Chutes and Ladders and Schwispshurs

Emily has just discovered this game. For the most part, she understands the game, although we don't make her get the exact count to win the game. She has really picked up on right vs wrong and understands the pictures on the game: do a good thing and get a reward, do a bad thing and get a punishment.
This morning we were playing again and she landed on the image of the kid reading the comics behind the book he was supposed to be studying. She went down the slide and said in a disappointed/shamed voice, "Oh no, I not read schwispshurs."
She has begun taking various forms of the scriptures (The Book of Mormon, the children's magazine: The Friend, a children's Reader for the scriptures, etc.), climbs up in the recliner and reads the scriptures aloud. Of course, I wonder at the stories she reads from them. I know you are supposed to apply the scriptures to your life, but I think she's done this in reverse. =)

Gianna's Scrunch Face

Believe it or not: she is very happy.

We've been trying to capture this in a photo for at least a week now. It's been nearly impossible (props to the Rebel. One of the things it CAN do better than the Elph.). Of course, this cute, crazy little scrunch face is much more humorous in person, but at least you get a taste of it here. I had to be a little strategic in capturing it as she won't do it if she sees a camera but I had one of her favorite toys semi-hiding the camera...and yes, full-on red eye, too.

There's Ghosts in There

Last week Emily kept telling us that there were ghosts in the food. We haven't been watching Scooby Doo or Ghostbusters, so we were a little unsure of where this was coming from. This morning as she and Eric ate their favorite breakfast of cheesy grits, she again stated that there were ghosts in the food. AH! Eric's epiphany, the steam is what she was calling "ghosts". She told him, "There's ghosts in the water." So, be careful as you eat hot foods as you may just have to swallow some ghosts along with it.

Lumbering Along

When you combine a father, his son, the son's wife and her sister, plus a pickup truck, a pick-ax, an ax, two shovels, a rake and a heavy-duty chain, what do you get? Some serious unconventional tree removal service.
Over the past two days any combination of the above items/people brought about a small but visible difference in the landscape of our property. I'm not one for gardening or anything, but I do enjoy the accomplishment of outdoor projects. We had a line of mimosa trees at the back of our property and chose to remove them before they became a bigger problem (plus, they attract the "white gnats" that irritate my allergies). For those of you who don't know what a mimosa is, know that is a good shade provider with it's fern-like branches, but uncontrollable (roots and branches). Preparing our land for future fence options, we needed to remove these trees. So, we broke our backs trying to get several sets of them (you never know if it is one or more trees until you pull out the roots).
Of course, after this adventure was complete, Eric and Susan took on some other trees (not sure what kind, but they are pretty deciduous trees). The two of them hacked them down with an ax and shoved them over, clearing out a large area behind the pines who falsely depict a back border. We will replant trees along the fence but will do fruit trees to kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
Now, if we could just be lumberjacks enough to take down the 15 pine trees that we REALLY want gone, we'd have a huge piece of property to work with!! Plus, we could finally grow grass throughout the property. (Just as a side note, pine straw is quite the commodity down here. I'll take cedar chips, though, thank you!) Pine is just so acidic and I'd rather not have them continually shed all over my yard!
What a great way to finish out Eric's vacation, right?

The Coolest Gas Station EVER

On our way to the beach, we found THE coolest gas station ever. Really. We didn't even buy gas. We just stopped because it was so cool!!
Okay, really, we needed to swap drivers, but it was awesome to see this little oasis off the side of the interstate and attached to this gas station. What a cool concept: lure people in to see the animals and get them to buy gas and goods at your store! They also sold food to feed the animals, which Emily enjoyed. Eric...well, he got slimed, so I don't know how much he really enjoyed that part.

Movie Marathon

Last week we decided to rent a movie but everything good was already taken from the Box (whatever the name of the one that is housed in Kroger). We opted to run over to Blockbuster which was in the same parking lot. We chose a couple random movies and went to check out. I about fainted when they said it was just under $5/rental. Yes, you get it for a week...but who takes a week to watch a movie?? We NEVER watch the same movie twice, so it would be pointless to keep it for a week. Seriously, we have a whole stock-pile of movies we've purchased over the last four years, but nearly never watch them...some are still in their shrink-wrap. AND, that's 5 movies from the Box!!
Wondering how they were staying in business and keeping up with Box rentals, the clerk tells us they have a pass. It's only good for a week at a time, but you can exchange movies continually for the duration. We chose to go with the two-at-a-time package and have been running through movies as fast as we can. The cool part about it is, we've actually seen a few movies we wouldn't necessarily try out because they might not be worth it.
I, personally, have loved this. It's been great to see some foreign films and try out some that aren't Box Office hits. In college, I absolutely LOVED the opportunity to see films from all over the world and throughout the age of film at the International Theater on campus. I have an appreciation for the art of film making, which, sadly, American films often miss.
We were talking about this particular concept as we have spun through film after film. In the glory days of Hollywood, they would spend a larger portion of time and effort on the one big film of the year. It seems that now they are throwing out the value of quality in the pursuit of quantity instead. Feeding the masses washed out versions of films that precede them, borrowing concepts and leaving everyone wanting for something more which cannot be satisfied by just pumping out more mundane films.

American Idol Season 21

Or something like that.
For about two weeks Emily has been rocking out to her very own song. I wish I could get it recorded because it is too cute to see her sing it. It goes like this in a semi-punk rock meets pop fashion: "Rockababy, um-hmmm, um-hmmm. Rockababy, um-humm, um-hmm" repeated as long as you want the song to last. She started singing this in the car one day and has remembered the words and "tune" and now chooses this as her song to sing instead of her old standby's such as "Popcorn Popping" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
She also LOVES singing at church and I have a hard time not laughing as she belts out whatever words she thinks you just said or should say next. Of course, her version of the hymns tend to last a little past what is written for everyone else, too.
I also can't get it to upload, be we were playing a game on the PS3 and she wanted a turn. I videoed her special talents on New Kids on the Block song "Step by Step." However, I think my favorite is seeing her sing and groove to MC Hammer's memorable "Can't Touch This" (which in Emily's rendition is more like "You Not Touch It").

A Walk and Four Hitch-hikers

Since we actually had the opportunity to go and do something yesterday with Eric being off work, we decided to go up to a State Park and explore. Upon arriving, we realized that many of the "attractions" were barred to us due to us having such young children.
We did decide to go on a hike that we thought was 1.8 miles. Some hikers came out of the trail and were amazed that we were going to take the hike plus two kids (Gianna in arms b/c we don't have a "baby-pack"). We thought nothing of it and headed in.
After awhile, Emily started getting tired so Eric and Susan took turns carrying her on their shoulders for the last part of the hike. (I felt pretty awesome carrying Gianna the entire way. Sure, she doesn't quite weigh 15 lbs, but I did carry her in my arms the whole way and my back never killed me, which is quite a feat.) After we finished, we discovered that the loop part of the hike was actually 2.5 miles. We still don't know the distance for the trail taking you into that hike. But, we felt good and it was great to be out walking and enjoying nature as a family.
When we got home, we were pretty nasty so we all decided to get showers. THANK GOODNESS! I discovered I had picked up a hitch-hiker...a big, nasty, determined tick! Eric had to pull on it awhile before it finally let go and backed out. At that point, we figured we better check everyone. I had two additional tiny ticks and we found one more on Emily. Everyone else was clear.
I had to laugh. We spent a couple hours out in the woods yesterday and I ended up picking up 3 ticks. I've been to Girls' Camp 8 different years at 5 days each, plus a visit up there two other times never picked up a single tick! I hope the hitch-hikers had fun because now they are no longer. Sorry ticks, you can't live here.

Gianna the Silly

I'm sitting here with some one-on-one time with Gianna (a rarity indeed) while everyone else naps. She is trying her best to perfect the army crawl in pursuit of a pretzel. This girl loves her food, even if she can only suck on it.
I love my girls and it is nice to have the same gender following each other. The things that I missed with Emily because I was a new mom, I get to relish in with Gianna. Of course, they have very different personalities, but their milestones and discoveries still happen.
I laugh at this little tow-headed girl. When we finally decided on her name, we envisioned a dark-haired beauty. Although I think she is adorable, dark is far from her. She squeals and laughs along with us and if you even think about looking in her direction, she'll give you one of her characteristic huge smiles. Of course, that may be with or without an accompanying thumb in the mouth.
She loves her feet and is quite the wiggle worm. Sometimes she gets to feed herself with her bottle as we cradle her in the recliner. Thus, she ends up smooshed into the corner and under the flappy fold of the arm.
Her newest accomplishment? Coughing. Yes, I mean the fake cough. I'm not sure why, but she thinks this is a good way to get attention. Which, she is alternating between this and the thumb-suck-twirl-the-hair gig, so I'd better get back to her.

Finally, Some Fun

Susan has been here for a month and we haven't gotten to go and do very many fun things. She's been exposed to the hum-drum of our regular lives.
I decided that since my allergies are finally somewhat bearable, we should go do something. We went to Dauset Trails and had a fun time reading the latin names for all the animals. It was the first time we've seen many of the animals actually out and moving. It was a nice, cooler day, so they were feeling a bit friskier than usual.
Last night a friend of Eric's invited our family to go bowling with them. We don't typically get out to do those types of things. The last time we went real bowling (Wii tournaments don't count, Ryan and Stef!) was shortly after we got married. The couple was really cool and don't have any kids of their own, so they were really cute to watch with our girls. Of course, none of us could keep up with the guy (he used to play on a league), but Susan and Eric did pretty well. I didn't break 100 either time, but I still had tons of fun. Oh, and I can't forget the embarrassment of the night. Emily was bowling, too, and she did just as well as I did. She bowled a 70 and I bowled a 71. Go figure. But, at least I have good form! (Now for the muscles to help with consistency and speed!)
After bowling, we went on a junk food run and stayed up entirely too late, but it was fun, too.
I'm making a list of things to do in/around Georgia to have kind of like a reference list for ideas of things to do. If you have an idea or a favorite, please leave it/them in a comment for me to add!

You in My Heart

When the scriptures talk about prophesies coming from the mouths of babes, I never think about the precious, honest, unedited way they present their thoughts and feelings.
My heart was melted when Emily told me the first time that I was her best friend. It was too cute! Her new catch phrase is "You in my Heart." Unlike being her best friend (come on! When we killed a fly she mourned it b/c it was her "best friend"), she has reserved this phrase (thus far) for her parents. We aren't sure where it comes from, but it is really sweet to hear her say it.

Clarification

Emily was looking at the blog today and she watched the video I did of her castle. It's not a castle, I stand corrected. She informed me that it is the temple (I still think she told me it was a castle the other day, but I was taking a nap at the time). She also told me that she's going to go in the temple and she will be happy and good. Yep, that's what the temple is all about: making more covenants with Heavenly Father on that path of happiness and righteousness. Guess we're not doing too bad with teaching her the gospel.