Birthday Party...Round 1

We're in the middle of a weekend loaded with birthdays...it all started on Thursday when Arch celebrated the 20th anniversary of his 21st birthday! Then on Friday our friend Christopher turned the big 0-1...



Here he is with his mom & my good friend Auralee...his party will be tomorrow afternoon and will be Round 2 of our party weekend.

Today was Claire's first birthday and we celebrated with her family and friends in the her parent's backyard. They have such a great house in a really great neighborhood in Lexington...it makes me want to put a sign in our front yard and move next door to them! Heidi is a realtor, so I'm sure she would be happy to help me out with that plan.

While Claire's mom, Heidi, opened gifts she hung out with her daddy, Scott, or ran around the yard...she got a lot of great gifts so it took a while to open them all...she just didn't have the patience for it! And my gift was a hit with Heidi just as I had hoped for!





Some of our other friends were there too. Here's Ruth Ann with Betsy...I promise Ruth Ann wasn't crying in this picture even though it looks like she's on the verge of tears. I think the sun was just in her eyes.



Jay and Mason were there too. Jay looks less than thrilled to have me snapping pictures in his face...however, about 45 minutes later when I was sans camera in the leaving room he looked at me and said "CHEESE"...too little too late Jay!



And the ever sleeping Roper. He was awake for parts of the party, but spent most of his time there swinging the afternoon away!



One party down, one more to go. I can't believe these kiddos are already 1...that means Ruth Ann's 1st birthday is right around the corner!

More pictures

I don't think I'll ever get tired for taking pictures of this baby girl...she better keep the smiles coming because she's in for years and years of photo sessions.



Ruth Ann has mastered the art of clapping. I'm not quite able to get her to do this trick on command, but we're very close.



But all this picture taking really "pooped" her out...literally...



Here are some things I've been working on...I don't think Heidi will be looking on the blog tonight or tomorrow before her daughter's party, so I think I'm safe to post them tonight. We're starting a birthday party weekend...one tomorrow and one on sunday. I've thought and thought about what to get Claire for her 1st birthday. Arch thought I get her some toys but I decided to do something I thought her mom would enjoy...towels and a t-shirt. Here are the results...

Oh no...

First Ruth Ann starts crawling and now she's already pulling up...I'm not ready for all this freedom.



This cute baby girl is growing up way too fast!

Clemson Alumni

Where the Blue Ridge yawns its greatness,
Where the Tigers play,
Here the sons of dear old Clemson
Reign supreme alway.

Dear old Clemson we will triumph,
And with all our might,
That the Tiger's roar may echo
O'er the mountain height.

We will dream of greater conquests
For our past is grand.
And her sons have fought and conquered
Every foreign land.

Where the mountains smile in grandeur
O'er the hill and dale,
Here the Tiger lair is nestling
Swept by storm and gale.

We are brothers strong in manhood,
For we work and strive.
And our Alma Mater reigneth
Ever in our lives.

It's hard to believe it's been 5 months since we lost Adam. For those of you who don't know, Adam was finishing his Master's degree at Clemson prior to the accident in March. He had finished his course work and was left to finish up his research...then Ada was born and he became a stay-at-home dad. At Adam's funeral the dean from his college told us he had confirmed Adam receive his Master's Degree. This was something the university didn't have do to, but it meant a lot to my family. We got word this week that his diploma was ready so we all decided to be there with Toni when the Dean of Student Affairs would present it to her. Although Adam never really participated with all things Clemson while he was in school and he probably didn't know the Alma Mater, it really suits him and the things that he loved...the mountains and brotherhood. Today was a bitter sweet day and another reminder of his absence, but it was special day none the less...here are some pictures from Adam's graduation day...

Pool Party!

This past weekend my friends and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary for our monthly supper club. We started at Chez McCarty last August and our turn was up again this August. To celebrate I requested it be an "Adult Only" event, so the youngest McCarty (Ruth Ann) was shipped off to Grammy's house...which Grammy was 100% in favor of. Since I was going to have to venture into the country to pick up Ruth Ann on saturday I invited my friends along to spend the afternoon at the pool with us. To date this is the largest pool party we've had...the pool was filled with kiddos!

Here are the highlights...



Regan and Kennedy came over to visit with Ruth Ann and cool off in the pool. These were the first baby girls in my life and it means a lot to see them with my most current baby girl. I've wiped all three of these behinds!

The Brown's continued to enjoy the slide...this time all three of the Brown's headed down the slide.



First Jay showed Betsy how it was done...then it was all we could do to keep Betsy off the slide. For those that don't know Besty personally let me tell you that she is quite the dare devil. Besty's nickname amongst the adults was & continues to be "Betsy Bad Ass" or "Betsy BA" when little ears are listening. She is fearless...and here's the proof...





Jay and Betsy had SO much fun in the water. It makes me look forward to the days when Ruth Ann and Ada are their ages and really enjoy the water.





Then my dad came home and told Jay he should come down the slide with his hands in the air...



He hit his head coming down the slide...still kept his hands up...and hit the water so hard it knock one of his swimmies off...and came out of the water with a smile...he's such a trooper!

But because of the traumatic event he wanted Sally to join him the next time he went down the slide...their ride down the slide was just as wild!



Then we got out of the pool to dry off and enjoy some popsicles. When Adam and I were little my mom kept these in the deep freeze outside for us to eat when ever we wanted. Nothing says summer to me like a Chilly Willy!





If you know Roper Clark or if you check out the Clark's Blog you know that Roper spends much of his day snoozing...today was no different. He made it very easy for his mom to enjoy lounging in the pool.



With football games and talks of the upcoming SEC season it means the lazy days of summer will soon come to an end...we're getting the most out of these last days and I hope everyone else is enjoying their final summer days of 2009.

A week of accomplishments

There have been several monumental accomplishments during this past week in the McCarty house. The McCarty's kids are making big moves...

First, Spencer started HIGH SCHOOL this week. I can barely believe it...he was 8 years old when Arch and I met and I turn around almost 7 years later & he's a 9th grader!! Lately I've been feeling like time is moving way too quickly and Spencer starting high school today is yet another reminder to me that time is flying by right before my eyes. Here's BC High School newest McCarty...it's been over 20 years since a McCarty graced the grounds of BC...I hope Spencer enjoys his days there as much as his dad did.



The other mover and shaker in the house is finally an actual mover...Ruth Ann has been snipper crawling for a few weeks and getting herself up on all 4 for a week or two...this week she put it all together and started moving. She's a little hard to get a picture of in action...this is the best I could do...

Pictures from this week

No real subject here, just some cute photos from this week...










I just told Ruth Ann a joke and obviously she thinks her mommy is hilarious!


Could you not just eat her up she's so cute!

Get Obsessed Much??

For those of you who read this blog and know me well you are well aware of my need to hoard. Hoard is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away". I promise I have come by this honestly...if you look in any one of the closets at my mother's home you will find extra bottles of lotions that she loves, soaps she enjoys or essentials she may need one day. And in the generation preceding her...when my great-aunt Riva (my maternal grandmother's sister) passed away, my family went to clean out her home in Florida they found "extras" of everything...I understand exactly what she was thinking, what happens when you run out of something that you love?? When I find a lotion that I love...I buy 2...if it's on sale...I buy even more. Here's my latest obsession and the item that I am most recently hoarding...hair bows...and there's no hiding this suppy that I have stored up...



Now for those of you who have daughters I know you're thinking "Cha-Ching"...however, I've only paid about $1 for most of these bows. For those of you who thinking I'm lying through my teeth, let me take this opportunity to introduce you to ebay!! I'm obsessed with buying hair bows on ebay because they're so stinking cheap & I rarely ever buy from a vendor who charges shipping! The only draw back is that you can't really see the colors of the bows if your picky about your bow color, but for $1 a piece I can easily over look that and justify buying one in each and every color...which I've obviously been doing! But when you look at this girl and she looks this cute in a hair bow you can see why I believe I need a hair bow to match each and every one of her outfits!

Welcome to the New & Improved Blog

Last year my BFF, Andrea, got me addicted to blogging. She had started a blog while waiting on Anna Rose to arrive in the US and told me for months and months that I too needed a blog. I resisted, but Andrea was persistent because she knew I would LOVE it if I gave it a chance...oh she knows me so well. Anyway, as a gift she paid Jennisa at Once Upon a Blog to design a layout for me. When I picked out my layout last summer I didn't really know what to ask for so I kinda went into the whole thing without any knowledge...now, after 1 year of blogging and blog stalking I have a better idea of what I want. So I contacted Jennisa, got on her waiting list and revamped my blog. I hope you enjoy...I LOVE it!!

Oh no...

So it looks like Ruth Ann has discovered where we keep the toys...









Unfortunately she's only learned how to take the toys out...not how to put them away. It's going to be years before our living room is tidy again.