Craigslist and other fun things

So after failing my gestational diabetes test for Riley Jean McPherson we knew things were going to have to change. A gym membership is just not right for us right now and walking outside does not always happen so after some discussion Jon and I reopened the debate on getting a treadmill. Instead of getting a new one we thought we would give craigslist a try. Let me say families need to communicate before listing things on the site or when we show up at your door we all feel really bad/awkward/rough. The husband took us to the exercise room while the wife yelled her treadmill was not for sale then they shut us in the exercise room and were on the other side saying not nice things to each other. After making it clear we only wanted the treadmill if this was a whole family decision to get rid of it we gave them the cash put the treadmill in the truck and drove off. So the McP's are now proud owners of a ProForm 860 and I (Ashley) will start walking on it so that in 7 weeks Riley comes out with as little damage because my body hates us both.
In the garage folded up - waiting for our friends to come home so that we can rope Troy into helping Jon move it into the house because I can't really pick it up to help - just walk on it.

Then onto OTHER FUN THINGS!!! Our neighbors got their little girl a new power wheels jeep for Christmas and were going to give their old one to goodwill and decided Molly was a good case instead. So Molly is now the proud owner of a one seater jeep - which came at a perfect time because Will needed some wheels and he doesn't even care if it is pink!!
Yesterday Will, Spencer and Molly all took turns driving. The 4 year old was much better at it than the 2 year olds. Today Molly got some driving tips from her dad and is at least moving when sitting in the car instead of just honking the horn, moving the steering wheel and not moving an inch. This is good training for what is to come in 13 years!!
Jon holding the pedal down coaching Molly on how to drive - we are going to have to work on which side of the road to drive on since we are not in England which Molly seems to think we are since she drives "on the wrong side."

Hanging out

We have some friends who moved to Fort Bragg come and are staying with us while they search for a place to stay. Molly loves having Spencer and Will to play with and is learning to share and not bite. I love getting to have adult conversation since Jon has been gone for the past few days and share meals with. Today it snowed again so Molly and I hit the slopes!

Morning time playing with the boys
Helping me shovel the driveway
Sledding!


This is Molly getting to sled - wish Jon was here to drag her up each time but in a few days he can!

Playtime with dad

Today Jon only had to work a half day and since he came home after nap time he got hired to help take down Christmas decorations. To be fair the boxes were all in the attic and I can't really maneuver very well on a plank ducking through beams and carrying boxes so we waited for him. After getting all the decorations packed up he and Molly headed upstairs to put the totes up. As I was cleaning up I hear them having a lot of fun upstairs so went up to see what was going on and this is what they had created.

The Palace of Power.

This was Jon's first name for their fort, I guess I laughed a little too much because then it became - Molly's Mansion of Mayhem. Also some laughter on my part followed by Jon letting me know if Molly were a comic book character her name would be Destructo and this would be

DESTRUCTO'S DEN!!!!!

Destructo and her get away car
Don't let the cute smile fool you she is capable of destroying a perfectly clean room in a matter of minutes. She can also knock down the walls to this palace in a second.
Since they had a den we decided to have a fight with some of the toys laying around. My protection was the cozy coup while Molly and Jon attacked from the fort. We did good for a long time then I managed to hit her hand with a hard block which brought about crying. But this did bring about my favorite statement of all times to date - Momma bad (with tears) while I was trying to apologize for hurting her. Granted my apology came with a few giggles because she was so funny about the whole thing.
Just a fun shot from our morning time. Molly and played in the snow and when we came in she took off her socks and pants and would have probably taken off her shirt except it was a onesie. Don't worry though she kept on her hat to keep her warm (for 2 hours)!

Snow/Sledding NC style

While driving home from Christmas we heard reports of 6 inches of snow at our house and were super excited. Last night we got home and yes there was snow and I guess it might have even been 6 inches but it really seemed like nothing after the last two years. Not knowing if it would even make it until morning Molly and I dashed out of the car and grabbed the sled. We did a few rounds down the front of the house and even got Jon to join us after he finished unloading the car. Then I did what any person who loves a good sled day does - I researched best sledding hills in Fayetteville. Google is not as smart as I once thought though because after I had a few places listed and was super excited for the morning when could hit the slopes I realized it was giving me sledding hills in Fayetteville ARKANSAS. Seriously the search engine should know I wanted ones where I live not in another state so after a refined search I found the only hill in the whole area. After being spoiled by the hills in Alaska only finding one in the entire area was a little sad but we still bundled up today and hit the road to go to Rowan park and went sledding with about 30 others. Molly loved it, especially since she didn't have to walk up the hill and only cried when we made her leave after 1 1/2 hours of sledding. I am thankful for at least the one hill because it was a lot of fun for our family - we were some of the only ones with real sleds and snow gear. We did lend out a sled to one family who brought the top of their turtle sandbox for the boys to sled down - we were offered "top dollar" if we would sell but I couldn't part with it so they settled for borrowing it for awhile.

Molly happy to be home with her moose after a nice sled ride!
Sledding in our front yard!! When I saw we dashed out of the car I really meant it the only thing we had on besides our regular clothes was hats!
Rowan Park the best sledding place in Fayetteville, NC.
Bundled up and ready to go!!!!
Molly and I after I drug her up the hill. One good thing about a small hill - I could climb it a lot more. I don't know if I could have hiked to the top of Dyea more than once. Riley is making it very difficult to breath these days so she and I sat at the top of the hill a few times while Molly and Jon went down.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and if you got some snow you played in it!!!

Christmas at the mountain

Christmas this year we hit the road and drove to the McPherson Mountain Retreat to hang out with the whole clan. Everyone was there even Aunt Jenn who didn't have to rush back to work in retail this year along with her newest cousin Phoenix who turned one month while we were together. 7 adults, 2 kids and 1 dog made for some fun times during the week. We ate a lot, played a ton of Wii and board games (where I was undefeated in our newest game!) and cards. Our fun adventures including a candlelight service at a church we found online, playing in the snow with Lucky the dog, and making sure Molly didn't terrorize Phoenix too much. Molly made out in presents this year big time - so much Jon decided we should hold the present we got her until later. She got an easel, laptop, Noah's ark and shopping cart and of course tons of cute clothes! Hard to believe this time last year a skype conversation is all we had with Jon - this year we have been around him nonstop for 6 days and he doesn't go back to work for 2 more days. Molly loves having her dad around to spoil her and give her lots of extra cookies and play time outside.
Peek-a-boo - Molly woke up very happy to say hi everyone!

I love my cousin - I will love on him so much (more if people would stop supervising me)

Wii time while the girls took a break on the couch with all the grandkids (and grand dog)

Chasing Lucky the dog with dad and aunt Jenn.

Molly loves the snow - not quite like Alaska but enough to play in and have fun.

Molly and Phoenix getting some Grandmommy time on Christmas

Playing with her new toy

Molly supervising dad and Grandaddy - notice the easel in the background. Molly has had some fun coloring on it already. Dad was supposed to make sure she didn't get the markers but we came in to find them playing wii and Molly walking around with 2 markers in her hand. We had some fun times but Molly is a little sleep deprived.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

Fort Bragg Champs and Nutcracker

This weekend the camera was hidden but praise the Lord for phones with cameras!
Thursday Jon found out about a Fort Bragg family scavenger hunt and we decided it would be something fun to do Saturday so he signed us up. I got home Friday night at midnight from a ladies night with the wives in Jon's unit to find he and Molly crashed on the recliner - having only gotten home 2 hours earlier from a rehearsal for a wedding he had. This was not a great start knowing we had to get up early to drive to the lake but when our alarms went off we hurried up and ate our breakfast to the sound of rain hitting the roof. Since it was almost freezing we threw on our long john's, smart wool's and other layers to go on our hunt. I did however forget gloves for Molly since there was no snow it didn't dawn on me we would need them. We got to Smith Lake signed in and were off. The uber competitive person in me was going through things as fast as a I could and basically telling Jon to run here and get this or do this while Molly and I stood under shelter not to get wet. That went on for about 20 minutes before he told me I was taking all the fun out of the event - so I set aside winning for the sake of family fun (harder done than said). For the next 2.5 hours we walked around finding clues to where Rudolph was hiding, went and visited the gingerbread man, went and saw ponies and miniature horses (there is a difference and Molly didn't want to ride just touch them) and basically completed the scavenger hunt knowing we were not in the running for a prize but we at least had some fun and learned a few things about events going on post. Jon turned in our sheet while Molly and I stood around the bonfire roasting marshmallows and came back saying at least 20 others teams had beat us b/c they had already turned in their forms. We enjoyed the bonfire a little longer and then headed home to warm up before Jon left for a wedding he was doing. 30 minutes before the wedding I got a call from Jon saying WE WON!! That's right it was about points not time and we got the most points so the McP's are the Fort Bragg champs right now and will be getting our picture for MWR later today. Molly might not have enjoyed the entire 3 hours out in the cold with exposed hands but once we collect the prize I think she will realize it was worth it (I hope)!!

We found Rudolph 2 hours and 45 minutes after starting (they said it should take 90 minutes)
We also enjoyed our first family ballet and possibly the first time for any of us to go to one. Jon's question when things started - will they talk? His later observation - they are all mute! Molly enjoyed the music and a balcony row to ourselves where she could dance around and also make some observations during the performance. One great thing is that Molly really did understand the emotion the music was trying to evoke because at a climax part she was yelling/screaming/laughing so loud and clapping. Unfortunately during a quiet moment she also felt those emotions and was "that kid" but since all kids were free there were a lot at the performance so we didn't feel as bad.
Waiting for the performance to begin.

Molly loved it!
We did hear a little girl near us state during the first act that those were real kids down there performing because it was not on TV. But she also decided in the middle of the second act she was done watching the performance b/c the TV version was much shorter and she was tired of watching it and would rather watch it on TV. So she and her parents left which was kind of sad but maybe one day she will appreciate things like this.

Molly's BIG weekend

This weekend Granny and BertBurt came and delivered Molly's big girl bed. This is the bed I got when we lived in Nebraska - so it has been around since before I was in 3rd grade. I always loved my trundle bed and the fact that I had to jump to get up on it - should be interesting with a 2 year old though. While they were here we played games, went to restaurants with TV's so Jon and my dad could watch a little football, de-liced Molly and the house and got the battery in my parents car replaced.
Molly on the bed - I think she will start out on the bottom but Jon and I are still discussing that. My mom hopes that nesting hits soon b/c the room needs a little work to be ready for Molly once her sister takes over the crib.
Molly on the move
You can't catch me and my Head/Balthrop Belly. She may weigh next to nothing but she still manages to have the big gut that sticks out.
Granny let me help you vacuum those stairs - I think you missed a spot.
See mom this is how it works - do Granny and I have to show you everything?
While BertBurt was tasked to clean the fans Molly thought she would hold the ladder down for him. She also had some advice for him on how to clean.
On our way to Chapel. Another great thing about parents coming is that we were able to use them as babysitters for an Army event we had to go to Saturday night so Molly could be at home with people she knew and loved.
Taking a Saturday afternoon nap after the mall and a bad morning of lice removal.
Two monkeys picking at Molly while Jon tried to stay out of the way and not get any on him.
The start of a long 2 hour process to remove lice - get to repeat the process this Saturday and then hopefully never ever again!!!!!!