Afternoon at the library

We made a trip to the library today. I love how excited Lauren gets when we go. I'm hoping her enthusiasm for reading will continue and then wear off on her sister.


















Malone Family

Deck the Halls

On Tuesday night we went with some friends to see a house that was AMAZINGLY decorated for Christmas.  Lauren is extremely into Christmas lights and decorations this year, so she was super excited to go see this. Here are some pictures of the beautiful house and a cute video of Lauren .

These pictures just don’t do this house justice!

Molly fell asleep WAY before we even got to the house!

Lauren dancing to the Christmas tunes!

So happy together

I LOVE these sweet, short-lived moments. The moments when the girls play with eachother is becoming more frequent. And, it is so sweet to see how much they love eachother.

Santa’s little helpers

The girls got to go see Santa before riding the train at Polar Express.  So, I thought I would post the picture.  It was Molly’s first encounter with the big man in red, so she was a little in awe.  Lauren was a little shy and forgot to tell him what she wanted for Christmas.  But, at least we have our Elf at home that reports back to Santa on how the girls are behaving and what they want for Christmas if they are good girls. 

All Aboard!!

Last Sunday, the four of us and four other families of four drove up north to Williams, AZ to board the Polar Express.  Lauren was extremely excited about this trip.  She had been reading the Polar Express book and had watched the movie a couple of times.  But, she was very excited to take a trip with her friends.  When we got to the hotel in Williams, Dennis told her that the Holiday Inn was our new home.  She, of course, believed him and was pretty upset that we didn’t have Jade with us in our new home. 

The kids got to go see Santa before we boarded the train.  On the train, as we made our way through the magic tunnel and towards the North Pole, we all had cookies and hot cocoa (Lauren’s first time with a warm drink and she proceeded to spit it out.  She grew to like it after a few sips.).  We also read the Polar Express book and sang Christmas carols.  When we reached the North Pole, Santa got on the train and gave every kiddo a bell.  It was very cute seeing Lauren’s eyes light up when he came to talk to her. 

After the train ride, we all had dinner.  And, even though we were all pretty much exhausted, we stayed up until around midnight.  The big kids played and set up a fort under a table and watched movies on the DVD player while the adults had some “adult juice” and chatted. 

We all had a great time and can’t wait to do it again next year!

 

“Napping” in the hotel

Lauren and Audrey researching their upcoming adventure!

The girls were excited for their hotel “slumber party”.

Audrey and Lauren passing the time!

My baby girl!

The big kids (we’re just missing Rowan).

My big girl!

The big girls waiting in line to see Santa.

The kids looking out the window at the North Pole

Jingle Bells! Santa gave every kiddo a bell.

The homemade movie theater

All 20 of us!!

The next day we had breakfast at a cute little diner in town and then let the kids play at the train station for awhile before going to Flagstaff to find some snow for the kids to play in.

The Malones

7 months

I know…..I’m totally playing catch-up with the blog.

  Molly turned 7 months old on November 26th.  She amazes us every day! She is starting to really like all kinds of new food, including butternut squash, peas, puffs, mum mums and bread.  She’s so chatty these days.  I swear she says “Mama”! I’m going to count that as her first word!  She also says “Bop Bop” and of course, she is still growling. She went from mastering her sitting skill to scooting to crawling in a matter of 5 days! I even found her pulling herself up to a standing position in her bassinet. Scared me to death.  So, we have taken the big step and put her in her crib in her room to sleep…..finally! She’s actually sleeping better (and so am I).

She is such a happy baby and smiles at everyone who passes by.  She still thinks Lauren is pretty cool and loves playing with her puppy, Jade.

Molly crawls

The happenings…

So, I’ve been a major slacker lately with the blog.  Since Halloween, we’ve had a few things going on….

After being a part of our lives for a year and a half, Lauren’s swimming coach, Melanie took a position at a hospital.  It’s a job she has been wanting and she is so excited for the change.  And, we are extremely happy for her.  But, we will miss her terribly.  Good luck Coach “Menamie”!

Lauren has become quite the little lover of theatre productions lately.  After going to Beauty and the Beast at ASU Gammage, we took her to How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We went with Sara Brown and her girls and friend Tasha.  The older girls loved it.  And, Izzie was such a trooper for the whole production.

The ladies

The fam…..minus the little munchkin (she went out with Auntie Kim).

The girls post show

The END