We spent a low-key weekend at home, but in the process learned our children may have some skills to help them earn their keep!
Josh actually fed Molly her breakfast after Chris got the brilliant idea to ask Josh to do it so he and I could finish cooking. Josh actually did a pretty good job.
Then, this afternoon Josh decided to come up with his own solution to the leaf issue. He loaded up the basket on the back of his tricycle with leaves, and then he drove them in a circle around the cul-de-sac. Unfortunately he did not have anywhere to deliver the leaves, so they just ended up back in the yard. However, he did the job with great enthusiasm as he loudly announced to the neighbors multiple times that he was "carrying the leaves."
The other problem with Josh's plan was that he left a trail of leaves around the cul-de-sac, which doesn't do much for the overall leaf problem.
I've decided to sell some of Molly's clothes on Ebay this week, and I thought my listings might look better if I had pictures of Molly wearing the clothes. So we had an impromptu modeling session on Friday, which was pretty disastrous. I did get this picture, which won't be posted on Ebay, where Molly sort of looks like she's posing for a high school superlative year book picture.
My fear came true this morning when the phone rang at 6 a.m. with an automated message from the school system saying school was closed for the day because of road conditions, which also meant that Molly's nursery school would be closed. I just had a feeling that the snow and ice probably weren't that bad, and anyone who's used to regular winter weather would laugh at how this city overreacts to the mere mention of the white stuff.
The roads ended up being just wet, not icy, but we were stuck inside because the snow was melting so fast that the yard was a big slushy mess. After a few hours I realized that set-up wasn't going to work out for us, so we packed up and went to the mall, where there were free balloons at Nordstrom and 75-percent off Christmas items at the chocolate shop. Josh's red ornament in the picture is full of milk chocolate truffles, which greatly improved everyone's outlook on life today!
After several weeks of guests interspersed with various illnesses, we've been enjoying some downtime around here this week. So there's not much to blog about, other than exciting fun like Molly pretending a plastic container is a hat.
Stay tuned, though. There's supposed to be an ice storm coming through Charlotte tonight. I'm just desperately hoping that school isn't canceled tomorrow!
We had a very exciting end to 2007 and beginning to 2008 with a visit from our Wilmington friends Nicole and Brian and their kids Silas and Blythe. Josh and Silas had a great time playing together, even though the cold and damp weather kept us inside most of the time. One of Josh and Silas' favorite past-times was emptying out my kitchen cabinets, which was fine until they also emptied out a box of couscous and a bag of pine nuts on the floor. 
We spent part of New Year's Eve in Fort Mill with our friends Jenny and Raymond, who we met in our childbirth class when I was pregnant with Josh, and then moved on to Emily and Randy's party. We had a great time retelling all of our favorite stories with the Wilmington girls (Steph, I hope you don't mind that I've copied some of your photos here) and hanging out with Charlotte friends. Here's me with Nicole, Steph, JoEllen and Em.
We were joined at this year's party by the creepy guy who graded Tim and Hannah's yard in Charlotte and was later immortalized in this painting by Tim. The painting is on loan to the Finks while Tim and Hannah are abroad.
And not to leave Molly out, here's a picture of her from a New Year's Day lunch at Holly's that pretty much represents her less-than-stellar attitude toward the New Year. All of the fun and activity took a toll on her, and we spent New Year's Day with a cranky baby. Some of that may be due to her sudden growth spurt in teeth, which you can see below.
Molly is becoming less and less amused by Josh's attempts at usurping her moments in the spotlight. Tonight we celebrated Molly's birthday with Em, Randy, Steph and Vivy, and Molly was not too pleased here that Josh was holding her present from Steph.
She thankfully did perk up when she got a piece of cake, and she especially liked hanging out with her best friend Vivy.
Then, this afternoon Josh decided to come up with his own solution to the leaf issue. He loaded up the basket on the back of his tricycle with leaves, and then he drove them in a circle around the cul-de-sac. Unfortunately he did not have anywhere to deliver the leaves, so they just ended up back in the yard. However, he did the job with great enthusiasm as he loudly announced to the neighbors multiple times that he was "carrying the leaves."
The other problem with Josh's plan was that he left a trail of leaves around the cul-de-sac, which doesn't do much for the overall leaf problem.
I've decided to sell some of Molly's clothes on Ebay this week, and I thought my listings might look better if I had pictures of Molly wearing the clothes. So we had an impromptu modeling session on Friday, which was pretty disastrous. I did get this picture, which won't be posted on Ebay, where Molly sort of looks like she's posing for a high school superlative year book picture.
After getting used to the luxury of the long public school days, we ended a trying four-day weekend yesterday by getting out the ball pit--against my better judgment. The cold weather has kept us inside, so we resorted to one of my least favorite toys because of the extensive cleanup effort it takes to collect all of the balls. Josh enjoyed squeezing into the plastic bag the balls came in, and he got quite upset when I wouldn't zip him into it! He also was a little glum about sharing with Molly, as you can see in his expression below.
Molly was just thrilled to be playing with the balls and with Josh, her idol.
Wow. We can't believe that Molly is 1 year old today! We celebrated after church with pizza, ice cream, balloons, flowers and white wine (for me and Chris, of course). Molly enjoyed double-fisting her chocolate cake so much that she had to be rushed to the bathtub when it was all over.
Just for fun, here's Molly on her first day in the world:
After the disappointing snowfall in town this week, we decided to drive to the N.C. mountains today for some real snow. We were not disappointed! We took Josh tubing on Sugar Mountain, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Molly unfortunately was too young to tube, but Josh could ride in the tube with Chris or me. The snow was coming down fast at the end of our two-hour timeslot, so we were glad to get in the warm car and head over to spend the afternoon with my college friends Ruffin and Ellis and their three boys, who live nearby in the mountains.
Here are Josh and Chris riding the "magic carpet" back up the hill.
My fear came true this morning when the phone rang at 6 a.m. with an automated message from the school system saying school was closed for the day because of road conditions, which also meant that Molly's nursery school would be closed. I just had a feeling that the snow and ice probably weren't that bad, and anyone who's used to regular winter weather would laugh at how this city overreacts to the mere mention of the white stuff.
After several weeks of guests interspersed with various illnesses, we've been enjoying some downtime around here this week. So there's not much to blog about, other than exciting fun like Molly pretending a plastic container is a hat.
The nice weather continued today, so we went to the U.S. National Whitewater Center to try "eco-caching" on their trail system. Now for you non-dorks, eco-caching is another name for geocaching, a "sport" that involves using a GPS to find "caches" (usually some sort of weather-proof box) that are hidden all over the world. At the Whitewater Center, each box contains a stamp for your eco-caching passport (issued at the center) and some educational material about the area's wildlife.
And for the record: Mom, both kids were wearing shoes for the entirety of this endeavor.
We're experiencing yet more "record-breaking" weather here, this time on the warm side. Josh and Molly enjoyed playing in the backyard today after school, and as you can see cardboard boxes continue to be a big hit around here.
Molly checks out our neighbor's long-haired chihuahua . . .
and tries out the little slide.
We all rode the light rail uptown today for lunch and a walk around town. The rail was really crowded, a good sign for our city's new public transportation system. Josh was as thrilled as always to be on the train, and he had no complaints even during a long delay where the train stopped for construction.
My parents are in town this weekend to celebrate a late Christmas, and after all the presents were opened Josh's favorites (so far) are the big box Mom brought all of the presents in and one of Molly's presents, a ball popper which she also really likes. Luckily for Josh, Molly hasn't been feeling well so he has had plenty of time alone with her gift. We are still trying to figure out how to disable the ball popper's "8 Silly Songs" feature that plays really annoying music nonstop while the toy is on. Thanks, Jon and Amy!
We had a very exciting end to 2007 and beginning to 2008 with a visit from our Wilmington friends Nicole and Brian and their kids Silas and Blythe. Josh and Silas had a great time playing together, even though the cold and damp weather kept us inside most of the time. One of Josh and Silas' favorite past-times was emptying out my kitchen cabinets, which was fine until they also emptied out a box of couscous and a bag of pine nuts on the floor. 
We spent part of New Year's Eve in Fort Mill with our friends Jenny and Raymond, who we met in our childbirth class when I was pregnant with Josh, and then moved on to Emily and Randy's party. We had a great time retelling all of our favorite stories with the Wilmington girls (Steph, I hope you don't mind that I've copied some of your photos here) and hanging out with Charlotte friends. Here's me with Nicole, Steph, JoEllen and Em.
We were joined at this year's party by the creepy guy who graded Tim and Hannah's yard in Charlotte and was later immortalized in this painting by Tim. The painting is on loan to the Finks while Tim and Hannah are abroad.
And not to leave Molly out, here's a picture of her from a New Year's Day lunch at Holly's that pretty much represents her less-than-stellar attitude toward the New Year. All of the fun and activity took a toll on her, and we spent New Year's Day with a cranky baby. Some of that may be due to her sudden growth spurt in teeth, which you can see below.
