Go Wildcats!

Saturday we headed to Davidson for the Gridiron Club's Fall tailgate party and football game. We had lots of fun staying with Jen and Jack and brought three extra cheerleaders to help pull for the Wildcats.

Libby and Collins in a pink rainboot stand-off...we all got soaked during the tailgate party which made playing in the mud afterwards all the more fun.

Blake and Austin could not be cuter. Not so easy to get a nicely posed picture with three toddlers!

Who knew Collins and Libby were such serious football fans?

The Wildcats ended up losing, but we all had fun- the girls loved playing together, Brian loved getting interviewed on the radio at halftime to promote the Gridiron Club, and Jen and I loved leaving the game early to go home to an antipasta platter and some red wine!

Potty Talk

Mimi and Baba came to town to help with some babysitting needs and brought along with them the pink princess potty (which features a special emerald flusher!). Their timing was perfect because Collins has recently taken an interest in what happens in the bathroom. She eagerly sat down on her pint-sized potty and guess what happened? Yep, she peed in the potty for the first time! We thought it might be a fluke, but she has done it four times since then so maybe not. We weren't expecting to potty train this soon, but maybe it is time?

 

It wasn't all potty talk while Mom and Baba were here. We also had the chance to take a ride on the Pullen Park carousel and train, chase some big bubbles, and visit Collins's preschool class. Many thanks to them for all the help- both with the babysitting and the potty training!

New Trick

Baby strength on display at the monkey bars...

Two Football Firsts

1. First football jersey

2. First chicken wing

 

Toddler Tailgating

Last year, Collins couldn't do much tailgating. This season it's a whole new ballgame.

 

The toddler version of tailgating includes actually playing in the tailgate, seeing how many gravel rocks you can collect and stack in a tailgating chair, and eating as many sausages and goody bars as your little tummy will hold.

 

She had a great time, and we had fun watching her and drinking some beers.

 

 

 

Notice how Tee had to move beloved Aarf to get a beer out of the cooler. Oh, how times have changed.

The Daily Drive

Playing in the car is a must-do daily activity around here. Collins goes up to Brian and pleads, "car, car!" or "keys, keys!" and out to the Tahoe they go. This seems to be a daddy/daughter game because I never get asked to play in the car. But last night, I jumped in as a curious passenger.

Rules of playing car:

1) Collins is always the driver; the adult is always the passenger.

 

2) Don't expect your settings to be in their normal position once the car ride is over.

 

3) When she yells, "seat, seat!" you have to change seats from the front to the back. And an emphatic "bye, bye!" means close the door- fast! Fresh air isn't allowed in this game.

4) Collins will push every button she can get her hands on.

I told Brian since he's started this game, he can just continue on and plan to teach her how to drive in 15 years. :)

Off to School

Today we celebrated a pretty cool milestone- Collins's first day of preschool. It's hard to believe our baby is old enough to go to school, but the time has come and guess what? She did great!

Collins is enrolled one day a week at Ridge Road Baptist Church Preschool, the church right up the road from our house...

and the site of this...

Not only did we get married at this church, but Donna grew up in this church and Collins's great-grandparents were life-long members here. Pretty neat history!

The odds were stacked against a good first day of school- Collins developed cold symptoms yesterday and didn't sleep well last night. But despite a runny nose this morning, she ate some strawberry pancakes, brushed her teeth (and spit for the first time!), grabbed her new backpack and was off to school...

I was worried about the drop-off (for her and for me), but it was so fast (they practically pushed us out the door) that we didn't really have the chance to get upset (guess that's the point). From 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., I waited for the phone call to come pick her up because she was too upset/sick, but it never came.

When I went back for pick-up, her teacher Miss Susan told me she did great. She said she didn't cry once! (shocked by this). On her first day, she went on a buggy ride, played on the playground, had a blueberry snack, and learned how to do prayer hands. Her class is small (only four kids) and two of them were out today so it was just Collins and one other little boy- maybe that helped her adjust. But I thought it was a good sign that as we were leaving, Collins wiggled out of my arms and acted like she wanted to play some more. I think she is going to love preschool!