Like mother, like daughter

****Disclaimer: I apologize to any family members that see these pictures and are angry that I didn't get permission ahead of time to post them on the Internet. All proper names have been left out. ****

Moving on. From birth, Mallory has pretty much taken a liking to looking like me. As she has grown, there are days when she looks exactly like me, and some days she looks just like Brad. I think that is so weird! I think it's the eyes and HUGE eyebrows (I am old enough to "groom" mine) that makes her look so much like me.

I found these pictures at my parent's house a couple of weeks...or months ago...and couldn't get over how much Mallory looks like me! Unfortunately, I don't have any of Mallory in similar poses (to get the full effect), so if you can't remember, go to earlier posts! Get ready for a flashback to 1981!

Shannon and her cousin

Grandma (isn't she cute!!), Shannon, Uncle and Shannon's sister (we didn't start looking like we came from the same family until college probably!)

Shannon, Shannon's mom (look at that 'do and the sunglasses!) and her cousin again


I think it's pretty cool how all that genetics stuff works. I wonder if we'll still look alike when she is way older....

Duh-nuh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh....

...you say it's my birthday! And it's my blog, so I can blog about my own birthday.

Yes, today I celebrate being alive for 27 years. That sounds old to me, but I know many people reading this are rolling their eyes. I am embracing 27 and enjoying it so far!

I had a super fun day. It started out with a doctor's appointment...boring...then I got lots of phone calls throughout the day of various people wishing me a happy birthday.

Brad and I had to go to Austin yesterday, so we celebrated a little early and had dinner there last night. But, we had planned on eating lunch together today, so when he got home, I was ready to eat! He said that lunch was being delivered. Hmmmm. What could it be? Pizza? I was starving, so I had to have a little snack while we waited....and then the doorbell rang. He opened the door, and it was Kara, Kaylee and Brooke...3 of my favorite people! Brad said I had a "typical Shannon reaction", I jumped up and down and said "Yay!!!" We had lunch, went shopping, had dinner (that Brad cooked...mmmm!) and then said goodbye around 8:30. It was so much fun and such a good surprise! I appreciate Kara driving the 3 hours (6 total) to surprise me for my birthday...thanks!!!! I love your hair and your girls!

Here are some pictures from the fun:

Flowers that were on the table when we got home from shopping...I love getting flowers!

The best picture we got of all 5 of us!

Kara, Kaylee, Brooke, Mallory and the birthday girl

BFF: Mallory and Brooke

Hey, they actually look like they were born 11 days apart now!

Mallory's first word!

She said "da da" for a while (not to Brad) and barked at Connor, but this is her first "official" word that she actually used toward a person...me!

Bluebonnets and a realization

Here is what I like to call "Bluebonnets Take One". Brad and I went to lunch yesterday and made an impromptu stop at one of the many bluebonnet fields (I'm surprised they are still here after our blizzard). Mallory surprised us and actually smiled for this one! She didn't eat any petals, but thanks to my friend Sarah, I had a head's up about them being poisonous! Kelly and Tate are coming to visit soon, and we will be taking more Bluebonnet pictures which will be lots of fun!

And now for the realization. Sometimes, what we think is super funny and cute, isn't to other people! And that is okay. As long as we are Mallory's biggest fans, and laugh at the stuff she does (i.e. spilling freezing cold water over herself), it doesn't matter if no one else does. I'm sure this won't be the last time we'll come to this realization.

Should we send it in?

We gave Mallory her first taste of real spaghetti last night. My sister in law Jenn would be cringing with all the mess that Mallory made! :) We've also been trying to get her used to the sippy cup. "Thanks" to my parents, she would rather drink out of a regular cup-especially in restaurants. She loves to play with the ice and swish her hands around in it. Anyway. Last night we gave her some water from a regular cup and this is what happened...enjoy! We think it's worthy of America's Funniest Home Videos, but we may be biased:) It's kind of long (about a minute), so don't worry about watching all of it, but you can see some of Mallory's head banging toward the end if you want!

Merry Chri....I mean, Happy Easter!

I have seen some strange weather in my short 26 1/2 years. Mainly it was during my time at ACU. One semester in January, it was 80 degrees and the next day is snowed and iced over. Weird. Well, last night Brad and I thought we were back in Abilene for a minute.

We went to San Antonio yesterday to go to Steve and LaShay's church for their Easter program (which was great by the way!). On our way home between Georgetown and Salado, it started sleeting a little and literally the roads changed immediately. We saw 3 accidents within a mile of each other! What is normally a 2 hour drive took about 3 1/2! By the time we got to our front door, the snowflakes were HUGE and there was about 3 inches of snow over everything. It was beautiful! Scary to drive in, but beautiful.

It was late, so we put Mallory in bed pretty quick. I guess if we were "cool" parents, we would have taken her out in it so she could feel the flakes on her face. I did let her try some snow off the top of the car. She seemed to like it:)

Another crazy Easter happening. Our church has 3 services and there are about 2,000 people that attend. So, they combined all services and decided to have one service at the Expo Center. I guess the power went out due to the storm and so we had to have church at our real church. Talk about a fire hazard! They had to put up chairs in the foyer, hallways, aisles...everywhere! It was craziness! A memorable Easter for sure.

Here's the snow from our front door. Soooo pretty!

Here's our house this morning. A lot of the snow had already started melting on the roads. There were snowmen all over our neighborhood. And big ones, not wimpy little ones.

Here's Mallory this morning for church. Her dress has a petticoat! Talk about girlie!

Right before we left for church. Happy girl!

Disappointed

Before I talk about being disappointed, I have to show pictures. Mallory is 10 months old today! I know, I can't believe it either! She is so much fun at this age. And her boy cousin Tate is 4 months old today! They got to bond a little more earlier this week. Here are a few pictures:

If only we could get them to smile at the same time! For some reason, I think Kelly and I will be saying that a lot in the next few years!

Oh well. We'll just get the smiles separately instead:

And this is definitely fitting. Either she is being helpful and about to help Tate sit back up, or she is about to push him down and pull his hair. I'm thinking it was the latter....she's a haus! Check out those thighs!!!

Okay, onto why I'm disappointed. I've been excited all day today for The Office. Sad, I know! But after several weeks of re-runs, I was ready to see if Jim was going to get malled by Roy and what would happen with Pam and Roy.

So, I got Mallory bathed, fed and tucked into bed all before 8:00. I sat down with my brownie and milk for dessert and started the tivoed episode.

Maybe it was because I was by myself watching it, but it just wasn't quite what I had hoped for...and I am a huge Office fan. The scene with Michael and Jan was pretty amusing, but nothing I laughed out loud to. I guess I'll have to watch it again when Brad gets home.

What did everyone else think?