Only 11 More Days Until...

FOOTBALL SEASON!! Yeah baby!! I can't wait!

I can't wait for the Tigers to run down "the hill"! I can't wait to sing the Alma Mater! I can't wait to hear the band play Tiger Rag! I can't wait to be so hoarse from screaming my head off that I can't talk the next day! I can't wait to wear my orange on Saturdays! I can't wait to walk a country mile from our parking spot to the stadium! I can't wait to sit in the hot, blazing sun in the upper deck of Death Valley sweating my butt off!! I can't wait to TAILGATE with Bonnie and Jeff! I can't wait to watch Jarrod & Jeff set up the satellite dish and try to beat their "record time" from the week before! I can't wait to hear Jeff say "Marmosas" instead of "Mimosas"! I can't wait to listen to Jarrod and Jeff pretend like they know more than any of the coaches on the field! I can't wait to yell at the refs, because I (think) I can make better calls from the upper deck then they can! I can't wait for a NIGHT GAME! I can't wait for Jarrod to give me every statistic known to man about the Clemson Tigers! I can't wait to hear Jarrod tell me all the players' names, plus the names of their mamas, daddys, and brothers & sisters!! I can't wait for some intense, down-to-the-wire games and Clemson coming out on top! I can't wait for some BLOW OUTS (of course, with the Tigers winning)! I can't wait for the phone calls between me and my mom and my dad about how great that last play just was! I can't wait to watch the away games on our HDTV (with TIVO) this year!! I can't wait to hear Pete and Will call the game on the radio (especially now that we're in Home Group with Will...he just makes me laugh)! I can't wait for the Clemson/Carolina jokes to start! I can't wait to give Jamie Ouzts heck about Carolina football...oh wait, I already started that!! I can't wait to watch the GREATEST GAME ON EARTH and the GREATEST TEAM ON EARTH! I just can't wait for Clemson football to start!!

I LOVE THIS GAME!!

MacKenzie's a BIG GIRL!!

Today, MacKenzie moved up to the 3 year old class, and I feel like she's all grown up. It was bittersweet! I know she's ready for her "Big Girl" class, but it just means she's really grown up now. They teach them to be VERY independent...no more letting mama do everything for you! They will even have HOMEWORK in her new class!! It's due every Thursday...wow...I thought I would have a few years before I'd be up late doing homework and projects!! She will also have show & tell every Friday. She even gets to go on Field Trips at least once a month. And she gets to go to dance classes!! If I want to I can sign her up for computer classes...but I think I may wait a few months for that...I don't want her knowing more than I do about computers before she's 5!!!

She loves it already! I was really worried that she may fuss and cry this morning, but she just kissed me, hugged me, and waved good-by! She was ready to go play with the hamster and guinea pigs and all her new friends! I really like her teachers, too. It's also good knowing that she'll learn the Pledge of Allegiance and the Christian Pledge. She's in a wonderful, fun, loving, and Christian learning environment, and I could't ask for any better.

And on another good note, in order for her to move up to the "Big Girl" class she had to be completely potty trained!!! AND....we ARE!! Well, minus just a few accidents here and there (and we're still wearing pull-ups to bed at night), but hey, that's a huge accomplishment! She even POOPS in the potty with no more melt downs! It only took us over 4 months...and it wasn't easy! Now I may start with Mason in another couple of months, but I need a break for a little while!

Anyway, it was a good first day of "Big Girl" school for MacKenzie and that makes a mama smile! :)

Be Careful What You Wish For!!

The weirdest thing happened today...

I filled out one of those silly forwards that asks you questions about yourself. Well, one of the questions was "Name 4 places you would love to be right now". I put down "At home with my kids, Charleston, Hilton Head & anywhere but here (meaning work)". Well about 1 hour later I got a phone call from our daycare that said that they were out of power and Duke Power wasn't expecting to get it back on until later today. So all the kids had to picked up from daycare!! I thought to myself - WHOA -that was weird. But when I really thought about it it's just one of the great ways God works. He knew my heart wanted to be home (wish I could do it everyday), so something as simple as a power outage allowed me to go home and spend the day with my kids!! God is GOOD!! Right now they're taking a little nap, but it will be nice to get to spend some time with just me and them! It will be a nice break in the week, too!

Another Potty Story

Well, you guessed it another poop story...but it's not who you think! Nope, it wasn't MacKenzie but Mason!!! HE POOPED IN THE POTTY!!

Tonight we were playing outside and he got "the look"...if you're a Mom you know exactly what I'm talking about. So I said "do you have to poop"...he said "yeah"...I said "do you want to poop in the potty"...he said "yeah". So I thought, what the heck let's just try it. So we went to the potty, and at first he was totally not interested. But then I said "PUSH"!! (I know that's more details then any of you cared to know)! Next thing I know, we have it...POOP in the potty! I could hardly control myself. I started jumping up and down, clapping, acting like a complete fool. He had no idea what had just happened. I told him he could have fruit snacks, because I didn't have anything else better to offer. So we walked to the kitchen to get his "treat"...and before I knew it he had peed all over the floor! Oh well, I didn't care...we had a huge accomplishment today!

It's sad to say that my 20 month old may be doing better than my 3 year old when it comes to potty training. I know, I know Mason has only done it once, but he's way ahead of where MacKenzie was at that age. (Of course when she was 20 months he was like 4 weeks, so potty training wasn't really a priority)!!

Anyway, once again I've managed to use the word "poop" more times than I ever imagined! Oh the joys of being a mother...I love it!!

Hilton Head Pictures

Playing with the Crab!

Vacation, Part 3: SHARK!

Yep, that's right, today we saw a shark!! Some guy (a bright one at that) decided to do some shark fishing right off the shore line. We look over to our right about a 100 feet away, and there is this fairly large crowd surrounding the area. This guy's about knee deep reeling something in. We knew it had to be something fairly big, because it was taking him a while. Then we hear everyone yelling "SHARK!" So of course, we had to run over with our camera as well. This guy had caught a good size shark...I would say it was at least 3 feet tall when he stood him up. I'm still not sure what kind...Jarrod thinks a Nurse Shark. But I'm thinking to myself, who cares...it's a flippin' SHARK...HELLO! Yeah, so I'm really never going back into the ocean! I've never seen so many sea creatures when I've been to the beach. I don't think we even saw this many when we went snorkling in Jamaica! We've seen the following:
STARFISH, JELLYFISH, SAND DOLLARS, CRABS, STING RAY, CONCHS (SP?), A SHARK, AND DOLPHINS!!

Anyway...last night we went to the Salty Dog Cafe. It was great...it's a true landmark in Hilton Head, so I'm glad we went...even with an hour and a half wait. They manage to get you to spend a lot of money during that time, too! We all got t-shirts, hats, and koozies! We also went to the Lighthouse, and that's where we saw the dolphins. They were like, right there, so close! I'm telling you we don't have to go to anymore aquariaums, we'll just come back to Hilton Head!

We're sad becase we leave to come home tomorrow. It's been so much fun and we'll hate to have to come back to reality. BUT, when I get home I'll get to post all the fun pictures of all the stuff I've been talking about!