My "big" Little Girl

Lila is growing up so fast and our life is sort of a whirlwind these days.  A few days ago Jared, Jackson and I started brainstorming funny things that she has said recently.  We wanted to always remember how fun she was at this age.  She thinks that she's a "willy big girl" now and she is right, in so many ways.  She'll always be little Lila to me, though.  She's definitely got a mind of her own and lots of opinions. 

1.  Take Monday, for example.  Even though it was 98 degrees outside did that stop her from sporting her turquoise sweatshirt and brother's old grey sweatpants?  Nah!  She also told me to do her hair in three clippies--clippies and headbands, both things that big girls use.

2.  She's become a master of the "set-up."  She'll say, "hey Jackson, do you want a honey bun?"  He'll say, "sure."  "Sorry, I just ate the last one!" Such a little stinker!  Another one--"Hey Jackson, do you want the middle seat?"  "Yeah (from the recliner)" "Sorry, I'm sitting in it this morning!"

3.  The other day she got ready for school and picked out a very brightly colored dress.  She asked me to announce her as she started walking down the stairs.  First it was, "Say, announcing Princess Isabella!" then she changed it to "Rainbow Brite Girl" and then finally settled on "Rainbow Brite Princess" which her daddy and I agreed fit her to a tee that day. 

4.  She's also a fan of potty humor.  As much as we try to discourage it, she gets such a kick out of it.  When she was going potty the other day, I was in there keeping her company.  She said "I'm the poopin-est girl you know.  I poop a lot.  But you know who poops more?  God.  He has HUGE poop.  E-normous.  Bigger than Boom."  Ha!  Had me laughing out loud.

5.  Lila also loves to make up her own songs and dance around while singing them.  She has a lot that I don't remember, but my favorite is "Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down to the ground!" While she shimmies her little booty down to the ground.  It's too cute for words.

We love you Lila Lou!  You always keep a smile on our faces and make everyone around you laugh.  Keep it up, my "big" girl! 

Back in the Swing of Things



Summer is over and we are getting back into our crazy, regular schedule.  Lila started gym class again on Friday morings and was so very happy about it.



She got a sticker that said "Awesome" from Coach Marina and promptly put it on her cheek. Hey, why not?!

Big brother had his season opener with the Murphy Mustangs this past Saturday.  He hasn't really touched a soccer ball in a very long time...

but his fans had no doubt that it would all come back to him.

And we were right!  He did great, despite having some seriously long legs to keep under control!

He offered to play goalie for the second quarter and didn't let the other team score any goals.  It was probably his amazing goalie gloves that he'd brought from home!

"Not in my house!"

At halftime, the Mustangs were down by 2 goals.  Coach Ado told them they really needed to buckle down and score, but that he was having a great time watching them.  I love how he's so positive with the boys.

#6 took what Coach said and put it into action, scoring two goals in the 3rd quarter.  Way to go, J man!  The Mustangs ended up tying 2 - 2, but it was a good start to the season.  Right after the game was over, we headed out to Sawyer's birthday party to join Gigi, Maddie and Lila.  We got there just in time to sing happy birthday to him, watch him open a few presents and let the kids play in the bounce house a little longer.  We headed home for a few hours and then were off to the Cubs game.

Jackson has been struggling this season with batting, but he hit a double his first time up to bat!

That's my boy!

He also made some really great catches at first, but the play he was most proud of was when he, Matthew and Garrison turned a double play.  The batter hit a grounder to Matthew at short stop.  Matthew gunned it to Jackson at first base, getting the runner out.  Then Jackson ran towards home to see if the runner on third was going to try and score.  When the kid started for home, Jackson threw it to Garrison (playing catcher) and he tagged him out just in the nick of time. Whew!  It was close, but so awesome that they made the double play!

The Cubs won 9 - 6 and his biggest fans were so proud of all the boys.  We've even got his littlest sister represented with a royal blue baseball shirt that says "Baseball Fan On Board."  And you know she will be cheering him on very soon.

As if we hadn't been busy enough, Jared wanted to keep the party going last night by having some friends over to watch the Mayweather vs. Alvarez fight!  Jackson remembered his daddy having these goofy boxing shorts that he'd bought many years ago in a Vegas thrift store and wanted to wear them.  Even though he didn't get to stay up to see the big fight...

he was happy just to get to hang out with the big boys for a while.  Thank goodness I put him to bed at 10:00.  The fight didn't even start until 11:30 and lasted a good 45 minutes.  And Mayweather won, as we thought he would.  Between watching Bama beat the Aggies and Ole Miss beat the Longhorns, it was definitely a sports-filled day.  But really, that's just the way we like it around here.  And as long as the Cubs and Mustangs play well, we can deal with a loss for the Horns!

Little Longhorns

Longhorns, where you at??

After waiting at least an hour and a half last night due to a rain delay, we were very ready to cheer on our Longhorns.  Too bad they forgot to play some ball.  It was just sad.  Thank goodness we had these two to keep things light around here.  My princess UT cheerleader treated us to original songs and dances, along with jumps, handstands and backbends.  Jackson kept it real with plenty of live football in the house.  Let's hope next Saturday will bring better luck for the Horns and Cubs.  This sports family doesn't really like losing all that much!

Spelling Bee

We all know that Jackson gets his mad math skills from his daddy.  But it looks like he also gets some things from me.  He made a 100 on his very first test!!  And got the bonus word right, too.  We are so proud of him.  Way to go, J man!  Keep up the work!

Play Ball!

Yesterday afternoon we reluctantly headed up to the ball fields to cheer on J for his first game of Fall Ball.  Why?  It was 102 degrees!  And there's no shade.  When we got there, the other teams were still playing, so we got to wait an extra half hour for that game to end.  Thanks, referee, for showing up late to their game.  It made for a swell start to ours.  We finally kicked off about 4:30 and the Cubs played pretty well.

I packed a cooler filled with ice water and rags for the boys to put on their heads.  As soon as they saw these, they were all over them.  Jackson grabbed his chilly rag and covered himself with as much coldness as possible.  Smart kid.  Next time I might bring a similar cooler for all of the fans!

The cutest little Cubs fan was smiling through her sweat.  She's such a good sport about always cheering on big brother.  He's in the upper right hand corner of this pic, too, playing first base.  From now on, I will be praying for cold fronts every Monday and Saturday.  Go Cubs!!

We love pink!

We have big, big news!  About a week ago we went to the doctor for the really big sonogram.  We let Jackson play hookie from school so that he could come, too.  Lila and I were both thinking it would be a girl, while the boys were voting boy.  First, the technician checked out all the important things about the baby--heart, brain, abdomen, femur length, etc., and declared it very healthy and exactly on schedule.  Then it was time for the big reveal...

and Team Pink was right!!  We are going to have another baby girl in our family!

That night we met everyone at Desperado's for a fun baby reveal party.  I had taken the kids shopping after school that day and they'd picked out something cute and very pink.  They stood up on the chairs and said "It's a...

GIRL!"  Little sister, we can't wait to meet you.

It was such a fun night and one we won't soon forget.

Cheers to baby girl Hays.  May you be as sweet as sugar.  We love you so much already.

Lila's First Day of School

Yesterday morning we got up bright and early to make sure we were all ready for Lila's first day of school.  She grabbed her lunchbox...

put on her fancy new dress and sparkly shoes...

and was all smiles as we got ready to walk out the door.

Just like her dress says...preschool rocks!  Lila and her daddy both agree that she goes to a super-fun school.  She couldn't wait to lead us to her classroom after she greeted everyone at the front door.

Right after we got to the room, she found her bucket and put her school bag in it.  Then she walked right over and found her paw.  Smart girl!

She's got four friends in her class from last year, along with a new addition, too.  We're so happy that her friend Cowen will be learning right along side her this year.

I love it that she has the same teacher as Jackson did when he was three.  Mrs. Fields has known Lila since she was about 5 months old and was really happy to have her in class this year.

After giving both me and her daddy a big hug...

she ran off to play again.  No first day jitters for this girl!  Bye, bye Mom and Dad!

She had a great first day.  When I picked her up, she wasn't the least bit tired, as I had totally been expecting.  I think she was still just so excited and wanted to share everything about her day.  She told us that she went to Spanish and Music and ate lunch in the cafeteria like a big girl.  I couldn't be more proud of her and love that she is so happy about going to school.  We love you, Lila Grace!