The Beginning of Wednesday

Friday, May 23, 2014

Happy Birthday, Toby

Two years ago today, at 3:54 PM, Tobias Herbert Molloy came into this world.

Happy Birthday to the boy who stole my heart.

To see Toby's first year slideshow, click here

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

More Farm Fun

Last week was our "April vacation." While we spent most of it hanging around the house and getting some projects finished, we also traveled North to the Farm to help my parents butcher chickens.

I am so incredibly proud of my husband. Butchering isn't a job anyone really wants to do but, Aaron did it (like a champ) to make sure we had fresh poultry to eat this year; no chemicals, salt-water injections, or medicated feed in our chicken! Although the reason for our visit was for slaughtering, Aaron and Dan were able to get it done quickly so we could spend some quality time with my parents on the farm. Toby is just so happy there. He loves Mimi and Papa so much.

I will admit, while at the farm, I was totally the "mamarazzi" ... following my kid around clicking away like a maniac as he "ooh'd and ahh'd" at all the farm has to offer.

(click on any picture to enlarge)

It's fiddlehead season... little buttah, salt & peppah! Yum!

This picture is probably one of my top ten favorite pictures of Toby, ever. While I was hoping to capture a serious picture of him, I didn't know that Aaron was sneaking up behind me; only Toby could see him. I don't know if I can explain what I feel about this picture but, Aaron loves his son so much... and Toby loves his Dad. Not that this is notable, because really, isn't that how it works? But the love they have for each other isn't what I expected. I always knew Aaron would be a great dad but I didn't expect for him to be such a natural parent. It comes really easy for him. And it's evident.

Playing "Three-Billy-Goats-Gruff" with Mimi. He adores his Mimi-Goose.

No, we're not keeping him caged all the time. He loved it in there. He pretended to walk around like a chicken. It was hilarious!

Oops, watch out for that... "mud"

There is nothing like Mimi's baked goods.

"And then I said, 'Duh, to get to the other side.'"

Monday, April 21, 2014

One Year

It's truly amazing what happens over the course of a year.

In 2013 Toby crawled into the living room to see what the Easter Bunny left him.

In 2014 he walked.

In 2013 the Easter Bunny went WAYYY overboard.

And in 2014 the Easter Bunny... well, he still went overboard...

In 2013, Toby's uncles, Matt & Nelson, were so in love with him.

And by 2014, that didn't change either.

I would also like to think that Toby took the cake for the best dressed little boy in 2013...

And 2014

But, on Easter Sunday 2013, our family didn't know whether or not McPepe would be here for Easter 2014.

We are so grateful he is.

We hope your Easter was filled with as much love and gratitude as ours was.

Quotes that define my life:

"Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -- For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." -- Rudyard Kipling
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." -- Unknown
"Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it." -- E. Lutzer
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea and the music in its roar; I love not man the less, but Nature more.” -- Lord Byron
"There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don't seem to help." -- Mr. Rogers
"If you don't crack the shell, you can't eat the nut." -- Persian Proverb
"Real peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mountains we climb

+ Currently: Life
+ Magalloway Mountain: Pittsburg, NH: 3,350 ft. Fire tower @ summit
+ Uncanoonuc Mountains: Goffstown, NH; Elevation: North Peak 1,324 ft. South Peak, 1,321 ft. *Indian Translation: "woman lying down" or "breasts"*
+ Mt. Major: Alton Bay, NH: Approx 4 mi. round trip; 1,100 ft. @ summit.
+ Monument Mt., Berkshire Area, MA: Approx 3 mi. round trip; *Beautiful waterfall* 1,735 ft @ summit.
+ Welch-Dickey- Loop Trail, Waterville Valley Area: 4.4 mi. round trip; 2,605 ft. @ Welch summit, 2,734 ft. @ Dickey summit.
+ Mt. Kearsarge- Barlow Trail, Winslow State Park, Wilmot: 2.8 mi. round trip; 2,937 ft @ summit.
+ Mt. Monadnock- White Dot Trail, Jaffrey: 4.2 mi. round trip, 3,165 ft. @ summit
+ Mt. Layafette- Old Bridle Path, Franconia Notch State Park: 8 mi. round trip, 5,260 ft @ summit.
+ Mt. Cardigan- East Side Loop, Alexandria: 5.3 mi. round trip, 3,121 ft @ summit. * some of the mountain was left bare from a fire in 1855
+ Mt. Morgan & Mt. Percival- Squaw Mountains, Holderness & Center Sandwich: 5.1 mi. round trip; 2,220 & 2,212 ft. @ summit
+ Mt. Osceola- White Mountain National Forest: 6.4 mi. round trip, 4,340 ft. @ summit

Mission Statement

This blog is much like my home. When you click on my blog you cross a boundary into my world; what I would like to be a judgment free world. You’re in my house now. Don’t come in if you want to pollute my environment with negativity.

As a guest in my home would you pick apart my style, critique my furniture, or want me to spend your entire visit complaining about my life's trials and tribulations? No. The same goes for my blog. You’re a guest here. The virtual world is a "boundary" between what I am going to post here, and what goes on in my “real life.”

This is my forum. Much like if you were a guest in my house, I would scurry around cleaning up, presenting to you my best self. I do the same with my writing. You come here for a smile, an anecdote, a laugh, or a oui. You don't come here to hear about the bad parts of my life. Just because I don't post about them, doesn't mean they don't exist. That part of me just happens to be none of your business.

I choose to blog about things that make me happy, things I want to look back on and relish. I am constantly recovering (on a daily basis) from things that are unpleasant, I need no reminders via written word. That is what my diary is for. If that omission makes it appear as though my life is easy, then you are more than welcome to turn back now, don't waste your time. I have an amazing group of people who I can vent to and get feedback in regards to those matters, I don’t have an overwhelming urge to hang my dirty laundry out to dry in front of strangers.

My greatest fear about blogging is that someone, anyone, would rob me of this right. To instill in me a need to gauge my every word, for me to feel intimidated to speak, to share, or to write. I would never take that privilege, liberty, or luxury from any one person. It’s not mine to take. If you're here for the taking, I hope you come up empty.