My little sooner

Guest Blogger here again. Guest Bloggette claims that she "doesn't have enough time" with school starting up and all. What the heck? Does she think that she's teaching America's youth or something? Doesn't she know that our school systems are the best in the world? She can slack off a bit and we'd all still be OK. Wait, I just remembered that commercial with the flags that aired during the Olympics. I guess our education system is 32nd in the world (it failed to mention we swept the fencing events at the Olympics). Keep on working hard Guest Bloggette!

All joking aside, our thoughts and prayers go out to a fellow blogging family. Ryan, Nicole, Hudson, and Porter our prayers are with you during this time.

Guest Blogger had a great time this weekend with the Blogger Bachelors and is horse from yelling "Go Ducks" with this hands in a "O" for 24 straight hours. Always good to see a Big 10 team lose and even better to see a friend's team win. Can't say the same about Michigan this weekend.

The Guest Blogger is trying to pass some Boomer Sooner genes on to the lil' Blogger, Yuri. We all know that Grandpa Malone (and Great-Grandpa in heaven) are smiling when they see these pics. Most were taken during the Oklahoma-Cincy game which was close until about 13:00 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Guest Blogger and lil' blogger watched every minute.

Guest Blogger II

Yes, this is my second entry as the "Guest Blogger" on the Malone Family Blog. I invite all other husbands to guest blog occasionally as it allows one to relieve the "inner blogger child" that is in all of us.

Just so you all know what a "man" I am, let me start off by telling you what an awesome fantasy football draft I had on Friday night. What is that? Booing that I hear in the blog-o-sphere? On to more important things.

This weekend, the Malone Family missed Mike Laughlin's suprise birthday party on Sat. night because the Guest Blogger's family was in town. The Guest Blogger did manage to call LD on his birthday (Sunday) despite thinking his birthday was on Saturday. This is the second birthday screw up that the Guest Blogger has had this month with Fab Four birthdays. You are next Donny, the Guest Blogger will call you every day in December.

Anyway, we had a great time with the Guest Blogger's family as we went to Tower Grove Park, biking, hiking, eating and drinking. Good times. Check out the excellent pics taken of the family by the Guest Blogger's wife, Bloggette.

Teaching Funnies

My friend Katie posted funny things her students said/did on her blog and I really got a kick out of it so I decided to do the same. The ironic thing is, the students we write about could actually be the same b/c I teach 3rd grade and when she posted, these students were in 2nd grade! This is also a great way to remember all the funny things students say.

As I was grading some work tonight, I came across this...

The assignment was to use the word "antonym" in a sentence. It gave the students a definition: a word whose meaning is the opposite of another word.

This student (a boy) wrote: My sister is the antomyn of smart.

Brotherly love!

Guest Blogger

Well, because of igoogle, I now have to play a small role in this blogging world. Yes, this is not EJ, but rather Michael. As I explained to Kasey and Heather on Friday night (I was there for a fantasy football draft...I swear...very manly); my igoogle is linked to their blogs and I basically can keep track of the Morrison and Laughlin families on a daily basis. Yes, I knew that Mike was working this weekend and couldn't come to St. Louis with Kasey. Yes, I knew that Heather got her hair cut (and looks stunning). Yes, I knew that Savannah was very excited about going to school Monday on the bus.

Anyway, the real reason I'm blogging is because I just have to show off some cute picks of my wonderful family. Yuri, EJ and I had a great time on Saturday going on a bikeride down the Mississippi River Trail. We crossed over the new McKinley Bridge bike tressle and had a picnic lunch on the other side at the wonderful town of Venice, Illinios.

So, I know this entry is a bit short. But I look forward to the next time that I can "guest blog" while still retaining a small shred of my manliness.

Later

Aged 1 Year

Sorry to be so sparse (yet again). We have been doing a lot of traveling! But, in big news, Yuri's first birthday was last Sunday (July 6th). We had a Luau party at Tower Grove Park. I won't get into too many details but I will let you know it was a lot of fun. My big project was this slide show. I decided a few months back that I would like to create slide show for Yuri every year. I thought it would be a perfect "photo journal" of her life. Here is the official finished project. We showed part of it at the party, but this final cut includes the pictures from her party. Enjoy!!! (Just click on the link below.)


Yuri Year 1 6/1/08

P.S. The first song was the song playing when Yuri was born. Michael made a "Labor Mix" which included a lot of OAR!

Daddy's Day

So, I am so excited because I have been blogging for long enough to do this with last year's Daddy's Day post!

I just quickly wanted to share Michael's first "official" Father's Day. Yuri and I really tried to make his day special! It is amazing to think that we haven't even been parents for a year and it has already been rewarding and challenging. It is really amazing to share this experience with my BFF!

We started the day by making Michael's favorite breakfast: Breakfast Burritos. Yuri and I had cards for daddy to open and a gift. This year, we got Michael wireless outdoor speakers for the deck. More on that later! Then we went to church. Michael had and soccer game and Yuri and I went to meet my dad for brunch. We tried to make it to Michael's soccer game after that, but we pulled up right when the game was ending. Yuri sported her "I love Daddy" shirt today for the occasion.

That's right, John McCain card just for Michael! Front says: You're a terrific Dad! Inside: I'm John McCain and I approve this message. Ha!!

We had a relaxing afternoon/evening with the Starks. I am excited to announce that my friend Evie (the female version of the Starks) started her own blog tonight which is listed on the "Blogs I Read" section. Visit her blog and encourage her to post. We BBQed and played my new favorite game "Settlers of Catan" on the deck, where we enjoyed the new speakers. These speakers are so awesome b/c they are completely wireless, so we don't have to worry about hiding wires. Also, the trasmitter works for up to 150 ft. Which means we just have it plugged in inside. The transmitter connects to pretty much anything; a radio, MP3, computer, or even the TV. Tonight we hooked it to the computer and listened to Pandora. There are a few pics of the speakers below. I just mounted them on the deck railing.

I think Michael enjoyed his Daddy's Day and I hope he knows how much we love and appreciate him! You are a wonderful daddy!

The 'Tude

That's right, we have a girl on our hands! She is full of 'tude! This innocent little face is capable of manipulating, "talking" (more like sqwacking) back, and using her cute little hands to swat me when she doesn't like what I tell her. I actually had to resort to....TIME OUT! I know, I know; she is only 11 months old. I am sure that some of you out in blog land are judging me and wondering if I know that "developmentally she doesn't even understand". But, I beg to differ. The reason that I started 'time out' is b/c I was talking to another mother (Lisa) of a little girl (Charlotte) (cutie, by the way with an innocent face too!) about Yuri's behavior choices recently. She explained to me that they had similar instances with Charlotte and the same age and that they did 'time outs' which worked like a charm. After discussing the details, I decided to give it a try. Sure enough, later that day, Yuri started in with a fit and I used my "verbage" that I decided on and moved Yuri into our designated area. It was pretty drawn out but finally, she calmed down and we had a "heart to heart". This is my personal evidence of it's effects; later on, similar fit, I used my verbage and moved to the "area". It took her less than 10 seconds (about 10x faster than the first time) to collect herself. Maybe it was a fluke, but we haven't even had the need to use it again. I spkoe at length about it with my friend Anna (has her Masters in Early Childhood and knows a great deal about child development) and she was very supportive and even gave me some great info about 'time outs' and how to use them appropriately. All in all, I think I will continue to use them as a de-escalation tool.

Since Kasey expects no more than once every couple of weeks updates, I decided to stay true to my form. This was my first "official" week of summer because school let out last Friday. Yuri and I kicked off summer with a bang. Saturday, we made our first trip to the fountains at Tower Grove Park. We met Anna, Luca and Brian there and it was great. Yuri enjoyed it, but mostly liked to watch the other children around us.

Michael has been very busy repaving our sidewalk in our backyard. He is pretty much finished with all of it, except some details. It really turned out nice and I will post pictures of his handywork later. Thanks to all our friends who helped (Aaron and Matt). It really meant a lot to us that you took the time to come and help us on such a hot day!

Monday, Yuri and I went to Shaw Park Pool with Anna and Luca. We loved the time in the sun and Yuri and Luca are quite the playmates these days!

Tuesday, I had to go up to school to finish packing up my room. We spent most of the day hanging out with Liz and TJ. We made a trip to McDonald's where Yuri had her first Happy Meal. She at most of the hamburger and about half of the apple slices. I even gave her some cow's milk which she took to nicely. I am going to continue to give her a little each day.

Wednesday morning, there was the annual St. Stephen's Parade that goes right in front of our house. So we pulled out the blanket and watched. It was really cute and we got lots of candy! This is the reason I love our neighborhood (not the candy, but the cool events like this).

Then we went out to Webster Groves to meet Julie and Logan and Liz and TJ (that's a lot of ands). Julie is a member at the Webster Groves Pool, so we all went swimming and let me tell you: WG Pool Kicks Butt!! It has the greatest kiddie area! There was so much to do. We are going to try to make it a weekly thing (you asked for it Julie!!!). Yuri already has tan lines!!! (Of course I put sun block on her, she just has Daddy and Mommy's skin tone.) After all the pool fun (and a nap) we met Anna and Luca at Tower Grove and took a walk. It was great talking to Anna, yet again!

Thursday, we spent most of the day with Grandma Jeffery! We helped her hang up pictures in her house and as of today, she still likes where the pictures are hanging!

And finally, today! We had big plans to go to Suson Park to meet some friends but the rain changed those plans (and a flood at my school!) But we did go meet Grandma for lunch and then went to get Daddy's present! I'll show you that later!!!

We have big plans for this weekend too-a double header in our Kickball League tomorrow. Here are some pics of all the things I shared about our week. Enjoy! Don't forget to leave a comment-I'm tracking it now!!!!