Stuck

Molly has a new "trick" or "game" to play in the car. She takes her shoes and socks off (she's been doing this for a long time) and puts her foot into the cup holder. Her foot gets stuck and she can't get it out, so starts crying and telling me to get her foot out. It was funny the first few times but now it gets really old! Most of the time it happens when I'm alone in the car with her and when I'm driving and not stopped to get her foot out. I could certainly do without this little game of her. :)

Molly's Reading Choices

Molly likes to read books, all kind of books as you can see from the picture below. Her baby doll must be a strong-willed baby doll and she need some advice on how to handle her. :)

Gifts From My Girls

I received some surprise gifts from my girls for my birthday!

One was a coffee mug from Lucy and Molly that has three of my favorite pictures of the three of us together on it. I love this mug! Ross helped them with it a little bit, too. :)

The other gift was a complete surprise! With a little help from Gumma and Poppy, Lucy and Molly each gave me two bottles of nail polish and a bracelet. The girls stayed the night with Gumma and Poppy a few nights before my birthday and Mom and Dad took them to the Dollar Store in Ash Grove and let the girls pick out some presents for me. Mom said they gently helped the girls pick out something they knew I would like....figuring I wouldn't really want the pair of scissors Lucy first picked out. :)

It was such a surprise and such a nice, sweet gift!

38!

I turned 38 a few weeks ago! I'm not one to worry about my age and am not afraid to tell anyone how old I am, but this year when I realized I was 38 I was taken back a bit! It just seems so old and that much closer to 40! Oh well, I guess it's inevitable!

I had a very nice birthday! The weekend before my birthday the girls spent the night with my parents so Ross and I could go out to eat and have a nice date night. We ate at the Olive Garden, my all-time favorite, and then just went home to relax on the couch, our all-time favorite!

The next morning I met Pam and Natalie at Panera for breakfast and enjoyed chatting with them for over two hours! It was nice to catch up. The three of us used to see each other on a weekly basis, but now hardly ever see each other so it was a great time. I did a little shopping after that and then went home to relax. My parents brought the girls back and then my sister and her family came over and we had dinner and a birthday party together. My dad fixed homemade cashew chicken, another of my favorites, and we had a very nice time.

My birthday was on a Monday and Ross was so good to get the girls up and give me breakfast in bed, a Peterson-Ward family tradition that Ross has so wonderfully kept up for me. My Mom came over that morning and we took the girls to Krispy Kreme for donuts, Target for a little shopping, and Chuck E. Cheese for a little fun. :) That night we had a nice dinner at home, just the four of us, and then celebrated again with birthday brownies. It was a really great day!

Pam, Natalie, and Me...BFFs!

Playing outside in the afternoon before dinner. It was a beautiful day to be outside! 

My parents took Lucy and Molly shopping at the Dollar Store to buy me a birthday present. They both bought me nail polish and Lucy painted my nails for me. :) 

Glitter, Glue, Leaves, And Paint

We had fun one afternoon picking up leaves, painting them and gluing them to paper. Lucy has really been into crafts lately, which is a lot of fun to me. Molly has a few more years before she's really into it, but she likes to try now!

Black Hair??

This is a picture of my parents at my sister's wedding in 1998, 18 year ago. I actually took this picture and really like it. It's one of my favorites of my parents. I have it in a frame in our bedroom. One morning Lucy was in my room looking at this picture and others I have framed on our dresser. She looked at this and said to me, "Why does Gumma have black hair?"

I thought this was so funny! As I mentioned, this picture was taken 18 years ago. At the time my Mom was 47 and still had her natural black hair. Now my Mom is 65 and is very, very, very proud of the gray her hair has become. I'd imagine Lucy doesn't realize how long ago this picture was taken, so it would naturally make sense to her to wonder why Gumma has black hair instead of gray hair. Oh the sweet innocence of children!

Molly And Coloring

Molly likes to color, however, she hasn't quite learned that we color on paper, not on the wall, the floor, or her pants. She also hasn't quite learned that colors go in our color box, not our vent. :)

If you look close, you can see a few crayons in the vent. I counted about 15 all together. I actually watched her throw the crayons down the vent one day, but at the time I didn't realize what she was doing. I thought she was just sitting by it. Little did I know.........

I didn't even try to scrub out the pen marks. These are now play pants. :)

Are You Lucy Or Linda?

Lately we've had to add a new question to our daily dealings with Lucy. That question is

Are you Lucy or Linda?

For whatever reason, Lucy has decided that when she's a big girl she goes by Linda, and when she's a little girl or baby she goes by Lucy. It's quite funny, really. So many times we'll talk to her using Lucy for her name, but she will correct us and say, "No, Linda," so we address her as Linda. She's even got Molly calling her Linda sometimes, too.

Lucy, I mean Linda, is so much fun!

Oh, To Be Big

Molly is so sweet and so much fun, but sometimes I think she just really wants to be big like Lucy! It's quite comical to watch and listen to her, especially when Lucy is around. Lucy will say something and Molly automatically repeats it. Lucy will do something and Molly automatically repeats what she's doing. It's so sweet, but sometimes I feel sorry for her! Maybe it's because I had a big sister and always wanted to be big like her, so I can relate to how Molly feels!

Last week was dress-up week at dance class for Halloween. The dancers could wear whatever they wanted - a costume, a frilly leotard - whatever they wanted, as long as they could dance in it. Lucy wore her frilly ballerina tutu dress from Gramma Wiseman and I knew Molly would feel neat dressed up, too, so I let her wear the Supergirl outfit we have. She looked very cute in it!

Molly loves to watch Lucy during her dance class and even tries to join in by lining up with all of the students and standing in first position on the black line ready to go into the dance studio. Bless her heart, she is so sweet doing this and is so very good to NOT go into the dance studio with the rest of the kids.

At the end of each class the parents get to go in the studio to watch each student do a demonstration of the dance move they learned that week. When that is over, the students line up to receive a sticker from the teacher, Miss Kristen. Last week, Miss Kristen was so nice to give Molly a sticker, too. I think she felt pretty neat. :)

Standing in First Position :)

My Laundry Helper

Lucy is such a good helper around the house, especially with laundry! One day I had the girls' clothes ready to take downstairs to the washing machine, but Lucy said she would help me and do it herself. She gathered up the clothes, carried them into the living room, and put them in her washer and dryer for me. She's so handy to have around. :)

My Laundry Helper

Lucy is such a good helper around the house, especially with laundry! One day I had the girls' clothes ready to take downstairs to the washing machine, but Lucy said she would help me and do it herself. She gathered up the clothes, carried them into the living room, and put them in her washer and dryer for me. She's so handy to have around. :)

My Laundry Helper

Lucy is such a good helper around the house, especially with laundry! One day I had the girls' clothes ready to take downstairs to the washing machine, but Lucy said she would help me and do it herself. She gathered up the clothes, carried them into the living room, and put them in her washer and dryer for me. She's so handy to have around. :)

My Laundry Helper

Lucy is such a good helper around the house, especially with laundry! One day I had the girls' clothes ready to take downstairs to the washing machine, but Lucy said she would help me and do it herself. She gathered up the clothes, carried them into the living room, and put them in her washer and dryer for me. She's so handy to have around. :)

My Workout Girls

Both of my girls dressed up as workout girls for Halloween when they were 1 1/2 years old. I had Lucy do this because I thought it was cute and I thought it would be easy to keep on. It was the cutest, cheapest costume and I loved it! I got so many compliments on it,too. It was super simple. All I had to buy for it was a pink shirt and an iron-on heart and letters to make the shirt. I already had the rest of the costume - shorts, pants, leggings, tennis shoes, headbands. It was so much fun to put together!

I debated about whether or not to have Molly be a workout girl, too. I felt bad in a way for making her be the same thing Lucy was and not getting her something original, but ultimately decided it was okay! Mainly because this was a costume Molly could not take off! Had I put her in a "real costume" she probably would have taken it off five minutes into trick-or-treating. I think both girls wore it well and they look so cute!