we're baaaack!

ha! you thought you'd never hear from me again (heck, i thought you'd never hear from me again), but we were both wrong! (and the crowd goes wild)

i had to make some tough choices in regards to how i spend my awake time, and i decided that a) i needed to get more sleep (of course, after 2+ years of sleep deprivation, i'm finding that no amount of sleep is going to repair all the damage done to my addled brain, but i got to try, right?), b) i needed to spend my time with Molly actually being with Molly and not wondering how i could post about being with Molly, and c) i needed to put the camera down at least once in a while.

but it's hard, this blog is a great way to not only keep everyone informed of her goings-on but to chronicle her milestones - something for her to look back on - which is good because you can't rely on my memory anymore (see Point A above, lack sleep = addled bran). but my hiatus has meant there are some big gaps, which makes me sad. now that Molly is in preschool on Fridays (one of my days off), i've got a bit of free time every week to keep all of her wonderful friends and family up-to-date on her adventures. and it doesn't mean taking time away from her (or sleep) so i don't feel so guilty. a win-win! this post will most likely be epic, as we've months to catch up on, but i will do my best to keep it brief (not my strongest suit, i realize) and you really want to read to the end, cuz there are cute pictures of Molly with an adorable baby! and some priceless videos!

where to begin...

we last left off with Molly's first day of school back in May. she is loving school and starting this month is up to five days a week. it feels like a lot to Zero and i, she's such a little girl still, but she honestly loves it. i went to pick her up early one day and she didn't speak to me for hours (except to say she wanted to go back to school). i watch her with her little friends and she is just so happy and smiley. she talks about them all the time and she's learning so many new things. a couple highlights...one morning, she's sitting on the potty (did i mention we are completely diaper free now and have been for a few months, yippee!) and she starts belting out Don't Cry For Me Argentina. Zero and i look at each other and shrug, neither of us is into Evita. then she starts telling us about Argentina, how it's in South America, she can point to it on her globe, etc. At the end of the week we get her notebook where her teachers let us know what she's been up to and sure enough, the day before, they had had a lesson on Argentina (which included dancing around to the song). hilarious!

also, toward the end of August her whole class had an art show, called ArtFest, to raise money for the school and celebrate the kids who were moving on to Kindergarten. it was a wonderful event that showed off the children's paintings, sculptures and photographs. Molly displayed a couple photographs she had taken at school, a paper towel roll sculpture she did of a blue house with a chimney that she titled "Papa Goof's House" (we have no idea why), and a painting she did of a "dinosaur in a tree house" (in the photo to the left, it's the one on the bottom with the red border!).

also at the event the kids put on a little performance. they sang two songs up on stage. Molly was amazing, she had the biggest smile i've ever seen on her, her eyes lit up, she sang her heart out and did all the movements that went along with the songs, it was wonderful to see! except for that you couldn't. she stood directly behind all the big girls and you couldn't see her at all (see the photo to the right, if you open it up, you'll see i've pointed out Molly - or what you can see of her). she didn't even care that she was completely blocked, she still sang her heart out. our sweet little girl! i tried to get video, but ended up hitting the wrong button (argh!) but i did manage to get this little video ahead of time with all the kids screaming for Annie, one of the big girls who was moving on to Kindergarten. you can sort of see Molly to the right of the girl in pink. Molly is wearing a blue dress.


earlier in the spring and summer we celebrated our friends Adriana and Jasper's 2nd birthdays, partook in the annual St. Johns Parade, saw our friend Jane get married, went on another Sunday Parkways adventure and made our yearly pilgrimage to beautiful Northern Minnesota where we spent time with the Feeney clan (pictured to the right). it was another cold, wet one, but we had tons of fun nonetheless. here is a lengthy slide show of our trip...


upon our return we had our 2nd Annual Charleston Ave Block Party. have i mentioned how much i love our neighborhood? well, i do! the best was when our neighbor Josh got out his guitar and Molly got her harmonica and they jammed together!


and right after that we went to California for my 20-year high school reunion (i'm getting so old!). it was great to hang out with the entire high school crew and all their kids. i made some fantastic forever friendships in middle and high school, i'm so lucky. i can only wish the same for Molly.


this was immediately followed by my first ever triathlon. it was a sprint triathlon, but still kinda tough. and much like not taking time away from Molly to work on the blog (or clean the house, or take showers, etc.) i didn't want to take time away to train. but for a few months before, i was running, biking and swimming twice a week. it meant very early mornings for me, and i've completely fallen off since the event. but hope to get back on that bandwagon soon, because i loved it and plan to do it again next year. the best part, the very best part...was seeing the look on Zero and Molly's faces as i passed by (check out the picture at the very top of this post) and at the finish line (pictured here). you simply couldn't ask for a better cheering section!

so that takes us to August...phew! August was the ArtFest mentioned earlier and washing the very dirty car (i just had to include this shot, look at her getup!) and our neighbor Mishya's 9th birthday party, and tons more stuff i can't even remember. this hasn't been a true summer in Portland, weather-wise, i think we had about 2 weeks of real summer, so we haven't gotten out and done a ton of things.

but one thing we were able to do a few times was get to the Portland Beavers baseball games. the Beavers have been around since 1903 and this was their last season here in Portland. the city has let them go in favor of soccer (boo!)...and just when we were getting into it! Molly loved going to the games, she would cheer the team on, enjoyed the popcorn, and most of all, had a huge crush on their mascot, Lucky the Beaver. our very good friend Denise got her a glove (and a hat, and a pennant, and so on) and we were lucky enough to get Lucky to sign her glove (no pun intended). Molly was so thrilled. she asks about Lucky often, not sure how to tell her he's gone for now (hopefully Portland will wise up and get their Beavers back some day). in the meantime, Roosevelt High School's sports teams are playing again, so we'll cheer them on! this year, we're going to check out volleyball. go roughriders!

and that brings us to September. the big news for September? first train ride! we took Amtrak up to see our very good friends in Bellingham, WA. what a great way to go. you can wander up and down the aisles, you don't have to be strapped into a car seat, lots of leg room (for Molly), great scenery, and a bistro car! plus Molly met and totally hit it off with some little girls across the aisle from us who happen to live in St. Johns too - cool. she told everyone she saw on the train she was on her way to Kell's house.

you may remember Kell from earlier this year and back in 2008. well now big Kell (almost 4!) has a little sister, Tessa! Molly fell totally and madly in love with Tessa (as you can see from this picture). Tessa was truly the highlight of this visit, along with getting to see her daddy Drew play with his band, "Assisted Living" at an anniversary party on Lake Whatcom. beautiful view, great music and good fun.

the whole experience did make me a bit nervous about Molly's future however, as she kept attacking Kell (with hugs mind you) and tackling him to the ground with her embrace. may i present Exhibit A, Hope and baby Tessa lead the children in a nice little conga line, and then...

and yes, i think that is the sound of Kell's head hitting the ground, but he popped right back up!

and Exhibit B, everything seems nice, good music, fun times and then...

and by the way, that's Drew singing "Brown Eyed Girl" - isn't he awesome?! he's also obviously great on the guitar and plays a mean harmonica!

so this coupled with the fact that Molly was totally fascinated with and kept running up to this one woman there who was all makeup and tan, with bleached blond hair, wearing jean shorts, doing this odd cowboy-like dance, and being flirty. here she is leading her own conga line (starts about 10 seconds in)...

that lady was a groupie, through and through. and Kell looked appropriately frightened, but Molly looked like she wanted to join right in. but i have to say, the lady was really nice. Molly kept interrupting her conversations with other people and she would stop and talk to her. and she was having a ton of fun, so maybe Molly's on the right track!

many more wonderful pictures here, with lots of baby Tessa!...


which leads us to today, the last day of my 37th year, tomorrow is my birthday. this was my birthday present to myself, taking the time to start up the blog again. i hope to keep it up on my fridays. it may not be as important as sleep, but it's important to me, and that means something. it is my sincere hope that this finds you all well. our love to everyone!