Happy December

Wow... talk about needing to update your blog!  As you can see the last time I posted pictures was the beginning of the school year.  Apparently it's been a little busy since then.  I have been substitute teaching fairly regularly, along with the usual activities of the household... homework, chores, basketball practice, gymnastics performances & Christmas programs... so NEVER a dull moment!  Life is full but good at the Mallory household.  Here are some favorite pictures we'd like to share with you!  Please let us hear from you as well.... my e-mail is srmallory6@gmail.com.   
Have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!!!

Apple picking!  Aidan and Mom

Moriah Faith - 4 1/2 years

Aaron, Daddy and Raina

Raina in her 3rd grade classroom for Grandparents Day

The cousins on Halloween....

 
Raina the Kitty Cat and Aidan the Dragon, Moriah as Hannah Montana and Aaron as Pirate!    

Moriah and Dolly... she's so proud that she's not scared anymore!   
Performing at Sunshine Preschool at her fall party...  always a character!

The boys and some friends at school... performing in a mini-play at BPS on Reading Night!                   

 Raina and her friend Allee... dressed up as Junie B. Jones and Fancy Nancy!!  
So thankful for good friends.

:)

                      Happy Birthday to the boys... they turned 7 years old on us this year!  
  
We're so proud of all the kids though... they are thriving in school and love to learn.  We count our blessings and they are MANY!     

                

Moriah's First Day

Well we can't leave Moriah out now, can we?! She finally got to start preschool this afternoon. She was very excited and even ended up wearing Bolivar school colors... blue and yellow! We know she's going to have a great year! Considering that she's already writing her name and knows her ABC's, I think she's gonna have more fun than anything. :)

August...Cousins, Raina's birthday, Back to School!

I know a lot of you have seen these pictures on Facebook but I wanted to update the blog too. August was a really fun month. Raina turned 9 and had fun parties...one with family and a sleepover with friends! It's great that she made such good friends in Mrs. Tweedy's class last year. These girls are so sweet!

We had some fun times with cousins this month... my cousin Lacey came to visit with Uncle Tim. The Willard pool was a really fun time... Gram & Pop went with all the kids!

We survived back-to-school week with all the open house, meet-the-teacher and parent events! Aidan & Aaron Isaac are in 1st grade this year, Raina is in 3rd and Moriah starts SunShine Pre-school tomorrow with Mrs. Reed. They are all VERY excited! I am serving as PTA secretary this year and I am excited about that as well. I am so proud of my kids. We are praying for a blessed school year with lots of learning & fun!
One more thing... Moriah's eyes are doing wonderfully! Such an answer to prayer and once again... we thank you for your prayers and support. XOXO from all of us!

JULY... fun month and successful surgery!

The big news in the Mallory house is that Moriah had her eye surgery at Children's Mercy yesterday morning, and it was a success! She had quite a bit of pain yesterday and really wanted to rub her eyes, but we spoiled her with Sprite, pudding and our undivided attention. I think we were more nervous than Mo-Mo was about getting her eyes fixed... she was so brave riding on the cart into the surgery room by herself. Stevie & I both wanted to bawl. Anyway her eyes are really bloodshot but STRAIGHT as you will see in the pics and we are so thankful. Pray that the healing would be complete and that pain would continue to go down... she says it still hurts to close her eyes. (Thanks Mamo for the new Cabbage Patch doll... I still remember what mine looked like! She will love it forever!)
We had a great vacation in Branson a couple of weeks ago with my family. Stayed in a beautiful condo for 4 days and travelled the town with 7 kids in tow... fish hatchery, Dixie Stampede, Yakov's Circus, Dinosaur Museum, pontoon boating and pool time too! The Mallorys met the Hursts on our last day of vacation to share some boat time with them. I was surprised at how brave the kids were swimming around in the lake; I still get nervous when I can't see my feet!!!

It's been a fun month overall... I'll post some pics from the 4th of July at Carol's house in Holden (yes I'm aware I'm working backwards!) It's been great to spend more time with the kids and at the pool... they are all like FISH and especially after swim lessons! Overall I am ready to get back in the swing of things with school though. We put the boys to bed earlier tonight telling them... we'll have to get up earlier in a few weeks when school starts. Aaron Isaac asks... "what do you mean? what kind of school" WOW... it must have been a fantastic summer! :)

Surgery rescheduled... how nutty!

Some of you have heard by now, but Moriah's eye surgery was cancelled because she ate a nut. No, I am not kidding. As we were in the pre-op room discussing with the nurse what she drank that morning, she got into my purse and found some nuts at the bottom. Oh yes... she somehow had enough time to stick one in her mouth and chew. Steve was right next to her but helping me answer a question and didn't catch her until too late. Any solid food before surgery causes a risk of aspiration since she would be intubated, so the anesthesiologist was not willing to take that risk. In shock we left the hospital with directions to reschedule. It was quite the number of emotions we went through... esp. considering we were in KC and live 2 1/2 hours away. Thankfully Nana (in Holden) opened her home and watched the other kids for us, so we managed to enjoy the rest of our time there after getting over the initial shock.

Many ways to look at this... lesson learned, God's protection, and how to trust when we don't understand! SO many people were praying for Moriah that day that I have to believe there's a reason, even if we don't ever know why. Moriah is handling it like a trooper (after a frank discussion on why she really CANNOT eat anything before surgery!) and is still her upbeat, hilarious self. I am just praying that the crossed eyes don't cause her any more headaches.. she's had a few recently.

JULY 28th was the soonest we could schedule another surgery, unless there is a cancellation. If you would like to join us in prayer for her to get in sooner than that, we would appreciate it! Also pray that if God allowed this to happen because he plans on healing her, HIS will is done. Blessings & love to you all!!!

Summer fun & Moriah's eyes...

Our sweet Moriah got a clear report back from her MRI... thank you Lord! At the pre-surgery appointment her eyes had remained the same, so we are scheduled for surgery to correct the crossing on Friday June 18th! We still don't know the cause of this as it often remains unknown, but are thankful for a solution. The night before we'll head to Nana's in Holden so the kids can hang out with her, while Steve & I take her for outpatient surgery at Children's Mercy Hospital. She should be back to herself within 24 hours if all goes well... we'd really appreciate your prayers that day! Here's Mo-Mo being her usual goofy self and riding her bike in a church dress! :)


Memorial Day was a fun time at our house... kids played outside, we barbequed and adults got lots of talking time! We even got to watch movies together towards the end of the day. It's so nice to be close to family~
































The kids are really enjoying summer school... especially the day when they go to the pool! We put them all in gymnastics on Thursday nights at Tumbles... it's quite the show. They're spending lots of time outside riding bikes, chalking the sidewalk and slip-n-sliding! We also got to "Fish in the Park" this Saturday. I think the worms were the most exciting part! Raina and the boys have no problem baiting their hooks & are getting pretty good at casting too. Moriah's favorite part of the whole day was a can of Sprite. It's the little things in life!!! (Remember you can click on any of the pictures to see them bigger.)