Our Last Week

This past week Jon got to go to Gettysburg for some military training and my mom came down to visit. My mom and I drove to Augusta, GA to visit her sister and family (all the pictures are on her camera and I forgot to download them before she left so no pictures in this blog - sorry). We met my aunt, uncle and cousin Stephanie at Cracker Barrel. After lunch we went back and Molly got to play with my cousins Little People while I took a nap. That night most of the family got together just to hang out and eat , Molly enjoyed eating and playing with Lanie her second cousin. The next day we got to see Stephanie's house and Molly decided to raid her pantry and has a new favorite - Townhouse Fliptz which is 1/2 cracker 1/2 pretzel.
This weekend Jon and I have seen the power of 4 days influence with Granny. While at a picnic Molly picked up napkin and started wiping down the benches and ground and at home she found a onesie and started to clean the bathtub. Not that I don't clean but she was a little more exposed to continuous cleaning with Granny around and I guess she likes it. Let's hope it sticks because I would gladly give her chores if I thought it would make her happy:)
Since Jon got home it has been picnic central here. We had his brigade picnic, chaplain picnic and Rock the Fort. We have spent more time outdoors in the past 2 days than most of the summer and boy was it HOT. We have brought home a very dirty, tired and cranky girl each night too.

Oh Crap

We have been working with Molly to increase her vocabulary. We point to things and ask her to repeat which she doesn't. My mom came into town and while I was at bible study she tried for hours to get Molly to say Granny with little luck. This morning however my mom was trying to get a stain out of one of my shirts and was pouring boiling water over it and burned her self and said Oh Crap. Guess who repeated her?? Molly sitting in her highchair eating her breakfast casually repeated Granny's Oh Crap.
At least I know she can hear and is capable of repeating us when she wants to right??

Corn Maze

Sunday we went to Hubb's Corn Maze in Clinton, NC for a family fun day. Jon, Molly and I crammed a Taco Bell lunch in after chapel and drove 40 miles to experience the maze of all mazes!! It had 2 different courses (the 1.5 and 2.5 mile), toddler town, pony rides, silo slides and corn nuggets. We enjoyed the day out there and completed both courses. In my last post I said I wouldn't trust Jon with land navigation and our family and after Sunday, well let's just say I am a little better at finding checkpoints in a timely manner. On Jon's behalf I will have to say that it is hard to navigate and hold a kid but every time I tried to hold her it was like having a siren in the maze - FIND US, SAVE ME, I WANT MY DADDY!!! I think that is what she was shouting but all I heard was WHAAAAAAAAAA dada, WHAAAAAAAA dada. So needless to say Jon carried Molly 90% of the time in the mazes.
Here are the pictures of the fun!!

This is the aerial shot of the maze. Crazy I know, the tank maze is 2.5 miles and the helicopter is 1.5 miles. I bet you will never guess who the sponsor was this year?? If you guessed the US Army MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) you win!!
The Toyota one at the top is the haunted maze that is open at night in October.
Molly and Jon enjoying a barrel ride.
The silo slide - actually a lot of fun. Molly was brave enough to go down one time on her own and smiled even.
The hay ride - Molly is pretty much dying of heat at this point and Jon and I were not far behind.
Molly loved touching the ponies.
Checkpoint 11 in the maze. At this point we had completed the helicopter maze, taken a break and were almost done with the tank maze.
Molly's favorite part I think - toddler town with play equipment her size and of course a swing!
What a great way to finish the day - corn nuggets - which is basically Cheetos but instead of cheese a molasses coating. Can you say sugar high??

Adventure Race

Jon and his assistant (Sgt Gregory) participated in an Adventure Race Saturday. The race consisted of a 5k run, orienteering (more details later), 10k mountain bike ride, mystery even and canoe. The race started at 7:30 and I intended to sleep in and then come out later with Molly - that plan was not accepted by Molly who at 6:15 started crying bloody murder and looking all over the house for Jon. I guess she knew it was Saturday and he should be home, so I showered with her screaming and then loaded her into the car screaming and drove to the race, with her screaming and saw Jon start the race. Guess who turned all smiles when she saw her daddy??

EVENT 1 - The Run
Look fast because this is probably the last time they had the lead. Jon's goal when he came home from the briefing was to beat at least one team and preferably a girl. There were Special Forces, Green Beret and some other stud teams out there who probably do this kind of stuff in their sleep but the chaplain/assistant team were determined to show them all!!


EVENT 2 - Orienteering
This is like geocaching but with a map, protractor and compass (not GPS or modern technology). They were given 3 points on a map they had to find. One team had to start from the beginning of this twice b/c they couldn't get the points to add up. Let's just say I hope I am never lost in the woods with Jon and Sgt Gregory without a GPS b/c if we are dependent on their orienteering it could take a few hours. Without this section of the race they stood a chance but it took them 3 hours and miles and miles of walking - the fastest team finished the entire race in 2 hours 26 minutes. Don't worry though a few others teams were slower and one team even got so mad at each other after a few choice words with each other they quit the race. I am proud that the 2 of them didn't give up even though I am sure they were both a little frustrated at the length of time and miles it took to find their points. The picture above is them finally finishing!
EVENT 3 - Mountain Biking
From what I understand it was more hills and sand which was not quite the mountains they were thinking but they made some pretty good pace on this part of the race and made sure to keep the few teams behind them - well still behind them.
EVENT 4 - Mystery Event
One team member was blindfolded and lead by the other teammate to a ball pit where they had to find~
the 2 balls that were different from the rest. This event was a nice rest for each team. Most of them enjoyed catching their breath after the previous events.
EVENT 5 - The Canoe
They ran down to the beach got in a canoe and paddled out to the marker turned around came in and sprinted to the finish! A few teams flipped their boat but not Jon and Sgt Gregory they made it and after a few minutes they made it in a straight line even!
Almost there!!
Finishing the race!!! It only took 5 hours 25 minutes but they finished and I am proud of them for sticking through it even after event #2!!!
What a happy team!! I know Molly was happy! They did beat a few teams and even a girl or two.

Decorated House

One great thing about living 7 hours from family - they can come and visit. The McPherson's came the week our household goods came and helped us unpack all the boxes!! Well once they left we have maintained a house with one room piled with all our decorations waiting for us to take the time to put them up. This weekend my parents came and took care of the second step of the process. The walls have stuff on them now, the baseboards were cleaned by BertBurt and Molly, a mouse was cleaned out from behind the fridge and I now have a chore thanks to my mom. Here is most of the completed house!

Molly has really gotten into the redecorating - she loves moving around and pieces she can get her hands on. The pumpkins have been moved many times in the 24 hours they have been in front of the door.
The entry way- my mom was able to somehow get 33 crosses up with some fun arrangements instead of all piled on one wall.
The living room
The kitchen
Molly's room (for now)
The master bedroom
Our guest suite/ bedroom
Molly's track aka the bonus room. We have decided against buying furniture to put in this room and will leave it empty. At times we might put a few toys in it as a play room but the stairs are steep and I can't get things done if I am stuck upstairs with Molly so it will mainly be our white room:)
Jon's new bookshelves - got them at unpainted furniture and Jon is finishing them
The reason we need so many bookshelves - the study and its box look!

Molly's big annoucment

Here is Molly's news for everyone.
Coming March 2011 - the newest McP.
I know all you crafty people are probably rolling over in envy b/c of my elaborate onesie design but you can borrow it if you want:) Some of you may know this about me but I am not a very patient person. I figured out I was pregnant in a Walmart bathroom after taking the pregnancy test I just bought and went right back out into the store got the onesie and red sharpie. After I bought them I went to the car and wrote on the onesie and then gave it to Jon once I got home from the store. He was a little shocked and excited all at the same time.
Today was my first appointment and I got to hear the heartbeat so it made it much more official to all of us!!

DC Visit

Molly and I headed out last Wednesday for a quick visit to friends and family. While with my parents Molly got to do her favorite thing and ride the carousel. She also got about 15 mosquito bites as she helped cheer on BertBurt in his first attempt to coach soccer - I got 20 while being his 6th player at practice. If Upward kept score I know his team would win! On Friday my parents flew out to visit Brian and family who just moved back from Malaysia so I hung out at their house, took Molly to the park and met up with friends at Pentagon Row for some food and fun times:) Jennie, Jessica, Molly and I did the Urban downtown hip thing and ate at a restaurant right down the street from Jennie's new condo then we did the cool old friends thing and went back to Jennie's and ate desserts and talked about the fun times and high school. Saturday Molly and I headed out to West Virginia to see the McPherson's. We had some excitment as a humming bird got in the cabin and it took us all over an hour to get it out. Molly loves being spoiled by Grandmommy and Aunt Jenn - and I love not having to be the only one she gets attention from!! Molly did figure out that if she would sneak over to Grandaddy she could get some sweets from him without any ladies seeing and then get some more from us - we obviously figured this out much later. Sunday we lazed around until Molly's nap time and then hit the road for our 7 hour road trip which she slept 4, played 2 and screamed 1 hour!