It's a Boy!

Donald, Emily, Nanny, and I were blessed to visit my cousin Shea and her new son, Baby Jace, today at the Fayette Hospital. He was born yesterday afternoon and is one of the prettiest babies I've ever seen - pride of place going, of course, to my sweet Beanie! He is a lovely round little boy with a beautiful complexion and a dusting of light blonde hair. In fact, he looks almost identical to Shea's baby pictures - and was born weighing exactly the same weight as his Mommy. He slept like an angel while we visited and allowed all of us to hold him, including Emily. She was excited to hold her very first baby and brought him the picture we made together yesterday. Baby Jace will be coming home soon and we can't wait to visit him in very own digs. Hope you enjoy these pictures of our new addition to the family!

Building

One of Emily's favorite activities is building. She took a hiatus from it for a few months, but has regained her interest in building with her block set. She especially likes to make towers. She is surprisingly good at building them really high before they fall over. Here are a few pictures I snapped the other evening of her architectural creations.

Jenga!

Starting Over

This is Summertime!

After supper tonight, we did one of my favorite summertime activities - we sat out on the patio and ate watermelon. First, we stripped Emily down to her skivvies to minimize the damage to her clothes and then we all dug in. As the pictures show, she thoroughly enjoyed her dessert. After a quick run through the bathtub later and a few stories about Skippyjon Jones (her current favorite books) she was ready to snuggle down in her bed - hopefully for the rest of the night!

Arts and Crafts

While Donald cooked up some supper for us, Emily and I had arts and crafts time this evening. She wanted to make a surprise to take to my cousin Shea's new baby. I pulled up a memory of a Bible school craft and we made muffin cup flowers with coffee-scented centers. Luckily, I had all the supplies. I can't remember when we last made muffins, either! My art teacher would be so proud of our results! Emily especially loved the glue stick and liked shaking the coffee into each flower. She can't wait to take her surprise to Baby Jace!

Grocery Store Treats

Like any almost-three-year-old, Emily requires a treat from the gumball machines every time we go to the grocery store. Today, she and Donald went shopping for dinner while I got a pedicure. When they picked me up, she was excited to show me the tattoo that she got at Publix and insisted that I apply it once we got home. I'm amazed that she is so in love with her big black widow tattoo because she's terrified of most bugs, including moths and houseflies. I don't know how I'm going to convince her to remove the thing!

Bed Head

I love Emily's hair in the morning. She usually looks like some combination between a lion and a refugee from the 1980's. I snapped this picture the other morning right after she got up. Curls everywhere! I use more products on her hair than I do on my own!

It's Clifford and Emily Elizabeth!

We honestly didn't set out to name our daugher after a character in a children's book (or television) series, but lots of people think we did- especially my students, who are big fans of the red dog and his little friend. Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart in Peachtree City to pick up a few things. Emily kept asking something about a big dog and we couldn't figure out exactly what she meant. When we walked in the doors of Wal-Mart, we finally figured it out. They have a big Clifford the Big Red Dog riding toy at the front entrance. She must have the memory of an elephant because we don't go over there very often and I don't think she's ever actually ridden on the thing. At any rate, we promised her a ride when we left the store and fortunately, I had my camera with me to capture the whole thing. So, here's the real deal - Emily Elizabeth and Clifford together at last!

Picking Strawberries

Donald, Emily, and I went to Adam's Farm today to pick up some fresh vegetables for supper. While we were there, we picked strawberries for the first time with Emily. We were lucky - when we got there, the man at the gate informed us that it was ten minutes until closing time. That was all the time we needed to pick strawberries out in the heat! Emily was ready for a drink and a snack after we finished picking out things for our supper and paying up. She has enjoyed her strawberries this evening and is looking forward to some fresh corn cooked on the grill for supper. Hope you enjoy these strawberry pictures!

Cooking with the Girls

Abby came and spent the afternoon with us today. I took the girls to Publix to pick up some supplies and then we spent the afternoon making cookies. They had a great time mixing, pouring, and scooping. They especially like rolling the dough into balls before putting them on the cookie sheets. The only low point was when I got out the mixer. Emily's horrified by loud noises (vacuum cleaner, loud trucks, etc.) and especially doesn't like the mixer and blender. Luckily, we don't use them very often! She had to scoot her chair away from the table and Abby held her hand while I mixed the peanut butter cookies. They're upstairs watching Finding Nemo right now and come to think of it, they're being pretty quiet. Perhaps I'd better go check on them...

Guess which one Emily made??

Going for a Swim

This morning, Emily and I met our friend, Amy, for a swim at the Summit YMCA. Emily was excited to get up early and head out to the pool. She was even more excited to put on her pink Barbie life vest before getting in the water. We had a great time floating and paddling and are going to start meeting twice a week to swim. We're home and relaxing now and I'm hoping she'll take a long afternoon nap!

Bonding with T.C.

Emily has taken a shine to T.C. lately and likes to follow him around holding his tail. Miraculously, T.C. doesn't seem to mind too much and hasn't put the squash on their budding relationship by scratching her. She also believes that cats should network and frequently talks about taking T.C. to meet Gabby at Mimi's house and Buddy at CiCi's house. Considering that all the hair fell off of Gabby's legs when she moved to Mimi's house and met Daisy, my first cat, I don't think that setting up a playdate for Gabby and T.C. is such a great idea. However, because Emily's dedicated to getting a playmate for T.C., she brought home this stuffed cat after an overnight visit to Cici's house. She keeps putting it next to T.C. and saying, "Here's your friend! Come and play!" T.C.'s not much for playing but he did tolerate posing for a few pictures with Emmy and his new friend.

Adventures with Wildlife

I have always loved to go to Holly Hill in Fairburn and feed the ducks - actually geese. Mom and Daddy used to take us there when we were little and it was always lots of fun. We'd save up bread for a few weeks and then take it all up to the pond and have a blast. Donald and I took Emily this week. However, a few things have changed. Geese outnumber the ducks by about five to one and - news flash - geese are mean! We pulled up to the pond and were immediately surrounded by a flock of geese before we even got of the truck. So we didn't get out! Emily kept shouting, "They're coming from everywhere! They're coming from everywhere!" It was like something out of a Hitchcock movie. At any rate, we fed the ducks from inside the truck and Emily had a great time. Listening to her talk to the ducks was fun for us. She kept urging them to come closer - as if that was even necessary. I think they would have climbed in the truck if we would have let them. The geese fought like nobody's business - there were bread crumbs and feather scattered everywhere before we left. I like this picture of her from inside the truck. It's a little shadowy, but still lots of fun. Hope you're having a great week!

A Trip Downtown

Donald, Emily, and I spent the day on the square in Newnan on Thursday. We started out with lunch at The Redneck - Yum! We ran into Emily's pediatrician, who actually remembered us and that we're teachers. I hope this is because we're good parents and not scary ones! Then we took a stroll around the square going into all of the interesting stores. You have to keep a tight handle on Emily these days - she loves to pick up interesting things in stores, which could potentially cost us a fortune. She had a great time at the costume shop trying on all kinds of accessories. We ended up at Scott's Bookstore, which is a great favorite of hers. Not only do they have great books, they have a Lego table, a tub full of balls (her all-time favorite toy), and puzzles. We had to literally drag her kicking and screaming from the place. All in all, not a bad way to spend a day!

Setting out on an adventure
Reading at What's In Store
The password is Fidelio
More fun at the costume shop
Working the Lego table at Scott'sFun with puzzles

She would have taken them all with her if we had let her!

Building a Bear...Well, a Rabbit

Donald's been off this week, so we've gotten to do lots of fun things with Emily. We went to Peachtree City to Benny's Build a Bear and helped Emily build a pink rabbit. She had a great time! She was so excited to get to pick out a purple dress - her favorite color - and loved playing with the hula hoops they had sitting around. She named her rabbit Pinky Dinky Elizabeth. Yes, she picked that name out all by herself! After building her rabbit, we spent some quality time at Books a Million playing with the trains and having cookies. She's just like her mommy and daddy - she loves to hang out at a bookstore! Sorry about all the pictures. When in doubt, just post all of them!

A quick picture before getting started

She picked out Pinky right away

Adding the stuffing - or fluff, as she called it

Giving Pinky an air bath with Daddy
Pinky get a little styling with a comb and brush

How does this thing work??

Pinky Dinky goes for a swing
Let's go to the bookstore!