A little catching up to do....

Ahh, finally a minute to sit down and breathe! Mallory's taking an early nap, so that we can meet up with Grandma, Grandpa and Tessa for lunch before they head back to North Dakota. We've had a very busy week what with three Christmas celebrations and all. Mallory and I managed to get the gifts finished and wrapped (she's now a tape expert!), treats made....yep, that's about it. Don't ask about the condition of our house right now, sore subject.

We spent Christmas Eve at Matt's parents' house with his family. Everyone was there (except Tera, who is still with her dad in Maine), so it was a full house! We had a delicious supper of ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and PIE! Then, off to open gifts - and there were a lot!

Mallory has the present opening thing figured out!

What do you know? Another dolly! At last count, there are now SIX in our house. The two from before Christmas and four more. Poor Matt, he tried really hard to get her interested in other things - no luck. :(

She did get a kick out of the blocks, though. At first, she worked on stacking them up. But then soon discovered it is WAY more fun to knock them down. I have been dubbed "official tower builder" while Mallory is the one girl demolition crew. (And I'm no longer just talking about the blocks!)

Ah, yes. My Christmas gifts. Well....this is what was under the tree to me from Matt.

Yep, a PICTURE of a Black and Decker power scissors. He claimed he didn't have time to get to the store. Hmph. Fortunately, he redeemed himself by pulling this out of the back:

I think he finally got tired of me cursing my other sewing machine. Too bad though....I've handed down my old machine for him to use when sewing up his work coveralls and pants. I don't want that stuff near my brand new beauty! :) Hmmm....I wonder if I'll still get that scissors?

Just for good measure, one last picture of Mallory and dolly. She was showing off her burping skills here.

That night, Matt was up late playing elf. Sort of. This was actually supposed to be from Matt and I, but it was kind of hard to transport to Grandma and Grandpa's for gift opening. Matt put it together Christmas Eve night and it was waiting for Mallory on Christmas morning. If she actually understood anything about Santa, it probably would have confused her.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I was just a little concerned, though. As you can see (if you look closely), her dolly is taking a dry sauna....in the oven! But, Mallory was thoughtful, and allowed a cool-off in the refrigerator every so often.

We had to wait until after church for her stocking, as she was so enthralled with the kitchen set that we ran out of time. I think the pretty beads were her favorite Santa gift. Oh, and this is also a picture of her Christmas dress that I made (with my new serger!). It's cute, but a bit big. I was so worried that it would be too small, that I erred on the other side. Oh well, maybe she can wear it again next year.

And finally, I'll leave you with a picture of my naughty kitty. Well, they're both kind of naughty. Daniel enjoys climbing the tree, while Chloe is the chewer! In fact, I had to do some emergency Christmas Eve day shopping for new computer speakers....she managed to chew through the cords! Thankfully, she picked the $10 speaker cords and not the more expensive computer cord!

Someone is smoking something....

I saw this on my friend Jay's blog and thought it looked interesting. I never expected these results!




I really wonder what they were thinking!

For the record....I tried it a second time with a different picture for Matt and it said that Mallory looked equally like both of us. Weird.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Yay!! Santa made it to Mallory's day care today. I was able to leave my camera with Jojo, so I have some pictures to share with you. Wasn't that thoughtful? I think the best part of these pictures is that Mallory wasn't scared of Santa at all - she looks so comfy! Which is strange, as she wasn't too sure about him when he was at the grocery store for pictures.

It's a dolly! Mallory is in love. I guess she carried it around all day (had to keep it away from her nemesis "S"!) - and also took it to Wal-mart and McDonald's tonight. Then, we came home and dolly got her diaper changed and played with her rattle....see?

Tomorrow is a big day for Mallory and I. We have treats to make, gifts to finish, gifts to wrap, a house to clean, babies to bathe....somehow the list keeps getting longer!

Santa was cancelled

...okay, not actually cancelled...more like, postponed. There were only 5 kids at daycare today, instead of the usual 12. I guess the stomach flu is going around. Blech. Matt was sick yesterday and now Paula and Grandma Deb have it. As horrible as it is to say, I hope they got it from Mallory so that it means that we're kind of out of the woods. I HATE throwing up!

Anyway, hopefully everyone will be feeling better tomorrow and Santa will be able to make an appearance. And I'll be able to share some cute pictures! :)

At long last....

I might finally get some new pictures up! We've been keeping fairly busy since last time I posted. That busy-ness mostly revolves around Mallory getting brave (ie. crawling onto things she shouldn't) and ornery (ie. I think we're starting the terrible 2's early!).

I did, however, manage to snag Matt for an evening, as we went to our clinic Christmas party on Friday night. My sister Kasey came up from Holland to stay with Mallory. It sounds like she had her hands full with munchkin and Joshua! At least Mallory was asleep when we got home and stayed that way until 7:45 the next morning.

Then, Mallory and I returned the favor and went to Holland to help Kasey get ready for the open house they were hosting for their congregation today. I was in charge of frosting sugar cookies and dusting. I can manage that. :)

I had mentioned before that I'm trying to be more environmentally friendly and am starting to use cloth diapers when we're at home. It was all going great until I got a brand new batch of diapers and apparently didn't get all the residue (?) from the manufacturing process out before putting them on Mallory. So she now has a not-very-nice-looking rash "down there" and is back in disposables so that I can treat it with A&D ointment. The diapers have also had a talking-to and have gone through several more washes. I hope that helps! Poor kid - try to do something earth friendly and look what happens!

Finally got things ironed out for Christmas....I think. We'll be staying down here for Christmas at the Evans' and then to Grandma Lorraine's Christmas Day. Then my mom and dad are invading Kasey's house the following weekend and we'll join the fray! Best part is.....I pretty much have all my shopping done! A few projects to finish here and there (they're secrets!) and I should be good to go.

Okay, if you've made it this far I will now reward you with pictures of the person everybody comes to see. Speaking of - I went to church by myself today (Mallory stayed home with Matt for some "daddy-time") and no fewer than 6 (!) people asked where she was! BEFORE they said hi to me! Chopped liver, that's me. :)

Sorry, I digress.....here you are:

She kept pointing into the toy box, but didn't want any of the toys I gave her. So I finally just put her in and she was happy as a clam! Weirdo.

This one is a two-fer. First, she's wearing her super-cute Christmas outfit. No, I did not make it. This is an ebay purchase. But it's still cute! :) She wore it to visit Santa last weekend. She didn't smile very well, but at least she didn't burst out in tears, either. Second, she's showing off her kitty-wrangling skills that Grandma Kathy taught her. I think the kitties would both be happier if she hadn't figured this skill out for a while!

And finally, Mallory looking all grown up in her new bathrobe. This was part of her gift from our mommy-board gift exchange. She also got some cute jammies - they're French! Well, at least French-Canadian. Our gift is headed to Canada, too....but I can't say where...it's a secret! :)

I haven't forgotten....

I really am still here! In fact, I even got some pictures loaded onto the computer so I could share....and then Matt took over the computer for the night. Oh well, I did get some sewing done...and I'll try to update more tonight. Kisses....:)

Queen of procrastination

Yep, that's my official title for the evening. I have a craft fair starting tomorrow at the local mall and probably should be working on a few more things. However, we are in a winter storm warning for all day tomorrow, so even if we're actually there all day, I HIGHLY doubt it'll be very busy. So, therefore, I thought I'd treat you all to a few new Mallory pictures. Hmmm....working with hot glue and burning my fingers or sharing cute pictures of my little girl....quite the decision. :)

To start....all the way back to Thanksgiving. This is the clippie I made for her to wear for turkey day. It was a little on the big side, so I had to attach it to a headband, but the overall effect was there.

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Matt's parents' house with his family. Mallory's cousin Damien was there as well so Mallory finally got to be bigger than somebody and was able to get in her share of bullying. Actually, she didn't bully so much as just not want to share her toys. But, honestly, in this picture, she's not about to smack him...she liked to rub his head!

My parents came down for the long after-Thanksgiving weekend. No early shopping for them...although, I think they could have made the 4am Kohl's opening if they'd have tried.

We did our best to keep Grandpa Don from going stir crazy - found him all sorts of odd jobs. Including "official poopy diaper detector"...better ask him about that! :) He also played handyman and installed safety latches on some of the cupboard doors. Mallory was his oh-so-helpful assistant.

And this was my excitement for the weekend. TA DA! You have to look pretty closely, but yes that is really, truly a PONYTAIL!!!! Hooray! It might be a while before we can show off in public, because that little thing sure isn't going to survive a winter hat!

And I'll leave you with one last picture. Mallory can't have all the glory, so here are Chloe and Daniel posing so pretty. Too bad Mallory can't get the hang modeling or I'd have some even cuter pictures! *sigh*

15 month doctor visit

Mallory got to go visit the doctor today. It really was all fine until she had to have THREE shots! Poor kid - although she did get a nice big bag of fruit snacks from the nurse. Not quite the same as safe-t-pops, but it'll do.

She's a big girl! 28 lbs 12 oz and 31 inches tall. Although, with our genes, there really isn't a real big risk of her being petite....

Our Christmas list

Well, Mallory's and mine, anyway. I really don't have any ideas for Matt, so if you have his name, you're as outta luck as I am!

For Mallory: Apparently she's into dollies....no idea where she got THAT from. I think Santa will be bringing her one, but also on her list is a doll stroller, high chair/booster chair, and feeding things (bottle, spoons, etc). New diapers - we're trying the cloth diaper thing while not in daycare. She JUST fits into a medium Fuzzi Bunz, so we're in need of larges. So far, I like the Fuzzi Bunz, but Happy Heinies or other all-in-one or pocket diapers are okay, too. Ummm....yeah, that's all I've got. She'll obviously be perfectly happy with anything, but we do have quite the stash of toys, books and clothes. Although, if buying clothes, please be sure to buy at least 24 mo size - unless it's meant to be worn right now.

For me: I'd like the new Taste of Home Baking book (the blue 3-ring binder), and since my new vehicle doesn't have seat warmers, I'd love a seat cusion or seat cover. I saw some really nice ones at Wally-world that don't actually go over the entire seat, so they don't have to be fitted as perfectly - more of a cusion that has elastic loops. And a matching steering wheel cover. Gift cards are always good, and I'm perfectly okay receiving cloth dipes for Mallory. :)

Now, those of you to whom we will be giving gifts...we need ideas!

I got tagged....

by Jill, so it's my turn to share 6 things about myself.

1. I am developing a serious computer addiction. It's true...my name is Brenda and I'm a computer-oholic. I blame it all on my SK girls! :)

2. I have the not-so-desirable habit of LOVING to find new craft ideas, sewing patterns, etc, but not always getting around to finishing said projects. Come take a peek in my house if you don't believe me. For example, Mallory's birth cross-stitch (which will be super cute, by the way) still isn't done and she's 15 months old! And now I'm shopping for a stocking to make for her. Ugh.

3. I'm not the best housekeeper. I'll just leave it at that.

4. If I wasn't so severely in debt with school loans, I'd actually like to go back to school for nursing. It's one of those "if I knew then what I know now" type of things. (Please Mom, no heart attack!)

5. I'd love to have a little hobby farm! I'd like chickens, goats, maybe a sheep or two, a donkey, maybe a pony (no interest in a big horse at this point).... Too bad Matt wouldn't have anything to do with that idea. Sigh.....

6. I can curl my tongue in to a 3-leaf clover shape. Really! I'd take a picture, but that's kind of gross.

Okay, my turn to tag people.... Kasey, Amy, Christina (although I know you have a new baby, so I'll cut you some slack), Tessa, Carrie, Allie (you need to get back to blogging, girl!)

Another week gone....

I'm racking my brain to try to remember if we did anything exciting this week. Apparently not, huh? Well, I did do a pretty cool surgery on Tuesday involving removing part of a dog's foot...but out of respect for my father and his "sensitive" disposition...:) I'll refrain from going into details.

My other exciting news involves my new toy....I ordered myself a serger sewing machine! Yippee!! After all the compliments Mallory received from wearing her Halloween outfit, I went pattern hunting. I have LOTS of super cute patterns and ideas for more clothes - 'cuz everyone knows she needs more! If anyone has any helpful hints regarding learning to use my serger, send 'em my way!

Oh, and I have a bunch more pictures to share. The first is for Tessa - here's Mallory wearing her birthday outfit from you. Sorry the picture isn't better, but you know how well she likes to pose. :)

This is Mallory thinking she's a big girl and needs a whole piece of pizza! She did share it with her puppy, though, so that was nice. By the way, how does one get pizza sauce out of puppy fur?

Ooh, these come in my size, too!

Darn paparazzi!

My mom and dad are going to be visiting this weekend. In preparation for the holiday weekend, my housecleaning goal is one room per day. This afternoon I tackled the kitchen. Mallory didn't cooperate with a nap, so she spent the time keeping the kitties occupied.

I guess kitties really do like goldfish....especially cheddar cheese flavored ones!

Happy birthday to me

It's the big 3-1 today. Yippee.

My family went out to my favorite restaurant without me. However, they did call and sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone while they were there. Is that love or what? I hope someone ate some fried ice cream for me! *sigh*

Passing along some pictures

I don't have much in the way of exciting news today, so I'm just going to post a few pictures that Tessa took during her visit.

Let's see...there should be something good in here!

Since Daddy's been out in the field so much lately, Mallory thought she'd see what all the fuss is about! (It's kind of hard to see, but the "popper" part is a combine!)

And this is the pig....


You decide....am I just dancing, or trying to escape?

Oooh, nice kitties!
Yes, the kitties have pretty much recovered from their surgeries and are back to wrestling and raising ruckus! I think Mallory is going to be their bestest friend...mostly because she figured out how to open their food container and gave them a (large) early supper. I think we'll be moving that out of reach! Mallory really likes them too, whenever she sees them (first thing in the morning, after naps, coming home, etc) - she claps and says "hi titties!!" (We're working on pronunciation....)

Well now I feel dumb!

I think I've finally figured out my camera. I've been having issues with it draining the rechargable batteries super fast (as in I could only take about 10 pictures before the battery died!) and with the batteries not recharging while on the dock. I even bought a new plug-in battery charger and I have 4 pairs of batteries...and they all did the same thing. I was starting to wonder if it was worth sending it in for repair, or to just shop for a new camera.

But then I decided to experiment. I learned that my camera dock only recharges the original Kodak camera battery - and doesn't work with other NiMH rechargables. PLUS, I think that setting the camera on the dock with "other" batteries in it actually drains those batteries. Who'd have thunk??

Anyway, I'm in a much better mood now that I've figured that out. Hopefully that also means that I'll be getting some more pictures to add here. Cross your fingers!

I also got the cutest little keychain digital camera from the Walmart clearance aisle yesterday! It's about 2x3 inches and does almost everything a regular digital camera does - video, self timer, etc. The only problem is that you can't see the pictures you take until you upload them to the computer. The best part it that it was $12!!! I'm hoping I'll be able to capture more cute and funny pictures of Mallory since I won't be quite so nervous hauling that one around with us. I can't wait to try it out!

Our last few days

As mentioned before, my sister Tessa was here visiting with her kitty for the last few days. Just so you can all rest easy, yes, Lolah did wonderfully through surgery (Tessa even watched!) and is doing just fine. See?

I think Lolah will be happy to get home. She really seemed to want to play with our kitties, but wasn't quite sure if it was a good idea. Oh, and kitty #2 has a name! "Daniel"....as in Daniel Striped Tiger - bonus points to anyone that remembers what tv show he was in. (Mom, you can't guess, because I know that you remember!)

Chloe and Daniel joined me at work on Tuesday for their big day. Everyone is officially "fixed". Oh, and if you were curious, Matt didn't say much at all about there being two kittens. He did ask why, but that was about it (at least to me...he might have said more to other people, but I prefer to be blissfully unaware of any of that!). Although, today he did tell me I should trade them in for a dog. Yeah, because I have time to housetrain a dog right now. Not sure what he was thinking....

I'm hoping Tessa will email me copies of the pictures she took while she was here. My camera has been having battery issues and besides, she got much better pictures than I did. I'll share when I get them.

I also hope that we didn't totally bore Tessa while she was here. She came to work with me on Monday (it was kind of slow, so not terribly exciting) and then joined Mallory and I for ECFE that evening. I had to work all day Tuesday, so she went down to Kasey's and visited Joshua for the day. Mallory stayed home from daycare today and we spent the day with Tessa. There was a quick trip to town to return some boots and to get Mallory a new winter jacket. It's really cute...I'll get a picture. Then home for lunch, playtime, nap....

Tessa left for home this afternoon. Mallory and I did some more playing, had supper, a bath....oh, and munchkin learned a new skill. I'm not sure I'm real impressed. Check it out.

Yes, she is sitting on TOP of the coffee table. Ugh.

Oh, and one more exciting thing for today! Mallory went down for her morning nap without a sippy cup!! We officially got rid of the bottles a couple weeks ago, but she's still gotten a sippy cup of water for naps and bedtime. She doesn't always drink it, but it's a comfort thing. I was pretty excited when I was able to put her in her crib and she went right to sleep today. She did take one for her afternoon nap, but she spilled most of it and then talked herself to sleep. We might get this nap thing down yet! :)

Meet our newest family members

Mallory gets so excited when we see the kitties outside our house. But unfortunately, they don't seem so fond of her (actually, I can't pet them either, so they're not being picky). So, we (okay, I) decided that she needed a kitty of her own. I'm not exactly sure what Matt will say when he finds out I brought home two kitties, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm pretty sure it will involve lots of eye-rolling! :)

Anyway, the calico one is Chloe and the orange one...well, he doesn't have a name yet. Anyone have any ideas?

And some more fun news....Aunt Tessa is here to visit!! Yay! She also brought her kitty Lolah along for the ride. Well, actually, she brought Lolah down for her (Lolah's) big surgery. Duh-duh-duh.....

Mallory thought Lolah's carrier was pretty cool, we might have to get one in a bigger size!

Happy November!

Mallory is continuing to expand her vocabulary. Today, she was repeating shapes to Jojo - circle, square, etc. I guess she especially liked "oval", it must be fun to say. That was the ONLY one I could get her to say tonight. *shrug*

Have you ever wondered what it is about spaghetti? It seems the one food that everyone likes to have on their head. Case in point....

Where to start?

Unfortunately, Mallory isn't feeling much better, tooth-wise. There are at least 2 coming in that I can feel. 1 upper molar and her last lower incisor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of them come right away, so we can just have a miserable week or two and then its over.

PLUS, mean little daycare girl bit my darling daughter yesterday. Mallory was being her angelic self, sitting waiting patiently for dinner in her highchair (I can type that with a straight face....believe it??) when little S walked up and bit her finger!! Good grief. S better beware....revenge is a dish best served cold, or so I've heard. :)

Our trick-or-treating didn't work out so well, either. :( Munchkin has had a little cough and hoarse voice on top of the teething woes, so I made a grown-up decision that we should stick close to home and try to get to bed at a reasonable hour. Sorry we missed Halloween with you, Joshua! In any case, we didn't get very far before my little giraffe (yes, the democratic process worked - thanks all that voted!) fell asleep.

After stopping at our landlord's house for some treats, Daddy called and needed us to drive him around since he was done combining a field. We then made a trip to try to see Great-grandma Lorraine, but she wasn't home, so we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to beg some supper. Unfortunately, after that, Mallory was getting tired, so we aborted the rest of our trick-or-treating and headed home to bed.

First, a story or two....then, her new game of throwing herself onto the blankets on our bed. I think there was a bit of a second wind involved here! (Oh, and Grandpa Hanson....I made sure to appropriately censor the diaperless wonder - just for you!)

I hate teeth.

Or more specifically....teething. Poor Mallory has just been out of sorts the last couple days. Low fever on Sunday, not napping well, cranky....you get the idea. Last night (Sunday night) was AWFUL! She was up every hour from 7pm to 3am - all she wanted was to snuggle and rock. (Which, if you know Mallory at all, you know can only mean she's not feeling well!) Needless to say, Mommy was NOT looking pretty this morning.

The misery continued today. I guess daycare went okay, mostly because she was distracted by the other kids. But naps still didn't go well, she threw up once, and was not happy when we got home. I finally pried her mouth open enough to get some Orajel on her poor little gums and find the pointy little bugger causing all the trouble - upper right molar. The Orajel seemed to do the trick through supper and most of "school", but we did end up leaving class early.

Now, I just came up from putting her back to sleep. It was a process and involved tears from both parties. It's just so awful to know she's hurting and that I've done all I can to help - poor kid's hopped up on ibuprofen, tylenol, "natural" teething tablets, AND anbesol (and yes, I did speak with my health care professional - thanks Sandy!) I finally gave her a sippy cup of cold milk, which seemed to help. And now I'm off to dig up a teether to stick in the fridge for tomorrow....and hopefully get more than 2 hours of sleep in a row. Wish us luck! :)

Pumpkin carving bust

Well, it didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. Neither Mallory or Joshua were really into the pumpkin guts. Well, for that matter, neither was Uncle Adam....heehee. So, Kasey and I did most (all) of the pumpkin gutting and carving and then staged some pictures for posterity. Win some, lose some.

And yes, this is about as interested in pumpkins as Mallory was all night. Joshua has a pretty cool refrigerator radio that she was into instead.

I do feel bad for Kasey's floor though. It was all clean and sparkly when we arrived but when we left, it had been desecrated with pumpkin guts. Good thing she's a Norwex girl! :)

Yay mailman!

Yep, Mallory's ebay Halloween outfit arrived in time for church. She wasn't feeling terribly cooperative during picture time, but I did manage a couple. They really don't do the outfit justice - it was pretty darn cute!

I've created a monster!

I can no longer drink my yummy Ovaltine milk in front of Mallory. *sigh* She's figured out that Mommy's milk and Mallory's milk are not the same thing and that Mommy's is way yummier! At first, I thought that it was just that I let her taste mine from a straw. So, I tried being sneaky and poured her milk into my glass. She took one drink and spit it out all over the front of her shirt. Silly girl.

My poor mailman....

is definitely earning his government pay this last week. I've gone a little ebay crazy....I think I need a twelve step program or a patch or something. Or, I suppose I could just stay away from the computer. Yeah right.

I'm actually anxiously awaiting my mail delivery today. I "accidentally" bought a super cute Halloween outfit for Mallory. Since she already has a pumpkin shirt to wear to daycare on Wednesday and she already has her costume, I'm really hoping it gets here today so that she can wear it to church tomorrow. (It's kind of a dressy outfit.) I'll definitely get pictures.

Speaking of "accidentally" buying ebay items - have you ever done that? You know, bid once just to see how high the other person has gone, expecting them to want it more than you and to bid again?? I know at least ONE person that reads this blog has experience with this.....you know you who are! :) It's a bad habit....worse than actually meaning to buy the item. I think.

That's about it for the day. Mallory and I are having supper with the Harvala's this evening. Hopefully both munchkins are happy and in the mood to play - I'm bringing pumpkins to carve! Yay! I'm hoping to get lots of fun gooey pictures....check back for those.

Uh-oh...

spaghellelos! Or something like that. :)

It's Mallory's new word for the day. Apparently she copied Jojo today at daycare when something was dropped during lunch. Then, during our semi-emergency trip to the grocery store for milk (because someone left the gallon of milk out all day - not naming names, but it starts with D and ends in -addy!) she was repeating it up and down the aisles. There was even a nice old lady that was impressed that she was saying such a hard word! So, we made our way over to the pharmacy to show off for some friends....and WHAMMO....she went from out-going Mallory to shy Mallory. No luck.

Then, as we got back into the truck it was more "uh-oh spaghellelos". So, Mommy got all excited and called Grandpa and Grandma Hanson to let them hear. Nope - zip the lip again! Lil' turkey. I had really hoped to get it on video, but no luck tonight. Stay tuned. :)

We need your help!

It's voting time....Mallory needs help choosing which costume to wear. The oh-so-cute ladybug or the way cool giraffe. Please help - decisions are soooo difficult!

Just a couple quick pictures while Munchkin is sleeping. Hooray for the big after church nap!

We've just been hanging out this weekend. Mallory's cousin Tera left yesterday for Maine, where she'll be spending the next 4 (!) months with her dad. Grandma Deb's house is going to be pretty quiet....we'll have to see what we can do to remedy that! :)

I got some new ribbon in the mail this week. Mallory thought they were quite beautiful, too! Although, I'm not real sure she has the color mix right....what do you think?

I've been working on replenishing my headband and clippie stock. It sounds like they've been selling fairly well at the new salon in Ghent. I'm also working up the courage to list some on etsy or ebay. Give me time.

Oh, and Tessa, just thought you'd like to know that oh-so-annoying talking puppy has been dug out of the toybox. Seems Mallory has ANOTHER new friend. Is taking the batteries out of a talking dog considered animal cruelty?