Archive for April, 2016

Board breaking

Posted in Molly, Sports on April 30th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Last night, Molly had a belt test at karate (and earned her green stripe on her blue belt). During it, she got the chance to break a board for the first time. She did it on the first try.

She also earned her green stripe on her blue belt. Sorry that you can’t see her green strip on her belt; it’s behind her elbow.

Board breaking

Great job, Molly!

Shopkins attire

Posted in Leah, Molly, Sewing on April 25th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

We have a love for Shopkins in our house. So, when G’Mom lovingly bought the girls (or, really Jen!) Shopkins fabric, the girls were ecstatic. Molly immediately requested jammie pants, while Leah wanted a new hoodie tunic.

Shopkins sewing

Molly was so excited about wearing her Shopkins jammies that she got her jammies on hours before bedtime just to hang out in them.

Smile for Shopkins

Leah was so excited to wear her new tunic to school to show her friends.

Stand strong for Shopkins

A girl in a Shopkins tunic, with her favorite Shopkin.

Girl and Shopkin

An older girl in Shopkins pajamas, with her favorite Shopkin.

Older girl and Shopkin

Two girls, Shopkins attire, and Shopkins.

Sisters and their Shopkins

Silly sisters.

Silly sisters

Her actual birthday

Posted in Celebrations, Molly on April 24th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

10 days after beginning her birthday celebration (and 2 days after getting her braces), Molly’s actual birthday finally arrived. That meant she got to open even more presents.

More presents

Leah even got one present on Molly’s birthday as well.

Double presents

Molly doesn’t have a clue what this is, but she knows it’s big.

Big surprise

It’s a giant remote-controlled car (well, monster truck). She seems excited.

Remote control

After finishing opening, she had to try out her new vehicle.

Try it out

She drove it straight up the steep hill in the backyard, and Jordan came to check it out.

Up the hill

That night, we had cupcakes and candles again. I think Molly’s excited to finally be 9.

More cupcakes

Happy birthday, Molly!

Easter family photos

Posted in Celebrations on April 23rd, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

After Easter morning, we headed back to Grams’s house for some family time. While there, I was asked to take some family portraits, and I was of course happy to oblige.

Charlie was of course a focal point of the pictures.

Charlie's Family Portrait

Mother and son

He even took a picture with his cousins.

Portrait with their littlest cousin

And we got a portrait of everyone who was there (we miss you, Caroline and Charles).

Sellers family picture

You may have noticed Molly and Jen’s dresses and thought you hadn’t seen them before. That’s because Jen just made them.

Jen found this fabric at her local sewing shop last year and had the perfect dress in mind for Molly. Jen previously made herself a dress in a matching style, so Molly has now requested to wear hers at the same to match her mom!

Molly's new dress

Jen chose not to wear her dress that matches Molly, and instead made herself a new dress for Easter. This was created by taking inspiration from a dress that was sold at Target last year.

Jen's Easter dress

The rest of the afternoon was filled with family time. I didn’t take many pictures, but I did get one. I think Grams found Charlie’s ticklish spot.

The spot

Happy Easter!

Easter morning

Posted in Celebrations, Church, Leah, Molly on April 22nd, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

This year, I was asked to lead music at the Easter sunrise service at church. I hear sunrises are beautiful, but they happen really early in the morning. Early mornings are not my thing, but I decided to give it a go. The service was at 6:30, and I needed to be there at 5:50 to set up and sound check. Yeah - early (and outside in the cold).

I asked the members of my family if they’d like to come with me. Jen was a clear no. Molly and Leah entertained the idea until I told them they’d have to ignore their Easter baskets until after we got home. That sounded too difficult, so they opted to pass. I was on my own (except for a friend or two).

The service was very nice. It was very cold, but I dressed the part and brought hand warmers for when I wasn’t playing (gloves don’t work so well for playing guitar). Sadly, it was cloudy and hazy, so we didn’t really get to see a sunrise.

When I got home, the girls were eagerly awaiting the opportunity to go downstairs and see what the Easter Bunny had brought. They woke Jen up and headed down. I think they were excited at what they found.

Easter baskets

Easter baskets included candy (braces-safe varieties), books, Perler beads, and most exciting - Shopkins!

Then the ladies got dressed and we headed to church (again for me, a little over 5 hours after the first time).

More birthday

Posted in Celebrations, Molly on April 21st, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

6 days after Molly began celebrating her birthday, she got to celebrate with my side of the family. We went to Ledo Pizza, and then came back to our house for presents and cupcakes. Uncle Scott and Aunt EA lived up to their reputation of always delivering fun cards with sound.

More birthday

If there was one theme to Molly’s presents, it was Shopkins. Our girls love them, and Molly was happy to receive them.

Shopkins!

Molly requested Jen make red velvet cupcakes, and Jen of course delivered. It was her first time making them, and they were delicious.

Cupcakes

Blow

Happy birthday, Molly! Again.

Easter Egg-stravaganza

Posted in Celebrations, Church, Leah, Molly on April 20th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

As in previous years, our church held an Easter Egg-stravaganza. It was scheduled for the same day as Molly’s party, so we were going to miss it. Fortunately for us, they postponed the fun due to weather to the day before Easter, which meant we could go.

We arrived and walked in with Leah’s twin friend, then the girls headed straight for the face painting station.

Face painting

Molly got a butterfly on her cheek, and Leah opted for a bunny.

Painted faces

Leah’s friend’s parents also introduced us to a friend of theirs from Slidell (just like Jen and me). Turns out she lived one cul-de-sac away from me when I was in junior high and high school. Small world.

After face painting, we headed to the cupcake decorating station. Molly’s decoration style is quick and messy, while Leah takes a careful approach.

Cupcake decorating

I managed to get a picture of their cupcakes before they ate them. Note that Leah carefully placed sprinkles around the edge, while Molly just dumped them on top.

Finished product

As always, the egg hunt was a highlight. I went with Molly up on the hill with the big kids while Jen stayed with Leah and the kindergartners. When they blew the whistle, all the big kids rushed to the same area. Molly quickly realized there was an empty area off to the left, which earned her a few seconds searching by herself until they all noticed her treasure trove and joined her.

Egg hunt

Me, Molly, and a basket full of eggs ready to be opened.

Me and Molly

Both Molly and Leah ended up with full baskets of fun-filled eggs.

Girls and eggs

Lots of fun. We were glad we got to attend after all.

Tennis lessons continue

Posted in Leah, Sports on April 18th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but Leah continues to enjoy tennis lessons. She’s moved up from Level 7 to Level 6 now. And best of all, she has gotten to be in the same class with her best friend Everett.

Tennis lessons continue

Here’s our little tennis player after her lesson. She’s happy to be in short sleeves now that it’s warmed up.

Tennis player

Leah says she wants to be a tennis player on TV when she grows up. I’ve told her it’s very hard to do that, and she’d have to practice a lot to do so. She says that sounds good to her. In fact, we went and played Sunday afternoon, and she stayed on the court practicing for more than 2 hours. Molly joined us as well, but she alternated between tennis and riding her scooter rather than playing tennis the whole time.

Presents

Posted in Celebrations, Molly on April 17th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

We opted not to open presents from her friends at the mall (that was just asking for getting stuff lost). But once we got home, Molly was quick to open them up. Leah was excited to see what was in this outstanding gift bag.

Presents

And a little while later, she opened presents from G'Mom and Grampa.

More presents

Among other things, they gave her some new Stompeez slippers, perfectly themed for Easter on the next weekend.

New slippers

A different kind of party

Posted in Celebrations, Molly on April 16th, 2016 by c-had – Be the first to comment

This year, Molly decided to have a different sort of party for her birthday. She chose to invite 4 of her closest friends to go to the movies to watch Zootopia. Here they are all lined up in the theater before the movie started.

A different party

After the movie, we walked over to the mall for some birthday frozen yogurt (instead of a cake) from Tutti Frutti.

Froyo

Happy 9th birthday to Molly!

A delicious treat for a happy birthday girl.

Happy birthday girl

And here’s a photobomb by Sarah’s fist. Molly has no idea (no punches were actually punched).

Incoming punch

The party was lots of fun, and we’d definitely do a smaller affair like this again. Rather than having lots of people that subdivide into subgroups, you have just a single group of close friends with no need to split up. Most importantly, Molly and her guests had a great time.

Happy birthday Molly!