Fun Times With The Fellers!

Once upon a December...(part 2)

2011-12-27T11:01:00.001-06:00

Christmas weekend was a blast, as well. We spent Christmas Eve with Nanny and PopPop, and enjoyed a tasty meal (As always) and some super fun present opening. To top it off, it snowed! The kids just couldn't resist, and had to go run around in it. I love the pictures of them running around like crazy, completely not caring about how cold it was, just truly enjoying the fat flakes coming down!

SO much fun in the snow!

My favorite...Paxton was surprised it was snowing!

They could almost be siblings...

The next morning, we got up to enjoy our little Fellers family Christmas celebration! I absolutely love seeing Mollie first thing on Christmas morning...still half asleep, yet so excited, adorned with fabulous bed-head. So cute! She loved seeing what Santa brought, seeing that he ate her cookies, and the reindeer ate her Reindeer Food. We've also been doing "Elf on the Shelf", and it was a neat ending to all the fun the Elf brings! While we don't want to miss the true meaning of Christmas, that Elf sure keeps her in line :o) After presents, we ate a yummy breakfast, and trekked through the snow to the Christmas morning service at church. Jason and the rest of the praise team did an awesome job playing more a more folk/bluegrass/rock set; such a great way to celebrate on a Christmas morning!

Reindeer food, Santa's snack, and the notes they left for her!

New panties, a Christmas tradition :o)

Yes we went sledding in our front yard even though the snow had already melted...wet grass works just as well :o)

Decorating a gingerbread tree with Daddy!

Concentration...

Finished product...lovely :o)

Then we headed to Gigi and Papa's house for even more fun. Dress-up clothes were a big hit, and provided entertainment for the rest of the day! The little ones had a blast playing together all day, and we had a blast spending time with the fam. It was kind of sad to see all the fun come to an end, but we're so thankful for our family and the time we were able to spend with them all!

Princess and Batman off to save the world!


I love that we have a kids table now!

Once upon a December...(part 1)

2011-12-27T11:00:00.004-06:00

Only semi-excited about seeing Santa at Daddy's bank!

December has been full of fun! First of all, we got out of school on the 16th and Mollie and I have thoroughly been enjoying our time off! While I have been SO BLESSED with my job this year, it was definitely time for some rest!

We started off our Christmas break celebrating with Momma Shelly, Poppa Kelly, and Uncle Kyler. They came to our house for the "Livingston Christmas" and Mollie was more than thrilled to have her favorite people staying at her house! We had lots of fun with them opening presents, watching football, eating too much, and then ended the weekend on the Polar Express...

Making memories with Momma Shelly

We love our Poppa Kelly!

We met up with Mollie's Gigi, her cousins Maddox and Paxton, and Aunt Lacye for our 3rd annual Polar Express Extravaganza! The kids were all decked out in their new Christmas pajamas and were so. stinking. excited. I have to say that this year was the best one yet...the hot chocolate mugs were cute, the elves and workers were very interactive and friendly, they played more music, danced with the kids down the isles, and just really did a great job. The kids really had a great time, and we all had a great time watching them enjoy themselves! Looking forward to next year!

So ready to see the North Pole!

Mommas and Kiddos! Minus Paxton...he wasn't quite up for all the excitement

The kids and their Gigi!


Us and Momma Shelly!

Checking the tickets...

In awe...almost to the North Pole!

Having a heart-to-heart with the Elf

Mollie's first "happy" picture with Santa!


Meeting the Conductor! So exciting!

The whole gang aboard the Polar Express

To be continued...

November...

2011-12-22T15:24:00.001-06:00

Well, since it's December 22 and I'm just now getting around to posting about November, I bet you can imagine how busy it's been around here! I definitely have not managed to balance teaching, parenting, being a wife, having any kind of a social life, and blogging. So for the few of you that care, here is an update on what happened at our house in November:

- Some of our favorite people in the world came to stay with us! The Boyers, our friends since my freshman year in college, brought their two boys for their yearly return to the LBK. Living in Ft. Worth now, we don't get to spend as much time together as we used to, but we surely look forward to any chance we can get to see each other! Also, our visits are getting more and more entertaining with more kids in the mix! There's Mollie (almost 3), Levi (2 1/2), and Joel (about 8 months). The older ones played so well together while little Joel looked on and smiled! Mollie had so much fun having a playmate stay the weekend with her, and was just a ball of excitement all weekend. We loved having them stay and can't wait till next time! (Thanks, Jocelyn, for the pics!)

Mollie and Levi

...they seriously were a blur the majority of the time

The whole clan at the TTU football game

Lots of girly things to play with at this house!

- Thanksgiving! Goodness, I love Thanksgiving. What a great time for a nice break, time with family, and some yummy food! And with so much to be thankful for, we had no trouble counting our blessings this year. We headed out of town to Shamrock to spend Thanksgiving with my family this time. It was great being out in the country where it's quiet, and just away from the daily grind. We hadn't been out of town since JULY so it felt sooooo good to leave for a bit!

The Livingston Fam

Gotta love uncles!

Fun with Uncle Kyler

Painting ornaments!

Bread dough ornaments!

Jason went hunting and came back with a turkey!!!

- School for me is crazy busy and in full swing! I sure love my little firsties, but they wear me out! I never have trouble getting to bed in the evenings or having a shortage of things to do. Teaching is for sure a never-ending job, but I sure feel like it's what I'm meant to do! It's exhausting, yet fulfilling.

- Jason is training for a marathon in February, so he's right in the middle of his training program and working hard as usual! He follows a plan and runs anywhere from 7-20 miles a day, but rests on Sundays. It still baffles me that he does it with nobody telling him to do it, but he really is not himself without a good long run! It's just what he does! He'll be racing in the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth, so that means another Boyer/Fellers weekend! Yippee! Jason also recently accepted a new position within his bank! He'll be moving to the loan side of things and learning a whole new aspect of banking. He's really excited and should be making the official move right after the new year. On top of that, he's working on his LAST CLASS of grad school!!!!! He's almost done!!!! Wahoo!!!!

- Mollie Moo is growing like crazy. She weighs about 30 lbs, but has for quite a while. However, suddenly everything is becoming too short and her belly is hanging out of most of her little shirts. She's certainly growing taller and her hair is growing longer. She looks more like a "kid", less like a toddler. Mollie also still continues to baffle us with how MUCH and how well she speaks. She can really talk your head off at times, and says the funniest things. Her latest funny saying is "That is not a laughing matter!" She picks up a lot of vocabulary from the stories she reads/ listens to. Her favorite app on my I-Phone is one that reads a story to you as it highlights the words being read. She listens to stories over and over till she can repeat them back to you. Our favorite part of the day is still bedtime...all three of us pile in the chair and read together. She'll sit through a number of books and asks for more. I'm so glad she has a love for reading!!!!!

Beautiful girl :o)

Reading with Grandma Anna

Pirate Princess

2011-11-05T14:59:00.001-05:00

Mollie's favorite show at the moment is Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney. It's super cute and actually has some pretty catchy tunes! Her favorite episode is the one about the Pirate Princess. She liked it so much, she requested to be a Pirate Princess for Halloween! After a little digging on Pinterest, I found some cute (appropriate) pirate ideas, put them together, and here we have Mollie's Halloween costume!

She's also learned the "Pirate Princess" song. Not sure if these lyrics are completely correct, but this is what she sings all day long!

I'm a Pirate Princess brave as I can be,

sailing around the Never Sea!

When the wind is high I

dream that I can fly!

I'm so happy to be free,

to sail the Never Sea!

All about Mollie :o)

2011-09-18T17:40:00.001-05:00

Mollie Moo has grown, grown, grown! I'm amazed at the growth I've witnessed from the beginning of the summer until now. I have to document before I forget.

The hair has grown a bit, too :o)

First of all, she has grown taller! The clothes she started wearing at the beginning of the summer fit her VERY differently now! Everything still fits, but is much shorter. Her dresses will now have to be worn with tights, and her shorts are just about too short to wear (with her Daddy's blessing anyway!) Also, she's just about outgrown all her summer shoes. It's a good thing they were all flip flops, so she has a little wiggle room until the weather stays cool.

Secondly, Mollie has grown BRAVER! At the start of the summer, she clung to me in the swimming pool, screamed when we tried to go underwater, freaked out on the trampoline at tumbling, and just about had a melt down in "the pit" (a big pit filled with foam blocks at tumbling...fun to jump in and climb through!) However, just last week, she swam and swam and swam with no one holding on to her (wearing her floaty of course!), JUMPED IN THE PIT all by herself, jumped like crazy on the trampoline and even tried seat jumps, and now wants to jump off of anything she can climb onto! Check out Mollie practicing her jumping skills...

She's also had developmental growth. Motor skill wise, she has finally figured out how to run a bit more gracefully and likes to go on runs with Mom and Dad. We practice running to the mailbox and have races! Also, she loves the fact that she can now jump with both feet at the same time! As I mentioned above, she now jumps off anything she can and over every crack on the sidewalk, every branch, on every ant, etc....it takes a while to get anywhere with her :o)

Big kid swinging!

Her vocabulary is growing exponentially, reasoning skills are developing, and she's so observant of other people's feelings, facial expressions, and body language. Some of the funny little things she's said lately include:

"It makes me so happy to have this!"-

"It's going to be magical!"- upon arriving at the playground

"Whats wrong Mommy, did Daddy hit you?"- not really funny, but odd that that's the first thing that she assumed when she noticed I was sad!? We laughed really hard, though.

When I pick her up from school, our conversation usually goes something like this:

- Me:" Tell me all about school today!"

- Mollie: "I play with Aubrey. She's a sweet girl. Andrew hit me. He go to time out. I eat gummy snacks cause I sleep good!! Ms. Rachel makes me happy. Look Mommy, there's an American Flag! Can I listen to a story please? Where are my glasses? Mommy, can you hand me my glasses?" ...finally takes a breath...

Haha! As much and as well as she talks, I really don't worry at all about her at school. I know that she'll certainly tell us if something isn't right!

Also, her imagination is always hard at work. Evidently, we currently have a lion living in our mailbox who is coming to get us! We have to eat our dinner, or take a bath, or get to bed, (or whatever we're doing at the moment) before the lion gets us! Sometimes we even hide from him. Haha!

Our Mollie Moo is sooo much fun right now, and we absolutely look forward to the weekends when we can spend all day together. She's a blast and we love her so much!

Malone Family Reunion, 2011

2011-08-07T12:50:00.005-05:00

All of us that were able to make it this year!

Yes, I know it's been a few weeks, but I've been meaning to post about our Malone Family Reunion this year!

We met up with the whole clan in Tulsa, Oklahoma and rented a great big house for all 20-something of us to stay in for the week. It was great! It held us all comfortably, had a great pool in the back, a pond with fish in the front, a theater room upstairs, and a big playroom for the kids.

As far activities go, we checked out the Tulsa Aquarium, which was wonderful and entertained all the kiddos and adults alike.Cage diving for sharks!
Feeding the sting rays!
Other than that, we swam, and swam, and swam, and swam! It was SO NICE having our own pool the whole time. It was rediculously hot outside, but we hardly noticed because we were in the water through it all. Mollie made a lot of progress being brave in the water (thanks to her Aunt Lacye!) and really enjoyed all the pool time.
What every afternoon looked like :o) All the little ones! This should be in some ad for Puddlejumpers! These make great floaties, and are recommended by the coast guard.

The Fellers
One of my favorite parts of the trip is enjoying meals together. All our meals were cooked at the house and eaten while enjoying each others company. It was way more fun (and affordable!) than trying to get ALL of us to a restaurant. We sure do have some great cooks in the family!
Kendall, Mollie, and Maddox (with his "Captian America" goggles on!) Some of the crew in the gazebo after feeding the fish

I'd say this year's reunion was quite a success. Can't wait until next time!

Camp Livingston 2011

2011-07-17T21:11:00.011-05:00

I'm pleased to announce that my Mollie Moo is HOME and Camp Livingston was a great success! This kid had a great time playing with Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly and I'm pretty sure they had fun too. I'm so thankful she has such a good relationship with all her "grands" and that they play such a huge part in her life. I love it that she loves spending time with them, and I'm excited to see how much fun she has there as she gets older. Here are some of her grand adventures in Shamrock this past week...

Getting her golf on...and yes, she is wearing a tutu on the golf course :o)
She got to meet my Uncle Kyle for the first time! He's finally home from Virginia!
Lots of painting went on this week, which is one of Mollie's favorite activities!
Riding the 4-wheeler with Momma Shelly is fun, too!
Checking out the cows with Poppa Kelly
Never too early to learn to drive the tractor!
Swinging!
Popsicles on a hot afternoon
Checking on "Strawberry Shortcake", the cow named by Mollie.
Fell asleep reading to her Raggedy Ann!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking such good care of our sweet girl!

Oh Happy Day!

2011-07-12T13:43:00.003-05:00

Oh what a happy day it is. Why, you ask? I've got several reasons to be celebrating today, but here are just a few...

- Today we celebrate 8 years of marriage! Wahoo! It's so crazy to think we've been married for 8 years (that sounds so OLD to me for some reason) but I couldn't imagine it any other way. I'm so blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband and raising a family with him. I look back on the past 8 years with no regrets, and only excitement for our future! Yay for my sweet boy! We celebrated this weekend with dinner at our favorite place in the LBK, Manna Bread and Wine, saw a funny movie, and enjoyed each others company :o)
- Today I am looking forward to seeing my sweet girl after a whole week of her being away at Camp Livingston! She's been having a BLAST with my parents participating in activities such as playing golf, riding the tractor and 4-Wheelers, feeding the cows, swimming, painting, running upstairs and downstairs and upstairs and downstairs, and wearing out her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly, I'm sure. She comes home tomorrow and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Many, many pictures to come in a future post.

- Today I've started my packing and grocery lists for vacation next week!!! It seems like we've hardly been out of town at all this year, so I'm thrilled to be going somewhere (anywhere!). We get to spend several days on a lake in Oklahoma with the whole Malone clan. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, watching the kiddos play, and making some memories together.

- Today I'm working on plans to decorate my new classroom and get all of the *millions* of things together that I need to get it up and running before the kids start back in August! While it seems to be an overwhelming and daunting task, I'm SO excited about it and am giddy that I get to work with first graders. On that note...I'm looking for things for my classroom, so any of you readers out there happen to have any of the following items you'd like to donate or sell for cheap, let me know :o)

childrens books
legos, blocks, etc
puzzles
art supplies
rocking chair, pillows, anything fun to read in or with
marbles, buttons, beads, anything that can be counted or sorted!
office supplies
stackable plastic drawers/ files
any other classroom friendly items you might think of :o)

- Today I get to spend the day hanging out with my sweet nephews, Maddox and Paxton! Their poor momma is sick and my house is way too quiet with out my Mollie Moo, so we found a solution to both of our problems. They have been wonderful today, have had fun exploring all of Mollie's "girly" toys, and are now napping peacefully! So thankful for these sweet boys to grow up with my girl.

These are just a few reason why I'm happy today! What makes YOU happy today?

Happy Fathers Day!

2011-06-19T13:47:00.004-05:00

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father! ~Lydia M. Child, Philothea: A Romance, 1836

This quote makes me think of my new favorite quotes: "I love you so much Daddy!" and "Jason? I want my Jason!" - Mollie, age 2.

Ya know, it takes a very special man to raise girls, and I don't think there's a better one out there than my sweet husband. It's absolutely melted my heart to watch Mollie and Jason's relationship grow, and I know she will be a stronger woman because of her Daddy. I am VERY blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy for my little girl, as well as some wonderful GRAND-Daddy's. This girl has 3 great men to look up to, learn from, and be loved by. I think she's going to turn out pretty good because of it :o) Thank you Poppa Kelly (the best dad I could have EVER asked for myself), Pop Pop, and PaPa for being a strong, positive influence on Mollie's life. We love you for it!

Tumbling!

2011-06-18T11:05:00.005-05:00

We decided this summer would be a great time to start Mollie in some sort of "sport". Since the options for 2 year olds are limited, we decided that tumbling would be a great option! She most definitely needs some work on strength and coordination, anyways! So far it's been great. It's been a good challenge for her, in more ways than one. Not only is she doing a lot of things she's never done before, but this class doesn't START until 6:40PM...and anyone that knows my kid knows that bedtime is about 7:00PM! So it's very late for her to start something so active, and it did result in a few exaustion-related meltdowns, but I think she's figured it out now. She can now at least do a front roll all by herself! Can't wait to see what else she learns by the end of lessons!!

Here are some pics from her class the other day. Please excuse the poor quality...the lighting was weird and Jason was taking photos through the glass. But you get the point :o)

Becoming acquainted with "the bar"

Balance practice!

Summertime is Here!

2011-06-12T17:22:00.005-05:00

Summertime is here! I finished up my semester student teaching, subbing, and tutoring only to find out that I've been hired as a first grade teacher at my favorite campus working with some of my favorite people! I'm SO blessed to have even been offered an interview, and even more so been offered a position. I think that was a perfect way to start the summer! Now I'll enjoy my time home with Mollie even more knowing that I have something new and exciting waiting for me in August.

Speaking of summer, here's a little bit of what we've been up to lately...
A little bit of Popsicles A little bit of swimmingA little bit of dancing and dress upA little bit of dish-washing

And, of course, a little bit of singing! This girl loves to sing songs. Enjoy :o)

May 2011!

2011-06-12T16:52:00.008-05:00

May was a very busy month for us! We started out the month taking a trip to Shamrock and Oklahoma City. Jason decided to run in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon! We left Mollie in Shamrock and drove to OKC to the race and to visit Jason's cousin James, his wife Cody, and their precious little lady, Kyndall! It was great seeing them, and it was was fun for Jason to do a new race. However, it RAINED and RAINED and was sooooo cold. Everyone looked MISERABLE. However, despite all that, he ran his personal best and finished strong. I'm SO PROUD of him for doing such a great job! Here's the only pic I took that weekend...
Here is a VERY cold and wet marathon finisher! Way to go Jason!!!

We also celebrated Mothers day, of course, and I thought I'd share Mollie's little greeting to the mom's this year. We are SO BLESSED to have some amazing mommas in our life and I'm so thankful for them!Here's me, Mollie, and my Momma!
Jason, his Momma, and Mollie!
Jason's sweet step-momma, and a very tiny Mollie!

The rest of the month was spent finishing up at school, battling another round of strep for Mollie, praying for interview opportunities for me, finishing up another graduate course for Jason, and gearing up for summer time!

Easter

2011-06-12T14:45:00.009-05:00

Easter 2011 didn't start out quite as planned....first of all, we were looking forward to spending the Saturday before Easter with Mollie's sweet cousin, Paxton, to celebrate his 1st birthday! However, Mollie woke up that morning with a fever and did NOT feel good so we ended up at the clinic instead. Turns out she had a yucky case of Strep! That means she had to be quarantined for 24 hours or so, which meant we had to miss the party, and church on Easter Sunday! However, by the time lunch rolled around, she was feeling better and wasn't contagious anymore, so we headed to spend some time with the family. While it didn't start out as planned, we sure had a great day after all. Here's some pics of all the fun we had that day!

Our new tradition: Making Resurrection Rolls! When baked, they leave a delicious hollow "tomb". It's a great little project to introduce the Easter story to kids!

Fun times at Gigi and PaPa's house! Maddox, Paxton, and Mollie had a fun time hunting eggs and enjoying the lovely afternoon!

More fun times at Nanny and Pop Pop's house! We started with another egg hunt, which preceded family playground time! So fun!
On our way to the playground and lookin' good in our purple :o)

Slide races! Paxton and Brad in on the egg hunt!

Dinner isn't complete without the kids table!

My handsome husband and his lovely sister!

Spring Recap!

2011-04-17T14:16:00.009-05:00

So, as you may have guessed, this Spring has been a bit busy for us! I haven't blogged in forever because I just can't seem to find the time and there seems to just be so much going on! So I'm going to do my best to give a little update on our lives the past few months...

- We enjoyed some St. Patrick's Day festivities in Shamrock once again! This has grown to be such a fun tradition. This year they held a 5k race that we ran in (Mollie, Momma Shelly, and Grandma Anna did the 1mile walk) and we watched a parade, ate yummy "fair food", spent time with family and friends, went to a dance, and ate lots of good home cookin'! We had a blast and can't wait till next year! We also celebrated the day of the "green" by reading "Green Eggs and Ham" and eating green eggs, green grapes, green milk in a green cup!

Green eggs that Mollie helped make!

Mollie, Kaitlin (Kyler's lovely girlfriend), and her dog Paris!

Mollie and Mommy watching the parade in the drizzly rain!
A portion of "the gang" that came into town to celebrate!

- Our sweet boy had a birthday! Jason turned the big 3-1 this year and we had fun celebrating several times :o) It's funny how we almost have more fun on our birthdays watching the little ones get excited about birthdays (even though it's not their own!) Mollie, Maddox, and Paxton sure did like to "help" Jason unwrap his gifts and eat his cake! hehe

Happy birthday sweet boy!

- Mollie had a urinary track infection...after a few days of urinating frequently, having lots of accidents, and a little grumpiness, we decided we better have her checked out. One of the MANY benefits of being potty trained already is that she didn't have to be cathed, but was able to successfully pee in a cup to be tested :o) This makes a doctors visit MUCH more bearable for me! She's just finished her antibiotics so hopefully she'll be good to go now.

- Random things: Mollie finally has enough hair to french braid. She thinks she's a "bala-ballerina" and likes to twirl around and point her toes. She LOVES to go see the horses down the street and the "big bird" (emu). She is constantly asking for at least one of her grandparents at any given moment. She says funny things like "I'm 24!" when you ask how old she is. She's been doing a great job sitting in church with us to listen to worship. She's been counting to 10 in Spanish, and is almost to 20 in English. She's good at noticing when there are 2 of something and will announce, "Look! There are two ones!"

Feeding some donkeys down the street!

- I just finished up my Student Teaching! I spent half of the semester in 2nd grade, and the other half doing 1st and 2nd grade Intervention (which is where I work with small groups of students who need extra academic assistance, test reading and math skills, and work with some of the Dyslexic and Special Ed students!) I have LOVED working in this district, on this campus, and with the group of teachers I was blessed to work with every day for the past few months. For the rest of the semester, I'll be subbing again (many times on the same campus where I was at) and praying something permanent will come along! This is a very scary time in the education world to be finding a job, but I know God has a plan for me here somewhere.

I think that's about it...I think I touched all the important stuff. Hopefully now things will slow down a bit and I'll have more time for updates!

Fun times with the Boyers!

2011-03-06T20:29:00.005-06:00

We were blessed to be able to travel to Fort Worth this past weekend to see Jocelyn, Philip, and Levi! We all met each other early in our college career and have been friends ever since. We've had the pleasure of sharing college, dating, marriage, babies, and then some. It's so great that we can still be friends, even though it's long distance. Here are some highlights from our weekend!

We spent Saturday at the Fort Worth Zoo! Such a great place for our little ones. They loved it!

Mollie checking out some fishies

So much to look at!

Mollie and her buddy Levi riding on an alligator. I'm so glad these two are old enough to really play with each other. It's neat seeing them interact and so interesting seeing the developmental differences between boys and girls!

These little cuties got to break in the new double-jogger! Levi will have many adventures in this thing with his little brother (whose due date will be here soon!) :o)

These guys sure liked exploring together!And they explored themselves out. Sleepy kiddos!

Then on Sunday we all headed downtown to cheer Jason on in the Cowtown Marathon!!! Here he is at mile 19, looking like he was on a relaxing jog :o)

At the finish! He did it! He crossed the finish line all smiles and injury-free. His training and preparation paid off, and he did an AMAZING job!

Here's our runner! He finished 42nd overall (out of about 900 runners), 7th in his age bracket and knocked 7 minutes off his time from last year. This is quite an accomplishment! We're super proud of him!

We were sad to have to say goodbye, but had to get back home to the real world. And guess what was waiting for us back home in West Texas???
That's right, a good ol' dirt storm. It sure was fun to drive home in, let me tell ya. Made me want to turn around and go back! Thank you, Boyers, for going out of your way to take such good care of us this weekend. We loved it and can't wait till next time!!!

Party Girl

2011-03-06T20:23:00.002-06:00

Yes, it's way past due, but I thought I'd post a little bit about Mollie's birthday party! She sure is blessed with family and friends that love her very much. We had a fun time celebrating at Gigi and Papa's house! It was a beautiful afternoon, the kiddos enjoyed the bounce house, and we enjoyed the company. Mollie had a blast! She was exhausted afterward, but sure did enjoy herself. Thanks to all the grand-folks who helped make it so much fun!!!

Mollie Moo is TWO!

2011-02-12T10:34:00.005-06:00

It's official...we're parents of a two year old!

On 7:01pm February 10, 2009, Mollie came into this world as sweet as she could be and has been blessing our lives ever since. I couldn't help but get a little emotional when I started thinking about the day she was born. I was putting Mollie to bed ( at about 7:01pm hehe) the night of her birthday, rocking and reading together, not being able to get enough snuggles, and was thinking about how I just couldn't put her down that first night. She was so little, so sweet, and so snuggly in that swaddle blanket; I just couldn't get enough! While a lot has changed in two years, she's still the same sweet little Mollie Moo that we fell in love with.

Here are some things she's doing at two years old:

- Knows her ABC's, numbers 1-10, most colors, and several shapes

- Talks all the time! Although a lot of it can't be deciphered, she has an extensive vocabulary and speaks with lots of inflection in her voice.

- Gets complimented by her teachers at school for how smart she is and how she encourages other kids to participate in "learning time" by being a good participant!

- Likes to sing songs...we sang happy birthday to her at least 15 times the other day. She loves it and loves to sing along! One of her favorites is when we sing "Rock-a-bye Baby". She sings "rock a by baby, in da tee tock, when da win blows, the cradle will ROCK!!! THE CRADLE WILL ROCK!!!" (picture 80's rocker here...the sweet little lullaby turns into head-banging rock song) I have GOT to get this one on video. It's hilarious.

Laughing at Daddy's silly rendition of the "Happy Birthday Song"

- Likes to draw on her chalkboard, her MagnaDoodle, or all over any piece of paper we happen to leave laying within reach :o) She knows to ONLY color on paper, and coloring on anything else is a NO NO! In fact, we walked by a bit of grafitti painted on a wall and she said "Color on paper. NOT on wall. No No!" That's my girl!

- She likes to play with balls and run around outside. Her and Daddy play football together, and he even taught her how to "hustle" (not do THE hustle, but just run really fast). She still runs like a fast walk, but just pumps her arms a bit harder to go "fast".

Stretching after a long run..haha!

- She'll do ANYTHING for you if you say 1-2-3-GO!

- She's very good at saying please and thank you, bless you, and is getting better at saying excuse me

Bathtime Fun!

- While she uses polite words quite well, she's also entered the "MINE" phase...it's a rough lesson to learn how to share and to not feel threatened by other kids playing with her toys. I know all kids go through this, but it's SO frustrating to see our sweet little lady turn into a brat when "her" toys are being shared. This too shall pass...this too shall pass... :o)

- Also, while she's been successfully potty-trained for 6 months, she's started using that as a way to test her boundaries. That's right, it seems as though she's purposely wetting her pants to get attention, experiment, push her limits, etc. It appears as though she only does it with Jason and I, and doesn't do it at school. We're currently brainstorming ways to discourage this behavior, but it's frustrating because that's one thing we have no control over...we can't force her to potty/not to potty. We can only encourage her to do it appropriately. So, I'm thinking this is also a phase, but if any of you have experience with this/ suggestions, I'd love to hear them :o)

- She still goes to bed at about 7:00 each night, wakes a little before 7am, and takes a 1-2 hour nap at school. She still definitely thrives on plenty of sleep. We've even noticed that by Friday evening, she's so tired from the week that she sometimes doesn't even make it till 7 and is saying "I'm tired! I want to lay down!"

Pajama time!

- Her favorite things to eat include anything breakfast related (we had waffles and sausage as her special birthday dinner!), CHEESE, fruit, peanut butter, and spaghetti (or feggies as she calls it).

- She also LOVES to play with her baby dolls and doll house, and play dress up. She'll take the baby, lay it down on a blanket, put another blanket on top, kiss it, tell it goodnight, then say wake up, then do it all over again! This will keep her busy for a long time.

That's about it. I have a feeling this year will be quite an adventure in our household! Here's to the WONDERFUL Two's and our sweet Mollie Moo!!

TIme flies...

2011-02-01T13:35:00.002-06:00

...when you're crazy busy! Yep, I can't believe I haven't posted anything in a month. Well, actually I can because life has been a little hectic around here. At least it's a good kind of busy! Here's a little synopsis to catch you up...

- I finished a 6-week long sub job in a middle school special ed classroom working with behaviorally/learning challenged boys...WHAT an EXPERIENCE! It was GREAT, I learned so much, and made new friends/mentors/references/etc...

- I started student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom and have been EXHAUSTED ever since :o) It was hard on my mind and body to switch from middle school to 2nd grade, but I'm having so much fun. It's a TON of work, but full of rewards and life lessons...

- Mollie's quickly approaching the "Two's" (notice I left a word out there) and is keeping us on our toes! There's a whole new world of challenges that are approaching...and I promise to post a more detailed account of what our sweet girl is up to. Nine days and counting till her special day...

-Jason's hard at work preparing for the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth later this month. He's been so dedicated to keeping up with his training plan, taking care of his body, pushing his self to do better, etc. It's inspiring! I only wish I had that kind of dedication. And on top of that, he's still working full time, taking graduate courses, heading up a youth pastor search committee at church, singing at the Cactus Theater, and being a fabulous husband and daddy. What a guy.

And while that all doesn't seem like much when I write it down, boy have we felt busy. You can tell by the clutter in my house that I'm feeling spread a little thin these days...something's got to give I suppose! I can't tell you how thankful I am today for the ice/snow storm that blew in last night. It gave me an unexpected day off to be at home with my sweet girl and to rest my brain for a bit! While it means more work for me when I get back to school, I won't complain about an opportunity to play with the kiddo (which includes baby dolls, dress up, and ring-around-the-rosies these days).

While I miss these times at home with Mollie, I know God has a plan for this family. He's already opened up so many doors for me with my new career, and while I don't have a permanent position yet, I feel like He's leading the way to something great...

There's our January in a nutshell :o) More pics and stuff next time!

Momentous Occasion...

2010-12-31T11:21:00.004-06:00

Never before have I had enough to share to require two posts in one day, but I had to document this rather momentous occasion...

Mollie's first haircut!
Before: Sporting the mullet :o)

She got to sit on Gigi's lap and play games on her phone while Sarah worked her magic

Such a big girl! And the final result! We went home, took a bath to get all the itchy hair off, and then she let me blowdry her hair for the first time. Such a sweet little do for a sweet little girl!

It took her nearly 23 months to grow enough hair to deserve a haircut, but it finally happened. It already looks much healthier and thicker, and there's still enough left for piggy tails! We had to trim the back because it was filling in way faster than the front (resulting in a mullet!), so I think it looks much better and will hopefully grow out better this way.

She did a great job, and only cried for a second. Getting to set in Gigi's lap was the key :o) She even got a sucker when she was done! Thanks, Gigi, for being there with Mollie, and thanks Sarah for fixing her hair and making this momentous occasion a success!

Christmas Season Continued....

2010-12-31T08:22:00.007-06:00

We truly have had an exciting month of December! Here's where we left off last time...

The week before Christmas, we headed up to Red River, NM with the Livingstons for our traditional "Christmas Ski Fest". Sadly, the snow was lacking this year (only one lift open and very few runs), but we had a blast nonetheless. This was Mollie's first experience with snow, so it took her a day or so to get used to it (or really to get used to the big jacket, hat, gloves, boots, etc). But once she did, she had so much fun! She made snow angels, ate snow, went sledding, liked to slide down slopes on her bottom, met a few snowmen, and liked to walk in it (once she figured out how to!).

For the most part she hung out with her Momma Shelly and they played and played and played in the snow while the rest of us skied. (Thanks, Mom, for letting me ski!!) Since I was skiing with the boys, I was actually thankful for the lack of runs open...that meant they had to hang with me! (Luckily the only runs that were open were blues and greens, which is where I like to stay. The boys typically hit up all the craziest black diamonds they can find!)

We stayed in a quaint little A-frame cabin accross the street from the lift (convenient!!), brought a Christmas tree, all our stockings, and made sure Santa knew where to find us :o) Mollie also got to decorate gingerbread ornaments to adorn the Christmas Tree! Here are some pictures from the trip...there were so many that I thought it may be easier to upload it in the form of a collage. Click on it and you should be able to see the pics enlarged.

Also, while we were in Red River, Mollie decided she liked to "shake her booty". I have no idea where this came from, but she would just stop what she was doing and start dancing. I got it on video...it's not the best shot of it but funny anyway!

Just before we left for RR, we had the opportunity to celebrate as a family of 3! Santa came to our house, too, and we had fun watching our groggy, bed-head-ridden toddler wake up to find treasures in her stocking and under the tree! We then had a special Christmas Breakfast of cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. It's fun to start traditions of our own, and I'm sure there will be more as the years go by. Here are some pics of our little celebration:
Merry Christmas, sleepyhead!
Santa brought Mollie an easel, and stocking full of goodies! Placing her new ornament on the tree"Ooooh yeah!" as she always says Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate (in a special mug from the Polar Express!)

We had a wild and crazy December, full of Christmas cheer! It was a blessing to spend time with all our families, and I hope yours was as joyful.

Let the Celebrations Begin!

2010-12-20T09:25:00.008-06:00

Here's a look back at our month-long Christmas celebration! That's right, all month long. I think Jesus' birthday deserves more celebration that one day, anyways :o)

First of all, we started off the celebration with a trip to the North Pole. We boarded the Polar Express (kids in their pajamas, of course), drank hot chocolate, sang Christmas songs...

Maddox and Lacye!

Momma Shelly, Mollie, and Me

Mollie loved sporting Maddox's Santa hat...

...but did NOT love Santa!
She immediately started crying and clung to me for dear life. So much for a successful picture with Santa this year!

We continued the celebration at Gigi and PaPa's house...

Santa came!

Fun with Gigi and PaPa

Crazy Cousins :o)

Showing Aunt Cici some love

Remote-controlled cars for the kiddos!
Yep, that's Mollie holding her naked baby while riding her tricycle.

Then we headed over to Nanny and Pop Pop's house for even more celebrating!

We opened presents, played with toys, had a wonderful meal together, then went out and played on the playground near their house!

It was a beautiful day for playing outside! Not like December at all...

Even little Paxton got in on the fun!

I've thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Christmas all month long. We have too many family members to squeeze it in all one day. This way, we get to spend quality time with each family, aren't rushed, and the kids get time to play and soak in all the memories and traditions.

So I hope you've enjoyed a peek into what Christmas is like in our family...but there's more to come! We're headed to Red River this week to celebrate with the Livingston's! I'll post pictures next time.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, too!

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

2010-12-06T21:02:00.003-06:00

Tis the season, indeed. We are jolly around our house right now, and here are a few reasons why...

1. Christmas music is playing on all the radio stations

2. Our decorations are up and Mollie loves the "Kismas Treat" (Christmas Tree)

3. Mollie walks around singing "Jingle Quack", a version of Jingle Bells sung in the book "Jingle Duck", one of her current favorites.

4. She loves her Baby Jesus figurine in her Little People nativity scene

5. We got to enjoy a lovely Christmas dinner at Church last night and then watched our youth kids put on an awesome little musical. Mollie sat through the whole thing just mesmerized; she loved hearing the kids singing! And we're SO PROUD of how well she sat quietly and listened!

6. We started the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition; Mollie thinks it's so funny that the Elf is watching her. She likes to look for it each day!

7. We're all anticipating our ski trip to Red River here in a few weeks!

8. Mollie says "Oooh Yeah!" when she sees Christmas lights on houses

9. We're loving starting our own Christmas traditions as a family

10. I'm jolly because I'm in my last week of course work for my teaching certification!! Whew hoo!

11. Jason's jolly because Mollie is in a "I want my Daddy!" kind of mood...these opportunities are rare but cherished :o)

12. We're both jolly because our little smarty pants can sing her ABC's! Not sure if we've posted it yet, but I'll do it again anyway. Super cute.

13. I'm loving the colder weather...just with there was some snow with it!

I'm sure I could go on and on about what makes us jolly this time of year. Most of all, we're super blessed and excited about getting to celebrate the Birth of Christ with our families!

A Season of Thankfulness

2010-11-27T20:47:00.009-06:00

Although Thanksgiving has passed, we're still thankful for many things this season. Here's some of them, and some of the things we've been up to lately!

- I'm thankful for my little family

- I'm thankful for my bigger family
- I'm thankful for such a wonderful husband, that he's such a wonderful Daddy, and that he takes such good care of us....like by providing for us with years worth of deer meat :o)

Good job, Jason! He's making his own jerky as we speak!

- I'm thankful that I'm a mommy to such a sweet, smart, silly little lady

- I'm thankful that my sweet, smart, silly little lady has a great school to attend while her Daddy and I go to work...one where she obviously learns a lot, has a great time, and asks when she can go back!

Mollie and Daddy at her Thanksgiving meal at school!

- I'm thankful for my in-laws and all the fun times that we have together...especially my two sis-in-laws!

- I'm thankful that Mollie has precious cousins to grow up with

Maddox being so sweet to Mollie and helping her with her necklace

Pilgrim Maddox on Thanksgiving!

- I'm thankful that Mollie is learning to speak so well; "Can I have some more, please?" "Need to go potty again!"

- I'm thankful that she still struggles with some words...it sure makes us giggle when she attempts to say some things (like the work SPARKLY...it sounds like the word f***ing...hahaha)

- I'm thankful that Mollie knows who Jesus is, likes to learn more about Him, and likes to pray. She sings her prayer song to us every night and loves to read books about Him!

- I'm thankful Mollie is a Red Raider fan, can get her Guns Up, and likes to watch football with her daddy. She says, "Watch a football game!" when we turn on the TV.

Mollie's got her Guns Up at the TTU vs. Weber State game!

- I'm thankful that Mollie is a toddler...it's so much fun all the things she can do and say now. She's learning to be independent ("Mollie do it!") and likes to do things herself, but also is getting frustrated, sometimes throws fits, and tries to press her boundaries. (Wait, did I say I was thankful for her being a toddler?? :o)

- I'm thankful that we had the opportunity to spend the day together today as a family. We accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.

- I'm thankful that it's Christmas season...my favorite time of the year! We got to put up the tree today and Mollie got to help. I'm so excited that she'll get to take more of it in this year...last year she was a little too young to care. We're loving getting to teach her about the meaning of Christmas and hearing her say "ooohhhh!" as we decorate!

Helping decorate the Christmas tree for the first time!

We really do have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to.

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
1 Thess. 5:18

YEE HAW!

2010-11-03T09:59:00.005-05:00

Here are a few reasons we're saying YEE HAW today:

First, we welcomed Jason back home from his week-long hunting trip! Jason, his step-dad Paul, and bro-in-law Brad have been traveling to Montana for the last few years to hunt. They drove 24+ hours in the camper to spend the week under the beautiful Montana sky. Although their trip wasn't fruitful as far as birds/deer were concerned, I think they all returned home refreshed after having some time away. I'm glad they had a good time, but we're SO GLAD to have our Jason/Daddy back!!! YEE HAW!!! (I'd post some pics of their trip but nobody has shown me any yet!?!)

Second, Mollie is saying YEE HAW because she was a cowgirl for Halloween!! We were originally going for Jessie from Toy Story, but this is what we came up with. I think she turned out even cuter than Jessie :o) It was fun putting together her outfit using a few things she already had plus a cowboy hat from a consignment store. Also, we just needed an excuse to get her some boots...what girl doesn't need a pair of boots!? (Thank you, Target, for having affordable ones!) She got to wear her costume to school for their little festivities, to her friend Laney's birthday party on Friday night, and again on Sunday for the Trunk-or-Treat at church. We had a blast, and that girl sure does love to dress up. We had NO problems getting her to keep her hat, boots, and bandana on! Now if we could only have been able to get her to ride a stick horse around...hehe!

Scoping out the festivities...

That's one tough cowgirl with that sucker and "princess" flashlight!

Riding a horsey...aka Daddy's knee

Whew! After a few rounds of trunk-or-treating, a bowl of chili, and lots of "Ring-around-the-rosies", we were beat!

Twenty-Something

2010-10-16T21:15:00.004-05:00

Well, another birthday has come and gone (on Wednesday to be exact). I'm not real sure what to think about birthdays anymore...I'm not real sure what I think about getting older... not real sure how I feel about receiving gifts...not real sure how I feel about bringing extra attention to myself (thanks to Facebook, everyone knew it was my birthday!) It's definitely not the same as it was when I was a kid. However, I have come to realize that it's a day to feel loved and to be thankful to my Creator! I realized that I am so blessed and have more and more to be thankful for each year of my life. So...looking at it that way...each year brings on more blessings, so bring on the birthdays!! Haha :o)

Here is how I did celebrate my day:

On Monday (we actually celebrated early), Jason and I were off of work so we took the kid to the Apple Orchard in Idalou! We enjoyed a lovely morning picking apples, pumpkins, walking around in the beautiful sunshine, and just being in God's creation. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, and a great way to spend some much needed time together.

On Wednesday, I ended up not having to work, so I wandered around Target for a while by myself (I can't tell you how much fun that was!!!), had lunch with my wonderful Mom-in-law, went for a walk with Mollie, worked in the garden, then had a relaxing dinner at home with my two favorite people! It was a great day and I went to bed feeling blessed.

To continue the celebration, we partied at our tailgate before the TTU vs. OSU game (thank you to all the 60,000+ people that celebrated my special day with us...because they certainly didn't have anything to celebrate about that game!) And I believe we have a fun afternoon planned tomorrow as well.

Two sweet Red Raider fans: Mollie and cousin Maddox!

So, it's been a great birthday, a great week, and great times spent with my family! Yay!

20 Months!

2010-10-11T14:29:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we celebrated Mollie's 20th Month by enjoying a morning at church and having a lazy, fun afternoon at the house. We sure are enjoying this kid! It's crazy to watch her become less and less of a baby and more of a toddler. Kinda makes me sad, but at the same time excited to see her grow. Here's what this kid is up to this month:

Our 20 month old lovin' on her daddy! (notice the chocolate drool coming out of her mouth and her wild hair...haha!)

- Up to 25 lbs! Even though she's gaining weight, she's also growing taller and thinner. There are some clothes that she grew out of that she can now wear again because of how the shape of her body is changing.

- Improving her fine motor skills...she can drink out of a glass without a lid (we don't do this very often!!), is getting more efficient using her eating utensils, likes to pretend like she's putting a screwdriver in a hole and turns it, can stack her blocks higher and higher, etc...

- She can recognize most or all of her ABC's, colors, and numbers 1-10. Just yesterday she counted to 10 with us! With a little prompting, she's got it.

- TALKING! She's definitely going through the "language explosion" most toddlers go through about this age. She picks up words at an alarming rate, and is now speaking in 2-3 word sentences. Some of the things she's been saying include, "Mommy's here!", "Daddy's home!", "Done with plate.", "I love you", "Apples and pumpkins!" (referring to our little field trip today...I'll post about that later), "Go to school", and my favorite, "I'm poopin'." Hahaha!

- Singing...she LOVES to sing songs. Her favorite at the moment is the little prayer song they sing at school before snack and lunch. It's to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" and the words are "God our Father, God our Father, once again, once again, we will ask your blessing, in the name of Jesus, Amen. Amen." She folds her little hands and sings it over and over. So sweet!

- Still doing a great job with the potty training! Has the occasional accident, but does great the majority of the time.

- Climbing! She's learning how to climb, and now climbs on everything! This has been a good thing because she can now climb up on the couch and some chairs with out help. But she's also been climbing on things she shouldn't be and I imagine we're going to have our first busted lip or something like that pretty soon :o)

- In true toddler fashion, she's testing her boundaries! She's started throwing mini-fits by whining and sitting herself down on the floor. She sometimes tries to pull away when she KNOWS she's supposed to be holding your hand (at the store), screaming MINE when she wants something, and basically just screaming :o) Mollie's cries usually turn into a scream (they've always been like that), but now they can really get quite loud. I know all parents have to go through this little phase, but I'm praying it goes as quickly as it came. So far, this has been the least fun part of parenting. However, we've had to remind ourselves to remain consistent and it'll work itself out!

-However, the BEST part is that she's showing more affection towards us, is being very friendly, and her sweet personality is becoming more evident. We sure do LOVE this little stinker! Here's a little video of Mollie doing push-ups with her Daddy...she also enjoys doing leg lifts, stretching, and playing football :o)

Also...We all had the day off today, so we ventured out to the Apple Orchard in Idalou! I'll blog about it later...so much fun !

Rain, Roadtrip, Romance, and Roseola

2010-10-04T21:42:00.008-05:00

So, this is a bit of a random post about a few random things we experienced lately...

1) Rain! Oh how I love a little bit of rain. We had the opportunity to enjoy some several days ago and play in it just a bit...after I got caught in a soaking downpour without an umbrella :o) Here's Mollie enjoying it in her rain gear:

2) Road trip! We had the opportunity to make a quick trip to Denton to see some of Jason's family. We left eaaaaaarrrrly Saturday morning and made the drive to spend some time with the Johnson's and the Stubblefields. We had a great time visiting with everyone and Mollie had a great time playing with cousins Kayley and Raegan! She LOVED playing with the older girls and we're so thankful they loved on her so much! We had a blast and miss you guys already! Also, Mollie did SO WELL in the car, thanks to some audio books (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Give a Mouse A Cookie, Skippy John Jones to name a few) and a little travel potty. She loves listening to her stories in the car and it made the trip SO easy for her. Thanks mom for letting us borrow them :o)

Being silly with Kayley!

Pretty ladies! Raegan, Kayley, and Mollie

3) Why did we leave so early Saturday morning for the trip? Because Friday night I was in New Home celebrating the "romance" of my forever (like since the age of 4 or so!) friend Lexi and her fiance Brad! He was super sly and planned a romantic proposal for her that night and was sneaky enough to include her family and close friends in the fun. We're SO excited for you two, and can't wait for you to join the old married people's club :o) So sad I don't have a pic of the happy couple, though!

4) We've had a bit of sickness going around this week which ended in a diagnosis of Roseola for poor Mollie. We've all had a bit of allergy-type symptoms for a few weeks, then on Tuesday I finally got "sick" of it, went to the dr, and was treated for a sinus infection. Yuck. Then just a few hours later, got a call from Mollie's school that she was running a fever. So I took her to the dr. and discovered she had an ear infection. Yuck. We were both on antibiotics and doing good. However, about the time Mollie's fever went down and her ears got better, the fever came back. In fact, it spiked to 105.6! Yikes! We got it down with ibuprofen and cool rags (it was in the middle of the night, of course), but headed back to the dr. the next day. They could not find anything else wrong with her (ears were perfect), but told us to watch for a rash. Sure enough, on Friday, after having a fever for 4ish days, it went away and a rash emerged all over her torso. Roseola! It's such a weird virus; it's only diagnosable after the fact when the rash emerges. I've never even heard of it until this week, but you should Google it; it's very interesting. The best part is that once you get it, you can't get it again! Most of us had it as kids. But luckily it's not serious and goes away as quickly as it comes. Here are some shots of Mollie after it spread to her legs:

Oh and here's another one...those Red Raiders! Did you see that game this weekend?? Ugh. Sometimes it's hard to be a Tech fan.....

So, we're now healthy, home, in better spirits, and looking forward to a great week! Long live the Matadors!

Cheese

2010-09-20T20:21:00.004-05:00

"Hello, my name is Mollie. I'm addicted to cheese."

We've been trying to get this on video for a while. Almost every day, Mollie asks us several times a day for cheese. She doesn't ask for candy, cookies, or any other typical "treat". She asks for cheese. Then when we do give her cheese, she asks for more. More, more, more. She'll even ask in the nicest way she possibly can in order to get some. In this video, she was asking for cheese for breakfast. Silly Mollie, we sure do love you and your cheese addiction!

19 Months of Mollie!

2010-09-14T10:05:00.005-05:00

Our sweet girl turned 19 months old this past week!

I have to admit, I am so glad that Mollie's 18th month is over with. It was a doozie! If you remember in her 18 Month post, she was in a "funk". Excessively cranky, teary, emotional, not napping well, not eating well, etc. etc. There was just something wrong with her and we didn't know what it was! We assumed it had something to to with teething, separation anxiety, sinus headache, ear infection, growing, or whatever else little ones go through about this age. Well, we slowly ruled several things out, and after one final trip to the dr. to rule out an ear infection, she just magically was fine. Isn't that how it always works?? Spend the $ for the copay and it magically goes away?? Of course.

However, we believe we've determined the culprit. Growing pains!! The day after we went to the doctor I put Mollie in one of her dresses that she hadn't worn in a few weeks and it didn't even cover her bottom (and it totally did the last time she wore it!) Then we took her to get some new shoes for the fall and she had grown 2 shoe sizes!! Geeze! She grew a whole lot in a short period of time and I'm sure it didn't feel good. I'm glad that's over with...except that there's more to come :o)

I'm happy to report that Mollie loves school. When we ask her if she's ready to go to school she replies "Cooool! Yay!!!!" Drop-offs are great now- we've had several days of NO TEARS at all! She just wants a hug then is excited to see her little friends. Her teacher told me this morning that she has one particularly special little friend named Aubrey. It's another little girl in her class and they sit by each other, play together, and even hold hands :o) So sweet! I can't tell you how happy it makes me that she enjoys going there. It makes my job as a momma so much easier!

She continues to talk more and more. She's definitely picked up new vocabulary at school, but we can't always tell what she's saying :o) We still strongly encourage her to USE HER WORDS; this is helping tremendously with whining and fits. I know the Terrible Two's are just around the corner, so hopefully we can ward some of that off by teaching her to communicate well. Hopefully :o)
Talking to Daddy on the phone at the TTU Football game...and sporting her new dress made by Momma Shelly!

One of Mollie's favorite things to do right now is to read. She'll bring you a book and say "wead it! wead it!" Her favorite books at this age are Moo, Baa, LaLaLa, (if you prompt her with the first words, she'll finish the page for ya!) and a counting book with a picture of a baby on it. She'll count the pictures in the book "one, two, one, two" while pointing to each one.

Mollie also love to rock in her rocking chair with us. We have the most amazingly soft and comfy chair in her room that we all three pile in before bedtime and read and rock and say our prayers. She'll say "wooock, woooock" and snuggle up with us as she gets into sleepy mode. This is our favorite time of the day. I can't believe we all three fit in that chair, but it's such a great way to end the day!

She's also doing so well with using the potty. She even successfully survived a bout with a stomach bug! Yikes! At first I was quite concerned with the mess we might have with an upset tummy, but thankfully she only had one or two very small accidents with this and kept the rest where it belongs. I know that was a challenge, especially since she didn't feel good. However, I'm so thankful she was potty trained this time around; we avoided the awful diaper rash that is usually associated with diarrhea. Good job Mollie!

Mollie loves to help. You can get her to do just about anything if you call it "helping"! She gets LOTS of praise when she helps. This is something we definitely want to encourage! She especially likes to help cook. She gets to pour and stir and taste and sometimes make big messes.
"Helping" Mommy with her water at the City Bank picnic!

This little girl has grown, both physically and intellectually, so much in the past month. We're loving watching what a special little thing she's becoming!
Having some fun with Daddy in the bounce house at the City Bank picnic!

Third Grade Shenanigans

2010-09-03T20:00:00.003-05:00

Here begins "Adventures of a Substitute Teacher: Vol. 2"!

I spent the past few days teaching a third grade class! All along I've wanted to teach early elementary students (pk-3), so I was very excited about this opportunity. I want all the experience I can get teaching, so I gladly accepted this assignment. Boy, did I ever get some experience.

Wednesday morning, I had the opportunity to arrive early and visit with the teacher I would be subbing for, observe in her class all morning, then take over when she left. As we were talking and she was showing me around, she kept mentioning what a wild bunch of kiddos she had. Great. Too late to back out now.

I tell you, that woman was right. This was a CRAZY bunch of third graders! And you know that if they were awful for their regular teacher, can you even imagine what I experienced as a sub!? Everyone knows students show off and pretend like they don't know the rules when they have a sub. This was so much worse. Whew. Even the kindergarten teacher that had this group a few years ago said they were a wild bunch back then, too. So needless to say, I'm exhausted this evening! But ya know, even though it was a rough bunch of kids, I still enjoyed the teaching part and haven't changed my mind :o) I am still looking forward to my next adventures (which include 1st grade, Kindergarten, a repeat of middle school tennis, and yes, even another day or two with this 3rd grade class- yikes!!!)

I learned a lot this week, and hopefully it'll make me a better teacher (and mom) because of it!

On another note, Mollie survived another week of school! Drop-off is getting MUCH easier, and she cries less and less each day. More smiles and less tears = a very happy momma! According to her teachers, she continues to be very talkative, energetic, and curious; loves "learning time" and her "ABC's"; and does a good job of telling her teachers when she needs to potty. We've had a few accidents from being distracted, but she's doing great!

Kam Goes To School!

2010-08-27T19:44:00.002-05:00

Today begins "Adventures in Substitute Teaching: Vol. 1" haha!

I was awakened to a phone call at 5am asking me if I wanted to coach middle school tennis and high school sociology! I just laughed. So random, yet so exciting. So I got my things together, got Mollie off to school, and went to teach/coach!

It really was a great day. I was nervous having never been in this particular school, not knowing anybody, where anything is, what I'd be doing specifically, etc., but it ended up being great. I had no discipline problems, but when a group of 7th grade tennis players got a little rowdy, I just had them run lines!! It was awesome!!! Then when they questioned me, I added a lap around the courts :o) So much fun. Too bad you can't really do that in a regular classroom!

So I survived my middle school athletes, and my high school sociology students. Luckily, they were working on a research project, and I've done my fair share of projects like that, so I was actually able to help them some. They were a lot of fun...keeping track of juniors and seniors is VERY different than herding around toddlers!

Anyway, I survived my first substitute experience. It was fun, and I'm ready for more! Specifically, the bunch of 3rd graders I get to work with next week. I'm just hoping I won't be quite so exhausted... :o)

Speaking of exhausted, Mollie made it through her first week of school! She did so well, but boy is that girl tired. I think it's going to take some time before she naps well at school. She went from taking lengthy 3 hour naps in her comfy, quiet bed, to sleeping on the floor (on her comfy nap mat!) but with several other kiddos nearby. It's just not quite the same. I'm hoping she'll get used to that soon...we actually had a 6:30pm bedtime this week! That girl was simply done.

On another note, potty training is still going well! We unfortunately have had a few accidents at school this week, but she tells them she needs to go 99% of the time and just got a little distracted the other times. She's also doing great staying dry over night! We take her before she goes to bed, then before we go to bed, then she stays dry till morning! What a champ!

Mollie Goes To School!

2010-08-24T08:38:00.006-05:00

Our little Mollie started her first day of "school" yesterday! We made the decision to enroll her in Harvest Children's Academy, a small preschool/daycare at a church nearby. They have a small teacher/student ratio (she has 6 kids in her class!), a good curriculum, will be learning basic Christian teachings, will be learning Spanish and Sign Language, and have super nice teachers to love on our baby girl!

Her first day went great. I knew she'd be a little clingy when I dropped her off because it was new and she's got a bit of separation anxiety these days, and sure enough she was. She kept going back and forth between crying and noticing all the cool new toys and cheerios at her table...couldn't quite make up her mind if she wanted to be upset or not :o) So in order not to prolong fussiness, I spoke to the teachers long enough to explain that she's potty trained (I got some crazy looks!!) and then rushed out the door. I couldn't WAIT to go back and get her because I was just so curious as to how she did all day! Here are a few pics of her on the way to school...she's got her new backpack, lunchbox, and nap mat (all of which she is very proud of)!

When it was finally time to pick her up, I found her playing happily with her friends (they were playing with little percussion instruments). Her teacher was very impressed with how she did; she made friends, followed directions well, and told them when she needed to go potty!!! I was so nervous that she would be afraid to tell them she needed to potty, but she did great! They even sent home a little "report card" about what all she did that day. I scanned it so that I wouldn't loose it :o) Also, when she came home, she was very talkative (maybe practicing some new words or something) and even sang us a song during dinner! They must have sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at school because she serenaded us with that over dinner...let's see if you can decipher the words! And she gets a little distracted with her A BED! (bread).

She sure was tired last night after all the fun at school. But she was super excited to go back this morning! When we pulled up this morning, she wanted to walk and carry her backpack. We got in and saw all her friends and she was all smiles! She cried for a sec when it was time for me to leave, but was just fine. It made me feel so relieved to know that she had a great time and was ready to go back. We're so proud of our big girl!!

You may be wondering why we decided to send her to school? For those of you who don't know, I've decided to return to work full time and make a slight career change. While obtaining my Counseling degree, I realized I am a better fit for School Counseling instead of Community Counseling, but didn't have the 2 years teaching experience that Texas requires of school counselors. So I'm kind of back-tracking now and getting my teaching certification so I can teach for a few years then move into school counseling (or just continue teaching...who knows!). I'm taking courses online and am substitute teaching for Ropes ISD and Frenship ISD so that I can gain some experience and hopefully get my foot in the door for a permanent teaching position. We feel like God has been leading us in this direction for a while, and I thinks it's perfect timing. Mollie is old enough to enjoy her "school", so to me it feels less like "daycare"(and it is structured like a school), which in turn makes me feel good about sending her. My time as a stay-home/work part-time Mommy has been SO WORTH IT, but this is what's best for our family now.

So that's where we're at! If you know any teachers at either of those districts, tell them to call ME first when needing a sub :0)

18 Months & Changes Galore!

2010-08-20T21:55:00.004-05:00

Whew, what a milestone! 18 months has been a crazy one. This kid is definitely turning into a toddler, in some cases overnight, and all these changes are making quite an adventure for Mollie's Daddy and I. Here's what happening:

1. By far the most substantial change in our house; we've gone DIAPER FREE!!! That's right, Mollie is potty trained. I never thought my 18-month-old would be potty trained, but it seriously just happened. She was telling us she needed to go potty several times a day anyway (it was to the point I was only changing her diaper once or twice a day because she was using the potty), so we thought why not go all the way! So last week, Mollie put her big girl panties on and hasn't looked back. She's had plenty of accidents the first day, did NOT like being wet, and got it down from there. With the help of M&M's, silly made up cheers, and an exhausting amount of positive reinforcement, we made it. I'm so impressed with this kid and her willingness to try something new and stick with it!
Now we are still having some accidents at night, but she almost always wakes up when she needs to go (just sometimes a little too late). So, she's very close to having the overnight part down, but we'll still need some work. I wake her up a few hours after she goes to sleep, then an hour or so before wake time to take her, and that seems to help. Naps are usually not a problem.

Notice the sagging? Yeah, they don't make panties in size 18m! 2T/3T is as close as we can get!

Sporting her Fancy Nancy panties! We also have Dora...

2. Another big change is that we're having some tantrum/fit/nightmare/separation anxiety/growing pain/teething issues going on. I'm not really sure what it is, perhaps a combination of all of the above, but it has rocked our world. She has been screaming/crying/melting down with no explanation, and is just in a funk most of the day. There was only one day she ran a fever, but had no other obvious symptoms. We had just left her pedi's office for her well-check and they ruled out any ear infections or anything like that. I've been doing some online research and found that lots of kids go through something like this around this age, so it must be something developmental happening. Who knows. But whatever monster has invaded our happy, easy going child, GO AWAY ALREADY!!! I see glimpses of the "real" Mollie throughout the day, so I know she's still there. This too shall pass!!!

3. On a more positive note, she does lots o' talkin! She says lots and lots of words (a considerable amount more than the 6 they suggest they know at this age!!) and still signs some, too. We REALLY encourage her to "USE YOUR WORDS" because the alternative is whining, which is absolutely irritating. She does a good job with this usually, but needs some reminding, especially when she's in her funk.

Some of the funny things she says right now is "uuummmm...." when you ask her a question; "A B! A B!" when she sees letters; points to everything and says "Daddy's"; "Help me" when she wants to help you; and "Woooock" when she wants to rock a little longer before bed. She also repeats everything!! We have to watch our mouth now :o)

4. Paci Free! This wasn't as big of a deal because she only used it at night anyway, but it went "bye bye" a few weeks ago. Mollie cried for it for two days at bedtime, but then just got over it! It was an easy transition.

5. Growing! At her well-check the other day, Mollie now weighs 24 lbs! She's now in the 50% for height and weight (which is an increase), and her sweet little head continues to grow off the charts! It's past the 100th percentile now. Yikes. She'll grow into it one day :o) She is also slowly growing more hair, which makes some way cute piggy tails to decorate that precious noggin of hers.

Cute piggies!

Those are the major changes we've gone through lately. Wears me out just thinking about it! We've got some other major changes coming Monday. I'll save that for another blog post. In the meantime, Happy 18 Months Mollie Moo!!

My Old Kentucky Home...

2010-08-16T11:03:00.004-05:00

I had a bittersweet opportunity to visit the bluegrass state last weekend! Never thought I'd say I'd be in Kentucky, but there I was.

Over the past two years, we've had the pleasure of becoming close friends with the Gibson family. They moved to Lubbock so Paul could serve as college pastor at our church, just happened to buy a house on our block, and just happened to have a sweet little girl (Natalie) just 6 months older that Mollie. We've loved getting to build a friendship with them and raise our little girls together. However, being soooo far from their families was hard, and they felt God call them back home. So they packed up and headed to Louisville, Kentucky....and I joined them!

Driving to Kentucky from Lubbock is no easy task...it's about an 18 hour drive. Imagine doing that driving a U-Haul with a car in-tow, and with a toddler. So I rode in the van with Tara to help keep Natalie entertained and to help drive. I can't imagine going all that way by myself! It was nice to have the company and to be able to switch out drivers often. So we left Sunday morning, made it to somewhere in Missouri to spend the night, then pulled into Louisville about 6:00pm on Monday. Then I got up early the next morning and flew home! What a whirlwind...needless to say I was pretty tired after the adventure, and am still not sure I've caught up on my sleep :o)

Although it was fun to go on a roadtrip with good friends, it was also super sad to say goodbye. Mollie and Natalie have grown to be close friends and absolutely have a BLAST together. It is sad that they are losing their BFF! And we've been blessed to have Paul and Tara as friends. Although we complain about having to say goodbye, it's good to know they are "home". And we now have another place we can go visit on vacation!! Jason's already looking into triathlons in Kentucky for next year :o)

So here are the girls having fun...we'll miss you Paul, Tara, and Natalie!

Jason's Talk Show Debut!

2010-08-07T22:20:00.004-05:00

So, many of you may already know this story, but I thought I'd document it anyway.

One day last month, Jason gets a call saying that someone wants to take a swab of his DNA and send it to a lab in Iceland. WHAT!?! My thoughts exactly.

Here's the background: Jason's dad, Bruce, had a heart attack a few years ago. This was a surprise as he's a pretty healthy guy and is a runner. He's fine now, and is seeing doctors regularly to take a more proactive approach to his health. Throughout some of the tests they ran on him, they found out he had a link in his DNA that predetermined his risk for heart attacks. Well, his doctor is working with the lab in Iceland to conduct a study on these DNA links, and thought Bruce and Jason would be good subjects for the study. They offered to take Jason's DNA, and see if he inherited Bruce's heart attack gene.

Somewhere along the way, Mike Huckabee (former Governor of Arkansas and host of the Huckabee Show on Fox) heard of this and wanted to interview the guys on his show! So they got a free trip to New York, made it on the show, and saw few sights along the way. Here's a clip of the show and the dramatic results of Jason's test...hahaha (they always try to make things more dramatic on air). I think most exciting of all is that they got to meet Bob Barker! He was the guest host that day. Very cool!

Here are the clips to the show (thanks to Paul!) There are two clips, so you must watch both! :

http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=b1503a8e-8a81-464d-a5fe-b00558503038

http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=21ee2502-92cd-4a34-ac10-6e1b4617929d

Camp Livingston 2010

2010-08-02T13:28:00.005-05:00

Mollie survived her first annual Camp Livingston! Well, actually her daddy and I survived her being gone, while she had a blast. This is something that I hope she (and any future siblings/cousins) gets to do each year. It was so good for her to be away from mommy and daddy for a bit, good for us to have a week to ourselves, good for her to bond with the grand-folks, and a week in the country is just good for the soul!

Here are some highlights from the week:

Play date with a new friend, Carvin!

Playing with lids...cheap fun!

Rockin' with Great Grandma Anna!

Playing in the rain with Poppa Kelly!

Peekaboo!

Going on a bear hunt!

Who doesn't wear silly outfits at camp?

Burger King!

Sporting Mommy's sunglasses at Daddy's concert in Shamrock!

Mollie had a blast, and we're so glad she did. I got a lot of stuff done here, as well, so I think it was a successful week all around! We suuuuuuuuuureeeeee did miss her, but can't wait till next year!

Who do you think she looks like...

2010-07-27T09:32:00.008-05:00

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!

2010-07-17T14:34:00.006-05:00

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!

2010-07-12T14:28:00.006-05:00

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!

Our big adventure!

2010-06-30T14:00:00.007-05:00

Aaahhh, vacation was finally upon us. Here are some pics and details from our big adventure across Texas!

We started out the week in the LBK celebrating Carol's birthday! Happy #30 Cici...

...and celebrating Fathers Day! We sure do love our Daddy's :o)

We then headed north to Shamrock to have our with the folks for a while. Mollie sure was a big helper making dinner...

and playing in the sand at the river!

Then we headed south to Wimberley to the annual Malone Family Reunion! We found another river, "The Blue Hole" swimming area, and swam...

...and swam...

...jumped in the pool at the house and swam....

...and swam :o)

The three of us girls enjoyed a day at the spa in celebration of Carol's birthday...

...and we had a GREAT time visiting with everyone, playing catch phrase on the porch every evening, eating some delicious home-cooked meals, and just relaxing with family! We're already looking forward to next year :o)

16 months!

2010-06-10T13:49:00.003-05:00

Our little stinker is 16 months old today!

Here's what she's up to this time...

If you remember from Mollie's 15 month update, she was having a reeeeally hard time with teething...it caused all sorts of drama! We've been grateful for a little break from this craziness and have seen a lot more of our sweet little Mollie. She's certainly working on some more teeth at the moment, but it seems to come and go and luckily the drool usually kicks in before the fussiness so we can be prepared :o)

She still has a heightened sensitivity to things, but her easy-going personality is still predominate.

For being SUCH a good eater, can be picky at times. I have learned that she likes something one day and not the next. To help with this, I've started letting Mollie "help" me fix her meal (holding a lid or spoon, pushing buttons on the microwave, etc.) and she becomes way more interested in it and almost never complains when she helps.

Related to the last point, loves to help! While still having a VERY short attention span and limited motor skills, she does a great job of helping pick up toys and put them in something (not always in the right "something", though! hehe), closing door and drawers, holding things for me (diaper rash ointment), etc. The more you offer praise for her efforts, the more she does them. She even signs "thank you" to herself after she does them! Haha!

Pushing boundaries: she will head towards something that's a "no no", look at you, say "no no", and proceed to disobey. The main thing lately has been climbing on the high chair. She starts to climb with a sly little grin on her face and waits to see what we'll do. Boy it wears me out to remain consistent!

Still talking up a storm! Saying more and more words every day, has pretty much added the sign "help" to her vocabulary (although she's still working on it), and is getting better and better at communicating. She still gets very frustrated at times when she can't get her thoughts across, which leads to whining, which drives me crazy, but we'll just keep on encouraging her to use those words appropriately!

Learning to use utensils! When we're at home, we practice a lot using a fork and spoon. In just the last few weeks she's gone from using it as a toy, to putting the right end in her mouth, to putting the right end with food in her mouth, and just today I witnessed her use the fork to stab the food and successfully put it in her mouth! It's still a messy endeavor, but we're making progress!

Her favorite foods right now are raisins, bananas, blackberries, lima beans, chicken fajitas, cheese, yogurt, hot dogs, iced tea (out of my cup!) and eggs. She likes LOTS of other things, but those are the things that she'll really put up a fight for right now!

Loves for us to sing to her. I love this. The ones she wants to hear again and again right now are Old Mcdonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the ABC song. She'll sign "more" after each time and it's so sweet. That will definitely keep us singing to her :o)

Hugging and kissing! She's starting to perfect her hugs by actually using her arms and her kisses by actually smacking her lips! It's not just a big wet slobber anymore. She even has started showing a little boy at the gym some love by giving him a hug and kiss when he leaves...uh oh!

Here are some pics of our little lady! I decided when Mollie was born that I'd take a picture of her each year in her Daddy's shirt then we'd have them to look back at to see how much she's grown. Here are the pics we have so far!

Above: Week 1!

Below: Year 1!

Mollie's First Camping Trip

2010-06-07T21:14:00.005-05:00

We survived our first camping trip as a family of 3!!

We headed out to Bottomless Lake State Park, NM on Friday night. It was less than a 3 hour drive, so that wasn't too bad. When we arrived we started to set up camp and I immediately had to put my cleanliness concerns aside as Mollie proceeded to head straight to the rocks and give herself a dirt bath. Awesome. But hey, who cares? We're camping, right?

We get the tent set up and get all our gear situated and start to head to bed at our normal time (which was pretty early because Jason had a Triathlon the next morning). However, since we're in a tent, it's daylight for way too long and it didn't cool off until the wee hours of the morning, so we all laid there tossing and turning for hours. Mollie was amazing through this process, however, and didn't make a peep even though she was as uncomfortable as could be. So somehow, we all managed to fall asleep at some point and the woke up at 5:30 or so because we're in a tent and are at the mercy of the sun. And Jason had a race, so we all had to get up early anyway.

We headed to Dexter, NM for the Milkman Triathlon. The race started at 8:00am, and it was already getting hot. Mollie and I found a playground to play on while Jason was racing, and she had a blast! In the meantime, Jason was enduring grueling heat while swimming, biking, and running, but ended up doing great and placed 4th in his age division! We hung out at the park for a bit until we were all miserably hot, then drove into Roswell to borrow some air conditioning (I mean, eat lunch :o).

Mollie and Daddy before the race

Deep thoughts...

We arrived back to our campsite and decided to go swimming, because did I mention that is was miserably hot?!? The campsite was next to a nice little lake (which just happened to be ice cold...yesssssss) so we spent the rest of the afternoon there. It was the ONLY way to cool off because it miserably hot. We all had a blast playing in the water! But before too long we were all exhausted from being in the sun and decided to head back to the tent.

At this point, we just couldn't get a break. You could cool off in the water, but get zapped by the sun. You could get out of the sun, but get zapped by the heat. We sprayed each other with a water bottle for the next few hours, ate dinner, and tried to go to sleep (I didn't mention that Mollie woke up at 5:30am with us, and didn't get to nap at all, and was still doing awesome at this point). As we were all laying there in a pool of sweat, we thought, "Why are we still here?" We accomplished all we wanted to do (sleeping under the stars, Jason finishing his race, swimming in the lake), so by golly why be miserable all night! At that point, we packed up camp in record time and headed home! It was worth it to get to cool off in the car and sleep under my ceiling fan and the air conditioning :o)

So we spent the next day rehydrating, catching up on sleep, and just being lazy. Looking back, that particular weekend probably wasn't the best weekend to be camping due to the heat, but we had an amazing time as a family, let the little one get a taste of being in God's creation, and made some memories! It was a blast and we absolutely plan to go camping again...when it cools off a little bit :o)

We also had the pleasure of celebrating our wonderful Lacye's birthday on Sunday!!! This fantastic sister, momma, and friend is a year older and is loved very much! Happy birthday lady :o)

My First Surgery

2010-05-24T10:33:00.004-05:00

Well, it's official. I made it 27 years without having to be hospitalized (with the exception of childbirth!!) or have surgery on anything. I've now added a little info to my medical history :o)

My gallbladder was removed on Thursday, and I had an upper GI scope done. It was a pretty simple procedure, considering how serious some surgeries can be. My gallbladder came out as planned, and the scope revealed I also had an ulcer. They ran some tests on it and I'm waiting to hear back on what the plan is with that.

We arrived at UMC (outpatient surgery to be exact) at 5:30am. They took me to a room, got me all situated in a lovely gown on a luxurious hospital bed (hehe), and talked to Jason and I about all the details. Before too long, I was being wheeled down the hall headed to surgery. We stopped outside the operating room while they were finishing up getting everything ready and the nurses and anesthesiologist were cutting up with me being silly, trying to keep me relaxed. One of them said something funny as they wheeled me through the doors, then the next thing I know I was waking up in a recovery room a few hours later! I was very impressed with how well and fast the drugs worked, considering my only experience with anesthesia was my epidural that failed miserably :o) After a little nausea, upset stomach, and a nap, they finally let me go home at about 1:00pm when I was able to keep some crackers down and pee successfully :o)

So I now have four tiny holes in my abdomen and a little extra room where a gallbladder used to be. The first two days were quite rough. I don't care how small they say the incisions are; holes in your belly just hurt!! I couldn't laugh, cough, sneeze, or really even move without flinching in pain. After lots of resting, though, I'm seeing much improvement and am getting around much better today. I'm still having to be very careful, and P90X is obviously on hold for a bit, but I'm getting better. The hardest part is that I'm not really able to lift Mollie! They told me not to lift more that 10 lbs for about 2 weeks...well I made it through the weekend but all my extra help had to go back to work :o( So we're just being careful.

I am super-duper thankful for all the help over the weekend. Jason was able to take off work to be with me at the hospital and take care of me on Thursday and Friday. Mary Ann brought dinner to us and lunch to Jason at the hospital. Mom also was able to come down and be on Mollie duty! She was AWESOME with her and successfully kept her from climbing all over me and freaking out when I wasn't able to pick her up. Mollie had so so so much fun with her Momma Shelly and was a bit disappointed when she woke up this morning and her friend wasn't here :o( I didn't have to cook a meal, change a diaper, give a bath, or anything all weekend. It sure was nice!! THANK YOU FOR HELPING!!!

I'll leave with you with some pics of Mollie. The nice folks from Bodyworks sent me some flowers and some balloons especially for Mollie! Needless to say, she was thrilled and thoroughly entertained. We also received some pretty flowers from the City Bank crew! Thanks everybody!!

15 months!

2010-05-14T14:55:00.002-05:00

The start of toddlerhood has proven to be challenging, hilarious, and an ever-changing adventure.

First of all, I took Mollie in for her well-check and those dreaded vaccinations. I was quite surprised by her stats! She weighs 22 lbs 12 oz and is 30 in. tall, which surprised me. If I were to guess by the amount of time Mollie spends eating these days, the growth would have been much much more! But it turns out she's remained at about the 20-25th percentile for height and weight! Her head is another story, though...it's circumference is now 49 cm, which is almost in the 90th percentile! She's taken a little jump in that area...but that just means her little brain is growing and she must have more room to store all those words she's been learning!

One of the things our doctor checked for was to see if she was using 2-6 words on a regular basis...this girl says more like 25 words on a regular basis and repeats many more!! Her vocabulary really is taking off and it's obvious that she understands much more than she can communicate. We're working hard with her right now to start utilizing some more key words (either through signing or speaking) to help ease some frustration..."help" and "i'm tired" would be helpful for starters...it will hopefully help with some of her whininess.

The doctor was quite surprised at how much Mollie still sleeps! She sleeps 12-13 hours each night, and takes either 1 three hour nap or 2 two-hour naps each day (or at least needs that much...you can DEFINITELY tell when she hasn't had a good nap). Evidently most kids don't sleep that much?? Who knows. I'm not complaining; nap time is our favorite part of the day :o)

At her appointment we were discussing teething...he said that teething shouldn't disrupt her day too much, so don't worry about it very much; and I read somewhere else that teething pains should only last about a week or two. WHAT!? This kid has been cutting her molars for at least two months (with MAJOR disruption might I add), got maybe a week or two to rest, and has now started on her eye teeth. This results in major grumpiness, screaming, exhaustion from the screaming, and soaking herself in drool. "Teething Mollie" is nowhere near our sweet little, well behaved, easy going "Normal Mollie". I don't like this part of toddlerhood.

Another interesting aspect of toddlerhood are Mollie's changing preferences and heightened sensitivity. She's obviously always been a great eater, with a few exceptions. I'm now finding that one day she'll want something, and the next day refuse. I've seen her refuse something because it was in a different container than the day before. Or yesterday, she didn't want to be fed, she wanted to feed herself and refused to eat unless she could hold the spoon. Geeze! Also, lately she's been easily startled by a few things that she's seen or heard a hundred times and it suddenly she doesn't care for it. For example...there is a lady (who happens to be in a motorized wheelchair) that we see almost every day at the gym. She's been coming the entire time we've been going. Nothing new. However, just this week Mollie's decided that the wheelchair TERRIFIES her and bursts out in tears every time we see her. Not a fun situation. Also, she's suddenly decided she does NOT like me holding other kids, even though she's seen me do it everyday working at the gym. Also, she does NOT like to sleep anywhere except for her own bed, even though she's had numerous successful experiences sleeping in other places throughout her little life. Her little world is just-a-changin' and mine is just-a-goin-crazy!!

On top of all that, we're fighting a very painful diaper rash today. You can imagine the fun that brings. Yikes.

On the flip side, the heightened sensitivity has led to her being VERY excited about some things! Like hearing the "Yo Gabba Gabba" theme song come on (that show wierds me out by the way), seeing her Daddy drive up, or getting to play with her friend Natalie! Hopefully we'll be seeing more of the fun aspects of being a toddler and less of the craziness.

We would appreciate prayers for patience and guidance in the meantime :o)

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-10T10:41:00.003-05:00

Happy Mother's Day!

I've been so blessed to be a Mom! I really never knew how much I could actually LOVE something or someone until I became a Mom. I have been able to experience God's love more fully and can see things so differently now. God sent me this little bundle of love because he knew exactly what I needed. I'm so thankful to be a Mommy!

I'm also very thankful for the other Mom's in my life, especially my own Momma. What a great example she has been for showing me how to be a mom and how to have a great relationship with your daughter. I am excited about raising kids because I remember how much fun it was with you! I've also been blessed with a wonderful Mother-in-law, who has always made me feel like her own kid, grandmas that loved me so much, and so many friends who are moms that I've learned so much from. I'm so thankful to have you all in my life!

Randomness...

2010-04-29T21:06:00.005-05:00

Here are a few random thing happening in our world...

1. We're proud to be an Aunt & Uncle again! Lacye, Brad, and Maddox welcomed little Paxton into the world this past week...so sweet and LITTLE, but oh so perfect! I can't wait to get to hold him some more :o) If you haven't seen him, check out Lacye's blog...cute pics!

2. Mollie has had an amazing week...it seems as though her 1 year molars are mostly in, thus providing a little relief. For the past nearly two months, she has been overly fussy, frustrated, took awful naps, and has just had a rough time. I think we have our sweet little girl back!

3. She is absolutely LOVING her daddy right now! I love it. He loves it too :o) We drove by City Bank the other day and she says, "Dada!! Dada!!" but was so disappointed when we didn't stop to go in. She asks for him every time we pull into the garage, and waits for him at the front door when it's time for him to come home. Not to mention all the giggles when she's around him!

4. She still likes to play dress up. She "helps" me fold laundry by trying on everything...it sure does keep her entertained!

5. We've been doing P90X for the past 5 weeks...I actually did a one-armed push up this week (just don't tell anyone I was on my knees!). Never thought those words would come out of my mouth. It is seriously crazy and elicits several inappropriate comments out of our mouths while working out...yet we still do it. It's working though!

6. After a lifetime of various digestive issues, a few weeks of severe stomach pain, and several tests, it's been determined that I'm going to have my gallbladder removed. Not sure when just yet, probably within the next few weeks. Not sure what to think about it, but I'm hoping it'll solve the mystery of the crazy noises that come from my stomach/esophagus...Jason calls them my "demons". Darn gallbladder...all those years of embarrassment and it was just you!

7. We have good friends from Kentucky. And you can't be from Kentucky with out celebrating the Kentucky Derby! So we're going to a Kentucky Derby party Saturday, complete with Mint Juleps and Kentucky Derby Pie (neither of which I've had, but I hear it's part of the tradition). Anybody have a big, fun hat I can wear!?

8. Jason is in full swing at the Cactus again! He had an AWESOME show the other night, and many more to come...it was so nice getting to go listen to him perform again! I don't think I've been able to since Mollie's been born. It made me realize it's time for some more date nights or something! I haven't had enough adult time lately.

I think that's all of my randomness at this time...there's more to come I'm sure :o)

Country Girl

2010-04-13T13:44:00.006-05:00

This weekend we had the opportunity to head to Shamrock to hang out with the fam. It was nice to hang with family, relax, eat some yummy home cooking, enjoy the pretty weather, and just be in the country. Mollie sure did enjoy her time with Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly! Especially when she got to do some new fun things that "country girls" get to do...

like play golf...(not really "country", but part of our weekend nonetheless)

drive a golf cart...

check out the cows...

yes that is a horse tank and yes she'll probably swim in it one day...as a true country girl should! haha...

and drive a four-wheeler!

So much fun! And I do believe her weekend also consisted of driving a tractor, but I don't have a picture of that one. It was so nice to be outside enjoying the sunshine! I know Mollie loved all the new fun things she got to do and can't wait to go back for more adventures with the Livingstons!

On another note, I'll leave ya with a few pics and stats from a recent photo shoot with Mollie...14 month old Mollie!

Some of the things she's doing is:

Walking up a storm! She's finally taken off and gained some confidence!

Being a stinker! She's testing boundaries, making us aware of her frustrations, and can be out right defiant at times. We're reminding ourselves to be consistent and this too shall pass...or get worse till she's not a toddler anymore :o)

Learning her manners! She can now sign please and thank you and uses them correctly most of the time! She's also saying/repeating lots of words, learned the phrase "I know" this weekend, and continues to be in constant conversation, although most of it is in her own language! (and she finally has enough hair for little piggy tails! wahoo!)

Loves to climb! She tries to climb up her high chair, climbs all underneath the dining room table, and today I turned my back for a sec and she was standing in a (kid-sized) chair at the gym! Yikes!

Still loves to play with jewelry...here she is in some "big girl" jewelry she got for her birthday! I think playing dress up will be a favorite thing in this house one day soon.

I don't know her height/weight at the moment...but that girl can eat like a grown man! I'm sure she's grown sooooo much since her 1yr appointment!

We sure are loving watching Mollie become a toddler! I'm sure it will continue to be quite an adventure!!!

Two Wonderful Weekends

2010-04-05T21:44:00.004-05:00

The past two weekends have been just wonderful.

First of all, Jason turned the big 3-0! Wahoo! My sweet boy is a thirty-something now. And ya know, he's taking it so well! He had his "quarter-life crisis" when he turned 27, is so over it, and welcomed 30 with opened arms.

We had the opportunity to celebrate with family and friends on Friday (March 26th- Jason's bday). We headed over to his mom and step-dad's house for our traditional birthday dinner with the fam (which is what we do for everyone's birthday). However, what Jason didn't know is that many others were waiting for him to arrive and a small family dinner turned into a fun surprise party! It was great, everyone hid, had blow horns, and yelled "surprise"; and Jason was actually surprised! It was super fun hanging out with everyone, eating yummy burgers, and enjoying some red velvet cake....mmmmmmmm..... The party continued on Saturday as we celebrated Jeff Kuhlers (Jason's bud) birthday and had more fun with friends, played ladder golf, guitar hero, and ate more yummy food. We then headed over to Jason's dad and step-mom's house, visited with his Gran Gran, aunt, and uncle, and enjoyed more yummy food. Yes, we ate well that weekend :o)

Happy birthday dear Jason....

That brings us to Easter weekend!

We started out the celebration with our Easter service at church, with a ROCKIN' praise set, by the way, and continued with the 2 year old Sunday School class. It was such a blessing being in there with them as we talked about the Easter story; it's amazing how much they understand and so sweet to hear them tell the story back to you. It's refreshing hearing the story from a childs perspective. And so sweet! We then spent the afternoon at the Scott's house, then the evening with the Fellers', hunting Easter eggs, playing ladder ball, visiting and enjoying our feasts!

Sweet cousins!

Here's one!

Pulling grass out of her basket!

Happy girl!

This Easter egg hunting is serious business...

And there's no better way to celebrate Easter than out in the beautiful sunshine!!! Warm, windless days are rare here in West Texas, so you better believe we spent the whole day outside! Quite a difference from the previous weekend...

The view down our street...yes that is brown sky!

I'm just reminded of how blessed I am to have an amazing husband, so many wonderful family and friends, and a God that loves even me. How thankful I am for what He did for us!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-22T18:35:00.002-05:00

Here are a few updates from the past few weeks:

At 1 year, 1 month, and 1 day old, Mollie Michelle took her first steps walking to her sweet little friend, Natalie! She and her momma were over joining us for dinner and Natalie was having such a good time exploring and walking all over the place, Mollie decided to join her! By no means is Mollie "all over the place" at this point, but she can walk! She certainly needs to work up some courage, though. This is a very cautious, careful little girl who prefers crawling because it's "safe". We'll just have to keep practicing and get better at it!

Mollie and her sweet friend Natalie!

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day! As most of you know, this is a big deal in the Fellers' home. Jason's proud of our Irish roots and my parents live in Shamrock, TX, where they celebrate this holiday in style! So how can we not be excited about wearing green?

I made Mollie's shirt! Fun! And look at those teeth!! hehe

We went to Shamrock this past weekend to enjoy the St. Patty's Day festivities. However, the weather had other plans...crazy wind, snow, and ice covered the area and canceled the parade and race (which I actually was going to run!!). So we hung out with the 'rents and all the other family and friends that joined us (Kyler brought about 10 people with him!!) the rest of the day, which was so much fun. That evening, we had the pleasure of listening to the Texas Crossroads Band perform in Shamrock! This is where my good 'ol dad rocked the drums and Jason jammed on the guitar/ vocals/ and harmonica. They did great and got the whole place dancing! They actually were opening for Trent Willmon (country artist out of Nashville), who was quite good. We had a great time listening, dancing, and staying out late (thanks Mom for watching Mollie!!)

Unfortunately, Mollie chose the night we stayed up late anyway to decide she didn't want to sleep in her pack-n-play. That girl kept me up till 3am! Goodness. We've got to work on this sleeping in other beds thing...it's starting to become an issue. Needless to say, we were exhausted, we all took long naps on Sunday, and are still feeling drained today. However, it was worth it :o) We had a blast this weekend. Good time with family, friends, and some great music. Can't wait till St. Patty's Day 2011!!

This pic says it all!!!

Also, she's in a forward facing car seat now! Such a big girl!

Here's a video of Mollie walking...sort of :o) If she's thinking about it, she won't go far. Otherwise, she'll just take off!

Tag!

2010-03-14T19:53:00.003-05:00

I've been tagged in this fun little game! Here are the rules:

1. Open your first photo folder on your computer.
2. Scroll to the tenth picture.
3. Post that picture and the story behind it.
4. Tag five or more people.

I tag...anybody that wants to do it :o)

Aaahhhh, this is a sweet 4D sonagram picture of my little Mollie Michelle! If I remember correctly, this was from about 20 or 24 weeks (gestational). I loved how she always had her little arm up by her face when she slept, which is just like I sleep! And her nose, I thought from the beginning, was my brother's nose! She's such a sweet little thing, even while in the womb.

Although, I think she's much more beautiful out of the womb :o)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-13T09:24:00.006-06:00

Here are a few updates from the past few weeks:

Mollie and her sweet friend Natalie!

I made Mollie's shirt! Fun! And look at those teeth!! hehe

This pic says it all!!!

Also, she's in a forward facing car seat now! Such a big girl!

Here's a video of Mollie walking...sort of :o) If she's thinking about it, she won't go far. Otherwise, she'll just take off!

13 Months!

2010-03-10T15:24:00.010-06:00

I still can't believe I have a one year old. I have to say it's been a blast and I'm amazed at how much Mollie's growing, developing, learning, etc. She continues to amaze me!

Here's what Mollie Michelle is up to at 13 months...

1. Still trying to walk...she still refuses to let go of your hand or the furniture or whatever, but she is gaining confidence and ability in this area! I have to say, she is a lot like me: very cautious and timid at trying new things sometimes. I think she's just perfecting her skills and will let go when she thinks they are good enough to show off! (Hopefully we don't have another perfectionist on our hands, though)

2. Into everything! Currently, her favorite thing to do is throw things out of drawers, baskets, bags...however, she's starting to enjoy putting things back in! I'm definitely encouraging that behavior...

Fun outfit :o)

3. Talking: She currently says ball, mama, dada, hi dad, more, dog, baby, butterfly (bu-bu), night night, nana (banana); she repeats some other words we say occasionally, and can sign "all done", "more", and "please". However, most of the time she's in deep conversation babbling away about something! Most of it is still indecipherable at this time.

4. Loves to hug! She's been hugging her babies, her Raffi, her blanket, my leg, and just about anything else she can get her hands on. It's very sweet!

5. Loves to snuggle! Lately, every time I get her out of bed she just wants to snuggle before putting her down to change her diaper. She lays her head on my shoulder and holds on with both arms. We could set there for a long time and she'd be quite content. I absolutely love this.

6. Trying things on: When Mollie comes across something clothing related, she likes to try it on by putting it on her head, behind her head, and on her belly. She also tries to put her shoes on! And sometimes food...

Trying on Mommy's bracelet and necklaces!

7. Taking things off: She can successfully remove her shoes, socks, bows, hats, etc. in record time...usually from the time we leave the house until we get to our destination, she has all these items removed. However, the other day I caught her with her pants off, too! She was just sitting there with everything removed except her shirt, which was button-down; otherwise I'm sure she would have figured out how to remove it!

8. Teeth: Mollie has 8 teeth now; 4 on top and 4 on bottom. She's been teething like crazy working on those 1-year molars...I've never seen so much drool in my life!!! We've had to bust out the bibs again, in fact. She has had some moments where she's clearly in a lot of pain and it's disrupted her sleep a little, too. Hopefully they'll break through soon and we can have some relief again.

Look closely and see all my teeth!

9. Appetite: This child MUST be going through some kind of growth spurt! I'm absolutely shocked at how much this little person can eat. And just when you think she's done, she says "MMMMMMMMMMMMMM" and wants some more! For example, a typical morning she'll eat a serving of oatmeal (regular, not infant cereal) with fruit (usually blueberries), a poached egg, glass of milk, and half of a banana or a clementine orange. Lately she's even been wanting more, but we've usually run out of time at that point and have to get going!

10. Dancing: I've caught her several times lately dancing to some kind of music...this usually involves her bouncing up and down or rocking back and forth if she's sitting. She especially likes the music her Leap Frog refrigerator magnets plays!

11. Good napper: Mollie continues to be a good napper...assuming those teeth don't get in the way, and she is at home :o) On a day that we're at home all day, she'll usually take a 2 hour nap, followed by another one in the afternoon. However, she has started the weaning process from the morning nap, which means the days we have no morning nap we can expect a 3-3.5 hour nap! However, when she isn't at home, sometimes this nap length is shortened. I guess there's nothing like your own bed!

Having fun after a nice long nap!

12. She likes other kids! I love sitting back and watching her observe other kids. She watches and smiles as they play! Sometimes she'll join them, other times just watch. However, the other day I watched her basically chase a two-year old boy around! She would crawl after him as fast as she could and he would run away squealing!! So cute! She certainly loves her cousin Maddox most of all, though, and absolutely lights up when he's around!

13. Turning into a toddler: This is bittersweet. Oh how I love my baby!!! But I guess a girl has to grow up sometime. I've noticed just little things about her that seem more toddler-like and less baby like; some facial expressions, sounds she makes, things she's interested in...and it's only going to get worse. However, she seems to only get sweeter! So I guess it's a good thing :o)

Having a Tea Party with Daddy! Such a big girl thing to do!

Cowtown!!

2010-03-02T13:59:00.010-06:00

I am a little behind getting this posted. But, oh what a wonderful weekend it was! We headed to Fort Worth for the Cowtown Marathon and to hang out with some of our favorite friends: Jocelyn, Philip, Levi, and Sarah!!

Friends!!!

First of all, Jason's passion for running and his 4+ months of marathon training finally paid off! He finished all 26.2 miles in 3 hours 27 min. That's just about where he set his goal for this race, and blew his last marathon time out of the park! Not only that, he finished 9th in his age division, and 75th overall....out of about 1200 marathon runners! Wahooo! Way to go Jason!

Philip ran the half-marathon and did awesome as well! I'm also completely impressed by his "fearlessness". He hadn't been able to train as he would have liked and finished strong anyway. Here I am afraid to run a silly little 5K without being in ideal running shape, and he ran 13!! Wow.

After the boys finished their run, we enjoyed lunch at the Flying Saucer, where they could enjoy a well-deserved beer, then headed to the Zoo! It was an absolutely beautiful day and it was so nice to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. The guys were able to walk around a lot to prevent getting stiff muscles, we were able to let the babies check out lots of animals and enjoy the fresh air, and we were able to enjoy each others company. It really was such a great day!

This was also Mollie's first plane ride! We decided to fly so that Jason didn't have to sit in a car for several hours after running that much...he found that out the hard way last time. She did great! We just gave her paci when it was time to take off (it was technically nap time anyway, so I didn't really break a rule) and she did just fine. She entertained herself by reading the Skymall magazine, her new quiet book, and playing with the ice in my beverage. On the way home, she even managed to make a couple of friends with the ladies sitting near us! I was so glad, because she had a bit of a rough time this weekend...possibly more upset than I've seen her yet! I think it was a combination of teething (molars), missing a nap or two, growth spurt, and just being out of her element. Whatever it was, it wasn't fun for any of us! Hopefully we didn't scare Sarah and Jason away from having children one of these days :o) I promise Sarah, it's not like that all the time!!!! On Monday afternoon, Mollie slept for 3 1/2 hours and woke up like a new woman. Back to normal.

I'm very thankful for our super fun weekend! I absolutely loved hanging out with everyone and hope we can do it again very soon!

And thanks for the extra pictures, Jocelyn :o)

Party Time!

2010-02-17T16:10:00.007-06:00

We celebrated Mollie's birthday on Saturday with some wonderful family and friends! We had such a good time, and I'm pretty sure Mollie did, too. I was a little concerned with her getting overwhelmed by the amount of people in our house, but really it seemed as though she just liked the attention! She did so good and we are so proud of her. Here are some pictures of her celebration!

Oh how fun, Mollie is 1!

Mollie in her "Birthday Suit!"

Playing with her favorite cousin, Maddox

Opening presents...

Cupcakes!

Yummy yummy!

Happy birthday dear Mollie...

Are you sure I can eat this?

Here I go!

MMMmmmmmm........

Messy messy messy! And you should have seen the floor...

Straight to the tub for you!

On another note, being 1 year old means 1 year vaccinations!! Yikes! We took Mollie in for her well check on Monday to find out the poor girl needed 5 shots :o( But she handled it so well; she cried hard, let her Daddy and I comfort her, then was just fine by the time we left! (Thanks goodness for bank holidays...Jason got to join us!) She's doing great developmentally and is doing all the things she needs to be. She's still sooooo close to walking, is saying several words, and eats and sleeps like a pro! What else could a parent want!? Here are Mollie's stats at 12 months :

- 20.3 lbs (25th percentile)

- 28 in. tall (25th percentile)

- big noggin (95th percentile!!!!)

She's got to put all those smarts somewhere, ya know! Here's to our growing girl!

ONE!

2010-02-11T13:42:00.007-06:00

That's right, we have a ONE YEAR OLD in the house (as of yesterday)! I can't believe it's already been a year. Every other mom I've talked to told me to just enjoy Mollie being a baby because it'll go by so fast- and they are so right! I've been so excited for her to do new things and move on through those developmental phases, but I think I've had enough "growing" for one year. It's hard on a momma! I already miss my "baby", but sure do love what she's becoming.

Here are some things we love about one-year-old Mollie:

-she loves to snuggle as she first wakes up...she loves to snuggle as she's getting ready to sleep

-she has a huge smile that shows all her teeth...and the cutest pouty lips when she's sad.

-how she loves, kisses, and hugs her baby dolls (and us)...but she won't let us hold her like a baby anymore (usually).

-when she struts around the living room with her little stroller like it's no big deal that she's walking...when she hangs on to your fingers for dear life when she can't understand why on earth we'd let go of her while she's walking.

-how she talks in conversations to herself as she's playing...how she won't say a thing when you try to get her to.

-how she uses a big girl sippy cup like a pro...how she still likes you to hold her cup for you and feed it to her like a bottle sometimes.

-how she says "uuummmmmmm" when she wants a bite or sees something potentially yummy...how she says "nanananana" when you wipe her face (aka No No!).

-when she inhales while laughing and makes a sweet little sound...or when she screams a high-pitched, ear piercing scream when she's upset.

-how she obediently helps "clean up" after bath and put her paci away after naps (yep, paci's are for bedtime only now!!!)...and when she looks you straight in the eye and refuses to do what you've just asked.

-how she gets so giddy and excited when her daddy comes home from work...or when sometimes the only person she wants is her mommy.

-how she looks exactly like her daddy...but acts exactly like her mommy.

-how she's gaining more and more independence every day...how she still needs us so desperately.

Mollie, we love you dearly and are so glad God brought you to us! You've made our lives so full of joy and we can't wait to see what each new year brings! Happy birthday little one!

Look at how much she's grown...

Eleven Months!!

2010-01-10T10:11:00.005-06:00

Oh my sweet girl just keeps growing and growing! Eleven months have gone by...that means almost 1 year, which means almost 5 years, which means she's almost headed to kindergarten, then she'll be having sleepovers, playing sports, driving, graduating....yikes. Maybe I should just slow down and stop worrying about her growing up and just enjoy her being a sweet baby girl! And let me tell ya, I sure do enjoy it. Even though she won't let you hold her like a baby anymore unless she's sick or really sleepy...anyway, here's what Mollie Michelle is up to at 11 months!

1. CRAWLING!!! Yep, she can do it. I was certain she'd completely skip this developmental milestone, but one day about two weeks ago she just decided to go for it. It's kinda funny; it's half normal crawl and half bear crawl. She's decided she can get a little more oomph out of her motions doing it that way I guess. Let the explorations begin!

2. Almost walking: She's continued to strengthen her abilities in this area and loves to walk with you holding her hands or pushing her new baby doll stroller. I love watching her walk with that thing. We've decided it looks like she's window shopping; she walks around with a very content, pleasant look on her face, (as if she's humming a little tune to herself) and stops to look at things on the shelf, then moves on to the next new item in her view. Her confidence in this area is growing, too, and I'm sure she's VERY close to letting go and taking steps on her own!

Dressed up for a day out on the town!

3. Spitting up: GONE! (Well, almost) I can't even believe I haven't had to put a bib on her in weeks. It was like over the course of a week, she went from soaking several bibs and burp rags a day to only having a little dribble here and there. I have no idea what it was that made it stop, I guess she just grew out of it, but it is SO NICE! I can handle a little dribble here and there as opposed to everyone in her vicinity smelling of vomit. Now you can see what's on the front of all her cute little shirts :o)

4. Talking/babbling: She's quite a talker, especially when she's very interested in what she's playing with. She's still talking in her "sentences" and has added a few new syllables. I hear "Dadadadadada" a lot, and this week she's really started saying "mamamama" a lot, too. I think that's mostly because she's been sick and only says Mama when she's really mad or doesn't feel good. She's recently added "nnnnnga" to her vocabulary. Not sure what this means yet, but we've decided it sounds like she's speaking some kind of German dialect when she repeats this syllable over and over. Other things she continues to say: Hi Daddy!, uh-oh (haven't heard it in a while though), and she'll sometimes mimic what we say, though those words haven't become a permanent part of her vocab yet.

5. Really loves books: This we've known since she was born; she's always been quite content sitting in your lap reading books before bedtime and naps. However, lately she's started to show preference for books as opposed to other things. For example: when we're reading before bed, instead of either squirming to get down or getting distracted by my necklace or something, she's reaching over and grabbing another book to read. Another example: out of all the presents she opened over Christmas, she squealed with delight when she opened a gift and books were there! I have several books at her reach in the living room and she'll crawl over and pull those out to "read"...she'll babble while turning the pages and have a "deep thought" look on her face. I hope this continues!

New book from Santa!

6. First doctors visit for being sick: Unfortunately, this week we had our first (two) visits to the doctor for being sick. The poor kid had a fever all week and was VERY lethargic and fussy, but with no other symptoms. Since the fever lasted for more than 3 days, they had to rule out a urinary track infection, which involved a catheter and a tearful momma :o( It made me sad that they had to do something rather invasive, but we at least had to rule it out. No UTI was present, but then she developed a stuffy nose and cough. So we're going on day 6 of being quarantined. Her fever is down now, so I think we'll be ok to venture back out in public tomorrow.

This baby did NOT feel good!

7. First weekend away from Mom and Dad: As you may have read in the last post, we went away to celebrate Jason's (early) birthday child-free. She stayed home with her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly and they took great care of her while we were gone. We even did ok with out her :o) More weekends with grandparents are sure to come!! Y'all just get ready!

8. Almost weaned from nursing: At first, I had no idea how long breastfeeding would last for us, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. Turns out, it's worked out quite well for us and I'm glad we've been able to keep it going this long. For the past 2 months, Mollie's been supplemented with formula, too, and we've gradually increased the formula and decreased the nursings. We're now down to once a day and plan to be weaned by her birthday! Time for big-girl sippy cups only!

9. Fine tuning her fine motor skills: Mollie continues to figure out more things to do with her little hands. Back to her love of books, she is mastering the art of turning pages. She does a great job with the board books. This morning I sat and watched her turn pages in a magazine I had laying on the table: with that look of deep thought back on her face, she very gently and carefully used her thumb and finger to turn one page at a time.

10. Teeth: Mollie now has 3 teeth, all on the bottom. She's very close to having 4 on the bottom, and her top 4 teeth look like they could break through any day. Sounds painful if you ask me! So we've been giving her frozen fruit in her mesh feeder with her meals so that she can gum away those teething pains! She loves it and it works :o)

Two (visible) teeth and counting!

11. Kisses: Mollie still loves to give kisses. I think it is the sweetest thing ever. Even though she gets drool all over you, it's still sweet. She got two baby dolls for Christmas and the first thing she does each time is give them kisses while saying "ooohhhh". Is the nurturer already coming out in her? Is this evidence of gender roles already playing out? Did we teach her this or is it inherent? Hahaha, all those child development classes are coming back to mind and it's fun having a live example to observe!

Ooohhh sweet kisses!

Well, we sure our proud of our little Mollie and feel that she's on the verge of having some major breakthroughs in her development! I'm very excited to see what she'll accomplish next. Bring on the birthday cake, this girl's almost one!!!

Having a great Sunday afternoon watching football with her daddy!!

Happy Birthday Jason!

2010-01-07T20:08:00.007-06:00

I know what you're thinking: Happy birthday Jason?? Wait, that can't be right. His birthday isn't until March! Yes, I know that. However, we decided to celebrate his big 3-0 birthday in style! That meant doing it in January.

Jason's always told me that he wishes his birthday was in the fall. I assume that has something to do with football season. I guess he's always wanted a football themed birthday party?? Who knows. But that's what he got this year!! Anyone who knows Jason well knows that he loves those Dallas Cowboys. He's been a fan through the good times and the bad, yet has never been to a game. So we thought, why not send him to a game for his 30th birthday?

I thought this was a great opportunity for a big surprise. I love surprises, and I love it when other people are surprised. So we (all the parents were in on it) kept it a secret for a few months, got the whole weekend planned out (including some last minute snafus due to the NFL changing game times on me!!!) , and Jason found out just in time to get excited and prepare himself for the big game!

We left on the 2nd and drove to Fort Worth to meet up with our friends Jocelyn, Philip, and Levi. They were gracious enough to let us stay at "Chateau de Boyer" and join us for dinner! Thanks guys, you rock :o)

Loving on Levi

Dinner was half of Jason's surprise. Any of you ever heard of Texas de Brazil? I'm sad I didn't take any pictures while we were there, but it was amazing. The most awesome "salad" bar I've ever seen (I could have easily enjoyed several meals from the selections they had), and the most delicious meat (pork, chicken, lamb, beef) I've ever had. They bring it to you on huge skewers and slice off as much as you want, as many times as you want. Needless to say we were miserable in the end, but enjoyed every bit of it. It's definitely Jason's kind of place.

We then waddled home with our full bellies and watched TTU win the Alamo Bowl! It was a great night.

Pre-meal photo shoot!

The next day we made our way over to the new Cowboys Stadium (wow, by the way) and tried to soak it all in.

We were that close!!

Impressive. We made our way down to our awesome seats (row 13, lowest section right behind the visitor sideline) and enjoyed every minute of it. The Cowboys even pulled off a win over the Philadelphia Eagles! It was a great night to be there and I'm glad we had the opportunity.

Great view!!!

The screen was so big sometimes I forgot to watch the game live!

I'm pretty sure this trip was "30th birthday worthy". When Jason got tears in his eyes while we were waiting on the game to start, I knew he was a happy boy :o)

Having a great time at the game!

On another note, this was also our first weekend away from Mollie! She stayed home with her Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly, and enjoyed an evening with Briana. It felt great knowing she was in good hands because it was hard enough to leave her behind! I think it was good for all of us; we all had a great time. But we sure did miss her!

Happy early birthday sweet boy! I love you and your new Cowboys hat!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T20:25:00.006-06:00

Yes, Christmas and New Years have come and gone. However, we've been quite busy so I'm just now getting around to an update. Here's what the holiday season was like in our house:

- Christmas Eve we battled the ice and snow trying to get around town; it was slick and cold!! Sadly, our Christmas Eve services at church (and at most churches around town) were canceled due to the ice, so we spent the evening with Granny, which is always nice. Snow and ice aside, we did make our way to City Bank where Santa was eagerly awaiting to wish Mollie a merry 1st Christmas! She wasn't very impressed, to say the least.

Dear Santa, you are scary. Love, Mollie.

- Christmas day we woke up to celebrate Jesus' Birthday as a family of 3! Then we ventured back out into the cold and headed to Mary Ann and Paul's (Gigi and Papa) house for a day of fun, gingerbread houses, family, laziness, presents, and good food. It's way more fun to open presents now that Maddox and Mollie are around; they get so excited...even if it is just about paper and boxes! Unfortunately, I left my camera at home so I didn't capture any of the good stuff :o(

Stockings, made by my most talented mother :o)

ohhh, paper I'm ALLOWED to tear!!!

Check out my new big-girl booster chair!

- Sunday we enjoyed some time with Bruce and Kelly (Pop Pop and Nanny) at their lovely new house! It sure was nice and even though the house is new, it already felt so "homey". Santa made a stop there, as well, and we all ate way too much food. We had a fun time watching all the kids (old and young) play with their new toys! Once again, I forgot my camera. Oops.

- New years day my mom and dad (Momma Shelly and Poppa Kelly) drove down to celebrate Christmas/Dad's Birthday/Kyler's Birthday with us. It was a blast spending time with everyone, including Kyler and his girlfriend Samantha. We enjoyed building another gingerbread house (deemed "Trailer Park Gingerbread" because of how "lovely" it looked), making paninis with our new panini grill (yum), watching lots of football, playing with all of our new toys, and watching Mollie play with hers!

Mollie's rockin her new outfits!

More paper!!! This was an ongoing theme over the past couple of weeks...

Trailer Park Gingerbread

Merry Christmas Brother!!

Merry Christmas Momma Shelly!!

Happy Birthday Dad!! He's 52 and Fabulous :o)

On the 2nd, we enjoyed yet another celebration...however, it was awesome enough to deserve it's own post! And I'm sleepy, so you'll have to check back later for the scoop!

Ten Months!

2009-12-18T14:14:00.006-06:00

Our sweet girl has finally met the 10 month mark (about a week or so ago, but I'm just a bit behind)! Here are 10 things Mollie Moo (what I tend to call her) is up to at 10 months:

1. Sporting two precious teeth, and working on some more! She's definitely teething right now, and I believe going through a growth spurt! Needless to say, she's a bit grumpier than usual and not sleeping as well...I've been listening to her play/fight off sleep in her crib for the past few days, which is not good for a girl who usually goes right down to sleep!

Happy girl in her Christmas jammies!

2. Still slightly immobile :o) This child just does not want to crawl! She'll get to her hands and knees, then right back where she came from. She has absolutely no interest in going any further. However, this brings me to our next point...

3. Almost walking! Her lack of interest in crawling has been replaced with a very strong interest in walking! She's great at standing holding on to objects, has started cruising just a little bit, and can (very awkwardly and clumsily) walk with you holding her hands (or pushing a box around the living room!). I think this kid just might skip the whole crawling thing and move right along to bigger and better things.

Did daddy have to go back to work so soon??

4. Sporting a growing vocabulary! She can say mama, dada, baba (whatever that means), uh oh, can wave bye bye (now with her wrists and fingers, not just her arms), sign "all done", and I swear she says "Hi daddy!" She also is working on several other syllables that are just babble right now, but it sounds like she's talking in sentences sometimes.

5. Giving kisses! This is my favorite thing she does right now. If you ask her to give you kisses, she'll open her mouth wide and basically lick your face leaving a nice big wet spot. She'll even say "ooohhh" while she does it. She can give hugs, too. This is basically the same thing as a kiss, but without the licking. Today she pulled herself over to me, over some toys, with great effort just to give me a kiss. So sweet!

6. Working on blowing...The other day I thought we'd see if she can blow, since her first birthday is nearing and all, it would be nice if she could blow out her own candles! She can do it! Probably not in a very effective manner, but she can blow on command :o)

7. Can help "clean up"... When Mollie takes a bath, she likes to play with all of her little bath squirt toys. When it's time to get out, we sing the "Clean Up" song and put all the toys back where they belong before we get out. She can now help by putting a few toys back in the basket! It does take a little coaxing, but she does it. I'm proud of her for listening and working on obedience one little toy at a time!

8. Growing, growing, growing! As mentioned before, I'm pretty sure she's going through a growth spurt right now. For the past few days, she seems to keep eating and eating and gets MAD when you don't get it there fast enough! I think she weighs about 18 pounds right now, and is slowly growing out of her clothes! It's a good thing Santa Clause is coming next week...

9. Mollie is officially scared of Santa Clause. She met him for the first time on the Polar Express, the train we took to the North Pole the other day :o) From the moment we walked on the train, she was excited, giddy, bouncing with joy at all the pretty lights, songs, and kids everywhere! However, by the time Santa came to say hello, she was getting a little tired, and his beard was really big and white, so a few tears were necessary. However, the Polar Express was a lot of fun and it sure was cool to see all the kids in their jammies eagerly awaiting to see Santa. And it absolutely melted my heart to see Mollie and cousin Maddox so excited!

On our way to the North Pole via the Polar Express

There's the North Pole!

10. Mollie made her theatrical debut last week. She was asked to play baby Jesus in the live nativity scene that our church puts on! So if she was playing baby Jesus, guess who got to play Mary and Joseph?? Yep, that would be us. Luckily, it was only for one night of the three night event because it was COLD! But we had Mollie nice and bundled up and she had a great time greeting all the visitors coming to see the newborn King. She even fell asleep in the middle of it! Such a good kid. I don't even know if she saw the ENORMOUS camel giving rides around Bethlehem! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. Evidently a camera isn't a very authentic part of Jesus' birth story, so I didn't have it with me. Someone took pictures though, maybe they'll resurface soon.

I think that's about all that's happening in Mollie's world right now. This little 10 month old is a HUGE blessing to us and I seriously can't imagine life without her, or hardly even remember what it was like before her! We're very thankful for our little Mollie Moo and can't wait to see what God has in store for her!

Here's our pretty little girl playing dress up :o)

Mollie's Friend

2009-12-02T14:17:00.005-06:00

One of Mollie's favorite things to do is play with her "friend" in the mirror. It's sure to always bring a smile to her face! Mom and Dad had a full length mirror that she loved. Here's Mollie and her friend!

Her hand looks just like mine!

Mommy, look who came to play with me!

Ooohhh sweet kisses!

Oh look, I can do that, too!

Patty cake patty cake bakers man!

If I could only get her in my mouth...

She played this game for quite a long time and it kept her very entertained. Another plus, she got lots of good practice standing up!

26 Days of Thankfulness...days 25, 26

2009-11-30T21:42:00.005-06:00

The last two days of my thankfulness posts are a little late, but that's because I've had a wonderful, relaxing 5 days without worrying too much about email, phone, blogs... It was nice.

1. I'm thankful for the opportunity to get out of town! We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Shamrock, TX. Even though Shamrock is only about 3 hours away, it's still away; far enough to be considered "out of town", but not too far. We had a blast being out in the country where it's quiet and you can see ALL the stars, enjoying all of mom's home cooking, and just being with family. It truly was a retreat. Mollie absolutely LOVED the time with the grandparents and I'm so glad she got to spend so much time with them this weekend!

2. I'm thankful for my family! Over the years I've become aware of exactly how important family is, and who I actually consider my family. Just because you're related doesn't make you "family", and just because you're not related doesn't mean you're not family! After considering all of that, I'm very thankful for my family. I've truly been blessed. I was reminded just how much my family ROCKS this weekend! Also, I can't tell you how blessed I am to have great in-laws. I married into a family that made me feel welcome, like one of their own, from the very start. I'd go into details on just how much I love all of them and why they are so awesome, but I'll save the sappiness for another day. Just take my word for it! I'm excited about raising a family of my own because we're a part of a good one.

Back to Thanksgiving...we had a weekend full of fun including: Lots of great food! We ate a lot, and often, and I'm now trying to convince my stomach that it doesn't need that much food every day.

The boys recovering from Thanksgiving dinner with a football game

Lots of hanging out and visiting! We got to do lots of sitting around and talking, watching football, and playing with Mollie.

Helping with laundry

Being silly with Uncle Kyler!

Bread dough ornaments!! We brought back the tradition and made ornaments till our backs ached and our fingers were covered in paint.

Celebrated birthdays! That's right, Momma Shelly celebrated 51 years on Friday!!! Wahooo! We love our Momma Shelly :o)

The birthday girl in her new sweater!

Shot a deer! Yep, Jason and Kyler woke up early every day to do some hunting and Jason finally got one after Kyler went home. Sorry brother :o( But Jason was sure excited to take down his first deer! He and Dad field dressed it and took it to be processed, so here in a few weeks come on over and enjoy some deer jerky!

The great and mighty hunter!

That's what Thanksgiving looks like in the Fellers' Family!

26 Days of Thankfulness...days 23, 24

2009-11-24T13:28:00.003-06:00

Today I'm thankful for West Texas!

I've grown up here, still live here, and it doesn't look like we're leaving any time soon. As much as I've wanted to move away at times, there's just no place like home. It's just a great place to live. Beautiful sunrises/sunsets, mild weather (mostly), not too many natural disasters (except for tornadoes which I find fascinating!!), and a somewhat small-town feel. Although I truly grew up in a small town (good 'ol Wilson, TX!), Lubbock isn't so big and uninviting that I couldn't make it feel like home, but it has all the modern conveniences that a bigger city should (except for some specific stores that I've love to have nearby...pottery barn...) It definitely has the best of both worlds.

However, I've come to realize that no matter where I live, as long as I have my Mollie and my Jason, I'm home. :o)

26 days of Thankfulness...days 21, 22

2009-11-22T20:07:00.003-06:00

Today I'm thankful for football!

During the fall, you will rarely find our tv on anything else other than a football game, or a Saturday that we're not cheering on our Red Raiders and tailgating. Then Sunday we're watching and napping to a variety of NFL games. I can't even believe I've found myself enjoying football and even catch myself watching it when Jason's not around. I even know what's going on! I remember being so irritated when we'd have football on when I was growing up, but somewhere along the way I've morphed into a fan (thanks to Jason!).

I've come to realize that football is more than just a game. It's become a family activity, a tradition, a fun "thing" that we can all enjoy together. I can't tell you how much I look forward to Red Raider Football games when we get to hang out with the family, and now getting to bring Mollie makes it even more fun. I had a great time watching Tech beat OU, Dallas beat the Redskins (barely), and taking my Sunday afternoon nap to the faint sound of a game. We don't quite know what to do with ourselves when football season is over...I guess just look forward to next year!

Enjoying some football a few weeks ago :o)