Monday...Monday...

It's finally Monday. I never thought I'd be glad to see a Monday, but today I am glad! We had a very busy weekend.

Allison swam in her first swim meet with her new swim team, Champion Aquatic Team - CAT. She had not been in a meet since February 2009, so it had been nearly a year and a half since she last competed. And, this competition was in a long course pool instead of a short course pool. That basically means it was 50 meters from end to end instead of 25 meters. She has always practiced and competed in a 25 meter pool so she was a bit nervous about being in a longer pool. Once she realized that she would not have to do as many flip turns she was pretty excited.

This is what a long course pool looks like. The length can be pretty daunting!

The meet she competed in was in Shreveport. It started on Friday and ended on Sunday. She competed on Saturday and Sunday. We had to drive to Shreveport and have Ally ready to get in the pool by 7:25 in the morning. That meant we had to get up around 4:30 and leave by 5:45ish. BOTH DAYS!!! It was so hard to get up! Totally worth it though. :)

On Saturday, Allison competed in the 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, and the 50 butterfly. She said her goal was "to not be last" and I have to say she was pretty successful! haha Her first event was the 100 back. She just recently got that stroke and turn down so she was nervous, but after she realized she wasn't the last person in her heat she got rid of her butterflies. Next, she swam the 1oo free. She did really well again and finished 5th in her heat. The last event she competed in was the one that made me most nervous - 50 fly. This is such a hard stroke and so tiring! Even though it was just a 50, it made me nervous. She totally rocked that one though. As hard as that stroke is, she gave it her all and finshed 5th again. I was so proud of her!

When Sunday rolled around, she competed in the 50 free and the 50 back. In the 50 free she was 4th in her heat and she was 2nd in her 50 back heat. I was so shocked and surprised by her 50 back! You would not believe the change in her backstroke from Saturday to Sunday. On Saturday, she had slower arms and her kick wasn't quite as strong. Then, on Sunday, Coach Clark told her to have fast arms and kick! So, she did! She was in 3rd and as she approached the wall, she just beat out the girl ahead of her to get 2nd in her heat. Wow! So proud of her and she couldn't believe that she did that. She beamed from ear to ear.

After her meet on Sunday, we headed back to Longview. Mike's grandma turned 85 on Friday and she had a birthday party on Sunday complete with BBQ and cake. The food was yummy and when we got home, we all crashed out on the couch. It felt goooooood to be home!

Today will be a kinda lazy day. I don't plan on going anywhere really and I want to clean up the house. Got started on it last week and I want to get it finished today or tomorrow. Wish me luck on that....

Hope everybody has a good Monday!

Hugs!

B-

TGIF!

This has been my second week of summer vacation. It has flown by so fast! And, I feel like I haven't accomplished all the things I thought I would have by now. Oh, well... At least my laundry is getting caught up. I can hardly believe that we have so much laundry all the time, but then I look at the many different outfits Whit wears each day and I realize where it all comes from... Oh, and when she cleaned up her room yesterday, she had about 6 towels in her room. I hadn't seen them in there before then so I am wondering where she was hiding them. Probably under her bed. ***Mental note - look for dirty towels and clothes under Whit's bed more often.***

Tomorrow is a big day for Allison. It is her first swim meet with her swim team here in Longview. She has been to meets with her old team in Bryan, but this is her first meet with her Longview team. They are competing in a long course pool. It is twice as long as the pool she practices in. She is really excited and nervous. I can't wait to watch her swim. She has been working really hard at practice and has been very good about eating healthy lately. I am very proud of her. :) I'll update everyone on Ally's swim meet this weekend.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Enjoy this nice weather!

B-

Good morning!

Good morning world! Today is my 2nd official day of summer break. (I'm not counting the long weekend. We would have had that built into any school schedule.) It is beautiful outside today too. I feel like opening all the windows in the house and letting the sun shine in!

Today is my father-in-laws birthday. Happy birthday Johnny! Hope its a great day!

For the past year and a half I have completely put my scrapping on the back burner. Not because I didn't like it longer. I still love it. More like I just needed to step back and take a break. Over the past few days, I have been looking online to get inspiration. There is SO MUCH out there! Wow! I am motivated! One thing I found while looking on the internet is that there are several sites that I always visited that are no longer there. Kinda surprised to see that so many had disappeared. So, I am on the hunt for some new places to find inspiration. I am feeling REALLY creative lately. Can't wait to get my scrap room in order so I can get busy!

The girls are going to be surprised today. They have wanted a cat for quite some time. Like over a year. We kept putting it off, but after meeting the little kitty that wondered up to Mike's uncle's house over the weekend, I think we all fell for the little thing. Especially Allison. She is head over heels for this kitty. It is so tame and all it wants to do is love on whoever will give it attention. It is not super small, but it isn't full grown yet either. I am going to go get it today and surprise the girls. We will have to get the furbabies used to it, but from what I read online, it can be done. I really think that Deuce will lose interest in it after a while. Dixie, on the other hand, will be excited to have a friend to play with....or just to pester. Either way, this cat has been around the uncle's dogs and is pretty good about standing its ground. I think it will do the same here. We are going to try it out and see how it goes. I hope it goes well, so cross your fingers for us!

Time to get my day going and the windows opened up to let the sun shine in! Have a great hump day everyone! Love loves!