- (minus) one

Here is Molly in the garden on top of the Met in NYC just yesterday.  She has been there for about a week with her Nana (my mom) for her "10-year-old trip to New York."  It always strikes me when one of the family members is gone how different the household feels.  With Mol gone, I have had to be the organizer, maker of plans and overall on top of the family's game.  Usually she does all of these things.  That is not to say that we have stumbled this week, or forgotten anything, it is just that is has been different.

Just Carson, Todd and myself in the house lends to a much more relaxed, easy-going, go-with-the-flow atmosphere which has been really fun!  Some nights we had dinner together, and others, it got late and we realised that everyone had just taken care of themselves!  Carson has been busy this week, for sure, but has been willing to just hang out with us in the evenings.  I treasure that time since I know that next summer (and beyond) we will have less and less time together; and probably less willingness on his behalf to just hang out with his parents.

In a few weeks, Carson will go to overnight camp (for the first time ever) and again, our house will feel strange with one of us missing.  With Carson gone, we will most likely have planned meals each night, each activity mapped out and planned for, and not much time to spare for just lounging.  Which is great. 

Both ways are fun, they are just different.  Now if the temps would just dip below 100 one of these days, all would be perfect!

There's something about Molly

Gosh, I love that girl of mine, Molly.  She is so vivacious, has a mind of her own and cracks me up...lots.  Recently 2 things have happened that I mustn't forget. 
When Todd is out of town I always let the kids sleep in bed with me.  They take turns.  Todd doesn't know this, and we'd like to keep it that way. 

Molly working on her 2011 Valentines

1.  Last week when Todd was in New Orleans all week, and on one of Molly's nights to sleep with me, I was dozing off to sleep while she was still wide awake watching TV.  Just as I was about to fall asleep, she says "what is sex?"  My eyes shot open, and my breathing got quick.  I didn't move a muscle.  I did everything I could to pretend I was already asleep.  I must have been convincing 'cause she never said another thing.  See, I just couldn't deal with that at 10 o'clock at night without Todd there for back-up...missed it by that much...!

2.  This morning, again while Todd was out of town, this time in Iowa, I was letting Molly sleep-in (and I was too!) 'cause there wasn't school, and she was farting in her sleep!  Big, loud, man farts.  I was cracking up, and kept thinking she was awake and going to look over at me and smile after one of them, but she never did.  She was truly farting in her sleep.

Oh that kid, man I love her!

you capture - togetherness

I love this picture of my kids.  We had headed down to the river so I could practice taking silhouette shots.  Obviously the light and the placement was all wrong (I have since figured out how to make it work), but I discovered this happy accident when I uploaded the shots. 

My kids really do love to be together.  Don't get me wrong, they get on each other's nerves...they fight...and they sometimes hit and pinch, but usually that only happens when they have been together too long.  Most days after school and practices, they want to hang out together.  They tell each other stories about their day.  The help each other with their homework.  They just hang. 

How lucky we are. most days I remember this.

road trip...day 4

Our final day of fun was spent at the Marengo Cave, and canoeing 7 miles down the Blue River. 

For the second morning in a row, Molly couldn't get out of bed by 8:30 for breakfast with

the other guests of the B & B. 

Admittedly, we were all tired from our crazy, full day at Holiday world!

The cave was awesome, and the canoeing a blast.  I was really tired at the end of our float, but Carson was a real trooper and paddled most of the way with me.  There were more than several places we had to get out and push/pull the canoe.  But as you can see we took advantage of one of them and got out to play. 

(Molly will probably kill me when she sees this photo some day!)

We had a blast on our adventure, and are definitely planning on doing something fun like it again next year...it's so fun to find different reasons to check states off  our list!

I

road trip...day 3

3 very tired folks, after a whole day spent at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari.

I might be getting too old for a day at a theme park...just sayin!

road trip...day 2

We made it!

Day 2 was filled with all variety of things.

We drove from St. Louis into Indiana, and had the requisite photo at the "Welcome to Indiana" sign.

It took longer that I thought it would to get here, but we DID detour a little bit.

We drove around and eyed Holiday World, and decided that we were

MOST DEFINITELY excited to spend a whole day there.

We spotted Lincoln National Park, and then headed to the Leavenworth Inn, our home for the next 3 days. 

We grabbed a bite for lunch and then took the scenic route into Corydon, IN

to take a look at an actual Civil War battlefield site. 

After a little rain shower, the butterflies were out in full force, and I spent some time outside with my camera.

It was a fun day.  We decided that Holiday World was the plan for the day on Wednesday. 

road trip...day 1

The kids and I are on a road trip.

We're heading to Santa Claus, Indiana.

Day one was filled with driving.

Statistics:

Books finished by Carson:  1

Movies Watched by Molly:  2

Books on tape listened to:  1  (it was really short)

Fights: none...

Hours driven:  7

Quit for the night:  Hampton Inn in Belleville, IL

two lips

the tulips in my life

my sweet girl

Following is a comversation Molly and I had the other night:

Molly: Mom, are we ever going to move?

me: I don't know, not any time soon.  Of course you'll move some day.

Molly: Why?

me: Well, you'll probably go off to school, but maybe you can go to school here in Salina and still live with me...

Molly: well...probably not.  I think I will go away for college

me: ok, well, by then you'll probably be sick of living with me anyhow and will want to move out.

Molly: No mom, I will never be sick of living with you.  I LOVE you.

Isn't she just the sweetest girl ever?

I love you, Molly!

ps, aren't those just the best sweetheart lips you've ever seen?

swimming

a few weks ago

Molly joined the swim team

she's a natural the coach says

she works really hard at each practice

she's never once complained

or said she didn't want to go

in order to see our reflection

 we need to get near the water

I'm proud of you, Molly

lack of teeth and laughter

I simply love these photos of Molly laughing. Such spunk and spirit, and so few teeth at the moment!

equal time

Because we are all about being fair in our house, here is a photo of me and Molly

at The Garden of the Gods in Colorado last weekend.

(Plus also, this is a much better photo of me!)

7 years and 2 months

Correctly tied shoe Incorrectly tied shoe

Tonight was a banner night. My Molly (7 years and 2 months old) finally learned to tie her shoes tonight. THANK GOD! I know, I know...that's way too old for learning how to tie her shoes.

You see, Molly has one heck of a temper, and any time someone tried to help her, she got mad. So, I finally bucked the system and MADE her do it. We only yelled at each other 3 times. Hooray! We haven't had Velcro shoes in our house for about a year now, but tying her shoes has gotten old. It takes her a mighty long time to tie, but it's worth the wait.

ps, pictures from here...and go there if you want to learn more interesting facts about shoe lacing and tying!

We Interrupt this Vacation for an Important Confession

I just have to tell you this: My daughter Molly is about the hardest person to like right now. Don't get me wrong, I love her...I really love her. But right now? I want to pinch her head right off. She is so selfish, self centered, whiny, a complainer, and pretty much no fun at all. Is this what having a daughter is all about? Because if so, I need to rewind this life and go back to nap time on St. Patrick's Day, 2001 and un-conceive her. Yeah, she was a mistake; unplanned pregnancy; already had a 9-month old napping in the other room . I'm WHAT?

Molly is everything a middle child is purported to be. You see, however, she is NOT a middle child. I always wanted 3 kids, but that was not something that was going to fly with Todd. He was dead set on having only 2, and was visibly and physically relieved when the sonogram showed that Molly was going to be a girl (besides that, we didn't agree on any other boy names.) A friend of mine once said that it had to be a 2-person decision. I like that. Having kids has to be a 2-person decision. But right now, I kinda wish we hadn't made that mistake-decision. Not really, but you know what I mean?

But, back to the confession. I threatened Molly at the beginning of this trip that her first warning meant that she was going to come back to the room and go to bed early (which we have done each night but one.) The second warning meant she was going to have a babysitter while we all went to dinner or some other fun thing. The third warning meant that we would figure out how to get her home alone (back to Kansas, that is) on the airplane and her dad would pick her up at the airport and her vacation would be over. I know, I know. Why threaten with something that I would never do? But you don't get it. I would have done it. I so would have done it. If we weren't getting on a plane to go home on Friday anyhow, I would have sent her home today. My parents would have had to put me in a straight jacket after, but it would have happened.

THIS MORNING I TOLD MY KID TO SHUT UP. There it is. I said it. It's out there now. I don't get her. She right now is so frustrating to me, that I had to do something to surprise her into being quiet. It worked for about 15 minutes.

No teacher at school, no friend's mom, no athletic activity coach has ever told me anything but good things about her and her behavior. So, my question is: WHY ME? Why does she feel that she needs to have these fits, whine, and just be awful to me? She gets something in her head about how it should be, and by god, if it doesn't happen that way...watch out! Just last night she had a 20-minute fit in her bed because it didn't look like she wanted it to. Seriously, she did.

So, to God, and my 6 readers out there, and Molly. I am sorry. I am sorry for yelling at you, I am sorry for saying that to you, and I am sorry that for some reason you are going thru this phase.

Please God, help me to get thru this phase. Please give me patience to get thru this phase. Please help me be more loving towards Molly and help her to figure out what we need in this phase. Medication? The Chiropractor? Mommy to retire? What ever it is, reveal it to me. PPPPLLLLEEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEE???