Molly liked the water too – as long as it was warm enough. She also found herself a nice little spot on the boat just for her. When Papa T used her ’seat’ as a foot stool – she let him know quickly that that was her seat!

The kiddos also really enjoyed Harley. Reed threw sticks in the water for him, and Molly waved and said, “Hi Haya” every single time she saw him. I think she’s a bit confused because every time we eat she looks out the window at the deck and says, “Hi Haya” over and over. Keep telling her that Harley doesn’t live here.

Looking forward to a fun rest of the summer on the lake! Can’t wait to see what they’ll be doing by the end of the summer! Tons more pictures here.

Reed opening the door for Molly to get out …

Molly ‘crawling’ on the pavement. She did not want my help – she wanted to do it on her own!

Reed putting gas in the car.

Yep, that’s chalk.

Meanwhile Michael was working hard in the bathroom tiling the floor. For some reason cutting the tile was a whole lot messier than usual – maybe the tile. Anyway, when he got done this is what I saw. He didn’t even realize he looked like this!

And even though Michael looked sort of scary, his tile job looks awesome! Can’t wait to clean the haze of the tile and get it grouted. It will look even more awesome! The shower tile is next. Can’t wait!

The Easter Bunny brought both of them a pair of shoes, Reed a train, and Molly a play rotary phone. And Reed has used Molly’s phone to call the Easter Bunny about 500 times to tell him thank you.

Then we got ready and headed to church for an awesome service. Aren’t they cuties?

Then later after what was supposed to be naptime, we headed to Granna and Papa T’s for an egg hunt and dinner. The kids had a blast!

We celebrated Molly’s birthday again – this time with my family – with a bunny cake and some adorable little lambs that Aunt Donna made (and Reed has been talking about all week).

We even managed to get a decent family photo out of it!

Just reminisced by reading my first blog post about Molly.  She sure has changed a lot in a year! She had her one-year doctor’s appointment on her birthday. She’s now in a safe weight/height range in the 20th percent. She’s just under 18 pounds, so it will definitely still be a while before she can turn around in her car seat! Oh well, I guess that means we get to wait a while before investing in a new seat!

Molly also started walking just this past week! Not much longer and she’ll be all over the place! (click anywhere on the video to play except for the title – that’ll take you to facebook).

The kiddos reading a few books before story time starts.

Then afterward we headed to Heritage Park for a little play time. Jackson didn’t quite make it there as he feel asleep on the way there, so his mommy took him home. We missed you Jackson!

Since there are only two toddler swings, they have to take turns. Reed was doing such a good job practicing patience.

Then on Thursday since it was rainy, we headed to the Creative Discovery Museum with Anna Kate and Amy. Molly played in the water for the first time, and decided that she loved it!

Then all three of them enjoyed the little yellow house.

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza

Our Christmas celebrations began with making cookies with Anna Kate and Amy. The kiddos sure had fun!

They quickly discovered that eating the dough and the sprinkles was way more fun. It reminded me of when we were kids. We always made Christmas cookies with Aunt Donna – some of my favorite Christmas memories. Anyway, she always told us not to eat the cookie dough. Then she would turn around to do something and we’d always sneak bites. Something I always thought I had gotten away with until adulthood! This picture is Reed after I “caught” him eating some cookie dough after I told him not to eat it.

Anna Kate and her Mommy decorating cookies or eating sprinkles.

They seem to be sharing a really funny secret here. One of my favorites.

Sweet hugs. Amy and I always joke that we’ll have some really good photos for their wedding slideshow!

Showing off the goods.They may be a few sprinkles short, missing a point on a star, or have a few bite marks, but they were made with love!

Christmas with the Hollis family

The weekend before Christmas we headed to Clarksville to celebrate Christmas with Michael’s family. Saturday morning, on a suggestion from Grumpy, we all headed to the Customs House Museum in Downtown Clarksville, to see their model train display. Even though the trains weren’t running that day, Reed still REALLY enjoyed looking at them. He could make one of them run himself, and he watched it over and over until it was time to go. Can’t wait to take him back one day when they are running!

Saturday evening we went to the annual Dirty Santa party, this year with a twist – Jody’s 50th surprise party in the mix! Even Santa made an appearance, and all the kiddos told him what they wanted for Christmas. Reed loved Santa and even gave him a hug. I was super-surprised he even sat in his lap, but he did without any hesitation!

Molly really liked Santa, too. She kept her eyes on him the whole time trying to figure him out. She even cried when he left.

On Sunday we opened presents with the family. All the kiddos:

Molly particularly enjoyed the wrapping:

I had made Caleb and Lane superhero capes … I think they liked them! I sure enjoyed watching them fly around with them on!

Cheerios

You might remember me blogging about the first time I gave Reed Cheerios, here. Now it’s Molly’s turn. And I think, just maybe, that she liked them. Really liked them. See for yourself.

Christmas at Home

We had so much fun this year! Reed understood a little more about what was going on, and we got to start a few traditions of our own. When I asked Reed what sort of snack he wanted to leave for Santa, explaining that Santa needed snacks to help give him energy to deliver all the presents, he decided to give Santa ‘monster cookies’ (Sesame Street Cookie monster cookies). Then he decided that those monster cookies were his and he didn’t really want to share them with Santa. So he decided we’d leave Santa some ‘ABCDs’ (Alphabit cereal). Then at the last minute he decided he would indeed share his monster cookies with Santa, so we threw in a couple of those as well.

This is Reed when he first came down on Christmas morning. He was so excited! He couldn’t decide what to do first!

He quickly decided he wanted to check out his new ‘ridecycle” and hopped on. He loves the bell it has on it!

I thought Molly wouldn’t be that interested this year. Well I was wrong! She loved opening her present! And she was even more excited when she saw it was a baby doll, just like Anna Kate’s doll! Molly has always loved Anna Kate’s doll Lily, so of course, that’s just what we had to get her for Christmas!

Molly even (accidentally) matched her new baby doll!

After we opened presents just our family, my extended family came over for brunch and more presents. I’ll have to depend on Aunt Lala to help out with pictures in that department – I dropped the ball on getting photos myself!  That afternoon we headed to my folks for the first (will be) annual Nash Family 12k Race. We had t-shirts and everything. Very official! Photos to come. Then a bit later my Mom’s family came over and we celebrated Christmas with everyone, including some fun home movies from when we were kids. Even Reed enjoyed them! We were jumping on the trampoline in the movie, and Reed jumped right along with us!

After Christmas

Yesterday afternoon we headed outside to clean my car and let Reed play with some of his new items. It was pretty cold, so we all bundled up.

Michael says she looks like the kid from The Christmas Story but I don’t care.I think she’s adorable. And she stayed warm and happy.

While I was finishing up cleaning my car, Reed decided to wash his too. He kept asking me to spray more windex on his car so he could scrub it. Reminds me of a certain Papa T who also likes to wash his new vehicles every day.

Did you make it to the end? I warned you it was long! My New Year’s resolution – blog more and stay up to date! This is my version of a scrapbook, so I need to make sure to not have anymore blanks in it! Didn’t get your fill of photos? Not to worry, there are many more! Check out the album here.

So I’m typically not that emotional or sentimental. But getting rid of Reed’s crib and putting in his big boy bed almost made me cry. It didn’t hit me until we were putting the sheets on his new bed and he was climbing in it – my baby boy is not a baby anymore! We’re starting a new chapter in his life. Out with the baby – in with the big boy. So far, so good. He seems to be asleep and hasn’t even flinched over the change. He just wanted to make sure that MingMing and Zazzy (stuffed friends) got to also make the transition to the new bed. Once he knew they could come along, he was on board. Keeping our fingers crossed that he does well all night! Wish us luck!

And a few pictures of Molly – well because she’s just so cute! This was the first time we gave Molly table food. Sweet potatoes … she seemed to enjoy playing in them more than eating them!

Lane was such a sweetie. Caught him staring and smiling at Molly. He was so sweet to her!

Cousins …

Molly has graduated to the big tub for her baths, and loves them as much as Reed does!

Right when we got there, Reed (and Anna Kate quickly followed) climbed the fence watching the donkeys.

Reed loved climbing the mountain of tires.

On the hayride to the pumpkin patch, we attempted to get a photo of all of the kiddos. While we managed to snag a few, none of them were smiling. Oh well. While Reed doesn’t seem that thrilled about sitting by the girls, Jackson is playing quite the ladies man!

Reed and Anna Kate searching for the perfect pumpkin to take home.

It was such a beautiful day to go, even if it was a bit muddy!

Another attempt at a group picture.

Reed found his perfect pumpkin, and tried so hard to carry it all by himself.

Jackson has always loved Molly. He made sure she was okay the whole day. Love his face here! He’ so proud!

Sweet goats.Well, sort of. Don’t ask Ashley.

The goats sure knew what came out of that ‘candy’ machine!

Molly loved sitting in the grass!

For more pictures of the day, checkout the album to the right.