Homecoming 2010... Sic 'Em!!

Happy Monday!! I had HIGH aspirations of getting up our weekend recap post last night but I decided to hit the hay a bit early and keep you all in suspense for just a bit longer! And by you all I mean the ten or so family members that faithfully read our blog! :)

This weekend was Baylor Homecoming, so naturally we headed to Waco to take part in all of the traditional BU HC festivities. Most every HC I've attended in my years as a Baylor Bear and now as an alum has started with the Bonfire on Friday night kicking off the weekend celebration, BUT this year the Rangers were playing and we had a toddler who was SUPER excited to be at his Nana's house SO we opted to stay home! SHRIEK!!

I know, I know... and we call ourselves Bears! BUT if you saw the RANGERS WIN on Friday night you'll understand that it turned out to be a not so bad decision, at least for the Ranger fan in us! AND it meant that Caden was well-rested and raring to go for Saturday... and Saturday was sure to be a LONG day! It started here...

At the parade with Paps and the rest of the gang! Here comes the band... the parade has finally made it to campus! Yay!!

Wait NO! I'm not so sure I like the band after all. They are kind of LOUD! It can make a guy's ears ring a bit. Needless to say the start of the parade was a little shaky for Mr. Man... he was not a fan of the sirens... and the band got better as they moved on down the road, BUT then came the HUGE inflatable Bear (think Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) and Caden resorted to his hand shaking, frightened face, NO, NO, NO, NOing... poor guy! Disney World is going to have to be a graduation gift for Caden, because I'm not thinking he'll be able to tolerate it until then! :) Mascots, inflatables, etc... no good! :)

Once the parade got going Caden headed back to the hill to sit in Daddy's lap for a minute. Nothing makes a guy feel safer than his Daddy. He was starting to warm up to the idea and even started to clap along...

And Nana hooked him up with a Capri Sun so things were looking up! :)

Then it was Aunt Ree Ree's turn to experience the parade through Caden's eyes...

Aunt Ermie and Uncle Josh stopped by to say hi with their kiddo, Griff. It was Griff's first time to the parade and he was doing a little tail-tucking himself... he and Caden were on the same page for a while!

Caden was showing Uncle Josh his SUPER COOL (free) football that his Daddy caught for him during the parade! That thing is still his pride and joy... of course it is only Monday! But with his attention span it seems as if the parade ball is here to stay (at least for a few more days!)!

Silly Unlce Josh STILL hasn't learned that I mean what I say... don't cooperate I'll post you! YOU'VE BEEN POSTED!!

Now he plays along... isn't that the cutest pic?!

Caden showing off his football yet again for Mommy and her camera!

Other side of the fam pic...

And here we are... the Cox Fam... officially!

After the parade, Aunt Ree Ree and I headed over to the Pi Phi Tea where we successfully saw all of FOUR people we knew... or even recognized for that matter. Oh to be old... yikes! Caden and Justin even popped in and got to watch the newest pledge class perform their pledge songs. I definitely had some goose bumps watching those girls perform... they were having so much fun! AND Caden decided that he DEFINITELY wants to be a Pi Phi... if only... ! :)

AND we happened to bump into our blog friends the Olsons... (blog and Baylor friends I should say...) and I finally got to meet her two sweet boys in person!! SO MUCH BETTER! Loved seeing y'all Jerica!!

After the parade we headed over to the stadium to start the tailgating fun! While we were heading over to watch the March of the Bears we bumped into our new friends from our new church (have I told y'all about this yet?! If not, I will... I will). This is Jaime...

And Jaime... was a Pi Phi at Baylor too... AND the other day while at lunch we discovered that not only were we Bears and fellow Pi Phi sisters (ha), BUT we lived in the same apartment complex, in the SAME apartment... and even crazier in the SAME room... Just a few years apart! AND Jaime and her roomie are responsible for giving these spectacular living quarters their name... Pete's Palace! She couldn't believe that nearly 4 years later people were still calling it Pete's Palace... pretty funny! So in honor of Jaime and Pete and his palace of course... Justin and I swung by and took a pic!

Isn't it lovely?! I think it is safe to say that Jaime and I have BOTH come up in the world!

While we were waiting for the March of the Bears, Caden decided he wanted to party with his Uncles and head over to the "cool kid, young alumni" party tent area! Caden LOVED their dude cave and was having the BEST time playing catch with the boys! All of the guys were asking for high fives and totally firing him up... he was LOVING it!

Caden and Daddy tailgating... dude juice...

Caden was going for the remote... he was curious if Uncle Tag had any Elmo videos with him!

More tailgating...

After the big boy tailgating, Caden did a little running around on the practice field with his new football. I never could capture him with the ball in his hand... always after the release! :)

Here come the Bears... the March of the Bears...

RGIII... such a stud!! :)

After nearly two straight hours of tailgating it was time to head into the game! We were geared up and ready to go... Caden was tired and was sitting SO still on Daddy's lap... we were thinking we were in for the long haul... then THUNDER, LIGHTENING... delay of game! Ugh! So Caden and I took that as our cue aka sign from God to pack it up and head home for a nap... and so we did... barely making it back to Nana and Paps' house before the big storms rolled through. Two hours later the game started again and I was VERY glad that Caden and I had decided to head home. So the rest of our afternoon was pretty low key... BUT for the rest of the crew it was a HUGE, history making afternoon full of celebration!! Baylor's going BOWLING!!! YAY!!! SO SO SO exciting for our Bears and even more exciting for it to happen on Homecoming Weekend... Baylor was due for a weekend like that... we were long overdue!!

Sunday morning after all sleeping in a bit, we headed out for a quick bite to eat before frolicking around campus and visiting the floats from the parade! I had to take a pic of the Pi Phi plane... ha!

Caden was still believing in his FEAR of all things make-believe and decided that he wasn't into taking pictures with the floats this year... ah well... we tried!

So instead we decided to let him run around campus like a banshee... SO FUN!

Pictures on the swings... Caden's Daddy and I may have had a few romantic talks on these swings back in our day... just sayin'! :)

You'll have to excuse the SCARY looking me... I was boycotting make-up that morning... I had worn full make-up two days in a row... RECORD!! :) My face needed a break!

Next we were on to the ECHO circle... Echo, Echo...

Pictures in the Baylor flowers... NOTHING like it!

Headed down the last stretch... back to Judge Baylor for a family pic...

And there you have it folks... another Baylor Homecoming come and gone! BUT this year will be especially memorable... Baylor's going to a bowl... AND we were ranked in the BCS polls by Sunday afternoon... GOT. TO. LOVE. (and cherish) IT.

Happy Homecoming!!

Sic 'Em!!