Hows That Mallon

It's Official!

2012-01-26T09:45:00.001-08:00

In case you haven't seen it on facebook, here is our first photo of Baby Mallon #3!

Baby is due to arrive September 7th -

Kali May has decided this pregnant thing is pretty cool, and all of her small stuffed animals are being carried around "kangaroo style"....that is... stuffed down her pants. She says they just need to grow for a little while, and then they will come out either as a baby Sister, or a baby Caleb.

Caleb doesn't say too much about the subject. When I try to tell him there is a baby in my tummy, he looks about as confused as if I was trying to teach him physics... then pats my belly and says "bewy button!"

Even though life has suddenly taking a small curve ball as I'm slowed down quite a bit with the first semester sickies, we are just very thankful that God has given us another baby, and we can't wait to meet him/her!

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Happy 2012!

2012-01-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Well Hello everyone out there! I don't really know how many people still read this blog considering my lack of consistency with posting, but if you still do read this - Happy New Year to you!

We had lots of fun things happen over this holiday season, and unfortunately I was really horrible about taking photos. But I have a few to throw in and I'll do a little recap just to catch everyone up on the life of the Mallons :)

In November, Grandpa and Grandma Borntrager drove their RV down here and stayed with us for a month!!! Unfortunately the first thing we did was share the flu with them. Instead of turkey, most of us (except for Scott and myself) ate chicken noodle soup and crackers for Thanksgiving dinner. But we DID try to make up for it and ended up having tons of fun. We spent a lot of time playing outside, and somehow even convinced Grandpa and Grandma to paint our backyard fence for us. While they were doing that... the kids discovered the joy of jumping in mud. Little did I know how many fun (and messy) days of this were ahead for me....

We also had an early Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma before they took off. Grandma had organized a REALLY fun little skit of Jesus' birth that the kids got to help act out complete with a manger figurine set and large flashlights for the star of Bethlehem. I think that may have been my favorite part of Christmas, and I also think it helped the kids understand the true meaning of Christmas just a little bit more.

We had a GREAT time with Grandpa and Grandma "from Montana", and we can't wait to see them again. They left their RV in our front yard and flew home.... so we know they'll be back!

After they left, it was just a week before our second Christmas, and our time quickly flew by as members of Scott's family all came into town to visit. We were especially glad to get to spend time with Scott's Grandma Jean from Nebraska! We don't get to see her very much and we love her A LOT, so it was great to get a little time with her.

On the Eve of Christmas Eve, Scott's cousin Rob and his wife Kristyn and their little guy Randy came up to visit. We had a great time with them, playing, opening a few presents, and making lots of cookies (note that is red frosting on Kali May in the pictures). And really.... isn't Randy just about one of the cutest kids around?? (see below)

On Christmas Eve we had a fun visit from the Kay family and a surprise guest... Santa (aka Mr. Kay's Dad). The kids were surprisingly excited to see him. I was expecting the screaming child reaction that I so often see with little ones at the mall, but "Santa Kay" was really amazing!!! The kids knew that Santa was just "pretend" and that he was really baby Henry's grandpa. Between that and Santa Kay's jolly kindness, they just couldn't HELP love him I guess:) We took advantage of the happiness to get our one family photo of the holiday :)

After Santa's visit we ran off to Grandpa and Grandma Mallon's house for a fun Christmas Eve party. This is sadly where I missed getting very many photos of our family all together, but here are just a couple:

That night we came back to our house, and the next morning we had a fun time opening gifts and spending time together. Grandpa and Grandma Mallon, Grandma Jean, and Uncle Eric all came over bearing MANY gifts and joined in on all the fun before making a dash over to Aunt Katie's house to do the same thing with them (they were VERY busy!) :) Later in the day we went back over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and had a great time ending the holiday celebrations. We had so much fun celebrating Christ's birth with everyone and we can't wait to do it again next year :)

Well, I think that pretty much does it except for New Year's. I didn't get any photos of that event either, but our friend Angie and her son, Henry came over to celebrate with us. In true parenthood style, Scott went to bed around 10pm, and Angie and I only made it until 11:30, but we had fun :)

NOW.... wait, I'm not done! I have to show you what we have been up to in the last week!

First.... more mud:

I finally got smart and realized I should take off their clothes before letting the fun begin. Here they are discovering the glory of rock throwing in mud puddles.

And finally.... daddy hard at work, as usual. Since our fence is now painted (thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Borntrager)... we are working on planting grass. When Scott said he was going to rent some equipment and dig some trenches in the ground.... I had NO idea what all that meant. I've helped him put in sprinkler lines before, but digging for drain pipes and electrical lines (which is what we are also doing).... is a WHOLE different story. I'm truly amazed at all the work Scott is doing, and that he knows WHAT to do.
Here is a starting photo of the work in our front yard......more to come!

Pumpkin Patch 2011 :)

2011-10-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made our annual trip to Lombardi Pumpkin Patch. I LOVE going there, and this year we went with Scott's family, so it was extra fun. Well.... it was EXTRA fun considering it just so happened to be 97 degrees with no breeze (and yes of course I wore a down jacket thing to try to fit in with the fall theme), the lines for everything were as long as Disneyland, and we arrived right after church.....when both our kids were starving and beyond ready for a nap. ALLLL that considered, we really had the best time we could possibly have! I was hoping to get our annual family photo on the hay bails, but I quickly decided whatever shots I got I would just be happy with. We really did have a good time, but we decided next year we might choose our arrival time more carefully :)

Books from my Mom

2011-09-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was telling my mom about how much the kids have been "reading" lately, and....being the school teacher that she is..... she quickly put together a package of books and mailed them off to me. But these are not just ANY books.... many of these are MY BOOKS. When we opened the package, all these memories that I didn't even remember I had flooded back. There right before my eyes were these stories and pictures that have been in my mind forever because of reading these books as a kid, and I never would have remembered the names or authors of the books to buy them on my own. The kids LOVED them of course, but I think I was really the one that got the amazing present!!!! :) THANK YOU MOM :)

On another random note, I have to post about Kali May's coloring skills. Normally, this is what her pictures look like these days:
Then randomly a few days ago, I looked down at her table and saw THIS! Now this might not look that much different to the untrained coloring book professional, but I thought it looked AMAZING. It is the first time I've actually seen her try to color specific parts of the picture a specific color!!!! Ok, I'm sure this impresses NO ONE but me....and maybe the grandmas reading this.... but I just had to put it on here. I LOVE coloring, and I am really hopeful that my kids share that same love :)
Meanwhile, here is what Caleb is up to. Helping daddy of course!!!!! Caleb is trying to fix the perfectly working door latch....
...while daddy takes care of a few more significant things!! Someday soon we are hoping to have a toilet and sink downstairs again :)

Craft Day!

2011-09-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was the first day the kids and I all felt somewhat better, and I got the "crafty" bug. While Caleb was sleeping in the morning, Kali May and I decided to paint some pictures for her walls. Here she is hard at work:

and here they are (they are hard to see)....she painted everything except the white heart. I've painted some bright pink hearts on her other wall, and will hopefully finish up with painting and decorations in her room sometime this week! she had soooo much fun doing her "own artwork" - she asks me to paint with her every day now.

Once Caleb woke up, I figured we might as well keep the painting fun going. We put on some paint shirts, got some finger paint, and went to work to make some fall leaves.
Here is the painted paper after they were done. it was funny..... Caleb of all people was completely baffled by the idea of paint on your fingers. I had to wrestle his little arms to get them in the paint and on the paper. haha.... maybe he just needs more practice?
Here they are at the end!
although he wasn't so sure about the whole painting paper part, you can see he didn't mind adding it to himself.....
Then I took the kids outside to try to pick some REAL leaves to add in to our fake ones for a pretty wreath outside. As you can tell by their faces, for some reason they were REALLY not into this. haha. we abandoned the idea after a few minutes of aimless leaf picking.
But we still managed to finish a sort of "leaf wreath" for our door!!!! I really can't tell what it looks like... I was so proud of all of us for actually finishing it that it truly looks like the most beautiful wreath in the whole world to me :) :)
Happy Fall Everyone!

What We've Been Up To...

2011-09-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

...not much! The beginning of September, we somehow all caught the flu bug, which was followed up with either teething AND a really bad cold for the kids, or just a really bad two week long cold that Scott and I got towards the end of the kids' fight with it. Here is pretty much what we have all looked like for the past three weeks:

and THEN, May May developed a bad case of chapped lips....which led to her starting a habit of picking her lips at night as she would fall asleep and right when she woke up. For about a week, she looked like this every time she got up:

YIKES I KNOW! I don't now if you can really get the full effect, but it was NOT fun going in to her room and finding her fingers and lips caked with blood. We started letting her take chapstick to bed and told her she could put that on instead of picking....and well... I don't know if it was that effective, but for whatever reason she has stopped now and I am SOOO thankful!!!!! ha!!! I think we are all FINALLY HEALTHY now though - I still have a little sinus cold going, but the kids seems pretty normal now!!! yeah!!!

Since I don't have too many pictures of the last few weeks, here are a few from random summer events that I liked. If you have facebook, you've already seen several of these, but if not - enjoy!

Kali May as a flower girl at Uncle Ron and Aunt Julie's wedding
Caleb and Cousin Randy feeding each other at the wedding:)
Scott and Caleb at a McDonald's play area
A typical summer day at our house - naked with popsicles:
At my best friend Megan's wedding (photography by Amber Murphy - she's putting up a new website right now but if you want a link to her site let me know!)
Kali May's first wedding of the summer with her favorite adopted Aunt Megan :)
Scott and I at the zipline in Catalina - we didn't get any good shots of us actually going down!
Caleb likes to read big books... makes him smarter I guess ;)
I tried to tell him the whole backyard wasn't going to fit..but he was determined to try

Daddy's Little Helpers

2011-09-12T09:50:00.001-07:00

One of the things that I was so excited about at our new house was all the outside space that we would have to let the kids run and do things. and it has been WONDERFUL so far. It's also been really fun to see our kids 'growing up' and being able to help daddy with all of his outdoor projects. Here are a few photos of all the "help" they have been giving him:

Cutting back the wild bushes growing up our driveway:

Washing Daddy's Truck:

Prepping our fence for Paint:

Catalina Trip Round Two

2011-09-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Many many years ago.... ok really just a few years ago (before we were married), Scott and I took a boat out to Catalina Island for a day. I think we would both say that it was the most fun date that we have ever been on together, and we have always wanted to go back.

This weekend, we got to go!! Scott's parents had purchased tickets for us to go on the zipline tour in Catalina for our birthdays. Originally we were planning on spending the night and staying the whole weekend, but after an unfortunate $3000 break down of our ac unit in our house, we decided it would be wiser to just go out for one day.

Even though I thought we might be sad to not stay the night, Catalina did not disappoint us.... we had SOOOOO much fun! I don't have pictures of the zipline yet, as they are all on Scott's phone (I didn't dare try to bring my big camera down a zipline!! :) Other than ziplining (which was AMAZING), we mostly just walked around, ate yummy food, and enjoying watching the ocean, the boats, and the people of the little island. I had booked the earliest and latest boat rides possible, so we were literally "stuck" there ALLL day. It gave us so much time to just sit and talk about nothing and everything and was a great great date - even better than the first time :)

Here are a few photos of us from our first trip out there in 2005:

And here are lots of pictures from this weekend. I am not sure if it was because it was 6am, or the fact that it was still so dark the flash was necessary, but I could NOT get a photo of my eyes open....so here we are on the boat ride over:
Breakfast at Sally's Waffle Shop
Good to know..... child safety is important even while driving golf carts!
A cool rain gutter system
A fountain Scott liked
Boats we contemplated trying to sneak out on
some stairs I thought were cool :)
we got to witness three weddings throughout the day... all at the same spot :)
There was a huge annual canoe race going on... these canoes were lined up along the shore for miles it seemed like!
This guy was showing off for the camera... the more people that took photos of him the more excited he got!

These photos were taken in literally the SAME spot as the photos from 2005

The End!!! Sadly, we left some sick kids with Grandma. This is what we came home to!! Poor little guys!

Caleb's 1st Birthday

2011-05-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Caleb's birthday was on a Wednesday this year...but he woke up to a special surprise..... DADDY! Scott took the whole day off to spend time with us, and to celebrate Caleb turning one!

Here Caleb is sharing his morning bottle with Daddy. He also shared lots of hugs, kisses, and of course some necessary manly wrestling.

I love my little big one year old so much!
Here he is seriously contemplating the envelope of a birthday card from Grandma Jean
and here is is reading the card. He was VERY intrigued by getting mail :)
Later on that evening, Katie brought Paige and Emma over, and we had a little party. Since his sister loved tissues so much, we thought they would be a good gift for him also. At first, he wasn't so sure...
...but he quickly warmed up to the idea, much to the delight of his cousins ;)
Happy Birthday Buddy!

a little clean up was required.....I think the sink bath was his favorite birthday present :)
I'm so blessed to have both a little girl and a little boy that are always changing and growing every day. While Kali May is ALLLLL girl and spends most of her time with dolls and jewelry, Caleb is already such a little manly chap. He loves to run cars all across the floor saying "vroom vroom", and he shows an obvious preference to any guy in the room. He is SUPER loving and tries to hug and kiss everyone around him, but he is sooooo affectionate that he usually ends up looking more like he is trying to tackle you than hug or kiss you. His poor sister isn't quite strong enough to stay upright when he comes at her :)

At one year old, Caleb had not quite started walking yet, but he took his first steps just a week later. His first word was "nigh nigh" (night night),which he said just a little bit before he turned one, and now just a month later he can say a ton of words. His favorites are vroom vroom, bath, go dora go!, touch, yes, up, and nigh nigh. He can sign for "all done" and "more", and he LOVES to dance!!! any time music comes on he starts bouncing up and down and nodding his head as fast as he can....all the while with a big grin on his face.

Caleb is so cuddly, and I think as my second child, I am treasuring his last few moments as a "baby" even more than I did with Kali May. I know that as soon as he gets a little more practice walking and talking, the last of his "baby" ness will quickly disappear and he will become my little toddler. I am almost ready to get rid of his bottle altogether, however, I am enjoying holding him while he drinks so much that I'm not sure if I want to give it up yet!! :)

WE love you Caleb and are so thankful for you!

April 2011

2011-05-22T15:35:00.001-07:00

After moving out of our house and into Grandpa Mike's home, we had a little extra free time in April. Most of that time we spent outside, either playing in water on hot days, or going to the park! Kali May and Caleb LOVE LOVE LOVE being outside. It's made me be much more of an outside person too..... and it makes me so thankful to live in Sunny California!!!

ok, so this is a random shot thrown in...but I think it proves how much my kids like the outdoors. Even when we are inside, I often find Caleb eating dirt (see planting pot behind him)

Kali May's 2nd Birthday

2011-05-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm so thankful that before we moved out of our last house (and packed up our little chair) that we got a 2 yr photo of Kali May! Poor Caleb's horse photos have not gone so well, but we've been able to keep up with Kali Mays. Here she is!

She seems so grown up compared to her little baby photos in that chair!!!! I can't wait (ok, really, I CAN wait) until she's 15 trying to fit in the chair on her birthday :)

Also, here are a couple photos from her birthday day. We kind of forgot to take pictures, but we got just enough to prove we DID have a birthday party for her! :) We LOVE our precious baby girl!

(Brooke and Annie, Kali May's favorite older girls :))
(Caleb's first taste of ice cream)
(Paige, Emma, and the Niednagels helping Kali May blow bubbles)
(Blowing Out her candle!)

Pictures of the Week

2011-02-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

Against my deepest wishes, Caleb seems to be an early morning person. I would like him to sleep until 7am so that I can get up, have my Bible reading time, and be all ready before the kids need to get out of their cribs. However, Caleb seems to think that anytime after 6am is a GREAT time to get out of the crib...and he makes such a loud fuss that its MUCH more lovely to take him out than to leave him in.

So.... here is my fellow shower time buddy - he usually gets put in my closet (the most sound proof place in the house - he's REALLY loud even when he's happy!). This worked great until he started to crawl....and now this is what I usually find:

Caught in Action!

oh HI MOM! :)

And, on another note, Caleb just received his first pair of shoes. Here he is outside... literally running at top speed back and forth on our cement to try them out. boys are very different from girls.
I think he likes them :)
On ANOTHER note.... bath time! :) Caleb has now graduated from the baby tub and so bath time is double the fun. My kids really do love love love bath time - I will frequently put them in there whenever they are cranky in order to pass the time with a few more laughs instead of cries, screams, and tears :)
And my last note..... Silly faces from the kids :) :) Caleb seems to have an endless stream of facial expressions....and drool to match. And Kali May's "cheese" face is just killer every time. I hope she never outgrows it !!!

Home Sweet Home.... for Sale!

2011-02-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

It's official - our home is up for sale!!! I have been so excited to get it all cleaned up and "show" ready, and I couldn't wait to actually get it done and have people start showing up to take a look. Well, after I finished I realized that cleaning your house for sale show is not exactly as rewarding as normal cleaning. Its not like cleaning for your family or friends to come over and have them ooooh and awww over your work..... no, we have cleaned and now our job is to simply (ha) KEEP our house spotlessly clean, and to be ready at a moments notice to LEAVE so that people can enter it, look at it, leave, and when they are done we can return to our home again as though nothing has ever happened.

But, it was still fun to clean up (mostly because I hadn't thought of the above fact yet :) ), and it is still VERY fun to have about a fourth of our belongings removed from our home - it feels so spacious and I am seriously contemplating having a garage sale this weekend and just ridding ourselves of everything we have packed away... I mean if we don't need it for the next couple of months.... do we EVER need it?? ?:)

I wanted to post some pictures of our "final" product of our first home. I accidentally posted the "before/after" photos in reverse..... so if you want to see it in the correct order look from the bottom up :)

After Photos

and here are some of our "BEFORE" photos........

No Way - FOUR Years????!!

2011-02-11T06:11:00.000-08:00

I think Scott and I are finally comfortable with each other. Maybe a little TOOO comfortable..... as yesterday was our four year anniversary and neither one of us even attempted to plan anything. ha. I started the day off by sleeping through the alarm and not making a lunch for him, and then followed it up with several really annoying phone calls to him at work because I thought someone was breaking in to our garage (it was really the wind).

Well, amazingly, later in the day, the Lord provided me with a very last minute BABYSITTER!!! yes, a babysitter!!! My friend Jennifer Canning said she was doing absolutely nothing and would love to come over and watch my children :) YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Well, we took her up on it and quickly headed off to a WONDERFUL evening by ourselves. We ate a lovely dinner, complements of Scott's Grandma Jean (thank you Grandma :) :) ), and then we went over to Grandpa's house (he gets cable :) ), and watched a few of our favorite tv shows that we never get to see.

I know, we are crazy adventurous people.... dinner and a free movie at "home" :) But it was LOVELY... mostly because we got to be together and didn't have to spend our happy awake evening hours feeding, bathing, and lovingly putting two children to bed, or taking care of things around our home (which we love to do..... MOST of the time :) ). and I love that we are so comfortable with one another that its OK to not have grand plans - I love Scott so much, and the longer we are married the more I just want to be near him no matter what we are doing - even if it would have been just putting two kids to bed.

Ok, I could go on about all the billion ways I love my oh-so-busy and hard working and caring and funny and godly and loving husband, however I think I have used enough words already explaining our evening.... so I will just say that I LOVE him to death, and that I am so thankful for all the little ways that God has blessed our lives and our marriage and our relationship in ways that we definitely don't deserve!

Two Kids are So Fun!!!

2011-02-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!!! If you noticed the post below, then you saw that I am FINALLY deciding to get back to updating this blog. It's been a long time - and I only have myself to blame! Ok, well, and perhaps two fun little kiddos. Before I give my little "update" that I'm sure is only super interesting to myself and possibly the grandparents, I thought I better entertain you with a few pictures of Caleb and Kali May:

As you can see, these two are obviously THE cutest kids in the world. Ok, maybe not - but I will always believe so :)

Anyways.... an update! I think the last time I posted on here was around August of last year.

after that, things got busy for me with playing piano for a lady's Bible Study group at our church, and also with my two kids, and thus we fell off of the blogging world. Then, November rolled around and I agreed to start a new weaving project and get it underway before Christmas. Since this required Scott to do some modifications to my loom (after he was already working long days at work!), and also it was the first time I had ever warped a new project all on my own (without my mom!), it took us the WHOLE month of November, and up until the day before Christmas to get it up and running and the first 20 yards woven off (I had 120 to do total). Needless to say.... we were very busy with that, plus family holiday fun (oh, and being sick with an endless string of cold/flu bugs.....no fun!) :) Scott's Grandma Jean was able to come out for Christmas, as well as Scott's older sister Julie and her family. We had a GREAT time and have so many fun memories from Christmas.

My parents decided to stay home and have a nice cozy, quiet Christmas. Then, they were planning on coming out the end of January to enjoy a late Christmas/family gathering. However, as my mom and I were talking through some weaving projects, we realized that in order for her to have time to come out here, I needed to get the remaining 100 yds woven off of my loom PLUS get a new warp on and get 30 more yds woven off for an order that we needed to fill by the end of January. I agreed to do it, and thus spent EVERY day of January (except for 2) weaving fabric with every spare moment I had. It was a crazy month, but thanks to the help of my dear husband, several friends, AND my parents help once they arrived, we got it finished and in the mail. One of the above pictures is of Kali May and Caleb playing in a gorgeous pile of some of the fabric I wove for the designer I work for, Patricia Palson.

Well, just to keep matters interesting, while my parents were here we decided to take a fun little peak in to real estate. After thinking and praying through it, Scott and I have decided that now is a wise time to try to "upgrade" out of our home that we LOVE....but that we are quickly outgrowing. With my loom, two kids, and the desire to Lord willing have more children some day, we know that 3 bedrooms isn't enough room for us for much longer. SO, the last week and a half we have been preparing our home, and we hope to have it up for sale by the end of the week!!! It has been a super fun week of getting ready and also thinking about the fun potentials of new home possibilities in the area, but I am also feeling a little sentimental about our current home!!! I am going to post some final "before/after" photos of this house - it is crazy seeing how much work we (and by that I mean Scott) has put in to this house already to make it our warm and cozy first home that we have loved. It has also been a good reminder that our homes here are only temporary and that in the next few months as our living situation is a bit unstable I can be continually reminded that our only secure home is eternal and that I don't need "my" house in order to love and grow my children in a way that honors God.

Alright... I think that gets us all up to date :) My children our sleeping so I'm going to go and try to paint some walls that have been "loved" a little too much lately :) :)

Catching Up a Bit - Christmas 2010

2011-02-09T13:56:00.001-08:00

So, I am FINALLY back to my blog. It has been a whirl-wind of a last few months, and mainly I just got out of the habit of blogging and didn't get back in to it! This post has a slideshow of a ton of pictures from Christmas break...... including our very own snow day at our southern CA home :) I am going to post again with a bit more of an update.....and yes there are several months that I will have missed, but in the hopes of not getting overwhelmed and actually sticking with blogging again, I'm just going to start with current life. So - enjoy our Christmas pictures :) :) :)

Kali May - 18 Months!!

2010-09-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

It has been so strange to not take a chair picture every month... I was really excited to get to do another one.

Here is our cute little grown up baby at 18 months!! :)

And here is probably a more accurate picture of her... hehe...trying SO hard to say CHEESE for me :)
I LOVE this picture.... mostly because it struck me as so cute how she is so seriously trying to water the tree and make it grow, but is actually watering herself. And I think God is growing her WAY more than the tree lately anyways... so it is very fitting :)
....and this is my baby girl in the morning :) :)

I love my baby girl SO much. She is so much fun to be around, and it is so amazing to see her learn new things every day. She can now run around the house and up and down our stairs (we're working on always asking permission!) and get in to all kinds of trouble :) She LOVES brushing her teeth, and I will regularly find a pile of 2-3 tubes of toothpaste sitting all in one random location. She is trying to figure out praying.. mostly confused by why we all close our eyes and hold hands, but she likes it a lot and especially will ask daddy to pray with her 2-3 times before she wants to eat. She is testing everything out, including figuring out how many times we will say "no" to something before disciplining her...which is making me work on my OWN discipline in being faithful and consistent for her!

Kali May loves to eat... she is not too picky, although bananas, frozen blueberries, and hot dogs seem to be her current favorites. She is VERY good at saying thank you...she will usually say it not only when she gets something, but also when she gives something to you. "Bye "bye is another one of her favorites. Please and Hello she does MOST of the time, but they aren't as easy as the other two. And pretty much any other word that you ask her to say, she will say now! it is so weird to have her be able to talk... especially when I will hear her repeating me around the house...saying things like "all right!" or "ok!" totally out of context and at random times. My favorite is that she has now started calling Scott "Babe" instead of dad. I guess I should use "dad" a little more often from now on.... :) Oh, and my other favorite is that she says I love you now. She will blow you a kiss, then make an attempt at the sign for it, and then say "luw you."

So far, she seems to be taking mostly after her daddy....and her aunty megan. She is always either taking something apart and trying to figure out how it works (like daddy) OR....she is looking for a purse, some chapstick, and some jewelry to adorn herself with! (aunty megan). Both of them are very cute qualities and she cracks me up all the time!

Ok, well I could go on forever telling random things about Kali May.... but mostly I just love her to death and am so thankful for her!

Birthdays!

2010-09-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Scott and I just celebrated are birthdays again... although amazingly we didn't get any older this year! :)

For my birthdays, my Uncle Joe and Uncle Phil came over to help us celebrate :) We had tons of fun hanging out, and they made friends with the kids very quickly :) They took my out to dinner AND breakfast the next day (I know, I'm spoiled), AND gave me a teapot that brews blooming flowers in it (see picture below...although it is after the tea is gone so it is not quite as pretty)!! It was very cool, and also came with around 8 different types of tea leaves and some raw stevia leaves for making all kinds of yummy tea.

On top of all that, Scott got me a brand new coffee maker and coffee grinder. They are amazing - my coffee tastes SOO much better in the morning. Between the tea and coffee, it has been REALLY easy to get up in the morning lately :)

For Scott's birthday, we were pretty low key because we were going to Bible Study that night. Scott doesn't REALLY like sweets, so I decided to make him a cake he would really like..... bbq ribs!!! See picture below of Kali May helping him blow out the candle :) We also had stuffed mushrooms, and Kali May helped him open his presents of course too. Caleb slept through the whole celebration. THEN, Scott's mom came over to watch the kids so we could head off to Bible Study kid free. It was a GREAT night :)

Scott and I were also spoiled by all our parents, although we had already opened some of our gifts early.... as we can't wait when we know we have a present :) :) We were SOOOOO spoiled by everyone.... and we are so thankful for all that God has blessed us with in life that we don't deserve... mainly our family and friends!!!

Caleb - Four Months!

2010-08-24T15:38:00.000-07:00

Caleb is such a big boy now! Ok, well, he's been a big boy since day one....but he's definitely not getting smaller. He weighed in at 18 lbs 8 oz at his 4month check up yesterday. Let's just say that my arms are feeling a lot more in shape then they ever have before!

So far Caleb is the sweetest, easiest, most cuddly baby ever. If he had his way, someone would be cuddling and holding him every minute of every day (Kali May was NOT like that...even though she was very lovable). He is super ticklish...but even just talking or singing or perhaps simply smiling at him often sends him into a fit of manly laughter. He just started rolling over from his tummy to his back almost every day. Other than that, he enjoys spending his time grabbing at chew toys, riding in his swing, and jumping in his jumperoo toy. I'm trying to think of other fun facts (I'm sure there are lots that Grandmas would love to read about)... but I'm trying to post quickly and I'm not thinking of them - I'll add them in when I do :) :)

I think the Lord thus far has given me the two easiest babies in the world. They are both such a joy to me!!! Don't get me wrong....at the end of every day I am definitely ready to be done with "baby world" and I simply can't wait until they are both sleeping soundly, but even when they are having fussy, non-nap taking days that seem to last forever, their smiles and cuddles are pretty much perfect for making everything wonderful!

Here are some 4month photos of our little guy:

Baby Four Month Shots

2010-08-24T12:24:00.001-07:00

When Kali May was four months old, I decided to do my own little "photo shoot" of her on our white bed spread. I liked the idea so much that I've decided to do the same thing with each of our kids when they turn four months old, and then I'm going to print them out and have them printed in frames on our walls.

Here is Kali May's four month picture:

And here is Caleb's new four month picture:

It's so fun to see how unique they are already at this age... I can't wait to see how all of Caleb's little features develop and the personality he takes on to go with them :)

I am going to post more photos and updates on the kids later, but I just had to put these two on right away :)

The Return of My Brother!!!

2010-08-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

For the last 8, or perhaps 9 (I forget) years, my older brother Shannon has lived in Korea. Shortly after he moved there, he met his wife Katie, and they now have three children (Kiara, Orion, and Iggy). About a year ago, they decided to move back to the states!!! This last weekend they flew in to LAX, and we picked them up. They were able to stay with us for just a few days before they finished their trip and flew up to my parents in Montana (where they will be living as they adjust to things and get their feet on the ground a little).

It was SO much fun to have them at our house. I always loved getting together with my own cousins when I was little, and it was completely weird to me to watch my kids play with theirs and think that I was now the MOM watching the little cousins play. HA - I guess I am getting old :) But I really can't wait for these kids to get to hang out more now as they get older. I hope they will always be very special friends!

Bass Lake Retreat

2010-08-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Our Bible Study just came back from a retreat/vacation at Bass Lake. I think it was the longest retreat that we have ever been able to go to - we were gone from a Friday night until the following Wednesday! It was so fun to be somewhere for more than just a weekend. Especially with kids, a weekend retreat seems to hardly give you time to settle in before you have to pack up and head out.

There were six couples on the retreat... and we had so much fun! Most of our time was spent either at the lake, or at the amazing house we stayed at...just hanging out. One night after the kids were in bed, the girls got to go out for coffee and the guys stayed behind to keep an eye on the kids...as well as do whatever else guys do when the girls aren't around (there were some pretty funny stories when we returned!) :)

Sadly I completely forgot to take many pictures until the last two days, and by that time only our family and the Pizzis were still there. That is why the following pictures are mostly of just our two families....even though we really had so much fun with all the other couples as well!

Montana Trip

2010-08-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

In the beginning of July (I know, I'm backtracking a little), we went to Montana for my Grandma's memorial service. It was sooo great to see a lot of my Borntrager side of the family that I have not spent time with in a long time. There are tons of good memories, like watching all the cousins sit around the kitchen table at our house passing around all the photos of Grandma and her family and telling every story they could remember, but I decided to just post a few of my favorite pictures (we have so many!) and say that I was so thankful that we could all be there and spend time remembering my Grandma Liz.

Here are the photos...they are probably out of order as I'm trying to post this rather quickly....but here you go :)

Our family enjoying the nice Montana winds....
Caleb loves the wind...can't you tell?
A Montana sunset in our back yard
My "second mom", Anita (she babysat me practically every day of the first five years of my life!) holding Caleb :)
Grandpa and Kali May
The Water Borntrager Family.... minus my brothers. Shannon and his family were still in Korea (where they have lived up until a week ago when they moved to the states!), and my brother Andrew and his fiance were there...but they left before we could think to get a photo of all of us!
Grandpa and all of his boys
The church at the memorial service
All of Us with Grandpa... Kali May is having tons of fun if you can't tell :)

All of the family eating out at Dad's new patio area

My loves
Grandpa holding Caleb.... who is deciding if he is ok with the situation
Mom and Caleb staying warm :)
Eating homemade ice cream
Making the ice cream
Family Photo 1
Family Photo 2
Dad and Kali May on the tractor
Dad and Mom's GREEN garden!
Mom cooking.... she fed a TON of people that week!
Dad having some good ole male bonding time with Caleb
Kali May enjoying the open spaces :)

July

2010-08-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

I decided to do July in one blog entry, although it will actually be two now that I'm thinking about it. Below are some of my favorite moments from the month, and I'll post another blog right after this with pictures from a trip to Montana that we took (even though that happened before a lot of these photos :) ).

Scott with his favorite things....his babies and a cold glass of chocolate milk :)
Kali May decided to dress herself this day. She decided what clothes (swim diaper and all), and in what order they should go on. I was so amazed at the intelligence of my daughter to know that she could have an opinion about clothing that I just couldn't bear to try to tell her that the diaper usually goes on first :)
Caleb - I seem to catch him in a lot of "double chin" moments. haha... no one else may like this picture, but I PERSONALLY think he looks adorable...chin and all :)
??????
Kali May has a keen interest in "girly" things. I hardly ever put my make up on in front of her (the little that I wear), but somehow when she managed to sneak into my drawer, she knew that the stuff she pulled out should go on her eyes. She even got a good portion ON her eyelashes.
Kali May posing in some really really cute pajama pants that Grandma Jean made her. I am so spoiled by my moms and Grandma with gifts like these!!!
Big Event: BOTH Kali May AND my first ever ice cream from a real live traveling ice cream truck. You know... the one that drives down your street playing the high pitched ice cream song. Growing up on a farm, I never got to experience this, so it was a MUCH bigger deal to me than to Kali May....but she still liked her push up :)
One week our good friend Brooke came over to play with the kids (and me! ;) ). We had SO much fun. I forgot to get a picture of her with Kali May, but they had tons of fun playing in the pool and drawing with chalk on our cement. Here she is with Caleb! Thanks SOOO much for coming over Brooke!
Oh, and we also made home made tortillas! It was a first time for both of us... with Brooke's help they turned out GREAT!
Another week our friend Annie came over. Just like with Brooke, she and Kali May played in the pool and did lots of other fun things. Both girls were a huge help to me, and I am really hoping they can come over again SOON :)
Here is a shot of Caleb in serious study of his play mat. I think he is decoding some secret language out of the pattern on the fabric.
In the middle of the month, I ended up having a quick outpatient surgery to remove a cyst that I've had for quite some time (they actually discovered I was pregnant with Caleb a year ago when they were trying to schedule surgery to remove it!). While I was recovering, Kali May had a little more "free time" on her hands. She discovered that she could pull a chair up to her "rewards" jar....and get out as many reward m&ms as she wanted!!! ha... I probably should have punished her... but I just had to capture the moment instead. I love the look of pure joy and mischief on her face!!!!
Here I am playing with the kids on one of the rare moments I was off of the couch while I was recovering. I was thankful it only took me about three days to get back to my normal self.... it was hard to not do anything for even just that short amount of time!

Daddy with his little girl
How many of our days out at the pool with friends ends up...inside either asleep (ie Caleb in the background), or eating like the girls are doing. This picture was actually taken by my friend Jennie, who volunteered to pack up her two children, come spend the night, and watch ALL FOUR children while I was in the hospital having my surgery!!!! She, Tracie, and another friend Jennifer were all such a blessing to me and so helpful to my little family!! THANK YOU guys so much!! :)

Caleb - Two Months :)

2010-07-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Although Caleb is almost three months old now, I'm just getting to posting his two months pictures.

When we went to the doctor for his 2 months check up, Caleb weighed in at 14 lbs. and 23 inches long!!! The nurse looked up Kali May's stats, and at two months she weighed 8 lbs 13 oz (his birth weight!). I THOUGHT Caleb was a lot bigger than K.M. had been....but I wouldn't have guessed almost double in size!

Other than size difference though, Caleb is very much like Kali May in that he is a happy and easy going baby. He loves loves to sleep....and as you can tell he loves to eat. When he is not doing one of those two things, he is pretty happy if you put him in his swing, lay him on a play mat, or of course cuddle with him. He rolled over right at 8 weeks (from tummy to back)....but he has only done it 3-4 times since then - he has to be in the right mood :)

He always has the biggest smiles for us. And he has a special smile for Scott whenever he comes home and holds him. Scott made a monkey noise at him once, and it cracked Caleb up to the point he laughed out loud. So now monkey noises are a regular sound whenever the two of them are hanging out. I love that Caleb already has special "daddy time" and things that he loves just about Scott.

Here's Caleb in his swing - he doesn't look to happy here but I promise he LOVES the moving mobile
Caleb BEFORE his first hair cut....
Caleb AFTER his first hair cut.... ok I just really trimmed the sides a little...but its a little better!
Caleb at Two Months

Kali May is teaching him to read...
Horse Picture number 2 - Sorry its really not a great picture but the best we could get!!! We might be regretting this horse idea before we're done!

Life as Kali May

2010-07-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Kali May has been having a very fun summer. Its so amazing to see her personality coming out more and more, and to see her learning new things so quickly. I can tell that she really understands most things that I say to her now, and she is trying with all her might to repeat words back to us....even though they come out all mangled and cute sounding :)

Here Kali May is with Megan right before Megan moved. I think I was mostly sad about Megan moving away because of how much I know that Kali May loves her. They had the most precious friendship ever, and even though she is MY best friend, I will always remember how cute the two of them were when they were playing together :) I'm hoping that Megan and I can visit each other often enough that the two of them can keep up their friendship......I just need to figure out how to fly to Minnesota with two children and I'll be on my way :) !!

Kali May, as you can see from the picture below, is becoming quite the helper in the kitchen. She is ready and willing to taste test any food item for me. And she really is getting the hang of stirring and "cooking." She has her play cooking tools, and I will set her down on the floor with a bowl of dry oatmeal that she will stir and add "ingredients" to for quite a long time. Its very cute...until later when I have to sweep up all the oatmeal off of the floor.... but oh well! :)
Eating Corn on the Cob!!!!
My cute little girl. Scott took this photo and I just love it! I can't believe how fast time really does go as parents!!!

A Few Pictures from June

2010-07-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

June just flew by!!! Here are a few photos from the month....

Caleb enjoying the shade of the stroller on a trip to the park

Kali May with our friends Terah and Abby at the park
Caleb's first swim!!!! He didn't even cry for more than a second....it was so hot out that I think the water had to feel good to him!
Terah, Abby, and Alicia playing in our backyard. Scott built some fun sprinklers and such for us to keep cool under. Every Tuesday we have "Waterpark Day" at our house. If you are free, come on over :) !
The girls all playing in the pool on one of our waterpark Tuesdays.
Goodbye Party for Megan. My best friend (Megan) moved down here a long time ago to live/hang out with me in Southern CA, and after five years she decided to move back to Minnesota where her sister lives, and also where she went to college. I'm so sad to not have her here anymore, but I really am excited for all her new adventures in Minnesota.

We had a party for her, and earlier that day Megan and the kids and I went to the beach. Here are a few photos from the day.

We love you lots and lots Megan!!!

Daddy and His Little Ones

2010-06-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Just had to put these up of Scott holding both the kids - they both get a special look whenever daddy gets home from work... Kali May smiles from ear to ear and usually lets out some kind of loud cheer or squeek, and Caleb will try so hard to turn his head and look in whatever direction he hears Daddy's voice coming from...its so cute!!

Kali May is giving Caleb a "kiss" here.
I'm so thankful that God gave me such a loving husband and daddy like Scott!!!!!

Rich Hall Photography

2010-06-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I had put up some really cute pictures that my photographer friend Rich Hall had taken, and I just had to post a few more that he edited. Also, I accidentally listed his website incorrectly. If you want to see more of his pictures (which you do!), you should go to www.rhimages.com :)

Growing Up

2010-05-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

So Caleb is growing quickly, in every sense of the word! I can't believe its already been just over a month....and he is HUGE already. and I really mean that. We weighed him on our scale at home at just a little over 12 lbs, so if that is accurate he has gained in ONE month what took Kali May 3 0r 4 months to gain (I'll have to go back and look it up).

Here are a few photos of our guy as he's growing.

Kali May

2010-05-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Not to be outdone by her brother, here's what Kali May has been up to lately :

Enjoying strawberries with her friend Ashlee on our Bible Study retreat last weekend

Playing with snow for the first time! (yes, in May in California! But in Mammoth, not at our house :))
enjoying calebs bath water when im not watching and leave the water in the tub
climbing everything. i mean everything
eating much more like a big girl
climbing. once again. everything.
playing with her favorite person...daddy

Caleb's Baby Shower

2010-05-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Marci and Mike, being the generous and kind grandparents that they are, threw us a very fun baby shower a couple of weeks ago! It was a fun little family event and we were blessed with many gifts that we didn't deserve. I'm just sad I didn't take more photos of all of the family...but here are the ones that I got!

Us (without Caleb at his own shower...nice huh? :) )
Aunt Katie cuddling Caleb to sleep
Emma expectantly waiting for the serving of cake :)
Caleb and his friend Owen playing on the floor
Another shot of the boys :) Owen's older sister is Ashlee (she's been in a few photos on our blog playing with Kali May), so both their mom and I are excited for all the play dates we have to look forward to in the future :)
Thank you so much to both Marcia and Mike for everything!!!

Caleb: One Monthd

2010-05-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

So after we completed Kali May's "chair" photos, we had a good laugh looking back on all the really funny/awkward monthly photos of our daughter. Scott said that we really needed to try to get some better photos next time. PART of the reason the photos weren't amazing (besides my lack of photography skills) was because I chose to put her on a hard chair that she could easily fall out of....resulting in many very QUICK photo shoots as I tried to take a photo and simultaneously keep my daughter from injuring herself.

Well, in an attempt to get better photos this next time around, you would think Scott and I would have chosen an easier "Prop". But nope... we just decided to top ourselves. This time we will be attempting to capture a wobbly head infant...and then squirming baby and toddler... on top of a rocking horse! So....awkward/funny photos HERE WE COME! :)

Here are Caleb's best one month photos. Keep in mind that these are only THIS good of quality because we had three people. One person with the camera, one holding a white sheet up behind Caleb, and one person attempting to hold Caleb upright from behind the white sheet. Eventually we gave that up and decided my arms could just show in the picture :)

Photo One

Photo Two

Photo Three

which one do you vote for as the official photo?

Time is Flying!

2010-05-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a month has gone by already!!! And as I am saying that, I am realizing that today I have to start a whole new set of "chair photos"...this time for our little spikey haired wonder :)

It's so fun to see how Caleb in some ways is already like his sister, and also a whole new little person. He arches his whole body WAY back when he stretches, just like Kali May. And for the most part, he is really easy going and smiles lots and lots just like she did. But, he is definitely WAY more hungry than she ever was! I am guessing he's already around 11lbs or more... and he just keeps wanting more and more food! He also is such a little man in his noises. He has so many little "grunts" and funny noises when he is trying to make himself heard. And he already laughs.... often times right as he is falling asleep he'll let out a huge belly laugh. It doesn't seem like it could be coming from a baby! He's still not doing too much but eating and sleeping, but he is starting to be awake for much longer times. Last night when Scott came home he came up to the side of his bouncy seat and started talking. Caleb recognized his voice and jerked his head over to the side to try to see Scott. He got so still and you could tell he was really trying to find that voice that he recognized. I think it made Scott's day :) :)

As everyone says is typical... we've taken a sadly small amount of pictures of our second child compared to our first....but here our some photos that I thought were fun. Also... all the really really good photos were taken by our friend Rich Hall and his lovely assistant/wife Diana. If you want to check out more of his work or contact him about getting photos taken, you can go to rhallimages.com. I've known Mr. and Mrs. Hall for a long time, and I never knew they were so talented in the photography world!!! Thank you guys if you are reading this :) :)

I took these first two photos...but they were just too funny to not put up :)

...and poor Kali May. She's been forgotten and has been forced in to slavery .....not. She actually is LOVING being mommy's little "helper" its cute....and truly helpful MOST of the time!
Ok, here are a few of the professional photos. I LOVE them all!! :)

My mom was here while we were taking the photos, so Rich was nice enough to take some with all of us. I love how Kali May decided to pose ballerina style in this one
my baby boy :) I love him!

Caleb Joseph Mallon!

2010-04-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

He's here!!! In case you haven't heard via Facebook or email yet, Caleb Joseph made his arrival FINALLY. Ha, he actually came 5 days early, so we definitely can't complain about that! Here are his stats and some pictures, and then below is a few more details for all those girls that like knowing :)

Stats:

Caleb Joseph Mallon

Born April 20th, 2010

11:47am, 8lbs 13oz, 21 inches long

Pictures:

Details:

I had been having "fake" contractions for several days, and often in the evening they would be quite close together but then go away when I laid down. On Monday night (the 19th) around 6pm, I started to feel contractions that were a little different. At 8pm I tried laying down for about an hour, and they increased to 7 mins apart, so we called our doctor and headed in. Grandma Marcia came over and watched Kali May for us...we were so thankful for both her and Scott's sister Katie for helping us out!!

All in all it was about 11:30pm by the time we were checked in and in the delivery room, and I was at 4 cm and the contractions were about 2 min apart. Since this was my second delivery and the contractions were so close, they started prepping the delivery room in the case of a super quick deliver. And sure enough, it looked like it was going to be as I was dilated to 8.5 cm at around 1:30pm. The doctor was called and told to be ready at any moment.....and then.... nothing! I hung out at 8.5 cm until around 8am the next morning. Then, they decided to help the little guy out and gave me patocin (sp???) to speed it up. Well that definitely made it more painful, but after another hour or so STILL no change. So at that point, I decided to get an epidural, and around 11am they were able to REALLY speed my contractions up with the meds, and by 11:47am on Tuesday Caleb came out!!!!

We were able to check out of the hospital on Wednesday evening, and Grandma Marcia brought Kali May back home to meet her brother. She is still a little unsure about him, but seems pretty happy all in all to have a brother. She LOVES giving him kisses, and only seems confused as to why she can not "pat" his head in adoration as hard as she would like to :) :)

Scott's taking the week off of work and is home helping out with everything, so it has been very nice to have some family time and to just adjust to being four instead of three! We all think Caleb looks VERY much like pictures of Scott when he was a baby....and it is so WEIRD but very fun to have a boy instead of a girl this time. He loves sleeping in his car seat, just like Kali May did....but so far he is MUCH more cuddly than she was. His hair is VERY spikey, and it seems determined to stay that way. We like it though, so I guess that's good :)

Ok, I think those are all the details :) Other than wanting a little more sleep than we are possibly getting, we are all doing great and hope that you can meet Caleb soon!!!

First Swim of the Year

2010-04-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

So almost exactly a year ago Kali May went for her first swim ever. Here are a couple photos of then....
Now, here she is with daddy, trying it out all over again. I'm sure she thought it was her first time. She LOVED it!

Clapping for joy because she likes it so much :) I couldn't believe it, because it was pretty chilly that day and quite windy... not exactly my idea of great swimming weather (but apparently that doesn't bother anyone else in my family :) )!!!

Easter

2010-04-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty low key but a lot of fun this year. We decorated eggs with Paige and Emma and Aunt Katie a few days before Easter, as well as had a fort building party, then Scott, Kali May and I enjoyed going to the early Easter service at church on Sunday. After that, the whole family came over to our house, brought lots of yummy food, and watched the girls enjoying their egg hunt :)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend!

Egg filling party

The little artists at work on their lovely egg creations
yes, I really did find her trying to eat it, WITH the shell on.
heading off to find daddy with her prize
we peeled it for her so she could eat it a little more easily :) funny thing is I normally can't get her to eat a hard boiled egg!
the finished eggs

Fort time! The girls talked about how Uncle Scott was so cool to build them a fort for days afterwards
serious play time
Kali May with her easter basket - thanks Aunt Penny - you spoil us TOOOOO much!! :)
Finding Eggs!

The girls with their findings ;)
Kali May enjoying her treats a little later
with daddy :)
Daddy always make my hair crazy....

Just Some Cute Ones

2010-03-29T06:45:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to quickly post a few cute pictures of Kali May that we've taken recently....

Trying to learn how to use her watering can.... apparently she thought it would be better to water herself :)

She's very into making this face...usually a little more smiley :)

We took these on St. Patrick's Day, if you can't tell
Silly Dad and Kali May
Yummy.... Spaghetti!
Refusing to smile for me so I could capture how cute I thought she looked in white and pink :)
At a wedding recently.... she had so much fun dancing... even if she was the only one out there!
Found! in the cupboard eating baby shampoo, of course :)

34 Weeks...Then and Now

2010-03-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well I definitely haven't been as faithful at taking belly photos with this second baby. ha... probably because I "popped" at about .5 weeks along and have FELT huge ever since :) The funny thing is, I just took a 34 week photo, and I think I was just about the same size the first time around!!! At any rate...here are the photos of me at 34 wks with Kali May (white shirt) and 34 wks now with Caleb Joseph (black shirt - hehe hides a multitude of baby weight I think)

I remember feeling like I still had FOREVER to wait for Kali May to come out, but this time around I feel like time is flying much more quickly. Don't get me wrong....I am still twitching at the sound of the clock ticking...counting down the days until this baby comes out to meet us. But I definitely am thankful for the fact that God allows us to remember how quickly time does pass. Before we know it, Caleb will be here, and there will be two babies in our house! I am very excited, and also a little nervous about all the challenges I hear about from moms. I get lots of warnings that "two is the hardest", and when I tell people that my kids will be 14 months apart....I get all sorts of crazy gasps. It's actually pretty funny.

Thankfully almost every mom that I have ever known that has had two children has survived, so I am hopeful that I will too :) I am also so glad to be a part of a church that takes raising children in a godly home so seriously.... I know that I have the resources through friends, books, my husband, and most importantly God's word to be a mom that loves and takes care of her children in a way that honors the Lord. I'm sure I'll be making lots of mistakes, but I am excited for everything I have to learn too.

And, the second time around... I know that eventually I will get a full nights sleep again SOMEDAY :)

Playing Outside

2010-03-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

I am loving photos of Kali May right now, as her little wobbly walk always produces some fun look in a picture :) I think she looks like she is kind of dancing in the first one of these...which she currently LOVES to do. It is very hilarious :)

Birthday Party!

2010-03-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from Kali May's birthday party!

Her "decorations" :) I didn't really do too much since I figured this is probably the birthday she will be LEAST picky about - and remembering the least too!

For a fun project, we had every guest stamp their hand on a page with finger paint, and then write Happy Birthday, or whatever they wanted to Kali May. I'm putting them together in a little book and will save it for her so she can look at it and see who was all at her first birthday someday.
Here is Annie Niednagel making her page!
Stephanie Niednagel with all the children gathered at her feet :)
Annie and Kali May
Kali May decided she wanted to try everyone's food that night. Thankfully the guests were all very good at sharing :)
Stephanie and Brittanie and her new little one FlintI love this picture of Kali May and Megan, esp. since their eyes look the exact same color! :)
Opening presents with the help of Paige and Emma
Kali May's favorite present from Aunt Katie.... and box of tissues!!!
Kali May and Emmett examining the new toys
Kali May with her favorite person... Grandma Marcia!
Me with my baby girl!! :)
Family Photo
Dad with his baby girl :)
the cake
first taste....hmmmm what is this stuff?
ok....I like it!!!
a more "aggressive" approach....
hehe... this was pretty good guys!
more please?

Photos for Fun

2010-03-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few photos of Kali May lately for fun:

Enjoying the TP she received as a present for her birthday

We got to have a sleep over with Ashlee while he mom and dad were at the hospital "getting" a new little baby boy. Here the two girls are eating dinner. ha... I just love both of their faces. I promise we were really having fun
Kali May chasing poor Ashlee all around the house....
smiles!
Kali May clapping for her dad in the bath tub
Playing with the soccer ball outside....shortly after this we lost the diaper...but we're saving those pictures for some embarrassing moment later on in Kali May's life :)
a "thoughtful" pose outside
this was back in the beginning of February...one of her first days walking~ which I don't know if I have even posted about, but Kali May officially started walking about a week before her birthday!!!!
Pausing to check out the treasures hidden in the cement
enjoying watching the storm clouds move in on us...
Pink Shoes! This was my first pair of shoes for Kali May, and I think the first pair of pink shoes I have ever purchased for myself :)
One of Kali May's FAVORITE things to do now that she can walk is chase balls. notice the excitement on her face - usually followed with a high pitched little yelp of joy :)

3rd Anniversary Getaway

2010-03-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

This is backtracking a little bit, but the first weekend of February Scott and I snuck away to San Diego for a third anniversary getaway. We stayed at a fun little hotel that overlooked the ocean. The best part was definitely the hot tub...which we pretty much lived in. It actually ended up raining for most of the weekend, but between me moving a little slower with my big belly, and both of us just wanting to rest - we really didn't mind being "stuck" at our hotel watching tv and enjoying the hot tub!

I did a really bad job taking pictures, but here are a few :)

Our hotel room had a sliding door that opened up to the pool and this grassy area, which we really liked

Here's our pool....and you can't really see it but the hot tub is straight back on the other side of the pool where there are more lounging chairs. It was seriously the size of two normal hot tubs put together!
Here I am the first morning waiting in the wind and cold for my night in shining armor (ok more like jacket) could bring the trusty Toyota by to pick me up :)

Here he is!! :)
Our favorite place to eat of the weekend - a little shop called "Marvelous Muffins" right by our hotel
The "marvelous" muffins and pastries we got - they really were amazingly good!
One of the days we spent touring Old Town San Diego. The only thing I really got pictures of was the Sheriff's Museum, but we had lots of fun in all kinds of little shops and historic buildings!
Captured!

A cool little thing I found in a tin smith shop
HA! this is the ONLY picture I took of the two of us together. How sad for a third anniversary photo huh :P :)
Scott checking out the boats by our hotel..... this one was insane. notice the HELICOPTER that landed on the back of it!

Well anyways.... in spite of not getting super grand photos.... we had a ton of fun, and it was so great to just get to spend a weekend together celebrating the three great years that we have spent together already :) :) I love love love being married to Scott and I know that God has blessed us way more than we deserve already!!!

One Year Old!!

2010-02-24T15:21:00.001-08:00

Kali May is ONE YEAR OLD today!!! I can't believe it!!!! We are having a birthday part to celebrate and thank Jesus for our baby girl on Friday, but I thought since today is her actualy birthday, it was a great day to put a Grand Finale of her chair photos up. I am hoping I got them in the right order.....but here she is folks :) :)

Newborn

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

11 Months

12 Months

A "Date" with Emmett

2010-02-04T21:07:00.001-08:00

Today we had a lunch "date" with my friend Brittanie and her two little boys Emmett (16 months) and Flint (5 weeks). We had a great time...and Kali May and Emmett were so cute together I just had to post the photos!

Playing in the Dirt

It was so funny.... Kali May pushed and pushed her stroller all over the soccer field. Here she is off in the distance...climbing it. of course.
A cute picture of manly little Emmett
Brittanie giving the two older kids a ride in the stroller... they LOVED it!
These pictures were just so cute I had to post them :) :)
"Ha. And guys say its hard to get a girl to let you put your arms around them. I'll show them how it's done!" ~ Possible thoughts of Emmett

11 Months

2010-02-04T20:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this is my second to last "monthly" post! As you can see from the pictures below..Kali May is becoming more and more fun with every day. Her current favorite activity (other than riding in her stand up stroller) is climbing. She climbs absolutely everything she can with reckless abandon. I think her little rocking chair is her favorite thing though. You can see a little bit of her "acrobats" in the pictures below. She also is REALLY into wrestling with our blankets. She will dig herself into the center of a blanket and then roll and roll around with her head completely covered in blanket like it is the best fun in the world.

Other than climbing and wrestling (what a little lady we are raising, huh? :) ), she has taken her first official steps! Just last Sunday she took six in a row, which was very big for her...usually she just takes one or two and then returns to crawling. She also can now say her own version of uh oh ("uh uh") and yum ("mm"), and she can sign for "more" or "all done", and she is just learning to drink from a straw. It's really fun getting kisses from her too now, although they are more like slobbery suctions on your cheek. She looks like she is constantly trying to eat all of her stuffed animals...but it really is kisses!

a little fun with mom

2010-02-04T20:52:00.001-08:00

Here are a few photos we took having fun while mom was here.....

Eating.. I like this picture because you can see her big blue eyes!

A typical Kali May Face
The Slide!

We LOVE playing at the park now, if you can't tell
Meeting the purple dinosaur
Going for a ride in her stroller at the mall - this is how Kali May travels
Playing at the mall playground
Checking out the cool car

weaving....and not baskets either!

2010-02-04T20:31:00.000-08:00

It's official; I'm becoming my mother. Or at least, I'm on the path :)

For the past several months Scott and I have been thinking/talking/praying about an at home business that I could do. Scott, being the innovative one that he is, was actually the one that came up with the idea of "expanding" my mom's weaving business in Montana by buying a loom and seeing if she would let me weave for her. I of course, being the logical one, thought it was crazy. Ok... so not really... we all know I could never be the logical one. But I was a little skeptical about it... and it seemed too hard to find a loom and get all set up to even start. However, a few months later God provided us with a loom at an AMAZING price, and it has all just fallen in to place. Most of that is due to my husband's mechanical skills and creative motivation. He has done MOST of the work in setting everything up so far and has made the whole process of starting a business seem easy and fun for me. I only hope it has been fun for him too!

I don't know how weaving is going to fit in to my future in the long run.... if we keep having kids at the rate we are right now, I might not have much time for an at home business for the next few years. And... my first desire is definitely to be a mom so if this gets in the way of the priorities that God has called me to (first being a Christian, then a wife, and then a mom), then Scott and I have both agreed that we don't have any problem ending this or putting it on hold in a second. But... for this moment in time we both feel this will help me be a godly, productive wife at home and since we don't know what the future holds, we can only make decisions with what information/circumstances God has given us at the current moment.

With that being said, last week my mom flew down here to help me get my first weaving project all started up. Ok, and she also came to see Kali May :) :) It was so much fun to have her here...and she spoiled me so much taking care of Kali May and helping out with so many things! We also successfully got the first project started. Here are some photos:

That big thing in the background is the loom. Here we are getting ready to put all the thread onto it;

here the thread is half on! ok... only a quarter on...but might as well be optimistic!
The thread is all on!!! yeah!
Scott and mom fine tuning a few details.
And here I am - pregnant fabric weaver!!!!
We also let Kali May have a hand at weaving. She liked it.
HA! I just had to post this facial expression... no idea what caused it.

At the Park

2010-01-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

Now that Kali May is getting OLD (haha ok not really)... we are having fun doing a few more things outside. Earlier today we took a quick trip up to the park. We couldn't stay too long as rain was on it's way, but we had a lot of fun watching Kali May try out the fun playground equipment. Ok... so we had fun trying it out too - we admit it :)

Her FAVORITE thing was the swings. I wish I was better about taking my video camera along with me...as she just laughs and laughs when we push her. And she loved the suspense of being pushed back and held up in the air by her daddy...waiting and waiting until he'd finally let go and she'd go flying (as much as we thought safe for a 10 month old anyways:)). It was GREAT!

Out for a Walk :)

2010-01-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Kali May got a really cute little "baby stroller" from her Grandma and Grandpa in CA. Although she can't walk all on her own yet, she is really good at walking with the stroller. So, the other day when Scott drove in from work, we met him outside for to go for a little walk. It was SOOO cute!! ;) here they are!

Checking out the world and her new freedom to explore it
Looking around for daddy...
There he is! Now let's go!
That's how Kali May says, "Mommy, are you coming too?" She turns around and does this whenever she wants us to follow her...
Checking out the baby doll to make sure she's comfy in her stroller...

Climbing Stairs

2010-01-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

One of Kali May's favorite things to do is climb our stairs. I think we could do it ALLLL day if I let her.....

sometimes we get sidetracked when Mommy leaves "fun things" on the stairs to look at...

10 Months Old

2010-01-07T22:05:00.000-08:00

I can't believe our baby's really this old!!! It is so much fun and really such a blessing to get to be a stay at home mom and watch her every little movement and step of growth. and speaking of steps... she is ALMOST walking. Who knows when she will actually get around to it, but she will stand completely up, look at us, wobble like she's going to take a step, and then at the last second change her mind and head back for the safety of the ground. It's quite funny :)

Here are some of her other "milestones":

Teeth: Right around Christmas she got both of her front bottom teeth! And now the top of her mouth looks very puffy and blistery, so we will see if she just decides to sprout them all at once :)

Clapping: She LOVES clapping, especially when we say "yay!!!" It can pretty much make her smile at any time :)

Wrestling: For some reason she has learned to "wrestle." When she comes upon a blanket or soft item on the floor, she will literally "pounce" on it, and proceed to roll over and over with it, biting and tackling it like a pro. Good thing she is having a brother I guess!

Foods: She LOVES any finger food, and is much easier to feed than she was a couple months ago. Cheerios, Squash, and Green Beans are pretty much her favorite choice items.

Other than that, she loves waving "hi" and "bye" to people, laughing and giggling all the time, and in general you can tell she is understanding more and more of what we are saying (ie the word "no" hehe). It is so amazing to see how God grows their little minds and how she is becoming so much more of a little girl!

Christmas

2010-01-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas with our baby girl was so much fun! We were sad to not be able to be with my family, but we're hoping to see them soon in the coming months.

As to be expected, I don't think Kali May really understood too many of the concepts of Christmas, or the wonderful truth of Christ's birth and what we were celebrating. However, we were really surprised at how well she understood the concept of "wrapping paper." It was fun to watch her open gifts, and also just great having a relaxing Christmas with Scott's family and just with our little family at home :)

Here is Kali May in her Christmas dress. I decided (ha great idea at the time but we'll see how it goes) that I want to sew a homemade dress for each of my daughters (if we have more) each Christmas. Kali May's definitely didn't turn out perfect this year, but it was fun!!!

Kali May with Paige and Emma
Christmas Eve at Grandpa's House - Kali May with Grandma and Grandpa
The girls with Grandma Jean - I am not sure what they are looking at but it's cute :)
starting to open some presents
scott and Kali May both enjoying her presents :)
Kali May...eating her presents
This is actually Christmas morning... I love some of her facial expressions....
A dress from Grandma B that she sent down! we love it~
another great facial expression
looking like she thinks she got caught doing something wrong....
some serious concentration on this face!
family photo. I guess we are even more interesting to look at than the presents!
The day after Christmas we went to Grandma's house. Kali May had fun learning to "kick" a soccer beach ball

Grandma Jean and Katie (Scott's sister)
Uncle Eric and his girlfriend Barb :)
yeah for Christmas and family fun!

Bible Study Christmas Party

2010-01-07T21:38:00.000-08:00

We are so blessed to get to be part of a small Bible study that is full of young married couples from our church. The study just started this last fall, so we've all been having fun getting to know each other in the last few months. It's been so great to be with a group of believers who are in the same stage of life as us and God is already teaching us so much from each great couple in the group. It's also fun, in case you can't tell from the picture, that four of us are expecting our second babies (several of the kiddos are already upstairs asleep in this picture). We are all due one month apart, and we are all expecting boys. It's GREAT fun! :)

Here is photo of our group from our Christmas party. We had a gift exchange, and one of the couples (to remain nameless), thought it was a white elephant gift exchange....thus the AMAZING yellow rooster that has now become our group mascot :)

Christmas Cookies!

2010-01-07T21:34:00.000-08:00

This year, Grandma Jean came down for Christmas. It was SOOOO great to have her here with us - she made it so much fun!

One of the things that Scott (and all of the family) remembers and loves most about Christmas is all of Grandma Jean's Christmas cookies. So, the girls and I were pretty excited that we got a chance to make cookies with her. Although I should have got pictures of our finished products, here are a few of us "in action" :)

Picking Out the Christmas Tree

2010-01-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

Two weeks before Christmas we did our annual trip to Home Depot (I know, exotic, huh) to pick out our Christmas trip. It's one of my favorite "events" of Christmas! :) We followed it up with our Christmas decorating party, but I didn't get too many photos of that. Here are some cute ones at the tree "farm" though.

"Aunt Megan" came with us!
Back home we had fun decorating. Here's Kali May directing us.

9 Months Old

2010-01-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

Here is Kali May's 9 Month Old Picture!

Back At It

2010-01-07T21:19:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone!!! I know, it's been forever. I think I decided, or didn't decide but did, take an official break from blogging. But... it's a new year so I might as well try again, right?

Let's see...where did I leave off?

Well, this is going back a bit, but in November, Kali May and I got to go up to Montana to visit with my family. It was my dad's birthday, and I also got trained for some "at home work" I will be doing (but more on that later). We had a GREAT time, and it was especially wonderful because it turned out we weren't able to be with my family for Christmas. So, I was doubly thankful that we got to spend a little time with them then!

Here are just a couple pictures from our trip:

Dad and Kali May undergoing their favorite activity of the week ("flying")

Grandma "B" and Kali May enjoying each other
Kali May getting to know our dog, Emmie
Riding on the four wheeler! yep, all by herself. we start them young on the farm....
Meeting a few farm animals!

We also got to go visit with my grandpa, and spend time with many of our family friends back home. We were sad to be away from Scott, but it was a super fun week!

Catching Up a Bit

2009-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we are already in the middle of Christmas fun! This was one of the photos that one of our good friends Amber took for us. She took a bunch and I'm HOPEFULLY going to be getting Christmas cards out soon. I've never done them before...but you have to start sometime, right? :)

Sadly the month of November flew by and I hardly took any pictures! One of the fun things we did though was go on a retreat with two couples from our new married group Bible study. The weekend was so fun, and, since we all three have three young ones AND all three of the us women are pregnant, it was pretty relaxing as we centered most of our activities around nap times :)

Here are some pictures of us at the Santa Barbara zoo

The ONLY animal that got a reaction out of Kali May was the flamingos. Apparently in her book, animals should not be pink or something. Here's her face looking at them:
Our friends Mike and Jennie and their daughter Ashley
Our friends Morgan and Brittanie and their son Emmett

oh... and I know this is a random photo...it is back from Halloween time, but it is the best "14 week" belly photo I have. I have been HORRIBLE with taking pics of my belly this time around, but I will try to get another one taken SOON!
Other than retreats, Kali May and I went to Montana and spent a week there visiting my parents and working on various projects up there. We made it JUST in time for my dad's 60th bday, and we really just had a TON of fun the whole week. Poor and wonderful Scott stayed home and worked a TON of overtime. He said it made the week go by more quickly, but I think that's just his godly attitude talking.

Just last week for Thanksgiving we went to Scott's cousin Rob and his wife Kristyn's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was very fun to get to hang out with Scott's family and also Kristyn's side of the family, and the food was AMAZING (and that's not just a pregnant belly talking!) We don't get to hang out with Rob and Kristyn very much, so it was a treat to get to spend a little time with them.

Well, I am off to go bake something... and enjoy Christmas music!!! I LOVE this time of year!!!

Halloween

2009-11-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

So here are the most important things I learned this Halloween:

A) My daughter loves fires and trick-or-treaters, and the packaging of pretty much any candy

B) Oddly enough, pixi sticks are one of the most popular Halloween candies you can hand out!

My husband had the brilliant idea to borrow the Niednagels fire pit and set up camp in our front yard yesterday evening. It was fun to get to watch everyone walk by. We walked around to a few neighbors with Kali May just to say hi.... but no we did not get any candy out of it (even though mom wanted to:) ).

Here are some pictures of the fun we had!

Scott masterfully carving his pumpkin

Pumpkins Done!!
Auntie Megan holding a very wide eyed Kali May - we didn't get any pictures of her smiling...but she was about as Hyper and happy as I have ever seen this girl. Could be due to the skittle bag she has in her mouth.....but I promise it wasn't open!
Starting up the fire
sadly alot of our pictures are blurry since either the fire was in the way, or we were trying to take pictures with the flash off. You'll get the idea though :) Grandma Marcia came over to hang out with us for awhile
another wide eyed look from our little pumpkin. or we thought she maybe looked more like a carrot :)
Me and Megs
Us with our pumpkins
us with Kali May.... haha she thought it was very funny to take daddy's hat off
waiting for more trick or treaters!

8 Months

2009-10-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

So I've noticed a theme that all my pictures look blurry on here...and they aren't on my computer. any one know why that would be?

Anyways - here is our 8 month old!!! Being new parents, we just can't believe how much babies change when they are this little. A Month ago she was just starting to "scooch" around, and now she can crawl, crawl up into a standing position when she has something to hold (like the coffee table), and can walk along the edge of whatever she is holding. I don't even want to know how soon she will be officially walking without holding on!

She also has learned a couple new tricks. She can do "high five"! now, although she doesn't know that you should quit slapping the person's hand and well keep going as long as you want :) Also, we've always thought she was a little on the "charismatic" side. She loves to put her arm up and place her hand on the top of your forhead, as though "blessing" you. So now, every time she raises her hands, we yell out (nicely) "Praise the Lord!". She thinks this is great fun ha ha and has started raising her arms ALLL the time. I'm not sure what we got ourselves into.........

So far she really doesn't like eating solid foods at all, but she does much better with finger food type things than anything I give her with a spoon. hmmmm... I am not sure what else is new, but she is TONS of fun right now. oh, and her daddy whistling is her new favorite thing. She always gets huge smiles when she hears hm. Oh, and she can say "dadda" now in addition to "mamma" ! I don't think she quite says either one specifically to Scott and I yet, but she can say them :)

ok, I'll quit writing now. Here she is :)

kind of an odd/serious expression...but I love her hair in the picture - its so soft and fluffy right now!

Rainy Days and Pumpkin Patches

2009-10-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

The weather here is great. One day it can be hot, and the next day it will be raining! I love it when it is like that - adds variety :)

Anyways, on the last rainy day we had to take advantage of this cute brown coat that a friend gave Kali May (since she's about to outgrow it) while daddy worked on cutting the baseboards for our floor. We definitely got the more fun job!

This weekend Megan's parents were here to visit (and like a dork I didn't get a picture with them!), and we went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. Here are a few photos from the fun.

The Perks of Unusual Cysts

2009-10-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

As many of you read in the last post, we already found out that we're having a boy! I know I know, I feel really spoiled to get to find out so early. But, one of the perks of having an unusual cyst is that you get ultrasounds at EVERY monthly checkup. So, even though this last week was only my 12 wk check up, the doctor said he could check and see for me. He doubted that we would be able to tell, but once we looked our little guy was in such good position that even I could clearly see that we MUST be having a boy (or our little girl is playing a really amazing trick on us)!

The other great part about the ultrasound was that it looks like my cyst has disappeared! I have to go get a special ultrasound done some place next week, but my doctor couldn't find it anywhere on his ultrasound machine. We're so thankful, and I'm especially thankful that I didn't end up having surgery if it turns out it was just a normal "disappearing" cyst that some women get :) :)

Ok, that's all.... I just felt the need to explain how we found out about our little baby boy so quickly!

A Little Fun

2009-10-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Although we've been really slow at getting pictures up here, we have been having quite a bit of fun in the last few months. Here are a few fun pictures we caught of Kali May.....and I am realizing I haven't taken any of my husband lately! I will try to fix that!

"what....is there something on my head?"

Scott took this picture. She adores him, can't you tell? :)

Trying on Daddy's shoes!

Me at 10 weeks - let the belly shots begin! (oh, and we already found out it is a BOY!)

How a morning sick mom feels about baby food (smashed bananas and carrots to be exact)

How baby feels about baby food (smashed bananas and carrots to be exact)

Seven Months

2009-10-02T09:48:00.001-07:00

As seems usual lately, I haven't posted anything in awhile! We actually have a lot more pictures, and hopefully I will catch up soon. This week I have been feeling a little relief from the morning sickness, so I am trying to get back on "track" with everything!

Kali May turned seven months old last week! She's doing lots of fun things now... she crawls...but it is her version of crawling...somehow her whole body remains on the floor but she is able to move wherever she wants... I think it is what a little snake would look like trying to "slither" with arms and legs :) She also says "mama", "baba", and lots of other letters followed with the "aw" sound, but I am not sure if she has a meaning for any of them, although Scott is pretty sure she knows what "mama" means. She is slowly warming up to eating, and her very favorite thing is to get my apple after I have eaten everything I want off of it. She tries to hold it and eat it just like me...its very funny!

Sneezes, Coughs, and Burps :)

2009-09-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

I don't have a picture to go with this, but I just have to share that my daughter is so funny! Whenever she or I sneeze or cough or when she burps after her bottle , and I follow it up with an "excuse me/you" or "bless me/you", she lets out a loud laugh and gives me a huge smile like I just told her a joke. HA! who knows why she has decided these things are funny....but I like it!

Big Sister

2009-09-03T22:07:00.001-07:00

That's right folks....Kali May is officially going to be a

BIG SISTER :)

Number two is on the way! I think most anyone who might read this blog probably already knows this and knows the story, but the "short" version is that I was scheduled to have surgery to remove a cyst in my right ovary last week. However, when we went in for the pre-opp appointment, my doctor did an ultrasound to look at the cyst one more time, and he found a little extra treasure in there!!!

Our baby is about six weeks along, and we're very excited. Except for the whole morning sickness part... I'm really not enjoying or very excited about that at all. Thankfully so far this week I have only been sick in the mornings - I'm praying it stays that way (or goes away altogether - I could definitely handle NOT throwing up any more)!

Also, in case you are wondering about the cyst, we are not absolutely sure what kind it is, but as long as it does not grow, my doctor does not see any "extra" risk being added to this pregnancy. And, if it DOES grow, it is possible to do surgery during my second trimester. Who knew you could have surgery on your ovary while you were pregnant!?!

So anyways, we are not worried at all (seriously!) because we know that God is in control of this whole situation and He is watching out for our baby much better than we could :) It was so funny... when we found out, the first thing that Scott said was "PHEW! I thought with this surgery and everything, our kids were going to be really far apart in age...like two years maybe even!" :) :) We both would love to have our kids close in age, and so it seems like at this moment that God is granting us that! :) We'll keep you posted on any surgery updates, but Lord willing I won't need to have surgery until AFTER Baby Mallon #2 arrives!

Birthdays!

2009-09-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Since Scott and I have birthdays exactly one week apart, we usually try to do something together. but this year, we celebrated my birthday the weekend before the actual day, then we celebrated Scott's ON his birthday, and on Saturday we are getting together with Scott's family for a bday bbq... but I guess three parties are better than one, right?

Here we are at TBo's for Scott's birthday

Last weekend for my bday Scott found crab at a good price, so he invited Megan over and cooked it (outside so it wouldn't smell up the house :) )!! The funny thing was, we all decided that we don't really like crab that much. But, it was really fun!!
Megan with her leg
Me with my leg

Scott with his leg... getting ready to tickle me of course

yeah!! we had super fun birthdays :) :)

6 months and lots of fun

2009-09-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

Kali May is already half way to seven months old now... so I know I am really late in posting these up...but here are a few photos of our six month old!

Now, in addition to sitting in the chair, she has started trying to climb up in the chair when I put her down by it!

Here she is!
Trying out Daddy's hat and some cool karate move
HA!!! Kali May hasn't started crawling too far yet, but she "scooches" all over in a circle. I don't know if you guys can see this picture and the red marks on her face...but we really didn't beat her up.... she did it in her crib! She ALWAYS sleeps flat on her back, and just in the last two days when I have gone into the bedroom I will find her on the opposite end of the crib. This time, I think she moved around before she fell asleep and ended up on her tummy with her face stuck in a corner and in her blanket. there were red sleep marks all over!
Her first "owie" besides doctor shots
taking a "nap" with dad
First food..... she "loved" it. Actually... she HATES to eat. Any tips from moms????
a box!!! what a fun toy!

Happy Birthday Grandma

2009-08-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I wanted to do this for all of the grandma's birthdays, and I already just missed Grandma Jean's (so this can be a late present for you too Grandma Jean - we love you too!), however, it was my mom's birthday yesterday and Kali May and I made a sign for her and I actually got around to getting some pictures taken :) (I've been bad lately!)

Here's my attempt to get pictures for Grandma:

Look at her sitting up skills! and look at her belly :P!
There we go..... the best attempt :)!

Remodeling :)

2009-08-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so in the LITTLE spare time that Scott has had this summer... he has been busy remodeling our living room! We are now pretty much done...except for finishing the baseboards around the floor...but here are some before and after photos. (Oh, and my mom and I made curtains..that was our contribution although I give most of the credit to my mom!) I'm so thankful for my husband's "handy" skills and that he WANTS to redo things. I know that we would not be able to/would not want to spend the money on such home improvements if Scott wasn't able to cut the cost a TON by doing everything himself. So three cheers for my husband - I love him SOOOOOOO much!!! God was very kind to me because I grew up with a dad that was very good at all kinds of "handy" stuff as well, and I never knew how used to that I was until I got married and got a place of my own where things needed to be fixed, and I realized I wouldn't even know where to start on my own! So I am DOUBLY thankful for both my dad, and for God providing me with a husband very much like my dad in that way :)

"Before" Living Room - notice the blanket being used as a curtain since the blind was missing
"Before Shot" of the wall and tile floor behind it - Scott just getting started.
"Before Shot" of the wall from our stairs..and you can see that we just had blinds on the windows
and...AFTER!!! Ta DA!!! I LOVE the hardwood floors much better than the very stained carpet and the tile floors that were in there...and Scott did an amazing job putting them in! and he was very patient with me when I tried to help :) haha. Also, the funniest thing I think is that after we finished...we both agreed that although we love having hardwood... a living room needs some carpet! so, we bought an inexpensive rug to complete the room... and we love it all!
another view of the living room and our big windows
The living room now with the curtains... no more blanket. yeah!!
Some "demo" pictures of all of Scott's work! Notice the dust in the air
Me trying to snap a photo. this is Scott's "putting up with me but I'm tired - I just tore down a wall!" look
me wearing some very needed headphones. I think they'll be coming into style soon
Scott smoothing out the concrete after removing the tile. This was a HORRIBLY tedious and long job.

Yeah - hardwood floor!
Scott putting in the last piece!!! yeah!!!

Uncle Andrew's Visit

2009-08-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

The first week of August my brother came to visit for the WHOLE WEEK! It was great fun! I really wish he lived closer, but I'm very thankful that we got to just hang out as much as we did.

Here are some photos from the week:

Megan came over to say hi (since Andrew is practically her brother too)

Kali May trying to sing opera??? I guess she was putting on a show for Andrew
My cool brother eating lunch with us after Church.
Andrew introduced us to playing frisbee golf. It was a LOT of fun, although I was very thankful that Andrew and Scott were there to help push Kali May's stroller through the course grounds (they don't exactly make them "stroller friendly"). Kali May liked the frisbees too!
Andrew's professional throw stance
Scott's skills
ha. my "skills" :)
The three amigos heading to the next course
Kali May and I taking a break while the guys finished up the last 5 holes
Andrew monitoring Kali May's attempt to get my camera
Yummy - Uncle Andrew's feet all to myself!!!!
Ice Cream at Coldstones. I probably should have tried to capture a better shot... but I think Andrew posed like this on purpose :)
Uncle Andrew and his niece :) :) Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much for visiting us brother! :) we love you!