Mal's Musings

Mal: (talking to Spot, the dog) "You go poo poo? You need your diaper changed?"
Jake: (running in with Mal's toy diaper bag) "I'll change his diaper!" (then turning to Mal) "I'll change your diaper, too."
Mal then lies down & proceeds to be "cleaned up" by Jake, who then takes a turn to have Mal change his diaper. Afterward, Mal proudly tells me, "I took care of him!"

Mal: (panic stricken when she sees that Beau is no longer in his bouncy seat) "He got out!"
Mal: (as I'm walking out onto the back porch to join them, holding Beau) "Hey, you got Jesus?"
Mommy: (laughing hysterically) "No, Mal, this is Beau."
She giggles, then goes on with her play. I'm not sure where her question came from, but maybe it would be a good evangelical campaign slogan.

This conversation occurred one day at the end of lunch as I was cleaning her hands & face.
Mommy: "Mallory, I'm so proud of you for deciding to eat your lunch so you could have dessert."
Mal: "It was my finest hour!" I love my funny girl!

I'll Take It

I got my hair cut today while the kids were at school. They hadn't noticed the difference by the time we finished our snack, so I said, "I got my hair cut today. Did you notice that it's shorter?" They studied me for a moment, then Mal said, "I love that!" Jake added, "Nice!"

I'll take the compliments, even if I have to fish for them.

Happy Easter!

We had a slightly chaotic but very happy Easter at our house. I'm beginning to realize that pretty much every day for the foreseeable future will be slightly chaotic around here!

On Thursday, Jake & Mal got to hunt Easter eggs at school & brought home lots of loot. They literally spent hours going through their goodies over & over again, trading eggs & candy, sorting eggs & asking me what each kind of candy was.
Nana & Papa came down on Saturday, & we had fun dyeing hard boiled eggs. We did this last year as well, but the kids were much more into it & could do more on their own this time.



Sunday morning, baskets full of goodies awaited Jake, Mallory & Beau! I know Beau is too young to care, but I didn't want to leave him out. His goodies were fewer & more practical.

Pure joy at discovering Toy Story 3 in his basket
Mal was very excited about her new Toy Story & Cars panties.Much bribery & silliness was required to get this picture of the three of them before church. The professional pictures I had done at the Arboretum this year did not turn out well, so this is it!
What a cute little Easter surprise!
Our best attempt at a family pic
After church, the Fowlers joined us for Easter lunch.
We filled our plates with ham, sweet & sour green beans, roasted red potatoes, salad, deviled eggs, rolls & a fabulous chocolate pie that Hattie made. Yum!
I made a strawberry bunny cake for Jake & Mal, which they've enjoyed eating leftovers of all week.Then it was egg hunt time!
Charlotte let the big kids do the heavy lifting & was content to sit & play with a couple of eggs.


A new favorite pic of Jake


Beau was there too!
We had a wonderful Easter celebrating our risen Lord! The kids have gotten pretty good at telling me why we celebrate Easter. Mal says, "Jesus dove on the cross, and... He's Alive!" Hmm, that's pretty close. I told her that he didn't "dive," he "died." She said, "No, he dove." Hard to reason with a stubborn two-year-old!

Bubble King & Queen

I love their expressions here! And I accomplished the rare feat of getting them both to look at the same time.

Stay This Little

When Beau was just over two weeks old, we had a little photo shoot at home to capture him in the newborn stage & get some pics for his birth announcement. Justin likes to photograph our kids as a hobby & has really gotten very good at it! He did a beautiful job with our sweet boy, so I wanted to share some of my favorites. Soak up the cuteness!








If only he could stay this little!
J also picked out the design for our announcements, which I love!

Bluebonnet Babies

What would spring in Texas be without pictures of your kiddos in a field of bluebonnets? Lucky for us, there's a pretty good field of them about ten minutes from our house, so we didn't have to travel far. One of these years, my kids are actually going to cooperate & pose nicely for the camera. Until then, we'll eek out a few cute shots each year, amidst the sea of hilarious outtakes. Enjoy!