Riordan's birthday party

I'm back tracking. A lot to catch up on!

Last Friday we had a small Blue's Clues party for Riordan

It was so much fun!! The Tripp's came over as well as the DiStephano's!

We had pizza, Blue's Clues Cake, and watched Frosty..

Thanks you guys for making his 2nd birthday so special!

Riordan doesn't like it when people sing so he got mad during his birthday wishes but soon was okay when he tried 5 times to blow out his candles!

So cute!


Riordan's Birthday Pics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIORDAN!!

I can't believe he's two today!
He is such a funny little boy...
Very independent when he wanders away A LOT,
but if you leave the room boy does he get mad and sad!
Mike and I took him to lunch yesterday to Chili's while Caden was
at school. We all enjoyed it so much! He got one of those frozen kid drinks and couldn't have been happier! I was singing Happy Birthday to him as we walked in and when I was finished he looked at me and says "Cake"
WOW He's getting it! So of course I try it again this morning when he woke up and sure enough he looks at me again and says "Cake" again!
Well cake is what he will get and a Blue's Clues one at that! And a huge Elmo singing balloon and hopefully some more from Party City.
He's favorite things are:
Backyardigan's, Blue's Clues, Go Diego Go, Dora, Fish (Nemo), saying Neigh, Moo, Woof, Meow, and Quack all in appropriate sounding voice, he loves dum dum lollipops and calls them 'Pop', Milkies, his brother, and his sister.
We have some friends coming over tonite to help celebrate! I'm pretty sure we will be having some Chick Fila! :-)

I think we are over it

I think....
Riordan was sick yet again this morning but we all feel better.
We went to see wonderful Dr. Sudha on Monday and got strep tested and all turned out negative! What was really interesting was weights on the children!
Caden: 38 lbs, he's a rail!
Riordan:32 lbs and not even two until Friday! He's very tall though and is losing his Buddha belly and I think he stepped back just as the scale was setting, but he is quite heavy to hold ;-)
Teagan: 19 lbs exactly! She's so petite! And that was with all her clothes on and a very wet diaper LOL.
The boys were both well into 20lbs by 8 months!
We are going to have to buy a new car. Mike has the white truck and left me with the blue truck. It's on it's roters for brakes and has a check engine light again. I have to say we got what we asked for, to make it till December! So we are checking out used cars online... not sure though what we want!

"Always look on the bright sideee of LIfe!"

It's been our theme song since the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I tivo'd it since we were at the Tempe Towne Lake park that morning and Caden and Riordan watch it everyday since then! Caden's favorite scene is when the cast of 'Spamalot' performed. So everyday we sing this song and boy were we singing it this weekend!
Because everyone, but myself got sick! Flu I'm pretty sure. Riordan began on Saturday during the day. Then Caden in the middle of the night all night. Teagan so far only has the fever, but Mike this morning while driving to pick up his associate. The children all got flu shots in October, so I think if it weren't for those we'd be worse off.
So you say the bright side right? Well, if it were to happen this was the better weekend since next weekend is Polar Express and then the following is Disney!!
I'm flat out exhausted but I'm sure I don't feel bad compared to all my family. What Caden missed this weekend was Church and his T-ball party. Riordan, Mike and Teagan missed my MOPS dinner Saturday night. I still stayed busy, I also had the Angel Tree program from Church to check out the gifts brought in for the family's I am overseeing. That was really neat to see what the kids will be getting. I hate to miss the party, it's the day we leave for Disney...
Today we are taking it easy and our new housekeeper is coming. Our previous one hasn't worked out because of reasons unknown to me. But they were two hours late on Friday, after I spoke we them at 10:00 and they said they be at the house no later than 11:30. So out we went so they could clean. We stayed out a long time, till 1:00... Get back and they still hadn't come! I was just about to put them down for a nap when they showed up and I told them that I couldn't use them now , blah blah blah. If they had called and said they were going to be so late then we would have stayed out longer... Well it's probably a blessing in disguise because they wouldn't use the products I had...

Isn't this odd

Our high today will be 57. Back home in GA? Mid 70's
Our low tonite 30!!! There was frozen water on our grass this morning
and I had to turn the heat on last night... Low for GA 59!!
Yes dad I'm letting the water drip ;-)
And 57 is not like 57 back home, it's more like 47 with the openess and nothing to shield the valley from the weather. Boohooo right? Well noooooooooo.
I love it, keeps the Christmas Spirit alive from me that started in GA when we were home is was cold like this. Funny when we came home I was back in shorts. I LOVE SWEATER WEATHER!!!!!

World Vision

Every year we pick an organization to donate to throughout the year and especially for Christmas. This year we have donated funds through World Vision and we donated extra for ourselves, in lieu of gifts, to the families of Darfur, Sudan.
Also, in lieu of gifts this year, we donated in the names of our parents to the Maxium Impact Fund. Merry Christmas !!!!!;-)
We are blessed so much already as are our families and there are so many people in the world just struggling day to day, that it was an easy decision.
Normally we donate locally, but I have felt a tug to Darfur for sometime now. I hope that I have inspired you as well to give a little extra, or ALL in the spirit of Christmas to your favorite organization. Or if you would like more info, World Vision has programs that benefit people all over the world including the US. Just some of their means of donating are through a gift catalog, you can sponser a child monthly, contribute to basic needs, and emergency needs.

Our tree

Thanksgiving week and weekend

What a whirlwind week. We've tried to do downtime as much as possible, but it has been busy!
Tuesday morning our new handyman came and finished the work our previous handyman didn't finish. Tuesday night I went to the grocery store and you would have thought an ice storm was coming! No eggs, bread, and low on milk. It was quite a sight. That night we put up our new FAKE Christmas tree and it is so awesome! I'm so glad we got it. It's a very good knock off of a Fraser Fir.
Wednesday, I can't even remember! LOL
Thursday morning we went with our neighbor's to Tempe Towne Lake Park, where we had breakfast in the park. It was a beautiful morning with lots of yummy food and mimosas. We were there for about two hours and then needed to head back home to cook our food to take to the Tripp's home for Thanksgiving dinner at their house. We spent it with them and their friend's Penny, Ivan, May, and Izzy. We had a great time and created a lot of great new memories.
Friday morning we got up and began to unpack finally and clean our very dirty house. I made a taco soup, and John and Amy came over to spend some time with us. We ended up in our neighbor's driveway. They pulled out their fire pit, the kids roasted marshmallow's, and we just hung out. It was nice. We started plotting our idea's for decorating the house on Saturday.
Mike got on a ladder people! And strung the whole house! He did such a great job!. We got out our Santa on a train, the presents, got some new candy canes, and decorated almost every bush we have with lights. It took us all day until that night till about 10pm! Our break for the day was decorating the Christmas tree.
I had a young man at Target, who checked me out on my second visit there that day, tell me it wasn't worth it. I said that it absolutely was when I have 3 children 3 and under and it makes them happy. He said touche'. Bah humbug. He must of been tired and having a bad day.
Sunday we headed off to church, and then came home for a nap. I can't remember the rest of the day, must be because we did nothing ;-)

Pictures

247 pictures from GA! View at your own risk ;-)

Our trip back home

It was so great. It went too fast. It was too short. But it was worth it!
We flew in Thursday night to Birmingham, AL, late. The boys were so excited to get on the plane. As we began to taxi, Caden asked to get off the plane. He was so scared, probably for about an hour. Then he began to settle in, watching DVDs on daddy's computer and playing his leapster.
We flew Southwest, which is no assigned seating, but family's with at least one child 4 and under can go on first. All the Malloy boys on one side and Teagan and I together across the aisle. She cried both ways half the flight. We will be getting her a seat as well, if we fly again anytime soon. I was fortunate in the fact on the way out there and back, no one sat between myself and the person at the window ;-) As we were descending, Riordan's ears hurt really bad from the pressure and he was so upset and would point to his ears. Poor baby.
Thankfully at Birmingham International, once we got off, it was a short walk to baggage and right across from baggage was our car to rent at Hertz. Took us a little longer than expected to find our hotel, so once we were in bed it was 2 am Eastern time.
We got up about 7 to get breakfast and get going to Atlanta to my nephew's and niece's Grandparents Day at their school. It's a program they do annually and it ends with the grade school children's semester project. Alabama is an hour behind Georgia so we had time on our side. What wasn't on our side is traveling with three children three and under. We really enjoyed the drive, 2 1/2 hours, over. Fall was in full bloom. Every thing was so vibrant with color and so crystal clear. I immediately became very homesick for the South and was trying to remember why we moved to Arizona in the first place.
We didn't make it until almost noon and everything was pretty much done. But it was a nice reunion with my parents, and my older sister and her children. We went to Susan's house for Fellini's pizza (yummo!) and the kids all caught up and played together. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun was out to warm us up , but the shade was a bit chilly.
Afterwards we went to our hotel, Friday traffic still stinks!, and took a little nap before we met up with friends and family who came to see us at the hotel bar. It was so great to see everyone!! All the kids ran around the atrium, and us adults got to catch up. Thank you Natalie, Annette, Adam, Mark, Caroline, Curtis, Susie, Diana, Mark, Sascha, Allen, and Mom, Jen, and Susan AND Garrett, Isabel, Camden, and Rylee, for coming to us! Mom and Susan took Isabel and Caden for a swim while we caught up with everyone. Since we stayed on AZ time we were able to stay up with the kids till 10 and then go to bed. We were zonked since we had about 4 hrs of sleep the night before.
Saturday we went to my younger sister's, Jen, home in Cartersville, to see her newly laid floors by Matt, her hubby, and to just spend some quality time with them and their son Garrett. Again, a beautiful drive, I kept rubbing my eyes because everything was so bright and clear! Makes you realize how dusty the Southwest Desert is.
A quick stop at Chick-Fil-a ( I know surprise surprise) and we headed to my parents house. We wanted to stop at our old neighborhood, in Bentwater, so badly but there wasn't enough time. We got caught in traffic again, going south on I-75. It was a good time for the children to get a car nap though.
Mom had a Thanksgiving feast catered for us! She made her famous turkey, gravy, and stuffing. It was so good! Grandmommy Carol, Matt's mom, made a Diego coconut birthday cake for the boys! It was so beautiful and the boys loved it, as all of us did! It was so nice to spend a little birthday time with the family. To end the night we had a fireworks show on the back porch and sparklers. I told mom there's nothing like celebrating all the holidays of the year together! ;-)
Sunday morning we came back to my parents house to spend time with them before we headed to the aquarium. The sun was out, but holy smokes it was frigid! I was beginning to remember why we liked Arizona so much.
Small car nap for the children and off we went to the Aquarium with mom, Jen, Matt, and Garrett. It was so amazing and so glad we took time out on the trip to see it! We met up with Sascha, Allen, and Rylee too, and cutie little Rylee wanted to stay with us ;-) Walking back to the car, Centennial park had their Christmas decorations out already. It was just so beautiful. Homesick, again and still fighting back tears. But now the sun was down and it was just ridiculously cold and I was missing the warmth of Arizona. Caden's teeth were chattering, and all our hands were frozen. We made it back to the hotel to meet my dad and we had dinner there.
We had such a nice trip. Full of fun and laughter! Mom and Dad came down Monday morning to see us off. We got some good pictures of all of them together with the children. Our flight back was eventful to say. Teagan cried again half the way home, and at half the way home mark, Riordan got sick everywhere. Thankfully I packed extra clothing for him. Caden loved the plane ride home though and can't wait to get on a plane again. We think it will take a little while to recover and we are excited about our car trips coming up, to the Polar Express the weekend of the 9th, and Disneyland the week of the 17th!
We can't wait to go back and see my dad, who can't fly, and the whole family.... I wonder when we can go back ;-)

Oh my!

I just looked up the weather back home. Are you guys freezing?! ;-)
I'm not sure I have enough warm clothes! Near freezing for the low and won't break 60 for the high while we are there!!!

Tip Toey Joey

So I just got these shoes for Teagan, but had to hunt them down. I first discovered them at Babystyle but for a month they haven't had her size. So I found this great website Buckets and Spades in Australia,and they were so awesome! Zlata actually is who helped me out and she got the balling rolling so fast! I submitted my order, I got a price with shipping, payed via paypal and vavoom! They are here! I just ordered them a week ago. The price with shipping was the same as it would have been here in the States, actually I think it was cheaper to go overseas!! Oh they are so adorable and will be pretty much her everyday shoe. They are extremely soft and look so comfy. I want a pair! They are made by Tip Toey Joey I will be a returning customer for sure!

The countdown begins! ;-)

We leave for Atlanta in four sleeps! I'm started to get really excited and have really begun my mental list of what to pack and what I need to find LOL.
This was absolutely one of our busiest weekends by far!
Friday night Mike had poker with his buddies, he was home at 11, so you know what that means.. no winnings ;-)
Saturday all the Malloy boys went to Caden's t-ball game, while Teagan sat with Ms. Kim and I went to a friends very beautiful and fun baby shower!
Back home we met, and then off we went to one of Mike's clients home for a pig roast. Yep, it was my first actual pig roast. the boys devoured the meat!! And Caden was so funny when the pig was being carved he was yelling pig snout!! Had to be there ...
We made it home about 5 and crashed on the couch for the rest of the night. I was in bed by 9.
Sunday morning, church as normal, but not normal is we went to a friends house for a cookout and no one got their naps. They lasted till 4! Riordan fell asleep on the way home, Caden and I watched Incredibles and soon fell asleep. We woke up about 6:30ish and went outside to play with the neighbors. I think that sent them over the edge. They are so worn out and cranky, trying to have self control, but just not working out. Hopefully they will be sound asleep very soon...

A long day

No naps, but I wanted to get this in...
We went to the Riparian Institute Reserve Water Park today for a Dino Dig and Shoreline Adventure. It was super neat!! The children learned a few things about fossils and dug in sand for dino bones, then we went over to the bridge and fed the ducks seeds (do not feed bread! i forgot why though LOL) and the turtles. While feeding the ducks, Riordan was yelling as loud as he could "Quack Quack" at them ! Absolutely hilarious and a much needed laugh for mommy considering he wasn't being cooperative at the dig site. He was stubborn and mean to his brother and then crying pretty much the whole first part of the dig session.
We had lunch under a ramada, where being out of the sun was nice and cool. In it, it's still pretty hot. We came home, and the boys decided no naps. I know this because Riordan has learned to get OUT of his crib!!! He so wants a big boy bed. Crys when we move him from Caden's bed to get in his crib. Loves being under the covers. So I need to convince Mike that we need to get him a bed and soon.
Teagan today has began to army crawl!! She is so cute, she has such determenation to get where she wants! She has been on all fours and rocking for about 2 weeks now, but today she was moving like it was nothin'. It won't be long now when she puts the two together. She has four teeth and can self feed cherrio's! Such a genius ;-)
Caden, my funny little guy. OH my everyday he makes me laugh. Today all I heard was "I want" about a thousand times. So when he was saying this at one point I said, "I want a million dollars". That little goose goes without skipping a beat mind ya, "Here's your million dollars" pretending to hand me my loot, "Can I have a treat now?" I couldn't stop laughing. And his big boy achievment today?! He finally can blow his nose!!!!!!! I know the little things right. It has been a battle for us, I don't know why, but he has got the concept down finally and thinks everytime he does it he deserves a treat. Just like a puppy ;-)
I love my children, they are so much fun! Thank you Mike for working so hard so I can always be with them! These little moments I cherish and they will stay with me forever...

March might be too long to wait, don't you think Grammy and Papa??! :-) She is just so yummy!

It's beginning to feel like Christmas!

Oh yes it isssssssssssss!
My absolute favorite time of the year!

I have that Christmas feeling already in my tummy ;-)
I think especially since we are going home for a visit.
It's going to be nice and crisp and hopefully some fall leaves left on trees!

As I sit here, I hear Caden saying his prayers and thanking God for specific family and friends. He is looking through his Bible, he doesn't know I know this(because if he did he would hide his face and blush), and he just sounds so sweet! Teagan is bouncing in her bouncy and Riordan is finishing up Caden's breakfast ;-)

Starting to think about all I need for the trip. Mom is getting us a booster/highchair for Teagan and Jen is getting us our air purifier/white noise for our hotel. Can't do well without either!
Thankfully our hotel is near a Kroger, so we can get necessities there once we get in. I'm going to try and pack as light as possible. Quit laughing Mike! :-)

We have heard from just a couple of our friends if they are meeting up with us at the hotel Friday evening. Yes this is a jab directly at you if you haven't responded to the email we sent out weeks ago! We hope you can make it!!

I have my small list of things I must see/get/eat. Ru San's King and I Maki to start, A Georgia Grille Smoked Chicken enchilada, that awesome all over SPF Lotion at Natural Body (no one sells an allover SPF lotion out here! How weird too!), go to the Georgia Aquarium and see our fish scales we purchased for the boys early last year, stop by Mike and I's old hang out, Garrison's, to say hi to whoever is left working there, and to stop by our old 'hood's at the Condo and
Bentwater to see how things have progressed and who's still around. But most of all we will be spending time with the family!!

We are going to have so much fun!!

Now my big decision is to buy a 'live' tree and finally purchase a fake one. I like to put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving, so when I did this last year it was dead, soooooooo dead, two weeks before Christmas! I have to say the idea of not having to vacuum up needles is quite appealing, but where the heck am I going to store it? Maybe no one will notice if I leave it up all year long....

Pics from last weekend

More pics

Trick or Treat?!

What a great weekend we had last weekend, very busy AS USUAL, but we had a great time!
T-ball on Saturday, then a friend's birthday party right after the game, and then Saturday nite met the Tripp's at Cheeburger Cheeburger with our 6 kids!! Hilarious and a good time ;-)
Then I went over to another friends where we scrapbooked... well I tried to get caught up on my shutterfly and definitely enjoyed the company. Sunday, church, and then our church festival where we worked for an hour, like last year, in the toddler room and then played outside on the bounce houses... The weather was absolutely perfect, however we didn't wear our costumes because the boys would have been super hot.
Tuesday for Halloween, we went to the Tripp's house with some friends, had pizza and then got ready to got out trick or treating.
The odds started piling up against us Malloy's. I had a severe headache, forgot our glow sticks and our pumpkins, the camera isn't working right thought it was maybe the battery was low (but now, the flash is not working properly) and then on our second house Riordan walked right into sprinklers that were running! He was soaked! Now if anyone of you know Riordan well, he can not stand to be wet and I thought for sure at this point we were going home. I just waited for him to start screaming. BUT he didn't and didn't care and went right up to the house and got his candy ;-)
After that, it was the best memory yet for us with our friends! I love their neighborhood, gated and the traffic drives so slowly with plenty of houses to go to. I think we hit all but one street!

Here's some pics to share! Caden and Riordan start us off after a fun day at Mother Nature's Farm/Pumpkin Patch. Then Daddy and the Malloy children lounging it up on the couch, Teagan's 'never lost' thumb, and Rub a dub dub, three Malloy's in the tub!

Chase Field Tour

Yes I know it's been too long. But my excuse is Teagan actually needs attention now that she rolls everywhere and eats food, and the boys are always into something and I'm keeping up with the house, being a good wife, cooking AND cleaning! :-)

We have been doing a lot however!! These pictures are from Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks play. We had a tour and it was absolutely the best time I have ever had with all of our friends and their children. Our tour guide was ever so patient with all of us too and pretty much let us do what we wanted (within reason ;-) I'm so glad Mike was able to come because we wouldn't have been able to go ...

The pic of Caden is in the dugout saying 't-ball' Our friends Cayden and Macie in the dugout too, who's mom is Heather! Funny huh?
Notice that it's actually chilly in AZ in the morning and at night now. Faster than it was last year thankfully! The summer wasn't as rough as I thought it would be. Caden has been playing t-ball again, color red, so guess what.. we are the Red Sox's! Surprise right? Been hanging out with our next door neighbors too who are just super, they have a 12 and 10 year old and 1 year old puppy, weiny dog, I can't spell it right so I won't try. Tucker is his name and we kept him last weekend and he is just the sweetest dog and Sully got a lot of good bonding and playing with him!
Been going to the park, Chick Fila, and just the usually errands. We have a lot coming up, so more pictures to come!
Enjoy the rest of these from Chase Field