A Friendly Note

Several people have asked me about my reasons for deleting so many people from my Facebook page. In my zeal for simplification, I forgot to offer an explanation, so I'll do it now.
I got thinking while I was in Maryland. Facebook makes it so easy to keep up with your friends. But is keeping up and catching up supposed to be brief and easy? Is keeping a friend as simple as posting what you had for lunch and what irritates you about sitting in traffic? Is it okay to assume that because you posted pictures of your toddler, you're now off the hook with your long lost best friend?
I really started reflecting about just what I bring to a friendship, and what I'm neglecting in my current relationships. Facebook kept popping up as a theme. I was spending more time looking at status messages and pictures from old middle school friends than I was penning notes to my family and calling my girlfriends.
I'm really convinced that people really don't talk on the phone much anymore. I think that several of my friends would fairly turn inside out if I called just to chat. I don't know what to do about this. Do I text them first? Email? How do i even know if people are okay with the phone? How has my life become so impersonal?
So yeah, I started by cutting a lot of people. If you're reading this and wondering why you were cut and your mom wasn't, it's because I know you'll hear the relevant news from her.
I also cut out some friends and family simply to...simplify. You can find me here, and you can find a more sincere version. I think that's nice. I can't be at every social networking site at once, my blog needs to come first. It tells the story of our family, and that more important that keeping up with 300 friends. I'm down to 79 and BOY is Facebook quiet now. Makes those little checkins quick and painless!
So, in a nutshell, that's why I cut 230 "friends" from Facebook. And as soon as I have a computer again and I'm not blogging from my PHONE, I'll be able to do more with my blog! In the meantime, you get mediocre posts from my phone. Come Monday, it'll be all right...Come Monday, I'll again have wifi...

Design by Molly

A true sign that Mommy spends too much time decorating!

Shoot the Baby takes a potty break.

Shoot The Baby

So Lucy runs in with her baby and yells, "Shoot the baby!" I answered back, "Lucy! We do NOT talk about shooting babies! If you're going to play like that, I'll take her away." Lucy falls apart and runs to Daddy, complaining that I won't let her say, "Shoot the baby." He agrees with Mommy and tells Lucy we don't talk about shooting people. I can hear her whimper to him, "But I love that name!" He asks her, "What name??"
"Shoot!" (huh!!??) We're now both in silent hysterics, trying to figure out just what to say. I mean, if you can name your kid Rock, Brooklyn, Sage, Danger and just about any other noun, verb or adjective, Shoot might as well just go on the list as well.
How on earth do you explain to a three year old that you can't name a baby "Shoot?"
So now she's running around the house, nuzzling her baby and crooning, "Oh Shootie Shootie, you're such a good little baby! My sweet little Shooting Baby!"
I'm at a complete loss.

Lilly Full of Life

Dear Lilly, 

In just an hour, you will be 3. So many people have so many reasons to celebrate! As your godmother, I don't want to let today go by without telling you how much you are loved and treasured by so many people. 

Like me, you have brown hair, brown eyes and a button nose. Like me, you're the first-born girl. Like me, you love to laugh, you're a little too loud and you talk too much. (That's a good thing.) And like me, the odds were against you at the very beginning of your precious life. Lucky for you and very lucky for us, your mama chose life. Is it any coincidence that as the 40 Days for Life begin, we're celebrating you? I don't think so. Little girls like you are so rare these days. Little girls who were a shocking suprise, a happy surprise and then a surprising little girl. 

Lil, people will spend the rest of your life telling you to quiet down. But as a loud girl who talks too much, I've learned this. Say wonderful things, and they'll always want to listen. Smile when you talk and they'll listen longer. And listen to your mama, even when she's been talking too long. Your mama's smart and will always know you best, because she knew you first. 

We love you Lilly, to the moon and back. There isn't a day that goes by that someone doesn't look up to Heaven and thank the angels for sending you down. Three years old is a magical age and we know you'll use it with all the energy you have. Your smile and laugh must just make God laugh all day long.

Happy Birthday, to the most surprising and magical girl we know.

We love you, Lilly!

Maryland Trip - Part 1

 

 So, our trip to Maryland was a blast! It was truly exhausting, but we had so much fun. I'm starting with the middle of our trip because all the pictures I took at the Merkel house are now of Facebook, since I only had one SD card at that time. 

Molly thought it was just wonderful to find that Granny was a permanent fixture at Cooke House! She made poor Granny draw on the MagnaDoodle til she was seeing happy faces in her sleep! She also wore a butterfly net on her head for approximately 75% of her trip.

 

The day after we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's, we went to the Archbishop's Beginning of the Year Homeschool Mass. It just so happened that the power was out in the Cathedral, so we had Mass outside with a wonderful group of homeschooling families, and then we lit up out of there in search of food! We came across Poulet in Greenspring Station and stuffed ourselves. In honor of the Archbishop, of course. 

Ben loved Poulet! 

On Friday, the girls and I met Emily and Carsen at Piney Run. Molly had a massive fall and scared the poop out of me, and the trip was cut short by an intense hunger for pizza, but we made it work. 

Look, it's Carsen! This is actually all we saw of Carsen for the ENTIRE trip, as Molly was in that carrier with her for the entirety of each visit. Poor Carsen was REALLY tired of the full-contact love by the time we headed back to Texas!

On Sunday, we went bowling with Uncle Tim, Aunt Jamie, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Christine.

Lucy and Mo thought this was by far the best event of the trip thus far. Molly insisted on carrying her own ball. 

I have a picture of my little brother Paul doing this at the same age and it's one of my most treasured pictures! 

Molly was SO into bowling! She watched her ball from the second it rolled down the ramp until it hit the pins...

...and then she'd hang from the ramp and stand on her tippytoes in suspense!

I've gotta say, bowling shoes are so much cuter when you can see a tiny hiney at the same time! 

Molly has been running around with her arms behind her when she gets REALLY jazzed, and the bowling alley was most certainly an occasion!

Bowling was great, but racing cars with Uncle K and Aunt C may have topped off the night! 

Kevin and Christine came back to the house for spaghetti, and LB came over to visit. What was going to be a quiet little Sunday night turned into a loud, silly, happy night. 

Mo intoduced Uncle K to one of her favorite games. You know, the one where she climbs up your shirt and sticks her feet out the neck.

Do you think Andrew would buy me a laptop in the name of cozy blogging?? Andrew? You reading this? A laptop would be so nice for couch sitting and blanket cuddling. Or maybe a better chair?? Or MAYBE a little desk that would roll nicely and I could put it BY the couch?
I'm a dissatisfied blogger. Help. I'm crying "cozy!" and nobody's listening...

- Posted with love from my iPhone

It's 6:40 am and I'm wake after getting Lucy some milk - she went right back to sleep. She's in bed next to me and just said very clearly, "Barney was REAL. I told him to stop here and he gave me a high five!"

That dream actually sounds pretty awesome.



- Posted with love from my iPhone

Lucy's Bedtime Story

Lucy said to me tonight, "Mommy, I'm going to tell you a story. So listen quietly, okay?"

Here is her story:

Once upon a time there was a little girl named...Allison. She was walking in the forest and her tooth came out! The tooth fairy came and she had a big bag of tooths from girls and boys all over the world.
Well, the tooth fairy put all those teeth in her mouth and flew away. She dropped them all on the table and the mommies and daddies all said, "Stop talking and go to sleep!"

The End.



- Posted with love from my iPhone

Labor Day fun!

The girls and I kicked off Labor Day with a walk on the Promenade with Nina, Lil and John, and the girls all played at the playground for a little bit. When we got home for lunch, we ate quickly and went down for a nice, loooooooong 3-hour nap. Love my little chickens!

After naps, we were up and ready for a trip to the pool!

 Mo went for the food. But if you know Mo, that's not surprising. 

And in true Molly fashion...

 She stayed for the food, too!

Lucy, however, had a great time and did get in the water. It was VERY cold, so she pretty much swam alone! Molly was happy to just play with the kids on the side of the pool, and we filled up the baby pool for her to splash around in. 

As soon as everyone was back from the pool, Grandpa made good on his promise to build a campfire for Lucy. She'd been waiting for three days and was beside herself with excitement!

The first order of business was forcing everyone to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. (Because that's what you do at campfires.)

Then Grandpa taught her the fine art of marshmallow roasting. She was a very attentive student! 

She was also a very good sport about eating them - imagine that! 

The Hot Air Balloon Festival! Har, har, har...

So we decided to take the kids to the First Annual SARC Hot Air Balloon Festival. We were all incredibly jazzed at the thought of seeing all those pretty balloons up in the sky. 

And what did we see when we got there? 

 A Home Depot station where Lucy proudly created a trivet for the kitchen. 

A very large Bloodhound. 

 Cute toes on cute legs.

A cute redhead, people watching in the grass.

A tiny girl riding a draft horse. Smiles all around. 

Handsome boys.

Tired babies.

And did we see any hot air balloons? No. Not a one. I'm not sure at what point it became a Hot Air Balloon Festival, but it sure wasn't between the hours of 12 and 3....

Vacay, y'all!

Ladies and Gents,
I'm busy. Really, really busy. There's also a bit of family crisis mingling with the busy. And a dash of work craziness. So, all serious blogging is officially on hold. We'll be into our new home by the 1st of October. When that happens, I'll be back to blogging and updating. That said, I'm not really sure if anyone reads this much anymore, anyway.
I promise you this. Come October 1st, Planted & Blooming will be back and ready to rock. 28 days, y'all. I know. I'm going to make a paper chain just like yours!

- Posted with love from my iPhone