Go Team!

Daddy said: "Emma, what's the name of the team you are cheering for?"
Emma said: "What team?"

When you look this cute in the uniform, who's going to be looking at the team???

My Funny Valentines

Today I wanted to get some pictures of the girls in their Valentines Day shirts.

They started out silly...



...then Mary had a minor meltdown.


She wasn't THAT loud...


But after all this time trying to get a sweet picture of my beautiful girls...


...I realized the best pictures can't be staged.

Mary's Duck Walk

Hey, what's all that white stuff??

No matter what the weatherman says, when you live in the South you never expect snow. We got the surprise of our lives late yesterday afternoon when we looked outside and saw huge snowflakes falling and sticking! We had so much fun and the girls were just beside themselves. Emma's only fear was the school was going to be cancelled today. What?!? I thought kids looked forward to "Snow Days"!

Bath Time Pictures

This is my first attempt at posting a slideshow on our blog, so hopefully it will work! It does play music but you can click the speaker to mute the sound. There are some pictures from the girls' bath earlier tonight, but I also put in some older ones from last August, when Emma was not quite 4 1/2 and Mary was 16 months old. It's amazing how fast they are growing up! I am also throwing in a couple of pictures of Samson, just because he's such a sweet boy.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with the girls and our families. Emma and Mary must have been at the very top of Santa's "Nice List" this year, because he really brought them some great stuff!
...the girls in their Christmas pajamas and ready for bed on Christmas Eve.

...Emma's persistence paid off; she finally got her drum set and she was absolutely ecstatic!

...Emma with her Hannah Montana microphone.

...Santa must have known that the girls love to share with Mama, because he filled their stockings with lots of chocolate!

...Mary confiscated Emma's gumball machine immediately and carried it around for most of the morning. We finally had to distract her with the candy in her stocking and hide the gumball machine.

...Mary in her new Learning Chair. Notice she's carrying a bowl of candy from her stocking. For some reason, she won't eat ANYTHING these days if it's not served in a bowl.

...Mary, Learning Chair, bowl of candy.

...it's a shame Santa wasted so much time making all of those neat toys for Mary, when all she wanted was a stocking full of chocolate.

The Pink Pig

We finally went to Macy's last weekend to ride the famous Pink Pig. The girls loved it, but Wade and I had such a hard time fitting into the cars that we might not make this a "holiday tradition".

Breakfast With Santa

This morning, Santa Claus came to visit Emma's preschool and have breakfast with the kids. Emma told me on the way to school that she was only going to ask for a drum set today when she got to sit on Santa's lap, since she'd already given him a rather lengthy list last weekend when we visited him at the mall.

Our Star Student

At the end of every month, Emma's preschool teacher sends home a checklist of skills to keep us posted on her progress. She has gotten absolutely wonderful reports each month, and we wanted to show them off!
(These scans are small, but if you click on each report a larger version will open.)

Emma's Christmas List

Emma wrote out her Christmas list for Santa last weekend and I wanted to share it. And just in case the scan is too small, the outside reads:
Santa Claus
I love you

and the inside reads:
Hannah (Anything Hannah Montana - she is HUGE in our house these days.)
Drum (This is the third Christmas that Emma has asked for a drum set. She also reminded us on her third and fourth birthday that Santa did not bring her a drum set the previous Christmases so she needs one for her birthday. It's a pretty safe bet she'll be asking for a drum set for her fifth birthday.)
Doll (Emma wants a Baby Alive doll. Apparently she does not remember that Santa brought her a Baby Alive doll last Christmas. She fed it green stuff, it pooped the green stuff, and she was absolutely horrified. This year, we hope Santa brings her a doll WITHOUT bowels.)
Puppy (Not another real one, thank goodness, but a stuffed one.)
Cradle (Because she sat in the one she has now and broke it.)
Eating table (I don't know what is wrong with our kitchen table other than it is not directly in front of the television.)

So Sweet

Ho Ho Ho! NO! NO! NO!

Today we took the girls to see Santa Claus. Mary is fascinated with Santa figurines and pictures, but when we ask her if she wants to go see him, she has a complete melt-down. We knew what was going to happen when the time came to sit on his lap, so we told Emma to just smile for the camera and to IGNORE MARY, whatever she did.
So, at least we knew the picture was going to turn out exactly like this...

Emma's Fall Picture

Below is Emma's fall school picture. I love how serious she looks!

No-Piece Nuggets

Tonight while running errands, we stopped at Wendy's for chicken nuggets. We pulled out of the drive-thru and I handed each of the girls a FULL box of nuggets. Mary immediately began devouring hers, but Emma exclaimed "Oh no! I got the Zero Piece Nuggets!"

Chattanooga

We went to Chattanooga this past weekend and had such a great time! Here are a few pictures from our visit to the Chattanooga Aquarium.

















...the girls at the touch pool.
















...Emma made a beautiful new friend in the butterfly habitat.

















...a few more amazing butterflies.















...this diver actually swam over to the window and motioned for me to take a picture of him with the girls. He waited while we got them situated and even smiled for the camera.















...the girls didn't like that idea nearly as much as I did.














...Mary was exhausted and starving from all of the excitement, so she made herself comfortable and had a little picnic.

















...who knew fish liked Hershey bars?














...we
saw
lots
of
penguins...





































...and seahorses...




































...and enjoyed the beautiful view of the river.

Mary's Protests

The Encarta World English Dictionary defines the word "protest" this way:

1. an expression or display of strong disapproval of or disagreement with something, or a refusal to obey or accept something, often in the form of a public statement
2. an expression of strong opposition of or disapproval of something in the form of a public demonstration or other action

Just wanted to share a few recent pictures of Mary protesting...

















...Civil War cannons.


















...penguin statues.


















...hayrides.
















...beautiful scenery (with Emma fully supporting the cause).