First USC game...GO COCKS!

We took Camden to her first Carolina game last Saturday and she was so good! She loved to look for Cocky (who she called Hockey until yesterday)! She also enjoyed the cheerleaders, and the birds and bugs that seemed so close when we were way up high! She liked the fireworks but tried to hide from the smoke (being silly!), and thought the applause was too loud. We sit behind a really nice couple, and the wife turned and asked Camden to come sit with her in a little while...so Camden looks at Brad & I and says, I want to sit with her now! She commmenced to sit the entire game with Jenny & David, sharing their Coke & Snickers bar. She may have shared some gummies with David, I think. What a mess.

She loves to climb the tree after church if she is not dancing around the maypole on the steps to the front. I taught her to swing out on a branch so she shows that off now.

We are loving our house and having so much fun! We offer it up for about anything so it has been busy but nice! Hope ya'll can come by sometime if you haven't already!

Enjoy the pictures - we'll post more soon since Camden's birthday is this Friday! She will be FOUR! Can you believe it? I can't. Not even a little bit.

Back in Action!

Hi, everyone! We have been out of the loop for a month! What a crazy July we have had! We moved into the house on July 7th (YAY!) thanks to the help of many good friends (thanks to "the guys" and to Jenny for taking Camden home with her, and Beth for getting the pizzas! You guys ROCK!) Then the 11th was my birthday and the 13th was Brad's so we had a lot of partying to do!

We are pretty much moved in and loving it. We still have to put up the pictures and a few other decorative items, but we are truly "living" here now. Brad has sown some seeds so pray that the birds stay away and the centipede takes root! Camden is ready to play in "her yard".

We went to the beach with my parents last week, so now I finally feel like we are "home". No more long trips for a while, just weekend shots to Edisto here and there! We had a great time in Myrtle Beach and always do. We love Edisto but it is so nice to go to a place that has so many things to do and enjoy, and places to eat! Camden enjoyed all of the attention she received from her aunts & uncles and it was great to have our whole family there, either in our house or the campground close by. We ate dinner at the campground one night and went to eat at a buffet altogether another night! It is too hard for all of us to stay together in one house like we did when we were younger! My brother brought a friend's son for a couple of days and we had a blast with him. Camden wanted to know where "her brother" was at all times! When Jason took Mason back home and came back to teh beach with us, the first thing Camden asked was, where's Mason? Other activities of note...we went and played putt putt and each hole, after her first shot, she always picke dup the ball and put the ball by the hole to knock it right on in! And we went to Medieval Times & Camden LOVED it. Instead of a princess crown or veil, she asked for a sword. Yes, it lights up and everything, and she uses her skirts or pants as a sheath, and whips the sword out, usually hitting someone's head or scraping something important! HA! Our knight threw her a flower during the show and she was mighty impressed with that! She batted her eyes the rest of the night, and that is not an exaggeration. We got his autograph on her crown after the show. Also, her uncle "Coach" got her an osprey feather on a kayak trip and she has not let that or her sword out of her sight since.

Can I just say that my child asked who Hannah Montana was today out shopping when she saw her on a book bag? I am proud of that for those of you who think that she watches too much TV! HAHA

I go back to work on Tuesday of next week so everyone say a little prayer for me. Leaving Camden only gets harder as she grows!

Well, I better head downstairs to wait for her Royal Highness (or, should I say, Knight Camden) to wake up. Talk to you all again soon (I hope!)

Summertime!

Even though it is not June 21st yet, I think it is safe to say that summer is here. Especially when you think 94 is cool day by comparison to days before!

Camden's last day of summer camp was today. She thoroughly enjoyed learning about farm animals, though I wonder what she really learned...she told us that cows give is chocolate milkshakes....hmmm...we went to the beach with our good friends the McLeans last weekend and had a blast! Camden loves the water and certainly keeps herself entertained! And I kept her from getting burnt (this time!)

The house continues to move right along. We now have lighting and plumbing fixtures in and they are looking good! The deck is completed, and they started work sanding the hardwoods yesterday, and were staining them today. We still have some painting to be completed, carpet to go in, and bathroom mirrors/shower door to go up. Then we will make a punch list, hopefully right in time to have them work all the details out while we are at the beach. So, Happy Birthday to me! If we get in by the 11th, that is. : )

These pictures are before the lights went in but are more recent than the ones on the last post.

Have a great weekend!

Memorable Memorial Weekend

It continues to be such a crazy time of year! Today is the kids' last day of school, and I work tomorrow and am DONE! All of my colleagues are in a meeting so I took a second to post this before it winds back up again today! Who knows when I will have a chance to get back!

Since I am a terrible mother and talked about the house first on my first post, I decided to talk about my precious daughter first today. Camden's last day of school was yesterday and they sent home a memory book from the year...she has gained 5 pounds and grown 2 inches in 8 months! If we were hanging on to any dream of her still being a baby, that is all over now. Her hair and legs are just too long to partake in that fantasy.

Funny story from this week...she loves to sleep in some white T-shirts I bought that were too small for me (I bought them at Fred's one day so I would not have to skip the gym when I forgot my clothes). They are of course, huge on her! She picked one out to sleep in on Tuesday night and said, "I look like Noah!" So I sent her to tell Brad, and he asked if she knew who Noah was, and she said "An angel". He said "Good enough!". I like to think all that church going & preschool are taking effect! I promise we did not let her watch Evan Almighty a couple of weeks ago, and they never called him Noah anyway!

We went to the beach for Memorial Weekend (I would say Memorial Day but I had to come home Sunday to work on Monday! Yes, I am still bitter...) and had a great time. These pictures of her as my little sand mermaid and chilling on the lounge chair eating goldfish! She loves the water and turned blue & chattered for hours, but she would NOT get out unless we fed her something!

The house continues to move along! We now have columns, tile in Camden's bathroom, vinyl in the laundry/mud rooms, and best of all, cabinets!!!! They look so great!!! I am very pleased with how they turned out, especially after we had to scale back, thanks to the budget! Brad & Marvin went & picked up the hot water heater, and Brad & Kevin set the pump in the well yesterday. We had one blip this week though, and had to return our wall oven and replace it with a larger one, which also means we have to return & replace the trim kit for the microwave which will be in the wall above the oven! And of course, they were purchased at different places so we have been scrambling! Also, the wrong tile was ordered but they hope to have it in and laid in our bathroom and 1/2 bath by tomorrow or Monday. We are still hoping to be in the house mid July, and it looks pretty good (this week!).

Well, that is all the news I can come up with for now! Have a great weekend everyone!

Brave New World

I have been inspired to begin a blog! Thanks to cousins Ashley & Jennifer, who have lots of exciting baby news, but none of that from me! Not now anyway! And Emily's was great so I thought I better get started. So here goes....



Big news for us lately is all about the house! It is coming along quickly and we hope to be in it by mid-July, possibly sooner! But we are not holding our breath since we can not control any of that. So far this month we have had sheet rock, paint, doors, trim work, & a well (we have connections!). This week alone, we have a septic tank, garage doors, and the cabinets are coming in tomorrow. It is so much fun to see how it is all coming together and we are so blessed with the path the house building has gone thus far. No major kinks (knock on wood!) and our builders are GREAT! (Shout out to My Home, Michael, & Jason!) And best of all, we love everything about our house.

Camden is ending her second year at St. Stephens Lutheran Preschool and is looking forward to going to the beach or getting into the pool as much as anyone will let her. She will have summer camp for one week in June, but other than that, who knows where we will be? Soaking in the pool...sitting on the sand...dreaming in our house? Camden can tell you her "new" room paint is green. Seriously green. (Lets just say I was not backed up by the interior decorator when I picked that one). But there are still two more coats to go, keep your fingers crossed.





I am looking forward to the end of school! I try to enjoy it, though it can be hard! But it is ALMOST as nice to anticipate the summer coming as it is to be out of school. Mostly because once I am out, the new school year seems to start very quickly! I am hoping that we do get into the house with some time to get unpacked before school begins again in August. But until then, I plan to be relaxing, or at least doing the things that don't get done in the crazy 10 months school monopolizes my time! Some of which will be traveling to the Raleigh, Goose Creek, Edisto, Myrtle Beach to see friends or hang out with family...and getting there in my less gas guzzling Accord. What a relief!

Brad is still working at US Group and is pretty good at being second in command to the builders. He keeps me straight and on a good timeline. Which you all know is pretty hard to do. HA!

Check back with us! There is always something going on!