Mallory is Six Today

When I woke up six years ago today,  I did NOT expect to end the day with a newborn. What a blessing you are Mallory.  Here is a picture of Mallory last night before bedtime.  We decided to document what she looked like on her last night as a five year old.

Here is what she looks like today. Can you tell a difference? :)

Mallory has really grown (physically and mentally ) this year. She has learned so many things in Kindergarten - she is doing well with her letters, sight words, and math.  Mallory enjoys going to school, but getting her up and ready can be a chore sometimes.  I don't know how she does it, but she can be hard to wake up on school days, but on the weekend she is up at 6:00 am sharp.  Mallory rides the bus to and from school and is really excited for Maggie to get to ride the bus with her in a year and a half. They talk about how they will ride next to each other and how much fun it will be.  Maggie has already asked for Mallory to teach her to ropes. 

While Mallory will always be strong-willed, she still has a heart of gold.  She loves her friends and family so much.  The girls still play well together (Maggie looks up to Mallory so much) and Maggie hasn't become the annoying little sister....95% of the time.  They play Paw Patrol, Snap Dress Dolls, Strawberry Shortcake and Frozen all the time.  Mallory loves to color and has become very good at it. She is also into writing small books and wants me to illustrate them.  I do sometimes and my art looks horrible, but she thinks it is great.  Mallory also loves to play with her neighborhood friends Kaylee, Ethan, Everly, and now Teeghan.  Teeghan's family moved next door in December and what a blessing they are...that is a whole other story.

6 year old stats:

Height - 45 1/4 inches (49th percentile) and Weight - 49 pounds (71st percentile)

I decided to ask Mallory to tell me her favorite things this year. Below is what she said.  If her answer is different from last year, the last year answer is parenthesis.

color - light blue (pink)

thing to wear - a dress

show - Dora and Friends (Sofia the First)

movie - Frozen

food -ice cream

activity - playing with dolls, dance, having a tea party (board games, dress up)

toy - Elsa and Anna snap dress dolls and the Ariel that plays their mom (Sofia the First figurine)

book - Frozen Sing Along (Strawberry Shortcake Adventures)

animal - kitty cats and tigers (giraffe)

insect - butterfly

least favorite thing to do - feeding the dog (watch Dora the Explorer)

Watchdog Dad Day

At Meet the Teacher, back in August, Matt signed up to be a Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) Dad on Mallory's birthday.  Mallory was so excited that he would be at school on her birthday.  Here they are before heading out to school.

Matt had to be at the school by 7:15 so he could help with the carpool line.  I can't remember what all he did, but I know it was helping out in several grades in the classroom, worked several lunches, and worked carpool after school.

He did get to spend some time with Mallory. She introduced him on the morning announcements (they do video announcements that are televised in all the classrooms) and he told everyone it was her birthday and to tell her happy birthday if they saw her in the halls.

Here are so pictures of her in the classroom and gym.

They got home around 3:00 and Matt passed out on the sofa and took over an hour nap.

Mallory's Six Year Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Mallory's birthday with Mammy, Guy Guy, Grandma, and Papa Nick.  We were supposed to celebrate yesterday, but we cancelled due to the weather stating the roads should still be iced over.

Here is a picture of Mallory with her gifts and Maggie wanted to make sure she wasn't left out and in the picture.

Mallory received a brand new Schwinn bicycle from Mammy and Guy Guy.  Matt and I purchased the training wheels and Grandma and Papa Nick purchased the helmet.  She also received a new night gown and fancy light up tennis shoes.

Mallory is already to go - now we just need those training wheels to come in the mail!

Here is Mallory's "Frozen," themed cake.  Its the color of frozen.  I didn't do a good job at all this year on her cake.  Everyone said it was lovely (Mallory too), but I don't like the job I did. It tasted good and Mallory was happy so that is all that matters in the long run.

So happy that she blew out the candles!

Gymnastics Star Student

Two weeks , I noticed that Mallory's gymnastics teacher was carrying around a clipboard and making notes. I didn't think much about it and then of course I forgot about it later.  When the girls were in class today I noticed there were a lot of awards on a wall and there was some paper listing out info. I walked over to see what it was - it was a list of all the kids who had moved up to the next level of gymnastics.  Mallory was one of them! :) She moved from beginners to intermediate.  She still has a long a way to go to be a professional gymnast (what she wants to be - meaning she wants to be able to do a cartwheel).  We are all so proud of her and she is very excited herself.

Ice First, Then Snow = No School

Well the first and hopefully last snow/ice storm has hit Texas this year.  I could complain about how cold it was etc, but we all know it was.  Let's just enjoy some pictures of the girls. They had so much fun when we spent a few minutes outside.  Mallory also enjoyed not having school yesterday.

Maggie showing her baby Ariel the snow.

The girls and Matt made a little snowman. Of course, they named him Olaf.  I decided since Olaf dreams of summer, we needed to include a flamingo.

Kindergarten Diorama

Mallory's homework assignment this week was to make a diorama of the animal she is studying in class.  Each student was able to choose the animal they wanted to study and Mallory chose a tiger.  We went to the library and got a couple of books to review where Tigers live etc.  After much thought, we decided that the forest habitat would be the easiest habitat to recreate.

Mallory did a large part of the project and I obviously helped.  Each parent had too - I did the cutting, taping, and gluing.

Mallory - drew and colored all the trees in the background, minus the one I did to show her how, drew the tiger cubs, colored the forest floor, and drew the majority of the trees in the front that we cut out.

We had fun doing this project. All of us are excited to see it (and the other students) when they are presented at Open House next week.  I am also looking forward to many more projects like this in the future.

Valentine Parties

Valentine's Day was on a Saturday this year so both girls had parties a couple of days before at school.  I found these really cute Gymboree heart skirts on sale and bought for their parties.

I was able to go to both parties for the girls, but only took pictures at Mallory's. Mallory was with us for Maggie's party (due to not being able to go to school because of her allergic reaction) so I wasn't able to do any picture taking.  Mallory and Maggie both had a great time at Mallory's party. They made heart hats, decorated cookies, and dressed up Mrs. Rea with funny Valentine's Day decor.

Here are the girls on Valentine's Day with a few little special treats from Matt and me.  Both girls received Frozen Jelly Belly's and a Frozen water ball.  This first picture shows them working on making hearts with their hands.

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