Birthday gifts from Grama LIz

Grama Liz made Mollie a super cool book for her birthday.  I'm constantly in fear that something will happen to these precious treasures, so I photographed the whole thing and put it on display here.  Amazing, isn't it?  And of course, I had to include Rozzie's painting, too.

Mollie is Five!

 Hard to believe it, but our baby is 5!  Here are some pictures from end of January through her birthday.

Auntie Margie and Uncle Andrew came for a visit at the end of January.  We had a great time hanging out with them.  Margie and Mollie baked and cooked.  Here they are in their matching Liz Lauter aprons.

We also took Auntie Margie wedding dress shopping.  We had a great time and found lots of pretty options, of course I can't show you any of them.  So here's Mollie playing behind the curtain in the dressing room. While we shopped, Uncle Andrew babysat Rozzie, walking her all through Georgetown.  It was a huge success (even if he was a little nervous about poopy diapers).

We also took Rozzie and Margie to our favorite ramen place in Chinatown.  Rozzie LOVED slurping up noodles.

 Margie and Andrew got Mollie these super sweet pink, sparkly Ugg boots for her early birthday present.  Mollie LOVES them and has basically worn them every day since.

 The next weekend I took Mollie for a long overdue hair cut.  She wasn't so thrilled initially...

 But LOVED the end result!

 Sister Costco trip!

Mollie has been counting down to her birthday since Christmas and was so excited for the day to finally be here.  We had a full week of celebration, with grandparents in town from California and parties at school and with her friends.  First up, her school friends made her a birthday banner.  It was very sweet.  Her pre-k teacher stayed late the night before to make sure the banner would be ready before Mollie got to school on Thursday.

 

Friday, we celebrated with cupcakes at her school.  Gramma Liz and Mollie baked cupcakes with a secret ingredient (cinnamon)!  Mollie was quite excited to share this special treat with her class.

Mollie's  Friends - Frankie, Mara (leaning across the table) and Fiona, closest to the camera.

 Frankie and Mara

 Saturday morning, we got ready for the big party at All Fired Up.  Rozzie and Grandpa David getting ready to celebrate.

 Drawing before the painting begins.

More friends!  (Adelei, Isabella, Emma, left to right)

 Owen and Rina

 The kids learning about the firing ovens.

 Rozzie enjoying some birthday cake.

 Birthday dinner at Cactus Cantina.  New hat for Roz.

 And she ate her weight in rice and beans and guac.

 Rozzie on the move!  Rozzie is now 10 months (almost 11 months) old.  She's crawling and attempting to fling herself off of furniture and puling up to her knees and nearly standing.  She continues to be a very sweet and happy baby.  She eats everything, loves playing with her sister's toys, and is generally on the move!

January 2015

We have had an insane travel schedule this January and I haven't been able to post as much as I would have liked.  So here's a monster update covering basically the whole month.  Here we go!

Rozzie sleeping on the plane to KW - one eye open.  Very creepy.

 We went straight from Orlando/Disney to KW.  Mollie had her face painted at the animal kingdom before we left and was still sporting her "Princess Kitty" face well into the evening on New Year's Eve.  It even survived the first of very many dips in the pool at Nana and Pop-pop's condo.

 New Year's eve snacks.  We truly failed at New Year's this eve.  We were all asleep by 9:30 or 10 pm.  Mostly because Disney had wiped us out but also because all of us were battling this sinus/respiratory infection - the first of many to plague our household this winter, unfortunately.

 Tropical napping.

 Enjoying the scenery with Nana.

 Water sports with Uncle Barty.

 New Year's baby - she was actually wearing her crown to celebrate Pop-Pop's birthday.  Mollie thought it would be more festive if we wore our tiaras.

 We took Mollie and Rozzie back to the butterfly conservatory in KW this trip.  It's such a nice place to visit.  The butterflies are great, but there are also tons of small birds and flamingos.  We all loved the visit.

 Some random pictures of the girls...

 Quick Rozzie update - she's 10 months old!  Cannot believe it.  She's eating all kinds of foods now - meats, she loves string cheese and cottage cheese and ice cream, and veggies....

 and spaghettios.  Or as Mollie calls it "the pasta from the can."

 Gramma Liz initially made this headband for Mollie but it now fits Rozzie perfectly!  And she loves wearing it (and chewing on it).

 We had an amazing trip to Seattle.  I had a work meeting there and the whole gang tagged along (despite stomach flu hitting the Lauter contingent of the family the night before we were supposed to leave).  We got to meet Auntie Megan and Uncle Josh's new baby (and our new god-daughter) Paige!  Paige is the sweetest baby, and it was so much fun to see our amazing friends as the terrific, loving, thoughtful parents we knew they would be.
We stopped at the Chihuly exhibit, great for kids!

Mollie thought this one looked like Elsa's magic ice, so we took this picture as though Mollie is Elsa making the magic.  Don't they look the same??

Riding on the big ferris wheel.  Not the best part of our vacation, but we had an incredible view of the ocean.