Of all places, we have the best time...

AT THE GROCERY STORE! ha... Mommy goes to the grocery store several times a week and we always enjoy our time there! Today we went to another store (other than our usual Harris Teeter) and they had little customer shopping carts! Too FUN! Mommy didn't even have to push a "real" cart b/c the cute little helpers filled their carts with groceries!

Fun pushing the cart OR

We even have fun UNDER the cart!

thirty-one

No, it's not the in-home sales totebag line that I'm referring to...it's my AGE! Yesterday I celebrated my 31st birthday. My wonderful husband, my precious children, my sweet family, and dearest friends made the day extraordinary for me. Thank you to everyone who had any part in making me feel so special. It's amazing how meaningful a phone call, card, flowers, gift, or visit can be when you feel the love from someone close to you who celebrates the day you were born!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I joined the sportscenter for my birthday (Thank you Tony for that wonderful present). Well, to enjoy my gift yesterday I went and swam 50 laps in the pool. To pass the time and to keep up with which lap I was on, I thought about each year of my life. I started on about lap 16 and thought about where I lived, important events that happened in my life, how I celebrated my birthday that year, holidays, friends, good times, and so on from each year of my life. My time swimming passed so quickly that by the time I got to my 31st lap (and current age) I just couldn't stop. So I swam on thinking about my life, where I have been, what I have done, and what I want out of the coming years in my life. I know I must have been smiling up and down the lane. What a beautiful exercise of mind and body to think back on wonderful memories of high school, college, getting married, having children, friends past and present, friends who I will see again in Heaven, trials I've overcome, wonderful experiences I have had, and thinking about the exciting future ahead. Birthdays are a day to be thankful for the life you have and to think about where life has taken you since God brought you into this world. So on day one of my thirty first year, I thank God for a full life and I look forward to many, many more years of being and feeling ALIVE. I have learned to appreciate growing older because the other option is a little less lively:) God Bless You! XOXO, Mollie

Apples to Apples

Caroline, 2 years old, 2008

Maggie, 2 years old -2011
I'm comparing Caroline's first day of school in the apple dress to Maggie's first day of school in the apple dress! How time flies.

Preschool 2011

Before I write anything, I must give praise to God for answering my prayers. I have prayed for months and asked Him to ease Maggie's anxiety about being away from Mommy and that she is able to enjoy all of the joy that preschool brings. I have also prayed for my worries to be replaced with faith and trust because I know that Maggie is in God's loving care in all situations. This morning could not have gone better and I have my wonderful Lord and Savior to thank for it! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! God is soooo good!

Caroline is now a "senior" at her preschool! She has been looking forward to Mrs. Cash's Pre-K since the day school let out for the summer! She is ready to learn and is eager to meet all of her new friends and see her old friends again. She loves every single thing about school and is a social butterfly for sure! Every teachers dream!

As for Maggie, she was excited to go to school and was as cute as a button! She was thrilled to go in with the big kids and by the time the teacher took her hand in the classroom, I was gone. The teacher sent me a text and said that she was doing wonderful! I pray that she enjoys school as much as Caroline does! I'm on my way out the door to pick them up now:)

Here are a few pics of the first day of school! Oh and as for me, there were no tears. It all happened so fast that it took me a few minutes to realize that I was alone. No worries though, I went straight to join the sportscenter and I look forward to working out and hopefully meeting some friends for coffee every now and then!

Another Bittersweet Moment in Parenthood

Tomorrow is a little milestone that I, as a stay at home mother, have looked forward to for some time now. Yet in the same breath, I am a little sad and anxious about the time actually arriving. My little Maggie Moo will go to preschool for the first time. She has never gone to the church nursery, gym childcare, or any care for that matter outside of our home or my parents. To say the least she is attached...and well, so am I.
Maggie had a very scary entrance into this world so Tony and I have always been very protective and cautious with our little miracle. After her near death arrival we battled breathing issues, nebulizer treatments, and countless ear infections on top of all of the "normal" baby/toddler viruses. Needless to say, it was never worth the risk of picking up a virus from the nursery just to go to the gym or sit in church for an hour. SOOO... many Joel Osteens and walks in the neighborhood have kept me moving up until now. Tomorrow I hand over my sweet, precious, tender little girl's every need to her teachers. I pray they can interpret her jibber jabber and enjoy her funny little personality as much as I do every single day.
As I re-read this, I DO realize how silly this seems given that she is only going for a couple of hours a week. It's not really the time spent at the preschool that makes this tough, it's the TIME OF MY LIFE and the fact that she is no longer a baby but a big girl getting her first little taste of independence that really makes this bittersweet.
So tomorrow at about five minutes after nine, I wonder who will be crying, me or Maggie?

O.I.B. 2011

"Ive been pickled" T-shirts. You have your family reunion t-shirts and I've got mine...ha! Everyone's name is listed on the back...Thanks for making these Sara!

Lauren and her sweet dad David. This is such a great pic I just had to post it!

Me and Mags on the Beach

Love me some Lomax! Katie, Lance, and Reid. Great family pic I must say!:)

Kathleen and Caroline at the beach music concert. This picture looks familiar...but it used to be me holding Kathleen and now she's holding my little girl:)

Emma Kate and Caroline playing barbies...what a special friendship. I know Sara and Jed were just as happy as Tony and I about them playing together sooo well. Inseperable all week!

You play hard, you sleep hard! Another bonus!

We celebrated my wonderful Dad's 65th birthday! I can't think of a better place to be on your b-day!

The chicken wing crew...these boys fry up some mean chicken wings every year! I think they have more fun making them than we do eating them. And that says a lot b/c they are delicious! Jason, Lance, Jason N. and Kyle who came straight from Africa!

The Perez Family Beach Picture. Thank you Katie for the wonderful photographs!

Lastly, the GORGEOUS sunset from the front porch. What a blessing.

I HEART OCEAN ISLE BEACH but even more than that I love the family that comes together once every year at this beach. I have the fondest memories of summer family vacations at O.I.B. It really is my favorite week of the whole year and this year was no different. Just perfect. 25 + people all staying together in a beautiful home. The house booms with laughter for seven straight days and nights and everywhere you look people are relaxing and happy. As I was upstairs getting ready one evening, I just sat there and listened to the laughter that was coming from several different areas of the house. Five families come together for a week and become one big family. When we are there it would be hard for someone to come in and know who went with who. I'm smiling right now just thinking about the bond that has been nutured over the last 30 years. This year a group got together and made everyone t-shirts to celebrate. We have an on-going joke going that every new person that comes has to eat a pickled egg (if you have never had the pleasure, all you need to know is pink, boiled eggs floating in pink horrific vinegar). Great memories were made again this summer and I HAVE A T-SHIRT TO PROVE IT! Until next year...

I'm the proud mother of 2 little FISH!

I have always loved being in a pool whether it is swimming, water aerobics, or just relaxing. These days I like to call it my "water therapy"...not physical therapy, just therapy. It clears my mind and relaxes me. I was on the Sedgefield Country Club swim team at the age of 4 and swam competitively until I was a junior in High School. I thought I loved the water and started young but my little mermaids have blown me out of the water. Caroline and Little Maggie are so comfortable in the pool and NOTHING could make me happier. Caroline can swim to the bottom of the deep end, do flips under water, and is a pretty dang good backstroker! And today (can you tell I'm a proud Momma) Maggie started swimming! Thankfully my dearest friend Rebecca was there with her phone to catch it on video! It's just a tiny clip but we captured her first little swim. Caroline started swimming when she was 3 years old but Mags just turned two in May. I'm impressed and just as proud of them as I can be!