that girl's got talent!

Molly's both a visual and performance artist, really, and quite talented at both.

the picture above is taken of her with one of her many works of art. this one was created while visiting her friend Karen (who had the biggest pad o' paper you've ever seen!). i think i've mentioned before that Molly's not one to have her picture taken, but lately she's been getting into the "smile" thing. so i posed her with her masterpiece and said "smile" and after a while, she totally hammed it up, which is why i'm including a slideshow of the rest of the pictures, cuz they're just too cute. especially with her in her tres fashionable training pants - gotta love it!

and then there is the singing! first it was "Old MacDonald" and "Wheels on the Bus", then we moved into "Twinkle Twinkle" and "ABCs", and last week it was nothing by "Bah, Bah, Black Sheep" 24/7. she does her best work in the bath but we waited till she got in her jammies and then filmed.

honestly, i'm surprised she went for this at all. usually we pull out the camera and she totally clams up. or demands to see the camera. in fact we've got about 5 mini-videos before this one of her singing for about 5 seconds, and then demanding to see the camera. i love how in this particular video she starts off really strong (and loud!) - and you can see the shadow of Zero waving his arms around to her singing - then suddenly she realizes, what a second...i'm being filmed! with a little encouragement from dad she rallies, and adds in some dancing, but then quickly gets distracted by the vent in the door. it's all so Molly. enjoy!

minny-sota

molly LOVES minnesota. she loves the water, she loves the boat, she loves the John Deere riding mower, she loves the old school Fisher-Price toys, she loves her aunts and uncle and grandma, and she especially loves, and worships, and copies in every way, her cousins! so lucky for her, she gets to go every summer (and hopefully some occasional winters) for the rest of her life.

we were the last group to make it up this year and just in time to see most of the family before they headed back to their individual necks of the wood. she had so much fun with her cousins. there was lots of legos, trains, pirates and sharks (along with a lot of "no! that's mine!" which ended up being one of Molly's favorite phrases, sigh). Molly has always had this eery ability to balance things on top of each other (except for herself that is, she falls all the time, even when standing on her own two feet on solid ground...ah, like mother like daughter), but she spent some quality time with the blocks and legos making super tall towers.

and there was much dancing and playing of music. her uncle Sean plays guitar which Molly thought was the coolest thing ever, and grandma Mike bought Guitar Hero for the Wii (yes, they have a Wii in the woods) and here is a picture of Molly on drums, cousins Declan on guitar and Ryan on vocals. what a band!

Molly also went a bit more classical and played piano with cousin Sinead (yes, there is also a piano in the woods...i'm telling ya, this place is posh!).


this summer for Molly was all about the hand-me-downs, being the youngest of the grandkids means we pretty much didn't have to bring any clothes for Molly. and her after-shower attire (on the left) was no exception. the Pooh robe has been passed down through the kids from the very first Feeney grandchild (Sara, now 15) and Molly kept the tradition going this year by sporting the cuteness after taking her showers. the cabin has an outdoor shower, which Molly thought was pretty much the best thing since sliced bread, and she asked for a shower almost every day. i got some great pics of her in the shower, but perhaps not appropriate for the blog. but i tell ya, that girl's got a fantastic physique!

the only thing that got more requests then the showers were "boat rides" and "jumping in the lake". we took a boat ride pretty much every other night. we would get suited up, to the right is one of the best nightly boat ensembles, with molly in her "boat coat" (aka life preserver), dinasour pjs (more hand-me-downs), skeleton hoodie (again from cousin Ryan) and pink sneakers - oh yeah! this year i got to do a lot of the driving, which was fun, and of course Molly helped. check out what a good boat driver she is!


regarding the "jumping in the lake", this was the coldest July on record in those parts, and the temperature of the lake water proved it! so we only got into the water a couple times, not that Molly didn't try. every time we walked outside she'd start beelining it for the lake, exclaiming "run and jump in the lake!" like all the other clothes she wore while there, her bathing suit was another hand-me-down and it was one of those awesome ones with the flotation device built in, which made her look like super man (picture on the left). look at how happy she is at the prospect of getting in the lake...and it was freezing!

the best day of swimming happened on our very last morning there (of course) and it was also the day my camera ran out of batteries, so we only got a few pictures, but here they are. i especially love the shot of Molly standing by the steps at the end of the dock. i swear that girl has no fear! Molly really loved watching both Zero and i run and jump into the lake. she would even count it down for us, "1, 2, 3, GO!" and off we went, splashing into the cold, cold water! but hey, the view is great!


speaking of great views, here is another slideshow of some of the fantastic scenery there in Minnesota - we took most of these on our boat rides. if you look closely, you'll notice a family of ducks in one of the shots.


and since i'm on a slideshow kick, how about our blueberry hike. first off, molly is a pretty darn good hiker, of course she'd do anything for the promise of blueberries. there are many wild blueberries growing on the island and here's some shots of Molly enjoying the bounty!


i mentioned at the beginning Molly's affection for the John Deere riding mower. well come on, who wouldn't love that?! i myself got to take her for a spin this year and mow the lawn. for those of you who knew him, Tee Feeney, Molly's grandpa, was a man who loved his lawn. i can remember many a time looking out, off the deck, to see him watering away, almost in a zen-like state. and i would wake early to the sound of the riding mower starting up. so i consider it an honor to mow the lawn in Minnesota, and i hope i do him proud. Molly, being the go-getter she is, not only tried her hand at the riding mower, she went old school as well!

Minnesota is a magical place that's all about family. and Molly had a wonderful time with hers!


hopefully everyone got a chance to spend some time in a beautiful place with their loved ones this summer. next up, our week with Grandma Nancy!

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!

argh, happy holidays, matey!

happy holidays from the may/feeney clan! what a wonderful (and white) christmas we had this year! we didn't have any travel plans, no one was coming to visit, so we hunkered down and enjoyed some delicious food, more snow than portland has seen in 40 years, and the best company anyone could ask for!
xmas eve morning we got all dressed up and went to Sarah and Scott's for xmas brunch. it was a very snowy morning, so we had to do some extra bundling, load molly into the backpack (care of the Hare's, thanks you guys!) and we made our way through the winter wonderland! molly looked beautiful in her dress and stripy tights, and had a lot of fun playing with Audrey, Sarah's niece.

because of all the snow, we didn't really get going on the xmas decorating until xmas eve. i went into downtown St. Johns and found a tree for us (actually, the nice man on the lot lopped off the top of much taller tree, so that we could have a tiny one to fit into our tiny home). i dragged it back and zero prepped if for the tree stand. molly helped me get out the xmas decorations and start setting up!


zero and i went very light on the prezzies for molly, but there were still mountains of them by xmas morning! here is what it looked like after Santa had come by...check out all those presents tucked behind the tree!
and here is molly xmas morning, seeing the tree decorated for the first time and getting her stocking! she was fascinated by the ornaments, but was also very gentle with them. it was really the cow bell that she liked the most, which i figured and purposefully stuck on the bottom for her to play with.

and then it was time for the present extravaganza, and here is a little slideshow of that! we started with stockings for her and Harley (yay, molly got her own set of keys - maybe mine won't get lost so often!) and then dove into the wrapped presents from friends and family. people were so generous and lovely. she got balls, and books, and booties, and beads, and baby dolls! in fact, the baby doll was my old baby doll, 'Amy' that my mom had cleaned up and sent for molly - that brought a tear to my eye!

she also got many new clothes and her own camera! shakers and puzzles and bath toys too! we were opening presents all day long (notice the many different outfits throughout the slideshow). and the last present she opened, right before bed, was the first present she got actually, from her Aunt Erin and cousins Sarah, New Year and Ryan.

other fun things we did that day, we had a xmas bath and played with our new bath toy. check out that xmas spirit diaper!
we also watched the snow fall, and in this shot you can kind of see it. the flakes were as big as silver dollars, and it was beautiful.
and we tried to take another family xmas picture, much like the one we did last year. check out the tiny tree and tiny baby, all bundled up in her daddy's arms. but for this year's shot, we had a mover! so a couple of the shots were just of her blazing through. our favorite blurry molly shot is below!
but in the end, we got one that worked!

we made up a big dinner (thanksgiving, part deux) and had an impromptu potluck dinner with our wonderful neighbors (who made fresh raviolis - yum!). and so we bundled up the miss again (in her xmas dress, xmas booties, and pixie hat!) and headed next door.
it really was a spectacular day. from our family to yours, happy holidays and a merry new year to you all!

what have you got in your mouth?!

a few weeks ago a friend of ours, who takes care of children for a living, commented on how molly doesn't try and put everything in her mouth, like some kids do. i was taken aback a bit by this statement, because in my experience molly puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. but upon further reflection, i guess molly is a bit different in that she never, ever wanted a pacifier, nor does she really suck on her fingers or thumb...which some may consider lucky, but i tell ya, a little "self-soothing" wouldn't be such a bad thing now and again.

but the reason i bring this up is because i was looking through some pictures taken fairly recently of the moo and i saw a theme...and the theme was things found in molly's mouth. of course, there were all sorts of pictures i didn't get because i was too busy trying to get them quickly out of her mouth...such as shoes (we are constantly having to hide our shoes because as soon as she sees them, in the mouth they go!), diaper cream tubes (yum, zinc oxide-y goodness), dog hair (eeew!), rocks (really molly? rocks?) and electrical cords (aaaayyy!). but here are some of the less troublesome items, and in most cases, these are even meant to go in the mouth!

for instance, the toothbrush! now that is meant for the mouth, and molly is very good about brushing her teeth every night. she looks forward to it actually, and starts gesturing towards the toothbrush holder in the bathroom. and once we are done brushing, she's very good about rinsing her toothbrush under the faucet. the only problem? at times, she doesn't want to give the toothbrush back...




then there is the teether - another pro-mouth item! i got this particular teether because it's of the safe-plastic variety, which is a pretty big issue in this day and age (for some more information on that read here and here). so this teether is a-okay in the plastics department AND it's very convenient for holding in your mouth as you crawl around! yay!






lastly we have the nasal bulb syringe...okay, so not technically meant for mouths, but we've never used it on her nose and she seems to really enjoy it. it's amazing what parenting does to a person, at one time this may have grossed me out, but no more.

so there you have it, things that go in molly's mouth. i only wish i had a picture of her chewing on her own toes, cuz that's a sight to see!

a stroll down memory ave.

maybe it's because molly's first birthday is looming large on the horizon, but i've been waxing very nostalgic lately, and so i'm gonna post a variety of molly pictures, past and present, for your viewing pleasure.

molly's really been working the cuteness factor lately. her fantastic personality is showing through more and more...for instance, she really loves to play. hide and seek being one of her favorites. we take turns hiding from each other, and when the other person finds us, we laugh and squeal with complete abandon. what must the neighbors think?!

tonight we were playing and she went around to the backside of the couch to "hide" and i followed behind, but when i turned the corner she wasn't there (duh, she was hiding!). she had actually crawled under the table that resides behind the couch and into her old bouncy chair. we don't use the chair very much anymore, which is why it lives under the table, but it has been a major part of her young life. she's fallen asleep in that chair, watched mom and dad eat dinner from that chair, and merrily bounced along to some of her favorite tunes in that chair...and obviously she still has a soft spot for it. here you see a picture of her first time ever in her bouncy chair (at day 5) and tonight (day 326). unbelievable...and where did the time go?

oh, and by the way, the crazy bright red Elmo tee meets green polka-dot pants ensemble is all her father. i think he delights in making her clash.


so another thing that totally cracks me up is molly in the bath. boy does she love bath time. she has her friends (froggy, ducky and red boat) with whom she plays and splashes, she stands up and sits down and constantly moves all around the tub, she pushes on the bath mat's suction cup thingies and makes a pbbbtt noise while doing so, and basically has a good ol' time. here is a picture of her first bath, and then a shot of her playing in the bath this week.



similarly, a couple shots of post bath towel time. my mom made these bath hoodies for her - they started out so huge and now they're on their way to being a bit too small (but just a bit!).

so thanks for taking a stroll with me. i have a ton more pictures to post, but it's late and i need to sleep. so hopefully in the next few days. though we have company in town, molly's great-grandpa May is here for a visit and we are beyond excited! we'll try and get some pictures and tell you all about it! in the meantime, a picture of molly and mom being wacky!

catchin'-up up on the cuteness

so last we heard from our great adventurer miss molly moo, she was off to the zoo - and she had filled up the hard drive on her mom's computer with her amazing cuteness! but then grandma May came to town, with external hard drive in hand, and voila, we're back in the game! (thank you grandma!) so now we need to catch up all the fans on molly's goings-on...

so yes, the zoo. we put on our sun screen and our shades, packed our water, and met up with our friends Terri, Jim, Paige and Skylar on what managed to be one of the hottest days of the year. so we didn't stay very long. but it was great to see our friends and we want to send a special shout out to Skylar and Paige who turned 1 year old yesterday - wahooo!! happy birthday sweeties!










on the food front, she hates mango. zero says the look on her face when mango gets anywhere near her lips says, "ah, so this is what evil tastes like." alas, mango is off the menu for the time being. as are apples. but oatmeal, that's definitely on the nummy-yummy list! we love oatmeal! next up, carrots!


in other news, molly had her first babysitters on the 18th...her aunties Sarah and Shani. as you can imagine, molly was a dream babysittee - doling out smiles and giggles and love - not to mention feeding herself.

and then this past weekend grandma May came to town and babysat twice for us (so i could go see zero in his play, and so that the two of us could go on a date! our first solo date in 6 months, wow! thank you again grandma!)

and beyond just the babysitting, it was great to have my mom here. molly could show off her almost crawling (she is so close), her almost clapping (a clap without a sound), and of course her expert raspberries (i joke that our house is full of spit...spit and love).

molly also sported a new hairdo while mom was here (the bathtime faux-hawk) and a new hat (no elephants were harmed in the making of this hat). for some reason, beyond the obvious uber-cuteness, this "hat" had grandma and i laughing so hard we were crying.







and working together we all got zero's shed (a.k.a. headquarters) painted and ready for move-in and planted a raised veggie garden in the backyard. so it was quite the successful memorial day weekend. hope you all had a lovely time as well!