Livestock Show

Today was another BEAUTIFUL day, and Mallory and I got to enjoy it with our great friends Sean, Tiffany, and Caroline at the Livestock Show.  Why not Matthew?  Poor guy picked up a stomach bug somewhere, but insisted we go without him. 

My sweetie checking out the chicks

There was a great "Fun on the Farm" area that the girls got to go through and pretend to feed chickens, gather eggs, milk a cow, and pick vegetables.

They got baskets to carry their eggs, vegetables, and other farm things in.  Mallory is big into carrying bags and baskets these days, so she loved walking around with her farm basket.  She did NOT love giving it back at the end.  I had to pry it out of her hands!

Sorry Mal, that's a fake carrot!

Mallory, Caroline, and Sean checking out everything they had collected at the farm.

They even got to milk a cow. I'm sure this will be the picture from today that Mal and Caroline will choose to display when they are roomies someday at Tech.

Time for some corn.

Stopping to read a few fun facts about cotton.

Time for a break, farm work is tough!

Their favorite activity, playing with the automatic hand sanitizer dispenser.  It startled Mallory the first time she stuck her hand under it and it spit foam on her. After the shock wore off, they entertained themselves for a long time getting sanitizer and rubbing it in over and over!

Mallory and Caroline had so much fun together and made sure to give each other hugs and kisses when we left. It was a great day for everybody (except for Matthew)!

 

Christmas in March

Last night I unpacked a big tub of clothes and toys we brought home from Anita's last week. I mentioned to Matthew that it was going to be like Christmas for Mallory.  When she got up this morning she reacted like Santa had gathered the reindeer and made a special trip just to bring her a Christmas in March.  She went back and forth between the books, and the doll house, and the Dora ball over and over again.  The whole time she kept repeating "My book," "My house", or "My ball" again and again.  Cute, but makes me wonder if we need to work on sharing.

"My bag...My ball"

Mallory, who's on your ball?   Dora, of course!




Matthew's back has been acting up again this week so these two haven't gotten to play together like they usually do.  Mallory has had a hard time understanding that Daddy can't hold her "up high" or do her other favorite tricks, so this snuggle time was good for both of them.



Mallory, please don't hate me someday for sharing this.  I just couldn't keep it to myself.

Sweet Abby

I had a couple conversations with Abby last weekend that I have to share because they're just too sweet.

Abby: I think Mallory misses her daddy.
Me:  I think so, and I do to.
Abby: Of course you do, because he is your life.
Me: Oh yeah?
Abby: Yep, like my mommy and daddy.  My daddy is my mommy's love too!


Abby was dressed in a summer dress, various accessories, and part of her baby's cradle on her head like a wedding a veil.
Abby: I'm having a wedding.
Me: You are a beautiful bride.
Abby: I'm waiting on my husband:
Me: Where is he?
Abby: He's on a spaceship and its taking him forever!


Abby: Hey Parsh, God made my voice loud.
Me (in my head): no truer statement!

"Up High" and "I Slide"

Mallory has two popular phrases these days: "up high" and "i slide". If we are in the car and we drive on an overpass or over a bridge crossing anything higher than 2 feet, I can hear her in her car seat repeating "up high". Sometimes even just climbing onto the couch earns an "up high" from her. 

Last weekend at Anita's house she spent most of her time going "up high" on the stairs.  She would repeat "up high" over and over as she climbed.  I even asked her one time where Pa Paw was knowing that he had left. Her answer was "up high". We were sitting down stairs and he wasn't, so where else could he be?  Makes sense! 

Yesterday, we had the best weather we've had in weeks so we headed to the park.  When we were getting ready to go, Mallory was pretending to sleep when I needed to change her diaper.  I told her that we were going to the park and there were slides there, she perked right up!  The park was complete heaven for Mal.  It allowed her to combine "up high" and "i slide" over and over and over again.

 

"Careful Mallory, I'm not sure you can climb that"

  

Um, ok.  I guess you can!

  

"Up High"..."Hi Daddy"

  

Weeeee......

 

"I slide"

Cowtown!

Last Saturday was the big day for my marathon.  Overall, the day could not have gone better!  It was marathon number 4 for me and I (except for my big toe) loved every second of it. My goal was 4:50, and I crossed the finish line at 4:51.  I was totally happy with this.  The weather was great. It was COLD (high 30's) starting out, but warmed up to the 50's. It was a beautiful sunny day with not much wind.  And, I got to start the morning with these ladies:

 

Kylie (10k), Anita (half), Me (full), & Angela (10k) freezing before our races

 

sisters before

 

sisters after

Just a few feet away from the finish line with my cheerleader to the side

When I passed the point where there half-marathon runners split off I was very excited to be going on for the full marathon.  When I passed the point where the ultra runners broke off, I was very excited I was not following them for an extra 5 miles.  

This was my first time to run the Cowtown Marathon, my first 3 marathons were all in Houston so the rest of my thoughts about the race were pretty much comparison to Houston.  Here are a few in case you care, and so I don't forget:

• Much smaller crowd to deal with before, during and after the race.  No massive crowds like at the George R Brown.  The shuttle dropped us off, we walked a couple blocks to drop our bags, and then walked around the corner to the start line.
• There were several staggered corral starts. We did have to wait about 15 minutes until it was our turn to start, but when we crossed the start line we got to start running immediately.  At Houston, its always a slow pace getting to and crossing the start line.  My first couple of miles were always a few minutes slower because of all the other runners and the walkers (people, not medical equiptment).
• Someone close to the start line was calling it the Mootown.  This made me laugh.  There are no funny nick names like that for Houston that I know of.
• In Houston, there are bands, Elvis impersonators, belly dancers, and lots and lots of people out cheering on all of the runners.  This was definitely not the case in Ft. Worth.  There were scattered groups out cheering us on.  Mostly they were there for a specific runner, except in the neighborhood near the Colonial.  Several of the residents here were out cheering.  It was a little like West U or Tanglewood, but on a much smaller scale.  As far as bands, all I saw was a lone guitarist on the side of a bridge singing to us.  He looked like the other members of his mariachi band had stood him up.  I think that the lack of support at Cowtown would have made a much bigger difference to me if this had been my first marathon or if I had been expecting all the hoopla of Houston.  
• In Houston the only hills you have are basically the Westpark Bridge and Allen Parkway.  These are some serious hills.  Especially Allen Pkwy since they come around mile 20.  Cowntown had 2 hills that stood out, but neither was as steep as the ones in Houston. The rest of the course had much more general up and down hills.  I think I preferred the constant up and down of Cowntown to the scattered intense hills of Houston.
• When you finish in Houston, there is a hot breakfast waiting for you.  Not so much at Cowtown.
• Houston is always on a Sunday.  Cowtown was on a Saturday.  Not a big deal butl I caught myself thinking it was Sunday and even wondered why I saw some mail jeeps out.
• There were no former presidents in Ft. Worth.  

I would definitely do the Cowtown again, so who's running with me next time?

The Next Time We Go to Sports Authority I'm Bringing the Camera

This morning was my last long run before my marathon coming up on the 27th.  I survived an early and lonely 22 mile run. It went really well and was a good confidence booster for the real thing coming up in only 2 weeks.  I'm thankful its behind me and now I can take it easy until then.

Its been crazy cold here this winter. If any of my friends up north are reading this you might laugh, but for US its been REALLY cold. Since it was going to be 32 this morning, I decided I needed something a little warmer to wear. So, we went to Sports Authority last night so I could pick something up before going to Pei Wei.  While I was trying things on, Matthew and Mallory had a little fun themselves. When I found them, they were shooting some hoops.  I couldn't resist taking some pictures with my phone.  I thought they turned out really sweet, so the next time we go to Sports Authority I'm bringing the real camera!

She Shoots!

She Scores!

When Mallory bent over like this with the football she looked through her legs at us and said, "hi". It was really funny because it sounded like she said, "hike." We know she's a genius and all, but we're pretty sure she hasn't picked up any football lingo yet.

 And they had to stop and get in a little boxing before we could leave too!

 

Mallory and a Few of her Favorite Things

Since its been a while, I thought I would catch you up on Mallory and a few of her favorite things these days.

This picture combines 2 of her favorites: shoes and her daddy! Her love for shoes has shown no signs of going away. No shoes are safe when the Shoe Bandit is around. If you take your shoes off, she WILL find them and she WILL wear them. She also LOVES her daddy (as she should). When he is in uniform, she loves to check his pockets and find the star on his badge.

She got this bike for Christmas and loves to ride it around the house. That's one benefit of all our tile.

More shoes and her "Nay-Nay" jammies. The only footie pj's that Mallory has are all hand me downs from Nathan. The first night she wore them I told her she was wearing his jammies. She must have thought that was pretty cool, because now when she wears any of them she tells us many times that they were his. There were a few mornings when it was the first thing she said when I got her out of bed.

She still loves her books, but coloring is definitely one of her most favorite activities. She loves to put her hands down for us to trace, but she doesn't stop there. She will put a single finger, her foot, her face, her cheek, or even her mouth on the paper to be traced. Silly girl!

Mallory is a big dancer! We catch her dancing to the music of her toys all the time.

Here she is watching me in the kitchen. Just about every time I go in there, she pulls up a chair from the table to watch.

She loves her PaPaw!

"I slide" is one of her most frequent requests. She loves to slide on anything. When a real slide isn't available, Mommy or Daddy do just fine.

Climbing in and out and playing in the bathtub is entertaining too!

Running, Rabbits and Some Randomness

Good news, I still remember how to sign in to blogger! I have gone back and forth in my head debating continuing my blog or just giving up. After reading back through my old blogs and remembering different things that were going on I decided to put some effort back into my blog. Also, my sister went and posted last week so I can't let her get ahead of me! I do have one condition; I want comments. I don't like talking to myself! One of my goals as I restart blogging, is a little more variety in my subjects (not just Mallory). I love her to pieces and she is the cutest thing I've ever see, but sometimes a little balance is good. So, here goes...

I read an article in Runners World this week that a "mommy runner" had written that I really related to. The writer told how she, her husband, and her son all agree that life is better when she gets to run. I really do feel like I'm a better me when I get to run. I can let my mind wander and think about anything, everything, or nothing and just be me. I'm very thankful for Matthew and his mom making my Saturday morning runs possible.

I've been blessed to make some great friends through running, but today I was all alone thanks to a late start and road construction. Fortunately I did have some company with my ipod. Seriously, what would we do without them? It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed my 13 miles on my own with Jack. That's what I've named the voice in my ipod. Don't worry about me hearing voices, he works with my nike+ chip and just tells me how far I've run or have left. Nothing else.

I say I was alone for my run, but that's not entirely true. I think I saw more people out running today than ever probably because it was the first time we've seen the sun in what seems like weeks. There were 2 organized runs going on along A.P. and downtown. There where people everywhere! I even saw a rabbit hopping along next to me for a sec. I thought it was pretty crazy to see a little bunny rabbit in the shadows of downtown.

I also wondered if today was "Walk Your Dog" day or something. There were people walking dogs everywhere! I even saw two different women pushing their dogs in strollers. One was a small dog wearing a sweater. The other was a collie with a crazy collar/necklace thing that looked ready for Mardi Gras. Nuts!

I also saw a homeless man doing his laundry in a bucket next to a water faucet. Just another reminder these days of just how blessed we are. We may not have everything we want, but there is not a single thing I need that God has not provided!

Well, that's enough for now. I've got a whole list of things to do tonight to be ready for church in the morning. Stay tuned for more earth shattering posts from me. I promise, the next one will star Mallory Joy!

A Farm and A Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday Mallory and I went with some of our play group friends to Old McDonald's farm. Mallory was NOT interested in any of the animals to pet. I took her in to pet the pigs and all she wanted to do was hang on and shake the fence. They had pony rides too, but when I tried to put her on the pony she stiffened up her legs and made it clear that she was not going to have any part of that. Even if she wasn't crazy about the animals, we had a fun time getting out with our friends. Mallory's favorite parts were the swings and the slides. Give her a slide and she is happy for hours.

After she slid out of this swing, I realized she was in it backwards. Her legs should have been through the holes with the chain behind her. Now we know.

Her friend Troy liked to slide too. They were both very eager to get to the top.

Mal loved this fort! It had this ladder that led up to a big dirt floor to run around on and look over the side. There was a slide on the other side to get down. Some bigger kids were playing on it too. One of the older girls was pretty much climbing over Mallory to get to the top. When I went to help Mal out, I her going "Ya Ya Ya Ya" or something like that. I'm not sure what her word was, but she was letting the other girl know that she did not like being climbed over!

Mallory was very excited about her pumpkin on the ride home.

But the excitement wore off very quickly!

Later that night, I went out with Monica while Matthew and Mallory headed to the local Pumpkin Patch with his mom and aunt. I think Mal had a lot of fun running around in all of the pumpkins. We took her to the same one last year. If you want to see how much she's changed since then, here's that post.

Bye!

I'm Still Here

I'm afraid I've turned into one of "those bloggers". You know, the kind that makes you wonder if they gave up on blogging because its been that long since they posted anything. I don't want to get too bad of a reputation in the blogging world so here I go...

September was actually a pretty busy month for us. Mallory and I celebrated Labor Day at Chick-Fil-A in our Tech gear with the rest of the country to get free sandwiches. It was fun seeing everyone dressed up when we were there and it was really fun to eat for that cheap!

Later that week we started school! It has gone great so far. Mallory is excited to go each day and we can tell she's picking up lots of new things too. Things are going really well in my class too.

The first day, her teacher had to peel her off of me to get her in the room. Within seconds she found this VeggieTales book and was done with me.

As soon as our first day was over we hit the road and headed north. Mallory got to spend the whole weekend in Ft. Worth with Anita, Clay, Nathan, & Abby. She had a GREAT time with her cousins! Here she is laughing at some of Abby's silliness in the car. I don't think she missed me too much.

While Mallory was in Ft. Worth, I hitched a ride to Lubbock with my parents. When we got to town my parents dropped me off at Shannon's for the weekend. It was just like all the times they had taken me to my friends houses when I was growing up. Shannon and I had a great time. She showed me around Lubbock so I could see all of the things that had changed. It was amazing! We spent lots of time eating and laughing at old times before going to the Tech v. Rice game. If you knew us "back then", you should be thankful we never got around to scanning the pictures we looked at that weekend.
These were the only pictures we took the whole weekend. She took me to the bakery, Cake, for cupcakes. I have been craving them ever since.

Since we got back from our trip, we've been busy with showers, school, a visit from my parents, colds, birthdays, stomach bugs, and creative ways to play with the slide.