Christmas 2011

We had a busy, fun-filled Christmas!!

Here is my little miss on Christmas Eve

Mallory & I at Granny's house on Christmas Eve

Just in the past few weeks, she has really started liking Barbie stuff.  Her favorite thing is dressing them and changing their clothes.  A little fashionista, she is.  She was very excited to open this Barbie who came with a horse.

Opening presents with Granny & Papa

& Grandaddy Oneal & Grandma Deborah

Our living room after Santa came to visit.  For some reason, when Santa was paying for this stuff it felt like Mallory had a whole bunch, but after I looked at it all laid out it didn't seem like much at all.  However, it is PLENTY for her & I don't know why I even question that.

Santa also left a pink car in our garage :)

My parents came over Christmas morning bearing more gifts & we had a Christmas breakfast.  It was nice & I hope that is the start of another tradition at our new house.

My parents' gift to Mallory was meow-ing and making lots of noises so Grandaddy & Mallory had a lot of fun opening it.  Thank goodness it isn't a REAL cat, but it is real enough.  Needless to say, Mallory loves it.

Even though Patrick & I are State fans, Grandaddy Franklin couldn't resist buying this for Mallory :)  I have to admit, it is pretty cute.  I had to crop myself out of the picture (it was that bad).

My parent's present to Patrick & I is up on the wall:

a new tv!

Thanks, Mom & Dad!

We can now put our old one up in the bonus room.

Later we went to Grandma Jean & Grandaddy Billy's house where Mallory got a new vanity and we all opened more gifts. 

We are an incredibly blessed family who had an incredible Christmas.  I hope everyone else's was the same!

Pre-Christmas Weekend

The weekend before Christmas was a full one.  It started out with my work Christmas party at the Mad Boar.  It was the first time we have been there in a really long time & it did not disappoint.  The food was SO good, I can't wait to go back!

Saturday morning, we went to Jack's 2nd birthday party.  It was a barnyard theme complete with a petting zoo, pony rides and a bounce house.  All the fun that toddlers could ask for, right?!  Mallory was in heaven.

How awesome is that cake?  It tasted really good too :)

I guess Mallory decided to take a break from partying??

Jack was anxiously awaiting to get some cake (& so was I).

Later that night, we had Christmas with Patrick's dads family at his Uncle's house.  They always have chitlins and krout.  (I have no idea if either of those foods are spelled correctly?)  I will have to take pictures next year.

The next day, Mema, Pepaw and Aunt Whitney came to visit us to celebrate Christmas with them.

Trying on her new coat

She LOVES this horse.

Then, that night we had our church Christmas play where Mallory participated for the first time as an angel.  She was dead set against putting the costume on until the very last minute.  I was desperately trying to convince her to put it on and she finally gave in and was a trooper.  She ended up doing really good!

'Mary' told me that the angel held onto her hand the entire time.  I guess she did have a little stage fright but you couldn't tell from the audience.

The cutest little shepherd (after changing out of his costume).

Merry Christmas from us!

Peppermint Stripes Christmas Card

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The difference a year makes.

During Mallory's first year of preschool, any time she had a school program she was either whining, crying or standing on stage with that 'deer in the headlights' look on her face.  This year is completely different, thank goodness!  She had her Christmas program last Thursday and she came out on stage, stood where she was supposed to, scanned the room for me and her daddy and excitedly waved when she found us.  She sang her songs and knew the moves to go with them.  We were very proud!

Putting her in preschool was one of the best parenting decisions we have made I feel like.  She has learned so much, loves her teachers & classmates & has become so much more outgoing.

She comes home & plays school already.  She is Mrs. Carol and she always wants me to be the student.  Reminds me of when I was little...that was always my favorite thing to play.

In about eight months, she will be starting her first dance class.  I am excited about it because by the looks of her school programs this year, I think we have a little performer!

Parade #2

We went to the Pink Hill parade a few weeks ago and then the Kinston parade last weekend.  We had a family Christmas party in Kinston at lunch and the parade was at 10 in the morning so it worked out great that we could attend both.  I didn't take any pictures at the Pink Hill parade so I made up for it at Kinston.

Two sweet girls

See Mallory's arm around Tyler Kate? hehe

The Adams

 It was COLD, but we made the best of it.

The reindeer paused long enough to take pics with us.  Mallory was a little scared.

Tyler wasn't scared though!

Getting a good view

 & taking it all in.

The girls were pretty disappointed that there was no candy being thrown out.

My great babysitters :)

I thought this was cute.  This might have been when Tyler was saying "throw me some candy, boys!" Haha!

We had a good time and that's all the parades until next year!

Getting braver.

I'm about a week behind on blogging, but still trying to keep up with everything that is going on.  Last Sunday, we had some family pictures made but before Hailey got here Mallory wanted to practice taking pictures with her 'friends'.  We thought it was cute.  Here she is with Snooki and Bunny.

Afterwards, we went to lunch with the Garrens'.  They were riding their horses in the parade and Mallory cried and begged to ride too.  She has always been too scared to ride every time they have offered in the past, so we thought she would be scared this time too when it was actually time for her to get on the horses back.  We promised her that she could ride after the parade was over and the horses were back home.  To our amazement, she finally rode a horse!  Maybe it was the cowgirl outfit that she was wearing that made her more brave, haha.  Patrick bought it for her in Texas on his hunting trip this year.

Mrs. Julie & Mallory riding Ray Ray.  They say he is childproof.  That's my kind of horse!

We didn't have the right kind of boots for horseback riding.  Mallory has outgrown her cowboy boots, but Santa is working on getting her some new ones.

Little Miss Carter, on the other hand, isn't scared of anything.  She is bare-backing the donkey and got the biggest thrill out of it.  She's a very brave three year old!

& since Mallory practically worships Carter she had to join in on the fun too.

Since last Sunday Mallory has talked about Ray Ray and riding horses a whole lot.  Thank goodness, we have such nice neighbors with childproof horses & donkeys :)