Hidden Talent?!?!

Pepere feeding Mallory puffs as her parents bowled it up...
She's such an intense little lady...sizing up this whole bowling thing...
Right before I bowled with Mallory...I only attempted to once! :)
Aren't the shoes niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!??!?!
Mallory loved watching the balls roll up...

Pepere treated us to an afternoon of bowling. We had forgotten how fun it is!!! Brought back the memories of cosmic bowling back in the day! (Minus the black light, fog, and crazy music!) Mike and I hadn't been since we've been married and I think Mike's been hiding his talent...he was striking all over the place!

Christmas 2007!

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What a fun Christmas we have had!!...It's always sad when it's over and you can't find festive tunes on the radio anymore...but we have next season to look forward to and all the many blessings of 2008! We had fun celebrating with Uncle Matt, Aunt Sandy, and the kids on the Sunday before Christmas. Then Mike, Mallory and I enjoyed walking the neighborhood and looking at the luminaries after our Christmas with the cousins.

Sadly, Mallory was sick with a virus this Christmas. We were at the doctor's on Christmas Eve and she was a bit of a "Crank-en-stein" opening gifts at my parents house, so it was disappointing that she didn't feel well, but we had fun anyway...We had a scrumptious Christmas Eve meal at MiMi and PaPa's followed by our Candlelight Service at church and then Uncle Matt's Christmas play at their church, and then we (Mike, Pepere, Mal, and I) all got new PJs before checking the chimney for Santa and leaving out cookies and milk and heading to bed.

Mallory enjoyed the crumbs Santa left and opening her presents here before heading over to my parent's house to have Christmas with everyone. We finished up our holiday with a visit to Lynchburg yesterday to see PaPa's family. Santa was so good to us this year...bringing everything from chapstick to hardwood floors for our downstairs! We are overwhelmed!!! :) Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday celebrating Jesus' birth!

It's Official!

Mallory is a walker!!!! Mike and I were chatting the other night and realizing how Mallory was choosing to walk more than crawl...she is a definite walker now and boy is she on the move! As with every milestone it is bittersweet because our little baby is growing up! We can't believe she just turned 13 months old!

Girly's got a New Game!

Thanks for the B-Day puppets Aunt Kirsti, Uncle Neil, Alex, and Eleni! Mallory loves them!!! And below is a clip of Mallory's favorite new game!

We 3 cats...

... of the Morins are...traveling to the vet so far...(has a ring, huh??) Mike got on the gloves and 30 mins later after lots of chasing all 3 cats were ready to head to the vet. What a lovely Christmas gift to them right?? SADness! They are all napping now as they rest up from all of their yearly shots. What a way to start the day! MiMi brought over her carrier and hung out with Mallory and Pepere while we went on our feline adventure... Everyone is glad that our furry friends are back home and happy!

Dr./Pepere (as good as the SODA!)

Mike took Mallory to the doctor today for the 2nd installment of her flu shot and to have her ears checked after her meds for her last ear infection...and the doctor went ahead and made it her "1 year checkup"...and I wasn't even there (I was nannying today and Mike's on vacation already!!!!) I was sad to miss out (and I'm sure the doctor missed my pages of ?s!!) But we are happy that our little girl is healthy and very consistent with her stats! She is still in the 75%tile for height and 20%tile for weight! And she now weighs 19 lbs 14 ozs!

And Pepere (Mike's dad) arrived this afternoon for the holidays and Mallory is already having a GRAND time showing him all of her toys and chatting it up!

Happy 60th MiMi !!!

MiMi turned 60 on Sunday and we went out to eat to celebrate! 3/6 people were feeling "under the weather" including the B-Day girl herself, but the party went on! Happy B-Day MiMi...we love you!!!!

Vaaaaaaaaaa Beach!

It's fun to get away as a family during the BUSY holiday season and just "be." And what better place than the beach!?!? Had a nice stroll on the shore and some "Dawson Creek" photo moments under the pier. :) Then we went for a lovely dinner out with Chiquita and the guy she's dating (the first we have ever met I might add!!! And we REALLY like him...I mean he went to JMU...how could you not!?!!?) Mallory slept through the lights as we drove on the boardwalk and then decided to PARTY when we got back to the hotel for a few hours...We didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she tore through the room with excitement until she finally went to sleep...but it was definitely a weekend of fun memories!

Little Ber's Website...

Please add the link http://www.caringbridge.org/ as one of your favorites and read and pray for Ber daily. When you get to the site you just type Ber in the search box to read his story, journal, guestbook, etc. He gets to come home from the hospital tomorrow to rest from his first round of chemo. Please pray that he is able to enjoy time at home before going back to the hospital for another round after Christmas.

We are so proud of BRAVE little Ber who is fighting his cancer with all his might. So many are praying for strength and courage for this little 4 yr old boy! Please keep the prayers coming and add him to as many prayer chains as possible! Thank you!

What a weekend!

Rockbridge Camp...isn't is Be-A-U-tiful!?!?!? :) Gotta love being in the Valley!!!
Fun times at camp in the summer...did "the blob" as a college student...would I dare to do it today??? hummmmmmmm?!?!?!?
Molly caring for Mallory after breakfast...
Mallory and MiMi busy playing before bedtime last night...

Mike is away at camp with the middle schoolers of our church and having a blast!! We were all 3 going to go, but after much debate we thought it might be best to keep baby at home with one of us. We thought she would be too distracting and we wanted the kids to have as much fun as possible. We also couldn't see leaving her for a whole weekend w/out one of us and being several hours away...(one day it will feel ok to do that for a weekend...a night we've done, but 48 hrs would be hard!!!) There were more boys going and Mike is so good with the age group so he was elected to go on the trip! The 2 speakers I know from my time at JMU so it's fun to know Mike is getting to hear from them now! He has had a lot of fun playing sports with the guys and hanging out. Mallory and I can't wait for him to come home this afternoon! :)

Meanwhile at home we had Molly spend the night on Fri. (she is the couple's daughter who went on the trip with Mike) She is so fun and loves babies so she was such a help to have around the house. Mallory loves her. She left in the afternoon for her aunt's house and then Mallory and I headed over to MiMi and PaPa's for a slumber party. I wanted to bake cookies with Mom and we had a lot of fun! Now it's time to head out to cousin Abby and Thomas' Christmas pageant at church!

Stockings! Stockings! And More!

How fun are these stockings????
The Wise men are making their way to Baby Jesus...(A tradition we started that we learned from a teacher at Mike's school...) The Wise men move to a different spot each day until Christmas Day when they get to the Nativity!
Mallory in her new tent with her new robot...the cats love it too!

Busy, busy, busy! Mallory and I had a fun time at Club Mom this morning with friends and now we are busy around the house and Mallory is enjoying all of the goodies that were passed down to her yesterday! Ever since we found out Mallory was a little girl back in Aug. of 2006 I couldn't wait to get some of these fun stockings...and now I have some! (Thanks for all the great stuff Courtney!)

And I also wanted to thank everyone so much for your prayers for Ber...when he got to the hospital yesterday they decided he needs chemo before they can have the surgery to remove the tumor. Please keep praying for healing. His parents are making a website and I will post that as soon as they do.

Little Ber Van der Meer...

Please join with us in praying for my sister's boyfriend's 4 yr old nephew Ber. ("Bear" short for Berend) We found out on Friday that he has a rare form of childhood cancer called Neuroblastoma. We can't imagine what his parents Amber and Steve are going though right now. Ber is a bright, energetic, and full of life kid who just in the last few months has complained of his legs hurting and has run fevers for no reason. After a lot of testing they have made this diagnosis and Ber will have surgery on Monday to remove a tumor in his abdomen. Please pray for the doctors, Ber, and his family. Pray Ber and his parents will have courage as they face the days ahead. Pray that the Lord would heal his little body.

His parents have asked that we ask as many churches and people as possible to pray for him. I will let you know if they make a site for him and you can check in on him and pray for specific things. I will post a link to a site that I found in the many hours I have been on the computer this weekend reading about it. There are many stories on here of children on this site that are in treatment or have been declared cancer free.

Thank you for praying!
http://www.beebo.info/ned/nedwarriors.html

Silver Bells...

Ringing and munchin' on bells...

Mallory loves her sliver bell with her name on it from Grandma and Grandpa! Thank you! We will enjoying putting it on the tree each year!

A Whole New World!

There is so much more to look at now! And it's so much easier to beg for snacks as we wait in the PreK pickup line for Connor!

Lots going on around here! Mallory has a double ear infection and is cutting 6 teeth all at once! (She is getting 4 on top and 2 more on bottom!) Totally changing her look. We had to postpone her 1 year checkup because we had to go in for a sick visit for her ears...but I asked about the car seat anyway and got the ok to turn her around! It's so fun to turn around now and see her sitting back there! She's a little person! Thanks for passing down the car seat Alex and Eleni! Mallory loves it! But apparently it expires in Dec. 2007! Do car seats really expire?!?! We are wondering if it is all a marketing ploy?? Either way we are "buying" into it (pun intended) and it looks like we will be shopping for a new car seat for Christmas! :)

Memory Lane...

Next door at the Science Museum...(Party Dress Remix...gotta love getting to use it more than once!)
Mallory loved the HUGE tree and train beneath...
We listened for Santa's reindeer's bells and down he came!

Mike took today off and we headed into town to see the Legendary Santa after Mallory's morning nap...I was very excited because this is something I did with my family when I was growing up and I have a lot of good memories and it' s fun to look back at pics (can't wait to compare my first photo with Mallory's). When we got there "Santa Land" was closed for an hour. Should have checked on that I guess! Silly me! We had packed lunch for the 4 of us (I was keeping another child)...but even the museum was closed! The lady at the front took pity on us though and let us eat there anyway...in the lobby of a closed museum! Then we headed to the museum next door to hang out in their lobby for a bit too before seeing Santa...We had a lot of fun even as we waited! Mike was so good to come along with us on this trip down memory lane for me...Mallory even got to visit with the Snow Queen before sitting on Santa's lap! What a fun day!

1st B-Day Party w/ Family...

First Thanksgiving Meal...

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
~James 1:17

We have so many gifts to be thankful for this holiday! It's nice to have a holiday about giving thanks! Hard to believe that last year our little girl was a "glow worm" because she was on the Billi light for her jaundice...and this year Mallory enjoyed her first Thanksgiving feast...especially the stuffing! Almost everyone took an afternoon nap as well! Gotta love turkey comas! It was a small gathering today, but we had fun with MiMi and PaPa and we look forward to Laura and Susan getting here on Fri. and Sat. :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Little Miss Noelle

So we couldn't stand it any longer...the decorations are up! Mike got home early from school and went Kris Kringle on our house before Mallory and I got home from visiting with our Bosnian friends! Mallory had fallen asleep on our ride home, so I got her out of her carseat and took her upstairs to finish her nap. When Mallory woke up we brought her down and put her on the hearth...she was so excited! I love her smile and her bedhead!!! :)

Party of 5...

Remember the fun show in the 90s!!?!?! That's what I've been calling the Nannying I've been doing the last 2 days! I've added a new kid to the mix and have gone from 5 "shorter" days a week to 3 10 hr days! And I have a new found respect for Moms of large families! There is never a dull moment for sure with a 5, 3, 2, and 1 yr old and a 6 month old baby! :) "Beautiful chaos" some would say! Mike even showed up for the last hour yesterday and got to experience "my world"!

B-Day Girl!

Hanging out with Auntie SueSue...
Loving her dog from MiMi and PaPa...it sings and moves!
Mallory's first gelati ice cream! She looooooooooooved it! (and so did the rest of us!)
The extended Richmond Fam met up for dinner!

What a special day! So nostalgic! It was emotional for me as we approached 12:34 pm today...the time that she came into this world! :) We are so blessed...God is so good!

We went out to Sergio's tonight (a local family owned restaurant) to celebrate Mallory's B-Day (we will have her family party on Sat., but wanted to go out on her actual B-day)...we call this restaurant "her" restaurant because we went out to eat there every time we had a good doctor's visit with her in utero...so it is very special to us and hopefully when she is older she will enjoy it too! She liked the food and dessert tonight!!! Thanks for dinner Aunt Susan!

525, 600 Minutes...

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Hard to believe that a year ago tonight we would go to sleep unaware that our daughter would be here the next day...what a wonderful "trip around the sun" this last year has been!!!! Every single one of the 525, 600 minutes this year has been so precious to us. We are so blessed and can't wait to celebrate Mallory's 1st B-Day tomorrow! :)

A Few Steps! :)

Mallory can now take a few steps without her push toys!!! She is becoming more and more confident each day! It's a fun game for the whole family to play in the evenings...she is going to be off and running before we know it! :)

Cabinet Caper

Mallory is so pleased with her new ability to open and close doors...and if you look closely on the second pic you can see her top teeth coming in! :)
So Mallory has a new hobby after meals...peeking in all the cabinets (except for the cabinet on "lock down" with all the cleaning supplies)...she even crawls into the one with the cutting board and paper towels and sits down on top of things! I tried to get a picture, but as soon as she is in...she's out!

Hope vs. Fear

Can you believe Christmas is around the corner!?!?! We are so HYPER! I mean we are the people who decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving (even with a 5 day old baby) and our daughter's middle name is Noelle for goodness sake...we loooooooove this season!!!!

Well I was listening to Oh Little Town of Bethlehem the other day (never too early for carols!!) and got emotional at the part:

"The HOPES and FEARS of all the years are met in THEE tonight."

So I am realizing more and more that I am an EXTREMELY hopeful person and an EXTREMELY fearful person...I'm so thankful that God meets me where I am!

On two different occasions I have heard this quoted in the past few weeks, so I just had to share:

‘A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, “In every life there is a terrible fight–a fight between two wolves. One is evil; he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.” A child asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The elder looked him in the eye. “The one you feed.”‘(Cherokee Proverb)

The Graham's Auto Body Shop

MiMi hard at work spray painting our car...PaPa worked on the air in the tires...
"Little Cindy Loo Who" (as people were calling her at church today all dressed up with her hair in a water spout) was in the backseat asleep...blissfully unaware of all that was being done to the car outside!!! :)

So Mom and Dad were gracious to let us use Mom's car to drive to NC this weekend...Such a blessing and we feel so spoiled driving a newer car...it's always so sad to return it...even though we love and are grateful for "Dent-zella" (as we affectionately call our car)...well MiMi took our car out while we were away and got it thouroughly cleaned on the inside and out and then had a few touch ups when we came over after church to do the "car swop"...thanks for making our old car sparkle! :)

24 hours in NC!

Mallory loves her Auntie LuLu...
Our Family...and Mallory loves the new GINORMOUS koosh ball Laura got her...
Walking with "Da-Da"...and the girls hanging out on the couch...

We took another whirl-wind trip down to NC this weekend so that Mike could see Laura's new house. We stayed up late on Friday chatting...Mallory slept on the way down, but then when we got there we let her stay up and visit for awhile...then when it was time to go back to sleep she wasn't having it...so she got a super special TREAT,...she got to sleep in between her parents and in the crook of Daddy's arm...she loved every sec of it and we did too! (It's fun to do that every now and again on trips...so glad she got right back into her crib last night though!) Then Sat. we had fun listening to music, chatting, taking a walk, and shopping for something for the house with a gift card from Susan. Thanks for such a fun visit Laura...we love your house and can't wait to see you for Thanksgiving!!!! :)

Happy 61st PaPa!

Mallory and MiMi with the "Birthday Boy"...and the rest of the fam below...

On Thurs. night we went to my parent's house to celebrate my Dad's 61st B-day (except for Laura in NC)...we had a lovely dinner and B-day cake! The entertainment of the night came from Auntie Sue putting Mallory on Kayla's (the dog) back and having her take a ride around the living room...Mallory was laughing so hard...I was trying to capture it on film, but I couldn't be quick enough! Mallory enjoyed the rocking horse almost as much. And as you can see Mike is liking Dad's new neck massager. Happy B-Day PaPa!

Our little "Grumbelina"

(You might have to mute the song on the post Home SWEET Home before viewing this...)So the other day I was having a "blog-able" moment with Mallory. We were shooting hoops on her little Leapfrog basketball net and she was putting the balls through the hoop! So I went to grab the camera from the other room and this is what I returned to. :) She's been a little bit of a "Needy Needenhiem" lately when we drop her off at the nursery at church or when I leave her for MOPs...even when she is being a little "Grumbelina" we think she's cute and lovable...I was cracking up over this video because she looks like a little Muppet Baby...we love our little girl!

1st Halloween...

Mallory had fun on her 1st Halloween...see her clapping! We took her to a few houses on our cul-de-sac to let her (and us!!) get the feel of trick-or-treating! Then we headed home to greet people at the door...she got to stay up late and MiMi and PaPa were here too to experience the holiday with us! We thought it would be appropriate to carve a cat on our pumpkin since we fear we are the "cat people" of the neighborhood with our 3 cats that greet everyone every day when they come home from work...we used to think we were special, but no they greet everyone!!!...our cats are so much like dogs it's crazy! :)

Laura's Latest!

Here are some pics from Laura's house after she moved in! :) I made a picture CD from Laura's camera for the first time and changed the pictures that should be vertical, but it didn't carry over for the slideshow! SADness! Hope you enjoy the photos anyway! :)