Catching up, Seriously....

Soooo, it's hard to believe that it's been 9+ months since my last post; I've thought about posting a couple of times, but every time I would sit down to do it, something else came up and I just never got around to it; and it seemed like such a daunting task to try to catch up on everything that has happened since then.  Mal and I have been up to so much and she's grown from my baby girl into a rambunctious toddler.  I'm going to do my best to go through some highlights of the last few months (well, almost year).

Last September, Mal and I started Mommy and Me classes at the Little Gym of Frederick.  She met some new friends there and really had a lot of fun learning and playing.  She wrapped up her classes just a few weeks ago and we decided to take the summer off.  Though we had a lot of fun, I'm not sure if we will go back again in the fall; I'm leaning towards starting some swim lessons with her since she loves the water so much.  Here are a few pics from her last class, where she got to show Gummy and Pop Pop everything she learned.

 
In October of last year, Mal, Matt and I visited the Baltimore Aquarium.  Mal is in love with fish, so she had a great time and I made her a promise that when she was a big girl and learned to go potty like a big girl, Mommy would get her some fish for her bedroom.  (Well she is potty trained and has been for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to the fish yet).  I'm hoping to maybe be able to make it into a Christmas gift this coming year.

We also had adventures at the Pumpkin Patch (she picked her own pumpkin and helped Mommy carve it), Renaissance Faire and another trip to Sesame Place in October. 

Mallory decided that she wanted to be Tinkerbell for Halloween last year, which made me smile because I just LOVE Tinkerbell.  She got to go trick-or-treating twice this year, once with Coop and Ky and again at daddy's house.  She looked too cute in her dress and matching shoes.  And she still wears those shoes all the time; she loves them!

November and December breezed by as we prepared for the Holidays and Mal had fun helping me decorate our Christmas tree.  I think my favorite part of the holidays was going with everyone to cut down trees and also seeing Mal in her Christmas dress, and matching coat and hat.  (And yes, I got the dress back in September, when it went on sale to make sure I got what I wanted). 

January is always kind of depressing because it brings about the crazy time of year for me, tax season.  This January was even crazier than normal because I had a car accident the morning of our first Saturday of tax season.  That was by far, the scariest 5-10 second of my life and I was so thankful to have both friends and family nearby to take care of me and get me back to normal.  I was lucky and just had some neck pain/strain; my Mini however, not so much.  The insurance company decided to total my Mini and I was not at all ready to part with that car.  I still miss it, especially whenever I see them on the road.  Car shopping was fun though and I decided on a blue Honda Civic, which is perfect for Mal and I.  Mal was very excited and she was telling everyone that she got a new car, lol!

My little munchkin turned 2 on January 19th, I can hardly believe it!  We had a Minnie Mouse themed party for her.  I am so thankful to everyone who came to help us celebrate.  Mal and I are truly lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives. 

January also brought about Mal's first haircut.  She sat on my lap and let AmyJo cut her hair without any problem.  She really is too funny because whenever anyone says anything about her hair or getting it cut, she blurts out "AmyJo cuts my hair!" 

February, March and the first half of April were a blur.  If I wasn't at work, I was spending as much quality time with Miss M as I could.  But boy, was it ever exhausting.  This was by far, the worst/busiest/craziest tax season I have been through yet.  Here's hoping that next year won't be nearly as bad.

Easter was a lot of fun again this year. Mal got to dye eggs with Coop and Ky and Pop Pop has a special Easter Egg hunt for them. 

April brought about some big changes for Mal.  She stopped wearing diapers (Woohoo!!) and also moved into a big girl bed (Tinkerbell, of course!).  I thought the bed might cause some problems with her trying to come over to my bed in the middle of the night, but nope.  She just sits up in bed and calls for me till I come get her. 

We also made a trip to Philly with Matt in April.  We went to Longwood Gardens and the Philadelphia Zoo.   Mal had a wonderful time; she liked pointing out all the tulips to me at the gardens and LOVED seeing the animals at the zoo. 

May brought another trip to Stone Harbor, NJ, my very favorite place.  Mal had a blast jumping waves, building and knocking down sandcastles with Pop Pop, swimming in the pool and enjoying some good old Springer's ice cream.  I am hoping we get another trip to SH in this year. 

We've made a few trips to Hersheypark this year and Mal has enjoyed getting on rides with Mommy but also being a big girl and going by herself on some.

In June Mommy took a couple of days off and we went to Jubilee Day (well not for too long because it was waaay to hot to be outside that day).  But in the short time that we were there, Mal rode a pony.  I honestly didn't think she would do it at all, but she went right on, no problems at all.  We also went to the Land of Little Horses, with Gummy, Pop Pop and Ky.  Mal and Ky had so much fun and loved seeing the animals.  Feeding the animals was another story...   They both had a pony ride and we also went on a wagon ride around the grounds before heading home. 

Our latest project was redoing Mal's bathroom. Since I bought my condo 4 years ago (that is seriously hard to believe!) the only thing I really did not care for (ok, I really hated it!) was the wallpaper in the second bathroom. I felt Mal was old enough now to tell me what she liked and wanted in her bathroom. So we ventured to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick out new things. She went with a flower pattern and wanted pink walls. Mommy and Matt worked hard and got the wallpaper down and walls painted. She saw the mostly finished project before she headed off for vacation with her daddy, but I added a few more items (courtesy of Gummy) to finish it off. I can't wait for her to see everything when she gets home shortly.

Well, I guess that is it for now.  We head off to Disney World with our family next week!  Hopefully it won't take me 9 months to post about the trip....