All posts by Molly

Gus’s School Program

Gus had his first school program last week. It was the last day of his school for the fall.
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I love his teachers. They always seem so engaged with the kids. They introduced everyone with the song “Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?”
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One of the few songs he participated in.
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He did participate in his skit. His teachers said for his first program, he did pretty well. They acted out “Are you my mommy?” And he was the “snort” truck who puts the baby bird back in her nest.
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And there was a little potluck party afterwards where he showed me his moustache.
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Not sure where my baby went!

Holiday Lights Hayride

I’ve gotten lots of comments on just how many holiday related events we’ve been up to this year. This is not my favorite time of year. In summer, the opportunities are endless and I like to be outside any time of day. But in winter, I wouldn’t leave my house if I didn’t have to.  So, I’ve been seeking out events that are both fun and inexpensive to get us out. This is one of those.

A town near us has a holiday lights hayride. A truck pulls a hay wagon around town to see all of the Christmas lights. The truck plays Christmas music and there’s even a stop for hot chocolate. At $2/person, this event is a total “steal”. Most places, you could barely get the hot chocolate for $2.

Gus LOVES hayrides. No matter the season, or occasion, he just loves them. He was over the moon about this, even before we started moving or the Christmas music started playing.
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We went with our good friends Danae and Adrian. You probably think we do everything with them. We kind of do. Life is better with friends.
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Not sure what was going through Gus’s mind at this moment.
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Love this one of Adrian.
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Can we talk about this for a minute? When did he get big enough to drink a hot beverage on a moving vehicle with just one hand? Actually, he was covered in hot chocolate by the time we were done, but doesn’t he look so grown up here?
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I hope you’re finding fun things to do this season, too. Local friends, go on a hayride!

The Tree Hunt

I’ve always been on the side of real Christmas trees. As a child, we’d go out to a tree farm and cut down a tree. My love for real trees isn’t entirely the tree itself, but the whole experience.

At the same time, when we adopted Reed and Lena, some lovely people decorated our house for Christmas and put up an artificial tree. Now, I get why they’re so popular, too. Easy and convenient. Plus, I’ve hated the idea of buying a tree when we have this one sitting in our basement.

Enter in the “Cedar Tree Event” where you go out an chop down an invasive red cedar for a small donation. Win/win. The fact that we found someone who could use the artificial tree sitting in our basement? That’s one more win.

If this invasive species Christmas tree thing sounds familiar, that’s because we also did it two years ago.

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This year it was out at Mildale Farm, a property typically used for events like weddings. Totally gorgeous and I’d only seen it from the road before.

Pretty quickly, I can see the appeal of tree farms for those who like a real tree. This is not an easy task, finding a tree out here in nature.
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Reed and Lena kept saying “this one?” and “what about this one?”
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The thing is, we’d already had a busy day, with the Christmas parade and we stopped by the school Christmas shops for the kids to do their shopping before we came. So, some people (cough Gus cough) were already feeling a bit cranky.
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At some point, it was very clear to just pick a tree or spend out here all day.
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We picked a tree.
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Reed actually helped with the cutting this year, too. He doesn’t quite have it figured out yet, but he’s curious.

Reed also did almost all of the dragging the tree back to the spot where they drive it to the parking lot. It hurt his hands after awhile, but he didn’t want to hand it over.
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When we got back to where you tag your tree for them to drive it back, Reed did everything. It’s completely him to be able to go find a tree, chop it down and drag it back almost entirely himself by age 7, but it still surprises me to see him actually do it.
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So, after we dropped off our tree, there was this on our walk back to the car. Cider, hot chocolate, cookies and a fire.
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The volunteers at this event are so hospitable. The couple serving the snacks and tending to the fire was a pleasure to talk to. And, all of the volunteers we interacted with were very friendly and welcoming.
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I just love this– chopping down a wild tree, then sitting by a fire.
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Picking an invasive wild tree does not get you the prettiest Christmas tree by any means. However, it is quite a fun experience!

Christmas Parade

Last weekend was easily our busiest weekend of the year: Christmas parade, kids’ holiday shop, Christmas tree hunting, Aaron’s birthday and prepping for Lena’s birthday. Whew. Now that I’m mostly recovered from shoving all of that into 2 days, I have some blog posts to share! Starting with what we did last weekend…

The Christmas parade is so special. We went to it last year and it was a bucket list sort of thing then. We thought we’d be moving and I wanted to go at least once. But, we’re still here and I think we’ll keep on enjoying the parade as long as we are. It is only horses and wagons pulled by horses– no cars. When we were driving over to the parade, the traffic was stopped and we could see the horses crossing the road ahead of us. I had Aaron go down a less busy street so we could see them go by from our car.

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I kind of love that the people walking sign is pointing to the horses. 🙂

Rudolph the Red Nosed… Horse.
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This one looked particularly out of place to me. Sort of like it was just plopped down in 2014.
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But, we still went to the parade, because, we were meeting friends and it was fun to see the parade a second time.
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One of the things about hanging out with one of your closest friends is that she’s probably going to take YOUR camera and take a few pictures of you. I’m never quite so comfortable on this side of the camera, but I love these ones of me and my little man. He insisted on sitting on my lap the whole time, but he kept his mooing to a minimum. Considering he mooed at all of the horses last year, this is a big improvement.
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And the parade ends with Santa.
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Next up… Christmas tree hunting!!

Moose Gifts Christmas Shop (Bracelets, Shirts, Prints and Notecards)

I’ve had several people ask me– do you still have MudLOVE bracelets? Do you have a list of what’s available? Do you have any more shirts? So, introducing our Christmas Shop. All proceeds go directly to our hosting fees to bring Big L back, in fact, I’ll have you donate right to our Razoo account (although arrangements can be made for Paypal if needed). I have:

Here’s how this works:

  1.  Check out the list below and decide what you want to buy. If you know what you’re looking for, you can use the links above to navigate this super long post a bit easier.
  2. Shoot me an email(molly@amooseinmoscow.com) with your order or any questions that you have.
  3. I recommend that you wait for me to reply and confirm that I still have those items in stock. I will confirm that and remove them from this list.
  4. Pay for your order on via this Razoo link.
  5. I will ship your order on the next business day.

Prices for all items are noted at the top of the list. Prices include shipping with the US for First Class Mail. I am happy to ship outside the US, so please email me with your address and I will get you a quote.

Word Bracelets

($12 for 1 or $10/each for more than 1)

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  • abide – Blue
  • abide – Pink
  • abide – Purple
  • beloved – Light Green
  • beloved – Orange
  • best friends – Blue
  • best friends – Turquoise
  • best friends – Light Green
  • best friends – Purple
  • be still – Gray
  • be still – Brown
  • be still – Light Green
  • be still – black
  • be the change – White
  • be the change – Orange
  • be the change – Pink
  • be the change – Yellow
  • be the change – Light Green
  • be the change – Black
  • beautiful – gray
  • beautiful – orange
  • beautiful – black
  • beautiful – light green
  • blessed – purple
  • blessed – light green
  • carpe diem – White
  • carpe diem – Orange
  • carpe diem – Dark Green
  • courage – yellow
  • courage – pink
  • courage – white
  • courage – light green
  • courage – burgundy
  • courage – gray
  • determined – Dark Green
  • determined – Orange
  • dream – Turquoise
  • dream – Pink
  • dream – Gray
  • dream – Light Green
  • faith – dark green
  • faith – orange
  • forever – Pink
  • forever – Turquoise
  • forgiven – Pink
  • forgiven- Brown
  • forgiven – Gray
  • grace – Orange
  • grace – Gray
  • grace – Black
  • grace – Navy Blue
  • hope – Gray
  • hope – Light Green
  • hope – Orange
  • inspire – Black
  • inspire – Green
  • joy – Black
  • joy – Brown
  • joy – Green
  • joy – Orange
  • justice – Pink
  • justice – Orange
  • justice – Gray
  • laugh – black
  • laugh – navy blue
  • laugh – gray
  • laugh – orange
  • laugh – light green
  • live- Orange
  • live – Green
  • live – Pink
  • love – Pink
  • love – Black
  • loved – Turquoise
  • loved – Brown
  • loved – Black
  • loved – Light Green
  • never give up – orange
  • overcome – light green
  • overcome – black
  • passion – black
  • passion – light green
  • passion – brown
  • Proverbs 31 – yellow
  • Proverbs 31 – turquoise
  • Proverbs 31 – light green
  • Proverbs 31 – pink
  • run – white
  • run – orange
  • run – light green
  • run – dark green
  • run – black
  • set free – gray
  • set free – light green
  • set free – pink
  • sing – pink
  • sing – orange
  • sisters – light green
  • sisters – yellow
  • sisters – pink
  • sisters – black
  • smile:) – gray
  • smile:) – dark green
  • smile:) – orange
  • smile:) –  navy blue
  • strength – blue
  • strength – purple
  • trust – burgundy
  • trust – light green x 2
  • trust – pink
  • trust – brown
  • worship – pink
  • worship – turquoise
  • WWJD – light green
  • WWJD – yellow
  • Yahweh – yellow
  • Yahweh – blue
  • Yahweh – pink
  • Yahweh – brown

Animal Bracelets

($14 for 1 or $12/each for more than 1)

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  • chimpanzee – dark green
  • chimpanzee – pink
  • chimpanzee – gray
  • chimpanzee – navy blue
  • frog – gray
  • frog – pink
  • frog – orange
  • giraffe – pink
  • giraffe – orange
  • giraffe – red
  • giraffe – light green
  • giraffe – black
  • horse – navy blue
  • horse – turquoise
  • horse – yellow
  • horse – light green
  • horse – orange
  • horse – gray
  • horse – black
  • lion – pink
  • lion – orange
  • lion – black
  • lion – dark green
  • owl – yellow
  • owl – dark green
  • owl – gray
  • owl – light green
  • owl – orange
  • owl – black
  • owl – white
  • owl – pink
  • owl – navy blue
  • stegosaurus – black
  • stegosaurus – pink
  • turtle – pink
  • turtle – turquoise
  • turtle – brown
  • turtle – red
  • zebra – pink
  • zebra – yellow
  • zebra – turquoise

Shirts

(crewneck = $20 shipped, vneck = $22 shipped)

Molly Parker Shirt2 (3) Tips about sizing: These are unisex sizes. The crewneck (not the vneck) are a little less “generous” than regular shirts, so you may want to size up if you are between sizes.

  • medium – crewneck
  • extra large – crewneck x 3
  • medium – vneck x 2
  • large – vneck

Prints

I have just a few prints left in stock from our spring sale. Blossom – 8×10, $12 shipped 1932701_1475184199378176_7715344553547775776_o Morning Light 5×7, $8 shipped (3 available) 8×10, $12 shipped (2 available) 10250055_1475181526045110_1365307562262164955_n Blood Moon – 8×12, $15 shipped (2 available) 10178055_1475179192712010_8665253073469182955_n

Notecards

($12 per set of 5)

These notecards are blank inside. They’re perfect for nearly any kind of note that you need to send– thank you notes, thinking of you, etc. Most of these are sets of 5 different cards and the collage shows the 5 images included in the set. Colorful Set (2 available) 10372596_1491000731129856_11372613881034127_n April Set (5 available) 10313572_1491000737796522_6704526852577305620_n Floral Set (4 available) 10366037_1491000764463186_770919198108604714_n Miscellaneous Set (4 available) 10390031_1491000767796519_257010726873824626_n All Seasons Set (4 available) 10402690_1491000771129852_4550596801458995871_n-1 Pink and Purple Set (2 available) 10313999_1491000794463183_3766218419709280831_n Morning Light – all 5 the same (2 available) 10365788_1491027574460505_7891645515760061236_n April Showers – all 5 the same (2 available) 10292483_1491029247793671_33850438470784251_n Best Buds – all 5 the same (1 available) 10361456_1491027641127165_2834793621074247242_n Thanks for looking. 🙂