Beach Slideshow

First Trip to the Beach

Can you believe that Ruthie lives only a few miles from the beach and Kamdyn is 21 months old and has not seen the beach or the ocean? Me either! What is even more amazing is that we were able to go in late December and it wasn't freezing cold. It was 70 degrees and people even had swim suits on at the beach! Kamdyn LOVED it!! She loved digging in the sand, throwing the sand, and running on the beach. She kept saying, "I get in the water." I explained to her that the water was too cold, but that we would come back this summer and swim in the ocean. She was content with my response and went back to finding seashells, digging in the sand, and throwing the sand. As stated in a previous post, I am not a fan of dirt, but especially not SAND!!! It was all I could do to watch her pick up the sand. It was all under her fingernails and I couldn't get it off of her hands once we got back to the car. I also had it all over my clothes and hands. Oh well! It was a wonderful experience despite my phobia of sand. Kamdyn had a wonderful time!

Christmas with the Family

Matthew and Mama Lucy arrived at our house around 9:30. Nanny and Pop Pop came shortly after, followed by Ruthie. Kathy, Jim and Grandpa Larry got there around noon. We opened gifts with Mama Lucy, Ruthie, and Uncle Matthew first. Then, we had lunch around 12:30. We opened more gifts with Kathy, Jim, and Grandpa Larry after lunch. Kamdyn took a nap. We had dessert and enjoyed each other for the rest of the evening until everyone departed. Ruth Ann and Uncle Matthew spent the night with us and we celebrated some more. What a wonderful Christmas it was! We couldn't ask for more!!! We are truly blessed!

Christmas from Santa

We actually had to wake Kamdyn up on Christmas morning, if you can believe that! Our entire family was coming to our house, so we had to be up, ready, and done with our Christmas before they got here. I was a little worried as to how her mood would be since we had to wake her. She proved me wrong and was such a sweetie! She didn't know what to do when she saw all of her gifts in the floor in front of the tree. She went from one thing to the next. She would pick up one thing and then discover something else. She got the "normal" kid stuff. From Santa, she got a baby doll, a monkey, DVD's, the Pinkalicious book, a shape sorter, and various other toys. It was so exciting just watching the amazement in her eyes. She was taken away by the fact that Santa drank all of his milk and left only one cookie with a bite taken out of it. What a wonderful Christmas! This was definitely the best one for me, not because I received gifts, but because I was able to be with our family and see the excitement in Kamdyn. We have so much to be thankful for!

Getting Ready for Santa

We "baked" cookies for Santa after opening our gifts with Nanny and Pop Pop. Nanny gave Kamdyn a bath while the cookies were baking. Kamdyn came out dressed in her Christmas "jommies" and hat. Kamdyn then enjoyed a cookie and some milk herself. We put Santa's cookies and milk out on "Kamdyn's table." We said goodnight to Nanny and Pop Pop and Kamdyn was off to bed. Last, Santa's helpers began their "work." :)

Kamdyn keeps saying, "Santa come down that hole," meaning chimney. I know she understands some of what is going on, but I think that she thinks that Santa is actually going to be here in our living room on Christmas morning. She doesn't seem so sure about that. He won't be here, but she will get a good surprise with lots of toys in front of our tree.

Christmas Eve with Nanny and Pop Pop

Nanny and Pop Pop came down to North Augusta on Sunday afternoon to spend some time with us. We had our Christmas with them tonight. Kamdyn enjoyed herself immensely and she is so very different from last year. She actually gets excited about opening her gifts and wants to play with them immediately. I've always heard this phrase and now I understand exactly how true it is..........."Christmas truly is for kids!" What fun it has been this year!

Watercolor of Kamdyn

Tears came to my eyes as I opened this wonderful gift from Ruthie. She always thinks of the best and unique gifts to give others. She has a artist friend, Al Stine, who is from Anderson, but owns a cottage where she lives. She had him sketch a picture of Kamdyn after looking at one of her Christmas photos from Fitz-Symms. He surprised her by adding the watercolors. If you ask Kamdyn she will tell you it's a "watertolor by Al Baby Einstein!" I love it so much that I just had to share it! Thank you so much, Ruthie!

Watercolor Painting


Original Photo

Blocks from Ruthie

Ruthie came down on Friday morning to spend time with Kamdyn and to keep her Friday night while we went to another Christmas Party. Ruthie decided that she wanted to give Kamdyn her Christmas gift early. Ruthie, the artistic one in the family, purchased Kamdyn a set of "Wonderland" blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kamdyn loves them! Her favorite part is knocking them down after someone makes a beautiful castle. Thank, Ruthie! We'll see you again on Christmas Day!





Ruthie's friends, Katie and Val, gave Kamdyn these adorable Tiger Paw Gloves.

Making a Christmas Tree

You can tell that I'm off work AND that I have company here to help with Kamdyn by the number of posts that I have been adding to the blog. :)

This is an activity that I do with my students at school. We had some left over so I decided to do this with Kamdyn. The 4-year-olds actually put the green icing on the ice cream cone. Yes, it's MESSY! I decided that I better put the icing on for Kamdyn. She did a good job putting the M&M's on though. She ate every other M&M as she decorated the tree. She couldn't wait to eat the green icing.

Jingle Bells

Persistence pays off! :) This is for your entertainment, Carrie and Potter!

Christmas 2006 vs. Christmas 2007

Wow! Look how much she has changed. It is so hard to believe! She doesn't even look like a baby anymore. She is such a joy to us! I don't remember, nor could I imagine, life without her. To us, she's a little bit of Heaven here on Earth. We had no idea what an impact she would have on our lives. She is truly amazing!

Christmas Card 2007

The picture taking process of this year's Christmas Card wasn't quite as difficult as last year's was. In fact, for each of these pictures, Kamdyn posed just as I asked her to. What a difference a year makes!

Christmas Present from Georgia

Wednesday was my last day at work for 2007, so it was Kamdyn's last day at Georgia's. We gave Georgia her present even though there isn't a present in the world that could say "thank you" enough. Georgia also gave Kamdyn her Christmas present.

I hope that Kamdyn's reaction to this present isn't a glimpse of things to come on Christmas morning. I keep telling myself that she reacted this way because she had just awakened from her nap. At least I hope that's all it is!! Kamdyn refused to open her present and was really whiney. We had to coerse her to open the gift. Even after she opened, as fabulous as the gift was, she still was uninterested. UGH!! She LOVES to draw, color, write, etc. This was a perfect gift for her! Why she reacted this way, I'll never know. Anyway, she finally "warmed" up to her new toy when Georgia got out the dry erase markers. She drew on her board and then erased it with the magic eraser. At that point, she was in love with her new toy and didn't want to pack it up so we could go home! Go figure! Thank you so much, Georgia! The gift was perfect!!!





Whiney Face!

Tree Farm Field Trips

Georgia's best friend, Angela, and her husband, Matt, have a tree farm here in Augusta. They provide field trips to interested schools. Georgia helps with each trip which means that Kamdyn and Jacob get to go, too. Kamdyn always talks about Mr. Matt, who drives the tractor. She also talks about going on a hayride and seeing the kids. Well, I decided to schedule a field trip for our PreK classes to see what all the fuss was about. Kamdyn was so surprised to see me there. The field trip was wonderful! We learned how the trees are grown, kept, shaped, replanted, etc. Then, we took a fabulous hayride around the tree farm to look at all of the different trees. Last, we were served hot chocolate, popcorn, and the children were each given a coloring book and a candy cane. The children had a great time and it is definitely a trip that we will go on again.

As for Kamdyn, here she is enjoying her time at the Tree Farm. Mr. Matt says, "Whoa, mule," each time that he stops the tractor. Of course, Kamdyn now says it, too. Kamdyn also has learned many Christmas songs this year from her hayrides and can sing a few of them well enough so you know exactly what she is singing. Her favorite time to sing these songs at the top of her lungs are when she is in the shopping cart at the grocery store. Her favorites include Jingle Bells, Santa Baby, Rudolph, and Frosty.


Riding the tractor with Mr. Matt and Jacob


Going on a hayride with Jacob.


Watching the kids from the warm barn.


Going on a hayride with Mommy and the students
from my class.