Aquarium Visit

Donald had a meeting to attend in Atlanta this week, so the girls and I decided to spend a little quality time at the Aquarium while he spent some quality time in the boardroom (bored room?).  Either way, we got the best end of the deal.  We had a great time visiting all the exhibits and even got to see otter feeding time, which included lots of funny tricks.  Donald finished up with his meeting just in time to pick us up at the curb and drive us home to make pizza for dinner.  Lucky guy!

First thing they wanted to visit were the touch tanks.



I love her scrunchy face in this picture!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the typo on the piranha sign.  How sad am I?  But don't they have spellcheck somewhere?

Meet Sergeant Lucky Boots!

On Memorial Day, a tiny kitten wandered across Mimi and Papa's yard. It has now taken up what seems to be a permanent resident at their house. Meet Sergeant Lucky Boots! His name is an amalgamation of several things: apparently Abby once read a book about a girl with a kitten named Sergeant Boots and Papa calls him Lucky because he's lucky that Papa hasn't...well...relocated him. He's the laziest kitten I've ever met and seems to spend all of his time flat on his back in someone's lap. Pretty soon he has to go to the vet to get "nurtured," as Emily calls it but other than that and a runny eye, which we're doctoring with Neosporin, he seems to be growing up quite nicely!

Look out, Esther Williams!

Emily has started synchronized swimming this summer!  She is having a great time and told me this week that she can't wait until next Monday when she can go back to class.  This is a HUGE improvement over last summer, if any of you will recall!  I took her to the pool today and was simply amazed at how she flips and swims like a fish everywhere.  I only have this one picture of her entire swim group which was taken by her amazing teacher, Miss Betsie, because parents don't attend synchronized practices.  The swim show is supposed to be a big surprise for all of us.  Emily loves the idea of keeping secrets about her performance.  I think this picture of her with her swim friends is just precious.  She's the one in purple, by the way - they all become kind of anonymous in their swim caps and goggles!

Serenbe Market Day

Today we spent the morning exploring the Serenbe Farmers Market and visiting with the animals at the farm.  We came away with some delicious pepper jelly and a fantastic caricature of Emily.  Being a budding artist herself,  she was really excited about having Vincent Wolf draw her portrait.  Love the way it came out and can't wait to frame it for her room!

She has been wearing this sweater for three straight days.  It was Abby's favorite sweater and was passed down to Emily.  I think she's going to start sleeping with it soon.

He even got her sweet "beauty mark" on her chin!  She didn't love this and I had to convince her that all the glamorous ladies used to paint them on if they didn't have one.

Callaway Circus

Another favorite summertime tradition is a trip to see the FSU Circus at Callaway Gardens.  So much fun - and free, which is always great!  Aunt Liz got to go with us, which just added to the excitement factor.  The girls always enjoy seeing the performers' new acts and then trying out some moves at home.  This frightens me a bit because we had the added bonus of watching a gymnastics competition the following afternoon.  No telling what kinds of antics Emily's going to try!  May all your days be Circus days!

She loves to get pictures with her favorite performers.

Bad Papa was encouraging her to climb up on the trapeze net.

Rare full family photograph - Thanks, Auntie Yam!

Summer Reading

I took the girls to the Central Library for their first visit of the summer and to sign up for the summer reading program.  Always a favorite summertime activity!  They each came home with a bag of books and spent the afternoon tucked away on the couch reading, reading, reading.  Their setup was pretty funny and warranted a picture post.  They've always enjoyed taking the cushions off our couches and using them to make forts of some kind.  Now they can make a reading nest!  Hope you are dreaming big with summer reading!

Sock Curls

One of the delights of having a little girl is getting to play beauty shop pretty much 24/7. Emily is remarkably patient and lets me try out all sorts of goofy hairstyles and braids on her. I recently read about sock curlers via my favorite website, Pinterest (what a time-sucker that place is!) and decided to try it out. The results were incredible! I've tortured Emily with pink sponge curlers in the past but think that I'm going to stick with socks from here on out. Her hair is naturally curly to begin with (although the weight of it kind of drags the curl out now) so it always holds a curl really well. So proud that my Pinteresting worked out! That's not always the case, as this blog illustrates! You can see the original post about sock curls here.   An FYI - I decided to use multiple socks instead of one and clip them in place with hair barrettes.  Hope you're having a good hair day!

Ready for  bedtime - much more comfortable than curlers!

Finished product...a headfull of bouncy curls!

Last Day of First Grade!

Well, it's official....Emily is no longer a first grader!  She finished her school year with flying colors, and even earned a certificate for being The World's Fastest Adder for her sweet addition skills.  We're so proud of everything that she's learned this year - she's adding two digit numbers in her head, reading chapter books all on her own, lecturing us about various famous Americans and scientific principles, and "writing like my mom," as she puts it.  (Big smile on my face as a I type this because I plan to spend the ENTIRE summer writing like a madwoman!  Perhaps she can help me.)  Our school started a new last day tradition this year - a water gun attack on the school buses as they pull away from the building.  We've always gone out to wave goodbye to the students as they pull away from the school, but this year we launched a surprise attack on the buses (and each other!) with squirt guns.  Loads of fun and a great way to send the students off on summer vacation.  When I first arrived at elementary school, I was surprised by the number of students who were in tears as the buses pulled away.  They're honestly sad to leave us, which speaks volumes about how much our school loves the students.  The water gun fight was a great way to put smiles back on their faces and send us all home laughing, especially since the idea of having a second grader brings a few tears to my own face!  Hope your last day of school send-off was as fun as ours!  We've got loads of great activities planned at the White House over the summer, so check back often!

Headed down to class for the last time

Ready for action - look at that stance!

Taking aim with the assistant principal.  Emily totally hosed a bus driver who was foolish enough to leave her door open.  She said that she didn't think it was fair that no one was soaking the drivers, so she decided to even the score.

Reloading!

Time to go home and dry out

Celebratory doughnut on the way home.  I've gained ten pounds since they put in a Dunkin' Donuts at the end of our street.

Getting a little love from Ringo after a celebratory dinner at Chin Chin, her favorite. They make the best Shirley Temples!

Spring Fling

Our school hosts an awesome Spring Fling each year.  Emily has always enjoyed going, even before she became a student at our school, and this year was no exception.  Pony rides, crazy hair, giant hamster ball, radar speed pitch....you name and she tried it.   Big thanks to all of the teachers who included whistles in their prize boxes - she has REALLY enjoyed driving us wild with those!  We stopped for a quick Mexican dinner afterwards (where she incurred lots of curious glances due to her face paint and wild hair) and barely made it home before she collapsed from too much fun.

Number one thing she wanted to do:  Crazy hair!  Thank heavens it washed out OK!

Number two thing she wanted to do:  Pie Mr. Bailey in the face.  Success!

Bobbing for doughnuts

Fantastic face paint

A pony ride with Razzle.  It was fun to hear the fifth graders argue about how they should be exempt from the weight limit.  Poor indentured servant ponies.

Quick trip down the giant slide

And last but not least, after a LENGTHY wait, a ride in the giant hamster ball!

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