Donuts With Dad!

This morning was special for AJ and Alex - they got to head off to school together and have donuts in the school cafeteria! Both have a huge love of donuts and a even bigger love of each other! They share such a special father-daughter bond and are two of the silliest people I know - they both have an amazing sense of humor and LOVE to make me laugh - guess it's why I love them both SO much!

34 & Fabulous!

Today I celebrated 34 years! I am blessed to have the most amazing life with the best husband, partner and friend and the two funnest, coolest, most beautiful and kindest children! First off yesterday the Mountaineers won their very first Big 12 game and then Alex took me out to a super nice restaurant 141 we have been dying to try, we had a concert and football on big screens back in our "hood"! I had such an amazing night with the most amazing husband! In the morning I woke up to 2 smiling faces excited to jump up on the bed and wake me up with cards and gifts! We hit up church and then I came home and my family made me the most amazing breakfast! We hung around all day and I was showered with birthday love, hugs and kisses. After dinner we sang and I got to blow out the candles on my ice-cream cake with my two babies and wish for another year full of blessings, happiness and health! God willing this year will be even better then the last!

Spirit Day!

How darn cute is my little D man is all decked out in his green JCUMP spirit shirt? I love this boy more than words!

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Today we had a late football game so we decided to spend the morning in Roswell at Chattahoochee Nature Center. It was beautiful - we did a little hiking through the woods, ate some lunch and snacks and saw some cool animal exhibits. The butterfly garden was gorgeous! We had such a nice time in such a beautiful place. Of course we were all decked out in our Mountaineer gear and excited to get home for the start of the game and were very happy to see our #8 ranked Mountaineers beat James Madison 42-12!!

Cookie and Caramel

Today Alex, Dylan and I went to pick AJ up at school so that we could bring home our weekend visitors. Cookie and Caramel are AJ's class guinea pigs and we signed up to have them come stay at our house! The kids are SO excited and LOVE holding and feeding them! Even Patch has come over to check them out! We love AJ's teacher and all the love she has for animals - they have a bunny in class too and a Golden Retrier that comes at least once a week - amazing!

911 2012

I think about you frequently - you are missed dearly and NEVER forgotten. I make sure to tell my kids about you and show them pictures - they would have loved you and you them! It's hard to be in Georgia away from the family, especially on this day, I feel disconnected from it all. Sadly being in NJ or NY where there are SO many who understand what you are going through all too well was always comforting. This year I was fortunate enough to find a beautiful flag display at a nearby high school that I took Dylan with me to go and visit. It made me feel a little better to be able to go and honor/remember you in some way. I posted to Facebook the pic of you and I from Steve's wedding and Michele and I laughed about the crazy fun day we all had! You spirit lives on in my happy memories and in your beautiful children. RIP and continue to shine down and watch over us all, until we meet again.

Let's GO MOUNTAINEERS!

As you can see all 4 Matrale's are ready for the season - bring on the Mountaineers! We are very excited to be the newest addition to the Big 12 and to get the opportunity to play some great teams! After beating Marshall today 60-34 (in the last Friends of Coal game)we are excited to show some Big 12 teams what we've got! The kids were so much fun to watch the game with and got super into it, Alex and I had such a great day with them! Let's GOOOOOO Mountaineers!