March 2016- Malory Madness | The Harris Family Blog

There’s a certain member of our family that doesn’t get a whole lot of blog time, mainly because it’s not that interesting to take pictures of her watching Peppa Pig. But, considering she is a force to be reckoned with, this month’s blog post is all about Malory. (Sidenote: I’ve thrown in a few pictures and snippets of the big kids, just to prove that I haven’t sold them to the highest bidder).

First off, there’s this….

Which leads to a lot of this for me (the wine, not the bingo)..

The large number of stickers on the above chart might lead you to believe that this process was a piece of cake, finished with relatively few tears in a couple of days. YOU WOULD BE WRONG. I won’t go into detail about things unmentionable so as not to embarrass Malory (that comes later in her teenage years), but suffice it to say the girl is as stubborn as they come. So, for the next several months (or years) I’ll be toting spare underpants at all times.

There’s one important thing I’ve mentioned about Malory a few times, but it bears repeating. Her daddy is her favorite person in the whole world. She loves him more than chocolate, and that’s saying it all. It also explains a lot of why she is the way she is. The two of them are essentially the same person, save for that single X chromosome. We often have lunch dates with daddy, and honestly they’d probably be just as happy if I wasn’t there. They could drink beer and eat pizza to their heart’s content.

You know how they say that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb? We’ll talk about the weather in a second, but first more on that lion…..

March is traditionally the month for Spring Break, and this makes me happy for several reasons. It gives me a chance to do some fun activities with the kids, and it provides me with 2 additional people for zone defense against that lion. It takes a village.

We did some bowling…..

(This picture cracks me up, but also terrifies me because of the sass)

(This picture is enlarged to show that not only did Malory beat her older sister, but also her dad. Also, let’s note who creamed everyone?)

We also did some trampoline jumping in hopes that it would wear her out.

Turns out, when you give her an entire milkshake afterward all of your efforts are for naught.

Toward the end of the week, we ventured down to the big city to the Children’s Museum and Aquarium. I have never met a 3-year-old that didn’t LOVE bubbles, and Malory is no exception. I think poor Jackson had to stand there and blow bubbles for her for nearly an hour. What was I doing you ask? Playing on my phone of course;-)

At the Aquarium, I was too busy to take many pictures because I was ensuring that she didn’t give the Lenny treatment to a couple of stingrays. But, I did get a priceless one of her expression when I told her she couldn’t pick up the aforementioned death traps…..

Now, as much as I love Spring Break, I am also thrilled on the Monday afterward when the kids get back on the bus and I can just take a deep, restful breath. NOPE. Instead, this year we were treated to a snow day almost as soon as I’d sent them back. I could show you pictures of sweet Jackson and I curled up in front of the fireplace reading, or of Reese quietly playing Barbies in her room. But, since this is all about Habanero, there’s this….

(What does one wear on a spring snow day? In Colorado, you can never be sure…..)

Two days later though we had beautiful weather, right in time for the Easter Bunny to make his appearance. We spent the days beforehand decorating our house, dyeing eggs and planting jellybeans in the yard. What’s that you say?

Yes, according to Malory if you plant jellybeans in the yard, they will grow into Easter Eggs.

(Sidenote: It’s now late April and she’s dumbfounded every day when she goes out to check. Funny that she didn’t notice the two furry “helpers” who followed her trail of jelly beans and ate them. Probably a good thing though because she would have bit their ears right off!!)

(See? The big kids are still alive and well)

On the big morning, the kids woke up at the crack of 9:30 and immediately went to work searching for the bunny’s treats. There were kites, bubbles, and a couple of puzzles that Malory has been coveting for months. Look at her excitement! And also check out her hair….. the wind is not blowing. That’s some bedhead.

Now, I must wrap this up because it’s eerily quiet here in my house right now which means that somewhere Habanero is up to no good. She might have Walter and Charlie shut in the bathroom with her while they “tee pee” the joint (this has happened), or she’s out in the yard picking all of the tulips that it took me a month to plant (also true story). Either way, the girl keeps me on my toes all of the time and makes my mama heart smile each and every day. How can you get (too) mad at this?

P.S. A few last things for the record…..

Family Easter Picture. Jackson and Reese and I clean up nice, don’t we? If you’ll notice Malory’s ever-present tongue sticking out….it’s her reaction to her Dad’s pink pants. 🙂