my sweet, sweet molly

the girls and i went to visit lucy and tell her merry chirstmas this afternoon. on the drive over molly was discussing what we should do next to decorate lucy's grave. she loves to plan ideas....easter was the next holiday she was thinking about. while we were at the cemetery she wanted to walk around and see how other parents had decorated their child's grave. we saw several with a christmas tree inserted into the vase and decided next year lucy would have her own tree with little ornaments.

tonight we were reading the christmas story and discussing the true meaning of christmas one last time. i love that molly understands the reason we celebrate christmas and give gifts is in rememberance of our Heavenly Father's great gift for us, His Son, Jesus. we talked about how God sent Jesus to be born in a manger and that He came to die on the cross for our sins and rise again on the 3rd day. in order to receive His free gift of salvation, all we have to do is ask Jesus to come into our hearts and save us from our sins. when we do this, and believe in Christ, we are saved, always. after this conversation molly looked at me with all seriousness and asked how lucy could go to heaven since she died in my tummy and didn't do this. i love her concern for her sister. i explained to her that Jesus lets little children who do not understand what it means to be saved or who die before they are born to go to heaven. He does, was her response. i quickly answered, yes, and she was so reassured that her sister was indeed living in heaven with Jesus.

busy bags

recently we attended a busy bag swap. i'd never done one before i can say that i love them! it's a lot of work up front preparing your bags to give out to the other participants, but when you come home with 16 different activities to keep kiddos busy (and they all are educational or foster the use of the imagination) it's well worth it! i made color sudoku and was so surprised at how fast molly caught on. she loves that game. 

  she also enjoys matching letters on the barnyard game. it helps her out with spelling and letter sounds. she truly has a love for letters and their sounds and is so interested in learning.

 sophie enjoys driving her cars on the felt road and a few other activities as well. she also enjoys destroying whatever molly is working on so some of the activities we've had to set aside for "during sophie's nap only"!

i see more busy bag swaps in my future!

a walk to remember

it's hard for me to believe that lucy's been gone for 3 months already. i miss her like crazy and am still trying to figure out what i'm supposed to be learning from this whole situation. today molly, sophie and i participated in a walk to remember at shawnee mission park. it was a memory walk for families who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss. there were about 30-40 families who participated. it was nice to connect with a few other moms who have experienced the loss of a child. we went on a 2 mile walk on one of the trails and then personalized a balloon for lucy. there were even enough for molly and sophie to do their own for their sister.

during the drive time today, molly asked some questions about lucy's death. trying to teach a 3 year old about heaven and heavenly bodies vs. earthly bodies...tough stuff. i did my best to explain how she's in the ground and in heaven...shared how to get to heaven...she kinda got some of it but also tried to make sense of it in her little mind by including her fairies! she told me her fairies fly up to heaven to visit lucy and she wished she could fly like her fairies so she could go. such a sweet girl. she misses her littlest sister.

after the balloon release we stopped by walmart and bought a little pie pumpkin and some markers. then went out to the cemetery and decorated it for lucy. she now has a little pumpkin by her grave. happy halloween sweet baby!

i came across this song a few weeks ago. it speaks the message so clearly of how i'm feeling. once again, i'm blessed to know that i will see my baby again because i have a personal relationship with Christ. take a few minutes and listen to the song...you'll be touched. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_izw6Vbz-0

today = fun and exhausting

today was such a fun, but exhausting day. the girls and i left the house at 8:00 this morning and didn't get home until 10:20 tonight! i had a dentist appointment in paola to have the permanent crown placed on my tooth (the last of the big dental work before i can get braces! :/) so, i dropped the girls off at my friend sarah's house and was off to the dentist. now, this tooth that was being worked on was dead due to a root canel done way back in the 7th grade so he didn't think i'd need to be numb. he said 90% of the time it isn't necessary - i looked at him and said i'm pretty sure i'm in the 10%. sure enough, i was. here came the shots (3 or 4, i can't remember), painful! i told the hygentist (who's due with baby #1 in two weeks) that getting an epidural is less painful (and i wasn't kidding!). anyhoot, it's a good thing he did numb me because the stinkin' temporary crown would not come off. he had to cut it in half and take it off in two pieces. lots of shoving and pushing the permanent crown in and 45 minutes later i was out of there. i went back to sarah's house and we had a lovey time chatting about all sorts of things. we can talk for hours and never run out of things to talk about...

lunchtime came and it was time to go. the girls and i tried out the new gambinos pizza buffet. it wasn't too shabby and the best part was the worker didn't charge me for the girls. he said his thoughts were that kids 3 and under should be free because they don't eat much (well, he doesn't know my kids!). ha, molly ate 3 pieces of pizza, a cheese breadstick, and regular breadstick plus had some fruit cocktail. sophie actually had a bit less than normal, only eating 2 pieces of pizza and a breadstick along with fruit cocktail. the worker was in the back, so he didn't see how much food my children were consuming for free!

we made a quick stop at our paola home to grab the hand weights that were left in our coat closet and check the status of the airfresheners and then we were off to sam's house, another wonderful friend. we spent the afternoon gabbing and settling disputes amongst our children who all wanted the same toy at the same time. these kids even fought about picking up the toys and who would pick up what! they were all in much need of naps.

the girls and i left a little before 5 to get molly to gymastics. she did really well tonight and got to do lots of beam work (her favorite). sophie was also very well behaved there (a rare thing) and played nicely with the cars and watched molly. after gymastics we headed to my parents for dinner and to let the girls spend some time with grandpa and grandma. molly pretended to put on plays and so we had to sit in the dark for quite a bit while she seranaded us in a very high pitched voice (yes, it gave me a headache!). sophie was exhausted and spent a great deal of the evening crying. we left and headed home. i carried the girls straight to bed and they are sleeping soundly.

matt should be home in a bit....i'm exhausted. goodnight blogger world!

nothing to blog about....so bathroom cleaning

i hate cleaning bathrooms. if i could give up any chore, it would be cleaning the bathroom. they're disgusting and well, i just don't like to do it. it's tuesday though, so that means it's bathroom cleaning day. ugg....i'm currently taking a break. i'm down two, one to go. this is probably the most uninteresting blog i've written but hey, this is my night tonight! on the topic of cleaning bathrooms, anyone have opinions on cleaning walk-in showers. i like the shower to shower in but am not a fan of cleaning them. i think they're quite challenging to clean mainly because you can't turn any water on without soaking the bathroom. so, i spray the shower, start to wipe it down, then have to go to the sink to rinse the magic eraser, and come back. i wish i could rinse it better too. i can turn the shower on but unless i'm in there i can't truly rinse it. my mom used to use the clean shower spray each day so that may be my next attempt to keep a cleaner shower. so there you have it, my bathroom cleaning dilemmas and thoughts. woo-hoo, how exciting!

i have a new friend!

i met a friend tonight! i've been kind of loney up north since i wasn't connected to anyone. in paola, i had my  circle of friends through moms club but haven't met anyone since i've moved. tonight at awana a new family came and set down next to me during the start-up. later in the evening she came to the nursery with her daughter (who is 3 but too young of a 3 for cubbies). while talking in the nursery we connected right away and it turns out we bought her best friend's house (small world, huh?). she knew everything about our attempt to get out of the contract after lucy died- didn't know details but knew what we had been through. this made it a lot easier to talk to her about the situation and i'm praising God for bringing her into my life. she's a believer and invited me to a bible study. we are getting together tomorrow for a playdate - i can't wait!

settling into a new church

matt and i haven't been church hunting for 6 years, but since we've moved we had to find a new church closer to our home. i miss my grace bible church family every week (we've only been gone 2 weeks, but still). i miss the familiar faces, the kind brothers and sisters in Christ who have done so much for our family (especially these past 2 months), sitting under my dad's teaching in sunday school (let's face it, no one will ever compare to my dad), my sweet friends and their kids who were so close to mine, and so much more. however, we found a church we like here in parkville - northwest bible church. i was excited when we looked at the house back in june that their was a bible church. finding a solid bible teaching church can be tough these days but this one fits the mold i was looking for. we've attended two sundays and have really enjoyed the teaching and the people. molly seems to enjoy junior church and has met a little friend. sophie has adjusted well in the nursery also (only screaming a little when i drop her off). the church is in need of teachers for junior church so i approached the pastor today to find out what the stipulations were to teach. he said i didn't need to be a member because he knew my background and the beliefs from the church i came from were in agreement with theirs. i get to shadow next week and will then be put into the rotation. i'm excited to see how God is going to use me in this new church matt is looking at getting involved in a construction group where they go fix up houses for calvary bible college students. praise the Lord we found a solid bible teaching church that proclaims the message of Christ and believes the bible is truth.

missouri gets a yay!

missouri gets a yay on aquatic centers now (although it's still a boo that there aren't very many and they're far away, oh, and expensive! if we would have gone during non-twilight hours it would have cost our family $30 to swim! ouch! we went after 5 and paid $15 and got lucky because they didn't charge us for sophie). anyway, this park that we went to, tiffany springs water park, was a blast and so family friendly. most pools don't allow you to go down the slides with your kids, this one does. it had a big play area for kids in the zero-depth entry part with 4 slides and lots of spraying mechanisms as well as buckets that dumped water. the slides were fast and so sophie was not able to go down alone (although she would have if we would have let her!) matt and i were able to hold her and she had a blast. i'm not sure how many times we went down the slides. molly was not a fan of the pool. she said it was too dumpy - meaning there were too many buckets dumping down randomly. she didn't want to get her hair wet. i think only taking her swimming once in almost 2 months made her forget how much fun she has when she lets herself get totally wet. the water was a bit chilly too so she was cold which didn't help her cause either.

this pool had a lazy river and a tornado like pool that spun you quickly into the center. sophie loved it, but i'll admit it was a little dangerous holding her in it because it's easy to lose your footing and go down. molly, well, she was in her mood during that also, even though matt was holding her. there's a sauna section also with jets and a small fountain next to the lazy river for parents to sit on while their kids play. there are also two large slides. matt and i each went down one. that was fun! i hadn't been down a waterslide since i was at a conference in wichita for school. it's been 4 years at least, probably closer to 5. sophie thought it was funny that i went down a slide.

there is also an olympic sized swimming pool with diving boards. matt loved this part because he could swim laps. trouble was, he forgot his goggles and his eyeballs paid for it.

another thing about the zero-depth entry area is that they have little fountains coming up which are perfect for the kids to sit and play in. sophie had fun filling her bucket then walking out of the pool to "water the concrete". molly, my little social butterfly, tried to make a friend to play with, but unfortunately picked the shy girl and sent her running when she asked if she wanted to play. :(

i love this pool, and though it's a bit of a drive, i think we'll be back a lot (with season passes so it's not so expensive)! hopefully molly will overcome her fear of getting wet while swimming once again ( we go through this every summer) and enjoy herself as much as sophie and i did.

there you go missouri, you got a yay!

introducing yay and boo!

welcome to my newest label, yay and boo. here i will compare kansas and missouri as i discover more about missouri.

public swimming pools (aquatic centers):

* yay kansas! there are pools all over the kansas city area on the kansas side.
* boo missouri! there are only a handful of pools in the northland and we have to drive 20 minutes or so to get to one. we do have a small pool in our subdivision but it's not kept very clean. lots of dead bugs floating around.

parks:

* yay kansas! parks all over and in open areas.
* boo missouri! we have 2 small playground areas in our subdivision but have to drive 15 minutes to the nearest park (right now b/c the large park in parkville is currently underwater) and it's so secluded, i wouldn't go there alone. and the play area's really small too....

Jesus needed a lucy

those are the sweet words spoken by molly to my dad in the hospital waiting room before lucy was delivered. too young to really comprehend, but she knew that lucy was going to live with Jesus in heaven. i know many of you are wondering what in fact happened almost 2 weeks ago on sunday, july 10th. here's lucy's story.

saturday night was much like any other, lucy was active after dinner, not as much as usual, but she was still moving. i went to sleep and woke up sunday morning around 6 and never felt her move. this was unusual because she always moved as soon as i woke up. i tried eating sugar, jiggling my stomach, drinking water. still nothing. i got dressed and went to church still concerned. i was having some contractions but they weren't painful or regular. around 11:00 a.m. she still hadn't moved so i called my doctor. my doctor didn't seem too concerned but asked me to come to the hospital where she was at so they could hook me up to the monitor to check things out. the nurses tried finding a heartbeat and couldn't and then called my doctor for a sonogram. i saw my sweet baby motiononless in my womb and knew it was bad news when she called another doctor in just to be sure. lucy in fact had died and i was soon preparing to go into the operating room. matt and i were devestated but tried to remain calm and thankful for what we had.

lucy was born at 2:41p.m. weighing 9 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches long. she was a beautiful little girl and a great mix of molly and sophie. there was no question they were sibblings. lucy's cord had been thinned, probably because of a kink, and that put her into stress. she most likely swallowed too much meconium. the next few hours were spent with family holding our precious little girl. matt left the hospital about 8 p.m. to be with molly and sophie and i took full advantage of my time alone with my daughter. i held my baby all night, just as i would have if she would have been alive. saying good bye was the hardest thing i ever hope i have to go through in my life.

my life has forever changed and it's not an easy rode to go down. some days are good, others are not. a part of me is missing however, i must remain strong in the promise that my hope is in the Lord. i will see my lucy again one day and spend eternity with her. right now, she's in the best place, our Savior's arms. the Bible says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. we can't save ourselves, no matter how good we are or how many good deeds we do, how many times we go to church or donate money to charity, no of this matters unless we've come to the realization that it is only through a belief in Christ that we will go to heaven. not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. my friends, you must come to a point in your life where you admit to Christ that you are a sinner and need His saving grace and ask Him to come and live in your heart and be Lord of your life and then and only then will you spend eternity in heaven. it's my prayer that little lucy will impact the lives of others and bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

so glad i caught this moment

sophie loves bubbles! bu bu was one of her first words and really the only one she says really well besides ma ma. she's loves to catch bubbles, watch them be blown, and try blowing them herself. usually, the blowing herself results in eating them and blowing the bubbles from her mouth! tonight, she figured it out! i didn't even realize until i looked at the picture i was taking. she was so cute sitting on the table on our deck trying to blow that i decided to take a picture. then, i saw the bubbles! she did it! and then again after that. i'm so glad i caught this moment!

molly's fairies

molly is all girl, all imagination and she has fairies. it varies from day to day how many she has. some are good and some are bad. the good ones help her and the bad ones do bad things, cause her to do bad things. she does have three consistent fairies (all good) molly fairy, tinkerbell fairy, and ashen-vince (don't ask me where she came up with this name!). these fairies go on bike rides with her - there's a trailer hooked to her bike that they ride in. last night, anna was over for a sleepover and ashen-vince fairy stayed at grandpa and grandma's house. she was hiding there. grandma found out today she had a fairy staying with her last night.

molly talks to her fairies regularly also. she'll be carrying on a conversation with herself and we'll ask her who she's talking to. the answer is always, "my fairies". the fairies do all sorts of things such as have babies, put make up on molly, and the latest, have pink eye. it's never all, but at least one of them.

we bought pool toys a few weeks ago and molly was thrilled that we found a mermaid fairy pool toy. it's a favorite among the girls at the pool. she has the tinkerbell movie and loves books that have to do with fairies.

so, if anyone is in need of a fairy, molly's the one to talk to. she'll tell you all about them, how to get them, and what they can do for you!

fun with cousin brynnlea

molly's cousin brynnlea lives a couple hours away and so they don't get a chance to interact much. last night, however, my parents brought brynnlea over to play with molly. she was thrilled to hear she was coming and as soon as we got home from our birthday party, she started crafting pictures for brynnlea. the first was a picture using some of the princess stickers she got at the party, then a card with a picture of sleeping beauty,and finally a picture of ariel. coloring just wasn't enough so we decorated the tail with bits of tissue paper. of course, it all had to be wrapped in a gift bag with wrapping paper. she met brynnlea at the door with it.

we ate pizza then went outside to play. the girls had so much fun in the sandbox, play house, and blowing bubbles.

   

we capped the evening off with brownies and ice cream. molly wasn't ready for brynnlea to leave, and brynnlea wasn't ready to leave either. i'm so glad these girls are close in age and hoping they'll be good friends as they grow up!

swimming

we went to the pool tonight for the first time this summer. i love our pool and especially the fact that it's free at 7:30. we can swim for 30 minutes then come home and head to bed. a great summer time routine! we planned to go tomorrow afternoon with matt but i decided i wanted to check out the water temperature before we pay to go. it was a little chilly at first, but not bad. sophie didn't turn blue so that was a good indicator.

sophie loved the water. i knew she would because we went swimmng at an indoor pool a couple weeks ago and she had a blast. she loved going down the frog slide,and the best part was it was a frog. sophie loves frogs and so the fact that the slide is a frog makes sophie very happy! pictures to come when matt is with me to help catch.

molly grew like a weed over the past year. last summer she could barely touch over the by the wall 2.5 ft. we didn't feel comfortable letting her that far by herself. this year, no problem. she walks all over the shallow end without the water coming close to going over her head. she wants to swim so bad too! i'm anxious for swimming lessons next year. she's going to be quite the little fish!

i plan to take the girls as much as possible before baby 3 comes along. it's a great way to end our evening!

summer devotional study

this summer i am participating in such a neat bible study and book study. it started last week and i have already learned so much and been challenged by what God is teaching me. the bible study is only a verse or two every day. i was a little concerned that this would be enough but it really is and makes me think a bit deeper about the verses. i fond the study on a blog i frequently read http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/. it is linked up to another site, www.goodmorninggirls.org. the study is focusing on motherhood, raising a family, and building the home. perfect for me in my life right now! we follow a simple plan to study the verses called s.o.a.p (scripture, observations, applications, prayer).

this is what i learned this week:

•  Christ must be central in building the home/family Ps. 127:1
•  I must be totally dependent on God in all areas of my life, my childrens' lives, and my husband's life Jn. 15:4-5
•  Christ must be first in my life. seek Him first, he will meet all my needs (needs, not wants!) Matt 6:33
• timothy's mother and grandmother had a strong relationship with the Lord. they faithfully taught timothy and passed their faith to him 2 tim. 1:5
• as parents, our commands and laws should be the commands and laws of Christ. obeying the things our parents have taught us keeps us from evil.  prov. 6:20-23

some applications:

• do devotions and pray with my children
•  use verses to back up my discipline as well as when i'm praising them for doing the right thing
•  seek Christ even in the little things
•  be in the Word daily to continue learning about the fruit i should be producing in my life
• strive to put  Christ first: read the bible daily, pray fervently, memorize scripture, seek to serve others over self
• bring my children up to have faith as timothy did: keep my walk in check (be an example), teach them the things of Christ, pray fervently for them and their future families
• practice what i preach

tomorrow starts a new week of scriptures and the introduction to the book study. i will be reading the book the ministry of motherhood by sally clarkson. i'm excited to see what God has in store for me to learn through these scriptures and this  book.

i got hooded!

on saturday i finally graduated with my masters degree! i received the master of science, master teacher. it was a long time coming. i started the program back in 2007 while teaching and coaching and finished with two small children and one on the way. i'm glad to be done and don't plan on taking any more classes, ever! here's the highlights of the day!

walking in. i'm sandwiched between the two tall guys!

waiting in line to be hooded.

receiving my diploma (ok, it's really, hey you attended commencement!) and my stinkin' hat would not stay on. it was so windy!

shaking some lady's hand.

the fam.

molly couldn't wait to get home and try everything on!

today

it's been awhile...so here's an update about today.

it was quite an enjoyable day. matt left early to play golf before work so we invited our friends over to play. we had fun playing and then went to eat at a local chinese restaurant. we've gone before together and get a quite a laugh. 3 moms, 6 kids, all 3 and under! we joked with the owner today that he'll need to get us a bigger table because we're all pregnant and will soon be bringing in 9 kids! the molly and her friends are so cute when they eat together. they make faces at each other and giggle and laugh the whole time. precious memories!

molly and sophie played really well on their own today and i let them. i guess i should have played with them a bit more, but they were having fun and i was enjoying the down time. i sat. it was nice.

during sophie's nap, molly and i made two cards. she loves to be crafty and gets excited to use my stuff and help. after naptime, i finished up a sewing project i should have finished two months ago and i must say i'm a bit rusty in the sewing department. i made too many mistakes.

this evening we took a walk and tested out what it will be like when baby girl #3 gets here. molly rode her bike the mile around our subdivision while i pushed sophie. i think i may have to buy a double jogging stroller...molly's fast! thank goodness she's scared to ride down hills and breaks every five seconds or i'd be in a dead sprint to keep up!

after our walk we went to the park around the corner to play. sophie generally goes down this slide with molly but tonight i let her go down by herself. she loved it! now, it's really high so i go up with her to make sure she doesn't fall down the stairs and molly stays at the bottom to catch her. and after 4 trips up, her little legs get tired but she's determined to keep going!

we came home, picked up toys, vacuumed, and ate cheese sticks and the girls went to bed. i

needed a day like today...it was nice!

sophie's 1!

i can't believe sophie turned one 3 weeks ago! (i know this blog is a little late). the year went by too fast! she started out as the little, chunky bundle of joy, weighing 9 lbs. 5 oz., full of dark hair and has grown to this petite little toddler, weighing just 17 lbs. 10 oz.

sophie's my cuddler and always has been. i love that she loves to be held and snuggled with. Really, she still sleeps best in my arms. Right around a year she started sleeping through the night more consistently (she still doesn't do it all the time). however, before that, every night around 3 she would be awake. once she snuggled into my arms on the couch, she was out! and so was i, which is why i spent the majority of my sleep time her first year on the couch. she'll also nestle into bed with me if she wakes up but that's not as comfortable for me so we generally pick the couch.

she's figuring things out so quickly these days - learning animal sounds, attempting to say the animal's name, building towers, driving cars around, trying to do everything molly does, cooking, climbing ( i really think i'm raising a monkey!), and finally, walking! walking was the big thing i've been waiting for and i'm glad it happened just in time for the weather to warm up. the girl loves to be outside and it would have been a long (and painful on the knees) summer if she wasn't walking.

we celebrated her birthday by purchasing her first pair of shoes. the trying on experience wasn't the most pleasant. i think she was scared of the lady measuring her feet and putting the shoes on. she took quickly to the strange objects on her feet once she was allowed down at the park that day (a first). wood chips were lots of fun! we came home, unwrapped presents, then went to the park, ate a spaghetti dinner (one of her favorites) and had cupcakes.

the next day we had a party with family and friends. sophie had lots of fun and we once again realized how blessed we are to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives. thank you to all who made sophie's first birthday so special! another big step in sophie's world is wearing a bib! she finally will wear one which makes meal time so much easier to clean up. those of you who've seen sophie eat know that she's an eater! and a messy one at that. she refused bibs for the longest time, taking them off and so she ate all of her meals in a diaper. now she stays clothed (most of the time) and wears her bib to catch her droppings. i no longer have to bathe her after every meal.

sophie doesn't talk much, she babbles but not many actual words come out. she says moo, kitty (which doesn't sound like kitty), woof (fffff), frog (ffffff), quack, na na (this is daddy and banana), bubbles (bub bub), yucky (uck), drink (dnk) and mmmm (this is for food that she sees and i'm hungry). now that i'm looking at this list, she does do quite a bit! i guess you don't realize it until you write it all out. :)

life's just better with a ball in your hand! sophie continues to love balls. she loves to throw them, hold them, put them in things, really it doesn't matter. she's happy if there's a ball in her hand. she was getting restless in the swing the other day (but everytime i took her out she wanted back in) so i gave her a ball to hold on to. much better. we also went for a short (slow) walk the other day so molly could practice riding her bike and once again, a ball made the stroller ride bearable. i love, love, love that she likes balls. i only hope this is the beginning of my little athlete (more specifically, basketball player)!

there is so much more i could say about my little mouse. i love her dearly and she's such a blessing to me. i'm so thankful God blessed me with her and gave me the privilege of raising such as sweet girl.

pre-preschool

i've started doing some formal "school" with molly. until this time, her learning of letters, numbers, and such has been through play, books, or t.v.. i really haven't sat down and truly taught her anything. however, she's really showing an interest in preschool and is determined to go next year (i need to start visiting the ones in town and make a decision) so i thought i'd give her a head start. i'm always looking at different blogs and websites with activities to do and finally found a curriculum (for free) that i like, a lot. You can check it out here: http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/RaisingRockStarsPreschool.html. I've added a few other things in addition to this from various sights. the internet is a great thing!

we started with the letter L, the number 1, and the sight word, see. molly already knew the letter L and number 1, however, now knows the sound L makes and really does recognize the sight word see and can pick it out in other books. She's reading a little easy book called I See with pictures of the "L" words to help out. i'm not paitent enough to wait any longer for this video to load so if you want to see it, check it out on my facebook page.

In addition to reading, we've been practicing writing L's on lined paper.

We also made a cute ladybug thumbprint craft.

i'm still here!

well it's been awhile! mainly because i'm exhausted after the girls go to bed and just want to sit and do nothing, oh, and my insane class i'm taking to complete my masters. i can't wait for may - i'll be done! finally!!! the saying do it while you don't have kids is true...it's much harder when you do! :) anyway, here's a glimpse of what we've been up to.
omaha, nebraska: we went to omaha at the end of february so matt could run in a stair race. we made a weekend out of it and went to the zoo and children's museum.
the stair race that matt ran in was 40 stories, 870 stairs, and 633 feet in the sky! he did great too placing 109/1,417 with a time of 6:54. here's the outside of the building - First National Tower. Pretty impressive building on the inside too! celebrating sophie's 1st birthday - there's a whole blog post to come about this but here's a snapshot of her enjoying her first cupcake!

playing outside. we love to be outside and sophie loves that she can finally get down on the ground (although she needs lots of reminders to walk outside and not crawl!) visiting the mermaid princess at crown center

a family of snowmen

molly finally was able to build her snowmen this winter. it was the perfect day because the snow was melting so it was nice and wet, plus, it was warm out. molly didn't even have to wear a coat (yes, mom, i know it was still chilly - but she had gloves on!).
and here we are: molly, mommy, daddy, sophie! aren't we cute?!