Happy 40th Birthday, PCES!

My school recently celebrated its fortieth birthday with a big party for faculty, students, and former staff members. Emily and Donald joined me for the big event and Emily had a great time. She had been looking forward to going to the party and having "lots of cake." Each class was asked to submit a decorated cake and guests were allowed to vote for their favorite cake. Emily loved voting and carefully selected the cake that had the most purple icing. She also enjoyed buying mardi gras beads to benefit Relay for Life - also in purple. Her favorite part of the evening was playing with balloons on the dance floor - of course, she chose a purple balloon. After a certain point, the dance floor became a bit of a mosh pit, so she and Donald hung out in the library with Curious George while I finished packing up the slide show equipment (my portion of the evening's entertainment!) I snapped a few cute pictures of Emily in her sassy boots and wanted to share them with you all!

Superbowl Sunday

To celebrate Superbowl Sunday, we invited over a houseful of Emily's favorite people. She and Abby spent the evening chasing each other around and playing upstairs (miraculously not destroying the playroom any worse than it already is!) and the adults stayed downstairs eating, eating, eating and watching the game. Making pizza has become a bit of a tradition at the White House, so we laid in a supply of pizza toppings for Emily and Abby to create their own mini-pizzas. They had lots of fun, although I can't say that Emily ate hers after it was cooked. She prefers to eat most of the toppings raw! Abby did a much better job of cleaning her plate. She and Emily had some exciting moments trying to escape Adrian, who's always trying to get one of Emily's curls. I think this was the latest that Emily's ever stayed up. By the time everyone went home, she looked like a little owl with big round eyes! Rhonda and I tried to convince her to lie down, but there was no persuading her to get in bed while fun was happening downstairs. She was happy to climb into her bed at the end of the night, but I'm afraid she was not on her best game for school the next day! Happy Superbowl!

More from Baby Jace

Another funny video from Baby Jace. Apparently he has a love/hate relationship with baby food. Who doesn't love banana baby food? It was one of Emily's favorites. He seems to be getting to the toddler-opinionated stage really early!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4DNSIsPpHE

Comfy Cozy

Getting Emily ready to go out anywhere during this cold snap has been lots of fun because she has numerous snazzy hats, scarves, and sets of gloves. She particularly likes this polka dotted hat from Old Navy. She wears it around the house and makes snow angels on the living room rug. Let's not even talk about what her mop-top looks like when she takes the hat off! She's too cute wearing it to worry about all the tangles that will come later.

Our Little Mozart

This month's edition of Parents magazine has an article titled "Why toddlers like to get naked - and other mysteries revealed." I'm thinking of submitting this photo of Emily to the publishers. What do you think?

Ten Years!

On December 19, Donald and I celebrated our tenth anniversary! I can hardly believe it's been so long. We booked a Caribbean cruise to Key West and Cozumel aboard the Celebrity Century and had an amazing trip. We left out on December 20 and arrived home on on Christmas Eve afternoon - no small feat, considering the general craziness of the Atlanta airport! We didn't think we were going to make the plane to Miami, but by grace and Donald's good schmoozing skills, we were able to get through security with time to stop for breakfast. Our ship was amazing - we would highly recommend the Celebrity line if you're planning a cruise. The food was wonderful and the staff took care of everything we needed. We enjoyed having a huge breakfast on our veranda each day - and also enjoyed a huge supper in the gorgeous dining room each evening. Key West was incredible. We spent lots of time exploring Hemingway's house and getting friendly with the many six-toed cats running around. Of course, that was my favorite spot. We spent some time at Carlos and Charlie's in Mexico where we practiced a bit of Spanish and did some shopping for the girls. I spent some lazy hours catching up on reading while Donald hung out in the casino during our last day at sea - which was incredibly rocky. Break out the Dramamine! Donald was the big winner, as you'll see from the pictures in the slideshow. And he remembered to buy me something pretty with his winnings, too! We were very relieved to make it home on Christmas Eve - we've never spent that much time away from Emily. Incidentally, she had a fantastic time feasting on pancakes, making play-doh creations, getting her toes painted purple, and generaly being spoiled rotten with Mimi, Papa, Abby, Amy, Cici, and Granddaddy. We're planning another cruise soon and are expecting you all to go along with us, so start saving now!

Christmas 2008

Donald and I came back from our anniversary cruise just in time for Christmas Eve at the Farr House. We had a wonderful supper, opened some gifts with the girls, and hurried home to put out cookies and milk for Santa, as well as reindeer food for Santa's helpers. Of course, it was raining on Christmas Eve, if you will remember, so Daddy was dispatched to the yard to sprinkle the reindeer food while we watched from the front steps! Christmas morning was wonderful - the look on Emily's face when she saw all the purple presents Santa left her (her signature color) was so exciting! We shared breakfast with our friends Amy and Lane before heading off to the other White House for lunch. Emily had a great time there chasing Max the cat and playing with her new pink piano. We got together with the Farrs again on Christmas evening to open our gifts for each other. All in all, a very busy but great day! Hope you enjoy these pictures and that your holiday was merry!

Baby Jace is famous!

Check out these two You Tube videos of Baby Jace. He's such a sweetie - and looks exactly like his Mom, my cousin Shea. The first video is of him having green beans for the first time and the second is a silly baby giggle video. Very sweet! Hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK4Uh8VrZc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gUOUHno-w

Playing in the Leaves

On the day after Thanksgiving, Emily helped us hang up the wreaths on the outside of the house and do a little yard work. She specifically wanted to jump in piles of leaves because she's seen Moose A. Moose on the Noggin channel do this. I raked up big piles (we have loads of leaves!) and she had a blast jumping in and out of them. I took lots of pictures of her playing around before heading inside to wash her off....and check her for ticks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was lots of fun for Emily to be running around and "helping" us in the kitchen make things to take for lunch. Our families met together at my Nanny's house for lunch. After lunch, the weather was beautiful and everyone ran outside to play catch with the two girls. Bobby was home from college, which was great for Emily - she's his number one fan. We all went home to take massive naps and then returned in the evening for leftovers. My pants are getting tight just thinking about all we ate! It was wonderful to have a table full of family to share such a wonderful meal with. Looking forward to next year already!

Callaway's Nights of Lights

This year was the first time we took Emily to see the Christmas lights at Callaway. We drove down after school and actually spent the night. We enjoyed our stay so much over the summer that we thought it would be fun to spend the night and visit the gardens the next day. Emily had a blast viewing the lights. Predictably, the purple ones were her favorite, although she really liked the swan swimming across the lake and the frog that jumps over the road. We woke up and went down to breakfast the next morning and were greated by Rudolph and the Gingerbread Man. Emily's never seen characters in costume like that and we thought she might be scared. No such luck! She was all over both of them and insisted on going up to give them goodbye hugs before we could leave. After breakfast, we visited the butterfly center, which is a favorite of hers. We had fun, but it was WAY too cold and windy to go anywhere else. We made a stop by the country store for some goodies (fudge, of course) and then headed home. I hope we can make this fun weekend a holiday tradition!

Snuggling at the country store

Pretty sure it's dangerous for her head to fit through the bars like that

She loves to feed the fish

Checking out the butterfly center

Thanksgiving Feast

Donald and I, along with our parents, attended Emily's Thanksgiving Feast at her school. It was so sweet! She and her class performed several songs wearing their special Thanksgiving outfits. Then we all went downstairs together to enjoy a delicious lunch - and I mean delicious. It was real Thanksgiving food prepared by the ladies of the church. Yum! She was very proud to show off her school, her outfit, and the special table decorations each class had made. On a different note, Granddaddy White (aka Santa Gus) caused a bit of a stir with the nursery schoolers. Emily's best friend came up to him and openly confessed that she's been pretty naughty this year! They say the funniest things...

Birthday Party Fun

Emily recently attended her first "friend" birthday party for her best friend at school. They had a blast at a jumping play place, ate lots of cupcakes, and zoomed up and down slides all afternon. The parents of the little girl are actually from Palmetto and we knew lots of the other guests, so it was fun for the parents, as well! Emily got stuck inside on of the jumpers at one point and I had to climb in to rescue her - loads of fun! She wouldn't agree to leave because she was having such fun, so we had to make a grab and dash to get out of there. All in all, a very fun first birthday party!

Mad Skills

I picked up Emily from Nanny's house today and discovered that she had done some very interesting artwork in one of her coloring books. Mimi and Papa (and various other family members) have worked with her on practicing her letters. She's getting very good - but writing in a straight line is sometimes a challenge. She knows what orders the letters go in, but tends to run out of room on the page. She then squeezes the extra letters wherever they'll fit. Her favorite is the letter M. When she writes it, she says "Up the mountain, down the mountain, up the mountain, down the mountain." The Y is just "Down the mountain, up the mountain, and give him a tail." This is an excellent example of her handiwork. The girl's got mad skills!

Looking Cute for Church

We went to church this Sunday and Emily looked so sweet in this dress from Nanny that I had to snap a picture with one of our scarecrows. She was excited to go to church - after all, it was crackers and juice Sunday! That's her favorite. She stays with us during the service, preferring to rummage through my purse and read the hymnal instead of braving the unknown terrors of the nursery. Who knows what kind of craziness goes on in there? I'm happy to have her sit with me, anyway. I have many lovely memories of sleeping in my Dad's lap during church when I was younger. She's learning to sing the songs and recite the prayers and that's a good thing, too. She does a mean "Blessed be the Name" because Mimi practices Bible School songs with her during the day. I'll try to get a recording of her and post it here soon.

A New Toy

Emily visited the church yard sale this weekend and came away with a prize. Aunt Liz purchased this cute sponge mop for her after Emily spent the morning carrying it around and looking longingly at it. We brought it home and she spent the rest of the day mopping the floors, the furniture, the bathtub, etc. Who knew the menial labor could make a kid this happy?

Happy Halloween!

Since moving to our subdivision, we've had the tradition of having family and friends over for dinner and trick or treating. The Farrs and Williams joined us this year but the Whites were traveling and unable to make it. Donald was also away for Halloween this year at a conference, so we took lots of pictures and messaged him all weekend. Emily wanted to be a cheerleader, but not just any cheerleader. She wanted to be "a G cheerleader like Daddy likes." She even had special "cheerleader" shoes to go with her getup. Abby was magnificent in her princess dress. Mimi and Amy have strict orders to save this costume so that we can borrow it in the future. On Halloween Eve, we met up for dinner at our house and then Papa and I took the girls out trick or treating while Mimi and Amy manned the trick or treat headquarters. The highlight of the evening was a trip to the pirate house in our neighborhood. Emily's been looking forward to this for months! Eventually, we headed back home where Mimi and Amy had given out of candy. The girls posed for a few pictures and then we turned out the lights to warn away all prospective goblins. We also put out a sign because we've learned in the past that a lack of lights doesn't automatically deter trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Hugh Hefner and his three bunnies came to our house last year but they apparently stayed at the Mansion this year. I think our two girls were definitely the best-dress trick or treaters out there tonight!

Posing before supper - this one got sent out to Daddy

A picture with the pumpkins

Posing with the pirate's booty

In the back of the car - ready for candy!

The other Boleyn girl

Sampling her goodies at the end of the evening

Time for bed!

Trip to the Farm

Donald and I recently joined Emily and her class for a trip to the farm. The day dawned very cold and extremely windy, but we loaded up and caravaned out with the rest of the students. I put a warm coat on her, but took along mittens, gloves, and a hood for her. She kept saying she was cold, so we kept adding on more outerwear. Eventually, she looked like a round cabbage and couldn't put her arms down - just like Ralphie's brother in The Christmas Story. She enjoyed the hayride and feeding the animals, especially the goats who were full of energy. The donkey was lots of fun, too, but she was a little wary of him - after all, this is the same donkey who mistook Abby's finger for a carrot on her preschool trip to the farm. Emily knew about this story and kept her fingers safely out of the donkey's mouth, allowing us to give him his feed instead. The pig didn't want to play and the turkey was really ugly. Couple this with increasing winds and Emily's good humor eventually wore out. We stopped back through Senoia for coffee and a trip to an excellent gift shop. She came away with a miniature toy pony and I got a new silver charm to commemorate our first field trip. A very fun, blustery day!

A cautious exploration of the donkey's very soft ears - but stay away from the teeth!

The teepee was surprisingly warm inside.
Emily and the Great Pumpkin.

All bundled up.She liked these inflatables.

Heading off to feed the catfish - but they wouldn't come up because of the cold.

Checking out the scenery on the hayride into the farm.

A rare family shot taken by Ms. Tonya.

Dress-up Fun

Emily and I had some fun this weekend playing dress-up with the dress-up box Aunt Amy and Uncle Lane gave her for her birthday. She likes to get dressed up and then pretend we're going on a trip - usually to the beach. This involves packing her suitcase, as well as her Dora the Explorer grocery cart. I always feel like we're playing homeless people when we travel with a shopping cart! Also, the grocery cart is a real pain to haul down the stairs - I prefer to travel a little lighter! I snapped this picture of her upstairs before we set out on our "trip." The only downside to this game is that she sometimes wants to go out dressed like this. She hasn't learned the rule about taking off one accessory before going out!