Monday, May 2, 2011

Cheer Memories.....has it really been 6 years????

Ok, so I haven't posted in a long, long, long time!!  Been a busy few weeks around the McNeill household! 

Age 8

Finished up a great cheer season with Texas Stars!  Ally's teams won many national titles and are up for a Worlds Title, to be announced later this month.  AND, we've already had try outs and start practicing for year 7 next week.  Nope, there's not much time off with competitive cheer. Here's a mini review of her first six seasons:
Year 1 (2005-2006) Cheer & Tumble Factory Ponies

Year 2 (2006-2007) Texas Stars Diva Dazzlers
Year 3 (2007-2008) Texas Stars Heartbreakers
 
Year 4 (2008-2009) Texas Stars Shooting Stars
(Ally's Center in the Pyramid)

Year 5 (2009-2010) Texas Stars Eclipse
Ally's being tossed....she's the one on the right

 
Year 6 (2010-2011) Texas Stars Fusion
Yep...upside down


Year 6 (2010-2011) Texas Stars Blaze
Check out the focus!

Age 8
 Can't wait to see what this new year brings.  We've said goodbye to some friends over the years, but always make new ones.  There are 4 girls on Ally's team this coming year that have been together for 5 years.   It's so exciting to look back and see how much they've grown up, and grown in the sport.  Stay tuned throughout the year to see how they do!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Love of My Life!! (Yes, Robert!!!!)

So, I've been thinking.  I posted about the cats.  I posted about Ally.  I posted about Andy.  I posted about Justin.  I posted about Roby.  And I posted about Savannah.  Perhaps I should post about my best friend.

Most of you probably dont' know the whole story behind how we ended up together.  A long, long time ago...long before anyone had uttered the word "blog" the internet was created!  Remember the movie "You've Got Mail" with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks??!!  Well, that's kinda sorta how we met...but not exactly.  Both of us had been divorced, and each had two kiddos.  I was goofing around and posted something on a 'bulletin board' on AOL.com.  Lo and behold, Robert replied!  We started emailing, and I got brave and gave him my phone number.  We talked on the phone, but still hadn't met.  So, we agreed to meet one day at lunch, not far from my office in Euless.  He was working nights loading freight and going to school during the day at UTA.  On July 19, 1995 we met...at Wendy's.  It was truly a blind date!  We had no idea what the other looked like.  We spent the next 30 minutes talking about our kids pretty much. 

It was a great time.  The next day, in the mail, I got the sweetest card from him.  We talked again on the phone and agreed to go out the next weekend, with all our kids.  Wouldn't you know our first date was with all 4 kids (at that time aged 7, 5, 3 1/2 and barely 2) to Chuck E Cheese!!!  It was amazing.  The pizza tasted like cardboard, it was super expensive for two single parents, but it was so much fun. 


We got married just 6 short months later, January 19, 1996.  He sang to me at our wedding.  I couldn't believe I'd found the most amazing, loving, romantic guy!  And that hasn't changed in the 15 years we've been married.

 Robert is a software developer by trade. But his passion is photography.  It all began 5 years ago when he bought his first SLR.  We got it primarily to take pictures of the kids.  Ally had just started cheering and the point and shoots just didn't do the job.  Then on our 10th anniversary trip to Maui we went on a whale watch and he caught "Wilma" the whale.  He was hooked!
Wilma - Maui January 2006

He does get some great pics of the kids too.  This was the pic that stemmed the interest in taking action shots....
Ally - January 2007
It's always an adventure with us.  Robert's truly my best friend.  We share a lot of common interests...which is good!  We love to travel (all the time if we could!), love sports, love God and absolutely adore our children.  
 I've been so blessed to have met him when I did.  And to still be right beside him today.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!  Sure is fun getting old with this guy!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Beautiful girlies!

Megan, Ally and Christina

All dressed up for the dance!  They looked absolutely beautiful!
 We did a little photo shoot in the backyard before taking them to the dance.  And, of course, there had to be trampoline time with these three!!  They're the best of friends.  I couldn't have chosen better friends for my daughter!!!
A little trampoline time first!!

Posing for pics

We love these three beautiful girls!


My princess

Princess Christina
 
Princess Megan

Not sure the dance was all they'd hoped, but there will be many more!  Seems like a good time was had by all!!!