Bathing Beauty

I am big a fan of bubble bath pictures with Emily. She always looks like she's having a blast, especially when I agree to turn on the jets because then the bubbles get crazy. I snapped these before church on Sunday - and I still managed to get there on time. Amazing!

Adam's Birthday Party

Adam (aka Bobby - Abby called him this when she was little and it just stuck) came home from Augusta State this weekend for his birthday and we had a little get-together to celebrate. Emily is quite taken with Bobby and was excited to have him all to herself because Abby was gone for the evening to Disney on Ice with Amy and some friends. She canoodled with him for most of the night and told me on the way home, "I really like Bobby because he's so nice to me. And he has really soft skin." Where does she get this stuff? I snapped this picture in the truck on the way to the party. She is all rock-starred out in her hoodie and sunglasses. The sunglasses are a prize we brought her back from the Chitlin' Hoedown in Yatesville. Don't ask - it's a yearly tradition for us and some friends. Loads of fun! At any rate, she put this ensemble together herself and wouldn't agree to leave anything out. She said she felt snazzy!

Pumpkin Carving

After several thwarted attempts, Donald, Emily, and I carved pumpkins this weekend. We purchased our pumpkins from Hopewell Methodist Church's pumpkin patch with my Mom and Dad with the idea of carving pumpkins all together. Add in homework for a third grader, multiple runny noses, assignments for class, and life in general - the pumpkins didn't get carved for several days. Mom and Dad's pumpkin was rotten when we cut it open - Emily did NOT appreciate this! She didn't enjoy the "cobwebs" inside the pumpkin, either, and chose to let us scoop the guts out for her. She mainly played a supervisory role in the great pumpkin carving and dictated the exact type of "sad face" she wanted on her pumpkin. After carving them up, we roasted the seeds. She was not a huge fan of these, but it's part of the general experience, right? The highlight of the evening was listening to the Sounds of the Seasons music channel from our cable service. Who knew there was so much Halloween music out there? Emily had fun for nearly an hour dancing to the music - with all of the lights out, per her orders. She even attempted some quasi-breakdancing moves. I would have loved some pictures of her poppin' and lockin' to the Monster Mash, but it was completely dark except for the jack-o-lanterns! At any rate, hope you enjoy our artistic endeavors!

Getting started

I love this face - she definitely has my genes!

Her reaction to Mimi and Papa's rotten pumpkin!

Supervising Daddy's efforts

Even T.C. gets into the Halloween spirit!

Finished product!

Halloween Cookies

Donald, Emily, and I had some fun making Halloween cookies this week. We mixed everything together, (well, I mixed - Donald covered Emily's ears to protect her from the noisy mixer) then we rolled out the dough and cut them out with some Halloween cookie cutters I have. It's funny - they never look like the original shape once you cook them! Emily picked out purple frosting at the store for her cookies but, in consideration of a quickly approaching bedtime, we covered the cookies in sprinkles instead. She likes to cook - except for the mixing part - but she likes to eat, as well. She'll even help me load the dishwasher later. What a big helper!

Four Wheeling

Abby and Emily got a treat at Nanny's this weekend. Nanny's niece, her husband, and two granddaughters had four-wheeled up to visit her for a bit and our two girls got to hitch a few rides during their visit. Emily and Abby get to ride the golf cart all the time but had never ridden a four-wheeler before. We've told them tales about our adventures when we had one - driving it into the lake to see if it would float, getting tangled up in the pasture fence, running over our neighbor's leg. etc. - and Abby was eager to see if it was as exciting as we'd described. They had a great time tooling around Nanny's yard with Uncle Lee and I snapped some cute pictures of all the girls loaded onto one of the four-wheelers. They were very sweet playing together! At one point, Abby went inside and got her baby doll, which she bungee-corded around the neck to back of the four-wheeler. Glad that DFACS wasn't around!

I love how fierce she looks in this picture!

Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual visit to the Hopewell Methodist Church pumpkin patch this weekend. We had planned to go on Friday but it was too rainy to pick a pumpkin. The weather was lovely on Sunday, so we loaded up and drove over. Funny thing - our pictures from last year show Emily wearing capri pants and a short sleeved t-shirt. It was so warm last year that she never got to wear her Halloween sweater. I saved it hoping that it would still fit this year - and that it would be cool enough to wear it. We were lucky on both counts! She and Abby picked out lots of different pumpkins before settling on the ones we would take home with us. They especially liked the warty star-shaped squash - we'd never seen any like these before! The Farr House is coming over tonight to carve a pumpkin and roast some pumpkin seeds, so we'll post pictures of that adventure once we're finished. Don't you LOVE this nice cool weather? Posing with her mini pumpkn - a gift from Henry in her class
She loves the back of the truck. We had to load up our recyclables before going to the patch.

Very excited about the tiny white pumpkins

I love these big warty pumpkins!
So many to choose from...

The famous warty star squash

UWG Homecoming

Today we took Emily to her first UWG Homecoming parade. Despite being loaded with Dimetapp due to her "snooty bob" (Emily-speak for runny nose), she had a great time and came back with a purse full of candy. We met up at the KA house and hung out with the brothers before the parade came by; afterward, we spent some time exploring the square downtown. Horton's Bookstore (I believe it's the oldest book store in Georgia) is one of our very favorite places to visit in Carrollton. It's a fun little shop with a coffee shop attached - and three resident cats. I can't decide which I like better - the books or the cats. Emily is following in my footsteps. She spent most of her time there chasing the cats around the store. We bribed her to go home with us with a new book, Cracker Jacks, and Sunkist and made it home just in time for a nice long nap.

Posing with Daddy at the KA house

Here comes the band! She liked Wolfie, the UWG mascot.

Bubble gum, her new favorite thing.

A picture of the founding fathers - they didn't want to be called "the old guys"

Making nice with the Glover girls

Star, the bookshop cat

The newest addition to Horton's spent some time chasing leaves outside
She wanted to pose her new lion with Star
Waiting for our coffee and having some fun

Cute church pictures

I've been filling in playing the piano at Palmetto Methodist Church for the last few months. Fortunately, Emily and Donald go with me to keep me company. She is lots of fun during church and requires a big bag of tricks to keep her occupied during the sermon. For the last few weeks, there has been a desperate run to the bathroom in the middle of the service. When she's ready, she's ready! Sometimes she will even sit by me at the piano while I play - very sweet! I snapped these cute pictures of her before church last week. She calls this dress her "churchy church" dress. She is also wearing shiny new "churchy church" shoes, which were a present from Mimi. Last Sunday was Communion Sunday, which she always enjoys. She sat beside me on the piano bench while the preacher and his helper prepared the Communion table. When they folded back the cloth, she shouted "Look! He's uncovering the cookies!" Anything to keep things interesting!

Cotton Pickin' Fair

Last weekend, Donald and I bundled Emily into the car for a trip to the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Georgia. We took her last year and she had a great time until we entered nap zone - then she turned into a wily monster who screamed until we strapped her back into the car and drove home! That didn't happen this year. Instead, she seemed determined to wring every ounce of fun from every minute we spent there. She collapsed once we got home and begged to "roll up" (her slang for nap) as soon as we got inside the house. She had a great time at the fair and spent lots of time in the jumping booth, ate lots of cotton candy, bought several obscenely expensive hair bows, and even got to ride a pony! She told me later that the pony pooted on her. Oh well, I guess all fun comes with a price! Enjoy the pictures of our Georgia girl!

Finishing up my corndog - Yum!

Stopping for a drink and a rest

Cotton candy - nothing better than sugar in a bag!


She liked these swings because they had cupholders.

Jumping! I swear some of these children were just dropped off by parents who left them to go and shop!


Purple - her signature color! She wiped it off in the car on the way home.