A Day at the Airport

Rick, Will and myself headed out to the airport today (11/8/08) to play with the airplane. Will had so much fun and got to see what Rick does when he goes to work. :) Will enjoyed playing with all of the buttons and headphones on the plane. He got to see a few planes take off while we were there also. Now that he's older he has such a better understanding of some things so it makes "trips" like these so much fun with him because we can see how much he's actually learning!

Bailey Anne Grier

Will's best friend, Jackson, became a brother today (11/6/08)!!! Bailey Anne Grier was born at 3:06 pm and Allison and Bailey are doing very well! She was 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. She's absolutely precious! Brian is a very proud daddy too! Jackson, from what I've been told (we didn't get to see him tonight) wasn't quite sure what to think about his new sister - he just wanted to get back home to play with his grandparents! :) I'm sure he'll warm up to his little sister soon enough! We made a visit to see them tonight and got some pictures that I've posted:

Meet Bailey:

2008 Halloween

Halloween this year was so much fun!!! We joined up with a couple of our neighbors and went around the neighborhood trick-or-treating again and this year and the kids had so much fun going door to door and saying "trick-or-treat" and collecting candy! They walked the whole time on their own also which was amazing in itself! :) Will was a Clemson football player this year - James Davis - imagine that! He loves Clemson football so much so we figured this would be the best costume for him this year and he loved it! If I do say so myself, he was a pretty cute TIGER...

2008 Pumpkin Carving

Rick and Will carved our pumpkin the Sunday before Halloween this year and we decided to carve it into a TIGER PAW this year - No surprise there! :) We left the decision up to Will and that's what he wanted and if I do say so myself, Rick did a wonderful job!!! He also painted a pumpkin for Will with Diego on it and did a great job! He did a Mickey Mouse one for Jackson - forgot to take a picture of that one though! He enjoys doing this and has fun doing it for others! Yet another reason I love him so much - he's always doing for his family and others!!! Will enjoyed helping in the whole pumpkin process - even got to scoop out some of the inside of the pumpkin! :)

Blythefest - October 25, 2008

Will, myself, Allison, Brian and Jackson attended Blythefest this year in Blythewood, South Carolina. The boys had a blast jumping around and sliding in all of the bounce houses and even Brian had some fun! We bought some goodies for them and they took the time to enjoy one of the cupcakes that we bought them as you can tell from some of the pictures! These two have so much fun together and I'm so glad that Will has a friend like Jackson and that we have his parents as wonderful friends also!

Clemson vs. Georgia Tech - 10/18/08

We were all able to go to the Clemson vs. Georgia Tech game on 10/18/08 (even Ben and Rick) and this was also a game with a new interim coach - Dabo Swinney! The Tigers played a much better game than they'd been playing most of the season and even though we lost it was still nice to see them "playing their hearts out!" The day was great and it was wonderful just to spend the time with the family!

2008 Physics & Astronomy Annual Departmental "Retreat"

The department that I work for at USC (Physics and Astronomy) held it's annual "retreat" at Saluda Shoals in Columbia, South Carolina this year! We had wonderful food and had a lot of fun hanging out with each other! It was a little chilly and windy that day but perfect fall weather! The kids had a blast riding bikes, running all over the place and playing on the playground! We had a wonderful day and look forward to next year!

Videos from Cell Phone

Here were some videos taken with my cell phone that we just pulled from the phone: one was of him playing during bath time and the other two were him yelling at the TV during a football game - it was really funny!!!

Pictures from my phone

We were able to finally pull some pictures from my cell phone that I've been wanting for a long time and here they are - they are very random:

These were just of Will in the car playing around:







These were of Will playing around at home:









These were of Will at his 3 year well visit - he did really well and luckily didn't have to have any shots that day:

Allison Grier's Baby Shower (10/5/08)

We had my friend Allison's baby shower at my house this past weekend and had so much fun! She had many family members and friends attend and we all had a wonderful time! Lots of yummy food, an amazing cake, lots of fun games and prizes!!! I had someone make a ladybug cake for the shower and it was AMAZING....Thanks Beth!!!







I also had someone make a picture frame for Bailey's nursery - Thanks Jodi!!!



I also made a bag for Bailey:



Here are pictures from the shower:

CLEMSON VS. MARYLAND (9/27/08)

We played Maryland the other weekend and ended up losing, 20 to 17 - it was very disappointing because the Tigers had played so well the first half and it just seemed as if the team didn't even show up on the field the second half (or at least the coaches didn't)! I didn't get to watch any of the second half of the game because I spent it with the EMS people! :) I was sick already before we went to the game and had been taking some DAYQUIL without taking my blood pressure medicine for a while and obviously the combination didn't work well together - I started feeling very week and my mom took me up to the concession area just to get away and try and cool down and see if that helped but it didn't so we went and got them to check out my blood pressure and it was 160 something over 100 something - NOT GOOD!!! So....I laid down on a cot with a fan blowing on me the whole game and watched it on a TV while I was there. My mom stayed with me also .... we decided that it was kind of nice being able to just enjoy the game without being so hot....besides, my blood pressure may have risen even more with seeing the way they were playing in the game! :) Hopefully we'll have a win this Thursday night against Wake Forest!!! We'll see what happens!

Will also spent Sunday afternoon playing football with Daddy-Mo and had a blast!!! He loved this time and it was such a beautiful day outside for them to be able to have this time together! My mom and I enjoyed watching them play ball together! We're working on playing "CATCH" with Will these days - he's working so hard at this and he's a very determined young man! It's amazing to watch him learn every little thing that he learns every day. He's a lot like his mommy and daddy in the way that he learns everything - he observes and then "does" what he wants to do and he's such a quick learner! It's amazing!

Jackson Grier's 3rd Birthday Party

We attended Will's buddy Jackson's 3rd birthday on 9/21/08. They had a John Deere theme party and held it at Leapin' Lizards - this is a place that Jackson and Will both love!!! Its a building full of bounce "houses" and lots of toys to play with. The children had a blast! It was a wonderful birthday party and Jackson had a great time! Can't wait to go back again sometime soon with the boys! :)

Will Swinging in the Backyard (9/26/08)

Well...I officially have a "BIG BOY!" We were out in the back yard Thursday afternoon and Will ran over to his swingset and just started swinging himself and it wasn't in the "Baby Swing" as he calls it now! That was the first time that we had seen him do that - it was an exciting moment for Rick and myself! He's doing so many new things and likes to do them all by himself - he's growing up right before our very own eyes - it's so amazing watching them learn new things!

Will also played some football with his daddy and had so much fun doing this! I was able to get a few videos of the swinging and playing football: