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:

CLEMSON VS. NC STATE

We played NC State this past Saturday, September 13, 2008 and had another win (27 to 9 - final score)! We still aren't playing up to our potential but seem to be getting better at each game! Hopefully they keep up the good work the rest of the season! We had a wonderful time at the game even though it was way too hot! Will had so much fun cheering the TiGERS on and I bought him a new hat that he absolutely loves!!! He doesn't really wear hats (just like to play around with Rick's at home) but he wore this one all game long and all weekend so I think we have a winner! He actually picked it out himself and I think he did a pretty good job! I really don't like these noon kick-offs - I'd love it if they changed that but don't see that happening! Hope everyone enjoys the pictures from the game:

CLEMSON VS. CITADEL

Clemson played the Citadel this past weekend (9/6/08) and we came out with a BIG "W!" Much needed after the awful game played against Alabama the weekend before. We'll have to see how the rest of the season goes for us though - hopefully it will only continue to improve! My mom, dad, Kent, Elizabeth, Will, Emma and myself all piled into the Suburban and rode to the game together and had lots of fun! Emma and Kent did some "head banging" to Metallica - that was hilarious to watch Emma do this! It was a very hot day so that made it a little miserable to be at the game but winning the game at least helped out some! :) We won 45 to 17! Go Tigers!!! Here's a slide show from the day:

Labor Day

My mom, Elizabeth and Emma headed down to Blythewood today to hang out with Will and I since I had Labor Day off. We ate lunch together when they got to our house and we decided to go to Ed Venture and were hoping that all would go well with both Will and Emma since Emma had only had like a 30 minute nap and Will didn't have one at all! :) For the most part, until the very end of the day, they did very well! They had so much fun with the bubble-loosa exhibit, playing with the blocks, tractors, cars and fire trucks. They also got to plant food and milk the cow. They played in the 40 foot boy and listened to his heart beat - they were a little unsure about this one - maybe in another year or two they'll be big enough to go through this on their own and really enjoy it - it was really cool though! They went shopping in the grocery store, played with sand, on a boat and in the dentist office. The funniest part about the grocery store was that Will went straight for the meat and filled up his cart with this - this is the one thing that he eats the least of! :) It was so cute though! I'm sure there was much more that they did there but I can't remember it all and am not going to list it all because you'll see it in most of the pictures in the slide show! We had such a good time together and can't wait to do it again! Thanks Me-mo, Aunt-E and Emma for a wonderful day!