Grandma time

My mom sent this video to me after babysitting Rory for an evening. It is a bit long, but I couldn't figure out how to shorten the format she sent me. She said that Rory did this forever. We sit in our rocking chair every night and I read to her and then tuck the books down by my side- so I can see she is mimicking that. The glasses are my moms- we will be charging her for Rory's future eye problems! This was one of those things that I am glad was captured, b/c while it seems so common now- it will be the moments that get forgotten with all the busy life stuff. She changes so fast, I am trying to capture more of her mannerisms at each stage. For instance, it is on my to-do list to get some video of her talking. It is so cute and changing every day, soon we will forget that she calls madi maaaaahiiiiii and the word "no" sounds like a cow mooooing. She has more words then I can count and it basically happened over night. She is still signing a bunch and that helps us reinforce her verbal vocabulary. We hung out with Robin and Justin and baby Jack a few nights ago, it was so great to see them easing so gracefully into parenthood. I don't think I looked that put together for several more months- if ever. Jack is adorable and Rory was really sweet with him. She was very intent on keeping tabs on what he was doing. If he fell asleep, she let us all know that the baby was sleeping. I love that the circle of friends with babies is expanding and we get to spend time with all these amazing new human beings. Hopefully we will have lots of opportunity to do that before February so that Rory gets some baby time before her sib arrives. Anyway, hope all are staying cool- We are debating having a family camp out in the basement as the other 2 floors are just too hot. Enjoy the video, and thanks mom for thinking to film it!

So I have gotten WAY behind on blogging, but I am going to make a valiant effort to catch up and do better about staying current. I so look forward to other people updating their blogs- so I figured I better return the favor. This time I am not totally to blame. My laptop blew up and so now to get any screen time I have to use Pat's. Sharing computers may not be his strongest skill. Anyway, so way back in June Mandy and I took Rory to the children's rose parade. I mostly wanted to check it out so that in coming years I knew what I was dealing with. She is still young enough this year we could have bailed if it was crazy, but by next year if we say we are going to a parade I have a feeling I better produce a parade! Anyway, it was really fun and cute. lots of people, some of which appeared to do the whole sidewalk lawn chair camp out thing- we just walked up at the last minute and sat on someone's steps and enjoyed the view. Rory really liked the dairy float with a mascot cow on it- she had just learned to sign cow- and was very happy to use her new word. She also loved all the marching bands and drums. Overall I'd say it is definitely something to add to our growing list of traditions. Maybe next year we will get organized earlier and get a group to go together. ~Britt oh yeah- this last shot is of rory's "whatchu talking bout Willis?" face. classic.

blog name change...

So we are going to have to change the blog name from PB&R to PBR&...? Here is a first glimpse at the newest addition to the maloney clan. He/she is due to make an appearance on valentine's day 2009. Rory is super excited (she demonstrated this by kissing her baby and then throwing it on the ground!- ala jeff lewis for those of you who watch flipping out.) and we are confident she will make a fabulous big sister. All is going well and we are all doing fine. Pat has been a bit extra tired lately, but he blames the pregnancy and is sure he will be fine- nothing a little XBOX 360 college football can't fix. the video I added is only 3 seconds long and I am not sure it will work- but I thought I would try. Enjoy, Britt

Furball... limp to the links

So a little background info on Furball. http://scotthughes.net/index.htm It is a fundraiser that Pat's family puts on each year. It is to benefit a camp that hosts pediatric kidney patients for the summer and allows them to attend sleep away camp while maintaining their dialysis and medical care. One of Pat's cousins died of kidney disease at 24 years of age and he had worked and loved this camp. Furball was his college nickname. So anyway, Pat's cousins Mike and Shannon have hosted a 3on3 basketball tournament for the past 8 years and it has always been super fun and something that we have supported and helped with. This year they decided that everyone is getting too old to play basketball (the injuries were starting to rack up) so they moved it to a golf tournament. I love this idea b/c you can have lots more people participate and include families. This June was the first Furball limp to the links and it was a HUGE success. not only did they more then triple the money they raised from years past, it was just a really fun event. Rory and I ran the putting contest in the morning and then returned for the dinner at the end. It was at the oregon golf club and I thought Rory looked especially country club in her little pleated dress- I swear she has somehow channeled my grandma ding's style-between all her accessories and her fashion sense- she is an old soul. (and yes, she has her own fashion sense. at 15 months she has started wanting to pick out her own clothes and having protests and opinions on what goes on her body. it may be a long 17 years...). The team we sponsored this year was Pat, Evan, Brady and Brian. Brian won a driver (I can't remember what for- maybe for just being a super good golfer?) and was nice enough to give it to Pat. They all had a great time and I think this will continue to be one of our favorite family traditions.

back to the gilbert house...

Since fun new kid activities are hard to come by, when we find one, we like to over indulge as much as possible. This trip consisted of borrowing my dad's mini-van (actually, I was driving it for the week while my car was getting fixed from the accident) and hauling 5 adults and Rory down to salem to meet shahnaz and the boys for the day. This is one of those days when you actually start considering the purchase of a mini. I think it has passed now, but for that week I gotta say, I was a bit smitten. So we all spent the afternoon tracking the kids around the entire place. once again the bubble room was a fav- rory got a little more hands (er, head?) on this time. It was also fun b/c since Owen is 3 he is able to do things better then the babies and is fun to watch him get so into all the discovery stuff. At one point he and rory were on a stage dressed as pirates? knights? not really sure, but they were cute and into performing for their entourage. We also visited the carousel that is near by. Rory loved it, and was very into kissing her horse. Owen was into what their names were and how they were designed. All in all a really fun day.

a playdate at the Gilbert House

We recently visited the Gilbert House in Salem. Lisa lives there and Eli and Rory are at a great age to get together and let them run around while we all talk. We did decide that having the third unattached adult (in this case, Mandy) was essential as we found that in that place you need to out number the kids. It was a really fun day and there was lots to do. I think the favorite was the bubble room and then the HUGE outdoor play are with music, slides, and whimisical decor. I am not a huge fan of Salem (sorry, not trying to offend anyone) but this definitely is a good place to go, and is 1/2 way in between portland and corvallis so is convenient for family get togethers. After we left there we went to lunch with 2 sleepy babies and managed to make it through the day successfully. At lunch Rory was obsessed with sharing her blanket with Mandy- she kept making mandy smell it. When she gets tired she rubs her blanket under her nose so I am sure she was just trying to be sweet, but it was very funny. It was fun to get to hang out with the ladies and Rory and Eli are pretty cute together. Rory being older and bit of a bull in a china shop tends to overwhelm Eli a bit, but overall they were sweet and did lots of sharing! We'll see if that lasts as they both enter into their second year. See I told you my blogging would get more frequent and tedious the longer I was stuck on this couch!!! ~Britt

beach, beach and more beach...

So for our token memorial day weekend outing we headed to pacific city for a day at the beach. It was so fun to see Rory really play in the sand and water- it definitely showed how old she is getting! She loved watching my mom's dog run wild and playing "football" with dad.

We are excited to take her on some camping/boating adventures this summer. maybe next time the weather will be better!!! ~Brittany

Happy 30th Birthday Mandy!!

So not a Rory centric entry, but noteworthy. Mandy turned 30 and we celebrated with some wine tasting and a great dinner at a really good Italian place (Alba Osteria on Capital Hwy for you pdxers.) We were supposed to go hotair ballooning as well. We arrived at 5am (yikes!) only to have them cancel it due to weather. We were then stuck down in salem until the wineries opened at 11- so what else could we do but hit Spirit Mountain Casino? I won some cash playing craps- and it definitely was a unique way to spend the morning. It was also the first time we left Rory for both the day and night. Needless to say she did great and even slept through a fairly heavy thunderstorm. I think now it's time to start planning a whole weekend away. vegas anyone? Anyway, it was a fun day- Happy Birthday Mandy

Rory finds a friend that is a GIRL!!!

So Rory is surrounded by boy baby friends. Her cousins- boys, our friends who have had babies recently, almost all boys, even the classes we have attended have been boy heavy- so it was so fun to attend a BBQ at our friend Robin and Justin's house with some of their friends who have baby girls. One was exactly Rory's age (Addie) and Rory and her were very cute together. We even discovered later that they take swimming lessons at the same place. Robin has had her baby since these photos, welcome Jonathon Hawthorne, (yes, another boy!) but I loved the ones of Rory sitting on her belly (these were taken her 39th week). I also love the one of Addie giving Rory what appears to be a headbutt- but is actually an attempt at a hug. Anyway, we are excited to expand our baby friend circle and look forward to more playdates with this crew! PS- This post as well as the next few are from late may and early June- I got behind on my blogging. Now that I am stuck on a couch due to a knee injury I will get caught up and may be driven by boredom to blog incessantly until cured! I am sure you are all looking forward to whatever rants may come from my trapped little self. ~B

Rory on the party circuit

Since first birthdays are pretty important, they are also worth celebrating. We most recently attended Eli Whitinger's (lisa truong's son) 1st birthday party. Rory I think has figured out that these events are more then just play dates and particularly likes the singing and the special treat that comes with the candle! As soon as she hears the song and sees the candle, her eyes light up and she starts saying MMMMmmmmm, MMMMMmmmmm. She does love Eli and liked helping him open all his presents. She won the pin the banana on the tree and dug her box of take-home goodies. She is becoming a pro at this stuff and is looking forward to cousin Quincy's birthday in June. Happy Birthday Eli!

OSU Spring game

A couple of weeks ago we headed to corvallis to celebrate Shahni's birthday as well as catch the OSU spring football game. For those of you not familiar, it is the greatest. The Beavers scrimmage each other so no matter what we win, tickets are only $5, you still get to tail gate, and the stadium is open seating so you can sit in great seats. It was super fun b/c this is the first time we got to see rory's reaction to all since last fall she was still fairly little. She of course was a champ and brought new meaning to tailgating. literally sitting on a tail gate but with sippy cup and banana instead of beer and brats. There were several highlights of the day other then the tailgating. my first fav (luckily no one got hurt, so it is just funny) was when pat was carrying rory on his shoulders to the game and ran her directly head first into a overhead pole that hangs the banner- it made my heart stop,but upon rory laughing we were all able to laugh as well. my next fav. was when the announcer yelled "James Rogers scores a touchdown" and Rory instantly threw her hands in the air. It was extra funny, b/c she kept insisting on having her own seat (one of the many reasons she may not attend many games in the fall) but wasn't heavy enough to make the fold-up seat stay down. So as she threw her hands up, she kind of got folded up in the seat- again she laughed, so we laughed. My last fav was our pre-game activity of attending OSU's vet. school pet day. It is essentially all the vet school students out there with all sorts of animals. they had a petting zoo, tiny chicks you could hold, horses you could ride, a million dogs, and a giant blow up slide to ride down. Rory was totally into it all. she loves dogs and usually I-spying just one can cause her to leave bruises on her chest as she does the sign for dog- with all of the dogs there i don't even knew where to start. She got to pet a duck, a goat, a horse, a huge irish wolfhound, and hold tiny chicks. Dad, linda and madi went with us and then brady and owen met us near the end. Owen loved the slide as did rory. she went on madi's lap the first time and then insisted on going alone- I was pretty impressed with her bravery as it was a fairly big slide- but she loved every minute of it. Pet day will definitely be a new spring time tradition! It also totally got me excited for football. soon enough, i don't want to wish away summer.... ~Brittany