We have been enjoying the last few weeks of summer with playing outdoors (when we could stand to brave the 100+ degree heat!) and watching an Astros game at Minute Maid Park. Jamie begins 2-a-day football practices in just 2 weeks, and he has quite a bit of work to do before then. It won't be long until our first game in Danbury! 
Elise had a great 5th birthday party with her friends this weekend. There was pizza, cake, animal balloons, presents, putt putt golf, arcade games, and bumper boats. What more could a 5-yr old want?
She got to decorate her own cake. :)
A reporter from a Friendswood paper called Jamie last weekend and did an interview. The story came out this past week.
Click here to check it out.
Other than a few small typos (should read 4 years instead of 9), I thought it was great! :)
We had a perfect day today, as we celebrated Elise's 5th birthday. She is now 5, going on 13. This morning as we were getting into our bathing suits, she was informing me that you should not look directly into the sun, because it could burn your eyes. I asked her how she knew that. Her reply: "Mommy, I'm way smarter now, because I am 5." I should have known.
We headed down to Moody Gardens and spent a few hours at Palm Beach. Elise loves to swim, so it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate.
After a fun day of swimming, Grandma & PaPa threw us a small Tinkerbell party, complete with pizza, cake, ice cream, and presents! We are having her big party with friends on Saturday...so the festivities are to be continued!
It's amazing how quickly this:
Turns into this:
We had a great time last weekend. Jamie was taking a final exam for his master's degree at Lamar University on Saturday, so Elise and I spent the day together. I was happy to have some one-on-one time with her, since Jamie is getting a lot of time with her while I'm working this summer. I have been jealous! :)
I took her over to Lakeshore Learning Center to do a free craft (party hat), then I took her with me to the nail salon to get our toes painted. It was her first visit to the nail salon, and honestly she's too young, but as much as she loves to have her toes painted, I figured she would get a kick out of it. Our salon has a "princess pedicure" on the menu for kids, so I went for it. They even gave her a piece of chocolate cake! She took it all in, and got flowers painted on her toes too. It was a good mother-daughter bonding moment.
On Sunday we were invited to go swimming with friends. Elise LOVES the daughter of one of Jamie's coaching friends, so she was thrilled and had a great time.
We spent our last day in Jamaica by the pool and on the beach, soaking up as much sun as we could before it was time to leave. I love the fact that we did so much relaxing on this trip. We ate at another restaurant on the water for our last dinner.
The towels were in the shape of a flower on our last day. :)
All in all, it was a very nice trip and we really enjoyed it. I do wish Elise had been there with us, and I'm going to keep that in mind when planning next year's trip. We rate Jamaica below Hawaii, but it was still great and I would recommend it. I had some safety concerns when planning the trip, but I can honestly say that I felt 100% safe the entire time.
So, it's back to reality! Luckily for Elise and Jamie, they have a few more weeks of summer vacation to enjoy. But for me, it was back to work on Monday morning! Ugh! Is it bad that I already feel like I need another vacation??
The guys played golf and the girls went to the spa!!! :)
We got the most heavenly massages, then headed to the pool to lay out and relax. The guys joined us for lunch after golf, and we went back to the pool for a while. The resort had a Beach Bash in the evening, which kind of reminded me of a toned down version of a luau - but with reggae instead of hula dancing. There was a great buffet on the beach along with live entertainment. They had a dance contest that was also quite entertaining. I finally got to try some jerk chicken, and it was great!
On our way to the beach party:
Check out Jeff's drink!
We got some of my favorite pictures on day 4 as we were walking down the pier at sunset. A resort photographer approached us and asked if we wanted some photos, so we said "sure"! 
Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the towels, and I don't even remember what they were. Oops!
Day 3 was the busiest day of the trip. We got up and went snorkeling in the morning, then went zip lining and for a ride on the Jamaican bobsleds in the afternoon. Since I'm finally unpacked and nearly caught up on laundry, I have a bit more time tonight to describe the food on the resort. We are now totally spoiled by the all-inclusive concept! We had some amazing meals, and it was great to be able to walk up to any bar or into any restaurant and order whatever we wanted without worrying about price or carrying any money around with us. We took advantage of the opportunity to try a lot of things we normally wouldn't order if we had to pay for it. We ordered appetizers, salads, entrees, drinks, coffee, and desserts at every meal.
The breakfast was consistently the best meal of the day. I can't even adequately explain the gorgeous fruit buffets - and not just the typical cantaloupe and grapes you see normally. We're talking mango, papaya, fresh pineapple, whole peeled kiwi, peeled oranges, honey dew melon...the works. It was all SUPER fresh and beautiful. I had to learn at the first few meals to pace myself, because I was getting full just eating fruit!
Then as you moved further into the room, there was an omelet bar, pancakes, waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, potatoes (prepared all different ways), a table full of different breads - croissants, sweet rolls, pastries, biscuits, donuts. I am having breakfast withdrawal since returning home. I miss that wonderful buffet! The coffee in Jamaica was really unique, but very good...and strong! It reminded me a little bit of the Kona coffee from Hawaii.
On the first night we ate Caribbean cuisine for dinner, and we had Italian on the 2nd night. On the third night we ate Tex-Mex, and it was probably the most average meal of the trip. We wanted to eat at this particular place, because the restaurant is on a pier over the water, and we were overlooking the sunset during dinner. It was really lovely, even though the food wasn't the best. Also, it was a really casual meal and we were not wanting to get dressed up after such an active day.
Snorkeling was really fun. I had done it once before in Grand Cayman, but the coral and fish were much prettier in Jamaica. I enjoyed it a lot, and of course took pictures! :)
The boat behind us is the one we rode out to snorkel.
Jamie got sunburned the day before, so he kept his shirt on as long as possible. I teased him about wearing his life jacket over his shirt. :)
On the boat
Our group did have one snorkeling mishap - Jeremy lost his wedding ring. :(
After we arrived back on the shore, we all felt nasty and wanted showers immediately. We got cleaned up, ate lunch, and headed over to catch the bus to go zip lining! I was really excited about this part of the trip, because I had been reading about zip lining and really wanted to try it.
What I did NOT realize was how we were going to get to the top of the mountain in order to zip line back down. 
We rode guys in one lift and girls in the next...and we were scared out of our minds! Well, I should say some of us were scared. Jeff and Jeremy weren't bothered in the least - but there was no voice of reason in the girls' lift! There were no seat belts of any kind and just a single cable from which we were dangling. And it went MUCH higher than I expected...it just kept climbing and climbing...
The view from the lift was beautiful. I wish I hadn't been too scared to enjoy it! We could see the cruise ships parked in the distance.
Once we got to the top, we rode the Jamaican bobsled. It was like a mini roller coaster and also overlooked the water.
Then it was time to put on our zip lining gear!
For obvious reasons, we couldn't take our cameras on the zip lines, so I'm sad to say I don't have any pictures of us actually zip lining, but it was SO FUN! I loved it and would totally do it again someday.
Some pictures from dinner:
Relaxing on the beach after a nice meal:
And our elephant :)
We spent day 2 relaxing at the beach and pool. It was heavenly! In the evening, we ate my second favorite meal at an Italian restaurant at the resort - it was a LONG dinner at almost 3 hours. After dinner, we lounged on the beach, danced, and had a nice, low key evening.
Some pictures of the resort - I took all of these, so they aren't the greatest shots, but you can get an idea for how pretty it was.
And some pictures of us on day 2:
And last but not least - the swans!
We're home, and we had a great time! The idea of blogging the entire trip (while 4 full suitcases are waiting to be unpacked) is too overwhelming, so I am going to take it one day at a time until I get the whole trip done. It's sooooo great to be home. I missed Elise like CRAZY the whole time we were gone, and actually wished we'd chosen a family friendly trip this year. The adult time is always nice, but I am at a point where I'd really rather share our vacations with Elise. I think it will be a long time before we do another long trip without her - the most I want to consider at this point is a long weekend away from her. Having said that, Jamaica was beautiful, romantic, and relaxing! The resort was fantastic, we ate more wonderful food than I care to admit, and the landscape there is amazingly gorgeous.
We arrived in Montego Bay to a rainy afternoon, and I think we were all a bit nervous about what the weather might have in store for us. Thankfully once we survived the 2 hour bus ride into Ocho Rios, the sun was out and we never saw rain again for the duration of the trip. A quick word about driving in Jamaica - it's scary!! They drive on the left side of the road, but really, they just drive wherever there is room! It was quite an adventure.
As soon as we arrived at the resort, the staff greeted us with champagne and gave us a quick lesson about how to navigate the resort. Since it was all-inclusive, we could basically eat or drink anywhere at no additional charge. We could also participate in a variety of activities at no charge, such as snorkeling, para sailing, water skiing, scuba diving, windsurfing, etc. We headed to our rooms and changed into our bathing suits immediately, then went down to the beach to scope things out! We had one of the best dinners of the trip on the first night as well. After dinner we hung out in one of the beachfront bars, had a drink and talked. We heard about a country singer performing in the amphitheater, so we headed in that direction and listened to some good music that reminded us of home.
Each day while we were out, the staff would come in and clean our rooms and leave behind towels in all different shapes (I've seen this on a cruise before too, and it's neat). Day one was a heart. :)
On the bus
Our view
We celebrated Father's Day today since we have some things going on next weekend that prevent us from being able to celebrate on the actual day. I got up early and bought kolaches for Jamie this morning, we went to church, then grilled steaks with the whole family - my parents & the in-laws. It was a really nice time!
We love our dads!!! All 3 of them are very special and amazing men, and we are blessed to have them in our lives. 
This happened about 2 weeks ago, but I haven't gotten around to blogging about it yet. It had been one of those days. All you moms out there know what I'm talking about. One of those days when even though you love your child more than anything, they have pushed every single one of your buttons and then some. I was nearing the end of my very fragile (at that point) patience, and I had Elise in the bathtub. I was preparing to put her to bed early and pour a glass of wine.
I had just rinsed the shampoo from her hair when I realized I'd left her pajamas on the dresser right outside the bathroom. I stood up to get them, and she told me in a very sassy tone of voice that she didn't want me to leave the bathroom. She had been incredibly demanding all day long, and bossy to boot. I was sick of it, and I replied to her without even thinking of the example I was setting. I said, "Elise, I don't care what you want."
Her reply...with the most serious and hurt look on her face...
"But mommy, caring is sharing."
As much as I wanted to be mad at her, I couldn't manage to conceal my laughter. What's there not to love??
It has been a heck of a week. We got a phone call early last Sunday morning from Jamie's father informing us that Jamie's grandma passed away in the middle of the night. It was rather unexpected and sudden. We drove to Denton on Wednesday after Elise's recital to be there for the viewing. Then we came back home Thursday for a playoff game. Friday we attended Elise's graduation in the morning, the graveside funeral service in the afternoon, and our final game here at Friendswood High School in the evening.
It feels like every time we turned around this week, we were saying goodbye to someone. And it's been hard. We are leaving the preschool where Elise has attended since she was 3 months old. I've watched her grow up with the same classmates for nearly 5 years now, and even though the move to Kindergarten is going to be a great one, I know I'll miss the teachers and kids from preschool. We thanked Elise's dance teacher and said goodbye to her as well. Jamie's been out of school all week due to the death of his grandmother and our traveling to the viewing and attending the funeral - so he never got to say goodbye to his students. He went into the classroom early yesterday morning to leave notes for his substitute and found written notes from students all over his chalk board. They had written messages such as, "We miss you!" and "Don't go!". I know that was hard for him to see.
Then yesterday we said goodbye to Jamie's grandma. I read a poem at her service, and Jamie's cousin spoke briefly. It was a tough afternoon, obviously. I only met her once, but I'll never forget how accepting she was of me and Elise into her family. She picked Elise up and put her on her lap, and you would never have known that Elise wasn't her biological great grandchild. I really appreciated her, and I know she will be missed.
By the time we got to the game last night, we were just so emotionally drained that our loss to Nederland and elimination from the playoffs just left us feeling numb. Our kids played really well, and we just ran into a better team. It happens. But yet another round of goodbyes was so hard. This group of seniors is extra special to Jamie, because they were freshmen during his first year in Friendswood and he's been with them all 4 years of their high school career. They arrived together, and now they will leave together.
Some pictures from our last series here at FHS :(
Game 1
Game 2
Jamie leaving Friendswood has been harder than we thought. I think he's getting more sentimental as he gets older. He used to have no problem picking up, moving to a new town, and starting a new job. I think it was an adventure to him. But Friendswood has been so good to him - this is where he was working when we met & married. His life has totally changed since he arrived here. Not to mention the trips to state in football and baseball! Plus all the great kids he's met both in the classroom and on the field. Being a Friendswood graduate myself, I am obviously attached as well. It's going to be so strange to cheer for another school next year.
So, that's it - several big chapters of our lives are coming to a close. I know most of the change is going to be positive, but Jamie and I don't do change all that well. Our lives are going to be a bit upside down for the next few months until we get Elise started at her new school and Jamie at his new job. We need to get settled into our new arrangements and get into a routine. Then I think we'll be just fine. It's just the anticipation of the unknown that is hard in the interim.
Elise graduated from preschool yesterday. It was a cute ceremony and much more than I expected! The kids marched in, said the pledge of allegiance, sang a song, counted to 100, and read a poem. Then each one came to the front to get a diploma. I'm a proud mommy!
Elise's dance recital was held on Wednesday of last week. Jamie and I attended, along with Grandma, PaPa, PaPa Wes, and Darlene. We all enjoyed seeing the product of Elise's hard work for the past school year. She was so excited to wear her costume and make up! :)
**To watch the video, go to the very bottom of the blog and turn off the music before playing.**
Elise receiving her certificate, goodie bag, and balloon
I am behind, but trying to catch up!!
We ended up defeating TX City in the regional quarterfinal playoff last Saturday. It was a great game and a decisive victory with a final score of 18-5! Here are a few pictures.
We are currently in the middle of our third playoff series (the regional quarterfinal). We won Thursday night's game in extra innings - 10 to be exact - by a score of 9-3. Tonight we lost game 2, unfortunately. Both games have been close right down to the very last inning. We will play the 3rd and deciding game tomorrow.
Pictures from Thursday:
Ready to cheer on the Mustangs!
Cody running to home after hitting a grand slam in the 10th inning!
Pictures from Friday:
Our 2 cutest fans
Twinkies!
Tonight was one of those nights where you realize you were outplayed and VERY lucky to have won the game. We beat Houston Davis in extra innings tonight by a score of 2-1. It wasn't pretty, but as I always say - a win is a win. If the pictures appear a bit blurry, it's probably because my hands were shaking!
Jamie & Kevin
Okay, I am really going to bed after this! But I just adore a man in uniform! He can coach me anytime! ;)
Since everyone knows how I love to watch Elise as she sleeps, I thought I would share a photo that I just snapped about 5 minutes ago. We were on our way to bed, so I went up to peek at Elise as I do every night.
A few observations:
This time of year is crazy in our house. Now that I'm completing my 4th baseball season with Jamie (third as his wife), I think I'm finally adjusting to the hectic nature of playoffs and not feeling as flustered and stressed as I did in previous years. Baseball playoffs are incredibly unpredictable, because after each round there is a coin toss to determine when and where the next series will take place - so it's literally impossible to plan ahead. For a compulsive planner like me, that is a recipe for disaster! But for some reason, this year it's coming a lot easier for me. And that is a good thing! Maybe I am finally mastering the art of not sweating the small stuff. It's about time.
Jamie and I scouted our potential 3rd round opponents on Saturday. He taught me how to chart the game using the palm pilot, and I felt totally in my element. As Jamie moves up in the ranks, I am wanting to learn more and more about the games he coaches. How stupid would it look if the head coach's wife didn't know what the heck was going on?? I love all sports (seriously, I could watch just about anything that involves a competition), so learning how to scout baseball teams has been really fun for me. I think it was a definite bonding experience, and I loved helping him. Plus, now when we play the 3rd round - yes, I said WHEN :) - I will know a lot about our opponent. :)
Of course, life wouldn't be exciting enough if we didn't have other things going on in addition to baseball playoffs. In the next few weeks we have a baseball banquet, dance recital, preschool graduation ceremony, birthday party, and a wedding to attend! I've become rather forgetful lately, so I'm actually using the calendar alerts on my phone for the first time ever in order to be sure I won't forget anything - including buying gifts for the birthday party and wedding...you know, in my spare time.
Isn't it time for vacation yet???
Mustang baseball playoff time!
We had a great first round against Terry High School, winning the bi-district title in 2 games last Thursday and Friday nights. Read about Thursday's game here.
Normally playoffs are a best 2 out of 3 series, but round 2 will be a bit different this year due to the suspension of UIL sports over the swine flu scare (insert eye rolling here). UIL has dictated that all 2nd round playoffs will be 1 game that must be played by Tuesday night - winner takes all - in order to get caught back up to the proper schedule. The normal 2 out of 3 series format will then resume with the 3rd round games, which will begin later in the week.
Our 2nd round game will be Monday night in Manvel vs. Houston Davis High School. With a 1 game playoff no one can afford to have an off day, so we will be ready on Monday!
I just adore him for stuff like this. A man who plays Barbie...How did Elise and I get so lucky??
I don't know which computer is funky, but when I was choosing my new background color on my laptop it was not nearly as bright on the screen as it appears on the other monitor we have. I nearly went blind looking at it! LOL
I'm going to try out this more muted yellow. Although I did want something brighter and more summery, I wasn't exactly going for the school bus look. :)
