Pierced Ears!

Molly got her ears pierced tonight!

Molly had started asking to have it done about 18 months ago. She begged and begged, and we agreed to let her have it done for her 6th birthday. She had to finish a reward chart to get it done, which she did. We watched YouTube videos of other little girls having their ears pierced. We discussed the whole process. She was determined she wanted it. Then about a week before her birthday she changed her mind. We told her that was fine and she could wait as long as she wanted. She decided she would get them done when she turned 7.
Then when her 7th birthday got closer, she decided she would wait until she turned 8.
Until this week. This week she came home from school insisting that she really wanted it done THIS WEEK.
It had to be this week. She did not want to wait for Christmas or any other special occasion. She wanted it now!
We agreed.

However, we guessed this was not going to be an easy thing to accomplish. After all of our drama at the dentist office where Molly is terrified of everything that might possibly cause pain, I was a little worried about how she'd do at getting her ears pirced.

I was right. The poor girl REALLY wanted it to happen, but she was terrified of the actual piercing process and freaked out anytime they touched her ear. I will save you all of the details and videos showing Molly flinching, then demanding to get another chance. It did take visits to two different stores and a LOT of time and patience, but it finally happened. She got it done, and she is SO happy. :)

Molly BEFORE getting her ears pierced.

Molly after!

She picked peridot studs (the August birth stone). Her earlobes look a little purple, but that is from the marker that they used to mark the spot where the earring would go.
Yay Molly! We're very happy you didn't have to go home sad and disappointed tonight! :) Great job being brave!

Alex's toys

A few days ago, Cory and I found this (above). Alex had placed his favorite and most recent toys in a symmetrical display right in the center of our living room rug. When we asked him about it, he asked us not to move it. He wanted his special things to be just like that in that place (and normally no toys are ever kept in our living room). Ha!

Molly got glasses!

Here is Molly with her new glasses.
One Sunday evening, she was doing her homework and then got up and walked across the kitchen to see the clock on the oven. I asked her what she was doing, and she told me it was blurry so she had to get closer to see it. Then she said, "Ever since 1st grade, when I look at something far away it is blurry." Wow. Well, thanks for telling us. :)

We took her to Costco, and she was VERY excited to have a vision exam and pick out glasses. On the way to Costco, she said, "I really hope they have iCarly glasses." She was so happy to see that they did have a few iCarly frames, including the ones she picked. Hers are dark purple metal frames with a few flowers on each temple.

I'm glad she loves them so much!

Alex at Edinborough

Alex LOVES these little hand pedal cars they have at the gym at Edinborough Park. He has so much fun zipping around the room. He plays hard and gets so sweaty. I love it!

------------
Alex is pretty witty. He makes us laugh a lot.
The other night, Molly was being rude to him. She was just in a really bad mood. After saying some unkind things, she stormed out of the room. Alex looked at Cory and I and said, "I guess we'll have to trade her in for a nicer girl." Haha!

------------
Today Alex said, "Mom, do you know that sound waves are something that we can hear, but we cannot see them or taste them?"
I said, "You're right, Alex. Where did you learn that?" He said, "Sid the Science Kid." Thank you PBS for having such great educational shows! My kids actually learn things when they watch TV. :)

----------------
Alex has a change jar with a digital readout that tells how much money is inside the jar. He decided he really wanted to buy another Zhu Zhu pet (electronic hamster toy). Almost daily, he'd find a coin somewhere or earn some by helping out around the house, and he'd bring us his money jar and ask if it was enough for a Zhu Zhu pet. Finally on Tuesday he had enough, so I took him to Walmart (they have the lowest price and a good selection of the Kung Zhu battle hamsters for boys there). He was soooo excited to buy it. :)

Our kids just cannot get enough of these Zhu Zhu pets. I like that Molly and Alex play with them together.

---------------------
The other day, Alex brought a tupperware container with a vented lid and asked if he could use it for a cricket he and Molly had found. I said sure, but then I heard that there was something in the container. I asked if he already had the cricket in there, and he said, "No, it's just food." I asked him what he was feeding his cricket. He said, "frosted mini wheats."

It turned out to be a grasshopper and not a cricket, but Molly and Alex captured it and kept it for an afternoon. Then I guess the grasshopper was just too boring, so the lucky thing was released back into the back yard. :)

Twins Game!

We won free Twins tickets (great seats!) from my dentist, so we got to go to the Labor Day game. It was fun! It was the first time for any of us to see a game at the new stadium.

Go Twins!

I should have taken the camera and got a photo of Cory, but I didn't. Oops!

Molly watched part of the game, but this cute little bookworm takes a book with her everywhere she goes. She read that entire chapter book during the game. Oh, and notice her stylish garbage bag. It started raining! Weather.com said it would be done raining before the game and not start again until evening. WRONG. Oh well. Thankfully people near us had brought extra garbage bags and were kind enough to give us a few. :)

First Day of School!

Alex was nervous about his first day of Pre-K, even though he had gone to the same preschool last year. He woke up that morning and said he did NOT want to go. At one point in the morning, he even removed his school clothes and put his pajamas back on! It was a little crazy, but I finally convinced him that he was going. He still didn't want to smile for photos, so that is why he looks so grouchy here. As soon as he saw his class, he ran in and was happy to be there. He has loved every day of it and wishes he could go more.

Alex

Molly, ready for her first day of 2nd grade!

Molly is a pro at the school thing now. She was excited for 2nd grade and is loving it!

State Fair!

Molly and Alex both really love corn dogs, and at the State Fair the footlong ones do not cost much more than the normal ones. We got the kids the footlong ones, and they thought it was pretty great. :)

Alex ate more than Molly did! He finished at least 3/4 of that corn dog!

I tried to get photos of everybody going down the Giant Slide. I failed. Here Cory and Alex just made it to the bottom (they are on the red carpet, sitting on the burlap).

We had a great time at the fair, but I left my camera at home and didn't take many photos with my phone.

---------
On Monday, my dental office had a drawing on their facebook fan page. Anybody who uploaded a photo from State Fair got entered in the drawing for Twins tickets. I uploaded the photo of Alex with his giant corn dog, and I won! We got 4 tickets to the labor day Twins game! We haven't been to the new stadium yet, so we are really excited. Yay!

Happy Birthday Molly!

Molly is seven! Happy Birthday Molly!

Molly wanted to have a Tinkerbell-themed party at our house for her birthday. She invited all the girls from her class plus a few others, so we ended up with 12 girls as guests. They all were great, and had so much fun together!

I read a Tinkerbell story to the girls, they went on a treasure hunt, hit a pinata, made bead bracelets, played "Tinkerbell Says", enjoyed cake and ice cream, and watched Molly open presents. Molly loved it all!

Cake!

Here they are making sparkly bead bracelets.

Thanks for making Molly's birthday special!

Pinata

Molly loves pinatas. She gets so excited whenever she's at a party where they have one, and she always requests to have one for her party. This year, she helped me make a purple rosebud pinata for her party.
She was very excited to help. She had made a paper mache globe in kindergarten, so she felt like she knew exactly what to do.
I found a recipe for paste online that just required cooking flour and water together. The paste worked really well, but it was thick and lumpy. Molly thought it was really disgusting. I think they had just used glue or wallpaper paste at her school, and she was convinced I was doing it all wrong and that lumpy paste couldn't possibly work. :)

At the party, Molly blindfolded her guests and helped them spin around. Thankfully, the pinata was pretty strong. All the girls got to have a chance at hitting the pinata before it finally cracked completely open, spilling the candy.

Later, the girls were all busy in the dining room making sparkly bead bracelets. We all heard a pounding sound. Alex was in the kitchen, beating the remains of the pinata. Ha!

This is what was left after Alex finished. :)

Camping

This is a continuation of the post below with the minnow racing photos. After the reunion, we camped in our tent. It was the first time we had tent camped with the kids in several years. They were really excited!


Alex with his smore.

Molly

Our camping spot was on a huge grassy area. Molly and Alex had fun playing bocce ball while Cory and I packed up the tent before leaving.

This is a mayfly. It turns out Molly is terrified of these. The weekend we camped, there were hundreds of mayflies covering the walls of the campground bathroom. They don't bite or sting, but they do fly onto people and stick on clothing. Poor Molly screamed hysterically every time she needed to use the bathroom. We had to make sure the tent was 100% mayfly-free before she would go to sleep (and there were a lot of them, so it was a challenge to get them all out!)

Minnow Racing and more

Cory's family had a big family reunion at a lake near his hometown. We went for the weekend.
One of Cory's uncles made a minnow racing track, and it was a huge hit with the kids. Alex loved it!

Alex and Cory minnow racing

We camped in our tent at the lake after the reunion. Alex and Cory were getting set to make smores.

Alex and Molly like roasting their own marshmallows.