this week

This week has slipped by much quicker than I wanted. It was a full week. A good week. A visit-from-Molly week. Rather than trying to go back and write individual posts about all of the fun we had, I'll just give the highlights.

Saturday

I have been wanting to cut my hair short since before River was born, but promised myself that I wouldn't until I fit into my favorite jeans again.

Here are the jeans and here is the new hairdo. I love it.

My mom treated both of us to haircuts at the Paul Mitchell School in Fayetteville. I didn't get the haircut I was wanting - I asked for a longish pixie cut and ended up with a bob - but I am still super happy with the outcome. I think the girl was nervous to cut off so much hair. I ended up with this length after I had her cut it a second time since her first try was well below my chin. I didn't have the heart to ask her to cut it yet again, especially since it had already taken 2 hours to get to this point. But, really, I can't complain.

Sunday

River stayed home for some special Daddy time while Liam and I went with Grammie to the airport in Tulsa to get Molly.

It looks like they had a good time.

Monday

We spent the morning in Fayetteville, visiting Crystal and her kiddos, getting some groceries, and shopping at a favorite thrift store. Liam treated Molly to a full blown meltdown in the thrift store. Screaming, refusing to get into the stroller, throwing his shoes. It was a classic moment.

That evening, we picked Linda up from work and went to my mom's for a girl's night. A soak in the hot tub, face masks, brownie sundaes, eyebrow waxing, and Gray's Anatomy. Fun fun fun.

Tuesday

Gabriel and I took River down to Children's Hospital in Little Rock for a consult with the pediatric urologist. We knew we'd be making this trip since he was born, and the conclusion of the matter is that he will need surgery. It's nothing major, but the details are not something that 13-year-old-River-in-the-future would want me to share with the world wide web. We scheduled him to have the next available surgery date: September 9, 2011. Apparently, his surgeon is the only pediatric urologist in the state, and he is quite busy. So now we wait.

And since we were down in Little Rock, we decided to visit the zoo. It was raining and the zoo was empty. We had a blast. In all of my zoological wanderings, I've never seen a giraffe quite like this before.

And these koi were insane. Insane.

All of that walking made River nice and tired for the drive home.
While we spent the day on the road and in Little Rock, Liam had an extra special day just him and his Tia Molly.

They played trains and legos. They went on a walk to the park. They painted Linda's birthday present.

And she gave him a bath. Liam is a big Tia Molly fan.

Wednesday

Linda is turning !20! next Tuesday, so we decided to celebrate her special day while we were all together.

And since no birthday of Linda's is complete without manicotti, I was more than happy to oblige (even if that meant I could only have the dairy-free pesto on gnocchi... oh, the sacrifice...).

Hurray for Manicotti

And it wouldn't be Linda's birthday without something extra chocolatey:

triple layer chocolate torte

with buttercream filling

covered in ganache

A lesson in candle-licking

There were presents

There were lots of Grammie-smooches

and Auntie Snuggling.

Can you tell we're related?

Especially from this angle?

Like mother, like daughters...

Thursday

Before taking Molly to the airport, we met my mom and Linda for lunch at Mcallisters and then went to Gulley park in Fayetteville for some photo ops.

Liam wasn't so into the picture-perfect moments, but he does love the slides...

And so does Tia Molly.

We're still working on it with River.

And I discovered what a little static will do for my haircut.

I think I may have found my new look.

After a splash in the creek

And some more cuddles with Molly,

We were off to the airport.

It was a long week. A good week. A Molly-filled-week. I'm sad it had to come to an end.

Thanks for such a great visit, Sister.