NO NO NO...

When Molly was about a month we took a trip back to Rexburg for Drew's graduation. While we were in Rexburg we visited with a few friends. We were at the Kennedy's house when Brianna, who I think was 9 at the time, asked if Molly was perfect. I told her that I didn't know if she was perfect, but I sure did love her a lot. Brianna responded by saying Giddy used to be perfect until he learned how to talk... Gideon was the youngest Kennedy at the time. I thought it was really funny. Now I'm starting to understand what Brianna was talking about. Molly has just started saying NO! I've always hated it when little kids go around yelling "No" all the time. For that reason I try not to use the word very often. Unfortunately all my attempts have been in vain. Maybe she's saying it a lot later than other kids, but she's now saying it non the less. Molly come and get a diaper. NO NO NO. Molly lets get your coat on. No No NOOOO!

When Gabe is sleeping I shush Molly, and put my finger over my mouth. Now when Gabe's sleeping Molly does this to me. It's cute, she puts her fist over her mouth and her finger on her nose. Recently when I'm talking to her she's been shushing me. Or sometimes she'll put her fingers in her ears. I'm not sure what happened to my "perfect" Molly. She's lucky she's cute. I hope that she grows out of this rebellious stage quick. I don't want her teaching Gabe all of these new tricks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I think it's mainly because it isn't commercialized like all the others. On Tuesday I was thinking about how fun it would be to just show up in Chicago. My grandma was in town, she's never met our kids. Then after much internal debate I decided that it would be better if we stuck to our original plans. I was sad to be away from family, but less stress is always better. We got together with a bunch of other families from church. It was a lot of fun. It's nice getting to spend time with different people. I need to be better about having people over... Anyways, it was a good day filled with yummy food. My potatoes turned out very well. (Thanks for all the suggestions!) The kids are in bed. It's Gabe and Molly's first night together. Fingers crossed. Drew and I are getting ready to put up the Christmas tree. Life's good.

Wahoo

Drew had his last test before finals yesterday. He got an A. Maybe he's meant to be in grad school after all :). He was also offered an assistantship for next semester. We won't be moving into a cardboard box. We haven't had to take out any loans thus far. We're hoping to finish with as little debt as possible.
I thought these pictures were sweet...

I think Molly looks like a Whoo person.

Gabe loves this toy. He knocks it on it's side and goes to town.

Apples are his favorite.

Molly has been eating at the table, so Gabe can be in the high chair. She feels like such a big girl.

Random Events

The following pictures are in no particular order.

We leave the rail of Gabe's crib down. It's easier to get him in and out that way. Molly likes to stand on the edge and look over at him. (This picture isn't the best, she's getting down because she noticed I had the camera...) If Gabe's in his bed and makes any kind of noise Molly says ohhh her eyes get wide and she raises her eyebrows. She likes to make sure that I notice that Gabe's awake. Then she charges into his room climbs up and yells Gabie Gabie. Or sometimes if I'm not paying attention and she's board she'll go in lift the bumper up grab his feet and say tickle tickle. It's sweet and very frustrating depending on how long he's been asleep...

We had a meeting with our State Farm agent last week. He gave Molly a bear and Gabe a bib. They like to start early. The bears shirt says like a good neigh-bear. Cleaver. Molly is in love with this thing. She wraps him up in blankets and carries him around with her. She bounces him on her knee. He has even replaced the canned tuna and fruit in her stroller. (I have no idea why, but Molly likes to fill her stroller with canned goods, usually tuna) Who knew that a cheap stuffed bear could bring so much joy? This bear is in most of the pictures... Molly took this photo.

In the picture below Molly has a pacifier. I try not to let her have them during the day, just naps and at night. Taking it away completely isn't a battle I want to start yet. Anyway, she has it because right before we left on our walk she fell and banged her head against the back door. :( We were playing I was chasing her and she tripped. She cried for a long time and had a nice bruise on her forehead... I gave her the pacifier to calm her down. The next day I'm brushing her hair and I see that her ear is all black. Strange. A few hours earlier we were making hand turkeys, I thought she had gotten some ink on her ear. So I tried to get it off. It wasn't ink, it's a huge bruise. Poor kid. I imagine that's why she wasn't calming down when she fell. It looks terrible, this picture makes it look better than it is... Sad. I showed Drew. He said he'd make sure he never crossed me :)

It was pretty windy when we were walking. Once every five minutes or so the wind would really blow. This would cause Molly to stop and scream as loud as she could in protest until it stopped. Then she would walk again. She wants/thinks she can control the weather.

Molly loves bath time. I think if I let her she would stay in there for an hour or so.

Gabe loves to eat the foam letters. He also likes to kick his legs like a crazy person and splash Molly. She doesn't like that so much.

I trimmed Gabe's hair on Wednesday. It was getting so thick and long in the middle. I evened it out. It's funny how blond his hair is, especially in the light. I'm not sure how I got a blond baby. Whenever I would see a sitcom with dark haired parents and blond kids I would think someone did a bad job casting. Maybe not.

This is my new bed... Drew and I have started sleeping in the living room. We're letting Gabe figure out how to fall back asleep by himself. We started last Monday. Some nights are better than others. I'm hoping that by next weekend he'll be sharing a room with Molly. Molly thinks it's so funny when she wakes up and finds us on the air mattress.

other news....

Drew and I got our Christmas present early. We got a new camera. I really liked our old canon power shot , but it was three+ years and slow. We found a really good deal on a new power shot. I love it. It's like 100* faster. My pictures aren't blurry anymore! I feel like I've been super busy this week, but I haven't done anything picture worthy. Lame. So more pictures to come.

Last night I had a girls night out. A group of us got together at Courtney's house and made Tutu's. They turned out super cute. Molly isn't sure what she thinks of it yet.

Thursday night I went to Joann's to buy the tulle. I picked out what I wanted and gave it to the lady at the cutting counter. She says "Why is everyone buying tulle?" I shrug and say "I'm making tutu's" She gives me a strange look and says well I wouldn't wear a tutu"... what??? I say "It's for my one year old" she gives me a strange look, like yeah right and says "I'm sure she'll love it" I thought the whole thing was odd. Did she think I was making it for myself? Then I go to the check out and the lady behind the counter asks me why every one's buying so much tulle? I told her I was making a tutu for my one year old and Christmas is around the corner. It was strange, if I buy tulle again I'll have to bring Molly with me.

Earlier today we went to a Pre Thanksgiving potluck with all the first year math grads. I think there are about 25 first year math grads and most of them came. I always feel a bit out of place. A: I'm not a math grad (there are always a few weird math jokes that I don't get)B: I'm married C: We have two kids. And I don't know any of them very well. But, it was a good time. Gabe was a hit. I think everyone held him. He's so happy and smiley. He makes friends easily. Molly found a couple people that she liked, but she's more reserved around people she isn't familiar with. After we were there for a while and some people left she started to get comfortable. I should make an effort to invite some of them over. They're all really nice and Drew will be with them for the next 4+ years if everything goes according to plan.

Molly woke up with a cough Thursday. Why wouldn't she?

It's over!

No not our marriage, our ward's primary program. Everything went great. The Bishop made it very clear to me a couple weeks ago that he didn't want the program to go over the allotted time, we had 35-40 min. We finished right on time. It was 37 min. to be exact. The kids sang their hearts out. We have the best chorister, the kids absolutely adore him. I'm happy, everything went smoothly. Having said that, I'm so happy it's over. It's one less thing that I have to think/worry about.

One more positive. Molly pooped on the potty today! Don't be fooled she's no where close to being potty trained, but it's a start. We have a seat that goes over our toilet. She really likes sitting on the potty. She'll put her seat on it and pull me into the bathroom once or twice a day. But this is the first time anything happened. I saw her going into a corner of the living room so I grabbed her and put her on it. I can't wait until she's going on the big potty all the time.

Gabe is feeling much better. His spots have gone away and he's back to his cute self.

Lastly, we're having Thanksgiving with a bunch of students here. One of the things I was assigned to bring is 10 lbs of mashed potatoes. I love mashed potatoes. I make them every so often, but it isn't something I make when we're having friends over for dinner. The ones that I make taste fine, but they aren't the creamy pretty looking ones that everyone else seems to make. So if anyone has any suggestions/recipes send them my way. I'm going to be practicing this week. mmmm mashed potatoes as a side for every dinner this week :) Drew isn't a huge potato fan, he'll be thrilled.

Molly...Gabe...Gabe again

I remember before I had kids looking at certain families and thinking man their kids get sick a lot. Sadly, now it's the story of my life. When it comes to sharing germs with each other Molly and Gabe are the best. Molly got a cold a couple days before Halloween. She passed it to Gabe. Gabe started getting better and then he got worse. He had a fever all weekend. I brought him to the doctor Monday. They said he had some kind of virus. Ok. We went home to wait it out. His fever broke, I thought we were in the clear. Tuesday morning he woke up with a rash all over his face. Poor little guy, he looked terrible. I thought the fever was to blame. Wednesday he woke up at 11(after keeping us awake all night ARGH) with the rash all over his tummy, and upper thighs. I called the doctor feeling a little dumb as we were just there. The doctor checked him out asked the usual questions. Is he eating? Is there any diarrhea? My answers, yes and no. The doctor got another opinion and they decided he has Roseola. A virus, the rash should go away within the week. Then today, right after his bath I might add, diarrhea everywhere and he hasn't been interested in eating... What is going on? I'm done with the kids being sick and not getting any sleep. Hopefully this goes away quick and they don't pick up something else.

Good one Eric

Nothing really bums you out like a test. I had a test tonight, at 6 pm, and I got done at 8. So now I am waiting for Jenny to get done at her Primary Presidency meeting so she can pick me up. The crappy part of all this, I have been at school 12 hours..... :(
Speaking of the test, here is a funny story (Obama fans beware). I was in class Wednesday (the one I had a test for tonight), and some one asked the professor if we needed to know complex numbers because he didn't mention to study them. He said, of 'course you need to know it, but no, it won't be on the test.' So of course, someone else (an undergrad of course) says, 'well if its not on the test we don't need to know it.' The prof. comes back with, 'well, you need to breathe during the test, but you won't get any points for it. Same thing with complex numbers.' So my friend Eric leans over to me and says, 'wait, didn't we just elect Obama, so we do get points for breathing...'
Hilarious. Now don't turn this into a huge political debate in the comments, just enjoy a funny story.

here comes winter...

I've been making clips for Molly. She likes having things in her hair. Randomly throughout the day she'll give me things to put in it like bows, headbands, pony tail holders etc. A few days ago I made flower clips. They're huge... I think they're cute, Drew thinks their ridiculous but, Molly really likes them. In this picture she's really decked out. I think she has on all the necklaces and bracelets she owns. We were dressing up and she couldn't share with me...

Gabe has found a new love for his toes... Maybe they taste better than they smell? :) Everything finds a way into his mouth.

He has really been liking rolling around and playing on the floor. He's recently started scooting a lot more. He can do his legs like he's crawling, but he hasn't figured out the arm part. He uses his head and arms together. I hope that he doesn't rub a bald spot on the top of his head... I remember Molly had an ugly crawl a few weeks before she figured it out.

It has been so nice here the past week. We've been playing outside as much as we can. Gabe likes being outside, but he really doesn't like being on the grass.

Molly has no problem with grass.

Molly likes to wear my flip flops outside. She's a shoe lover and doesn't discriminate.

Gabe having a stare down with the grass.

Being sick isn't all bad when you get to snuggle with dad...

Our kids are just getting over the colds they had. yippee! But, today it's dropped 30 degrees. They're talking about snow this weekend. How does it go from 78 to snow in one week??? I'm not very impressed. I'm hoping the sudden weather change doesn't make them sick again.

On a sad note. My parents had to put Isabelle down last night. Her back legs stopped working, she was in a lot of pain. She was a dorky dog, but she was loved. Maggie my parents pug died early this summer. It'll be strange visiting my parents without the two of them. Drew's dog Baily, Isabelle's mom, died not too long ago. I've never thought much about losing a pet but, they do become part of the family and they'll be missed.

pictures pictures and more pictures

Gabe might not be crawling yet, but he can still make trouble. I was getting the tub ready for bath time. As usual Gabe's in the bouncy chair and Molly's leaning over the tub messing with the water. Somehow Gabe got the tp from behind him and thought it would taste good? When Molly saw what was going on she quickly grabbed the extra out of his hand, blew her nose with it and threw it away. They're tag teaming me!

Trick or treat!

Molly was a cute little lady bug. Her costume had a hood with antennas, but it was pretty warm. So I made her little bows.

Molly was such a ham. She was very hesitant at the first house. But once she got the candy she smiled and ran down the driveway to show Drew and Gabe. She conned a lot of people out of candy. Most people would hold the candy bowl low so that she could pick the piece she wanted. Molly would take one, usually a Kit Kat, and then she would look up at them with her big brown eyes, smile, raise her eye brows, tilt her head and reach for another piece. I would say just one, but the person handing out the candy would always let her have another. I think she got four pieces from one lady. She's lucky she's cute... She doesn't say a lot, but she knows how to work it. I think she's going to be a handful when she's older.

It was entertaining watching the transformation. Toward the end of the block Molly was knocking on doors and trying to open them. There were a couple of houses that had dogs. Whenever she sees a dog she woof woofs at it. There were a few houses with dogs. If I wasn't standing with her I think she would have invited herself in. She had a great time. Molly a fan of anything involving chocolate.





Gabe had fun watching Molly trick or treat. He likes the stroller, and Molly would run over to him and tickle tickle his feet. He did great, until the last little bit. He started getting tired and wanted Daddy to hold him.







Molly dumping out her spoils.
When she's in the bath she likes to fill cups with water and dump them down her belly. She did the same with the candy. She would dump it, put it back in and repeat.






mmmmm...








She was pretty tired after all that walking. We got home around 7:30. Pretty close to her 8:00 bed time.

Yikes! It's our vampire pumpkin. Although I think he's too cute to be scary.

Drew and I were pretty lame and didn't dress up.

We tried to take some pictures of us with both kids, but Molly wanted no part in that...

I think this is a sweet picture of Molly.