Arizone-ya

The post title is not a typo. It's how Molly pronounces "Arizona" and the location of our latest vacation. Yes, yes, we've been all over the place lately. But I was loooong overdue to visit my friend Natalie in Scottsdale and I had a credit on Southwest that was burning a hole in my pocket, so went ahead and booked a long weekend with Molly.

Flashback to 2010. My very first road trip with 6-week-old Molly was to Cincinnati to see a few of my high school friends, including Natalie and her son, Cole, who is just 2 weeks older than Molly. That was then:

Cole and Molly kicking away, August 2010

And this is now!

Nat and her soccer star

Me and the Molls. If you can't tell, Chicago temps followed us to AZ for the first part of our trip. Luckily, by Sunday, it was sunny and warm! 

Cole and Molly bonding at Pied Piper Pizza (basically, Chuck 'E Cheese, for the the Midwesterners)

And now, sharing watermelon and watching movies. Adorable.

Eva! Nat's newest addition, who is a little over one now and loooves to climb. Fearless little girl! 

Molls trying out her dribble in the back yard

Carousel ride at the train park

From the pictures, it looks like it was a busy weekend, but we also had a lot of down time. Natalie, her husband Jordan, and I, got to enjoy adult beverages and adult conversations each night after the kiddos passed out. And there may have been a nap or two in between activities. 

For Molly, the most memorable part of the trip was probably when she reached into my cosmetics bag and sliced her finger on my razor. I felt like such a bad mom for leaving it out within her reach. There was a little drama with the cut over the weekend, and I went through about 20 of Natalie's band-aids, but it seems to be healing up okay now and we've learned a valuable lesson about razor safety.

Thanks so much to Natalie and Jordan for putting up with us all weekend! We'll definitely be back (with Jason next time). I just hope it doesn't take us another 4 years to make it happen! 

Cousin-cation

Happy Easter! As promised, here's some cousin cuteness from our trip to Virginia. We had 4 wonderful days of relaxation, hanging with the fam, and snacking on chocolate. Poor Jason did not react well to the Virginia pollen, but I got in a couple of long runs while Grandpa Steve took the kids out hunting for worms.

It was good to see everyone -- Jake and Corinne came in from NY, Joe drove down from Roanoke, and Jeremy, Megan, and Will flew over from Denver. We got to celebrate Jake's 33rd birthday (a couple of days early) and had fun roasting marshmallows every night over the fire pit.

Will is almost 3 now. He's as sweet as can be, loves anything with wheels, and has a couple of adorable catch phrases -- "shall we?" and "let's make that happen" being 2 of my favorites. He and Molly are still thick as thieves and had a blast rolling down hills and playing hide and seek with Grandpa and Uncle Joe.

The trip went by way too fast, but luckily we get to see Will, Megan, Jeremy, Marsha, and Steve again soon in Denver for the 4th of July!

Cousins and Aunts -- Molly, me, Will, and Megan

Juicing

Driving Papa's truck

Touching worms

Helping Jake open presents

The driver on the bus says, "Move on back! Move on back!"

Up and at 'em

I've never been a morning person. I crave sleep. I hit the snooze button. I wallow in my bed. It feels good to sleep. But I'm beginning to think it feels even better to get up and get going in the morning. I don't mean mornings where a kid wakes up ridiculously early or where an early start is required to get work done or to catch a flight. Those mornings still hurt. The mornings that I'm starting to love are the ones where I get 45 min of time to myself, to run, to drink coffee, to return an email, to put away laundry, or watch the morning news for a few min. Maybe I should start setting the alarm for 6 every morning, not just running days? I'm heading to Virginia for a few days, so this little experiment will have to wait until I get back. But hopefully it's just one more change that can make a happier, healthier Maggie.

Cousin prom

Photographers were back at Molly's school and the spring pics are a big improvement on the winter batch (you may remember these gems from November). Once again, Betsy and I requested a photo of Molly and James. Although Molly complained a little about having to pose with her cousin, you'd never guess it:

Finally! A cute picture of Molly and James. Betsy and I have nicknamed this photo "cousin prom"

Molly is a lucky girl to have 2 cousins relatively close in age. And she's about to get one more! I have good news to announce from Betsy and Archie -- a new baby is on the way, due at the end of the summer. I'm so happy I'm finally allowed to write about it on the blog. Hurrah!

We get to see cousin Will next weekend in Virginia. I'm looking forward to posting more cute cousin pics soon!

Mistaken for Strangers

Jason and I love The National, so we were excited to hear that there was a movie coming out about the band. But as you will see from the trailer, the movie is not your typical rock documentary. It's more of a funny and touching film about sibling relationships. We loved it. Check it out:

If you're not familiar with The National, this is my latest favorite song:

We see them at the Chicago Theater with Pat and Sarah next Tues. Can't wait!

Under the weather

I meant to put a post together this weekend but ended up feeling pretty under the weather on Sunday -- as sick as I've felt in a long time. I don't know if it was an allergy attack or a garden variety cold, but I sneezed all day and ended up napping (which is rare for me) for almost five hours on Sunday afternoon. Wowza. Luckily Molly and Jason slept for a few of those hours too, so I didn't completely abandon my family. And we got plenty of quality time in before that. Check out a few pictures from the weekend:

Friday night campfire at the beach. Yes, it was cold enough to require hats and puffy coats, but we still had fun!

Who cares about the cold when you've got s'mores?!

And then, I can't resist posting this video that came through from B. He walks!: 

It's time to break away and watch the NCAA Championship Game. I think I'm going to be cheering for UConn, though can't say I'm too invested in the outcome. Next year, Bearcats, next year.