Merry Christmas from The Mallett's

We hope everyone has had a great 2011. Here's what we've been up to.

Our year started with a newborn baby (Addison Joelle) and so we have been busy changing diapers, feeding, waking up at all hours of the night and teaching her "head, shoulders, knees and toes." She is now running everywhere, mostly chasing Aubrey around the house, has learned to point and grunt for anything she wants, and her new favorite spot is inside Lucie's kennel (of course when Lucie is not in it!). She's now 1 year old, 20 lbs, and she also loves to dance to any music. She's definitely more "curious" than Aubrey was, so I am always checking my back to see if she is climbing into anything or getting herself into trouble.

Aubrey is four, almost five, and is starting to read, write, and perform math (at the dinner table when she adds all her food together). She loves to color, draw pictures, do puzzles, and play with her Barbies. She started Tee ball this year, did very well, but was not too excited about it, mostly because she didn't get to wear her favorite color: pink. She also took swimming lessons, which she loves. Her cousins have been to Texas a few times this year, so she has spent alot of time playing with them.

Troy is busy with work at the police department. He is now trained as a hostage negotiator and has also trained several new recruits in the department. When he's not at work, he's at work....military, that is. His reserve duties have been abundant this year with their annual inspections and he is the go-to guy for training and deployment resources. Troy also earned his college degree and we are very proud of him for that accomplishment. He was able to convince me into purchasing a 1968 Chevy Camaro and whenever we get a chance, we go cruising in it. 2012 will bring some challenges because he will be deployed for most of the year overseas, but us girls will hold down the fort at home and count down the days until he returns!

I am still working at the county road department and enjoy the new challenges that I face each day. I love playing and spending any time possible with the girls. In the summer, Aubrey and I would take off to Schlitterbahn for a few hours at a time to play at the waterpark. I took them to the zoo with a friend in early spring, and I love taking them to the park in the cooler weather. Troy and I also have made plans to take the girls to Sea World for the Christmas adventure in a few weeks.   

I took the girls to Iowa for the Fourth of July to the Walker family reunion. It's always nice to see family I haven't seen in a long time. We took a Disney cruise with Troy's family to the Bahamas in early September, then stayed at a Disney resort in Orlando for three nights while we went to the greatest place on Earth: Disney World. Aubrey loved every minute of it, but we wore her out every day, dragging her on every ride we could. We loved the trip, our first cruise, and hope to one day go on another. In early November, we went back to Florida for Tara's wedding. We enjoyed seeing family and watching Tara and Darren get married on the beach.

We have truly been blessed this year with all the new adventures our family has had. We wish a very Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

Birthday Girl

It truly seems like yesterday I was waddling my way into the labor and delivery area at the hospital with Troy, ready to meet our little Addison Joelle. We've finally discovered how different our two girls are: Aubrey has always been shy, hesitant to start any trouble, and loves to be around someone at all times. Addison on the other hand, although she looked exactly like Aubrey after she was born and had her same mannerisms, has definitely explored her wild side lately. Two complete opposites. Addison smiles alot and loves to blow bubbles. She has been walking for about 3 months now and is already climbing up and down the stairs. Although her vocabulary consists of baby blabber and DaDa, we know she's going to change the world. If we could just get her to sleep through the night...Happy Birthday precious Addison!

Trick or Tr"EAT"

Why do we always end up with so much candy? I feel like I never buy enough, but I always end up with alot left over, even after the cute, little, costumed kids have left. Aubrey enjoyed handing out candy at home once she had been to each house around the block collecting her share, and Addison was having fun pushing the wagon around in front of the garage while Troy washed the Camaro. What a perfect night too, there's no weather like Fall weather!

Autumn: the perfect pause between the miseries of summer and winter

I love Fall! It's my favorite time of the year. It brings cooler weather, beautiful leaves, pumpkins, cider, football, chili, and more time with my family. But I have to say it. There's no Fall like the Midwest fall. Texas trees just don't bring the colors like up north does when the seasons change. I miss the farm I grew up on and raking up leaves, just to jump in them, and then rake them up into those huge garbage bags that look like giant pumpkins. We would put up little pumpkin poster decorations around the house in every window. Then we traveled to an apple tree farm to pick apples and buy cider with my Grandma. I feel like there's not enough time to experience the best season, especially outside. I'm still contemplating where we can take some good Fall family pictures, so if anyone has any ideas, do tell. I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I found a recipe for online and I have to say, they were yummy! Now I'm on to the pumpkin bread, if I can just find the time. This weekend it's off to the pumpkin patch in Bracken with my girls. Every year I dress Aubrey in overalls and get her all dolled up for pictures. I can't wait! Oh, and there will be pumpkin carving for sure!  

Time Flies By

The girls are growing up so fast and I want to catch each special moment and milestone they reach. Addison is already taking two steps at a time and has five teeth! I love watching Aubrey play with her. Yesterday Addison was determined to play with the toys Aubrey was playing with, and it ended up in a brawl over who could get the toys. Addison was not backing down either! Aubrey ended up moving to another room just to play by herself. Here is one of my favorite pictures of them. Before we went to Iowa, I decided to make them some cute, personalized shirts. I love how they turned out.

How WE met

I met Troy while stationed in the Air Force at Ellsworth AFB, SD. He worked day shift and I worked nights, so many times I would take his place on post in the early evenings, carrying my most prized possession, the M-249 machine gun (LOL!). Troy would often tease me, perform drive-by snowball fights, and throw my beret (required headgear) onto the entry control points so I'd have to climb on top of the building to retrieve it. He found it hilarious. I found it annoying...until his best friend, Gary, told me that Troy was actually flirting with me. I guess I just thought he didn't like me. We became close friends (I was in an unhealthy relationship at the time with someone else). Thankfully my relationship with an Egress mechanic ended and Troy and I became very close. I was due to deploy two weeks after we started dating, thus beginning our on-and-off long distance relationship. One of us would deploy, come home, then the other would deploy, so we spent few weeks together. We wrote letters, talked on the phone, and sent packages to each other when we could. In 2004, after Troy came home from a 5 month deployment to Al Udeid, he proposed to me on Valentine's Day at a bed and breakfast in the Black Hills (I still to this day have no idea how to get there, it's so far up in the hills). Of course, I said YES. In 2005 Troy was scheduled to separate from the military after 6 years of service, but instead, he volunteered to extend his time in service and deploy, with me, to Iraq. I was ecstatic that we were actually going to the scariest place on Earth TOGETHER. I deployed with my team and then he led a separate squad of 12 men two weeks later to Iraq. We spent every minute we could together, although our work schedules were different. We paid off our cars and saved plenty of money during those six months. Once we got home, Troy honorably separated, got a security job with the same department and I finished out my time in 2006 as a Desk Sergeant. We decided to move to Texas to try to get government jobs. The day I honorably separated from the military, we discovered we were pregnant. From there, it's been the greatest roller coaster ride of all!  

Wordpress?! Boo!

Well, HELLO Blogspot! I had a Wordpress blog, but after a few months of attempting to turn it into my own space, I just couldn't seem to navigate through making the page my own, so here I am at my first attempt on Blogpost to create a space of our own for the Malletts. Any and all comments are much appreciated.