Charlie the Butterfly

Ruthie sent us home with a caterpillar the last time that we visited her. Actually, she sent us home with two different jars of caterpillars. The other jar of caterpillars didn't make it. :( However, this caterpillar's life cycle was amazing to watch. He has been in his cocoon for a few weeks and decided to come out on Saturday. This time we were excited to discover that this really was a butterfly, unlike Otis, who was just a moth!

After Charlie's wings dried we sent him on his way! He was so beautiful and Kamdyn was amazed again as she sang, "Butterfly, Butterfly, fly, fly away!"

By the way, Pop Pop named him Charlie!

2 year old Portraits

I took Kamdyn to have her 2 year old portraits made at Fitz-Symms last Thursday, FINALLY! Who cares if they are 3 months late??? I hope they turned out as cute as they looked while Mrs. Lora was taking them. She is phenomenal with Kamdyn and always comes up with the cutest "sets" for her portraits. I can't wait to get them back! I will post pictures of them as soon as I get them.

Here is Kamdyn taking a ride in one of the portrait studio's props. Mrs. Lora gave her a balloon as we were leaving. Kamdyn couldn't decide between the balloon and the fire truck.

First Friday

I'm a little behind with posting, I know. I started back to work this week and it takes me a little while to actually get all of us on a schedule again. So here goes.......

Last Friday night we went to downtown Augusta's, First Friday. We walked down the street checking out all of the vendors and entertainment. Our first stop was the jumping castle. Kamdyn enjoyed jumping, of course, but is still a little timid with things like this. We then had dinner at The Pizza Joint.

Last, we made our way back down Broad Street to see some more interesting entertainment. We watched a "big band" perform. These are some pictures of Kamdyn dancing to the "big band." Needless to say, Kamdyn got to bed late that night!

Locks of Love

Before I begin, I would like to say that this was not originally my idea. When Richard, Matthew, and Patrick went on their fishing trip back in May, Carly, Patrick's girlfriend, had not seen me since football season. Immediately, she said, "Your hair is so long! Are you growing it to donate it?" My first response was, "No, I'm just lazy and need a haircut." Since becoming a Mommy I don't really spend much time on myself anymore, thus the reason for the curls all of the time. I just don't take the time to blow dry my hair very much. I spent many years doing this! At this point in my life, I'd rather spend that 30 minutes with Kamdyn or sleeping!

Carly informed me that she was growing her hair to donate it. Our friends, Allison and Carrie, recently donated their hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths which requires 8 inches of hair. So, I got out the measuring tape, knowing that I needed a haircut in the worse kind of way! I researched both Locks of Love (10 inches) and Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. Locks of Love is for children with medical hair loss. Beautiful Lengths is for women battling cancer. Both are wonderful organizations, but I decided I wanted to help the children. I decided to wait until the end of summer for my haircut and TODAY WAS THE DAY!!

I had made up mind and really wasn't nervous at all. I just wanted it cut and over with! The day started beautifully. It was humid, but beautiful! As I was sitting in the chair getting my ponytail chopped, the rain began to fall. My first reaction was, "Great, just my luck! A rainy, humid day that my new hairdo will HATE!!!" I made Andrea take a picture after cutting my ponytail and after straightening my hair. I knew as soon as I walked out the door the humidity would strike my hair! And, it DID, with a vengeance!! At any rate, I will put my ponytail in the mail tomorrow and will now begin the countless hours of blow drying my hair again! I don't LOVE the curls when my hair is short, but it was all for a good cause!!! Maybe I'll donate again next year to Beautiful Lengths.

Yuck! Parted down the middle for ponytail cut! 10 inches was a lot, but it was less than I thought!


My new asymmetrical bob! Shorter in the back and angled longer in the front!

Surprise Visit from Pop Pop

Pop Pop was working in Columbia yesterday. We he finished with work he surprised us by driving an hour to North Augusta. Pop Pop woke Kamdyn up from her nap. She immediately put Pop Pop to play! She wanted to play "tea set" and read her Kindermusik book with Pop Pop. She wanted to "play puzzle" and she wanted to watch her movies with Pop Pop. After Pop Pop played for a while, he decided to take all of his favorite girls to dinner: Nanny, Mommy, and Kamdyn! We all enjoyed a delicious salad from Ruby Tuesdays. Well, except for Kamdyn. She decided on the Macaroni and Cheese! Thanks, Pop Pop, for surprising us!

Please excuse the playroom mess. We are working on purchasing some shelving for storage. The playroom is last on the priority list around here! :)

Let's Go the the Mall!

I hardly ever venture over to the Mall! In fact, Kamdyn frequents the Mall more than I do. She gets to go with Georgia and Jacob all the time. She probably even knows her way around the Augusta Mall better than me. They have finally made some wonderful additions to our Mall with some new stores (i.e. Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, Williams Sonoma, Coach, etc.). They also added a McAllister's Deli which I always love and try to visit when I am in the Upstate. We decided to have lunch at McAllister's and then let Kamdyn have some fun on the Mall playground.

All was well on the playground until it was turned upside down by older kids. This playground clearly states the rules at the entrance. There is even a little kid statue at the front showing how tall you have to be to enter, less than like 4 feet. Does anyone follow the rules these days? My "teacher personality" kicked in and I wanted to take over the playground. But then, I realized that these kids were not my responsibility, so we simply decided to leave. I had seen enough of the little ones getting ran over and pushed down. Their parents weren't even watching them! We even ran in to one of my students from last year while we were there. Maybe seeing her gave me the urge to take over!

Kamdyn didn't seem to notice the chaos. We left anyway and visited The Great American Cookie Company instead! Kamdyn and I LOVE those cookies!

Please ignore Kamdyn's "slicked down" look. She and I got soaked when leaving McAlister's!




Throwing some money into the fountain! I'm sure Daddy will LOVE this picture the way he "pinches pennies!"


Daddy probably would have told her to get in the water and collect the money! :)

Kindermusik Success

So, Day 2 and Day 3 of Kindermusik turned out to be SOOOOO much better than Day 1. Kamdyn was a little angel. Turns out that talking and attempting to reason with a 2-year-old can work somewhat. I mean, she did still roam around the room and do her own thing at times (more so than the other children); however, there were NO tears or fits! She was very polite. At one point yesterday, she even turned to me and said, "I'm being nice, Mommy!" She helped put away the toys and she shared with the other children! I praised her profusely when we left both days and encouraged her to keep up the good work. We have even found, through our Kindermusik class, a set of 3-year-old twins, Ansley and Flip, that actually live in our neighborhood . Playdates with them will be easy! And, we've also made friends with another Mom and a precious little girl named Madelyn. We are going to set up some playdates with them soon, too! Life is Good, even though I already feel the pressure of it speeding up again all too soon!


Kamdyn and Lilly playing with the toys before everyone else arrived.


Kamdyn shaking this "rain stick" excitedly!


Planning her next move! :)


And, there she goes! One of many moves she made during storytime. I think Suzanne was trying to get her attention at this point. But Kamdyn kept saying, "Mommy, I have one question to ask you!" I'm a teacher for goodness sakes! Isn't my child supposed to know how to sit?? I have a year to work on that before to goes to a formal school setting. At least she knows a lot of skills for her age. For now, I want her to enjoy being a kid!!!


Finally sitting while Suzanne (not the same Suzanne we go swimming with) finishes the book. From left to right: Kamdyn, Flip, Lilly, and Madelyn.

Lunch with Georgia and a Visit from Nanny

Two of Kamdyn's most favorite people had lunch with us yesterday, Georgia and Nanny. Nanny is in town visiting us for the week. She is still recovering from her surgery and can't pick Kamdyn up yet, which is hard on both of them. However, we have thoroughly enjoyed our girls week while Daddy is out of town. Georgia met us for lunch yesterday! What a fun time for Kamdyn!

Kamdyn is patiently awaiting next week when she starts going to Georgia's again daily. Yes, it's time for me to start back to work on Tuesday. :( I already feel the anxiety and pressure building up again. Maybe I should rethink this working thing and become a stay at home Mommy, right Daddy? Don't have a heart attack on me, sweetie! I'm only joking!

Posing with Georgia at O'Charley's!


Reading a story with Nanny!