Mallory Ann turned 3 on November 7th. We had a "Pinkalicious" small party for her since PINK is her favorite color. Pinkalicious is a book about a girl that eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink. Mallory loves it.
What else does Mallory love at 3? Princesses. Where did this girly-girl come from? She loves tutus, princess dresses, princess movies, dress-up, makeup, and Fancy Nancy. She is full of sass, crosses her arms at me, and calls me "Momma KK" when she likes me, and "Momma CoCo" when she doesn't like me. Such a character!
She is now potty trained and is doing a pretty good job- girls are so much easier to train than boys! She is in the 10th percentile of height and 45th of weight. Her vocabulary and grammar are very impressive and I just love her little voice. She calls the fairy godmothers and mothers in her princess stories "Godmudders" and "Mudders" and it cracks me up. She loves to sing the song from the Little Mermaid and rather than singing"Wandering Free" she sings "Wandering Freak." So funny.
If you start to sing along with her she gets angry and yells "Thats My Song!!!". Left alone in a bedroom she gets into all kinds of trouble, getting into makeup, liquids, taunting her baby brother :) but she is pretty good most of the time. :) She is probably my easiest of the 3! She gives the best hugs and wraps herself all around you when you hold her. She wakes up very, very early and comes to my side of the bed asking for breakfast, tv shows, but I can usually get a morning snuggle out of her.
Mallory is one of the greatest gifts of my life. She looks just like me and has the most amazing dimple I've ever seen. She is funny, smart, loving, and unique. It is like looking into a better version of myself. I am so grateful for her and can't wait to see what she is to become.
I love you Baby Girl, Our Sissy Sou, Our Mal-Mal, Our Delight.
Halloween 2012. An Iron Man, Princess Aurora, and Elmo.
Everyone chose their own costume this year. Peyton loves the Avengers and knew right away he wanted to be Iron Man.
Gigi took Mallory to the Disney Store and she chose a full Princess Aurora costume (but doesn't like wearing the sleeves), she does like the movie Sleeping Beauty but she LOVES the color pink- and that is the color dress Aurora wears.
Nolan loves Elmo- it was one of his few words at the time so we pulled out Peyton's costume from when he was 2 1/2 and Nolan loved it.
The kids were so excited to wear their costumes to school and trick or treat with their classrooms. After school we co-hosted the neighborhood pizza party in our yard. So many neighborhood families joined us for pizza before heading out to trick or treat. We just love our neighborhood.
Mallory and Peyton gathered quite the loot (Im still enjoying it!) And Elmo and I headed home a little earlier than the rest of the crew.
The weather was perfect and the kids had a wonderful time.
Trick or treating with Pop (Mimi's husband)
Mallory has a twin in our neighborhood- Paige Westfall, they are such sweet friends.
We were so glad Gigi could join us from Austin, and lucky that Bebe and Papa joined us for the party too. They passed out candy at our house while the kids trick or treated. Can't wait to see what these 3 will want to be next year! I know one thing for sure- Iron Man was a lot easier to pull off than a Garbage Truck. I don't know if we will ever out do that one!
Nolie Noo turned 18 months at the end of October.He is still a great big baby- the kids
call him Big Giant Baby and I just love him.He brings so much joy to my heart and makes me laugh
constantly.He is so loving, and funny,
and so very very smart.
Nolan loves matchbox cars. He plays with them all day and
says “Choo Choo”.He calls all
shoes “Crocs”.He loves the monkey
in his room, loves to read, and flips through his books as often as he can. His
favorite books are his doggy book, moo baa laa, give a cat a cupcake, his baby
book, and really anything he can get his hands on.He calls all drinks Milk, loves the mickey mouse on his
diaper “MOUK!”, “Hot Dog!” and loves to eat.He splashes and jumps way too much in the bath. He has started using 2 words together
and rambling in his own little sentences.He loves to eat (worth repeating), loves Foot Nacks (Fruit snacks),loves Lambert his lovie, and the Wiggles.He is a dancing fool, clapping and
leaning from side to side. Gives great big kisses and is just my snuggle
monkey.Calls his Peyton “Brodder’,
his sister Mal-Mal, and tries to do everything they can do.Can you tell I absolutely adore this
BIG little person?What would life
be like without him?Maybe a bit
easier but definitely not as fun, and definitely not as warm and fuzzy.
Peyton made a Thankful Necklace for Thanksgiving- one of only 3 things he was thankful for was "Nolan." We are all thankful for our baby.
Happy 18 months Nolie Noo.
Enjoying Powdered Sugar, naked.
Sitting in a sink full of soapy water, while wearing jammies
Learning to climb on counters without using a stool.
Working hard to be the Longest Baby in the World
Usually in costume
Summer Birthdays with Cousins
Getting Ready for Ballet Shoes
Enjoying Summer Ice Cream Cones
Pushing our babies
Coveting the Princess Aisle at Target
Being Brothers at Top Golf
Babies ON Top GOlf
Creating Intricate Lego Creations
Trying out the Dollar Spot Target Treats
Seeing Peter Pan with Bebe
Being influenced by Big Sisters
So many Target Field Trips
3D Movies in cool Air conditioning
That pretty much wraps up the Summer- Daddy started a new job in June which had him traveling several weeks a month so we didn't make it to the Lake or on many trips, but we ended the summer at the Beach (post to follow). We loved our days together!
The Summer has come to an end and with it our family suffered an enormous lost. My Dad, our Dandy, passed away unexpectedly on August 6th, 2012. This came as a complete shock to all of our family and the pain, loss, change, is almost unbearable at times. We are still processing his loss and trying to move forward day-by-day. I don't want to stop blogging and recording my children's life so I am going to keep updating as appropriate when I am able and try to catch up on our summer. The following posts will not necessarily be in order and I really don't know what shape they will take as this is still very difficult to write about, but I will do my best. I know my parents loved reading our blog and we love having a record of my babies life so it is important that I continue.
The weekend of July 28th my parents came in to town for The Wiggles concert. They were so excited to take Mallory and Peyton to this show but even more excited to see the Wiggles for themselves. :) Especially now that Greg, the original yellow Wiggle and lead of the show, was back in the gang. We had seen the Wiggles once before when I was pregnant with Mallory but Greg had bowed out of the group due to health problems so this would be our first time to see him live. Here are pictures from the 2009 Concert.
Peyton thinking "What are these people so excited about!?!" The First Wiggles Concert (before Mallory or Nolan were born)
Oh Now I see, this is great! (First Wiggles Concert)
My Dad's love for the Wiggles started back in the summer of 2008 when he was battling a very serious and life threatening case of Bacterial Meningitis (he ended up recovering fully and this had nothing to do with his recent death, just fyi :)). During that summer the infection disrupted his brain activity and required a lot of healing that left my Dad in a constant state of pain and temporary brain damage. He became unexpectedly ill while visiting me in Raleigh so most of his worst days fighting the battle were spent there in a Raleigh hospital and back at my house. During this time Peyton had just turned 1 and loved watching the Wiggles on tv. My Dad could not do much during that time but he was able to watch and focus on that show with Peyton and it brought him joy during a very difficult time. When Dad recovered he found that he still enjoyed the music and watching the show with the kids. He discovered many of them had also recorded adult music and also started to enjoy one of their favorite bands- the Australian band,Daddy Cool. So needless to say when Greg (Dad's favorite Wiggle)joined back up my parents were over the moon and bought tickets and made plans for the show. Here are pics from the day.
We started out our concert day with lunch at Chick Fil A and then drove out to Grand Prairie for the Big event. The show did not disappoint. We all had such a great time, especially my Dad, and they played all of their old favorites. Mallory truly enjoyed herself, dancing along to all the hits. The most memorable moment was when the Wiggles came through the audience to collect "Roses" for Dorothy the Dinosaur and what a blessing it was that Greg himself walked right next to our assigned seats.
We were this close to Greg :)
The rest of the weekend we spent at church and lunch, and watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and having great conversations with the kids. I will never forget the things my Dad and I talked about, what he said about each of my children, and how he squeezed my feet while we sat on the couch. We also skyped with my brother and his family in Belgium. That was the last time we ever saw my Dad, our Dandy, and the memories are beyond precious. He had such a great time at the Wiggles and was truly Happy that day.
It ended up being the Wiggles "Farewell Concert" as most of them are officially retiring this year. As they announced that this would be their final tour the audience gave all that were retiring a standing ovation as they waved goodbye to Dallas for the last time. My Dad should have been on that stage with them. My kids will still love the wiggles, Nolan is just becoming the age where he too will learn all the songs, and every time I hear them I will think of my Dad.
Here is his absolute favorite song- the Wiggles covering Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock". I challenge you not to love it too. Such a great song. I'll always remember watching my Mom and Dad dancing around doing the Eagle Rock in their living room to a Wiggles DVD of this song- thinking they were kind of crazy (especially since the kids were not even the ones watching the Wiggles!)- but loving every second of it. For you Dad :)
