Sunday

This month there is an exhibition of the artwork from the various elementary schools in the county on display at a local college's fine art center.
Camdyn's school was represented by the artwork of three students which included her cat collage.

On Sunday afternoon there was a reception for the students and their families where Camdyn was recognized on stage with all of the other artists.
We then returned home in time to watch the Steeler game. The girls all enjoyed waving their Terrible Towel.

Morning Announcements Day 2

Today was the second and last day Camdyn was doing the morning announcements.

Camdyn's Morning Annoucements

In the Company of Greatness

Yesterday, Camdyn lost her second front tooth and I couldn't help but see a resemblance to some other great athletes.

Jack Lambert

Bobby Clark

Camdyn

Even though its only temporary, and will probably no longer be a factor when soccer begins again, it should help her intimidate on the dance floor at Irish dancing. Here she shows off what she has learned so far this year at their holiday party:

And not to be out-done. McKenna and Keeghan continue to develop their gymnastic skills.

Besides their many other activities:

I'm certainly lucky to live with three great girls + one great wife, and I'm looking forward to see what happens in 2009.

Disney

We had a really good time visiting Disney World in November. Our first true "vacation" in a long time was not without problems, but overall it was good to get away and give the girls the Disney experience.

We took in many of the shows and rides including the Playhouse Disney show:



Of course, we saw Mickey:

Minnie:

And danced with Donald:

We dined with princesses:

And posed in front of lots of stuff:

Each night we returned to our room to put the tired girls to bed, but fortunately we didn't have to miss the fireworks because they were visible from the balcony:

And we didn't miss the armadillos either:

Of course there are over 1,000 other pictures and numerous videos, but I won't bore you with them here. It was a very good time indeed.

A Snow Storm in November?

Today, I was awakened by the gentle melody of the telephone letting me know that someone thought it important to share information at 6:00 AM. I glanced at caller id to see who was going to make an early exit from the christmas gift list, and found that it was a computer. The county schools automated dialing to be exact. Perhaps they wanted to let us know that Camdyn's standardized testing was going well and wanted to remind us that she should be sent out with a hearty breakfast and a can do attitude for the last day.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think they were calling to announce a two hour delay due to snowy conditions. Snow... in North Carolina... in November... impossible. So, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. And yes there in the yard, I saw it. What Northerners refer to as "a light dusting" was again plaguing us and throwing the region into chaos with cancellations and delays.

As you can see the conditions were pretty treacherous.

As a responsible parent, I already had an action plan to deal with this situation. I woke-up Camdyn to let her know she could sleep in.

Yes, she too didn't understand the logic behind this, and so we shared a moment trying to make sense of the illogical decisions being made today by folks that should be more intelligent.

Fall Leaves

Today most of the leaves have fallen from our trees and when I went out to take care of them, Camdyn eagerly wanted to help pile them. She worked diligently using mostly her hands to collect a bundle of leaves at a time and add them to the pile. Her goal was to make a pile larger than the one she has seen on the way to school. Around here, the residents pile their leaves along the road and the city comes by in trucks that suck them up and haul them away. While the leaves wait, this creates a condition along the neighborhood roads similar to snow banks after plowing. Here in North Carolina, its the closest thing we have to snow banks along the roads, and just as annoying to drive through. Anyway, in short order, her pile was made and a picture taken of her accomplishment.

She performed the ceremonial dive.

And then was joined by her sisters for a group dive.

Once they were done I prepared to mulch the leaf pile, but Camdyn did not want this to happen and made her stand.

However, she soon saw that the mulching was inevitable, even without the need to sing "The Circle of Life". She decided if she can't beat them, join them.

And so with this fall tradition behind us, it is almost time to move on to the next one. That's right, we are packing up and heading to sunny Florida for a week.