So, I'm a month late...

We just spent a long weekend with my parents in Kentucky [UPDATE: that is if "just" means "3 weeks ago"] and though we were there for the purpose of celebrating their 45 years of ministry together, we also got in a few days of visiting and memory making too!

It started with some smiles with Grandma:

And included a healthy dose of vintage puzzle-working:

Some great reading time (especially Frances books!):

And even some manual labor:

Even though the garden produce is pretty much wrapped up, there are still lots of things to look at:

Watching carefully as Granddaddy weeds the strawberry patch:

There were a few firsts for Jack as well!  First time at Granddaddy and Grandma's house and first time meeting Sandy!:

There may or may not have been some playdough-making as well.  This girl is lucky with playdough-making grandparents!

I think I mentioned the puzzles?  She could sit and work puzzles all day.:

Now for the real reason for our visit...Honoring my mom and dad for their 45 years in the ministry.  This celebration was actually many months in the making cause we started talking details at the beginning of the year but when we all finally got our schedules to match up it went from being scheduled in May, to August, definitely August, maybe September, definitely October.  And with each date decision came the scouring of Georgetown venues. And there was not. one. available...ever.  Evidently people like to get their party on in Georgetown.  And they like to book places waaaaaaay in advance.  Ugh.  Kara stumbled upon a Louisville possibility and it really ended up being the perfect place to celebrate.

It was a church lobby called the Atrium, with lots of natural light, plenty of space to spread out, and even a little pit in the middle for the kids to play in.  Karma brought some games to keep them occupied so with that and a table spread with paper and crayons (oh, and an unsupervised table full of sugar) they were good to go!  I think this was her first cookie.  Though it may have been her 2nd, 3rd, 4th...

Hanging out:

Like I said, unsupervised sweets.  I think our kids thought we'd gone crazy...and they were okay with that.  Here's Marci scoping things out:

When our plans were still in the summer months we'd settled on an old fashioned ice cream social setting (my dad loves ice cream, popcorn, peanuts, etc.) but as we inched toward the fall we had to rethink that and decided on fall desserts and beverages.  We loaded the table full of pumpkin, apple, and chocolate treats, sparkling apple cider punch and of course coffee (another of dad's faves).

I made the little chalkboard labels from some craft wood and chalkboard spray paint.  Then I wrote on them with what are called "bistro chalk pens" like a chalk paint pen.  Turns out they write beautifully but are semi permanent and do not wash off well. Boo.  I thought I was onto something.  Now that the labels are made they can be used and used again.  Love that.

All the baking and goody-making was done by the three of us plus our favorite family event helpers and life-long friends, Sandy, Debbie, Aunt Syl, and Grandma

At the front were some welcome tables where people could put their name on our "guest board" or pin up notes and cards.

It was fun to see people and catch up.  Some we hadn't seen for 25 years.  Here Kara chats with a fellow former youth group member from Maple Grove and her family:

Above, Mom talks with Thelma, Dad's secretary from Great Crossing, and her son, David.  

And I love this pic of Sandy with friends, Wes and Terri Greenert from Maple Grove.

And here's Sandy with the Director of Missions from Elkhorn Baptist Association:

While we know many people who wanted to be there couldn't make it, it was still amazing to see support of our parents and family come from as far as North Carolina to be with us for the afternoon.  Like the Treadway family:

And here's Marci sitting with Uncle Rick, Aunt Syl and Grandma at the kids' table.  You don't know how appropriate that is (wink):

Another dear one from Great Crossing, Camille Singer.  She and Mom also taught together for a bit.

The sweet little wreaths with candles on the cafe tables are actually from Ryan's and my rehearsal dinner.  His mom made them back then and had the leftover materials to whip up a few more for us.

Above: dear friends from Great Crossing

It's amazing how most of these people I didn't even know (except through stories and conversation of my family) past the age of 5 but seeing them, and hearing them talk even, brought floods of memories back to me.

Keith and Margaret survey the goods:

Our family observing our children and their antics:

I didn't get this part on film (actually, Ryan manned the camera, not me.  Thanks for the pics, babe.) but we also had a short program which Karma wrote around our theme verse.  Plus a song that Kara wrote to the "Facts of Life" theme song.

I think Grandma enjoyed her job of Jack-duty during clean up (Bonus: Maggi's sweet face in this pic):

Dad shares a laugh with three fifths of the Anderson family, Joel, Debbie and Rich:

Jones', and Treadway's and Roaches...oh my!:

Amy hung around to help us clean up and we snapped some more youth group flashbacks:

And one parting shot of the Roach family:

We love you, Mom and Dad, and are proud to be a part of your ministry together.

Flashback Lookalikes

Going through some old pictures...take a look at these CUTIES!

 Would you believe they're 8, 8 and 9 years old now?!

 And this sweet thing (Wyatt) is 5!

And no, that's not Jack...it's SOPHI!  I can't believe how much they look alike!

Molly's Birthday Questions

So, it seems that while I have enormous babies, I have tiny children. I took Molly for her three year well visit on Tuesday. She was very excited to go. She's had a fascination with doctor visits lately. I chalk it up to thematic episodes of Mr. Rogers, Blue's Clues, an Elmo  and Bearenstain Bears book, and her love of playing with her doctor kit.  She narrated the whole visit for me, "first we have to wait in the waiting room with all the other boys and girls. They may have books to look at and a few toys to share." Her words verbatim. She never said much within earshot of the staff but every time they'd do something that was in the doctor sequence from her head (weigh, measure, blood pressure, etc.) she'd give me a knowing smile as if she were living out her pretend life in reality. So. cute.

She's kind of a celebrity at our pediatrician's office (she better be with all the copays we've shelled out!).  When people find out she's there they come by our room just to say hi.  We had visits from 5 different nurses and staff this time.  One of them pulled out her cell phone to show Molly a picture she took of her a year and a half ago.  Seriously.  We really like it there.
We saw my favorite doc in the practice. The one who called an ambulance when I came in with a sick 2 month old back in '09.  That visit ended in a week long stay at Children's with RSV.  She's also the one who found the click in Molly's hips that led to her hip dysplasia diagnosis in '10.  She's so thorough, gentle, kind and encouraging and hard to get (she's only in 2 days a week) but we got her.  We're very aware of Molly's size.  She's head and shoulders shorter than everyone in her age group.  Well, turns out Molly is in less than the 5th percentile for both height and weight.  This is down from 20th percentile when she was 2.

Molly has definitely been growing, as evidenced by the marks on our playroom wall and by the several nights a week she wakes up with severe growing pains in her legs, but Dr. Barr wants us to come in for a height check in 3 months to follow up and make sure things are okay.  Molly passed everything else with flying colors, other than a bit of dry skin...man, that kid's skin is sensitive!  This week I also talked with Molly's ballet teacher who suggested that she start coming 2 days a week once I return to teaching so that she can catch up with the other girls.  She's having a hard time with stepping and hopping on one foot without holding on to something for leverage.  Miss Lisa thinks that ballet is therapeutic for her (I totally agree!) and that one more day a week would help her to develop those slow gross motor skills.  I sure am glad to have these people in her life that are looking out for her best interests.  Molly has no idea she's behind however.  Ignorance is bliss!

As for what she is doing well with...
she can write her name.

Sometimes she writes it from right to left instead of left to right but she's got those letters down pat!  She knows her right from her left. About 89% of the time anyway.  She can draw a circle, square, and triangle.  She also is starting to draw faces (with legs!).

She knows all her letter sounds and is spelling and recognizing quite a few simple words.  She's always spelling out words she sees and asking what they are.  She can usually figure out what words start with.  She gets things like k and c confused (obviously) but she guesses most things right on.  She also knows her "sh" and "ch" blends.  She can count really high and can count items with great accuracy.  Her favorite game to play is the numbers game-a board game where you count picture cards to see how many spaces to move.

And here we are playing the number game.

All of us:)

She has an excellent memory.  She hears something once or twice and you never know when she'll choose to spout it back.  Her bible verse for the month in preschool is "A friend loves at all times.  Proverbs 17:17".  When I asked her what it was a while back she said, without hesitation, "You ain't never had a friend like me.  Proverbs 17:17".  She's never seen Aladdin but she knows the song from Pandora:).  She now says this, "A friend loves at all the times.  Proverbs 17:17".  We just got her October verse and she already knows it's "God made everything beautiful.  Ecclesiastes 3:11"  She can sing the theme song to almost anything.  She loves to pretend and has several imaginary friends and 20 "sisters" that she blames things on.  She reenacts everything she sees on TV.  She sings the theme song to Mr. Rogers and then switches out the shoes she's wearing and puts on a jacket (the only one she can zip herself) and talks to her "neighbors".

Her "Mr. Rogers" jacket

"I'll be back when the day is new and I'll have more ideas for you and you'll have things you want to talk about. I.  will.  too"

She's very dexterous and can cook like nobody's business.  She measures and pours and stirs and even chops things like mushrooms (with an egg slicer) all by herself.

Concentration! 

Proud of her pile of mushrooms (not one bit of help from Mommy!)

Spinning some lettuce

She spins the lettuce.  She loves to roll dough out for pizza or chicken pot pie.  She's a joy to cook with and loves to help. Her learning tower, given to us by Belinda and her girls, is probably our most used piece of furniture!
She is a sweet big sister and  makes it her business to be about her brother's business. She talks to him and gives him his pacifier when he cries.  She checks on him and NEVER forgets to kiss and hug him before bed.

Giving kisses.  Liberally.

A sweet stare down

Two terrific turtles

 

I think they're gonna be good friends...  Sometimes.

She's always saying sweet, unprompted things to Ryan and me.  She says things like "did I tell you I love you today?" or "you look beautiful, mommy".  Her speech is heavily peppered with words like actually and perhaps and she speaks very clearly.  So, she might be small but she can do BIG things.  In short, the kid is my favorite thing ever.  She also enjoys pretending like she doesn't know anything.  Especially in front of people or video cameras.  Oh well.

I got the idea of asking your child the same questions on their birthday every year and recording their answers from a blog I frequent.  I think it'll be fun to continue and see how they change over the years.  I believe they'll be more accurate as she gets older too, I mean most of them would change daily hourly if I asked her that much.  Here are Molly's 3 year old answers (Her answers appear in red. All verbatim):

1. What is your favorite color? All the colors

2. What is your favorite toy? I like playing on the drums

3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? Blue’s Clues

5. What is your favorite movie? Angelina Ballerina

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? A mother goose costume.

7. What is your favorite animal? Ummm, tigers, cause they go “roar”.  I like being quiet. (both news to me:)!

8. What is your favorite song? Bingo is my favorite dog.  Jesus Loves Me is my favorite song.

9. What is your favorite book? The one about Molly when I was a baby. And mother goose.

10. Who is your best friend? Arena.  I mean Maggi.

11. What is your favorite snack? Gummies! (shouted)

12. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice. Really?  Just kidding, I mean milk.

13. What is your favorite breakfast? Grits and eggs and...chocolate cereal.(Girl can put away some grits!)

14. What is your favorite lunch? Peanut Butter and Jelly

15. What is your favorite dinner? Chicken pot pie

16. What is your favorite game? The number game and hide and seek.
17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? My trike and the playground.

18. What’s your favorite bible story? “A friend loves at all the time.  Proverbs 17:17” (that'll work.)

19. What do you sleep with at night? My bear, Robearto.

20. What’s your favorite thing about Daddy? Playing hide and seek

21. What’s your favorite thing about Mommy? hugging

22. What’s your favorite thing about Jack? When he touches my hand.

23. What's your favorite thing about God? He made me. He loves me. And Jesus wants to be my friend forever. (These are the three truths they learn in Sunday School)
24. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A singer, and a picture taker, and a baker.

25. What’s the best thing about being 3?  Ballet (whispered)

Here she is sitting in her "pot" (spot)

Her turn to "tiptoe turn"

Her bag is as big as she is!

Molly, my sweet, spunky, smart 3 year old, you are so special to me and your daddy. Even your brother, who's only known you for a short time, knows you're the bee's knees.  Our family is so much more fun and lovely because you're in it.  We love that you love God and want to know things about Him.  We love that you love learning and making us laugh.  Even when you're being especially difficult, Daddy and I still talk about how cool you are and how cute your little scowly face is (behind your back).  We often wonder out loud about what you're going to be like and what things you'll do.  God has BIG plans for our little girl.