Another win for Texas Stars!!

Yes, our live revolve around cheerleading! We competed this weekend against some of the toughest teams yet. Taylan's team, Mystic walked away with a firt place win!! They had their best performance so far!

Taylan's bow and arrrow (she is on the far right).

Taylan is in the extension on the right.

Taylan is in the hitch on the right.

Taylan's scorpian! (on the left)

Taylan filled in again on my team. Our girls killed them with CUTENESS! GO Team Starburst!Team Mystic

GO Texas Stars

Cheerleading season has officially started!!
Taylan and her best friend Lexi

We had our first cheerleading competition last weekend. Our girls have worked so hard and it is paying off. This is only Texas Stars second season being opened. Since we have so many girls we are having to compete as a large gym. Not only is all-star cheerleading huge in Texas, it is ginormous in Houston! We are having to compete against mega gyms who have amazing reputations. I am coaching our Mini Level 1 and Taylan is on our Youth Level 1. She competed on my team last weekend, as well, for one of my cheerleaders. On Saturday my team, Star Burst, won second out of 10 teams. Taylan's team, Mystic, got second out of 7. Sunday, we competed in a different competition and Star Burst got 3rd and Mystic got 1st. What an exciting weekend.

I am so proud of Taylan! She works so hard and loves to cheer! I love watching her progress. She has so much confidence in her tumbling and stunting. She is a great flyer and has now gotten her series backhandsprings and is working on her back tuck. She started working with our level 2 cheer team this week and will start competing with them in January. GO TEXAS STARS!!!

Halloween 2008

We had a wonderful Halloween this year! Taylan was so excited. She says Halloween is her favorite holiday. We had so much fun trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

To get ready for Halloween, Taylan and her two girlfriends carved a pumpkin.

Taylan getting ready to trick-or-treat
Taylan was a princess fairy

We took Mollie trick-or-treating with us. She was a princess fairy also.

Hurray for the Internet!!!

One of my neighbors wrote this on our street
First of all, I would like to say how lucky we are!!! We weathered the Hurricane with no damage to our house or fence. We were only without electricity for 24 hours. This was a pleasant suprise. There are 2 houses on my block that are still out, and several surrounding neighborhoods. So, when I complain that we were without cable or internet until this afternoon, it makes me feel pretty stupid. I do not know how people survived without these two necessities for thousands of years. The first thing I did when I got on the internet was look at the pictures of all the damage in Galveston and other places. WOW!! How hurrible for all those people. We love Galveston. Since it is only 45 miles from us, we visit quite often. It is going to take a long time for it to get back to normal. I have posted some of the pictures I took. Really, the pictures don't do it justice. I can't imagine had we been in the eye of the hurricane. The neighborhood that I live in is called Greatwood because of all of the massive trees. One of my neighbors said it is now going to have to be called Greatsticks.

This is the side of my house

My neighbors' houses

All of the Streetsigns fell of the poles

1 street over

You can't really tell, but that's lawn furniture on the roof of a 2-story
Taylan and I took a tour of the neighborhood on Sunday
The Park right behind my house

Tennis anyone?

Hurricane Party of coarse


We are out of school until Monday. With so much time, and no cable, Taylan has found knew ways to entertain herself. Molly looks so cute in Build a Bear clothes!!!

Getting Ready for Hurricane IKE

Hurricane Ike is expected to reach Houston 3 am Saturday. We are expected to get 100 mile an hour winds. All the schools have been closed today, so I have the day off. One of the reasons I fell in love with our house is the massive tree in our front yard. I am hoping that the winds don't blow it over, or better yet not onto our house.

When I came home from school yesterday, we took apart our trampoline and moved everything from the patio into the garage (doesn't Chris look happy?).
When asked if we are going to evacuate, it brings my memory back to 3 years ago. A couple of weeks after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, there was Hurricane Rita. Rita was supposed to hit Houston, so everyone evacuated. What a nightmare!! I packed Taylan and our 2 dogs in my '93 Honda Accord and headed to Dallas. What usually takes me about 4-4 1/2 hours, it took me exactly 24 hours and 5 minutes to make it to my in-laws in Garland, TX. I stopped twice, both for 15 minutes. The rest of the time I was in bumper to bumper traffic. The things I saw!!! I saw pickup trucks filled with families, goats, pigs, dogs, everything. People were driving on the shoulders and medians. I remember hearing on the radio that emergency crews couldn't get to people who were having heat strokes and heart attacks on the sides of the rode. For about 12 hours the guy behind me had his feet sticking out of his window playing a guitar. All of the gas stations were out of gas. You couldn't run your air conditioner because it wasted too much gas, and there was none left. The last hour of my trip I started halucinating. I was talking to my sister on the phone at about 3 the next morning. and a cartoon character tree was running beside my car waving at me. It was crazy!! I had left my house at 4:30 am Wednesday morning and got to Dallas at 4:35 Thursday morning. Anytime I am stuck in traffic and frustrated, I remind myself that it could be way worse :)

We are expected to not have electricity for a few days maybe. So, I will blog when all is over. We have plenty of water, food, and supplies, so we will be just fine.

Back to School

Summer really went fast, and now we are starting our second week of school. To get Taylan in the mood, me and two other moms took Taylan and her friends to get their nails painted the day before school. This is a tradition Erin and I started when Taylan started preschool. I can not believe Tay is now in third grade.


Taylan was a little nervous to start back at Campbell this year. She already knew people, so that made it easier. She goes to the afterschool daycare on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (which she loves) and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she rides the bus with a friend that takes her to Cheer. My cheerleaders practice at 4, so I have to go straight from school. Tay practices at 4:30. We have a nice little system going on. I get Taylan up and around, and Chris takes her to school, except on Wednesdays, because he has to be at work at 6. So, I drop her off at a friends house before school.
Anyway, last week was the longest week of my life! This is the way I felt about Wednesday on!
I do have a sweet class! I love them all. I really didn't think Kindergarteners were going to be so different from Second Graders. Boy was I wrong. I never knew it could take so long for 21 people to get in a straight line. We are working on mastering that. It sort of looks like a snake.

Just Me Venting

Yesterday I had a melt down. I tried on almost everything in my closet and nothing fits. With school starting in a week, this creates a real problem! I'm not saying I'm fat, but it's frustrating when your clothes make you feel that way. If I could trade in all my clothes for 2 sizes bigger, I would! To prove my point, I tried on my "Fat Jeans" that are now "Muffin Top" Jeans and showed Chris. His response, "I think you look great"! It's nice to have a husband who thinks I'm gorgeous no matter what size, but I was hoping he would say, "here's the credit card go buy a new wardrobe". With time ticking, I started weighing my options.
My downfall is snacking. I really don't eat meals, I just snack all day. I am also a Sloth. During the summer I hibernate and don't move around alot. Problem Solved.
I have decided to start exercising. I do coach cheerleading and make my cheerleaders do tons of conditioning. When we first opened the gym, I did the conditioning and stretching with them. Now, I might do a couple of of jumping jacks and push-ups, but that's it. I have decided to start jogging early in the morning. I started today. OH MY GOSH! All of you runners out there, how in the world do you do it? When we were in San Francisco Chris bought me an adorable running outfit from The North Face store. I started jogging and about two houses down, my body went into shock! What!!?? I thought I could make it about a mile or so before that happened. I live in a very active neighborhood where people walk and run their dogs and sit out on their porches. Several of my neighbors were out watering their yards and sitting on their porches so I refused to embarass myself in front of them. So I jogged around the neighborhood until I reached the end of my street and got on the main street. I then walked fast for a while. When I tried to jog again I felt like I was going to puke. So, I kept walking. How did I get so out of shape and old? Better luck tomorrow. Instead of feeling like a failure I am proud of myself for getting out there and doing a little cardio. It's more than I usually get!