{Biggest. Littlest} One of my favorite things about having a baby in the house is the reactions of my older children. They all adore her. They really do. She is the first one they want to see when they come home from being somewhere without her. And Noah is especially smitten with her. He RUNS to see her first thing when he gets home from school. He jumps in bed with her and can keep her entertained for 30 minutes; sometimes longer!
{Just Molly... and her Minnie} Molly is hilarious. She is definitely her own unique self. There are so many little things about her that make me smile because she is "just Molly". She loves to put on her own shoes, dress herself up in Emily's dance clothes (even layering them as is the case in this picture), play punch everything and anything on the iPod and iPhone, and carry her Minnie "baby" with her wherever she goes! She is Just Molly. And she makes me smile :)
{The Baby Sleep Position} All of my babies slept like this as they grew older. Cuddled up on their little tummies...so stinkin' cute. Sometimes, I still catch Molly & Emily sleeping in the "Baby Sleep Position" too!
{Learning to Write} Emily is learning to write her letters. I've been working with her (finally!) and she is learning at school too. It is a fun newfound ability for her as she is always asking me how to spell words so she can write them on her many drawings. Recently, I saw her up on the countertop drawing on the white board. I paid little attention until I later spotted what she had written. A "heart smile" moment for me!
{Sister Teacher} Emily really is a good big sister to Molly. She always has been. She is very sharing, patient, inclusive, and nurturing with her. Their's is a special and sweet relationship. So I snapped this picture one evening when I heard Emily enthusiastically trying to teach Molly her shapes and colors with this baby toy. She was giving her such big praises and Molly was eating all of her Big Sister's attention up!
{Family Dancing} My kids love it when we play music in our house. I continue to tell myself we should do it more often. Music instantly changes our moods. Occasionally, we have family dance parties. One evening, Emily was playing music on the iPod and the kids were dancing around the hearth room. There was nothing unusual about that... except when we noticed that Noah was holding Abby (in what looked like an extremely uncomfortable position) while he bounced her up and down so she could also dance with them. Her face and the position he was holding her in made Vance and I laugh (and prompted me to grab the camera!) She seemed to enjoy "hanging" during the dance party :)
{Sunflowers} They seem to be everywhere this Fall! Our neighborhood is blanketed with them and they are so gorgeous to look at!
{Family Photo Outtakes} Because I love these Fall sunflowers so much, I decided to try a nonprofessional photo shoot with the kids on a Sunday after church. I should have listened to the voice in my head that said "this is not going to work"! The sun got too bright, we stepped in stickers, and absolutely no one was interested in looking at me and indulging my desire for a picture perfect snapshot with these pretty sunflowers!
{The Backyardigans Jukebox Toy} This was Noah's toy. He got it when he was a baby. Time and time again, I consider putting it in the garage sale. But I never do because every single child has LOVED this toy. It plays music from the show and has a little microphone. And for some reason, the kids think it is super. And so it remains in the cabinet in the hearth room. Abby recently discovered it. And it appears that she, too, has a love for this old toy!
{20 Year Reunion} Vance and I attended my 20 year high school reunion. 20 years! It doesn't seem possible. I was one of 3 classmates (in attendance) who had a child under the age of 1. BUT... 2 classmates were pregnant! So I didn't win the "oldest mom" prize. I just got an honorable mention :) I got myself in over my head (par for my course) when I volunteered to make the Reunion Memory Books. I got them completed in the nick of time and had fun reading about the accomplishments of my former classmates.
{Outdoor Clean & Colorful} One pretty weekend, we undertook the job of cleaning our front porch, deck, and back patio. We did a major clean and it felt SO good once we were done. We planted our Fall color while we were at it and it felt so lovely and refreshing to be outside... in gorgeous Fall temperatures! The whole family helped and Abby even joined in... from her Exersaucer view!
{"I Want Fly, Mama"} That's what she said to me as she ran past me dressed up in nothing but her diaper and butterfly wings... with her "softie" hanging from her finger!
{Little Thing at it's Finest} I'll close this edition with a "little thing" that truly is a "big thing"... toothbrush holders! I can't stand kid toothbrushes laying around on the bathroom sink, overlapping each other, soaking up germs that will eventually go into my children's mouths. GROSS! And I equally despise them being inside the little drawers in the bathroom for the same reasons. And to top off my list of toothbrush complaints, Molly sucks on EVERYONE's toothbrush! For a germ-a-phob like myself, that just can't happen! So a while back, I thought I solved the toothbrush storage/sharing problem by purchasing "bathroom caddies" for each child that would be stored in the hall closet.
As you can see, for various reasons, it didn't solve the problem. What a mess! Toothbrushes fall through the cracks, Molly can't remember which caddy is hers, and the toothbrush heads still end up touching things I don't want them to touch! So I recently saw a blog post about toothbrush organization, got giddy, and instantly purchased these:
Little squeezy things that keep the toothbrushes off the sink, off of eachother, out of the drawers, and hopefully out of the wrong person's mouth! I chose to put them inside the hall closet doors instead of the bathroom cabinet doors simply because we have a step stool in front of our bathroom cabinet doors. Each girl has a DIFFERENT door and a label. Hopefully, this will make it easier for Molly to keep her OWN toothbrushes in her mouth!
So far, so good. Toothbrush problem solved! A little thing at it's finest! Now... if I could find an equally wonderful solution to the "potty seat" problem. WHERE do you store those gross things?!?!
Happy Fall!
During these gorgeous Fall days, remember to take time to stop, slow down, be present in the moments, and enjoy the little things that make life so enjoyable (yes, I'm preaching to myself!).
My list of things to do to enjoy the
"little things" of Fall:
Take a nature walk
Pick sunflowers
Make leaf sketches
Carve pumpkins
Make something homemade with the kids
Drive around town and look at the Fall color
And when the time comes, find a place to let the kids PLAY IN THE LEAVES!
