Hawaii - Part 1 Prewedding

Yes, this is only 3 months late but life has been a little crazy lately.

My baby sister is married! I can't believe it is already over. It was a beautiful wedding but I am not sure there is anything that is not beautiful in Hawaii. She married a kiwi (New Zealander) so they met in the middle for the wedding which was a nice getaway for everyone that attended. We got there about a week beforehand and stayed a couple days after.

First let me start with traveling with a toddler. Now, I am no expert because this was the first trip we took with Molly but I reccomend keeping flights under 4 hours for toddlers unless you are willing to drug them. On the way there we went from Houston to LA then LA to Maui. The first flight took off just as nap time was supposed to begin which was mistake number one but it wasn't that bad until about an hour before the flight landed. She was done and just wanted to sleep. Now let me say that M is one that needs her space for sleeping and just wants to be left alone. She never needed much coaxing for bed and has pretty much always been able to put herself to sleep. Well, being a lap child she didn't have any space. My mom was somehow able to make her fall asleep and she ended up getting about 30 minutes of sleep. Once we landed she woke up an unhappy camper. We only had about an hour layover then boarded our second flight. This one went way past bedtime so with 2.5 hours left on the flight she was past done. It was rough, real rough. She finally gave it up about 45 min before we landed. At that point I was ready to move to HI with what I brought so I would never have to board a flight again. I will say on the way back it was much better. One, because it was an overnight flight, two because the flight was not full and M got to spread out on 2 seats and sleep all by herself and finally because I used the drugs. I caved in and gave her Benedryl. Within an hour of the flight she was out and didn't wake up until we got there. It was lovely.

Moving on from there - Maui - amazing. Seriously. We stayed with the Struzick's in thier villa. The 5 hour time change was not too bad for Molly. We woke up at 6amish pretty consistently which was fine because we always had something to do. Molly loved the beach, mainly chasing the birds on the beach  and just not staying still but she did love it. She asked to go as soon as she woke up everyday. We did a lot of fun things. Most of my extended family came to the wedding so we got to hang out a lot, which was nice. We did some snorkeling, kayaking, went to an aquarium, ate some good meals and just hung out. Somehow going on a vacation with a toddler is nothing like how we vacationed prebaby. We would have just hung out, got some sun, been lazy. None of those things were on our agenda this time. Funny how that happens....

Ohhhh, ahhhh sharks. 

Nothing better than sharing a snow cone with Lolli. Seriously, she ate most of her and then most of mine. She was in heaven.

Family pic at the Aquarium

Doing some serious reading with Pops in the morning.

Just because I can't handle this picture. She is like 10 in this.

OMG that water was cold! Suprised everyone except Danny.

This is a better pic.

No need for a caption here. She was in heaven with Papa and Pops.

Of course the "stink eye" followed us to HI.

Oh this was another thing she liked about the beach, the sand, everywhere. I swear I am still washing sand out of things.

We on a snorkle cruise and learned that M does NOT do well on boats but a Mai Tai seemed to cheer everyone up.

DIVA 

I am kind of hilarious.

This is not a super attractive picture but she went in the water and enjoyed it for about 5 minutes.

So there was a goat farm. She loved it and apparently loved all the goat cheeses. 

She loves her cousin.

A family pic that somehow works.

Proof that we swam with sea turtles.

Happy 2nd Birthday Molly!

Molly Grace. You are two years old. I am excited and a little sad all at the same time. I can’t believe you have been around for two years. It has truly gone by in a flash. You are a crazy little girl with a lot of personality. You’ve got spunk, sassyness, sweetness all at the same time. You have an independent spirit but still need your mommy at times. As I am writing this at 8:45pm (bedtime was at 7:45pm) you are in your crib singing Happy Birthday to yourself. Wait – I am gonna come rock you – you are two and I am emotional. I think at this moment I need you more than you need me……… ok I am back.

You melt my heart, seriously, you have no idea. It is truly amazing to watch you grow. You are proof that there is a God, not that I need any but still, it leaves me in awe that God designed something so perfect. You personality shines through in everything you do. You are not a timid soul. You are a go getter that is for sure and since you are extremely verbal there is no stopping you. You let us know exactly what you want when you want it. You are a nurturing little mommy. You like to read to your baby, tuck her in and feed her. Just the other day I went to check on your because you got really quite and that usually means trouble but I walked in your room and you were sitting in the rocking chair with your baby in your lap “reading” her a book. Basically you were pointing out all the animals and telling her what they say. It made me into a puddle of mush. Bandaids, they are a hit, maybe because they are like stickers but regardless, you love them. You get very concerned when people have bobos or are wearing bandaids. In these past 2 years you have changed me. I look at the world in a different way. I look at the world through mom eyes. I totally get why Mimzie and Papa (my mom and dad) said the things they said to me, set the rules they set and did the things they did. I want the world to be your oyster but I also want to shield and protect you from all the bad things in this world. I will do my best to continue to be the best mom I can be. I love you little girl, more than you will ever know, or at least until you have a little one of your own. Then you will get it. ;)

Clothes:

  *   24mo./2T

  *   diaper: still size 5 

  *   shoe: 6.5W 

Sleeping: Your nap is no longer 2 hours. You have dropped 30 minutes so you sleep from 1-2:30pm. Bedtime is 7:45pm and you wake up between 7:45m and 8am.

Eating: Still a good eater. You will eat just about anything I put on your plate which is really nice.

New Tricks: So I was supposed to potty train you over Christmas and, well, I didn't. You are still going potty a lot on the big girl potty and you are now going at school as well. I just need a whole weekend where we can stay at home and not wear diapers but with packing our house and moving there just hasn't been time. Maybe when we move in with Nenna and Reece. Oh and you have gotten so much better with your colors. You can name most of them when I ask you.

Words: Girl, there is literally nothing you can't say. You have conversations where you tell me what you did at school, who you played with, what you learned in Sunday School, etc. You like to say "i dunno" when I ask you a question and you don't know the answer. The only words you have "trouble" saying are peanut butter (peanutdodo) and jellybeans (jellybaleans).

Teeth: Your teeth are still good and no new ones yet (you have your back molars that need to come in). We started using real toothpaste this month instead of the baby toothpaste and it tastes like bubble gum so you pretty much just want to suck on your toothbrush.

Likes:  You actually started watching almost a full episode of Mickey Mouse. It is still the only show you will pay attention to. You have always loved to read books but this month you LOVE reading books. You are always going back to your room to just sit down and read. I love it! We have moved a lot of your toys to the new house so you have been pretty limited which has been kind of nice. I don't realize how much stuff you have and we have until we started packing. You like to talk about all your friends and family. You will just sit there and name off various peoples names. When I ask you what your favorite animal is you say "ummmm.....giraffes and camels". We still talk pretty frequently about your camel ride over Christmas. Fav food this month are jello - mainly because Mimzie makes them into shapes - and popsicles are back. 

Dislikes: You don't love getting dressed. It takes about 15 minutes longer to get ready to either talk you into an outfit or tackle you into an outfit. In fact I was trying to put a shirt on you a couple days ago and you said "No, mommy, no! mommy! Can you be nice?!?" Really little girl, you are gonna use that on me! ;) You and your opinions girl. You might have worn a Christmas outfit mid Jan. because you just had to wear the reindeer. 

 I think you had a great birthday. We started out the morning with a family breakfast then headed off to work and school. You brought leftover cupcakes for all your friends that you talked about non stop. Then we went to Los Tios for your birthday dinner.

Family Pictures

So a while back - like back in the spring of 2013 - we took family pictures. I absolutely loved them. Really loved them. I highly recommend our photographer. She will be our annual family photog from here on out. Her name is Sarah and she is Fish Lips Photography. We used some of her pics in our Christmas card this year. M was 16 months in these pics so she looks quite different now but I couldn't not use them! You will see what I mean when you see the pics.

Christmas 2013

I can't believe it has already come and gone. We had a great Christmas full of family and friends. We started out on Christmas eve where we went to my parents house to have Christmas. I totally forgot to get a family picture. Grr. Of course it just seems like I came away with Molly pictures. We did go to church for the Christmas eve service and I was a little nervous because it was 6pm and Molly had never been to "big church" just Sunday school. But, she did ok. She was a little antsy at first but once she settled down and started reading the hymnal she was fine. She did yell at the top of her lungs "ALL DONE" after the first song sung by the choir - luckily we were in the back. 

Of course she sees a lollipop out of all those items.

Waiting patiently for breakfast. She inhales my moms breakfast casserole.

Happy birthday Jesus! This is a new tradition that I want to keep in the line up. She loved it! 

Christmas morning we started out at home and then went to Danny's parents house for an extended family lunch then Christmas with his family. She had such a great day that she didn't go to sleep until 10:15pm! She just sat in her bed talking about the day from 7:45pm onward. Crazy girl.

Family pic 

Pops with the grands

She got a car. She was a little excited. Just a little.

She was most excited to ride with baby emem in his present.

For whatever reason this tongue is always out like this. 

And the annual Struzick wrapping paper roll fight was on. This year M participated and dominated! 

We headed up to the ranch on Friday to just hang out and relax with Danny's fam. We did a little four wheeling or "four lala" as Molly says, game playing, football throwing and looking at the animals. 

I mean - lovely.

Learning about the important things in life.

This girl is a little dare devil. Always wanting to go faster.

Baby Emem just enjoying the view.

Saturday my mom's side of the family came up to enjoy the ranch and have a little Kluth Christmas. There were about 20 of us, including 7 kiddos. As always it was too short but a lot of fun.

Reece got the gift of the day. We do a nice white elephant gift and he just so happened to get a fluffy, leopard robe. 

Aunt Pat from Chicago always sends popcorn for Christmas and the kids chowed down.

Life lessons with Aunt Nenna.

Cooper with the catch of the day.

All the kiddos 

The ladies and the chick magnet. My cousin is gonna have her hands full. ;)