Milestones for Molly

Molly is trying really hard to crawl. She's almost there, and I'm betting it will be before the end of the weekend! I just couldn't resist posting this picture of her. This was taken two seconds after she realized that crawling is much more effective than rolling across the floor!

The Top Twelve

So now that blog posts are very few and far between, we think it's best to put together another top 10 list to summarize the past six weeks. We have so much to share that we're going to make it a top twelve. Here goes!

12. Brandon's brother, Brett got engaged last month. We will be heading to Cancun in July to celebrate his marriage to Devan. You can check out their website at www.mywedding.com/brettanddevan

11. Brandon has taken on a second job. Okay, really, he's just helping out our friends who own Fun and Games, a local game/costume shop that makes most of their money during the Halloween season. Brandon told Kyle that he work for free and Kyle replied "If I don't give you the money, it's going to wind up in your wife's purse", to which Brandon replied "Ok, give me a check." Ben and Grace are excited to go see Daddy selling and modeling costumes. He will be there most evenings and weekends beginning this week if you are interested as well! Here's our plug "Buy Local! Support Fun and Games!"

10. We have not managed to outsmart the swine flu after all. After spiking a fever of 103 on Sunday, Ben stayed home Monday and Tuesday with what appears to be H1N1 virus. Grace was quick to follow, and she stayed home today and is out tomorrow as well. We're keeping our fingers crossed that Molly is somehow immune to the whole thing.

9. Brandon and his father put a laminate wood floor in the living room. We were so excited to see the old carpet go that we didn't even consider how cool this would be for the kids! Not only do we see Ben and Grace race across the floor in their socks very much like Tom Cruise in Risky Business, but Molly has learned to scoot from one end to the other at an amazing speed.

8. Speaking of Molly, she is beginning to talk. Those of you that hang out with me know that I have been way too concerned about her speech/language development. As a speech pathologist, and as a mom, I had it in my head that Molly MUST be babbling by age 3 to 6 months. Instead of doing that, she focused on motor development and doing things like sitting up, rolling across the floor, and throwing toys. She has been communicating by "turning on her siren", which sounds very much like a tea pot coming to a boil. Thankfully, she is beginning to talk. Babbling? What was I thinking? Molly went straight to imitating whole words. As of today, I think we've heard "boo, ut-oh, hi" and Ben swears he heard her say "Dilly Bar."

7. Ben's soccer team, the KSA Heat, has been battling other premier teams in the KC area. We are currently tied for fourth place but we still have a few games to play. Ben has scored several goals and is really improving. We are HUGE KSA fans, not only because our Ben plays for them, but because their color is ORANGE.

6. Grace earned several badges at Camp Hidden Valley last month. I don't remember receiving badges for roasting hotdogs, but she did! She also learned several new camp songs, including "Hi Ho, Captain Jack, meet me down by the railroad track, With your hiking boots in hand, I'm gonna be your hiking man" and so forth... They're very catchy.



5. Molly began eating baby food. So far, she is not a fan of peas, but she LOVES sweet potatoes.

4. Molly had her first trip to the Emergency Room. Fortunately, doctors in Great Bend, Kansas can identify and treat an ear infection. And fortunately, they won't remember us!

3. Grace's soccer team has won no games. Zilch. Nada. None. A few have even gone so far as to be 27 to zero. Oh, but they don't keep score at that age. Here's the thing: parents do.

2. Luna doesn't make the blog much. This week, she's going out of her way to make headlines again. She took Grace's pet chip (yes, I said chip....a tortilla chip with a face drawn on it in crayon) off the top shelf in her room, took a bite out of it, and proceeded to eat its remains right in front of a shrieking Grace. "Luna killed my pet chip!" Need I say more?

1. Brandon and I enjoyed celebrating our anniversary in wine country. We will continue to celebrate until all of this wine has disappeared. We are currently watching Glee and enjoying some Stone Hill Port.

A weekend at the wineries

Although Brandon and I had our 10-year anniversary in August, we waited until this weekend to get away for awhile and celebrate. On Friday we began our weekend at the wineries in Missouri. We started out by stopping in Rocheport at Les Bourgeois Vineyard. We had dinner at the Blufftop Bistro. I had my favorite wine of the entire weekend - the vignoles-traminette. Brandon enjoyed the ambiance...the architecture, the stainless steel tables, the high wood beam ceilings, and the view overlooking the river.

Saturday morning we drove to Augusta, Missouri. We went to the Montelle Winery. We got there early and snagged a table overlooking the old river valley. Although the air was brisk, we had a table in a little spot of sun, and that, paired with the wine, made us feel just warm enough. We stayed there for a few hours and listened to a local band. We even made a few friends who chatted with us from a nearby table.

After Montelle, we checked into our Bed and Breakfast. Actually, we deemed it a Bed With Own Breakfast. Since the trip was planned at the last minute, all of the local B & B's were booked and since the town of Augusta only has 400 people in it, there was no Holiday Inn to be found. Brandon was fortunate enough to hear of a new place in town...that was open but had not been marketing itself yet. It was called Stone Ledge and was located above the antique shop. Pictures will not do this place justice. After you climb a few flights of steps, you arrive on a private back porch with a little bistro set. You enter into the kitchen, proceed into the living room, and then back to the bedroom. The windows let so much light in. The architecture was beautiful. The owners, "Ruthie" and "Annie" welcomed us whole-heartedly. They left fresh eggs, milk, cheese, orange juice and other goodies in the refridgerator. I just can't say enough about this place!

After we checked in, we went to the Balducci Winery and tasted some wine. It was crowded and not very welcoming, so we went up the street a ways to the Mount Pleasant Winery...one that we had visited a few years ago and one that my parents like to go to as well. There were several wedding parties at Mount Pleasant so the wine tasting room was packed. We still managed to grab a great spot on the hill overlooking the fields. We listened to the band and watched the sun set. We enjoyed one of our absolute favorite wines...the Appellation Augusta Port.

Then we drove back into town and had dinner outside under the heaters and twinkle lights at the Augusta Brewing Company.

This morning we got up early and went for a walk in Augusta. (doesn't take long!) Then Brandon made breakfast in our little kitchen, we packed our bags, and headed home. On the way home, we decided to drive to Hermann and check out the Stone Hill Winery. There, we learned about how wine is made and stored and got a tour of the world's largest underground cellars. Then we went down the street to the Hermannhoff Winery just to say that we'd been there!

We got back on 70 and headed home....but not before we stopped at Rocheport again to have our final glass of wine at the A-Frame...an outdoor multi-tiered deck at Les Bourgeois.

It was a fabulous weekend.