SPRING?

Molly found a creative way to wear her new Kelly's Kids dress and stay warm!

Beginning to look like Spring...

The tiniest little pink Wayfarers. I can't handle the adorableness!

We are beyond ready for Spring to come and to stay for good. I don't remember being this impatient in past years, but then again I don't remember it being so cold, either! During one of our snowed in days, I tackled Molly's closet. This is no small feat. It is no secret that I LOVE dressing up my Molly Dolly, so there are a lot of clothes packed into a teeny tiny 1940's closet! After 3 hours of sorting, rearranging and labeling, we were done. I put most of her Spring clothes in her closet and it has been such torture for Molly. She wants to wear those Spring dresses so bad- but it is still so cold. Most days at home you will find her in long warm clothes with a summer dress over it all! Hopefully March will be more like a lamb than a lion!

For Grandmother

This post is for Kyle's sweet Grandmother in Louisiana. She recently got a computer! She also sent Molly some precious outfits from the best children's store ever- The Youth Shop in Winnfield, Louisiana! So here are some shots of Molly enjoying her new clothes. She loves them, and although she can't wear them out of the house yet (too cold!) she loves to put them on the second she is home. We are both very tired of the same winter clothes- we need Spring weather to break out the fun new clothes!

This is Molly's favorite new dress... she wears it most days when we are playing at home!

She got to wear this one to Church already:

Thank you, Grandmother for all of the love and the goodies!

This and That

This will be a rather random collection of photos and thoughts! We are so very happy to see and feel the sunshine today and hope it is here to stay ( I think the weatherman is saying something else, sadly!). We had a very fun past couple of days. We have been taking care of fun little projects around the house and celebrating Valentines Day- a fave Holiday of mine due to the fact I love pink- ha! Saturday we celebrated with Molly. We took her to see the Princess and the Frog again- it just made it's way to the dollar theatre. She loved it just as much this time- if not more! We also took her to get ice cream. Kyle get her a pink rose as he has every year and she was so proud to get it. Kyle and I went out to eat on Sunday at Kirbys and it was soooo good. Molly got to have her sitter Haley come over so she was thrilled. Haley is 15 and Molly thinks she is the coolest thing on Earth! She is such a sweet babysitter- she does crafts with Molly, brings over special books to read at bedtime, etc. Kyle and I tried to get in all of our rich and decadent eating because we HOPE to give up empty carbs and junk for Lent. It starts tomorrow so I hope we can stick with it. I am also going to give up an hour of sleep... meaning I want to get up an hour before Kyle and Molly and have some quiet time with myself and God. A much better way to start the day than waking up with Molly and starting my day off in a frenzy!

These 1st photos will be of no interest to 95% of viewers... but I know my Mom would want to see that we finally put the fabric on Molly's canopy bed! Molly loves it and thinks it is a "sleeping tent"!

Molly and I with our big shades on our way to see Princess and the Frog with Tiana!

Sweet Hannah and Alice Anne came to play and the girls had such fun. They decorated cookies...

Danced to Bella Dancerella (AA is using a pinwheel as her ribbon wand- cute!)

And played a game where they hide under the covers and pretend to sleep... ALice Anne and I were supposed to rip the covers off and yell WAKE UP:)

Snow Pics

I've got to post the requisite Blizzard in Texas photos! We had nearly 12 inches in our area and it was so crazy! Molly was interested in the snow for a little bit and then quickly requested a warm bath and a warm brownie- ha! She did love building a Snow Princess and dressing her up! She kept thinking that it was CHristmas because she has it in her mind that snow is just for Christmas:) Kyle was on the front page of the Dallas Morning News on Saturday! A photographer captured him rooting around the neighborhood to survey the damage... and the rest is history. He's pretty famous now! They did say the tree and the smashed truck were ours- so there were many concerned friends and family after seeing the article- no worries for us- the photo was snapped down the block from us!

Molly and the Snow Princess

Tiara and all!

The snow was past her knees!

Molly's pink cruiser is in there somewhere!

Camden Avenue all covered in snow

Easier?

Today has been one of those days when I looked at the clock and realized it is 10:45 and now is the FIRST time I have sat down all day! Ah! I thought this Mommy stuff was supposed to get easier! But- I am realizing there is no "easy" time- just different types of hard:) While I do get a full night's sleep these days and don't have to obsess over when to drop that last feeding or what that diaper means and lug a 300 pound car seat around- there is still plenty of action! A toddler/preschooler brings a TON of question-answering, behavior- correcting and princess-playing! Add in all of the outside activites- it makes for a full day. Today was spent getting some stuff done at Church, having a meeting for Spring Carnival ( I am a Chair and this is going to be MUCH more work than I thought- but hopefully fun!), Running to Kroger and Target, Loads of Laundry, Making Dinner, making 2 batches of brownies- cutting them into hearts and decorating them, stuffing MORE mailboxes with cards and brownies, making treats and cards for Molly's teachers, school director, secretary and music teacher, finishing up the plans for Molly's school party tomorrow (I am Room Mom), finishing up a sewing project, general cleaning. Whew! I cna only imagine whne we throw homework and more after-school activiies into the mix. As crazy as it is- I wouldn't change a thing. This is the life I always wanted and I am so happy to have it. So.... when it comes to

VERSE

I think I can say they are both hard... but both WORTH IT!

Valentines Party

Today was such a fun day... Molly and I hosted a V-Day party at our house:) Molly has been So excited because it seems like forever since we have all been able to get together. There were 13 kiddos packed into our house- as well as 7 mommies and a grampa- so it was close quarters but so much fun. I couldn't help remember the first get-together at our house when there were 7 infants who slept through the festivities- my how things change! Molly loved showing all her friends her new Big Girl room and bed- and of course playing dress up:) The highlights of the party were 1. Eating cupcakes! All of the kids dropped what they were doing and sat down for the first time all afternoon to devour them:) 1. The kids all brought Valentines to share and I made little mailboxes to collect them in. They were all so excited to open them up and see what goodies they had waiting for them. It was such fun because we got to spend it with some of our VERY favorite people- Molly's friends are so important to her and I don't know what I would do without my wonderful Mommy friends!

M&A of course had to dress up ASAP

Ava is singing her heart out here and putting on a big show... nobody was actually watching but that sure didn't stop her. Love her!

Milam found one of his favorite toys of Molly's, who he calls Big Bingo

How GORGEOUS is Hannah? Seriously?!?

The big girls were stomping around in their high heels and sweet little Alice Anne jumped right in and didn't skip a beat. I am pretty sure she htinks she is just as big as they are:)

The chaos stopped for a few minutes to eat cupcakes

Yum!

All of the stuffed mailboxes

Molly and Hannah looking to find which is theirs and get a sneak peak of their goodies

No one was more excited about the mailboxes than Hannah. You would have thought she won a pony she was so excited to get her own loaded mailbox!

After her pals left Molly sat down to scope out the goods..

She approves!

Here she is counting her loot and choosing which one she will choose tonight after dinner!

Catch-Up Post

I have been TERRIBLE about this blog lately. I have been under the weather lately and the last thing I want to do with my free time is get on the computer- all I want to do is veg on the couch! I also am completely obsessed with my new monogram machine/sewing machine- so I am on that every chance I can be. It is just so fun:) I have learned to sew Molly little outfits, and she always requests a matching one for Baby Dear. I am loving this new hobby, but Poor Kyle is getting fed up with the little bits of thread he finds everywhere! Some day I'll do a post of the things I've whipped up for Molly and Baby Dear! The weather has certainly contributed to my laziness- I am so ready to see the sunshine. One of the reasons I love Texas is the awesome weather- so what gives? Molly has been a real sport about being cooped up in the house, so that helps.

Molly feeling sassy in her new rain gear

Even she agreed it was just too yucky outside to really get out and splash- so we watched for the porch!

Molly checking the weather one chilly morning her robe. Molly is getting fed up with "Mr. Raincloud"- and I am, too!

Molly getting tickled in her bed

The few days it has been remotely nice we have been outside all we can

Check the pose

A few weeks ago we met our friends for a picnic in the park- so excited to be able to do that all the time~

These 2 sweet girls miss each other a lot- it's hard to find play time with different school schedules:(