Karcie's First Haircut

Karcie's first haircut was long overdue.  Kamdyn didn't have a haircut until she was four, but Karcie's hair is totally different.  She has needed the ends cut for a long while now.  She was SO brave.  Kamdyn got her hair cut first and Karcie watched every step of the way.  When it was her turn, she jumped right in the chair, but was still hesitant.  Mrs. Mary was wonderful and patient with her.  Karcie sat VERY still which is VERY unusual!  I sure do adore this little stinker and every first/last stage and every one in between!  You are beautiful Karcie Laine!

Greenville with Georgie and Nanny

While we were having adult time at the Clemson game, these two were enjoying some BIG TIME spoiling with Georgia and Nanny. Georgia came and spent the night at Nanny's on Friday night.  They spent Saturday at The Children's Museum and The Greenville Zoo.  The also had lunch and dinner out.  They were both in heaven!!

Thank you, Nanny and Georgia, for loving our babies so much!!  They certainly love the two of you to pieces!

Clemson Football!

It's that time of year again.  The time of year when Facebook gets on my nerves with the bantering back and forth from rival schools.  Who's better?  Who still loves their team?  Etc., etc., etc.  Sometimes I have to skip my Newsfeed on Saturdays and Sundays just to avoid the football ridiculousness.  

Being in Clemson with some of my most favorite people makes me forget about all of the crazy FB football talk.  I love these people!!  They make me laugh.  All. Day. Long.  The tailgates last forever, but it's good fun.  It's all fun EXCEPT when I have to drive my two kiddos back to NC for four hours (which always turns into five because of traffic!).  That's rough!!

This was weekend #1 of three home football games in a row!

Matthew was at this game and I have NO IDEA how he escaped without me having photos of him.  UGH!!  He did go downtown early in the day with Ruthie and stayed gone for what seemed like forever.  Shame on me!!  I will say that most of the photos below occurred all within about a ten minute time frame.  Then I put the phone away!

Sweet Carly!

Love me some Omar!

Taking a selfie with this cat is like pulling teeth.  I kept telling him to push the button on the side of the phone, but he insisted on pushing the one in front which showed his big fat finger!  Crazy!  Too many Miller Lites if you ask me!

Then I get this face!

Then this cat says, "You want me to take your picture?"  Yes, I do!!  BUT, he ain't a bit different from his friend Richard.  I had about 14 photos of Potter selfies.  Crazy, too!!

This was as good as it got!

Weird eyes!

My turn to act crazy!

Group photo with Shannon.

Group photo, but Shannon ran away!

We tried to take a better photo standing up.  Whew!  It was humid and my hair shows it.  :(

Love him!

So happy to hang out with Bart and Katrina again.  We miss our North Augusta peeps!

Karcie and SCISSORS?!?!?!?

Karcie came home the other day from school with a cut-out construction paper square.  As she showed it to me, she told me in a very matter-of-fact tone, "Mommy, Mrs. Jennifer let me cut with scissors.  I told her that you don't LET me cut with scissors.  She told me to tell YOU to LET ME cut with scissors at home!"  Uh huh!  Is that right, Karcie?

It's true.  I've been hesitant to give Karcie scissors.  Who knows what she will cut?  I shutter to think about it.  But she HAS to learn some how.  SOOOO, we went over scissor safety rules.  I told her that she is to ONLY cut paper.  She may ONLY use the scissors at the bar.  And, she can ONLY use the scissors if I'm watching.  She actually does very well cutting.  Her fine motor skills are pretty accurate for a child of her age. She's even a lefty!  Now if I could just get her to learn those doggone ABC's!! GRRR!!

Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?

Now that song is stuck in my head!  This girl got caught with he hand in the puppy chow bag that Colleen sent over to us!!  What can I say?  This girl loves some sweets!!  :)

More Driveway Fun!

During one of our "driveway nights," Maggie brought over her Barbie Jeep.  Karcie wanted to go for a ride with Maggie.  Let's just say that Karcie is not quite ready to drive any motorized vehicles at this time.  She tried!!  But, she's not a great judge of fast/slow on the gas pedal, nor does she understand the concept of the brake!!  YIKES!!  

Look Who We Saw....

I am so grateful that our family and The Kirk family next door to us have become so close.  I adore Colleen and our kids love each other to pieces, too.  Our schedules have kind of started to coincide.  Colleen goes to Jazzercise with me now.  Often, we go to Wal-Mart after Jazzercise because it's really close.  Karcie was ecstatic that her BFF, Campbell, was at "Wal-Mop" with her.  She wanted to follow them around and couldn't understand why we couldn't.  I love the fact that Karcie has on her Clemson shirt and the free Wal-Mart cookies that day were footballs.  You know if you have kids that you gotta stop for a free cookie FIRST!

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Pop Pop!

I posted this on Facebook on my Daddy's birthday, but wanted to be sure that it was here, too.  It will end up in one of our blog books that we print.  

Anyway, September 19th is my Daddy's birthday.  He would have been 67 years old.  I love that we found this picture from the late 80's shortly after my parents built our house in Powdersville.  It's crazy looking across the street and down the driveway.  It looks SO different now. 

This picture just makes me smile.  This is how I want to remember my Daddy.....full of energy and life.  I think a few of my friends were over at my house and we were practicing some of our cheer-leading jumps.  My Daddy decided he would give a toe touch a try!!  :)  This is how he was. Before he got sick, he loved to work in the yard, play golf, go to the beach,  travel, etc.    Often, my mind allowed me to forget these times when I would visit and see him barely able to move/walk, breathe, care for himself, talk, or smile.  Sickness takes so much from so many.  It's heartbreaking and devastating to watch.  

July and August were awful months and I'm sure I've mentioned that over and over again.  There is no time frame for grieving.    I will never get over losing my Daddy.  I feel cheated.  I feel like he was cheated.  BUT, I will say that September has brought a new peaceful feeling to my soul.  I feel like I am actually functioning again instead of going through the motions in a directionless fog!  I had so many days of being angry.  Days when I would cry over what seemed like nothing at all.  I had a short temper with my kids.  I was mad that I was here alone and even angrier that Richard was having to travel for five months straight.  Let's talk about bad timing!?!?!?  I just didn't feel like doing much of anything.  I feel like I am doing a little better now.  The fog is beginning to lift and life is beginning to resume with smiles and happiness. 

Looking at this picture makes me believe that my Daddy is in heaven jumping for joy.  He's happy to be healed.  He's rejoicing with Jesus now and will forever watch over my little family.  Thank you, God, for your ultimate sacrifice.  We are certainly not worthy of  His daily forgiveness, but I am so thankful for it.  I'm thankful for the promise of eternity and for knowing that I will see my favorite people again one day.  Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Wednesday Night Dinner Club

Since Richard has been gone for over FOUR MONTHS (sigh!), our family, and two others have been trying to get together most Wednesdays when either their husbands are out-of-town or working late.  We rotate houses.  A few weeks ago was our turn to host.  I made a crock pot lasagna.  Colleen brought yummy dessert.  Amy brought salad and bread.  The kids play for a while.  The Mamas decompress with chatter and vino.  Then we eat.  The kids play some more. Next is dessert.  Last, we had a glow stick party!!  (Thank you, Betsy, for this fabulous $1.00 idea!)  These glow sticks never disappoint.  I turned up the music, turned out the lights, and the kids were instantly entertained by dancing, singing, and flashing their glow sticks everywhere.  We had the BEST time!!  I love my neighbors!!

Kamdyn, Maggie, Campbell, Karcie, Myles, Cade, and Declan

The first photo was the ONLY photo where everyone was looking!

See how crazy they were trying to get ONE photo???  :)

LIGHTS OUT!!

Brian did come over after he got home from work.  He had dinner and joined in on the fun!  We even broke out Just Dance 4 and had a dance off.  Colleen and I rocked out Will Smith's, "Wild Wild West!"

My beautiful Kamdyn!

Kamdyn wouldn't allow me to take a great photo of her on picture day, but I think her "real" photo turned out great!!  I'm not generally a fan of school photos.  They are over priced and just not that great.  BUT, my girl always manages to have such a sweet little face in her school photos.  How could I not purchase them?  Right, Richard???  :)

She looks so grown up in this photo.  It's just so hard for me to believe.  Where is the ginormous hairbow?  I am so proud of this angel and I'm so blessed to call her mine.  I would love it if she could see herself through my eyes.  She's all things great.  No matter how many arguments/fusses that we may have, I hope she will always know how much I cherish her.  She is so much like me in so many ways. Some ways that I would rather her not be.  She does not procrastinate. Homework must be done the minute that she walks into the door.  Every. Single. Day. No exceptions. Things just have to be a certain way.  She is organized. She gets frustrated when something is a little bit difficult for her.  She can have a melt down in a heartbeat.  She loves with every ounce of her being.  She wears her heart on her sleeve.  She is the picture of innocence.  She always gives her best.   She is Kamdyn.  Our one and only Kamdyn and we love her so.

More Lake Time

We went to the lake a couple of weekends ago because we knew that our time in October would be slim with all of the Clemson home games.  Unfortunately, it was a VERY rainy weekend.  So rainy that The Pathfinder got stuck!!  It took Richard almost an hour to get the car up the yard.  Now the yard has lovely mud divots in it.  He even managed to get mud all over one of the front windows!  We had to get out because we didn't have beer to drink for when the Clemson game came on.  REAL PROBLEMS.....

The girls entertained themselves by making these cute little rainbow loom ankle bracelets. Look at those sweet little piggies!

We also bought blueberry muffin mix, but I didn't realize that there wasn't a muffin tin at the lake house yet.  SOOOOO, we had blueberry muffin pie instead.  It tasted just the same as the yummy muffins!

Yay for lake days.....even rainy ones!

Karcie's Friends

One day after school Karcie and I met two of her friends and their sweet Moms at Chick-fil-A.  I tried my best to get a photo of all three of them, but it just wasn't happening.  We met these two precious girls at a dance class at Apex Community Center last year.  They are now going to preschool together at Apex Baptist.  Karcie and Jillian are in the same class.  We were sad that Logan didn't get in their class, too.  :(  I hope these girls stay friends for a long time.  Logan's Mom just had another little girl and Jillian's Mom is due in April with their second baby.  Let's just say that I feel OLD around them.  ;)  We are so thankful for the many sweet friends and relationships that we have made in Apex in our short 1.5 years here.