First Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!!!

Getting ready for the party! We had an Elmo themed party since Molly loves Elmo so much! There aren't party stores here like we have at home, so we had to order everything online and have it shipped here months before. It all came together in the end though and fortunately because we have an APO military address, we can ship things using local US postal service prices verses international overseas rates.

Bouncing in the bouncy castle with daddy. We rented this from the base and it was a hit! My parents have one of these at home that they used at my nephews parties and it never fails to be the making of a birthday party.


Kids playing on the swing set at the party.

Grill master Grandpa. We grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs with all of the fixin's for dinner. We also had chips, cole slaw, potato salad, my dad's chili, grapes, baked beans, animal crackers and of course cake and ice cream! Lots of kiddies went home with full bellies that night :)

Supper time at the bouncy castle

Finishing up her veggie burger and ready for cake! Did I mention that Molly loves veggie burgers? Especially when Nana or Grandpa feeds them to her.


Molly's FANTASTIC cake! A lady from Molly's playgroup makes cakes and it turned out sooo perfectly! Thanks Tonya, we loved it!

It's about time to blow out my candles! Yum, that cake is alll mine!!!!!!

Molly wasn't very interested in the cake, but finally she suspiciously stuck her finger into the cake and licked the icing. MMMMMM.. then she stuck her finger into it again and again. I gave her a bite of the cake which she liked ok, but after two bites she was all done with that.

Grandpa and Gram Marion Mushrush at Molly's party

Opening up her presents with mommy and her playgroup friends.`


Party favor boxes

Mom and Dad came to visit!

Here are a few pictures from my parent's visit last week. These are from their camera, we havent' even looked at the hundreds of pictures we took during the week. So you will probably see another posting from their trip in addition to the birthday party pictures. We had such a wonderful time with them. It meant so much to us having them visit and help with Molly's birthday party. They really made it a memorable occasion, so thank you mom and dad! We miss you already

Seeing each other for the first time at the airport. It only took Molly about 2 minutes and a good rub of my dad's "bald head" for her to remember him. Not to mention my mom carried an elmo doll the entire way from NC to London on the plane, so Molly jumped immediately into my mom's arms.

In case you can't tell, I'm VERYYY happy my parents are here. I've missed them so much.


This is a little insane. Definitely like father like daughter with that walk.


My parents took Bryon, Molly and I to Scotland for 5 days. We stayed in a self-catering house right in the middle of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. It was so beautiful! Molly did really well with the 6 hour drive but every now and then we would have to stop for a walkabout break. They have lots of these little pullovers here, where you pull the car over and just get out to stretch your legs.

Carlisle Cathedral. We drove half way to Scotland and overnighted in a guest house in Carlisle, UK. We saw the Carlisle Cathedral, Carlisle Castle and Hadrian's Wall before leaving Britain and heading to Scotland where we spent the next 4 nights.

Sporting the Hoke umbrella outside of Carlisle Castle.


I love this picture! That's not a happy baby...No doubt dad was making some goofy face at her.


Molly and mom at Hadrian's Wall.

Mom, dad and Molly at Stirling Castle in Scotland. If you don't remember the significance of Stirling Castle, re-watch Braveheart, the history of this area is really neat! In the background, you can see a monument off of my mom's shoulder. This is the memorial to William Wallace. We visited that later on while Molly was napping.

We figured out the easiest way to carry a baby through a castle, on your shoulders! Not only was she close to us which made her less scared of the noise and crowds but she got a birds eye view and was very entertained the whole time.

My dad in front of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.


I have to end this posting with the best picture of them all. Molly throwing back a pint at the pub. Yeahhhh that looks good baby girl!

Happy Birthday Molly

Today is Molly's first birthday! I can't believe my little girl is turning 1. To think that almost at this exact time 1 year ago, they were inducing my labor and like 13 hours and a great deal of pain later, little Molly made her appearance. Most mom's say they forget the pain of childbirth, well, I am not one of those moms. I remember vividly the intense pain it was having Molly but there is no doubt it was well well well worth it.

It is hard to believe how fast kids grow, especially those first 5 years (or so I hear). Molly is running around everywhere, chatting away in her Mollyese language with a few distinguishable words here and there. She understands so much and really listens now! If I say, lets go pet Sam (our rabbit), she makes her way to Sam and starts trying to pet him. Or if I say, do you want to go to playgroup? She will reach for me and not mind getting in the car. I didn't realize children could understand so much at this age. She also is starting to disobey at times and we are having to figure out age appropriate discipline for her. And when I say disobey, I mean she throws food on the floor at dinner time, will occasionally push kids away if they want her toys or if I hold them and she is jealous.

She sleeps 10-12 hours a night (unless she decides she's rather play and gets up for a few hours). She takes two naps for like an hour each. She loves fruit and veggies and especially loves frozen veggies. She could eat frozen peas all day. Her newest food likes are tomatoes, cucumbers and fish sticks. She still takes a bottle pretty often during the day. I tried to start weaning her last month and it was so horrible, I'm sure the neighbors were thinking about reporting me to DSS. She absolutely adores her bottle, so for now, she is still sipping away.

She loves reading books, especially ones with black and Asian children in them! She is fascinated by their skin color. At playgroup the other day, there was a black family who just got to base and this was their first time at playgroup. Molly walked over and touched the mom's arm, so mesmerized! When Uncle Chris comes to visit, he's in for it!! She will be attached to him!

She loves elmo! We got her a little kids couch for her birthday and she will sit on the couch with the remote and watch her elmo video. It is adorable! The past few months she has started copying everything I do. If I'm folding laundry, she wants a piece of clothes to fold. If I'm making dinner, she wants a pot and spoon to stir. I love it! She also gives lots of wet slobbery kisses and big hugs and is very affectionate.

We are having a birthday party for Molly today. My parents and Bryon's dad and step mom are coming from the US to celebrate with us and we are soooo excited to have them! We are grilling out and we rented a bouncy castle for the kids to go wild in. Molly's play group friends and some people from church and Bryon's work are also coming. While I am very excited about tonight, I am a little sad in my heart that my baby is growing up so fast. I am EXTREMELY thankful that the Lord enabled me to stay at home with her this past year. It has been hard for me giving up my career. Several times I prayed that I would find a part time job to keep up my skills and the answer to all of my prayers had been, there is a time and season for everything. I am thankful that this season of my life can be dedicated to my children (Molly and the little one to come!).

We will be sure to post pictures after the festivities.

Big Sister!

We have big news! Bryon and I are expecting our second baby! Molly is going to be a big sister even though she has no idea what that means. We found out a few weeks ago and have our second doctors appointment on October 1st where they plan on doing an ultrasound to date the pregnancy. I plan on having this baby here in Britain in the National Health care System, at this point. We can have him/her at the military hospital but it is 1.5 hour drive from our house on a low traffic day, sooo I'm not sure about that drive if I'm in active labor. We have plenty of time to decide that though. I just wanted to let everyone know!

Please keep us all in your prayers. We have a lot to be thankful for. It is wonderful serving a God who loves us so much that He gave us this blessing. To think that He knew exactly the child that He wanted us to have, carefully took a specific sperm and egg, combined them and created this life.. wow. I stand in awe of the greatness of God.

Inside of our house

Here you go!!! Everyone has been asking me to post pictures of the inside of our house, so here are a few. If you come visit, you will be able to see it all... hint hint :)


One wall of our den with the stove and tv. Ive never used a stove like this but gas is so expensive here, we are definitely going to get as much heat out of this as we can!

Our guest room. This is one wall of the guest room. (As you can see I am not great at taking pictures of bedrooms). This is where you will stay if you come visit us!

Molly's room, part 1

Molly's room, part 2

Our gym. This room is behind the garage so rather than use it for storage, we use it as a gym!

Sinks here are different than the states. This is your standard bathroom sink. Bathrooms also do not usually have plug ins which is very inconvenient and they don't have any space to store things. So you have to have baskets or buy shelving to store bathroom stuff.

This is our kitchen table area. Behind this is the actual kitchen and laundry room.

OHHHH YEAHHHH.. perhaps the best part of the whole house, the huge clawfoot tubs!! I have made it a priority to take a bath everyday if at all possible. :)

Peacocks

We have some beautiful peacocks that live behind our house. These pictures were taken from our bedroom window when they were out in the pasture. Several mornings we wake up and they are in our back yard or right outside of our door checking things out. What beautiful creatures God ceated!

Balloon

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Molly playing with her balloon that she was given at the vet. And yes, there is a bruise on her forehead, she ran full speed towards our bed and bonked her head. She is fully recovered with cool battle marks to show for it.

Labor Day Trip

Shakespeare's Birthplace: Stratford upon Avon

I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day. We had Labor Day off since we are working with the American Military. Last Monday, Britain had their "Labor Day" which is called a Bank Holiday. We didn't have that holiday unfortunately. Would be nice to have both British and American holidays, but no such luck. We decided to head to Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. This was one of my favorite places when I came to England in the past with my mawmaw and I knew Bryon would love the history and literature, so we went. It took about an hour and a half from our house to get there which was perfect for Molly to nap on the way. We had a great day touring the house, grounds, church where he was buried, walking around the city and seeing all there is to see.

Geared up and ready to go!

Family shot outside of the house

Stratford city sightseeing tour bus about a block away from the Royal Shakespearean theaters. The theater is currently under construction, so I didn't take a picture of it. Fortunately, it is still open despite the construction so you can guarantee we will be catching a show there!

Outside of the house, about to head in for the house and grounds tour. Molly held onto that cup all day and let the water trickle down her shirt and Bryon's shirt. They were both wet by the end of it.

Where my sweet husband took me for lunch. It seemed fitting since we were in Shakespeare country to eat food of love, haha!


Molly and I having lunch at the sidewalk cafe. She was much more interested in exploring than eating and made sure to scream at the top of her lungs every time a dog walked past or anything she found interesting. I'm sure the others at the cafe were ready for us to leave.

Shakespeare's grave. Also burried there is his wife, Anne, his daughter Susannah and her husband John Nash and his grandson-in-law. He had only 1 granddaughter and she never had children. So Shakespeare has no decendents. Also in the church is the record of his baptism and burial. Very neat!

Typically I don't take pictures inside of old churches because I feel like so many of them look alike. However, I don't know when I have ever seen such magnificent stained glass windows. These were right over Shakespeare's grave. They weren't from the 16th century when he lived, they were put in later on, around the 18th century. Absolutely incredible, they took my breath away.

We can't go anywhere without Bryon sampling the local ice cream. This was mint chocolate chip and he gave it his stamp of approval.

After 4 hours of walking, and touring around, Molly is done. She made herself a pillow and took a nap the last 30 minutes of the afternoon.

Newest Family Member!

Meet Sam

Sam's House

Figuring things out

What is this mom? I'm not so sure about this..

Never mind! I love him! Give him to me now!

Well, that was fun, now it's time for some Elmo!!!

Molly got her first birthday present this weekend from her Grandpa Mushrush, a sweet bunny named Sam! We adopted him from another playgroup family and absolutely adore him! He has a wonderful disposition and cuddles sweetly. Molly gets so excited when she sees him that she doesn't know what else to do except scream. So she screams at the top of her lungs and starts jumping up and down, well, this scares Sam so he hides in his hutch which makes Molly want him even more. You see the cycle. So, Bryon or I hold Sam and let Molly pet him and this seems to work well. She doesn't really understand the concept of being gentle though but Sam just rolls with the punches (literally). He already seems like he is getting used to Mollys screams and clanging dishes. We went to the pet store over the weekend and got him a bunny "cottage" that looks like a piece of furniture. So even though he is in the kitchen, it is very tasteful (my one requirement to Bryon before I would agree to getting him).

We are thinking about getting Sam a friend, maybe another bunny (after we get Sam neutered) or a guinea pig. Then we wouldn't have to get him neutered and I hear bunnies and guinea pigs get along great. Do any of you know anything about that?? Also, I learned that you can't give bunnies lettuce! Who would have guessed, it upsets their stomach. I'm not sure if it is all types of lettuce or just iceberg but we're not risking it. He loves to eat hay and his bunny food and for treats he gets a big juicy carrot. YUM!