Summer Fun Continues....

Even though Mommy is back to school!


Yup! This was our first week back to school. I LOVE the year round schedule, but I was a little sad to go back to work so much earlier than my teacher buddies on the traditional schedule. This week we did kindergarten testing and today we divided the classes up so I have my class of sweeties. Tomorrow we have a workday and open house and then Monday is the first day of kindergarten! I'm excited! Molly has adjusted just fine to me going back to work. She's loving spending her days with Nana. We've been spending time with our friends this week.

We went to Qdoba to see Cooper for his first birthday! (We missed his birthday party because we were out of town.) Just for fun, I'm also posting a picture of their first dinner date to Qdoba when we got back from Vietnam. Do you think they've grown just a little?


This afternoon we went swimming with James and Anna at their neighborhood pool. Molly had lots of fun swimming and was even putting her face in the water!
And here's a cute picture of Molly reading one of her favorite books before bed tonight. Lately, she has had to have both Mommy and Daddy to read to her before bed, so I snapped this picture while we were waiting for Daddy to finish vacuuming and come to read. We typically read the same books every night: "Elmo" (Elmo's Guessing Game About Colors), "Hand" (The Kissing Hand), and "Baby" (Baby's First Book of Signs.) In the book there is a picture of an Asian baby with a ponytail on top of her head. The baby is getting into the bath tub. EVERY time Molly sees the picture, she says "Molly!" She's also been finding pictures of children in magazines that she thinks look like her. When she sees one, she gets very exited and says "Molly!" Very cute!

Weekend in Goldsboro

We spent this weekend in Goldsboro, North Carolina, with my Aunt Becki and Uncle Hemant. My cousin Jason recently got engaged so we went for his engagement party. We had a great time! Molly enjoyed herself and made a lot of new friends! Of course I took lots of pictures! :-)

Molly trying on the dresses Aunt Becki and Uncle Hemant brought her back from India:
Molly with Nana and Aunt Becki
Loving Uncle Hament
Jason and Stefanie--his sweet fiancee

Aunt Marie (and extra)

Brian's sister, Marie, has been at our house this week and we've had a good time hanging out with her. Molly loves her Aunt Marie and has had a lot of fun with her.

Also, Molly turned 21 months old yesterday! She is growing, changing, and talking so much these days!

I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. I'm feeling pretty good these days--15 weeks left!

15 Weeks
20 Weeks

25 Weeks

Fun Weekend Pictures

We had a lot of fun stuff going on this weekend. Here are some fun pictures from this weekend:

We went to my friend Brooke's baby shower. Rayna and Baby Robertson (aka "Thumper") will only be about 6 weeks apart! We can't wait to meet the newest Robertson! :-)
Swimming Fun!
We celebrated Ben's 5th birthday this weekend. Molly had fun playing with her Donahue buddies!
I thought you'd enjoy seeing a picture of Moses, Jen! :-)

Just too cute! :-)

Zeke's Story

Something I've had on my heart to do for awhile is "update" Zeke's blog with his "story". Even though I know that our friends and family know Zeke's story VERY well, I wanted his blog to contain his whole story so that if a person surfing the web or googling a procedure Zeke had, they would have access to his whole story which I'd never written out. I took bits and pieces from his blog, Caringbridge page, and things I've said about Zeke on this page and put them all together on his blog to tell his complete story. I had not sat down and gone through his whole life since he went to be with Jesus. Even three years later, it's still so hard to believe that he's really gone. We miss him and think of him ALL the time.

Now if you click on Zeke's picture on the right, you go to his blog where you can read the story of his life.

Back in North Carolina!

We made it home from Ohio last night. Molly did an AMAZING job on the way home--she took two naps, read books, and watched lots of DVDs (mostly the Wiggles). We borrowed a portable DVD player from our friends the Nichols and it was such a lifesaver!! If you're taking a small child on a long trip, it's definitely a good thing to have!

The rest of our trip in Ohio was a lot of fun. We are already missing Justin and Tara (Molly has mentioned "Auntie" and "Shusin" several times today.) Here are some more pictures from the remainder of our trip:
Why I'm pretty sure I won't win the Mother of the Year Award:

On another note, I got up this morning to no power. When I woke up, I immediately noticed that I couldn't hear Molly's sound machine through the baby monitor. I realized the baby monitor was off and I got a little panicked hoping that I hadn't slept until 10AM while Molly was calling me. I looked at the clock and when I saw that it was off too, I realized we didn't have power. Luckily, it wasn't too late and Molly was awake, but I could tell she hadn't been awake long. I took Molly downstairs to make her bottle and saw the huge stack of mail from while we were gone. I suddenly remembered that I had noticed two power bills in the stack the night before. Then it all came back to me. I remembered having a conversation with Brian right before we left and telling him that there were two bills that needed to be paid before we went out of town--our HOA dues and the power bill. I was more focused on the HOA dues because there are late fees and totally forgot the power bill. Sure enough, I opened the two bills, and one of them was a disconnect notice. Thankfully, we still had water so I was able to take a shower and brush my teeth and Molly and I headed to pay the bill. Only I couldn't get my car out of the garage because the garage door opener needs POWER. I was just about in tears--already feeling not so so smart because I had forgotten the bill and now stuck in the house. Praise God for Nana! She went and paid the bill and told them our whole sob story about us being out of town and forgetting the bill and that I was pregnant and had a 20 month old and that we were stuck in the house. They were very nice and our power was back on in no time. You're the greatest, Mom! (I'm voting for HER for Mother of the Year!)

More Ohio Fun!

We are having such a good time here in Ohio with Justin and Tara. Brian left this morning for a work-related trade show in Columbus and will be back Tuesday. We went to the beach (Lake Erie) on Friday which was SO nice. It's unbelievable to go to the beach in July and it be so cool. Molly still isn't a big fan of the sand, but liked playing with the rocks with her Auntie Tara.We also got to try out Justin and Tara's favorite Mexican restaurant here in Cleveland--Jalapeno Loco. (Tara said you'd be jealous, Jill!) It was GREAT food and great service. Yum!

We had planned on going to the zoo yesterday, but couldn't because of the rain. We ended up going to a children's museum instead and Molly had a blast! There were so many cool things for kids her age. They had a space room, a farm room, a water area, and a community area complete with a bank, grocery store, hospital, daycare center, and transportation center. It was SO fun! She did not want to leave! :-)
This morning we went to church with Justin and Tara. Their church is called Velocity and we had a really good time. Molly even stayed with Tara in the toddler room for the second service (which she NEVER does at home) and I got to listen to the sermon. SO nice! Auntie Tara bought Molly this adorable yellow dress. :-)

We are having so much fun in Ohio! :-)

We're in Ohio!

We made it all the way up to Ohio on Wednesday. Molly was quite the little trooper in the car. No major meltdowns at all! She colored, slept a little, and watched about 6 hours of the Wiggles (which means Brian and I listened to about 6 hours of the Wiggles--just slightly annoying, but hey! It kept her happy!) We stopped about 4 times and it took us about 9 hours.

We have been having SO much fun with Justin and Tara! We get to stay in their new house which has been a lot of fun. We miss them so much and it has been so great to spend time with them the last few days! Molly has been loving her Auntie Tara. I got into the car yesterday and and slid in beside her and she said "No! Auntie!" She wanted Tara to sit beside her. :-) Last night we cooked out at one of the local parks. The weather has been amazing--absolutely no humidity! SO nice!

Happy 4th of July!

We've had such a fun 4th of July weekend! Yesterday, we took Molly to Cane Creek Park. She liked swimming, but only if we were holding her. Princess Molly did NOT like the sand (or "dirt" as she called it)--we had to carry her over the sand and into the water. No sand castles for Molly! She would sit on a towel in the sand, but only if she wasn't touching the sand. It was actually very similar to the way she acted with grass last year. She held her feet way up in the air just like she did when we tried to put her in the grass last summer. This year she runs through the grass barefooted, so it gives me hope for the sand. Maybe next year! :-)

Today Molly celebrated her first 4th of July here in the United States as a US citizen. We took a picnic supper to the park to see the fireworks. They also had rides, but being that one member of the Hines family doesn't like rides, one is pregnant, and one is 20 months old, we just watched. :-) Molly did incredibly well with the fire works being that it was WAY past her bedtime and they were very loud. She sat very close to me, but clapped and yelled "YAY!" through the whole show. Fun times!

Starting July Off With A SPLASH!

I can't believe it's already July! Summer is going by WAY too fast! Molly has been a little fish the last couple of days--we've been swimming, swimming, and more swimming. We went swimming with the Russells yesterday and Molly had a fun time at their pool. Then we went to the Aquatic Center again this morning for more swimming.
When we got home I went straight in to start lunch. I was well aware that Molly was pushing around the giant tub of animal crackers, but didn't realize she knew how to get the top off. When I came into the den to change her clothes, this is what I found:
And of course, the best part about summer for our sweetie: popsicles! And tonight Nana had dinner with us--extra special! :-)