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!

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