Mollie « Our Life and Times

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My Little Man

Posted Saturday, July 18th, 2009 by Mollie

Ben loves to be in his sling while I do my housework. And look how cute he is peeking out! I caught a glimpse of this in the mirror and had to stop to photograph the cuteness.

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I constantly have people, both strangers and friends, telling me that Ben looks just like me. He’s my “clone” Hannah told me last week. Actually he looks a lot like my sister Laura’s baby picture to me. What do you think? He has my eyes for sure, but I think the chin and nose might be more Wilkie. He definitely has my bald baby head.

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Please excuse the mess in the background… Ben was supposed to be helping me with chores while Nata was sleeping but was distracting me instead!

Posted in Benjamin, Life & Times | 10 Comments »

Early Anniversary Celebration

Posted Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 by Mollie

Last Saturday Andy and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. The actual day is July 17, but hey, we have to take advantage of free babysitting whenever we can!

We left Ben and Nata at my parents’ house. They didn’t even notice we were gone. Ben went to sleep like a champ, and when we came back to pick them up at 10:30pm, Natalie told us (very politely) to “Go away”, she wanted to sleep in Laura’s bed!

Last weekend we were walking around downtown Ventura and scoping out all the unique places to eat. This one in particular, Watermark on Main, had an menu that sounded very gourmet, so we decided to come back for our anniversary dinner. It did not disappoint! The food and wine and service were amazing, and I especially love that they serve Pellegrino instead of tap water, since I often ask for it when we go to other restaurants!

They also have a neat lounge on the roof. We would love to go there again when it is less crowded! It has a great view of the downtown area!

I’m sure Andy would want me to mention what we had–he was talking about it for days. Andy had grilled mahi mahi with coconut curry sauce and mango sticky rice. I had filet mignon– always a winner in my opinion.

So here we are, 5 years of marriage plus two kids… I think we are still looking young, honey! (Good thing we started early.)

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Posted in Life & Times | 10 Comments »

Early Harvest

Posted Saturday, July 11th, 2009 by Mollie

The other morning I was working in the kitchen when Natalie marched in from the backyard and said, “LOOK MAMA, PEPPER!” She had picked our tiny green bell pepper… way too early! I was horrified but the damage was already done, so we took some pictures to document our first vegetable harvest. (She has now been instructed not to pick anything off of the plants.) 00016

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Can you tell she was very proud of it? We tried to eat it but it was nowhere near ripe enough, yuck!

Posted in Gardening, Life & Times, Natalie | 6 Comments »

Late but Great Father’s Day

Posted Saturday, June 27th, 2009 by Mollie

I had the best intentions of dedicating a post to Andy on Father’s Day, but life has been crazy busy lately and I haven’t had time to sit at the computer long enough to blog!

We did have a very nice Father’s Day though. Before church, Andy got to open his gift from the kids. “They” got him this awesome Maglite flashlight. It will be a handy weapon light for when Andy walks to the Spooner’s house at night– in case he bumps into one of the weird dogs that sometimes roam our neighborhood!

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After church we hosted a barbecue at our house, with both of our dads and their families in attendance. I made a special dessert– Mocha Rum Cake! I saw the recipe a while back and saved it because I knew I’d have to make it for Andy some day. It has all our favorite ingredients: coffee and rum (Andy), Ghiradelli chocolate and three sticks of butter (me). Good thing we were sharing, right??

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It turned out soooo well and tasted amazing. I thought the rum flavor might be too strong for our non-drinkers, but everyone really liked it. In case there was any doubt as to how rich and dense this cake was, here is a close-up.

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This was Andy’s 3rd Father’s Day, but each year he shows us new ways that he is an awesome dad! In 2009 we have learned that

1. He can fix hair in pigtails really well!

2. He’s way better than me at getting both kids to bed by himself.

3. He can deliver a baby with just 15 minutes notice. Sorry honey! Just trying to keep you on your toes.

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A couple favorite pictures of Andy with the kids:

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Posted in In The Kitchen, Life & Times | 4 Comments »

Smiles & Laughs

Posted Thursday, June 18th, 2009 by Mollie

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Ben is 11 weeks old now! He was a little bit out of sorts today, but was happy to watch big sister playing outside this morning. He smiles and laughs so easily these days. He is soooo ticklish! Just taking his shirt off makes him giggle! Isn’t he a cutie?

Posted in Benjamin, Life & Times | 8 Comments »