Leu Gardens..Again.

We ventured back to the Harry P. Leu Botanical gardens on Sunday. It has been a few months since we were last here and the weather was much more pleasant this time around. We didn't break a sweat and we were even wearing long pants. Holy Moly.



Emma is trying to see the turtles, fish and whatever she can identify.

"Water Mommy!" (We started to learn the word 'fountain.')



Emma in the Rose Garden.

Stewart Clan Part 2

We got a few pics sent to us. YEAH! We love more pictures for the blog.



Skyler, Buddy, Shelby, Emma and Marcia

"Big Hug."

GGMom and GGDad

Emma and I went to visit GGmom and GGdad over the weekend. Our day trip (about 2 hours) to Bradenton was very fun and we even got to eat at McDonald's with them!


Emma got a very excited when GGdad shared his 'medicine' jar of M&Ms with her.

Endeavor lift off.

November 14, 2008. The last suttle lift off of 2008 occurred around 8pm. I realize my photography is not that great, but hey, it's from my backyard. The best part was standing out there in the dark just prior to lift off and then seeing the sky above the trees begin to light up with this huge golden glow. Next thing you know, the shuttle(it looks like a ball of fire)is flying through the sky and making it's turn. Many of my neighbors were outside with us. (Unfortunately, Phil was in West Virginia at the UCF/Marshall game.)



Just above the trees.


Making it's turn.

Stewarts come to town.

Veteran's Day Weekend. The Stewart Clan came to visit us from Spanish Fort, Alabama.



Emma was very excited to go to the UCF/Southern Miss football game with her cousins. She was happy that Skyler and Shelby were there to walk with her.



Emma and her Grand Aunt Marcia.

After the football game we walked over the Basketball arena. Emma got the best seat in the house, thanks to Shelby.

Full Recovery.

Emma had her ear tubes replaced this morning. The procedure was fast and simple. We were in at 7:30am and home but 9am. She was a little groggy but then perked up very quickly. Of course she was pretty hungry soon after and I took this picture at about 10am. She is enjoying pretzels and cottage cheese. yummy!! She only has 3 more days of antibiotics and one more day of ear drops. yeah!!! The road to recovery was very smooth. (The daunting task of keeping her ears dry for 2 weeks is not very exciting though.)

Roll Call.

These are Emma's "friends." I often hear, "Mommy I need all my friends. Couch. Please help me." Transporting all her friends from her bedroom to the living room requires the laundry basket that has a ribbon tied to it so she can pull them around. Once they have made it to the couch she takes plenty of time rearranging each 'friend' in the appropriate spot. This occurs a few times a week and I thought I would give a glimpse into one of our many routines.

Fairy Princess Emma

Emma was Rosetta the Fairy Princess. (I had no clue which Disney fairy this was until I googled it. Apparently she is one of Tinkerbell's friends.)

A big thank you to our cousin Dolores who brought Emma some fairy outfits to play with one day and we were able to choose a Halloween costume from those.

Our first stop was across the street. Emma's 2 favorite neighborhood dogs, Saddie and Mazie were out. Saddie is wonderful golden retriever and Mazie (pictured) was dressed as Cinderella. Our neighborhood seems to have a tradition where all the people giving out candy sit in their driveways and visit with each other. The girl helping Emma is Arianna, she is in the 1st grade (older and wiser). She loves to come see Emma. From the moment we moved in Arianna has always been very friendly to Emma. (I think Arianna just decided to put on every piece of pink clothing that she owned)

Whew...back home after a long night of candy gathering. (we only lasted about 2 blocks and that took about 30 minutes). Emma did well for her first time and she got used to seeing to all the older kids running up and down the street.