Molly's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Molly's 1st birthday yesterday afternoon/evening with a party at our house. (Her birthday is this Thursday, Dec.3). A lot of family and friends were able to celebrate with Molly!!! It was a lot of fun!!!

Molly's AMAZING cake.....with her own little (actually is was pretty big) cake too!
Molly napping before all the guests arrived!

Our family!

Happy 1st birthday Molly Ann!!!

Mommy, Daddy, and the birthday girl!!!

Big sister Kelly WAITING for all the guests (aka, her friends) to arrive!

After Molly woke up from her nap....she was riding around waiting for everyone to come to her party!

Molly & Kelly trying on the birthday party hats!

Molly and her Godfather (Uncle David)

Singing Happy Birthday!

First bite....she started REALLY slow....

....and finally dug in......

....and realized it was really YUMMY.....

....she started to get full, so Molly decided to dump the cake.....

.....all over.....

....and then share some with her sister Kelly too!!!

After her bath that night, Molly was watching Daddy put together some of her new toys.

While playing with some new toys this morning, Molly and Kelly were both "Helping" Daddy put together more new toys!!!

...and then playing with all the fun new stuff!!!

It was a wonderful 1st birthday party! Thanks to everyone that was able to share this special day with Molly Ann!!!

A Thanksgiving tradition

Brian, Kelly, and Grandma Pat carried on there Thanksgiving tradition again this year by making lefsa! Brian doesn't think it would be Thanksgiving without lefsa as a part of the dinner menu! Kelly really got into making the Norwegian food....and sampled a few too! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!!!

Kelly watching Daddy closely!
Kelly "sampling"....she LOVES LEFSA!

3 year olds

How do you explain to a 3 year old that we still have a LONG time before Christmas??? This morning Kelly decided to put on her Christmas outfit from last year.....and then she said Mom, I'm ready for Christmas....and for Santa too!!! We are reading Christmas stories daily! We talk about Christmas all the time! This is going to be a fun holiday season with our 3 year old!!!

Messy Mashed Potatoes

Molly is eating everything these days....she hasn't eaten baby food in weeks. Now she is at the stage where she won't let us feed her anything either....no matter what it is! Dinnertime is messy at our house!

Yummy mashed potatoes

All gone!

Kelly enjoying her mashed potatoes too!!!

Molly's new pillow

Grandma Peggy made Molly her own pillow! Molly started "borrowing" her sisters pillow, so we thought she needed her own!

Molly sleeping with her new pillow and her glo-worm she loves!

....but I REALLY want Santa to come....

Kelly started a Santa list A LONG TIME AGO! She looks through magazines, cuts out pictures of what she wants, and then tapes them to her Santa book that she made with Grandma Peggy. The Santa list is getting REALLY LONG....not to mention expensive too! (some of the pricier items on her list....a Power Wheels jeep, lego table, Princess makeup stand, etc.) Needless to say, Kelly is READY for Santa to come....now! Since my 3 year old doesn't really understand time, we made a chain until Christmas. Every morning she gets to take off a link....until Santa comes! It is a REALLY long chain right now!!! Kelly knows we have Thanksgiving, Molly's birthday, Uncle David's birthday, and then Christmas. It's so hard being a 3 year old and waiting for Santa!!!

Pasta!

Molly enjoyed her first taste of pasta last night!

Kelly's friends

We went to the park today to meet up with Lynn (our babysitter) and all of Kelly's friends.

Jaelyn (2), Kelly (3), Sophia (3), Claire (just turned 5 last week), and Cayden (4)
Kelly and Sophia (Best Friends!!!)

Sophia, Claire, and Kelly ready to go down the slide!

Big Sister Kelly's room

Molly has been getting into EVERYTHING these days....including her big sister Kelly's room!!!

State

Last weekend was the state swimming and diving meet in Marshalltown. We ended our season on a high note, swimming well at the state meet. My state team consisted of 10 girls (3 freshmen, 4 sophomores, 1 junior, and 2 seniors)!

Kelly - gymnastics

Kelly has been in gymnastics (tap & tumble) for two months now. The first Tuesday of every month, parents are allowed to go in and watch.....IT'S ADORABLE! Kelly listens closely to Debbie (her teacher). She is learning a lot and having FUN!!!

Kelly all dressed in her team uniform ready for tap and tumble!

Molly - 11 months

Molly is 11 months old today!

We have been practicing how to show "1" finger......her birthday will be here before we know it!!!

Halloween

Halloween was CRAZY! I had my district swim meet (the qualifying meet for state)!!! After the meet, we picked up the girls and took them to Hy-Vee to trick-or-treat....so I could see them for a little bit. I then went to one of my swimmers houses to find out the results from our meet and to see how many people qualified for state. ...while Brian took the girls trick-or-treating. It was a busy day & night!

A ladybug & a butterfly

Kelly & Molly dressed up at home
Kelly LOVES her Dora book!

My little ladybug!

Molly and Kelly at Grandma Peggy's house!

Opening Halloween treats from Grandma & Papa Murray

A ladybug ready to get into trouble....while her big sister was out trick-or-treating!

Brian and Molly trick-or-treating at Hy-Vee

Kelly getting chocolate milk at Hy-Vee