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!

I am woman!

After visiting our friends Amy and Lane for a delicious supper of mahi-mahi straight out of the water (well, almost - just add in drive time from Pensacola), Emily came home with her very first feminist propaganda T-shirt. She was so proud of her Rosie the Riveter shirt that she insisted on wearing it home from their house that night and slept in it two nights in a row before an unfortunate incident with a leaky sippy cup forced us to wash it. She likes to shout, "We can do it!" and wave her fists in the air. Move over, Gloria Steinem!

Not sure why...

In a rare moment, Emily discovered that our laundry basket was empty and decided that it would be the perfect place to play for a while. I'm not even sure how she managed to get inside without tipping it over! At any rate, she was not happy at being photographed and having her fun spoiled. I felt like a papparazzi snapping pictures of her while she angrily waved me away. Hope your summer vacation is going well!

Yarrrrr!

Before heading to the Blounts for a Memorial cookout, Emily and I played pirates for most of the day with a stash of Mardi Gras beads that she pilfered from our friends Rhonda and Adrian. We had a great time hiding our treasure all over the house and using a map to find it and dig it up. I snapped these pictures after her nap. Isn't her hair a hoot? She looks kind of Rastafarian in this dress with her big wild head. It was so wild that I had to slick it back in a ponytail to go to the Blounts. Every day with Emily's hair is some kind of adventure! Pay close attention to her necklaces - one of them is Donald's flash drive with all of his doctoral work on it. Should we keep that in a safer place?

Memorial Day with the Blounts

We spent Memorial Day with our friends Amy and Lane, as well as their dogs Jack, Gracie, and Maddie. Gracie had to spent the evening locked up in the bedroom - she was a little TOO excited to see us. Emily had a great time loving on Jack and Maddie and got some lessons in planting from Amy in their beautiful back yard. Lane cooked us an excellent lunch of ribs and corn, which Emily chowed down on. Judging from the bones on the table after supper, Lane and Donald appeared to have consumed the greater portion of Hogzilla. We had a great Memorial Day hanging out with our sweet girl and good friends and eating good food. Who could ask for anything more?She loves scooping up the pea gravel and relocating it.
Hanging out with Jack
Looking cute in her little rocker
Planting with Amy
I love this picture of Maddie chilling out. She didn't like having her picture taken - she showed me her behind after I took it!

A Visit with Ethan Hartzog

Donald, Emily, and I had the chance to visit our very dear friends the Hartzogs for Memorial weekend. They live in Loganville in a beautiful home that they've built all by themselves. I was amazed the entire day that they could accomplish such a feat! I still have plants sitting on my front doorstep that need to be potted and I bought them three days ago! Emily and Ethan are only a few months apart in age and had a great time playing together all afternoon while the rest of us caught up and ate a really delicious lunch and some incredible pound cake. We are looking forward to their next visit to see us. It's always fun seeing Emily play with someone her own age. I like to listen in on their conversations to see what they're chattering about! Hanging out with a good book on the porch
Time for some coloring
Sweet hugs

Adam's Graduation Party

My little cousin Adam graduated from Northgate this weekend. I say "little" but I guess he's getting pretty big - he's headed off to college in the fall! I babysat him one whole summer when he was just a litle guy who pretended to be Garth Brooks all the time. We lived on macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for the entire summer because he wouldn't eat anything else. We celebrated his graduation with a party at Larry's house. Emily was really taken with Adam. She played catch with him all night, in between rides on the Gator with Abby. Happy Graduation! Serious talking with Coach White
Posing with the antique gas pump
Don't worry - they didn't have the keys!
Adam and his ladies
Hanging out on the steps