Where Mom?! 29/52 Photos of ME!!

Are YOU a mom? Are YOU missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, but here is a fun meme that brings us moms out from behind the camera and puts US in the spotlight! Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans is the hostess of this year long picture project; and just think, after a year, you will have at least 52 pictures with you in them! It can be scary, but com'on, give it a try! It's easy, all you have to do is hand over the camera and smile (or not, it is completely up to you!!). And the best part is, you can jump in and start whenever; for me this will be my 29th week!

These pictures were taken a few months ago, but since my computer is still not cooperating I was afraid to upload anything new thinking it would take too too long!! So I went looking in my picture files to see what I could find!

One Saturday we got in the car and drove to see what we could see...

looking for a fun new place to eat!

We found a fun sports bar with all sorts of different foods with TVs all over the walls and pool tables and darts!

Before the food came, we played games in the kids menus!

And the food was great too!! I love it when we have time to just be a family and enjoy the little things in life! With it being smack dab in the middle of football season, family time is hard to come by, although this past weekend we spent Saturday and Sunday night just hanging out watching TV, football naturally!!

Now it's your turn to join the fun...hand the camera over, say cheese, and smile!

Stroll With Me...Won't You?!

As I went strolling to look for something to post today, I thought it might be fun to see what we were up too and what sport we were playing 4 years ago, 9/10/05, when I first got my digital camera...and low and behold, it's NOT football...WHAT...NOT FOOTBALL?!

Nope, it was SOCCER!!

And it was only Brendan since Colin was still too young to play! This must have been Brendan's first season playing...he is #7 in the red and he is so little!!

Get that ball...


It's so cute at this level...they all go to where the ball is...no positions...just get that ball and kick it in the net!!
The boys played 3 seasons of soccer before joining football!



I love that Erica is the host of this fun weekly stroll...makes me look back and smile at all the fun memories!

For more Walks Down Memory Lane, be sure to check her out!

True Story Tuesday

Can I just tell you how proud I am of this kid...

So at the beginning of football season this kid weighed 99.5 lbs, but to play at the Mighty Mites level that the Cobras football team plays in, in our Pop Warner League, a player needs to weigh no more than 90.9 lbs at their official weigh in certification. You can read more about that here...

Well...for the last month he has been on his football diet, it's been hard, but he has done it. He gets weighed, along with the rest of the team, before each game. Their official weight is that from the first official weigh in which Colin was at 90.4lbs and you can read about that here...

Well before each game, they are weighed in, in their pads, which they get 7 lbs for and 1.5 lbs, each week, for growth...

So if you are keeping track, Colin could essentially weigh 101.9lbs in full pads BUT he has been ssssoooo good at maintaining his football diet and continuing to work out that he weighed in this past Saturday at...
94 lbs!!!!

Which means that he has lost even more weight and is much healthier!!!!
WEIGH TO GO COLIN....I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!

For more True Story Tuesdays visit Rachel

Football Frenzy...

Since our computer is being VERY fussy, I am lucky that Ryan was even able to upload my pictures from this last week...that's right, the last time I was able to upload was last weekend! I think it is time for a new computer...sigh...

Well at least he was able to get these up, after several attempts, but better late than never and instead of 2 football posts, I have put them into one...You can read about our football games here, but it is boring cuz there is no pics and if you know me, you know that I like my pictures!!

The start to the Wildcat-Coyote game Friday night. The captains came out to shake hands and toss the coin after the Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America and a moment of silence for 9/11. Very meaningful...and a quick thanks to all that have served and who continue to serve for me and my family to be able to live freely and love the God we love.

The defense bring down the offense...and that is the way it's done!!

Ryan doing his coaching thing...

The Wildcats lost to the Coyotes 42-6, not too bad considering they, the Coyotes, were ranked #9 in the nation! And for those of you that read this post, Dash is doing fine and the Wildcats have a bye this week (which means they have a week off) so he has a little longer to rest!


Bright and early the next morning, we headed over an hour away for the Cobras to play the Vipers. Another HOT day in AZ, but a beautiful day none the less! Game time 10:00am, kicked off right on time!

Here are the Cobras warming up before kick off



Offense on the field



Taking a time out


Taking a knee...a few injuries this past week during the game and when a player goes down, so does the rest of the players, on and off the field. Brendan got hurt during this game right after the half and you can read about that in my last post...it was scary, but all is well and he is fine! It's not so easy being a football mom!!


And too bad for the Cobras, they lost their first game on Saturday 12-6; it was a well matched game and they played hard, but the Vipers wanted it more!

Better luck next week!

2 Games + 2 Losses = 4 Sad McCrakens!

And the fact that our computer is still NOT being nice...is NOT making my weekend any happier...Oy Vey...what a couple of days!

Day 1...Game1...Loss 1

Last night Ryan's team, the WCHS Wildcats, played the #9 team in the NATION...we thought it was gonna be bad, really bad, but in all reality, it wasn't that bad...we only lost 42-6! There was a very scary moment at the end of the game however...a moment NO football mom EVER wants to see...a player, her son, down and not moving...with 2 minutes left in the game one of our linemen went down and didn't get up; he had no feeling in his extremities. They called the game, the players shook hands & left the field and the coach's wives prayed in the stands. Dash was taken to the hospital by ambulance and later released, thankfully, at 4am with strict instructions to rest for the next couple of days. That did not make for a fun night! We didn't get home until 11pm, which makes for 2 very tired & cranky boys the next morning!

Day 2...Game 2...Loss 2

We were once up at the buutcrackofdawn to head over an hour away for a 10:00am game. We have to be to the field by 8:15am for pre-game and I needed to get gas, so that meant we were up and out by 6:45am! And as you remember last week, it was damp, cold and rainy...well today was the extreme opposite...over 100* with hot hot hot sun!!! The game started on time and both teams were well matched, but unfortunately for the Cobra's, the Vipers had just a bit more get up and go get'em!!! The game ended with the final being 12-6...not to bad! The boys both had good games, although I had one of those dreaded football mom moments...Brendan went down and didn't get back up...WHAT?! Deja'vu from last night...only this time it was ME . I didn't even see the hit and wasn't aware that it was even him; one of the other moms had to come and get me...YIKES...so by the time I got over to where he was, the paramedics already had his pads off and were examining him. I layed my hand on his shoulder and prayed over him right then and there..."what happened?", I asked. "Helmet to helmet contact with Brendan pulling the other player down on top of him then causing them to hit helmets again and Brendan to bang his helmet on the ground...HARD." , the paramedic said. He checked out OK and was sent to the sidelines with strict instructions to rest and hydrate and I was told to be on the lookout for a concussion. He has been home for a few hours and is doing fine...back to himself

...THANK YOU JESUS...

never do I want for that to happen again, although with this only being his 2nd year in tackle, I am sure there will be lots more...so I will continue to pray over them.

Who said being a football mom was easy?!

Well...that was our 2 games and 2 losses...

Wildcats 6 - Coyotes 42

Cobras 6 - Vipers 12

I am VERY grateful that Dash & Brendan will be back to their tackling selves very soon.

God is GOOD all the time.

Hopefully pictures to come soon!!!!

Where's Mom?! 28/52 Photos of ME!

Are YOU a mom? Are YOU missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, but here is a fun meme that brings us moms out from behind the camera and puts US in the spotlight! Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans is the hostess of this year long picture project; and just think, after a year, you will have at least 52 pictures with you in them! It can be scary, but com'on, give it a try! It's easy, all you have to do is hand over the camera and smile (or not, it is completely up to you!!). And the best part is, you can jump in and start whenever; for me this will be my 28th week!

Me and my boys after their win this past Saturday!

I ♥ being a football mom!

Now it's your turn to join the fun...hand the camera over, say cheese, and smile!

Saturday at the Field! (on Wednesday!)

Saturday morning came with rain...it does not rain in AZ for those of you that don't know..we are actually in the middle of a drought...

So we were up at about 6:30 am and Colin was so excited that it was raining! Well that rain lasted for all of about 10 minutes...the usual!

By the time we left for the football field at 7:25am, the rain was done, but the skies were dark!

We got to the field for warm-ups and weigh in certification and the sky kept getting darker and darker and then the thunder started rolling in and then the lightning started flashing.

The drizzle started about half an hour after getting to the field (which my boys LOVED!) and then the down pour...

After an hour & a half rain delay, they finally kick offed!

Get it on...

Cobras vs. Bull Whips

Brendan was once again a captain and got to walk to the middle of the field with 3 others to do the coin toss and shake the hands of the captains from the other team.

Brendan bringing down the guy...

Colin ready to snap the ball



Tough Guys


They both had a FABULOUS game...

The Cobras were victorious over the Bull Whips

27-7

Until next week...

GO COBRAS!!!

Friday Night Under The Lights on Tuesday!

I don't know what Ryan did, BUT HE WAS ABLE TO UPLOAD MY PICTURES...FINALLY AND I AM SOSOSOSO EXCITED!!!!!

So here is my Friday post

Friday Night Under The Lights...

...a little late!

Better late than never, I always say...

And away we go...

We got to the stadium a little after 6pm on a very windy Friday night...

...with a very full moon!


Before the game, the ball boys meeting with the Ref to get it all straightened out!

Ryan with his guys during warm-ups


And the game begins...

And the final score is....

Wildcats 35 - Jaguars 2

The boys were hysterical during the game...jumping for joy every time the Wildcats scored...going crazy, just as the sidelines and stands were!

Ryan's defense had a shut out which was very exciting for him...you see the 2 points that the Jaguars got was from a safety which means they sacked our quarterback in their end zone, which means NO points were scored on the defense and that makes for a good weekend for me!!

After the win, the team, coaches & cheerleaders come over to the band and the fans in the stands to sing the fight song!

*GO* *GO* *WILDCATS GO*

*WCHS BRING US VICTORY*

On the field after the Head Coach talks

Ryan & the boys after the game!

It was such an exciting game, so exciting that I came home with NO voice! It's always a good weekend when there is a win on Friday night!

But that win didn't change a thing, they still had chalk talk & film on Saturday morning, coaches meeting on Sunday afternoon and early morning practice on Monday morning.

This coming Friday they play the #9 team in the nation...wish us luck...I think we're gonna need it!

GO WCHS!!!

Random Thoughts and Some Thanks!

♦If you read my last post you may know that my computer will not allow my camera to upload my pictures. I am still so mad and I just don't know what to do!!! {tear}

♦I tried uploading to my (school) laptop, but whatever I did...DID NOT work! {another tear}, so still no pictures. {lots of tears}

♦I went and got a pedicure yesterday after church with my friend Crystal and had a great time! They are navy and silver for WCHS!

♦Talking about WCHS, they play the #9 team in the nation, YEP IN THE NATION, on Friday night. {yikes}

♦And since we are talking about football, but aren't we always talking about football, the boys have their game over an hour away and of course I have a baby shower on this side of town...sigh...wish I could be in 2 places at once!

♦With today being Labor Day, I decided that I would do some labor...I cleaned my house from TOP to BOTTOM!! Love that my house is so clean!

♦Colin is outside playing and Brendan is laying on the kitchen counter listening to Camp Rock...whatever!

♦I am looking forward to the 4 day school week, but why is it that 4 day school weeks always seem longer than 5 day school weeks? Oh well...one less day is a good thing! Is it bad to already have a count down to summer?!

Over the last few days, I have been fortunate to receive a few awards from fellow bloggy friends!

Nanette over at Life:Be In It passed on these 2 awards to me {blush}...She is a super sweet gal, wife, mom, Child of God and so much more! Make sure to blog over and visit...she would love it!

So the first award that Nanette passed on was the Loyal Friend & Visitor Award...how sweet...Thanks! I love to blog by and read about her daily doses of life! The rules of this award are to post it and who gave it to you and then to pass it on! Well, I pass it on to all that follow and Comment, cuz if it wasn't for you...I wouldn't even have a blog! Thanks ladies for letting me feel the ♥love♥!!

And the second award that Nanette passed onto me is this fun award, Neno's Award! This award is given to those who love blogging (guess I am a candidate for that!), love to encourage friendships through blogging (check!), and who help others seek the reasons why we all love blogging (I feel so honored!).

I have met so may great bloggy friends and other coaches wives through blogland that I am truly blessed! Thanks again Nanette for thinking of me and passing these awards onto McCrakensx4!

And lastly, but certainly not least, Elyse from Following Him, honored me with this fun award...

I am sure you all know Elyse, but if not, YOU have to go and check her out...she is a daughter, sister, college student and Child of God!! She is amazing and so uplifting and a great prayer warrior! Go and see for yourself!!

So with accepting this award, I am supposed to tell you 10 things about myself...WoW...this is gonna be hard since I feel as though ya'll know everything about me already!! But here it goes...

1. I am a HUGE procrastinator! I wait until the last minute to do everything!

2. I could sit and watch TV all day if I had nothing else better to do.

3. I have not gained nor lost ANY weight since the birth of Colin, which was over 8 years ago!

4. I could eat chocolate chip cookies every day! (hence not losing weight since Colin was born!)

5. I will follow my hubby anywhere he gets a coaching job! I ♥ football! (but you already know that!)

6. I check my blog and facebook account, like, 100 times a day!

7. I like fruit, but do not like veggies... :P

8. I can watch the same movies over and over and over again! Especially Enchanted!

9. I started my blog for Mimi over at He & Me + 3 on October 23, 2008 while on medical leave for having an emergency hysterectomy...So in a month I will be having my ONE YEAR BLOGOVERSARY!

10. I love to sing to Radio Disney and often am doing it without the boys in the car!

So there you have it...10 (hopefully) new things that you learned about me! I am supposed to pass this award on to 7 blogs that I may find 'brilliant in content or design'. Well, as you know I am really bad at following the rules, so please accept this award on behalf of me if you are a follower, cuz I would really like to get to know you better! And don't forget to leave me a comment if you accepted any of these awards, because of course I want to come and see!!

Thanks ladies for passing these awards on to me...I am so honored!

Here's hoping you have a fun & relaxing Labor Day!

I AM SO MAD!!!

OK...so this is the reason I AM SO MAD...

my computer is NOT being nice; that's right, NOT BEING NICE!

I came home last night after Ryan's football game to upload the win, THAT'S RIGHT, YOU READ IT RIGHT...RYAN'S WIN!!!! to find that my computer WOULD NOT upload my photos and NOT only would it NOT upload the photos, it would shut down and NOT let me start it back up! Are ya kiddin' me?! So I went to bed and Ryan came home and worked his magic and got it to start up...

So this morning at the buttcrackofdawn, I go into the den to post about his win and I start to download the pictures and WHAT...the computer shuts down AGAIN and now it WON'T start back up...it's dead...so sad...I know!!!

BUT

I just had to let you know that...

WCHS was victorious and beat the Jaguars 35-2...it was a fabulous game and I came home with NO voice!

AND

The boys' game was WET, very WET and after an hour rain delay (with thunder AND lightning) they beat the Bull Whips 27-7...another AWESOME game!!

So there you have it...2 days...2 teams...2 wins...

And that's the way it's done!!!

Pictures to come!!

Where's Mom?! 27/52 Photos of ME!!

Are YOU a mom? Are YOU missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, but here is a fun meme that brings us moms out from behind the camera and puts US in the spotlight! Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans is the hostess of this year long picture project; and just think, after a year, you will have at least 52 pictures with you in them! It can be scary, but com'on, give it a try! It's easy, all you have to do is hand over the camera and smile (or not, it is completely up to you!!). And the best part is, you can jump in and start whenever; for me this will be my 27th week!

So yesterday in my Wordless Wednesday, I posted pictures of Brown Bear...here's the story...every weekend, Brown Bear goes home with on of my kindergartners and they get to have special adventures with him. Before bringing him back to school on Monday, they write in Brown Bear's journal about all the fun things that they did over the weekend! Well, this past weekend was MY turn to have Brown Bear come home with me!! In his journal I wrote about how he came to not 1, but 2 football games this past weekend to cheer on all of my boys! I get to be the first star student to show them how to do it! So this is me and Brown Bear at Ryan's game last Friday night!

Head Coach's wife, Dawn and me at the game last Friday night. She is a teacher for the district too, so after school on game nights we meet somewhere for dinner with our clans and then head to the stadium! Her son, Bric, is a ball boy too!


And last but certainly not least...here is me and my hubby on the field after the game!


Now it's your turn to join the fun...hand the camera over, say cheese, and smile!

WW~ Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see football that's what I see!!

True Story Tuesday

When I was a little girl, I had the blondest locks that you ever did see! I loved my hair...I had it long, short, bobbed...I loved it! As I grew up, my blonde locks got darker and darker and darker UNTIL they turned to gray...*gasp*...I know! I am lucky though, I think, since my nannie AND my mom had entire heads of gray by the time they were....35...! I am thirtysomething (older than 35!) and I have alot of gray, but not totally gray!

Now usually I go to the salon and spend mucho bucks getting it highlighted and lowlighted and glossed and anything else they can do to charge me more money!! Well, I was done with that!! I spent over $120 in June to have my hair done and here it is only 2 and a half months later and my hair looks terrible...

My roots are totally gray and I was wearing it up in a ponytail almost everyday so that I didn't have to see all that gray...that is until I saw a commercial for this and decided to try it on my own! I was so nervous! Now mind you...I have seen my mom do this a hundred times...BUT... I had never done this before and I am looking in the mirror thinking to myself, what if this goes wrong, really wrong, and I come out with not so great looking hair? I mean there's not much I can do about it on a Monday night at 8pm...so here goes nothing...

I flipped my head over and squirted, flipped my hair back and squirted some more! I wasn't sure if I needed to put all of the stuff on, or be done after half or what...so I put most of it on my hair all the while suffocating from the toxic smell!!
And then the timer was set and the waiting and praying began!!

35 minutes later and.....

Viola!
I am very pleased at how it turned out...lighter with a hint of reddish blonde! I now know for next time, oh cuz there will be a next time people, that I really have to do my roots and around my face the most with the rest of my hair getting the excess...but for my first time...not bad!!

For more True Story Tuesdays check out Rachel!