Since I last talked with you all?

Apparently, some of my friends around here didn't believe me when I said that I would be reading while Emma was gone with the grandparents.

I just want to let you all know that is what I did...while Peter was at work. When he came home...well....I won't get into the details. Let's just say we had fun.

Actually, that isn't true. I can tell you some things. Like how we rented movies and ate dinner in the living room while watching them. It's funny to think that we haven't been able to do that in a very long time. Almost a year. With my sister and nephew living here, he's quite loud, so we can never hear the TV when he's around.

Oh, and almost three months after our anniversary we finally went out to celebrate...at the local ice cream stand. Sometimes it's good to just sit and eat junk food.





Who needs all that fancy stuff all the time?

But now Emma is home, even though I suspect she doesn't want to be. On the way home after picking her up, she had to call them and tell them she missed them.

However, we did have fun the day I picked her up. My parents and sister rented two condos on the Powhatan Plantation in Williamsburg, and so we spent the day with them before coming home.

First, Emma showed me the geese she liked to feed. Since their condo baked the lake, it was very convenient.









Then we went to the pool.











We stayed there for a few hours, and while we were there Emma made a friend. She's from England. Leave it to Emma to find a fellow European.



On the way home, not too far from our house, we passed a farm for sale. It was like God was telling me we need to buy it. See?



Now if He would just show me how to come up with the cash needed to buy it...

Most likely by the time you read this, Emma will be on vacation. And so will my sister and nephew.

And so do you know what that means?

Peter and I have the house to ourselves. For a couple of days.

I don't want to say it too loud, for fear of jinxing it.

Emma will be back Wednesday (after I pick her up, they are only going about 3 hours away to Williamsburg), but my sister and nephew will be gone until Sunday.

So from now until I decide to return, I will be...

On June 25, 2004, a little girl was born that would change our lives forever. She was completely unexpected, but as we all know, unexpected gifts are sometimes the best gifts.



Right away it was evident that she was going to be a daddy's girl...






...whether it was her choice or his choice, I am to this day not sure.

During the first year her personality began to emerge, and we knew we would have a funny, silly little girl on our hands...







By her first birthday...



...that hadn't changed at all. And we knew we had a little Danish girl when she started liking black-licorice flavored anything, including ice cream.







By her second birthday, her more serious, contemplative side emerged for a little while...







...then by the fourth year those two sides merged together to form who she is today. A little girl with a HUGE personality.











A little girl who walks into a dirty public bathroom and says "God would not be happy with this."

And who, at her grandparents house last night, was playing with a slinky, and then put it up to her...ummm...private part area and let it dangle like a ...umm... certain part of the male anatomy. And thought it was hilarious.

So Happy Birthday, Emma! Tillykke med Fødselsdagen! We love you and look forward to seeing what the next year brings.

Chaos (noun): A state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order.

In mathematics, chaos theory is concerned with finding the underlying order in otherwise unpredictable systems, such as weather and the stock market. You all can Google it if you want to learn more.

Both definitions describe my life right now...trying to find the order again in all the chaos and confusion. Somehow our life got completely out of control this past month...a lot of things and activities going on all the time...with hardly a chance to sit down and regroup.

Plus, Emma is going through another growth spurt...physically, mentally, and emotionally...and when that happens she's hard to keep up with. She's always complaining that legs hurt, she's sometimes spastic, and yet at the same time very emotional. The littlest things will cause her to break out in tears. Like last night we were over my parents house for dinner, and she was trying to play ball with my Dad, her beloved Papa Jim. My nephew took the ball from her, and that caused a subsequent meltdown.

Tomorrow is her birthday...she will be 5. It's hard to believe she is that old and starting kindergarten in two months. She is getting a new bike from my parents, and a trampoline from us. She's gonna be one ecstatic little girl.

Plus, this weekend she is going on vacation with my parents....they are renting a condo for the week down in Williamsburg. She isn't staying the entire week with them, just a few days. I go pick her up Tuesday. Peter won't let her go away for an entire week....he would miss her too much for some reason.

Yesterday we were in the children's section of our library and I ran into one of my former computer science professors. I took one of her classes about four years ago, and then I didn't know she lived within 15 minutes of me. She has 3 children, back then I didn't know she had any. It's a weird feeling, interacting with a former professor as an adult rather than just a student. I kept wanting to call her Dr. And it was really funny seeing her coloring and talking with Emma.

I am wondering if that chance meeting and subsequent conversation is a sign of something...now that I know she lives 15 minutes from here and doesn't teach summer courses, I am contemplating asking her to lunch some time.

And since I haven't shared with you any pictures of our house lately, here's what Emma's playroom in the basement looks like:

What you see when you walk down the stairs and turn left...



Then you walk a little further in...



...look to the right...



...and then turn around.



This is only about 3/4 of her toys. The rest are in her bedroom.

Yes, she's a spoiled little girl.

...and I was powerless to stop it. Actually, I didn't see it coming until it was too late.

And I fear it is going to start costing us a lot of money.

Remember this post? Where I talked about a new smoked brisket recipe we had tried out?

Well...yesterday we hosted a Father's Day BBQ at our house and Peter wanted to make the brisket again.

Of course, he couldn't just use the 2 grills we already had (one charcoal and one gas). That would be too easy. So he researched smokers online and earlier in the week picked up his Father's Day present...



It does look kinda small in that picture, but never fear. The thing is huge. My friend Melinda said he could put a whole animal in there, and I told her not to give him any ideas.

Here is a picture of it with a 5 lb. brisket...



It does look a little lonely, doesn't it? Since there was so much room, we had to add to our selection of meats. We ended up adding 2 racks of ribs, kielbasa, sausage, burgers, and hot dogs.

It was a carnivores' delight.



Not to be outdone, I spent Saturday night baking up these cute little burgers....



They are the best BBQ treats, and I'll post the recipe soon. For a better idea of how to make them, click here.

And you see these people here?

They are the best people to invite to your house for a BBQ.



They arrived two hours early to help get ready and clean up the mess that was already in the kitchen...



And then stayed behind to help with the second clean up.

And now Peter wants to do this all over again for the 4th....this time inviting coworkers.

Who knew my little Viking would become such an addict?