FYI...All we do is WIN!

A few disclaimers before reading this post...

1. I'm a very proud Auburn fan and am very excited about how our season has turned out. I hope I'm not jinxing the remainder of the 2010 Auburn football season by posting this video. Since this video has played in Jordan-Hare prior to every home game I believe I would not be able to take soul credit for any bad luck which may occur from this point forward.

2. I'm a very proud Auburn fan (I know it just said this), but I'm an Auburn fan living in the heart of Gamecock country. I'd like to think I've remained humble throughout the season, but now my dear sweet USC friends...I'm going to do a little boasting via the following video.

3. I'm a very proud Auburn fan (again, I know), but I'm not a fan of the "rap music". The lyrics are little yucky for my taste, so I wouldn't play this for small children, especially those who repeat everything they hear.

I just want to remind all my USC friends that at Auburn (at least in the Fall of 2010)....all we've done is WIN WIN WIN! I eagerly await our meeting again on Dec 4th in Atlanta!

Auburn to date: 11-0
USC to date: 7-3



WAR EAGLE!!

And P.S. to those who try to post comments as "Anonymous"...if you stand behind your team, don't try to post a comment on my blog in such a cowardly way. Reminder, this is my blog and therefore my opinion...if you don't like what I have say, then simply stop reading my blog.

Pep talk to Auburn, Love Ruth Ann

I couldn't have said it better myself! WAR EAGLE!!

Water sliding the afternoon away

While we were at Disney Ruth Ann fell in love the pool at our resort...especially the slides. The precious picture of her sliding and laughing in the previous post was the "baby" slide...she quickly mastered that slide and moved onto the big kid slide...



So, after I saved this video to my computer, to You Tube and then to the blog I found a typo in my captions...The last caption should have read "...thanks for escourting ME to the top..." If it didn't take so long and involve so many steps I would correct it, but I have better ways to spend my afternoon!

I survived!!

So some of you know my mom decided in April to cash in some Disney Vacation Club points and treat me, Ruth Ann, Toni (Sister-in-law) and Ada (Niece) to a girls trip to Disney in December. I agreed to the trip but April was the month Arch and I decided we were ready for a 2nd and final baby and in the back of my mind I thought "Gee, I might be 8 months pregnant." But my best friend Andrea was the voice of reason and brought me back to reality by reminding me how many months (18ish) it took to get pregnant the first time and there was no way I was going to get pregnant so quickly this time...but God had other plans and I realized several weeks later Baby Boy would be arriving mid-January making me 8 months pregnant on our Disney trip. I foolishly thought it wouldn't be a problem...the weather would be great and I wouldn't even mind...apparently enough time had passed between my 1st pregnancy to my 2nd because I'm 7 months pregnant now and feel exhausted...clearly, I was out of my mind! Thankfully, when we told my mom I was expecting she immediately realized the timeline as it pertained to our Disney trip and moved our vacation to October. I have tons of pictures to post, but I'll leave you with this for now...

Disney may be known as the Happiest Place on Earth...but with a sassy toddler there was a little of this...



and a little of that...



But there were also a lot of these...



and those...



And we ended the vacation by meeting the Big Mouse...



We're headed home in the morning and I'm ready to let Arch hold at least one of our 2 children...I'm tired of holding them both! I'm not looking forward to the long ride home tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to sleeping soundly in my own bed when I get there!

Ruth Ann, who loves you?

For awhile now when I ask Ruth Ann who loves her she responds with a role call of our family. It's really very sweet and I've wanted to get it on video so I would always be able to remember this time in her life. There's also a little singing and evidence that she would rather be Grammy or Papaw's Girl than Mommy's girl...she's calling for me as I type this post, so I think I know whose girl she really is!

One of my Fall favorites...

The South Carolina State Fair!!



In recent years the fair has started $5 lunch passes (usually a ticket purchased at the gate is $10) and if you're out before 2pm you get your $5 back...it's been the way I've enjoyed the fair for the last few years, but I think this may be the last year I can get away with just 2 hours of fair time with Ruth Ann joining me. She was still a little too short for the rides (but you try explaining that to an almost 2 year old...believe me, the tears flowed), but you're never too little to enjoy my favorite part of the fair...the food.



Ruth Ann & I shared a corndog & Fiske fries...delicious (as Ruth Ann now says when she eats something she finds particularly yummy).



Please excuse the unlady like way Ruth Ann is sitting, but strollers are just not made for little girls who wear dresses...at least she's wearing tights!

As we were eating I noticed this new ride in the distance...



I was in complete shock at how they have modified one of my favorite fair rides...the swings. Growing up I usually went to the fair with my friend Allison and her family. We always purchased the "Pay One Price" ticket which allowed you to ride as many rides as you could stand...the classic swings were always a fave and we always rode them multiple times...either I've gotten too old or I'm just a big fraidy cat but you'll never find me on this newer version...yikes!

As 2pm got closer we headed to another one of my adult favorites...







Now maybe this is just the pregnant woman in me talking, but this was the most delicious (wondering where Ruth Ann picked up this word??) I can remember eating...it was the perfect amount of dough and not too greasy...yum!

Guess who else loved the elephant ear???



Although she kept calling it a cookie...that's okay, she'll learn, this won't be her last elephant ear.

But next time I need to be a better mother and keep her a little more clean...she had sugar EVERYWHERE...hand, face, top of her head, in her seat...she had to have a good dusting off before she could get in the car.





I told Arch this was the last year I could do a solo mission to the fair, so he's going to have to go with me next year. Maybe this will draw him to the fair...



I'm a traditionalist in a lot of ways...what I eat at the fair is one of the examples of my traditional ways...corndog and fries & I'm a happy girl. In the last few years I've seen fried butter, and fried candy bars, but doughnut burgers...yuck! I'm pregnant and still want nothing to do with whatever this is...dessert or sandwich?? On our 2nd round to the fair for lunch this week I got a picture of the doughnut burger, but it didn't turn out well...but let me tell you it is literally a patty of ground beef between 2 slices of doughnut. I'm convinced someone was on drugs when this fair food was thought up!

Big as a house

That's how I feel...and the worst part with my 2nd pregnancy is knowing I'm only going to get bigger...yikes!

Ignorance truly was bliss during pregnancy #1. I'm not weighing as much on the scales as I did at this point with Ruth Ann, but I feel so much larger this time. I'm carrying #2 completely different and that has a lot to do with how I'm feeling. I carried Ruth Ann so low...I use to joke that I had lots of torso room being that I'm such a tall girl, but Baby #2 is not taking advantage of the room available and has decided to camp out right underneath my rib cage. Carrying this baby so high seems to make him stick straight out...see for yourself...here I am at 26 weeks...



Lacie Lou either thought I was crazy and came to check on me or is vain and wanted a little camera time for herself...



Friday morning I have a sweet friend, Heidi, who will be delivering her Baby #2...they've settled on a name unlike our nameless baby (Madelyn Kate). Heidi has a daughter 3 months older than Ruth Ann and then Heidi discovered she was pregnant a few months before we found out our family would be expanding too. Today Heidi posted on Facebook about spending her last day with her daughter...just the 2 of them. I'm very excited about having a new baby and seeing our family grow, but it still hurts my heart a little to know Ruth Ann is never going to remember this time when she was the baby in our lives. Although when asked whose girl she is she responds with either "Grammy's Girl" or "Papaw's Girl"...so maybe she isn't all that interested in being the baby in our family...she's already learned who she has wrapped around each pinkie finger and Momma isn't one of them!

Please keep Heidi and Baby Madelyn in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow...I can't wait to see a newborn baby again!

To the zoo

A few weeks ago Brantley invited us to join her family for a morning at the zoo. Since the temperatures were dropping I thought it was a great idea. Ruth Ann spends a lot of time looking at a book that has a variety of animals in it and is pretty good at naming most of them...my favorite is to hear her say "gorilla"...she drops the "r" so it sounds more like "go-illa" but it's very cute. On previous trips to the zoo she has mostly just enjoyed the time outside, but this zoo visit was the first where she seemed excited to see the animals...it was so much fun!



I love the meerkats...the have so much personality, but I especially love that the exhibit is so kid friendly...even though Ruth Ann could see the meerkat clearly from where she was standing, Sydney gave her a little boost to get a better look...



Today the gorilla was out...thank goodness since he was the animal I wanted Ruth Ann to see the most...



Then we headed to the farm area to check out another one of my favorites...the Nubian Goats...they definitely have a face only a mother could love.



Mason really showed the the goats some love...



Mason also rode the ponies. Ruth Ann is still a little too young to ride...you have to be 2 years old. I would fudge the truth and let her ride, but so far she's been a big talker where riding horses is concerned. From 20 feet away, she wants to ride the pony...when you're handing her over to ride she goes into meltdown mode.



Brantley and I awarded this horse "Best Hair"...



Then we ate lunch at monkey island and this monkey kept putting on show to entertain us...



And finally, I watched Brantley live out my worst nightmare...a bird attack...okay, it wasn't really an "attack" as much as she was harmlessly feeding the birds, but to me it had the makings of an attack written all over it...



I was behind the safety of a net screen (that's why the picture quality looks kinda funny).



I have inherited my mother's healthy fear of birds and I seem to have passed it on to my own daughter. Thankfully Ruth Ann had zero interest in feeding the birds, otherwise I would have been forced to pay the money and throw her into the feeding area by herself...I'll do a lot for my daughter but allowing birds to perch on my head, arms, hands, etc. is where I firmly draw the line. Ruth Ann will have to bring her daddy to the zoo for that since Grammy and I will never see the inside of this exhibit!

The best $5 I've ever spent...

A few weeks ago I found myself in Walgreen's...not sure why, I don't enjoy chain pharmacies, I give my pharmacy business to independent pharmacists (Sunset Pharmacy if you live in Columbia)...I think the candy was on sale and the thought of cheap Nerds led me into the store. Anyway, while I was there I headed down the clearance isle. There I spotted a bubble blower similar to one my mom had purchased for her house. I had not seen Ruth Ann enjoy the bubble blower, but I washed the clothes covered in soap that proved she loved Grammy's purchase. This bubble blower happened to also be 50% off making it a $5 purchase...sold. I'm now convinced this is the best $5 I've ever spent...

Mason turns 3!

Happy Birthday to Mason! I can't believe he turned 3 years old...yet another reminder of how time is flying by.

Mason's grandparents live on a farm and even though he's growing up in the "city" (in quotes because if you've ever been to our home town you know we're not exactly a metropolis)...he's still a country boy at heart and a tractor theme was perfect for this fellow!



Taking a big bite out of his cake...yumm!





And then we all hopped on the trailer and went for a hayride around the neighborhood!





A rare family photo...Spencer wasn't with us this weekend, otherwise this picture would have been perfect!



I'm not sure who Sally is calling a loser over Ruth Ann's shoulder, but I'm sure it was necessary...

Mason didn't ride on the trailer...not when his Uncle Rob was up front driving...the birthday boy got to ride up front too!



Then it was present time and as usual there was a cute blond front and center for gift opening time. Opening gifts with a 3 year old proved a little difficult...he wanted to open a gift and then play with that toy sufficiently before moving on to the next gift. It's made me think we may open gifts at home on our own time when Ruth Ann's party rolls around...







Then Ruth Ann did little swinging in the backyard with Betsy...





All in all it was a very fun birthday party! And a reminder that Ruth Ann's is right around the corner and this momma needs to get to planning!

Last day at the pool

Summer 2010 has come and gone. Ada and Toni came down to visit a few weeks ago and thanks to some warmer than usual temps in September we were able to squeeze in one more day in the pool. I attended a wedding while this group lounged in the pool. When I got there to pick up Ruth Ann she was on top of the slide shivering but still having a fun time in the pool. She dried off and showed me some of the things she had been doing while I was gone...

A little water color painting...these are one use only when you use them by the pool and you're 21 months old.



Then she decided to brush her teeth with her paint brush which resulted in a blue smile...



Then Aunt Toni let her do a little finger nail painting with the water colors...



Then Ada joined in and it turns out she is very good at painting nails...she becomes more and more of a girlly girl every time I see her!



We've enjoyed the pool this summer and are looking forward to more fun days at the pool next summer with Baby Boy!