Trampolines and toothbrushes

Molly and Alex got trampolines for Christmas, and they love them! I love that they have a way to exercise/use energy in the winter!

Alex bounces really high!

Molly loves bouncing.

See all of these toothbrushes? We have a problem at our house. We SHOULD have made a rule from the start that when we get a new one, we throw the old one away. However, Molly's toothbrushes have always been very special to her, and she cried so hard that we just decided it wasn't a big deal to let her keep some. Well, it has become a problem. Not only do we not have room to store 257 toothbrushes, but now she has decided that ALL of them (not just hers, but all of them in the house and the floss and toothpaste tubes too) need to be bathed a few times a day. She brushes her teeth and then fills the sink with water and dunks them all and then dries them off.
It all started one day when she had taken them all out and had them next to the sink. Then when she went to spit out her toothpaste, she spit some on the toothbrushes next to the sink too, so they needed to be rinsed. Well, now it's like some fun obsession of hers to wash them all repeatedly throughout the day. Who knew kids were so quirky?
Yesterday when I asked her why she was doing it, she said something like, "I think they got a little bit of toothpaste on them. See, I wash them in the sink like this and then I dry them all off. It takes a little bit of time and work, but it just has to be done!" Ok, then!

Fun Times at Sesame Street Live!

We went to Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up. It was SOOOOO fun. :)
Molly looks grouchy in this photo. For some reason she didn't want me taking pictures of them.

I was really impressed by how much action and dancing goes on!

It was a really cute show. Here are some more photos.

Kids are strange

Kids are strange, or at least mine is. :) Molly likes to wrap things up. Sometimes she just writes notes or "messages" and wraps the paper in 100 yards of tape. We've tried to limit the tape usage, and I guess now she's gone to toilet paper. At least it's clean toilet paper.

Exhibit A: One ball of toilet paper with a paper loop taped around it. I found this on the top of our piano.

I opened it to find a pipecleaner mouse she apparently made at preschool. Why it was wrapped? We will never know.

Exhibit B: A ball of toilet paper stuffed inside a small bag of bubble wrap, fastened with a piece of plastic that I think is from a computer mouse. (????) I found this in her room.

I unwrapped it to find..... Chapstick. Of course!
The funny thing is, just this morning she asked me if I knew what happened to her Chapstick she kept in her room. :)

I told Molly I found her Chapstick. I asked her why she wrapped it up in toilet paper. She said, "I wrapped it in bubble wrap so that it would be safe." :)

I confiscated a roll of toilet paper I found in her room. I told her I was taking it back to the bathroom and that it was not supposed to be used for wrapping things up.
She frowned and then said, "Mom, how did you know I did that?"
LOL!

Barrettes

Poor Alex. Molly took the barrette out of her hair and put it in his.

I have a feeling every little brother with an older sister has had this happen to them at one point or another. Generally I don't make Molly play with only girly things (she loves dinosaurs, for instance) and I don't steer Alex away from Dora or whatever, but I had to draw the line at barrettes. :)

---
Molly has said some more funny things lately.

The other day, we were driving and Cory and I were having a conversation. All of a sudden, Molly said, "Excuse me, did you know there are cactuses in Radiator Springs?!?" (For those of you unfamiliar, Radiator Springs is the town from the movie Cars)
Cory and I started giggling because we had not been talking about anything at all related to Cars, radiators, cacti, or anything that could have made her think of that. It was just so random and she was so emphatic!
Molly heard us laughing and said, "No, I'm SERIOUS! There ARE cactuses in Radiator Springs."

One other time she heard us mention California, and she got really excited. She said, "Did you say California? That is where all the talking cars are!!!"
(In the movie Cars, the main character is trying to get to California for the big race.)
If we ever do end up in California soon, I think Molly will be really sad to see that the cars there are the same as they are here.

Basement: BEFORE

Here are some "before" pics of our basement. Not so cute, was it?

Basement: AFTER!

Bathroom

We are so excited to have a finished basement! The carpet was just installed yesterday, and last night we started to "move in". It still needs our TV, some finishing touches, and some decorating, but here are some "after" photos. :)

Family Room

Built-in storage