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.

Making a Stepping Stone

Emily and I recently made a stepping stone for our good friend Aunt Amy for her birthday. She and Uncle Lane have a gorgeous backyard and we thought it would be fun to give them some Emily-inspired decor as a birthday gift. Emily had a great time and worked so hard to pick all of the glass pieces for the stone. She was very careful to point out to anyone who looked at it just which piece was her favorite - the purple one, of course!

Neat picture

I took this sweet picture of Abby and Emily at Nanny's this weekend. I love how the big barn looks in the background. We spent the afternoon sitting in rocking chairs under the carport while the girls played with Buddy, Uncle Larry's new dog, and begged for rides on the golf cart. They made me think of me, Shea, Amy, and Angie playing when we were little - alternately loving on each other and fighting with each other. In this picture, they are digging in the dirt, which was a major occupation for us when we were little. Nanny mentioned that she couldn't believe the things they let us do when we were little - we played in the creek and down at her lake without any adults, rode the four wheeler all over the woods with no helmet, and operated on nearly every citizen of Palmetto with our doctor's office. Shea and I spent long afternoons boiling water on the wood stove in my playhouse (it's a wonder we didn't set our hair on fire!) and knocking over ant hills. I wonder what our girls will get into as they get older?

Making Cupcakes

Emily and I had fun this weekend making cupcakes using a very cute kit that Linda and Angie gave her for her birthday. It has everything you need - from pan to mix - all in one set. We've established that I'm no pro at cooking real food but I am quite fond of baking. If it ever falls to me to have to provide meals for my family, we'll be living on cupcakes and cookies. Come to think of it, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea...

The shortening was a little difficult to dig out of the measuring spoon, but she tried REALLY hard! She also really wanted to crack the eggs but finally agreed to let me do it. She doesn't really like to get her hands sticky, anyway. Mommy's girl!

So proud that I finally agreed to do this with her. She has asked practically every day since Linda brought her gift over. Emily loves to get in the kitchen and mess around. When we cook dinner, she is usually standing by on her step stool and checking everything out. We usually cook pizza on Fridays (although we've gone to Partner's the last few weeks - her favorite) and she has a great time preparing the pizzas with us.

Gotta be really careful with this stuff! We've had some unfortunate incidents where most of the ingredients end up in the sink or on the floor. She did a great job this time! I love the way she has her tongue stuck out because she's concentrating so hard.

This is such a neat photo. You can see her reflection in the oven door glass. I think this is the first time that we've cooked together since we got the new stove and she kind of wanted to stand by and watch the cupcakes cook the whole time. We had to distract her with some Wow Wow Wubbzy while they baked.

Notice there are no pictures of us using the mixer? Donald had to take her in the bedroom at first because she hates the loud noise it makes. Then she decided that it wasn't so bad and agreed to stand by on her step stool so that she could watch- as long as he kept his hands over her ears! I convinced her that the mixer was a good thing - after all, baking just isn't the same unless you get to lick the beaters!

Just Showing Off

Emily has learned all kinds of great things at school these last few weeks. She knows that Johnny Appleseed went around planting seeds with a pot on his head, that an "ant feeder" is an animal that starts with the letter A, and that you can do some pretty great drawings using only a purple crayon. She has also learned to shout, "Hands off!" when little boys try to pinch her on the playground. Mommy had to give her a short self-defense lesson after several days of crying at recess. Turns out she was afraid to go play because a little boy pinched her and pulled on her shirt last week. I could think of other responses, but all of them were guaranteed to elicit a letter home from the teacher. The "hands off" technique seemed the least offensive! But back to my original purpose... Emily has learned lots of things at school and cooperated long enough for me to make a video of a song learned during music class with Miss Virginia. I love this! Hope you enjoy it, too.

Playing with Baby Jace

Emily had great fun playing with Baby Jace recently at Uncle Myrle's birthday party. She started off a little cranky but warmed up as soon as she realized that Baby Jace was a captive audience for all of her tricks. We caught her jumping on one foot for him - her favorite trick - and singing songs she's learned at school. It's amazing how much Jace looks like Shea's baby pictures. I have a terrible urge to dress him up in something frilly and then compare the pictures but I don't think that Shea and Wes would agree to that! At any rate, we snapped some cute pictures of all the kiddos playing with him and wanted to share them with you.

We kind of matched!

Checking to see if Zack did a good job on the grass

Taking a good look at the little guy

Snuggling with Nanny
She liked to rock Jace but needed a reminder to slow down the rocking!
Up close and personal
Group shot