So. Pooped.

We just ran errands like it's our job. Well, I suppose it IS my job. Hm. We hit the farmer's market, Hallmark, Rose's, Gabe's, the library and the post office. 15 shirts and 50 books later, Lucy is sucking tomato slime out of cherry tomatoes and Molly is rolling around on the floor, willing the baby spoon in her hand to conjure up some bananas. She's so cute. Lucy keeps reminding me that if she eats her lunch, she gets chocolate.
Lucy's newest thing is "checking Molly." It's adorable. Every time she busies herself away from Molly for more than a few minutes, she jumps up and says, "Oopsie daisy, gotta check on Molly!" Molly thinks it's just great! And let's face it. With the way Molly is rolling and scooting all over, I need all the help I can get. Truth be told, Lucy probably supervises Molly better than I do anyway.
Well, my 15-cent bowl of Ramen awaits. And no, it's not a budget issue, I promise. I just adore heaping bowls of sodium at naptime! (And honestly, how COOL is it that I can eat lunch for 15 cents?

This Kid's a Crack-up.

Lucy has a few new sayings these days. She's a nonstop talker and says the funniest things. My favorite phrase right now is "Look Molly!" as if Molly actually cares or has any idea what Lucy's doing. Molly always gazes at her with that crooked smile and Lucy feels so important!
What else is she saying lately?

• "I'm the Queen of Blues!"
  
• "Oh Snap!"
  
• "I'm a rock star!"
• "I'm going to Pa Pa's now. Ok. Have fun!"
• "You talking to Mimi?" She says this ever-so-casually every time I hang up the phone.
  
• "It make-a her happy!" I'm going to try to get this on video soon. It just tickles me every time she says "happy!"
  
• "I'm really hungry..."
• "I need chocolate cake!" This is usually upon waking. A girl after my own heart...

Well, today we're going to head to the mall for a good, long walk. I have our daily $20 with us and I'm hoping to find a special cookie cutter and some food writers for Andrew's birthday cookies.

Oh, and let me say this and make myself very clear. If you haven't RSVP'd for Andrew's party yet, DO IT. If you weren't invited, it's either because you live too far away or you failed to RSVP last time. Don't make me start using names, people.

I've firmed up the menu for the party and met most of Andrew's ridiculous demands for his desserts. I talked him out of a carrot/rainbow chip layered disaster and into carrot cupcakes and rainbow chip cake balls. It's a start. Silly boy. Not that I have any choice in the matter. It's his graduation AND birthday party - the guy gets whatever he wants!

Pretty Impressive!

I got this idea from No Time for Flashcards, and decided to kick it up a notch. Lucy and I are going to spend this week studying "Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh. Today we worked on replicating the actual painting and Lucy had a blast "smudging" and making her drawing look especially "Impressionist." She's so talented...

An uncanny likeness, I think. I definitely think Lucy's is a tad more visionary.

Holy Roller

Nothing is safe...

...now that Mo's on the move!

Big day!

Molly is 5 months old today! And what is she doing, you ask?

Molly is:

• Rolling front to back
• Sitting up
• Army crawling
• Eating bananas, sweet potatoes and pears
• Playing with her big sister
• Sleeping about as well as anyone else around here

HAPPY 5 MONTHS MOLLY POPPERS!

Our Monday in Pictures

Lonely pacis waiting to be reclaimed by a sticky toddler mouth.

Poppers takes a nap

A huge bug next to a key for your comparison and horror.

Chopping tomatoes for fresh bruschetta!

As we were wrapping Grandma Susie's birthday gifts, Lucy shouted, "Tie me wibbon!" So I tied it around her waist and she smiled and said, "Now mail me to Gamma!"

Chubby toes taking a morning nap.

Poppers napping in yet another position. The girl does love her naps!

This morning we're going to get dressed and head to town for a star chart, a big jar and some M&M's. I cannot describe the night we had, but if you could see my face, you'd know it was a long one. The only thing I can think of is withholding chocolate. I think I'm also going to get a tension gate for the doorway between the nursery and the playroom so that Lucy knows that she's required to sleep in that room and not on the futon or with the rest of her toys.
Ooh, maybe I'll take some pictures today. I haven't posted anything since we moved.

Lucy's First Haircut!

Well as you can see, Lucy's hair was getting long and unruly. It was down between her shoulder blades and Andrew and I had been going back and forth about whether to cut it for some time. We decided that I would cut it here and if it was terrible, we'd take her in.

Here's the hair before...

Getting the tangles out!

Long, long red hair!

The first cut!

Andrew had to put the camera down to help me hold her!

I took off about 3 inches. Yipes!

Lucy and her new short hair! She was feeling very "pitty!"

What a Freaking Wonderful Life.

Today, I finally feel like absolutely everything is in our reach. Today Andrew is no longer in school. Today we're no longer trapped under a mortgage. Today we spent a long day at the lake with friends we love. Today we're officially FREE of credit card debt. Today we have a little money in the bank and the bills are paid. For now. Today we have nowhere to be and nothing to do. Nothing at all. Today we're only dealing with a couple of runny noses. Very, very cute little runny noses. Today my little Poppers got up on her knees and is trying to crawl. Before the age of 5 months. Today I'm trying to think about the things in my life that stress me out and nothing comes to mind. For the first time since I was 15, nothing at all comes to mind. There's a spring in my step and a giant smile on my face because on July 25th, 2009, I'm not worried about a thing, and that's a good Today.
Tomorrow, we have no plans. Tomorrow's Sunday. That means love, laundry, the Lord, laughing, lying around, licking popsicles, letting the house get messy and living it up on the lawn. All 65 acres of lawn, if we so please.
I'll post pics tomorrow around naptime. If I don't decide to take a nap myself. As for right now, I'm off to pass out on the couch while Andrew reads a book. A very good Today.

Sad.

Rest in Peace

Maple Cooke
5.28.08 - 7.22.09

We had to put Maple down tonight. We're all sad, but it was for the safety of our family and friends and it was the right thing to do. Maple was becoming more and more aggressive and it became apparent that there was something wrong that any amount of training couldn't fix. After talking to multiple rescues, trainers, our vet and the humane society, we decided that the best route for Maple's happiness was to end her life before she truly harmed someone and ended up in a dangerous situation. Maple was a wonderful girl and we'll miss her, but we're at peace knowing that the life she had was full of love and happiness.

20 hours!

April and Christian will be here in the morning! Yippee!

And 24 hours from now, we'll be shaking hands and walking out the door, having just sold our first home.

And 24 hours from now, it will have been one full day without Maple. :-(

Guess what I'm doing tonight?

He makes it sound charming.

Okay, so, it wasn't exactly a cute bear. It was a huge bear. Andrew makes it sound like I was at the zoo. Nerd.

So Lucy and Molly and myself were driving home and I was talking on the phone to April. I said, "Hey, I might lose you because I'm coming into town and there's no reception on the road." And then a huge black bear lumbers out of the woods and gallops across the road. HUGE. BEAR. I start screaming, "OH S*************!!!!!!!" (Because there were a lot of I's in my word.) and I slam on the brakes. Stupid Huge Bear STOPS in front of my car as I'm screaming and braking and he just grins and jumps over the guardrail, disappearing into the woods. What's funny about the story is that April is still chattering away about Christian's birthday party, blissfully unaware that I've almost died. It was eventful, to say the least.

Beary exciting!

I'm very jealous! Laura got to see a large black bear less than a mile from our farm house!!!! It wasn't sitting like this one, in fact, I hear it frantically stumbled across the road and over a guardrail, BUT nevertheless, BEARY EXCITING!!!


Needless to say, we are now considering the purchase of a shotgun. Gives an all NEW meaning to that kids song the Cooke family used to recite about Teddy Bears picnicking!!!!!!!

Loving. My. Life.

So as I'm sitting here with a hefty mixed drink, I realized I haven't blogged this weekend! Simply sinful. The girls are out for the night (out of consciousness, not out on the town) and Andrew and I are just hanging out, so I thought I'd take a second to recap our AWESOME carefree weekend. It didn't start off great for John, who came down with a nasty bug on his last night at Crooked Mile Farm, but he made it back to Harford County mostly whole and is recovering nicely today. Poor kid. We had a BLAST with him and I hope getting sick didn't scare him away forever! We watched a ton of Disney, wandered downtown Cumberland, drove around the farm, played with the girls, ate a ton of yummy food and just hung out for a few days!
On Saturday, I napped a BIG nap and then we took the girls downtown for...

We started at Canal Place and watched the folks at the Crabby Pigs spraying the local kids from the bike parade with a firehose. Lucy was beyond impressed.

New hotel, y'all!

Molly enjoying a breeze on the canal and listening to bluegrass!

Lucy and I getting "up cose" to see the band. She sure loves bluegrass!

Luce climbed on the ArtsBus to make a macaroni fish. Rumor has it he's dying to see the Pacific Ocean and he's leaving on vacation in the morning!

I love this pic. Molly watches every movement Lucy makes and she's just dying to get after her and do all those fun things Lucy does! She spends so much time just staring at her big sister! Today at Mass was the first time they truly PLAYED together and boy was it cute!

Poor Molly. Life just isn't too thrilling when you're her age. Playing with tags is about as good as it gets these days...

Lucy enjoying a little custard from the Creamery!

Slow dancing with her man on Baltimore Street.

Boy, do I love this handsome guy! Did I mention that he's totally educated now? That new hat is a "Congrats on your MBA" gift from Lucy and I for a job very well done. Guess who's graduating with honors yet again?? Of course, Mr. "I'm never picking up another book" told me last week that he's now working toward his Master's Certificate in International Contracts or something to that effect. Never a dull moment with this guy.

Well, today was also fabulous, for what I was awake for. I'm definitely recovering from a LONG couple of weeks! We had a lazy morning and then we went to breakfast at Bob Evans and mass at our "new" church. For now. I'm not sure where we'll officially land this time.

We close in less than 96 hours!!! EEEEEEE!!! Thursday at 3 is our anticipated closing time. I'm so psyched and nervous!

Well, off to finish my tall vodka and something. Every Sunday night should be this good.

farm house vacation... this is going to be a good summer

First day @ the farm w/o unpacking. This is TOO good to be true. Just ran Lucy down to Wills Creek & back. We tossed a flower into the creek and waved "bye bye" to it SERIOUSLY until it was OUT OF SIGHT (and it's a SLOOOOOW moving creek). We picked some daisies for our lovely wife/mom and put them in a vase on the dinner room table. Lucy kept saying "Flowers for Mommy's table" which was adorable.

Laura & Molly are having a super chill Saturday afternoon relaxing in the living room, watching Baby Einstein & falling in/out of some much needed SLEEP!

The landlords are next door painting that house. It'll look SO nice when it's done! Just moved Maple to the other side of the house so she doesn't get paint sprayed on her (and so she'll stop barking!!!)

This farm is too good for me to be sitting here typing any more! Need to go play "pay-dough" with Lucy on the porch.

Bowling up so fast!

Lucy on Monday.

Lucy at Molly's current age.

Straight Tequila Night...

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? I've been fighting with my beloved camera (and toddler, but that's neither here nor there) for days on end and have finally tricked it into giving me my pictures, so I can FINALLY blog! For the love of Pete, it took forever for me to outsmart that stupid SD card.
So, here you go. Since it's Thursday and I assume you have heavy drinking to get to, I'll be quick.

Molly and Lucy watching TV on moving day morning. You can tell we depend on Playhouse Disney to give our children most of their education and care, no? ;-)

Lucy playing in one of Mama's old dresses. Tres chic.

Lucy and Katherine supervising the moving.

Taking a little rest from the heavy lifting.

Calvin and his little sweetie Molly at the new house, post move.

We took advantage of the Kids Bowl Free program and took the kids out for a little fun amid the unpacking. Lucy didn't really know what to make of it all...here are her size 5 feet in her size 8 shoes.

A healthy fear of machinery.

This will be cuter in a few minutes.

Turns out she still likes ketchup better. What IS it with little kids and ketchup?

The awesome kabobs we made last night. Turns out things still taste better on a farm.

Chubbers taking a nap. Too cute not to blog!

In other news, Molly is eating like a horse and my poor, battered body can't keep up. I'm simply exhausted from hours of her nursing and I'm going to get to bed early. I think I'm also fighting some weird infection, so I'm cranky. And Andrew won't buy me a new Coach bag. Whatevs. But John's here for the week and we're having fun! I mean, I think he's here. He and Andrew left the house and it's now dark and I still haven't heard from them...well you know what Mark Twain says about boys.

“There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure”