Caden and Flag football

We have been trying to get Caden to be a bit more proactive in the sport. When he's on defense he just stands and watches the rest of his team chase the guy with the football down the field, then will do a cartwheel or pick a flower! ;-)
So we decided to bribe him. YEP bribe him! We told him that we would pay him money for every flag he pulled. So yesterday he was an animal! He pulled a flag, almost got a really big kids flag and always ran after the ball! He was dynamite!
Every week i9sports has a good sportsman ship theme. This week was positive attitude. The recipient receives a medal for his achievement as well. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. Caden has watch his teammates get this award and would always ask why he didn't get one, for whatever reason we tried to encourage him to be more proactive. Well this week, he was awarded the medal.
I didn't get to see any of this, I stayed home with the girls and was so sad I missed it.
But Mike said when Caden received it, he held it tight in his palm and close to his heart and was very quiet. When they got to the car, Mike raved to Caden about how proud he was and said we need to call mommy.
So I get a call, it was Caden.
He goes, "Guess what mommy?" I say, "What?"
"I pulled a flag today!"
I was overjoyed, yelling, "Caden that's amazing, way to go!"
And then he goes
" Guess what else mommy?"
I was waiting for him to say I pulled another flag.
"I got a MEDAL today."
I was screaming!! and yelling and doing cartwheels myself and saying, "Oh my gosh Caden, I am so proud of you!!"
He was laughing so hard, as was Mike.
Apparently I passed the mommy test.
Truly was so surprised and proud at the same time and then sad once again I didn't see this happen. But Mike says he thinks it was really good I wasn't there because my reaction was priceless and will most likely motivate him to continue and excel at flag football.
He has been carrying the medal every where he goes.

Today he and I have a date to Polar Ice for a church outreach event. I will be helping checking in families and then he and I will skate! He's so excited. I am too ;-)

A little over 48 hours

Check on Riordan in his bed and he had throw up all over him and the bed :( It will be a long night and I feel so bad for him and our sitter Kate.

This is the second time we have unknowingly exposed her. 48 hours! I thought we were good to go!

Next up Mike and/or Aislinn :(

6 months old

My little princessa is 6 months old today!

I can NOT believe it! It has fl-o-wn by!

She is just so easy going, bashful, sweet, amazing, and just beautiful! She gives everyone a huge smile and puts up with her siblings so effortlessly!

By the way, we have been flu free now since yesterday!! Pray that it is over over over! Riordan, Aislinn, and Daddy got away without getting it looks like!

And now Caden

Has the flu :( 

It just started...

Teagan got the flu too

Started yesterday at 4 pm, which we thought she got sick from drinking a bad cup of milk. We had a dinner meeting last night (at yummo Flemings again!), and while we were gone she got sick a few more times! Poor baby!

She was up all night getting sick, high fever, and just miserable.

She stopped getting sick at 6 am this morning. Her fever just broke about 30 mins ago!

I pray that no one else gets my flu!! I would get sick for them every time if I had the choice! I hate to see them suffer!

By the way, Kristi and Chris named their daughter Colbie and I haven't heard yet on the middle name, but they were working on a Saints name. Oh I felt so bad that I have exposed them to the flu! I was sure by yesterday it was a food issue that I got sick since no one in the family did, until of course I got home from the hospital!

Right now Caden is just finishing up his first tennis lesson with Daddy and Riordan. Just ordered a pizza from Red White and Brew and getting ready to do bills once the zoo goes to bed.

I have training tomorrow morning at 9 and then I get to go shopping to begin finding amazing beautiful fun things for Kristi's arrival shower here on the 26th! It's gonna be PINK! ;-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

To baby GIRL Messner!

Mom and dad are still in shock that their fourth child was not a boy, but in fact their heart's desire, a girl!! So name to be announced soon!

She weighed in a 8 lbs 8 oz (Kristi is itty bitty if you don't know) and 20 1/2 inches long.

She came at 6:36 am this morning after going into labor at 2 am!!

They are both doing great and I can only imagine the shock of a girl and the love of a girl that she and Chris are going through right now! I can't wait to see Kristi and meet her daughter, HER DAUGHTER! How amazing to type! Love you my friend!

Prayer requests

Okay so I have a few prayer requests my friends:

My friend Angela's mom, Rube, has been diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer that has spread to her lymph nodes and brain. Rube is such an amazing person and a fighter and is in need of a huge miracle and a lot a prayers. I have known Angela and her family since grade school, and hold them dear and near to my heart.

My friend Tracy is in the hospital on strict bed rest with her pregnancy due to placenta previa. She and the baby (31 weeks) are doing great, but in order to prevent an abrupted placenta they are under constant supervision. She will be in the hospital until the baby is delivered via c-section. She had just been released when she had to turn around the next day to go back for re-occurring symptoms. She already misses her girls terribly. Thankfully her mom came out this weekend to help with the house and the girls indefinitely.

And lastly, I don't know this family directly, but at a local preschool that a few of my friends children attend, lost a friend this weekend. He had gone in for tonsil and adenoid removal last week, at the age of 3, and was sent home the same day. The next morning his mom went to check on him and he was blue and had no pulse. He was life flighted to the hospital where he was put on life support. He never regained consciousness nor brain activity, so they let him go on Easter Sunday. If you could just lift them up through this horrific nightmare they have just incurred. I can't even imagine their what if's. The parents are Jason and Billie, and their son was Braydon.

Backing up two days

Cousin's Maddy and Aisie!

Kristi and Marcie

Silly Riordan

Look at the detail with the hearts and airbrushing! Amazing!

Michelle and Aisie

Caden 'acting' sad, but trying not to laugh

A bump in the buttercream, airpocket, so odd!

Makena, Amanda, Macey, Teagan, Ava, Cashton, and Ryan

Teagan a little nervous getting sung to.

Teagan pointing out her princess on the cake!

Blow baby blow!

NUMMY!!

Oh so very nummy still!

Here's lookin at you kid!

Maddy happy with her bottle, it was a lot of stimulation for her poor baby!

To Teagan's birthday party!

What a great time it was!! We missed our friends Ethan and Kyle, but managed to have a great time. It was like a fancy playdate really ;-)

Teagan's cake developed a bump in the frosting, Mike is convinced it was a heat bump, but I poked it with a candle and the bump went down, there by pretty much saving it from a small eruption!! So odd, I've never had a cake's frosting do that before!

Her cake was done so beautifully, I still need to let the bakery at Basha's know what an impressive job they did with all the details of her cake! AND of course it was so nummy as Teagan would say!

I love the pic of all the little one's on the couch together, the did such a great job and it's going to be fun as the years go on to get them growing up!

I still can't believe Teagan is 2!

After her party we headed to our 2nd Annual Neighborhood Festival. It was so much fun! Games for the kids to play and bouncy's and snowcones and cotton candy! And ahem Chick Fila which is where Kyle and his mommy were, working that booth. It was a perfect ending to a most perfect day.

More Pictures Here!

How we spent Easter today

Well it was me in the bed with a vicious fever and flu bug.. Almost 12 hours later I can open my eyes without pain and get up with my stomach turning. It wasn't very nice.

I lost 3 1/2 pounds today! LOL Not the way I want to do it that's for certain.

Mike took the older zoo to church and then rushed back home to me at 10ish which is when the worst was hitting. I couldn't care for Aislinn anymore and put her in her crib where she was safe and she cried for so long, poor baby. She's been doing pretty good without me today. I think Mike has been giving her milk through her sippee since I pretty much don't have any from dehydration. I have only nursed her twice since 3 am this morning. WOW!

So we didn't have our egg hunt/BBQ with the Tripp Family, which just makes me so sad. This is the second year in a row I have missed their Easter!

It came on so fast! I had already been having sore throats in the morning and evening for four days and a bit stuffy, so whatever it was got my immune system when it was down.

Back on the mend, I have eaten two pieces of toast and drank a glass of gatorade in sips successfully.

I pray tomorrow will be a whole new me again! Thank you Mike for taking such good care of me and our zoo. You deserve a medal/a day off/vacation ;-)

Pics from today

MOMS Club Easter Egg Hunt, they got so many eggs and it was the best egg hunt we have ever ever done! The entire park was covered in eggs! The club came out in huge support with eggs galore!! So much fun! And Lauren being there with us was a huge help. Aislinn slept the entire hunt, so I had Riordan, Lauren had Teagan and Caden was all over the place having a blast.
Riordan wouldn't pick them up, he's so leery to crowds, but after I picked up the third egg he told me he could do it himself, so he and Teagan started running from egg to egg and laughing and having a great time! Caden was so excited too, and was very helpful in helping one of his friends set up the eggs in the beginning for the little little ones.... So proud of them all!

Teagan's birthday dinner at Chick Fil a was a hit and we got ice creams for her treat! You can turn in your toy for a free ice cream, what a treat for us ;-) They all had a great time and it was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

The adorable picture of Aislinn was here at home, had to throw it in... A lucky shot on her after she ate lunch!

Princess Teagan

Is 2 today!

Happy Birthday my sweet twinkle twinkle Teagie star, my sunshine, my baby girl!

Love you so much!

Today we will have an Easter Egg Hunt and then dinner at Chick Fil a!!

I can not believe still that she is 2!! 2!!

Where did the time go?!

My 6 week reassessment!

What a great day! I am getting stronger and losing inches! I love that we reassess so I know where I stand! I told Joe he was stuck with me for at least a year the other day and today proves why!

I have lost 6 lbs in weight. (my scale fluctuates a pound or two day to day which is why they say stay off of it LOL)

I have lost 2 inches on my abdomen and waist (they are the same since I had the baby)!

I lost an inch in hips!

I have lost 1/2 inch on my NECK!

My arms stayed the same, but they aren't really where I carry my fat.

My legs I lost 1/2 inch too!

I lost a whole 1 % of body fat

I have gained 4 points of cardio input/output and now fall in the 60% range of my age not the 10%!

I improved the squat exercise from 50 to 100, and each squat was in a 2-second format, so 100 in 200 seconds! I no longer have to assess them!

My arm strength has stayed exactly the same.

I did a plank for a full 60 seconds vs. 25 seconds ! (This is where you are on your forearms and toes and nothing else with your body in the air. See how long you can do it! Great ab workout.)

I lost 4 lbs of fat and 2lbs of muscle but the muscle is most likely a result of nursing since the baby sucks everything useful out ;-)

So I'm so very pleased with my results and love that improvement is visible!

I'm also officially down a whole pant size!! Hurray! Good bye 16's, hello 14's and now I can button my 12's with a dunlap and I can't breathe very well, BUT I can button them! I couldn't get them over my hips 6 weeks ago!

Can't wait to see what happens in another 6 weeks!

It's a very good day ;-)

Aislinn

I've been meaning to post that she has been getting up on her knees for about a week now! She is really trying to catch up to her siblings. Well the newest thing is, yesterday when we were at the Tripp house for a playdate, she sat sitting up for about 10 mins! Catching her balance and playing with her girlfriend Lauren!! AMAZING! She is only 5 1/2 months! She is moving at Caden's rate which was him walking at 9 1/2 months!!

I can't wait for Marcie to upload that photo session of the girls playing, it was sooooo adorable!

They come over today so we may have to do an re-enactment for my camera...

She even showed off getting on her knees for Marcie who said she swears she moved a knee!

Holy Smokes I don't know if I'm ready for this! ;-)

Pictures!

Pictures of Riordan Easter Picnic, Movie night Thursday night (isn't that funny how they all are so glued to Robots?!), Teagan's new Princess Back Pack that was a pre Birthday Gift so she had a new bag for her new class at church! She moved up to the 2's and did awesome!, the movie night she had on her Dora, and then a photo session this morning in our St. Patty's day clothes.

Here are more pics to look at...

check out the St. Patty's day one's as fast as you can to see the whole thing go down. The reason I got this best smile picture is because a fly landed on my head and I was being silly shooing it away!

Oh Yeah

Happy Amateur Day, I mean St. Patrick's Day ;-)

It's Princess Teagan's Birthday week!

My sweet girl is going to be 2 in three sleeps! I can not believe it! She has picked out her choice of eatery's for dinner on Thursday. Yep you guessed it! Chick Fil a! We surely are paying some one's paycheck there ;-)

Tonite I will start wrapping up her gifts. And put her bike together. Give Mike a break on homework LOL She is so ready for her Princess birthday party on Saturday! I ordered the cake and balloons last week. It will be pretty simple with snacks and just her playgroup pals. It will be our first party experience with age only children for the party! She hasn't had a party yet either so I can't wait for her to blow out candles and stuff. 

Last night Riordan, her, and I took a bath together and she kept singing 'happy birthday.' Well when she was done he goes, "Teagan blow out the candles!" She looked at him like what?! So he goes "like this!" And shows her how to blow! Oh my gosh it was absolutely adorable! She then did it! I think she will get it down for sure!

On her birthday is our MOMS Club Easter Egg Hunt!! I have stuffed over 3 dozen eggs last night with jelly beans and m&m's for the hunt! It should be a good time!

This is the first year that the boys have asked if the Easter Bunny is coming to their house, like Santa. We have never made a big deal over Easter, just would do baskets that would be around the house before Easter day. Well I think with Caden being older and our visit to the Easter Bunny last week (and who knows what they said in Riordan's class) we now are officially starting the Easter Bunny Basket Tradition! For us, my mom and dad would hide the baskets in the house and we had to find them when we woke on Easter morning. We are going to adopt the same tradition. So I have all their stuffers and candy! So much stuff! They are going to be on a sugar high when we go to church early Sunday morning!!  We are doing check ins at 8:30 and 10 am service and then volunteering in a classroom at 10 am. Then we will come back and do naps for sure, because everyone will be exhausted and then we have the Tripp family coming over for an Easter dinner! Our Easter dinner is pretty non traditional. Our first Easter here we grilled Steaks at the Marshes home and then last year I was still so sick I couldn't get out of bed. This year we will do steaks, burgers, and dogs etc with yummy sides. And Marcie doesn't know this yet we will do an Easter Egg hunt  for the kiddos. I can't wait!

This week will be a bit busy. Today is a play date at the St. Geme's. Riordan is so ready to see his buddy John and is ready to go now! Tonite I have training.

Mike is in Yuma all day tomorrow and I have my date with Riordan. Not sure where we are going to go yet, but I'm thinking after that I will hit Tumbleweed Rec Center. That place is so amazing! We signed up already. It's a state of the art facility with a indoor track, cardio theater,hi tech exercise equipment, locker rooms, showers, group classes from exercise to computers to art! And it's so affordable! The cardio theater rocks too! I know there is more that I'm not touching on. That was Mike and I's date night Saturday and I got in a very good run! So proud of myself ;-)

So any who, Wednesday morning I have training, actually my first 6 weeks re-assessment on where I have gotten to with exercise!, then we have a whole day of friends coming over to play. That night I have a birthday dinner for my friend Liz at Gordon Biersch. Thursday Teagan's birthday and Easter Egg hunt. Chick Fil a INSIDE for dinner  ;-) Friday, my date with Caden and work out as well. Okay I'm tired, how about you?

Aislinn is still asleep in my bed. I've been sleeping hard the last two days. Mike has had to bring her to me.With my run on Saturday and a hard workout on the elliptical yesterday might be the culprit.

We are starting a church wide bible study and our small group just got the materials Friday night. It's called "I became a Christian and All I Got Was this Lousy T-shirt". I am hooked already. Already on Chapter 5 for my reading, well it's an easy read so nothing to brag about. But I love the comparisons to everyday life the author makes to being a Christian. I can't wait to delve into it more!

I can't remember if I've posted this, but beginning March 31st every Monday and Wednesday at 3 pm all three older Malloy's will be taking swim lessons! This is the year, they will all learn to swim! The lessons are until July 16th and then after that I will do it once a week to keep them in the water and always learning. We don't have a pool, but we aren't ever able to go to pools because I just don't have enough hands for them. I feel like we miss out on a lot of summer because of it. And with our Disney trip coming up at our fabulous resort with this montrous swimming area, we can rest a little easier knowing that they can swim. Caden is still nervous about it since he has had to scary experience's but when he sees his friends swim he wants to do what they do. I'm thinking the Riordan and Teagan are going to be successful too because of their no fear factor so he will want to do what they do too. We are a private class with just the three of them and I will get in the water too. I'm hoping that halfway through I can just sit in the parent area and hang out ;-) Until then Aislinn will go to our friend Kelly's house! Thank you so much Kel! 

Oh and Kelly and her husband Kris just dropped off a handmade craft table, likened after the Pottery Barn Kids Table, yesterday! It's so beautiful! And we are now getting a dollhouse bookcase for Teagan's room like they have as well! It will be with pink trim though! Teagan is going to flip I bet! It's so nice to have friends who can do this amazing handy work ;-)

A good week

It's just been going so nice and not much to report! I'm loving spring break with Caden. Not having to get his backpack ready in the morning and with just Riordan having school one day this week, there was no all day car stuff us. 

Riordan had an Easter Picnic for his school on Thursday at Desert Mountain Park in Queen Creek. It was a hit for our zoo. I first panicked though when we got there because Caden took off without a word to Mike or I and no one could find him. I was a bit snappy too, because for me, if I don't know where one of my children are then they are safe to me. This is the reason I normally don't go to parks because I can't keep my eyes on everyone at the same time. 

Mike wasn't worried and kept saying it wasn't a big deal. But it is. Caden takes off on me all the time in a store, park, school, etc. I need to get my friend Rena's John Walsh video, to really drive home stranger danger. I know once it clicks he will not be doing this anymore. Threatening to take away privileges isn't working anymore either, or just plain taking them away.

So any who, Riordan was very interested in meeting the Easter Bunny, but not Caden or Teagan. I told him he didn't have to take a picture (issues) but he could go say hi. So he did! He wouldn't go up close but he made sure he got a good look and he got bunny ears for the visit. I love watching his wheels turn too. And it was the topic of conversation all day yesterday how he met her but not Caden or Teagan. Oh and there was another Teagan, drop the first a, there that attends his school but a different class. She was 'bragging' about how she has four children in 5 years, unfortunately her first one passed away (I'm not sure when) So I politely said, I feel your pain, this is Caden just turned 5, this is Riordan just turned 3, this is Teagan about to turn 2 and Aislinn who is 5 months. Oh and over there is my friend Marcie who has Allie 5, Megan 3, Ryan 2, and Lauren almost 1 ;-) She started to laugh and said she felt not so much alone now that she knew others who shared her boat.

Mike and I had a yummy dinner at Flemings on Wednesday night and thoroughly enjoyed our time with his reps Leon and Cathy. They are such a great couple and wow what a life they have led! We totally learned a whole new life of exotic animal hunting in different countries and showing Great Danes! Our food was amazing as always and we tried the portabella fries. Both Mike and I say we don't like portabellas, but holy smokes those were terrific! We go back in 2 weeks for another group to wine and dine. I'm liking this trophy wife stuff ;-)

Last night Kristi, Michelle, Heather, Rena and I headed to the mall to use our 25% off coupon for the Coach store. The bag I was going for was supposedly no longer available. After 20 minutes of this girl 'helping' me, she came to that conclusion. Well I went online last night and there it was and I could put it in the shopping bag. Now my thing is I scheduled this time to go last night and she was of no help to me! I want to get this bag, so cute! So I called the 1 800 number last night. They are perplexed as to why she would say it wasn't available any longer as well. I know it was the right bag too, because I confirmed it over her shoulder when she was looking it up online.

So they asked me to call back this morning to talk to the consumer department and I may be able to order it over the phone for the hassle she put me through and use my card. 

Today Kate is coming over to keep the kiddos and I'm not sure what I'll do with my time before I work out at 1. Caden and I normally have our date today, but we were able to do it yesterday afternoon. We went to Cold Stone and then to Basha's to order Teagan's Princess Birthday Cake and Caden got a toy there. He's a lot like me with the ice cream. A lot more interested in the waffle cone. We should just get that and share a small scoop of ice cream!

I finally used a program on my elliptical yesterday. Brought me up to resistance 4 and down and up and down and up. I did it! I normally just do manual and do 1 or 2 and get a good workout, but this was a good challenge! 

Teagan is up! Time to get the house ready too for small group tonite! Happy Friday!

Peoria Malloy Visit!

Our visit with Uncle John, Aunt Amy, and Madeleine! What a great time we had and the zoo wants their cousin back!!
I love the photo session of the Arizona Malloy's ;-)

And for the 5th time

I have gotten mastitis again.. but caught it early and have beaten it down. Started Saturday morning... by the afternoon, after John and Amy left, I noticed that I feel 'sick' and start to think that I'm getting mastitis. 

I look and see that I'm already red and actually have streaks which I haven't done with Aislinn... 

So Mike sent me to bed immediately. I didn't go to church yesterday morning and by the time they all got back I was feeling a lot better with a lot of nursing from Aislinn. I was still able to make it to my hair appointment (because if I missed then that would have been money thrown away) I also made it to dinner with Rena and Amy! 

We seriously have so much in common it is like the same life at some points! So wonderful to have women who can completely get it!! I had such a wonderful time and so glad that I rested up to be able to go..

Today is Teagan's play group at Marcie's house! I'm trying to get us all ready, but can't keep my hands off the keys! LOL

Oh and last night on the way home I began a small panic attack ( I have no idea why) and by the middle of the night I couldn't breathe. So Mike got me a Tylenol PM to help me relax and this morning it's a lot better. But I can still 'feel it'. I normally don't get them unless I pregnant or taking a test! So who knows what is going on in that brain of mine.

Spring Break started today, so lots of Caden time with the rest of the zoo! Lots of park dates for sure ;-)

Random pics from today

It started off as a photo shoot before school of Caden, who really wanted to watch TV at first, but gave in quickly, then some of Riordan and Teagan still in their pj's...
While Caden as at school we made it to the park for the first time since Aislinn was born and we were there a little over 2 hours! A lot of fun and lot of catching up with friends, it was our montly business meeting for MOMS Club, in fact it was my first Chick Chat since August 2006!!
So Riordan crashed on the couch and Teagan took a nap without hesitation in her crib.
Then began our second photo shoot of Caden on the computer and Aislinn eating.. She always has a look of disgust on the first bite, then quickly remembers "oh yeah, i like this!"