Down We Go

When I went to get Mallory out of bed after her nap this afternoon she did all her usual tricks. She grabbed puppy, ran to the opposite side of the bed, asked for DaDa... Next she showed me a new trick. She pointed to a paci on the floor and then leaned over the side of her crib and reached for it. She had her whole torso over the rail. If she had gone any further, she would have flipped and crashed on the floor. Since I wanted to sleep tonight without nightmares of her busting her head on the tile, I found the tools and dropped the mattress to the the bottom setting. It is so low, she's barely off the floor.

I think she likes her low rider bed.

Sadly, it didn't take any time before she showed me this trick. I think with a little help from Puppy or the bumpers, she could get over the rail before long. But I'm not gonna think about that yet!

These pictures reminded me of this one of Mallory in her crib last October. She's changed a little since then, don't you think?

After her bed was all ready, we made a fort in the living room. Mallory loved picking up the sheet, sticking her head out, and saying "BOO!"

Hottest Half

We just spent a long weekend in Ft.Worth with my family. We had a great time. On Friday we went to NRH2O with Anita, Nathan, Abby and a bunch of their friends. On Saturday we celebrated Abby's 4th birthday with a Batman Swimming Party.

On Sunday, Anita and I ran the Hottest Half. It was a half-marathon around White Rock Lake in Dallas. It was Anita's longest run ever and she did great, even with a hurting knee. We got really lucky with the weather. For a run in Dallas in August with Hottest in the name, we could not of asked for better weather. The course was great too. Other that a large hill at the final .1 mile, it was relatively flat. It wound around the lake so it had pretty scenery too. I would definitely do it again. Our one wish was that they would close the course to bike. There were a lot of cyclists in the park that morning. Some were nice about letting you know they were passing you, most were not.

As with any run, there was lots of great people watching. We saw one woman wearing mismatched shoes and pushing a jogging stroller that was holding 0 children, 2 stuffed animals, and at least 1 metal lunch box underneath. I hope this was some sort of training activity or else she might need some therapy. I just saw my pictures from the race and she is actually in the background of one of mine. I saw a guy running barefoot. Still don't get that. There was a woman running about 4 months pregnant. I'm not sure about that. When I was pregnant with Mal my doctor told me that I could run, but only 1-2 miles. We saw a couple people in pants. I guess they didn't catch that it was the "hottest" half.

I think this was mile 9. Matthew, Clay, and two of their friends came out to cheer us on. 4 people with 3 cameras gave me a real paparazzi feeling, but its always great spotting some peeps during a race.

The hill at the end. You can't truly appreciate it from this picture, but believe me it was steep!

Anita and I before the fun. It was so much fun doing this with my sister!

Mallory's Tricks

Mallory has two favorite things these days. First, is shoes! Her love of shoes has been going on for a while and is showing no sign of fading anytime soon.

I'm losing the battle in keeping my shoes put away in the little cubbies in my closet. Mal loves to pull them all out like she is here and wear them or carry them off somewhere. She is thoughtful enough that she rarely separates a pair. At least I don't have a bunch of strays all over the house.

Her other love is climbing! She loves to climb up, in, or on anything she can. I even caught her last week standing on the kitchen table and reaching for the light fixture. I promise I had not turned my back on her for more than a second or two.

Look closely, that is Mallory peeking out from inside the built in laundry hamper in her bathroom. This one is getting really old for me because she has to toss out all the dirty clothes before she can get in.

Take Two

Mallory and I are getting ready to head back to school in a few weeks. Yes, both of us! We are going to be going to pre-school together. We had been planning for Mallory to attend a school close to our house. Last week, our friend Melissa that is the director of the school at our church asked me if I was interested in working there this year. You're probably thinking "hold on Marcia! Didn't you try that last year?!?" Yes, but here are a few reasons why I know this will go so much better this year.

• I will be the assistant in the 3 yr old class instead of the lead teacher. I will not be responsible for the planning and getting the room ready.
• I am not in the middle of unpacking into a tiny little apartment. Last year we had just gotten into our apartment when school was starting. We were still trying to get unpacked as I was trying to start a new job that I had no experience in.
• We are really excited for Mallory to go to school this year. I wasn't really ready for my baby to go to school last year. This year we're ready and I know she will have a lot of fun.
• If Mallory had stayed at the school we were planning on her attending, she would have only been able to go one day a week. At The Vine, she'll get to go two days like we really wanted.
  
• I know this will be a great opportunity to get to know people better and make some new friendships.
• I'm NOT going to break my hand or any bones this year. Anita has a strict no broken bone policy at her house, I'm putting that in force in our house starting now.
  

A Trip to the Big City

I had to go to Luke's on Friday to pick up my running shoes that they were holding. Matthew and Mallory came along to make it a fun trip. We decided to check out Discovery Green downtown. At first, we thought it was going to be a bust. The fountains were being overrun with a couple day care groups full of big kids that would have bulldozed Mal! So we found the play ground and let her run around there for a little bit.

And I got to play around too!

After we baked at the playground, it was time for lunch. Warning: if you plan on taking your own lunch to Discovery Green, be prepared to hunt to find a place to eat. We were surprised that a park with so much planning to it didn't have a real picnic area. We finally found some tables that were in the shade of the building and didn't have a sign on them forbidding us from eating there.

When we were done eating, the water fountains had cleared out. So, we quickly got Mallory changed and headed to the water. She had a blast running around in the water, laying on the fountains, and getting in and out of the water area. We had a blast watching her have fun and get braver in facing the fountains the longer she played.

Mal's 'check out my belly' pose

One strange thing happened while we were there. I was standing on the side watching Mallory. I could hear some ladies sitting in the chairs behind me talking about Mal. They were saying what a cute little girl she was. Duh! Then I heard one say to the other, "I'm gonna take a picture of her." I was pretty uneasy about these strangers planning to take a picture of my baby. I casually took a few steps to my side to block their view. Thankfully Mallory also thought this was a good time to take off running to the other side.

*****

Rewind to buying my shoes. I knew exactly which shoes I was getting. They were holding them for me, so I didn't spend much time trying them on. When I was done Patrick, the sales guy, gave me a high five! I was excited to be getting new shoes. I guess he was excited for me too.

Seriously?

I have our piano listed for sale on craigslist. Its the piano that my sister learned to play on. We have no room for it, so its got to go. We're not having much luck so far with selling it. I did receive an offer for a trade a couple days ago. The offer was so funny to me (especially the third item) that I had to share it with you.

We found your add for a piano for sale on craigslist. We are looking
for a piano for our 10 year old son who would like to take piano lessons for the
next few years to prepare for band/percussion in junior high. He is so
excited about this that he is willing to sell his almost brand new Wii Game
system with all of the games and accessories that he paid for with his own money
in order to buy a piano. We are about to list it on Craigslist along with
a like new Nordic Track Elyptical so that we can pay for the piano and I thought
I would see if there is anyone interested in a trade first. We also have a
bamboo business and grow and sale clumping(non-invasive) bamboos for
lanscaping/hedges etc. if someone might be interested in that type of
trade.

Fun Times

Mallory and I made a trip to Ft. Worth last week for some summer fun. It ended up raining so we didn't get to have the fun we were planning on, but we still had a great time.

On Tuesday we went with Anita, Nathan, & Abby to my grandma's house in Muenster for the day. We had fun at Grandma's with lots of aunts and cousins.

Someone had the great idea of setting up this table in the middle of Grandma's living room. It made a great place for the kids to play all afternoon.

We got to meet sweet Maddie, my cousin Julie's new baby.

No, Mallory is not trying to moon you. She's just doing one of her tricks. She loves to bend over like this and look at the world upside down. If you see her do it in person, bend over at look back at her through your legs. She thinks its really funny!

No trip to Grandma's is complete without some dominoes. Anita and I teamed up so we could take turns playing and watching the kids. Even still, we didn't have much of a game.

Mallory has earned the name of Shoe Bandit recently. She LOVES shoes of any size, shape, or color! No shoes are safe when she is around. These are Grandma's that she swiped to wear for a while. The first thing she did this morning after getting up was to grab her sandals to put on. She wants to have shoes on all day long and is not happy if we try to take them off.

Fun at PaPaw and Dee's

After Matthew and I got back from our "Family Reunion", Mallory and I hitched a ride with my parents back to their house. We spent the week there with Anita, Nathan and Abby. We had lots of summer fun all week long. Nathan went to Golf Camp every morning, we went swimming, ate watermelons, made homemade ice cream, the girls went to the zoo, and Anita and I even got to run together twice. Matthew drove up on Thursday to get in on the fun and then bring us back home Friday.

Watermelon eaten the proper way. I think this was Mal's first taste of watermelon. She loved it of course. Nathan did not eat any because he says it makes his tongue feel funny.

Me, Mal, and our friend the zebra

What was Mal's favorite part of the zoo? Eating her snacks while riding in the wagon.

Abby loved pulling Mallory in the wagon.

These two had lots of fun playing together all week.

These two had a lot of fun together too. Mal was VERY excited to see her daddy when he got there!

Its pretty hard to get a picture of our squirmy girl these days.

The pool had lots of really shallow areas that were great for Mallory to wade around in and play. She also managed to get go under a few times. Every time she came up she thought it was very funny!

Playing in the back yard waiting for our hot dogs

Matthew and the girlies

Anita has more pictures on her blog too. Check it out if you want more sweet pictures.

Family Reunion

Last weekend Matthew and I went to New Braunfels with our college friends for our annual Family Reunion while Mallory stayed at home for some fun with PaPaw and Dee. It was such a great weekend with great friends! There was lots of laughing, lots of eating, and lots of wishing we could do this more often. We stayed in an awesome house just around the corner from the river. So, Friday after everyone got there we floated the river and then went to the Gristmill for dinner (warning: if you are going to the Gristmill, ask for a table that is not in the sun). We spent Saturday at Schlittlerbahn, the "Happiest Place on Earth" according to Shannon and then Sean cooked our traditional family dinner that night.

The house had big front and back porches that were great for hanging out and made for great pictures too.










The guys even posed for us!
(Sean, Matthew, & Ben)











Swingin' with Sara












The whole family!
(Ben, Krissy, Anne, Sara, Matthew, Me, Shannon, Tiffany, & Sean)







On Saturday night we celebrated Tiffany's birthday in our new Tech shirts accented with boas and matching flip flops of course.










We had to show off the back of our shirts too!

Tagged by Libby

Libby tagged me on this recently. Since I'm sitting here at my parents with some extra time, here goes...

5 Favorite Pictures of the last year: this was VERY hard to narrow down. I have hundreds of pictures from the last year. I wont say these are my absolute favorites, but they are some of the best.

This was my favorite outfit Mal wore last fall. It was so soft and cute. I wish I could pick up the chubby little baby in this picture and give her a bottle.

A great night out with some of my best girls!

Thanksgiving weekend. Mal was just learning to stand on her own and take a step or two.

I'm a sucker for any picture of these two. I just LOVE how much they love each other and how happy they make each other.

Could this be an ad for Shipley's or what?

(this one is a bonus. it goes with #1 under mommy confessions)

5 Random Facts:

1. My memory can be freakishly good. (sorry Libby)
2. I once got in a wreck with a KISD police officer in the school parking lot during high school.
   
3. I lived in 1 house for my whole childhood. Since 1997, I have lived in 4 dorm rooms (in 2 different states), 8 apartments, and 3 houses.
   
4. I use grocery sacks for shower caps.
5. I DVR Jeopardy everyday.
   

6 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Run really fast.
2. Write with pretty handwriting.
3. Find more vegetables that I like.
4. Win big on a game show.
5. Go back to Key West for a new Margaritaville visor. (I lost mine at Schlitterbahn on Saturday).
6. Go to bed earlier.

5 mommy confessions:

1. I really wanted Mallory to have blue eyes like me. Now, I couldn't imagine her having anything but her beautiful brown eyes. I posted that last picture because it shows just how different our eyes are.
   
2. Now I just hope she'll have curly hair someday.
3. I fed Mallory ramen noodles and canned chicken for dinner recently. I gave her some vegetables too, just to clear my conscious.
4. Sometimes I wish Mallory would sit still and watch tv for a little break.
5. I think that the feeling I get when I hold my sweet Mallory is the best feeling in the world. I think it must be a little like what drug addicts feel, because there is nothing I wouldn't do to keep that feeling going.

5 Favorite Current TV Shows (i added the current part):

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Lost
3. Friday Night Lights
4. Big Bang Theory
5. the new 90210

The other two categories were 7 favorite movies and 6 bands to see in concert. I was stumped on the movies and like Libby, I'm not much of a concert goer. I am actually not even very good at knowing who sings a song when I hear it, so I'm just gonna skip these two instead of staying up wracking my brain.

Bows, Bows, Bows!

We were starting to be overtaken by bows in our house. I had been storing Mal's bows in this basket on the kitchen counter. Even though it was very convenient, the bows were getting squished and were overflowing the basket.

So last night, I made this "bow board". It is much better. Now my only problem is that it is almost full! What's a girl to do with so many bows?!?

Since I've never shared her room with you bloggers, here are some pictures of Mallory's polk-a-dot room. Yes, we painted the dots. We had a stencil, but it was not fun!