Mallory and Samson

Samson and Mallory are becoming good buddies.

Samson is very patient and

even shares his toys with Mallory.

I'm guessing it all has to do with the cheerios she now "accidentally" drops.

Dinner Time

Mallory now joins us nightly at the dinner table.

Hopefully as a teenager she will continue to show this level of excitement while sitting at the table with mom and dad.

She's getting pretty good with her sippy cup but is still pretty messy overall.

Swimming

Mallory and mom enjoyed a summer day at the pool.

Mallory loved the water and watching all the kids.

Too bad for Mallory as she seems to have inherited mom's fair Irish skin. There will be a lot of sunscreen in this babe's future.

Sitting up

Mallory is very proud of her new skill ... sitting up by herself. Well, almost by herself. She still likes to thrust herself backwards at times, without warning.

She finds it's much easier to play with her toys while sitting up.

Mally and Dad

Daddy and his little girl ... they sure have fun together.

Labor Day - Lutsen (II)

Mallory also enjoyed dancing with Uncle Tom

and playing with Aunt Nancy.

She went hiking to a waterfall with dad and

and enjoyed the sights of Lake Superior with mom.

Labor Day - Lutsen (I)

The family spent Labor Day weekend up in Lutsen with Tom, Nancy and the Kirchoffs. While up north, we...

visited Tom's hardware store,

went hiking,

and relaxed. We're not sure how relaxing it was for poor Samson. He was a good sport though.

Bathtub

On a special occasion earlier this week, Mallory got to take her first bath in a real bath tub.

Not to sure of it at first...

but after discovering the wonders of the faucet...

we had an extremely happy little girl on our hands...

who didn't want to get out of the tub.

Saints Game

Thanks to a Best Buy Finance event, Mallory got to attend her first St. Paul Saints game in August.

This is Mallory's meeting with Mudonna. She would have been closer to the pig, but this was right after the pig's owner said that it might try to bite her toes. Haven't seen Jamie move that fast in a while...

And here she is with Jen and Jon. But she appears to be more interested in the action on the field. Truly her father's daughter.

Mal and Sammers

Now that Mallory has become a little more mobile and interactive, she has taken a keen interest in her puppy. For the most part, he has not returned the favor. This may be because his giant ears are the primary target of her tiny hands...

Mallory is having a fun old time with Samson here, while he pretends not to be interested.

But here he is trying to get some leftover pears from Mallory's cheek.

It appears in this picture that they are both in trouble but trying to look innocent. We are sure this won't be the last time...

Lifetime Pool

Before it became bitterly cold up here in Minnesota (read: after Labor Day), we took Mallory to the outdoor pool at Lifetime Fitness.

It took a little while for Mallory to get used to the cold water, but eventually she got accustomed to it.

Here she is with her dad, trying to splash water on that hideous farmer's tan.

And here she is hanging out in the water with Mom, talking away...