God Bless our troops who serve!

This Memorial Day weekend, I am missing my hubby more than ever.  I don't seem to write about him much on this blog, since I am mainly documenting all of our Texas adventures out here for him!  So it seems only fitting that on Memorial Day, I dedicate this post to him and our military journey together.  I am so proud to be and Air Force Wife, and honored to be Charles' partner on this crazy Air Force adventure we are on.

I started this blog about 2 months after Charles' Fini Flight with the Boars, so I never really shared any pictures from that day.  Here's a little slide show of the day- Mallory was in such a good mood!  Hooray!

Seeing these pictures reminded me of the first time Mallory visited her Daddy on the flight line.  She was only one year old... and that headset didn't last very long- only about long enough to get this picture!

Charles, we love you so much, and we look forward to seeing you very soon!

God Bless all the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  We are honored to have been in your company, and will continue to fight to protect the freedoms you gave your very lives for.

JD- a.k.a "Killer"

This is our awesome Jack Russell, J.D.  Now, over the past month, his anxiety level has been such that I have been ready to drop him off at the zoo!  He is constantly underfoot, and shakes like a leaf when I put my shoes on.  But that's not the worst of it... he has started to nose up on the table and actually take food off of our plates if we get up from the table!  Needless to say, he has NOT adjusted well to Charles being gone.  I am hoping this will improve over time.

As for his new nickname, "Killer"- my father has bestowed this honor on J.D. after he has killed not one.... not two.... but THREE snakes in the back yard since arriving here in April.  My father has a large, beautiful garden, and has had snakes ever since moving here in 1998.  He named the largest snake "Fred", and is happy to have snakes, as they control the bug problems he could have if they weren't there.

My parents' dog, Cami, is happy to leave the snakes alone, and just sunbathe in the yard.  But when JD takes a break from climbing the tree or pooping (at least 4 times a day- no lie), he enjoys snake hunting.  So far, my father thinks he has just gotten "Fred Jr.'s", and hopes that the original Fred (who is apparently MUCH bigger) is still alive.

I must say, I feel better being in the yard with JD by my side.  As annoying as he has been, he gets major points for reducing the possibility of me or Mallory running into a snake.  Maybe I won't drop him off at the zoo after all...

Potty Training like a pro!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement over the past days.... weeks... months that this child has been potty training.  Grandma and I finally came to the conclusion that Mallory was turning into Little Miss Lazy, so we made the decision to just put up with the messes and take away the diapers and put her in panties all day long.  Thank goodness I have a mother who is laid back about messes, because I am NOT!!!!!

I am pleased to announce that Mallory has gone a full week in panties during the day and only wears diapers for nap/bedtime.  We have had fewer and fewer accidents each day, and also fewer and fewer tantrums over using the potty.  I think Mallory is finally accepting this as a way of life and that she needs to get over the theatrics and just "go with the flow"- literally.

Mallory often reads on the potty, and asks for "privacy"after we give her a book.  Look what her book of choice was the other day.... like mother like daughter!  (She call's this "Mommy's Book")

We are rewarding with M&M's and/or fruit snacks, and Mallory is finally getting the hang of this.  I hope this post will not jinx us.... keep your fingers crossed!

Children Say the Darndest Things!

Mallory has really been cracking us up over the past month.  Her vocabulary continues to grow daily, and I have been jotting down a list of the funny things she had said recently...

First off, we removed the DVD player from the car when we were moving here (as a punishment originally) and Mallory has not missed it a bit.  I didn't see the down side to this until I was trying to pull out of a parking space as a car was coming very carefully and slowly down the aisle.  Totally not a high pressure situation, but all of a sudden from the back seat I hear "Hey!  It's my turn, dude!!!!"  That is typically what I say when I am merging onto the highway or at a 4-way stop.  I never thought Mallory was listening to me!  Thank goodness she didn't repeat something more colorful!

Another funny thing that happened was at the grocery store.  We have been working on this potty situation for close to a year now, (help me, Jesus) and I was buying some overnights.  Mallory looked up and saw this box of flushable wipes that had princesses on them.

She started begging me for them.  At first I told her "No, you can't use these, they are for big girls who wear big girl panties".  She got upset, so then I said, "Okay, I will get them for you, but you cannot open them until you are wearing big girl panties.  Maybe they will inspire you."  I put them in the cart, out of her reach.  She started screaming because she wanted to hold them, and I said, "No, we are just getting them so I can inspire you." And she said (through her huge crocodile tears) "BUT I DON'T WANT YOU TO INSPIRE ME!!!!"  I started laughing... and guess who else started laughing too?  She is SUCH a drama queen!

And lastly, probably the cutest of all, Mallory was looking at her DVD case of the movie "Up".  She is in this phase where she is like the annoying kid in class who asks questions just to prove she knows the answers to all of them.  I was across the room, so I couldn't see the case close up.  I was also busy putting away her clothes in the closet.  Here is how the conversation went:

"Who's that, Mommy?"
"That's Mr. Fredrickson."
"Oh... who's that, Mommy?"
"That's Russell."
"Oh... who's that, Mommy?"
"That's Doug- the Dog."
"Oh, and that, Mommy... what's that?"
"That's the bird, honey... Kevin"  (I am just guessing that is the next thing she is pointing at)
"no, that's not Kevin..."
"Okay, then- that's the house"
"No, Mommy- that's not the house."
"Okay, then it's the balloons"
"No, that's not the balloons- that's heaven"
"Ok, right- like I said- it's the bird, it's Kevin"
"No, Mommy- it's heaven"
"Right- Kevin- the bird"
"NO MOMMY!  Not Kevin... Heaven!  See?"

Mallory pointed to all the clouds.  I almost cried right there.  She has been going to church school on Sundays, so maybe they talk about it there, but I can't say I have ever pointed to the clouds and said heaven before.  Maybe it's something we know in our hearts from the time we are born.  Awesome, isn't it?

Just like Mommy...

I took Mallory to a playground with a HUGE sandbox last week, and we both needed a bath when we got home.  I mentioned to her I was going to take a shower, and she said she wanted to take one, too so that's what we did.  After her shower, she wanted to put her hair up in a towel just like mommy, and I got a couple of pictures.

How I treasure moments like this!  Love my little girl!

Our Princess heads to the Gym!

I am really eating my words from that post where I exclaimed that Mallory was "not that into dress up". Lately, she wants to wear her princess dresses EVERYWHERE!!!  I have been going to the gym 5 days a week, and Mallory really enjoys the daycare area, so it is an added bonus for me.  The other day, however, she would not even THINK if leaving the house unless she could wear her Snow White dress.

I fought her at first, but then I decided I would just get her out the door, and bring an outfit to change her into once we were there.  I DID have to fight about the princess shoes that are at least 5 sizes too big, but since she got to wear the dress, she eventually gave in.  The pink Chuck Taylors matched her real outfit, I swear.

I was worried I'd look like the pushover mom that spoils her daughter, but the staff all thought Mallory was darling, and told me not to worry about it.  When Mallory walked in, all the little girls just ran up to her and admired her dress.  She was SO proud!  They gently touched the glittery skirt, like they thought she might be a real princess.  I told her she could only go on the playground if she put on her other outfit, and she said okay, and I went to work out.  When I got back 2 hours later, she had changed, but there was a little girl dressed like Cinderella who had arrived- so I guess I'm not such a push-over after all!

I plan to enjoy these princess moments as much as possible!

A trip to the Zoo- with Grandma and Grandpa, too!

We took Mallory to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, and other than encountering about 20 groups of elementary school field trips, we all had a pretty nice time.  But my goodness it was humid!

This is my first attempt at a slideshow, so bear with me!  Most of the pictures are of the butterfly exhibit.

Note: There are captions on each photo. If you move your curser over the photo, it will pause and you can read to caption.

I tried to get a good picture with the grandparents, but Mallory was so hot by the time we were done, that I decided to save it for another day! I know we'll make it to the zoo again soon!

Still in recovery... with lots of help from Mallory!

Those of you who know me best know I tend to not get sick very often.  But when I DO get sick, it is never any small ordeal!  Over the past week I have had what can only be assumed as a raging case of food poisoning.  No one else in my family, including Mallory is sick, and after a visit to my Primary Care Doctor and TWO visits to the ER, all they can guess is that my stomach is at war with whatever I have come in contact with.  I have no nausea or vomiting (praise the Lord for that!!) but you can only guess what I AM putting up with.  It is NO FUN.

Needless to day, I have been out of commission for quite some time, so I am trying to catch up a little on the blog while Mallory naps.  She has been SUCH an angel this week, as have my parents.  My father stayed with Mallory all morning yesterday while My mother and were at the ER for more tests.  He was a real trooper, and they had a great time.  I am so grateful to my parents for all they have done for Mallory and me.  It is a time like this that it rings crystal clear to me that Charles and I made the right choice moving us down here for the year he is gone.  I don't know what I would have done without the 24 hour help!

Mallory has been so sweet and funny through it all, which really has been the best moments for me this week...  She will come sit by me and hold my hand, and say, "You'll be okay mommy... do need some fruit snacks?"  She does have her moments, don't get me wrong.  As with all toddlers "NO!" is her new favorite word, although I must say she usually says "no, thanks" which lightens the annoyance level.... slightly.

And while I am laid up here, Mallory has decided she wants to.... are you ready for this..... start wearing big girl panties and work on potty training again!  So my parents have REALLY had their hands full!  I must say, she has done pretty well- only a couple of accidents a day.  What we have trouble with is getting her to TELL us she has to pee.  But if we stay on top of her and take her to the potty often enough, we stay ahead of any accidents and messes, creating a positive experience for ALL of us.  The way I see it is, it is ME that needs to be potty trained, and be more consistent with how I help her.  Anyway- wish us luck!  We need it!

Here is a picture of our sweet girl just chilling in her room by her big girl bed.  The transition really WAS as easy as it seemed it was!  She loves her bed, and loves her room.  She plays in there at least an hour a day by herself.

The week before I got sick, I took some cute pictures of Mallory.  I know in a previous post, I said she is not much into dress up, well- that has ALL changed!  She LOVES her dress up trunk, and all her "beautiful princess dresses" (as she calls them).  In fact, she started playing with them so much, we put up a low rod in her closet and hung them all up for her to get to easier.  She loves it!

By the way.... look who she is holding in every picture... surprise?  I don't think so.  Refer back to my "Best $3.00 I ever spent" post.

She loves these little slippers.  These pictures were taken in my parent's bathroom.  They have floor to ceiling mirrored doors on one wall, and Mallory loves to dance in front of them.  She also L-O-V-E-S the sound the plastic shoes make on the tile floor!  She sounds like a little Flamenco dancer!

Our little princess- right down to the red headband with the bow I whipped up because she had to have one EXACTLY like Snow White's!  Truly, I don't know WHERE she gets this behavior from!  (gulp...)

ET Phone Home...

Just for a laugh.......

Who can forget that scene in ET where he is hiding within all the stuffed animals... here is Mallory's version!  She has SO MANY friends these days (of the stuffed nature, that is)  She laughs and laughs as she gets lost in them!

Had a Marvelous Mother's Day!

Mallory and I had a great day on Mother's Day!  We got up and went to church together on a beautiful Sunday.  Mallory has been going to Children's Church during the service, and really enjoys it.  Today the kids made baggies of bath salts for all of their Mommies, with a sweet and familiar scripture on it.  They also gave each of us a carnation.  Mallory helped pour the bath salts in the bag, and she was SO PROUD!

After church, we picked up my brother, Glynn and HE took us to lunch!  We went to Panera Bread- one of my fave places- and it was really nice.  After that, we came home and I opened my Mother's Day gifts.  My parents got me a charm for my bracelet to symbolize the year away from Charles, and also matching Mother-Daughter bracelets for me and Mallory.  They are so cute!  My mother also got me a Vera Bradley Purse and Wallet I have been wanting for a while.

But my best gift of all was yet to come...  Mallory  (and Grandma) made me this frame, and I L-O-V-E it!!!!  Mallory proudly announced "I used glue!"  as I marveled at her work.  My mother said the placement was all Mallory's doing, and I think she did a fantastic job evenly spacing them around... don't you?

I asked Mallory where this frame needed to go, either by my computer or by my bed.  She thought and thought and thought, then said firmly "your BED".  So- it has a home, and makes my heart happy every time I look at it!

It is such a blessing to be a Mommy to such a sweet little girl!  Now I get to celebrate a holiday I used to only dream about ever being a part of!

Here are just a few snapshots of how Mallory has changed over the past three years... With every milestone I fall more and more in love with her!  I know for all you Mommies out there, it is just the same for you!  Happy Mother's Day to all of us!

Mallory Elizabeth Kistler- Born April 10th, 2007

Mallory's First Birthday!

   

Mallory's 2-year photo shoot

Three Years old, and so expressive!  

Here she is saying "Ohhhh.... chocolate!"

Thank you, Mallory- for making me the proudest Mommy ever!  I love you!

Sassy Little Girl!

Mallory has not been into dress-up as much as you might imagine.  Now and then, she will put on a princess dress, but the excitement is usually short lived.

The other day, I had Mallory in my bedroom as I was putting away laundry.  All of a sudden, I heard "clop, clop, clop".  I looked up, and THIS is what I saw!

I had always seen other little girls be SO interested in their mommy's shoes, but to be honest, Mallory has just never been like that.  She is more interested in putting on Daddy's big, black combat boots!  I chased her all over the house to get a few photos...

And finally!!!  I caught her face with the silly laugh she had the whole time she was running away from me!  I have a feeling these will be great photos to show at her wedding one day!

Meet Mallory's New Cousin!

This Post is more than a few days late.... as I keep mentioning, I am just trying to catch up with all that has happened this past month!!

On May 1st, Charles' sister, Chrissy and her husband, Jeff welcomed their first child- 

Roy Adventure Ichnowski

At just 4 pounds, Roy was eager to see the world, and arrived 5 weeks early- the same experience we had with Mallory.  He is doing well and being cared for in a NICU in San Francisco.  Chrissy and Jeff are also doing well, and getting ready for their world to be turned upside down by the biggest "adventure" of their lives!

Prayers and Hugs to your sweet little family- we can't wait to hold Roy ourselves and tell him how lucky he is to have such loving and dedicated parents.  Congratulations, again!

The best $3.00 I ever spent....

In my last post, I pointed out there was another "little lady" in a few of the photos alongside Mallory.  If you didn't figure out who I was talking about, allow me to introduce you to Cinderella- on her wedding day.  She is BFF's with Ariel and Snow White, and they have been going EVERYWHERE (and I mean everywhere) with us lately!  Mallory never leaves the house with just one- all three must travel together, and thanks to her cousin, Isabella, we have the perfect travel purse for all of them!

Now, I also spoke in a previous post about how animated Mallory has been getting lately- making full stories with her ducks in the bathtub going up in the elevator to the Peabody Hotel, or lining up all her little people to go to school or in a parade.  Well, today in the back seat there was quite a commotion!  These three little princesses got into a heated fight, and Mallory explained to me that Cinderella was pinching and Ariel broke Snow White's necklace.  After she got that far in the story, I could see she got a little emotional, because she didn't know how to get a happy ending.  I suggested she put them in "time-out" in separate places to calm down, and then have them all apologize to each other.

So, Snow White was on her left leg, Ariel was on her right leg, and she held Cinderella (of course).  After a bit, she started making kissing noises and said they all made up and now they were going to the ball together!

This may seem like such a silly thing to put on a blog, but I am just eating up the breadth of her little imagination these days!  She is SO emotional, and really translates her past experiences with movies or TV shows or even what we have done together into role plays with her toys.  I am not psychologist, but I think this may be a sign of good things to come with her dealing with her emotions and really telling us what she is feeling.

By the way- I got these little princesses at the Dollar Tree for $1.00 each!!!!  She got them for Christmas, and has really grown attached to them since being in Texas.  If any of you have seen others lately, let me know- I'd love to add to her collection... especially at that price!

Our Art-Loving Little Girl!

Mallory has been out of her "school" since February, and she misses it so much!  She really misses the interaction with the other kids, and I won't lie, I miss the BREAK!  Moving here to be with Grandma and Grandpa has bees such a great decision, because Mallory and I both get the support and love we need when we get on each other's nerves!  I mean, really?  Who wants to be stuck with the same boring Mommy all day long!?

A saving grace for us here has been our local library.  They have a craft time every Tuesday night and a Story time/ Craft every Saturday morning.  Mallory has yet to miss one event, and we are slowly creating quite a collection!  Everything is FREE, which makes it all the more fun!

This is the first craft Mallory made at the library- it is a Butterfly Kite with yellow crepe paper streamers and a blue string.  Mallory has been OBSESSED with Mary Poppins lately (among other things), and ran around and around the back yard with this kite singing "Let's Go Fly  kite...." at the top of her lungs for at least 20 minutes when she got home!!  If any of us tried to sing along, she would stop and yell "STOP!  I SINGING!!!"  She likes to a lot of things by herself these days!

Thank goodness for Grandmas!  Mommy just cringes at the thought of a painting project... the mess, the spills, the stains, oh my!  But leave it to Grandma to take all these things in stride, and wouldn't you know that Mallory LOVES to paint!  And she is actually very careful with everything.  I am always glad to have someone who can push me to just let Mallory let loose once in a while... it is good for both of us!

This is by far my favorite craft they have made at the library so far!  It is a little Pinata made out of a lunch sack!  My mother helped Mallory with the scissors to cut all the fringe, and they glued it around the bag in layers.  Then, they stuffed the bag with Candy and toys (again... all FREE!) and put on a face.  They stapled it shut, added a pipe-cleaner hangar and voila!  A little mini pinata!  It is too cute for words!  What a great craft for a party!

BTW- the above picture is Mallory's "excited" face... below is a more natural smile!

Mallory got a card from Charles and was SO super excited!  We gave it to her just before dinner, and she kept picking it up and hugging it throughout the meal!  It was so darn cute!

Besides Mallory, there is another little lady in all 3 of the above pictures... can you see her?  Mallory won't leave home without her, and insisted she be in the posed pinata pictures.  She also joins Mallory at just about every meal we have at home.  Blog to follow....

Fun with our friends!

So often in the military, we meet make friends with our neighbors, only to have to turn around and say goodbye a few years later.  A few remain life-long friends, who you can only pray will be your neighbors again one day.  More times than not, this never happens, and you simply try and make the effort to see them when you can.

When my parents moved to San Antonio over 12 years ago, I knew not a soul here in Texas.  But my military journey has changed all that.  Now when I come to visit my parents, I have several friends who I look forward to seeing as much as I can.... all thanks to the Air Force adventure we are all living, or have lived!  Some are still active duty, and stationed here.... some are in the reserves and working for the airlines... and some are just loving the civilian lifestyle!  It is such a gift to me to have these people be my "neighbors" once again!

Such is the case with my sweet friend Stacy and her husband Mike and their two kiddos, Jillian and Ian. They are such a darling family, and I look forward to spending LOTS of time with them this year!

BTW.... ALL of you can thank Mike for helping me figure out the kinks in the Mac transition- he answered all of my questions and then some- thank you again for taking time way from your family to help me!

Last week, Stacy, my mother and I took the kids to the zoo.  It was so fun to see these toddlers take everything in!  It was hard to get all the moments on film!  We'll have to go again one day soon!

We walked into the Hippo exhibit at JUST the right time!  The zookeeper had just let the Hippos out of their holding area, and out they pranced for all of us to see!  One got right in the water and swam right past this glass.  We tried to get all three kids to turn around and look at the camera, but it was hard to get their eyes off of the hippo!

Next were the elephants... Mommy did not do a very good job of getting the whole elephant statue in the picture- I'll try and do better next time!

Mallory loved looking at the Prairie Dogs- they had a viewing window just her size!

I just LOVE this picture!  Don't you wonder what those two girls are gabbing about?  Ian's just waiting for the train.....

All aboard!  All the  kiddos love the train!  We always save it for the end of the day!

Many more zoo blogs to follow, I am sure!

A Little Out of Step...

The title is again, back to my theme of "Dancing Through Life"... my blogging is a little off-kilter, since so much happened in such a short amount of time- I have hundreds of photos and stories to share, they won't be in any particular order!  Thank goodness for just getting them in writing!

These photos were taken the day before Easter here in San Antonio.  My friends suggested this Bluebonnet field, and we did our best to get our "children" to sit still.  Believe it or not, even with her camera aversion as of late, MALLORY was actually the more cooperative one!  Can you believe it?  We had hoped to get a family photo, but just getting these was difficult enough, much less dealing with a tripod and such.

Checking out the scenery...

This is the best 'cheese" we could get out of her.  She was totally consumed with the idea that her white shoes had dirt on them.  (....wonder who she gets that from?...Oops...)

Our sweet little children!  Mallory (3) and JD (8 1/2)

Charles really enjoys photography, and I must say I think he is very good at it!

Mallory had just barely looked up when Charles snapped this picture of her precious face!  She is growing right before our eyes!

"Awwww... the bluebonnets are so cute!"  Mallory's words, not mine!

I'd like to thank my sweet friend, Stacy for the adorable sundress- just right for a bluebonnet photo!  I am so glad it still fits Mallory this year!  Hopefully she doesn't grow out of it TOO fast!

San Antonio had MASSIVE wildflowers this year because of all the rain.  Every highway was just covered with the gorgeous colors of blue, yellow and red.  Most Texans get their family picture in the bluebonnets at least once.  I hope the wildflowers are just as beautiful next year!  Maybe we'll have better luck with the subjects!