My Daddy is the Greatest!

My Mommy says that my Daddy is the greatest! He took care of me last night while Mommy went to La Vida Mocha for coffee and then to see the Wizard of Oz with Nana and our buddy Anna. Daddy and I had a great time! After he put me to bed, he cleaned up the house. What a good daddy! :-)




For more Fun Friday pictures, check out Anna's Blog.

Tonight Before Bed

16 Months!

Six months ago today, we left to pick up our sweet Molly in Vietnam. Six months ago?! Can that be right? She is growing so quickly! I can't believe how much she's changed since she's been a Hines.

Molly's New Table

In other news, Mommy and Daddy had a date night last night after Molly went to bed. Molly had just gone down when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was Nana, Brian went to open the door but it was a very large package. A new ADORABLE wooden table and chair set for Molly. Thanks, Nana! She loves it!

Molly helped Daddy put her new table together.

She loves it!

And a couple of pictures of Molly brushing her teeth like a big girl. How cute is she?! :-)

Another Friday Funny

It's been amazing how much Molly's vocabulary has been growing lately. It seems like she's picking up a new word or phrase every time I turn around. Some of her words are crystal clear and others you only understand if you speak "Molly"--for example she almost always says "thank you" as "dat do"--baby talk is SO cute!

Among Molly's words are: Momma, Dada, Nana, bye-bye, more, hi, hello, Ruthie, please, thank you, all done, all gone, duck, bunny, eyes, nose, toes, apple, Big Bird, Elmo, night-night, no, yes, up....I'm sure there are more I can't think of off the top of my head.

Anyway, another word she has been saying lately is "amen!" When we get ready to eat or we pray for her before bed, she folds her little hands and then says "amen!" She knows we always say "amen" before we eat, so apparently she has connected the word "amen" to food. Well, Nana told me that today she was up in the bonus room and Barney was on TV. Barney was talking about food and apparently that reminded Molly that she was hungry (to not even be 20lbs yet, this child can eat!) and she started pulling on Nana to feed her. When Nana didn't get the point, she started saying "amen! amen! amen!" I laughed so hard when Nana told me this story! She is so smart and has such a cute little personality. Can you tell we are SO in love with our baby?! :-)


And Happy Birthday, Ashley!

We celebrated my niece Ashley's birthday. We went out to dinner and had a great time! Happy birthday, Ashley!

Weekend of Celebrations

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and we decided to spend Molly's first Valentine's Day together as a family with our friends the Hendricks. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel (Brian's favorite!) and then went to Concord Mills. The highlight of the evening for the babies was definitely Bass Pro Shop where they got to watch the fish and sit in a really cool Bass Pro Shop Power Wheel. Cooper has gotten SO big! He's really catching up to Molly in size!
We also celebrated by brother Bob's birthday this weekend. We went to lunch at O'Charley's after church today and ate a yummy lunch. Bob is such a great big brother--I feel blessed to have him in my family. Happy birthday, Bob!!

Friday Funny

So after teaching small children for several years, I have accumulated quite the collection of funny stories. Very rarely does a day go by that I don't laugh out loud at something one of my kids says. Today was no different. We have really been trying to cut down on the children coming to tell us every little problem they are having with each other. So anytime a child comes up to me, I ask "is this a big problem or a small problem?" Big problems are things where the teacher definitely needs to intervene--if someone else hits you, bullies you, etc. A small problem is something that you can try to handle yourself--someone has your pencil, you don't have a green crayon, the person beside you is sitting to close to you, etc. Well, today I overhear two children quarreling and sure enough one them starts coming my way.

Mrs. Hines: T, is this a big problem or a small problem?
T: A big problem!
Mrs. Hines: Are you sure? Did someone hurt you?
T: Yes!
Mrs. Hines: They did?! (A little surprised as I had been listening to the conversation and there was no hitting or pushing involved.)
T: Yes!
Mrs. Hines: Where did he hurt you?
T: In my heart.

Bubbles!!

Mommy bought me some bubbles today and we played with them when we got home. We attempted to blow bubbles outside, but it was too windy, so Mommy blew them for me in the house!! It was so fun!

Welcome To Brewster's!

My school had "Brewster's Night" tonight where a portion of Brewster's profits for tonight go towards our school. I think Brewster's night is especially cool because Brewster's lets teachers serve the ice cream! How fun! I didn't actually serve since I had Molly, but we still enjoyed some yummy Brewster's ice cream and good time with friends! :-)

To Grandmother's House We Go

Brian and I took Molly to Winston-Salem for the day yesterday. It was a beautiful day and we had fun walking through Grandma and Grandpa's woods and Molly even got to ride on Grandpa's tractor with Daddy! We had to leave earlier than we had expected as I started feeling sick. I'm not sure if I've had back to back stomach viruses or one really long-lasting virus, but I've been pretty sick this week. Praise God, Molly has stayed healthy!

Don't worry, Grandpa and Grandma--we're going to email all of these pictures to you guys!

15 Month Stats

Weight: 19 lbs, 12 oz
Height: 30 inches

Molly had her 15 month doctor's appointment this week. Here she is in the waiting room happily playing and totally unaware that she would be getting blood drawn AND three shots! :-( I'm not sure who it was harder on--Molly or Mommy--but we made it through and she is now pretty much caught up on her vaccinates and won't need anything else until she is two years old.

My First Attempt....and a cute story...

This is my first attempt at posting a video of Molly on the blog. You may have to turn up your volume to hear Molly's end of the conversation. Is this kid cute or what?! :-)

I also have to share this really cute story. So, Brian goes to work this morning dressed like this:
And he has lunch with our friends the Donahues. When he walks in the house, one of their children--Anna (age 3)--had the following conversation with him:

Anna: Is that a brown shirt?
Brian: Yes....yes, it's brown.
Anna: You shouldn't wear a brown shirt when you are wearing a black belt.

HA! I've been trying to tell him the same thing, Anna! You go, girl!

Dear Aunt Karen,

Thank you for making me this adorable sweater! I just love it! Daddy and Mommy think I look adorable in it! You're the best!

With Love,
Molly

Molly's Cabbage Patch Kid Doll

And Super Bowl 2009

Daddy has been feeling a little yucky this weekend so we didn't get to go to church today. Molly and I ran some errands so that Daddy could rest and of course one of our stops was Target. Well, Target had Cabbage Patch Kid dolls on clearance for $6.00!! I just couldn't pass that up so even though it's not her birthday or Christmas, I bought Molly her first Cabbage Patch Kid doll today. I LOVED CPK dolls when I was little. Have you noticed that they are bringing back all of the toys that were popular in the 80's? I'm sure it has something to do with parents saying "I LOVED that toy when I was little! My child should have one too!" Well, Molly loves her doll--she kissed it and kept saying "baby" (a new Molly word)--I know this child is spoiled, but she is so stinkin' cute! :-)

I also love that you "adopt" CPK dolls. Molly's doll came complete with an birth certificate and adoption certificate. I have to say, this adoption involved a whole lot less paperwork than Molly's adoption! :-)

Molly's new baby with her ONE peice of adoption paperwork. :-)

We were supposed to take Molly to her first Super Bowl party, but Brian still wasn't feeling well tonight, so he decided to stay home and rest. Since Molly goes to bed at 7:00, I just decided to put her to bed and go to the party by myself.

While I missed my husband and baby girl, I had a great time at James and Anna's. I think the highlight was the special 3-D glasses we all go to wear for the 3-D commercials. Did you guys know about them? It was pretty neat since James and Anna have one of those fancy high definition televisions. :-)

We are so excited about the Steelers winning the Super Bowl! We were all pulling for the Steelers around here because our friends Michael, Nicole, and Cooper are such huge Steelers fans. Here's Cooper celebrating the Steelers making it to the Super Bowl. I just talked to Nicole a little while ago and Cooper is still awake so I bet he's pretty excited about the win! :-)