Do you know what HSM stands for?

If you do you probably live with one of the obsessed children or teenagers who love all things High School Musical. I often get strange looks from people because I let Emmie watch so much TV and DVD's. However, Emmie does not sit on the sofa like a couch potato. Here is how Emmie watches High School Musical, Jump in, Hannah Montana and any other show that has singing and dancing on it. She is the most interactive TV watcher I have ever met. As you look at the pictures think "What time is it? Summer time! It's our vacation! What time is it? Summer time! Schools Out! Scream and Shout!"

Pleeeeassssse Eat!!!

So what do you do when you have a 4.5 year old who by all rights should be hungry but refuses to eat? How about suggesting she make her own sandwich? Emmie had a small cup of fruit for breakfast this day and a single bite of pancake. At 1:30 she was so busy playing she didn't want to stop for lunch. Knowing she was about to hit the wall and get grouchy due to hunger I came up with a plan. I suggested she make her own sandwich and suddenly she was hung. After she made her sandwich she finished her entire lunch which is something she seldom does. Here is my little Chef in training creating her sandwich master piece.

First you put on the peanut butter....

then more peanut butter...

add some jelly...

and spread it around...

put the top on...

and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Our White Christmas

I have been told that there were raging snow storms in the mid west the Saturday before Christmas. We too had a White Christmas but of a different variety. Below are some pictures of our trip home.

Pretending to boogie board! The girl needs one for her birthday I think.

Here are a couple pictures from Christmas day.

The coveted Polly Pocket Race to the Mall. Emmie REEEEEALLY wanted a car race track but she was very clear she wanted one for a girl and not a "boys race track". I got her this Polly Pocket one despite the reviews I had read on it. I figured we could return it if it was as bad as the reviews made it sound. Once we got home, I put it together for her. She LOVES it. The thing came with two toy cars and I got her 7 additional cars for the track. It has a lever that allows the cars to make a loop around the mall or to exit the mall. She puts it so the cars have to keep making a loop over and over and puts all nine cars on it and it is rush hour traffic! LOL She has a lot of fun with it.

The Marble Run was the other gift Emmie really wanted. After she opened her gifts from me before we left on vacation I asked her if she was happy with her gifts. Her response was "Yes, but I didn't get my Marble Run." I assured her that she had a few more chances. She was still getting gifts from Santa, Memaw, Aunt Colleen and Aunt Crazy. She was okay then. Aunt Crazy was the gift giver.

This is a picture of me, my sisters and Mom. Mom is in Red, Colleen is in Blue, Val (AKA Aunt Crazy) is in Burgundy and I am in Green.

A Christmas visit with a friend

The past couple weeks have been just plain crazy! We headed to FL for Christmas with lour family. We departed after half day at work and drove as far as St Augustine. We have friends that live there and it is just about the half way point driving from our house to my parents. It's always great to see friends even if it is only for an over night stay. Emmie loves Mary Ellen and her daughter Christie and has a great time when we stop by for a day or two. Unfortunately I disn't get the camera out this trip so I am posting this picture of Emmie and Mary Ellen from last April.



We left St Augustine and made another stop along the way. We stopped and visited with my friend David and his parents. It's was a bit of a nervous meeting. I have been writing and talking to David for three years. I was finally going to be able to meet him for the first time. I "met" David through his sister (my friend) Carol. I am very grateful to her for this introduction. Carol if you ever read this, Thanks!

Here are some pictures of our visit.
This is me and David taken very late at night which explains the exhaustion on my face (and in my hair). David had a refreshing dip in the pool with Emmie prior to these pictures so he looks fresh as a masculine daisy!

Here is Emmie in the pool with her goggles which seem to always stay on her forehead.

David and Emmie having a great time in the pool.
Emmie convinced David to sport a blonde wig. Here are the two of them in their wigs. David will kill me for posting this. LOL

Then she put me in a wig and had David wear the curlie brown wig.
The next day we went to see David's bee business and what he does. We got a tour of his warehouse and equipment and then went to the middle of an orange grove to see some hives. On the way, we stopped so Emmie couple pick a couple oranges.

Here is David opening one of his bee hives. I must confess I have learned more about the bee keeping business than I thought in such a short amount of time. Here he has the hives stacked in preparation of splitting the hives. Back at his house he had 130 fertilized queens in tiny boxes waiting to have hives of thier own. He brought the flats (I am not sure that is really the right term) to the window of the truck so we could see them up close and personal. He showed us the queen bee in the hive. I can never find the queen in the pictures until Emmie shows me which one is the queen. She can spot the queen easily. Perhaps one day she will be queen bee of her own bee business.

We stopped on our way back home to have lunch and take a little drive around his home town. It was a great visit to say the least.