Last weekend (or the weekend before?), we made a day trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore House. Jim’s parents had received vouchers for free tickets and weren’t going to use them, so they sent them to us. I initially thought just Jim and I would go for an overnight visit (he’s never been!) but we ended up taking Molly with us for the day and had a blast. Alas, we never made it IN the actual Biltmore House, but there was so much to do outside the house. I will just have to take Jim back sometime soon. I don’t need too many excuses to visit Asheville, just the time.

My mom went with us too and was a huge lifesaver, especially in the car! She kept Molly *very* entertained.

When we arrived, we headed straight to Antler Hill to visit the farm, barn, and have lunch in Antler Hill Village. Molly was a little skeptical of the animals at first, but she warmed up to the goats and chickens quickly. She still wasn’t sure about the huge horses when we left.

At the barn, there were some games and toys from the early 1900s as well as some old farm equipment. Molly enjoyed climbing on the horse-drawn wagon and tractor. We also watched a blacksmith demonstration that was really cool.

The next stop was lunch at Cedric’s Tavern and ice cream cones at the creamery. Even the kid size cones were huge and Molly entertained a few customers by swinging hers around a few times, never once dropping it.There were some close calls, though!

Once we finished our ice cream, we got in the car and headed over the main house and gardens. We did a lot of walking but Molly wanted nothing to do with her stroller. She stumbled and tripped at one point running downhill on an asphalt path and ended up with pretty bad road burn. Two weeks later, it’s still a little raw. While Molly didn’t do much complaining about the walking, not everyone else was as enthusiastic about all of the walking. I’m pretty sure we took a three mile hike to see a bass pond. We took one look, turned around and headed uphill towards the car. As soon as we got near the actual house, the sky opened up. Luckily, the path to the car had a canopy of trees and we managed to stay fairly dry.

Thanks, Chris and Doug for the vouchers. We enjoyed our day!

I’m sure it depends on who you ask, but I do know that any prayers are better than none.

Anyway, I’ve been praying hard recently. A former student of mine is being treated at St. Jude’s for Leukemia. Also, a friend’s one-year old daughter was having major surgery to correct a diagnosis of craniosynostosis.

That’s big stuff. Add to the mix a friend who had a baby and another friend who’s trying to have a baby and all our friends and family and I felt like I was asking God for a lot. But He delivered.

John’s scans came back and there is no Leukemia in his body.

Kim’s daughter had a successful surgery and Mallory is recovering well.

Jessica delivered a perfect baby girl on Wednesday. My niece and nephews are healthy. Molly is happy and healthy, too.

Sometimes, all the goodness in this life overwhelms me and I can’t even begin to feel grateful enough.

Here’s Peaches on her first day of school:

And here’s the picture I snapped this morning:

Molly is enrolled in several camps over the summer, most of them at her preschool, so she’ll stay busy but I’m also looking forward to some lazy days at the pool and not having to rush out the door at a certain time. I know Jim is glad to have a bit of a break from packing lunches, too!

Notice the stripes…they’re on the front of the zebra.

Jim also managed to get this video of Molly finishing her rainbow. She cracks me up; Molly requested that side ponytail this afternoon and refused to let me take it out when it was time to put on her helmet for a bike ride, but then she kept complaining that her hair hurt.

Molly made me a card on Friday night and couldn’t wait until Sunday to give it to me.

And at school, they asked the kids questions about their moms and sent home these questionnaires. Molly made me look like a rock star mom! Thanks, babe.

One of the other moms at school cracked up when she saw that I like to cook pancakes best of all. She asked Molly, “What kind of pancakes does your mom make?” Molly said, “Chocolate ones!” Luckily, Jim hasn’t told Molly that he’s the one who makes the pancakes around here. The rest of the answers are pretty accurate, though!

One day last week, I went to open Molly’s door after quiet time. She had been unusually quiet and I was  bit concerned, but was hoping she had actually fallen asleep.

No such luck.

She had the diaper bucket on her bed, which doesn’t hold diapers anymore but where we still keep the wipes and some creams, including her Eczema cream and an anti-fungal from a particularly bad diaper rash she had forever ago. The three tubes were all open and there was a nice sheen to her face. And her arms and legs. And her hair was, um, interesting looking.

“It’s MY make-up, Mama!” she proudly exclaimed.

Needless to say, that bucket {which we previously kept at the back of her dresser and which she either climbed into the shopping cart or onto her play kitchen to reach} is now on top of the bookshelf.

Anyway, they’re out and all looks well. I have a funny story about quiet time yesterday, so I’ll write again soon. I’m off to grade exams that I’ve been putting off all week.

Many thanks to those of you who texted, commented, called or emailed with concerns and well wishes for Molly. Luckily this was just a little bump in our otherwise ordinary week, but we appreciate everyone’s love all the same!

Once I started wiping Molly’s face, I realized right away that we would be making a trip to the ER. Molly kept asking for a band-aid and her boo-boo bunny, so Jim got that out of the freezer for her {the funny part is that she just holds onto it and doesn’t actually put it ON the boo-boo} while I grabbed a change of clothes and MJ’s blanket and Katie {the baby doll}. Two minutes later, we were checking into the ER. It was relatively quiet for a Sunday night at bedtime.

Molly was SO brave the entire time we were at the hospital. They checked her stats in triage and put some numbing gel on her forehead. The nurse found a hot pink bandage to hold the gauze in place, which Molly was excited about. We were really hoping that the laceration could be glued together, but unfortunately, it was really gaping and not a clean slice on the bottom.

She was very concerned about her outfit. Luckily, we were able to salvage it thanks to Shout and Tide.

After about an hour long wait in the waiting room, we were called back to see the doctor. Molly had to wear a hospital gown, which kind of broke my heart. It was past her bedtime at this point and the numbing gel was working, so Molly wasn’t in any pain and she was being her seriously funny self. A child life specialist came in to prep Molly for what to expect; I can’t say enough about how wonderful the professionals at the hospital were. Annie, the child life specialist, had a doll and showed Molly how the doctor would clean the wound and showed her the thread that would be used to sew up the wound.

After the doctor stitched her up {3 stitches, 1 cm. laceration}, Annie brought Molly a popsicle and an Olivia book.

BUT, that’s not the end of the story…

We asked the doctor about sending Molly to school today, and she replied that there was no reason not to. Jim had to be at work early so Nana came over to take Molly to school. Around noon, I got a phone call from Lisa, the director, that Molly had fallen and was bleeding from the same place as last night’s wound. I told Lisa I’d be right there and I dismissed my class.

Turns out that Molly had slipped on some water during a bathroom break and fallen, right onto the same spot on her forehead. What are the odds of that?!

The stitches weren’t broken as far as we could tell, and we were able to get in to see Dr. Holladay. Jim was on his way home already, so I brought Molly home to have a cupcake while we waited on her appointment. When it was time to go to the doctor’s office, Molly looked up at me and said, “It hurts. Do you want to ride it he back with me?” I cracked up because she certainly knows how to work a situation!

I was so grateful that Dr. Holladay said the stitches were still tight {he actually said the doctor had done a wonderful job, which I was glad for because I wanted to ask for a plastic surgeon for the original stitches and didn’t}. There was a new bruise and goose egg, so the swelling made it appear that the cut was pushing open. Dr. H was confident that once the swelling went down, all would be ok and that we most definitely didn’t want to risk re-stitching the area.

Molly and I took naps and snuggled all afternoon after the emotional past 18 hours. I let her watch tv and we played with the balloon that Nana dropped off. Now, we just need to keep her upright until Friday morning when the sutures come out!

Renee is our beloved babysitter. Molly adores her, and I think the feeling is reciprocal. However, I just learned today that Molly might also love Renee’s fiancée, Justin.

Renee and Justin’s engagement party is this Saturday night and SBN created some favor tags and food label tents for the party. I was punching out the favor tags today when Molly pulled up a chair and asked me what I was working on. I told her that I was making favor tags for Renee’s party.

“Renee’s birthday party???!!!”

“No, her engagement party. Renee and Justin are getting married, so they’re having a party to celebrate.”

“Oh.” Without missing a beat, “I’m going to marry Justin, too.”

While I briefly entertained the idea of marrying her off already, I told her I wasn’t quite ready for her to get married, and that maybe she should wait, oh…about 30 years!

When I picked her up at school today, she was covered in pink {really need to figure out how to type that word the way she says it} glitter. I watched her through the window while she used her hands to scrape the errant pieces of glitter off the table and walked with cupped hand to the trash can. She then saw me and came right to the door, but Ms. Michelle was close behind. They talked about names today at school, and Molly told the class that my names are “Mommy” and “wifey.” At first, Michelle and Becky thought she was kind of saying “Heidi,” but Molly was quick to correct them.

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Last week, we were playing at Graham’s house and Graham asked his mom for something to drink. Molly piped up and said she wanted something to drink too. When Jessica asked if Molly wanted milk or water, Molly immediately replied, “Juice box.”

Can’t blame a girl for trying, right? {For the record, she got milk!}

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Two of Molly’s new phrases are “I got a question” and “I got an answer.” She’s not quite using them in context, but it’s hilarious.

“Mom, I got a question.”

“Ok, yes?”

“I got a question.”

“Ok.”

And on and on it goes.

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Kristen, one of the toddler teachers at preschool today, had on a very cute pink and green maxi dress. Molly apparently liked it too, because Kristen told me that Molly came up to Kristen on the playground today and said, “You’re cute.”

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Want to see some cute pictures? I blogged a few more Easter pictures over at SBN.