Chaos, but not cha-ohs...

I am selling Advocare.

I'm so excited about it that I bought all these cute bags and packaged things with bows!

Go read my story and order products here.

I'd love to sell you fancy stuff and help you with weight loss, energy, and looking fabulous at any age!

I'm excited to try the 24 day challenge and add new products this month!

Also, I want these shoes.

The end.

Why is Easter candy so daunting?

I swear it is making fun of me.

Poking at me because it knows I can't eat it this week!

Jacklegs.

I sent stickers instead.

I'm sure some parents hate me for that too.

This is my 'I just found out that one of my students got an amazing scholarship face'.

I sent her this pic after she sent me the text message!

I am SO very proud of her and all the work she has done to get this far.

I cannot wait to see how my Galia keeps going forward!

Much love to you sweet girl and sweet success because you deserve it!

Being a teacher gets better and better....

despite the hours and pay...

and papers to grade and such...

Cheer Conference 2013

Last week I got to go with our coaching staff to a conference at the Ritz Carlton.

Um, yes.

It was that gorgeous.

The view from our cottage was amazing.

The lodge itself was amazing.

It made for a lovely run on Saturday afternoon.

The scenery was gorgeous.

The food was even better. 

See? 

Dinner on Friday night was steak with yummy vegetables and delicious sauce.

I die.

And dessert was this crazy chocolate lava cake thing...

It didn't get a picture because I inhaled it.

This was my breakfast leftovers.

Fresh orange juice and my fruit cup.

I finished it off though.

I'm not a quitter.

No sir.

I also had about 14 muffins, grits, eggs, and some more asparagus.

Makes your pee smell funny, but I love it.

While I was at the fanciest hotel I've ever been to in my life...

these guys went to play at the mall with their dad.

Ignore her mullet hair do.

Dad hair.

Minus one coach, but I love my girls!

Good looking bunch of ladies!

I love baby sleep.

I love it when their little faces are flushed and they have their sweet blankets by their faces.

I often wonder if they get sleeping genes.

Do they sleep like me?

If the above pictures are any indicators, no.

They sleep just like their Daddy.

Sometimes I remember how tiny they were when they were sleeping.

Hayes rarely fell asleep anywhere other than his bed or the carseat.

There was one rare moment when he slept in the living room floor.

And another where he fell asleep sitting straight up in his high chair.

How do they manage to find the strange crib positions?

Arm slung up over the bumper and squished into the corner...

 She always loved sleeping on her belly.

And I've let her sleep there since the beginning.

And sometimes you find them sleeping like crazy people right beside their Daddy.

Again, weird crib sleep.

He was always busting out of his crib!

I loved to creep into his room and see how he had managed to fall asleep.

Sometimes when I'm having a rough day as a mom or just a person in general I creep into the babies' rooms.

I like to watch them sleep and breathe quietly.

Sometimes I open the doors as quietly as I can and tip toe to the edge of their beds.

I find myself sometimes sitting there for much longer than I'd planned.

Sometimes I find myself in their rooms going to put things away or going to get dirty clothes.

And instead I'll stand watching them sleep and forget why I even went in there to begin with!

I love to catch them sleeping in a crazy position.

Or all wrapped up in their blankets and sheets.

There is something peaceful and comforting about watching them snooze.

It is one of my most favorite things in the whole world.

I love being their momma and watching them sleep.

It reminds me how precious they are.

It reminds me to be thankful that my floors are dirty.

That I have fingerprints on every surface imaginable.

That the crumbs and goop on the floor is a blessing.

It reminds me that they are not my worry, but a blessing.

They look at sleep as though they are missing something.

The next big thing, the time with toys, the time with their parents...

They don't have a worry.

They don't stress about anything.

They just sleep.

Peacefully, sometimes all night long, but peacefully even if for just an hour.

It is a glorious thing that baby sleep or toddler sleep as I have these days.

I miss the days of baby sleep.

Soccer Sundays

Yesterday was soccer game #3 for our season.

I had a blast!

In game 2 I tried to play a little too hard, or maybe I didn't stretch long enough...

either way, I pulled my quad muscle and thought I was dying for a good 2-3 days.

I wasn't sure I would even be able to play yesterday, but I made it through the whole game.

Good thing too, since we had no subs and just enough to play!

I've finally found a no slip solution for my hair.

I'm a picky girl about the headbands or hair apparatuses that are used.

I don't want it to slip. 

Like, at all.

And I don't want to have to mess with it.

Like, AT ALL.

So I got Brady Bands.

And my life is now complete.

If you don't have these you need to go order some now.

We played a Gwinnett Soccer Association team in Lilburn yesterday.

I drove allllllllllll the way to the other side of Atlanta, past Stone Mtn, and finally arrived at the fields.

Literally across the street from one of our friends' schools.

Porter coaches wrestling at Parkview and was totally thrilled to see his school.

Such a nice campus and located across from really nice fields.

Our game seemed like a really long game, but it was a good one.

The other team didn't appear to be in great shape, so they were easily outrun.

They only made it to our side of the field offensively once or twice.

Our sweeper is amazing and I'm so thrilled that she's got my back, especially since I'm still crippled.

Our offense is awesome as well, and very young, compared to the rest of us....

So they play well together with lots of energy!

The first couple of sprints and kicks for the ball reminded me that my leg was still recovering!

I was in liveable pain for a good 30 minutes before my leg finally let me play!

I can still feel the injury this morning but I know I'll survive.

I wore my heart rate monitor and tracked my calorie burn for the game.

1400 calories friends.

1400.

I need to play soccer every single day so I can eat 400 brownies, ok?

Geeeeze Louise.

 

Our team is undefeated, yay!

Hoping to continue that streak this weekend.

This weekend is the first game on our 'home' field and I won't be able to play.

I've got sister duty (that I'm pleased to assist with) at a bridal shower.

I can't wait to spend some time with the bride to be and her maids this weekend.

Saturday mom and sisters came to play at my house.

It was a nice thing before life gets crazy with spring stuff at school and wedding madness!

We had Chick fil A (duh) and then a cupcake buffet.

I had one whole cupcake and 1/4 of another one.

They were worth every.single.calorie.

And then I ran 5 miles.

Boom.



I love free stuff.

A few weeks back I got an email from Fandango asking if I'd like to go to a **free** movie.

Uh, yeah.  Duh.

We love free.

So I filled out the info and a few hours later got confirmation of our tickets!

Two FREE tickets to see Olympus Has Fallen. 

Did I already mention I love free?

Plus it had some amazing humans in it.

Gerard Butler (he's in my top 5) and Morgan Freeman (who I love dearly).

And Ashley Judd, who's politics are crazy, but I still love her.

Last night we waited for the babysitter to arrive (thanks Hope) and then headed out.

We drove across town, yes I'm from the sticks, and had dinner with my baby sister.

We ate at this cute little corner cafe La Madeleine.

I was a teensy bit worried that husband wouldn't find anything to eat there.

Thankfully he chose the ham and cheese sandwich...

ohmygoshdeliciousfood.

I had a chicken salad sandwich on croissant, which is my most favorite bread ever.

And I really love bread.

Like, a lot.

A lot a lot.

More than any other food.

Daryk got ham and cheese and it was amazing!

Leigh Anne had a salad.

I'm sure it was good, but I was too busy shoving my face with my sandwich to notice salad.

After dinner we did a little casual shopping at the local Goodwill.

We all had pre buyer's remorse and didn't even buy any of the things we had in our hands to purchase!

Oh well.

We headed across the street to the theatre for the screening after our shopping trip.

The movie screening mafia was out front taking tickets.

We had to power down our cell phones and get passes to go use the potty.

No joke.

I felt like my students.

No phone and a potty pass.

High school all over again, except I didn't have a phone, instead a pager.

Y'all remember those!? 

Mine was green and it was awesome.

It survived not one, but TWO wash cycles in its lifetime.

My iPhone barely car survive a little splash of water.

I'm easily distracted.

Geez.

So the movie passes said to be early, and we were.

But we were late-early and had to sit in the front row of the theatre.

I'm pretty sure my forehead wrinkles grew exponentially while we watched that movie last night.

The movie itself was amazing!

Action packed, and lots of American pride present in the film.

Action from start to finish and a few predictable things, but it was very well played.

I don't want to give away too many details, so y'all go see it.

Or rent it on Netflix in a few months.

Or Redbox it later on.

It was well worth the free trip we took and I'd pay money to see it again!

The actors were great in their roles.

It was really neat to be able to see a movie a week before the release as well!

I felt kinda important, but not really.

I was just pleased to finally have all that Fandango spam mail pay off!

I'll never complain about the excessive emails again.

Wonder if I can continue to get free tickets....

Disney Safari Day

Thursday's stop was Animal Kingdom.

It was pretty freaking awesome.

Dinosaurs, safari rides, and lots of animals!

Like this little baby deer thing.

So tiny!

 This boy and his dinosaurs.

He's a huge fan.

Huge.

 And this guy, he's a huge cow.

The biggest cow breed known to man.

According to our tour guide possibly the most useless cow ever.

 This little girl is in love with her paci.

See here?!

And she also liked the fish.

 I love gorillas.

I could sit and stare at them for days.

I love watching them move and interact with each other.

 This is Kevin from the movie Up.

If you don't know what I'm talking about go watch the Disney movie Up.

NOW.

Biggest bird on the planet.

 This is a hippo.

It was the ONLY animal Hayes asked to see all day long.

I was just so thankful we finally saw one!

We got to see a handful sunbathing and this guy who was waddling around as well!

Lots of crocodiles.

Lots of them.

In a creepy little pool of water sunbathing.

This tree grows branches that looked like roots.

Our guide explained that it held water that way.

Oh, this is a rare toddler who's not interested in the safari.

She liked her iTouch much better.

Giant animal with horns.

Did  y'all know there are multiple giraffe species?

Similar to birds, they vary in size, coloring, etc.

I had no idea... until Disney taught me.

Wildebeast, otherwise known as Mufasa killers.

 An elephant butt.

The giraffe.

Apparently they have a smaller species on property at Disney.

'Mingoes! (as Hayes would say)

'Mingoes are pink 'cause they eat shrimps.

He's so smart.

And possibly he's been watching Forrest Gump?

The  big rhino.

And his buddy.

Another large animal with horns.

Oh, atop Pride Rock we have a lion.

He was napping.

Clearly failing in his Circle of Life duties.

Giant ostrich eggs.

Zebras:  all patterned differently.

Just like us!

And a pretty little watering hole.

The Animal Kingdom was the best day we had at Disney.

Hayes and Elizabeth LOVED every minute of it.

I could have spent at least 2-3 more days there!

Apparently the shows there are all awesome, so we'll have to make plans to go back soon!



Disney Day 3. Wednesday....

We ventured to Hollywood Studios to see the Star Wars ride for hubby.

We weren't even into the park before we got to meet Minnie!

Hayes and Elizabeth were thrilled!

It was a great start to our day.

This is the Muppets fountain.

I think Miss Piggy is beautiful, always have.

We watched The Muppets 3D show & Elizabeth LOVED it.

She giggled and bounced around the whole entire time.

Daddy rode the Star Wars ride.

Also, took his picture on this weird Star Wars thing.

Then he spent about 3 hours in line trying to enterain this girl.

Well, not 3 hours, probably more like 20 minutes.

Kid is not patient.

Stabbing daddy with his own glasses.

Making faces at each other.

Daddy wins!

Look at her grin!

Hayes got to meet Phineas and Ferb.

We LOVE them and want to live where they do.

They get 100 days of summer vacation.

We only get about 60....

Elizabeth wasn't really sure about those guys and bailed on them pretty quickly.

See.

So we took a family photo instead!

She was also terrified of Mike and Sully.

Can't say that I blame her, Sully was huge and Mike was just creepy looking.

I truly felt sorry for the cast member who gets the Mike job.

Also, I want to know how the cast member moves those arms!

Tricky!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming up next, Buzz & Woody.

We rode the Toy Story Mania ride and had a blast.

Thankfully we did a fast pass for that one so we didn't have to wait too long.

To say he was a little excited would be a huge understatement.

They both squealed and gazed lovingly through the windows as we waited.

Hayes meet Buzz.

Hayes was speechless.

Woody and Hayes discussing his Mr Potato Head shirt.

Good choice for that day Mom!

Elizabeth went RIGHT to Buzz and hugged him!

Family picture!

At least I've got Daryk trained to look at the cameras and smile...

Art of Animation studios drawing and coloring in the pictures of the Disney characters.

She wasn't really feeling it...

We got to meet our favorite Neverland character, Jake!

We also got to see a Disney Jr interactive show and my kids loved it.

It was really dark and no flashes were allowed, so no pictures of that.

But there was lots of dancing and singing along with Mickey and crew!

After nap time we headed out to the pool for some water fun.

I believe she had a good time in that fountain!

Hayes had a blast squishing it underneath his feet.

They both look like they are pretty relaxed at this point.

Squishy fountain face!

When we planned this trip to Disney World I had nightmares visions about riding Its a Small World.

I love that ride.

Who doesn't?

But that creepy little song sticks with you for dayssssssssssssssss.....

So, we rode Wednesday night after dinner and a few other rides.

I had promised my mother in law that we would ride and tell her all about it.

The little people loved it.

Elizabeth was asleep in that pink coat draped over my shoulder.

Hayes looked like that for most of the ride.

He squealed and laughed and yelled out about all the animals as we rode along.

We also rode Under the Sea with Ariel that evening.

Clam shells are the preferred method of travel in the ocean.