Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Story Time

Molly & I have been attending story time at the local library for a few months now. It's just for 2 year olds and they start with a song and dance, read stories and then finish with a craft project. Her most recent creation was an advent wreath. She glued 24 leaves on a wreath and then I numbered them 1-24 for her. The purpose of it being you could take one leaf off every day until you get to Christmas. Molly decided she was not taking apart her wreath though, so it's just for decoration.


Monday, December 17, 2012

Santa

A few weeks ago, Santa came to visit Edina. Molly had been practicing what she was going to ask him for:  "new toys, new books, presents and candy!" As we were waiting in line for our turn to visit Santa, we were totally trying to psyche her up and she kept saying what she wanted over and over. Then the moment came and it was her turn to talk with Santa...


She was not so sure she wanted to walk any closer.
Thinking maybe this is close enough and we can just turn around. The candy cane isn't worth it.
Don't you leave me Daddy! This is as close as I'm getting to this scary guy!

At least she didn't cry. One step better than last year. Maybe next year she will actually sit on Santa's lap and voice her requests.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Then & Now

I just hit the 28 week mark! Getting closer & closer! I thought it would be fun to compare Molly's pregnancy with Baby Brother's pregnancy, so here is the then & now shots.

Baby Brother-just under 28 weeks
Molly-28 weeks
It's kind of hard to tell too much of a difference, but I think this baby might be a little bit lower. I've felt much better this time around though and I'm still about 5 lbs. lighter than I was at this point last time.

Playhouse

What's better than a new car seat? The box, of course! We finally bought a second car seat for Molly so we wouldn't have to keep switching her seat between the Tahoe & the pickup. What a relief! This was a task that was getting increasingly harder for me to do with my big belly. Also, Britax car seats are wonderful, safe, etc. but a HUGE pain to switch between cars. The new car seat is a much cheaper version but still has to pass all the same safety standards and is much more compact & easier to maneuver. Just what we needed.

My new house!

It has been fun for Molly to have a new seat, but it's been really fun for her to have a new playhouse! All I did was cut a door and two windows and she has just loved it. It's true what they say-kids really do like the box just as much as the toy (or seat)!

No boys allowed!

Friday, November 30, 2012

Emily's Shower

A few weeks ago, Luke's Mom & I hosted a baby shower for my sister-in-law Emily. We had been planning it for quite some time and then I came down with the stomach flu right before the shower and didn't even think I was going to make it...but I did. Emily is due in January and looks so cute with her little baby bump.

Emily & all her gifts!
We had a great crowd at the shower and Emily got so many great gifts for their new baby girl. I'm so excited for Matt & Emily to start their family and for Molly to have a new little cousin. The other neat thing is that my other sister-in-law Amanda is due to have her second baby just weeks after Emily, with our baby due just weeks after theirs. Three new little ones in a matter of 2-3 months! It's going to be baby chaos the next time we all get together, but it will be so much fun!

After we found out we we're having a boy, I put all my girlie baby fabric to good use for Matt & Emily's little girl!
Swaddlers, burp clothes & cute little baby booties I made for the new little Miss Miller.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Getting Closer

As I approach week 26, I'm reminding myself just how close it's getting to our baby boy's arrival. I have been working on clearing out the guest room/office to turn into his room, but I have lots of sewing projects I want to finish before I can clean out too much stuff. Although I've been making tons of blankets and bump clothes, this is my most recent completed project:


It's a car seat cover for the infant car seat to keep the baby all snuggled up warm. I hadn't ever made one before and didn't have a pattern, but I figured it out and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's lined with fleece and the little flap opens & closes so you can peek in on the baby. One project checked off the to-do list!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thanksgiving

Although it was our year to spend Thanksgiving in Montana, we decided to stay in Missouri. Among many things, like having a new baby on the way, the cows, all the traveling we did this summer, etc. it just seemed really overwhelming to think about traveling for the holidays this year. So, instead of making the long haul to Montana we took a 2 hour drive to see Luke's family. We spent Thanksgiving day at Grandma Thelma's house and she cooked us quite the feast!
Molly with her Great Grandma Thelma & Grandma Debbie.
 I explained Thanksgiving to Molly, since I don't think she really understood it last year. I told her what I was most thankful for this year and then asked her what she was most thankful for. She never ceases to amaze me-she told me she is most thankful for cake and big daddy deer. Guess her Dad has made quite the impression with all his hunting this year and apparently she really loves cake!
Big hugs for Uncle Matt.
So thankful for little Miss Molly and all the joy she brings to our family!
 We hope everyone back in Montana had a great Thanksgiving. We we're sure thinking about you all and missing you.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Great Weather

These pictures were taken today-November 18th! Can you believe how green our yard is? Our yard wasn't this green all summer long and now it just looks great and is growing like crazy. This means more mowing for me, but it also means our cattle can finally get a taste of fresh grass this year-so I guess it's a good trade-off. We played outside today-drew on the sidewalk with chalk, played in the sandbox, fed the cats & cows, and swung in the swing.
Kelly & the cat enjoying the nice sunshine.

It was WAY too warm for Molly to be wearing mittens, but we had gone through her winter wear earlier today to see what still fit, and she was determined to wear her mittens.



Big Bed

Since the first of November, Molly has been sleeping in a twin bed! She is very proud of it. We just have the mattress & box spring on the floor so that she doesn't have far to fall if she rolls out, but she is doing just great in it. It takes more coaxing to get her to go to sleep, but she knows she isn't supposed to get out of the bed and has adjusted really well.

The deal with getting a "big girl" bed was that she couldn't use her "na-na" a.k.a. pacifier anymore. She had still been using it in the crib when she napped or went to bed for the night but now it is a thing of the past! Thank goodness! She only asked for it a time or two and hasn't made a fuss about it at all. Our little girl is growing up! Now, if we could just get the hang of potty-training!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

November Already

Where did October go? Apparently we were busy, because it just flew by. There were a few highlights that I didn't mention on the blog earlier. October is really a month of birthdays: both my grandparents on my Mom's side, my Mom, Luke and several other friends and family members. Molly is really getting into "parties" whether or not it's much of a party. She can sing Happy Birthday and made sure Daddy had a white cake. Not sure why-but she was determined he needed a white cake.

Luke's 31st B-day
Also, I flew to Seattle for the weekend for our annual girls' trip. Since none of us had a baby or got married this year (it's been awhile since that happened!), we decided to go visit Lynmarie and check out her new house.

Lynmarie's house.
Besides the usual chatting & catching up, we spent time wedding dress shopping (for Lynmarie), seeing the sights of the big city, eating out & we even went to a movie (haven't done that in a LONG time).
Pike's Place Market where we bought some gigantic apples!
I was able to get a direct flight from St. Louis to Seattle so it was pretty easy traveling compared to the usual layovers and kid wrestling that tend to occur with our travels. Luke took over Mommy duty for a few days so I was able to go on the trip. He did great & I think him and Molly had some quality bonding time-and they both survived so that's the main thing!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Carving Pumpkins

 Molly & Luke picked out some awesome pumpkins from the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival this year and we got them carved just in time for Halloween. Molly had picked out just the perfect pumpkin and was really into drawing a face on it and watching Luke carve it. She didn't really want to touch the insides though-she said it was slime.
Slime! (The one time Molly touched it)

The final result-our masterpieces:

Daddy pumpkin, Baby pumpkin, Mommy pumpkin.
Lighting them up outside.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Halloween!

We (as in I) wasn't feeling too creative when it came to Halloween this year, so we came up with a couple of easy costume options and let Molly decide. My Mom sent us a devil costume that belonged to my brother at one time and Molly eventually tried it on, calling it a dragon. That didn't last long and she wanted nothing more to do with it.
Dragon, devil, whatever.

We figured she could pull off the cowgirl look just by going through her closet, so that's what we tried next. She agreed to it but refused to wear the hat or carry the stick horse once we started trick or treating.

I bribed her with juice so I could get just one picture!
So, off we went trick or treating and Molly was very excited and determined to get candy in her bucket. We started at the "Safe Stop" where local businesses set up tables in the community building. Molly was really shy at first and pretty intimidated. After this stop we headed to the nursing home and this is where she really figured out how to trick or treat. By the time we left she would walk up to just about anyone and hold out her bucket and then wave goodbye. Not much was said, but she got the goods. We ended the night with a bucket full of candy-among other various treats and had a fun time!!

Coaching Molly through the Safe Stop.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Half Way

Friday was the 20 week mark with baby #2, so we're officially past the half way point! I've been feeling SO much better with this baby compared to being pregnant with Molly. I'm not sure if it's just the second time around, or if it's because it's a boy, but either way it's a good thing!

The girls helping me show off my baby belly!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

So Proud

Look what Luke has been up to. All that hunting has payed off-he got this big buck last weekend with his bow. Molly & I are impressed.


As Molly says "Big Daddy Deer take nap." That's going to be one long nap, but I guess she's kind of right.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Checking Cows


This is Molly's style when it comes to checking cows. She's got her tractor & her baby & she's ready to go.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Corn Fest


The Annual Knox County Corn Festival was last weekend, so it was a big time to be in Edina! It consists of a parade, tractor & car show, craft show, carnival & lots of food and entertainment. The beer gardens used to be the highlight of the festival for us, but times have changed and we spent more time at the bouncy house this year. Guess that's what happens once you have a child! Grandma Debbie spent the weekend with us & made her first trip to the Corn Fest. I'm sure she was impressed-haha!

Molly showing off her purse overflowing with "loot" from the parade.


Molly's first carnival ride! She loved the cars and "drove" several of them!



Saturday, September 15, 2012

Growing Family

I think most of our family & friends know by now, but our family will be adding a new member in March! I am currently 15 weeks along and feeling good. The first trimester was tough-just like with Molly, but I haven't felt nauseous in several weeks now. The worst part has been the bad headaches, which my Dr. recommended taking Magnesium pills for, and they seem to be getting better. Keeping up with a 2 year old has also been a bit of a challenge at times but Molly has been pretty cooperative for the most part. We are very excited and hoping that this baby will be in a more favorable position (than Molly) come ultrasound time so we can find out if it will be a little sister or little brother!

Baby Bump!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

July-in Summary

I am WAY behind on the blog again...so I decided to just do one post to kind of summarize our month of July. It was a crazy busy month of traveling, but we had lots of fun times! Here are some photos:

It started out with a trip to Carrollton to celebrate the 4th of July. Luke's cousins have a pool at their house & had a "pool party" (as Molly would say) on the 4th. Let me tell you-it was kid craziness in the pool! There were SO many kids there and the pool was full, but it was SO much fun! Molly loved the slide and must of gone down it 100 times.

Matt, Emily, Scarlett, Molly & I at the pool party.
Shortly after this, we headed to Yellowstone Park via Nebraska for Luke's company meeting & trip. While Luke was in meetings all day, Molly & I discovered the Lincoln Children's Zoo and enjoyed the day there. They had lots of animals, a playground, lots of kids and a park, so it was ideal for Molly.

I didn't even show her how to do this. Somehow she just knew you were supposed to put your head through to get your picture taken.

After that, it was off to Big Sky, Montana for the company vacation. The first day we were there, we took a bus tour through Yellowstone Park. I hadn't been there for years, and really enjoyed it.

Checking out the hot pots and geysers.

 We also went on a hayride/cookout up at Big Sky with Cedar Creek Corrals. It turned out being a bit more western than we were expecting, but we all survived.

The cookout location. So pretty!
On the way back to Missouri, we made a quick stop in Billings to visit some of my best friends & then stayed in Rapid City, SD for the night. We were home the next night. After the almost 3,000 mile roadtrip, we were so thankful to be home! We did make one more trip to Carrollton in the month of July, but tried to stay home as much as possible.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Berry Family Reunion-Branson

The end of June we went to the annual Berry Family Reunion in Branson and had a good time as usual.
Debbie, Mom, Grandma Thelma, Molly, Luke & I (representing Thelma's side of the family).

Mom, Luke & I saw Merle Haggard in concert and let's just say the Hag's still got it!

The Hag

Molly really enjoyed the fish hatchery and loved watching the giant trout swim by.
Mesmerized
Luke took it upon himself (with a little peer pressure) to try the extreme zip-lining from the Shepard of the Hill's Tower. Crazy. He said he enjoyed it though. Molly & I watched from below & she kept saying "Daddy swing!".
Just leaving the tower. Luke is on the far right accompanied by his relatives, Gary, Shelly & Caitlin.
We also did a lot of swimming, visiting, shopping, eating & well, eating (it was the Berry Reunion).



Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Father's Day

 There isn't anything much cuter than a daddy fishing with his daughter!



Especially when you get to have delicious bass for dinner!

(I'm almost caught up on June!)

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Tennessee Part II

There were lots of hiking trails in the Big South Fork Recreation Area, but the one we decided to go on was to the Charit Creek Lodge. The trail was 0.8 miles, all downhill on the way there and all uphill on the way back. It was a really neat trail with lots of big rock cliffs, trees growing right out of the rocks and even a swinging bridge over Charit Creek.

Crossing the swinging bridge.
The lodge was really neat-and really old. You can hike or horseback ride into it and either camp or stay in a cabin there. The main house was built by one of the Hatfields that had moved there to avoid the Hatfield/McCoy rivalry.

Charit Creek Lodge
Luke & Matt checking out the place.
Gravestone of William Hatfield-the original owner of the place.
After touring around the lodge area & grabbing a drink, we started the hike back to the car. It was really hot by this time in the day and like I said, it was all uphill on the way back. Good thing it was such a short trail or we may not have made it!

Debbie was quite the hiker & beat all the "kids" back up the hill.
After leaving the trailhead, Matt spotted a black bear in the road up ahead of us and we caught up to it (in the car) and got a good look at it before it headed into the woods. We had heard that they were around but hadn't seen one until then. Glad we were in the car & not hiking at the time!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Tennessee Part 1

After we had been home from Montana for a few days and had a birthday party for Molly (oh, and did I mention my Mom came back with us too), it was off for another vacation. This time to Tennessee. With Tennessee being a central location for all of Luke's family, we met at the Bandy Creek Campground in the Big South Fork National Recreation Area!

We had two campsites reserved at the end of the campground & it worked really well. One spot we used for all the tents and the other spot we set up the campfire, picnic tables & all the food.


Our tent site.
It was a really nice campground and even had a playground and pool-good times for Molly & Emma!

Molly copy-catting her older cousin Emma at the playground.

Luke & Molly in the pool.