It's Here...

It's here. It's here. It's really here...

I wish you all the happiest day full of love and laughter with those you hold dear. I hope Santa was good to you and yours and you have a glorious CHRISTmas!

Merry Christmas Friends...

Merry Christmas sweet friends! I cannot believe the time is almost here to celebrate the birth of Jesus and Christmas.

The presents have been bought, wrapped, sent, and placed under the tree.

The stockings and trimmings are hung.

The groceries have been bought and some prepared for holiday feasts.

The cookies and holiday baking happened, leaving a flour cloud and some oh so yummy baked goods.

The elf has come each day and given his report back to the big guy on the minis behavior.

The nativity scene has been set and the stories have been read.

The holiday clothing has been cleaned and ready.

The carols have been sung and continue to be sung ALL. DAY. LONG. Some with some interesting and creative new lyrics.

The family is on their way.

Christmas is really almost here.

I wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and hope you get to spend it with those you love most.

The Big Letter

It is our first year writing our letter to Jolly Ol' St. Nick or Santa Claus or Kris Kringle. We have been working on this for a while and have finally finished and have put in the mail to the North Pole. I hope the mail service to the North Pole is better than the regular USPS or else Santa might not even receive by next Christmas.

Mini #1 has been cutting things out of catalogs and magazines for a while. This weekend we began the task of writing the actual letter. He wrote everything and it took us a few tries to ensure the letters were written correctly.

Me: "Dear Santa...D-E-A-R Sssss (what says Ssssss)-A-N-T-A."

Mini #1: "This is going to take a while"

Me: "You're doing a great job. Let's say Hi." (He writes it.)

"How about writing I love you."

Mini #1:(Complete BLANK expression.) "Why? Why I love you? I don't know Santa."

Me: "Sure you do. Well, let's write something kind. "

Mini #1: "Thank you. That is kind and nice manners."

Me: "That is perfect." (We go through all the motions of writing the words thank you.)

Mini #1: (Pasting the cutouts on to his letter. One of which was a new dining room table set that he says is for me. Wish he would have included diamond earrings instead, but it is the thought that counts.)

"I don't know why you wanted me to write I Love You. I don't know if I love him. He isn't in my family."

Me: "Santa does love you. He watches over us and loves us all."

Mini #1:"I don't think so, Mom."

5 years ago today...

December 6, 2005 is the day that changed my life forever. It is the day that I welcomed by first child, a beautiful baby boy. It is the day that I became a mom!

Today is my sweet little boy's 5th birthday! I can't believe that my little boy is getting so big. I am so proud of him and so honored to be his mom!

I am really having a hard time with him being 5...FIVE! It is so "old." FIVE is like a big milestone and there is no turning back to being a baby. I have noticed such a change in him over the past month or so. In true family fashion, we have been celebrating this big day for several days...several celebrations and activites with family and friends lead to several birthday desserts which is PERFECT for Mini #1!

5 Things that I love about my 5 year old:

1. I love the way he smiles and gets so excited about the smallest things. He has such an innocent and complete joy that fills him. He has an infectious smile and laugh.

2. I love his outward shows of affection. He will randomly hug and kiss me throughout the day, come up to tell me he loves me, and even tells me that I am the greatest mom. (all without me asking or bribery.) It warms my heart and makes me love him so much more. I am fearful that in the coming years these will become fleeting moments, so I need to savor them now.

3. I love the way he thinks he is the best at just about anything he tries. Have you ever seen that commercial where the little boy bombs in his soccer game and his parents are all worried that he will be sad and get him a treat and then the boys comes over...parents are ready to console and the little boy shouts "I WAS AWESOME." That is Mini #1. Let's just say that he is not the next David Beckham, Tom Brady, or Mark McGuire, but he enjoys giving everything a try and is actually quite the whiz on the bicycle.

4. I love his love for reading. He is so smart...way smarter than I am. He is always reading, wants to know more, and could sit for hours reading to himself. Mr. and I have already caught ourselves googling things more than once in order to be able to answer a question or explain more about something to him. I am fearful about the years to come...I might need to go back to school to get another degree in hopes of still being ahead of him in a few years.

5. I love the way he plays with his sister. He can aggravate her (she sure knows which buttons to push on him!) and can not always be the most kind, but he does love her and the moments that they share now, the moments playing together are priceless. He will also help her do things that she is either too short to do or just not old enough to do. He will hold her hand while we are walking and will hug her until she screams while trying to squirm away. He is a big brother!!

Happy, Happy Birthday sweet boy! I love you more than you will ever know.

Giving Thanks...

Happy Thanksgiving friends! I am so thankful for all of those in my life including all of the amazing people I have met in Blogland.

I know I spend way too much time complaining and certainly not enough time THANKING GOD for all I have. I am overwhelmed with the amount of love and blessings in my life and need to dwell on those gifts and blessing each day.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope you all enjoy a weekend filled with love, laughter, yummy food, and lots of time together.

Happy Turkey Day!

Blowin' Out the Candles

Today is my birthday.

I will be blowin' out a lot of candles. I have much to wish for, much to be thankful for, and much to look forward to.

I will spend the day with those I love the most...I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband, two awesome minis, and a wonderful family in my parents and my sister and her husband.

I hope you will get a slice of cake or a cupcake today and celebrate with me. I am thankful for each of my friends and truly wish I could spend the day with you guys laughing and chatting the day away.

Have a great day!

I Heart New York

I BIG PUFFY HEART New York! I am not shy about my love affair with this city. I would live there, I would go there for just about every vacation, and I have even briefly thought about naming one of my children Manhattan...ok, that might take it a bit far, but you get the idea. However, the Beckhams have a son named Brooklyn, so it can't be quite the most terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea I know my husband and mother are thinking right about now.

I just got back from spending three glorious days, much too short of a trip there with my Mom and sister in celebration of my birthday. An amazing and AWESOME birthday gift. We shopped, we walked, we ate, we saw, we walked, we saw, we shopped, we walked, we briefly slept, we laughed, we people watched, we walked, we oohed and ahhed, we walked, we talked, and we had the best time together.

We became best friends with Tina Fey, we at least that is how I remembered it. I got to drool over my somewhat weird HUGE crush on Matt Lauer and he may or may not have met eyes with me in a glance and fell in love. (I mean not that I would even dream of that since Mr. Molly Lou is the perfect man.)

My mom who had not been since she was a small child loved it, and I fell in love even more with "the city that never sleeps." I had never been in the fall, but totally understand why people love Autumn in New York. It is amazing and I enjoyed seeing the preparations for Christmas.

The minis survived their weekend with Dad and the only sign of wear and tear is poor Mini #2's face. She face planted and has a beat up nose and a big bruise and scratches on her forehead. The children seemed well adjusted and still healthy. The mess wasn't too much and Mr. seem to be as sane as when I left too.

I can't wait to go through our pictures. Thanks to my mom and sister for going with me on this wonderful and memorable trip!

Hope you all had a great day!

Snapshot Saturday

Here are a few snapshots from the photography session last weekend that I was so worried about. Out of 2364 pictures, we did get a few ones and I am pleased to say that I was able to get three pictures for our Christmas cards. Some of the shots were quite funny.

On a side note, we spent 7 hours in the Children's Emergency Room with Mini #2 last night. She is hopefully fine now, but this virus (we think) for almost two weeks that got worse caused her to need a lot of fluids. Tests have been run and so far everything has come back normal. We were so incredibly proud of her...she was such a big girl. Everyone was so kind to us and truly so helpful. Please just send up a small prayer that we are on the mend. We are thankful that this is the extent of the illness of our children and know how truly blessed we are.

Happy Saturday...have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday~O.M.G. I need about 21 of these today!

Tuesday's Tidbit

My tidbit for the day...BUY STOCK IN LYSOL!! The Molly Lou house has a cloud of Lysol vapors...you have to crawl military style on the ground to avoid the vapors.

Mini #2 is still sick. Oh goodness, how I am over cleaning up bodily fluids exiting the body in a disgusting manner. Poor thing, I feel so bad for her. She is quite pitiful, but still has it in her to fight with her brother. (Not that he goes easy on her either. He certainly knows her buttons to push and he was sure to rub it in her face that he got to go to school today, while she had to stay home with mean old mom who wouldn't let her puke on her friends.)

After I buy that stock in Lysol, I will transport myself here...sipping something yummy and only hearing the water and the voices in my head. Care to join me?

Happy Tuesday. Have a great day!

Sick day...

I had this great post ready to type today. One that would humor you and make you wish for more, but I am too tired to charm the pants off of you all today.

Mini #2 is sick with the wretched stomach bug that seems to be running rampant around preschools, churches, schools, grocery stores, parks, restaurants...pretty much any place where they could be copious amounts of children and germs.

Or perhaps she is getting back at me for making her stay clean, not fight, and attempt to smile for all pictures during our family picture session on Saturday. (Which I think were fantastic. I have seen 11 as a sneak peek and am very excited.)

I guess we all need sick days every once in a while. I hate that she is sick, but the extra cuddle time in between bouts of sickness is worth it. Mini #1 is loving the extra television time he is getting too.

The long to-do list and school list I had to for today will have to wait along with the housework I had planned to do this afternoon. The mountain of laundry can wait too, except for those "christened" Mini #2 sickness ones.

Perhaps the chilly day and extra coffee I will get to drink today will make up for it and perhaps during one of her napping spots like now I can watch some daytime television. There really is a silver lining to just about everything, isn't there.

Happy Monday! Hope you all are well and enjoying this beautiful fall day.

Picture Day

So the Molly Lou family, Molly Lou sister and her hubby, and Molly Lou Mom and Dad are going for a photo session this morning...think Vogue wardrobe department, hair and makeup teams, fans blowing my hair, and the perfect little children with their "acting coaches" ready to snap those perfect photos.

Right. And we snap back to reality.

We are using a really awesome photographer and going to a field, old train tracks, and a few other hot spots. The only bad part is that it is supposed to be a balmy 35 degrees when the flashes start going. I am excited about it, but have a few small items that I am praying for.

*I am praying Mr. doesn't smile like Chandler did in photographs on Friends. We have been practicing.

(For a man that has to be the center of attention pretty much all of the time, can make friends with a wall, and is always the "social chair" on any project he goes to manages to be camera shy at the worst times. We announced our engagement on The Today Show and he forgot his name when they asked him. Serious, 5 second pause before he could answer.)

*I am praying the Minis manage to smile, not fight, shed no tears, don't have a constant stream of nasal drainage, and manage to keep their clothes clean.

*I am praying that I can look as thin as possible...who knows how well this photographer can work her magic in the touch ups. I am also praying that my hair stays straight and as good as I can get it. That is a good thing about the CHILLY temperatures...there won't be 100% humidity.

*I am praying that my entire family can look as normal and blissfully happy as possible. What I truly mean is that the photographs can capture just how normal and blissfully happy we truly are as a family unit.

I just need a few good Christmas shots and we can call it a day. :)

Kidding...mostly. Fingers crossed.

Happy Saturday.

What have I gotten myself in to?

I often look at Mini #2 and wonder what in the world I have gotten myself in to. She is cute, she is funny, she can be sweet, she can be loving, and some days she even pretends to like me, but she can be a pistol. There really is no better word to describe her.

I often worry about what she will be like as a teenager and last night I had the full view of all that I have to look forward to. I immediately started praying and also left a message for my doctor to get me some good drugs ASAP.

Picture it:

Last night, I am cooking dinner and in the middle of playing Army men and also trying to ensure that Mini #2 doesn't draw on the furniture with the marker she is running around with.

Me: "Mini #2* come here, please."

Mini #2: I am going to play a little game with Mom. (blatantly ignores me. I KNOW she hears me.)

Me: "Mini #2, please come here."

Mini #2: I will really tick Mom off and continue to ignore her.

Me: "PLEASE COME HERE MINI #2!!!!!!!"

Mini #2: (slight eyeroll) "It's Princess Mini #2."

Are you kidding me???? She is two years old. What have I gotten myself in to???????

Happy Friday!

(And yes, she did in fact walk around Starbucks like this after she took off her dress. And yes, that is chocolate on her face and on the white turtleneck. She has an attitude and is a slob.)

Pink & Green Thursdays~I Heart New York

In about two weeks, I will be dancing around the Big Apple with my mom and sister for a few blissful days of fun. New York is my favorite place in the world, Mr. and I were engaged there and I just find the city to be magical. I am so excited about a few days with just my mom and sister...it will be the best birthday gift.

For this week's Pink and Green Thursday, fall in love with the city and get Frank Sinatra singing in the background...

Happy Thursday!

The Core

Often when you think of the word core, you think of the inedible center of a fruit such as an apple.

Lately, I have been thinking of my core. When you look up the 567 definitions of the word core, one of them is

core (noun): a basic, essential, or enduring part; the essential meaning; the inmost or most intimate part

Then, I saw in a magazine that I read it defined as

your inner self, including your temperament, life experiences, emotions, passions, and potential.

How fitting! I feel that I have lost part of my core recently. I know I have kind of "fell off the face of the Blogger earth" lately and how much I have missed it.

I have let life get in the way, I have let part of myself go. I took a job a few months ago, why I never really blogged about it, I'm not sure. When I took the job, there were some obstacles and I guess I was nervous on what I would be able to do. I am the director of a preschool now. The school is thriving and my children are happy there and learning so much. I do like it, but some days I am so completely overwhelmed with work, children, housework and chores, church responsibilities, Molly Lou Gifts shop duties, and the list goes on.

There are some days that I cry at the end of the day when Mini #2 won't go to sleep because I am so tired and I also have about 2356 things that I need to do before I can lay my head down.

When I decided to take this job, we were under the impression that Mr. was going to be able to come home and work out of the home office. That would be so great...we could be a family of 4 again every night, we could eat together, read books together before bedtime, play together, and share the nightly routines. There would be another set of hands each night to help bathe, read, play, cook dinner and clean up (his clean up hands have never been stellar, but there would be another set of hands to do something while I cleaned up at least.) That didn't happen and Mr. is on another project that he does enjoy now at the same site, but still away all week for another year.

I feel like as a mother, I immediately shared a part of my core with these two. I want to share my life experiences, passions, and emotions with them to help mold them in to the person that God intends for them to be. Somewhere in the process though, I think I forgot about my core and certainly forgot to grow that and foster my inner self. By doing so, I know I will be a better mom, wife, and friend.

Blogging is a passion because it allows me to be a part of this wonderful community of people that have entered my life for many reasons. I need this...this is an outlet for me and one of such great support and comfort.

You all help me cultivate my seed, my core for the rest of my life.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hope you all are having a "spooktacular" day filled with lots of treats!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Wordless Wednesday~Mad About Minis

Happy Birthday Mr.

Today my Mr. is a year older. The jury is still out on the whole year wiser bit, but he is confident is many years wiser today.

Don't you love this photo of he and the minis in his birthday gift. That's right folks, we now have a huge leather recliner in our home. I fought it as hard as I could. We had many marital "wars" over something like this invading our home, but in the end, I surrendered and he now triumphantly sits in his "throne."Also, I tried to get a good picture of the three of them all day in that beast of a chair. However, let's just say that it didn't work out. This is the best I could get...just look at Mini #1, he is certainly thrilled to be posing. This is at the end of the day, baths had, children and daddy tired (and a tad grumpy)...this is our life! And in true, Molly Lou household style, we had been celebrating this birthday for about 4 days, so we were "birthdayed" out.

He also received some handcrafted mini art: a painted frame, a painted fish on canvas, and birthday cards. The handpainted frame by both of the children included the sun, grass, and ME flying through the air. It was something to see!

Happy, Happy Birthday Mr. I love you more than you will ever know and look forward to all this next year has in store.

Wordless Wednesday~Caffeine Love

2 years ago...

730 days ago, 17,531 hours ago, 1,051,897 minutes ago you entered in to my world and everything changed for the better...

You showed me from the very beginning that you march to your own beat and I needed to settle in and enjoy the ride.

"When we asked for a daughter we were sent a princess." - Sally Huss

"She will fill our lives with sunshine... And our hearts with love." - Author Unknown

"Her smile beams like sunshine, which fills our hearts with love." - Birgit B.

(Check out the outfit, or lack there of, but the stylish Snow White heels and another pair in her hand. Shoes really are the only thing a girl needs.)

"Little girls are just angels who haven't yet spread their wings." - Author Unknown
"Little girls dance their way into your heart, whirling on the tips of angel wings, scattering gold dust & kisses in our paths." - Author Unknown

"A little girl can be sweeter (and badder) oftener than anyone else in the world. she can jitter around, and stomp, and make funny noises that frazzle your nerves yet just when you open your mouth she stands there demure with that special look in her eyes. A girl is innocence playing in the mud, beauty standing on its head, and motherhood dragging a doll by the foot."- Alan Beck

Happy 2nd Birthday SWEET GIRL!

I love you more than you will ever know...

I can't wait to see what the next year has in store.