Rain, Rain Go AWAY!!

Usually at this time in the football season we are nearly dying of heat stroke. This year we seem to be drowning instead. While sitting in the rain really stinks, I think it beats 100 degrees in full sun ALL day long. Despite the rain, our tailgate has still gone on. The boys have had to get creative in trying to keep the rain out of our tents. Somehow, we have all survived even though our hair and wardrobes have suffered tremendously! Well, I guess I speak for myself!! The best thing about the rain is that we have been able to leave the tailgate at a decent hour instead of being out there until midnight!!

The "Wifeys" (aka the Tailgate Complainers, I mean, SUPERVISORS!) with Carrie's niece making a guest appearance.


"The Ticket Club" with The Tiger!
When you know a former Tiger, it seems that The Tiger makes special guest appearances to your tailgate!!


The Family
I can't believe that we all have on sweatshirts in September!


Me and my AWESOME sister-in-law, Holly!


That's me wearing Tiger head. I can't even begin to describe the smell inside of that thing!


I should have put on the paws, but we were in a hurry! Look at the best Clemson Tiger EVER posed up beside me. I bet this is the face that he always had when posing for pictures when he was IN the suit even though you couldn't see him!! :)

Happy 62 Pop Pop

We celebrated my Daddy's birthday on September 20 even though his birthday was the day before. This was such a celebration for many reasons, but mainly because of the uncertainty of the past couple of years. He has been though so much while battling this awful disease - lung cancer. He has lived through moments and days that most of us can't even fathom. He has withstood the odds and we are so thankful that God has allowed him to be here with us today. I haven't celebrated his recent news, but he is currently cancer free!!! They are going to give his body a break for three months before rescanning for cancer. We know how aggressive lung cancer can be, but we are praying that the cancer is gone for good. Until then, he is working on getting his strength back and living his life. We love you, Pop Pop, and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!



Somebody thinks it's April 1st!


Proud that she blew out all of the candles with just a little bit of help from Pop Pop!


Not sure what this look was about, but I'm pretty sure the discussion was about whose birthday it was!


She's still trying to explain something to him! It probably went something like this, "Pop Pop, I know it's your birthday, but I just want to blow out the candles and open your presents."


Pop Pop was confused because all of the presents were books and toys for Kamdyn??? His presents ($$$$$) were hidden nicely inside of his cards.

Friday Nights with Mama Lucy

Football season is great for many reasons. Hanging out with our friends at the games is great, but Kamdyn's (and my) favorite part of football season is being able to see our family. We usually drive to Anderson on Friday night to have dinner with Mama Lucy and to spend the night with her. We go to the game on Saturdays and go to my parents house on Saturday night where Kamdyn magically arrived sometime on Saturday afternoon. We enjoy Sunday lunch with my parents before driving back to North Augusta. Kamdyn's LOVES being spoiled and entertained constantly by some of her most favorite people in the world.

Playing (sort of) Chinese Checkers with Mama Lucy.


It's more of matching/sorting the marbles in the correct colored triangle.


Coloring Pop Pop's birthday card at Mama Lucy's desk. Love her little leg bent onto the chair. :)


So sweet and focused! She loves to draw, color, and write.


Getting help from Mama Lucy.

Sesame Street Live

Better late than never.....

We took Kamdyn to see Sesame Street Live two weeks ago in Aiken. This show was entitled "Elmo Grows Up." Kamdyn had a great time! Our seats were perfect and the show was great. I love seeing Kamdyn's excitement while watching some of her favorite TV characters in person. Elmo wanted to be every kind of occupation imaginable while Big Bird couldn't figure out what he wanted to be. Since then, Kamdyn has decided that she wants to be a Doctor, a Teacher, and a Trash Collector! Not so sure about the trash collector.......she has a movie that shows a garbage man having a really good time on his job and shows him doing some really cool tricks with the trash cans. I've tried to tell her that it's a really stinky job, but she insists that she will LOVE it! She also keeps telling me that she can be ANYTHING that she wants to be! I guess I should thank Sesame Street for this!! :)

Thanks, Daddy, for getting these tickets for us! We know how thrilled you were to be going to this show on a Tuesday night. We love you!

New Toys

Not new toys for Kamdyn, but new toys for Daddy! He couldn't stand not having a truck, so we now have another one. He also decided that he needed a fancy golf cart in Clemson orange. We love the golf cart and it definitely makes riding around our neighborhood much easier! Kamdyn loves both of them, but says that she still likes the "big red truck" better. I guess we should have let her choose the truck! She has enjoyed more rides on the golf cart with Daddy than I have. Hopefully I'll get in some golf cart time this weekend since we will finally be in town.

Resemblance?

I've had several people in the past few months tell me that Kamdyn looks like a young Taylor Swift. Maybe it's their squinty eyes? I'm not so sure I agree......What do you think?

The Missing Bookbag

Kamdyn's book bag finally arrived a full week after school started. Apparently, it takes book bags two weeks to arrive in the mail! You just can't trust what anyone says these days! I hated that she didn't have it her first week of school. Hopefully, she will be able to use this book bag and lunch box for a couple of years so I don't have to go through the snail mail woes again!!

Tiny Dancer

Although our tiny dancer isn't so tiny anymore, she is still our baby! She was ready for dance and felt so comfortable this year. Kamdyn's neighborhood friend, Catherine, started taking dance this year, too. They were so cute together! This is going to be another great year for her! She's already practicing her steps: plies, passe', arabesque, etc.

Jacob

Kamdyn misses Jacob so much this year now that he is in school. Ironically, he is in my Pre-K class and his Mom is my principal. Instead of Kamdyn seeing him everyday, I get to! (By the way, he is precious!) Thankfully, Georgia tries to get the two of them together as often as possible. She invited both Kamdyn and Jacob over to spend the night the Sunday before Labor Day. Georgia and Jacob came to pick Kamdyn up at our house and Kamdyn couldn't have been more excited!

They were building a castle with Kamdyn's blocks.



Notice that Kamdyn has now caught up with Jacob in size. He turns 5 on October 1st. We have a giant child! She is the size of most of the children in my class who are turning 5. I wish she would slow down a bit!!

It's that Time of Year Again....

.......Tiger Tailgating and Tiger Football!

Most of our weekends in the Fall are spent driving to Clemson on Friday nights to spend time with our family, who live in the Upstate, and to hang out with our friends at the Clemson games. Fortunately, the first game was at night AND the weather was good so we were able to take Kamdyn for some tailgating fun. She had an AWESOME time playing with the other little girls. I even let her play in the sand, something that I swore I would NEVER let her do. I took buckets and shovels which promoted it! I think it's because she is such a neat child. I knew that she would play in the sand and still manage to stay somewhat neat and clean. She didn't prove me wrong! She was awesome and even shared her sand toys with the other children.

Playing in the sand while sitting on the cornhole board. We couldn't get the new outfit dirty!! :)


Posing for the camera.


Cheese!


Thanks, Nanny, for this adorable new Clemson outfit! Even though it's a tad bit big we LOVE it! It allows for plenty of growing room since she seems to grown an inch every week or two!


Carlyn and Kamdyn "playing" cornhole.


We have a new addition to our tailgate: an air conditioner. I enjoyed sitting right beside it. It really did provide some relief from the heat.


Me and Richard


Happy Birthday to Omar!


Self Portrait before the rain started!

First Day of 3K

Kamdyn's first day went better than we could imagine. She was so excited to go to school to see Mrs. Pond and all of her friends-to-be. She kept saying, "Mommy, I'm going to make a new friend today!"

As soon as we walked into her classroom, she went right to her seat and immediately started playing with the playdough that was out on her table. We hung around until some of the other children arrived. We, of course, were the first ones there. :) She wasn't bothered in the least as we gave her our good-byes and walked out the door. She made it so easy! I didn't even shed a tear as I drove to my own school. Wow! She is really growing up!

She has gotten a green light every day for good behavior. She loves to tell me the stories of the children who get in trouble for misbehaving. School seems to really tire her out. Georgia says that Kamdyn is ready to fall asleep as soon as she picks her up.

Thanks, Mrs. Pond, for making Kamdyn's first school experience so awesome!!

Kamdyn getting her picture taken before school. This will be the "stage" for many more first days of school.


Kamdyn carrying her "make shift" book bag!

Daddy and Kamdyn


Mommy and Kamdyn being silly!


Walking through the doors of her school!


Mrs. Pond and Kamdyn


This is how we left Kamdyn. Her face says it all! She was irritated that I was interrupting the Play-Doh time to take a picture.