Books to the Ceiling!

Emily is required to memorize a poem to present to her class.  She chose "Books to the Ceiling" by Arnold Lobel (of Frog and Toad fame, for all of you lovers of children's literature out there).  She did such a great job reciting the poem that we thought it would be fun to let all of you in blog-land see her performance.  Hope you enjoy!

Summer Swim Show (a little late)

As autumn is officially beginning tomorrow, I thought that today would be a good time to post the video of Emily's summer swim show.  Better late than never!  She worked really hard all summer and was absolutely fearless at the swim show, which earned her Ms. Betsie's award of Most Improved Swimmer.  We could not be more proud of our little girl!  Bless her heart, she had to go first out of all the students - we didn't know that was going to happen!  So brave!  She helped me design the video and picked out all the music, backgrounds, and transitions for her video.  Hope you enjoy it!

Apple Picking!

This weekend we traveled to Blue Ridge to our favorite orchard, Merciers, and spent the day apple picking.  What beautiful weather!  I'm so glad that it is finally starting to cool down a bit.  We had a great day picking apples in Merciers wonderful orchards and Emily seemed to have a grand time eating everything that didn't eat her first.  Although it is a long drive to get there (and a seemingly even longer drive home), Merciers is such a wonderful place that visiting there each fall has become a family tradition.  Happy (almost!) Fall!

First apple!

Quality control.

I want to live here!

Loves her digital camera. Be on the lookout for a new video from her!

Completely fake pose.

My favorite!

Ear love- she was getting tired and hungry, despite all the apples she'd eaten so far.

A little sugar makes all the difference.

The car picnic is a tradition and is unaccountably one of her favorite parts of the trip. Go figure.

Emily's First Video

We recently gave Emily a digital camera and told her she could collect some pictures and then make a video of them using Animoto. When we gave her the choice of picking where she went to take the pictures, she chose PetSmart! We spent some fun time at PetSmart taking pictures of kittens, puppies, fish, turtles, birds, and hamsters. The video posted below is her final masterpiece! She picked out everything from the pictures to the background to the music. Look out Steven Spielberg....

Happy Birthday - Part Two!

Ten little girls converged on our house this weekend for an afternoon of jumping, painting, and doughnuts. It was a little overwhelming, to say the least, but they had loads of fun chasing each other around the house all afternoon and eating cheese doodles during their improvised picnic in the living room. The impromptu pillow fight upstairs was apparently lots of fun, as well, based on the looks on their faces when I opened the bedroom door in the middle of it! They each created a lovely masterpiece to take home with them and it was neat to see what kind of artwork each girl made. Emily painted a yellow tabby cat wearing headphones with a peace sign border - very rock star. Thanks for joining us to celebrate our little girl's big day!

Sweet Baby Girl

Just wanted to share a few pictures of our sweet baby girl right after she arrived. It was a long night, but it was definitely worth it!

Happy Birthday! (Part 1)

Can't believe it, but our little girl turned six years old today. Happy birthday, Rock Star!

Birthday presents in the morning - a great way to start the day!

Love that big wild mane of hair!

All ready (and sparkly!) for school

Classic birthday gift - a new big girl bicycle!

iCarly lip gloss and nail polish! Check out the look on her face.

Very jazzy!

Hello again!

It's been a long time since we've posted a blog from the White House. It hasn't been intentional; we've just been really busy! I decided to make up for lost time by making a movie of the highlights of our past few months to share with you. I hope you'll forgive me for falling off the blog wagon for so long. I think we're finally up and running again!

iMeet a TV Star

For parents of the younger set, you'll recognize the title as a reference to Nickelodeon's iCarly show. Emily loves loves loves the kids on iCarly and has also fallen in love with their counterparts, Big Time Rush. Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy in real life) was at the World of Wheels show at the World Congress Center this weekend and we all loaded up to take Emily to meet her. Cici, Granddaddy, and David came along, as well and were all instrumental in navigating the THREE HOUR LINE to the stage where Jennette held court. That's right - three hours. I felt like Gilligan on his three hour tour except there was no beach in sight, only cars! The look on Emily's face when she met Sam was absolutely priceless and I have to admit that I would wait three hours again just to see her rapt face as Sam/Jennette signed a poster for her. It also helps out that Emily is one of the most patient kids I've ever met. Thanks to everyone who traveled along with us. By the way, if you're looking for a present for me for Christmas, I really love a 65 Mustang!

A little something for Uncle David

Emily and Sam

She told Emily that she liked her outfit! Glittery skulls rule!

So excited

Killing some time in line

Killing some more time playing with the camera. Come on - after three hours, what did you expect?

Snow! Or should I say ICE?

As ice blanketed the area and kept us out of school for a week, the White House hunkered down with a good supply of snacks, movies, games, and books in order to weather the...well, weather. On a side note, I don't know how Laura Ingalls managed to withstand all those blizzards without eventually weighing 400 pounds. Even the dolls got in on the snacking action, as you'll see below. At any rate, we had a great time snuggling by the fire and playing a new game - Jumbling Towers! That's the knockoff version of Jenga, in case you were wondering. Emily had a great time and the cats were scared witless by the second or third game. The snowy days were fun while they lasted but it was awfully nice to get back out into the world after everything thawed!

Ready to take a peek at the driveway!

Emily and Emily having some fun

Jenga! Wait, I forgot! Jumbling Towers!

Emily even hooked the dollies up with some snacks!

Emily has kung fu grip like GI Joe!

Reading with John, Emily, and Star

American Girl!

After several delays, Abby and Emily FINALLY made it to the American Girl store to pick out their new friends. Abby chose Molly; Emily chose....Emily. Emily is Molly's best friend, they share a name, and so she seemed the perfect choice. Em (as well as the rest of us!) were a bit overwhelmed by the crowd at the AG store. Silly adults - we didn't figure that every girl in metro area would be out shopping on a weekend close after Christmas. We'll know better next time! Papa plotted world domination of the AG furniture market by having us take surreptitious pictures of all the dollies' habitats. Be on the lookout for furniture postings in the future! Emily has fallen in love with Emily and takes her everywhere she goes. She compulsively brushes her hair, changes her into PJs each night, and then carefully tucks her into her tiny bed with a sweet kiss at bedtime. I never would have thought she would have become so enamored with a doll - she's always been a stuffed animal girl! Glad that she's so delighted with Santa's gift!

Ladybug Luncheon

All the ladybugs and ladyboys got together this week and had a great time acting like we were back in high school. Surely we burned off enough calories laughing to offset all the calories we took in from that cheeseball! Love to you and yours - Let's get together again soon!

Happy New Year!

2010 was great. Let's hope that 2011 will be just as wonderful!

A little picnic at the Andersons.

Loving the bunk beds

Cocktails before bedtime

And again for breakfast!