Molly

Gymnastics

Posted in Molly, Sports on March 4th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

Chad headed to gymnastics with Molly this week for the first time in a while, so he got to see lots of new stuff. Here she is doing shoulder touches in which she continually switches arms holding herself up and touching her opposite shoulder.

Shoulder touches

Here she's suspending herself above the pommel horse while a coach tries to get her to lift her leg even higher.

Pommel horse

Flip-flip.

Bar work

This was an interesting station. Molly would hang from the bar and lift her knees. Then her partner would set the block on her knees. She then has to hang there, holding her knees up to prevent the block from falling. She only lasts 5-10 seconds, but it was still impressive.

Hang in there

For the love of cookies!

Posted in Food, Leah, Molly, Playdates on February 22nd, 2012 by jen – 3 Comments

On Monday, I hosted my second Drop In & Decorate party. The idea is simple: decorate sugar cookies, then donate them to a local non-profit agency.

My sous-chefs helped me prep our sugar cookies. I had 5 other moms baking for me and in total we had 18 dozen cookies to decorate!

Prepping cookies

The moms and kids were invited to drop in during the day and decorate for as long as they liked.

A cookie party

Molly enjoyed using a rainbow of colors on all her cookies.

One color is not enough

Leah and I worked together to decorate.

Teamwork

Adding sprinkles was a must. And even now that I have swept the floors three times, those sprinkles keep showing up!

Looking out for little brother

It was fun to watch and see what each of the kids created.

Watching the artist

Even the moms got into the decorating spirit.

Fun for moms too

Lots of giggles and laughter came from this table!

A table of friends

The kids were allowed to eat one cookie after they finished decorating. Apparently, the full plate of sprinkles were part of the deal too.

Sprinkles, yum!

Here's a sample of the decorated cookies.

A select few

In the end, thirty moms and kids decorated approximately 200 cookies to donate to Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center.

200 cookies later

Thank you to all of my cookie volunteers for making our party such a huge success!

It’s Carnival time!

Posted in Leah, Molly, Playdates on February 21st, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

I hosted our annual Mardi Gras party again this year, though it was a low-key celebration with just our playgroup. Leah clearly thought the icing was the best part of the King Cake.

The best part of the cake

The girls and I dressed for the occasion, sporting our Mardi Gras beads and necklaces.

Three festive girls

100 Years of Magic!

Posted in Family outings, Leah, Molly on February 19th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

We headed to 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore to see Disney on Ice, and were joined by Molly's friend Riley and her mom Heather. The girls are ready for the show.

Ready for the show

The show has begun and Leah's excited to see it.

Fun stuff

Despite all the princesses, Molly still said her favorite part was Mickey and Minnie. They mostly served as guides through the many stories that were told/skated.

Mickey and Minnie

Mickey and Minnie always bring a smile to Molly's face.

Smiling

The finale.

The finale

It’s winter?

Posted in Leah, Molly on February 18th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

This winter's been so warm. Days of 67 degrees at a time of year where we're usually not getting out of the 30s! So, we've had some additional outdoor play. Here's Molly giving Leah a little push on the tricycle after they finished throwing the frisbee, blowing bubbles, and drawing with chalk.

It's winter?

Leah, you're about to drive off the driveway. You might want to pull the crown up a bit to see where you're going.

Scary driver

Sprinting down the hill.

Downhill

Runing down together, holding hands. Very sweet. I wonder if their speed difference will cause any problems?

Leah too

Not surprisingly, Leah took a small tumble. Don't worry, she was fine.

Leah is down

She’s a pro on stage

Posted in Church, Molly, Video on February 12th, 2012 by c-had – 2 Comments

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Molly sang with her choir again today in church. They sang three songs at two different services and loved it all the way. You can also see pictures on Flickr.

Celebrating with Emmie

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly, Trip on January 29th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

We flew to Birmingham to celebrate Emmie's 3rd birthday. It didn't take long upon our arrival before the girls all headed to the play room. Nice shoes, Leah!

Nice shoes, Leah

Emmie is so intent on using her computer that she has no idea Molly is about to give her a trim.

Surprise haircut

Grampa was appointed head book reader at bed time.

Night-time reading

Emmie was insistent on having a flower party, so Aunt 'Chelle got creative with the flower theme.

A flower party

Naturally, Molly and Leah were eager to assist with the present opening.

Present opening assistants

Time for cake!

Blowing out the candles

It was finger lick in' good!

Yum

Leah took a quick break from the party festivities to assemble the alphabet with G'mom.

Assembling the alphabet

Emmie also got a kite, which was then of course flown. Apparently it's just as much fun to run after someone flying a kite as it is to fly it yourself.

Kite flying

Molly flying with Tate chasing. An image of timeless childhood.

Kids running with a kite

Leah thought the flower balloons needed a bit of love.

Balloon love

The girls were finally all together to wear the Christmas jammies I made them. It was like Christmas Eve in January.

Late Christmas

Emmie may be one of the few kids her age that knows what a chalkboard is. For those who don't, it's an upright display you write on with chalk while you stick out your tongue.

Writing on the board

Baby rings can turn into steering wheels when you get older.

Driving is fun

And the post the baby ring comes from can become a microphone.

Is this on?

I love my bed!

Posted in Leah, Molly on January 16th, 2012 by jen – 2 Comments

We transitioned Leah into her big girl bed this weekend. She keeps saying "I love my bed!"

No more crib

My aunt made Leah's new quilt. Molly noticed that the fabric matched the valance I made a few months ago. Nice observation kiddo!

Leah's new quilt

Like I did for Molly, I painted Leah's letters to match her new room.

Painted letters

Here's the completed room, using Chad's new ultra-wide lens to capture all four walls.

The completed room

I kept thinking that we were transitioning Leah much earlier this time. Turns out, Molly was actually 1 day younger when we transitioned her.

The first night went great, except that Chad accidentally set the alarm when resetting the clock and it went off at midnight! Thankfully she went right back to sleep.

And both girls are sticklers when it comes to routine, so we've had to work through a few issues like the new step stool at the end of Leah's bed and the new lamp on her dresser. Funny enough, the new bed has been welcomed with lots of smiles and bouncing fun.

Our holly, jolly Christmas

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly on December 30th, 2011 by jen – Be the first to comment

In Sellers tradition, we opened one gift each on Christmas Eve. Leah got this Tinkerbell doll from Grammy, which she's slept with every night since receiving it. She also decided this ribbon from one of the presents would make a great pirate headband.

Nice headband

On Christmas morning, Chad took video of the girls opening their stockings. The girls also enjoyed playing with their new toys.

When wearing one particular pair of jammies, Leah always calls herself Dr. Leah. So, when I saw this doctor kit at a consignment sale, she knew it'd be perfect!

Dr. Leah

Whenever Leah was opening a present and Molly wanted to open it, Molly would tell Leah they should use teamwork. She figured out this was a way to get to open someone else's present without being told to back off since it was someone else's turn.

Cooperative opening

Here's Molly opening some books from G'Mom and Grampa while sitting on her new floor cushion.

New books on a nice reading seat

Over at Grams and Pop's, Molly was nice enough to push Leah in the rocking chair before they did a little dancing around. Watch that video here.

Little Santas

Leah got some wings and a tutu of her own from Aunt Caroline, which she of course loves. And we love that the girls are no longer fighting over the one set we had before.

Wings and a tutu for Leah

Molly, Leah, and Aunt Caroline had fun playing with some fairies (specifically Tinkerbell, Vidia, Rosetta, and Silvermist).

Playing with fairies

We had Christmas crackers before lunch, a tradition Chad's family picked up when living in England. As always, they include crowns which we all don for the meal.

Christmas crowns

Aunt Caroline and Aunt EA played Mario Kart with Molly for the first time (as well as some other Wii games). She did ok, though Molly does much better with the Kinect as she's not used to the abstraction of the controller.

Mario Kart

The girls had fun playing with their Aunts all day. Here Aunt EA and Leah had to wake up the sleeping (not really) Molly. On the count of 3, say cock-a-doodle-do!

Cock-a-doodle-do!

Dancing around

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on December 28th, 2011 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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With all the ballet going on around here, the girls have really gotten into dancing. They love listening to music and just dancing around (usually doing something approximating ballet). Here are the two of them just having fun dancing around on Christmas morning before and after breakfast.