Low-Key Christmas

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures but I did get a few of the fun Christmas morning we had. I woke up to the sounds of paper crinkling, and I heard Ethan saying, "Oh this is my stocking, E-T-H-A-N." Brian and I got up and went out to the living room and Ethan told us, "I woke up and remembered it was Christmas, so I hopped out of my bed and came out here! Then I saw that Santa had been here, I didn't even hear his bells or nothing! But look he brought us some presents. I checked and looked in everyone's stockings, and then I opened mine, look what Santa brought me!"

This is the card we left with the cookies for Santa.
Ethan wrote SANTA and ETHAN all by himself, I held his hand for the other stuff.

This is a picture we took with Ethan's new camera. He likes to take pictures with our camera, so we decided to get him one of his own. He loves it! The toy he is posing with is Pablo from the Backyardigans. That is what Santa brought him. That is all he asked for this year. It has only been 5 days since Pablo has joined our family, but it seems like he's always been with us...Oh yeah, and he is already filthy!

Nora and Ethan are taking a moment to enjoy some of their gifts. They were pretty sick on Christmas, so they were quite mellow (or else screaming and crying) all morning.

Nora's big gift from Santa was a kitchen. We put a BIG sign on it that said "NORA" so that Ethan would know it was for his sister, but notice how Ethan's toys Nemo and Pablo have already moved in...

It was a great day... We enjoyed a calm morning a long afternoon nap (we were all sick!) and then a lovely smoked turkey dinner at Aunt Emily's house. We exchanged family gifts at Em's house and had a great evening. The kids broke down around 7pm and we went home and put them to bed! The next day I found out Nora had an ear infection (so that explains all the hours of screaming) now she is on the mend and back to her normal self, thank goodness!

PS I wasn't expecting too much for Christmas, but I made out like a bandit! I got some all time coolest gifts for Christmas this year. Including, but not limited to, beautiful awesome cool paintings by a local artist, a talking globe, and (drum roll please) Karate Lessons!!!! Like I said, I lucked out!

Merry Christmas!

How can they always call my bluff

OK, so this story is kinda embarrassing. I was tired and grumpy and so were the kids...

Ethan hadn't been listening to me ALL morning. I was getting pretty miffed. In fact sometimes he was out right ignoring me! So when I was trying to get him dressed and he acted as though I wasn't there, steam started shooting out of my ears. I said, "You get over here RIGHT NOW, or I'm going to spank the crap out of your butt!" (I know, if you really think about it and take it literally, that in itself is pretty gross.)

Ethan looked at me pretty funny, and then started to laugh. I was really confused. I mean, I know I wasn't really going to do it, but I don't think it should be funny to him. Then he came over to me, put his arms around my neck and said, "Mah-um, you can't get the crack out of my butt!". Then I started to laugh too, we hugged and all was right with the world.

Mister Independence

Ok, the bane of my existence for the past 2 years has been trying to potty train my little man. Well, about two weeks ago, he woke up dressed himself and put on underwear. There are two funny things about this, the first is that he put everything on backwards and the second is that he is quite a little stylist. The outfits he picks out are so cute and hilarious...
Example one:
Yes those are my socks. And later he changed out the Buzz shirt for a blue and red striped polo.

Example Two:
Note the tie, belt over the clothes, socks that are too small, and shorts and t-shirt (it was freezing outside!)

Oh yeah, he also started to do his own hair:I love it!

Potty training has now turned into potty trained, and though I still have to come in at the end to clean things up to avoid "skid marks", we have a new man at our house!

Fat Camp

I've been trying to loose weight for some time now... But instead I've been gaining. I seem to have a problem with sabotaging my own diet and I have zero motivation to stop eating the things I love. Something else I was doing was having someone check up on me to make sure I wasn't cheating on the diet (which of course I was!). But the only problem was that it was only one person. A person I knew would love me no matter what (not that being fat is a reason not to love someone, it's just that I trusted her love completely.) Once again, not enough motivation.

So about 2 weeks ago I decided to try to diet differently. I'm not going to "diet" at all. Instead I'm going to focus on exercising. I stopped by my sister-in-law Kristy's house and there she was exercising to a workout DVD in the middle of the day of her own free will. She said, "we should start working out together." I was like, "Pshaw, there is no way, I'm too out of shape and I am NOT a self-starter." But I reluctantly said ok. So the next night she came over, we worked out, it felt GOOD! Then we did it again, I felt even better. She couldn't come for a couple of days, but I kept working out. So far we average 2 times a week together, but I've averaged 5 days a week!!! Each day I feel stronger, and in just 2 weeks my heart rate has gone down and my blood pressure has gone up (this is good, my pulse used to sit around 100 and my blood pressure was so low that a nurse once asked my if I was still alive). I have energy. It feels so good to have energy. At the park the other day I was actually playing with the kids, not just sitting on the bench, I was giving them under dogs for crying out loud!

I'm so excited about starting a new healthy life for myself. I want to be accountable for it too. I will give monthly updates on my progress and monthly pictures as well. The first month or two will not be a pretty picture, but I'm willing to live with that because the after pictures are going to be great!

As for my diet... I'll get there.

Here is the first before picture:

Pure Love

I have something so sad and so sweet that happened yesterday, that I just have to share it.

My son and the next door neighbor child were digging in the flower beds out front. They started to pick the holly berries off the bushes and bury them to plant some flowers. I reminded them that the berries are poisonous and to please not eat them.

My daughter was sitting next to me on the porch eating a cookie. When she finished, she decided to go join the digging party. She walked down the sidewalk, and I started to sort through the mail.

All of the sudden the kids started yelling, "Oh no! She ate one of the berries!" Of course I freaked out and ran down to her, grabbed her and squeezed her mouth open to get the berry out. It was just some cookie she was still chewing on.

I chided the other two for leaving the berries out in a pile and told them to be more careful, all the while hugging my daughter to my chest (because I freaked her out by freaking out!).

Out of nowhere my son goes into this horrible wail. He is weeping bitterly. I was very confused. I asked him what was wrong and tried to calm him. He would not be consoled. Finally, he said, "Mom! I deaded my sister with poison!" I guess I forgot to tell him that it was only cookie in his sisters mouth. He thought he killed her, and the thought of living without his sister was unbearable!

My heart broke, of course, but it also had little rays of sunshine in it. My children really do love each other! I told him what had happened and he stopped crying. We all held each other for a little while and calmed down. Then my son shoved my daughter and went back to diggin'.

Thanksgiving Spread

For those of you who don't know what a spread is, here is the definition: a sumptuous meal: feast.
Brian and I were assigned dessert, bread and sweet potatoes. I love to cook and Brian loves to bake, we had so much fun in the kitchen together. I made pumpkin, blueberry and pecan pies and finished it off with a chocolate dessert I like to call Filthy Wilma... It's so good. Then Brian made rolls and pretzels (from scratch), which were divine. And last of course were the sweet potatoes, but in the south having sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving is like a religion, and they too were delicious.
We had a great low-key Thanksgiving, with tons of delicious food and fantastic friends and family. I love the Holiday Season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

6 things about my Brian

I have been tagged... Thank you Janette, it IS a lovely idea. It is always good to sit and think about the one you love the most.

1. Brian is an amazing dad. He gets home from a long day at work and before he is even changed out of his work clothes, he is on the floor wrestling with the kids. He sings to them, dances with them, and reads them countless books. He saves all their silly artwork (half of it is hanging up in his cubical at work) and the half he doesn't save he scans on the computer to save it forever. We also have a whole archive of the phone messages the kids have sent Brian at work. He just loves his kiddos.


2. Brian does the sweetest things. He makes his side of the bed in the morning, without waking me up. He always puts toothpaste on my toothbrush for me. If I feel sick he gets me whatever I need (I, on the other, hand am a terrible nurse!). He leaves out a vitamin and some fiber for me in the morning even though I never take it! He cleans up after dinner almost every night. When my favorite show is on, he puts the kids to bed for me. I have to stop now because the little sweet things he does for me are endless.

3. Brian loves information. You know the song on Napoleon Dynamite at the end "I love technology..." Yeah, that's Brian. He loves having all information at the tip of his fingers. His profession is I.T., he does computer jobs on the side, he is the Stake Technology Specialist... Again, another list that could go on and on. "But I still love technology, always and forever."

4. Brian is funny. Some people don't know this about him. When he gets going there isn't much to stop him. I blame it on the Hall family need to perform (and have a captive audience). He does fantastic impressions. Some of my favorite are Jim Carey, Velociraptor, and person eating their chapstick. There are many times he has made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt and I couldn't breath.

5. Brian is has extreme musical talent. He can play whatever he picks up. He sits down at the piano and plays whatever song he's thinking of. He is an excellent guitarist. He plays the drums like nobodies business. And the boy can sing! He has the most beautiful voice! At night when we sing to the kids, he always harmonizes with me and it sounds so cool!

6. Last, but not least, he loves me so much! That is, he is a great husband. Not one day has gone by in our marriage where he hasn't forgotten to tell me how much he loves me, how beautiful he thinks I am, and how lucky he is to have me for a wife. Sheesh, that could make a girl get a big head, luckily I'm very grounded (ha ha ha). He is aware of my needs and thoughful of my feelings. I hope this doesn't embarrass him, but he is very sensitive. I love it! He works hard for our family, and takes his responsibilities very serious. I feel very secure with him. And just so everyone knows, I love him very much too!

Birthday Fun!!!

It was my birthday this week. It was a beautiful day. We woke up, lounged, and thought what should we do today. And it just came to me, the zoo! So we packed up a lunch and the kids and headed out the door. The last time I went to the zoo on my birthday was almost 20 years ago for a school field trip. I remember that school field trip vividly, in fact, that was the first time I've ever seen someone get pooped on by a bird. Ah ha ha ha! It was hilarious.

The kids had never been to the zoo before, so they were thrilled. Everything was new and exciting to them. My son loved the bears, elephants, monkeys and the rhinos. My daughter loved the hippos, monkeys and horses (kangaroos), but she loved the tigers the most. She kept saying, "Tiger, tiger, tiger." over and over after we saw them...

Here are some fun pictures. We don't have very many because the batteries on the camera died about a half hour into our zoo trip.

Color me pink

Janette took a color quiz, it looked fun, so I took it too.
This is what it said about me:

you are hotpink

Your dominant hues are red and magenta. You love doing your own thing and going on your own adventures, but there are close friends you know you just can't leave behind. You can influence others on days when you're patient, but most times you just want to go out, have fun, and do your own thing.

Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it.

Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

Sorry Janette, I know it sounds a lot like yours. I promise I didn't copy! I guess we are just a lot alike, except you actually are going to change the world, and I'm disgruntled. lol!

The link to the quiz: http://www.spacefem.com/quizzes/colors/

Star Wars Family

Happy Halloween!
We had such a great Halloween this year. We went to three different things this year where we got to dress up. Tuesday night my husband was putting our son to bed and said, tomorrow you get to wear your Luke Skywalker costume again." My sons eyes lit up and he said, "Three Halloweens! I love Halloween!"
Here is the better picture I promised.

Halloween Preview

So here it is, the costumes we've been planning for the last year, and we didn't even get a close-up!
We'll it was just for trunk or treat at the church, so we'll get a better one on Halloween. I promise!For those of you that can't tell, from left to right we have: Princess Leia, Padme, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader

Deflated

This morning my son said to me, "We certainly can't spell words without you, mama." Strange, but ok I'll take the compliment.
"Thanks honey, that is so sweet!"
"No mom. Not You, the letter U."
Oh.

6 Things About Me

1. I get excited about food. When my husband and I were first dating he said to me, "I've realized something about you...You're all about food." It's true. I will go to an event/party/get-together specifically because of what kind of food is going to be there. I love it when a new kind of fruit comes into season. I have to buy pomegranates and clementines during their peak every year. And I'm tickled when I see Hass Avocados on sale, I plan my whole dinner around the avocado. If something has mushrooms in it stand back, I'll order a steak if it comes with sauteed mushrooms. One time I was fortunate enough to be taken to Three Forks (en expensive Dallas restaurant), the steak was really good, but oh, the creamed corn........

2. To continue on with the obsession, I love dessert. For 6 of my last 7 birthdays I have gone to Mac Grill for dinner. Not because of the entrees, but because if it is your birthday you get a free chocolate cake. The yummiest, moistest, most delicious chocolate cake ever! Ice cream, cheesecake, cake, cookies, tarts, anything Emily makes etc.... I love dessert!

3. I'm a big spender at heart, but cheap on the outside. If I had a lot of money...Oh the things I would do. But long ago I swore to myself I would never get into debt (aside from house/education/car) and I have been successful so far, and I want to keep it that way. Part of it just comes with having faith. There have been months when I thought we weren't going to be able to eat if we didn't put it on the credit card, but the Lord has provided. He always does. I've come to realize the reason why I've been successful with this goal is because the Lord doesn't want me to go into debt either. As long as I meet my obligations to Him, He provides.

4. I have the hardest full-time job on the planet! I'm a stay-at-home mom of two very active, amazing children. I love my job. But it is HARD! I try every day to do better at it. I am a work in progress. My goal: To wake up before the kids wake me up. Exercise, read my scriptures, and shower before the kids get up.
I'll get there some day, I know I will. In the mean time, I'm thankful for PBS quality programming that takes care of my kids until 7:30am. And I'm thankful for my husband that feeds the kids before he leaves for work at 7:00am. PS I'm still in my pajamas and it's noon. The kids are dressed.

5. I love to quilt. It is very therapeutic to finish something so time consuming. I'm not the best at seeing something through to the end, so when I finish something like a quilt, I feel accomplished. It's good for my self-esteem. I also love to create. Unlike Janette, I do have some of my works of art hanging in my home. And I would love to have some of Janette's works of art in my home! I don't have my art hanging up because it is good, just because I like creating it and I'm too cheap to buy the real stuff. Truthfully, if I could afford it, I'd probably just buy my quilts from Pottery Barn and forget the whole quilting past time. Just kidding.

6. I want to travel sans children. Sorry kids, I love you, but I just want a get away with your dad. A cruise would be my first choice. All inclusive! The Caribbean or even Alaska. I'd like to go to a few places in Europe: Belgium, Germany, Italy and Greece. I would love to visit Nicaragua and see all the places from my husband's mission. I don't even have to go far to be happy, in fact I'd love to go to Connecticut in the fall. Someday.


Sorry my 6 things are weird, they kinda don't flow. But that's me I'm weird, and I never do something the same way twice!

Halloween Pictures

I love the fall, the crisp air, my birthday, the colors and the Holidays. I was just thinking about how much I love Halloween. It's such a kid holiday. Candy, candy and more candy, and you get the candy by being silly or scary. You get to ring everybody's door bell and you don't get in trouble and you get to eat candy until you want to puke! You get to stay up late, hang out with your family and friends and did I mention the candy.
Adults love it because it makes them feel like a kid again. And, we get to throw parties!
Last year my sister-in-law threw a great party. Of course we all had to dress up...


From left to right: David and Victoria Beckham, Fortune Teller, Gangsta, Bloody Mary, Dolly Pardon, and White & Nerdy

I'm tagging everyone that reads this to post some past memories or pictures from Halloween

Crazy Bug Lady

This is my son's preschool class. I do a co-op with some other mothers. It is great fun. The kids are so sweet. I think it is really cute that it ended up being four boys. They are good friends and they do the funniest things.
When it was my turn to teach them we learned about dirt. You can probably guess that I had their rapt attention. I "buried" some things in a big bowl of dirt and we all had shovels (spoons) to dig them out with. When I told the boys that this is what we were about to do one boy said, "But we'll get our hands dirty!" He wore gardeners gloves. Some of the bugs (squishy plastic bugs) looked quite real and when the boys would dig them out they would kind of freak out and chuck them across the room. I laughed myself silly. At the end I gave them all a fake worm. The same boy who didn't want to get his hands dirty refused to touch the worm. Then we ate mud and bees (chocolate pudding and honey maid graham cracker bees). I am quite convinced that by the time they left my house the boys all thought I was crazy, and that they were OK with that.

I get by with a little help...

I was out and about on the internet, reading all the blogs of my friends and thinking man I'm lucky. I've got a fantastic network of friends that I love and admire. I sure am thankful for you guys!
This week there have been multiple times when help from family and friends has gotten me through some rough spots. I just hope that I can be there when someone needs me. Don't hesitate to call, if I can do it, I will.
Love you!

Have a laugh

Uh, Geronimo or bombs away?

Sometimes there are funny moments in our lives that we are lucky enough to get on camera. Here are a few of mine from September:Are my glasses on straight or is the house a little crooked?

Quality Daddy time.

Already too cool to smile for pictures

Yet another cool idea...

If you've never visited my link to momadvice.com then you are missing out. She has the best ideas and advice, and a never ending list of links to help you out on your budget, finances, hobbies, children.... Anyway, here are some fun bathtub concoctions:

Bubble Bath Finger Paints
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt,
Food coloring
Bubble bath (not the foamy type)
Water

Directions: Mix water with the flour until you get a paste. Add food coloring and bubble bath until you get the thickness you like. This works well in the bath tub. They can paint themselves or the walls and it washes right off. It may turn the water the color of the food coloring but it won't stain the child.

Bathtub Crayons

1 Cup grated Ivory soap
¼ cup warm water
Food Coloring Plastic cookie cutters or hard candy molds

Directions: Mix water, soap and food coloring together in bowl. Remove the mixture from bowl and knead it until it’s the consistency of thick dough. Spoon mixture into plastic cookie cutters or candy molds. Place the cookie cutters or molds in the freezer for 10 minutes or longer. Pop the crayons out of the cookie cutters and allow them to dry overnight.


Enjoy!

Grocery Shopping

If you have kids and have ever gone grocery shopping with them then you have to read this eBay listing.

I laughed myself silly. Honestly you'll enjoy it...

Title of the eBay listing: Lot of Pokemon cards that my kids tried to sneak by me

Vacation

We just had a fantastic vacation traveling and camping across 3 states (Utah, Idaho and Oregon). It was so beautiful and exciting. The kids had a wonderful time, I just wish they would have slept at night. My son got sick while we were in Oregon, but he doesn't remember being sick. All he remembers is the camping, hiking, swimming, playing, and fun that we had. He asks me almost once a day since we've been back, "When can we go back to the cabin?" So despite needing sleep desperately by the time we got home, the trip was a huge success and worth all the hard work.

Quilts

I love to quilt. Well, I must admit, I love to have a quilt I made. The process is tedious and time-consuming, and I fret the entire time. But in the end I'm always glad I stuck to it, and I can't wait to have an excuse to start another one.

Here are some pictures of quilts I've made...

Rain, Rain Don't Go Away!

I know it has been raining, A LOT. But I love it! Some days the kids get a bit ancie, but we've found some fun things to do. AMC theaters have free movies at 10am on Wednesdays, but you have to get your tickets a week in advance. Otherwise they are all sold out. I learned that lesson today... Also, they are not doing it on the 4th of July. We've also been doing the local library's summer reading program. The kids love to be read to. We've been trying to turn off the TV as much as possible, the kiddos are much happier when we play. Also, all this rain is really feeding our little garden that we planted earlier this year. Home-grown veggies, Woo-hoo! I always love suggestions for things to do on a rainy day, so I would love to hear your COMMENTS...

Happiest Day

I'm overcome with joy at the moment. For the past 8 months of our lives, my husband has been studying for the GMAT. That is the standardized test you take to get into a graduate business program. It has consumed our lives. My husband took the test this morning. I think it was the longest morning of my life. When the phone rang I thought my heart was going to come right out of my chest. My skin immediately got goose bumps, and when I heard his voice on the other end I froze. He said, "I got a 6....(already good) a 620!!!" Eight months of energy, worry and anxiety poured out of my body. I just started sobbing and blubbering out how proud I was of him and how hard he had worked. I was elated. We cried together and said a prayer of thanks to God. Now we actually have to apply to business school, but the hard part is over. What a happy day!!!

Berry Fun!

My son and I went to a blueberry patch with some friends and picked a gallon bucket of blueberries. We had so much fun. That's right, you can grow blueberries in Texas. The farm we went to is The Bailey's Berry Patch. The berries are huge and delicious. Unfortunately the first one my son chose to eat was not ripe and he refused to eat anymore. But he happily accompanied me for an hour and a half while I filled my bucket. I think this is a fantastic summer activity to do with the kids. Not only did I spend quality time with my son doing work, we came out of it with a great reward. Then, we went home and made muffins. He had no problem eating those. My son even took this picture of the Berry Patch and me peeking through the berries. It was a great day.

No TV

My son has been locking doors. That includes locking my daughter and I outside for about an hour. I was, to put it mildly, mad. So I took away TV for a week. The week is over, thank goodness, I missed using the TV while showering or making dinner. Oh wait, he locked me out again this weekend, so we have started over. Sometimes I think his punishments are worse for me than for him.

Preschool

In the fall I'll be doing a co-op preschool. I'm really excited about this. It will be about 6 kids and their moms. Each mom will take a turn teaching a week. So I'll only teach about every 6 weeks. I've been researching preschool curriculum online. There is a wide variety.
Including:

Letter of the Week
PreschoolCurriculum.com
Preschool Express
First School

You can also find a lot of neat curriculum ideas on Ebay. Most of them are just sent by pdf after you win the auction (they have buy it nows for next to nothing).

I like the idea of being part of teaching my child when he is still very young. I also like the idea that I know the other people who will be molding my son's mind, and the other children he will be associating with. I promise I'm not over protective! I think.

I got a break

So I got my much needed rest. It was bitter-sweet for many reasons. I went and stayed with my sister, but the reason I went was because she had a miscarriage. It makes me reflect back on my whole reason for wanting to get a "break" in the first place. It was pretty selfish. Sure motherhood is tiring and hard, it has it's ups and downs, but at the end of the day, I thank God I have my two little angels. So the bitter part was going to see my sister after she miscarried a much wanted and hoped for pregnancy. It broke my heart, and hers and her husbands. This wasn't the kind of break I wanted... I held her and loved her, but there wasn't much I could do but say I was sorry and that I loved her. I prayed a lot too. I think that is the thing that got me through. When I prayed I had an overwhelming sense of peace and reassurance that God was very aware of them and that I didn't need to worry. The sweet moments were being there for my sis, hanging out with her and being able to give her 100% of my time and attention. We stayed up until 3am watching pointless TV and talking, and then I slept in until 10:30 am. I went home missing her, and returned home to a family I missed. I'm going to try harder to not take things for granted.

A Really Long Time!

My husband and I have been VERY busy lately. So I haven't had a chance to post for a while. I'm ready to reclaim my life! But first I need to catch up on all the stuff that I have to do... I need a break too. I've had no energy lately, I'm so very tired. Since my son was born, I've never had a single night without one of the kids. I've decided when my daughter turns one and stops breastfeeding, that I'm going to take a little break. I'm going to let my hubby have the kiddos for a night and I'm going to go to my sisters, watch chick-flicks and HGTV, and sleep-in til noon or so, and then I'm going to do nothing the next day, absolutely nothing! We'll see... But it sounds nice doesn't it? Now don't get me wrong, I love my family so very much, and when I am away from the kids for a few hours I miss them terribly. But one night wouldn't hurt.