Fun at the Mall

Molly and I met my Dad and Jessen at the mall this morning. Jessen is in town for a month from Kansas City while my sister recovers from surgery. Molly LOVES Jessen! (I love him too....especially since he is my only godchild.) Molly asks at least once a day if we are going to see Jessen. CUTE! These two are 5 months apart in age, as Jessen will turn TWO on May 5. They played at the mall play area for a long time and LOVED riding up and down the escalator!!! Cheap entertainment!!!

Riding down the escalator with Papa Bear. Even though Molly is only 5 months older than Jessen.....she looks so TALL when they are side by side!

Molly playing in the apple!

Jessen playing with a puzzle on the wall.

(I forgot my camera at home.....so these were taken with my phone....and are a little blurry!)

Swim Lessons

Kelly started swim lessons again last week. She is my little fish!!!! She LOVES the water! She has lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays for 5 weeks....and then if they want to continue, the second session starts right after this one ends. One of my Wahlert swimmers is her teacher....which Kelly absolutely LOVES!!!! She is a "minnow" and she is working on freestyle, backstroke, and diving.

Emily Schroeder (my WCHS swimmer) helping Kelly with her backstroke!

FORT fun!

Kelly and Daddy had a fun day at home yesterday while Molly and I went to Barney Live. Kelly has been battling a cold the last few days....so they didn't want to go out. Brian and Kelly made a blanket fort in Kelly's room....with poles, yardsticks, blankets, chairs & sheets. Kelly loved it....but wanted her sister home to play in it with her! They also put puzzles together, played computer games, watched "Annie" (Kelly's choice!), and played some board games. Kelly also rested a lot as she hasn't had much energy this weekend. Here is a picture of the girls playing in the fort together! CUTE!

Barney LIVE

Molly, Grandma Peggy, and I went to Barney LIVE at Five Flags in Dubuque today! It was a really cute show....with LOTS of fun songs! (Kelly stayed home with Daddy....as she gets to go to an Annie play in a couple weeks.) Molly LOVED every second of the show.....during intermission she asked "Barney, are you?" She was a big girl....sitting in her chair for almost the entire show! She sat with Grandma Peggy for maybe 5 minutes! It's like Molly remembered being at Five Flags 4 months ago......when we went to Sesame Street Live right before her second birthday. She was still mesmerized by the show and the characters.....but she smiled a lot more this time! She truly LOVED it!!!!

Molly right before the show started....with her new Baby Bop stuffed animal that Grandma Peggy bought as a souvineer!

Molly....all Smiles & Giggles

Pointing as the characters come out on stage!

Grinning.....so excited!

Big blue eyes watching closely....while holding onto Baby Bop!

Clapping along with a song!!!

She's LOVING every second of the show!

More cheering!!!

Oooooooohhhhhh

She was such a big girl sitting all by herself!

Thanks for Baby Bop, Grandma Peggy!!!!

Sitting with Grandma for a short time before she wanted to go back in her own chair.

Grandma watching Molly.....I loved watching Molly and her reactions even more than the show!!!

Hugs for Baby Bop during intermission

The four main characters!

MISSING.....

BLANKET & ELMO

Molly has always been my child who LOVES to HIDE things! Lately, it has caused a lot of craziness around our house!!!!

A few days ago, Molly "lost" her Elmo puppet. We looked everywhere and could not find it anywhere. We tried giving her a different Elmo and she said "No....Molly want Elmo PUPPET!!!"

The girls and I were home all day today. After lunch I was starting to get Molly ready for her nap and I couldn't find her blanket anywhere. Kelly, Molly, and I looked from noon-1pm for her special blanket. No luck! Molly would not lay down without "HER" blanket! I tried another blanket that is hers but she didn't want it. I continued to look anywhere I could think of with no luck. I finally got Molly to sleep (without her blanket) around 2:30pm! (She normally goes down no later than 1pm)

Anyway.....see where my little hider hid her prized possessions.....

Molly's blanket....in our bay window in our bedroom....behind the blanket that we are using as a window covering....since we haven't gotten window coverings for that window yet!

Elmo....behind our quilt rack....in our bedroom!

(I had to move the quilt rack out a little bit so you could see Elmo hiding!!!)

Molly sleeping today.....with one of her blankets.....but not her special blanket that we were looking for!

The start.....

....of Miss Molly's Big Girl Room!!!!

Brian started a few weeks ago with Molly's new room. He took the trim off, took the old aluminum large register out, and took down the ocean themed nursery border. (You can see we tried to paint a mint green border up before Molly was born....since Kelly ripped the border down....but it didn't look good with our textured walls, so we put a new border back up over top of it!) Anyway, yesterday my Dad and Brian

* put new hardwood squares down where the old register cut into 7 tiles

*cut a new floor register in and ran duckwork for it

*put new drywall up to cover the hole in the wall

*ran cable to both girls rooms where there were blank boxes

(No, they are not getting TV's right now....but someday it will be nice to already have the cable in the rooms)

Next, we still have to sand and mud the drywall a couple more times before we can spray texture on that area and primer and paint the room. After that, we are putting the new white trim in Molly's room (like the rest of the house....minus Kelly's room!)

We still have a ways to go.....but Molly will have a fun big girl room before spring!

Dad and Brian with their two little helpers!!!

Have I mentioned lately....

....that we're ready for spring?

It snowed again yesterday....just less than an inch....but enough to let us know that winter is STILL HERE!!! Well.....we are more than ready for spring to be here! The girls played in the garage this weekend....riding bikes, roller skating, and drawing with chalk. It's not quite the same as being outside...but it's better than ALWAYS being inside too!

Kelly can't wait to learn how to ride her bike this spring without training wheels! Molly is just learning how to pedal the tricycle.

Kelly!

Molly!

Sassy Kelly roller skating!

Molly wanted to try too....with Daddy's help!

A little video of the girls riding bikes in the garage.....Molly goes faster without pedaling....we'll have to work on that!