Meet the Teacher day!

Today Mel and I took McCanless to meet her new 2-year-old kindergarten teacher, Ms. Jordan. She was so ready and so excited to show off her new bookbag.

That is, until we walked into the classroom. She latched onto me, pouted and began talking in “baby talk.” As we chatted with Ms. Jordan and signed all of the necessary forms, McCanless began playing with all of her supplies that were in her bookbag. I thought, “Okay, maybe this isn’t so bad…now Ms.Jordan will see her sorting, stacking and building with the various size boxes. She will DEFINITELY be impressed with her creativeness and logic!! (wink)…and hopefully overlook her short lived little “mood.”

As I smiled and settled back into the list of mom duties, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the box of wipes go hurling through the room. She began throwing each and every ‘McCanless’ labled supply across the room. As she flung herself onto the floor and screamed, I noticed another mom raise her eyebrow, as if to silently reprimand me. I was horrified. What a great first impression.

The irony is McCanless began to cry as soon as we walked out of the room. She wanted to go back to school.

YEE HAW!

We took McCanless to the Rodeo in Hartsville last week. See for yourself what a wonderful time she had!

BPA sponsored the Rodeo and ironically, the sign was on the gate held in the bulls. (One cowboy got hurt, but they ended up calling the ambulance instead of BPA, thank-goodness)

Aunt Kacy and Me…

Go Cocks! The Gamecock Kick-off Party!

Early in the evening, when she wasn’t too sure about Cocky.

Of course, Ms. Susan was there. (a big Gamecock herself) McCanless had to sit with her for a while, too!

Last night, Mel, McCanless and I went to the annual Gamecock Club Football Kickoff dinner/meeting. (complete with Cocky and USC cheerleaders) I dolled up McCanless in her finest USC dress, bow and all. Mel, of course, wore his Gamecock Stadium Pants and I in black and white…a truly spirited family!

At first McCanless was a bit timid and wouldn’t talk to many of the crazed fans, especially not Cocky or the cheerleaders. After a brief encounter with Cocky, a picture or two with the cheerleaders, and dinner, she was ready to roll. Literally. As the “meeting” was going on, McCanless was a bit restless and wanted to get closer to the cheerleaders.

She cautiously walked over to them and for the next hour, McCanless sat in the middle of the USC cheerleaders and put on her best show yet. She rolled, exposing the frilly panties she had on. She cheered. She showed off her new dance moves. She talked about Matthew and Jacob and all of her friends at Ms. Susan’s. She even asked them if they could spin like her. Before I knew it, half of the USC cheereleading squad was teaching her how to skip! They were all lined up, hand in hand, with McCanless right in the middle while the garnet and black sea of fan listened intently to Tommy Suggs rant and rave about the upcoming season. She was in bliss! After the speech the girls grabbed McCanless and ran up to the front to cheer. She stood right in front of the crowd, clapped her hands and cheered along with them! They even picked her up to lead the infamous “GAME….COCKS” crowd cheer. They held her up and swayed her back and forth to lead the crowd.

She was in heaven….uhhh, or maybe I was. Regardless, we all had so much fun, but as luck would have it, my camera battery died just before she got up the courage to go talk to the cheerleaders. Oh well, there is always next year…

…spoken like a true Gamecock! Go Cocks!!

P.S. There may be pictures of her on the Gamecock Club website soon!
(click on the green underlined Gamecock Club, mom)

A new trick!

McCanless can snap! Not only did she learn to sing “A Spoon Full of Sugar” watching Mary Poppins, she now thinks she can clean up her toys or complete various tasks with just a snap of her fingers. (hope she doesn’t keep up this snapping thing, people who don’t know, think she snaps at me)

Choo! Choo!

McCanless took her first train ride in late July this year! Unfortunately, we were traveling to Florida for a family funeral, but we all enjoyed the train as much as McCanless did! Mel has always loved trains, and has such fond memories of riding trains with his family as a child. He wanted McCanless to have that same happy experience he had growing up.

The only thing you can count on with a train is it being delayed! We arrived at the train station at midnight ready to jump on our sleeping car and have a good night sleep. Our train didn’t arrive until 3 AM! (And yes, McCanless was up the entire time!) She is definitely her father’s daughter.

Daddy slept up top and Mommy and McCanless snuggled down below.

A tired momma (sans makeup) after a very long night!

We got up, had breakfast and were almost there!

This was taken on the way home. I guess we were both excited! We boarded the train just before lunch, had lunch in the dining car, took a nap, had dinner and we were home that night.

On this trip, McCanless took a nap up top.

The Byerly Bunch…

All of the Byerly cousins gathered together for one last summer beach trip. We all stayed at Aunt Betty and Uncle Byron’s beach house in Surfside.