Monday, January 10, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Fetal Matter
Eli is 11 months old, which means he'll be around 15 months when our little girl is here. We weren't exactly planning to have them so close in age, but it should be fun and crazy around the house for a while. I'm thinking we'll have 3 more after this one, Allison isn't thinking that so much (but maybe with a little peer pressure she'll give in). Eli's been walking since 9 1/2 months and is looking like a walking champ. I'm also officially crowning him the fastest 11 month stair climber in the world. He eats normal food, still poops his pants, can give high fives (occasionally), and loves his mommy.
We bought a house the end of September and have really enjoyed it. We now live in Richmond (3 minutes from Sugar Land) and have some great neighbors - one is an Aggie. We've since had an outdoor movie in our backyard, played ping-pong in our garage, and hosted a Thanksgiving pot luck with friends we are grateful to have. Allison even cooked a 22 lb. turkey for the meal! One of Allison's favorite things about being here is that she gets to decorate an entire house for Christmas (our neighborhood is known for its Christmas lights). So, our house is looking like the north pole and thanks to my grandma we have an awesome tree. As soon as I finish putting up lights I'll post a picture.
We were able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family back in Paris. We enjoyed our stay and were able to see all the family. For the first time my brothers and I, along with our kids, were at the same place. We enjoyed dinner, a bonfire, the 3-3 football game, seeing my dad and grand-dad, and all the food. We also spent Thanksgiving lunch with Allison's family - all 30-something of them. They have a large clan.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Netflix and Month Six
Below is a list of news around Tribe Malone.
1. We got Netflix and watched our first movie (Sherlock Holmes) two nights ago. We don't have cable and don't like spending money on going to the movies, so we felt $9 a month for hundreds and TV shows and movies was a deal. We highly recommend it.
2. Eli is now 6 months old. He tries to crawl, but does a much better job scooting. He has mastered pushing up with his feet, but keeping his head on the floor. He has also become quite the trickster - twice now he has pulled his diaper away from his body and pee'd on me (yesterday it was at Chick-Fil-A). He will now grab anything in sight - and try to eat it (including my glasses). He babbles a lot! We've tried finding a translator, but are pretty sure he only says, "I'm hungry", "I'm sleepy", or "I have poop in my diaper". He has his daddy's thighs. We still don't know who he looks like. He had some respiratory issues, but they've been taken care of by our good friend, Dr. Chapman. Eli bites real hard - even without teeth. Lastly, Eli is a mini-me of Michael Phelps in the swimming pool.
3. I (Gary) went off staff with Young Life and has been the Pastor to Students at Parkway United Methodist Church (Sugar Land) for a month now. My van has surpassed the 244,000 mile mark.
4. Allison finished a painting she's been working on for 3 years.
5. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Paris for Allison's mom's wedding. The weather was great, food was great, decorations were great, hanging out was great, it was a great time of celebrating a new beginnings for the both of them.
For Allison's first Mother's Day we celebrated a few weekends later (I was at camp). I surprised Allison with a nights stay at The McKay House - a bed and breakfast - in Jefferson, TX (www.mckayhouse.com). Jefferson is a special place for us because it's where we honeymooned. We ate dinner at the same restaurant (same table) we did 2 1/2 years ago, but this time we had company (see picture). At one point we told our waitress we honeymooned there and in an act of generosity she brought us a piece of cheesecake. We decided not to tell her it wasn't our anniversary. -- The room was called the, 'Garden Suite', and had his and her claw-foot tubs. The food was incredible and the only other guests were an older couple whom was the weatherman for Dan Rather a while back (he did TV and radio for 30 some odd years). The breakfast was incredible (everything from scratch) and we definitely plan on staying there again.
Mother's Day 2010
Honeymoon 2007
His/Her Tubs
For my first Father's Day Allison got me a grill and a book called, 'Raising a Modern Day Knight'. I've yet to cook on the grill, but I'm thinking July 4th weekend would be a good time to break it in. I left with Parkway the Sunday of Father's Day to spend a week in Canton, TX with 12 high school students and some adults from the church for UM ARMY. It's a mission type camp where we, and 80 others, painted and fixed houses, built wheelchair ramps and front porches, and did various work projects. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on. We had terrific adult leaders with us and the attitudes from kids (even though they were working all day in the heat) were great. God did some great things through all the workers and I'm positive everyone left a little different than how they came.
1. We got Netflix and watched our first movie (Sherlock Holmes) two nights ago. We don't have cable and don't like spending money on going to the movies, so we felt $9 a month for hundreds and TV shows and movies was a deal. We highly recommend it.
2. Eli is now 6 months old. He tries to crawl, but does a much better job scooting. He has mastered pushing up with his feet, but keeping his head on the floor. He has also become quite the trickster - twice now he has pulled his diaper away from his body and pee'd on me (yesterday it was at Chick-Fil-A). He will now grab anything in sight - and try to eat it (including my glasses). He babbles a lot! We've tried finding a translator, but are pretty sure he only says, "I'm hungry", "I'm sleepy", or "I have poop in my diaper". He has his daddy's thighs. We still don't know who he looks like. He had some respiratory issues, but they've been taken care of by our good friend, Dr. Chapman. Eli bites real hard - even without teeth. Lastly, Eli is a mini-me of Michael Phelps in the swimming pool.
3. I (Gary) went off staff with Young Life and has been the Pastor to Students at Parkway United Methodist Church (Sugar Land) for a month now. My van has surpassed the 244,000 mile mark.
4. Allison finished a painting she's been working on for 3 years.
5. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Paris for Allison's mom's wedding. The weather was great, food was great, decorations were great, hanging out was great, it was a great time of celebrating a new beginnings for the both of them.
For Allison's first Mother's Day we celebrated a few weekends later (I was at camp). I surprised Allison with a nights stay at The McKay House - a bed and breakfast - in Jefferson, TX (www.mckayhouse.com). Jefferson is a special place for us because it's where we honeymooned. We ate dinner at the same restaurant (same table) we did 2 1/2 years ago, but this time we had company (see picture). At one point we told our waitress we honeymooned there and in an act of generosity she brought us a piece of cheesecake. We decided not to tell her it wasn't our anniversary. -- The room was called the, 'Garden Suite', and had his and her claw-foot tubs. The food was incredible and the only other guests were an older couple whom was the weatherman for Dan Rather a while back (he did TV and radio for 30 some odd years). The breakfast was incredible (everything from scratch) and we definitely plan on staying there again.
Mother's Day 2010
Our Free Cheesecake
For my first Father's Day Allison got me a grill and a book called, 'Raising a Modern Day Knight'. I've yet to cook on the grill, but I'm thinking July 4th weekend would be a good time to break it in. I left with Parkway the Sunday of Father's Day to spend a week in Canton, TX with 12 high school students and some adults from the church for UM ARMY. It's a mission type camp where we, and 80 others, painted and fixed houses, built wheelchair ramps and front porches, and did various work projects. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on. We had terrific adult leaders with us and the attitudes from kids (even though they were working all day in the heat) were great. God did some great things through all the workers and I'm positive everyone left a little different than how they came.
