A car ride for Thanksgiving...

We took a road trip to Portland for Thanksgiving to see Jason, Caroline, Rynn, and Eleanor. Caroline's dad, Bix, was coming from Montana as well. It was a great day with great food, a little rain, lots of laughter from the kids, and a good time with family. There was also the grand excitement of a new dog - the Little's adopted Jake! He was great fun - really mellow - and enjoyed getting some love all day long. Thank you Jason and Caroline for hosting a wonderful day. We loved being with you all!

Fancy Nancy...

Molly was given these new ballet slippers and leg warmers as a birthday gift this past week. She immediately put them on and has not stopped playing with them since. They are the cutest thing. I was a bit surprised that she liked the leg warmers, but wears them all the time. I thought she looked precious in them!

Just a reminder...

Three years ago Kyle and I were blessed with the birth of our daughter, Molly Clark Parker. Kyle and I have loved the name Molly since way before we had kids. Clark is a family name from my mother's side of the family.

A little while ago, Kyle started to call Molly "bear" as a nickname. Kyle is all about the nickname, and always has been. She immediate liked it, and it has stuck. We call her that because she can be sweet and cuddly like a teddy bear, or she can be grumpy and wild like a grizzly bear. She has a lot of personality to show us - one might even venture to say it is a bit of drama!

The other day I was dropping her off at the playcare at the YMCA while I was going to work out. They like the cups and snacks to be labeled. Molly noticed that hers were not labeled, so she asked me to do this. She then proceeded to tell me to write on her snack bag - Molly Parker Bear! I laughed, and did just as she asked. She has referred to herself several times this way when asked what her name is. We think it is great!

Three little monkeys...

...sitting at a train station trying to get a picture!

Grammy came for a visit...

Trying to get a "posed" picture of my two with Grammy was next to impossible, but at least we captured the fact that Grammy travel far to wish us a happy birthday! Thanks for coming Grammy. It was a fantastic surprise - the kids did not know that she was coming. Jack ran to Grammy for an immediate hug and kiss. Molly stared as if to say - are you really here? - but then would not let Grammy put her down the rest of the night! We love you Grammy!

Jack's many faces...

Molly's many faces...

These were taken at the local train station as we were waiting to say goodbye to Grammy from her fun birthday trip to see us!

Jack is 5!...

Jack so enjoyed his birthday party - we had it at a local pizza joint that has an indoor playground! Jack was so excited to finally be turning a "whole hand" as we like to say in our household. He was ready, and so were we. Kyle and I are amazed that we have a five year old. Where does time go? We love you Jack, and can't wait for the next five years of excitement and questions!

Molly is 3!...

I TRIED all weekend long to get a good picture of Miss Molly Parker Bear for the blog, and this is what I got for all the work. I guess I should look at it this way...I got the pictures that show the true Molly - while she is sweet and fun she can also be a bear! We love Molly Clark Parker, and are so excited that she is finally three!

Molly & Me...

...trying to get a good birthday picture of the two of us. Needless to say, she did not want to smile.

Jack is so clever...

Today the family was running some errands around town. One of the places we went to was a home improvement store named Jerry's. They were celebrating their birthday with free balloons, cookies, and soda. We indulged in the treats, and the kids, of course, got their balloons. Well, we were loading up from another store and in the midst of buckling Molly her balloon flew out the door and up into the sky. Of course, she was upset but handled it fairly well - with little tears. I just told her that I could not jump up high enough to get the balloon back. We drove a little ways down the road, and Jack piped into the conversation - while we thought the balloon topic to be done - with..."Molly will see her balloon again when she is in heaven." While he thought this was oh so clever and correct, Kyle and I just had to laugh. It is so amazing to me to see how he is putting things together in his mind like heaven and such, even when we had to explain that she would not see that balloon floating up into "heaven" again!

Molly in a fairy state of mind...

One might be tired of seeing my little girl, Molly. However, I took these pictures yesterday right before we left for trick-or-treating. So...the light was just right as the sun was setting, and the blueberries are an amazing array of warm colors, and she was dressed ever so cute that I just had to try and get some new pictures of her. My favorite is the second picture with the flower and her profile. I really don't care for my profile - that strong Lincoln chin gene is too much for me - but I love hers and the photo shows it off just right!

Jack in a big way...

As I daily have to remind Jack how many days until his birthday is here, I have realized just how big he has grown. We can't believe he is almost 5 years old!

Molly in a slide...

We met some friends at an indoor Rainbow playroom on Halloween. The slides were really fast, so Molly took to walking down them. I thought the color (in light of my other blog entry) was great with Molly's pink outfit and the bright yellow that I could not pass up the opportunity to shoot some pictures. Also, I thought it was great that she was not too big to walk down the slide. They had a great time running around some wonderful playground - too bad we can't bring one home!

Halloween...

Molly, a fairy... Jack, Optimus Prime...

Together, what a cute couple out to save the world and sprinkle a little happy dust!

The kids had a good time with Halloween. Molly cried through the morning because she did not want to wear the costume, and she did not want to take any pictures. Meanwhile, Jack was thrilled to finally wear the mask and get-up. He flew through the day excited to be pretending. We went trick or treating with some friends in their neighborhood with a little less traffic. It was a lovely evening with no rain, and some warm weather. The kids raced from house to house. We had failed to instruct Molly to wait for the person to give her the candy so by the end of the night her bag was too heavy to carry herself from all of the self-giving of candy that people let her do. I was a little embarassed by had to be proud of her ability to work the system! Hope you all had a good holiday treat.