Daddy's little helper

Someone loves to help out with the yard work. It was nice and warm out this evening, so Jason thought he'd work outside for a little bit. Without even being asked, Molly grabbed her rake and joined in the fun. We'll have to take advantage of Molly's enthusiasm for manual labor as long as we can. As you can see, our lawn needs all the help it can get!

Hunting for sticks

Raking

Cleaning up

Posing for the camera. Of course, there's no eye contact - she got her daddy's looks and my shifty eyes

Little mermaids

Molly received her first Disney Princess today -- my personal favorite, Ariel:

A big thanks to my coworker Syed for surprising her with the gift!

I'm not sure why the Ariel doll isn't a mermaid, but no matter. Molly knows what's up. She insisted on wearing her new mermaid PJs (short sleeves!) to match and had me pull up all the best Little Mermaid songs on YouTube. Should I be embarrassed that I still know all of the words?

It feels like the game is changing. Molly has a "big girl" doll now -- a princess with long hair and shoes that come on and off. What's next? Barbie or American Girl? She's growing up so fast!

Resolution setbacks

Sigh. I was so proud of myself at the end of January for keeping up with all my resolutions. February and March were good months too -- even with a busted arm, I still managed to motivate and stick to my 3 day/week exercise schedule.

And then came April.

I really want to blame my job -- it has been nonstop the last few weeks -- but I know I have to point the finger at myself. I could be working out right now instead of writing this blog post. I'm even sitting at the computer in my workout clothes! But I just don't wanna. It's 9:45 and I haven't even started watching Project Runway yet. What's a girl to do?

The good news is, I've managed to stick to my 2 other resolutions. I have handled more than my fair share of daycare pickups lately due to Jason's travel schedule and have even managed to get Molly early a couple times each month for bonus time with my girl.

Don't we look happy?

Jason and I have also been having fun planning our monthly dates. The April date was extra special (a megadate!) because we had my parents in town to babysit overnight. Jason and I grabbed lunch at grahamwich, went to see Big Fish at the Oriental Theater, ate a totally decadent meal at Sepia, and then had drinks at Bin 36. I paid the price the next day, but still had fun going to see Mark and Kylie and meeting their new baby, Nick.

We don't take enough pictures together

My parents had fun with Molly, even though, "she had more wardrobe changes than Diana Ross," had a "meltdown when she couldn't play with her school pictures," and then made my mom "sing all the Elmo potty songs and read the dreaded Berenstain Bears Sick Day book" (to quote my mom's emails). Here's Molly moving to the music after dinner. My dad put on "Only the Lonely" by Roy Orbison. What a goof:

It cracks me up that she has her eyes closed. She's really feeling it.

I guess two out of three ain't bad, so I shouldn't beat myself up too much. And it is only 10:07...I could lift a few weights and watch Runway and make my quota for the week. Hmmmm....

Little princess

So, as I think I've mentioned in previous posts, Molly has pretty strong opinions about what she wears. For the last couple of months (and I'll remind you, it's still cold here in Chicago), she has only wanted to wear short sleeve shirts. In fact, she is so passionate about her bare arms, it is sometimes the first thing out of her mouth in the morning after waking up. "Short sleeves?"

Not even thinking about this latest obsession, I ordered Molly a new swim suit from Old Navy for her upcoming swim lessons at the Y:

Molly was so upset when I pulled it from the packaging for her to try on, she immediately hit the floor and started crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she could only wail, "Tooo loooong, tooo loooong."  Luckily for her, I couldn't get the top over her extra large noggin, so she's going to be able to wear a more acceptable suit to her lessons and to the beach this summer:

Molly's other obsession is with footwear. From the minute Jason brought home those Hello Kitty boots, Molly has wanted nothing else on her feet. That is, until she rediscovered the joy of party shoes:

Totally focused on Sofia the First - her new favorite show about a 7-year-old princess

These last few weeks, Molly has been running around everywhere in a new pair of bright blue, patent leather party shoes from her Grandma Marsha. She's more on trend than her poor mother!

Even though I'm not particularly fashion forward, I'm not surprised that Molly is. I remember my older sister acting the same way about clothes, getting totally obsessed with a pair of neon shorts, an Esprit sweatshirt, and her Guess jean skirt (it was the 80s, mind you). Molly gets her hair color from one of my sisters and her fashion sense from the other. At least I know what I'm in for!

Worth the hype

It seems everyone I know has been telling me to watch Downton Abbey. It's totally up my alley -- British period drama with fabulous (fabulous!) costumes, gorgeous sets, and quality acting. I'm not sure why I missed the first few seasons in action (blame my job or my 2 and a half year old, take your pick), but I'm kind of glad I did. Instead of having to wait anxiously between episodes and seasons, I was able to totally immerse myself in the show and watch all 3 seasons in 2 weeks. Heaven!

Nice little house

If you haven't watched it yet, I would definitely urge you to dive in and catch up. And don't be intimidated by the whole Masterpiece Classic thing...it's basically a soap opera. An expensive, wonderful soap opera, but a soap nonetheless. There are so many wonderful characters and so many ups and downs. The characters you love will at some point disappoint you (even Mr. Carson) and the ones you hate will at some point worm their way into your heart (even Thomas). 

It's definitely worth watching. But now that I'm finished, I'm going to need something else to keep me as entertained until Season 4 airs...Mad Med or Game of Thrones? Fingers crossed their current seasons will also end up being worth the hype!