Merry Christmas!

Amy was poking around in some files on their computer today and found these two cute videos of Emily singing along with her new piano from Christmas two years ago. So sweet! I can't believe how much she's grown. Just a little pre-Christmas post to get you in the mood. Wait....we've gotta make it through Thanksgiving first! Enjoy, anyway!

Emily Sings: Part I (PS - The 2nd song is a beautiful Enya Christmas song that she loved that year. Not familiar to everyone!)

Emily Sings: Part II (I love when she gives Abby the smackdown for touching her piano!)

Happy Halloween!

The whole family converged on the White House for our annual dinner and trick or treating ritual. We were glad that David and Aunt Liz could join us. Nice to have David living in Atlanta now so that he come for stuff like hauling the kids around the subdivision, dodging teenagers dressed as skanky genies, and handing out truckloads of candy to everyone in Newnan who stops by our subdivision to see the pirate house down the street. In case you haven't visited, you should definitely look us up for next year! The hippie and the rock star had a great time trick or treating and were overjoyed when people guessed who they were. We saw one Dad out with his son - he was dressed as Robin to his son's Batman. If Donald and I were better parents, we would have dressed as Slash and Britney Spears to match Emily's costume. Oh well, there's always next year...

Check out the rotten pumpkin. I tried to reach in and turn on the flashing light and a swarm of gnats came out to attack me. He's going down the hill into the creek tonight to be dinner for Rocky the Raccoon!

She insisted that the rubber boots were the perfect shoes to complement her outfit.

Watch out, Yoko. Abby's got flower power!

Masquerade Ball

My school hosts a Masquerade Ball (NOT a Halloween party!) each year to benefit Relay for Life. Donald and I took both girls this year and had a fun time doing the Macarena, failing miserably at the cake walk, and marveling at the crazy (and sometimes scandalous) costumes of the other students. I stayed up the night before decorating a jack-o-lantern cake courtesy of one of Mim's vintage Wilton pans and was overjoyed to see that someone chose it as their prize from the cake walk! Hooray! After a visit to Mellow Mushroom for dinner and a ride around to look at Halloween lights, we headed back home to crash out for the evening with two very tired little goblins.

Mommy, Guinevere, and Rock Star

Emily does the Macarena with her tongue sticking out - that means she's concentrating!

We're finally getting it!

One of us is facing the wrong direction. She couldn't get down the moves AND the turning all at once. Next stop, electric slide!

Chitlin Hoedown

This weekend marked our annual visit to Yatesville with the Blounts for the Chitlin Hoedown. We took Emily along for the ride this year because she hasn't been since she was a tiny baby. She had a great time chowing down on ribs and MawMaw's fried pies with the rest of us and even ran across a group of boys playing scrimmage football that were intensely interesting, as you can tell from the photos below. She stood off to the side swinging her sequined scarf and striking various poses as they played on - seemingly without noticing her at all, if that's even possible. Fun for everyone!

Lucky for her, they offered a peace sign at the face painting booth!

Scary clown - had to take his picture
Rib time!

MawMaw's pies - yum!

Funky pose with Daddy

Checking out the football players

Funky pose with Mommy

Rocking the iPod on the drive home. She has a mixture of Johnny Cash and Backyardigans on that thing. Very eclectic.

Pumpkin Carving

Last weekend marked the annual Westbrook Pumpkin Carving Party - always a great big load of fun! Emily was glad to meet up with her friends from swim class this summer and had a great time scooping pumpkin guts, eating cupcakes, and running around wearing plastic vampire teeth with the other kids. We now have a fabulous peace sign pumpkin complete with rock star flashing strobe light to decorate our front porch. In fact, it was so fabulous that I had to carve a matching one for Emily's friend! Thanks to the Westbrooks for hosting!

Lighting of the Great Pumpkins!

Homecoming

Northgate celebrated Homecoming a few weekends ago and we took both girls to see the game. They had a great time listening to the band, watching the halftime show, and sampling the various fried foods that the Boosters were offering. Emily even made a sign to bring with her to cheer on the team. Go Vikings!

First Hair Cut!

I finally decided that we'd waited that we'd waited long enough and made an appointment with Auntie Shin to have Emily's hair cut for the first time. You can't really tell that much is missing, but it sure did make it easier to comb that mess out every night! There's a great picture book called Franny B. Kranny, There's a Bird in Your Hair! that I always think of when Emily's hair is especially tangled. There could be anything hiding in there! Auntie Yam was on hand to take pictures during the process. She really felt like a rock star once she was finished and had to pose for some shots while she swung her hair all around. Fabulous!

Fair Time!

Donald volunteered to work at the County Fair a few weeks ago and I took the girls along to spend the day while he worked. The day started off rough - I overestimated Emily's bravery in relation to park rides. I swear I thought she would enjoy the little roller coaster because she rode it last year! I spent the rest of the day ferrying the girls between the grown up rides in the back of the park for Abby to the smaller, gentler rides at the front of the park for Emily. Talk about blistered feet - and accidental sunburn, as well! They both enjoyed the animal exhibits and ended up haing a great day. I have to mention, too, that Abby was an incredible sport. She jammed herself into slow-poke rides that she was technically too big for just so that Emily would go along and ride something. What a sweetie!

Pranked

Emily has quite the sense of humor lately. She loves to watch iCarly and recently saw their show about practical jokes, so she decided to play some jokes on us. I left the kitchen while cooking dinner the other night and came back to find a pig reading my library book on the trash can. She thought this was hilarious. Punked by a five year old.

Apple Picking

Donald and I took Abby and Emily to Blue Ridge last weekend to pick apples. We took Emily last year and had so much fun that we decided to make it a yearly tradition. Despite the long ride up, the girls had a good time eating apple fritters, taking a wagon ride, and picking lots of different types of apples. Check out Merciers Orchards at www.mercier-orchard.com for more information. They actually grow lots of things - apricots, peaches, strawberries - and you can bring your family to pick any of it. Good humor was fading by the end of the day but we made it home with no casualties- thank goodness for mobile DVD players! Now I've just got to figure out what to do with all of these apples...

And we're off! They like to sit in the "way back" of the car when we go on trips.
A little photo op before getting started

The girls were crazy for these coon skin caps.

We said no to the toy rifles but eventually gave in to the caps.

Huge candy apple - yum!

Abby opted for the marshmallow pop instead of the candy apple.

We opted for the dinner plate-sized apple fritter

Remnants of candy apple

Beautiful views!

Taking the wagon out to the orchard

Abby perfected the "twist and pull" method

This apple was almost as big as her head!

Stopping for a snack

A little help from Dad is always nice

Gorgeous!