Happy Halloween

Waycross (Jamestown to us) Trick or Treat)

Tonight was our real trick or treat night. Along with Mallory's good friends, Caylee and Sabrina, we circled our block and got tons of candy. The girls had a lot of fun and I think I enjoyed the adventure as much as they did.

About 10 years ago Daniel gave me a Liz Clairborne book bag purse. I don't use it much anymore, only when I go on my quarterly shopping trips. However, it came in very handy tonight. I used it to store bottled water and Mal's tennis shoes and then her boots.

We hoofed the entire mile and it didn't take Mallory long to get tired of her boots. Since I am a superstar mom, I had her tennis shoes ready.

Trick or Treat in Blackshear

Blackshear had trick or treat tonight, which worked out perfectly for us. We have family and good friends in Blackshear and Waycross so this year we will be able to see everyone. Tomorrow night we will circle our neighborhood with 2 other girls (daughters of Daniel's friend).

Anyway, Mallory was ready to go. As soon as I got home, she immediately put on her outfit. We visited Grannie Thigpen, Aunt Shelley, and Papa Sammy. Mallory also trick or treated at a couple of nearby houses. She had a blast and wasn't too shy to say "trick or treat".

Jamestown Fall Festival

Although we made a trip to Jacksonville today to see the eye doctor, see post below, we made it home in time to attend the Jamestown (our small community) Fall Festival. Mallory was in bouncy heaven. They had several bouncers, as you can see from the pictures below. She spent time on each one. First was the actual bouncy house, the second was a huge slide, and the third
was an obstacle course. I think she liked the obstacle course the best. We met up with some of her friends. In the third picture, she is in line with Sabrina and Caylee, the daughters of a friend of Daniel's. We were also with a friend of mine from work and her daughter Jayla, the friend that trick or treated with Mal last year.

The last picture is of Mallory opening a box. The box came from the UPS man and she had been waiting for it for the past 2 days. It contained a large order from Gymboree (clothes from the clearance sale).

It was really funny because she saw Daniel accept the package as he was leaving for the store. He kept the package with him as he left and she went NUTS!!! She kept saying, "Daddy took my clothes." I couldn't help but laugh.

Brrr It's Cold

Yesterday and today we had a low in the 30's. Mallory was very excited about breaking out her new "big jacket". Here she is wearing the new jacket that was bought by her Grandma Brown.

Today we went back to the eye clinic at Nemours. We received mostly good news. Mallory's corneas' have cleared up. We no longer have to use eye drops but will continue with the ointment and baby shampoo treatment.

Her eyes are misaligned but the problem is minor. Right now we are going to try eye glasses and an eye patch. She has to wear the eye patch for 2 hours each day. If the problem doesn't correct itself or gets worse then eye muscle surgery will be considered.

Mallory Goes to Work

On Tuesdays, I pick Mallory up from school and I usually bring her to my office. As you can see, she loves it! In fact, she doesn't ever want to leave. In this picture, she is sitting at our secretary's desk and she is "having a conversation" with her Uncle Greg, Daniel's brother.

After talking to my Grandma Yeager last night, I realized that there are a lot of people who may not know what I do. If you are interested, continue reading.

I work at a community service board. My agency serves mental health and developmentally delayed adults. I am on the DD side. I work with the Supported Employment Program as a case manager. All of my clients are mild MR and are or want to be contributing citizens in our society. My main job function is paperwork and acting as a liaison between my client and the Social Security Administration (SSI and SSDI benefits) and the Department of Family and Children Services (food stamps and medicaid). I also arrange doctor and dental visits for most, help some pay bills and balance their checkbooks, and take a few grocery shopping. Overall I like it. I have one client that truly gets on my nerves and I don't like making trips to the dental clinic (usually once a month) but other than that it is a fairly good job. If needed, my hours are flexible and so far I have always been able to get off when needed.

Happy Birthday Grandma Yeager

We Love You

Weekend Happenings

One of Mallory's favorite activity, is playing Lucky Ducks. We play Lucky Ducks about 100 times per day. This game was given to her by Aunt Kristy. It consists of ducks swimming around in a circle and quaking. Underneath the ducks are colored shapes. You take turns picking up ducks to try to get 3 specific shapes. Mallory is usually a red circle and me and Daniel are purple squares. Did I mention that the ducks quack? In fact, they quack loudly.


This weekend we had beautiful weather. Mallory and I did our usual breakfast. We ate at Jerry J's (as usual) and went grocery shopping. When we got home, we ate goodies from the bakery and then went outside. We practiced bike riding, which mainly consisted of me pushing her feet in the correct motion. She is getting better but my child is lazy. I guess she got tired of bike riding because after about 10 minutes she went to her playground.

Halloween 2007

For 2007, Mallory was a princess. I called her Princess Mallory. I loved this costume and besides her bumble bee costume it is my favorite. I bought it on clearance from The Children's Place. I think I paid $20.00 for it. A great bargain.

As you can see, Mallory had a friend to trick or treat with. The little girl's name is Jayla and I work with her mom. Daniel pulled them in the wagon around our neighborhood, the wagon was full and heavy. The girls had a ball. In the second picture, we are at the house directly in front of us.

Before we met up with Jayla, we visited Grannie Thigpen. I believe I have said in an earlier post that Grannie has great treats. Every year we visit her and every year she has something good to eat.

Community Helper Day

I arrived in town in time to pick Mallory up from school. Today at her school was community helper day. As you can see (in second photo), Mallory dressed up as a nurse. Her scrub top was lent to us from Aunt Krystial and she already had her doctor kit. I thought she was adorable.

The first picture is of her wearing her new hoodie that I bought from Gap. I left Wednesday morning to represent my agency at a conference on Jekyll Island. Thank goodness there was a mall that had a Gap. Otherwise the trip would have been a total waste. Just kidding, I attended some very interesting workshops resources for people with disabilities.

p.s. I hate kodak and will never again buy their product. I have repeatedly tried to enhance my photos but always get an error message and am closed out. Also, my pictures tend to be on the dark side. Just a tip.

Mallory's Field Trip

Today's Mallory's class visited a nearby fire station and a historical train depot in Waycross. The train depot also was supposed to be a pumpkin patch, however, I didn't see many pumpkins.

Being the totally awesome and much involved mother that I am, I met them at the train depot. When I arrived, Mallory instantly spotted me but didn't make a move toward me until I was close. She held my hand while we toured the depot and as we walked along a small trail.

The first picture is of Mal standing on the depot's rail. The second is of her and a few friends getting ready to play duck duck goose. After they played this game, they ate a picnic lunch, which was when I returned to work.

Tomorrow morning I am leaving to go to an agency convention. I will not return until Friday. I tried really hard to get out of it but was unsuccessful. I will suck it up and try to enjoy myself. After all, there is a nearby mall equipped with a Gap.

It Fits!!

Tonight Mallory tried on her Halloween costume. I am giving you a sneak peak of what she will look like on Halloween. However, she is missing one key component to her costume, the part I am responsible for. I promise she will have it by 10/31!!! Be sure to notice her red boots and pink gun set. They are super cute, given to her by who else, Grandma.

Fall is in the Air

During the night, the temperature got down to 45 degrees. For Georgia, that IS cold. We all wore long sleeved shirts this morning. This picture shows what Mallory wore, a new long sleeved dress given to her by her Grandma Brown.

Favorite Photo # 7

This picture was taken in October of 2006. We spent the night with Daniel's dad, Papa Don, and his step mother, Grandma Ann. I think I took this picture, if I didn't Daniel did. That night, I had taken Mallory to the guest bedroom to try to get her to go to sleep. She absolutely refused. She begged me to let her get up and "play with Papa Don". How could I say no? She got up and went directly to his lap. It didn't take long before she fell asleep. I love this picture because it shows how comfortable Mallory is with Don and how much they love each other.

Halloween 2006

For this Halloween, Mallory was an angel, my perfect little angel. I bought this costume from Target and I thought it was very cute. Shockingly, we made it through the entire night without getting dirty. The man in the picture is Mal's Pappy, Daniel's step father.

SeaWorld:Day2

On Saturday night we stayed in a nearby hotel. As soon as we got there, Mallory begged to go swimming. I was a little surprised because she awoke all through the night, wanting to wake Grandma up. I finally let her at 6:22. Anyway, we got to the hotel around 6:00 pm so she should have been tired (she had no nap). We went swimming in the cold pool but ended up in the hot tub because it was warm.

As soon as we returned to SeaWorld, mom and Steve signed up to feed the dolphins. I was not interested because I had no desire to touch dead fish. Since they paid the mandatory fee they were allowed to get extra close to the dolphins. Mom, being the awesome grandmother that she is, paid for Mallory to accompany them. Mal did better than I expected. I knew she wouldn't want to touch them or feed them but she did get close to them.

The second picture is of her watching the dolphins from the underground viewing area. The dolphins are bigger than what they appear on television. I think we all enjoyed watching them swim.

The third picture was taken by Steve. We were in the Artic Blast center. This is my favorite part of SeaWorld. It is exactly what I imagine the Artic being like. It is cold, grayish in color, and there were polor bears, walruses, and beluga whales. In this picture, Mallory and I are posing next to a huge block of ice. At first I thought the block was fake but as I was getting ready to sit Mal up on it, I realized it was VERY real.

We couldn't leave SeaWorld without taking another trip to the water park. Besides, us adults were ready for a break. We were also starving but didn't eat until afterwards.

SeaWorld: Day 1

We spent Saturday and Sunday at SeaWorld in Orlando. We had a blast. Mallory was able to partake in the "Spooktacular" event. She trick or treated all through the park. As a result she received a bucket full of candy. In the first picture you can see that she was more concerned about posing for the camera than getting candy.

Luckily SeaWorld has a small water park for children. It was a place for kids to cool off and adults to rest. We were able to sit at a nearby shaded table while watching Mallory play. It was a great experience for all.

I have always thought of Mallory as being cautious. After all, she didn't walk until she was 14 months and didn't jump off of things until 4 so you can imagine my concern when she said she wanted to get on this ride. I took her and she truly enjoyed it. She wasn't afraid at all. In fact, she laughed the entire time.

The last picture was taken by me. I took it while we were waiting for the Clyde and Seymore show. Clyde and Seymore are walruses ( I think) and they were the second show we saw. The first show was Believe (Shamu). During this show, I actually insisted that Mallory and I sit in the splash zone. I thought she would enjoy getting wet. I was soooooooooooo wrong. She did like watching the whales swim underwater but when they splashed us, all I could do was chase after her. She immediately jumped up and started running up the steps. To my amazement, she ran straight to where Grandma and Grandpa were sitting. When we first saw Clyde and Seymore, she asked, "are they going to splash me?"

Off We Go

Tonight Mallory and I packed our suitcases. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to FL. We will spend the first night with mom and on Saturday we are all getting up and going to SeaWorld. We will be at SeaWorld on Saturday and Sunday. Mallory is excited. While packing her bathing suit, she said, "so I can swim with the dolphins like Grandma". She will also be going trick or treating inside the park.

Mallory Goes to the Store

Yep, Mal went to the store after she had her bath. She wore her pajamas, flip flops and her beach hat to cover up her wet hair.

Halloween 2005

Halloween 2005 was the first Halloween that I had a digital camera. Therefore, it is the first Halloween that I have pictures of on my computer. I thought I would share some old Holiday pics with you. On this Halloween, Mallory was Sleeping Beauty. She was 2 years old and it was the first time she enjoyed the whole "trick or treat" concept. She totally understood it after the first house. The picture of her eating a sucker was taken right after the first stop, which was a neighbor's house. She couldn't wait to eat it. She kept saying "open it, mama".

The second picture is of her trick or treating at her Uncle Greg's house. I am sure that you recognize my Grannie in the third picture. She always has good treats! While at Grannie's, we met the Raulerson's. Kirsten was a bunny rabbit that year.

Do you remember that year Lealane? We stopped by your house to.