Friday, September 28, 2012

Butterfly Release

The SC Ovarian Cancer Foundation, Riverbanks Region held their annual Whispers Butterfly Release earlier this week.  The lawn of the statehouse was filled with patients, survivors and loved ones.  We heard Will's partner, Jimmy Williams talk about the challenges to diagnosing and treating ovarian cancer.

McIver waited (somewhat) patiently to release his butterflies.

Olivia with a butterfly - Mac is in the background chatting up Dawndy Mercer-Plank, the emcee for the event and a local news anchor.  (He had seen a clip from a previous event of Olivia and Will on WIS news that morning so I think he was trying to get himself on camera.)

Olivia with another butterfly.

We have been to the butterfly release enough times now that McIver knows there are usually left-over butterflies.  He managed to talk his way into the box of remaining butterflies and proceeded to hand them out to all of the children who were near him after the official release.  It was terribly sweet!

Rip Stick

Olivia went to a sleepover at a friend's house last weekend and discovered the fun of a Rip Stick.  She came home, counted her money and announced that she wanted to go to Target to buy one for herself.   It wasn't easy to master, but she stuck with it and can now go all the way down the driveway, turn around and come back.  It takes quite a bit of balance.


(And, I KNOW she should be wearing shoes ... believe me!  I tried to convince her, but she insists that it will be fine.)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Braces

Thursday morning was the big day ... BRACES!!!

Olivia took his "before" picture on our way to the orthodontist's office.  

After two-plus hours of being poked and prodded, here is the "after" picture.


September Birthday Dinner

Olivia and Will chose to celebrate their birthdays last Wednesday at Forest Lake.  We had hoped that Mamoo would join us but she decided at the last minute that she just wasn't up to it.  So, the four of us enjoyed a delicious meal together.  It was nice to have some quiet, un-rushed time together because our fall evenings seem to be super busy with homework and afternoon activities.


Olivia ordered a Kobe beef hamburger as her 'last meal' before getting braces on Thursday morning.  We don't know how long it will be before she feels like she can bite into a hamburger again.  Of course, dessert was the best part of the night!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Olivia's 11th Birthday

I can't even believe my baby girl turned 11!  She invited 7 friends to spend Saturday night at the lake to celebrate.  They had a great time dancing to Just Dance on the Xbox (thanks, Pop!), swimming, tubing and trying out the hydroslide.

Olivia and Mary Fleming on the giant tube.

Mattie and Maggie waiting patiently for a turn.

 Love this shot of all the girls on the tube!

Didn't take long for McIver to get the hang of the hydroslide.  I'm thinking there's one in his future.

Olivia's birthday dinner request:  Daddy's hamburgers.  So many fun memories of birthdays celebrated around this table!

Love that Happy Birthday Girl!

Pool Closing Party

Everyone had a great time at the Pool Closing Party...

The girls loved having their faces (and bodies) painted!


Mac was happy to show his Gamecock pride!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

GranDaddy's Birthday

Olivia and I babysat Eliza while Uncle Robert and Aunt Kelli took Amelia to a USC game a few weekends ago.  We took her to lunch at Edna's and Olivia pretty much followed her up and down the stairs in our house for two hours.  She loves playing with her cousins!

Then, we met everyone out at the lake to celebrate GranDaddy's birthday.  It's so fun to have the entire Merritt family up at the lake.  Lots of memories being made!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Tennis Weekend

Fifteen other girls and I headed to Litchfield Beach last weekend to play some tennis and enjoy some girl time.  I knew some of the girls well from having been on teams with them, but others I only knew through other people.  We also had players ranging from a 2.5 to a 4.0 rating.  We played 12 rounds of tennis (9 games per round) over the course of two days.  Everyone was sore and tired, but we had a ball.  Already looking forward to next year!

Kaley was my partner for Member-Guest last spring and we were set up to play together first thing on Saturday morning.  So, we decided to wear our Member-Guest outfits.  We were quite the threat!

Had to have a picture with Elizabeth, too.  We imagined that Will and Tupp had the children together while we were off playing tennis.