Knots

My stomach was in such a knot this morning.  I've been pushing this to the far back of my head for the past several weeks, but this morning I went to have my second pre-cancerous mole removed. 

Let's go back about 15 years.   Boy would I do things differently!  Baking in the sun all day- no way!  Not using sunscreen when baking in the sun all day- absolutely not!  Tanning beds- forget it!  And it's not that my mom didn't warn me.  She did.  I was so vain. 

I hope my girls have more sense than I did.  As of now, they don't step foot in the sun without sunscreen or hats.  They both are going to be prone to these skin issues with their fair skin, blue eyes, blonde hair.  And that scares me.  But I also wonder about these sunscreens full of chemicals.  We use natural as much as possible.  But have you tried these lotions?  Forget trying to apply it when you are in a hurry.  They don't rub in well.  And the worst part about them is that they run into the babies' eyes a lot easier.  Then you're dealing with a crying, screaming, miserable child for the rest of the day.  Super fun.  So we kinda use a mix of lotions.  Can anyone recommend a more natural lotion that they actually like?  I'm willing to try pretty much anything!

But back to this morning.  Jane was with her nana so I took Molly with me.  I think that helped ease my nerves because of the distraction of  her being there.   And once I was in the office, I wasn't even sure why I was so nervous to begin with.  Off the mole went.  I'll probably not be completely at ease until these results come back from the biopsy, but for now, the knots are gone. 

Moral of this story- use sunscreen.  Don't be vain.  Someday you'll have babies depending on you.

You just keep rockin' that hat baby girl.

Summer Favorites

August is knocking on the door, and I'm not ready to answer.  August always goes too fast.  Before you know it, summer's over.  I do love the fall, but summers with Brian home are just better.  But my steam is starting to run out, and it's time for a summer pick-me-up.  Time to revisit what makes summer so awesome and update my "summer want to do list".

My favorite parts of the summer have been:

• playing outside early in the morning (this is probably on my neighbors "worst things about summer" list)
• after dinner swims
• farmer's markets
• cooking with the fresh vegetables we get at the farmer's market
• iced coffee
• Jane watching very, very little t.v.
• having a chance to read my own books
• vacations!

We still have one more little trip to the beach planned for the summer.  And I'd like to start walking early in the morning with Molly after she wakes up, which is usually around 5:30 so I may need to wait until the sun is up!

On a completely different note,are you enjoying the Olympics?  Never did I imagine that Jane would be so into it!  I enjoy the summer Olympics so much more than the winter.  Jane and Molly were watching the gymnastics today together.  It was absolutely adorable!

early morning 

playdate anyone?  7am too early?

Summer

So a lot of time has passed.  Over four months to be exact.  But I want to write.  I feel like keeping up with a blog not only gets my thoughts out there, but also helps keep me motivated.  If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it because I wrote that I was.  (I know that is whack, but my brain works that way!) 

Summer is awesome because Brian is off from work.  We've been going on trips, getting things done around the house, and just having good old summer fun.

Lately, I've been enjoying our after dinner activities outside.  Jane goes to bed super early.  I'm talking 6:30 at the latest.  So this week I've been getting dinner served by about 4pm so that we aren't rushed to bathe and get to bed.  We've been enjoying bike rides, swims, and walks.  I think after dinner swims are my favorite.  They remind me of my own childhood, swimming after dinner at my grandparent's house.

Thanks to Pinterst, I've been planning some yummy dinners.  That include veggies.  That's huge, people!  Brian and I aren't veggie lovers.  A salad or some corn on the cob is usually it.  But lately we've been really enjoying roasted carrots and zucchini (how in the heck have we never had these??).  We love them.  We also have discovered how much we like zucchini "fries", baked zucchini with breadcrumbs. 

Molly has hand, foot, mouth, so she's been pretty miserable.  Today she seemed to finally have some relief.  Poor baby.  It's so hard to just sit there and watch them suffer.  She was taking ibuprofen around the clock.  Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be helping all that much.

Jane's been wanting to play princess dolls every waking moment.  And not by herself.  "Mommy I need you!", that is to be the prince or whatever other doll she wants to enter her play.  I'm happy she has found something she really enjoys playing.  I just need to figure out a way to encourage her to play by herself a little!

I have a lot more to share, but for now, I'll leave you with some photos of my favorite summer moments.

Camping trip in the rain

Molly turned 1!

and Jane turned 3!

We went to Gettysburg for a few days.  This is at the children's museum.

We had a 4th of July party.

We went to the Finger Lakes and stayed in a yurt.