Under Construction

As you know, construction projects can some times take a while. This one, will hopefully be completed within the coming week. I’d said I was going to do it over Lent and that didn’t happen. I have to do it now while I’m on leave or I fear it just won’t ever happen. I just made a list of 62 blogs to post of things that happened for our little family over the last year…yes going back as far as Memorial Day 2012. As I post, I am going to date them appropriately so that in coming years things are where they should be in this little memory keeper blog….but for our readers I will update with hyperlinks here to all the new blogs so you can track my progress! Seriously folks, one week – 62 posts – LOOK OUT!

05/21/13 Update:

I have made progress. Not 62 post progress, but still some…

Mark one off the bucket list!

Memorial Day 2012

Smurf invasion!

Hot Havana Nights

Love these smiles (and the rolls!) 

Taylor’s First Birthday (Party!) 

Kisses for Daddy

1 year old!

Peek-a-boo!

Ten Years

Maloney/Hinson Family Pictures

First Family Pictures

A Chair to Call Her Own

Bath Time Fun

Happy Birthday Daddy

Should I stay or should I go now?

More on the way!!

Building

Everyday with Taylor brings new changes!  New words, new favorites, new toys (thanks Santa!).  I just wanted to take a moment to document her favorite and most frequently used words before there were too many to list!  I know I’ve missed a few here, but these are the ones Daddy and I could think of that she uses consistently, clearly, and correctly at 18-19 months!

For some reason, even though I have NO in the wordle 5 times to make it one of the biggest, it doesn’t appear.  However, please note, this is currently probably her favorite word…both as a response to a request and as a command “No! No!” to Christian or anyone else that isn’t doing as she would like them to.  (LOL she’s pretty sure of what she wants and when she wants it, we’re working on patience).

Taylor was blessed with so many new toys and pretty clothes for her 2nd Christmas that I really need to take more pictures of her being cute like this:

Rather than lately I grab my phone to take a picture to catch her doing things like this:

Working hard to keep up!

Perhaps everyday was a little ambitious….

A moment of temporary insanity really.  I guess I forgot that I’m in the midst of big changes in our life.  In the last week I’ve fought a stomach bug, enjoyed a lovely dinner anyway at Jia with friends, made a trip to Houston and back, then diligently went to packing up the last of our belongings to be taken to Texas and stored.  To say moving day(s) was a nightmare would be an understatement.  When housing showed up to do our “final” walk thru, the one where we have everything out and hand over our keys….there was still alot of stuff to go out.  I explained that the truck was full and that my husband had gone to a local storage unit to put some things and would be back for more.  So, almost all of our things are now in Texas, but we do have a 5×5 unit here in addition to the 10×20 unit there.  Thank goodness Paul’s brother Billy was able to help, we would not have been able to do it without him.  I’m also very thankful we paid the cleaning fee and just left it, no way am I cleaning things for the next tenant that I wouldn’t clean for myself!  

So, now Paul is in Katy at his mom’s with Bronson & Annie.  I am in Long Beach staying with our very generous friends the Mink’s that have welcomed Taylor and I into their home.  I came with cooties in tow.  I kept thinking it was just allergies from stirring up 3 years of dust but Thursday morning realized it was much worse.  Today I stayed home from work even though I had several things I needed to be there for, but the fever was high and I’m sure they didn’t miss me as rough as I was looking/feeling. 

Highlight of the day was helping Sebastian learn how to play “that song from the iPad mini commercial”…also known as “Heart & Soul”.  Youtube and what I remember from Mrs. Jones came in handy! 

Maybe now that I’m getting settled in, I’ll be able to commit to a couple of posts a week.  Please forgive me as we have alot going on, like trying to find a job!!  

 

Here we go!

A quick post to show I’m going to do this! Today was mostly a disaster. Thankful Paul is home to do the brunt of the work preparing for our upcoming move. This time next week, he and our belongings will be in Texas. It’s an exciting time for us, thankful things are starting to fall into place.

Favorite part of the day: watching Taylor fixated on the CMA awards, I even let her stay up late and hang out in bed with me. Pretty sure it did my soul some good even if she didn’t get it.

Long lost friend…

Dear family blog, 

I have not forgotten you.  November will be a great time to show you some love.  Maybe I’ll do my own “30 days” like Town & Country Mom did such a great job with in October!  

Look for some daily visits soon, we certainly have enough going on for content!  

Missing you all, 

The Maloney’s 

Embroidery

No time like being stuck inside during a Hurricane to do what you’ve been putting off! I finally broke out the sewing machine and learned how to use the embroidery function! I had tinkered with it only slightly, but now I’ve completed my first two projects! Cameron’s turned out a little crooked (Sorry Stacey!) but now I know how to do it a little better next time! 

Should I stay or should I go now?

These past weeks have been a roller coaster!

First, we were told Paul would be promised homeport team with NMCB 133 if he spent 3 months working on a boat ramp in Corpus Christi, TX. Packed him off and sent him off 1 week before Taylor’s first birthday and Father’s Day (not that he hasn’t missed enough), but were feeling blessed to not have to go back to Afghanistan. This news came to us the night after I prayed for him to not have to go to a war zone again after the news of a man from Sonora being badly injured.

After a short time in Corpus he got word that rumors were confirmed, he was to administratively shifted to NMCB 74 to deploy to the Pacific immediately. He came back to Gulfport immediately and we began preparations for deployment, splitting time between packing and family.

 

During the time waiting for a flight, we learned that our orders for recruiting were irreversibly set for Lawton, OK….not exactly where we want to be, at all. After a few nights of discussion and prayer, we decided it would be the best decision for our family to not reinlist. Come November Paul will part ways with the Navy. Scary but exciting, so surely they won’t still send him just to have to send him back mid-September, right? Wrong.

We got as far as the airport. Upon arrival we learned that his ticket had not been paid for. Seems a bit strange, but flying commercially since the majority of the battalion had already departed, his ticket would be charged to his individual travel card. Even though he had confirmed it’s activation, he was on paper still attached to 133 and his card not approved for travel (I think that was it? It was all a mess!). Needless to say, the problem was not resolved in time to fly so he was told to go home and not unpack.

During the following week, Paul proved he would be excellent support to the homeport liaison while here and she finally made the call necessary to keep him home for the remainder of his time in the Navy. Thanks be to God. So now, I begin my job search and prepare to leave the Beau Rivage. This will not be easy, I get crazy when it comes to moving, but we’re excited to start the next chapter of our lives!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We’re so happy Daddy got to come home from Corpus Christi, we’re sad he has to deploy soon though (more on that later). Either way, the change meant we got to help him celebrate his 35th birthday!!

For his day I made my first attempt at Johnny Carino’s Italian Nachos. This was interesting as they are made with pasta chips. The recipe I found online suggested wonton wrappers, deep fried! Turns out they make great chips that are just right for these nachos! 

Trying to be like Pioneer Woman but who has the time to take so many pictures?…

Too much cheese got added to this sauce…but it was pretty close to Carino’s! 

Turtle Cheesecake for Daddy

Painfully full….

Happy Birthday my love, we have so much to celebrate!

Bath Time Fun

A Chair to Call Her Own

For Taylor’s birthday we used money from Nana B and Aunt Beth to get her a Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair. Paul didn’t seem too excited but finally gave in when the gift money came up. The kid LOVES this thing (just like I knew she would!).