Molly is reading!

Molly is just amazing us with her intelligence. She has always caught on to things way before her peers and she literally thirst for knowledge. I have been amazed by her since an early age. She was able to sing the state song before she turned 2. I think I might have said this before but I prayed before she was born for a happy, healthy & smart child and boy did God answer my prayers! Anyway....she has been trying to read for probably about 6 months now (she is just 4). I have kind of put her off because I really didn't know how to teach her. I just thought that was something that she could learn in school (and I really didn't want to give up the secret "spelling" language that Ryan and I could communicate in). Well she finally gave up on us and has basically taught herself. A few days ago she pulled a book off of the bookshelf and read all but about 2 words in it. I was super proud but deep down wondered if it was just by memory...we must have read every book on there 100 times. So today the true test came, we went to the library. She picked out a 'beginning reader' book and read all but a couple words to me on our drive home! I was so proud that I must have been beaming. She is such an awesome learner and Ryan and I are so proud. Here are some pictures of her reading and one from when she was 9 months old...she got an early start.

I had to throw some pics of Roz in the mix too. She is up to the same old stuff, trying to fit into trash cans, climbing on the bar height chairs & eating crumbs from the floor. Don't get me wrong, she is a joy beyond words and we love her more and more everyday! I feel so blessed!

Until next time....

Doctor Visits for All

Today Roz was scheduled for her 18 month check-up (a little late) and Molly went ahead and seen the peditrician for that nagging cough she has had for the last 2 weeks. Roz is doing great. She weighs 24 lbs 5 ozs and is 32 inches long which puts her at the 50th percentile for both height & weight. The dr said that all signs of her being a preemie are gone and that we can't use that for an excuse for her at all...what good news. She is doing wonderfully and he was very pleased with her.

Molly weighed 37.5 lbs and he didn't think that her cough was anything more than allergies. He prescribed some singular and hopefully that will take care of it in a couple of days. I think that because of her episode when she was Roz's age with pnemonia/broncitus/asthma we are just a little leary when she starts to cough. I just can't stand it when her health isn't great. Hopefully she will be back to her normal healthy self again soon.

I wanted to ask for prayer for Ryan and I. We are reading "The Purpose Driven Life" together and I think that God is going to do something big for the 2 of us. I know that God has a purpose for us and I just wanted to be covered in prayer while we read this so that it can be revealed. Thank you in advance.

My trial subscription to photoshop elements ran out today. I am so sad! I hope that I can save some $ in the next couple of weeks to buy it but with the economy being so bad work is hard to come by for our detailing business and I don't want to be frivilous. Here are the pages that I created over the last couple of days. It is so much fun!

Here are a couple more pics for the road and then off to bed I go! Until next time....

Shopping for School

The summer must be coming to an end because we had to buy Molly's books for school on friday and we went school shopping last night for all her supplies. The first day of K-4 for her isn't until August 18th but she is super pumped already. Yesterday afternoon we went to target and got her some new shoes and a new dress and then last night we had a special outing, just her and I, to buy the rest of her supplies. She had a blast and I thought it was fun that we could do it together. She has got to be the easiest person to shop with imaginable (unlike her mother). She liked the least expensive things and had little opinion on most of the items. She was just so excited to be school shopping that the details just didn't matter. I have to admit that it was probably just as much fun for me! I am so excited that I have 2 little girls and can look forward to years of shopping together. I will post pictures of our purchases later.

Until next time....

Summertime

I just can't believe that it is almost August. When school ended I was so nervous about having Molly home all the time and it just seems that things have been super smooth. I think that Ryan being home from school (only taking online courses) and me working more has made things really fly by. I enjoy the family time that we have together in the evenings and on weekends so much. I know that it will be a tough road again when his schools starts up but it will all be worth the effort in the end...I hope!

Molly started another week of VBS today. This time it is at Cornerstone where her friend Lily attends church. It seemed to go pretty good so hopefully she will have a good week. Her teacher commented on how smart she is when I picked her up today. It is sometimes hard to remember that she is only 4 because she is so smart. I can't wait to see the awesome things that she is going to accomplish in her life.

I know that I have mentioned that we try to ride our bikes whenever we get a chance. We got the girls helmets last week and Molly is so super proud of hers. It has all the princesses on it and it took us 3 days to get her to leave it in the garage for riding only. Here are some pics of her in her new gear.

Molly just loves to pose...isn't she just adorable!

One day last week I decided that Molly and I could sit down and watch "The Little Mermaid". We borrowed it from Allison for our trip home from IN but I was a little nervous about her watching it. She used to be so scared of everything and I thought it might cause problems. So I finally decided that we would watch it together and she loved it. She didn't get scared once and reminded me several times of how much bigger she is now than last year. We have watched it several times since then and now Roz is even starting to enjoy it. I think she actually just enjoys sitting with Molly more than anything. Here they are...

I forgot to mention that I forgot how much I love the movie too! We have all been singing the songs none stop and Ryan is about ready to vomit! He needs to have some manly time but it is hard with all of the princess gear around our house. Here is Molly singing one of the songs.

Then of course I couldn't leave out little Roz. Her latest trick it jumping. She thinks that she is really getting high and I love to see her try. She has recently added the arms and now will tip-toe around afterwards...maybe because she feels like she is floating, who knows. She is so sweet!

Until next time....

Who am I anyway?

I don't know if this all has something to do with turning 30 but I have had some eye opening experiences in the last couple of days. I must warn you that you should proceed through this post with caution. I don't mean any offense to anyone so hopefully it won't come across that way. I have just been experiencing some emotions lately that have got me thinking. I am not very good with expressing myself, especially on paper so this could be a little rough around the edges. O.K. enough warning...here goes. By the way, I'm looking forward to any comments that you have.

I told you a little about my friend Tonya and her accident. She has really made me take a good look at myself and people in general. She is so genuine. I really want to be that person that you don't have to guess what or who they believe in. I really want to live with integrity. I looked up the definition of integrity and this is what I found...adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. That's it...that's what I want my life to be.

I want people that don't know me to look at me and see me as someone that is human and flawed but forgiven by a God of grace & mercy. I want people to know that I am so far from perfect but that I am O.K. with that (most of the time). God is still working on me and will continue to work on me until the day that I die. I struggle with being everything to everyone and nothing to no one. I want to be the best mom but most days go to bed feeling like a failure. I want to play with my girls more but just can't find the time and energy a lot of the time. I want to get my priorities straight. I want Ryan to love and adore me but end up most days giving him plenty of reasons not to. I want to know more about the bible and how it applies and when to use scriptures and where they can be found in the bible. I am more materialistic, career driven and selfish than I ever thought possible.

I do have good qualities too. I am highly determined and driven and can accomplish almost anything when I put my mind to it. I love to serve others when possible and would do anything for my friends. I hurt deeply when someone I love hurts and wear my emotions on my sleeve (I guess that one is both good and bad). I am a great cook, good housekeeper, hard worker and love to learn. I hate lying and deceit and am teaching my girls to be honest people even when it isn't convenient or fun or rewarding.

Your wondering where all this is going huh...I guess that I just want to keep it real. I don't want to portray my life as this perfect fairytale bible story that it isn't. One of my favorite things to do is to sit on my lanai with my husband, have a couple of cold beers and share thoughts about our past, present & future. I don't always listen to Christain music and can't quote scripture off the top of my head. I am working on being a better follower of Jesus Christ but to be real honest it is really hard. I want to share God's love with my family and friends but am scared of their reactions. I don't want to be the crazy Christain girl that scares away unbelievers but I don't want to put God in a box either. I am just searching for the right balance and trying to listen intently to what God is telling and teaching me along the way.

I love my life and am so lucky to have everything that I do, but that doesn't always keep me from wanting more. Like I said before, I am definitely a work-in-progress. I am glad that I have this blog to vent frustrations and share triumphs but I hope that I don't distort the real facts...I am flawed and need Jesus' blood to cover me each & every day. Thank you God for your grace...I need it desperatly!

Until next time....

Pools, Ipods & Renita

It seems like a lot must have happened since last Monday (my last post) to keep my from the blogging world but I just can't remember what it was. Here are a few pictures (in reverse chronological order) to jog my memory. Here goes....

This is Molly this evening. She recieved her barbie "ipod" in the mail tonite and was listening to it while enjoying some Oreo's. We collected the tokens from the Kellogg's cereal boxes and she is just so proud of it. She asked to take a run with it tomorrow...isn't it so cute how she wants to be just like me;)


This picture is from when we swam at Renita's pool on Saturday. Renita rolled in to town Thursday evening and will be leaving us tomorrow:( We had a good time with her and keep begging her to move here from California. I guess that California must have a lot to offer but I can't believe it would be better than being with us all the time (ha, ha). One highlight of her trip was going to a local BBQ restaurant last night that has "kids eat free" on Sunday nights. Talk about beating the system...Ryan and I split a meal, which was plenty, and the girls ate for free! After giving the waitress a nice tip we still ate for under $15. What a bargain....and the food was great!

This is Molly and her Oreo's again...she is so funny!
The other night after baths Ryan was working checking his email while Molly and I caught up on So You Think You Can Dance. Roz came toddling out of the office/toy room with this number on and I couldn't resist taking a picture. She always has loved the high heeled shoes and jewelery but she never cared much about the clothes until now. I guess we have another future princess on our hands.

In this picture I was trying to get a shot of Roz's big bruise on her right cheek. Last week she caught whatever it was that Molly had and ended up with a fever of 103 one night. We were at my mom's and she was swinging when we realized that she was super hot. After mom put her down she stumbled and fell against the lanai metal ledge. It was so bad and bruised immediately but thank God we survived another fall!

And this is Molly wanting another piece of the spotlight. She seems so much more grown up over the last couple of weeks. One day as we were eating a snack she was telling me how glad she was that God gave us such a cute baby. She went on to say that God was giving us another baby in my belly. She said she knew that I had told God I didn't want anymore babies but that God had told her that I was going to have another one. She was so definate about the whole thing that it was hard to argue with her...or God. I guess that only time will tell although hopefully God will talk to me and Ryan about it first. I encouraged her to continue to talk to God and listen to him...hopefully this is the beginning of a great conversation between the two of them.


I also wanted to ask for prayer for my friend Tonya (Lily & Ivy's mom). Last week she recieved a neck injury. The doctor's expect her to make a full recovery but recovery is not easy by any means. Their family is so dear to me and I want for this time to be as painless as possible for them. Please remember them in your prayers. I took Tonya to get her blood work today and the way that she is handling the situation is such a testament to the Gospel of Christ. I was telling Renita today that she is what I aspire to be. She doesn't pretend to have it all together but when tragedy struck her heart really shows and you can see what a wonderful person she is on the inside as well as the outside. God has done a wonderful job with both her and Chance and we are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Until next time.....

Under Construction

Please excuse the mess as I try and give my blog a facelift....