Yay for Spoons!

Dinner is such fun at our house - eating with a spoon is a whole different world. (Okay, maybe not, but cute and exciting nonetheless.)

" Hmm, is it easier with my left hand?"

When did she get so BIG??

Baths and Fun with Ember

We always look forward to a night when Ember comes to visit. And after a dinner of spaghetti and green beans it was time for a bath!

mohawks for everyone!

... reading in our matching onesies ...

... fun in our jammies ...

THE ottoman ... one of my favorite baby shower gifts, thanks meg,

it's the perfect height for many activities!!

... not quite there, but she's got the idea ...

YAY for Mommy!!

When the dog gets bored ...

If you're looking for the fastest way to destroy a roll of perfectly good toilet paper and a box of tissues ...

... lock them in the bathroom with a 180 lbs (overweight) mastiff for 7 hours. How could I even get mad?

don't try this at home

Our neighbors finally paid someone to cut down the rest of their tree (it's only been three years since they attempted to do it themselves). It was quite interesting to watch ... an episode of "Ax Men" in our front yard. The guy just walked around up there like he wasn't 100 feet in the air. Coming from someone who's NOT afraid of heights ... very impressive.

10.10.16 Sully & Ale's Wedding

The weekend after my cousin's wedding, Casey was the best man in his friend Mike Sullivan's wedding. Here's Sully, his parents, his brother and Casey waiting for Alejandra to come down the aisle. In this traditional Mexican wedding it's customary for the parents of the groom to stand at the alter to welcome the bride and her family.

During the ceremony, the couple's godparents presented them with "gifts" ... coins, a rosary, a bible and a lasso (shown below).

(and the pictures stop after the ceremony ... also, you'd think it would have occurred to me to get a picture of Casey and I with Sully and Ale.) The wedding was beautiful, the reception was quaint with GREAT food and entertaining company.

The bittersweet part of the day was that due to unforseen circumstances, we were unable to attend Casey's dad's last game as a high school football coach ... his last game of 40 years of coaching. His last game was supposed to be the following weekend except that team ended up forfeiting due to a teacher's strike. See the details here. We were thankful that Mallory got to join in the on the fun! Another end of an era!

world's strongest toddler

They always say children are amused by the box the toy comes in, right? Well, the same is true of the bag the dog food comes in. Mallory walked around with the bag to Claddagh's dog food for a solid 20 minutes. That's a pretty big deal since it's a 35 lbs bag. She could fit in it. Twice. Haha.

In other news, that 35 lbs bag lasts us twice as long now ... our vet told us Claddagh is 20 pounds overweight! How the heck did that happen?? Some parents we are ... and now I just worry that we're starving her since we cut her food in half.

a fall walk

a photo from a walk on a particularly chilly fall day.

(haha, see megan, the hat stayed on if she didn't move around ... at all. :))

10.10.09 Megan & Kevin's Wedding

My cousin Megan got married earlier this month ... I was her matron of honor, Casey an usher. I have learned that I am horrible at taking pictures of an event when I participate in it. The only pictures I took that day (aside from the family shots below) were taken before I even laced her into her dress.

... getting her make-up done ...

... a snack before the ceremony ...
... reading her card from Kevin, pre-dress, many tears followed ...

(Kevin was an usher too)

it was a perfectly executed day

(albeit freezing!!)

Weddings are so fun!

no more 25 cent sundaes

Okay, so I don't usually get all worked up about changes in our town ... this store closes, another one opens, put in a bank or a gas station, some crappy little restaurant or clothing store that sticks around for 6 months, la la la la ... still waiting for a Target.

But, this time, I am genuinely saddened by the loss of a local business. Dick's Pizzeria was a family owned restaurant on the corner a block from our house. Casey and I live in the house I grew up in and it's been there longer than I've been alive. Anyway, earlier this year they closed up shop and we found out Walgreens (yay!!) will be occupying a second corner in West Bend.

At the beginning of October I thought to myself, I should really walk down to the corner to take some pictures of Dick's before they rip it down. Well, I dropped the ball on that one and this is what I saw as I rounded the corner one afternoon. Crap. I ran home to get my camera before it completely disappeared. (don't worry, I pulled into the McDonald's across the street to take pictures.)

It's the end of an era, Dick's. I'll miss your thin crust and in-house marinara. I'll definitely miss the hop, skip and a jump week night walks down the street for fish dunked in butter, Grandma Wagner sitting next to me at the table. But mostly, I'm sad that Mallory will never be as excited about the 25 cent build-your-own sundae bar as Kevin and I were when we were little (well, not just when we were little ... since both of us are veterans of DQ we never gave up on who could put the best "signature DQ curl" on the top of our sundaes).

Crib Toys

One of Mallory's favorite things recently is to drop things. So lately when I go into her room during or after a nap, at least half, if not all of her toys/animals will be on the floor.
While I was standing there she thought Curious George should meet his fate too.

A different day's evidence.

Yay for Straws!!

The day we visited my aunt, Mallory randomly figured out how to drink from a straw. She's pretty proud of herself too!! She has radar for my big, pink cup ... if it's in the room, she will find it. It's funny to watch her carry it around since it's nearly as big as she is!

Who doesn't love their very own apple juice box???

Ahhhh, to be young again...

While visiting my aunt Sherry a couple weeks ago Mallory was intrigued by this swing. It's the same swing she used (that seems so long ago now) ... we put her in to see if it still meets her approval. I think if we would have left her in it long enough she could have taken a nap!