Blast from the Past

I sometimes wish I had started a blog when Peyton was little to remember the first few years of his life. To remedy this I am going to start posting a few old pics every now and then. I was thinking about this picture yesterday because my sweet husband has gotten the kids fully dressed before I pull myself out of bed a few times this week. This is such a huge help and reminded me of how far he has come in the Daddy department. This is a picture of one of the first times he dressed Peyton by himself.



Yes folks- that is a dinosaur onesie, puppy dog pants, and snowmen socks. Such a fun outfit! I remember Marshall defensively stating, "Well, they are all blue!" Hey, we've all got to start somewhere! I love this picture because it is such a fun memory, I remember laughing and laughing. Times change though, these days I don't care what the children are wearing as long as they are dressed. :)

Ring Bearer

*All photos courtesy of Holly Reed Photography.

Peyton had the huge pleasure of recently being a ring bearer in one of my best friend Kristen's wedding. Kristen married Ian in Austin at the end of September and their wedding was so much fun. It was so intimate and personalized to the two of them. Peyton was a ring bearer and I was a bridesmaid. Marshall titled himself "Ring bearer Wrangler" and Mallory thoroughly enjoyed the wedding cake :)


I met Kristen in 2nd grade when she asked me to play paper dolls and we have been friends ever since. It was so special to see my child walk down the aisle right before she did :) She is also an amazing "Aunt" to my children and we all love Ian too.

Pouty Pants!

"I am looking for Gigi! And aren't I cute in my seer sucker suit?"

"Hmmm. Why is Gigi sitting over there?"

At this point Peyton started talking, loudly, and The Ring bearer Wrangler escorted him out of the ceremony :)

Here are some pictures from the day.Peyton had the MOST fun of his life drumming along with the wedding band. He drummed so hard he broke his cake plate, in fact, he was so interested in drumming that he didn't even eat his cake. Kristen gave us a CD of some of the wedding songs and we now listen to it nonstop. This 3-year-old knows some oldies but goodies and has acquired Kristen and Ian's music taste! He calls the song "Be My Baby" his wedding song (since he first heard it at the wedding) and must listen to it whenever we are in the car. He now keeps a pair of drumsticks in the car and plays along on his lap.

Here he is drumming with forks on his cake plate. And this is SUCH a Marshall face!

"This is fun and all Gigi, but what does a girl need to do to get some more cake?"

It is so much fun to have a mini-mere!



The Flight of the Pillow
Peyton found himself on a balcony after the ceremony. We were taking wedding party pictures down below.

"Hmmm, this could be a lot of fun........."

"Yup! We dont need this old pillow anymore. This should spice things up."

Ring Bearer Wrangler to the rescue.

"Now Peyton, it isn't nice to throw your special ringbearer pillow off of a balcony onto unsuspecting wedding guests."

I was just relieved that only the pillow came over the balcony!



Thank you Kristen and Ian for letting us ALL be part of your special day! We had a great time celebrating you! Especially Mallory who went to sleep and woke up the next morning smelling like a giant piece of wedding cake. :)

Song of the Day

(To the tune of My Favorite Things)

"Babies in one piece footie jammies all season




Pony tails that stick up in the air for no reason




The words "DADDY", you come wipe my bottom please"


These are a few of my favorite things!


When the dogs bark


when no sleep I've had


when the noisy drumming is driving me mad





I simply remember these favorite things, and then I don't Feel So Bad!"

Our Life

I wanted to post this picture in it's own post because I love it SO much. This is what my life is all about. My 2 Angels, Happy, Together, and just Joyful. Not a care in the world except exploring, figuring out their world, and just being little. I want to remember this picture when life gets overwhelming- when the house is a wreck, I am exhausted, they are throwing fits, we have no clean clothes, no groceries, or I am just too tired to do anything productive. None of that matters in the long run because it just isn't as important as playing with and loving on these two little beings. These two little people have truly validated every choice, decision, both answered and unanswered prayers, plan (or lack of plan), that Marshall and I have ever had because it has all led to them. I know this next year is going to be tough with a newborn, a toddler, and a preschooler but we can do it. Just don't expect the house to always be clean (notice the dirty shirt in the background?)

One Year

*This song played such an important part in my childhood. It is from the Mickey "Splashdance" album (yes, came out around the same time as Flashdance!) If anyone ever finds it on CD I would be eternally grateful! Would love to share the songs with my children)

Mallory turned 1 on November 7th. We have now completed 365 days with this dream baby. I can officially say that she is one of the easiest babies I have ever encountered. Example: This morning I gave her a sippy cup of milk instead of her usual and highly demanded bottle. She happily drank it and went about her morning, so far so good. Bye Bye bottles! I loathe washing you! (well, adios for the next 4 months, we will begin our relationship again around April when the new baby comes)

Mallory had her 12 month appointment yesterday but did not receive her shots due to a low grade fever. Her stats were:
Weight 19 lbs, 9 ozs., 25th %
Length 28 1/2 inches, 35th %
Head 17 7/8, 60th %

I was surprised she was no longer ahead of the 50th percentile but the doctor said her growth curve is perfect and that is what matters. She is still plump and round which is probably because her height and weight are pretty equal percentiles.

At 1-year-old Mallory is basically walking. She takes over 9 steps at a time but then will fall and continue along crawling. She loves to wave, play "where's Mallory", and LOVES her lovie Tootsie. She says so many words now, the most interesting to us is "Ike". We don't know what it means but she says it all the time. She also says "Hi" so that isn't what she is trying to convey. I would love to know who this Ike is because he plays a very important role in her life! She also give smacky kisses and loves the doggies. She is becoming very independent and is truly one of the greatest loves of our life!

These pictures were taken on her actual birthday, in a precious dress that Aunt Alice and Uncle Nick gave her.


Mallory is playing on the adorable "Mallory" bench sent to her by Kelley and Joe.


Yup, she can walk!


It isn't all fun and games! She has started being very "Dramatic" and will throw her head down on the floor face first when she gets upset. Then she pops back up and everything is great! So even easy babies have their moments, trust me! I think I am much more laid back this go around which has definitely rubbed off on Mallory and helped make her so mellow.

We love you Baby Mallory! It has been an amazing year and you have made our hearts grow even larger!

Dog and Dino

Halloween 2010 began with Peyton's preschool party and ended with a neighborhood party and trick-or-treating with our neighbors. Peyton chose a Triceratops as this year's costume and we had planned for Mallory to be Glenda but that costume had way too much glitter (glitter is my enemy!) and she spit up on it at her party, so she ended up wearing one of Peyton's old puppy costumes. She was still precious.

On our way to Peyton's school!



Peyton's sweet, small class.




Peyton has been wearing his triceratops costume for weeks, often even sleeping in it. He would sleep through the night in the full get-up, hat, and paws and one night I had to laugh because he was sleeping with me and everytime I would reach over to cuddle him I would get knocked in the face by his dinosaur tail. Got to love little boys! He was so excited to wear it to school for his small classroom party.

On Halloween we headed over to a neighbor's house for dinner with lots of our neighborhood friends. Gigi was with us too!





We trick or treated for the second year in a row with our neighbors the Carrells and the Riddells. This year everyone participated!

James may ask for a different stroller partner next year.

On second thought, she is pretty comfy...







All in all, Mallory's First Halloween was a success! And pregnant Mommy has been enjoying all of the candy they collected. :) Thanks Kids!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

To Mallory's Wicked First Birthday Party! (and Costume Party in Oz)
There is only one thing that even comes close to my love for my children and that is the musical Wicked. :) So it made perfect sense (to me) to create a "Wicked" 1st Birthday Party for my sweet baby girl Mallory. We scheduled it for Halloween weekend so the Witch themed, Wizard of Oz, Wicked worked really well. Sweet Mallory didn't seem to be feeling 100% but still had a great time and was ,of course, the perfect party host. She dressed up as Glenda the Good Witch, but you will only see a few pictures of her in the costume because she threw up about 5 minutes after putting it on. Thankfully we had another party dress on hand!


I dressed up as Elphaba, a pregnant Elphaba that is!, and Peyton wore his triceratops costume. I guess Marshall was a Longhorn Fan? Glad to know there is still one fan out there with their current losing streak!

Mallory invited her best baby friends, their parents, and a handful of our close friends and neighbors to the party. The guests arrived to a Yellow Brick Road that led them to Mallory's Emerald City, complete with a balloon rainbow. I will never forget trying to get about 50 inflated rainbow and emerald green balloons into my neighbor Mimi's car without them getting tangled or popped, on Halloween weekend with about 5,000 crazy Halloween customers at a party store. We created quite the scene and traffic jam! But the balloons were very festive. We should also mention her Bebe who arrived in a surprise perfect "Munchkin" costume, dressed head to toe as a clown. Soon after arriving Bebe picked her up and that is when Glenda decided to spit up her entire bottle, all over the clown costume. At least we got one picture of Bebe in her costume! And finally, God bless Gigi (Grandy) for traveling to Dallas, helping me prepare for the party all weekend and making sure it went smoothly. We love you all!

Seconds before the demise of the Glenda and Munchkin costumes.

Trying to walk the Yellow Brick Road with Grandy

Here are some pictures of our "Oz" scenery: I searched high and low for "Wicked" birthday party decoration ideas without a lot of luck, so maybe this will help another Wicked fan some day :)

Rainbow cutouts of each guest's name







Here is a sprinkle of our Citizens of Oz!

I'm sorry I can't post everyone!




Follow the Yellow Brick Road Dorothy!


Look, the Cowardly Lion is right behind you!









It's Cake time!










One of my favorite lines from Wicked is when Elphaba says to Glenda, "Well we can't all travel by bubble." So I sent each baby home with their own bottle of Glenda bubbles.



Mallory went to bed a little early so woke up to all of her presents.





It was a perfect party with perfect weather, a winning Rangers game, and special time with many of Mallory's closest friends. The musical Wicked has some great messages including friendship, goodness, growth, and the positive effect that others can have on us, if we let them. Sweet Mallory- I wish all of these things for you in your wonderful life to come and can already see these things working in you by your sweet personality and the loving influence of our friends and family. And of course, "Because I knew you (Mallory), I have been changed for good."

So now we head into Year Number 2 with Miss Mallory Ann- keep "Defying Gravity" sweet baby girl!