Simply Selby: January 2016

"Mommy, Can I Have A Puppy?"

That is what I heard on the way home tonight from a certain four year old girl. Each night, on our drive home from work/daycare, Mallory and I try to talk about her day or as of late we have started the " would you rather eat pickles or tomatoes?' or "do you like Minnie or Daisy better?" Questions like that. I LOVE hearing what she has to say....some crazy stories and conversations have happened because of silly questions like these....ANYWAYS....so tonight she was pretty quiet and wasn't really into answering my questions...all of a sudden I hear this sweet, little voice come from the backseat whispering, "I really miss Peanut, mom." AWWWW.....my heart broke a tad bit.....As you all know (if you have read previous blogs) that our little doggie Peanut got hit by a car this past spring. Mallory and Peanut had a special relationship and were the best of buds. She had a hard time dealing with the death of "her best friend" as she has told me numerous times. But as of late, she hasn't said much about Peanut besides the occasional mention of Peanut during prayer time. Tonight....she was pretty sad again and asking so many questions that I know I'm not explaining well enough for her to understand...otherwise I wouldn't think she would keep asking....So we discussed that Peanut went to heaven and was with Jesus and reminded her we still had Peanut's sister Roxie to love on. We talked about some of our favorite memories. She said...."Mom, did you know Peanut use to let me ride on her back when I was one?" NOOOO! I didn't know that....especially knowing how much Mallory weighed and knowing that poor Peanut only weighted like 12 lbs....:) YIKES! She just giggled.....then the conversation went to : "Mom, can we go on vacation to see Peanut?" Oh how I wish, we could on vacations to heaven. How awesome would that be.....Then it came....."Mommy, can I have a puppy? A little one, like Peanut. I loved Peanut so much that we could name it Peanut!" Sooooo excited, she was! Me.....not so much. I have told Mick that I don't think we should get any new pets until our schedule is more stable. This was brought up way before we lost Peanut. I told Mallory we already had a pet and explained to her that puppies were hard to train and took a lot of time, etc. She very strongly argued..."But mom, we can ALL help. You, me and dad. As a family." Ha! Good one....learned that lesson a long time ago. But I will tell you........she almost had be convinced. She is very persuasive. And sooo sweet about it....So you're all chomping at the bit to hear whether we are getting a puppy....I know...I know.....THE ANSWER IS......nope! My sister is getting one and so is our good friend's the Baptist......so we will babysit as needed and my hope is that will suffice the four year old from the backseat.....

I believe this is our future.....lol!

December...I love Christmas and all the magic that it entails. Mallory was defeintly in the Christmas spirit this year, which really made things fun. She was very excited to see her elf Jozie make yet another appearance. She would get much more excited this year to find him/her each morning. The sex of Jozie is still up in there...it is a boy elf but Mallory named it Jozie.

The talk of Santa and hearing her sweet voice sing Christmas carols...over and over and over....brought joy to my heart. She also started attending Sunday school and has talked about Jesus a lot more and asks and wants to learn about him....which also makes me happy. She would say things like....Are Santa and God friends? Does Santa know Jesus? After her birthday party, she informed me that she wanted to have a "Jesus" birthday party theme next year because more people need to pray...lol! I couldn't agree more...

She also turned 4!!! Yep....4! I don't know why but it was the first birthday that I had a little moment of WOW....my baby isn't a baby anymore. Her vocabulary is out of this world, she is always saying new and funny things...and of course doing funny things. We have a thing that we do at bed time..."I love you more than...." She will say some off the wall things. She is growing like a weed and is in the 99% in height. She is tall and skinny! She still eats pretty good and still has a sweet tooth. She still has a love for Micky & Minnie, all things princess and Barbies! She does a tom boy side to her though as well...her birthday gift from us this year was a bow and arrow (play of course) and walkie-talkies....She also likes to wrestle with daddy....;) She enjoys coloring and drawing and would have to say she is quite good....A big milestone for Mallory this month/year was giving up her beloved blanket. She has slept with this blanket since she was born. The thumb sucking and blanket went hand and hand and I thought it was time to nip that. So I decided that she would leave it for Santa on Christmas Eve and he would take it back to the North Pole and turn it into a teddy bear. She seemed okay with this at first...but that night she freaked out...."I can't find my blanket. It's lost. I have to find it." She cried about it for a bit but we are officially blanket free!!!

With that...she also had a first trip to the dentist.....she did great! I had them warn her about sucking her thumb...which she typically only does at night time and with the blanket....we have noticed that the thumb sucking has gone down TREMENDOUSLY. So we are making progress!!!

She also graduated to a booster seat in the car. She thinks its great that she can buckle herself up and shut her own door. She also thinks its great that she gets 2 vitamins now that she is 4....oh the simple things in life....

Grandma & Papa with Mallory at her church Christmas program.

Dark photo on the right but love her smile here...

Hmmm....I'm up to no good or just stinkin' adorable....

Church Program...she did great!

She nailed her part of holding the duck up...lol!

Singing her heart out....well not really...it was more of a whisper but looks like it.

I love the youth at my church...they have such good spirits and so nice....

Beautiful.

Mallory being a shepherd.

Shepherd Mallory

The cutest shepherd of all time....

My cousin Michaela is dominating some Liberty basketball her senior year. It's fun to follow her team....currently they are 17-0!!! Mallory and I went to watch her at Triopia....and obviously they won!

Jozie the Elf's return to the Selby household....

She/he even made an appearance in camper that we stayed in at my sisters.

And for pancakes at Grandma's.

And a party for daddy's birthday.

Mallory's first trip to the dentist....she did great!

Saw this cute idea from a friend....Mallory loved it!

She planted "magic beans" and Christmas trees grew in its place.

Mick and I at his company Christmas.

Jozie giving Mallory some love in the tree.

"M power!!' Megan, Michalea and Mallory

Showing off her muscles

Mallory making a Christmas list under the tree....literally under the tree....

Jozie reminding us all what Christmas is really about...

Mallory's Christmas Program for school.....couldn't get a normal photo so...

Mallory visiting with Santa

Keeping an eye on what he is doing....

So sweet....she was so excited he knew her name!

Mallory's dinosaur drawing....this clearly wasn't in line to be on here but Mallory walked by and told me she wanted me to add this....so here it is!!!
It's the Good Dinosaur

Mallory was invited to a princess tea party. She was so excited and loved hanging out with her friends.

This too may seem random but it really touched me....so I was dropping something off for work at Hardees. I went to throw away my paper and looked over the trash can and saw this couple holding hands like this and just talking....I watched them for a bit (creepy I know...especially since I took a picture) but I just thought it was the sweetest thing I had seen in a long time. Fast forward two hours...I am ringing bells at a local store and here they come again....holding hands walking in, he takes her coat off for her and they push the cart together....still holding hands. It really touched me....

So then later that day...I went back to ring bells with Mallory...she loved it but glad it was only a 30 minute shift...

Jozie drinking some milk in the fridge

Reminding Mallory to be good!

Mallory had a Mickey/Minnie birthday party this year and this was my Toodles sign....

She invited all the girls in her class this year...I think the boy cousins finally felt outnumbered.

So cute....she sure loves these girls and they were all sooo good. Glad Mallory has some good girls to grow up with...
(I had other pictures on my big camera but haven't downloaded them yet....:{

Fluff Minnie's bows.....so many giggles....

Belting out a little "Let It Go!"....again the boys in the background crack me up.

Happy 4th year of life my sweet girl...

Mallory's actual birthday she gets a "special day". So of course, we went to Springfield to ride the carousel and get cookies

Cousin Collin got to join in on the fun this year.....Mallory was just a tad excited...

Train ride.....

Annual Build A Bear

She loves this kitty

I am 4....which means that I can do EVERYTHING!

Record breaking temperatures this winter....as in warm....yes it would be the middle of December and 57!!

Tea party set from a dear friend.

Make a wish....it has to come true with such big candles.....sometimes you just have to improvise.

Mallory wanted a bow and arrow for her birthday.....lol! Princess Merida in full effect.

Mallory received a HUGE Barbie house for Christmas....she loves it!

Oh wait...here's a normal picture....

More bell ringing

Another birthday party invite..this time it was super hero themed!!

Got to ring the new year in with these crazy cats....

We had a blast playing board games....and of course popping a balloon every hour....little loud but fun...

And of course you have to bring in the new year with fireworks!

Cousin snuggles

Lane was such a hoot! Love those Fricke boys...
And yes...they talked me into confetti and silly string....inside....twice....good thing they are cute

These two made it till midnight..

Next day....I got to snuggle with my other nephew...

While Mallory snuggled up with Aunt Dana

Mallory LOVED shooting Collin's dart gun at a target...she wasn't too bad actually....little bit of sass always helps shoot more accurately.
Mick started calling her Barbie the Barbarian