Cousins and Pumpkins

Anita, Abby, and Nathan came to see us over their long weekend. It was pretty much non stop fun! Even when we weren't really doing anything, Mallory, Abby, and Nathan managed to find some fun.

When the mommies go running, you never know what will happen. This used to be a ball. Clearly, its MUCH better as a hat!

Yeah, Abby's a tad bit entertaining!

We went to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. It was a bit hot, but what kid doesn't love climbing on a big ol' mound of pumpkins?

Even Matthew got in on the fun!

Mallory LOVED the big slide and obstacle course.

So did Abby and Nathan!

When I saw the slide ladder I wondered it Mallory could make it up by herself.  Obviously, it was not a problem.

Yep, she pretty much has her daddy right where she wants him!

Yep, We're Still Alive

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that its been 2 months since my last post.  We've been busy with getting settled in the new house, 2 trips to Ft. Worth, birthdays, visitors from Ft. Worth, a half marathon, marathon training, and the every day world of working and the craziness of Mallory Joy Joy!  Here are a few pictures documenting the Mallory craziness part, for everything else you'll just have to use your imagination.

Tiff, you can tell your mom that Mallory is getting lots of use out of the bag she made.

This picture is why I check on Mallory before I go to bed. Her head was just barely hanging on the bed, so I carefully turned her around and tucked her in. When I gave her a little kiss, she mumbled in her sleep "need hug too!"  How sweet is she?!?

I promise, this is not how Mallory moved to the new house.

Making PaPaw proud!

I guess she spent a lot of time in boxes?

Mallory was a BIG fan of the coffee table jungle gym before we found the glass top pieces for it.

These two kind of like each other!

Mal has been perfecting her "silly face".

Sara taught her how to get her guns up this summer. Too bad there hasn't been a whole lot for us Red Raiders to cheer about this season.

When you're this cute, someone's got to take your picture!

Mallory is VERY into her 'noculars these days. I think this time she pulled them out and told me she was looking for Chick-Fil-A.

Moving, isn't it fun?

In the middle of packing and getting everything else taken care of for moving our washing machine broke. Great timing, right? On our way home from buying a new one yesterday morning, we started talking about how many times that washer had moved and Matthew decided I needed to blog about all of the places we've lived in the 8 years we've been married.  So, here goes:

• Apartment 1 - little 2 bedroom apartment near the Heights.  Only 2 things make me miss that place. Close to Memorial Park and across the street from Star Pizza
• Apartment 2 - much bigger 2 bedroom apartment in the suburbs.  As apartments go, it was great except for being on the 3rd floor.  Our neighbor across the hall also committed suicide while we were there, but I don't think we had ever met him.
• House 1 - we loved our first house. We especially LOVED Mallory's nursery.  It was alot of work, but it was perfect.
• Apartment 3 - tiny tiny tiny little 2 bedroom apartment. We had sheets on the bedroom windows the entire time we lived there to block out the lights and noise from the beltway right out side our building, but it was home.
• House 2 - our 50 year old house.  Its been a good house, but we've just never really loved it. We will have great memories of living here and all the things Mallory has done in this house, but we are soooo ready to have more room.  Plus, I saw a sign nearby yesterday for a lost parrot.  It said he "screams alot" and is "semi-tame"!  If that's not reason to move, I don't know what is.
• House 3 - You saw all the pictures in the last post, so how couldn't we not be excited to move into this house? Its on a cul-de-sac and is less than 5 minutes away from church and Mallory's school.

So, I'm really tired of moving.  But we're blessed that while we may not have loved everywhere we lived, God has always provided us with everythign we needed and so much more!

And incase you're wondering...between leaving for college in '97 and getting married in '02 I lived in 4 dorm rooms, 5 apartments, 1 house (2 if you count all the time I stayed at Anita's during nursing school), and 2 states!

Here We Go Again

We closed on our new house this week.  Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!  We're a little excited about it if you can't tell.  The movers are coming Wednesday and I've got a lot of packing left to do, so here are some pictures of it before the previous owner moved out.

New kitchen is probably twice as big as my current one

Master bathroom at least three times as big as ours now.  I can't wait to have room for both of us to actually be in there at the same time.

Weird ledge over the front door. I would love any ideas of what to do with this.

Game room!  No, he didn't leave the pool table.

Guest room.  Who wants to be our first visitor?

Plenty of room for a slip 'n slide in the back yard!

First Day!

Mallory has been excited about going to her new school for weeks, and today was finally the day! We had to get up REALLY early to make our long commute across town for school and work. I was worried that I would have a really hard time waking her up, but when I went in her room she looked around and then popped right up saying, "go my new school"!

Our drive across town went about as good as I could have hoped for. I thought Mallory might fall asleep on the way because when we opened up the front door and she saw that it was still a little dark, she said "go night night". She never did. The traffic was surprisingly light and I even had time to grab Starbucks and make a drive by our new house. 

When I dropped her at her school, she did great. She was the first kid there so she had free reign for a while to check everything out.  She gave me a quick hug and was done with me. 

I wondered if it would be a little weird going back to my job at church after being gone for almost 2 years. Nope! Those people I work with are great.

When I went to get Mallory I was thrilled to see that she was happy and still in her same clothes (no accidents)! Her teacher said she did great except for one thing, she NEVER slept. Since she had gotten up at 6 am, this made for one very tired little girl. On the way home she went from singing Itsy Bitsy Spider to sound asleep in about 5 minutes and then slept for most of the hour plus drive.  I really wish she could tell me more about her day at school. Whenever I ask her anything about school, her answer is always "yes". 

Over all it was a great day!  I think I'll even go back to work tomorrow ;)

Big Girl!

There is no baby at this house anymore.  In case you don't believe me, here's some proof.

As soon as school was over, we had a few days of Potty Training Boot Camp.  Mallory is doing really well at it.  Her biggest problem is that going into a public bathroom causes her to throw a complete screaming fit. I don't know if they're too loud or what.  Because of this we have a potty in the back of the car.  We might get some looks, but it works.

She has also been sleeping in her big girl bed for a few weeks now. We unsuccessfully tried this a couple times earlier in the year. I'm not sure what made the difference this time, but she's doing great! She loves to get in her bed with her Dora pillow, puppy, baby, sock monkey, blankets, and 2 pacis.  Yes, its a little full! 

Happy Birthday Ladybug!

Since Mallory's birthday is smack dab between Christmas and New Year, we decided to celebrate her half birthday this year.  It was great, except for it being just a tad hot!  We had a lady bug party at a local park with some friends and family.

She was just a little excited

I LOVED how her cupcake cake turned out. Thank you Target!

Mallory was so excited to blow out her candles, she had both blown out before we could even sing to her

She loved her cake too

Thanks Nathan, ladybug cupcakes can get a little bit messy

Mal wasn't the only one to enjoy the cupcakes

Presents!

playing with Mommy's friend Monica

playing with Mallory's friend Kate

Overall, Mallory had a ball at her party so it was perfect!