dear aunt jeanie

i love you. i'm glad that you were my loving, wise, talented aunt. with amazing taste, gardening skills and a cooking guru. you were always welcoming, gentle and fun. one of the most lovable women that i know! i loved spending my summers at your house... eating wonderful treats... playing with the animals... making memories with cousins... playing at the dunes... sneaking your pickled beans and jams out of the cellar... looking at old family photos and hearing stories... i feel like i had a life full of memories but yet had a sleepless night thinking of all that i thought i had missed out on. but had just come to the conclusion that i was very lucky. very lucky to have you as my aunt.
i love you. thank you. and you will always be here with us. take care of the boys.

xoxo mollymalia

this was the last trip we took this summer... so here is the link to another post.

and here is another one from the summer before. enjoy.

discovery #264

merrick has a new place that he likes to play.. the laundry basket. it all started long ago when i would go down to the basement to do the laundry. me, the multi-tasker, would empty the dryer in the basket plop merrick on top of the pile and he would ride up the stairs in the load... he loves it! smiling and laughing the whole time... but tonight after dinner i put him on the floor to go play and before i knew it he was inside the empty basket. so we decided to go for a 'drive' around the house...

he was laughing hysterically! i love moments like that! then i decided to play basket ball... i would make them in, he would pass them back... one more thing that he is totally good at these days! then when he was ready to get out he would rock the basket to the side to crawl his way out.

i love this kid.

xoxo, mollymalia

halloween 2009

sorry these took so long to get up... but you know how it goes... we had tons of fun! paka was here... started out doing a corn maze... came home, we all dressed up, turned the orange lights on out side and walked over to the stoddards house for the hot dog roast. trick or treated around the neighborhood... cotton candy at the dewals... hot chocolate at the denisons... very fun night!

jordan was a vampire... she has been talking about being one since about march of this year... she had a blast... and loaded up on tons of candy... which i proudly raided after she went to bed... come on what parent doesn't do that?? jord had a hard time keeping those fangs in due to the fact that she has not front teeth... meaning three on top are gone... but man, it looks like all six anterior teeth are missing!

this fire breathing diaper wearing dragon is merrick! for the last month he has been wearing his dragon legs around the house, he loves them! every time he sees the costume hanging in the closet he races right over to it and has a huge grin as he watches me take it down and put it on him!
kasey had been a lumber jack the night before at a party we attended. ax, spenders & flannel... oh my! he fit the part to a T. but when we went out halloween night around the neighborhood he decided to go with the biker beard.
my pops was here! i think that it is becoming tradition to have my parents here for halloween... i seriously don't mind! pops was the devil... yeah right, no evil plots going on here... but we did joke about my dad wearing no shirt with only the sequenced bow tie (shown here) in a photo shoot for my moms xmas present... mom watch in the mail for your chip n dales portfolio.

and then there is me... dork... at work we dressed up as flies in our department and one of the guys dressed up as a turd... ha ha we got most creative though! later that night i was cleopatra. head to toe... beaded head piece, arm and wrist cuffs... gown and sandals for the party... but like my other half... wig did just fine while out with the kids... good call though cause it kept my head warm!

xoxo, mollymalia

sometimes i want to just kick my computer.

sorry everyone for the lack of posting... believe me, i would love to post... but for me, it is the pictures that i love to post more... and my photo program is been sick lately... does anyone know anything about HP photosmart 2.5?? i can't even get in to look at my photos or even upload new ones... its so frustrating!!! let me know... or if there is even a better place to store my photos on my comp... thanks! xoxo, mollymalia

merrick is 9 months?

wow, so this little fella is 9 months! it blows my mind! well it blows my mind everyday... i guess that will never get old. this morning i took the fella in for his 9 month check up... he was all smiles with the doc and was flirting with the nurses... ham.

so here are his stats...

weight... 17 lbs 10 oz (8 percentile)

length... 29 in. (71 percentile)

head... 45.5 cm (52 percentile)

now this is a boy of many toys! he loves them! and if he doesn't have a basket of toys there in front of him he will make his way over to the shoe rack or the books on the floor of the office. i guess that it wouldn't just be the toys he loves... the basket is a major toy as well. he removes all the toys after a while and we will come in to find that he has all but his knees and feet sticking out of the basket.

his new things... calling out for 'mama' when he has pooped his pants.

pulling the plug at the end of his tub. promptly giving kisses when mom says 'give mommy kisses' but when daddy asks he just pats his check. army crawling everywhere but on the hardwood floor. falls asleep at bed and for naps all on his own and the only thing that wakes him up... the toilet. has four teeth. has gotten one hair cut, well trim, already. talks and talks! is fascinated with the blow dryer and will come right next to me so that he can get 'blowed on'. shakes his head for no, biggest smile in the world for yes! he chats anytime he is in the car. loves bugs and will try and pinch ants when he finds them. holds up his star when you ask 'where is twinkle twinkle?' points at the trees only when the leaves are blowing in the wind.

his new love... food! mainly fruits like avocado and cantaloupe. loves a whole slice of bread with out the crust and will devour ravioli!

a two post month...

has it really been almost three weeks since i lasted posted something?? sorry about that...
we have been busy...

mainly this guy...
two weeks ago he had a nasty fever that lasted 5 days! the highest... 103.8! but during the late mornings and afternoons he would get down to about 100.6. it was so sad... he was really cuddly, wouldn't eat that well, and sleep? what sleep? we felt so bad for him... found out that he had a major sore throat... and getting two more teeth.
then he got a major snotty nose and cough... with some nasty gala galas.
two days ago he woke up from a nap with a popped vessel in his right eye (in photo above) that quickly turned the white of his eye bloody red. so now gets meds for that and today looks tons better!
but through it all he has still been his playful, happy, laughing self! in fact yesterday i caught him army crawling around the living room!

happy birthday to...

this guy...

who woke up this morning and said that he gets to do what ever he wants today!

who, out of anything he could possibly want for breakfast, asks me to make him spaghetti.

who is currently outside cleaning the trailer... sorry, rewiring and cleaning his hunting trailer... it's his birthday... i need to be more specific, so he says :)

who, i heard tell merrick this morning, he is turning 25 today.

happy birthday hubba! love you!

she is seven...

going on seventeen....

happy birthday jord!

xoxo, us

playing in the daisy's

uncle jack and aunt jeanie always have an amazing yard full of wild flowers... when we were younger my mom would pose my sister betsy and i in the flowers too for pictures.

note: passie in mouth so child does not eat grass

jord and kasey ran through the sprinklers when we first got there so jos hair was all wet... i feel bad that i didn't get her out again for more pictures.

next time

parker idaho... amish cake night ...mmm!

grill master kasey on the deck... i love this place... who wouldn't

some of my cousins came over for amish cake and ice cream the night before we left... it was so much fun to hang out... it has been so long since i have seen most of them... and i got to meet all of their kids too!

this is my moms brother jack and my aunt jeanie... love them to death! thank you for letting us come and stay at your house... i love it there... and love hanging out and hearing stories. miss you guys!...

...all of you!

yellowstone

old faithful was cool... when we got there we still had some time to kill so we went over to the lodge and grabbed a bite to eat. out on the deck we sat for about an hour waiting... it's hard to believe that this thing shoots over 300 feet in the air out of a 4 inch diameter hole. and its crazy hot water too! pretty cool to see.
these hot springs were everywhere... but this one by far was the prettiest. if it wasn't hot enough to boil me like a cornish hen in 5 seconds i would have jumped in... inviting isn't it??

right off the bat when we entered the park we saw a herd of cow elk... pretty neat. they really don't care that you are there... we also saw a buffalo, bald eagle and tons of geese. all in all our trip was great... i wish that we could have done more traveling in yellowstone... but with two whiny kids it was time to get back...