Auburn vs. Florida-Atlantic

Saturday was  a day full of tailgating.  It was Auburn's first night home game of the season so we took advantage of getting to spend the day on The Plains.

The day was made even better because Jordan and Kristen joined us. It was Kristen's first Auburn experience!

We had lots of people join us to tailgate. My mom and John, and Dan and Celia were there.  Brantley, Tracee, and Clancee also came, as well as, Clay's co-worker, Jason, and his wife and daughter, Rebecca and Bailey.  John's friend, Nick came by and brought a group of people with him too.  And our friend, Chris Lee, showed up too!

Since we had a lot of time to spare before the game, we did a little walking tour of campus so that Jordan and Kristen could see our favorite places.  We went to the new Auburn Arena and did a little tour.  The women's basketball team was there practicing and Will was in love. He kept screaming "they playing basketball, mommy...they playing basketball right there!!!"  We can't wait to take him to a real basketball game this season. He will freak out!

There is also a little museum area in the arena so we walked through there and got to see the championship trophy!

We stopped by the Auburn Gear store so John could get a new shirt and hat.  Jordan found the signature Gene Chizik pull-over and had to model it. He is obsessed! HA!

Then we headed to Haley Center and the new student center. It was a fun morning walking around campus!

Once we were back at the tailgate we ate and ate and then ate some more.  Love hanging out with all our family and friends.  Soon it was time for the game and everyone headed for the stadium. Kristen and I stayed back at the tailgate with Will because we didn't want to take him into the game since he didn't have a nap.  Jason, Rebecca, and Bailey stayed as well and the kids had fun playing.

Since I knew the traffic would be minimal during the game, Kristen, Will, and I took a quick drive over to Toomer's so that Kristen could see the trees. It was really SAD!! We also rode by my old apartment at The Oaks. I miss that place so much!

The game went well and we won.  We didn't get home until after midnight but it was such a fun day!

28

Saturday, I turned TWENTY-EIGHT years old!!! AAAHHHH!  I am so getting old and I should really stop celebrating my birthday.  But i seriously have the best family and friends so it is always fun to have an excuse for us to celebrate!

PF Changs was our first stop of the birthday celebration train.  All my favorite people were there minus Will.  ReRe and Scooter offered to keep Will and so Clay and I got to eat dinner with adults.  Such a fun night.

Saturday, was all about football.  Auburn was playing Clemson so i knew there was no way I was dragging Clay away from the house.  I decided that the best way to celebrate my birthday was to have all my favorite foods and hang out with all the people I love. 

Saturday night, we went to Wings for dinner and watch football.  Then we headed home for chocolate cake from Edgar's. YUM!!

It was  a great birthday and I hope that this year is my best year yet!

Homecoming Parade 2011

We took Will to our local Homecoming Parade this afternoon. This is his third year to go.  We met Ashley at the church and watched it from there.

Will's friend, Gavin, was there so he played with him for a while before the parade started.

Will was really excited about the parade this year. He kept telling us that "we see the band and we get candy."

I think the highlight for him this year was his best friend, Cody, rode on the firetruck. Cody works at this daycare and goes to church with us. He and Will are great friends. Cody is really good to Will.  Cody is a senior this year and won Fire Prevention King, so that is why is was on the firetruck.

Will got lots of candy so that was fun for him.  I love that we live in a small town and get to expose Will to small town traditions.

Picture Day at School

Will was supposed to have Picture Day at school today, but for whatever reason the pictures didn't get made. I took some pictures of Will before he left for school. He looked pretty cute so I thought I would share!

Auburn vs. Mississippi State

Saturday was another day spent on The Plains.  The night before we spent at the lake so we were up super early Saturday to head to Auburn. It was another 11 am kick-off so we had to get going around 5 am. 

It was a gorgeous day!  It was cool that morning so it was nice to sit around and eat some breakfast food before it was time to go into the stadium.

We got there early enough that we had time to go to the bookstore and get some new shirts. Thanks, Pawpaw!

Once we got in the stadium, it was HOT!!!  Will did great for pregame and the first quarter.  We soon had to take a break from the sun so we went to the concession stand and got a snack. Thankfully, there are TVs in the concession stand areas so we were able to eat our snack and watch the game. 

We went back to our seats and stayed a while longer but it was just too hot. Will and I decided we would leave and go over to the student center where they have air conditioner!!!  Will got a sucker and was a happy camper.

Near the end of the fourth quarter, Will and I headed back for the tailgate spot.  Everyone else soon got back and we cooked out hamburgers and watched some other games that were on TV.

It was a long, hot day but it is always fun! And bonus, Will asks to go to Auburn almost every morning. We are training him up right!

Fish Tanks

Will's preschool teacher went to the beach over Labor Day Weekend and was sweet enough to bring the kids back a little treat.  She brought them all a pair of goggles.  I don't know if Will knew what swim goggles were before today so that probably lead to the confusion.  He kept telling me they were "fish tanks".  I have no clue where that came from but it made us laugh so hard.

Last night when we got home I opened the goggles for him but he didn't want to wear the "fish tanks". I put them on and showed him they weren't so bad. He still wasn't fond of having something over his eyes. However, this morning he was all about wearing the "fish tanks". He wore them in the car all the way to school. 

Seriously, this child is the light of my life.  I love him so much! And thanks to Miss Tammy for our new "fish tanks"!

Auburn vs. Utah State - 2011

Saturday, we traveled to Auburn to see our Tigers play.  Will was so excited about football season this year. He couldn't wait to get to Auburn. He literally asked every morning this past week when we were going to see Aubie.

We got up EXTREMELY early Saturday morning to head to the game. John and Clay left at 5 am and then mom, Will, and I left at 6:15 am. 

When you tailgate, you get to eat cupcakes for breakfast.

Once we got there, the tailgate spot was all set up and we had some friends join us. We ate some snacks and played a few games of cornhole.  The game started at 11 so it was an early start to the day.  We headed to the stadium around 10:15.

Marlin and John.

Ready to walk to the stadium.

Will loved being in the stadium. He pointed out everything he saw and talked non-stop.

Aubie with the National Championship trophy!

During the first quarter, he kept asking "are they done yet? I want to play on that big field."  Maybe one day!

He was saying "War Eagle Hey!"  Love it!

It was so HOT Saturday.  After the first quarter, we headed down to the concourse to try and cool off. I didn't want Will to get over heated. He and I walked around for a bit and then we headed back up to our seats until half-time.   Since it was so hot, I decided it would be best for us to headed back to the tailgate spot. Clay came with us and set up the tv.

Auburn didn't play so well but in the end--in true Auburn fashion--they pulled out a WIN!

After the game was over, we cooked out and ate.  We decided to head home around 4 and it was seriously the longest car ride of my life. We stopped by Kristen and Jordan's on the way home, and by the time we got to their house it felt like it was midnight.  Will was exhausted so we went to the house and he fell asleep almost instantly.

We had so much fun hanging out as a family and it was a great kick-off to football season.  Will hasn't stopped taking about the game yet, and we are so excited that he loved it so much. 

These are a few things he said about the game that were cute:

-"I can't see Aubie, I need some noculars."

-"The big kids with the big pants and big shoes play football."

-"The cheerleaders flip over."

-"The band make a lot of noise."

Two and a Half Years Old

Will is 2 1/2 Years Old!!!

Will and Tiger

It amazes me how quickly time passes and how big Will has gotten. 

From what I can tell, Will is a typical two-year-old boy!  He is literally all over the place all the time. 

He is doing so much these days, it is hard to keep up with it all, but here are some highlights:

-He loves play.  Indoors or outdoors he doesn't care. 

-He loves people (most of the time).  Of course our families play big roles in his life so he loves spending time with his Pop, Mawmaw, Pawpaw, CC, Pawpaw and Shirley, and Uncle John. He constantly talks about them. We also have a core group of friends who love him so much and he loves being with them.  And his friends at school and church are his favorites: Colt, Gavin, Devin, Jason, Carson, Braylen, Logan, Jameson, Sawyer, and Caroline.  He also has a few "best fwiends". Sometimes that is me or Clay but most of the time it is Cody. Cody works at his daycare and goes to our church.

-He talks all the time.  Long sentences and paragraphs. He relays everything he is doing to us. I am so proud that he talks so well and even strangers understand him!

-He is such smart boy!  He knows his ABCs and can count to 13 or 14.  He knows all his colors and green is his favorite. 

-He loves to sing.  A few favorites are: Where is Thumpkin?, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Twinkle Twinkle, Little Bunny Foo Foo, The B-I-B-L-E, and the Jack's Hamburger jingle.

-He wears 2t clothes and size 7 shoe.

-We still talk about the potty a lot but he is still wearing Pull-Ups.  He was really interested a few months ago but that interest is almost completely gone now.  I know once he feels like going in the potty he will. We are not to the point yet where we want to push the issue too much.  Like our pediatrician always says "He won't go to college doing that." 

-He has the best personality. I wish I could bottle it up.  He is loving, independent, sweet, stubborn, funny, and everything in between. 

-He understands things around him so much better.  The meltdowns are not as often and I think that is because he is much more aware of cause and effect. He minds much better and listens and follows our instructions.

I can't believe he is two-and-a-half.  That blows my mind!  I can't wait to see how much he grows and how much he learns.  It is so fun being his mom.

And because nothing is ever "perfect", he are two outtakes from our photo session with Tiger:

To see all of the Will and Tiger pictures, go HERE.

Kid-Friendly Tailgating

Tailgating in 2009.

Tailgating in 2010.

My brother sent me an article this morning about kid-friendly tailgating. Of course, this is interesting to me because we have a kid and we tailgate.  Football season starts for us in two days, so we are busy trying to get everything together for our tailgate. 

The last two football seasons have been fairly easy with Will because he was so young and we could contain him. This year is definitely going to present some challenges because we have an on-the-go, independent 2-year-old on our hands.  He loves to participate in anything that older kids/adults are doing, so we need to find ways to keep him entertained and safe while we tailgate.

I plan on taking some of his toys and then we have a few tailgate games, like cornhole and tailgate golf.  Thankfully the game this week is at 11 am. That means we will tailgate a little bit before the game and a little bit after. This should decrease the time for Will to get bored.

All in all, we just want to have fun and have good experiences going to Auburn.  We want him to love it there as much as Clay and I do.