mollys nose ring

For about two weeks, Molly was constantly complaining of a "poke" in her nose.  I figured she just had a cold, because her nose was also really runny.  Then, she started getting random bloody noses.  I thought it was just because she was constantly picking her nose, because it was bugging her.

FINALLY, it dawned on me one day that maybe something was in her nose.  (hello, mother of 5 here, how did I not think of that first!)

I got a flashlight, and looked up her nose.  I saw a really weird speck of something that looked like a tiny piece of metal.  What on earth!?!? 

I had Molly blow her nose over and over and over again, and finally this popped out!

I could not believe what I was seeing!  Molly just kept saying, "see, I told you something was poking my nose!"  I just could not figure out what the heck it was, and how on earth it got way up in her sinuses/nose???  Unbelievable.  It looked like part of a key chain hook or something.  It was metal, sharp on the ends, and look totally uncomfortable to have shoved up your nose!

But hey, if this is the only nose ring Molly every has, so be it.

show off day for molly girl

Molly's gymnastics held a little practice meet for the girls her age last week.  They called it show off day.  The girls got to show off all of the skills they have been learning, and at the end they all got a medal.  Molly has caught up to all of the girls who have been in the class for 9 months.  Molly has been in the class for 4 weeks.  She is doing awesome!!  She loves "mastics" and is very much a perfectionist in the gymnastics gym.  She is such a cutie pie!  We have to drive down to All American Gymnastics in Linden (35 minute drive) twice a week, but it is totally worth it to watch her have so much fun working so hard and reaching goals.

miss molly turns 4

Molly's Birthday this year was a fun one.  All she wanted to do was ride a purple horse.  I was able to arrange the ride a horse part, but not the purple part.  She was thrilled anyway!  It actually turned into a family affair, because everyone ended up riding it.  Molly was nervous at first, but by the end, she literally bawled her eyes out when it was time to go.

Look at how happy she is!

We actually did the horse ride the day before her Birthday, because her Birthday was on Sunday.

I decorated the house Saturday night, and Molly woke up excited and happy on her Birthday!  She opened her presents and insisted on decorating her own butterfly cake.  The primary sang to her at church, and she got her special treat from the Bishop.  She had a great day!

she decorated it with Mary



Her new princess dress and her new tent

I think the best part of the whole day was right before Molly blew out her candles.  We told her to make a wish, and she squoze her eyes shut, clenched her fist and wished outloud with all of her heart for a unicorn.  It was heart melting!

Molly is still a joy and a light in our lives.  She definitely gave us a run during her 3's.  She is her own person, with her own opinion, and she likes to rule the house.

Luckily, as with all of my children, things start to calm down when they turn 4.  I get my sweet buddy back.  Molly is absolutely hilarious.  She is very animated, she loves to tell stories, she LOVES to play.  She likes to play air hockey with Ben, stunts with Mary, coloring and horses with me, playdough with anyone, and her favorite thing is to play with Charlie (our dog).  She loves to be outside riding her bike, running around, swinging, and playing with friends.

She started preschool this year.  She cried every time I dropped her off for two weeks, and now she loves it!  She has a cute friend in her class named Charlie.  They have matching unicorn backpacks.  She also has a cute Hispanic friend named Ashley.  They don't speak the same language, so they made up their own. It is hilarious! 

She also begs to play with Beckham and Cruz every day.

Molly is in dance and gymnastics, and she loves them both.  She just started dance a few weeks ago.  She is very active and full of life and energy.  She is also extremely loving. She cuddles, hugs and kisses all the time.

They gave her "twinkle bear"  that she gets to keep and brings to every class.

We love her with all of our hearts.

Happy Birthday Molly Grace!

she's three and proud of it

The only way to really do this post, is to copy what I posted on Facebook. 

 

"So, Ben was at the dentist office today explaining a few things.

1. Why he was late to his dentist appointment: His little girl cut off a TON of her hair right as he was headed out the door.

2. The reason for the dentist visit:  That same little girl made a "picnic" with crackers and rocks, and then she poured her mixture back into  the cracker bag.  Not knowing about the mixture in the bag, Ben ate a handful of "Crackers."  Ben cracked and chipped his tooth on a rock.

 

#saltinthewound

#survivingathreeyearold

#didimentionthesharpieonthewalls

 

24 hour book of mormon read

Mary got an idea from one of the Young Women in our ward to read the Book of Mormon in 24 hours for her value project.

Mary recruited her friend, Lydia Muhlestein, and they put a plan together.

The plan included me taking them to the Dollar Store, where they bought so much junk it was incredible!

The plan also included them dragging mattresses, shelves, pillows, blankets, speakers, and all of their junk food, downstairs, where they set up a huge "reading room."

I'm pretty sure the "set up" for this huge undertaking took as much time as the actual project.

the "pantry"

about 15 hours in

going a little looney...about 18 hours in

Once they were all set up, they opened the Book of Mormon and started reading.

They read and read and read.  They also listened to it and followed along. 
I was upstairs with the rest of the family, doing our usual stuff, but throughout the day...and night...I could hear them down there reading.

It was pretty cool how the whole feeling in our home changed.  There was an underlying feeling of an added measure of the spirit.  It was just a little more peaceful and comfortable.  It was really neat.

They read all through the night, and into the next day.
They came upstairs to use the bathroom and to eat an actual meal, and then headed right back down.

Lydia ended up having to home, with about 4 hours left of their 24.  It was 11:00pm by this time, and Mary was sooooo tired.  I went up to her room with her, and together, we finished.

I am so proud of Mary, and for her desire to accomplish such a huge goal.  I am really happy for her to have such a neat experience with the scriptures as well.  She definitely strengthened her testimony and her faith.  This is more important to me than any other thing Mary could do.

I am so proud of her....even if she does some pretty crazy stuff. ha!

miss molly turns 3

Molly's 3rd Birthday was on Saturday.

It is so crazy to me, every year on her Birthday, that she is as old as she is.  Even though she only turned three, it has just gone by so fast with her!  It is fun and exciting, but also a little sad to me.  I just want time with her to slow down.  It is weird to have my baby not be a baby anymore. 

We decorated the house the night before with balloons and gifts, so she could wake up to a fun filled house for her special day.

Her Birthday was on a Saturday, and she was a great sport to attend a flag football game and two soccer games.  Mary helped make sure she had fun.  She is a great sister.

In between games, she was able to open presents, play with her new toys, and celebrate with everyone at home.

Mary and I made her Birthday cake in between soccer games, and it turned out soooo cute!!  Mary did all of the frosting.  Molly just watched and happily ate orange frosting.  She is really good!  Molly loved her cake, especially the colors.

After all of the games, we decided to go to Trafalga.  We heard that there were fun rides and things to do there, and we figured it would be a great place to take Molly for her Birthday.

We drove to Lehi, and pulled up to a freaky, ghetto looking "fun park."  Within a few minutes of being there, police showed up because some dude was hiding somewhere in the place, and they needed to find him.  Nice.

Most of the rides did not work, and the ones that did, Molly was not able to ride because she was to small.

Needless to say, we left after about 20 minutes.

I felt badly that Molly's little fun event for the day was a total bust, but we got dinner, and came home and sang to her and had her blow out the candles.  She was happy, and had a great day, regardless of ghetto Trafalga.

Molly continues to be a very special light in our family.  We all love her so much.  She is so happy, goofy, fun, silly, loving, energetic and cute.

Fun facts about Molly:

She pees about every 25 minutes....no joke.
She drinks a sippy cup full of juice about every 20 minutes...go figure.
She LOVES gymnastics and jumping on the trampoline.
She really loves to play "soccer rocker" with her daddy outside.
Whenever we are in the car, she is always on the hunt for "diaper horsies."
She sings all the time, and it is adorable.
She has a serious sweet tooth.
Her best friend in the whole world is Beckham Sweat.
She loves animals, especially horses and dogs.
She likes to draw and color and play with playdough.
Her favorite way to relax is to crawl in my bed with "show phone" and watch shows and drink her juice (crystal light).
She is very playful and fun.
She knows how to give big kisses and squeezes.
She is a total daddy's girl, and about twice a week, we have to facetime daddy at work, because Molly is bawling from missing him so much.

Molly definitely completes our family in a very special way, and we all love her so much.

Love you Molly girl!!

new beginnings

Three kids started a new sport this month.  It has been exciting to see William, Luke and Molly try new things and join in the crazy fall sports schedule.  Fall is always extremely busy, but it is my favorite season, and I wouldn't change a thing. 

William decided that instead of soccer this fall, he wanted to try out flag football.  I missed his first game, because I was at another sports event (divide and conquer is our motto over here), but I made it to his second game. 

I love how in between each play, the teams huddle together, and the coaches actually teach them plays and strategy.

William's coach is awesome, and for each play, he lets the kids try a new position.  What a great way to let the kids try a little of everything, and see what is a good fit for them.

About half of William's team has already played before, and the other half, including William are experiencing their first season.

William is still trying to get the hang of it all, because it is a lot to learn and to grasp, but he is doing great!  His very first game, he ran the ball all the way down the field for a touchdown, but he stepped out of bounds, so it didn't count.  Rats!!  His game this week, he blocked the other player from getting the ball, and almost got an interception.

I can tell that once he gets the hang of the plays and the strategy, and can just play the game, he is going to do really well.

The most important thing though, is that he is having fun, which he is.  He is really enjoying it so far.  His only issue is that he just "really wants to be able to smash people."  ha!  Soon enough William, soon enough.

Miss Molly started gymnastics two weeks ago.  I think she thought the day would NEVER come.  The day I told her that I signed her up for "jump jump, " Mary gave Molly her leotard from when she was 3, and Molly put it on.  She was sooo excited all day! 

We walked into the rec center for her first class, and Molly got nervous.  Thank goodness Mary was with us!  She helped Molly get used to the idea of following the coach.  It was really neat to see Mary helping Molly.  It was 10 years ago, almost to the month, that Mary was her age, in her first gymnastics class.  Now, here she was helping her sister follow the same path.

Once Molly got over her nerves, it was all uphill from there.

Molly LOVED every second of the class.  She was so excited that she skipped to and from the different stations, and she was jumping in line while waiting for her turn.

When it was finally time for them to go to the trampoline, Molly looked at me and fist pumped the air!  I about died laughing.  It was great!

Molly had a blast, and is very naturally talented.  She definitely has a love for the sport, and some natural ability to go with it.

Luke had his very first soccer game this week.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with him.  He is very athletic, and incredibly fast, but he can also hold back and be shy and not want to participate.  It could go either way.

He is the one that asked to try soccer though, so I was hoping that he would just go for it.

Within the first quarter of the game, Luke had stolen the ball three times, and had made several shots on the goal.  At his age, there is no goalie, but some kid on the other team was literally sitting in the middle of the little goal net, so there was absolutely no way to make a goal. It didn't seem to bother Luke though, so no worries there.

I didn't care about Luke making goals, or stealing the ball though.  I was just so thrilled that he was playing AND smiling and laughing!!  He was having a great time!

I love to see my kids being active, but even more so, I love to see them having fun doing something they like to do.

Luke ran as fast as he could through the whole game.  He is very speedy and could catch up to whoever had the ball pretty quickly, if he wanted to. He definitely has some learning to do, as far as how to play the game, but dang, he is good little soccer player.

I hope he has a really fun season, and learns to have a great time doing sports.

Luke is on the yellow team.  Easy to spot with his white hair!

His coach is awesome...and he was William's coach last year.

So, basically, this fall, our week is something like this....after the hour of 3pm

Monday:  Sam soccer practice, Mary tumbling, mom teaches 4 piano lessons, homework, FHE
Tuesday: Luke soccer game, William flag football game, Mary cheerleading, yard work, homework
Wednesday: mom teaches 2 piano lessons, deep house cleaning day, mutual, scouts, homework
Thursday: Mary cheerleading, Molly gymnastics, Sam soccer practice, homework
Friday:  FREE DAY!!!!
Saturday:  Sam soccer game, Luke soccer game, William flag football game, mom had her long runs, dad does a biking session
Sunday:  try to rest, regroup, and fulfill church responsibilities.

It is pretty crazy, for sure, but I really do love it. 

(for real, as I was tying this post, Ben just asked where Sam is.  I started calling for him, and then realized that he is at soccer practice!  Yikes!  I totally forgot.  I just got back from picking Mary and from cheer, taking Molly to gymnastics, and trying to feed everyone dinner. Ben is rushing over there right now to pick him up...good grief!)

Welcome fall!!!