She was Nearly Born in a Volkswagen Bug

Happy Birthday, to Molly-Erin Marie Furner Gickling. 

Yes, indeed she was almost born in the back of our Red Volkswagen Bug.  Her soon-to-be-new-daddy didn't want to pay an additional day stay in the hospital, so there I sat, birth imminent, legs crossed, fingers crossed, almost everything crossed, counting the hour, minutes and finally seconds to be WHEELED into the hospital. And out she came, the biggest of clan.


I was dancing in my head I was so relieved to give birth NOT in a CAR!!!!  And Molly has been dancing ever since.  She truly has been our ballerina!  And today she adds another fantastic year to her life's calendar.


We celebrated at Kaiwah Beach, a few days early. Secrets very hard to keep...but we did a pretty good job.

For one scary moment we thought we would have to cook the pancakes in olive oil, but Molly had come to the rescue and put a tub of butter in her bag of home brought groceries. 

Hunter was a masterful chef, working with three non stick pans at ONE TIME: sausage, scrambled eggs and pancakes. It all turned out beautifully.

Harder than keeping the surprise party a surprise was hiding the birthday cake and raspberries. NOTHING in the world tastes better to Molly than raspberries. 

After breakfast we settled down to presents.....did you know that Trader Joe's Market has several cookbooks? That is what she is reading.

Plum full of pancakes and raspberries, presents and cards, we headed to the beach.

Yes, it was rather nippy out. But little can stop crashing ocean waves, swooping birds and playful dolphin watching.

Kayla had the best surprise of all....her very own birthday cake for her mommy.

Rather than "eat" it all in one sitting, we left some for the Mermaids to nibble on.  The next morning a few shells were left where the cake once was....one should always believe in mermaids.

Happy Birthday, Molly..........