A New Haircut.. and the many faces of Molly

Pretty girl

Say cheese!

Sad face

Happy face!

Mad face

Silly face!

A before pic- this is how she looked after I sent her up to get her pajamas on. She said- "I did it!" Almost, sweetheart.

Last week I took the plunge and cut off Molly's golden locks. When the lady got out the scissors and chopped off the first chunk of hair my heart tightenend and I thought- "Oh my gosh! What was I thinking?!" It didn't help that Ella started to cry and said- "No! Why is she cutting Molly's hair?" But after gettting used to it for a couple of hours, I really like it, and so does she. Everytime some says they like her haircut, she says, "Thanks, I like your hairtut, too!" People have also been telling her that she looks so grown-up. She did a really big girl thing yesterday and I asked- "When did you grow up?" She answered- "When mama dot my hairtut." Too cute!

OUR NEW HOME!!

My mom helped us to put in the front flowerbed which was no small task. The ground is solid clay topped with rock, mixed with the occasional chunk of concrete. Thank you mom!! It looks so much better. The people who did our yard were kind enough to put in near dead sod- hopefully my green thumbed husband can rescue it.
Upstairs landing, which up until a few days ago was where we were stashing all the boxes filled with things we didn't know what to do with. Now that those are gone, its a pretty nice space! I just need to figure out what to do with the walls.
The girlys room. So far this is the only room that has been painted. And I decided afterwards that I actually hate to paint, so it will probably be the only one I paint.

I made her a little reading corner since she is such a bookworm. I'm actually a little jealous of it.

Our furniture looked much better in our dingy old apartment!

I'm still trying to work out where exactly to put things on the bookshelves, but they are definitely one of my favorite features of the house.

The hallway leading to the kitchen from the living room.

I just like this corner for some reason.

My other favorite part of the house. We are loving the big open space in the kitchen. What I am not loving- the fact that I have to mop my floor at least every other day- sometimes twice a day- to keep it looking clean. Warning to all you dark wood floored people. I still love the look, and if I knew what I know now, I probably would have gotten them anyway. But it is definitely a pain in the butt. Any advice out there? What is the best way to clean my hardwood floors? And keep it that way for more then 2 hours?

The kitchen! Ah, cooking in a kitchen with actual counterspace and storage is a completely different experience. Best part? It looks right out into the backyard. Molly is having a little too much fun with the fact that the faucet has a hose and a sprayer though.

The long awaited playhouse is finally up. The girls absolutely love it. They are out there every day. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!

The girls helping Papa seal the wood.

Papa spent a good three days working almost exclusively on this house. It was truly a labor of love! Thanks, Papa!

The girls feeding the ducks in the pond behind our house. Its a nice bonus.

Molly a little too proud of herself for making us dinner. Yes, that is maple syrup all over my piano and my brand new floors. I had to wash the floors 4 times before it didn't feel sticky anymore. She was on Daddy's watch- he figured since she was being so quiet that she was being good. Any mother could tell you that quiet is always a red flag!

Ella's birthday fell on moving day, which was sad for me. Birthdays have always been a big deal at our house. I think she ended up having a good day with her friends though. We ended up at Magic Mountain with Kate, which was the only thing she really wanted to do. Again, a big thank you to Jenny and Megan for helping to make her birthday special. I can't how fast she is growing up. We love you Ella Bella!

We are doing well and are very happy in our new home. We are getting to know our little town of Delaware. I found out that we do have a small one screened theater when I took my brother to see Harry Potter. It is the quintessential small town theater. It is small and old with a stage at the front where someone goes up to announce the movie. We also went to the downtown parade on the Fourth of July, and to the firework show, which was awesome. I'm enjoying being away from all the hustle and bustle. We like to sit out on the porch in the evening while the girls ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk and look out at the big cornfield in front of our house. Thanks again to everyone helped us move and get settled. We're loving it here!

Quick Update..

We're in the house! Moving day was Tuesday- which also happened to be Ella's birthday. Kind of a bummer, but a huge thank you to Megan and Jenny for helping out and trying to make it a special day for her. She had a great day. Anyway, we're still trying to get settled, but we are very happy here. The girls are loving the space, and Ella spends most of her time in the backyard on her new scooter or rollerskates. Thanks to everyone who helped by watching the girls or helping to clean. We couldn't have done it without you! I'll post pictures of the house and the birthday as soon as we get a little more settled.

Ella's sleep study...

Sound asleep..

Still in dreamland...

Wondering what the heck is going on...

Just realizing that it's her silly sister...

Time to get up...

Ready to rock n' roll!!

Last week I asked Ella to go upstairs and get Molly up from her nap. Evidently she had taken the camera with her and chronicled the whole thing. I had no idea until I was checking the pictures on the camera and found this whole series. I thought it was hilarious!

The things they say...

Molly is really growing up. She is very independent and talking up a storm. She insists on doing everything herself, and I understand that it is important to give her a chance to try things on her own. So I usually give her an honest go, but after about 10 minutes of watching her try unsuccessfully to button the buttons on the BACK of her dress, I usually take over. Sometimes I have to explain to her that she is only two- and sometimes Mommy's need to help. Her new argument is- "I not two, I 'free'!!" I'm not even sure how to respond to that. "Okay. Whatever." Is usually all I come up with.
Ella initiated a conversation on the topic of boys and girls the other day in the car. She proceeded to tell me who all is a boy, and who all is a girl. When she announced that Molly was a girl, Molly just laughed and said- I not a girl. I a moose. For those of you who know her nickname, that was pretty funny. I think she's really internalized it. On Friday I told her she was being a crazy animal, and she said, "I not an animal. I a moose." I said- "Oh, you're a crazy moose?" Molly- "No, I a happy moose!"
Ella has also picked up a few words in her vocabulary. Unfortunately, they are rarely used in the right context, and when they are, I'm pretty sure its by accident. The words are: disgusting, boring, and shocking (my personal favorite). Whenever we ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do she says- "That's boring and shocking!" Usually any time Molly is bothering her, it's disgusting. We tried to explain to her what the words meant, and she responded by saying- "shocking".
Last night in the bath Ella was being a total grump, and she defended herself by saying that she hasn't gotten enough sleep lately because Molly keeps waking her up. Todd said- Um, the other day before work I came into your room and you were the one trying to wake up your sister. Ella said- "Well, I had to wake her up to tell her not to wake me up any more!"
Gotta love it!

House Update

Okay, here's a quick update on the house. It's finally coming together! We were so excited to go up to the house on Saturday and see all the progress. The kitchen is easily my favorite room in the house. And I am pleased to announce that I have three times the cupboards and drawers that I have now. And I will have a lot more counterspace. Once we have counters. The girls would stay there all day if we let them. We're hoping to close by June 15th. Plenty of time to enjoy the summer in our new backyard. We love you new house!!

Day at the Zoo

We finally got ourselves a zoo pass. Hooray! Here's a few pics of our first trip with Daddy. Molly is still terrified of animals- but seems to do okay when they're behind glass. We just have to walk quickly past the petting zoo. She clings to my neck and says- "No Mama! Scared!" Which I think is funny because she is normally such a little bruiser.