Catch up

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

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

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?

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

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!

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!!!

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!