Nana and Pops Visit!

We had another wonderful visit from my parents last week. Although it was a short one this time, it was so much fun to spend time with Nana and Pops and I know Molly misses them.

Having a great time with Nana and Pops at the Oakland Zoo. Molly loved the animals especially the monkeys. A few of them put on quite a show for us screaming and swinging from tree to tree and Molly was mesmerized.

Molly still loves to point at everything and now usually says "woo woo" looking adorable while making an "O" shape with her mouth as she waves her hand around excitedly.

Molly is quite the little lover and gave the goats in the petting zoo a kiss hello. She also kissed the boy next to her which his mother loved. She is such a sweet, loving little girl!

Molly also loves to share. She walked around picking up pieces of hay and distributing them to the other kids and parents in the barn. She even tried to share with the goat, but he wasn't interested.

She was having such a good time kissing and sharing hay that she didn't seem to notice these two goats when they started ramming each other. Good thing Nana was on the case and quickly whisked Molly away to safer hay stacks.

We also spent a great day at Fisherman's Wharf. Molly loved walking around the shops and riding the carousel. She especially loved the sea lions, of course! So we had lunch on the pier in a restaurant overlooking the noisy creatures. It was wonderful.

My folks in front of Alcatraz.

Thanks again Mom and Dad for another wonderful visit. It always goes by too quickly!

Making Friends and Hanging Out

Molly loves sitting in her chair reading these days and she is quite serious about her new hobby.

At least some times! She will sit in her chair for a long time flipping through books while pointing, talking and sometimes full out laughing.

She is also somewhat of a celebrity at John's school, especially during recess.

The kids love to swarm around her and everyone wants a chance to play with her on the play structure.

She even gets some time at Delaney's soccer games to hang out with fellow little sister and good friend Billie. They have a great time together and John and I love to actually get to watch the game!

In Memory of Grandpa George

Colonel George T. Pitts passed away on Saturday, September 11, 2010. Thankfully John was able to make it to his bedside before he passed. I am so thankful that we were able to see him in April and that he met Molly and she got to meet him. Rest in peace George, you will be missed.

Twelve Month Checkup

Even though she was already thirteen months old, Molly had her twelve month checkup last week and here are the stats. She weighs an impressive 23 lbs, 4 oz. which is in the 75th percentile. She is 29 3/4 inches and her head measures 17 3/4 inches, both in the 50th percentile. The doctor says Molly looks great and is developing beautifully and I couldn't agree more.

She had four shots and took 'em like a champ, she didn't even cry until after the second one and didn't really get upset until the last one which the nurse said was the most painful. She was back to her happy self in no time which was good because she had to get blood drawn. Again, she took it like a champ and recovered quickly. I am so proud of my strong little girl. Keep it up Molly!

Molly is all over the place these days and is super active! Sitting down is not something she does often. In fact, she usually only stops to eat and occasionally to sleep. These days Molly spends most of her time exploring, she also loves to give kisses and hugs to Blue, dig in the dirt (like grandma), taste the dirt every once in a while, (like Aunt Kate!), gather, collect, give away, take back and play with rocks, sit in boxes (extra bonus if she gets to empty them out first), scrunch up her face and laugh showing off her teeth (one of my personal favorites), put things in piles or group items in different areas of the house (missing toys turn up inside pots and pans!), take off her socks and shoes or some combination of socks and shoes, lean back on a pillow with a book and "read" (another one of my personal favorites especially because she sits in the same corner of the couch where John sits to read), grab the fat rolls on her chest and stomach when she's not wearing a shirt (love this too, especially because she usually starts laughing hysterically), begging to get into the shower with mom and dad (she loves it!), carrying around purses or buckets and filling them up/emptying them out at random, feeding herself (for some time now we have only occasionally been permitted to feed her), and generally charming the pants off of everyone we meet.

Molly is such an amazing little girl and I feel happier every day that I get to spend with her. I am left wondering what this year will bring for Molly and look forward to all the new discoveries we will make together each day.

Tamiko's Birthday

So, I watched one too many episodes of Ace of Cakes and volunteered to make a birthday cake for my friends surprise 40th birthday party. Considering I have never done anything like this before, I think it came out pretty good.

For Tamiko, I made a Japanese Green Tea sponge cake with home made whipped cream and fresh strawberry filling. It was delicious! Since Tamiko and Matt met while they were both living in Hawaii I decorated the cake in a Hawaiin theme.

My favorite part of the cake by far was the sugar Tamiko hula dancer on the volcano. It took over three hours to make and I was so proud of how it turned out. Tamiko froze this piece of cake and said she will save it to eat on her 50th birthday!

A close up of some of the sugar work. I think I did a good job replicating the picture I found.

The party was great and Molly had a lot of fun. Thanks to Hannah for being such a great companion and taking such good care of Molly.

Boxes

Molly loves playing with, in, on, or around boxes these days. Here are a few pictures of her latest adventures.

This one was a project as she had to first empty out everything in the bin before she was able to climb in and as you can see, she is quite proud of herself.

She had a lot of fun climbing her way into the box.

Once she got in, she settled in quite nicely.

Getting out was the hard part!

Russian River Valley

John, Molly, Blue and I took a midweek getaway to the beautiful Russian River Valley in Sonoma county last week. We rented a secluded cabin in the woods with a hot tub, a creek in the backyard and beautiful redwoods everywhere.

In the car on the way up, Blue rested his little head on Molly's lap and they both took a nap.

The weather was beautiful and we drove through some cute little towns like Bodega (where "The Birds" was set), Jenner, Monte Vista, Guerneville, Occidental and Sebastapol.

Molly and John also enjoyed the hammock at the cabin.

Molly was so small under all those redwoods.

The view up from the hot tub.

Molly wanted to enjoy some time on the hammock by herself.

Can't really tell, but she has her shoes in her hands in this picture. Wish I had a dollar for every time I had to put the shoes and socks back on!

Molly loves the new game of riding on our shoulders.

Another shot in front of the redwoods.

A parting shot outside before heading home. It was a lovely little last minute trip and just what we needed to finish off the summer.