SC State Fair

I got a text from Will last Thursday night while I was at the tennis tournament that said, "Daddy Rocks!"  

He also sent this picture ... hard to see, but you can imagine how happy the children were to be going to the fair and on a THURSDAY night!  (And I was equally happy NOT to be going.  I love a fair and fair food as much as the next guy, but the thought of spending all that money and fighting the crowds just didn't appeal to me this time around.)

In hindsight, this picture was the beginning of the end.  Apparently, the crowds had died down by this point in the night so the guy controlling the swing let the ride go on and on and on... which did not sit well with Olivia's stomach.  She ended up getting sick a few times, but still remembers the fair as a great time with her dad and McIver.

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! x3

McIver scored not one or two, but THREE goals in his soccer game this morning.  He was OVER THE MOON!!

After the first goal, the team was re-grouping around the center of the field and everyone heard McIver slap his buddy Beau on the back and say, "Thanks, Beau" because Beau was the one who passed McIver the ball.  It was adorable!

The second goal was a bit more of an accident.  The ball pretty much rolled through the legs of two of the opponents and would have been easy saves for just about any other team.  Still, a goal is a goal and he was excited.

The third goal was something out of World Cup soccer on a 2nd grade level.  McIver kicked the ball up over the heads of the defenders and it sailed into the top of the goal.  It was beautiful!!

Several other players scored, too, so it was a great, great game!

Auction Project

Every fall our school hosts a Fall Festival and Auction.  Each class makes a project of some sort to be auctioned.  Thanks to a very creative mom from McIver's class, the Spectacular Starfish are making a WAY COOL piece of art.  I went to school two afternoons last week to help them get started.  First, they painted a beach scene.  Each student really has a part in every step of the process.  On Friday, they each made a paper mache starfish which will be glued to the canvas.  The children are all so excited about the project.

I can't wait to see the finished product!

Cute girls

Olivia and Maggie rode home with Katherine and play with Ellie while Katherine put their almost-2-year-old down for a nap.  Katherine texted me this picture and I thought it was so sweet ... may these girls love to play dress up for a long, long time. (On a side note, Olivia and a friend have decided to be Pinkalicious and Purplicious for Halloween - that's much more preferable than the trashy cowgirl costume that Olivia tried to put together with Cacoo's old dance costumes!)

State Tennis Tournament @ Daniel Island

Sets in the City, my 5.0 combos team (two 2.5-ranked players play together), made it to the State tennis tournament in Daniel Island last weekend.  We were the second place team in Columbia so we just barely made it by the skin of our teeth as a 'wildcard.'  

I generally play with two different girls who (whom?) I wouldn't know if I didn't play tennis.  (I'm SO thankful for all the girls on my team - of course, I love all my friends, but there's something to be said for having friends that know me for me - not because our children go to the same school, or because their husband plays golf with Will, or works with Will, etc.)

ANYWAY, this is Kim ...  We drove down to Charleston early Thursday so we could get checked into the house we rented and have lunch before going to the captains' meeting at the Family Circle tennis center.  We had a long and delicious lunch at High Thymes on Sullivan's Island which is 'next door' to Isle of Palms where we rented a house.

After getting the car unloaded, we headed to Daniel Island for the captains' meeting.  Some husbands of players were kind enough to take our picture ... so glad you can see his shadow in the picture, but we were using my phone so you get what you get.

Our first match was Friday morning at 11.  Kim and I played Doubles #1 together and beat the team from Charleston (7-5, 6-1).  Our Doubles #2 also won and since the Charleston team forfeited their Doubles #3 court, we won all three courts.

The weather in Charleston could not have been more perfect.  We hit the beach after a quick lunch on Daniel Island and stayed until sunset.

Here we are after our Saturday match against the other team from Columbia.  Kim and I played Doubles #1 again, but lost this time (6-1, 3-6, 0-1 - lost in the tiebreak), but since both Doubles #2 and #3 won, our team won the match.  We went into Sunday tied for first place with the team from Spartanburg.

Saturday afternoon we had a great time drinking celebratory champagne on the beach which was given to us by a former teammate.  We had snacks and just had a good time visiting on the beach.

Our match on Sunday was a heart-breaker.  I played Doubles #1 with Margaret (front row, far left) and we lost 7-5, 6-4.  The team from Spartanburg was ON FIRE!!  We had a great time playing and really felt like we played our absolute best.  It was just tough to be so close to winning, and then end up losing all three courts.  Congratulations to the Spartanburg team, though ... now they're off to Mobile, AL for the Division Tournament.

Another camping trip pic

Can you tell I've been cleaning out my cell phone picture album!?

Will sent this picture of McIver and Morgan from their boat ride to the island where they camped a few weeks ago.  A perfect moment in time!

Rain, rain, go away!

We have had so much rain lately it's not even funny.  Olivia was waiting for her ride to soccer a week or so ago and we just wondered, again, if practice was going to be rained out.  This particular time, they were able to have practice.  However, we have had an extra-crazy schedule the last few weeks because of make-up soccer games during the week.  Thankfully, we've had some beautiful "Chamber of Commerce" days lately which have reminded me why we love Columbia so much in the fall!

One day not too long ago (it was probably raining), I went into Olivia's room to put laundry away and found Tex all curled up on O's body pillow.  It was just too cute not to take a picture.  She's got her blinds pulled up just so, so that he can look out the window during the day and bark at other dogs walking on our street.

Fall Break: DeBordieu

Sunday was McIver's 8th birthday ... I can't believe my baby is eight years old!

What better way to start they day than with PRESENTS!!

We met another friend from Columbia at the playground and had a picnic lunch.

More beach time...

Pizza for dinner and COOKIE CAKE for the birthday boy!

Fall Break: DeBordieu

Saturday could not have been more beautiful!  We woke up to clear, blue skies and spent a little while on the beach first thing in the morning.

Looking for more treasure (I gave them quarters to bury for each other - I think someone with a more powerful metal detector might find them someday :)

Those crazy boys just went right into the water ... it was fuh-reeeeezing!

Then we got everyone dressed and headed to Georgetown for the Wooden Boat Show.  Olivia was excited to show off GranGran and GranDaddy's boat, Real Escape, to everyone.

The Mamas found the best seat on the front of the boat.

On our way to the boat show...

Will's cousin John built a sailboat and sailed it from Mt. Pleasant to Georgetown.  He's been working on it ever since I can remember ... so cool to see his hard work pay off.  And, boy did it!?  He won first place!  The boy with the hat on is Will's cousin David's youngest boy, Aidan.  The other guy is John's buddy who sailed with him from Mt. Pleasant.

There was a tent set up where the children could build their own boats.

Hard at work.

About to set sail.  We also ran into GranGran, but the children were so into their boat building that I didn't even get a picture with her.

It didn't take long to hit the beach once we'd had our fill of the boat show.  The girls loved boogie boarding.

The Mamas loved watching!

Some friends who were at Litchfield for the long weekend joined us for dinner.  We had almost 25 people in the house ... they brought seven girls with them to add to our 4, plus our three boys for a grand total of 11 girls and three boys.

Most of the evening was spent in front of the television watching Clemson fight their way to a win over Maryland.    We did enjoy a great meal with shrimp fresh from the docks in Georgetown!

Fall Break: DeBordieu

The Draffins invited our family and the Harrisons to spend Fall Break with them at the beach.  I had never been to DeBordieu which is on the South Carolina coast near Georgetown, SC, so that made the trip all the more exciting.  We had a great, great weekend full of beautiful weather, beach time, hanging out and relaxing.

The girls shared a room...

And the boys shared a room ... As they say, "Boys will be boys."

McIver loved checking out the beach and searching for treasure (quarters!) with his metal detector.  I took this picture from the porch of the house, so you can see how close we were to the beach!

Happy Birthday, GranDaddy!

We celebrated GranDaddy's birthday at the lake a few weekends ago.  Thought this picture was worth sharing.  GranGran's birthday is today and we hope to see her this weekend to celebrate.

Spotlight on McIver

McIver came home from school a month or so ago with a Spotlight On Me! paper.  I wanted to write them down before I throw the page out (trying to clear out some clutter from my desk!).  All spelling is his.

A List of My Favorites

Book:  Herry Poter

Character: Dathy Duck

Subject:  Math (makes Will so happy)

Pet:  dog

Animal:  tiger

Food:  tocos

Hobby:  shack fishing

Place:  my houes

Song or Group: black id pes

TV Show: pawer rangers

Movie:  Herry Potter

Sport:  socker

I'm good at:  The wii

When I grow up I want to be: A astrnot

Father/Son Lake Murray Camp Out

I mentioned a day or so ago that McIver and Will are going to miss the Cub Scout campout this weekend because we're going to the beach for Fall Break.  So, Will took the bull by the horns and planned his own campout.  Will took McIver out to the lake last weekend to scope out some islands and chose one for the campout.  They invited four other fathers/sons to join them Saturday afternoon for a camp out.  I sent the camera with Will and BEGGED him to please try to remember to take some pictures.

The first shot is a bit blurry, but apparently the boys found a fallen tree and spent an hour trying to break it apart to build a dam.

The boys - Walker, Hugh, McIver, Burch & Morgan. 

What a beautiful sunset!

The dads - James, Will, Stephen, Hugh & Tupp

Apparently, there was dancing after the burgers and s'mores.

Will managed to get a picture of each father/son group and I'm so glad he thought to get one of him and McIver.

Sunday morning they all went back to the lakehouse to have pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  Will and McIver got home about 10:30 Sunday morning and were dead-dog tired.  McIver went straight to the shower and Will went straight to bed.  I keep picking up little tidbits here and there from McIver about what fun they had ... tearing apart the tree, skipping rocks, building the dam, hitting rocks against each other to make sparks and telling ghost stories.  Good times and good memories, for sure!

LuLu's HotDogs

After Olivia's soccer game on Saturday morning, we met some friends at LuLu's Hot Dogs for lunch.  Olivia and Maggie spied a hot dog costume hanging in the corner and asked if they could try it on.

Hilarity ensued...

Maggie in the hot dog suit.

Homecoming

McIver was in the right place at the right time Friday night during Heathwood's Homecoming game.  He was able to run one of the letters of "Highlanders" onto the field following the football team.

USC Women's Soccer game

Last weekend, USC held a special soccer weekend to encourage the SC United Football Club/YMCA soccer teams to come to their games.  Olivia's soccer team went to the Women's game on Sunday afternoon.

McIver took Walker, a friend from school who is also on his soccer team.

Everyone was into the game for a little while, but mostly just enjoyed the beautiful weather.  The game was televised (they played Vanderbilt ... and won) so everyone hammed it up when the camera man was nearby.  I'm not sure how much 'inspiration' our team got from the USC team, but they did notice how hard the women played ALL the time.

Once the sun started to go down behind the bleachers, I took the boys over to the grassy area where they could run around and play soccer and jump in the Cocky bounce house.  It didn't take long for the girls to follow us over there.

Olivia and Kit enjoyed themselves at the game.

Motivated!

Thanks to the wonders of technology, Olivia is able to send emails to her teacher without having to have her own email account.  I am copied on any email she sends to him and got this in my in-box this afternoon.

Dear Mr. Shirley i think i am going to be able to get ribbit this week but i'm not sure yet but i am still studying really hard!!! REALLY WANT TO GET RIBBIT!!!!

I'm excited just to know that she's this motivated this early in the year ... she was the second to the last person, I think, in 2nd grade to get RIBBIT, and didn't get it until early spring of 3rd grade.  This time around, she will be quizzed on division facts up to 12.  (Yikes...  I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it!)

My Cub Scout

McIver loves being a Cub Scout.  Even though our Wednesdays are crazy hectic, he stays for PEAK most Wednesdays and sometimes doesn't get home until 6:15, he is always eager to put on his scout shirt and head out the door with Will to go to his den meeting.  We're going to be out of town next weekend when the den goes on their camping trip, so Will organized an overnight campout on an island at the lake.  I'll post pictures of that soon.

Baby Cake Pops

We spent part of Saturday afternoon making our first batch of Baby Cake Pops ... red velvet ... yum!! Kate's family was at the Carolina game so she came to hang out with us for a little while.

Kate's cousin also came to help out.

The cake pops were a hit.  We just need to have something/someone to make them for next time because  the recipe makes 3 dozen cake pops!

Camp Meeting

  Will's grandmother's family has been attending Camp Meeting at Indian Fields Methodist Campground in St. George, SC for years and years.  There are 99 'tents' which are really more like log cabins in a giant circle around a field with an open-air tabernacle in the middle.  Each family owns their own cabin and spends the week (or whatever part of the week they are able) at their cabin and it's a family reunion of sorts.  

Will took Mamoo last year but for some reason the children and I were not able to make it.  We made it a priority this year because we knew how important it was to Mamoo that we attend.  It took a little while, but in the end I think both Olivia and McIver had a good time.

Will took the kids upstairs in the 'tent.'  I didn't get a picture, but there's an open-air kitchen in the back.  It's amazing more of these cabins haven't burned down with all the children, fires and cooking going on.

The children heard through the grapevine that there was a candy store somewhere.  Olivia had been pretty bored up until this point.  (Note to self:  Let Olivia bring a friend next year!)  But things perked up once she got her own cup of boiled peanuts.

Olivia and McIver showed me around the upstairs of the tent.  There are two rooms with wooden platforms for blow-up mattresses and sleeping bags.  (There was also a handicap toilet seat with a plastic bucket underneath.  That's pretty much when Olivia and I decided not to drink anything all night long!)  

Will, GranGran, GranDaddy and Olivia - you can kind of see all of the tents in the background.

Olivia and Will kicked the soccer ball around for a little while.

Mamoo loved visiting with her family and seeing so many of them all in one place.  It really does her heart good to be surrounded by her people.  Here she is having dessert with McIver and a cousin, Foster.

A sweet, old man was walking around blowing a horn to get everyone to come to the tabernacle for the church service.  A few people were taking turns blowing the horn. I was SHOCKED when Olivia said she wanted to give it a try.  It was harder to make a noise than she thought it would be.  When the man told her that 'you really want to kind of spit into the hole' we were totally grossed out and kindly thanked the man for sharing the horn with us.  Blech!