The Malko Family

My Wild Thing Turns 1!

2011-10-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my baby boy is 1! We had so much fun celebrating! On his actual birthday (September 29th) Jon took the day off of work and we went as a family to Huber's Farm. It was so much fun! We ate some delicious country cookin' and then went to the pumpkin patch to let Anderson pick our family pumpkin! We walked around and took a ton of pictures and really did let Anderson pick! He walked about 20 steps right up to the pumpkin we got and started tapping it! It was the perfect pumpkin. We had a great day together.

We celebrated Anderson's birthday with all of our family and friends on Saturday (Oct. 1). We had a "Where the Wild Things Are" Themed party! Jon even built a boat for the kiddos to play in! We had delicious BBQ from Mark's Feed Store, Baked Beans, Mac and Cheese, and Green Beans, sweet tea, lemonade, and a delicious cake made by Adrienne & Co Bakery. It was the cutest birthday cake I had ever seen! I showed Adrienne a picture of what I wanted and it was even better! Anderson had such a fun time at his party and was in such a good mood the entire time! He loved playing with his friends, and he totally LOVED his cake - the first thing he did was to pick all the white dots made of icing off and eat them before he realized the good stuff was inside the icing! It was so cute! He made a huge mess and loved it. He also got such sweet presents! We are so thankful for all of the people to love on our little man! We are so blessed!

Anderson's GiGi (Jon's mom) got to join us in town for all the festivities! She got here on Friday and left this morning. We got to do tons of fun things like go to the zoo, play outside with all of our new toys, Jon and I got to go on a date, and GiGi got Anderson a ton of new clothes! We miss all of our family in Florida and were so glad to have a taste of the sunshine state for the weekend! We can't wait to visit everyone in Florida in December!

We are so thankful for the past year we have gotten to spend with our little Anderson man! The Lord has brought so much joy to our family with him! He makes us laugh all the time - and he loves to make us laugh! If you laugh at something he does (a funny face he makes or a word he says) he will repeat it over ad over - it is too funny! He is walking now more than crawling - in fact he has almost given us crawling completely at this point. He must have felt like a big boy on his birthday because that was the day that we transitioned to more walking than crawling! He says tons of words - momma, dad, dog, duck, uh-oh, GiGi, Brrrrmmm, that, yea, all done, and some others. He is eating lots of different kinds of foods and trying new things all the time - he isn't crazy about milk so we keep trying it - we are ready to wean him from nursing but i think it is going to be a slow process. At his 12 month check up he weighed 19lbs 10oz (10th percentile), was 29 3/4 inches long (between the 25th and 50th percentile) and had a head circumference of 18 inches (a little above 50th percentile) so our little man is growing like a weed - a slim weed haha! He is such a precious gift and we are thankful for his fun loving, energetic, intense, sweet personality. He has been such a good boy lately - obeying, being a trooper when we are out and about, playing so well by himself and with others, and has really turned into a snuggle bug - especially with his momma! We are treasuring these times together! Thanks so all who made his first birthday so special!

Here are some pictures but see more by clicking HERE:

Anderson with the Pumpkin he picked:

Mom and the birthday boy

Dad and the birthday boy

Some of the decorations at Anderson's Party

The whole back yard

The boat that Jon Built!

One side of the adorable cake (A picture of Anderson digging in began this post!)

The kiddo's playing in the boat

Our little family

Anderson and his buddies

i year ago today...

2011-09-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

‎1 year ago I was holding my little man in my arms for the first time all alone! I just snuck into his room to watch him asleep for a minute, he is sleeping so peacefully like a precious little guy - just like he was 1 year ago! We have had many crazy/wild/eventful days since then, but these peaceful, snuggly times still capture my heart as much as the first moment I laid eyes on him! Love my little Anderson man! Can't believe he was 1 today! God is so loving to give us a glimpse of how he loves us!

Lately

2011-09-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

I feel like we have had so much going on lately! This past Friday night we had Anderson's 1 year old (2 weeks early) and our Family pictures done! We had SUCH a great time and are so thankful for the fantastic job Audrey Anderson did! We have just seen a few proofs that she posted on Facebook, but will get the rest of them Thursday evening!

I can't believe my baby is going to be 1 one week from tomorrow! He looks so grown up in our pictures - where has the time gone? We have a lot to do over this next week to get ready for his party! I am in the process of making a birthday banner, Tissue puffs, and ruffle streamers! I have to order balloons and BBQ from Mark's, Jon has to finish the big red boat he is making out of cardboard (We are doing a Where the Wild Things Are theme!), not to mention several "projects" I am trying to get done around the house before Jon's mom comes next Friday. I feel like I need a month - not just a week!

For Anderson's actual birthday day (the 29th) we are planning to trip to Huber's just the 3 of us. And then his party will be on Saturday. We are so excited to celebrate our little Man! Here are a few of the pictures that Audrey posted on FB:

We also have an appointment for Anderson to see the Doctor again about his hips (he was born with dis-locatable hips) and we are praying that his x-ray will look like a normal

12 month old! Last time they were really close, but his ball joints were still cartilage and still needed to ossify - so please, if you would pray that for us as well it would be much

appreciated! I will post the stats of our 12 month check up as well as birthday pics after the craziness of this next week subsides!

11 Months and counting!

2011-08-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since I updated! We are loving life and have been so busy! We took a wonderful vacation to the beach the first week of August and Anderson LOVED it! He loved the pool the most and loved being in the ocean and was ok with the sand! He did so great and was such a trooper staying up super late so we could all go out and have lots of fun. We relaxed, ate great food, and got lots of family time in - MUCH needed family time!

Anderson has been growing so much and has officially put all of his baby-ish attributes behind him and is more of a little boy than ever! Here are some new things with him:

Anderson has become such a talker! He babbles all day every day and is saying some real things too! He says "Hi" everytime he sees a phone and to basically every person that walks past him. He says "Bye Bye" "All Done" "Dog" "Duck" and some others. His favorite word is "That" - and EVERYTHING falls into this category. He points and says "that" and I tell him what "that" is! Another funny one is "Dad" - not dada. When he hears the back door open around 5:30 every day he yells "DAAAAD?" (I added the question mark because that is how he says it, in a very questioning tone. It is hilarious!
Anderson LOVES his night time doggie! He gets it out of bed with him and drags (literally cleaning the floors dragging) it all over the house with him. I often will put his dog int he position with a toy like he is playing and Anderson thinks this is hilarious.
Anderson can locate body parts - if you ask him where his belly is he will pull up his shirt and show you. He says the word "eye" with a very country accent mind you - it sounds more like the "aaahhh" and points to your eye - he particularly loves doing this to people with glasses. He can also locate your nose and mouth - but not his own yet.
Anderson can drink out of his own cup and eat puffs from his snack cup all on his own. He likes a wide variety of different foods now and can even hold a whole banana and bite it himself. He has become a little eater and really is hardly ever full I feel like. Yogurt is probably his favorite food, and he loves toast with jelly for breakfast! (We also found out that Anderson is allergic to eggs - it was a very bad experience with a scrambled egg - yuck! Hopefully he will grow out of this!)
Anderson has his 3rd tooth that has broken through and 3 more that are very close! My guess is that by his first birthday we will have 6 teeth! I mean these 3 are so close that they have made him pretty grumpy lately! We are very thankful for orajel!
Anderson took his FIRST 3 STEPS yesterday! He took 3 steps twice - and then he was ALL DONE with that - not even wanting to try anymore! We will see what we can get him to do today but we are super excited for him to transition to a walker!
Anderson LOVES books and brings them to me constantly to read to him and gets really excited when I start a book. "Eight Silly Monkey's" is his current favorite followed closely by "Tractor's" a touch and feel book his GiGi got him!
Anderson's play time has really transitioned. He is no longer very interested in stuffed animals. He loves trucks and "drives" (pushes) them all over the house saying "Brrrrrrrmmmm". He loves taking things out and putting them into anything. Buckets, toy baskets, the cart of his train, etc. I sing the clean up song while he puts things away to help him learn to clean up!

I think that is about it as far as new stuff goes. We are loving our little man, that is for sure! He is such a blessing and a constant source of joy and laughter in our home! I cannot believe in a month that he will be one year old! My how our lives have changed over this past year! Looking forward to celebrating his little life!

~Brooke

The first two members of the Malko Family

2011-07-26T20:42:00.001-07:00

I have noticed that the theme of every blog post has been Anderson! Being parents is pretty much an all consuming job that steals away your time, your thoughts and your affections - and it is wonderful. But I also have to be intentional in remembering that there were 2 of us that began this family! haha! I thought I would give a quick update on what has been going on with Jon and I!

Jon:

Work, Work, and more Work! Jon is still working full time at Highview Baptist Church as the Director of Video Production. He not only produces the broadcast that plays live online and also on a local channel here in Louisville, but he also creates videos that play each week during worship. In addition to filming, writing scripts and editing Jon also built and maintains Highview's website. AND in addition to all of that Jon does some freelance work on the side! - needless to say he is a busy man.
Jon is a fantastic dad and LOVES spending time with Anderson! When he is not working he loves to take Anderson with him wherever he goes. Some of their favorite activities are trips to Lowes or walks to the grocery, throwing Anderson's big red ball up and down the stairs (I am not the biggest fan of this one), and just playing in general - hearing Anderson crack up laughing with Jon has to be one of the greatest joys that the Lord has given me!
In his "free time" Jon likes to go to auto-cross, play video games occassionally, and hang out with friends!

Brooke:

I am so blessed to be able to have our family as my main priority. Spending my days with Anderson is such a joy. We take regular trips to the zoo, the park, the pool, Granna's house, and any other errand that comes our way. He is so much fun and the more and more his personality develops the more I love being his momma!
I do work outside of the home 1 day a week at Joseph's Salon and Spa answering the phones and taking appointments. I really consider this more of a break than anything. It is also nice to be back out in the world where I have the opportunity to show Christ's love to others!
In my free time I enjoy reading, spending time with some friends and my family, cooking, spending some down time on Pinterest, or catching up on some way old shows I never watched on netflix or hulu!

Together:

Jon and I recently joined a new Sunday School class for young couples at our church. We have really enjoyed it so far! Jon has started going to a Men's Accountability Time every other week, and the women will be starting one in August! We look forward to getting more plugged in.
For our most recent date night this past Saturday Jon surprised me with tickets to see "Guys and Dolls"! We had such a fun time and were able to try a new restaurant we had been dying to go to before - Doc Crows! The food was delish and the show was fabulous (we LOVE live theater) and some one on one time with my love had to be the best part! Thanks babe!
We are headed to the beach!! Destin, FL is calling our name August6-13! My family is whisking us all away (if a 12 hour car ride counts as whisking) to a condo on the beach for a week. My mom dad, sister, brother, Autumn and the 3 Malko's are going. - We are still trying to work it out so Chad - our brother in law - can make it down for at least half of the week! It will be Anderson's first time at the beach and we are super excited for Jon to have some much needed time away from work!

Well, that is what we have going on in a nutshell! Anderson will be turning 10 months old this Friday so I'm sure an update with plenty of info about him is coming soon!

9 Months and 1 Week

2011-07-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today Anderson is 9 months and one week old! We love our little man! He has gotten so big and is able to do SOOOO much! Here are some of the new things he does since his 8 month post:

Anderson EATS real food! Bananas and green beans are his favorite - cubed into little bites he chews them and says mmmmm the whole time! He has eaten tons of other things too: turkey, ground beef, cheese, avocado, yogurt, carrots, squash, zucchini, corn on the cob, etc...
Anderson can feed himself! Mostly he feeds himself puffs, but he can pick up other things and put them in his mouth too. He doesn't quite have the pinch and grasp yet, he more just grabs it in his palm and stuffs it into his mouth - he LOVES eating!
Anderson has figured out when we say "I'm gonna getcha" to crawl FAST away from us! This has made for much fun in the Malko house!
Anderson talks non-stop! Mostly just jibber jabber but he says some real words that he actually understands! His favorite is dog! If he sees a dog or a picture of a dog he says the word dog very clearly. He understand mama and dada when he says them now. He says uhoh - but it sounds more like a grunt, and he also says "hi" on the phone!
Anderson also loves making noises. He barks for a dog, he tries to copy the monkey sound I make when we see the monkeys at the zoo, he says brrrmmm brrrrmmm for a truck, and mmmmmm pretty much every time he eats.
Anderson Waves!!! He still isn't doing it every time but more often than not just in the past couple days he will wave back at you!
Anderson is a good obeyer. He responds very well to "NO" and normally just stops what he is doing, looks back at me, grins, and comes towards me. Love it! We always celebrate his obedience.
Anderson loves singing and will "hum" along with us when we sing. His favorite song is "This little light of mine" When we try to hide the light under his bushel he pulls his hand away and shakes his head no! I pretty much die every time he does it! He also loves "Old Mcdonald" and when he is fussy in the car I can sing it to him and it helps him to be calm.
Anderson loves other kiddos and plays really well. We just spent some time tonight at the Laing's, and Liam and Anderson did so great just playing together but not hurting each other! Liam kept hugging Anderson and it was so sweet!
Anderson can climb the steps from the bottom to the top! He does it very quickly and kind of in a zig zag pattern which we think is funny, but he is only allowed to do this with mom or dad right there of course!

Those are just the things I can think of off of the top of my head, but it seems like so much to me. There are few days that go by the Anderson doesn't blow me away by something new he has picked up. I love to watch him learn and grow. Of course I think he is so smart - but I may be slightly biased. We love our little one!

OH - and his 9 month stats from our apt last week are: 17lbs 10oz and 27.5 inches long (he is only in the 10th percentile - but doing great developmentally - the Dr gave him 2 thumbs up!!)

Father's Day

2011-06-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful Sunday celebrating Father's Day! We started off worshiping with our church family. We rarely get to worship together since Jon runs the broadcast, but we have decided to plug into a Sunday School class last hour and went for the first time this week and really enjoyed it! We have missed being in a Sunday School class together so much , but with Jon's responsibilities on Sunday morning it has been a challenge to make it work! We really are hoping to be able to plug in without too many interruptions!!

We then went to my grandparents house and had a nice lunch, some homemade ice cream and great fellowship! Anderson and I are so blessed to have Jon! He is a wonderful dad and loves Anderson so much! Anderson lights up when Jon walks through the door and there is nothing sweeter! Thankful for a godly, loving, thoughtful, passionate, hardworking husband and father! Here are 2 of my favorite pictures from the day... Best Buddies!

Most recent project

2011-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

I have been dying to have a chalkboard wall in our house - and we finally do!!! Here are the steps:

1. Wash your wall

2. Paint 3 coats of chalkboard paint letting each coat dry

completely

3. Wait 48 hours

4. Using the side of a piece of chalk draw all over your wall and then erase it

5. Repeat step 4

6. Get creative! Your chalkboard wall is READY!

I painted a calendar on our wall because I want it to always be there! I seriously can't stop staring at it! Can't wait to erase it all and start over again :)

~Brooke

My Water Bug!

2011-06-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'm glad to report that Anderson LOVES the pool! We went Thursday and he had a blast! He loved the water fountain in the baby pool, was not afraid to splash or be splashed, and didn't even mind getting floated on his back. When I put him on his belly he naturally kicked his feet and used his arms! Maybe a future swimmer??? His favorite part was probably watching the big kids play! We see much fun in the sun in our future!

I think this picture captures his excitement about swimming!

8 months and 4 days

2011-06-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

I had to give you a quick update! Last night Anderson did 3 new things...

1) Sprouted the tippity tip of a tooth through the gums!

2) Actually chewed and swallowed a puff - he normally just plays with them or spits them out!

3) Said "mama"! Obviously he doesn't know what he is saying but it was music to my ears!!

I also forgot to mention that Anderson loves animal noises! His favorite sound to hear me make is a cow - he grins and laughs every time! He will try to imitate a few too! He will do a cat almost every time and occasionally he will imitate a dog if there is a dog around but it sounds more like he is doing a deep cough and he get a really funny face when he does the dog sound - he furrows his brows and looks kinda mean! haha!

8 Months

2011-06-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Anderson is so big!! I cannot believe 8 months has passed since we brought him home from the hospital! And I cannot believe how much he has changed and all the things he can do! Anderson now crawls on his knees! He can get anywhere. He has learned that he can come to where mom is instead of crying for her to come to him. He imitates noises and sounds that we make. He says "DaDa" all day long. Besides blowing raspberries that is pretty much what i hear all day every day. He loves bath time more than ever now that he can get in the big boy tub all alone. He plays in the tub on his belly and sitting and with all kinds of toys! He also has started the early stages of cruising and I have a feeling in a week or so he will be a full blown cruiser! Our little man is a busy boy and on the go all day long. He chatters constantly too! He also loves to explore - in the tupperware, trying to help momma unload the dishwasher, he can basically get anything anywhere and we have had to start paying close attention to things laying around, especially his 3 favorites - outlets, cords and shoes!! He also has become quite the wild sleeper. I love to watch him in his moniter roll and twist and even crawl in his sleep! His favorite sleep position is on his side cuddled up to his puppy "jellycat" toy! We love life with our little booger. He is so sweet, has the most gorgeous smile, tons of thick course hair, and a crazy funny personality! We are so thankful for the gift of Anderson! The Lord is truly gracious!

Recent Celebrations

2011-05-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Malko home has been full of celebration lately! Last weekend we had a wonderful Mother's day - or i guess I am the one who had a wonderful Mother's Day! My guys were so sweet to me and I was so blessed, as I am every day, to be Anderson's mom! We enjoyed church first thing Sunday morning and I was able to serve in the nursery. Anderson even had a flower waiting for me when I picked him up from his class :) When we got home Jon and Anderson had some gifts waiting for me! Godiva Chocolates from Anderson and new PJ's from Jon. Then we went to my mom's house for a wonderful lunch with the whole family! It was a joy to celebrate my first Mother's Day and a joy to celebrate my mother for the first time as a mother myself!

Monday will be Jon and I's 3 year anniversary. Since it falls on a Monday this year we celebrated last night (Friday). For the first time Anderson stayed the night with his Granna and Pap. We dropped him off around 4 and then came back home to finish cleaning up and exchange gifts before we headed to dinner at Ruth's Chris! I got Jon a Dovo Straight Razor, a strop and a travel case for the razor. He shaved with it before we left and his face was soooo smooth! Jon got me a beautiful ivory throw from Arhaus and a beautiful dress from Loft - which I wore to dinner! He did such a great job picking it out all by himself!!! I am so blessed to be married to such an observant and thoughtful husband! Our dinner was fantastic and Jon declared it officially the best steak he had ever eaten. We then headed to the movies - thanks to the living social deal we got several months ago. We saw Water for Elephants and we really enjoyed it. It had been quite some time since I had been to a movie, and it was nice to stay out late together - even though we missed out little buddy and checked in on him often :) This morning we "slept in" and then headed out for brunch at Toast on Market. After our yummy meal we walked around the cute little shops downtown and then grabbed a cookie from Blue Dog cafe to enjoy as we walked around Frankfort Ave. Mom and Dad had agreed to keep Anderson until 3:30, but we couldn't wait - we headed to their house to love on our little man around 2! We were so excited to see him but thankful for a full nights sleep and some much needed time together.

This afternoon I also got a spare of the moment opportunity to grab a mani pedi with my mom before she heads off to Florida tomorrow! All and all the past week has been fantastic! But honestly - every week feels full of celebration with my family! So bring on the celebrating! Can't wait to see what is in store for us this week :)

7 Months Old

2011-05-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

I feel like so much has happened over the last month, and that my little baby is turning into a little boy right before my eyes! The weather has finally gotten nice and going outside is one of Anderson's favorite things to do. We go on walks a lot - to Aunt Lo Lo and Uncle Chad's house, to the park and to Check's - a local dive that we love to go to for lunch. Anderson also had his first trip to the zoo! Everytime we go I feel like he notices the animals more! It is so much fun. Anderson also had his GiGi come to visit from Florida and went to his first birthday party - for his buddy Liam! Here are some new things Anderson does:

He Army crawls with ease - and we are starting to see more time with the tummy off the floor
He can pull himself up on just about anything! He loves standing!
He eats anything and everything! And lots of it (still just baby food though)
He takes great naps - and apart from a bad spurt last weeks is sleeping much better at night - still not all night though :(
He rides in his stroller great!
He plays better on his own but we are still working on this!
He loves to drink water from mom and dad's glass and is trying really hard with the sippy cup.
He loves to play in the grass.

All and all we are having a fun spring! And loving are 7 month old boy!

6 months old!

2011-03-31T14:06:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my sweet little man is 6 months old already! He is so much fun and full of a outgoing and adventurous personality! He likes to be busy and, though he can sit now, he never sit still - he likes to be on the move and is anxious to be able to get on the move by himself - but no crawling yet! Here are some new things in the life of Anderson James:

He sits all alone - no problem and no toppling!
He can move easily from sitting to his belly and can spin all the way around and scoot a little too. He can even get his knees up but can't move on them yet.
He can sit in a high chair when we are out to eat and TODAY he rode in the cart at the grocery for the first time!
He EATS!!! I wasn't sure we would ever get there but he eats so good! So far he likes Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Apples, Bananas, and Pears. Today we bought Mangos, blueberries, Butternut squash, spinach, broccoli, corn and avocado (round 2) for him to try! We want a well rounded eater on our hands!
He LOVES to look at pictures of our family. I recently hung some on the wall in our hallway and he reaches for it every time we walk past and get so excited when we stop and look at it.
It takes him a LONG time but he can flip the light switch off.
He loves to explore and the bathroom is one of his favorite places. He can turn the sink on when I hold him down to it.
He could soak through 5+ bibs a day - he is a drool bucket.
He loves to hit things with his hand - like bang on the table or pick up a piece of paper and sling it around.
He can play with his toys more than ever!
He is still the most precious little boy we have ever laid eyes on :)
Stats: He weighs 16lbs (25th percentile) and is 26 inches (just under the 50th percentile). Dr said he is right on track for a breast fed baby (they normally drop off in weight around 6 months because they are preparing to transition to more calories in solid food)!

We are taking Anderson to get 6 month pictures made this weekend! But for now here are a few more recent ones.

Spring has Sprung

2011-03-03T13:06:00.001-08:00

Spring has Sprung! At least that is what the past two days have felt like! Yesterday Anderson and I went to the park with my sister Lauren and her puppies! Anderson got to swing for the first time and he LOVED IT! I also took him down the slide in my lap! We love our neighborhood because we can walk to George Rogers Clark Park and it is so nice and never crowded! We had a blast and then waled to Check's restaurant and ate while my little buddy took a nap! It was a long fun day! Here is a picture and video!!

Another really funny thing Anderson has been doing lately is scrunching his nose up when he thinks something is funny! He started yesterday and we have pretty much been laughing about it ever since. He does it ALL THE TIME! I managed to catch it on camera...

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-20T19:34:00.001-08:00

The Malko's celebrated Valentine's Day last Saturday, February 12th! My parents kept Anderson so Jon and I could celebrate with a day together! We dropped him off around 1pm with them, but before that Mommy gave Anderson her Valentine's gift! Here are the pics:

Here is Anderson Pre opened gifts - this picture is hilarious to me - he is making the funniest face! I love it!

Here he is with opened gifts. He got a new book, a little soft toy mouse the plays music and vibrates so it will move on it's own across the floor, and a red and white striped onesie.

After Jon and I dropped Anderson off at my parent's we went to lunch at PF Chang's. We then went to downtown Louisville and perused the Antique/design shops on Market and Broadway! We had a ton of fun just hanging out with each other! For dinner we enjoyed J Alexanders.... mmm! We were going to go bowling to complete our evening, but the wait was so long we decided to just walk around the mall and enjoy each others company! We were SOOO excited to have some uninterrupted time alone together that we totally forgot to take pictures! We did exchange small gifts. I got Jon some candy and Microsoft Game points. Jon got me an iTunes card for some new music, some candy, and some coffee. He also made me such a special card which was prob my favorite part of my gift! All in all we had a great day!

~Brooke

4 and a half months

2011-02-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

We have been parents now for 4 and a half months! 4 and a half CRAZY months! You really can never really be prepared to be a parent. We had so many "plans" and "ideas" that were completely naive! We really are just feeling settled into a new norm where regular every day activities can actually take place as expected! Anderson is loads of fun! He can do so many things now! It is AMAZING how fast babies learn and grow. Here are some things he can do:

Push himself up on his arms while layone on his stomache without ever tiring - he could hold this pose all day!
Roll over from belly to back or back to belly
hold himself supported on his legs while we old him steady - he can do this for a very long time!
trun himself all the way around in a circle on belly or back
He tries really hard to push himself up out of his Bumbo seat - of course I don't let him push all the way out but I really think he could!
Sleep all night long!! (9pm-7am) with only 1 wake up to get his paci back in!
Eat 5.5 oz in one sitting! Not every sitting but occasionally he drinks this much!
make any noise imaginable haha! He tries new ones all the time.
Make noise to "sing along" when we have music on! He LOVES music and kicks his feet like crazy
Ride in his baby bjorn facing outward and loving it - he moves his feet in a running motion which is HILARIOUS!
Play with all his toys - he especially loves toys that play music and have lights.
He reaches for anything and everything
He tries to copy what you do - we are working on waving bye bye! He tries really hard to move his fingers open and closed like we do!
He can sit up for brief period. Especially if he has his hands on a toy.
Stay awake for 3 hours or longer!
He hits with his hand - like the table or his toys.
He laughs - he has a funny laugh - it is kind of deep and not high pitched like we expected it to be!

Those are just a few things off the top of my head! We are loving life! Our family is so full! We are developing new routines that work best for us - like taking a bath around 10:30-11:30 (depending on our 7-8am wake up time) we have learned that bathing him after his first feeding results in a poopy bath tub! And we now read a book, sing a song and say our prayers every night before bed! It is fun to decide these things, but it is also kind of a lot of pressure! We really have to think and be intentional about trying to help him learn things! He loves to explore around the house and touch everything so we have been trying to say the names of everything - like sink and door and mirror and cabinet. When we touch the refridgerator we say "BRRR cold" and when he reaches for the stove I grab his hand and say "HOT, hurt the baby". And of course not a day goes by without saying "ma ma ma ma" and "da da da da" hundreds of times! It is amazing how quickly he picks up on things and seeing his smile and excitement when we praise him for doing somehting new is the rgeatest joy!

Needless to say being a mom is unbelieveable! It is so much more than I ever expected! The Lord is so gracious to give us this opportunity!

I will update this week with a Valentines day post! (We celebrated Saturday!)

~Brooke

LONG Overdue

2010-12-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

To be completely honest I never could have imagined what our lives would be like. I thought surely I would have time to get everything done that needed to get done around the house, and extra time on the side to do leisurely things, like blogging. I thought I may even get bored being at home all day. If you are a mom I'm sure you are doing one of two things - laughing or rolling your eyes. I have never been more busy in my entire life! I could not have survived our first two weeks home without my mother - bless her heart, and since then we have been in survival mode just now, finally, falling into a new normal. We have never been more exhausted, more busy, or more overwhelmed with love and joy! Truly parenthood is the beginning of having no option of whether or not your life is your own - it is absolutely not! Never more has God's grace been more evident in our home, and the gift of our son has been greater than we ever could have imagined!

Labor was tough for us - nothing really went as planned. In a perfect world we planned to labor naturally and hopefully for not too incredibly long, but that is opposite of what happened. Here is our story:

We went in to be induced September 28th at 8pm. Anderson was too cozy and not planning an appearance without an eviction notice :). We did all the necessary "check-in" procedures and finally received the induction around 9:45pm that evening. The goal was to still attempt natural labor and that is what we did through the night. The nurse assured us that nothing would happen until the morning so my family did not come that evening and Jon went to sleep. The laboring pains - though very early on were fairly painful. My water broke around 4am and we were so excited thinking maybe things would speed along! At 6am the nurse checked and I still hadn't progressed very much at all. She told us it was going to be a LONG day. At that point I decided to go ahead and get an epidural. The pain was pretty intense since I had been in labor now for 8 hours with no end in sight. Once I received the epidural labor was a piece of cake. No pain or discomfort and I was actually still able to move around - by move around I mean roll from side to side. around 3pm I started to feel the baby move again - which I thought was weird so I told the nurse. She assured me that was OK and we went on as normal. Slowly I began to feel more and more and it became painful. I finally insisted that we bring in the anesthesiologist and she suggested that I just roll to my other side since the epidural works with gravity and most of my pain was on the side that I was not laying on. When I rolled over the nurse saw that my epidural had fallen out! At this point it had been out for several hours and the medication was completely gone. by the time the anesthesiologist got there, prepped, gave me the medication, and once the medication actually took effect I had been without any medication for over an hour and a half. It was absolutely the worst most indescribable pain I had ever felt and was so thankful I wasn't doing my entire labor unmediated - that was a crazy idea - haha! Once the 2nd epidural had taken effect labor was going smoothly again. I had managed to remain graceful through the whole ordeal and was actually enjoying this special time with family and friends! The Dr. had been in several times and I was progressing but VERY slowly. Dr. Grider told me that if at any time I went 6 hours without progression we would have to do a c-section. I did not want a c-section and we all prayed together that it would not come to that. Around 9pm I had indeed gone 6 hours with no progression. Surprisingly to me I had a complete peace about it. We had prayed and God had heard, and a c-section, being our only option, was his plan, of that we were sure. Dr. Grider was so wonderful and allowed me time to ask her any question I had and to visit with my family one last time before we went to the O.R. They gave me more medication for the c-section and began to test to see if it had numbed me appropriately. When Dr. Grider tested my legs felt nothing, but when she tested the area for my incision I could still feel pain - not just pressure, but pain. They gave me more medication, still no affect, and more, still nothing. They wanted to put me under, but I did not want that at all. I wanted to see my little boy when the Lord brought him into this world! At this point I had so much medication my whole body was shaking, but I was so excited to meet my little man I was in very good spirits. Jon said I kept telling the Doctors and nurses what a good job they were doing - haha! I could feel every move Dr. Grider made, but was still elated at the fact I was soon to meet our sweet baby boy. He was born at 10:26 pm and Jon got to see them pull him out into the cold bright room. They brought him around to let me get a glance and then whisked him away to be weighed and measured and "cleaned". I don't really remember hearing him cry or actually seeing him - I just know I did. They brought him to lay him on my chest but I was too weak to hold him myself. Jon had to support him on my until I informed him that "You have to take him because I'm falling asleep". I could not longer hold my eyes open. Jon took him up to be examined and bathed, and my whole family got to see him. I remember being sad that I couldn't be there for their very first introduction. When they took me to the recovery room I had a total melt down. I had remained so jovial through the entire day, but the emotions of what I had just been through, the medication, the fact that I missed my families first reaction to our son, and the realization that I could not even, just a few minutes later, remember what he looked like all sank in at once and I was overcome with tears. I cried and cried, I couldn't stop even though I wanted to. Jon quickly joined me in the recovery room - he was so concerned and loving and patient. Because of the severity of the pain my body experienced, and the fact that I was aware of it the entire time my blood pressure had risen to the 190's over 120's so I had to wait in recovery much longer than normal. By the time I was able to go back to the postpartum room it was nearly 1am. My mom, brother, sister and brother-in-law were all still waiting for me! They brought Anderson in and everyone got to hold him. They were all so sweet and it was a blessing to see the love they had for our little guy! Everyone congratulated us and headed home leaving Jon, myself and my mom. At this point I needed to feed Anderson for the very first time. I was still so weak and groggy I could not hold him myself. My mom and Jon had to support him as he ate. By God's incredible mercy Anderson ate like a pro! I said completely ridiculous things to my my and Jon during this time. Among them I stated that "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there", and asked Jon to please check and see if that red coat was still on the rack at TJ Maxx. We all had a good laugh at my being so out of it. The nurses came and took Anderson to the baby room, mom left, and I completely passed out - not remembering much at all. BUT at 4am when the nurses placed my baby in my arms for his feeding, and I was alone with him for the very first time my heart melted. He was perfect and lovely. I undressed him and checked all his fingers and toes. I fed him and talked to him and kissed his sweet face. That moment I will never forget!

And there you have it, the birth story of Anderson James Malko, the most beautiful baby boy that has every graced my presence - though I may be a little partial. His daddy and I love him more and more every day and are completely humbled that the Lord placed him in our care. Here are a few pictures...

My first time holding Anderson...

After his first bath waiting for mommy to get out of recovery...

Loving on the boy in the hospital...

Anderson's newborn pics with his Lion...

One day he will love his toys...

Blessed Family...

Sweet boy...

Tummy time...

He as an owl for Halloween...

Big boy....

This was taken just last night, his first time in his bumbo - he is getting so big :)...

Birth Announcements become Christmas cards

2010-11-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted to send out Christmas cards! And this year we are going to! Since Anderson is 7 weeks old tomorrow (and forgive my lack of updating but being a mom takes up a lot of time!! - I will get around to it soon I promise!) I figure it is a little late for birth announcements so we are going to use our newborn pictures to send out our very first Christmas card! And Shutterfly has a great deal right now! If you are a blogger you can get 50 FREE Holiday Cards click HERE to find out more. We got our newborn pictures back last week and they are soo good! Which I am shocked by – not because of our photographer Jason Coobs, but because Anderson screamed the whole time!!! But we definitely got some good family photos! We are lovin our little boy. I will post some pictures soon! And I can’t WAIT to get our holiday cards made so make sure you check out all of shutterfly’s adorable designs!

Can't wait to choose one but for now here are a few of my favorites...

You can check out the ones you like best HERE!

Baby Malko

2010-09-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't given an update on the baby lately because well, other than "everything looks good" you really know about as much as we do. We have had such a "normal" pregnancy. Nothing out of the ordinary. I have really enjoyed being pregnant and haven't had too much difficulty at all. I am still even fairly comfortable besides not getting much sleep at all. We are 38 weeks today, so our little man could come anytime - he is basically finished developing and could function perfectly outside of the womb - only he seems to really like it there :) We had a doctor's apt this morning - we have them now every Tuesday morning until he comes, and "everything looks great". We haven't started any of the labor process - he is still quite cozy in there and isn't trying to break out that we can tell at least. This could change any minute according to the doctor and there is no speeding it up or slowing it down - a great reminder that the Lord is in control! The birthing process is, even with all our technology, such a miracle and such a mystery! Jon and I cannot wait for Anderson to arrive - not because I am miserable or sick of being pregnant, but more just because we can't wait to meet him and hold him in our arms. We plan to wait it out as long as the Lord chooses to keep him in the belly... knowing that there is no accident or mistake from our creator! He is still working on our son! BUT the Dr. will not let us go over 41 weeks so sometime in the next 3 weeks our little man will make his grand appearance! We are so excited and praying for him daily. I am so humbled that the Lord would allow us to be the parents to such a precious little child that has the potential to do so much for the Kingdom! Join us in praying for Anderson, for his last little bit of time growing inside of his mom, for a smooth and natural birth, for his sweet little heart that we know will have a natural tendency towards sin - and our graciousness and lack of naivety as we learn to understand this, and for the Lord to use us as his parents to direct him toward Christ! May the Lord one day do a miraculous work in his little heart - even more miraculous than the forming work his has done on it so far! And may our son follow Christ with reckless abandonment!

We can't wait to update you with a picture :)

~Brooke

Great Deal at GAP today!

2010-09-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today only, you can use the coupon code GPLABORDAY to get 25% off your purchase at Gap. You can also use the code GAPSHIP50 to get free shipping with a $50 purchase, and the price must still be at or over $50 after the first code.

A few of our Favorites

2010-08-20T10:41:00.001-07:00

We got the rest of our maternity pictures back and we were thrilled! We love them so much and are so thankful for Jason Coobs and the talent he has and the care he puts into his work! Here are a few of our Faves! Can't wait to get some nice frams and hang them in our home! This makes us look so forward to our newborn pics! Thanks again Jason!

Before Anderson Arrives... I need your help!

2010-08-18T13:26:00.001-07:00

Before Anderson arrives I have several SEVERAL things on my to do list. I need to get our bedroom upstairs finished so we can set up the nursery, sew a few more pillows for the nursery, enjoy 1 more baby shower, get rid of TONS of clothes Jon and I do not wear, have a yard sale with our pile in the basement, actually figure out what we still need before our little man arrives, finish our cloth diaper stash so we have enough for him, and the list goes on...

BUT, I could really use your help on one thing. I want to make ahead some meals that I can freeze and pull out after he is born! Do you have any good make ahead and freeze recipes? If so post them as a comment! We love to try new things and I am hardly ever organized enough to make ahead a meal, so my list of make ahead and freeze meals begins and ends with lasagna! Can't wait to try all your recipes!

Maternity Pics

2010-08-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun getting our maternity pictures taken! I was kind of nervous about them because what girl wants to have her picture taken with 20+ extra pounds on her?!?! We haven't gotten all of them back yet, but Jason has posted several on his blog if you want to see what we have seen! Can't wait to get them all and post some on our blog! We love what we see so far!

~Brooke

I won another giveaway!!

2010-08-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited - I won another giveaway! I signed up for a giveaway hosted by The Minimal Mom Blog and I won!! I will be receiving this adorable nursing cover which I am so excited about! I don't have one yet. Thanks Cambria - the author of Minimal Mom :)

Baby Shower Fun

2010-08-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

I had such a wonderful Baby shower hosted by my sweet friends Alyssa Laing and Lindsey Poenie! All of our friends were so sweet to celebrate with us and to provide so many wonderful and adorable and necessities for baby Anderson! Here are a few pictures from the shower - these are actually from Alyssa, I still need to upload the ones from my camera!
Mom sis and I:

The hostesses and I:

Friends!

And more friends!

We have another shower coming up on August 22nd hosted by my sis and my mom's sweet friend Lynn Ringo! It is so fun to celebrate this new chapter in our families life.

Another exciting thing is that we ordered our infant car seat last night! It is a "babies r us exclusive" and keeps going in and out of stock which was making me so nervous that it could go out of stock and we couldn't get it to bring Anderson home! So we used some gift certificates and a coupon and ordered it last night. Can't wait for it to arrive.

Jon and I have also been excited about the new life stage and have spent hours talking and planning ways that we can really make Christ the center of our family, especially for our son. We are really excited to pray through this and seek wisdom from the Lord and others he has placed in our lives as we implement changes in our home to better honor and demonstrate Christ to one another and our friends, family and neighbors. We have really enjoyed some of the baby classes Baptist East has to offer, and are excited for the up and coming conference hosted by Southern "Connecting Church and Home". We really want to take advantage of every opportunity to parent and lead our family the way God has created us to do. You can join us in praying this for our family and especially for Jon as he leads us in this direction.

I know I haven't posted any belly pictures in a while, BUT on Saturday we are having maternity pictures taken by the wonderful Mr. Jason Coobs! Jason also did our wedding pictures and we were just thrilled with them. SO keep your eyes on his blog next week and maybe you will get a sneak peak, but once we recieve them I will definately be posting some belly pictures :)

Online Bargains!

2010-07-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have several websites that I check everyday for bargains! Right now one that I love is offering a special that if you sign up you get a free $10 shopping credit! It is a bargain site that updates with new deals daily and has clothes, accessories, household items, vacation deals, etc that change daily! It is called RueLaLa, but you have to have an invitation to get the $10 so follow the link below, sign up, and you get $10 FREE! Here's the Link:
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/bmalko

And while I am at it here are some others I love to check... follow the links to sign up for great daily deals...

http://www.zulily.com/referafriend/?15664 (Carries items for moms and children)

https://www.theminisocial.com/myaccount.php?invitation=49499 (Carries items for moms and children)

http://totsy.com/join/brookemalko (Carries items for moms and children)

http://www.gilt.com/invite/brookemalko (Carries Items for men, women, children, home, vacations, etc!)

Happy Bargain Shopping!

Delinquent Blogger

2010-07-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

I know that I am totally a delinquent blogger. I have neglected our blog for quite sometime now for no particular reason other than I have wanted to post pictures but have been so busy that I haven't loaded any onto our computer in a while. In fact, we have been so busy we have not taken nearly as many as we should. My friends (particularly Jenna Hellekson) have been reminding me of my delinquent tendencies, so I gave into the peer pressure and decide3d to update the long overdue blog!

We have had so much going on lately! Conferences for me at work, Jon being so busy at work, and attending a conference himself! Baby stuff is also so consuming, not to mention trying to get our house ready for Anderson's arrival!!

Here are some things that have happened in the past few months...

2 Years! Well since the last time I updated was May 7th, I guess since then Jon and I have celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Vincenzo's - a wonderful fancy Italian restaurant here in town. We had a fantastic time talking about the wonderful, and not so wonderful things we went through over the past year, and looking forward to this year in ways we can better serve one another!
Jon and I started to feel Anderson kicking around 19-20 weeks (very shortly after my last post). Now he is HUGE and kicks constantly all the way up to my ribs now, not only can we feel him but we can see him which i enjoy the most! I love the feeling and wouldn't mind if he moved around all day every day! It is so neat how he recognizes us - particularly Jon, and he moves differently when Jon talks to him than anyone else! I reallyt think Anderson can even recognize the feel of Jon's hand when he touches my belly!
My little brother turned 18 and graduated High School - this is unreal to me!
Jon and I took a trip to Orlando with Highview to serve at the Pastor's Conference for the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention. It was such a wonderful and exciting time as our pastor served as the President of the Conference. We (particularly Jon) were able to meet some incredible godly men who have impacted God's Kingdom in a lasting way! It was an honor to be a part of something so much "Greater Than" us! If you want to check out the "Backstage Videos" that Jon filed check them out here.
Jon sold his car - this seems to be a small hobby of ours - I guess we have joined int he family business - haha. We have been trying to cut our budget back so that I can stay home as much as possible with Anderson. Once it was sold he purchased a "new" to us cheaper car that he loves and is having a ton of fun driving and doing small fun inexpensive things to make it nicer! He got a 1991 Mazda Miata. It is red and gets unbelievably low gas mileage and is one of the most reliable cars ever made! We are having fun zipping around town with the top down and were blessed to find one for so cheap and in such good shape!
Jon installed a new bathroom sink into our little bathroom that was in desperate need of a makeover! We put in a pedestal sink that looks incredible, have 1 coat of paint on the wall, and are in love with it already (pictures to come)
We went to Fort Myers to visit, take our family vacation, have a baby shower and participate in a wedding! We just got back last week. We were in Fort Myers from July 10th-17th and had a wonderful time with our family and friends! Jon and I were even able to get away just the 2 of us for 2 nights and 3 days at the Jupiter Beach Resort just north of Palm Beach for a babymoon! The Scroggins' Family recommended the place to us and we LOVED IT! We also enjoyed getting to visit First Baptist West Palm Beach and to have lunch with the Scroggins and Brandon Shields! Also while we were there Jon was in his great friend Ray Flowers' wedding. It was a great ceremony and reception and a fun time for Jon to spend with his oldest friends! Another wonderful part of our trip was the sweet baby shower that my friend Meg threw for us! I had such a wonderful time catching up with so many sweet ladies that I miss seeing so often! Jon and I are so blessed to have so much love and support from our family and friends that live 1000 miles away!

Some things we are looking forward to:

Baby Shower #2 this Sunday! My wonderful friends Lindsey Poenie and Alyssa Laing are hosting a shower for some of the girls our age and I am so excited to celebrate our little man! We have another shower coming up in August hosted by my sis and sweet family friend Lynn Ringo as well!
More home renovations - Jon and I have a plan to finish the upstairs in about a month so that we can move upstairs and finally set up the nursery! I'm getting kind of nervous about it since....
We only have 10 weeks left in our pregnancy!!!! I cannot believe how quickly it has FLOWN by. We cannot wait to meet our little man!
We have our 1st baby class at baptist east this Thursday night, and several more to follow in the weeks to come! I am excited to learn all that we can to prepare us for Anderson's arrival!

Whew - that was a lot of updating! If you have stuck with me this long I am impressed! I will try to be more consistent updating! You can join us in praying for the rest of our pregnancy, that Anderson develops completely, and that our delivery goes smoothly. We plan on doing natural childbirth, and I am equal parts excited and nervous, so lots of prayer for that would be appreciated! We have been so blessed throughout this pregnancy and have been praying prayers of thanksgiving for the Lord's provision and the way he has used our family and friends to show us so much love and support! The Lord is so faithful!

Belly Pictures

2010-05-07T08:03:00.001-07:00

I know that these are long over due, and we haven't taken many, BUT my belly hasn't changed THAT much - the bump is relatively small - or at least it was in these pictures, I feel like over the past few days it has changed quite a bit so you may be surprised when I post next weeks - I'm going to be more constant and taking them and posting them now that things seem to be changing more quickly.

This is me on April 8th at 15 weeks

This is Jon at 15 weeks as well! haha! He will probably die that I posted this - he has NO belly bump ever - lucky man!

This is me at 19 weeks - the day we found out that we were having a boy!

A close up of Anderson right before we got to see actual pics of him.

Jon the right before we went to the Dr. to find out we were expecting a little boy - this picture was too handsome not to post!

Here is our little guy! Throughout the entire ultra sound he was making a little sucking motion with his mouth - he looked like he was trying to suck his thumb - he kept moving his little hand so close to his mouth but couldn't quite make it - you can see his hand and the blur motion of him trying to get it to his mouth in this picture....

You can see more of him in this one... my mom says his round forehead looks like mine and we all agree that his mouth and chin resemble Jon - that is our best guess so far - you can see his two little hands folded together near his mouth and at the right you see a knee and a foot above it. At the bottom you can see his little spine - so precious! We can't wait to meet him!

There are a few more pics on facebook if you click the link below you can probably see them but I think these 2 are the best!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=2013850&id=176700075

This past weekend we registered at babies-r-us! It was really fun - my favorite things are the stroller and infant seat! I love the colors!

I feel like my belly has grown so much over the past week! I will take a picture tomorrow - I will be 20 weeks - HALF WAY! I can't believe how fast the time is flying! Continue to pray with us for this little miracle! That he grows healthy and strong, and that he will come to know the Lord as his Savior at a young age and serve the Lord faithfully with his life! Pray also for Jon and I, we are confident that the Lord will supply us with all we need! We just want to be the best parents we can and to worship the Lord with the way we raise our little man!!

I WON A GIVEAWAY!.... and just in case you hadn't heard it's a BOY!

2010-05-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

I won a giveaway and it couldn't have been more perfect! Jon and I found out Monday that we are expecting Anderson James Malko, or sweet little man! We got to see him playing around in my belly! He weighs 10 oz and is about 7 inches long and we are more excited than ever to meet him!!!

Well, on Tuesday morning when I got into work I had an email from the blog http://www.thefashionablebambino.com/ that I had stumbled across and entered a giveaway on. I had entered it so long that I had forgotten about it. Well, I WON! And this is what we got...

http://www.kokopax.com/Products/city-classic-carrier.aspx

to see more pictures! We are sooo excited! And it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. We chose to get the stone color and are anxiously awaiting it's arrival, even though we won't be able to use it for a while! It is just a reminder that Sweet Anderson will be here before we know it!

My belly is also starting to get bigger - to those that don't know me I still may look just a little chubby, but my friends and family definitely recognize the baby bump. We have taken a few pics and I really will try to post some soon. Our lives are just so exciting right now and jam packed with preparation for all of these life changes! We would appreciate it so much if you would join us in Praying for Anderson, that he will be safe and healthy and that his mom will do everything she can to take the best care of him by taking good care of herself :) Also that the Lord will continue to prepare Jon and I to be parents - we are in much need of grace :)

Thanks!

The Diet of a Pregnant Woman

2010-04-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't so much been craving weird or unusual things just very specific things like....

Orange Juice - during the first trimester I drank OJ for 3 meals a day
Eggs - or any Breakfast food for that matter
BLT's - this is what I have for lunch nearly every day!
Milk chocolate - which is weird b/c I normally prefer dark chocolate
Green Beans - which I have never eaten before in my life but now I love them
Grapes and Apples
String Cheese
A salad from the Outback - not sure why but this specif salad is what I want
Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos from Bonefish Grill - this is a new one, but I have been thinking about them all day haha
Root Beer - maybe this is because it wasn't until I was pregnant that I realized it was caffeine free!

Things I DO NOT want that I used to love

Coffee - this is the main thing - i usually drink coffee every day and now the only coffee I could stomach is the fancy stuff not just a plain cup-o-joe.
Diet Coke - i just don't ever really want it anymore
Fried food - I can and have eaten it but I wouldn't pick it
Yogurt - I know it is good for you but the thought of it isn't good

I have no idea why I want or don't want all these specific things, but as far as I hear it is common! Any Preggers out there wanna share what they love or hate??

Baby Crib

2010-04-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to USA Baby and ordered our crib! We are so excited! In less than 2 weeks we get to find out the gender, and it just feels like everything is going by quickly.... so exciting! Here is a picture of our crib - we aren't getting the other furniture pictured with it, just the crib its self... I love the round feet on the bed - it is my favorite part and what helped us to make the deciding choice on this crib! Can't wait to find out what we are having so that we can pick out bedding!

Some upcoming events

2010-03-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

We always seem to have a lot going on. My mom always comment son how busy I am, but she has begun to make fun of me because my answer is always it's just a couple of weeks and then things will slow down.... but do they ever slow down...no!

Here are some upcoming events in our lives:

This Friday - our great friend Meg from Fort Myers comes to visit for the weekend
Sunday - EASTER!
Tuesday, April 6th - 2nd heartbeat appointment
April 10th - host a baby shower for a great friend!
April 24th - Mother Daughter tea with our 9th grade girls
May 3rd - Find out if we are having a boy or girl!!
May 16th - our 2 year wedding anniversary
June 1 - my little bro graduates High School - CRAZY!
June 11th - My little bro turns 18
June 12-17 - possibly in FL for pastor's conference/convention - this is still tentative
June 28-July 1 - summer camp at Southern Seminary - crazy work week!
July 10th-17th - in FL for babymoon, to visit our family, and for Ray and Heather's wedding!

I'm sure there will be plenty more during and after these dates! But it sure makes for an exciting life!

Just to fill you in I haven't taken any prego pics because I am still not showing. I mean I can definitely tell there is change happening, but I don't think anyone else can.... I will start trying to take some soon :) We are 14 weeks this week - into our second trimester and feeling great! I am secretly hoping it is a girl, but will be so thrilled either way - we just want a healthy baby! We have also been doing a lot of work on our home, but for those of you who own homes as well you know this is a never ending task! It is great to get to do work outside though! Looking forward to start building the master suite upstairs soon!!!

I am long over due on pictures! I will try to post some next week! Until then...

~Brooke

11 Weeks today!

2010-03-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

So 11 weeks today means I am 1/4 of the way through my pregnancy! I can't believe it! Time is flying by, but I guess since we didn't know until about 5 1/2 weeks it has made it feel faster! Here is what is happening with Baby Malko this week...

How your baby's growing:Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Baby's hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under the gums, and some bones are beginning to harden. The Baby is already busy kicking and stretching, and the tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as the body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

Join us in praying for our precious gift from the Lord!

~Brooke

Could it be Spring??

2010-03-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend's weather was simply divine! I didn't even realize how much I missed the sunshine! Living in Fl for the past 2 1/2 years really made me accoustomed to sunshine almost every day, and this gloomy winter has almost done me in! Since I worked all last weekend I was ablt to ake Friday off as well so this glorious weekend lasted 3 days for me - and it was soo needed!

On Friday I was able to run some errands, and Jon and I were able to celebrate my Dad's birthday with my family.

On Saturday Jon and I worked hard around the house to get it in tip top shape. Dusting and Vacuuming and doing laundry - it is amazing how far behind you can fall on these things when you work nearly 2 weeks without a day off! We relaxed a lot on Saturday as well and just enjoyed each others company making a semi-late night run to McDonald's for some Hot Fudge Sundaes!

Yesterday (Sunday) was probably my favorite day of our weekend! We enjoyed worship and fellowship with our Highview Family. Then we had a nice lunch at McAlister's with my mom dad and brother. Afterwards I was so thrilled with the weather that I wanted to get outside and do some of the work on our house we have been waiting all winter to do! Jon pulled all of the old ugly metal awnings off of the windows, and I sanded down the swing that we will soon be painting and hanging on our front porch! Then Jon cleaned out the garage - we still had several boxes stowed away in there, and I Sanded our back door to prepare that to be painted as well.

I have been debating what color to paint my swing, back door and front door.... I'm open to suggestions if you have seen anything adorable! I have considered yellow for the swing but am not committed! We want something colorful to make our house look young and fun! Please tell me what you think! Or send me links to pictures of adorable ones! I need some inspiration!

Thanks!
~Brooke

Other Happenings

2010-02-27T05:10:00.001-08:00

Well, now that the big news is broken there are some other happenings in the lives of the Malko family. We are so thankful that we were able to sell my car - the X3. WE had been praying that the Lord would let it sell quickly so we could be able to save more money as we wait to meet Baby Malko, and it did! Praise the Lord! For the past 2 or so weeks Jon and I have been a one car family. Honestly I have enjoyed it. Despite the occasional inconvenience it was so nice to have that little extra time together. We shared so many laughs and good times just riding together to work and back! Well, yesterday, while I was at work from 12:30pm - 10:30pm (The Adopting for Life Conference is happening as I type at SBTS), Jon bought us a 2nd car! WOOHOO! He picked me up in it last night and I absolutely love it! It will primarily be my daily driver since it was my daily driver that we sold, and honestly it doesn't even feel like a downgrade, but it is financially 1/3 of what we had paid for the x3! It is a black Mercedes ML500 (suv)! I was elated when Jon pulled up in it last night! My dad found it for us from another dealer that had gotten it as a trade in. - THANKS DAD! So we are finally a 2 car family again. It will make the flow of life so much easier, but I will definitely miss those sweet times with Jon!

In other news, Lauren and Chad, my sister and brother-in-law are grandparents - haha! Their dog cooper just had puppies! Cooper is a boy - but they bred him with our Uncle's dog. So once the babies are weened from their mother Lauren and Chad will have a new little girl Yorkie pup! They are so excited, and the puppies are adorable! You could hold 3 of them in your palm they are so tiny right now.

Jon and I have both been super busy at work, but it is because we have been working on exciting things! Highview got new projectors and screens in the sanctuary this week, and Jon is very excited about them. The old ones were very faded and washed out and everything he filmed looked extremely dark and dull, but now it will be bright and vibrant. At Southern we had 3 major conferences this semester, and we are on day 2 of the second one! It has made for a busy February, but the 2 conferences we have had thus far have gone really well! It will be nice to be back to a routine once we are past them!

On March 10th Jon and I get to go and hear the baby's heart beat for the first time! WE are sooo excited! We have SEEN the heart beat by an early untra sound but we have not heard it yet. We cannot wait to hear the heartbeat of our sweet baby that the Lord has been sustaining! It is so unbelieveable to read about how the baby is developing, and humbling to know that the Lord is fulfilling his promise as he knits he or she together! The Lord has been teaching me so much through this proccess. My prayer life has been impacted in a huge way. The Lord has been teaching me to pray more intentionally, it began with our baby, but has spilled over into so many other areas of my prayer life. I really feel the sanctification proccess taking place in our home, and it is such a blessing. Praying that the Lord continues the great work he has begun, trust that he will because he is always faithful!

~Brooke

What's Going on with us this week

2010-02-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

If you have been wondering if I have been avoiding our blog, the answer is YES! We have had some big things going on in our lives that we haven't been ready to share with the world yet, but the time has come to let you in on what is going on with the Malko's this week.......

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Your pregnancy: 9 weeks

How your baby's growing:Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

We can't wait to meet baby Malko around September 28th!!!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

This year for Valentines Day Jon and I are going low key so that we can take a little mini-vacation in July. We are going to Fort Myers for our Friends Ray and Heather's wedding - Jon is in the wedding! Since we are already going to be there we decided for V-day and our anniversary we were going to go super low budget and then stay a few nights on the Beach while we are in FL in July! I am really excited about it!

This year we are going to cash in on some gift cards we have been saving since Christmas. For Valentines day we are going to go to Bristol downtown, and then maybe see a movie!

We want to know what everyone else is doing for Valentines day. Comment and let us know!

Here is the Link to our Valentine's post from last year! It was our first one as a married couple. Blogs are great for reminiscing!

~Brooke

Weekend Fun

2010-02-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

We love the weekends at the Malko Home, but then again who doesn't? Here are some things that made our weekend enjoyable...

*Watching Friday Night Lights on Friday Night

*Sleeping in only a little on Saturday morning (we love to sleep in only a little. We hate when we sleep our whole Saturday away, but it is nice to get a little extra res. Getting up around 9 in our favorite!)

*Eating lunch at Impellizari's - our Fave Louisville pizzeria

*Dinner and game night with Grant and Gabi Henry - thanks for the yummy dinner Henry Family!

*Sunday morning at Highview - we love our church family!

*Spending time with my brother

*Family game night on Sunday's - we do this every Sunday and this week it was at our home! We at Spanish Noodles, Jon's favorite recipe from his Grammy, and played Scene It on the xbox 360 - highly recommend it, and Uno!

Can't wait for next weekend :)

Psalm 98

2010-01-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

So the seminary is putting together a year long devotion for women on the Psalms. I have been blessed enough to be able to write onf ot the devotions that will be appearing on August 13th 2011. The passage I have been meditating on to write the devotion is Psalm 98.

Psalm 98
Praise the King
1 Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have won Him victory. 2 The Lord has made His victory known; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God's victory. 4 Shout to the Lord, all the earth; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. 5 Sing to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song. 6 With trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn shout triumphantly in the presence of the Lord, our King. 7 Let the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it, resound. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy 9 before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly.

My devotion is Due Feb. 1 and I am nearly completed. The Lord has taught me so much as I have studied this passage and I have been truly encouraged, especially by verse 3. Praise the Lord that He remembers us! We are so unworthy, and He is so full of love and faithfulness. Please join me in praying for God's grace in this challenge to be an encourager through God's Word to other women!

In Christ,
Brooke

blogger abandonment

2010-01-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry that i have not updated the blog in what seems to be forever. Everything is still going quite well in the Malko's household. Jon and I are both still working away. Jon begins the new semester tomorrow, and i begin Monday, the home improvements are still well on their way, and pictures will come soon. Sorry I have been so negligent.

Something we are looking forward to is the beginning of the Wednesday Night Media ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship). Since Jon is the head of the video production at Highview, he severs all morning on Sunday's, as do all of the volunteers that work with Jon. On Feb. 10th Jon and Brandon ( the who is on staff and runs sound on Sunday am) will begin an ABF for those volunteers who do not get to be a part of one on Sunday mornings. They are going to be doing a Bible study using the book crazy love, and also working on technical skills to help enhance the media ministry! I am excited to serve with Jon in this ministry, and am praying the the Lord will bring a group that can be dedicated to studying the word and serving him through media at Highview Baptist Church! Join us in praying for this new ministry opportunity!

~Brooke

House Renovations

2009-11-18T07:05:00.000-08:00

So the renovations are coming along slowly but surely. I'm sorry I haven't uploaded any pictures. i will try to get them up soon. SO far we have all but 1 cabinet installed (we were missing one piece but we have it now and will be finishing this week). WE need to cut and install the counter tops. By the end of the day today we will have all electrical done, and then once the counter tops are installed we will have out appliances installed! Right now they are just sitting in the breakfast nook teasing us since we can't actually use them yet! Once everything is installed we will finish painting!! I can't wait! Pictures coming soon, but thought I would give you a quick update!

~brooke

Christmas Moola

2009-11-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Christmas time, and I can feel it quickly approaching! Everything in me wants to begin decorating and shopping for gifts, especially with Jon's birthday coming up here in the next few weeks! I found this Christmas budget planner on this blog of a friends that blogs about "good deals". You should check it out! But for now I will post the budget planner - upload it and let me know if you use it and like it! I'm going to try to use it this year!

http://christmas.organizedhome.com/printable/houseworks-holiday-plan/christmas-budget

contemplation

2009-11-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

Today I have been contemplating why becoming an electrician or plumber isn't much more prestigious. It seems to me they get paid an awful lot.

I hope my husband isn't upset with me for posting this.

Twenty-six

2009-11-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

I CANNOT believe that I am 26. I know I am still very young, but 26 sounds so much further down the road than I feel. Maybe that is why a married a younger man ;)! But I did have a fantastic birthday! Thanks for all of those who wished me well via facebook, and who helped to make my day special!

First thing yesterday morning Jon had me open my gift from him. It was a beautiful new winter coat, and lucky for me yesterday morning it was cold enough to wear it! Jon and I actually road to church together, which we haven't gotten to do since we moved to Louisville, and he sat with me through the worship service - he is normally in the video booth - and it was so sweet! We also got to make a stop at starbucks on the way to church!

After church we went to my Grandparents house for lunch. There I opened other gifts, I got a little spending money, a few giftcards to Macy's from Jon's mom and his grandparents, and his grandparents also got me an adorable pandora bead shaped like a house in honor of Jon and I's first home!

My parents got me this incredible purse from Banana Republic! It has red interior which is adorable and it look FABULOUS with my new coat!

Once we left my grandparents Jon had a few of my closest friends waiting for us at my parents house as a surprise to me (Thanks Lindsey Poenie for helping Jon out with that one!) Lindsey, Jenna, Sarah Cress, and the Laing's. They had chocolate meringue pie from the homemade ice cream and pie kitchen, and we just hung out all afternoon!

For dinner Jon took me to my FAVORITE restaurant, Jack Frye's. It was such a fantastic Birthday! My mom is actually in Florida this week, so I did miss spending time with her, she always makes things so special, but Jon really went above and beyond! I'm so thankful for a Savior who loves me enough to provide such sweet people in my life to show me His love!

New Kitchen

2009-10-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me, you know the the kitchen is my FAVORITE room in the house. I LOVE to cook, and I just love how people congregate in the kitchen! My love for the kitchen has made the process of putting in a new kitchen so much fun! I adore our appliances and cannot WAIT to use the stove for the first time! Last night we picked out our kitchen cabinets. Once we close on Friday the order will be placed for them and we will have them in around a week. (We wanted to make sure everything goes ok with the closing before we placed the order just to be safe). So... here they are. They are not the EXACT set up that we will have of course - this is just a floor model, but this is the style of cabinets we will be getting. We will not have a Range hood like the one in the picture because we have an over the range microwave, but we will have a tall pantry like the one in the picture... So this is basically just the finish and style, but you will have to wait with us to see our set-up!

Kitchen Appliances

2009-10-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

The day of closing is quickly approaching, and our kitchen has NO appliances, so this weekend Jon and I went and purchased our appliances. We have been shopping around for quite a bit, and ended up making our purchase at best buy believe it or not! They definitely had the "Best Buy" - ba-dum-chhh! But in all honesty, when you buy 4 appliances you get 20% off and that was right up our ally! So, with no further ado, here is what we got...

Frigidaire - 26.0 Cu. Ft. Side-by-Side Refrigerator with Thru-the-Door Ice and Water - Stainless-Steel

Frigidaire - Gallery 30" Self-Cleaning Freestanding Gas Range - Stainless-Steel

Frigidaire - 1.7 Cu. Ft. Over-the-Range Microwave - Stainless-Steel

Frigidaire - 24" Tall Tub Built-In Dishwasher - Stainless-Steel

So I pretty much LOVE our appliances and can't wait for our new kitchen! We are going to look at cabinets on Tuesday! The only little glitch is that our appliances won't be delivered until November 14th - which means we will live in our home for 2 weeks with NO appliances - sounds like a lot of dinners at mom and dads!

an Update

2009-10-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Lost is going on in the lives of the Malko's (as always), but here are a few updates...

1. The girl's retreat went fantastically! We didn't have as many girls as I had hoped, but the ones who came were exactly who God has picked to come, and it went so very well! We had a great tim, and learned a lot in a casual laid back atmosphere! The stage set-up was adorable, and everything went as planned! One exciteing thing was, as a direct result of our weekend talking about Priceless Relationships, one High School girl asked a leader to be her mentor! Exciting stuff!

2. Lo's wedding was BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately it did rain, so we weren't able to do it outside, but the rain plan was LOVELY! We had the ceremony and reception in the same place, and all of her fall decorations with Pumpkins, leaves, and gorgeous flowers, all in one place was stunning. Not to mention Lauren was the most breath taking bride I have ever seen! Lauren and Chad are now Mr. and Mrs. Keeling, and we couldn't be more thrilled for them! Pray for them as they are honeymooning in Cabo!

3. The inspection on our house went very well! They only found minor things that needed repairing! God is so good to us! We submitted a list of repair requests to the owner, and he agreed to ALL of them! Praise the Lord! October the 23rd is quickly approaching and we cannot wait to be home owners!

4. We are now trying to take out homeowners insurance so that we can get in the house BEFORE the 23rd and begin painting, to help the move in process go more smoothly - it will be up to the owner if he will allow us to do this or not - so you can pray about that for us as well!

Please message us and let us know how you are doing - or IF you have a blog we don't know about! Thanks for all of our readers! WE are glad you care about us and want to join us in this walk of life and faith and love!

~Brooke

Inspection Day

2009-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Today we will get the new house inspection done at 2:30. Pray Pray Pray that everything goes smoothly and there is nothing major that comes up!

Also, WHY is it so expensive to fly during the Holidays??? Seriously - the airlines should discount this time since they get all their flights booked. Looks like we'll be making the 1000 mile drive once again!

BUT it is soooooo worth it to see everyone we love in Fort Myers! Can't wait for December!

~Brooke

Life is busy

2009-09-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I have posted, but life has been so busy. This weekend I have the High School Girl's Retreat for Highview Fegenbush, and I have been so busy with the details of that. Also, my sister's wedding is next weekend, October 9th! We have had showers, and have been making plans, and are soo excited! Jon is still loving work, though he is as busy for every. He is also doing very well with his first semester back to school and is loving classes! My one class is going well also. SO all around life is good.

Jon's mom will be celebrating her birthday on Thursday, and we are so sad not to be there to celebrate with her! (But her gift is in the mail :) ) But we miss Jon's family so much, as well as all of our friends in FL. We will be going down for a visit in December and can't wait! Though we have so much to do between now and then.

We are loving the fall! It is my first fall in 3 years, and Jon's in much longer. The cool weather is so refreshing. It makes you want to be out all the time - what a reminder of God's grace in our lives as the seasons change. Can't wait to see some colorful leaves, and visit Huber's Orchard to pick some pumpkins!

We also have some BIG news. We have a house under contract! WE have come to an agreement with the owner on price, and now are just waiting for the inspection to clear so we can close! WE are so excited to purchase our first home, and we just love it! It is right off of Eastern Parkway - a great location, and it is cute as a button. All brick, with hardwood floors a separate dining room, a 2 car garage - all the things we were looking for. Also, it has an upstairs that is not yet finished as well as a basement that is finish-able. These are some long term projects that we are excited to take on! Can't wait to have you all over for dinner!

A few changes that we hope to make are to remove the awnings, add shudders, and plant some landscaping - on the outside. WE also have a porch swing we will be painting and hanging on the front porch! We can't wait to move in towards the end of October!

Pray for us as we move into this new season of owning our own home, pray for the neighbors in our new community, that we can build great relationships and be a light on Lydia Street, pray for Lauren and Chad as the are joined together in the Lord through the gift of Marriage, and for the Highview Fegenbush High School Girl's retreat - the the Lord will be brought glory, and that the hearts of the girls will be impacted for His Kingdom!

~Brooke

We made an offer

2009-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Today Jon and I made an offer on a home here in Louisville, so we thought we would share some pictures. It is a cute ranch style home built in 1958, and has only had 1 owner! The lady took impecable care of the home, and though a few things could use some updating it is totally move in ready! We are praying that the if this is the home that the Lord would have us in, and if these are the nighbors that the Lord would allow us to be a light to that the offer will go through. We will know very soon, so please join us in praying!
This is the living room, and under all the carpet is beautiful hardwood flooring that is alreay finished!

This is the view from the dining room into the living room. If you notice EVERY SINGLE room in the house is painted this same pale pink, even the baseboards are this color! haha! Task #1 (if we get this home) = new paint!

This is the kitchen. It still has the original stover from the sixties in perfect working condition.

This is the huge basement that they have "finished"! It will be a great space - there is even a little chalkboard on the wall for kids in the future :)

This is the large backyard. We would love to pour a nice big patio out here so we can enjoy the lovely weather here in Louisville!

Thanks for all of your encouragement to Jon and I, and the prayers as we venture on this new journey!

I admit it

2009-07-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I am a terrible blogger, or at least I have been lately. I don't really have an excuse life has not been busier than normal. We do have some new things going on. Jon has been accepted to Boyce college to begin his bachelors (again). He will be working towards a BA in Christian Leadership with his emphasis on Church Leadership. I have also been accepted to begin my Masters degree. I will be working towards an MA in Christian Leadership with my focus on Women's Leadership. We both start classes in just a few week. Jon will be taking 3 and I will be taking just 1 to start! So pray for us as we begin this new journey attempting to be students, husband and wife, and full time employees all at once!

Another exciting thing coming up is that Jon has been asked to go to Guatemala to do some video of the mission work that our church has been doing there. He will go August 22nd - 25th with just our Senior Pastor, his son, and one other man. We just found out YESTERDAY! and the trip is in 3 weeks! But nevertheless Jon is so excited! What a great opportunity!

Well, we are loving life, praising God, and as busy as ever! We miss all of our friends and family in Fort Myers, and all over the place! We are excited for our dear friend Lindsey Poenie to be moving back to Louisville on the 15th! And we PROMISE to post some pictures this weekend!

Have a great day! :)

Sorry It's Been so long

2009-07-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since the last blog update! We have had a lot going on lately - and I have a ton of pictures to post once I get them loaded in my computer! But for now here are some highlights of recent/upcoming events...

My baby brother turned 17 - how did this happen?
Jon and Janal Hughes came to visit
Jon got into and out of Karting all in a 3 week time period - haha
Jon and I are turning in our applications to both become students (again) in the fall!
Jon's mom arrives on Thursday to visit for the weekend - a double plus - fun with Jon's mom whom we miss, and a great excuse for a 3 day weekend!
Chad's birthday celebration is tonight at my parents house
Today and tomorrow Jon is attending a Media Conference for those who work in churches/Christian organizations. It is called Gurus and he is having a great time so far - learning so much, networking, and getting some inspiration! A Hiatus of sorts!

So check back soon for some awesome pictures! Thanks for keeping up with us!

Fun Friday Night

2009-06-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Last night Jon and I had several friends over to the apartment. My sister Lauren and her fiance Chad, Lindsey Poenie, Kristy White, Lauren Farmer, and Alyssa Laing! We had a blast just hanging out and laughing at old times! I think back fondly on the college days, and miss hanging out until ridiculous hours, and studying at Java, and being around so many friends who are in the exact same life stage as myself - that in between stage - where your schedule is different ever day and more flexible than you even realize! But honestly I prefer where I am right now - I love being Jon's wife, and the keeper of our home, even the cooking and the laundry is a delight! But times like last night make me thankful for the path the Lord guided me through to get me here! I have sweet friends :)

Sweet Friend

2009-06-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Lindsey Poenie!

I am so excited that my dearest friend is coming in town to visit this weekend! Linds is going to be surprising her dad and brother to celebrate Father's Day and her little Bro Garrett's birthday! And lucky me - I get the joy of hanging out with her Friday Night! It has been far too long! Get excited!!!

Weekend Fun

2009-06-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so much fun! The weather in Louisville was PERFECT, and Jon and I got to relax and spend time with friends and family! On Friday we went to lunch at Corbett's (see previous post), went shopping for Stew's birthday - this Thursday, got our driver's licenses changed to KY -DO NOT ask Jon about this experience, he was not a happy camper, and had our first softball game - well technically it was the third but it was our first one we were able to make. In the softball game Jon had an AMAZING catch - he was in the outfield and the bases were loaded and the score was 7 (us) to 5(them). The ball looked like it could go over the fence, but Jon jumped and caught it - much to my surprise (and his - you should have seen the look on his face - haha)! It was a fun time!

On Saturday I worked a bit and then cooked dinner at home for us. Jon went out to Charlestown IN with my dad to check out this Cart Racing thing they do out there. I think Jon may get into this hobby - in lieu of auto cross since they only meet on Sunday mornings here! I think it will be a great thing for him, my dad, bro, and whoever else wants to join them!

On Sunday we had a wonderful morning of worship at Highview! We then ate a yummy lunch of Chicken Fajitas with my family and played cornhole all afternoon. I love to play this game, and my whole family has gotten pretty good! But I must say the Ringo's came over, and Dean Ringo is a champ at cornhole! Unbeatable - at least at our house :)

Praise the Lord for beautiful weather and great fellowship!

The Perks of the Job

2009-06-06T07:33:00.001-07:00

As the Concierge for the Seminary I have been contacting local restaurants to build relationships with them, learn their reservation and large group policies, and get copies of their menu. One of these Restaurants, Corbett's, located near the summit offered to treat me and a guest to lunch. I took Jon, and we went on Friday for lunch!I had never been to Corbett's before, and it was such a lovely place! Even though it is located in a somewhat industrial area with a branch of Norton's nearby as well as Costco, when you sit on their patio - which we did - thank you Lord for the perfect weather - you feel as though you are in the country! WE enjoyed the Prix Fixe 3 course lunch and it was fantastic. We were most impressed with the appetizer course - Jon had the Quesadilla and I had the Calamari - hands down the best Calamari I have ever had! It is a bit pricey ($20 for the lunch 3 course prix fixe and their lunch entrees are from 10-13 dollars), but well worth it! The atmosphere, service, and food itself was divine! I highly recommend it for a special date anniversary or birthday! I'm sure their dinner is fantastic also with prices ranging from $20-35. Click the link where I first mentioned Corbett's and check out their website - the pictures do not do the atmosphere justice!

We Miss Fort Myers

2009-05-28T19:04:00.003-07:00

Since I was finally able to load all of our pictures onto my computer, I can fill all of our loyal blog readers in on the last bit of time we spent in Fort Myers... the week before the week before we moved - no I did not accidental type that twice, i really meant the week before the week before we moved - my family (minus Lo) came to visit. Here are some pictures...

Jon and I at Ichabod's

Me, Stew, and his friend Brandon

All of us to dinner at Ichabods

Stew hanging out with the Gorilla at Jungle Golf

Stew and I at Jungle golf - he wanted to drop the golf ball and try to get it in the picture - do you see it?

When my family left we got serious about moving. Saturday before Easter, Brooke and Tori spent all day at our house - the truck was mostly loaded and we were doing last minute cleaning and packing the "little" stuff - but WOW did we have a lot of little stuff! We could not have done it without them! LATE that night - like 9pm we FINALLY finished and treated them to dinner at Jason's Deli - MAN we MISS these girls!!!

Jon and I on Easter - our last Sunday @ McGregor :(

Jon enjoying his Easter bunny with his Grammy

Jon and his papa checking out the load Jon had to pull - I can't believe he drove this 1000 miles!

Jon and his papa right before we pulled out :(

Jon and I - our last few seconds @ Paseo!

We are loving Louisville, but we do miss Ft Myers, and the sunshine, and our lovely home in beautiful Paseo, and most of all our friends and family! We can't wait to visit, it couldn't come soon enough!

1 Year of Marital Bliss...

2009-05-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

Jon and I took 2 weekends to celebrate our anniversary. On the actual day, May 16th, we just relaxed together, slept in, went to lunch, open gifts, went to see my bro dressed up for Jr. Prom, went to eat at Jack Frye's - which by the way was the ABSOLUTE BEST meal either of us had ever eaten in a restaurant! We also saw a movie - but it was boring! Here is a pic of us dressed up to go to dinner on our actual anniversary...

I got Jon a picture that he liked of me from after our wedding for his office and a subscription to car and driver magazine!

Jon got me a charm for my Pandora bracelet that is silver and gold with "M"s all over it! I love it!

This past weekend (The 22nd-24th) Jon and I went to Chicago to get away together for our anniversary! We stayed at an amazing hotel called the W Lakeshore and it was awesome! Here are some pics of our room...

There was a window that went from the bedroom to the bathroom...

And since it was our anniversary they gave us a lakeview room and breakfast vouchers... here is the view from our hotel window.

While shopping on the Magnificent Mile we found this lego store that had crazy things made completely out of legos...

Here is us in the giant bean in Millennium Park...

We also visited the Art Institute of Chicago! They had some pretty amazing works of art there that surprised us! We were able to see the American Gothic by Grant Wood, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, and a ton of Monet's work!

Saturday Night we went to see Legally Blonde the Musical on Broadway and had SO much fun!

And our FAVORITE thing we ate all week was Portillo's Chicago Hotdogs! Yes we had Chicago Pizza, and went to a really nice place to eat before the show, but we ate here TWICE it was SOOO good!

We also visited Navy Pier

And OF COURSE we road the Ferris wheel - which we could see from our hotel window!

We had a great time! What a joy to celebrate one year of marriage to Jon! He truly is my delight :)

Reasons Why I Need My Camera Charger

2009-05-15T08:23:00.001-07:00

1. Tomorrow is Jon and I's 1st wedding anniversary
2. Tomorrow is also my little brother's Junior Prom
3. Sunday-Tuesday Meg, Liv, and Whitney are coming to visit
4. Friday Jon and I leave for a weekend trip to Chicago to celebrate our wedding anniversary

(It would be sad not to capture this all on film....)

5. Our blog has been devoid of pictures for far to long
6. We haven't even SEEN the pictures from our move
7. Non of Jon's family, or our FL friends have seen pictures of where we live

And the list goes on....

Dear UPS

2009-05-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I wasn't home when you brought my camera charger - I didn't know it required a signature :( Please bring it back...

On the Lookout

2009-05-13T07:31:00.001-07:00

For my camera charger! In our move from Fort Myers to Louisville we packed our camera charger - somewhere - and it is still packed - somewhere - SO.... I ordered a new one (since there in no way we can unpack all the things that are still packed into our little apartment), and it should be here TOMORROW! woohooo, which means I can FINALLY upload and post pictures from our move, PLUS use the camera again! Especially for Saturday which is our 1 year Anniversary. My how this year has flown by! So, please UPS, delivery my charger on time :)

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

We had a great time celebrating Mother's Day yesterday! We went to church, and in church Jon's 1st video that he has made for Highview played - it was a video interview of 2 families in our church who are going through/have gone through the adoption process. It was wonderful! (Mom cried and I was close). Dr. Moore delivered a powerful message on adoption, but vertical and horizontal. We were challenged to not keep reaching back to the orphanage (the world) but to remember that we were adopted - past tense - and we are now sons and heirs, living for the inheritance that is promised us.

After church we went to my parent's house for lunch. My grandparents, and my dad's sister and her family came over. We had a yummy lunch of lasagna, bruchetta, and salad followed by wonderful desserts (Cherry Delight, Beatty's Chocolate cake - thank you Ina, and Strawberry cake). Then we played Cornhole in the backyard and just enjoyed the day. I had never played cornhole before and it was so much fun!

For Mother's day this year we got my mom, Jon's mom, and Jon's grandmother Pandora bracelets (well my dad actually got my mom the bracelet so we just got her a charm). I love my Pandora Bracelet - it is a new kind of charm bracelet where you add beads that actually slide onto the bracelet. Here are the charms we got the mothers in our lives.... (Jon's mom's first, then Jon's Grammy's, then my mom's)

Chicago Bound

2009-04-27T06:35:00.001-07:00

To celebrate our one year anniversary, Which is UNBELIEVABLY on May 16th (I just cannot believe it has happened so quickly), Jon and I will be spending a weekend in Chicago. We will actually be going the weekend following our anniversary because there is a convention happening in Chicago, for what we are unsure, but it has made it quite difficult to acquire a hotel room that is affordable, but none the less we are excited! We will be staying at "The W Hotel Lakeshore" and while we are there we will be seeing "Legally Blonde" the musical, on Broadway while we are there. We are very much looking forward to our trip. If any of you have suggestions of restaurants, or sights to see while we are there let us know!

Getting Settled

2009-04-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since we have blogged, so I will give you an update on the settling process.

Jon and I are "in" our home, and it is close to being finished - we still just have to hang a few pictures and the curtains. It is soooo much smaller than our first home, so unpacking was a chore just trying to get everything to fit. We ended up leaving a lot of things packed for the next move - we are no anxious for that at all! We love the area we live in. We actually walked to dinner the other night, and have walked to the grocery store! We live close to our jobs, to my parents, and to lots of shops and restaurants - which is fun!

On the job front - Jon started Monday at Highview, and is still aching to get started! The first week has been a lot of meetings, a lot of prep work, and a lot of ordering equipment, and once the equipment gets in he will probably be busier than we anticipate. I have also found a job here in Louisville, which I started on Monday. God has had his hand in our move so much I cannot even explain it all, but here is the short version... I was riding around Thursday looking for a job when I got a call from the Southern Baptist Seminary saying that a friend, Dan Dewitt, had recommended me for a job as "Concierge" to the new welcome center called the "Sesquicentennial Pavilion". I went in to interview Friday, and then for a second interview Monday. They called Monday night and offered me the job, and asked me to start on Tuesday. Needless to say it all happened very fast, but the job is fantastic, and I love it! Plus the benefits are amazing - Jon will get to go to school at Boyce for free, and I will probably start my Master's degree - very slowly- for free!

We miss Fort Myers so much, our Family and friends, and church, but God continues to show himself faithful in more ways than I can type :) We are so glad to be following His plan!

I will post pictures as soon as I can find my camera charger (or buy a new one)!

Upcoming Events in the Life of the Malko's

2009-03-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy lately that I wonder how it can get much busier, but I know it will! Jon and I are excited that my family (minus Lauren) will be coming to visit on Saturday. It is Stewart's spring break, and my parents are bringing him with his friend Brandon, not to mention it is their last chance to come to our Florida home! Jon and I both have 1 more week of work left as of today, and then we pack for a whole week. I still have to admit that this all seems more like something we are just talking about than something that is actually going to come to fruition! Keep my family in your prayers as they drive through the night on Friday! Pictures will come soon!

Change of Plans

2009-03-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

So... one thing I have learned with this move is that we HAVE to be flexible! Unfortunately the landlord of that cute house in the previous post went back on some of the agreements we had made, so Jon and I are actually going to move into a different place. It is still an adorable condo, with a cute courtyard, hardwood floors, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and a large eat in kitchen (no dining room). But it is really cute - I don't have a pic for now - but we will soon.

Other progress made: Got a new bank account @ Chase, and have our Penske truck reserved!

Thanks for your prayers - keep em up!

The BIG Move

2009-03-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

So Jon and are are getting very excited details of the move solidify. This weekend I went to Louisville to find a home for us. We have decided to rent at first, so to not make a hasty decision buying, and to get financially settled at our new jobs. The difficult part was that we wanted to get a 6 month lease, so that we will be able to buy soon! I looked at SOOOO many places, and finally stumbled onto a little jewel in the Highlands. It is on Wrocklage, which is right across for the Kroger in the Highlands. It is a duplex, and Jon and I will be living on the first floor. It is so cute with hardwoods throughout - 2 bedroom, 1 bath, and we love it :) Here is a picture of the outside, and I will post more of the inside once we fill it with our things!

I had such a great time in Louisville visiting family and friends. I got to spend some quality time with everyone in my family individually, and with a few friends as well! Needless to say, I am glad to be back with my husband :) but this trip made the move seem even more realistic, and I am excited now :) It is coming so fast. My dad, mom, brother, and his friend Brandon will all be visiting Fort Myers in a week and a half for Stewart's spring break, which will make our time left here fly by. Pray for us as we make this transition!

Wordle

2009-03-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing these on other blogs, and I thought they were pretty cool. You can enter your blog url and wordle will create one based on the words you have used in your blog! Try it for yourself @ wordle.net

You can click the image to make it bigger.

Change...

2009-03-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

Jon and I are preparing to make a big change in our lives over the next few months...

A little Background: For the past 2 years Jon has been praying for opportunity to use his gifts and talents (as a video producer) to glorify the Lord and advance God's kingdom. He has volunteered his services many times in the church - and these times were some of the most fulfilling work he has ever done! I see him light up when he has the opportunity to use the creative talent that the Lord gave him to encourage believers and to see the gospel proclaimed! About a year ago Jon felt a strong calling to use these gifts in full time ministry. Over the past year the Lord had begin to develop so many ideas in Jon's mind of how video - a great means of communication in today's society - could be redeemed to reach the world with the message of the cross! Jon sought advice from older men in his life of the best way to pursue this, and through prayer and God's Word Jon knew that the best way would be to partner with a local church family. Jon began to look for churches that had this same desire, and were ready to take the next step, but there appeared to be no open doors. He and I continued to pray, but with an understanding that we were going to do all that we could to be faithful this day until the Lord brought an opportunity to us. Our specific prayer was that "If and When the Lord wanted Jon to use his gift in full time service that the Lord would open the door and we would gladly walk through it". We continued to serve faithfully here, not putting that desire aside, but trusting the Lords timing.

Fast Forward to Semi-present: About 6 weeks ago, Jon got back in touch with a church that he had talked with a year ago who had the vision to use Video Ministry int heir church, but was not quite ready to hire someone for the position. They were ready! And interviewing about 20 people. Jon and I began to pray that the Lord would put His Man in this position - whomever that may be. Jon began to go through the interview process, mostly over the phone since we were 1000 miles away! Honestly, the interview process was hard - we were very uncertain, there were times of discouragement, but our prayer became "Lord, if this is not where you want us please close the door and we will be content"; We had to lay our desires at the foot of the cross and trust the Lord! A little over 2 weeks ago this church flew Jon up to meet with the staff to see if Jon would fit as a part of the ministry team. On Jon's trip he was extremely encouraged - He was blown away by the focus this church staff had on reaching people for Christ - their dreams of a Video Ministry lined up with exactly what we had been praying for for over a year! At the end of Jon's time this church offered Jon a position to be the "Director of Video Production" We were thrilled! Jon came home, and we prayed, mostly thanking the Lord for his faithfulness, and graciously accepted the position the following day!

The Future: My last day at work at McGregor will be April 2nd. This is a bittersweet time for use right now. Fort Myers has truly become our home. Our entire dating relationship, engagement, and marriage has been here. We have made life long friends here, especially over the past 4 months in our Sunday School Class! Jon's family is here. We love the High School Student Ministry, and it is breaking our hearts to leave these students, but Ultimately we know that the best place to be is exactly where the Lord leads you. And we have full confidence that this opportunity is from the Lord! So, in mid-April we will be packing up and moving to..... LOUISVILLE! Jon's Position is at Highview Baptist Church - which many of you know is my home church. Once again, God is so faithful to give us exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine! Jon and I would have gone ANYWHERE that they Lord called us - what a blessing to go to a place where we already have family and friends!

Please pray for us as we began this new season of our lives - serving full time in ministry, picking up our lives and moving 1000 miles away. We are so anxious to see what the Lord has in store!

Underground and some big life changes

2009-02-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

UNDERGROUND WEEKEND 2009 begins TOMORROW! I can't believe it is here already! For those of you who do not live in Fort Myers, Underground Weekend is a discipleship weekend for the students at McGregor Baptist Church. This year our very own Pastor will be bringing the Word, and a band from Mississippi called "Liberty" will be leading us in worship! It is going to be an incredible weekend with about 150 people participating in some way shape or form! Pray that the Lord already begins to work in the hearts of all those involved, and that His name will be lifted High all weekend! I can't wait to see all of the life change that the Lord does this weekend! Jon will be staying at the church with the High School Guys - leading a small group of 11th graders. I will being doing a lot of Administrative stuff - making sure everyone is where they are supposed to be and have what they need. I will also be bouncing from house to house - spending time with all of our amazing High School Ladies! We are both very excited!

As for the BIG LIFE CHANGES taking place soon in the life of the Malko's, I will save that for next post ;) - which will most likely be the beginning of next week - Stay tuned!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

Jon and I had a wonderful Valentine's Day together - our first as Mr & Mrs. Our plans were to go to the beach and rent jet ski's, but when we arrived at the beach it was as if a cloud had planted itself right on the island! We decided that we would rather rent jet ski's on a sunny day, so we turned around and went back to our community pool where it was beautiful and sunny! We had our picnic lunch there and just relaxed in the sun all day. That night we went to dinner at Outback, and went to see the movie Taken which we highly recommend! It was a fantastic day, and such a blessing to spend it with my wonderfully sweet and attentive husband! I simply adore him :) Here are a few pictures from the day....

Before we headed to the beach (and then back home :))

Our picnic lunch - chicken sandwiches, chips, carrots, cantaloupe, and water - ohh and of course cookies for Jon.

Me excited for our day

Jon excited to be driving haha

At dinner @ Outback

Pictorial

2009-02-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy over the past few weeks. What better way to update then a pictorial?

Several weekends ago I went on a girl's overnight trip to Marco Island to celebrate my friend Stacy's birthday! Here is Stacy and Holly enjoying birthday Key Lime Pie :)

On February 4th we celebrated Jon's Grammy's Birthday

She had 2 cakes (I made the chocolate 1!)

Doesn't it look yummmmy?

Last weekend our church took a group of girls to the Revlove Tour! We had a great time! Especially on the way home when I ran out of gas 20 miles from home! That is what happens when you get a bunch of girls together running their mouths! Haahaa... Here are some of the girls pretending to hitch a ride!

Maria Dow was our HERO! She was about 10 miles back and stopped to get us back! She beat AAA by a long shot!

Here are the girls in my backseat! They were so patient!!

Jon loves his hobby of Auto Cross, and is excited for me to go with him the next time. He is convinced that I should drive - I, on the other hand am not so sure... Here he is drawing a diagram of the course for me, and explaining to me when I should break or give it gas... I love his passion for everything he does :)

Monday night Jon too me to get Sushi @ my FAVORITE Fort Myers sushi restaurant, Mr. Mee's! I, of course, got the crazy roll...mmmmm I think you can almost taste it just by looking at the pic!

We have a lot more coming up, so stay tuned...

Update coming soon...but for now....

2009-02-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Jon and I have had a busy last few weeks - and are not in the clear yet. I have many pictures to post, and hope to be doing that tonight or tomorrow - so check back soon. BUT FOR NOW... Jon's car is currently out of commission - something about the oil pan plug being stripped - there for the plug will not stay in, therefore Oil will not stay in. I'm so blessed to have a husband who knows so much about cars and will hopefully be able to fix it himself! In the meantime it is hard having only 1 car when both of us have jobs that require us to run around occasionally! So pray that Jon can fix it quickly, and cost efficiently!

Stay tuned for more updates soon :)

Weekend recap

2009-01-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

What a nice weekend! I haven't had a weekend that felt so long in a while! My good friend Stacy Scroggins celebrated her Birthday on Saturday, and in celebration she got a room at the Marriott on Marco Island. She invited me along, as well as 2 girls that she works with, and we had a great time laying at the beach and the pool on Friday and Saturday!

While I was relaxing at the beach Jon got us at 7:30am and went "mountain biking" with 3 guys from our Sunday School Class. I know I know - how do you mountain bike in Southwest Florida where there isn't so much as a hill? Well there is a course built up in North Fort Myers - apparently it is pretty hard core - they went down a black diamond (did I mention this was Jon's 1st time) Only minor battle wounds incurred.

On Saturday Night we went to dinner at Moe's with Jon's grandparents, and then to see the movie Defiance with our friends Tim and Tiffany. It was a FANTASTIC movie about a group of Jewish Refugees that escaped from the Nazi's by living and traveling through the forest for 3 years - a tear jerker!

Backstage was AMAZING last night. One of our Senior Guys, Tariq Castillo brought the God's word in a powerful way! Our students experienced true worship last night, and it was so encouraging! Jon and I are so excited about what the Lord is doing in our high school ministry! Please continue to pray with us for God's glory to be revealed to our students, and for their lives to be changed so much that they impact Southwest FL and beyond with the gospel message!

Life is Busy

2009-01-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

Life has been so busy lately - and I know I have totally neglected the blog! I will give you an update on like for the Malko's....

This past weekend we had a GREAT time hanging out at the High School Lock-in @ our church (even though we only stayed til midnight) it was a blast!

At our Backstage program Sunday night 2 students prayed to receive Christ - Jon had the opportunity to pray with one of the young men - it was awesome! Please join us in praying for our Student Ministry and all of the exciting things the Lord has in store this year!

Jon worked ALL weekend but we still were able to relax and watch some movies - we HIGHLY recommend Netfilx! Especially if you have xbox 360 because you can stream movies from the Internet right to your TV with NO wait time! We stayed close to home and had a great weekend!

It is FREEZING here - I know I know everyone from up north would be in shorts here right now - but to us Thin-Blooded Floridians i am FREEZING! I'm talking wool sweater and closed toe shoes - I'm not sure how people handle the FROZEN TUNDRA that is Louisville right now! haha!

Change is happening - and no I'm not talking about President Obama haha! Our lease is up in April, an Jon and I are still trying to decide what direction the Lord is leading us! To buy to rent to stay to move - we are coming close to making some choices through much prayer - so if you think of us pray that the Lord will open and close doors to place us in the place we can serve Him best!

Have a GREAT day!
~Brooke

Brookie's B-Day

2009-01-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Night Jon and I went to the Birthday Party of a girl in our Student Ministry, Brooke Jennings. Brooke is a junior in High School and just turned 17, and she is very close to Jon and I. I actually disciple Brooke, we have done several Bible studies together, and most Wednesday nights she stays the night at our house and we spend some time at Starbucks before I take her to school on Thursday! She is an awesome girl and we were so glad to celebrate with her. Her party was actually a surprise! Here are a few pics...

These are some of her friends waiting for her to arrive...

The story that her mom came up with was for Jason, Brooke's boyfriend to tell her his grandparents were in town staying at a hotel in town (where her mom had rented a room for the party), and that he wanted her to meet them... here they are pulling into the parking lot.

Brooke's mom was so nervous - she was cracking all of us up!

Some of the girl's ready for Brooke to walk in the door

Brooke's REAL surprise face - haha

Here is a picture of Brooke and I

Some of the high schoolers hanging out

Brooke opening out gift to her

Tori smashed a cupcake in Brooke's face - she was a good sport!

You can't really tell in this picture, but Brooke's face was stained purple - haha! Good thing they went to the movies where it was nice and dark!

Holiday Pictures

2009-01-06T19:02:00.001-08:00

Jon and I celebrated our first Christmas together in Kentucky with my side of the family. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Christmas Eve or Morning because Christmas morning is when I opened my camera :). I did however get some pictures of Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and a few in between :)

The only picture of present opening that I have is of my grandparents opening the gifts Jon and I got them - Fort Myers Sweatshirts :)

Lo cleaning up the dishes from Christmas dinner - she is going to make a great wife ;)

The original Anderson's - my dad with his sis and parents

Jon and I after the festivities

Nanny and Pap with the grandkids - I'm not sure why Jon and Chad were left out of this picture

On Monday after Christmas we went shopping for bridesmaid dresses for Lo and Chad's wedding... Linds and I are both bridesmaids, so it was a ton of fun! Before trying on dresses we ate - of course - why do we always eat before trying on clothes anyways? haha! We had wonderful sushi at a cute little store on Lexington Rd.

Here is mom with Linds and Lo

And me with Linds and Lo

We tried on lots of really cute dresses - this particular one was Lindsey's FAVORITE - haha - she is going to kill me for this picture

Lo also tried on her BEAUTIFUL wedding dress. She looks like a princess in it, and I got lots of pictures - that WILL NOT be posted on here - at least not until mid October :)

Here is the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Keeling on New Year's Eve

Linds came over on New Year's Eve, and so did the Ringo's, the grandparents, and 4 of Stew's friends.

I have never seen the movie "Step Brothers" but Linds said we looked like the cover of the movie in this picture

I'll let you assume what you want about the kind of partying Lindsey did on New Years...

Since Lauren and Chad aren't married yet she had to settle on a kiss from Cooper at Midnight :)

We had a fantastic time in Kentucky and enjoyed being there so much! We did so much more than I have pictured! We got to spend great time with my parents - see Stew at his 1st job - Starbucks in the Kroger on Bardstown Rd. in the Highlands, Jon got to play paintball with the guys of the fam - and Lauren of course - she wouldn't miss that for the world, we had a great time hanging out with The Laing's eating at Wick's, playing Wii at their lovely home, and going on an adventure to see the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". All in all it was a blessing to be in Louisville - and sad to leave, though we are happy to be back to life as we know it here in SUNNY southwest Florida where it was a beautiful 83 degrees today! We love all our family and friends in Louisville and can't wait to see you again.

Christmas Sneak Peak

2008-12-30T09:11:00.001-08:00

I have so much to type about our exciting trip to Louisville... BUT it isn't over! We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, we got to visit Highview, my home church, to share in Christmas Eve Service, and we have just had fun relaxing, laughing, and spending time with people we love. There are many pictures to come thanks to the Christmas present my sweet Husband got me... A Sony Cyber-Shot W120....

(The back is black too in real life :))

So stay posted because there is MORE to come!

Louisville Bound

2008-12-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

We are finally heading out! I am so excited to be in Louisville and to see my family and friends! If you are in town give me a call and lets get together! Pray for us (well Jon mostly) as we drive... we should be pulling in around 7am! woohoo....

Christmas #1

2008-12-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

Last night (Sunday) we celebrated Christmas with Jon's side of the family. It is so hard not being able to be in 2 places at once. Since we did Easter and Thanksgiving here with Jon's family we are heading up to Kentucky tomorrow to spend Christmas with my family. We had a great time with Jon's family. His step-dad James made a HUGE lasagna (He is Italian so he made the sauce and everything from scratch) - and when I say HUGE i mean literally like 6 inches deep! It was so yummy. I made bruchetta, salad, and an amazing Chocolate cake that I got the recipe from my cousin Courtney. We had a TON of food, and a great night just spending time together. We also exchanged gifts! We got too much stuff! Everyone was so generous. We got a ton of giftcards to places we love, I got a sandwhich press from Jon's mom and step-dad, and Jon's Grandparents also got us a fire pit for our patio (pictured below). I can't wait to set it up - I have been wanting one, and the one they got us is beautiful! We had a great time giving out gifts too! I almost think that is the best part!

So Christmas is already in full swing for the Malko's! We are heading out for Louisville tomorrow around 3pm, and will be driving through the night! Pray for safety in travel and good weather! We can't wait to see all of our family and friends in Louisville, and to celebrate the birth of our Savior! Our church has been talking this month about how Jesus is MORE than a baby. This time of year it is so easy to focus on the precious baby Jesus and the miraculous virgin birth - but remember that the Greatest miracle of Christmas is the God came in human form to die for the sins of the world! What an amazing God we serve!

Wonderful Husband

2008-12-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

The Lord has blessed me more over the past 7 months than I ever would have guessed. Last night Jon and I "celebrated" 7 months of marriage - well it was more like a mini-celebration. Jon's Grandparents bought some steaks from Omaha Steak and decided to share a few with us! We grilled those and made scalloped potatoes, green beans, and biscuits. Jon brought me a lovely bouquet of flowers, and we just enjoyed a dinner at home together! Then we went Christmas shopping and accomplished so much! It is just great to spend time together - and I am loving this first Holiday Season as a wife!

One thing I have seen the Lord do over the past seven months that stands out so clearly to me is to mold Jon and I in our personalities to fill the roles the Lord created us to fill. Jon is so gentle and patient, but through the gentleness and patience that the Lord has given Him Jon leads us as a family in such a Christ honoring way. I on the other hand may at times lack gentleness and patience, but the Lord is so faithful, and in ways that I cannot even understand the Lord has placed in me an intense desire to follow Jon! I am so thankful for the way the Lord guides us. It is more and more clear each day that the Lord is in control - not Jon and especially not myself - when we place Him first in our lives!

Jon and I BOTH continue to pray together and individually that the Lord will fill our heart and our home with his presence, peace and provision because when we are weak He is SO strong! Join us in praying for our relationship - and your own relationships today!

I love my husband :)

Weekend Christmas Parties

2008-12-15T18:12:00.001-08:00

This weekend we had many Christmas festivities. I went to an ornament/cookie exchange hosted by Carol Redmond - Janal's mom. Jon and I also went to an "Ugly Sweater" party and Jon and Janal Hughes' house, and caroling with our Sunday School class. Here are some pictures (in reverse order) BUT first I wanted to post a picture of our new front door decoration - the snowman! Our door is so long that if we hang a wreath it looks crazy high up, so we got this long snowman that hangs down the whole door and we love it!

These are a few of our friends in our Sunday School class

And Jon and I in the church van going caroling - these are the only 2 pictures we took.

Here is everyone at Jon and Janal's about to play a pretty heated game of catch phrase!

Here are Jon Hughes, Tony, and Jon hanging out in their super cool sweaters!

Here are the Christmas Tree cookies Jon and I decorated

And here is Jon hard at work decorating his...

Here is the host and hostess, and Janal's sister Lovey haha!

These are the cookies I took to Carol's cookie exchange - Meringue cookies - they are really fun and easy to make - and to cook them you preheat the oven to 350, put them in, and turn the oven off - you then leave the overnight! They are simple and yummy!

Here is Carol and Jen - Jon Hughes' sister in Carol's kitchen - Carol did not want her picture taken :)

Here are all the cookies that I brought home from the cookie exchange - well not ALL of them - Jon ate a few before I could take the picture :)

Here is Janal and I at the cookie exchange

And last but not least Jon and I in front of the Hughes Christmas Tree in our lovely Christmas sweaters - haah!

I'm not really sure how these pictures got all out of order - but I hope you enjoyed them! We had a great weekend which led to a very exhausting Monday - but it was well worth it! We are so blessed with great friends - but mostly with a GREAT Savior who we can worship and celebrate not only at Christmas, but all year around!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2008-12-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the Christmas decorations around our home!

This is my stocking holder - a girl snowman

This is Jon's stocking holder... a boy snowman

And this is Jon's stocking - mine is the same.

Here is one of the plates of our table decoration - they are every other one this design

And every other one this design

And this is the centerpiece...

Here is the bow on top of our tree

And some details of our tree - we made the yarn balls and the M's

And here is our tree! We LOVE it!

This weekend we have 2 Christmas parties - one last night, one tonight, and then Caroling to the shut-in's of our church with our Sunday School Class tomorrow night! Stay posted for pictures of the festivities!

Scary Dr.'s Appointment

2008-12-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

So... I never get sick really, and even though I have great medical insurance, I have yet to be to the Dr... until today. I randomly selected a Dr. in an area I was familiar with, and made an appointment. I thought... HEY, they are on the list of my insurance, and I know where that is, it's gotta be good..right? - WRONG! SO i go into this TEENY TINY office with very "sketchy" looking people and I sign in. My initial thought was - LEAVE NOW - but I thought - no Brooke, you should stay. You are sick, and you need to get well - so stay and at least get checked out. When they told me they didn't accept credit cards I paid with cash and took a seat in the faded - not very clean looking waiting area that was about 7x7. I wanted for about 30-40 minutes - which isn't out of the ordinary at a doctor's office. I was called back to see the Doctor. She brought me in and inputted some stuff in the computer - naturally I began to tell her what was wrong - BUT she never asked - she didn't even ask me how long or what the symptoms were or ask me to explain anything further. In fact she just listened to what I said without EVER asking me a single question. She then took out a very dated looking "ears and throat light thingy" and looked in my ears. I had told her I had a soar throat and maybe had some blisters. She didn't do a throat swab or take my temperature or anything! All she did was look in my ears and write me a prescription for FIVE medications - 5???? What in the world... She then asked me if I needed a note for work, and I said no. She insisted that I take one in case i decide to stay home and rest tomorrow, plus she said "You don't want to get anyone sick". So naturally I asked if i was contagious. She said MAYBE - MAYBE? What kind of doctors says that you may be contagious?? Needless to say I will not be filling my prescription and I WILL BE finding a new Doctor - geeesh!

Weekend lack of blogging

2008-12-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the weekend lack of blogging... My mom and her dear friend Lynn were in town and we had so much fun! We enjoyed the beach the pool some good shopping and lots of good food! Unfortunately I was sick much of the weekend, but I tried to be a trooper and muster up as much energy as possible to enjoy the weekend, and I think it worked :) Needless to say I am EXHAUSTED today back at work! I have a few pictures - plus pictures of our tree, and a few other holiday decorations we picked up, but those will come later tonight when I can load them on our home computer! Have a great day!

3:45

2008-12-04T05:38:00.000-08:00

Today at 3:45 my mom will be arriving here in Fort Myers with her friend Lynn! I am soooo excited for them to get here! I haven't gotten to see my family since the first week of August, and I think this is the longest I have ever gone without seeing my mom! We always have so much fun together, and I am really looking forward to this week! Stay posted for pictures of all the fun to be had, as well as pics of our Christmas tree that I will post hopefully tomorrow!

Warm Potato Soup

2008-12-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

Last night for dinner I made potato soup and fried cornbread for dinner. It was so easy and yummy, the perfect cold weather meal (and the leftovers are great too!) So I thought I would share the recipe...

Potato Soup

2 lbs diced potatoes (I used the small red ones - they look prettier and they stay firmer)

4 c Chicken stock

2 T oil

1 medium sweet onion diced

1.5 T Minced garlic

2 slices of velveta cheese

1c milk

5-8 slices of bacon extra crispy (I use the precooked kind that you microwave)- for garnish

shredded cheese- for garnish

scallions- for garnish

In large pot saute the diced onion and garlic in the oil until the onions are soft

Add Diced potatoes and chicken stock

Bring to a boil, and then turn down to simmer for 20-25 minutes (Until potatoes are soft - but not mushy)

Remove from heat and add milk

With a hand blender - or in a blender if you do not have a hand blender - blend the soup to the texture you prefer (I used a blender and only put in 1/2 of the soup)

Stir in velveeta cheese until it is melted

Serve in soup bowl garnished with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, and chopped scallions.

Fried Cornbread

2c cornmeal

1.5c milk

1 egg

1/4c oil + more for frying

Mix all ingredients together until smooth

Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with a thin layer of oil

Allow pan to heat completely until oil is VERY hot

Pour pancake size batter into pan

allow to turn golden brown before flipping

Cook to golden brown on second side

Place fried cornbread on a paper towel on a plate

Photos from our Weekend Trip to Savannah

2008-12-01T19:05:00.001-08:00

This is in front of our house right before we left!

Liberty St. - this is our hotel- it is impossible to get a good picture of it since it is so tall and you can't get very far from it. It is the Hilton DeSoto in the Historic District of Savannah - we enjoyed our stay very much!

Our room

On Friday we just got out and wandered the streets of Savannah. They are full of the most beautiful shops, and scenery. This little shop was right behind our hotel - "shopSCAD" All of the things in this boutique were hand made by SCAD students (Jon's college)

It was my favorite shop of all!

Forsyth Park - Jon use to have to come here for his drawing class!

Outside of "The Lady and Sons" Paula Dean's Restaurant.

Jon was getting a little friendly with Paula in her shop....

Friday night we ate at VinnieVanGoGo's, Jon's favorite pizza place in Savannah. (Here it is Birdie's, and in Louisville it is Wick's - we love pizza!)

A man was kind enough to take our picture at the CROWDED restaurant.

Jon wanted to eat, but I wanted to take a picture:)

YUMMY pizza

On Saturday Jon drove me around to where he lived - Wilmington Island. We at at a greek cafe called Basil's and then drove to the pier on Tybee Island...

Jon wanted a picture of me, but the wind kept blowing my hair in may face - so this is the best we could do haha

Again, someone was so sweet to take our picture - it is hard on a vaca with only 2

Saturday night we got a reservation at "The Lady and Son's" (we went there at 3 but couldn't get in until 8:15) This is the only picture we got - we were enamored with the food - it was DEFINITELY worth the wait!

On Sunday morning we got up early and checked out of our hotel and walked across the street to a little cafe we had been eyeing all weekend

It was very cute and tasty - everything was made in house.

We had a great weekend. I fell in love with the city of Savannah - I would love to live there! I would recommend a weekend trip!

Jon's Birthday

2008-11-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving with Jon's family - tons of food, and tons of fun. Jon also had a great birthday! He got new turn signals, taillights, a shift knob, and a new BMW badge for his car. He also got cologne and the Starwars The Force Unleashed video game (which he is playing as I type). For Jon's birthday I surprised him with a weekend trip to Savannah, GA. Jon went to college in Savannah (SCAD), and I had never been. He is always going on and on about how awesome it is and how much he would love to visit with me. He was so surprised! I wrapped a big box that had "supplies" for his "birthday celebration". It had cookies, peanut m&ms, cheezits, chewy bars, a sweater, and a travel guide to Savannah. Jon was SOOOO surprised. We left Fort Myers around 5pm on Thanksgiving, and arrived in Savannah around 1am. We had incredible weekend! Tomorrow I will post pictures and more details when I get them all loaded on my computer! Needless to say, we are glad to be home - but not quite ready to go back to work ;)

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T14:02:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow will be the first thanksgiving that I will not be in Louisville with my family... I am going to miss them so much, but I am excited to be with Jon's family, and to bring a little of my family tradition (the food part) to them! I am making...

A cheeseball
Dressing
Grape Salad
Green bean Corn Casserole
Sugar cookies - shaped and iced to look like fall leaves
Jon's making sweet potatoes!

I am excited to cook everything with Jon tonight!

Also, we are celebrating Jon's birthday tomorrow with. So stay posted to read about all the great things he is getting, and see pictures! I will leave you with pictures from my family's thanksgiving table last year! mmmmm....

Thanksgiving Appitizer

2008-11-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

I think one of the best parts about Thanksgiving is everyone in the kitchen helping to cook! It is so much fun - and I will miss sharing that time with my mom and sister this year! Fortunately one of the High School girls from our church, Brooke Jennings is going to come over to cook with me Wednesday night! And Jon is going to make his family's version of sweet potato casserole, so I am looking forward to starting new traditions! And when you cook you ALWAYS need something to snack on. I brought this appetizer on Sunday to a leaders meeting and it was a hit, so I thought I would share it with you! It is great to munch on while you are cooking, or to serve to your family and friends! Plus it is easy!! It's a cheese ball - yes you can make them homemade - and they are soooo much better than the ones you buy in the store that are not spreadable! This one, I promise you, will spread with ease. Try it out!

Homemade Cheesball
1 8oz cream cheese
1 small glass jar of pimento cheese
1 small glass jar of Old English Cheese
1 T Worchshire sauce
Garlic powder to taste
Cheyenne Pepper to taste
1-2 C chopped Pecans

Cream together all 3 cheeses with a spatula (It works a lot better if you set your cream cheese out to get room temperature first).
Add Worchshire sauce, garlic powder and Cheyenne pepper. Start out with a little and add more to taste. You can mix a few pecans in if you the nuts are your favorite part like us :)
In your bowl shape it the best you can into a ball with your spatula.
Refrigerate for a few hours covered (until you can pick the cheese ball and and shape it).
Shape your cheese into a ball
Spread your nuts out on a sheet of aluminum foil or wax paper, and roll your cheese ball in the nuts until it is covered.

I love to serve this app with Ritz Whole Wheat Crackers!

You can enjoy it right away or refrigerate it as long as you like. They last about a week in the fridge! Yummy!!!

She is soon to be Lauren Keeling

2008-11-23T14:10:00.001-08:00

This weekend Lauren and Chad got engaged. They have been dating for 4 years - since they were seniors in high school. Saturday morning Chad took Lauren horseback riding - one of her favorite things to do. Towards the end of their path Chad had a photographer waiting with a little area with hay and a table and chairs set up. There Chad got on one knee and asked Lo to spend the rest of her life with him - and of course she said YES! The whole event was photographed - I can't WAIT to see the pictures! (They will get the next week. For now, all I have is a picture of the ring! Pray for Lauren and Chad as they being this journey to become one! God it so good! (This is a picture of Lauren and Chad from our wedding!)

Romanian DInner

2008-11-22T06:40:00.001-08:00

Last night Jon and I got the opportunity to hang out with some of our friends from church - the Mateescu's. We had such a great time. They are Romanian, and so Tabitha cooked us an incredible Romanian dinner. Adrian does home remodeling, and Tabitha does faux painting - and their home is absolutely amazing! We are going to have to enlist them as help when we get a place of our own :)

Mini Road Trip

2008-11-21T06:13:00.000-08:00

Today I am headed to Bradenton Fl (about 90 miles north of Fort Myers) to visit my great friends the Ryherds! I'm excited to see Jess! They just moved into their new house, and I can't wait to see it!

Chicken Cakes

2008-11-20T16:03:00.000-08:00

I always like to try new recipes, and tonight I tried something really different. I kept seeing recipes for crab cakes that looked so good, but I had a dilemma - Jon does not eat seafood. I decided to mix several recipes together and substitute the crab for chicken, and it turned out great! So for those of you that don't eat sea food, or don't live close enough to a place to get good seafood, try these....

Chicken Cakes

(Makes 5 patties)

1 Can Tysons Chicken (You can use fresh chicken, but this faster and simpler)

1/3 cup Mayo

1 roll of Ritz Whole Wheat Crackers

1 Small Onion diced (About 2/3 cup)

4tbs butter

1 egg

1 tsp cheyenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

vegetable oil (or peanut oil for a healthier meal)

In a small skillet saute diced onions until tender

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl

Separate mixture into balls and flatten into cakes (just enough to fit into the palm of your hand)

Cover the bottom of a heavy frying pan with oil (about 1/4 inch)

Cook on high, Allow oil to get very hot before placing crab cake (it should simmer as it hits the pan)

Cook about 6 minutes on each side (until golden brown)

Serve immediately.

We had a cheese rissotto and broccoli with ours!

Sorry no pictures - we don't have a camera right now :)

Finally

2008-11-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

Finally! I have ben wanting to start a blog for our family for so long - we have just been so busy! But here it is! We want to use this blog to keep everyone updated on what is going on with us in SUNNY Southwest Florida! We love you all and are excited to share our lives with you!

To start, here are some pictures of our home... enjoy!