Happy Mother's Day!

How lucky am I to be the mother of this precious girl?  I can't believe that I've had this wonderful job for nearly seven years!  My goodness, time really does fly.  She and Donald surprised me today with a fabulous set of wind chimes that are tuned to our wedding song (cool, right?) and a new CD that I've been wanting - some of the goofy music from the Soundscapes channel that I love so much!  I'll be surrounded by wonderful music thanks to those two!  We also celebrated with a big family brunch, breakfast being just about my favorite meal.  I got her to sit still for one serious picture with me today in exchange for two silly scarf pictures.  Happy Mother's Day to all of my mom  and mom-to-be friends!

Biking at Callaway

We took Emily and her bike down to Callaway to enjoy some lovely springtime weather.  She had fun biking around the gardens but wore herself out!  She crashed out in the car on the way home.  I know how she felt - I was pretty worn out, too!  Following her around on her bike in completely inappropriate shoes just about did me in.  Doesn't she look triathlon-ready in her helmet?

Happy Birthday Abby!

We celebrated Abby's birthday this year with a family dinner and lots of fun.  She got a beautiful new bike and spent some time riding around the yard while Emily chased Bobby with a can of silly string.  He's always such a good sport!  Can't believe our girl is getting so grown up!

Two sweet girls

Love this picture- Aunt Liz always gives the best gifts!

Happy Birthday, dear Abby!

Look at that speed!

Bobby takes care of the new Fur Real pet.

Showing off her new wheels

Providence Marketplace

Emily and Abby traveled back in time again this year at the Providence Marketplace.  So much fun!  They always enjoy getting to ride the camel and make all the funky crafts that the marketplace has to offer. You know that I'm scheming for a way to bring that big loom home with me - I just haven't found a purse big enough to sneak it away in yet.  I could be weaving all my own clothes at home on that thing!  The chicken legs are always a big hit with my little carnivore and the sugar cookies are Abby's favorite.  They came home with full bellies and a bag full of fun stuff they made. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Trying to peg Goliath

Pressing out some olive oil

Stomping of the grapes!  Don't worry - they're rubber!

I hope they remembered to pay their taxes!

Raising Butterflies

Donald ordered a butterfly hatching kit for Emily and she just raised and released her first...litter? Not sure about the group word for butterflies. Will need to do some research on that. They come as caterpillars in a tub of sticky peanut butter stuff, spin their way to the chrysalis stage, and then hatch out as beautiful painted ladies. We had to keep our habitat hanging in the upstairs bathroom out of the way of our two boys, who were very interested in the hatchlings. It was great fun to see the caterpillars grow and change and to eventually release them to live in the backyard. You should try it! Just keep them away from your cats!

A safe habitat for butterflies!



Something smells delicious!



They're hatching!

Lovely painted ladies

Future broadcaster

Our little girl won a guest spot on the morning announcements at the school's silent auction this year.  It was quite convenient, as I am the sponsor of the morning broadcast team!  She, along with four other students, got to appear on the morning news to give a book review of a book that was recently purchased for the school's media center.  You like that literacy tie-in, don't you?  At any rate, she chose to review Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Dog a Donut.  Such a cute book, and such a cute broadcaster!  She was very excited to learn that UGA has a broadcasting program. Who knows?  She may be the next rock star turned broadcaster turned veterinarian.

Wolfie and Emily stop for a quick pose at the news desk

Wolfie knows his way around the broadcast room because he comes to school with us every day!

So calm and collected - I couldn't believe it!

Dad got to come and see the show, too!

Feeding the giraffes

Emily was just assigned a research project about giraffes and we figured some hands-on research was necessary.  So, we took a trip to the Atlanta Zoo (where they talked us into buying a yearly pass - anyone up for a zoo trip with us next time?) and we got to feed the giraffes!  So much fun - and much cheaper than feeding the pandas.  I think those things just eat solid gold bricks or something.  Lettuce for giraffes is much more economical - and check out that crazy tongue!  Did you know it's dark to keep it from getting sunburned?  Just one of the many factoids that we learned about giraffes during the creating of this report!

Planting the Garden

After a failed attempt at a backyard garden a few years ago, we're trying it again but this time we're putting a little more effort into it.  Donald built us two beautiful raised beds, used slave labor in the form of David to fill them with dirt and compost, and now we have two lovely gardens in the backyard!  Emily loves to go out and water her crop and look for signs of anything growing. She was a great help at planting everything, too, as these pictures show.  We're hoping the the deer and rabbits don't eat everything up but at least we're having fun with our little gardening experiment!  We'll keep you posted on our progress!

Water guns - what a great invention!

Ready for dirt

Hoping that the marigolds and other herbs will keep the deer away.  The internet says it works, so it must be true.

This is sweaty work!

Watering in the plants

Watering in herself

Reader Girl

Looking at this picture makes me smile every time!  I am so proud of my reading girl.  While we worked in the back yard, Emily relaxed with a book.  Love it!  She's reading about Koko the gorilla - Do you remember her?  If not, check out koko.org.  It's so much fun to watch Koko's videos.  She's still alive, you know!