Who do you think she looks like...

So, I hear at least once a day how much Mollie looks like her Daddy. So I thought we'd compare! Here are pictures of Jason and I at about 17 months old, and one of Mollie at 17 months old. Who do you think she looks like!?

In other news...
Mollie is off at Camp Livingston this week- her first week away from home! She's spent a night or two away from us before, but never this long. I know she's having a BLAST with her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly, but I sure do miss her! Can't wait to see her on Thursday! In the meantime, I'm working on lots of projects, homework, deep cleaning, organizing...anything to keep me busy :o)

17 months!

I know I'm a little bit behind on this post, but oh well. Mollie turned 17 months old this past week and here's what she's up to!

Still loving to put things on, try them on her head, put my watch on her wrist, shoes on her feet, but mostly just things on her head :o)

Trying her swimsuit on

Has been designated the nick-name "Skippy" by her daddy. She's just awfully skippy, cheerful, pleasant, and full of energy when she wakes up! Because of her sunny disposition, you certainly know when somethings wrong when she wakes up and does not behave this way.

Doing lots of talking still! We're working really hard on "using your words" instead of grunts, whines, or fits to communicate. She's mastered the sign for "help", which has helped out tremendously. A lot of her frustration comes from not being able to do something, so that has alleviated a lot of whining! However, she still does it a lot, and I think the next signs/words we'll work on are "hurt" (specifically for her teething pain) and "tired/sleepy". These are the other times that she whines a lot, so maybe that'll help, too. Other than that, she'll repeat almost everything we say and is really building her vocabulary.

Using utensils to eat with: Obviously a messy endeavor at times, but she's really enjoying this and is getting better and better at it. It's very hard for me to let her do this at times because of the mess it tends to make, but I'm doing my best to let her learn :o) She's loving the independence in this area and really is doing a good job. It takes her a lot of reminders to stay focused and remember to use her utensil, but we're getting there! Here's a video of her recent accomplishment:



Playing with others: She's starting to get an idea of what this is all about. She's not too fond of sharing yet, especially her "personal space", but is definitely getting more social in the way she plays. She LOVES it when we have other kids to play with, until they are doing something different then what she wants to do! We're working on saying "No Thank You" instead of having a melt down :o)

Helping: She loves to be a helper! We let her put some dishes away, close doors, and put trash in the trash can. I've also started letting her help me cook dinner sometimes (stirring, pouring, holding, etc. Mollie seems very interested in whatever she's "helping" with and stays quite focused as long as you're explaining what you are doing. She's even more likely to eat the final product if she helped with it!

Helping with breakfast!

Potty Training: We've been dabbling in this recently. We've started letting her sit on the potty before bath each night (with success!) to get used to it, and even got her to poop in there yesterday! We've at least determined that she's not afraid and is willing to give it a try. By no means are we ready to go all the way with this yet, but I'm very excited that she's willing! I want her to be able to communicate when she needs to go, and she's not quite there yet. But that'll be an adventure for sure!

Singing and Dancing: She's started singing sometimes and it is absolutely precious. I hope to get it on video soon. The ABC song is her favorite at the moment, and she'll sing "ABABABEEEEEABABABEEEEE" over and over in her sweet little voice! I love it! She'll also dance by twisting back and forth and/or adding lots of hip thrusting...I have no idea where she learned this from. So funny though! **Side note: by NO means does this indicate any future inclination to be in certain local vocal performance group of little girls that are very Toddlers and Tiaras-esque. Just wanted to make that clear :o)

Our sweet little stinker!

Anyway, she's growing so much and is such a sweet little stinker! We love her so much and are so proud of her! Can't wait to see what's next!

Seven Wonderful Years!

Today we celebrate our 7th Anniversary!! Woohooo!

Well, actually we celebrated on Saturday in observance of our 7th Anniversary. Close enough.

We had a wonderful day of just hanging out. Mollie went to spend time with her Nanny and Pop Pop (Thanks Bruce and Kelly!!) and let us have the day to ourselves. We decided that we wanted to do something a little different this year (dinner and a movie just gets old) so we had guy date/girl date! First, we ate lunch at a new cajun sports bar (Gator Bayou) and experienced fried alligator tail!! Tastes like chicken.

We spent the next part of our date (after almost getting rained out) at Rustic Range, the gun range just outside of Slaton, where we shot clay pigeons for a while. Yes, WE shot them, not just Jason! I was really impressed with him...he's a great shot and has amazing accuracy! I'm not too shabby myself, especially for not having done that in several years :o)
The great white hunter...or skeet shooter :o)

Annie Oakley...hehe

After that, we enjoyed some Spoonful's (yummy frozen yogurt place) and headed to the Moonlight Musical at the amphitheater in McKenzie Park! The show was "Hello Dolly" (which Jason had the lead male role in when he was in junior high) and it was great! I had never seen the show, but it's a cute, funny, and very musical little love story. The weather turned out to be perfect, the view was beautiful looking out over all the GREEN vegetation and full lake, and the company was fabulous :o)

The stage and amphitheater
old married folks

"Helloooooo, Dolly"

We had a great day reconnecting with each other and just having fun. It was weird not having Mollie around all day, but nice to spend the time with my groom! I'm very blessed to be married to such a great guy and am looking forward to what's in store for us over the next seven years!