My Little Bookworm

One of Mallory's favorite activities these days is reading books. Her favorite by far is "Who's Hiding In the Ocean?". We probably read it at least 10 times a day. Its a 3 way tie for second between "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?", "There's a Wocket in My Pocket", and "But Not the Hippopotamus". And some days, she just wants ALL the books so that she can flip through a few pages and move on to the next one. On these days the living room looks like a bookmobile overturned in our house.

The hippo book was a big favorite today. I have no clue how many times we read it today. I've gotten to where I have to change up my speed and tone every time I read it just to not go crazy. If any of you are familiar with this story, does it bother you? Really, why not the hippo or the poor little armadillo?

And some days, books are best used for hats.

I'm Done...

with all Nuby Sippy cups. They have a really "cool" feature that Mallory has figured out. If you turn one over and press it on your high chair tray you can get your drink to flow out and make a puddle to play in while your mommy isn't looking. This is what she did Saturday morning with her milk while I wasn't watching. She had given herself a milk bath. It was special.

"Uh-Oh, she caught me!"

Tonight during dinner she tossed her cup on the floor. This happens a lot so I had just left it this time. When I was cleaning up I found a big puddle of water on the floor. While I went to get a towel to clean it up, Mallory slipped in it. Thankfully, she hopped right up like nothing had happened.

If any of what I have just typed did not make sense try adding a "T" wherever it looks good. The "T" on our computer came off recently. I snapped it back on, but it doesn't always work.

I Don't Want to Fold

I don't really have anything big to blog about but it sounds like more fun than folding laundry. So, here goes...

Matthew and I went to the rodeo on Thursday to see Brad Paisley. It was great, even if on the way there Matthew informed me that he "did not care about any of that rodeo stuff". He was going for the Brad Paisley concert plain and simple. We did find a new (to us) rodeo even that we both loved. It was the Mutton Bustin'. They put kids age 4-6 on the back of sheep, sent them out of a chute, and gave them a shot to hang on. It was hilarious!

It was a great night for people watching. The weather was miserable; temperature in the 40's and rain all day. There were people that need more clothes on, infants that needed to be home in bed, and people that needed to spend a lot less time in the tanning bed.

No trip to the rodeo is complete with out some good eating. Matthew was on a turkey leg mission, so he walked right up to the very first stand selling them and ordered his leg. The lady working there felt bad that the only one she had was so scrawny, she gave it to him for free! Later I indulged in a funnel cake while Matthew sampled the cheesecake on a stick dipped in chocolate. He decided they needed to figure out how to put a layer of chocolate in the middle of the cheesecake. I thought the cheesecake needed to not be frozen. Two of the things we did not eat that I just don't even comprehend were the chicken fried bacon and the deep fried banana sundae.

I had an "I Feel Old Moment" while we were eating and a Darius Rucker song was playing. One of the high school girls sitting next to us said to her group, "Is this the guy from that blowfish group?" Matthew's "I Feel Old Moment" was seeing that her letter jacket said class of 2012.

I was a little torn about going to the rodeo on a Thursday night, because I was missing ER and Grey's. Thankfully, my friend TiVo was hard at work recording my shows for me. I am sooooo loving the last episodes of ER. It has been so good! I'm so happy they are going out on top. I loved this week's episode. It was so great to see our old friends Doug and Carol back on, but I was very sad that they never learned they had sent a kidney to Chicago to save Carter. I just now watched Grey's and my heart is breaking a little for Meredith.

Friday was my last morning of Boot Camp. It was great! I'm so glad I did it. It felt great to get back into a workout routine, plus I found some new muscles and took some time off of my mile. Matthew was great to get up every morning with Mallory while I went. I'll definitely do it again sometime, but am giving him a break first.

Mallory and I are heading to Ft Worth tomorrow to spend a few days with Anita and her peeps. It's been 2 months since we last saw each other. This is a long time for us, so we're all looking forward to the visit. I'm being positive and telling myself that this is going to be the time that Mallory sleeps in the pack 'n play while we're there. Afterall, she should be used to it since she's been sleeping in it at home for the last month while her room has been a painting mess! And, just in case you forgot what our sweet little girl looks like, here she is last night telling us its time to go to dinner.

Well, I think I've killed enough time and will go fold the laundry now before Matthew gets home from work. Hope you enjoyed my random thoughts.

Around The House

Things have been pretty uneventful around here lately, but we've still managed to find a few photo ops every now and then.

Mallory is always very interested in all the parts of Matthew's uniform when he is getting ready for work. They sure do love playing with each other.

This may be my new favorite picture of Mallory.

I've been working on styling Mallory's hair lately so that it won't fly away everywhere. Matthew couldn't resist catching a shot of her before I got the pony tail in.

Matthew found the bumbo seat this week. Mallory has been playing with it and reliving the good old days of her youth.

We bought her this slide back in December. I finally got it out this afternoon for us to play with. I think we'll be spending more and more time outside soon.

This is probably the only time she got on her car facing the right direction. She has a thing for riding backwards...who can figure her out!

And just another funny thing from our girl...I caught her spinning around in circles looking over her shoulder. She looked like a dog chasing her tail.

2M...before we were 3M

I got this from Holly's blog.

• Where did the two of you meet? In Lubbock at One Guy's. It was party of CA's Welcome Week activity for the night. I think hide-n-seek at Broadway may have been that night too.
• What was the first thought that went through your head when you first met him? Not sure it was the first thought, but I remember talking to him a while the night we met and thinking how easy it was to talk to him.
• Do you remember what he was wearing? No, but I would bet money it was khaki shorts, a t-shirt and an worn out baseball cap.
• Where did you go for your first date? Dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and to the movies to see Rounders.
• Where was the first time you kissed? In his car outside my dorm.
• When was the first time you realized you liked him? I'm pretty sure I was interested in him the first night we met.
• How long did you know him before you became a couple? Not long at all. We were together for a lot of CA group events right away. I was new in town, so I would ask Matthew for directions knowing he would eventually offer to just give me a ride instead. Our first official date was within a couple weeks of meeting.
• How did he propose to you? I had been home for the weekend. After he picked me up at the airport he took me to walk around on campus. It was Sunday night, so things were pretty deserted. We sat down on the "Double-T Bench". This was a couple weeks after Valentines day so he told me he had another present for me. He gave me a box gift wrapped from James Avery. When I opened it, it was my ring and he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife! It was 8 years ago this week. :)
• Do you have kids together? a sweet little girl
• Have you ever broken the law together? I'll never tell.
• Do you trust him? of course, except I did have a random dream last night that he left me at our wedding for another girl and went fishing with her. we've had some good laughs about that today.
• Do you see him as your partner in your future? yep, unless he goes on that fishing trip.
• What is the best gift he gave you? last year for Mother's Day he had a maid come and clean the whole house. I don't know if this was the best gift ever, but it was awfully nice.
• Where do you see each other 15 years from now? more and more in love
• What causes the most arguments? I guess money, because like Holly said who doesn't argue about it!
• How long have you been together? 10 1/2 total; married 6 1/2

One Year Later

We just happened to be at my parents house again on Valentine's Day this year. So, before we left I had PaPaw and Dee sit down with Mallory for a picture just like last year. Mal has changed just a little, don't ya think?!?

The Little Red Wagon

Last week Mallory and I took a trip to my parents house so Matthew could get started painting Mallory's room. PaPaw and Dee were of course happy to do their part in helping us get our house painted.

While we were there Mallory got to go on her first wagon ride in a very special wagon. This wagon has been around since my dad played with it as a kid. His dad cleaned it up and painted Anita's name on it when she came around. Mal had a lot of fun riding up and down the driveway while we took turns pulling her.

Boo!

This Could Be A Bad Sign

Check out one of Mallory's new favorite places to hang out...the floor of my closet in the middle of my shoes! At least she's in the middle of the shoes after she pulls them all out. If this is a sign of the future, she better start saving her allowance.

Of course she needs a cell phone with all her shoes.

Just Thought I Would Share

Here's my new secret weapon I learned via the Internet this week. Dish soap works great to get grease stains out of clothes! I found a stain left by pizza on my jeans AFTER I had washed and dried them. Fearing they were ruined forever, I went to the Internet for help. Several sites suggested using dish soap. So today I got my soap (i use Joy), rubbed it on the spot, and threw the jeans in the wash like normal. When they came out of the dryer the stain was totally gone! Just thought I would share...

I did not try using EZ Cheese like one site I found suggested. That's just gross!!!

Something New Everyday

These days it seems like Mallory is learning or figuring out something new everyday. Yesterday, her new feat was to climb into our plaid chair.

Its no video, but you can imagine how fun it is to watch her work so hard

getting her little booty up in the chair.

I did it!

Mal's New Do

Mallory hit another big milestone today....her first pony tail! There's not much to it, so pony twig might be a more appropriate term. Whatever you want to call it, I think its pretty cute. I was impressed with how still she was for me when I was putting it in. I was even more impressed that it lasted from about 1:30 until bath time.

Mallory really like to open and close doors these days. She can't open a door that is totally closed so she gets a little unhappy when she actually shuts it.

I think she may have just discovered this drawer as I was taking her picture.

Hope you enjoyed this groundbreaking post! :)

Caught!

Yep, that's Mallory caught with her foot in the cookie jar!

A Little Mallory to Brighten Your Monday

Just in case you are needing a little pick me up this Monday morning, here are a few pictures of Mallory from the last week to sweeten your day.

Anyone think we need a child safety latch on this cabinet?

Just bein' a cutie!

So serious...I guess she didn't know her shirt said "Its GOOD to be me"!

She has not gotten over her love for getting into tight spaces. This is one of her favorite things to do each morning when she gets up. She climbs up onto the fireplace and then into the drum she got for her birthday. She really likes being there. I've taken her out a few times only to see her get miffed at me and then climb right back in.

Mallory has been having a lot of fun scooting around on her Little Mermaid car she got for Christmas from Nana. She has figured out how to get off and on it, but usually just makes it go backwards.

She really like to play on it with her Daddy. He likes to push her and then watch her zoom across the room.

10 Honest and 15 Random Things About Me

Tiffany tagged me for 10 Honest Things about Me and I've been loving reading everybody's 25 random things about themselves, so here's my list in no particular order. Enjoy!

Yes, I love my husband, my baby, and God. I figure everyone knows that about me, so I'm not counting them.

1. I love getting pedicures but really don't enjoy manicures. I like the end result of a manicure, but don't enjoy sitting an arm's length away from a stranger.
2. I would rather go thirsty than drink Pepsi.
3. I never moved growing up. After my family moved back from Holland when I was less than 2 years old, I lived in the same house I came home from the hospital to until I left for college. Since then I have lived in 4 dorm rooms, 8 apartments, and 2 houses.
4. I don't make friends as easily as I would like.
5. I love to run. I really miss running as regularly as I did before Mallory.
6. When we found out I was pregnant with Mallory, I had a pack of fertility meds ready to start. My doctor had no real reason why I was pregnant. I know why, prayer!
7. In college I majored in Nursing, Math, and Accounting. I ended up getting a degree in General Business. I had way more hours than my degree required.
8. I worked for two and a half years in an office that was so quiet you could hear co-workers clicking their mouses (mice?).
9. I worked for a year as a substitute teacher. I liked secondary jobs much better. Elementary kids are so much higher maintenance.
10. I had braces for almost 2 and a half years as an adult. I am now adamant about wearing my retainer each night. I'm not sure I would be so disciplined with it if I had worn them as a teen.
11. I think that getting my braces off may have been one of the most painful experiences in my life (childbirth and kidney stones included)!
12. I would love for Mallory to be a Red Raider some day like her mommy, daddy, and papaw. If she chooses something else, that's ok too as long as she remembers we don't like maroon or burnt orange.
13. I spent one year at Harding before transferring to Tech. It was a great year, but Harding just wasn't for me. I met Matthew one of the first days I was in Lubbock. We dated from that point until we married 4 years later.
14. Matthew never actually asked me out on a date.
15. My favorite job was working at West Houston. I don't miss going to work, but I do miss all the special people I got to spend my days with.
16. I think the Chi and DVR may have been two of the best inventions ever!
17. I have run 3 marathons and really hope I'll be able to run another before the year is over.
18. I sometime miss the Lubbock wind. I do not miss when it would rain mud in Lubbock.
19. I do not have a green thumb. I have an ivy that Matthew bought me 4 years ago. It has not grown one bit since then. I give it just enough care to sustain life.
20. I have ridden an ambulance to the ER twice. I am not looking for a third ride.
21. I started blogging because I spent so much time reading other people's blogs I felt it was only fair.
22. Every 4th of July I forget how much I love fireworks until I see them and then I feel like a little kid watching the show.
23. I LOVE sweets. We say I am an Elf. Skittles and Hot Tamales are my favorite candies.
24. I used to throw the TV remote off the bed onto the floor every night before going to bed. It bugged Matthew a lot. I can't do this anymore now that we have tile in our bedroom.
25. I watch football even when Matthew is not here. What, girls can watch football too!

Cousins

Mallory is blessed to have two cousins that love her to pieces. Now that she has learned how fun it so to play with them, she loves them too. When they got to our house for her birthday, she was so excited. She didn't quite know what to do or which one to follow. The three of them had lots of fun when they were here for her party and then the next week when we were at their house.

Here are Mallory and Nathan checking out the doggy door. I love this picture because it kind of looks like Mallory is showing Nathan how it works.

Abby was sweet enough to share her bear with Mallory. Abby always wants to hold Mallory. Unfortunately for her, Mallory isn't big on sitting still and being held.

When they were playing Mallory somehow ended up in one of the toy bins. So...

Abby had to have a turn in the toy basket, and...

so did Nathan!

Nathan always like to have a project of some sort to work on. This time he made a playscape for Mallory. See how he has made a little corral for her?

Doesn't she look like Matthew in this picture?