Sunday, February 8, 2009

Farmers Market

Saturday we spent a beautiful day at a local farmers market and Trader's Village. Back in the day Trader's Village had a ton of craft and antique booths... today it's more of a junky flea market. Molly tried to say "Hi" to lots of kids or pet their dogs, (yes people take their dogs to the flea market) but got sad because none of the kids spoke English. Luckily the guy selling bunnies did speak English and invited Molly to snuggle a bunny.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Happy Birthday, Davis!

Friday was Davis' 4th Birthday and all the neighborhood kids met up at the park for a little play date. The next day Davis had his birthday party at a local bouncy place..

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

When Molly Grows Up...

Molly has been talking A LOT about when she grows up. She has some big plans. She is going to marry her little Star Wars friend, Hayden, and they are going to have six kids, all with Star Wars names. I can't remember them all, but five are: Luke, Leia, Asoka, Amadala and Yoda (she said they are going to name the shortest kid Yoda). She has decided that she is going to work with Daddy at Grainger and also run the Halloween stores while Hayden stays home taking care of all six kids - and I've been told that I will come help out when Hayden needs a break.

Whenever we tell Molly "no" to something, she adds that to her list of things that her kids will be allowed to do. They are going to be allowed to eat at McDonald's all the time... and not because the food is better, but the toys are. She's also going to allow them to eat candy whenever they want and they can jump on any pieces of furniture they choose. She will just buy new sofas when the old ones get lumpy and beat-down. Yesterday she told me that her kids won't have to take naps and when I explained that kids get really grumpy and cry a lot when they don't take naps, she said that she'd just make a silly face to get them to stop crying.

Molly is currently filling up a sticker reward chart in order to earn a Leapster, and she told me that her kids will all get their own Leapsters and any other toys they want whenever they want them. The only thing they aren't going to be allowed to do is break their toys and color on the walls.

She's got it all figured out. I am glad she will be working at Grainger since they have such a great benefits package because God knows my grandkids are going to have rotten teeth and be on the pudgy side. I am sure they will also be making use of the mental health benefits thanks to their Star Wars themed names, especially poor little Yoda.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Soccer!

Molly had her first soccer practice tonight! For weeks Paul has been SO excited and last night we went shopping for all of Molly's gear. I was shocked when she picked out pink and black soccer shoes - there weren't any green or purple ones, but I was still surprised that she was happy with such a "girlie color". Like I said, Daddy was very excited so Molly also got shin guards, extra socks, shorts, practice cones and a matching pink and black bag for her gear. I even had to talk Paul out of getting her a soccer hair scrunchy at the register! Oh and he's also decided that all her gear must match and it all has to be Adidas.

Tonight's practice was so much fun. The kids had to vote on their team name and when the coach asked them to vote for "Bears" or "Cougars" nearly all of the kids voted twice so Paul suggested the "Bear Cats" which seemed like a good compromise.
Molly did much better than we expected and only used her hands twice! She was also dribbling the ball quite well by the end of the hour. It will be interesting to see how the kids react to only playing with one ball - seems like they are all very happy to be practicing with their own individual balls right now! The first game is next Saturday and we're very excited!
Molly and Amy - they are in the same class at school and were excited to find out they are on the same soccer team!

Our Family

Just wanted to share a picture of our family that Molly brought home from school today!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Molly and Rylee

This weekend was jam-packed. The Halloween convention was in Houston this year, and although it was nice not to have to travel to Chicago for once, it was kind of a pain in the butt making our way downtown three days in a row. The one bright spot was having Nicole, her daughter, aunt and a friend in town for the convention. Monday we all spent the day on my side of town and the girls had an absolute blast together. They stayed with us Monday night - I always love going to bed with a house full of friends and family!

Molly and Rylee enjoying one of Tia Loula's famous bubble baths. This one was extra special because we filled the tub with glow sticks!Not a great picture, but you get the idea!Two snugly little friendsBefore they left, we had to update the girls' measurements. Molly is tall for her age, and Rylee is 9 months YOUNGER!! You can see how much Rylee has grown since her July visit. Can you believe they are exactly the same height?!?Tia Loula, me and Nicole

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Julia's Rose

While Nicole and her aunt, Tia Loula, were here for Julia's funeral, Tia Loula came up with the idea of planting a memorial garden for Julia. We decided that in the spring I would start working on the flower bed in the back corner of our yard. Last week I was looking out the window and noticed a beautiful pink rose in full bloom in that very flower bed. The crazy part is that we've never had roses in that flower bed, nor is there any sign of a rose bush now. Just one stem growing straight out of the ground with the most gorgeous bloom on top. It made me smile and now I can't wait to start working on Julsie's garden as soon as the weather warms up a bit!
This was the perfect week for the rose to bloom, Julia would have been 9 months old on the 21st.