STILL COOL GRAMP, STILL COOL!!!

Back in the days of being entirely too cool for school, I apparently used the word "cool" quite often. Hah! Years later, without fail, every time I saw my Grampy he always asked: "Still Cool Jameski?"

After 90 incredible years here with us, my Grandfather, Charlie Kilgore, passed away on October 27, 2010. The legacy, family, memories and life lessons left behind can't be captured in a quick entry here.

Grampy was the kind of guy who, no matter if you were cooking a quick meal, or making a life decision, you wanted to make proud. The amount of respect that followed him was not only obvious, it was astounding. And the most amazing part about it, he didn't demand it. He came by it selflessly and humbly. Hard earned by years of service to our country, his community, his family.

Grampy was fun! Both hands propped on top of his cane, he would look up and think for a good few seconds before delivering his next thought/tale. Shit Bread, Blackberry Brandy, Woodwork.... Icecream... (Molly and him make a good team there!) Oh if he could have seen Molly eat and icecream cone, he would have lost his mind! Molly and Grampy were able to spend some time together and that is so wonderful. He played is Harmonica for her. Special. Jodi and I spent many summers at their house, attending a theater summer camp. I am sure we drove him nuts! Hah! I vividly remember his footsteps coming up stairs (...stairs he built of course...) to wake us up at 7 am. He would have already been up for 2 hours. Cruises, fishing, his truck, his pipe... the way his house smelled. GRAMMY! Not even a scratch on the surface of his life... In my Adult years, and as a Mom, I came to appreciate even more the person he was. Pretty amazing. I am humbled by his life, and honored to be his Granddaughter. Looking so forward to living a life that would make him proud. The example has been set...

Some pictures!!

DOES IT GET OLD?

Does it get old to see this again???

Well, it is official, if you follow this blog, you probably will hear the following often: "Ahhh! What! I am so sorry, I have been so busy, I fell off the face of the earth, I have no idea where the time went, I got lost in space, blah blah blah..." and just about everything else that means I have been so bad about keeping this current. So, once again, I have to say I am sorry... I really want to kick this thing back into full gear - stay with me!

Do you ever feel like you would love to talk to an old friend... one whom you have lost touch with...but in the short few minutes you have free to call, you couldn't possibly catch up enough?? You then wait to make the phone call until you have more time... but the time doesn't come!! THAT IS ME WITH THIS BLOG! Oh I so want to catch up because so many wonderful and amazing and crazy things have happened this month. Things that rate tons of time, thought and energy to even begin to portray it all in words.

To say we have been busy, is truly an understatement. I always say that, but this month has topped all. It has been a wonderful month of love and memories - We have watched the circle of life be laid out right in front of us... I have an incredibly refreshed sense of life as I type this... Thankful I am Obiwan!

Perhaps tomorrow I will find that time to explain everything just a little bit more... but for now, my family is asleep and I can hear my kick ass Log bed calling my name!!! Hah... so Goodnight folks... I am challenging myself to be back in the morning!

WOOPS?!!!!

And once again I fell into the Abyss that sometimes sucks me away from this blog, yet there is good news... I survived! Hahah... Hoping to get back int he swing - please don't give up on check on us quite yet! Here is a recent picture!

Some Birthday Fun!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MOLSKI!

Love this Laugh....

BEDTIME

Okay, so last night, without effort, Molly randomly slept in her toddler bed! Just like any of her other big transitions, there was no fuss and I now know that it is because she was ready for it. Trust me, we have tried before and "NOT READY" would be an understatement. Hahah!

We did our normal nighttime routine, and instead of lifting her into the pack and play (we had to return the crib for a recall...), she just got into bed and I left, not to her from her until 8 AM. Problem with toddler beds? At 8AM she was in my face in our room. HAHAHH! But it worked! Could be a fluke on a tired night, but if I go off of past experiences with change, this will be a done deal.

ps - so being that it wasn't the plan to do this last night, I hadn't thought it through too much. I mean, door open, door closed? Molly's door opens to the stairs... If she wakes in the middle of the night, her room is pitch black, what to do? What will happen in the morning? Well, we dove in and figured it out. I put a night light in her room after she fell asleep. For the first night, I did keep the door closed because I had no idea what to expect and I would rather have heard her crying in her room than wondering around in the dark in the house. When Matt got up nice and early, I cracked her door open and next thing I know, Molly was smiling in my face at 8 AM. Hahah!

Man, being a mom is a never ending adventure. I mean, I am fascinated by everything we go through. I have certainly never done any of it before... she has never done any of it before. But we sure figure it out, don't we? Pretty cool this Mom business....

It Grows on Trees...

So one fun sides of my job is that I get to decorate the gym for the fall!! (I think I have my boss fooled here, she calls this "work"...). I made this candy corn tree for the front desk and I am not sure I want to part with it quite yet! I also made a garland out of candy corn. It is surprisingly durable! (Garland took entirely too long for words!! If I wasn't stuck in a car for 7 hours, there is no way I would have finished it.) I will post pictures of the gym later, but I wanted to get this up! I was inspired by an article in a Fall magazine. I am excited about the seasons changing and I am going to make it a goal to dive into decor projects this year! I plan on going all in. HAH! Fun!

PRE PRE PRE SCHOOL!

Happy Wednesday! (Survivor Night!!!) Hoped to post these sooner, but this week has been great and crazy all in one. Last Friday was Molly's first day of her Pre, Pre School. She goes to St. Anne's Day School, P.M.O. (Parent's Morning Out) program on Fridays. Really neat! It is from 8:30-12:30 - she has her own teachers and classmates and loves it. The deal was sealed when she walked in and Mickey was painted on the wall!

Willie Nelson Song

...On the road again...
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way... yes our way.

I just can't wait to get on the road again!

Off to our College Buddie's wedding! Fun time ahead this weekend....

MORE MICKEY PICKEYS!! (HAHAH!)

HOLY BUSY BATMAN!

MORNING!!!!!

Loss for Words??

I really am at a loss for words on how great today was for the three of us! Molly met Mickey... Nuff said!! Day 1 of our Disney adventure couldn't have gone any better. Magic kingdom was amazing... not crowded and true happiness for McMollerson. (true happiness for me when my ice cream cone - my one true obsession besides diet coke - had Mickey ears on it!) Believe it or not, one of our favorite attractions was the Haunted Mansion. The amount of time and planing that goes into pulling off an attraction like that is amazing!!! We marveled at it. The highlight, of course, was meeting Mickey himself after a tour of his house. Molly was so excited and when it was finally her turn, she slowly, and "shyly" (if even a word??) walked over to him. You can even see in the picture, as she was hugging Minnie, she was staring Mickey down. Aaahhh! Great, great day. Spent the evening at the Polynesian Review here at the resort and in the pool... way way fun! Thanks for checking in on us! Having a ball here...

BUCKET O' LETTERS

Photo Worthy...

Home Sweet Home... 3 of us!

Howdy Folks... Matt is officially home and not going anywhere for awhile! So happy... life is good and we are having a blast!

A Yellow Hit this Morning...

DeeDee, We are Coming!

One count down over (almost!!... 24 hours until MMMMMAAAAATTTTT!!!) and another one begins!! We have decided to take McMollerson down to meet her best friend for her birthday - DeeDee!! (...Known to most as Mickey!!!!) Molly is actually still free to all parks for about one more month of her life, and the military has an incredible deal for the month of september for us parents, so we are hitting the road south for a few days once matt get here.

After a summer apart, and what promises to be a busy tour ahead, this is going to be such a fun time for the three off us! I know Disney world is a amazing place - and my whole life I have heard, "just wait until you have kids"... I am so excited to watch this kid be lit up by all things Mickey. You would think I made her world complete this morning alone, when I just so happen to be the one who turned the TV on and Mickey was there... It is a riot to see her little face light up when we walk by a balloon in the grocery store with her best buddy on board.... When her fruit snacks have Mickey Mouse smiling back at her, she almost doesn't want to eat them they make her so happy! Hahah. My heart might just explode when I get to see her meet him in person. Looking forward to it very much.

PS - Ummm, Side note, did I really just say this was for her birthday? Is it at all possible that she is almost 2?? YOWZA!!

Turning 31

So today really was a great day... Thanks so much to everyone for thinking of me! The phone calls, emails, cards and thoughts all mean so much and made my day special. Molly and I are officially "sugared out' and headed to bed. Hahah!! Alright 31, I welcome you!

Photo Ops?

Just wanted to share a few more pictures of what we have been up to while we kill time waiting for Matt to come home. (1.5 days!!) If we go within 1 mile of a park, I swear Molly can smell it! She starts bouncing in her car seat! She got a new water table/sink to play with outside, makes for a great place to have morning coffee. The tutu was pulled out for a photoshoot, but I couldn't resist putting it on her for a bit!

Yogurt Laughs

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS

Well, as I see it, this will be a very interesting year for the Redskins. I promise not to pretend I know more than I do when I talk about them, but I know a good bit!! For me, that is :) Let me just start off by saying, I LOVE football. I never did... I was always one of those people who thought the whistle blew way too much and had no idea how to actually "watch" the game. I was more interested in watching our Drum Major for the "Horns Up" signal. Hah, yes, I was a band Geek and proud of it. GO FRENCH HORNS GO! (Told you I was a geek...)

But, life moves on, and now I can blame Matt and the TV for most of my football knowledge! There are are only a few things better than a cold fall day, a Blue Moon and a planned couple of hours in front of our TV (or a friends? A restaurants?!) watching the games. Matt is off to a preseason game tonight with Brother Dave actually ... one last chance to see them play while he is still up in Virginia. We had season tickets last year and Matt got to see three games throw down - but the season was not one to write a home about. So, so, so many things have been switched up this year! So much so, that even non-Redskins fans (and there are a lot of them for some reason??) have to be curious! And if you're me, curious and excited!

As the seasons near, thought I would throw up some of us sporting our Redskins Gear. Hail To the Redskins!!!

Blog Facelift?

Changed up the blog look... I LOVE IT!!!

Welcome to Our Cabin!

Well three years ago when Matt and I bought or dream "log" bed, we had huge aspirations of what our master bedroom would look like one day. We LOVE LOVE LOVE our bed... actually, I would argue it is my favorite piece of furniture in our house besides the handmade items from my Grampy - and unless we someday upgrade to a King size version of the exact same bed, we will have this one for the long haul. (Side note, our movers love it when they come in and we show them the 300 lb bed that needs to get down the stairs... or worse, up. Hah. ) Okay! So look what we found here in Jacksonville ... I am so excited about our new dressers. They had our name all over them!!

ON TWO HANDS!

We can count the number of days.... 6 ..... can I say it again?? 6 days until Matt comes home to live with us here in Jacksonville!!!! HAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WAAHOOOO!!!

GLASSES

Ahhhh!!! Had to post it... anyone think she looks like me now??

PLAYING ON MY COMPUTER AGAIN!

Okay!!! So sometimes I can have too much fun playing on my computer. Hah! Lots of Homecomings went on here this week, so I dug up some old and new pictures and started playing around... came up with this!! It wouldn't load up full size, so I had to shrink it down a lot. I recommend watching it in the small screen mode - full screen is overly pixilated. Enjoy dudes... Volume up!!

ABZ's

OSPREY

Okay!!! So here it is ... Matt's future chariot! After an exciting experience with the CH-46 Helicopter, the ever changing Marine Corps is replacing the birds with the v22 Tilt rotor Osprey. Matt will now be flying off into the sunset (hah!) in this bad boy. Just wanted to share a few pictures of what it looks like!

Wow....Been Busy!

Okay, so my first instinct is to say WOAH WE HAVE BEEN SO BUSY!!! ...and I am sorry for the lack of posts... but man if I can't even tell you what we have been busy doing. I guess that is called life, eh?! Everything is great - Molly is sitting here watching TV on the Rocking horse her great Grampy made for her as I type this. Hahah! We took a road trip north last weekend to visit Matt and family in VA! It was so much fun... a little vacation from working at OCS for Matt, and some good family time for all of us. 2.5 weeks until he moves down here and our life in Good old Jacksonville can begin! Excited for it! HELLO HELLO AND HAPPY SUNDAY!!

FLASHBACK!

Okay, so I store all of my photos by Month and Year on my computer... helps a lot since I take entirely too many. (Teehee!) So every month, it is a ton of fun to go back to last's years same Month and click through the folder. These were some of my favorites from July of 2009. Can't believe how fast time has flewn. Molly will be 2 before we know it. Wow!