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...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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! :)