Things that make me go GRRRR...

I have to apologize in advance...I know that most of you read this blog for updates on our family and pictures of Mason and Roper. This post will include neither.

A Krispy Kreme recently opened in Lexington. It has taken an amazing amount of willpower not to go get a "Hot & Fresh" doughnut every time I go to the Verizon store next door, which has been often over the past few days. I'm sure at some point I will give in to the temptation & indulge myself, but for now, please indulge me for a little rant. Here goes...

Why do businesses feel it necessary to change the spelling of words for their names? Isn't it enough to use an oxymoron like "Krispy Kreme?" What does that even mean? Why all the "Ks"? Couldn't it have been "Crispy Cream," or is that just not cute & clever enough?

Grammatical errors annoy and distract me, but intentional grammatical errors are downright inexcusable. That being said, I'm sure my blog posts, e-mails and other written correspondence include all sorts of errors. I assure you that these errors are simply oversights and are never intentional. Except when I use "yall." Hopefully yall don't mind that one. :)

At the top of my list are daycare centers that choose a name such as "Kiddie Kollege." Why oh why would they choose this name??? And why would any parent with anything beyond an elementary school education choose to support such an establishment? The name "Kiddie Kollege" is ridiculous on many levels. First of all, a "kid" is a baby goat. Secondly, I really don't think "kiddie" is a legitimate word. And "kollege?" Seriously. How are they going to explain that to the children during spelling time!?! "Children's College" is a much more appropriate name, and just as cute with the double Cs.

Taking the Good with the Bad...

The good things definitely outweighed the bad this past weekend...

THE GOOD:
1. South Carolina WON on Thursday night, against a #4 ranked team! Go Gamecocks!

2. My cousin Kate came down for a visit on Saturday. Graem and I seized the opportunity for a DATE NIGHT!! We had a lot of fun, and we were officially celebrating my receiving the MAI designation. The MAI is a professional designation that appraisers can earn from the Appraisal Institute. I have been working on this for about 6 years and am so glad to have finally reached this goal!

It's hard for me to believe that Kate is babysitting my children, even though she is turning 18 next week! She is my youngest cousin, and I can still remember going to visit her in the hospital on the day she was born. I was in 6th grade!

Here is Kate holding Roper...


A close-up of my little chubster...


3. Deer season is here! Graem went on a hunt Saturday with one of his buddies' hunting club. It was a dog drive hunt, which sounds extremely dangerous to me, but Graem assured me that every safety precaution is taken and that it is only dangerous for the deer! Since it was a group hunt, even though neither Graem nor his dad nor his buddy got a deer, everyone on the hunt divides up the meat to share. How nice! I'll have to make some room in the freezer. I love to cook with venison because it is lean, tasty, and most importantly, free of hormones/drugs/all the other stuff that is injected into meat you buy from the grocery store.

4. Roper is consistently sleeping through the night!

Here's a picture of my little piggy-in-a-blanket:


And taking a cat nap on Daddy's chest...


5. U2 was the musical guest for SNL's season premiere! Okay, maybe that's not really "blog-worthy," but I was excited!

THE BAD:
1. My cell phone decided to take a swim in the commode on Saturday afternoon. Oh how I wish I could blame this on Mason. He has been known to throw random things in the toilet (his toothbrush, his "Mr. Frog", bath tub toys). I am 100% responsible for this one. Without my cell phone I feel completely cut off from the world. Now I know why they call it a "Crackberry." I'm having serious withdrawals. It is probably good for me to take a break from the radiation. So, if you need to get in touch with me, please call my home number, or wait until Tuesday afternoon when my new phone will be here!

2. Our DVR decided not to record "Mad Men" last night. Hopefully I can find an encore showing later this week. The DVR must have been overloaded with other shows since I have become such a tv junkie since Roper was born (watching tv kept me awake during the middle-of-the-night feedings, and now I'm hooked on numerous shows).

I'll sign off with some pictures of Mason on the carousel at the mall...another GOOD moment. :)

Happy Birthday, Gigi!

Many of you know Gigi personally...those of you who don't have heard me talk about her often. She has always been a huge influence in my life and I love her more than I can describe! She is such a special person and definitely one-of-a-kind. Gigi is a true southern lady. I can only hope to have inherited a little of her grace, beauty, class, tastefulness and elegance (I could go on & on)! All of Gigi's descendants got together to celebrate her 85th birthday last weekend. It was quite an evening to remember. The entire family, from 8-week-old Roper to 85-year-old Gigi and everyone in between was in attendance!

All of Gigi's grandchildren (Alice, David, me, Rob, Sydney & Kate) and great-grandchildren (Caroline, Robert, Ruthanna, Mason & Roper) helped blow out her candles...


Rob & Kelli will be having adding to the number of great-grandchildren any day now! I keep telling Roper he won't be the baby of the family for much longer! I am SO looking forward to my new role of AUNT!


The eldest Roper and the youngest Roper...


Ruthanna and Roper -- how sweet! I've been told that Ruthanna likes to pretend that she is baby Roper. She is a sweet mess!


Aunt Beth and Roper


Gigi with her great-grandchildren

Growing Boys...

Along with birthdays comes doctor visits. Last week we had both boys' checkups at the same time. Mason was in for his 2-year checkup and Roper was in for his 2-month checkup. The growth measurements confirmed what I already knew...one boy is tall & skinny and the other is long & chubby!

Mason has grown a whopping 3 inches since his 18-month checkup in March! He has also gained a pound. He is 28 lbs (48th percentile) and 36" (82nd percentile).

Bro-Ro (as Mason calls him) is tipping the scales at 13.2 lbs (82nd percentile) and measures 22.75" (85th percentile).

In other news, Roper is now sleeping through the night!!! Well, last night he had sort of a setback but that was entirely my fault for letting him sleep through a feeding at 7pm. Friday night he slept 6.5 hours straight and Saturday night he slept almost 8 hours straight! I'm so proud of my little bear cub!

We'll miss you, Grandmama Clark!

We lost Graem's grandmother a couple of weeks ago. She was one of the sweetest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. She loved her family immensely and we loved her just as much! She was a saint and will be dearly missed.

Here is a picture of Mrs. Clark from a few years ago...I think this was taken in 2002, before her health really started to decline. She looks great (she's not the only one...Graem & I were so young & trim!)

Happy Birthday, Mason!

We celebrated Mason's second birthday last Saturday with a football party...everyone dressed in their favorite team's colors! I think everyone had a great time, especially all the children.

The birthday boy


Mason and Jay...two little Gamecocks!


Tara and Ruth Ann...two of the "good" Tigers (Auburn, that is)!


Sally and Betsy, true Carolina girls!


Group Shot! Well, most of the group...not sure where Savannah, Jude, Christopher and Claire had gotten off to!


Scott, Heidi & Claire Bear


Oh, there's Savannah! With Carter...


Will & Andrea. I think he's trying to use some sort of body language to say that the sky is the limit for our football team this year.


Christopher & Auralee


Mason with Christopher's Mommy


Mason needed some downtime...he isn't used to having so many people in our backyard!


Sydney spoiling Roper


Time for cake & ice cream!

Beach Trip, Round 2

We spent Friday thru Tuesday of Labor Day weekend with our good friends the Maryanskis at Ocean Isle Beach, NC. This is our third annual trip to OIB with the Skis. Now yall know that I'm a SC girl through and through and prior to our first OIB trip I found myself being a little snobby about crossing the border to go to the beach. After all, SC has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world -- why would we visit a beach in NC?? I have to admit with each trip I've fallen a little more in love with OIB. It is such a great place with a lazy, laid back attitude -- just what I like! There are no hotels, no big buildings, and only a couple of restaurants, so we always split up the meals and cook in most nights. It is so much fun and I look forward to this trip each year! It was especially fun this year because Mason and Leah had such a great time playing together.

How could you not fall in love???



Miss Leah officially started walking during our trip. Here she is trying out her new skill on the sand...



I think she likes the feel of the sand between her toes!



Just what you've been waiting for...a picture of baby Roper with his eyes wide open!



Of course he spent lots of time with them closed as well...



More pictures of the children playing on the beach...







Like I said, Mason & Leah got along fabulously...



One day the weather was less than ideal, so we headed down to MB to visit the aquarium and do some outlet shopping. The aquarium was crowded but interesting.







Leah's birthday is 9/15 and Mason's is 9/16, so their birthday parties will most likely overlap each year. We decided to have a little pre-birthday celebration for them at the beach!



Two happy girls...



We got some cute pictures of all three children together.



It looks like Leah is trying to make up her mind on which boy to kiss...



First a smooch for Mason...



There is enough sugar to go around for Baby Roper to get a kiss too!