For today, Lilly has taken over the writing of my blog…..

“okay so listen right? I mean its a super rainy day and me and mommy have nowhere we have to go (at least after coming home from that HORRIBLE target place where I just refuse to be happy even if they give me free cookies), so I just want to chillax and veg-out you know? So I mean what better way to do that than be naked? There is just nothing more comfy than being naked. I think the best part really, is just getting to scratch at my bottom the minute that diaper comes off because I NEVER have access to it and it just plain itches a lot you know what I mean??? Have you ever WORN a diaper? Mom says we don’t have to change it every time I wet it because it has this “absorbent core” they talk about on the package. Whatever that is. But the bottom line is that absorbent or not, it still kind of itches to sit around in a sort of wet diaper all day and now that I have figured out how to take it off myself, I can just scratch to my heart’s content – as long as I can get my pants off first. AHHHHhhhhh”.

“But the problem here, is that this nudity thing seems to be one of those things my mommy really gets a bee in her bonnet about. I really have to work hard to get myself into this naked state, and when I finally succeed at it I have to make sure I stay JUST out of arms reach of her (which has gotten easier because I don’t want to be rude but the woman has just gotten plain FAT lately and it seems to have really slowed her down) or else she forces me back into those horrible things called “clothes” and she especially makes me wear the kind that have these dreaded things called “sleeves”. UGH I HATE SLEEVES! You all feel me on this right? I can’t be alone here…”

“But you know what I do love? I LOVE LOVE LOVE these white shoes that I always see in the back of my closet. They are the cutest! They are so clean and have pretty laces. I really want to wear them and so every time I come across them (and I find them in the weirdest places by the way – almost as if my mommy is intentionally trying to hide them from me), I BEG her to put them on me. But, you know how mommys are am I right? I mean I love mine so much that I never want to leave her side (like ever. I mean EVER), but if you will allow me a minute to complain, she says no to the weirdest things! Why do moms care if you put your finger up the cats nose, or plan to eat only cookies all day? Why is it bad to put my mouth on the shopping cart handle? I just don’t get all that, but anyways she says no to these shoes EVERY TIME I ASK – something about them being “2 sizes too big” or something. Whatever that means.”

“Anyways, this morning I worked for a good 20 minutes to get all my clothes and diaper off, and Mommy must be in a really good mood because she said to me, “you know what kid? You worked so hard for that I don’t have the heart to put your clothes back on you so live it up for awhile until I have to get in the shower”. Then when I brought her the shoes again (cautiously, because I am not sure I trust that she does not have something with sleeves hiding behind her back and this is all just a trick), she said “really? you want to wear JUST shoes? well okay then – its your party!”, and she actually put them on me and tied them for me!!! I was SO EXCITED! I will have to approach her more to ask for things when she is on her hands and knees using that loud vacuum thing to get Molly’s pixos off the carpet, “for the millionth freaking time and I am never buying these again,” as she said. Whatever that means.”

“So of course the main thing I wanted to do while having my naked day of pretty shoes and relaxation is brush my teeth. I LOVE to brush my teeth. My toothpaste tastes really good and you know my Dad is English right? So I have to really be on top of my dental care. I brushed my teeth 4 times this morning because its that important you know.”

“So anyways, eventually mommy had to get in the shower and she told me I had to put a diaper on because I have not pooped in awhile. That’s unfair. I can’t help that! I just really like bananas okay? And I recently starting eating cheese. And both of those things are really binding you know? But whatever, the old lady was being such a peach about letting me wear the shoes that I decided to go ahead and be good about the diaper and just lounge on her bed to watch Dora and read my elmo books and brush my teeth some more while she took her shower. Now on a side note about that shower thing – again I do NOT want to sound like a complainer because I love her so much, but maybe she should do this showering thing a little more often. I’M JUST SAYIN’!!! The funny thing is, I have heard her tell people that she can’t do it as much as she would like because it has something to with me always using the cat bowl to scoop water out of the toilet and pour it on the floor AND some of my other awesome science experiments I entertain myself with while I am waiting for her to get out. Personally, I don’t get the connection but whatever.”

ahhhhh. Fridays are just so relaxing aren't they?

“So that is my story about my naked day of pretty shoes and relaxation. Alas, all good things must come to an end (or so my mommy told me after she tracked me down and put some clothes on me). I totally got the last laugh though because I found some really pretty shoes to wear and my mom seemed bothered that they did not match. See what I mean about her worrying about the weirdest things? They are both sparkly and pretty so WHO CARES? And I don’t want to be a complainer again, but did you notice she put me in TWO things that have sleeves!??? WHAT IS UP WITH THAT!?? She said it had something to do with the fact that its only 45 degrees out today. Whatever that means.”

“Well anyways, its been great chattin’ and I hate to blog and run, but I need to catch up with the latest episode of Mad Men before me and pooh bear head up to bed. So I’ll just talk ta y’alls later! “

- Lilly

Typical of the floor in Molly's room. I am forever tripping over books books books!

I always joke that Molly was born with a book in her hand. She LOVES books and always has. We read to her from day 1 (which I wish I could use to take credit for her success in reading, but the truth is we have done nothing different with Lilly and she could care less about books). As a baby and toddler, Molly never really attached to any sort of lovey. She just ALWAYS carried a book with her. Everywhere we went, every night in bed, etc.. she had at least one book with her. Sometimes she would sit on the couch buried in books and yell, “MORE BOOKS MOMMA! I NEED MORE BOOKS!”. And when absolutely nothing else worked when we went through the terrible twos, the big turning point in this house was the day we got so fed up with her behavior that we took every single one of her books away and made her earn them back one by one (and then eventually 5 at a time because I was just so sick of all these piles of books on top of every high surface in the house!).

Now, at the age of about 2.5, Molly came downstairs one morning and sat down in front of her bookcase (which she has EVERY morning from the time she could scoot up until now), opened up “That’s not my Puppy”, and said, “GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! i still can not READ THIS MOMMA! WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO READ!?”, to which my response was, “oh my – maybe in like 4 years?”, at which point she burst into tears and begged me to teach her.

Teach? SURE! I love to teach things! And really – how hard can it be to teach a kid to read right? Especially a really motivated one? There have been many times over the years when I considered going into teaching. I come from a long line of teachers and was always a tutor and still enjoy tutoring all the neighborhood kids when/where I can help. The best part of having kids for me has been teaching them concepts and watching how they apply them to their world and discover things. Its just fascinating to me. So I assumed this would be a cake walk.

She even takes them into the bathroom while she's doin' her bizness, and we of course have many many plastic books for the bath tub as well.

So for 2.5 years I tried so hard to help her. I taught her her alphabet, checked out special books to help her with phonics, attended a class at the library for parents of emerging readers, wrote her stories and poems using only the words she knows to encourage her, got tons of writing sheets off the internet, etc… and we made LOTS of progress for sure. Molly has been memorizing words and figuring out sentences through the context of the photos they are near for quite awhile, but the actual process of READING – of sounding out words longer than 3 or 4 letters and understanding the flow of sentence structure, has eluded us. I just assumed it was an age thing. I kept reminding her, “for goodness sakes child you are only 3!” (and then 4 and then 5)!”, etc.. and she would just glare at me and ask if we could “hire a professional”. Gee, thanks kid.

But I am feeling today like maybe Molly is right and maybe teaching is something it turns out I suck at and I will tell you why. Last night I walked in to say goodnight to Molly only to find her with the book she had just checked out of the school library that day (called, “The Crying Princess”), open across her lap while she read each and every word. Whole sentences! Multiple sentences per page! Sounding out the big long words ALL BY HERSELF! She then read me the book from cover to cover. I cried I was so proud and she was so proud of herself she was literally GLOWING from the inside. She fell asleep hugging that book.

I tried for 2.5 years to teach that kid to read. That school has had her for what boils down to just 30 days in the classroom. And yet there she is – off and running all by herself. Looks like early childhood education is out as a career path for me LOL!

Can you believe it though? My big girl is READING! I just am so proud and just SO THRILLED for her. What a world opens up when you can sit and really enjoy a good book on your own – am I right?

No Lilly – I mean enjoy READING a book – not eating it. SIGH.

The big girl and her big girl book. Look how proud she is

Only 3 candles on the cake. That was nice of them

So I turned 33 today (or “turty twee” as Lilly says it). Its funny how birthdays are not really a big deal once you get older. There was a time I looked so forward to the presents and being the center of attention! But this year I just really wanted to go on a date ALONE with my husband and not have to change any dirty diapers (I mean on my birthday – not on the date because that would be just weird but you know what I meant right?). I also asked for good behavior from the girls, and lots of cuddles.

Matt went above and beyond though as he always does. He got me breakfast at McDonalds and brought it to me in bed, had lots of gifts waiting for me once I got up (which he was not supposed to do because my replacement ipod for the one that was stolen this summer was supposed to be my birthday present!), and he took the girls all day so I could read, nap, eat without anyone screaming in my ear, etc… Then I would just call for them periodically as I needed a cuddle or a snuggle from them and send them back to him and go back to my book We had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes because we are a very fancy family you know, and Lilly ate her weight in their macaroni and cheese and cantaloupe slices which was nice to see since she wont eat anything here at home. I also got a lot of very precious home made cards from Molly and her friends in the neighborhood (6 year old Sean handed me a picture of a rainbow and eyeballs that he drew and told me he would have written me a letter and put a dollar in it if I had given him more notice. How freaking cute is that!??). Oh! And to cap it all off, we got a WICKED thunder storm in here that night which is my FAVORITE! I really can not think of anything else that could have made the day better – it was perfect!

"I suggest you back away from my cake. Slowly."

"This is my 2nd piece of cake this weekend! Also, I ate two cider donuts yesterday, had Mcdonald's for breakfast and had ice cream at Sweet Tomatoes. My parents are fabulous at this saying "no" thing!"

And as for my two big requests I mentioned above (adults only date, no poop): On Saturday night we saw a movie while his parents baby sat because they happen to be in town this weekend. So that was nice! We saw District 9 by the way, and while it was very good, I have to say it was quite depressing. It has a very thinly veiled social criticism of apartheid in Africa. This was REALLY random – especially when you are expecting an action movie about aliens – but oh so true and oh so depressing. It was powerful though.



And as far as the poop goes, I have to really give Matt big points here. Lilly had a lot of apples the day before at the orchard and was a bit, ummmmm, “plugged up” so Sunday’s diaper was a doozy indeed. And once I noticed it and saw what was in there, I went straight out into the front yard to flag Matt down WHILE HE WAS MOWING THE LAWN to ask him to come take care of it since it was supposed to be my poop free day. I have to say, a lot of husbands would have said, “Are you kidding me right now? I am mowing the lawn here while you are sitting and reading the paper!”, but he came bouncing right in and had Lilly happily back playing in a freshy in no time. Sometimes he is pretty dreamy

BEST part of my birthday!!!!

So I am now Turty Twee and life is good! Thanks for all the love on facebook and all the calls and all the emails. My goodness I am SO SPOILED!!!

The four of us on the hay ride. Molly did not like the hay as you can tell. She said it was gross and itchy.

Grandma and Grandpa Clemm are in town this weekend and we are always looking for fun things to do when they come that they can not necessarily do in California. This way they get the full mid west experience.

So on Saturday we decided to go apple picking! I have done this a few times before in the fall here – with Molly’s playgroup – and its SO FUN! There is just something about that fresh air, and seeing where our food grows and comes from! Oh – and of course gorging yourself on apples.



And there are also apple cider donuts.

I had four.

nuf’ said.

On this day, I forgot my memory card for my camera, which for some people is kind of like leaving the house without a leg. I only have room on my internal memory for about 6 pictures. My father in law got some pictures as well and I will update this post with some of his if he sends them to me (this is a big hint Carl lol).

We had a really fun time! (After Matt and I got over hating each other for our argument over the directions anyways). So enjoy the following few pics I was able to get!

Ready to commence picking! And in a special apple picking themed outfit of course What if we adults chose our outfits every day to match the activity on our calendars? Wouldn't that be kind of fun? Molly always puts a lot of thought into these things.

"Look - I can not really reach the trees okay? So unless you want me eating the rotten ones off the ground (which I will do you know), then I suggest we do it this way: You pick, I eat. Any questions?"

Both girls together (thats Grandpa Clemm in the background there!)

Seriously, I think we all ate MORE than enough apples while we were out there. I know I had 3 or 4. Matt ate SO many I lost count - at least 6.

Me with both of my girls You can see Molly's acceptance of the hay did not get any better as the day went on.

And last but not least:

Seriously, I am not sure WHAT to make of this? We came home with about a peck of apples but these few are the chosen favorites of Matt and are not to be touched by ANYONE per the man himself. This makes me laugh because I can not imagine why he would even want any apples right now considering the amount of discomfort he has experienced over the last 48 hours due to how many he ate out in that orchard!

Awwwww - she is so cute I just can not stand it sometimes!!! (and her shirt very appropriately says "Cute but Crabby")

Yeah but see what I mean here? This was her 15 minutes later after feeding herself her own yogurt.

Recently, we have entered that “so this is why God made toddlers so darn cute” phase. Its a very mischievous and disgusting time in a child’s life. There is lots of mess, lots of dirt, LOTS of attitude and lots of dipping our popsicle into a tub of sand and licking it (that’s a fun diaper the next day – let me tell you). Lilly does not seem to care if her nose runs all the way down to her toes and screams like I am personally destroying her if I make her stop playing long enough to change a dirty diaper. But on the flip side, it sure is cute watching her explore, seeing her reactions to things (guess what? That sand dipped popsicle does NOT taste so good after all), and watching her really learning to use her spoon and fork. She certainly does NOT like the word no and thinks she knows best, so as a general rule I sit back and allow her to learn some lessons the hard way – but ALWAYS with the camera good and ready. So here is a recent collection of Lilly’s finer moments posted for your entertainment (and my revenge):

Molly left a bottle of blue nail polish on the stairs. Lilly got the top off and drank some (as you can see on her lips) which resulted in my 3rd call to poison control this summer. She also got some on her jacket, and you can't see it because she is standing on top of it, but my stairs are now blue as well. I was carrying in the groceries in case you were wondering.

"Did you say you were looking for these batteries mom?"

Far be it from me to criticize, but if I was going to go as far as taking the package of cookies out of the gracery bag and going around the corner to open them so mommy would not hear me, I would NOT then bring that hard earned cookie back into the room my mommy is in to eat it. But that's just me I guess.

I mean really. Its just disgusting. Who is supposed to be caring for this little girl anyways!?

"I like to do this lately - aren't I cute? The world is neat upside down! Though my mom does not seem to think its so neat when I do it in a public restroom or in the sand box at the park"

I momentarily forgot that it is not really worth it to go to the bathroom anymore. 30 seconds is all I was gone and while I was in there I was even thinking, "Oh thank God she is not trying crawl into my lap for a change". I should have known.

We really can not figure out why she insists on holding the fork while she does this, but you do NOT want to try and take it away from her. trust me.

"you think you're so smart this time mom? Well I hope someone makes YOU sit on plastic on a humid day without any clothes on - then tell me how smart you feel!"

Also, the following sequence is a daily occurrence around here these days:

"oh MY! What a lovely tower of blocks you have built! You must have spent a long time on that!"

"But I will CRUSH IT! just like I will crush any hopes you might have of rebuilding it! MWAH HA HA HA HA HA!"

"And you have no choice but to forgive me because I am so darn cute. Admit it! "

And one more – because even though she has her moments, she DOES try to pitch in and help where she can

"I'm helping! Just stay out of my way when I turn around because I don't really have much control over the top foot or two of this broom handle...."

I have been meaning to write this one down for awhile because it really makes me smile. Molly plays a lot with the three kids that live behind us. They are 6, 7, and 9. She worships the 9 year old girl (Ashley) who has been WONDERFUL to her as she has started Kindergarten at the same school, is definitely like a little sister to the 7 year old boy (luke) who teases her mercilessly but will then turn around and drop anyone who is mean to her, and has found a genuinely good little buddy in the 6 year old 1st grader (Sean), whom she plays with the most. Sean is seriously the sweetest little boy I think I have ever met and I really hope our son comes out just like him because he is just pure goodness.

A couple of weeks ago I had all three of them over here playing one day and I overheard the following conversation between Molly and Sean that had me biting my fist so I would not burst out laughing. I swear it was just so darn cute!

A deep deep conversation about pokemon between Sean and Molly. Another night they were at the fence talking so seriously and then looking up together at the sky. When Matt asked her what they had been talking about she said "what we want for Christmas - and then we would stare at the sky and ask Santa if he could hear us". so cute

Sean: Um, Molly?

Molly: Yeah Sean? Whats wrong?

Sean: Ummmmm, so, are you in love with me?

Molly: WHAT!? EWWWW! NO!

Sean: OH GOOD!!!

Molly: WHY did you ask that!?

Sean: Well Luke said that you are in love with me.

Molly: Oh ick – NO! Not at all! Are you in love with me?

Sean: NO! EWWWW!

Molly: Okay – good then. Don’t listen to Luke anymore okay?

At this point both of them let out a deep sigh of relief and then went right back to putting stickers in the book they were working on together

This age is so funny – they are all so obsessed with who has what parts, all bodily functions, and who is going to marry who and so I just love that she and Sean are these sweet little innocent friends who can have long conversations about what flavor of popsicle is their favorite. There is no “I want to marry him” garbage going on at all! Its just so innocent and I LOVE it!

Now, all that said, and as much as I love those kids, I will be buying locks for her bedroom window and one of those loud sirens for our back door as we approach Junior High because BOTH of those boys are quite handsome!

Sometime over last year’s long and miserable winter, I decided it would be a good learning experience to have a garden with the girls. They could help me plant the seeds and plants, tend the garden, harvest, etc.. and we could save money and eat fresh veggies all summer sans pesticides. Everybody wins!

Me by the garden just last week - Its such a jungle! (7 months along here)

Grandpa Clemm was out here in April and he built the box for us which was awesome. Having a raised box was my plan to keep rabbits hopefully out.

I know what you are thinking here: “Ummmm, Kerry? Rabbits HOP you know….”

Well aren’t you smart?

Yes they do and I have no idea why I thought 6 inches of wood plank would deter them, but they have not been too much of a pain. Of course, by the time we bought the wood, the seeds, and then the replacement plants when we killed the first round of plants we planted (fine Jamie – you were right! Watering mid day in the hot sun is NOT smart!), I am not sure how much money we ended up saving, but we learned from all our mistakes and next year the CLemm Family Farm should be running at a surplus instead of a deficit.

The good news is that we appear to be quite good at this veggie growing business! We had a constant surplus of inventory around these parts – especially cucumbers. It got to a point where I think our neighbors would see me walking towards their house and immediately retreat inside and lock all the doors in fear that I was bringing them more cucumbers. Next year I think I will plant only one cucumber vine – not 3. And I also learned that 1 Zucchini plant is MORE than enough. Especially for a house where no one even eats zucchini (the zucchini muffins are a huge hit with the girls though!). Hopefully this will open up room for my yellow squash to thrive next year because I had a disappointing turn out with it this year (only got about 5 all summer and its my absolute favorite!). I suspect those pesky cucumbers were really strangling the squashes will to live. Other plants in the garden: Pumpkins, mystery squash (turned out luckily to be some weird form of butternut squash that is quite good), bell peppers, watermelon that had to be pulled and sacrificed for the good of the rest of the garden due to space restraints, sugar peas that never once made it past the back door and into the house because we ate them right off the bush, tomatoes that are still going, and cauliflower that also had to be pulled because it was too attractive to the rabbits.

So here are some pictures of our garden – from day 1 when Molly and I hunkered down on a cold winter day to plant seeds all the way to last week when we could finally harvest the pumpkins and put them out on the front step. I am so proud of how well we did!

Planting the seeds back in April

All lined up and ready to grow in the window for the rest of the winter! Good thing Lilly eats a lot of yogurt (ps: I dare you to make fun of my Edward Cullen Sweet Tarts)

The box that Carl built for us - this was at Lilly's birthday party and the kids loved that box! It was a pirate ship, a coffin, a zoo, etc.. I almost felt bad when we filled it in because they enjoyed playing in it so much!

My little helpers planting all the plants back in May!

And planting the replacement plants (next year I will skip growing them from seed and just buy them anyways) always with my little helper by my side! Turns out she has a green thumb - thank goodness one of us does!

And somehow all that dirt and seeds (okay and some plants I had to buy to replace a few I killed) turned into this!

Our VERY FIRST harvest consisted of one pea pod at the end of June It was delicious!

One weekend's harvest! Can you believe it? On average we picked about 8 cucumbers and 3 zucchini a week!

"WHAAAAAAT? How DARE you imply I am eating the dirt! Clearly I am doing no such thing!"

And now, even though we are having a warm end of the summer (better than we had all actual summer but dont get me started), I am sad to report that it appears the plants are slowing down. We had to pull out the mystery squash and the pumpkin vines because they were dead and it would appear the cucumbers are tired and now only spitting out little deformed cucumbers. Even the zucchini have slowed down, though we are still seeing plenty of tomatoes and bell peppers and we plan to let them produce as long as they will!

Seeing all of this though, the plants dying off and the veggies coming to an end, a rather panicked Molly asked met he other day, “But momma! What will we do for vegetables all winter!??”. And being the beacon of honesty and education that I always am with my children I replied, “Well I guess we just have to pray we don’t all get scurvy!”. But then I added. “Just kidding – we will buy them at target with the rest of our groceries.”.

That backfired on me though because I then had to google scurvy and answer about 30 minutes worth of questions about it.

A few weeks ago Molly began practice for her first ever soccer team! She has taken a soccer class or two through the park district, but this is her first real AYSO team with games and I was very excited! I think I was more excited than her though. Unfortunately, the soccer season started the week after Kindergarten started and to be honest, its probably a bit too much (especially when you factor in that she also has a dance class on Thursday nights, but she completely loves that so I figure its okay). But now that we are a few weeks into it (and have experienced the glory of a goal or two), she is getting into it. She still says if she has to give up an activity though, she is keeping dance.

So anyways, the first few weeks of soccer were a little rough and I was able to take a few pictures to forever memorialize this ha ha ha. The format is as follows: Her team meets twice a week on a field next to the three other under 6 girls teams. They practice for 30 minutes and then play games against the other teams for 30 minutes. This annoys me as I had erroneously assumed the games would be on weekends when I would have Matt to help me wrangle Lilly along the sidelines but we are making do. Here are some pictures of her first practice:

Ready for our first soccer practice with our new ball and our new shin guards which Molly immediately said were itchy and asked to stay home because of.

Here is Molly on the left running inexplicably away from her team and their goal.

And here she is gabbing with her coach while her back is to all the action going on behind her.

A great shot of Molly on the far right, bending over to pant while the rest of her team scrimmages. You know - At the OTHER END OF THE FIELD. Which she would know if she did not have her back turned to what was going on again.

Ah yes. A photo to make any parent proud! Molly is getting up after I "politely suggested" that we do NOT sit down at a soccer game in the middle of the field. You may notice her team is nowhere near her again - guess where they were? yep - the other end of the field again.

So, that was a bit ugly. Also – she missed every shot when her coach would set her up 3 feet from the goal and tell her to shoot it in. I do not even know how that is possible. It defies physics, really. The only good thing is she seemed like she could seriously care less and was not embarrassed about it. She kept yelling “MOM! Is it time to go yet? I don’t like soccer!” from the middle of the field and she asked her coach if she could just do laps because she prefers to run than just stand there (totally MATT’S genes!). Things were NOT looking good for a future career in women’s soccer. I began to retabulate my plan to pay for college.

Oh but then! But then Molly found out that at the end of each practice/game, you get a snack and things started looking up!

"oh wait - we get snacks and juice each time we come? Well maybe this is not so bad afterall!"

"Pardon me Molly, but did you say snacks and juice?"

"SHOO! BE GONE! I am NOT sharing my snack with you Lilly!".

Oh – and one more funny story about this night. The girls got together and had to come up with a team name after they were given their jerseys (pink! score!). Molly very loudly and VERY excitedly suddenly yelled out, “OH I have a GREAT IDEA! Why don’t we be the BIG PINK BALLS!”. I almost died and then wanted to really die when all the little girls agreed to it. But then the coach (who was laughing very hard) gently steered them towards the team name they ended up choosing: The Pink Lions.

If you say “go pink lions!” to Lilly she will roar for you It’s quite cute.

So anyways, it has now been 3 full weeks of soccer and I am happy to report that things have really changed for the better! Molly, who seems to finally be grasping some of the actual rules of soccer and paying attention more to the games, looks forward to going now. I have done a little work with her out in the yard trying to teach her to not just let the other team take the ball but to get in there and fight for it a little and she has become quite the aggressor on the soccer field. I may have gone a bit too far though and am finding that she is throwing elbows and pushing more than she should so we are working on that.

Goal kick action shot! Look at all that power!

Then last Friday night Molly scored her first goal. After which she promptly charged down the field and scored 2 more! Then last night she scored 3 more! That seems to have been the catalyst and now she is pretty much addicted and keeps asking when we can go back. I should have known that applause and attention would be what would get this kid hooked. I could not be more thrilled! I LOVE soccer – I played my entire childhood and I just want her to give it a real chance so she can have as much fun as I did with it. Sometimes its hard to watch from the sidelines because I wish I was playing. Though in all honesty I do NOT have the patience her coaches do. I will wait to coach her team until she is a bit older and they listen better. Also – pretty much every little girl from her Kindergarten class plays either on her team or one of the others so she loves going so she can see all her friends (and I am getting to know all their moms better so its a win-win). Its really great getting to know so many kids her age from the neighborhood.

On a side note her coach came to talk to me last night and told me that he sees a lot of improvement with her in general and commented that she is VERY quick for her age. A real runner he told me! I hate to run (soccer was more about accuracy and strategy for me and I always played forward to get out of running too much), so again that runner’s stuff is ALL MATT. I can totally picture them out running together as she gets older – she loves it!

"Oh look! They gave out snacks again! This sport is great!". Oh but we are still not happily sharing with our little sister as you can plainly see from this photo. Poor Lilly lol!

Its a beautiful Sunday night, we have a coupon for Cold Stone, lets go get some ice cream girls!

Lilly is too small (and we are too cheap) to have her own ice cream yet, so Matt and I usually just give her a little of ours (Molly will only begrudgingly share one bite usually). This completely infuriates and upsets her EVERY TIME.

Awesome EVERY TIME Molly would turn to look at something (I think this time it was a big dog walking by) Lilly would just reach over and help herself to Molly's ice cream.

"oh yeah - that is goooooooooooooooood"

D'OH! BUSTED! Its okay though - she actually got away with this three or four times before Molly caught her

I have to admit I was totally watching her and the “youngest kid” in me was rooting for her the whole time

So, in the planning phase sparklers seemed like a great way to be very fancy, but in execution they ended up being terrifying (even for me while I carried the cake)

On August 22nd, my “baby” turned 5. I mean really, she has essentially been 35 pretty much since the moment she came out, but we were all still pretty excited about this milestone. Even my mom came to visit and be here for the party which was just so special and fun!!! So many cool things happen when you are 5: You go to school, you lose your first tooth (usually at some point while 5 or so I hear), you can cross the street while standing next to mommy instead of holding her hand, and you get a lot of shots. Well, I guess that last one is NOT so cool, but it IS unfortunately true. And if I thought watching those nurses pin down my little babies while they got shots was bad, it is NOTHING compared to how hard it is when they are old enough to realize what the heck is going on. I had to pin Molly’s arms down while they gave her three shots and she was SO MAD and screaming. I totally cried. It was MUCH more traumatic then when they are babies.

So, even though Molly was a total brat to the doctor at her 5 year check up because she knew the shots were coming (sometimes I wish they would do them first instead of at the end just because the anticipation is AWFUL), here are some fun stats about where she stands:

Height at birth: 22 3/4 inches
Height at age 5: 45 inches (barely – they wrote down 45 to make her happy because she insisted but really it was more like 44.5)

weight at birth: 10 lbs 9 oz.
Weight at age 5: 46 lbs

percentage of body taken up by attitude at birth: 100%
percentage of body taken up by attitude at age 5: 100%

So as you can see, we are growing VERY well. And I am happy and well aware of how blessed we are to say she is an amazing and healthy little girl.

Molly and her best girlfriends all dolled up in their fanciest ensembles!

A few more little tid bits about her development: At 5, Molly is reading quite well for her age. She has most of the words (and there are over 100 if you will allow me to be very annoying and brag just for a minute!) she knows memorized, but can also sound out simple words and she has started doing that EVERYWHERE she goes! She can also write simple sentences which amazes me. Her vocabulary is kind of awesome. For example: the other day she was talking to me about the kids in her class and she said to me, “My friend Junior is a bit unorthodox mom, but I do like him…”. My mom insists she is stronger in math than in language skills (but Grandma is a bit biased towards math since she was a math teacher). She can add, subtract, and even do small multiplication problems if she has enough fingers or objects in front of her to group. I know this list is now really getting annoying – I am really sorry because I try not to be one of those braggy/competitive moms but I am just so proud of what a smart little thing she is!! I think she is pretty neat so once a year I am allowed to boast a little!!!

Okay, gloating over Moving on…..For her party this year she asked to have a “very fancy tea party” – with girls ONLY. The only boy allowed to come was Matt, and only if he agreed to be the waiter LOL. Because he is basically the best daddy ever (and completely in love with his little girl) he agreed to this. We made very fancy invitations, shopped at thrift stores to find very fancy tea pots, and decorated the yard with very fancy things. We also painted nails, and made hair wreaths out of ribbon and garland and had a pinata. I kind of went crazy with it admittedly, but it was just so fun to really immerse myself in the girlishness for once! And I think 5 is a really really big deal! My mom commented, “I really hope I am nowhere near you when this child gets married”.

My masterpiece!

Also, again this year I am so grateful that our friends and family were so generous and thoughtful and just showered Molly with all sorts of love, gifts, and goodies. She really is just such a lucky kid – I hope someday she realizes it as much as we do! Also, since I know so many of you read this, please know my thank you cards are late, but on their way. I am really trying to insist Molly write at least part of them herself, but its going slowly!

I will leave you with some more pictures from her party:

My heart SWOONS whenever I look at this. Isn't he handsome all dressed up?

I just wanted to put in a picture of this table because these four were so coincidentally color coordinated!

The birthday girl enjoys some more trips to the sugar bowl

Emily from across the street came over to help me by painting nails!

Making fancy head wreaths!

Of course there was lots of playing on the play structure and the little hellions actually broke the roof off. My father in law will be here later this month to fix it!

Barefoot, pregnant and serving birthday cake (why yes I DID make that! thanks for asking!), Life is pretty sweet right now

"Where did all these people come from while I was napping? Oh well - at least they gave me cake..."

Molly sort of enjoys being the center of attention - have you noticed?

Pinata time!!!!

Holy toledo! No matter how fancy and well mannered they were during the party, all bets were off the minute that pinata broke. I saw elbows thrown, there were tears, my goodness!

Still partying after all the guests have gone home Silly girl!