Beauty School Drop Out

Today we went to the good ol' YSB to take some pictures for the facebook page we're trying to get back into order. Of course when Molly's adorable ass is running around it's hard to resist taking pictures of her too.

We of course also had to go and see what was happening at Plaza Paint. She'll probably take after me and spend the majority of her childhood at our family business'. If she goes the way of her Aunt Meredith she'll be putting in heavy hours of hard work by the age of 10.

Hanging out at the shampoo bowls.

"Can I get a shampoo please"

Visiting with Aunt Meredith at the front desk.

Getting some color samples at the paint store.

Blue and Purple, I approve!

It's been interesting to watch in the past two months what a huge difference walking has made in her development. It's like overnight she's a walking talking toddler who can go anywhere and do anything, or at least attempt it. Of course when things don't go her way, she is also capable of throwing a tantrum or temper tampers as my brother THINKS they're called. I need you guys to let me know if any of you have ever heard of that term before. It's temper TANTRUMS not temper tampers...he's crazy. I will admit though that Temper Tamper is a much cuter word, so I think we'll go with it. He's always been good at inventing words.

I'm starting to realize that about 75% (made that up) of Molly's pictures are of her eating in her high chair. I guess it's because she is always doing something I think is clever in there. It's probably also because her chair keeps her in a stationary place for more than a second, so it's easier to take pictures of her there. Otherwise I'm chasing her, trying to snap my fingers, whistle...whatever I can think of to do to get her attention. I'll finish with a series of Molly in her chair.

I'm not quite sure why, but almost every meal ends with at least one foot on the tray. She's also taken to trying to eat with her feet as well. I may have had something to do with this. One day I stuck a chunk of banana on her toe while she was eating...whoops.

One of the benefits of having a husband in the farming industry is the fresh produce. Jonny brought home some amazing corn the other day, and it was a big hit with Molly too. It's amazing how much better things are when they come straight from the field or better yet our garden. Actually it isn't that amazing at all, it makes perfect sense.

We don't do baby food much anymore, but if I'm slacking on cooking dinner, or if she just isn't into what we're having, we still give her a jar here and there. Well today she was trying to drink from the jar, so Jonny had the genius idea of giving her a straw and letting her drink her peas that way. She didn't drink too much, but it was pretty funny that she went for it at all.

Slurp!

Yogi

Ugh I've been such a slacker! Must...keep...blogging...Usually when I don't post it's because I've also been slacking in the photography department, but this time I've just been lazy. Of course now I have a ton of pictures that I want to get on here.

Lately Molly's been all about new perspectives. She enjoys looking under things, just to see what's going on, and if nothings available to look under, she just looks under herself. It cracks me up because she loves it if you get down and look at her and of course she loves to wave at you from between her legs. Super Freaking Cute! She's going to be a little Yogi just like her aunt Cassie

Downward Dog

She's also still really into cups and now that she's figured out where water comes from, she's all about trying to fill her cup up.

Two weeks ago, (That's how bad of a blogger I've been) we went to Granny Kathy's house for a bbq. The highlight for me were Kevin's awesome ribs, the highlight for Molly were the turtles. I don't think it really sunk in that these were real live turtles (well I suppose they're actually Tortoises but do we really need to explain that to a one year old?) to her "tut tles" are little bright green plastic things that she plays with in the bathtub, but I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually.

Standoff with the turtle.

Getting some love from aunt Cassie.

Hanging out with Granny.

Molly's hair has been getting longer and thicker and the other day when I was trying to clean crap (not literally...although I wouldn't rule that completely out as a possibility) from lunch out of her hair, I gave her a little spike. She was trying to squeeze as much water as possible out of a wet paper towel, which is why she has that little puckered up face.

If you click on this to see the big version, you can check out all of Molly's teeth. She's still working hard on the laterals (proper name courtesy of Ramsey) but they haven't popped through yet.

Last Wednesday, Ramsey and Grayson came over to visit. Grayson and Molly are the cutest when they're together. Grayson is 6 months older so he's at that "mine" stage and Molly is completely oblivious to his distress which makes it pretty funny to watch.

Playing in the baby cage.

I've gotten pretty good at capturing Grayson crying, but this one is probably my best.

"I like you better when you're in and I'm out."

I'll end the post with a bonus picture of Molly looking peaceful. Trust me, it didn't last for long.

Dining Al Fresco

It was such a nice day yesterday that we spent most of our time outside in the yard. Since we were already there, Molly took her meals outside as well. The other day I bought her some of her very own cutlery, and she's been doing pretty well with it. She's always been all about trying to use the spoon herself, but the fork has pretty much blown her mind with the potential it has for not only eating...but destruction.

here's a video of Molly working the fork:

Porch Dining with Molly:

Jonny has his garden in full swing again, we already have squash that's ready to go and we'll soon have other awesome things too. If I remember correctly, the squash will go crazy and that's all we'll eat for like 5 months. Molly used to like veggies and she'll still tolerate them, but slowly she's starting discover all of the awesome things we've been holding out on her and deciding that maybe she'd rather eat those thing instead. She does however like hanging out in the garden since there is plenty of dirt to mess with. Here she is amidst the beans.

Molly is still a "techie" baby and loves anything that has a battery or a cord. Here she is messing with Daddy's headphones.

Now that Molly is a year old, technically she should be chugging down the cow's milk, happily leaving my milk behind. While she has been starting to come around to drinking cow's milk here and there, I have dug us into a hole in that nursing is strongly linked to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret it at all, and as of now I don't even think we have a seriously weaning issue on our hands. It's just that my mom keeps saying that she remembers just sort of trailing off around a year without any fuss or fanfare. I'm having a hard time seeing how it's going to work like that. Secretly, I do have the fear that this video is going to be us: (warning: this video could be disturbing to some...it's meant to be funny though, so lighten up!)

Well maybe not, Doc says to wrap up nursing and potty training before the prom, so I'm going to try and stick to that schedule!

Easter #2

Molly has survived another Easter, although there were some rough patches for sure. Unfortunately today and yesterday she's been a little out of sorts. Don't know if it's teething, nasty baby shots, or what, but she has been a little moody. To be fair, she did have to keep up with us through 3 separate Easter events. The morning Egg hunt at my parents, an afternoon picnic with the Burgess' and their family and Dinner with Jonny's family. The interesting thing about it though, is that somehow this doesn't seem to come across in the pictures, we actually have some very cute Easter pictures for the books! I have to say that for a one year old, she seemed to have a pretty good concept of Easter Egg hunt. One year olds aren't really famous for their ability to follow directions and maintain interest in one thing for very long, but somehow she was able to pick up eggs and put them in her basket, and then take them out and then put them back in...and then take them out again. You get it.

Putting all her eggs in one basket, tsk tsk!

Yea, I don't feel so hot

These other pictures are just a mish mash of the previous week.

Molly loves her new cubbies in our built in shelving.

Hanging out on the left side:

and on the right side:

Molly loves snack time, and so do the dogs. Molly's take: "one for Molly, 12 for the dogs" Are Kix part of a nutritious canine diet?

We Finally got Molly's birthday swing put up and she LOVES it. Thanks Granny!

I've never been much for school spirit (we have zero UofA paraphernalia) but I have to say I love Molly's little Prin Onsie from Uncle Chris and Aunt Stephanie.

Go Panthers!

Published

I received my hard bound blog book the other day and I am so excited about it! I highly recommend blog2print.com it turned out just as I imagined it. When I first looked into the services a few months ago I was disappointed because they didn't keep the format, so none of my captions were with my pictures, but they have since added the option to "snapshot" the blog and leave the formatting the same (although as you may remember, my formatting was a little "raw" as Michaela called it at the beginning). I also love that it includes all of the comments that everyone has made throughout the year, pretty nifty! I'm so pleased that we will have the blog to thumb through in the years to come.

Front

Back

A peek inside

In other Molly news, Molly had quite the weekend. It started out with a fun birthday party for her new buddy Jadon on Sat. My friend Allysia was in town and had a party for her son at her father's house. It was great to see her and to meet the adorable birthday boy. She also had the opportunity to hang out with her old buddy Grayson, a good time as always!

The 3 of us with the kiddos.

Jadon says "loosen up guys!"

Molly says "Jadon's right! I came to party!"

On Sunday Molly met another new friend, Jaq. My brother's friends Gayle and Cesar were in town and they stopped by to introduce us to Jaq and to meet Molly. Jaq is quite the golfer and gave Molly some tips on how to improve her game. They're pretty cute!

I'll finish with this picture of Molly I took a couple days ago. Molly now has a pretty good understanding of how the world around her works. She may not be able to execute all of the tasks she wants to, but that isn't stopping her from trying. Some examples are, her obsession with shoes and socks (she's been bringing me my slippers and "putting" them on my feet for a couple months now), brushing her hair and teeth, and as this picture shows, using keys to open doors, such a clever girl!

Tee Time!

We bought Molly the clubs at Christmas, but really, what can a baby do with golf clubs if she can't walk yet? Well she's mover now and Dad has been itching to get them out and get her started on her "lessons". She was really into it, and it's kind of funny that when I'm scanning through the pictures I took, it seems as though she kind of knows what she's doing. I didn't get that impression while watching it in real life.

So big and so strong!

"Why don't you improve your lie a little Molly?" "Yes, yes, Winter rules"

"which end do I use?"

Trying to teach her a proper grip...ha!

It seems like Dad's work better

We are now officially living in the new old house which has been fantastic. I'm having a hard time believing I could have lived as long as I did without a dishwasher, so that alone is making my life awesome. I am however hoping that cabinet guy brings doors for the cabinets soon because having a 1 year old and no locked cabinets is like having a tornado blow through your kitchen and bathroom everyday. I keep the really bad stuff out of reach obviously, but it doesn't change that she gets everything out of the cabinets and places it all in various spots around the house. Actually "place" is too delicate a word for what she does. I do want to get up some pictures of the house soon, but I was kind of hoping the cabinets would be completed before I did that, however it's been another week with nothing to show, so I might have to just put up some "so far" pictures. Here is one of Molly taking a bath in her giant tub.

I haven't ever really been able to get Molly to wear bows. I guess it never occurred to me to do it when she was really little since she really didn't have any hair and now that she does she refuses to keep it in for a length of time. Anyhow, she does look pretty cute with a bow and so I attempted to get some bow pictures today. I wish she would wear them, they look pretty cute!

Fast Forward 2 seconds later...ripping it off her head, Oh well!