SHE DID IT!!!!!!

Molly has been working on getting to the top of this rope now for a while and today she made it!

Way to go Molly!

Gingerbread House

My friend Jennifer and her family have a tradition of doing gingerbread houses each year and every year they get better and better. This year we decided to give it a go, but we chose to do one all together instead of individual ones. I am glad she is so good at this, because she suggested icing the sides together first and then waiting to do the roof until it was dry. It helped a lot and we had a great time!

More gymnastics

I keep promising I will post videos of Molly doing gymnastics, but I never do because I watch from a balcony and the video is not great from my phone. About a month ago they went upstairs to a small room and practiced so I got a video of Molly working on her back handsprings.

Splits

Molly got her second medal for gymnastics yesterday. Her first one was for holding a straddle "L" hold for 15 seconds and this one was for passing off her splits in all three directions!

She only earns medals for certain skills and she gets so excited when she is close to passing off a skill.

She did not want to take a picture so Kaitlyn offered to be in the picture with her. Kaitlyn is a helper for her coach Kim. Molly loves Kim and Kaitlyn.

Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Today is my oldest Brother's birthday and I absolutely adore this guy! He is one of my best friends and as long as I can remember he has been looking out for me.

When I was in high school, every guy that came over was interrogated by Everitt. In fact, Nathan was interrogated by Everitt the first time he met him and it was only my second or third time meeting Nathan. When he got back from his mission, Everitt went out a couple of times with this girl I really didn't care for. For one of their dates she came to pick him up so I decided it was time to get a little revenge on my over protective brother. I dressed up with saws and fake guns attached to my waist and my other brothers built a fire in front of me. The sign I am wearing says, "my brother is a Temple and I give out the recommends"

The girl just sat there staring at me not knowing what to do. Everitt peaked out the door and saw what was going on, he was laughing so hard he forgot to come save her from his crazy sister. It was worth all the hassle because that girl was out of the picture after that and he ended up marrying one of my best friends

He taught me how to ride a horse,

was my date for a daddy /daughter date in high school when I didn't have a Father to go with,

he stayed up all night before my wedding making a video of Nathan and I to play at our reception,

and bawled with me as we danced.

He is a kind, loving, generous person and I love him dearly.

Happy Birthday Everitt!

Let It Snow!

Molly has been chanting, "Best day ever!" all morning. It is only a dusting of snow, but we will take it! 

Pumpkin Patch

Molly's school went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch last week and we had such a good time.

Cooper, Isaac, Molly, Porter, and Benjamin. Her buddies from school and church.

This pumpkin patch was on a working farm so they taught the kids a lot about how the farm runs. It was really interesting. After learning that you can tell the color of a chickens eggs by their ear color,

Molly and Porter collected eggs from the fake chickens and then washed them off and packed them up. 

Then they were taught that hay was for eating and straw was used for bedding and they needed to clean the straw in the cow stall.

 This was a cool hay bailer toy. Not a great picture though.

They got to milk a pretend cow that had very life like, working udders!

Then it was off on a wagon ride to go pick a pumpkin from the patch.

After we got our pumpkins we headed back to the barn where they were able to pet a goat, mini horse, chicken, sheep, and rabbit. She loved it!

All in all it was a fun day. The pumpkin patch was pretty pathetic due to the drought over the summer, but it didn't put a damper on the trip at all.

Trunk or Treat

Here is the little fairy that came to our house yesterday. 

Her favorite part was the glitter all over her face. My favorite part of her costume was her glitter shoes I made by mixing glitter with mod podge and painting a pair of sunday shoes. It was a cheap pair of glitter shoes and by combining three colors of glitter I was able to get the color I wanted.

First Day of Pre-K

 On September 4th Molly had her first day of pre-K. I know she felt like this day took forever to finally come, but for me it was really bittersweet. I am happy she is doing something she loves and is no longer bored at home all day, but she is my baby and it was harder than I expected to let go. On the actual day, I was fine, but the lead up to starting school was nerve racking for me.

She woke up very early and came in to our room asking if she could get dressed. She was beyond excited.

(unfortunately we had hurricane Isaac going through and the humidity was crazy. My lens kept fogging up as fast as I could clean it so the pictures are a little foggy!)

Some of her friends are in her class with her. In fact a third of her class are friends from church.

I was standing by the door and she turned and gave me a very clear look that said "please leave"!

She loves it and her teacher, Miss Betty is just great. I think it is going to be a great year!

Volleyball

Nathan loves volleyball and we recently decided to show Molly some volleyball skills. Once her hands are together she won't take them apart, but it is fun to see her try and learn something new.

Shave the Date

One of my good friends recently found out she has cancer. She started Chemo a few weeks ago and has set an amazing example of taking a sad thing and turning in to a good experience. Today she had a "Shave the date" party to celebrate baldness! Everyone had to wear a wig or hat to the party. There was a bounce house and snow cones and cotton candy and we all had a great time.

This is her daughter Courtney. Molly LOVES Courtney. She has babysat for us a few times and she is a pretty fantastic person.

This is Kathy and her son. She is such an inspiration!

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is still going strong. She still loves it and has moved in to an "invitation only"

class.

Dance Class

Molly took a really fun dance class that she absolutely loved. It was more about moving than technique and at the end of each class every girl would do a solo across the floor. It was darling to watch.

Easter Egg hunt

Some friends had us over for an Easter egg hunt and we all had a great time

Molly and her good friend Porter

Happy Easter!

Happy Brithday Big Girl!

Molly turned four yesterday and I can not believe my baby is growing up! She is a great kid and we feel so lucky to have her. She loves animals and babies (she prays every night for a brother, a sister, a dog and a cat)! She loves gymnastics and does really well at it and she loves the colors pink and green. If she has a treat she almost always wants to save some of it for someone else and after a tantrum she always comes up to me later in the day and says she is sorry for doing whatever it was she was doing. She LOVES her cousins on both sides. I love seeing her interact with them. She is much more comfortable and bold around cousins than she is with her friends. I find it fascinating because she doesn't see her cousins very often.
We love this little girl. We really, really love her!

She chose Chicken Cordon Bleu and mashed potatoes for dinner.

We let Molly cut her own cake this year. Sarah grew up with the tradition that the birthday kid always gets to serve there own cake which meant a lot of awkwardly cut pieces of cake. In true Molly fashion she was very precise with her cuts. She wanted it done right.

She has been asking for this jewelry box for over a year now. She has played with it so much. I was worried she would get it and then never play with it, but so far she has played with it a lot. She had to put her jewelry in it right away.

Happy Birthday Mollykins!

Birthday celebration in California

Molly got to have two celebrations this year because she and I went to California a few weeks ago and Molly really wanted to have a party with her cousins so, we did!

She and Ellie had a great time together.

Camy, Macy, Ellie and Molly at her party.

Presents and then it was time to go swimming!

Time for cake!