Wacky Day

Another discovery from Auntie Yam's camera - During the week of Dr. Seuss's birthday, Emily's school had all kinds of neat activities. They also had a wacky dress day, which Em was very excited about. We stayed up all night picking out the perfect clothes to wear - colorful tutu, leopard skirt, polka dot shirt, mismatched shoes and socks, crazy hair bow, you name it. Mom and Dad dressed her up the next morning and took her to school. When they picked her up in the afternoon, Emily was in a VERY sour mood. Em's teacher informed Mimi and Papa as they buckled Emily into the carseat that wacky dress day would actually be held the NEXT Friday. So, I'm the Mom who sent her child to school dressed like this on the wrong day. I promised her that in the future I would read the calendar more carefully.

Fabulosity

While looking through the pictures saved on Auntie Yam's camera - always a treasure trove! - I came across this picture of Emily's little foot. This is what fabulosity looks like....plastic high heels, tall socks, flannel pajamas rolled up high. All worn while performing at her little pink piano. Liberace would have wanted to score this look!

Graduation Party

Tonight we celebrated a friend's high school graduation with a party at her house. Emily had a fantastic time. They served all of her favorite food - hot dogs and barbecue potato chips! - and a really killer chocolate cake. Best of all, one of her teachers was there and allowed Emily to talk her ear off for most of the evening. We snapped some cute pictures of her which I've uploaded below. Enjoy this nice weather before it gets all hot and sticky!

Super Supper

Emily and I discovered a super new delicacy at Publix this week - purple potatoes! She was helping me pick out some red potatoes to go with the pot roast (that's right - you read correct. I cook a mean pot roast. Add one more recipe to my meager collection of specialties.) when we ran across a display of gourmet potatoes. Tiny red potatoes, golden fingerling potatoes, and Klondike Petite Purple potatoes. She was in love. They're sort of dusty black on the outside but are a deep rich purple like a plum when you cut them open. The pictures don't really do them justice. She had a special supper of purple potatoes and green beans tonight on her new frog plate. I wonder if I can container garden potatoes on the patio....

Preschool Graduation

Can you believe it? Emily has finished her first year of preschool! Her graduation ceremony was held this week and church and everyone came out to cheer her on during her program. She has been so excited that she could hardly go to sleep at night. She even raised up just before dozing off on the night before her program to remind me that her hair needed "to look beautiful for Miss Virginia for the program." She also woke us up last weekend singing "The Ants Go Marching One by One" into the monitor at top volume...and continued singing after climbing into bed with us. So much for sleeping in! I made her a special headband to match her school shirt so that she would be well-coiffed for the event and make Miss Virginia proud. She did a fantastic job, even if we are a bit biased. She loves to sing and dance and performed all of her songs without a hitch - she even had a special part during the "Down by the Bay" performance. I loved looking around the room and seeing friends from high school with the same goofy lovestruck looks on their faces as the two of us as we all watched our children perform on the stage. Can't believe she'll be in the four year old class next year. Now if we can just get the matter of the fish and fish bowl settled before school starts back up...

Happy Birthday!

We went to a birthday party for a friend at a local jumping center this weekend and Emily had a blast! I'm always scared of these places - too much can go wrong! However, all the kids were roughly the same size and they all played together really well. She had loads of fun climbing up the slide and romping through the inflatable mazes. I got to go along for several trips down the slide. Donald was healing up from a soccer injury and was sidelined with the camera, but that means we got lots of great pictures. She was exhausted by the time we got back to the White House, which meant a long roll-up for both of us. I love weekend naps!

Night time visitors

We have a new friend who comes out to play at night - Rocky the Raccoon! Sometimes, if we're lucky, he comes over to visit before Emily heads upstairs to sleep and we all get to peek out the windows at him for a while. We had a little photo shoot the other night, which is no small feat with a wiggly raccoon in the dark. Who needs to visit the Wild Animal Safari when we have friends like this in the back yard?

Braids!

I came home from school this week and didn't even recognize Emily. Mimi had french braided her hair into two of the sweetest little braids I've ever seen! I had to shoot some pictures. I can't understand how her crazy curly hair managed to stay slicked down like that. If you look closely in the pictures, you'll notice that there aren't even any pony tail holders on the ends of her braids. Her curls are so tight that the braids stayed in without any help! She even slept on it that way and it looked the same when she woke up.

Fun with T.C.

Emily has gotten the notion lately that she can "train" T.C. to sit and perform various other tricks. He has (so far, anyway) not responded to her instructions, but I have enjoyed catching her in the act and photographing their little lessons. Seeing her press on his behind and say "Sit! Sit!" in such a stern voice while T.C. attempts to slither out from under her little hands is loads of fun for me. Thank goodness that T.C., despite his really loud and annoying voice, has been very patient with her!

Relay for Life

Our school's Relay for Life team participated in a volleyball tournament against another school in the district this year and Emily was totally excited to go and cheer on the Pink Panthers. We all wore our pink (even Donald pulled out the pink polo - Emily wanted him to wear pink pants but he just couldn't find any in his closet) and Emily brought along her pom poms so that she could cheer with the cheerleaders. Although the Pink Panthes were not victorious, we had a great time - especially Emily. She got over the noise of the crowd pretty quickly and wanted to stay on the floor with the cheerleaders for the entire game! Throw in one blue lollipop at the end of the game, a pair of flashing glasses, and pizza at Partners and she was one happy girl.