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.