Molly's 1st Fish!

While we were at Walker's place at Lake Panorama (see earlier post), Mike taught Molly how to fish!

Maggie Walker let Molly borrow her pink princess fishing pole.

Mike taught Molly how to hold it and to look at the bobber in the water . . .

Maggie came over to make sure Molly understood as well . . .

Mike teaching Molly how to tighten her string . . .

Molly starts to feel a tug . . . could it be?

Molly caught her 1st fish! It was hard to reel in, so daddy helped her out!

Um . . . how about the BIGGEST fish anyone caught so far that day - a HUGE catfish! Way to go Molly!! Maggie's pink princess fishing pole must be good luck!

Molly is waving at fishy here . . . HI FISHY!! HI FISHY!!

As you can see, the 1st fish Molly caught was almost as big as she is!!! Everyone was so excited and Molly didn't really understand what all the fuss was about - but she loved saying HI to the fishy!

Lake Panorama - Memorial Day Weekend!

Our good friends, the Walkers, invited us up to their lake house this past weekend at Lake Panorama, Iowa! It was just a 4 hour drive away - but we truly felt like we "got away!" Swings hanging from the tree limbs, fishing poles, a boat, wine, good food, great friends and more wine - made for a perfect kick-off to summer!

Molly checking everything out . . .

Maggie Walker (age 3.5)

Our 1st (of many) boat rides . . . here we go!

Maggie and Jon Walker love to dance on the front of the boat!

As you can tell, she LOVED the boat rides! Every time we slowed down or stopped, she would yell "More boat!"

Mike with his god-daughter, Molly Rose Walker (age 6 months). Such a sweet (& happy) baby!!

We loved the tree swings!!

Fishing on the dock . . .

Molly followed Jon (age 5.5) and Maggie around and copied everything they did!

Being silly before bedtime . . .

Sunset view from their house on the lake . . . so peaceful and relaxing!!

Bed time.

Jason & Mike built a fire-pit for smores!

Our 2 Mollys . . . on the boat again!

Ed & Cheryl (Jason's parents) came up on Sunday afternoon from Nebraska to join in the fun (and babysit!)

Molly enjoyed facing backwards and waving to everyone when the boat pulling in to dock . . .

What a FUN weekend!! Thanks Jason & Lindsay for EVERYTHING!

Molly's future is bright . . .

Typical of Molly right now -- this is what you might find if you were to ring our doorbell right now. Molly is often wearing her sunglasses INSIDE the house and under her arm, is doggie.

She is not doing it to be funny or have attitude (at least not yet!). She really just likes wearing them. Yesterday she started putting them on doggie - or having MOMMY put them on doggie! Mommmmmie - help doggie. Help PLEASE!!

They fall off of doggie all the time (of course) and I often think to myself - I can't believe I spend a great part of my day putting sunglasses back on a stuffed dog. Oh well - it's part of my job description I guess - and these moments are fleeting.

Tornado Sirens at Playgroup!

Molly and I get together with all her little friends and their moms every Wednesday to play! Today we all went over to Max's house and usually there are about 8 of us total, but today we had a couple extra kiddos - so we were the largest group we've ever been - with 11 kids and 9 mommies!

About 90 minutes into playing - we were all getting ready to to go home for lunch and naps - when the tornado sirens started going off!! Of course, all of us had our phones on vibrate in our purses or in the car so we did not realize what huge tornadic activity was hitting the Kansas City metro as the kids played and us mommies chatted. Someone went in another room to turn on the TV and it looked like it was coming right for our neighborhood!

So, we brought all the kids downstairs to Max's stone basement! Can you picture 9 eighteen-month olds, 1 four-year old and one newborn baby (2 weeks old!) right at lunch time going downstairs where there were no toys or food? Natalie (Max's mom) was a rock star host and brought blankets downstairs for the kids to sit on and Goldfish crackers and Puffs to eat.

They were SILENT and eating the entire time we were down there - close to 45 minutes!!

(L-R) Ainslie, Brooks, Jacob, Molly, Marshall

Moral of the story - We can survive anything if we have SNACKS!

Hope this post finds all our loved ones safe and sound during this very stormy day.

Future Doctor (?)

Molly received these tiny scrubs at one of the baby showers thrown for me the summer before she was born. She tried them on this afternoon and pretended to be like dad!

Mommy put goldfish crackers in the little pocket in front and she loved looking for them!

She does not yet understand that you can't see the inside of the pocket from inside the shirt. :)

Making a snack for Pooh.

I hope Molly has the opportunity to be whatever she wants to be someday - as long as she is happy - life is too short not to be!!

Pretend Picnics are fun!

Molly has been REALLY into pretend play lately and WE LOVE IT!!! She loves to feed, rock and dance with all her babies (really just one baby and like 7 stuffed animals). She is so sweet and nurturing to all of them and won't leave the room without saying goodbye to all animals/babies in that room, sometimes even giving them kisses/hugs! It's sooo sweet to watch!

This is my old Fisher Price picnic basket from when I was a little girl (30+ years old), complete with a tiny plate, tiny spoon, tiny fork and very tiny red & white checked tablecloth. We just got it out a week ago, but we have been playing PICNIC EVERY DAY this week with all of Molly's babies/animals. She loves to STIR the food and give spoonfuls of food to all.

Elmo, baby, doggie and Pooh are her posse' - then depending on the day, bunny rabbit and others get to join . . .

Sometimes, if it is near snack time, I will let her play with real food like graham crackers or goldfish . . . she says to me in those instances, OH BOY!!!