not stop playing long enough to let me take any pictures so this will have to do! They are allll in the picture though! Can you spot them all! ha!

They were still for a minute! :)

Late night snack for the ride home! I thought they would all fall asleep......................NOPE...ha! They were on their 2nd wind! ha!

Is this not the sweetest.....Reese and Hank!

 Look at the sweetest picture I received today!

They are finally getting to meet each other for the 1st time! 

This makes me smile!

Reese and Hank! Cousin love!

Throwback pictures to Lex's 2nd birthday party!

 I found these gems the other day and since I didnt have my blog at that time...I thought I would share some of the ones I found!

Alexis' 2nd birthday! This was also right before my Dad/Pops died as well. This was the last 'big' event...family event we had.

She had a Minnie Mouse party!

It was a beautiful day! Apparently Tyler and I decided to have a bubbles war! ha! And...look at baby Peyton!

This is how she drove this thing! NEVER looking at where she was going. Always looking and laughing as she drove!

Lindsay came to celebrate the birthday girl! And...look..Brandi is behind us!

Sweet Ava with Lex! Hard to believe Ava is about to be 15 now!

Lily and soccer and a day in B'ham!

 Lily's team had an impromptu game last night so we loaded up after our trip to Birmingham and made our way to watch her play!

I had my check-up for my gums yesterday. It was a great report...then Lily and I did some shopping and had a fun lunch in the HAM together!

What does a girl..........that turned 10 the day before..........do.......in a toy store that is huge and she just cant look at everything?!?! 

Stand in the middle of the aisle and just stare! ha! 

I took her to Homewood where there are so many cute shops and when we walked up to this toy store....she looked up at it and said....'I already love this place and I havent even gone in!' bahaha! It made me laugh! We had already hit this tween girl boutique a couple of shops down and then this..........well...it just made her day!

We went to the neurologist at Childrens to mark the more exploration as to figuring out her redspot on her eye and headaches she has been having. We will see what we learn in the next appts!

We had a great day together! She got all the fun things she wanted....a cute boutique shirt or two before we rushed home for her practice/game!

Soccer star!

Here we go Lily!

She loves soccer!

The girl in action! Cant wait to see her in this new season as it is finally getting started!