Miss Rock Star, Eating Al Fresco, etc.

Grampa has gone to Midland to take Mamaw home today, so this is a good time to catch up with pictures of Emily. She has been so much fun. These pictures start after we watched Taylor Swift on the Today Show the other morning. Emily was so enthralled with the music and the guitar-playing girl that she put on her sunglasses and began singing and dancing. Before we knew it she was searching for a "tikar" (guitar) of her own, so she found a large copper cross on one of the end tables and started strumming it as she sang. Later when we were outside, she took Grampa's cowboy hat from the bear and wore it. In the evening when she was eating her dinner, on went the sunglasses again, and she said she was a "rock star."

The weather finally stayed nice all day long--no afternoon rainshowers and cold nights--so we were able to have our hors d'oevres (goat cheese terrine, crackers, and wine) on the deck. Emily LOVED the goat cheese and crackers--actually, she just used her knife to dig into the cheese and bypassed the crackers! Oh yes, and she had apple juice rather than "Mamaw drink." The next morning (Saturday) we were able to eat breakfast on the deck which Emily (and Mamaw) thought was great. After breakfast, I made a cheesecake to take for potluck on Sunday, and Emily licked the spatula which she really loved. The last pictures are Emily playing with Mamaw, feeding her and Mickey Mouse and then again before bedtime. Those two got so silly together and are going to miss each other.

More Fun with Emily & a Visit From David

Yesterday was really strange. We planted flowers in the new flowerbed and added a cute frog & turtle birdbath that Emily really loved. Then the rain started and it got really cold. About the time it hailed so much that it looked like it had snowed, our nephew David Rose drove in from Austin to spend the night with us while on his "out West" road trip.

Ed and David on the computer Googling all the places that David and his friends have decided he should see. They finally came up with a good itinerary, so Thursday morning had him on his way to Flagstaff.Here is a picture of Grampa that Emily actually took with my camera (after I got it all set for her).

Emily's new Wall-E pajamas.

Today was sunny but not too hot, so Emily played outside a lot, especially once Grampa broke out the new box of Legos! Here are some more fun pictures of her playing Legos with Grampa, then picking them all up and putting them in the box---only to dump them out--and the process went on and on.She was a lot of fun today. When I called her my sweetie, she said, "No, I'm Sweetie the Pie!" She even crawled up in Grampa's lap and read the caterpiller book with him, and she's usually too busy to stop and read. We're gonna miss her next week.

Retro Toys

I remembered that we still had some things stored in the tack shed behind the church, so Ed went over this morning and got Stephanie's and Meaghan's 1st birthday rocking chairs and the little pink baby cradle. After hosing them off, we let Emily play with them. She absolutely LOVED having the cradle for her baby. The pillow that is the cradle mattress is a little pillow that Mama Bea (Ed's grandmother) made for Stephanie when she was about 18 months old. The chairs and cradle need to be refinished, so I will work on that after I get back from Portland and my AP class in June. I can't believe I didn't remember those rocking chairs earlier, but all the kids still have plenty of time to enjoy them whenever they visit. The bunnies Emily is playing with in one of the following pictures are some little garden bunnies that we gave to LaVern and Vi (Ed's parents) when they had their house built in San Antonio, so they probably qualify as retro too.

This was Stephanie's 1st birthday rocker

This was Meaghan's 1st birthday rocker

Enjoying the cradle for her baby. We learned to sing "Rock A By Baby"

Giving the bunnies a drink of her juice

A Fun-Packed Memorial Day

Emily woke up early today--guess she knew it was a holiday, so by 8:00 we were outside "helping" Grampa dig out the flowerbed at the end of the deck ramp. Emily doesn't like to get her hands dirty, but after a little while she was having fun with a garden spade, working alongside Grampa and his shovel. We put out the big American flag which Emily really enjoyed. By 10:00 she was ready for a snack and a nap. Then after lunch we played indoors, took another nap, and got dressed up for a Memorial Day cookout at Nana Jo's friend Linda's house on top of the hill. Emily really loved playing and tried her best to keep up with the "big boy" who was there (he was 12). She ate ice cream, climbed all over the hillside, chased bubbles, waved her little flag, and generally pooped herself out good! By the time we got home to her pajamas and blankie, she was crying for Daddy and Mama. Don't worry--she's ok.

Emily saw Grampa put his foot on the shovel to dig in the dirt, so she tried her best to do th same thing. She did get pretty good at throwing the dirt from her shovel to the dirt pile.

Here is the house with the flag. Emily kept saying, "Do you see a big flag?"After she was dressed to go to the cookout she found Grampa's binoculars. She used them as a camera and went around telling everyone, "Say cheese!"

Here are some pictures taken at Linda's house at the cookout.

Saturday at Home with Emily

Today we just stayed home and played with Emily. She had fun playing with some of the new toys (others are still put away for when we need something new). She found a little potpourri burner with a lid that she played with, so I found a little pan and wooden spoon to go with it. She stirred and cooked and had a tea party. Then she flipped the pans over and played the drums. After she cooked awhile, she colored and then had more tea parties. Another exciting thing that happened today was that we "skyped" with Mama and Daddy! Emily showed them her new baby, but I think she put the microphone in her mouth so we lost the audio connection to Portland. We'll hook up another microphone (if the dried out one doesn't work) and try it again. I think it made Emily a little homesick because when she got tired, she cried for her daddy, but it wasn't too bad.

New Toys!!!

We decided that we needed some toys at our house that all the kids could play with. Since today was my first day of "official" summer, we headed to Wal-Mart this morning and bought some toys. We also decided to look for a little lap tray like Jackson has for Emily to use in the mornings when she eats her breakfast and watches Mickey Mouse. We didn't find one but we did find a little single table with Tigger and Friends that came with one stool. Ed put the stool legs on the table instead of the longer table legs, and viola! a little sit-on-the-floor-play & eat station. We also bought Legos, Play-Doh, Color Magic markers & book, and a new baby for Emily. This baby has a binky and even sucks its thumb.

Fun With Emily

Steph and Ken headed for Portland on Tuesday morning and left Emily with us for a couple of weeks. Here's how it has been going so far...

Having a blueberry muffin for breakfast and watching Mickey Mouse.Wearing Nana Jo's red gardening shoes.

Taking time to smell the flowers and to watch Grampa rake the mogels from the driveway.

I didn't go to school today until lunchtime since my seniors are already gone. After I got dressed and was getting my shoes, Emily said, "Nana Jo has Minnie Mouse shoes." She wore my red Mary Jane Crocs around until time for me to go to school.

Emily donned her sunglasses and was ready to go to exercise class with Grampa and Nana Jo.

Emily was sooo cute at our exercise class. She watched the DVD on the big screen and did all the moves. She walked, kicked her legs, stretched, and just generally enjoyed herself and amused the whole class.