The Holway Family

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Private Blog

I did not want to make the blog private, but Eric has me freaked out with all his Cyber Law cases, so I decided the safety of our family was more important than a few people having problems reading the blog. To get around adding every person's email address, and limiting it to 100 readers, I have created a standard log on email address for everyone to use. Obviously if you are reading this, you didn't have any issues. However, if for some reason it doesn't work well, let me know and I can add your email address. I hope you understand my reasoning for doing this.

Mallory Reading a Book

This is how Mallory reads all her books - as if she is reading to a class. Enjoy!

Mallory's Went to a Friend's Birthday Party

Mallory had her first Friends birthday party today. Since it was on Halloween, all the kids got to wear their costumes. Since Mallory's dress was full of glitter, I picked her up a doctor's outfit since all the costumes were on sale since Halloween was over. She made a cute little doctor! Mallory had so much fun - they had a bouncy house, games, and crafts.

Here she is waiting her turn for the bean bag toss.

Here she is being shy about throwing it since everyone was watching.

Making their popcorn hands.

Our little doctor, who refused to smile.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Jared and Mallory These Days

Jared and Mallory just change so fast I feel like I can't capture all the cuteness. I just want to bottle it in a jar so I can bring out when they are having their less than perfect moments. Jared is rolling over now, which I can't for the life of me get on camera, and he loves talking/babbling. He will go on and on (I think he gets this from Eric). He has the best and cutest facial expressions. His little dimples, giggle, and coos just make me smile. There is nothing better than seeing/hearing this after a stressful day at work. It's interesting because Mallory was always complimented on her eyes, but people always seem to comment on Jared's nose (and dimples of course!). However, I didn't know a nose was something you said was cute on a baby...

Here is Jared in Mallory's Bumbo. Too all those first time Mom's, get gender neutral stuff for the items that will get reused. Otherwise your son will end up in a purple bumbo and a pink chair for all his pictures.

Enjoying his tummy-time.

As for Mallory, her curiosity gets me everyday. She is testing way more limits and has now figured out that if she doesn't like Mom's answer, then she'll go ask Dad to see if she gets a different one. On top of that, when you ask her if she has already had something or if she did something, she does not tell the truth. How do you teach a 2 year old about telling the truth? She is constantly telling me that Daddy said she could do something and telling Eric that I said she could do/eat something. Smart girl, but not so fun for me.

Also, when she gets excited (like when Natalie comes), she gets so aggressive. She gives strong hugs, tries to force her to hold her hand, and likes to pull toys away from her. Time outs, talking, and sitting right next to her doesn't seem to help. When she gets in that excited mode she just acts out - and it's not like I can practice teaching her this when they aren't here because she doesn't act like that when guests aren't around. Suggestions for a solution are welcome.

Here are a few pictures of Mallory's creativity:

This is an infants 0-3 month old tiger costume....

I put this one because you can actually see her tonsils. They are huge, just like mine were.

Arms are a good place to draw, right?

This past Wednesday they handed out candy at dance class. I told Mallory that she could not eat it until we got home because she had to share it with Eric (this is so she gets a half a bite and he can eat the rest). It's a 2 minute drive from Dance to the house, and as I was taking off my seat belt I smelled chocolate. I turned around and she was eating it through the wrapper. Does an almost 3 year old have no self control? Lesson learned #342, don't trust a child to hold a piece of candy and not eat it!

Halloween Fun

I have never really been a huge fan of Halloween, as I scare easily and really have no desire to see a bunch of evil scary things. On top of that, it's always hard to tell when you go out at this time of year whether someone is dressed in costume or if that is just how they look in everyday life. However, this year, everyone at work decided to dress up so Eric and I went to Target to get a costume. I really wanted to get the big chicken suit, but surprisingly, Eric was so against it that he spent 30 minutes in the store trying to convince me that it was obnoxious and unprofessional. Long story short, I ended up being Cleopatra, the last adult small costume that wasn't something you might find in a fantasy movie of some man. Despite my sadness about not getting the chicken costume, it ended up gaining many compliments throughout the day.

Mallory and Jared also had a Halloween party at their school on Friday which included a parade. I fit right in with my Cleopatra costume carrying Jared in his dragon costume (which is getting mixed names, some call it a dinosaurs and I didn't actually read the tag before I threw it out). These parties are fun for the kids, but it always make me sick watching them engorge themselves with multiple cupcakes and cookies. Unfortunately I was running late so I left my camera in the car.

Last, Lisa and Natalie came down to go trick or treating. In the past, we've always bought a bunch of candy and then ended up with a big bowl left after a disappointing 5 or so trick-or-treaters. Apparently when you don't live in an apartment or condo community, the kids come in flocks. We had tons of trick-or-treaters. Luckily I had one bag of candy and then we used the candy we got from Trunk or Treat last weekend. I didn't realize how many different types of trick-or-treaters there are. Here the categories I came up with:

1) The Ones who don't say anything

2) The Ones who won't stop talking

3) The ungrateful ones (Ugh, she only gave me one)

4) The Ones who aren't in costume

5) The screamers, and

6) The Ones who are too tired to walk/crying

We decided to give out the good candy to the better dressed ones, and the lame candy to those who weren't dressed up. It was nice to have the array of candy types from trunk or treating giving us the flexibility to do this.

As for Mallory, we took her down two streets. The firetrucks came through the streets and handed out candy as well. We went up and got a piece and then as we were walking back to the sidewalk they put the parking break on. Some of the middle school kids decided to scream and run just at that moment and Mallory thought she was going to get hit by the fire truck, so she took off running and tripped on her dress. She was so scared it took me a few minutes to calm her down. I felt so bad for her. After that drama, we continued on to get her some candy. She wouldn't say trick-or-treat, but she would always say thank you. I guess that is the most important part. After a few blocks, Jared was ready to eat, so I switched duties with Eric. He took her to the houses and I handed out candy. I would start to feed Jared and then the doorbell would ring - after about 3 times of this I quickly got a chair and plopped myself outside with the bucket of candy. All in all it was a successful Halloween, except for the people who thought it was an abandoned house from the overgrown weeds and untrimmed trees on the one side of our house (see post from a few months ago).

I tired to get some pictures but here is the best one I could get. As you will see, it just goes downhill from this one.

Trunk or Treat

Last Sunday, a friend of Mallory's from dance invited us to her church for trunk or treat. I had never been to anything like it before so I thought we'd try it out. There were lines of cars in the parking lot dressed in Halloween attire, with people sitting next to their car handing out candy. We went to every other car to limit the amount of candy Mallory got. She didn't really know what was going on, but as soon as she realized she was getting candy for her bag she was on board to the whole idea. My favorite part was seeing all the kids dressed up. There were lots of Cinderella's!

Mallory was not sure sure about this one.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Windmill Farm

Apparently this farm is the thing to do around here in the fall. Since Eric doesn't enjoy this type of activity, I loaded up the kids and took them while he was studying. Mallory had a blast.

Here we are on the hayride. This was a lot different than what I was expecting. It went fast, through mud, bounced us all over the place, and had scary people pop out at us. I thought for sure Mallory didn't like it but it was all she could talk about. She loved all the Disney characters we saw along the ride and loved going though the "stinky water." Jared really enjoyed all the bouncing and movement, let's hope he didn't get brain damage.

Half way through they stop and let you pick out a pumpkin if you paid $3 more per ticket. We did not pay, but the lady next to us insisted that Mallory get out with her to get a pumpkin. She basically swooped her right up and made her pick one out. Thanks windmill farm for the free pumpkin :)

Here is a picture of the muddy water we had just gone through.

I kept trying to get her to smile and all she would do is say cheese. So here is her "cheesy" smile.

If we are still around here this time next year, I hope to make this something we do every year. Mallory really had a great time seeing all the animals, pumpkins, and loved playing on all the equipment. She couldn't wait to get home and tell Eric all about it.

Picture Day

I love picture day at school - mainly because I know Mallory is shy and the pictures have a 1% chance of turning out. This year, since I just took the kids in for picture, I put them in their Ohio state gear. Here are the pictures (they progressively get worse :)) Don't mind the quality, they are just me taking pictures of the pictures, but you will get the idea.

Awesome!

It made my week, I hope it makes yours!

Roscoe's Birthday

Roscoe was 4 years old on October 22. We have never done anything for his birthday in the past, but he has been somewhat neglected this year with Jared being born, so I thought I'd take the kids to the specialty dog store at the Greene to get him a nice birthday treat. Eric did not go because apparently going to the Greene on a Friday night stresses him out. I take the kids there all the time and they love it. Jared likes walking around, and Mallory loves the cookie store. :)

Here are two of the cookies - try explaining to a 2 year old how these are dog treats.

Here is Roscoe eating his birthday cupcake. Mallory insisted that we sing "Happy Birthday." I started singing with her and she stopped as soon as she saw Eric's face- way to ruin the fun Daddy. The cookie was really hard so Roscoe couldn't take a bite. Since Eric thought it was a waste of time and stressful to go to the store, he began to gloat and rub it in that Roscoe wasn't eating it. As soon as I broke it into pieces Roscoe went to town - so take that Dad! Stop ruining our innocent fun.

Here is the toy Mallory picked out for him

Well Roscoe, even though some days we want to get rid of you, you still a great part of our family. You help sweep the floor, you help me listen for break in's when I'm home alone with the kids, and most of all, you are always happy.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Love,

Mom, Mallory, and Jared (Eric was intentionally left off)

Packages in the Mail

I have decided that the moment I get my thank you notes out the door, we receive another package in the mail. We love getting packages in the mail, so I try and keep on top of the thank yous! This week we got a package from Betsy and Tom, and Mallory got one from Grandma Valerie. The best part of Grandma's box was that it contained vitamins, which Mallory saw and gasped with excitement. This made me laugh because a little part of me could feel Eric twitch at the thought of her getting so excited about vitamins.

Here are a few pictures of Mallory using her finger puppets and feathers that were in the package.