Molly: her self-portraits

So one afternoon Molly comes to me and asks if she could use the camera. She tells me that she has some photos that she needs to take and its very important. Later on Kristy and I checked out the camera to see what was so important that Molly needed take pictures of....this is what we found.



Molly is certainly not camera shy.

Neleha's Second Home

With Molly at school as well as Kristy, Neleha and I have been provided some time each week to bond. So I decided that we could visit one of the local museums each week. However, Neleha has in mind only one museum that is of any interest, The National Fish & Wildlife Museum, or the "Fish Museum" as she calls it.

Neleha knows this place inside and out, she walks through it like she owns the place. She lays down on the benches and watches the fish. She weaves in and out of tourist to get to an exhibit before they do. She simply loves this place. That love only becomes more sincere when they bring out a snake for her to pet.

This particular visit we decided to watch the shark feeding. Not exactly what you may have seen in "Jaws". In fact they give the food directly to the shark with a long pole, not much to watch really. But it is the sharks, snakes, alligator, and fish that keep Neleha coming back. She is quite a little girl, she knows what she likes and she likes this place for sure. It sure is wonderful having this time with my adventurous and fearless little Neleha.

Molly's First Day at Kindergarten

Our baby is all grown up, there is no way to ignore that fact any longer. Molly was very excited as she dressed herself in a "Mary Kate & Ashley" outfit that she picked out at Wal-Mart. Her first day of school had actually arrived.

Molly insisted that she be allowed to ride the bus on her first day. So we waited with her as she anxiously anticipated the new chapter in her life of Elementary School to begin.

Molly turned and with one last pose for the camera, she entered her bus and became a school kid. Molly will sure be missed at home, Neleha talked all day about how she wanted her big sister to come back from school. Kristy and I will sure miss spending all that time with our little Molly as well.

And she is off into the world, first kindergarten and then her wedding....... time sure is flying by. But I am enjoying every minute that I can as it does fly by.


The next day the school had a welcome ceremony for all the kids and Neleha and I got to attend.

Molly looked all grown up amongst her kindergarten peers. She is very happy to be with them, indeed. The ceremony was a very nice way to welcome the kids into a new school year.

A funny thing happened when the principle described to the kids an incentive if they would not miss a single day all year. He then asked the kids to raise their hand if they would be getting that reward at the end of the year. Most of the kids raised their hands, Molly however did not. I asked her about it later and she said that she knew she was going to have a miss a day to go to Sea World next week and that she would much rather do that then get some simple reward from the school. She is much brighter than any 5-year old I have ever met. It sure pleases me to know that she is our little girl.

Insect-O-Rama at the Conservation Center

The local Conservation Nature Center hosted a free insect-o-rama that would have made my entomologist friend, Jeff, very envious. Kristy and I took the girls as well as their neighbor friend Kara.

The first exhibit was a real eye catcher. They posed the question of how many insects have you eaten. They provided research that indicated that most processed foods we eat have some if not much insect particles in them due to processing procedures inability to prevent such. Apparently the laws allow for so much insect particles to be in food due to these process limitations.

The exhibit also provided taste tests of actual insects, Neleha jumped to the offer. In fact she actually liked the meal worms so much that she asked for more. Molly having watched Neleha decided she too would try this new found snack item. Molly wasn't as sold on the idea after chewing up the worm.


We walked through the many exhibits describing the nature and life of many different insects.

Molly listening to the sound of a real bee hive.

Dung Beetle behavior of moving dung

The girls even got to participate in the Insect Olympics which required mimicking insect behavior for a prize.


following the path of an insect

jumping like a grasshopper

being a caterpillar

laying eggs like a butterfly

After the Olympics we got to make some insect crafts, the girls really enjoyed this part.

Kristy was having as much fun as the girls in the craft area.

making a firefly



Then it was off to some more exhibits including this one all about butterflies.

We stopped and played with the insect puppets for a minute, the yellow jacket was stinging everyone. What are Dad's for?

We then went outside to learn about the sounds bugs make.

After we had visited all the exhibit stations the girls picked out their prize, butterfly masks.

On our way out Neleha requested that we stop into the first exhibit to get some more "bugs to eat". This time even Kara tried the meal worm but first she asked if it was dead before she would agree. After confirming to her that it was she took a bite and said she liked it too.

Neleha our little bug eater
They remembered Neleha and decided to send her home with a box of meal worms since she enjoyed them so much. Nothing like a night of learning about and eating bugs.

Molly's First Missouri Catch

Molly and I decided to use her last Friday morning before kindergarten began to go and fish. This trip turned out to be much more productive. Molly pulled in a channel catfish just like she was a pro.

Molly is very funny about fishing, she views the fish as pets and wants to play with them. At the same time however, she also views them as food and wants to take them home and eat them.

This particular catfish was very young and small, so after Molly petted it for a minute she insisted on being the one to release it back into the lake.

Molly is gaining a real understanding about conservation. Between all the things she has learned at the conservation center and from what I have taught her, she has gained clear concepts about why we care for fish and follow the rules. She understood that we needed to release this fish because it needed to grow bigger and have baby fish so that others in the future could also come and enjoy this wonderful activity. Molly sure is a smart little girl whom I love spending all the time I can with.

Molly's Kindergarten Preview Day

Kristy had class so I got the awesome honor of attending Molly's kindergarten preview day with her.

We found her class and then she found her name plate and began to settle in to her new school. She was so excited to be able to finally go to kindergarten.

This preview day was an opportunity for the parents to get to know the teacher and the kids to get to know their way around the school. The kids were given a tour guide and a map and then headed out for their grand tour. Us parents stayed back with the teacher to learn more about the teaching style, the expectations, and the environment our children would be in for the coming school year.


Molly's teacher, Mrs. Huyck {hike}, had already incorporated the kids names throughout the classroom. It was a very creative way of involving the children from the beginning of the school year.

After my parent orientation and Molly's tour she was then told that she had to use her map to give me a tour of the school.

Molly walked Neleha and I all around her big new school, Mark Twain Elementary. She new this place down pat.


Molly's two favorite places at school was the library and the playground.

Molly is very ready for her first day of school.