Mustangs Banquet Dinner

Last night was the Mustangs "End of the Season" Banquet Dinner.  All of the billet families were there, the players, coaching staff etc.  Gunnar, Kalin and I went (Miss Molly stayed at home with Marina, our babysitter, and had a fabulous time!)  We had a nice dinner, the coach spoke about the season and recognized each player and awarded them a plaque.  Then there were 6 specialty awards that the coach gave out such as: Most improved player, Most sportsmanship etc.  One of those awards was the "Coach's Choice" award.  The coach described the player that was the Coach's Choice, and  he had the nicest things to say.  About 30 seconds into his speech, I knew he was talking about Kalin.  He continued his speech, and at one point began to cry, because of how proud he was of him, and how much he will miss having him on the team next year (Kalin will be too old to play in the league next year) - and at this point, I am crying too, and when he finally revealed it was Kalin who was going to receive this award, he went up to accept it, and I was sitting there crying (like an idiot!) as if it were really my own kid up there!  I couldn't even believe it!  (Even Gunnar got all choked up!)  I think at that point it finally hit me that the season was over, and Kalin would be leaving us soon!  I was so proud of Kalin at that moment, he's gone through a lot in the short time he has lived with us, on and off the ice, and he truly has become part of our family!  We want nothing but great things for him in his future, and definitely plan on staying in his life in some way.  This whole experience of being a billet family has been so great, I never expected us to gain a family member through the process, but I wouldn't change a thing!  We love ya Kalin!

Kalin accepting his Coach's Choice award!

Since Kalin can't play in the league next year, they gave him his jersey!

From left: Coach, the captain, and 3 assistant captains (Kalin is all the way to the right)

The team

Family (minus Molly!)

Visitors!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a long time, we've been having some internet issues, so I've only had internet access through my phone!  But we're back, and ready to blog!

So last week, we had some visitors stay with us! Katie Hunter and her family.  Back story: Katie Hunter was formerly Katie Johnson, and Gunnar and I graduated from high school with her! (I actually went to school with her ever since kindergarten!)  Well, I saw on her facebook page that she was going to be in the Albuquerque area (she lived in Virginia) so I asked her how long she was visiting, and suggested we get together!  She has a daughter about 2 months younger than Molly.  So she wrote me back saying they were stopping in the area overnight, on there way to Arizona where they were moving!  Long story short, I suggested they stay here with us, I thought it would be nice to catch up and for the girls to play!  They agreed, and when they got here we went to Gunnar's building for a basketball game.  The girls ran around the suite, and had so much fun!  Their whole stay was so nice, it was great to catch up with an old friend, and meet her lovely family!  Below are some pictures of Molly and their daughter Kamryn playing!

Checking out the basketball game!

The next morning, playing before Kammy and her family left!

From the moment they got to our home, the girls were so busy playing with each other!

Hugs goodbye!

Thanks for staying with us Hunter family, come back soon!

Word Explosion

Within the last two weeks Molly has hit the "Word Explosion" milestone!  (Usually happens right around 18 months)  Her vocabulary is expanding a mile a minute!  She will repeat anything you say to her (sometimes it sounds clear as day, sometimes it's her own little variation)  I'm going to try to list the words she says, and usually uses on a daily basis - hopefully I can remember them all!
Hi - She says this to EVERYONE!  If we are in a store, and she's riding in the cart....every person we pass she says hi to over and over again until they say it back!  It's hilarious!
Bye
Daddy
Mommy
Arda (Arnold) - And she'll chase him around the house yelling Arda! Arda!
K - Kalin, our billet
Poppop - which is my Dad, but Gunnar's dad is "Pop" so we can count that too!
Cup - when she's thirsty she says cup, when her cup is empty, she takes it to the fridge and tries to reach the water dispenser on it to refill it!  It's soo cute!
Mimmie (Minnie)
Fif or Fiffin (Griffin)
Sis (Ansley) Griffin calls her Sissy
Baby
Car
Feas- Please (this is fairly new, we are working hard on manners since we are raising a young lady!) (God I sound like my mother!) thanks Deb!
pretty (this is what she calls jewelry)  She always examines my earrings and necklace and says "pretty"
Hot Dog (If you read the previous blog, you know what this means!)
Yes (she doesn't say this word enough, unfortunately she favors the next word!)
No (my least favorite)
Mine!
Go
Oh! alot of times she says this if she drops something, but usually she says it to mean yes, or if you ask her a question she'll respond "Oh?"
Bar - which is the cereal bars she likes, she'll go into the pantry, grab a bar, and bring it to me or Gunnar to open saying "bar!"
Shake
Boo (Kalin taught her this playing hide and go seek, it was precious!
Hockey - Gunnar, Kalin and I have witnessed this multiple times...I'm not sure she knows what it means, but god knows she watches enough hockey on TV or at Kalin's games!  SO I'm pretty sure she does!

I think that's it, but I may be forgetting some, it's hard to sit and make a list of them all at once! 

Animal sounds
Snake -sssssssss
Cow- Mooo -(although most times lately she laughs at me when we do this one, I have no idea why!)
Horse- nay nay
Dog- woofie woofie
cat- meeow
duck- quack quack
piggy- oink oink

We are so proud of our little girl, she's so smart! And growing up waaaaay too fast!  For all of you that told me to enjoy every minute b/c it flies by, you were truly right! Every day she does/learns something new which makes her closer to a big kid and further from a baby!  Breaks my heart!

Naptime Antics

Molly went up for a nap today around 12:30.  She decided today she would NOT sleep, and she played in her crib, and cried, said "Hot Dog" about a million times, (* I'll explain this at the end) cried some more, played some more etc.  At one point, after she was quiet for a little bit I checked on her via our video monitor, and she had taken her pants and socks off!  REALLY??!!  Then she really started to cry (probably because she didn't have any pants on!)  So I went upstairs, put her pants back on, and explained to her that she needed to take a nap!  Another hour and a half goes by with the whole crying/playing stuff, and FINALLY she fell asleep....I went up to check on her, and couldn't help myself, I had to snap a pic...it looks like she was trying to take her pants off again, and mid "drop" got tired and fell asleep!

This is a "pre nap" picture I took.  Could she be any cuter???

*Hot Dog Explanation:  Molly's absolute favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  She was introduced to the show by her cousin Melanie Fox when we were in NJ for her first birthday.  Ever since the first time she watched the show, she's been obsessed!  At the end of each episode of the show, the characters sing "The Hot Dog Song" and do a dance.  Molly began calling the show "Da-Dow" but it took me awhile to figure out that "Da-Dow" meant Hot Dog. (She began requesting the show by saying "Da Dow" a couple months ago)  But as of recently she has figured out the word "Hot" and now says Hot Dog all the time!  She also loves Minnie Mouse, and says "Mimmie" whenever she sees Minnie Mouse on TV, in a book, on something at the store.....she loves her!  When we put her to bed each night, Gunnar hands her her blanky and Minnie, and when he gives her Minnie, she has a huge smile and says "Mimmie!" and hugs her!  It's the sweetest thing! 

Party weekend

Molly had 3 birthday parties this past weekend!  2 parties on Saturday and 1 on Sunday!  Molly had so much fun, they had jump jumps at 2 of the parties (and lots of cake and goodies!)  And one party was at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center, so Molly got to go in the pool for the first time!  She had a blast!  I didn't get a ton of pics, just ones from the pool party!  Enjoy!

Molly & Griffin planning their next move! 

Had so much fun in the pool, all wrapped up in her Minnie Mouse towel.....poor girl was freezing!

Hoots

Today we ventured to Hoots, which is an indoor jump jump place, with Brandi and her kiddos Griffin & Ansley.  It was Molly's first time there and she had the time of her life!  They had all kinds of jump jumps, one was a huge slide, and Molly was obsessed with it! (Ofcoarse she was, b/c it was basically a two story tall slide, that I had to climb up, carrying her)  Who needs a gym workout when you spend your morning at Hoots!  Her buddy Grif was showing her the ropes, he's an expert at Hoots!  Below are some pics and videos from our little adventure, I hope te videos work, it seems like everytime I put a video on here, it works for a day, then stops! 

Beginning the climb up the big slide

In the Sesame Sreet jump jump

Bouncing around!

Going down the little slide

In the maze

I about die laughing everytime I see this picture!  Molly-literally flying down the huge slide!

At the bottom!  Wanting to go up and do it again!

Besties!!!  Molly & Ansley

Chatting with little Miss A!

Me and Molly going down the slide

Molly going down the slde by herself

Best Friends

I have really enjoyed watching Molly and Arnold's friendship grow, they really love each other!  And recently I've really been thinking about how much they have grown together!  In the beginning, Arnold was the "baby", we got him 4 months before Molly was born.  He joined our family 4 days after we moved into our house, so he was my little buddy, following me around while I unpacked the place!  Then once September rolled around and Miss Molly made her debut, at first, Arn was VERY jealous of her.  But it did not take long for him to realize he was her protector, and he takes the job very seriously! 

He's always by her side when it's time to eat, because he knows she will always share whatever she is eating.  If she is walking around with some sort of snack, he literally stalks her until she puts it down, then swoops in to retrieve it!  Recently, she has started to hold out her snack to him, and as soon as he gets close enough to smell it, she whips it away and starts to run from him, looking back and cracking up to see if he's chasing her!  They always chase each other around the love seat, Molly loves its and so does Arn!  If she stops playing with him, he'll nudge her or make some weird sound at her trying to get her attention to keep playing!  It's precious! 
Below I've posted some pics that walks you through their friendship! It was really fun to look back at the two of them!  

Their first picture together! Molly: only 8 days old ~Arnold: 6 months

Molly: 2.5 months  Arn: 8 months

Molly: 3 mths  Arnold: 9 mths

Molly: 9 mths  Arnold: 1

Telling Arnold a story!  ~ Molly: 1  Arnold: 1

 

Halloween 2010  Molly: 13 mths  Arnold: 19 mths

Molly 13 mths  ~ Arnold: 19 mths

Best buds! Molly: 15 mths  ~ Arnold: 22 mths

Petting Arnold
Molly: 17 mths  Arn: 23 mths

 

This morning!

(It's a really short video, b/c my memory card was full, but it's still cute!)

Poor Molly

Molly hasn't been sleeping well the past few days.  She's got 2 teeth coming in, and they are really giving her a hard time!  On Thursday, she did not nap at all!  Luckily Gunnar came home from work early that day, and he stayed here with Molls while I ran some errands.  When I returned to the house, she was passed out in his arms!  (He was snoozin too ofcoarse!) 

Then today (Saturday) I again, went out to run a few errands & pick up some lunch and when I returned, the little diva was a mess!  Daddy was "watching" her (aka the Flyers were on) So Molly did what any 17 month old would do, she got into some food & made a mess!

Enjoying the weather

We decided to enjoy the almost 70 degree weather today!  We took Bitty Baby for a walk in her stroller up and down our street!  Molly had SOOOO much fun!  We also got to test out the leash....I'm happy to report, it works like a charm! (even though in this picture I'm totally not holding it!)

A baby for Molly

Molly's latest obsession is babies.  She loves playing with (toy) babies.  She has an American Girl Bitty Baby that she got from Grammy and Poppop for her birthday, and since they are such nice (and expensive) dolls I didn't let her play with it right away.  But this past week, it made its debut out of her closet, and Molly just adores her!  She hugs her, kisses her, feeds her.  She even has a baby stroller (from her Uncle Wyatt) and she'll put her baby in it and take her for walks, it's the sweetest thing!  So yesterday while we were "leash shopping" (read the next blog for more on that), we happened to walk down the baby isle, and Molly started pointing to the shelves saying "Baby! Baby!"  So we picked out a new baby for Molly and that lucky little doll came home with us! (Yes, I'm a sucker)  It came with a little baby bottle, so I showed Molly how to feed the baby, and she literally walked around the house for an hour holding & feeding her baby (with her leash on haha)  But a little FYI for the new baby, you better be on your best behavior because I have witnessed Molly disciplining her Bitty Baby, she tells her "No" and hits her on the head when she's not happy with her!  Goodluck!

Taking Bitty baby for a walk

Hugs for Bitty Baby

Feeding the new baby (I was serious when I said before that Arnold is always right where Molly is)

Welcome to the leash club

Molly is the proud owner of.............a leash! (It's actually really called a "child safety harness" but "leash" is quite comical!)  In preparation for our flight to NJ (just me and Molly) at the end of the month, I needed something that could keep her safe and close to me, but allow her the freedom of walking on her own while we are traveling!  Since we have a 3 hour layover, I knew she'd never stay in her stroller that long (She always wants to be walking)  But I just can't risk letting her walk around in such a public place without being securely attached to me! (I recently had a NIGHTMARE that we were in a store and someone took her from me and I never saw her again, needless to say, worst.dream.EVER & I hope to never have that dream again) So anyway, I found this pretty spiffy "harness" with a little backpack she can wear, which will also be nice to store her toys and sippy cup.  I tried it on her yesterday and walked around the house with it and she LOVES it!  *A little side note, I had a "leash" as a kid, I remember it very clearly, and although it wasn't a cool backpack one like Molly's, it was rainbow, and it secured around my wrist, and I loved wearing it!  So Molly, welcome to the leash club!

Front and Back views of the "harness"