gobble, gobble!

this turkey day we took a "jet plane" (as Molly likes to refer to it) down to bright and sunny Arizona to be with the Feeney half of the family.

Molly was, once again, an amazing traveler. we got up at 4:30 a.m. to make the flight and ended up having to sit in the plane, at the gate, for an hour while they decided about the safety of a dent in its side. Molly played and read and pretended to be the pilot and never once complained. did you know those buttons on your armrests do more than just move your seat back? Molly explained to us they actually help the plan take off and land - maybe that's why they don't want people messing with them during takeoff and landing. Molly of course is an experienced pilot so everything was ok!

as a special treat, we got her a big bird as a surprise for the trip and the minute she laid eyes on him she lit up like i've never seen before. she explained to him all about the airport and the jet planes and going to see Grandma and Erin and Ryan and on, and on. big bird was filled in and ready to go! here they are relaxing on the plane together...

Molly had been asking for weeks about "going to see Grandma Mike?", so when we arrived in Phoenix and she actually got to see her, it was very exciting and there was much waving at Grandma's car.

we stayed that first night in Phoenix at aunt Erin's and when we got to the house we saw cousin Sara (who Molly kept calling aunt Erin, but it all got worked out eventually). Sara is almost 16, has her learner's permit and talks about which colleges she's going to apply to...this freaks me out. i knew her when she was smaller than a bread-box, and now she's talking about college majors. where does the time go? i know that too soon Molly will be wanting to drive a car and go to a college on the other side of the country and i just can't handle that. nope, i've decided, she will live with us forever! :)

that evening we got to see our friends Dan, Mary Jane and Faith again. we went to their house for dinner where Faith was a most fantastic hostess! she is a beautiful, smart, gracious little girl with a wonderful imagination! i wish Faith and Molly could see each other more often. Molly and Faith played, us grownups talked, and it was a really lovely time. and to top it all off, Molly had her first ice cream sunday with sprinkles. delish! here are the girls smiling for the cameras (plural).

the next day we took our time getting started for the day and Molly got to see cousins Ryan and New Year - whom she adores! Ryan showed Molly around and let her play with all his toys. Molly especially liked the little playhouse in the backyard (to the right). and when we took Ryan to preschool later that morning, Molly was very upset she didn't get to stay and go to school with him - there were many tears! back at the house New Year played with her and helped her make a sticker book. she is very good with kids and Molly really enjoys playing with New Year (and i feel safe knowing i can step away and do some things and Molly is in good hands).

once everything was re-packed, dishes were cleaned and we were all dressed - it was time to drive up to Payson to Grandma's house. it is a beautiful drive to "Rim Country" with many saguaro cactus along the way. the minute we arrived in Arizona Molly was shielding her eyes and exclaiming, "bright! so bright!" her daddy and her have an aversion to sun (which is why Portland is the perfect place for them to live!) but personally, i was loving it, and the drive was breathtaking with blue skies and desert landscape. but in Molly's case, we were very glad to have a pair of Ryan's sunglasses (with spiderman on them no less!) to help with the brightness factor. plus, she looked stylin'! check out the shot to the left of our arrival in Payson...what a cutie!

by the end of the day, everyone had arrived. Grandma Mike's house is so spacious that we all had a room to stay in and our own bathroom. plus the kitchen is big enough to handle all of us in there chatting and cooking. it is the perfect place for holiday get-togehers! (and it's for sale, so if you know someone looking to move to the desert, let's talk!) that night we stayed up late, catching up, and i went ahead and threw together sweet potato casserole for dinner the next day (Zero's favorite). i really enjoy being part of the Feeney family, they are really, really good people. people make jokes about in-laws, and i just thank my lucky stars that i hooked up with the most perfect guy and his totally awesome family. and i am very thankful that these are Molly's people! to the right is a shot of Molly with most of her cousins (Declan and Sara were elsewhere). you've got Sinead, New Year, aunt Erin and Ryan all surrounding Molly on the couch. what fun!

Thanksgiving day was a blur (though it was the first day we got Molly to take a real nap, which was nice). everyone was hustling and bustling, cooking and caretaking and having fun. Molly got to watch part of the Thanksgiving day parade. when she saw Kermit the Frog floating by she totally knew who he was and screamed it out. very cute. and she like Pokemon, though she kept referring to him as the bunny. and whenever they showed a marching band or singers or dancers, she of course danced around. Sara, the young lady who is growing up way too fast, is an amazing cook. she made several things for Thanksgiving dinner including an amazing (vegetarian!) roasted pumpkin and leek pasta dish with goat cheese, and some amazing desserts (pictured here). her goal is to become ridiculously rich, but i think she should become my personal chef instead. the pay is bad, but i'd be very, very appreciative! :)

we also got a visit from the Thanksgiving superhero, Super Molly and her sidekick, Bikini Panda. here is a little slideshow:
the mask was cousin Ryan's, the panda belongs to Sinead, and the little bed is for New Year's American Girl dolls. what a combination that made!

after Molly managed her second good nap in a row, we took some time to walk around and check out the beautiful views from Grandma's house. here is one spectacular view from deck leading out from the front door. did i mention the house is for sale?:)

dinner time came and the table looked amazing. friends and family came together and we had a wonderful feast! there was butternut squash soup, the most amazing potatoes you've ever eaten, and for the meat-eaters, a beautiful turkey with cornbread stuffing. for dessert there was pumpkin torte and chocolate-covered cookie dough balls (my new obsession). and so much more! we were all very happy and very thankful!

the next day aunt Beth, Erin and cousin Sara were brave and got up to face "Black Thursday" at the Payson Walmart, and we all went and toured some houses in Payson that Grandma Mike likes. the day flew by and before we knew it, we were back in the car heading to Phoenix for our flight back to Portland. uncle Sean and New Year drove us back and we had a great time singing together in the car. if only i had a recorder to capture the entire car singing the theme song to Sesame Street with a certain special inflection of the word sweet in the line "where the air is sweet" - kinda reminiscent of sa-weet! what fun!

we got to the airport with time to spare and got to watch the planes taking off and landing, one of Molly's favorite past times! Molly was such a big girl, she walked up to the ticket agent and handed her her ticket, and marched down the jetway. she even stopped to chat with the pilot! and once again, she did a great job on the plane (though we have to remember lollipops next time, because her ears seem to really be bothering her on landings). we got in early this time, and made it home without a hitch. tired, but so thankful for our wonderful trip.

we hope your Turkey day was wonderful and that you're enjoying this holiday season. big hugs to everyone!

on the farm

a couple weekends ago we headed out to Sauvie Island with our friends Monica and Moebius. Sauvie Island is right down the road, and is covered in farms.

leading up to Halloween, Sauvie Island's "Pumpkin Patch" is a hit with animals, a corn maze and hayrides. we went the weekend after Halloween, so the corn maze and hay rides were no more, but there were still some animals to see and lots of beautiful scenery and fresh air. Molly and Moe checked out the chickens, rabbit, ducks, llama, goat and miniature horse. Our second stop was Kruger's Farm and there we met Mathilda, a beautifully huge hog who was dining on pumpkins. Molly and Moe were fascinated. here are some pictures from our adventure:


we picked a day that was sunny one moment, and pouring down rain the next, which made it all the more adventurous. thank goodness for rubber galoshes! we packed a picnic lunch (Monica brought homemade bread and pickles - delish!) and watched hundreds of geese taking flight to head south for the winter. we climbed haystacks and hung out on old farming equipment.

i love that we have farms so close by, so Molly can see where her food comes from (both vegetable and animal). i think that's important. and of course, Molly always loves the chance to hop on a tractor!happy fall everyone!

yee-haw! it's Halloween!

last year we couldn't ask Molly what she wanted to be for Halloween (what with the language barrier and all) and it turned out she wasn't so fond of the dog costume. so this year i was determined to dress her up as something she wanted to be. i asked a month or so before Halloween, and because i didn't think she'd understood the concept of all hallows eve, i simply asked her, "if you could dress up as any animal, what would it be?" and without missing a beat, she said "horsey". i was a bit taken aback. we never talk about horses, we don't really have any books with horses in them (except Clip Clop which has gone from being one of her favorites, to the one that causes much drama and tears because the characters fall off the horse into a haystack and she's very worried that they are hurt). we've never even seen a real horse. so it came as a surprise. a few days later, just to test it, i asked again..."horsey, mama". okay, a horse it is!

we decided to go with a simple vest, nice and cozy, that had a hood that looked like the horse's head, and a tail. perfect! here are some pictures of her, ready to giddy-up!


here she is, trick-or-treating for the first time, in downtown St. Johns. the merchants all gave out candy, and we saw kids from all over the niegborhood dressed up and having a great time!
and here are some pictures of Molly's friends dressed up for Halloween. Moebius (with his parents) was some kind of Viking, Barbarian, pillager and was about the cutest thing i'd ever seen. Adriana was a sweet little lamb. Beau (with his mom) was a cozy-looking tiger. the three kids at the door are Amelia (i'm guessing she's a character from High School Musical), Mishya (a clone trooper from Star Wars) and Keeton (a very young Obi-Wan Kenobi).


this is a shot that Moebius's mom took of us when we were trick-or-treating. you'll note that Zero and i dressed up as cowboys, a western-themed Halloween! Grandma Nancy who was also with us, wore a cowboy hat as well!

and because Molly likes to see things from both sides, she donned my cowboy boots and hat after we got home from trick-or-treating. a little big maybe, but i think she makes a great little cowgirl!
YEE HAW!

turning two!

can you believe Molly is two? it's crazy but true! we took a week to celebrate this year, starting with a small bday party with some of the neighborhood families the saturday before her birthday. we've never had that many people in our home - luckily, a lot of them were under 3 feet tall. of course that doesn't include our own daughter who at her 2-year dr. appointment measured in at 37"! check out all the people in our tiny house - wahoo, party!


her auntie Shani made her a beautiful banner and delicious chocolate cupcakes with creamy frosting. throughout her party, Molly would occasionally ask, "cupcakes?" and i would ask her to wait. eventually, it was time. she pulled out a chair, climbed up, looked around at everyone as if to say, "ok, it's time to start singing now", so we did. if there was ever a moment i wish i had on video, it was that moment (thankfully Diana and Denise got some pictures!). she gazed lovingly upon her cupcakes, swaying to and fro to the singing - man that kid LOVES to dance - so beautiful and so happy! once the singing was done, she knew right what to do and blew out her candle. then she grabbed a cupcake, got down off the chair, sat right down and licked off the icing! too cute!! here she is with her cupcakes...


for her actual bday, my mom flew up and we all went to the beach. we went to Long Beach, WA and stayed at our favorite place, the Lighthouse Resort. this is where Zero and i went on our honeymoon (exactly three years before!). they have these lovely condos right on the beach, and they have a salt-water pool and hot tub. it's a great place for families to stay. as we drove into town we stopped by one of the local kite stores and got Molly her first kite. the kite looked like a lovely frog (a poison dart frog i believe, but so pretty!). after we unloaded all of our stuff at the condo, we immediately went down to the beach and flew our kite! we also brought along a bucket and shovel for the beach. the next day we went back to the beach and built more sand castles and Molly ran straight into the water at one point. no fear. and she wasn't bothered by the cold either. amazing! Harley the pooch also had a wonderful time, she ran around like a puppy - and she really wanted to get that kite! we all had so much fun!


and here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the beach. here is Molly and Grandma the first day we got there - Molly still strikes this pose sometimes and says "grandma"!

and here is the whole family at the beach!

on her actual birthday (10/29), we went swimming, we went to the beach, we had all her favorite foods (omelets for breakfast, mac&cheese for lunch, chili for dinner) we opened presents (here is a slideshow of Molly with her new toolkit):


and per Molly's request, Grandma made apple pie for birthday dessert. look how happy she is!

we came home to a box from Grandma Mike and in it was a "very hungry caterpillar" extravaganza. she made Molly a quilt with the hungry caterpillar theme, and she sent the book, a little stuffed caterpillar and a board game (which Molly asks to play with almost every day!). here is Molly in the box everything came in, all cozy with her new quilt!

Molly got tons of wonderful things for her birthday, books that she loves (we all love SkippyJon Jones!), puzzles, a flashing toothbrush (which really helps her with brushing her teeth), a stuffed bison and so much more! but on Halloween we went to see auntie Shani who once again gave Molly the piece de resistance. last year it was baby doll, Molly's constant companion...this year, a stroller for baby doll. i swear she's gonna run those wheels right off of it! and because her imagination is in full force right now, we are constantly putting baby doll (or whoever else she can find) into the stroller and either "going to work" or "going to market" or "going to beach" or "going to airport" and off she goes. a few minutes later, she's back and there is much discussion of how the trip was and how her day was. it's the coolest thing ever! here she is with baby doll in the stroller.

it was an awesome week - i'm thinking "family tradition" myself! this tradition will of course have to include that upon our return to Portland from the beach, Grandma and Molly have a sleepover and Zero and I get to spend an evening together at the Heathman Hotel. Grandma graciously offered to do that for us this time. we ordered room service and watched Terminator! do anniversary celebrations get any better? i don't think so!

happy number two my sweet, sweet girl! you are truly the light of our lives. to think a year ago you were barely walking and only saying "daddy". now you run, jump, climb, swim, twirl and dance. you say "may i have pancakes for breakfast, mommy?" and read books to your baby doll. you easily count to ten (and know all the numbers to twenty, they just get rearranged a bit), and remember the words and tunes to songs, and have the best darn rhythm i've ever seen! you make jokes and your laugh is beautiful and contagious. sharing may not yet be your strong-suit, but you are kind and obviously already feel deeply for others (as we witnessed in your concern for the porcupine who was scared by mice in Quiet! There's a Canary in the Library). and the other night, when you walked up to Zero and i, threw open your arms and said, "mommy, daddy...both hug", it was the best moment of my life so far. you rock my world Molly-moo! i love you!!

next up, Halloween cowboys and a trip to the farm with Moe!

big girl room!

i spent the weekend turning molly's room into a "big girl" room. converted her crib to a toddler bed, got rid of the changing table and just spruced it up.

despite the serious look on her face above, she was very excited about her new bed!

here is a before of her room (from a year ago, check out that adorable baby!)

and now the after shot from this weekend...

our big girl is growing up!

end of summer...

can you believe it's fall already? where did the summer go?? and here in Portland, it feels like fall. we usually get an "indian summer" in these parts and it can stay warm and sunny through the end of October, not so this year.

what's funny is that we went all summer - with at least two triple-digit heatwaves - and no kiddie pool for Molly. and then i was walking home from work a couple Sundays ago and a house on my street had a pool out front with a free sign on it. i grabbed it and ran home (almost "taking off" a couple times with the lift the kiddie pool was getting)!

so there we were, right before fall kicks in and we finally have a pool for Molly - poor girl! thankfully we had one more week of warmish weather after that and we took advantage of it! during the week she had a pool party with her buddy Beau and on the weekend with me she took a dip in her pool, played with her new shark squirt gun, and even gave her trike a wash!

the other big end of summer event was the 1st Annual Charleston Ave Block Party!! wahoo! we blocked off the street and all came together with food and music and toys. it was so much fun. you've all heard me go on and on about all the kids on our block who are super close to Molly in age, and you've even "met" most of them via this blog. now i can be sure and introduce you to the whole crew!

at the very top of this post you'll see (from left to right) Molly, Mishya, Amelia and her little brother Beau. Beau was born just two weeks (exactly!) before Molly and the two them are total buddies! to the right you'll see Molly playing with Beau (with Beau's dad Sean). they're having fun on a slide that Mishya's grandpa had made for her and her brother when they were little. the slide now lives in our backyard and Molly loves it!

next up, Vincent! Vincent will be turning one in just a few days! he's the youngest of the crew on the block, but he is mighty! here he is with Molly and Zero and his mom, Ingrid. here's a funny, Zero and Ingrid knew each other from the theater world and we just happened to move in directly across the street from them. we also moved in four houses down from a woman Zero worked with at the daycare...Charleston Ave is a small world unto its own.

and then there is Adriana - she's about six months younger than Molly. and she is such a beautiful, sweet, kind little girl. sometimes i see Molly around her and i worry that she'll bulldoze right over Adriana. but that's totally not the case. my daughter may outweigh her by 10 lbs, but Miss Adriana holds her own, i mean check her out with this meat!

yay Charleston Ave!

also marking the end of the summer season was St. Johns last farmers' market. it was its first year and it was such a huge success. for the last market we invited some friends to come join us and Molly got all dressed up in her farmers' market outfit her friend Janie made for her (see to the left and at the bottom). it was one of those last warm and sunny days. we saw many of our friends at the market (boy does Molly make us popular, not nearly that many people would have stopped and said hello if not for her, she really saves us!) and we saw one of our favorite bands, Jelly Jar, play. an all around lovely time!

and then just because i thought they were cute, a couple shots from this last weekend. the first is from saturday morning, when i found miss moo had strapped baby doll into her chair and was feeding her breakfast. too cute! and then later in the day we went for a walk and Molly insisted on bringing "tiny bear" (as she calls him) in the stroller, dressed in some of her undies. that got quite a few comments from passerbys.



happy autumn to everyone!

chocolate-y goodness

we waited quite a while before having Molly try her first chocolate. her father has a bit of a chocolate problem, it's his only vice really, so i think he was a little reluctant to start her on the habit. plus it's one of those high allergen foods...so we waited.

i was finally able to convince Zero that chocolate would not lead Molly down the road to ruin and we decided it was time. she was a year and a half, and we wanted her first chocolate to be really special, so we made her some homemade chocolate mouse (with a glass of milk of course). my mom was visiting at the time, and we kinda made it this big deal. the mouse was amazing, we thought, she'll LOVE it! but, it was a very so-so reaction (see to the left). so i figured well, she won't be that into chocolate, and that's not a bad thing....ha!

like her father, she LOVES the stuff now. actually, i blame my colleagues at work (you know who you are!) who like to take her out to ice cream every once and a while. the last time they went, she got chocolate, and it's been "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!" ever since. here she is very much enjoying her ice cream cone (also see above). oh, and by the way ladies, it took her days to come down from that sugar high!

anything chocolate will do. chocolate bunny cookies, chocolate cupcakes (see below), ice cream...you name it, if it's chocolate (or as she sometimes calls it, "black") she'll try it. like father, like daughter!

the May's

yeesh, it's already been a month, but we went to visit the May's in early-September, and we actually stayed for more than just a weekend and it was so much fun. we got to spend some serious time with the family, and Molly loved every minute of it.

we spent our first day there at uncle John and auntie Laurie's place, which is beautiful! once Molly woke up from her nap (she fell asleep on the way over from the airport) we fed apples to the deer, we had a most delicious lunch, and we ran around the front yard with all the dogs. Molly loves her uncle John so much, and they played together lots. i didn't have older siblings growing up, but uncle John was like a big brother to me and watching he and Molly play reminded me again of all the great times i had playing with him growing up (and still do!). the times he would let me wrap my arms around his neck and he'd swim me across the pool under water. the times he would tickle me mercilessly. the time he caught me spraying whip cream into my mouth straight from the canister...uncle John is one the greatest guys out there, and Molly is very lucky to have him as her uncle too! here is a little slideshow of them playing together.


we also got to spend a day at Papa (Molly's great-grandfather) and Sharon's house in San Jose. once again, we showed up with Molly asleep but she didn't stay asleep for long and she woke up to more amazing food (the May's really can cook!). we went for rides in the golf cart and saw ducks and geese and horses. we played with our tricycle in the driveway. and we helped Papa feed the birds. it means so much to me that Molly knows her Papa, and my hope is that someday soon Papa, uncle John, Molly and i can all go camping together - and they can teach her the ropes - how to set up a tent, how to fish, and all that good stuff!!


we had a BBQ at my mom's for Labor Day and the whole family came. Grandma Nancy had decked the place out with a new play kitchen for Molly and a sandbox. Molly loved whipping up some food in her new kitchen (with real working faucet), and she loved getting sand everywhere while playing in the sandbox. so basically, we had "Molly TV" where we all watched her play and run around. Zero got right in the ol' sandbox with her, which was pretty cute. and after more scrumptious food, we had cake in an early celebration of both my and molly's birthdays.


the next day we went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and had such a good time! thankfully Grandma's cell phone takes a pretty decent picture, because we all forgot our cameras. we saw otters, and penguins, and sharks. we touched star fish. we stood under a crashing wave. what a fantastic place!


we also managed to squeeze in dinner with the LAHS (Los Altos High School) crew while we were there. below is a shot of us all hanging out at Sandra and Jason's place.


and Molly was an amazing traveler, once again. that girl is so flexible and ready to have fun. it's such a pleasure doing these things with her and that's saying something because i am a bit of a freak about traveling. so the fact that i can do it with a toddler in tow, and have fun! well, she is obviously someone very, very special!

hip, hip, hurray for the Mays!

best birthday EVER

we just got back from a wonderful trip to california to see the May side of the family, and i'm working on a post with lots of great pics and stories from that trip. but in the meantime it's my birthday, and yesterday Molly gave me the best birthday present ever!

it turns out that when my mom was here a while back taking care of Molly, they had some craft time and Molly made me the present you see above. she painted the little pot and Grandma helped with the picture holders and it's just totally awesome! thank you Molly!! and thank you Grandma!

also, Molly has taken the boring old "happy birthday" song you've all heard a million times before and added her own twist on it! here you go!

ya gotta admit, there's nothing better than an adorable, almost-two-year-old in Thomas the Train undies giving a birthday serenade! like i said, best birthday ever!

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!