More to follow..

I will post more Homecoming pictures later. Here is one that I took and edited all by myself! Thanks to the help of Jennifer and Teris, you guys rock!

.....And The Beat Goes On......

Well another month has passed since my last blog. I think the title of this one fits life perfectly. It seems everyday is a new day yet the same as yesterday. We are very busy with all the kids activities and work so it seems all I have to blog about is the same thing. Kalei recently ordered her letterman jacket at school, still working hard in band, and yesterday she dressed up for 80's day. She told me I should be able to help her since I was an 80's girl. I thought I was more a 90's girl myself! I found it quite amusing though when I told her she should tight roll her jeans and she said "what is that?" As someone posted on facebook, you know we are getting old when our parents dressed us for 50's day and we are dressing our kids for 80's day!

Yet another season has begun at SMGSL. Tootie moved up to girl pitch and here is some pictures of her pitching debut! She recently tried out and made the competition dance team at her dance studio. This in itself my prove to be a full time gig! We will see! I am always glad to see them try new things even though it is a bit of a strain on us. I think it helps them become more well rounded and keeps them from tiring of the same thing.

And here is Lauren. She has moved up to a new age group as well. She is the smallest on her team. She is in first grade with some 3rd graders on her team, however, it doesn't bother her any. She is just there to have a good time. Look at this face, doesn't it look like she is totally excited about her first game??!!!

Is the outfield really this boring or is she just tired??

Here are some pictures from the first day of school. My mom requested that I post them since she was not able to see the girls. Could these two look any less alike??

Happy Fall Y'all! It's my absolute favorite time of the year. Cool weather, football, and gumbo. Could life get any better??? GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!!!

What happened?

Terry and I recently had a major parenting milestone. We made the decision to allow Kalei to ride to school with a classmate. Not a classmate with a mom driving..the classmate is driving. As I think about this I wonder what happened to my little bald baby girl, you know the one with the missing front teeth, the bandaged knees who couldn't ride a bike or tie her shoes. When did she become so grown up and think her parents don't know anything and she knows it all. When did we stop being her best friends and she suddenly have a thousand other friends with whom she wants to spend every waking minute. How did she go from not knowing how to use the home phone to having a cell phone implanted in her right hand? I feel like I took a nap, woke up and she went from a little girl to a high school sophomore with lots of determination and a tremendous amount of will power!!! Happy belated 15th birthday Kalei, we are so very proud of you, what you have become and where you are headed!

LOOK WHATS NEW!!

Tootie has a new look! She got glasses last week! I think they look soooo cute on her! I am already used to her wearing them. She kind of looks funny without them now. I guess they were just meant to be...she always has been an accessory kind of girl! Now her accessories have a purpose...she can see!!

WHERE HAVE I BEEN???

Well lets see...The month of May was quite a busy one, but then again aren't they all. We started all stars for Tootie. This allowed us several things: 1. to spend countless hours in the heat, but also work on our tan! 2. to get to know some wonderful families and develop friendships that will last a lifetime. Just some of the "perks" of softball!
May also marked another year of school coming to a close. Awards day was great for the Manuel girls! Tootie received all A's for the year, Citizenship Award for her class, she also received outstanding musicianship, promising artist award, and the Texas bluebonnet reading award. She also made the cup stacking team and even though her class didn't place they were definitely the best looking group of kids there. (All the boys looked cute in their hot pink shirts!) Lauren received the "friends of the library award" for her class for always demonstrating good behavior and turning your book in on time etc..it must be true, kids always act better away from their parents..LOL! She also received the "peacemaker" award for her class, for always wanting to keep peace in the classroom. She was always quick to point out a problem to her teacher between other students..sound like a tattletale award to me! Lauren finished Kindergarten and I was a little upset that our school does not do graduation...my frustration was simply directed at the fact that I will not have a picture of her in a cap and gown like my other two...silly I know! Kalei finished her freshman year of high school in the top ten percent of her class with an A average. She had one of her best years in school to date and I am very proud of her efforts! She came home the last day of school and ran through the door screaming "It's official I am a sophomore, mom go ahead and start crying!"
May also marked the seventeen year anniversary of my brother's fatal car crash and the tenth anniversary of my dad's fatal heart attack. It's hard to believe they have been gone that long. I so wish my dad could meet my girls. He and Kalei had so much fun. Could you imagine him with Lauren!
June has come and gone as well. What did we do??? Play softball of course, and dance, and swim, and... we continued with all stars during the month of June and guess what??? the heat it was still there! Luckily it didn't affect the girls too much. They continued to play and to date have placed at every tournament they have entered. (Except the state tournament, but hey there were 60 something teams there and we had only been together three weeks at the time!) Let us go back now, that should be the finale not the beginning! June also meant dance recital time, for Tootie it was her fourth so she was a pro, for Lauren it was her first and she did outstanding!! I am so proud of her and I would have never ever imagined she would have got up there but she did! It was so cute and of course I cried! Kalei started a performance camp in June for athletes. What determination she has. They were up every morning since school got out, in the heat, exercising, running and lifting weights. She was one of five girls in the camp and could out lift most boys there. What a woman!! She was only in it for the t shirt! Which they didn't get until the last day of the camp and then she said "All that for this cheesy shirt!"..LOL! I will save the best part of June for last....WE WENT TO DISNEY WORLD for seven days. Yes it was soooo much fun and no it wasn't as hot as it is here! It was Lauren's first trip and thanks to my friend Heidi @ http://www.whiteglovedestinations.com/ we had a truly "magical" experience! Love ya Heidi you were such a great help!! If you are planning a trip to Disney in the next month or even years, Heidi is your girl!
It's now July and like I do every year I am thinking where has the summer gone? We just finished up all stars this past weekend with a first place win. Way to go out with a bang, right? Guess what, only six weeks until fall ball! I know some of you think we are totally crazy but you have to be apart of it to appreciate it. My girls absolutely love it and I am glad they do. Kalei also played as a pick up player for a team this weekend and they finished 3rd! It was a great weekend of softball! Kalei also finished up her performance camp this past week. She has one week off and then she starts band camp. We are also looking into drivers ed. Can you believe my oldest baby girl is going to be driving???? I am so looking forward teaching her.....not really! Coming from the child who says "brakes are highly overrated!" Oh boy, can't wait!

By the way...the Tonya tomatoes have gone on to a better place.....they didn't survive the Texas heat while we were enjoying the Florida heat!!

As always I like to leave you with the latest Laurenism..she told me.."I cannot believe the king of pop is dead!" referring to Michael Jackson, all I could do was laugh!

Here is to the rest of the summer, may it be fun and enjoyable!!!

CUPSTACKING TOURNAMENT

"RAMOS' ROCKSTARS"

Notice the face paint! This is serious stuff! Tootie and her BFF Ms Ramos.

"the best teacher ever!"
This was 3rd grade awards day.

Lauren-fine arts award day

Tootie-fine arts award day

Lauren's last day of kindergarten!

Dance Recital '09

Lauren's first dance recital

Disney-09

I love the look on Lauren's face, priceless!

This was the first characters we saw!

Need I explain???

Tootie and Cinderella's stepsister-they had the same

hairbow so she made toot do a special pose with her!

The girls at Epcot, in Canada

A hug from Daisy!

Cinderella's castle which fascinated Lauren!

I tried to get Kalei to tell Buzz she

named our cat after him but she was too

embarassed!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!!

ALLSTARS '09 SMGSL STORM

Tootie rounding 3rd headed home!

Tootie and coach Terry, we call him daddy!

He tried to get her to call him coach daddy, didn't work!

My little all star!

#00

"Hi five" with coach Mark!

Happy Mothers Day!:)

Happy Mother's Day Mom! Haha, I got on your blogspot to put this on here...I'm about to go downstairs and tell you to look at it:) I hope you like this! It took me like 2 hours to make:) from your oldest (and favorite;D) daughter, kalei:) <3

Make a Smilebox slideshow

ALWAYS BE ON YOUR BEST BEHAVIOR....

......you never know who will be watching! Tootie's teacher came to her ballgame on Tuesday. She was soooo excited to see her there. I think Toot thinks she and her teacher are bffs! It is such a blessing to have wonderful people in your child's life. Erin looks forward to each and every school day and I am so thankful she is having such a wonderful experience. I am very sad that this school year is coming to an end. Why can't we have the same teacher continue on with us through out life?? Here is to all the teachers who have touched our lives in the past. Volunteering in the classroom this year has verified what I already knew....it takes a very special person to be a teacher...but it takes an even greater one to stand out in our lives forever.

TEACHERS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!

LOOKING BACK AT THE MONTH OF APRIL....

For all of you who laughed at my wedding pictures, I am glad I gave you a good laugh!

Here we are 15 years later...

The last picture of the photo session and it shows!



the "toothless wonder!"

Tootie playing first base at a tournament a few weeks ago,

her team placed 4th.

Lauren's team placed first in the same tournament, way to go Heartbreakers!

Lauren's note to the tooth fairy telling her to look for the pink and green room!

Can you believe April is over?? In the last few weeks I have celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary, I turned 34, I have watched too many softball games to count! and absolutely loved every minute of it! I have watched my oldest daughter play her last freshman ballgame. I have also been very proud of her as she was invited to a special breakfast for being in the top 15% of her class. She is number 75 out of 790...which I find excellent! I have celebrated Tootie scoring perfect on the TAKS test. Hunted a few eggs, won a first place tournament trophy, and lost a few teeth!

Oak Ridge High School Lady War Eagles are in the playoffs, Erin recently made the cup stacking team and has tried out for all stars...results haven't been posted yet, busy season of dancing kicks off as we prepare for the recital. The girls' dances are soo cute. Lauren is dancing to "Stop in the name of love" or as one of her classmates called it...."Stop in the name of the hamburger!" It is way cute seeing a group of four and five year olds shaking their booty and pointing their fingers...Erin's has moved up to the "next level" in dance which is more grown up and not so little girly. She is tap dancing to a Billy Joel song...she is also very, very excited about her ballet dance to "Don't cry for me Argentina" by Madonna, the dance is very elegant and is so her! By the way, Erin said her dance was by Billy Joel and Kalei said isn't he that pastor on tv....Billy Joel...Joel Olsteen...don't think so!

I can't leave you without the "Laurenism's" of the month. Recently the girls were sharing a drink and Lauren told Erin "give me some of that Dr Pibb." Erin replies "It's Mr Pibb" Lauren says "I don't care about no Mr just give me the drink!" It is so hard not to laugh out loud because she gets very upset and embarrassed. Yesterday I was cleaning out Lauren's closet and she comes in the room and tells me "you can get rid of the dresses because I'm not wearing them!"

Lauren lost a tooth again last week. Sunday night she put it under her pillow and the tooth fairy didn't come. She decided maybe the tooth fairy is off on weekends. So Monday night we put the tooth under her pillow again and the tooth fairy didn't come again. We decided the tooth fairy couldn't find her because she usually sleeps with Erin and now she is sleeping in her bed. Tuesday night she decides to write the tooth fairy a letter. I have posted a picture of what I found on Erin's door that night. Thank Goodness the tooth fairy found her Tuesday night!

By the way the Tonyas' are growing soooo fast. Lauren spotted a few tomatoes and is totally excited. Over Spring break I took the girls out to the bluebonnets and rediscovered why I don't really have pictures of my children! Hope you guys have a great May and we all survive the swine flu...speaking of, my mom told me I had the swine flu in 1977....all these years I always wondered what was wrong with me....there you go!!!!

Stay tuned next week Terry is touring Minute Maid park with the 3rd graders and I am going to Old McDonald's farm with Lauren's class..should be some totally interesting stories come out of the trips!