Mollie is 2!!

I can't believe we've already had two whole years with Miss Mollie Gage! She is a joy and makes us laugh every day. She was a bit confused about it being her birthday, because she was so focused on singing "Happy Birthday to Mommy" all week (it started out sounding like "Abby-doo-doo" but by my actual birthday she had it down pretty well!).

We had to keep telling her now it was her turn to have a birthday! We changed up the song a little to help her..."Happy Birthday to You, You are two, Happy Birthday dear Mollie, Happy Birthday to You!!"

Since we were leaving for GA as early as possible, we went ahead and did a birthday breakfast for Mollie also. Here she is with her coffee cake : )

Present time!

This is a dollhouse that Kate had when she was Mollie's age. We saved it and gave it to Mollie...so glad we did because she loves it.

We thought that since we would be spending the majority of her birthday in the car driving down to GA, we'd stop and get milkshakes along the way.

There was more celebrating to be done once we arrived, with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We missed most of it because Josh and I needed to be at Matt and Erica's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, so sadly no pictures, but Mollie ate it up and had a big time being the center of attention!

Happy Birthday to Me...

Happy Birthday to me, I'm no longer 33...

Turned 34 this go round...and this birthday looked different from any other birthday I've ever had. It fell on a Thursday this year, and that has been our "busy day" all fall and spring. Several activities happen on Thursdays. Plus, we were gearing up to drive to GA for the weekend for Josh's cousin's wedding (see here). And, it's the first time in my whole life that I haven't been with my mom on my birthday for at least part of the day. Sad.

But, such is life...things are always changing!

We decided to do a birthday breakfast/early Mother's Day

(since we'd be traveling on the actual Mother's Day)

Who couldn't be happy with this crew to celebrate with?!

Not the usual birthday cake this year...we did coffee cake instead.

Josh especially loved the coffee part of it : )

Homemade cards from the kids...

A few presents: a turtle Carter made me,

real pearls from my hubby (!!!) (my first ever real pearls!)

and a new apron from the kiddos. What a fun way to start the day!

Thursday is a school day for the boys, and just so happened that it was Mother's Day Brunch in both their classes! The fun continues!!

They did one of those fun interviews with Hudson about his mommy...here we are looking over his answers.

What a great year it's been with Mrs. Dawn and Mrs. Theresa!

Enjoying a little brunch action...

After Hudson's celebration, we went across the hall to Carter's class to celebrate with him! (It's been so fun that they've been across the hall from each other all year long! And very convenient, I might add!)

They sang us a special Mother's Day song...

and each student recited a Bible verse they had memorized.

Carter's was from 1 Timothy:

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"

He also made one of those fun things where they answer questions about mom or dad, and drew a picture of me...love that he drew my pregnant belly!

Mollie was not a fan of taking this picture.

At least she's not crying anymore here, but definitely not giving out any smiles!

We went straight from the boys' school to Kate's dance class. Mollie was very proud of her purse, and also loves to carry one of her baby dolls with her.

One of the main reasons that we decided to do a birthday breakfast was because Kate and Josh had her end-of-the-season soccer party from 5-7pm that night, and I also had a meeting to be at from 7pm until ?

But...

My meeting got rescheduled, and a sweet friend had already generously offered to watch the kids so we could go on a birthday date. So I called her up at the last minute to see if we could still take her up on the offer, and she came over and Josh spoiled me and took me to eat at the Angus Barn!! Oh my word. We've been hearing about this place for the whole time we've lived here and have never been, until now. And it was just as good as we'd heard.

The perfect occasion to wear my new pearls : )

All in all, a really good birthday.

Hello, 34. So far, you're not so bad...

You never know...

You never know who you're going to see around here.

Maybe pirates...

Maybe Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper...

"Super Mollie" (who was not too sure she was a fan of Darth Vader...)

Super Mollie felt better when she was joined by Captain America and Mr. Incredible.

Super heroes unite!!

And all of this was going on while Kate and I were doing school...you just never know what a day around here will bring!

Tiebreaker

Josh and I got to see Baby Reed yesterday! We had our big, 20-week ultrasound (and they corrected my due date afterwards, back to the original one of 9/17/2012, so I can officially say now that I am 20 weeks (even though I already knew that was the correct due date!)).

This is the very first image we saw on the screen...

I never cease to be amazed by this technology that allows us a glimpse into my womb, to see our baby months before we will meet him or her.

It's such a sacred thing to witness.

Psalm 139:13-16

"For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Ten perfect little toes on two sweet little feet.

Praising God for the gift of a healthy baby.

It's amazing to see all the pieces and parts of the human body, in miniature, fully-operational form. We saw all four chambers of Baby's heart, and heard it beating, strong and steady.

We saw the brain, the abdomen, the arms and legs, that sweet precious face, and check out this picture of the spine! Incredible.

About the only thing we didn't see was the 'private' area, by our choice.

God has given us a tiebreaker, and since our house is divided (Kate wants another girl, and the boys both want a brother, and Mollie is neutral), we thought it best for all to wait and find out on Baby's birthday.

So, Baby Reed says "Bye! See you in September!!"

Field Day

LLLC had a field day for all their 4-year-old classes out at their Creedmoor Road property (a really big field). Kate and Mollie got to come along, too. Each class rotated through several different stations where they did different activities (sack races, egg on a spoon, water balloon toss, etc). Carter's class started with a craft.

They made their own pinwheels.

Kids+ a rope+ some downtime=tug-of-war!

Carter was not into participating on this particular day, but Kate sure did enjoy herself!!

*He finally decided at the last station that it was fun to run around with all his friends, and afterwards at our picnic lunch, he told me how fun it was! Apparently it wasn't enough for me to tell him...he needed to find it out on his own. So it goes sometimes! Fun day for all.

Williamsburg

Kate and I are studying American History again this year for her 2nd grade.  Mom had a week to use for her timeshare, and we thought it would be fun to take the kids to Williamsburg.  It's only a couple hours away from Wake Forest, so we jumped at the chance to go.  Sadly, Josh couldn't join us because he wasn't able to take the time off work.

Everything about this place is so cool...it is really like stepping back into time.  We enjoyed visiting all the different shops and seeing the people in character demonstrating the different crafts.

Colonial-style watering can

The 'Carter' coach

One day we rented period costumes for the kids to wear.  Cute little colonists!!

3 bears in the bed. First time they've all slept together.  Lots of giggling!!

 (Mollie was in the room with them but slept in her pack and play).

Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown are all within 15 minutes of each other.  We took our last day to go to Yorktown, which took us from the colonial time period to the revolution.

Heyyyy, I know that guy!

They did a demonstration shot from this cannon and it was LOUD!!

Soldiers' quarters

The real Yorktown battlefield

Getting a glimpse of what life was like during that time.  

Cannot imagine doing laundry this way!

We didn't stop by Jamestown this time but saw it as we crossed the river on the ferry.

Kate did a great job keeping up with her journal so we could fill Josh in on all we saw and did during our trip.  We sure did miss him!!

Such a fun trip!  Thanks, Mimi : )