Let's go T-Bones ... Rah, rah, rah!

If you know me at all, you know I am not, nor was I ever, a cheerleader. Shocker, right? I never even really knew or hung out with cheerleaders. In fact, most of my ideas and preconceived notions of cheerleaders come from 80s and 90s TV shows and movies. (As readers might remember, I love me some 80s cheese movies!)

I do have to confess, though. I tried out for the cheerleading squad in 7th grade. (What?!? Yes, I know. It's a deep, dark, dirty secret of mine.) We had to make up our own cheer and perform it. Someone helped me make up a cheer, but I didn't think the basic "Go team, go!" was good enough. I added a bunch of other words in there to tell a better story. Then, when I got up to perform, I forgot half the words I added. Needless to say, I didn't make it. Eventually, I found my place in the world of words: the school newspaper. Much more appropriate, no? It seems I was less Saved by the Bell's Kelly Kapowski than 90210's Andrea Zuckerman, no matter how much I loved Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.

Kelly Kapowski

Andrea Zuckerman

Anyway, all this backstory to explain how I ended up enrolling Molly in a cheerleading camp this summer. See, a couple months ago, I got a message from a friend. Nickie has a daughter (Jensen) two months older than Molly. Nickie said she had signed Jensen up for cheer camp and that I should sign Molly up, too. I was shocked, because I never had even considered the idea. But, then, Nickie wasn't exactly a cheerleading-type, either. Plus, I wouldn't picture myself as a "cheer mom." I kind of pictured Dance Moms, but with cheerleaders.

But, in spite of myself, I signed Molly up. I didn't want to put my preconceptions (and bad junior high experiences) on Molly. And, who knows? Maybe she'd really like it.

She went to camp every morning for a week, then all the girls got to perform some cheers at the T-Bones game. (The T-Bones are our local Independent Baseball team.)

Turns out, Molly had a great time. She learned the cheers and dances, and knew them pretty well when it was game time. She seemed to like performing, though she never did master the art of smiling while doing moves. She liked the jumps and kicks, and now Charlotte is even running around "doing cheers" like Molly.  And, the cheer coach was really nice - not at all like Sue Sylvester from the Cheerios.

Performing on the last day of camp.

10 years on ... still laffing strong

Man, 10 years is a long time. 10 years ago, Friends and ER were still on TV, and American Idol had just had its very first season. The iPod had only been around for six months, and we couldn't even comprehend having the Internet on our phones. And, you know what else happened 10 years ago? Yeah, Cory and I got married in a wedding day to end all wedding days.  Ok, that might be a bit of hyperbole. It definitely wasn't close to one of the $50 million celebrity weddings popular for the pictures in People Magazine. But, it was special because we made it through intact, and now, I get many, many laffs thinking back at the disasters that befell us on June 15, 2002.

You know what else was going on 10 years ago? Not a whole lot of digital photography. Yeah, all our photos are film, so we've had to scan them in. Thus, the so-so quality. All you young kids and your digital photos should count yourself lucky.

I think there is a saying out there that claims bad things happening on your wedding day bodes well for the future of your marriage. Take the old superstition about rain being good on your wedding day: Rain symbolizes blessings, cleansing, unity, and a new day, and therefore means good luck for the marriage. Personally, I always thought they just made that up to make you feel better when all your plans for beautiful outdoor wedding pictures were ruined by torrential sheets of water pouring down from the sky.

But, then came my own wedding day exactly 10 years ago. After that fateful day, I was suddenly all aboard the bad-luck-on-your-wedding-means-good-luck-for-your-marriage train.

See, my own wedding day was filled, I mean filled, with mishaps, mistakes and oopsie-daisies. So many "issues" occurred that halfway through the reception, I finally lost it and burst into tears. The ugly, crying tears, though, not the beautiful, glistening eyes of a new bride.

I'll start from the beginning to give you an overview of the day:

The wedding party before the day started to go downhill.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Charlotte & Minnie (part 2)

Minnie is a popular playmate in our house these days. One favorite activity: Putting Minnie down to sleep. Charlotte decided to pose with all her Minnies as they were taking a nap in her bed.

Yup, Minnies + Charlotte = Cute