Labor Day weekend

WE started our weekend with a the tailgate party at D-HIGH! The girls and all their friends didn't miss a beat with the band, cheerleaders, and the Chic-fil-A picnic right before game time!!



We then all headed to where the cheer camp girls were a part of the pre-game show...here we are catching a few photos with friends before getting on the field!



They did great! What fun to get to feel like a "REAL" red raider cheerleader!!


so glad Mimi and Gandy came for the show....



and Gray found her new sweet little friend Anna and cheered and played and cheered some more!!



The next few days of our holiday weekend were the annual BYRD BASS GOLF TOURNAMENT (congrats to the AMERICANS for a victory!)so Morgan and I decided to load some of our favorite little girls up and head to Florence to the Marriott for some spend-the-night fun! We fit a lot in to these 2 days...swimming, splash pad, night movie by the pool, HUGE fireworks show, and the girls were all great!

T-t-t is for Teddy Bear

It is so fun to re-live these letter weeks with Gray in Kindergarten just like we did with Mary B....surprise sack, special snack, and this was a fun letter T week!It was complete with them making their teddy bear t-shirts to wear on Friday and bringing their favorite teddy bear, it was so much fun! We walked in with Mary Bibb so I stopped them for a quick pic.....



Then when the whole class came to PE I got to get these post-playground.....lots of sweet, sweaty red faces...but this is one class that is so excited about school, so glad I get to see Gray and all of her friends enjoying their Kindergarten year....




Many more of these posts to come.....love these days and can't believe it's already been a month...time flies!

Meet the RAIDERS

It was an event that was ALMOST as exciting as starting back to school....and I do mean that! All the girls that did the Decatur High cheer camp this summer were invited to preform with all of the cheerleaders on the "real field" (as Gray call it) at meet the Raiders! Mary B. really got into this, they have both been practicing all the cheers and the dance since camp, but Mary B. decided she didn't really even need to stand behind one to watch and hopped right on front with her friend Meredith!



(thanks Andrea for the pics above....your camera and ZOOM blow mine away:)

Gray and Mary Reese.....


here they are after the BIG show with sweet Lilly who is one of our favorite friends and babysitters.....


We can't wait for FRIDAY Nights at Ogle Stadium...Let's gooo Raiders!!

WE made it...1st week of Kindergarten and 2nd Grade

It was quiet the week with my sweet girls....I have to start with my buggy. YES mommy was emotional, excited, sad, nervous, AND not-sleeping-much...but the time has come my sweet Gray started Kindergarten. Her start was very hard for me, I knew it would be, but didn't realize it would be hard for her too.

I do have to note...The girls laid out all 5 outfits for the week on Sunday night...Gray's were all smocked dresses, Mary B. went more shorts and skorts....I love that we took over an hour to do this!

ok, back to our week...........
You would never know there was about to be a MAJOR breakdown with both of us here.....


and even snapping more pics with my sweet 2ND grader we still didn't know it was coming......



but the next 3 days as I took her to school(she had to start at Walter Jackson due to our system rules, however, this was not at all the cause of the breakdowns) it was just the simple fact that I had to face my little bug was growing up....she cried, I cried, and we both cried some more......NO I didn't get any pics of this and now I wish I had but my nerves had the best of me!

then on Thursday she got to start at Eastwood with ME and she was all smiles and so was I...when we saw just like Mary B, she got Mrs. Hand....



I love this little sign, just at their levels ....here they both are their first day in Mrs. Hands class.....




We are still adapting to all getting up and out the door at the same time to be at the same place, but Gray LOVES it and so do I!

As for Mary B. she is LOVING 2ND grade, she got Mrs. Hughes and was thrilled! Mrs. Hughes also taught her 1st grade Sunday School class which makes her a very special lady to Mary Bradford and her mom and dad too!


It is going to be a great school year.....I am so proud of you both and look forward to hearing what happens in your classes everyday, looking in your backpacks to check out all the notes and schoolwork you bring home, and sharing in all the fun things you will do with your class and your new friends!

Sweet Company

The girls enjoyed their sweet Coulson cousins spend the night with us while Sally had to work.....Mary Bradford led them in a Duck, Duck, Goose game while they waited on me to load the car and head for a swim at the Coulsons....



Poor Maury ended up with a fever so stayed with Mimi and Gandy....but Car-Car (as Gray likes to call him) hung right in there with us, slept good, ate good....and got up ready to play in our "truck"!



Later in the week, Gray went to Anniston alone to spend a few days with Nana and Pop (and shopped, and played and shopped and did whatever else she wanted!)....so Mary B got to have company all by herself! We decided to do a mommy daughter trip with Missey and Meredith to Bridgestreet to start off the evening....
We saw Beezus and Ramona (which the mommies loved as much or MORE than the girls), shopped at my least favorite store in the world, but one they love JUSTICE, and had dinner at Red Robin...what a treat!


The next morning these 2 decided they wanted to dress as movie stars, I could be their driver and wanted breakfast at McDonald's...so that they got!

Pretending I am the paparazzi "UGH....NO pictures!" Not a DULL moment with MB and MERE...



I sure have enjoyed this Summer that is coming to a Fast end...and so glad I get to share these fun treats with my girls!

Red Raider Cheer Camp

Summer is moving right along...and another highlight at the Jackson house was last week when Decatur High's cheerleaders hosted a fundraising camp. The girls were SO excited the first morning.....


When I dropped them off it brought back so many memories...a gym FULL of sweaty (and it was only (a.m.) excited,and really cute Noisy little GIRLS!!!!
At the end each age group showed us a little preview of what they learned.....



Gray really got into this....I do believe cheering is going to be right up her alley.Tickled to death does not describe her feeling when she won the DHS t-shirt at the Game station! Her competitiveness is a little much for me to be just 5, we will see if this is tamed some when she gets to PE in KINDERGARTEN:)



Girls, I am so glad you enjoyed this....I enjoyed watching you both MORE than you know...I love you both bunches!

4th of JULY

It was another Happy Independence day!!!





We started celebrating a couple of days early at the Terrace with Gene-Gene at the Terrace with a festive burger/hot dog lunch!



On Friday we headed to the Wallers house for another weekend of fun at the lake.....


The Murphrees were at their place a few miles down the lake...and a fewer down the road so we swapped and had the 2 youngest together and the 2 oldest, which worked out perfect! They play so good together!!



Banks and Mary B. entertained themselves a lot hunting frogs......




these 2 are a lot-o-energy......but a lot-o-fun TOO!


We all loaded up for an exciting boat ride to see Smith Lake's fireworks...




on the actual 4th....we did some corn-shucking......



and some of our own fire-works too!....




Another FABULOUS FOURTH!!