The Beans

Soccer

2010-09-30T08:39:00.004-04:00

Mallory started school and is on the soccer team. Brian doesn't really think it counts because they only play against the other team at their school and they don't even keep score. One night he was telling her that when she's playing and the other team has the ball sometimes you have to push your way in there and get it back. She informed him that it's not nice to push and you don't put your hands on people at school! Too bad that never applies to her brother.

Poor Michael whines everyday when we drop her off that he misses her and doesn't want her to go, but then he never wants to go pick her up!

Happy Birthday Mallory! (And more)

2010-09-29T08:15:00.005-04:00

Sunday we celebrated Mallory's 4th birthday! It's hard to believe that she's that old since I myself haven't aged a bit! She wanted an Ariel themed birthday and I made the mistake of letting her look at decorations online with me. She discovered the Ariel cake, which I decided to take on. It ended up being the most expensive birthday cake we've had in this house, considering that at 9pm on Saturday night I broke my mixer while making the buttercream frosting! But I made it through and it didn't turn out that bad. I was a little proud of myself!
She got a new "big kid" bike and lots of games which she was really excited about! She had a great time!

Fishing

2010-04-22T08:18:00.005-04:00

Last night we took the kids up to the lake for their first fishing experience. I've never been more stressed in my life! Something about a 2 and 3 year old with fishing poles and falling into the water is very unsettling! Granted, if they had fallen in it was just off of the sea wall and into 6 inches of water, but cold and dirty water none the less! I will admit that the shear excitement of Mallory being the first to catch a fish was great! She was absolutely clueless as to what to do but I helped her real it in and she was over the moon! Not long after we caught another one and Michael was claiming it as his own!

Mallory took the trophy for the biggest "spiky" fish. If I knew anything about fish I would tell you what kind it was, but I'm fairly clueless! However, I personally caught the biggest fish of the night and I can tell you, only because Brian told me, that it was a large mouth Bass! Who would have thought. Of course since I wasn't willing to touch the fish I didn't get my photo taken with it. Just know that it was mine!

Sometimes You Have to Lie

2010-01-28T18:10:00.004-05:00

So, potty training is really the biggest milestone that I have been dreading in a major way! I have no clue what I'm doing! The fact that I've gotten so much mixed information from books, magazines, and other parents doesn't help! Mallory has hit most milestones early so I thought that potty training would be the same. However, we have been fighting this battle for a long time now! It would usually end with a puddle on the floor and a crying meltdown begging for a diaper! (Begging by Mallory, not me!) I tried little gifts every time she would go, candy for going, blah blah blah. Then I thought maybe she just wasn't ready and began listening to everyone who was making it sound like one day she will just come to me and tell me she was done with diapers. Yeah right!
So, Monday I told a little white lie, that there weren't anymore diapers that would fit her. It's close to the truth since she was wearing size 6 and rapidly growing out of them. After a bit of a struggle, once we got the underwear on her it's been great! Two accidents the first day, one accident the second day and dry overnight, no accidents the third day and dry overnight! The kid even goes in and poops alone which she wouldn't even do in her diaper! I'm wondering why I didn't lie sooner!? I'm also wondering how to explain this later in her life should it ever come up!

Halloween!

2009-11-02T08:29:00.003-05:00

We had quite an ardeal trying to get Mallory to decide on a costume this year. I think that in the beginning she thought that she had to be the same thing she was last year, a bumble bee. Then she changed to a butterfly princess, then a dinosaur, then a bee again! Exhausting! So we finally ended on a purple dinosaur and no, not Barney! Then there's good old Michael, who is pretty clueless and got to be whatever I chose. I got him a very cute puppy outfit with big floppy ears! About an hour before we were going to leave I tried the costume on Mallory and it fit. Great, try on Michael's, not so good! Someone had put a 6-12 month costume in an 18-24 month package! And boy was he mad that I couldn't get that thing on him! So we run to Walmart where I proceed to buy him the wrong sized costume again! I'm losing my mind! With 8 people in front of me, 1 person working customer service, and Brian and the kids in the car I gave up! I retreated to the car irate and nearly in tears! Brian took us all home and went back to get him a right sized costume and this is what we ended up with!

We got both of them dressed and ready to go and headed to the neighbor's house. They were a hit! Until Michael went running down the driveway as I tried to get them into the car and wiped out in the street scraping up his chin and bloodying his finger! He spent the rest of the night in a stroller! Better luck next year I guess!

We have a Walker!!

2009-08-30T11:42:00.002-04:00

Taaa Daa! Finally after nearly 16 months on the planet Michael has decided to join the rest of us on two legs! He has yet to learn to watch where he's going so as not to trip over anything and everything on the floor, but maybe that's the boy in him. Well, actually Mallory was the same way, over and through it, not around it. Either way I couldn't be more proud and excited! Now I just have to get the boy to wear shoes!

Go Tincaps!!

2009-08-12T08:47:00.007-04:00

This is the inaugural season for the new Parkview Stadium downtown and we went to a game last week with Brian's office. I have to tell you that it is awesome! I really didn't feel like I was in downtown Fort Wayne. We were part of the first sold out crowd with over 8,500 people there and Mallory had a great time! Not only did she get to indulge in a soft pretzel, popcorn, root beer, and ice cream for dinner, she played in the kids zone before the game. Of course she had to climb the rock wall, it was only 20 feet tall or so. She also tried her hand at hitting the ball which didn't go very well but she did love dancing between innings and Jake the Diamond Dog who picked up the Tincap's bats and caught frisbees. Somehow by the end of the game though she wasn't even sitting with us anymore. I kept asking her to come back to her seat but I got the hand and was told, "I'm talking to this lady!"

There was an awesome fireworks display after the game. Somehow she managed to stay awake even for the car ride home, maybe it was all the sugar! So if you're ever in town and have a chance to see a game it really was great! I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical after attending a Fort Wayne Wizards game, but they did a really nice job with the stadium and our team is going to the playoffs!

The Zoo

2009-08-12T08:38:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I'm a little slow at posting, we spent a day a the zoo with my cousin Nikki and her boys, Cade and Quinn. We had a great riding rides and sharing in melt downs.

Mallory and Quinn loved the goats! (You should click over to the Ferguson Four blog to see more of Mallory with them) And Michael loved the Komodo Dragon statue. Cade was a great sport as Mallory shouted, "Hey Cade, hold my had" all day long!

We had lots of fun and hopefully we can get down to the Indy zoo to share more of the same!

Catch up

2009-07-15T16:03:00.005-04:00

I have a lot of catching up to do! We're having a great summer so far. Mallory is becoming an excellent biker! She even rides her bike when we go on walks around the neighborhood now. Michael is still refusing to walk on his own. He will if he's holding something but otherwise forget it! I've even tried bribing him with goldfish crackers, but it's not working!
The kids spent the week before July 4th with my mom and aunt. They had a great time visiting the zoo, Chuckie Cheese, and area playgrouds. I was glad to get a break for a while but after about 4 days the house was creepily quiet and lonely, and I was feeling completely useless! Brian and I spent the 4th with Scott and Wendy at the lake. It was a ton of fun despite the weather! We spent an afternoon cruising Kendallville, not too exciting, but I did kick Brian's butt at putt putt golf!
Last weekend Wendy, Scott, Jack, Bob, Sabrina, and Madison came the Fort and we went to the zoo and then cooked out at our house. We all had a great time and Mallory was ready to go home with Bob and Sabrina! Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Too Good To Be True

2009-06-04T12:53:00.002-04:00

I was out with Mallory enjoying the sunshine while Michael and Dayna were sleeping. AAHH the peace watching how blowing bubbles can be so entertaining. Then I hear, "Mommy, come pick this dog poop up!" It's like a slap in the face from reality! Welcome back!

Long Time, No Blog

2009-05-27T16:27:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I will admit that I haven't been blogging lately because I've been Facebooking, which I frankly just don't get! But oh well, so I'm back! Lots has happened of course, Michael turned 1 and the kids have enjoyed the 10 days of spring that it hasn't rained and they can actually go outside! Most recently however, we just returned from a super fun trip to Brian's mom's house for Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time! Mallory got to play with her cousin Trystan who is nearly 4 and Michael did his best to keep up when he was awake! We also spent a day at the St. Louis Zoo! If you haven't been it's an awesome place! I'm not sure that there are any animals that they don't have, it's huge! We got to see lots of baby animals too which Mallory thought was cute. It did rain a bit though so we went into the Build A Bear store they have and talk about a girl who can't make up her mind. We had to wait outside a bit for the crowd to clear out and then Mallory decided that she was making a bear, then a stingray, then a penguin, then a tiger, which she finally stuck with. She was mesmerized by the stuffing process! It was cute. Scary though that by that time of the day she only wanted to go find the snakes!
So we drove home Tuesday in and out of the rain and once we finally got here Michael and Dayna were like long lost friends. Now both crawling, they would follow each other down the hall, stop and sit up and talk a bit, then head off again. He has finally found a partner in crime that is more his speed. I feel like we've already been so busy that the summer should be ending but I know better! Hopefully I make it to the end!

Should Daddy get a Motorcycle?

2009-04-11T07:59:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to wait to post something until after Easter that way I can update with some pictures too, but after the day I had yesterday (I baked our frozen pizza lunch to the cardboard that came on) I figured that I won't remember anything by then.
Mallory loves to watch America's Funnies Home Videos. So we usually let her watch before she goes to bed. And since we have skipped the "what's that" stage and gone straight to "what's it doing?" stage I get to answer that question about every clip! So last night there is a girl who's riding a motorcycle and for whatever reason crashes. Brian says to Mallory, "Should Daddy get a motorcycle?" Mallory replies, very seriously,"NO Daddy! You'll crash and that's ouchie! You'll bust your head. No motorcycles, just bikes. Daddy, you want to ride a bike like me?" I'm very surprised that she didn't tell him that they are dangerous because that is the word of the week!
This morning I also caught her talking to Jack with a hand on each side of his face saying "Look at me Jack, no biting, that's not nice." For anyone who doesn't know, Jack's not a huge fan of Mallory. He just wants to be left alone! But she's the same kid who says to me when I scold her for something "Mommy don't say that to me you're giving me a headache!" Who knew my words would come back to me at only 2!

Walking My Brother

2009-03-19T07:54:00.008-04:00

So the other morning I found Mallory walking her brother! Michael was having so much fun he could hardly stand it! She would pull him across the floor and he would laugh like crazy! It was too cute! And Michael also decided yesterday that if he's not in a hurry he will crawl on his hands and knees, but if he needs to get somewhere, he drops right back down on his stomach.
In other news, we rescued a dog Tuesday. She's a 3 month old lab/shepard mix and her name is Gracie. Or Racie or Tracie if you're Mallory. She is just the cutest thing and she loves wrestling around with Norman and snuggling on Mallory's lap. Yesterday morning Michael was playing the kitchen floor and Gracie kept laying down next to him to snuggle and then he would scoot away. So she would get up next to him again and he'd scoot away. Poor dog!

What a Lip!

2009-03-16T20:10:00.002-04:00

So there was a request for me to show a picture of Mallory-Jolie-OctaMom. So here goes. I hope that no one comes after me for it! Somehow she has completely healed and is a cute as she ever was!!

Rain, Rain Go Away!!!

2009-03-11T21:23:00.002-04:00

So it's hard to believe that it's been over a month since I've added something new! I'm trying to think of what I've been so busy with, but I just don't know. We recently went for a walk through the neighborhood during one of the sunny days and we were just crossing the street to enter the culdasac and Mallory kissed the pavement. We were in a hurry because it was starting to rain and her little feet can't move as fast as she would like. So I picked her up and I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from! I managed to carry her and push a stroller up the driveway! So, long story short, she broke her lip open and scraped her nose up. First of all, I can laugh about it now because she's ok, but her lip put both Angelina Jolie and the OctaMom to shame! I was worried that the swelling would explode!!! But she did enjoy getting to eat noodles and only noodles for several meals.
So, once we got Mallory healed, the basement floods!! You know that whole joke about men and 6 inches? How their six inches and our six inches are something different? Ok, well, Brian comes up out of the basement at about 9 last night to tell me we have 6 inches of water down there. However, I only found 2, maybe 3. Even his best friend Dave knew that there wouldn't be near the 6 inches Brian said he would find. He did come to our rescue and brought us his sump pump which he had just replaced until we could get out to get a new one!
So that leaves Michael. He just got another haircut. He loves to eat dog food. He's still army crawling. Every once in a while when he's transitioning from laying to sitting he'll take a few strides on his hands and knees and then it hits him how much faster it is to just do things his way. He has started to pull himself to things. He's slowly learning that sweat pant legs aren't so sturdy. And he knows that anytime Mallory lays on the floor, go for her hair!

Toddlers vs. Teens

2009-02-08T20:36:00.002-05:00

I'm wondering if there is a study that's been done showing if a child's behavior as a toddler is any predictor of their behavior as a teenager. Actually, I'm sure there is such a study, I'm basically terrified to find that there is a link, so I have chosen not to research the topic! It's been quite a weekend in our household. Everyone has been fighting a cold so there has been a lot of whining, runny noses, breakdowns, and the like. However on Friday as I was preparing lunch for Mallory and I, I caught something strange out of the corner of my eye. As I started to close the refrigerator I noticed something in the door compartment. Hmm, a dog kong, just what I would have expected to find there. Who doesn't keep dog toys in their fridge? Then on Saturday I caught guess who, Miss Mallory, hiding yet another dog toy in the refrigerator. I guess it's the one place she can get to that they can't. At least if they are in there I know Michael isn't chewing on them! Now, I'm just waiting to find Norman opening the refrigerator! Then there's today, Mallory and Michael have been playing in the hallway with a large exercise ball. Then I can hear her going up the stairs, I tell her to come down, to which I receive a slur of who knows what. Then a few loud booms and a crash and screams! Yep, she threw the ball down the stairs, somehow thinking that her 9month old brother laying at the bottom staring up at her would catch it! Needless to say, he didn't! So the ball not only hits him, but apparently it hit him, hit the baby gate and bounced back enough so the gate could fall on him and then the ball could bounce back on top of the gate. What a pile of debis!
If you know of any good boarding schools, I'm taking suggestions!

Princesses and Sheep

2009-02-03T11:16:00.001-05:00

So, I thought, after much inspiration from my wonderful cousin Nikki, that a blog would be a good idea since there are a lot of friends and family that I don't see or talk to that often. And honestly with my two monsters a phone conversation is nearly impossible, just ask anyone who has tried! Furthermore, with a two year old, I'm never short on daily laughs to share! So here's one, Mallory comes to me the other day wearing the following outfit and says, very matter-of-factly, "I'm just a princess. A pretty, pretty princess." Who can argue with that?

Brian and I have also decided that poor Michael doesn't stand a chance in the world! He will forever be her little sheep! Just the way that guy looks at her, like whatever she's telling him must be the only thing he needs to hear for his whole life. He's trying to play with a toy and Mallory see's that he's obviously doing it wrong. So she marches over and plops down saying, "No Michael" and blabbers on about how what should be happening, not that she knows.

I just wish he would crawl. Instead we are forced to watch him drag himself across the floor with his army crawl. It's no wonder he can't wait to hit the hardwood and get off the carpet! I call him Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump, because it's like he needs new legs!