Molly's 2nd birthday was on Friday,and we celebrated at the Park with cake and ice cream.

(Erin acted as our quasi-professional photographer)

Knowing a two-year old really well is like knowing a secret. Everyone sees a two year old and thinks "hmm, a little kid." They are opaque and one-dimensional to anyone that doesn't spend a lot of time with them. But if you do, then you see thousands of things that other people can't see. Some of them are kind of amazing, and some of them are really funny, and some of them are surprisingly weird.

Molly is the absolute favorite secret in our house. She has depths of personality that are hard to imagine in such a little girl. A guy in our ward, who watches her from a few pews back once said "I can't tell what she's about, but you can see from her face that she has loooads of personality." That's pretty much all Molly is-- personality. She (just like her mom) is like a really good root beer-- smooth and sweet, but with a strong head and even a little bit of a bite.





Macy and I have been talking over the summer about how big a part of our lives Molly has become, and how much fun it is to be around her. Molly loves to swing- it may be her absolute favorite activity in the world. She also loves to eat. She has figured out that there are popsicles in the freezer, and she can open the freezer and help herself, usually right after breakfast. She is the best singing child I've ever seen- knows loads of songs and is constantly singing them to herself. She's also a great communicator, a creative, though slightly robotic dancer, a belly laugher, and by far the most determined and hard-headed kid we've ever had. And whenever you're getting her prepared to do something, and you say "Ready?" She always says " . . . set, go!"



A few weeks ago Molly had a snack bag of crackers she was eating all by herself. I asked her for a few, and then asked for a few more. When I asked her a third time she looked at me very seriously and said "One moh, dass all. Kay!?"





She is also very rough and tumble. She can hang with the big kids on the tramp all day. Once in a while she starts to cry after a crazy bounce and will sit at the edge and wait for me or Macy to come out and get her off. But just as we've walked all the way out there, she makes herself stop crying and jumps up and races to the other side of the tramp so we can't reach her. She loves to be thrown into the air and onto couches and smashed under beanbags. And she loves the aggressive, attacking, clinging goodnight hugs she gets from Rex and Lucy.





The other night I was taking off her dress and it got stuck around her head, so she was buried in it. She called out to me in her game-playing voice and said "Daddy- where ARE me?"



Molly is also a very indulgent sleeper-inner. It's hard now that Rex is going to school, because with his 8:30 start time, he risks missing her in the morning, something that would really make him sad. The kids spend all morning listening to the monitor to see when they can race down and get her out of bed. They've even devised a very clever, but totally illicit, system to pull her out of her crib themselves, with Lucy standing in the crib and handing her out to Rex on the floor. I can't believe how much they love to take care of Molly.



It has been so much fun to watch Molly turning into this crazy, funny little person. We are so glad we have her.

Rex started 1st Grade today! Am I a little reluctant? you could say that. He is gone from me and his little sisters for 7 hours every day. Molly looked in his room a few different times during the day asking, "where is Rex?"...which is funny because he doesn't spend a great deal of time in his room when he is home, but I thought it was cute that she noticed so much. Anyway, 1st grade is a big transition, but he did great,and came home very happy!

So, what does a 1st grader wear to school? Here you go:


We also said a sad goodbye to these guys this last week...............




And some randoms:

Davis was really mad about some of the politics going on.

Best buds and cousins Nate and Rex sat so good and quiet, but still had some goofy , cute moments during the inauguration.

We have been going , going , going so much this summer that today we finally stayed home and did a little of this:







This little girl is about as yummy as they come lately. Just last night as I was struggling to get her feet of her jammies on. She said, "Mom, Don't worry bout it." And then she laughed and laughed at herself. She is the cutest, chattiest thing.






This is what summer time is all about. It makes me so Happy!