The writing is on the wall

Mallory continues to hone her writing skills. She did this Friday night on her hand-dandy magnetic travel thingy (yes, that is a technical term).


Her name ... she did it all by herself. For Truett's name I did have to assist in the spelling. But she wrote it all on her own. She's going to be enrolling in college soon.

PSA: watch what you eat

I am a junk food junkie. Always have been and probably always will be. But, the issue we discovered when cleaning out our cabinets yesterday did give me second thoughts about what I eat.

So you see, it all started like this ... I made some macaroni and cheese last night. But, when I put in the cheese it looked a little funny. Upon further inspection of the box it seems as if I was a little late to the party because it had expired in January 2008. That made me think .... what else in the pantry might be expired?

A lot. Really. I was shocked at the waste. But then appalled when I found this:

That my friends is a hunk of Velveeta that expired in January 2008. When I opened the box I gasped because all the holes looked like we had a friend in the pantry. But, upon further inspection ... we figured out that the cheese is trying to eat it's way out of the wrapper! Oh my oh my. It's almost enough to make me swear off Velveeta forever. Notice I said almost.

Genius (again)

If you look back over my blog entries you will find a few entries about how my girl is a genius (here, here, and here). Well, it's true and you will never convince me otherwise. I'm guessing that every parent feels this way about his/her child at some point in their kidlet's childhood. But in our case, it's true. Really.

Here's the most recent evidence:


Okay, figured it out yet?! No? The picture is a little fuzzy so I'll give you a hint. ABCs and a pencil. Still no guess? Come on! Mallory wrote her name. All by herself. She did this Friday night before we went to the grocery store and was bursting at the seams with pride at her accomplishment. Now she's a writing fool. Let's hope that exuberance doesn't spread to the walls ... or furniture ... or Truett.

A new day

A new day has come to the United States of America. Barak Obama has been sworn in to the presidency. It's a bittersweet moment for me as I have been a GWB supporter since the beginning. Of course, he made decisions that I disagreed with, but I have always believed (and still do) that he had our nation's safety at heart. As citizens, we critique and criticize, but it's hard to walk in someone else's shoes when they are not in the same room.

I wanted to be a witness to history - and of course was not going to let work get in my way today. So, I hurriedly sent an email off this AM saying I would be at home. I even kept the kids at home hoping they would be able to understand how this day has made history. Mallory even decided to dress up for the occasion ... in her bathing suit.


They didn't. Mallory is on the couch writhing, "I don't feel good." Truett is happily having a little quiet time. Me, I need to go get some work done. But I think I may fall into the stats all the news outlets are reporting - very little work will be done today.

Sit still already

On Saturday morning, I packed up myself, Mallory and Truett and headed off into the wild blue yonder where no one from work could ever find me again. Okay, that was my dream. Instead, we headed to East Texas to see some family. We also went to attend my niece's baby shower. I was looking forward to it ... and it didn't disappoint. We had a great time but I was ready to come home. The kids were technically being good but I was exhausted from chasing Truett around at the shower. He must have ran around the house 50 times (really, not exaggerating this!).

Anyway ... one of Mallory's favorite things about East Texas (besides Mimi, Papa, Aunt Chele, Uncle Stoney and Pebbles (my father's dog) -- and I cannot commit to order of preference) is Winnie, my sister's sweet little old man dog. She was playing with him and kept asking me to take a picture. I tried to oblige, but I think we've all heard that many photographers avoid animals and kids. Well, there's a reason folks. Combine the two together and you get this:

So, no more kids and animals mixed photos for me! Just kidding. No more eating lunch while we're trying to take pictures!

What I did on vacation

Do you remember writing one of those "what I did on vacation" essays? I don't. But I do think they are a staple of elementary schools everywhere. So, I thought I'd write a little about my Christmas break and pretend that I'm not an adult.

What I Did on Vacation

We stayed at home. We played with our toys. We slept and ate.

LOL ... okay, well, back to real life. Really, we were very busy on our vacation this year. What did we do? Home renovation. Fun, right?! I have always focused my efforts on decorating the house and truly enjoy doing it. And let me tell you, this house NEEDED it. It's taken us two years, but we're finally starting to get somewhere. Our latest victim, I mean room, was the kids' playroom. This room required a little more than decorating ... I think we have moved into a pseduo-renovation mode.

Bye, bye cedar siding. Hello Wedgewood blue. (I can't find my before pictures, darn it!)


Of course, it wasn't easy getting here. Shawn did ALL of the work so he gets all the credit. He took off the cedar, painted the room, put up the track lighting, replaced the outlets and replaced the back door. We hired a friend to tape and bed the sheetrock that was under the cedar.


Then, came my turn. I knew all that old storage stuff just wasn't going to work in my new play room (yes, it technically is mine and not the kids'!). Off to IKEA, several times actually, to get this lovely Expedit shelving unit and baskets. I also picked up a new slipcover for the chair, a rug and some wall lights to go on either side of the TV. We pulled out all of the foam squares from the attic. Now Mallory has her own "gymnastics" mat. I still need some pics for the walls and Shawn still needs to finish the case work, too. All in time though.


Anyway ... a little money and a little time and we have a whole new room. I'm a happy girl. Oh, and the kids like it too.

Go to sleep, little one

Why can't my kidlets just go to sleep already? We've had sleeping issues off and on with Mallory for the last year. I've tried lots of tricks -- wearing her out, playing music, laying in bed with her. To no avail. We have good days and bad days, but for some reason the bad days are outnumbering the good lately.

It's 9:30p Central time and my sweet little girl is still in there roaming around her room. It seems as though Mallory has inherited my night owl gene. Which is fine, but she's four years old and needs her beauty rest. Because honestly, tomorrow morning she's not going to be so sweet when she's whining about how tired she is and using the "I don't feel good" line to try to get out of going to school (which by the way, she learned that trick a little too early for my comfort; can you imagine the kidlet when it comes to her teenage years? oy vey!). And I get to remind her that is why she should have gone to sleep earlier.

So, why am I writing about something that in the general scheme of things is inconsequnetial? Well, first, I need to get my beauty sleep. In fact, I can use all the help I can get. Of course, I guess you could consider getting in and out of bed to the tune of "momma, I need you" or "momma, i have something to show you" or "momma, I'm thirsty/hungry" to be an exercise routine. Lucky Shawn usually snores through the whole routine. But, second and most important is that my little angels are sleeping in the same room and this extended bedtime is wreaking havoc on Truett. We unbunked the beds a few days before Christmas and ever since then they have been happy roommates. The first few days were bliss ... both in bed at reasonable times. But slowly, Mallie has been managing to push bedtime later and later. Even when we put her in at a normal time she stays in there and plays, which leads to waking up my sweet angel True. So how to break the cycle? I don't know, but I'm thinking that a straight jacket might get me in trouble.

I surprise myself

We made some gifts for Christmas (trivets, keepsakes, dust collectors?) and they turned out so good that I was surprised. Even better than I expected. Of course, the kids still have blue hands and feet, but it's a small price to pay for such cuteness.

Truett says "woof, woof"

He loves the doggies. But he might love the kitty even more.

Joyful, Joyful

So it's been a while since I blogged. Sue me. I took vacation. I have been paying for it at work. Anyway, Christmas was nice. The kids were so excited when Mimi and Papa showed up on Christmas Eve. Mimi and Mallie decorated cookies in preparation for Santa. They were delicious!



Then, it was time to open one gift. My family's tradition is to open one gift on Christmas Eve -- and it's ALWAYS pajamas. They were cute, don't you think?


After the kids went to bed, this is what the house looked like. I was anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival.


Christmas Day was great but I was I was exhausted and had a tough time keeping the house in any type of order. Of course, there is some joy in having bits and pieces of toys all over the house. Except for when you step on them barefooted. Can't remember how many times I've bitten my tongue over the last few weeks. But the kidlets are loving their new loot and were over the moon that Mimi and Papa were there to share it. That's what counts, right?

Oh, and one final thought. I have arrived ... my dad told me that my cornbread stuffing "wasn't bad." Call me Julia Childs please.