Hello, hello???

Hello all! What a long time (again)! So sorry. These last few months have been crazy.

As a short recap, Mini #3 joined us almost two weeks ago and is a perfect little girl that the older minis are crazy about.

We moved (again). We are all adjusting to a new place and Mr.'s new job (again). Wow...all of this is deja vu.

I quit my job so we could move and am now a stay at home mom again.

I have started a new blog, Under this Umbrella. I feel that my life is so full of so many things and I need a fresh start. I hope you will join me over there, www.comeunderthisumbrella.blogspot.com. It is always entertaining, and I'm sure a bit crazy at times.

I look forward to navigating my way to catching up with all of you old friends and making some new ones along the way.

(More mini pictures at the new blog, come on over!)

Did I Fool You?

The 1st of April. April Fool's Day. Blah. Why on earth is this a "holiday?" I just don't really get the appeal and how it became so wide spread that it is celebrated around the world. I know it isn't an official holiday, but some people think very highly of this day and spend days, weeks, months planning the perfect practical joke. Random Fact: I read that in some countries, the foolishness and jokes are only played until noon and anything after that makes you an April Fool. Feel free to share that around the water cooler today. I don't mean to sound like a total "Scrooge." Is there another term for a grump on this day??? I just wonder how this day became such a COOL thing that everyone had to do it. We have all had to live through the awkward laughs, smiles, good natured "hearty har hars" after someone tells us an "April Fool." I would much rather celebrate World Icecream Day June Pedicure Day September Book Day October Hug Day January Hot Chocolate Day May Tell People What You Really Think Day July Lemonade Stand Day August Shopping Day Feel Free to come up with any others or let's band together on one of the above and turn it in to a world celebrated day like today!!! Have a great day and weekend! Happy Friday and Happy April Fool's Day!

Born to Aggravate?

There has been a lot of arguing going on with the minis in our house. I truly didn't think that at this age there would be so much of this. People always told me three years was the "perfect" age difference...oxymoron??? My sister and I fought all of the time, but I don't remember it being until we were older and she was just a general pain in the bum. Surprisingly, we don't argue much anymore and the latter is still the same. This is a scene that happened yesterday in our crazy house yesterday. Mini 1: "Stop doing that. You're a baby. Baby, baby, baby, baby!" (Insert evil big brother laugh) Mini 2: "I am not a baby. You are a baby. Mooooooooooooooooooomy, he called me a baby. I am not a baby." (cue the dramatic crying, foot stomping, etc.) Mini 1: "Baby, baby, baby. I am big and you are not. You can't do anything that I can do. Leave me alone. Stop looking at me and go away." Mini 2: "Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomy, Mini #1 is calling me a baby and says I need to go awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay." (She gets way more dramatic and her southern drawl stretches things much more when she is tired, mad, crying...in other words a lot.) Mini 1: "Stop it, Mini #2. Seriously, no one cares that you are crying. See you are a baby. Now, leave me alone and go somewhere else." Mom: Ignoring the screeching and dramatic tears. I am in my happy place. Children? I don't think I have any children. More screaming ensues and I am pretty sure that I hear bodily harm happening. Snap back to reality. Mom: "What is going on in here. Stop arguing. Seriously, what are you even arguing about? You were playing so nicely together a few minutes ago. And stop the teasing, Mini #1. I hope you didn't just hit your sister. We have talked about this and you know it isn't nice to tease and you are to never hit your sister. You, missy also know exactly what you are doing to aggravate your brother and we don't hit our brother either. Do we need a time out?" Mini 1: "Seriously Mom, she was born to aggravate me just like you say Dad was born to aggravate you. I can't take it." Score 1 for Mini #1. Ahhhhhhhh, life is grand!!! Happy Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday~You are Welcome and Yum-O!

Pity Party of One

What do you do when you are tired, stressed, snotty, angry, and just plain want to scream???? You put the minis to bed a smidge early and you drown your sorrows in a carton of ice cream and watch mindless television. It's truly amazing how calories and television can make most things better.

Wordless Wednesday~A Hot Mess Diva with a Domestic Attitude

Picking Favorites

I don't have a favorite child. I really don't.

However, if we are all honest, there are fleeting and some lingering moments when one child or another may be first in line to the throne in your mind.

Case in point:

At Target yesterday, Mini #1 says

"Target is the best place in the whole world. I think I should have my birthday party here. All of my friends could come, we could play with the toys, run around and see the cool stuff, get an Icee, and maybe we could even sleep over here."

This conversation is happening while an adorable blonde headed little girl dressed in a smocked orange South Carolina Palmetto dress is flailing on the floor screaming because she cannot get a second pair of gold glitter "Dorothy" shoes. I quietly ignored her and listened to the boy as I searched for her mother.

Score 1 for Mini #1.

Happy Tuesday.

Mom Jeans Next?

Ever have moments in your life where you take that imaginary step back and wonder "how did I get here?" "Is this really my life?"

I have been having those a lot lately for a whole basket of reasons. Obviously with two minis and another on the way, there are several changes in our horizon as we prepare to be a family of five.

I love my life, but there are parts of me and certain moments in a day that I wish I could turn back the clock.

I remember being that girl still in college, carefree and cool, no money, but no bills, and able to jump at a moment's notice.

Or that girl that was engaged and planning a knock out wedding that would be talked about for years. Mr. Molly Lou and I had that wedding...there was nothing extravagent, but it was the BEST time and one that all of our friends and family gathered for and had the party of the next few years.

Or the girl that was pregnant with mini #1 reading all of the pregnancy books, planning how I would mother this young boy, and then falling in love more than I ever imagined possible and turning my world completely upside down.

Fast forwarding to present day, that girl is the mother of two, exhausted almost as much she is crazy, saying things that she swore she would never repeat after cringing hearing her mother say those dreaded sayings and ramblings for years, and now pregnant with a third child and doing the thing she SWORE she would never ever do. NEVER.

For months we have been talking about it. For months we have been debating. For months we have been avoiding. For months we have been looking at other options.

The inevitable happened yesterday.

That girl became the owner of a minivan. A MINIVAN!

The Molly Lous are now rocking a Toyota Sienna minivan.

Mr. and my two best friends have promised to stage an intervention if I start to wear mom jeans and put a scrunchie in my hair in public.

Last night as we were driving away in the minivan, I had a life changing moment. I can grow to love this and this amazing life Mr. and I have worked hard to create.

I will drive a minivan daily for years to come. Chauffering my minis to school, sports, practice, dining, vacations, etc. I will grow to love the space, the ease of loading/unloading, and the ability to cart as many clowns, I mean minis as I can cram in to the back of the "rocketship." (Mini #1 loves it and refers to it as his rocketship.)

I am ok with it and will embrace this new chapter in our life and I look forward to all of the future holds.

Anyone want a ride?

Have a great day!

**There is nothing wrong with a minivan and I see plenty of cool moms driving around in one and have many friends including many of you who rock one on a daily basis. I'll take pointers and tips from you. Also, these rocketships have come a long way since my parents large green minivan that I learned to drive in, took my driver's test in, and carted around my sister and her friends in and getting groceries for my mom in exchange for having a car to drive and almost free gas.

Spring is Here...

Well in two days it will be.

There is no doubting it, it is hot here and feels more like a summer day.

Here is what we have been doing just about ALL day.

(The boy is much to fast and could care less about his picture being taken...he has places to go. The girl picked out her own outfit and insisted on wearing it, even on a trip on the bicycle. I guess she believes "a girl must always look her best." She did at one point go inside to get her purse as well and attach it to her handle bars.)

Have a great, great weekend! Happy Spring!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

"Why should you never iron a 4-leaf clover?"

You don't want to press your luck!

That joke was courtesy of Mini #1

St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic. ~Adrienne Cook

Have a great day!

Fast Forward

Have you ever read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

I love that story and always loved doing activities and lessons with it when I taught second grade. The kids always laughed at it.

I am having one of those days.

It is pouring down rain, everyone is in a grumpy mood, parents complained about EVERYTHING at school today, and it is just one of those days when nothing seems to be "working quite right."

(Side note: carpool may take longer since it is POURING down rain and everyone wants to go through carpool so they don't have to get out. If you don't want to wait in your dry car then feel free to walk in and pick up your child just as you are welcome to do ANY OTHER DAY!)

I digress. Do you ever wish you could have a fast forward button for life. I have never wanted to wish my life away of the lives of my children while they are children, but a fast forward button for even a few hours would be PERFECTION!

I could fast forward the next few hours to bedtime. I could stop at the time when I am cuddling the minis and reading stories and then proceed with the rest of the evening and my own bedtime as usual.

This would fast forward the laundry, the argument that is happening right now where a very tired Mini #2 is miserable and crying or having a fit about everything, but refuses to take a nap, cooking and cleaning up of dinner, etc.

I wouldn't want to abuse this fast forward button priviledge and would promise to use it wisely. I also know that this shouldn't be cheap and am willing to pay a pretty penny for it and bet many others would as well.

I guess I also wish there was a rewind button so I could go back to those times where life is just as it should or those times and moments that have already passed in the minis short lives that I will never be able to get back.

Would you fast forward?

Spring Forward?

I totally, completely dislike the time change. There certainly is nothing "springing forward" in my mind this morning.

It messes with my schedule, it messes with the minis schedule, and it REALLY messes with my motivation in the mornings.

The total pitch-blackness in the mornings certainly does not make me want to crawl out of bed and get motivated to start my week. I already have to get up early enough and the sun slowly starting to come up as I meander through my morning routines was helpful, comforting.

This morning I REALLY didn't want to get out of bed. I would have paid a lot of money and even considered cutting off a limb to be able to sleep without an alarm clock this morning.

Oh, Mr. Sun, where are you? Are you coming to be my company when everyone else is asleep and help motivate me with your shining rays to get this Monday started? The birds are even sleeping later now that it is sooooooooooooo dark.

Mr. Sun doesn't come out for me, it is too busy screwing up my evening routine with the minis.

The endless questions last night and those that are sure to continue at least for the next few weeks and probably until the end of school when routines relax a bit of

"Why do I have to take a bath and get ready for bed? It is still light out side!"

"Ooooooook. I will take a shower, but can I ride my bike after I get finished?"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I know that time will come in late June where I will love the extra hours to be in the pool and watch the minis catch lightning bugs and eat ice cream or popsicles so late in to the summer evening.

Actually...notsomuch. I will be to the point of explosion in pregnancy and it will be 156 degrees outside.

Happy Monday!

Girls Rule, Boys Drool

It's official!

It's a girl! Mini #3 will switch the power in the house and tip the scales for the girls to outnumber the boys.

Mr. made the tech show us three different times to "prove" that it was a girl and then explain exactly how she determined that. Not his smartest or most shining moment!

Mini #1 is better today than last night over the reality of having ANOTHER sister in the house. I am nervous about another girl after having Mini #2, however, I am thrilled to have two little girls to play with each other and grow up to be as close as my sister and I.

Everything else looks perfect and on or before July 18th, we will be a family of 5!

Happy weekend!

Who Will Be in the Majority?

Who will win...boys or girls?

Will it be a Jack or a Cate?

Today we find out whether this little surprise is a boy or girl!

More importantly, I need to know if I will be outnumbered by testosterone or if I will go gray and become even more insane due to an adorable little girl filled with so much attitude and "style" like her older sister.

Mini #1 is adament that it is a boy. To quote him exactly "God knows that I already have a sister and that I don't need another one." (If this baby is a girl, we have a lot of work to do to convince Mini #1 that it is not the end of the world and to convince myself that I indeed have enough energy and patience to raise a second Mini #2!)

I mentioned that this pregnancy was a huge surprise and it sure was. Mini #1 has been praying for a brother since the summer. Clearly he and God worked up a little plan that the modern marvel of birth control couldn't quite compete with.

Obviously, this is a gift from God, but even more so since: We weren't trying, on birth control, my husband doesn't even live at home 5 of 7 days a week, one of those two days we are together, chances are I don't like him, we already have two children running around that leave me completed exhausted at the end of the day, and with the very small window of opportunity each month, this baby is clearly conceived by immaculate conception! KIDDING!

I am nervous and excited about the appointment today. Fingers crossed...

Happy Thursday! Have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday~All the Toys and We Choose Naked in a Box

This and That...

How happy I am to be back. I have missed so much of blogging and all of you wonderful and talented women. So much to do...many of you will be happy you missed the mundane and daily ramblings of the crazy Molly Lou house.

Let's just do a quick recap over the past few months and beginning of the Molly Lou family's 2011:

*I got a few emails about this last night, so we shall start with the fact that I am pregnant. AHHHHHHHH...this was a huge surprise and one that I was so not ready for. We found out in December that we would be a family of five sometime in July, 2011. More on this later, but for now, just call me Myrtle.

*January 3, Mr. Molly Lou left his company that he had been with since interning in college, the one that moved us all over to start with a new construction company, specializing in nuclear power. Thinks this might mean that we all live under the same roof?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...he now lives in Charlotte, NC so is still two hours away. He has a teeny tiny apartment right uptown, so we use it more like a hotel room and visit him every other week. This was a great move for him, personally and professionally. He loves his new job and is surrounded by good people and ones that appreciate his work experience and what he has to offer.

*Mini #1 and Mini #2 are still adorable, insane, too smart, and keep me going constantly. It truly is never a dull moment around this house. I could write a whole book on Mini #2 "isms" over the past two months.

*Mini #2 is potty-trained and we are both still alive and like each other most days. Woohoo! However, she takes "don't get your panties in a wad" to a whole new level.

*Mini #1 is registered for kindergarten. How is it possible? He can't understand that it is still 5 months away before he actually gets to go. As smart as he is getting, perhaps he should skip right on to middle school. He amazes me and more often than we will admit, Mr. and I have gone back and Googled things he tells us and he has ALWAYS been right.

*I am still director of the preschool. The last few months of 2010 were awful with certain "governing bodies" of the church and things that made my life very difficult. I had never experienced so mucn unChristianlike like behavior in my life, especially ones in a church. It has gotten much better and a new Council, etc. has taken over. My enrollment has hit a new high in the 30 year history of the preschool so I must be doing something right.

*My great uncle, who was like my grandfather passed away suddenly in February. This was a huge shock and huge loss to me and some days I still struggle with the fact that I will not get to see his face, receive a hug, and that my children will really not get to experience all that he did with me and for me throughout my life.

However, we took a road trip, 9 people in a 12 passenger van to Illinois for his funeral. Picture it: Me, Mr., Mini #1, Mini #2, my mom, dad, sister, and her husband all together for 15 hours driving each way in the car that doesn't include potty breaks, restaurants, hotels, etc. We did this entire trip over the course of 5 days. That has REALITY SHOW written all over it and I could still kick myself that I have no video documentation. Every shudder and thought you are having is probably all true and then some.

Your turn...fill me in! Happy Tuesday!

Hello, hello, is this thing on?

Hello out there. Anyone still around? Are all of my friends still blogging or have they moved on to some new found technology that I am not cool enough to know about since it has been OVER TWO MONTHS SINCE I BLOGGED!

I am hanging my head low as I apologize for being the World's Worst Blogger. If that was an award, I would win hands down. (Someone should make one of those buttons and start passing around.)

I am so sorry. Life has been so crazy and has handed us some big and small surprises.

I need to blog, I love to blog, and I miss all of you. I truly do feel a piece of me has been missing the past few months and I am ready to take it all back!

I can't wait to catch up with you and share with you thing that have been happening on this end.

Until next time...