Fall is in the air

we'll start this post off with a song for you...


is that not adorable?! she learns so many songs at her preschool, and with that amazing, sponge-like brain of hers, she hears it once and boom, she's got it. there's a whole second verse to this that she just sang to me at the park today. too cute!

of course, she also likes to play with it too, she's a bit of remix-er...


so fall is here, i guess, the weather has been pretty much cold and wet most of the summer so it's hard to differentiate seasons anymore. but according to the calendar fall is here. which means, i had a birthday! for my birthday this year, Molly and Zero gave me a hammock and wind chime (that Molly hand-painted!). here is a little slideshow with Molly and Auntie Shani playing in the hammock!
you can see the wind chime hanging from one of the hammock posts. it's like my own little paradise in the backyard!



for my birthday a group of friends came together and after some craziness and tears (on my part) we met up at one of Portland's famous food cart pods in North Portland and had a wonderful time trying all different kinds of food and topping things off with the best salted caramel ice cream, ever! Molly enjoyed the chocolate ice cream herself! i got some delicious homemade beer, a lovely bottle of wine, some handmade note cards and a chance to hang out with my really wonderful friends and family. i'm a very lucky woman!

a week later, a group of us came together for the 1st Annual Birthwich 2010 (a sandwich making birthday party) for myself and friend Scott whose bday is a couple weeks after mine. Scott and i love sandwiches! it was really fun and Auntie Shani made a beautiful cake which Molly helped her decorate.

i should also mention that for my birthday, my mom spoiled me with a flip video camera! which is why this post (and possibly all future posts) is chock full of videos. it's almost too easy to do!!

fall means the days are getting shorter and in the evenings before bed, we read a couple stories out-loud, but we also take some time to read our own books quietly. i instituted this for two reasons, 1) i'm slowing working towards Molly reading herself to sleep in a few years and 2) i needed some time to read myself! plus it's some nice quiet time before we all hit the hay. but on this night, Molly decided she was going to read aloud to me from the book i was currently reading, Discord's Apple. the plot took a real turn on the chapter Molly read!
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notice she can read right-side up and upside down!

so, we all know Molly is very advanced and a genius child, and she amazes us pretty much constantly. but one thing that has really blown my socks off lately is her work with her magna-tiles. first off, huge thanks to Grandma Mike for giving us magna-tiles for xmas last year (i think they were mostly a gift for me, but Molly has really taken to them!). she'll spend long stretches of time completely absorbed by them, building all kinds of different buildings and landscapes. i remember the first time i came home and there was this amazing structure in the middle of the living room. Zero had this goofy grin which i took to mean, "see what i did, isn't it cool?" so i said, "good job honey." and that's when he burst out, "no, it wasn't me! it was all Molly! she built it all by herself!" i didn't believe him really till she did the exact same thing on my watch. here is her giving a little tour of one of her "high-tech" barns (she likes to make things "high-tech" - no idea where she picked up that term).

Hey Papa...i see a future engineer! it just skips a couple generations! ;)

an engineer maybe, but she's still very much a girl. take this picture to the right.
every once in a while she insists on putting on every last piece of jewelry, and every frilly dress-up item she owns. it doesn't last long, but it's fun. i dress up too of course.

so fall means my birthday, but it also means a couple other big events. Zero and i will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary on October 27 (17th year as a couple was on October 4th) and Harley, our sweet, sweet poochie will turn 16 on Halloween! but another big day happens on October 29th...Molly's Birthday!

every day Molly finds something new she loves to do. she learns a new word or new song. she figures out something she's been struggling with. she acts up in a whole new way. it's wonderful! (and exhausting) i can't believe she turns three on October 29th. how time flies! speaking of which, we have the party of the century next week (i won't even tell you how many people are coming, you wouldn't believe me if i did). and after that BOTH GRANDMAS are coming for our annual bday trip to the beach! what a lucky girl! i'll try and get some pictures and video up in early November from her bday celebrations (plural). in the meantime...

SMOOCHES DARLINGS!