Clemson Girl!

Hi everyone! This is Kate! I'm now 5 months old and Mama and Daddy said that it was high time I created my own post for you all, so here it is!

On Friday I went to this place called CLEMSON, which I've heard a lot about. It certainly lived up to its name. Lots of orange, my favorite color, and I got to see my cousin Courtney graduate!

I had to get ready for the day wearing my Tiger bib! Thanks Granma and Grandpa! It certainly keeps me covered!

I slept on the way up there.. Yawn... b/c it was like, a 2 hour drive!

Took my turn at the wheel so Mama and Daddy could hang out and eat lunch.

Since they wouldn't let strollers into the Coliseum where the graduating went down, I hung out with Dad.

Here we are with Courtney! I'm pretty sure if I study hard I might be able to graduate like her. Class of 1996, Class of 2009, and Class of 2030!


Mama took this video so I wouldn't miss anything!




So what did I do with the rest of my weekend?? Well, Sunday was Mother's day and so I hung out with my Mama. Because Mama's favorite breakfast is pancakes and coffee, my brother Foster and I made sure she got plenty of those! There are 2 pictures of us b/c Mama says that neither one of us can be still long enough to take a single picture.




I'm so glad it was cool on Monday! Here I am sporting my super hip BabyGap sweatshirt.


Another neat thing about being 5 months old is that I get to try some new foods. Cereal and bananas was getting kind of old. So... Mom let me try some sweet potatoes. I wasn't sure at first...

But I ended up liking them!

Finally, I played some with my super cool Ragedy Ann that Granma made for me. What an exhausting weekend! Hope everybody had as much fun as me and remembered to hug their Mamas!

Brirthday Weekend!

After a log week of "swine" flu, it was nice to have a relaxing Birthday weekend. It was mostly like every other weekend, and not too different than any other birthday, except that this year there was one extra person to help celebrate. We had dinner with Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Kerry on Saturday night. I'm happy to report that I am much younger than my average Wii age (58.5) - Yikes! I'd like to say that was my Wii age AFTER all of the barbeque chicken, various scrumptious side dishes, and hot fudge brownie sunday, but it wasn't. I don't feel old enough to be 29 every year, and actually the 30s have been pretty good to me so far.

Here's Kate and her Pop! I wish I had a picture of Uncle Kerry to put here. He looks enough like Dad that it confused Kate and she spent a lot of time laughing and talking to Kerry.

Our little multi-tasker. Sophie teether in the mouth while reading a book. The child clearly needs a few more toys to keep her occupied in the car seat.

Laughing in the swing. I didn't realize that baby + diaper - any other clothing = giggle fest. Ah, to be so easily pleased by the simplest things in life!


These next 2 pictures are from our Sunday photo shoot while Daddy was out bike riding. Did I mention that I'm so in love? :) Did you notice that she's on her TUMMY in these photos?! Shh... don't remind her that she hates that! :)





Wrapping up the weekend at Starbucks. What a lucky gal I am. Not long after this photo we had dinner with Mom and Dad and then Don cleaned the house while I took a nap! Wow! That might have been the best present of all!

Friday Fix!

Finally made it to Friday! I needed a few sweet Kate pictures to start my weekend off right!

Derby Girl

It was a great weekend, even if I did spend most of it driving around, acting as a taxi cab for various viruses and bacteria. Don and Kate had lots of fun bonding time and we did manage pancakes (x2), a family dinner, and the Roller Derby! Hence the title... I think Kate wants to be a Derby Girl when she grows up!

Kate started the day with some Saturday morning cartoons.


Dinner at Miyo's - she was a perfectly well behaved little lady.


Then we had coffee and dessert at Barnes and Noble, where Don introduced Kate to Curious George. He was a hit and came home with us!

It was the first Roller Derby for all of us on Sunday afternoon. Our good friend Monica skates for the Richland County Regulators. Once you get the hang of the rules, its a LOT of fun to watch.
Kate with her FAVORITE Roller Derby Girl: Monica (aka Juggs Judy - I thought that was an appropriate choice for Kate)

Don's favorite Derby Girl: Shiv Tyler. She's #13 and 1/2 and her pants say "get some." I never figured out what "some" was, but for me it was more like "get" the heck out of her way - she's a beast. Must be 6'4"

Here's our team: the Richland Regulators!

This was quite the unfortunate outfit. It looks like she got into her little sister's closet. And by little sister, I mean 5 year old little sister. Wow.

I can't believe you guys brought a baby to the Roller Derby! Kate didn't mind it so much, although she wasn't fond of the whistles. Don't feel too bad for her. She fell ASLEEP... at a roller derby. That's like falling asleep at a Beastie Boys concert.

A Long Weekend and a Farewell to Pop

Well, it was another long weekend - but not by choice, unfortunately. On Thursday my Pop died. He was 92. So in addition to all of the goings-on of our weekend, I've decided to leave a little tribute here to a really great man. A hard working man from a family of 13 kids who quit school after the 7th grade to work in the cotton fields. A honorable man who was given a good job and a home to live in by someone who thought much of him. A fun man who was always picking at me and enjoying his family. My Pop was full of love. Loved his girls, loved his grandchildren, loved his puppy, loved to fish, and just knew how to love others. I remember him bouncing me on his knee and giving me a dollar every time I visited. He came to my dance recitals and let me pick carrots out of his garden (and didn't even get upset when I picked the ones that were obviously not ready!). He named all of his dogs Brownie or Blackie or Ring. He loved Pepsi-Cola and could eat a bag of chocolates in one sitting (we won't talk about how much he shared with the dog). The last 8 years or so had been hard on Pop - diagnosed with Alzheimers and losing his memory. Until the end he was full of joy and always happy. So here are some pictures and fond memories. I remember a sermon my favorite pastor preached once about leaving a legacy. Pop certainly left a legacy. :) I know that he is no longer in pain and enjoying the everlasting life that was promised to him. LOVE YOU POP!

Pop and his puppy. Its rare that you didn't see Pop holding her. This is the freshest memory in my head. Many times when I visited he was sitting right here. He would always tell me how pretty I was when I walked through the door.

Pop pushing me through the snow on a shovel! :)

One of MANY dance recitals he endured. This was the American Bandstand year.

Pickin tomatoes in the garden - boy did he grow some GOOD vegis!!


Pop got to meet Kate at Christmas. He also got to see her several times when Mom worked over there during the week. He always said "That's a fine baby, a pretty baby."

After the funeral on Saturday (which was just beautiful by the way), we managed our usual relaxing weekend: Bark to the Park, Starbucks, pancakes, and home tours. Kate gets cuter every day, and I may be imagining it, but I swear her hair is starting to grow! Hold on to your socks kids.. this post seems to be getting even longer than our long weekend! :)


Don't you just love the hat?! Don thinks she looks Australian. We have an Australian Shepherd. I think it fits...

Wow...

Foz loving Bark to the Park. He was impressed by the Frisbee show the most.


Don and Kate - who has spotted the pink poodle.


The kids! Kate's stylin' in a pair of khakis with embroidered flowers and a cool blue shirt. She loves Baby Gap.


Mom and I took a break on Sunday to visit the "Dream Home" in Columbia. Kate tagged along in her first outing in the Baby Bjorn. She was WONDERFUL! She loves to look at things. Her favorite part was the GIANT TV. It made her jump. :)

Happy Easter!!

What a wonderful, long Easter weekend! We did some visiting and had a great Easter Dinner with Mom and Dad. Don and I ate as much Easter candy as possible and Kate tolerated the bunny ears pretty well.

Kate with Super-G! She had a pretty good time. Her cousins Tate and Alice were there too - all the great-grandkids visited at once!

I love my Doll!

Kate and Daddy.

The Easter Bunny stopped by and brought Kate a basket of goodies.

Kate and Sophie La Giraffe. Unfortunately Sophie squeaks like a dog toy, so we will have to keep a close eye on her.

Kate, Mama and the Basket.

Getting a close look at the frog Pop brought her.

Kate and Nanna had Easter Dinner together! She was VERY glad Nanna came to see her pretty Easter dress.

"Really? Is this necessary?"

"Just wait Katie, they've been doing this to me for years!"

Next weekend is Foster's weekend (Bark to the Park), so check back for more pictures!

Well Good Morning Houdini!

Sometime this morning (after 6:30 when I put her in the swing), Kate figured out how to get her feet out of her (footie) PJs. She thought it was the funniest thing. And it was. Very cute.

Run Baby Run!

Ok, so Kate didn't do any running this weekend, but we were in Charleston for the Cooper River Bridge Run and she did spend her first night away from home! What a way to spend your 4 month birthday! While my time was less than spectacular (1hour 1min), it did give me hope that I haven't fallen completely out of shape. My ultimate goal is a 1/2 marathon in Columbia in November (13 miles)! I have a long way to go before I'm ready for that. Anway, we've posted the highlights below!


Kate spent her first night in a hotel! She seems pretty happy about it.


Look who was waiting for me at the finish line - My favorite dog and my favorite baby!


After the race we had shrimp and fries at Red's on Shem Creek. We go to Red's b/c they are dog friendly - that's why its Foster's favorite Charleston hangout. See that big smile on his face?


Kate thought Red's was a little cold.


She also got a little bored and took a nap.


After the run, lunch at Red's, and surfboard shopping, we stopped by Tim and Carol's to say hi. We missed Carol and Caroline, but Kate was happy to meet her cousin Charlie!