digging in the dirt

so most of you know that one of the reasons we fell in love with our house is that we have this huge lot out back. of course, since we moved in and molly joined us, we have done little or nothing to care for that huge lot. there was a time last spring when we had weeds up to our armpits (and my amazing husband removed them all in one weekend).

we took care of part of the problem when zero had his shed built and laid down a good size cement slab for his Kung Fu practice - no weeds growing there now. and we also made the very attractive move of laying down cardboard to help combat the weeds (the theory being that without sunlight, no weeds). but the laying of the slab left us with a mountain of dirt and now, with spring in the air, no amount of old cardboard is going to keep the weeds from rearing their green little heads.

so this past weekend, the May/Feeney family got in the backyard and started to work. zero and molly did a lot with the giant pile of dirt, spreading it around the yard, with the idea that we are going to rake it out and then lay down some native grass seeds (that will hopefully help keep the weeds at bay, even if just a bit). my job?...to document it all on film! (hey, it's a very important job!) and since we finally got ourselves a brand spankin' new camera, i was up for the challenge. it's like the good ol' days, i think i took 50 some odd pictures that morning! :) here is a slideshow of some of the best. hit the play button and enjoy!

she really enjoyed getting her hands dirty (and her tushy) as she sat in the dirt and played. we definitely have to get molly her own set of garden tools. we did stop for snack breaks, where we all washed up and then molly ferried cheddar bunnies back and forth to dad (sometimes eating them all before she got there). but mostly we all worked hard, and got very dirty! harley had a nice time too, with everyone outside. she may be getting older, but she's still the most beautiful pups around!

i also took some video. we got some great stuff of molly helping daddy out, but that's on the real video camera and hasn't been downloaded. in the meantime, here is a little one taking with the new digital camera we got. not the best quality, but she's still super cute throwing those dirt clumps!

so after a hard day working out in the yard, getting dirty, what's a girl to do? clean up, and put on our cape, that's what!
happy spring to everyone!

zee arteest!

Grandma Nancy sent molly some new magic pens and paper and made her a little artist smock. the pens are great because they only write on the paper, they don't leave a mark on anything else they touch. modern science, it's pretty groovy. molly's favorite thing to do with them right now is take the tops of the pens on and off, but i can see an artist in the making here! especially when she's wearing her adorable smock, with pockets for holding her supplies, and a little button on the front that says "girl power" - go molly! here is a little slideshow of our little artist...


molly also very much enjoys taking pictures. this mostly means putting the camera on the ground, sitting down with it, turning it on and then hitting the shutter button. sometimes it's pointed toward her foot or her thigh, other times across the room, once she titled it slightly and got her own face. here is a slideshow of molly's photographs...


and here is our favorite molly shot so far. we call it "molly's world".

baby molly goes to arizona

we just got back from a wonderful weekend with family in Arizona. i did a terrible job taking pictures - we were just having too much fun and the camera kept getting left behind! but here are a few...

we flew into Phoenix on Thursday (it took us three tries but eventually Alaska came through with both a plane that could fly and a pilot that could fly it). molly was amazing seeing that we started at the airport around 3:30 and didn't take off until 8:30. we are so lucky!

but all that airport stress melted away the minute we got to warm, dry Arizona and met up with Aunt Erin. Erin bought a new house right around the same time we did back in 2007 and it was fantastic to see her new pad! we even had our own room (which of course looked like a bomb had dropped on it within 5 minutes of us showing up!)

molly loved seeing her Grandma Mike (who was parked out front in the RV!), Aunt Erin, her cousins Ryan and Sara and New Year, and all the pooches (Lila, Copper and Sammy). she really loved those pooches. it's always nice for her to be around dogs that don't just want to run away from her all the time. she gave them lots of hugs and kisses. our friends Karl and Kristin even stopped by to say hello (molly met them when she was very young and thought they were the cats pj's, and they are!)

she also chased her cousin Ryan (age 4) around the house, giggling away.Ryan was so sweet, giving molly gifts, inviting her to play with him, showing her around. Ryan is the closest in age to molly of all the cousins, and i know there will be a true friendship there in the years to come. just look at the fun they had together on the road trip to Tucson!

but before we left for Tucson, we got to see some very good friends of ours who used to live in Portland. Dan and Mary Jane now live in Phoenix with their adorable daughter Faith, who is 3. we went to their place for dinner and had a really wonderful time. they plan on being there a while, and we plan on seeing them whenever we go.

on Saturday AM we all headed down to Tucson to see Aunt Beth, Uncle Sean, and cousins Sinead and Declan (Declan and molly are in the picture to the left, Declan was making sure molly looked at the camera), plus poochie Dora. Aunt Beth had reserved us a ramada at a nearby park and cousins Jim, Tina, Maggie Rae and Callum came, as did molly's third set of grandparents, Linda and Jerry (Aunt Beth's mom and dad). there was playing on the playground, chasing balls, and snacking galore! [i completely forgot to take any pictures - argh!] and that night we got to celebrate cousin Sinead's 10th bday with delicious ice cream cake. i remember the last time we were in Tucson was the Mother's Day right after Sinead was born, it doesn't seem like it's been that long, but there you go...

the next day we started things off right with the famous Feeney cottage cheese pancakes. molly was extremely enthusiastic about them and polished off quite a few (and mommy was very enthusiastic about her homemade latte from Uncle Sean).

then it was on to dress up fun and pirates on the high seas! Sinead has a wonderful array of dress up clothes and she shared them with all of us. molly got all dressed up in a cape and boa and ran around like there was no tomorrow.

and even though she was pretty fancy, she didn't let that stop her from getting a little work done in the yard. i ask you, who else could mow in a sequinzed purple cape, and get away with it?! see below for the proof.


did i mention that Sinead gave us the cape? so now we can play dress up whenever we want (which will be often!).


another fun dress up item was the merlin hat, and here is a little slideshow of a few of the Feeney's sporting it!


as for the pirates, we all had much fun setting sail and watching Declan's pirate ships sail around the pool. there was Captain Bloodsword (with a name like Bloodsword, you'd kind of have to be a pirate, right?), Soldier Canonball (ditto with that name) and Jake (ah, he could have gone on to do pretty much anything i'd say). and of course, the evil Monkey King. molly very much enjoyed sticking her feet in the pool and splashing around - which caused some rocky seas for those pirates. but Declan was always there to fish out the men (and sometimes women in the case of the princess) overboard.

from Tucson we headed back to Phoenix and left for Portland on Sunday evening. it was whirlwind, but as you can see, we had a fabulous time. molly had her entourage of cousins who played with her, gave her zerberts, read her stories, and made sure she was having fun. everyone calls her "baby molly" and seeing that she is probably the last of this particular generation of Feeney's, i'm guessing its a nickname that will stick. she'll be 30 and her cousin Ryan will ask what "baby molly" wants for dinner.

and just so you know i was serious about the dress up, here is molly helping us unpack (while calling her peeps to let them know she was back in town), all dressed up!

happy, happy, haaaappy birthday, uncle john!

the little video below is in honor of our Uncle John's birthday (which was actually yesterday, March 1).

you see molly has this book titled The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too! (by Mo Willems) and at one point in the story, Pigeon exclaims that he is "happy, happy, haaappy!" and of course, we all get very enthusiastic about it. one day a while back i realized that molly was wandering around chanting, "happy, happy, happy" over and over again. too cute! and here was my attempt to get it on video.

and i figure what could be better than the adorable miss moo wishing her Uncle John a happy, happy, happy day!

i also feel i should apologize as this little clip clearly shows the utter chaos we live in, with piles of laundry and books and toys strewn everywhere...but i'm getting more and more comfortable with the state of our lives right now, and figure we'll a) suddenly have extra money (ha!) and hire a housekeeper, or b) molly will get old enough to help us clean and things will get better or c) we'll just continue to be slobs for the rest of our lives. whichever way it goes, it can't really be all that bad when you've got a beautiful and brilliant baby girl wandering around saying "happy" all the time!

so happy bday Uncle John, we love you!