Junglegym

NaNa and Pop gave Molly a really neat jumglegym for her 2nd birthday. I was a little nervous that she would still be too little for it, but as always, my daughter proves me wrong, and got all into it! It has a slide, a picnic table, sandbox, swings, towers to play in and a rock climbing wall (she wont play on that yet). Thank you NaNa and Pop for the great present! We love you!

Joe and Dad putting it together.

Molly in the tower looking for birds or planes or bugs...

on the swings...

climbing up...

sliding down with Uncle. Molly made everyone climb up and slide down the slide at least once... even NaNa!

A LONG TIME

So it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted. I guess I have been kinda busy- I don't really know with what, but I have been busy. What I should be doing now while Molly takes a nap, is my project for the Stroke Consortium that is a month overdue, but I just cannot motivate myself to have it done - which is a problem! So even though it may sound silly, if you remember, can you pray for motivation for me to get this thing done by the 9th of July???

Anyways here a some random shots of the past couple of weeks... Enjoy!

I just had to show these because I have realized that I kinda may have a green thumb. This is our garden in the front of the house. Last year Joe did it, but with him being in school and me not a very patient person, I tried to do most of it myself. The mulching isn't the best job (I was told it was clumpy), but I am proud of myself!

My Uncle Smitty had this rock made for Joe and I for our wedding gift. It's one of my most favorite things I have!


This was a HOT day, but the pool was still being opened and it was ICE cold. So Molly got to play in the sprinkler in her "kini." She actually had a lot of fun - of course the next week when we went outside to play in the sprinkler, she wanted nothing to do with it, except to turn the water on and off. Silly girl...

This is a picture of a baby bird that Pop saved from the dogs. Molly and I were looking at the plumb and apple trees in the feild, and we were trying to find the plums, when we saw this little baby bird on a bottom branch. He was so cute! Except that he jumped off the branch and started to hop around because he didn't know how to fly yet. Lola and Sophia saw him and Lola almost had him in her mouth, but Pop saved the day while all us girls screamed! Pop let Molly touched the bird on the head before he put it back in a tree with a nest in it. Now all Molly talks about is the bird that Lola ate and then Pop put it in the nest for his Mommy. Ha ha - she literally tells everyone she sees this story.... :)
So NaNa and I went yard sale hunting and this is what we found. It's a Little Tykes slide - we got it for $20 and it's a perfect size for her. Now Pop and Joe have put together her big swing set with the slide, but this will help boost her confidence for the big slide.

We also found this easel that we got for $3! What a steal! It was in perfect condition. One side you can post the paper and the other side is a chalk board. You can fold it up too so it's not always in the way. This is perfect for Molly because she is my little artist!

Weekend Blues

I don't have a lot to say and I don't have any pictures ready to post - although they will be coming around by the end of the week sometime. I just wanted to post some Scripture that I just read.
It was a bit of a rough weekend for me - I don't really know why. I have no reason to really be all that stressed right now, but lots of little things were getting to me, esp. by mid-afternoon yesterday (Sunday). Well, last night while praying with Molly, I just lifted all my insecurities up about being a wife and a mom and just me in general, and I gave up and allowed the Lord to just have me. So often do I forget who my Father is and how much He loves me.
Anyway, for those who know me, I'm not that great with putting my thoughts into words (they get all jumbled somewhere along the lines...). But I did want to share this from Psalms 100.

1* Make a shout to the LORD, all you lands!
2* Serve the LORD with gladness; I come before His presence with singing
3* Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture
4* Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name.
5* For theLORD is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations.

So, thank you Lord that you are in control of my life!

Baltimore

So we went on our first family vacation to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. We have been on vacation before, but this was the first time that it was just Joe, Molly and I. I think it is safe to say that we all had a good time. Molly of course had some moments, but all in all it was a great trip, and much needed time away from the craziness of home!

Here is Molly on the phone at the Children's Museum. The museum was a lot of fun for her. This exhibit allowed the children to work with some of the art, and the older kids could pick up the phones and listen about the art. Molly didn't really look or work with the art - she just ran around and picked up all the phones and said "Hello....Bye!"
Another station was rock painting. You place the water on the rocks and watch them get darker and become shiny because of whatever is in the rocks. Molly takes her painting very serioulsy, so this was an intense station.
The first day we were there, we went to the Aquarium, which was the whole reason of going. Molly loves fish and the ocean. Surprisingly, this was our least favorite day of all! It all started though when we first got there and I was told to check in the stroller... now I had packed a lunch, and camera, and I had my 3 wheeled stroller. So that was not good. Molly didn't want to be held, but there were so many people at certain places that she had to be held. And what little kid wants to hold their Mom or Dad's hand for 2 hours??? Needless to say that we didn't really take our time to look at every little exhibit.

They did have a dolphin show though, which Joe and I enjoyed. Molly was so done with the day that she spent a majority of the time sitting down on the floor of the bleachers. But when I photoshopped this picture, I made it look like she had the best time ever! ha ha...

Then Joe's favorite thing - the duck tour. You take this bus tour throughout the whole city looking at different sites, and then it goes straight into the water! I had heard that these were a ton of fun to do, so when we found out that they had them in this city, I really wanted to try it. This was the only thing that we did that Molly had no moments.... it was the most relaxing part of our trip!

Mother's Day

So here are some pictures from last Mother's weekend. It was nice. My Dad had gotten all of us tickets for a brunch cruise on the Manasquan River. Molly was so excited. While waiting to board the boat she kept looking into the water in search of Nemo - ha ha. It was a great time and everyone enjoyed themselves...Molly with NaNa and Pop Looking out the window - I was a little nervous because at one point she tried to take her legs and dangle them out the window while her NaNa was holding her....

Oh Uncle.... Uncle worked the night before and was very tired. He only smiled for one picture and that is on my keychain from the lady who comes around taking everyone's picture...

Joe broke his finger at work a couple of weeks ago, so he had to have a splint and tape on his finger. Molly got a kick out of it and wanter her fingers taped too!

Playing in her tunnel. She is still a little scared to go through it. She actually went all the way but when it came to get out of the end, she realized that she would have to put her hands down on the grass and dirt (which she hates) and freaked out a little and cried "help me! help me!"

Holmdel Park

Last weekend, Molly and I went to the Holmdel Park together. It's exit 115 on the Parkway, and it was great! The weather was beautiful - 90 degree weather. Someone at work had told me about the park and thought that Molly would have a good time. They had an old historic part to it that had all different animals and people dressed up like in the old days. There were horses tilling the garden and little baby chics. It was fun, and I can't wait to go back with Joe!A man dressed up plowing the landBirdie posing by the fence with her hat for me. The hat didn't really stay on for too long, but it was so cute.

Molly trying to climb the fence to get to the cows...

Wearing my sunglasses. She was trying so hard to look through them, but they were just too big!

I don't even know what these trees are called (which I should, because I ask my Dad like a million times what their names are), but there were a ton of them on one side of the pond, and when you walked through the path, it made a canopy over your head. My pictures do not even do the view justice. Molly kept looking up and would say "oooh pretty"

He is RISEN!

These are just some pictures from yesterday at home; yesterday being Easter. I love this picture, because to me, it shows everything about what yesterday represents - the celebration of our risen Savior. Yesterday at church, there was a joy and atmosphere of thanksgiving with people as we fellowshipped together to remember what Christ has done for us. You could see the excitement of people's hearts as we came together as Believers and rejoiced in remembering that Christ kept his promise to us; He died for us and then rose from the dead and is sitting at the right hand of the Father in Heaven intervening for our sake!

There is nothing more precious than the gift that He has given us!

Posing with the bunny ears...