Surprises!

Oh how I love them!

Yesterday was full of surprises for Mollye Bear and myself.

First, I get home from work to find this:

So I ponder, "hmm, who would have left this for me?"

You see I have been saying I want a new mum for a few days now. I had two very pretty ones until the week of rain and wind killed them.

So in the house I go completely running late to the gym. I'm quickly checking my voicemail while getting ready for the gym when it occurs to me that I have book club. I am trying to strategically plan out my night when I open the frig to find two boxes of delicious looking appetizers. Now, dumb me thinks, "what are these for?" I leave for the gym still pondering this.

On my way, I call my husband to ask about the flower. As soon as he answers, it occurs to me that he bought the appetizers for my girl's night! So I ask, and yep my thoughts are right. It was sweet him! He quickly informed me of how busy I had been taking care of Mollye this week, and he knew that I didn't have anything for my "girl's night." So he took care of it for me and bought me a new flower!!!

Here is the best part: he not only bought it, but when he got home he even fixed them for me. Packaged it all up so it would stay warm. The girls were amazed and simply said what everyone was thinking "aww!"

THANKS, ADAM!!! I LOVE YOU!

So before I leave for book club, we are feeding Mollye dinner when we hear a car pull up. Who is it? Ma & Pa! They stopped by to bring Mollye a little Halloween present. This baby girl is much like her mama- she loves surprises and cookies! Ma makes a great cookie on a stick. I would show you the cute ghost, but that child of mine has already devoured it! Check out all the sweet surprises they brought her:

What a great day! So I have to end with one of the greatest surprises God gives us once a year:

For me today was the day: the day in Fall were you simply just stare with amazement at how gorgeous the leaves, trees, and nature in general are. Thank you, God, for giving us this amazing scene. I have simply been amazed all day with the surprise and change in the color overnight. I was blessed to view this on my way to work, out my windows at school, and on my way to get the baby girl. Thanks to everyone who blessed Mollye and I with surprises! You made our day!

I lost the fight...

Poor girl.

The sad thing is this picture does not even come close to how bad it really looked on Sunday morning. It looked like she had lost a major fight with Tyson himself!

I'm happy to say that the antibiotics seem to be working. Her face is back to normal with just a small bump (looks like a bite or pimple). The only problem we are battling now is the horrendous diaper rash that comes with two very strong antibiotics! Poor girl. She just cries out "mama, mama" when I have to diaper her up for the night.

She is still as sweet as ever though. In fact, as I write this she is making lots of little coos and awws in her sleep. I've even heard a couple happy moans of "mama, mama." Sweet girl.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. I know she is so loved!

Halloween Fun!

Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.

Tonight was amazingly fun! Let's just say that we started yet another tradition for Mollye. As most of you know, I LOVE traditions! I can recall all of my family traditions, and I make sure they are still followed year after year. I want to create that love for Mollye. So while I know she is really still too young for trick or treating, we still went to the Ghouls at Grassmere Zoo festivities tonight!

Not only did we dress Mollye up as a lion (ROAR!!!), but I was able to talk Adam into being the Scarecrow and myself Dorothy. You see I kind of told him that it was a tradition for families to come dressed up. He happily obliged not knowing any better. However, when we arrived he quickly realized that yet again only his crazy wife was on board for this family dress up tradition. He still wore most of his costume, but he refused to put on his hat. He did put it on for a quick picture:

Add his hat to this quick throw together outfit and you will have Adam the scarecrow! Lucky for me, he owns several pairs of overalls. Too bad he left his flannel shirt at home- yes, I even laid out a flannel shirt for him. I told you I like traditions, and I love Halloween!

So we made our way through the zoo stopping along the way to gather candy for Mollye Bear. At first she didn't like that people were adding things to her green bucket, but she quickly changed her mind and graciously gave them the bucket. She mostly strolled around like a good girl just taking in all the sights.

A couple of times she had to yell "Dada, Dada, NO!!!" He got caught trying to take the baby girl's candy. I told him he better wait until we get home. Plus Mom was worried that he might still her M&M's. I had my eyes on those from the second they were placed in that cute green bucket!

We had to stop and take a few pictures. I loved all the Fall Decorations along the zoo. Check out Dorothy and her cowardly lion! Yes, we were cowardly- if you don't believe us; you should have been there when we approached the Titans mascot. All this lion could say was "mama, mama!"

Now let's add in the fabulous (hatless) scarecrow:

All in all it was great! A new tradition that we will for sure continue next year! Mollye was happy- just look at what all she walked away with (well ok, it might be gone by the time she wakes up in the morning):

Maybe next year we will stick around for the costume parade, but this year it was way past bedtime. So instead we went from ROAR to sleepy girl: Night, Night

Our Mini Vacation to Atlanta!

We finally made our way down to visit Jill. Jill would be my best friend from college. You know that one person you can always count on, the one person that you can call and pick up right where you left off, the one person who knows you inside and out, the one person who is not afraid to tell you the truth, the one person who you know God intended for you to meet, the one person who you could not live your life without- for me this is Jill! She is all this and more!

So with that said...

She has made countless trips up to visit us over the last year and a half. She graciously understood why we couldn't make the commute- a. me being pregnant and then b. Mollye being too small! She even was my savior at Mollye's first birthday party! Without her I'm not sure we would have been decorated and ready to go by the start time.

So it was finally about time we made our way down to visit her.

Mollye did great on the car ride down. She never even made a peep. She rode along and either slept or entertained herself with "meow, meow" sounds. Oh, and she did a lot of dancing and singing with Mom in the car.

Our visit was great. We were able to not only see Jill, but we also were able to see her family and Sil! That was a nice extra to the visit. Overall Mollye did great for that being her first mini-vacation. We hung out in their very nice apartment- love the location! We took a walk around (Mollye was a little cranky for this as it was nap time). The next day we even made it to the Atlanta Aquarium! Mollye loved this with lots of "woah! ooh! woah!!!" sounds. Overall it was a great visit. I wish we would have had more time to visit, but the toddler fearing I might leave her in this unknown environment was ready to go so we had to say goodbye. We will start making more trips soon though! Just wait until she is older enough for Six Flags- she'll be begging to go see Aunt Jill!

Check out some of our pictures from our lovely visit:

Call me cheap!

I have been searching everywhere for the perfect picture frames. You see three months ago Mollye had her one year pictures taken! Yes, I've had these pictures for almost three months. I knew exactly where I wanted to hang them, but there was only one major problem: the PRICE of picture frames!

I being a little on the cheap side could not stand the thought of spending $50 plus dollars in frames. So today while looking at Wal-mart, I decided to try and be crafty. I found cheap $3 picture frames. I knew I already had paint and paintbrushes so I thought I would try to dress them up. See what you think:

Next came the paint(please note the colors look random, but they really match her bedroom):

The final product (not perfect, but remember it was only $12):

Not bad for a toddlers room! I will of course keep my eye out for cheap picture frames, but I love the color this adds to the room. Plus it's really what's in the frame that matters- and you can't get much cuter than this precious little mess! [sorry, I'm just a proud mom]

Is there something on my head?

Hope this brightens your day as much as it does mine!!! I mean how can you not look at this sweet girl and SMILE!

Simple things; Simple things- they are what matter the most!

I love you, Mollye Bear!

Love,

Mom

P.S. Thanks for reminding me to enjoy the simple things!

Fall is here! What a great weekend!

So as I took the pictures this weekend, I thought I would do several different blogs this week. However, I just can't resist sharing the great weekend we had in the Casey house!

It started Friday night by Mollye doing a little shoe counting! This chick loves her "shews" and "clothes." We have to keep the closet door closed or she goes through it all! These days she loves to play dress up:)
While I know this blog is suppose to be about Mollye, I have to brag just a little bit about myself. You see I left the house bright and early Saturday morning. I was off to run the "Race for the Cure 5k." It left me with one of the greatest feelings ever! I must say that it was very emotional to see all of the support going on among the some 15,000 people.

I'm still so proud of Rebecca and I! We did great!

Here is a last shot of us after the race. Yes, after the race. In fact this is while we are trying to get out of the parking lot. The Cadillac dealership had a fabulous ribbon made of balloons- it was a must that we get out of the car and have our picture made!!! No worries, traffic wasn't moving anyways!

So after being gone from Mollye for a half day, I vowed to make sure Sunday was fun for us! I decided on doing several Fall activities. We rearranged our some 40 pumpkins- yes you read correctly 40!!! I've never had so many pumpkins! We can't wait to carve them! My mind is full of ideas!

Here are some of our fall rearranging pictures:

Look!!! It says my name! See- MOLLYE!!!

Then we came inside and made homemade pumpkin play dough! It smells so good. Too bad Mollye was not into it! Hopefully my students at school will like it better tomorrow.

All Mollye wanted to do was play dress up with all of her K.MAC clothes! Yes, Aunt Meg, I had them laid out to wear again this week. Mollye decided she wanted to wear them right then. At one point, she had on three skirts, two shirts, and the leggings tied around her neck like a cape. She said she was the sponsor for KMAC!!!

Last, but not least, we made CAKEPOPS!!! Mmm.... red velvet cake, cream cheese icing, and it's all coated in chocolate!

What a GREAT WEEKEND!!!! I am so blessed!

Where oh where is my stuff???

Yes, that's right I can't find anything!!!

You see I am very opposite of my husband in this way. He usually doens't have a clue where he put his shoes last. I on the other hand have a specific location for EVERYTHING!!! If you don't believe me just ask all those important people in my life: my students, my husband, my college roomate. Yep, they will all agree I might be a little OCD:)

So you can imagine I am in full blown panic mode this morning when I can't find my cell phone. I know that I left it right next to the bed on my nightstand. So where could it be? I check under the bed, under the nightstand, behind the door, and the list goes on and on. It is no where to be found.

I ask my precious 14 month old daughter. She is very good at pointing out text messages with the pointing finger and the reoccuring "iss, iss (this, in Mollye language)" until you acknowledge you have viewed your text message. However, this is all I got out of her when I asked for my cell phone:

So I keep searching. Then I notice this:

Yep, I know exactly where my cell phone is located!!! See Mollye loves this toy right now! She loves to push it around the house going "voom, voom." She loves to ride on the toy while mom pushes her at super, fast speed. She loves to HIDE things inside the seat. Yes, thanks Uncle Brad, Mollye has her very first hiding spot. Thanks. Uncle Brad, I appreciate and love the fact that you gave Mollye her current favorite toy, but you gave your sister endless hours of hunting objects now!

So I open the seat to find not only my phone but also the majority of the diaper bag:

If you are ever in my house looking for something lost, please, please check this toy:

Finally, the cell phone was found, and I being the mom I am, simply smiled and hugged that sweet baby girl. After all, she has to be pretty smart to have found her very, first hiding spot!

On a final note, I would like to leave you with another reason Mollye loves this toy so much. It makes music, which in return equals a Mollye dance party!!! [Editors note: please watch how Mollye's OCD kicks in when she notices the rug out of place. Sorry, baby girl, you may not look like me, but you do act like me:)]