Hoppy Birthday!

Yesterday was Emma Kate's favorite person's birthday. Emma Kate told him that for his birthday present, she went on the potty four times at school. I wish Hoppy's birthday was everyday so I could stop buying diapers.

Happy Birthday Hoppy (try and say that 4 times fast).

Last chance

Here are some pictures of things that we did this summer. While I had every intention for blogging about each and everyone of these pictures (because there were perfectly good stories to go along with them) time just went by too fast and now they are just memories. Enjoy.

Not Me Monday

So I too have been following this blog forever and now I am inspired to join in on the "not me" Monday blog carnival.
I did NOT wake up late on the first day of fall semester AND the first day of Emma Kate's new school. I certainly did NOT send her to her new school having barely eaten a crumb for breakfast. Nope, not me.
I did not almost hit a freshman who has not yet learned where the proper pedestrian crossings are on campus. I did not laugh when I watched them scurry across the street when I failed to stop. Nope, not me.

I did not lay my child on a middle school bathroom floor at a basketball game this weekend to change her diaper (I think that it is still a good thing that there are no diaper changing stations in middle school bathrooms. I think.). I did not laugh uncontrollably when changing said diaper, my two year old said, "WHAT did I EAAAATTTTTT?" Yeah it was that bad.
I did not forget my umbrella on the same day that the first Tropical Depression of the season pours down on Auburn and I did not go "borrow" one from the lost and found box in our office. Nope, not me.


This picture really has nothing to do with this post, rather, just wanted to show you what a 2yo self-portrait looks like. My, what big nostrils you have at this angle.

Leavin' on a jet plane........

Emma Kate knew that it was getting close. We stayed up later and got up earlier. Anything to squeeze in just a few more moments of being a family of four. Emma Kate held on tight.

But it was inevitable. Time keeps on slipping and so we sent Ashley back to Florida on Sunday. She is ELEVEN now, and a MIDDLE SCHOOLER, so she flies by herself.

But thanks to a very generous MeMe and Hoppy, that middle schooler returns to Florida with a new Mac Book.

And since that Mac Book has a built in web cam, last night, Ashley was able to read Emma Kate a bedtime story via Skype. By the miracle of the internet, that long distance between sisters just got much, much smaller. At least in this 2 year old's world.

Thank you, Skype.

For Marsha....

If you work here, like me.......

Or just love this place in general like my family, most of my friends, and my birthday twin, Momma Roach.......Then you know it is close.

See, I can hear that it is close, because, since I work HERE to be exact......

I can hear them practicing.................

They are getting ready, as I am, for this................

Soon it will be time to be one of these folks heading to Tiger Walk..............

And then onto this place..........................

More specifically you can find me here...... I will watch this.......................

and then this............................

And hopefully, when it is over......I will do this.

All because I believe in Auburn and love it.

War Eagle.

Sweet Summertime

I know I have been bad about updating the blog while Ashley has been here. We have been super-busy and having tons of fun. I will say, that this summer we have done less "stuff" than usual. We try to pack in all kinds of fun entertainment when Ashley was here, and this time we just tried to live our normal lives with her as a part of it. It has been great! I have taken off a few days so that we could sew, play games and take a trip to the water park, but all-in-all we have just had fun being a family.

In July we did fireworks, twice. Once in Opelika with MaMa and cousin Courtney and once in Auburn with MeMe and Hoppy. Both were great, but I think Auburn had the edge this year.

We also introduced Ashley to the "bassetball boyz" and since they are all around her age, she actually had "friends" here this year. She has had fun getting to know them and helping dad with basketball practice.

Last week, we took a trip to Alabaster to have our family portraits done by an amazing photographer, Grethel Van Epps. More on that later.

We also coerced Unc into going to the Auburn Waterpark, Surfside, with us. MikeyT gets free tickets through work, so it was a great afternoon. We even ran into some "bassetball boyz!"

Ashley and Mikey T headed to Georgia last weekend for basketball and me and Emma Kate stayed behind. She had a fun-filled night with her best-friend Mary McKinnon and I headed to a "grown-up" party with my friends Allyson and Allen to celebrate another set of friends' upcoming baby! It was great! I met a bunch of new friends and saw some old college pals as well.

So, now we aer winding back down. It is Ashley's last week and EK goes back to school next Monday. MeMe and Hoppy will come visit this weekend and we have the final basketball tourney of the season. Ashley will go home on Sunday and while EK (and Mikey T and ME) will be devastated to see her go, we are excited for her. She is starting a whole new chapter in her life, Middle School. She will return to her life as a dancer and Floridian. We will talk to her on the phone and text message her and facebook her, but we will be counting down the days until she returns to us again.

Re-Connect

Last year, my dear friend Allyson decided that we were going to have an annual reunion for our sorority pledge class. Last year, it was at Allyson's parent's lake house. It was so much fun, although only like 10 of us showed up. It is hard since everyone is scattered across the south east and beyond AND several were having babies!

We decided to do it at the lake house again this year. Although it had great potential, we had a small group of only 6 for the weekend. Out of 52 pledge sisters, that is pretty pitiful, but we don't care. We have a blast anyway.

When you are in college, away from home for the first time, your friends become your family. People can say what they will about sororities, but when you go to a big school like Auburn, you become a small fish in a giant sea. It was simply a way to have an immediate network. Older girls who could help you find your way to class, tell you what professors to avoid, set you up on blind dates, and the like and your pledge sisters who were experiencing the same exact things you were.

This is a small group from last year's tailgate

My years at Auburn were some of my best yet and I owe it to the girls that I laughed and cried with, lived and traveled with, learned and grew with. Over the years since graduation, everyone moved away and got married and drifts further and further away. It is hard to keep in touch and that is why I cherish the XO reunion weekend. I don't care if it is 3 or 30 girls, we always jump right back to September 21, 1996 when we all became linked together (right before the old barn burned down during the LSU game.)

This weekend was no different. We laughed. A LOT. We will do it again next year. Maybe it will be five of us. Maybe it will be all 52 of us. I hope that it is a large group, but either way, I will be there! It does my soul good to reconnect with these girls who were such a special part of my life during such a special time.

I have been sworn to not post pictures of US from the weekend, because lake water and sun burn does not a pretty picture make, so I will post this one inside joke for all my sista's.

Randy and his loving tribute to Sleepy Buddy.