FriYay

We have got a busy weekend up ahead.  Today, in like 2 hours, I will head up to Dallas for my volleyball tournament tomorrow.  First tournament with these 12 year olds....boy are they nervous.  Leven will leave in the morning and drive up as well.  He has a few girls playing as well but in a different location.  After volleyball is over we will have a fun night out! He starts track soon and we wanted a night away before he gets going with that.

Then Sunday---- it's the Super Bowl!

Today is my Mom's birthday! Love her bunches and we will all celebrate her on Sunday before Super Bowl!

Tay can now throw her back handspring on the trampoline.  It won't be long before she does it on the ground!

My Meme is so special.  She loves baby dolls! She always tell me that growing up she never had the chance to play with dolls.  I guess at 93, it's still ok to play with them! So sweet.

My sweetheart of a friend, Carla.  We met at Lon Morris and every time we get together, we pick up right where we left off! Love her dearly.  Last night we got to see Tim Tebow speak. 

Tenlee is sooooooo throwing up the peace sign in this picture.  Hard to tell...but this makes me laugh!

Tatum 12U

I've been coaching club volleyball for 8 years.  In the past I have always coached 8th-9th grade but this year I took a big {BIG} step back and decided to do 6th grade.  After starting Lil Bumpers, I saw the potential in some of the 6th graders and opened up the thought to some of the parents.  I had 13 show up for tryouts and 9 made the team.  This age is completly different than what I'm used to.  I immediately recognized this and had to change my whole thought process on my coaching, practices, my PATIENCE...everything.  They are working so hard and I'm excited to see how they do in their first tournament.  We have a scrimmage set for this coming Sunday, so that will at least give me a heads up before our Feb. 4th tournament.

Side note: I keep telling Leven I'm getting these girls ready for him one day.  Also, we "make" (not really, well....yes we do) Taydem come to the practices with me and she works out with my girls.  She's just as good, just way smaller!

In other news---- The Dallas Cowboys lost yesterday.  Heartbreaker! Such a good come back but Aaron Rogers couldn't be stopped!

I hurt my foot last Tuesday on my run.  The top of my foot.  I swear I'm just getting old I guess.  Plus my body isn't used to me running.  My feet were probably screaming for help!  So I took off a day and ran on it on Saturday.  Big mistake.  I feel like it's just not getting any better. Going to try and lay off a few more days, but I don't want to put myself behind.

Happy MLK Day!

db




  

2017

Well Hellllloooooo

So it's been since July {2016} since I shared any kind of news about us.  Work got busy, life was zipping by and I just let myself go with this blog. I want to try and keep it up as much as I can because I've been writing on this thing for like 8 years.  Can't stop...won't stop!

So another new year (thank you Lord!) and let's add #dobetterblogging to my list of New Years Resolutions.

Devin- Here's the most exciting thing so far for me in 2017----I signed up to run a half marathon.  WHAT?  I started training for it last week and my body feels like it got hit by a Mack Truck! This week I added two days a week with a trainer (she's awesome and she's right here in small town Tatum).  I will be focusing on toning my body more with her and less cardio since I'm already RUNNING other days during the week.  I am scared to death to run 13 miles but I love giving myself a goal.  A challenge. Danin and my sister in law, Chrissy, are also training with me.  Our race is April 22!

Us 8 went to Nashville back in September..What fun we had!

Leven had the best volleyball season of his 22 years a few months ago.  His team was 5 points away (not kidding) from making it to the STATE TOURNAMENT! Which is incrediable but at the same time heart breaking to know he was that close.  They went 5 games (last game was 10-15) against the defending state champs.  5 GAMES!! When going into the Regional Tournament, if anyone would have told me we would be Krum (also in 5 games) and then go 5 with Argyle, I would have laughed and then said "You crazy!" But we did....what an emotional 2 games to end the season.  I was so happy and proud for Leven.

 
Trever- Well let's just say he had an awesome FALL....a little too awesome.  He ended up doing bad in 2 of his engineering classes and the Dean said "Bye bye!" It's his fault and now he's having to pay for it (literally!).  He blew through all of his summer earning..All.Of.It.  So now he's having to find a job for this semester and he had to change his major.  Bummer...He's now majoring in GeoPhyics.  And I hope he now understands what it means to get serious about LIFE!!  He's gonna have a whole different semester this go round...at least he better!

Taydem- Her first 6 weeks as a 3rd grader was pretty rough.  Going from Tatum Primary to Tatum Elementary is a huge leap.  Which is wonderful and I'm not complaining at all, but she and I had to get our butts in gear. She ended up making 3 B's.  I had to get a grip on myself and chill out a little.  She still did great and worked hard...but I knew she could do better.  Lots more tests, tons of reading and I'm still signing stuff every night.  It's a lot yall.  The 2nd six weeks she made all A's and an 89! What an improvement.  She kicked major butt playing her first year of Lil Bumpers (this is the volleyball program I started in Tatum with help from wonderful, hard working volunteers.  The first season was wonderful!).  She's working on her back hand spring now in tumbling.  And is simply just growing up!

Tenlee- This child is so funny.  We laugh at her every day.  She and Taydem look nothing alike and really their personalities are some what different.  They are both well mannered, laid back, GOOD kids.  We've always been able to take them out in public without either of them having a meltdown. Taydem is such a big help with Tenlee.  They continue to sleep with each other every night and their relationship is getting stronger and stronger.  I love seeing them play together, love on each other and fight! lol.  Tenlee is now talking and communicating with us which is the best ever! She loves anything Taydem loves.  She is a cuddle bug and loves TV and sleeping.  She's more my child and Taydem is more Leven's child. I will try and post more video clips of her and her funny expressions. She completes our family for sure!

I'm horrible at keeping up

 

Happy 4th of July pic!

We got to spend a few good days with Trever! We watched Taydem and her team play softball all weekend, went out on the lake for a few hours, ate and visited with family and friends and ended that weekend with a firework show out at our friends place!

Shivers.  I had to finally break down and drive to north Longview to try these snowcones out.  Worth the drive.  Wish I lived closer.  They make their syrup homemade.  So it's mainly a delish fruit mixture on top of this ice.  I got the cocunut/pinapple and it was oh so good! I will be making another trip before summer is over!

 SnapChat.  We are a little addicted! Tenlee and Taydem love the different filters (like this dog one!).  Not gonna lie, I love the filters too.

 Leven had a player play in the TGCA volleyball all star game last night.  So I drove up to see her play as well.  Her team won and she played in all three games! Afterwards we hung out with some friends. Good times!

Lil Bumpers

Not sure if I have mentioned this in my blog yet or not, but back in February I decided I wanted to start a Lil Bumper's volleyball program in Tatum.  I want girls at Tatum to be prepared for 7th grade volleyball and actually compete a little.  I've heard from so many that it's so embarressing to watch our 7th and 8th graders play volleyball.  You can not just pick up a volleyball in 7th grade and expect to win. It's a very difficult game and involves lots of practice and trust with your teammates. So if we expect them to compete, then we need to start them young.  Just like we do in basketball and softball. 

 

I've had a wonderful group of men and women helping me with this program and this past weekend we had a mini volleyball camp to help introduce volleyball to some of these girls.  We sent a survey home with the girls from school back in May and we got 70 that are interested in playing this fall. Super excited about this! The camp only brought in 18 girls though.  Between summer vacations and the 10u and 12u softball tournaments on the same day, we just didn't have the numbers we thought we would get. I was still happy with the 18! Gotta start somewhere, right?! And some of the 18 went ahead and signed up for the fall league.  Whooo-hoo.  It's gonna be good.  Hopefully by the time Taydem's class is in the 7th grade, we will be kicking some butt!

 

My nephew Aidan is at the Duke University basketball camp right now! How cool is this? I can't wait to hear all about it.

My dad had his 50th high school class reunion this past weekend.  50 dang years! wow oh wow! This picture of the two of them is my favorite. 

Seriously, these two are just beauties in my eyes!

 Taydem is getting so grown.  And this girl can play some volleyball.

Difference

I always just assumed my children would be just like my sister, brothers and myself. We all look very similar (hair, eyes, build, etc) and we are a lot a like in personalites as well.  But guess what....it DID NOT HAPPEN THIS WAY.  My girls couldn't be more different.

 

Taydem is the typical first child (although she is really the middle child, she's my actual first born). She wants to impress us all the time.  She does not want us disappointed in her, easy to discipline, works extremely hard in whatever she's doing and is Momma Bear to so many little girls.  She's very friendly, talks A LOT, is super smart, athletic, enjoys art, loves music and still plays with her baby dolls.  Taydem is very independent.  She's always been this way, probably because she had to learn to play by herself at an early age. 

So sometimes if there's a crowd of kids, you will find Taydem off to herself. 

 

Tenlee is into everything.  We can not turn our backs on her for 1 minute.  She loves to twist caps off of things, get into cabinets, open drawers and take things out, pull shoes off of closet shelves, OPEN DOORS and then shut them on herself, put things in her mouth, etc.  I could probably sit here and think of some more things.  Taydem was never this type of toddler.  Tenlee is very sneaky and mischievous.  She loves Tay so much and will follow her everywhere.  And Taydem is pretty good about her being close by. 

Again, Tay is Momma Bear. 

 

They both love their Momma and Daddy dearly.  They both love to cuddle (with Daddy of course). They both love people and they both smile all the time! And they are both really good kids overall.  We can take them anywhere and know that they will be well behaved.  Probably because we have been popping that butt early early! They know our loud voices, evil looks we give and know when they are in trouble!

 

Now you can just look at these two pictures, they look NOTHING ALIKE!

This is also at the same age.  Tenlee is about 1 month older than Taydem's picture.

 

While we were away...........

our daughters were being well taken care of.  Chrissy and Darin kept them for us Wednesday night....

Danin and Eric kept them for us Thursday night.....

And my parents kept them Friday and Saturday night.....

 

Taydem's All Star district tournament just happened to be the weekend of our trip. Geez.  So thankful my parents could take her.  Then her team ended up making it to the championship game which was held last night.  We got back on Sunday just in time to watch their last game.  Taydem is doing so well right now in softball and it makes me that crazy, cheer loud, momma in the stands (well actually I never sit because I'm chasing Tenlee around)! But I was getting so nervous Sunday at her game.  She went 5-6 in this tournament and hit the ball everytime...no strikeouts.  Their next tournament (they took the top two teams) will be 4th of July weekend (thumbs down!).  We were hopig to get to Mexia that weekend.  So more practices and more games. 

This is what we have to look forward to. 

 

Trever has been working his tail off down in South Texas! Proud of him.  He can not wait until this gets this first check (we can't either!!).  He gets paid this Thursday.  I think he had around 15 overtime hours. His learning what it's like to be an adult!!