Story Time at PB Kids!

We met our friends Monica & Jacob at PB Kids on the Plaza this morning for Story Time. Molly & Jacob were more excited to play "house" after Story Time was over than they were about the books . . . Molly "made dinner" for Jacob in the kitchen and told him it was "time to eat!"  I feel sorry (already) for this little bambino in my belly!  

Molly Lately . . .

Hey mom!  Do you want to come on my big girl bed and giggle with me?

Molly walked in on Daddy going the bathroom:  Daddy!!!!  Do you pee lemonade??

Mommy:   Molly, do you have to go potty right now?

Molly:  No, my feet are just dancing.  Do you SEE that they are dancing mom?

Mommy, did you know that when boys grow up they become DADDY'S?  Did you KNOW that???

When I get big, I'm going to be a super-hero, but not a scary one - I'm gonna' be a happy super-hero, mom.

Molly thinking hard while eating her carrot sticks the other day . . .
Molly:  Maybe we should ask God to make the carrots green instead of orange sometime?  
Mommy:  You should ask him Molly.  
Molly:  But mom, God doesn't talk.
Mommy:  Yes he does, and he listens to you a LOT!
Molly:  Eyes WIDE - Does he have lips and a mouth?  And a nose and ears?  And a bottom?

Our dentist has a huge tank of colorful fish in the waiting room.
Mom - did Baby Jesus paint the fish all those colors?


After Molly sat in the dentist chair - the hygienist took Molly to go get a treat for being a good girl in the chair while I stayed and spoke with the dentist.  Molly picked out a glow in the dark ball and a bracelet.  The sweet lady kept putting more and more bracelets on Molly's arm- 5 total.  She told me that Molly said to her, nervously, But, I don't have very much arm left!! 

Molly's grandparents had just returned from France and they were describing all the castles they got to see to Molly. . . Molly asked, Did you get to see any prince and princesses in the castles?  

Molly got a new princess cup and she didn't know who one of the princesses was on it.  Daddy was in a hurry on his way to work, but he quickly googled it on his phone and showed her the picture that popped up - that of Rapunzel.  Molly's eyes were HUGE and as he left for work, she looked at me with the most serious face and said very slowly, I didn't KNOW Daddy had princesses on his phone!!

Fears.

Let's discuss all the things Molly is NOT afraid of:  The dark, playing by herself, jumping to the bottom of the swimming pool, spiders, bugs, worms, snakes, crossing the street, being apart from mommy/daddy.

What IS she afraid of:  PAINTED FACES.  Anyone with their face painted, adults, kids, babies . . .  I've never noticed before but obviously am on the look-out now as painted faces are EVERYWHERE!  The children's museum, kids festivals, baseball games, sporting events, all festivals really.  *sigh* We have tried to explain to her that it's just pretend - but it does not matter.  This is real fear - I mean, like screaming, trying to climb up my leg fear.  Poor bug - breaks my heart to see her so scared.

Halloween is going to be a BLAST this year.  :)

Snow Cones

A new locally-owned Snow Cone shop just opened up about 10 minutes from us -  in an up and coming area called Westside.  Little Freshie.  They make hand-crafted sodas, push-up pops and snow cones with fresh, REAL ingredients!  You can imagine me in the heat of this summer in KC hearing about flavored ICE - and my obsession with checking it out!  

  

The 3 of us tried it out Sunday afternoon and it was so good!   I loved my green tea/pear snow cone and Molly would not stop licking her lime/pomegranate push up pop to give me her review.  Needless to say I think she was a fan!  

Keepin' cool my friends, just keepin' cool . . . 

KC Friends - let me know if you want to check it out - I'd love to go back soon!!

Mass & Dinner & Ice-Cream . . .

We Catholics have a pretty cool option for Sunday church service - we get to go on Saturday nights if we want and then sleep in and relax on Sunday mornings - or for those of us with kids - sleep until 7:00 a.m   :)  Sometimes we make it on Saturday nights, but usually we go on Sunday mornings - depending on what's on the calendar.  

This weekend we met our friends, the Lillis' for 4:00 mass, then walked to dinner, then walked to get ice-cream!  Here is a pix of their ADORABLE kiddos:  Mary Kate (5) and Brendan (7) with Molly.  They were all having a blast dancing after their sugar highs from ice-cream but I got them to stop dancing for 10 seconds to take a couple pix!  Molly loves playing with the older kids so much and they are so sweet to her and treat her like she's their age.  

LOVE Saturday nights with friends!

Bump Update - 30 weeks!

July 28th, 2012 - 30 weeks pregnant with Baby Mac #2

Same Old Blue Dress from Target

Maternal age:  38

Gained so far:  24 lbs

September 4th, 2009 - 30 weeks pregnant with Molly

 Blue Dress from Target  

Maternal age:  35

Gained so far:  24 lbs

So - any guesses yet?  Girl or Boy?  Can't WAIT to find out!!!

Happy Friday!

The more you praise and celebrate your life, 
the more there is in life to celebrate.  

- Oprah Winfrey

Rain

Thank you, God - for the rain showers today, the soggy grass, and the clean air smell.  Molly was very excited to get to use her umbrella after a long hiatus.  

Children's Museum!

So in our on-going effort this summer to BEAT THE HEAT - we are trying to find indoor activites around town.  This morning we met our Playgroup friends at Wonderscope, Children's Museum.  Molly and I had never been and we LOVED it.  I'm sure we will be back often - it is just 6 miles from our house!

Molly & Ainslie playing in the ball room . . . 

Molly loved the farm/garden/grocery store room!  

Molly "checking" kids out of the grocery store.  This sweet little girl was very patient with Molly -  

Kendan, Molly & Ainslie playing in the "Building Room".  

Molly and Brooks on the operating table - in the "Veterinary Clinic"!

We spent the most amount of time in here - Molly loved playing Dr. - as is her favorite thing at home right now too . . . 

The Art Room!

The Water Room!

 Molly and Jacob played in this "Climbing Room" together forever.  She told him she was Rapunzel and he was her Prince.  

He came to rescue her from the tower and off they went to his boat to escape . . .

Molly on the "boat" with Jacob escaping . . .  :) 

The Carousel.

Molly has a new love and it is called The Carousel.  She could go 'round and 'round and 'round and 'round - literally. 

She loves tacos.

For those who know me and especially for those who grew up with me you KNOW I have always loved tacos.  I had a huge appetite as a child (still do!) and even had the record in high-school of most Taco Ticos eaten at one sitting
(16 - I know, gross- but it WAS after a track meet I believe).

Molly loves them too and recently ate 3 of them at dinner - it blows my mind how much this little pint can eat!  She has always been a great eater - but we had to capture her tiny little hands holding these big tacos the other night . . . and yes, the way she talks about "saving the last one for me" you would think the poor girl was starving - as is obviously not the case!  :)

Pool Time!

We met Kelly and Maggie at the pool this morning - it was wonderful.  We could have sat in the water with our friends ALL DAY LONG!!

Summer Nights with Friends . . .

Molly's friend Ainslie recently moved to a new home and her family invited us over this afternoon and evening to play and have dinner.  We had such a great time!  Molly did not want to leave - and neither did we!  Love summer nights with friends . . . 

Molly said the sun was in her eyes on the way home as the sun was setting beautifully - so I gave her this old pair of sunglasses I had in the car.  I had to share - as she looks eerily like the baby in the Hangover movie, don't you think?  :) 

Dance Class

Another snapshot of Molly's dance class from this week.  I was outside watering our flowers early Friday morning before it was time for us to leave and when I came inside she had picked out this bracelet, necklace and headband to wear and said she was ready to go!  She loves her accessories!  

Molly and her friends, McKinley & Ellie, playing in the window of the dance class shop after class!  Lots of giggles!

Hot Time Summer in the City . . .

So . . . when I was in the early stages of pregnancy back in January/February of this year - it felt very much like 3 years ago (almost exactly to the month) when I was first pregnant with Molly.  I was very nauseous, tired - the usual 1st trimester stuff.  But, then Spring came and this baby started really growing in my tummy and was *much* lower than with Molly and things have felt completely different ever since!  

Probably the biggest change from the pregnancy of 2009 compared to this pregnancy of 2012 is how much more active I am with this one!  In 2009, I was sitting at a desk job in a corporate branding/advertising group.  Flash forward 3 years and my days are not spent running between meetings and conference calls/presentations - but running after a 2 year old - in and out of her car seat, helping her wipe after going potty, and chasing after her at the park.  Needless to say I'm much more active with this one - and don't really have time to think about how I feel much or worry about the pregnancy things I worried about 3 years ago - which is probably a good thing.  

However there is one thing that I would give anything to go back to in 2009 - and that is how COOL it was.  Summer 2009 in Kansas City ranked as the 10th coolest summer since 1888. The average high temperature for the season was 83 degrees, which is 3.1 degrees below normal, while the average low temperature was 64.7 degrees, which was 1.1 degrees below normal.  The highest temperature of season was 97 degrees recorded just twice!

This past month I think the *average* high has been in the mid 90's to lower 100's.  Check out this week's coming forecast!  Seriously - I'm HOT!  You know it's been a HOT summer, when you LOVE 96 degree days and try to plan all your errands and trips to the park on those days.  When it gets above 10o degrees - it's impossible to keep your home cool - no matter how much you run the air conditioner.   You are still going to have a HOT HOUSE.  

As I  told the hubs last night - Bring it!   I'll take the heat any day over not being pregnant in this heat. So, you won't get much complaining from me - you just may not hear much from me as my mouth is full of ice chips . . . 

Molly's Big Girl Bedroom

So as I mentioned in my earlier post this week - Molly will be 3 in just a little over 3 months (gulp) and Baby #2 is going to be here before we know it - so the time has come for Molly to move out of the baby room!  We finished part of our basement almost 2 years ago when Molly turned 1 to have a little more room to PLAY!   We designed the space into two sections - a living room / play area and a future bedroom for our oldest child!  

We purchased the new bed frame but other than that - we pretty much made everything else or painted old furniture to look new again!  I wanted to fill it with a few essentials (bed, dresser, clock,  bookshelf, lamp) but also leave a lot of space/freedom for her to "make it her own" over the next few years.  I'm sure she's going to have things that she starts to collect or enjoy that she will want to bring to her room and I didn't want the room to be so filled by Mommy that there was no room for Molly. :)

Molly wanted a big letter M above her bed - but all by itself it looked really plain - so I had this extra fabric lying around that I had previously used on her doll bed mattresses so I used it as a background for the M.  I love the pop of yellow it gives to this very green/pink room!  

Love this painting of the United States I found online and had framed.
Molly loves her GREEN clothes hamper!  

The above door is to her closet - and here is a view inside - 

The stool was $3 at Hobby Lobby and the Windsor chair came from my Grandpa Leo many years ago.  It used to be mustard yellow and I painted it white 15 years ago - recently Mike spray painted both pieces glossy grass green!  It looks so fresh and new!  The bookshelf I found on the side of the road one day on our way home for $5 so we snagged that and painted it with paint we already had at home many months ago.  I let Molly put her own favorite books and treasures in it as you can see.  I'm sure it will be a daily rotating display of her favorite things.

We LOVE the big windows and cool brick window wells in our old house . . . but wanted to get curtains for privacy as well as to add coziness.

Molly is using an antique buffet of my parents as her dresser.  I laid kelly green contact paper down in all the drawers and it feels clean and new on the inside for all of her clothes.  It is the perfect height for her.  

I made an ad-hoc bulletin board with this cool banner - just paper clipping some of Molly's favorite photos to it.  As far as what is on top of the dresser - that is all Molly again!  She wanted to bring some of her "stuff" from her old baby room downstairs - like the flowers, her baptism pix and her piggy bank from Ireland.  

Hope you enjoyed the tour of Molly's new room!  Tonight was her 1st night falling asleep in it - here is a photo of her taken just minutes ago . . .