Had to Share

Okay so I just had to record a few random moments for posterity.

Tonight we were driving home from Costco and Rylynn asks, "Hey mom why was the girl sitting on the baby?"  I said I don't know, why?  She said, "because she was babysitting!!"  Then busted out laughing hysterically.  She said she made it up all by herself and I have to admit it was quite clever.  I just love how she thinks she is so funny!  She gets that from her mom:)

In Beckett news:

I had to do something I haven't done in over three years yesterday... clean out poop from the bathtub!!  I forgot that kids did that.  Seriously.  When he did it I was so caught off guard and then was like oh yeah I remember when Rylynn and Carter did that.  Anyway, of course it happened the two days after I had just scrubbed the tub.  Also this afternoon before lunch I was trying to blow dry my hair quickly before making lunch and getting the kids out the door.  So I came down the stairs to Beckett on top of the counter with a fist full of cookie and cookie crumbs all around him.  The cookie jar lid was off and all the cookies inside were smashed to crumbs.  Nice!  I just made a double batch of my favorite cookies and most of them were demolished by one little chubby fist.  He is definintely busy these days.  He has learned to move the stools and climb up on the counters and it is definitely making me stay on my toes.  I can't get too mad though cause he's just too dang cute. PS the above picture is Beckett's morning yogurt bath.  Rylynn was nice enough to snap a picture for us:)

These two love to play together and create elaborate towers and games every morning.  I love seeing their creativity and friendship grow, but it makes for a messy house!  Also to update on Carter, he had to have a hearing screening yesterday because he is back to asking us to repeat what we say 2 and 3 times since his tubes fell out in January.  The tubes made such a huge difference in his life but I was so bummed when he got another ear infection immediately after they fell out.  The next step is removing his adnoids to see if that helps.  Poor kid has my terrible ears.  He was a really good sport about his hearing test and he actually did a lot better than I expected.  His left ear is still a little weak, but that's the one that was infected about a month ago so they think it is still healing.  We will see.

And finally, in random family news, we found out today that my brother Jordan got accepted to the BYU MBA program!!!  We have been praying for him for months and the kids were so excited to hear that their prayers worked!  It was a sweet moment and a great testimony builder for them.  We are so excited for you Uncle Jordan!

Happy February!

So I have been the worst blogger ever, but let's be honest, January and February are boring!  Especially January, it never ends!  So to combate this sad trend, some of our friends hosted the coolest party ever.  It is called First Friday and they do it every year after the Christmas/New year's hype wears off.  They change the theme each year and this year's theme was superheroes!  We each had to come up with our own superhero name, costume, powers/abilities, theme song, as well as weaknesses.  It was so hilarious.  

Here's the whole gang!

Here are our awesome hosts, Latin Spice and Mustache man AKA the Albrechts.

I was supermom and Garrett was Tort man.  I sewed my little utility belt and Supermom cape.  The kids were loving the cape!  Notice Garrett's ridiculously large bling on his pinky:) Rylynn's costume jewelry!

Okay these are our friends the Beykirchs and everytime I think about them or see this picture I just laugh.  They went ALL OUT!  Loved them!  I seriously couldn't even tell who they were when they walked in the door.  Their characters were brown hornet and I forgot the other name from Fat Albert. 

All the super women!

And the super men!

So we played some fun games and then we rocked out to sing star.  I had to post this picture because Damon(Batman) totally reminded me of my Dad while he was singing.  He had all the same moves and was soo into it.  Garrett and I were dying laughing.  I don't know if he realized what an awesome compliment that was when I told him he danced and sang just like my Dad, but we loved it:)

I also got my craft on this February and made this cute Valentine's Day wreath out of cupcake liners.  We have a craft group and let's be honest, I am not so crafty, but when someone else is in charge, I usually enjoy making things.  So I gave it a try and I love how the wreath turned out.

Over the weekend before V-Day Garrett was gone on an overnighter with the YM so the kids and I made the traditional sugar cookies ourselves.

We had lots of fun decorating this year since the kids are getting old enough to not make an enormous mess!

Well maybe not this one:)  He sure liked licking the frosting off those chubby little fingers though.

Carter was very meticulous about his sprinkles.

We even made Daddy his very own plate!

The kids also helped with the decorations!

For our actual Valentine's Dinner on Monday we had this yummy asian chicken salad that we all love and then for dessert we had chocolate turtle fondue with strawberries and bananas.  So yummy!

Then the kids got to open their Valentine's bags.  They were so excited because we got Carter "Despicable Me" and Rylynn got "How to Train my Dragon."  They have wanted those movies so bad lately.  So we threw them in with all the other candy and goodies.  They have been watching them NON STOP!

Beckett was in heaven with his balloon and endless suckers.  I'm so happy to have so many adorable Valentine's in my life!  Okay so maybe February isn't so boring, but January was too long!

Heart.A.Tack!

On Tuesday afternoon right after Rylynn came home from school I took the kids to the park that is only two blocks away.  On the way there everyone was really excited because we haven't been able to go to the park at all this winter since we have had so much snow.  So Rylynn and Carter sped ahead of Beckett and I  in the stroller.  By the time we got to the park it had started to really lightly snow.  So the kids played for a little while but quickly got cold and the fun was gone.  Carter and Beckett both broke out in sobs and Carter kept complaining that one of his fingers was freezing.  So Rylynn hopped on her bike and rode ahead while I carried Carter's bike while pushing the stroller across the wet field with two screaming boys. So needless to say I was a bit distracted so when I didn't see Rylynn up ahead I just figured she was riding so fast that she had already made it home.  Well once I got home, after having to turn around and run back for a dropped mitten, I didn't see Rylynn's bike in the garage.  Carter and Beckett were still bawling though so I went in and got Carter in jammies and wrapped him up in a blanket.  Almost immediately though I started looking out the window to see if Rylynn's bike was in front of one of the neighbor's houses.  It wasn't.  Then I called out for her to see if she was in her room and I just missed her bike.  She wasn't.

At that point I turned on a show for Carter and told him to stay put and Beckett and I went around to the neighbor's houses to see if she was there.  No one had seen here.  Then I asked the boys who had been playing out in the cul-de-sac if they had seen her ride by on her bike.  They hadn't.  So I stuck Beckett in the car and drove the two block loop from the park twice all the while praying my guts out that she was okay and that I would be able to find her.  I was really freaking out at this point.  Especially since it had started to get dark and the snow was really picking up.  I drove home and called Garrett and hysterically told him what was happening.  He tried to calm me down and said he would leave right then and come look for her.  I told him I was going to call the police but he said that he wanted to drive around one more time before we called.  So then I just had to wait.  That was the worst part because I started thinking of everything that could have possibly happened.  Worst thing for a mother to do!!  So I was crying and praying and pacing the house and I just couldn't sit still for one more minute so I headed out the front door with no idea where I was going to go, but I just had to go and look and not sit still.

As I started walking down the street Rylynn came around the corner on her bike and Garrett was driving alongside her on the road.  I ran up to her bawling and hugged her and asked if she was okay and where she had been.  She had gotten turned around and went all the way down to our community pool which is when she realized she was going the wrong way and turned around.  Then I realized that she would have had to cross at least two busy streets to get that far and I asked her about cars and she said they had stopped for her.  I couldn't believe she had gone that far.  Anyway, I was so thankful she was home safetly and I just couldn't stop hugging her.  She didn't seem that shaken up and I asked her if she had said a prayer and she said she said two and that Heavenly Father helped her get home and that she knew when she got to the pool that she needed to turn around.

It took me a couple hours to get over the whole thing but that night when I was putting her to bed I was telling her how happy I was that she was home and safe and she said to me, "Mom, I promise I will never get taken and I will never get lost!  I will always come home even if it takes a long time.  And don't worry Mom I bite really hard and I'm a good kicker so just rememeber, no one will ever take me!"  I love how she was the one comforting me and calming me down.

I have to record that in the strangest way I think this experience was an answer to my prayers.  I have really been struggling with Rylynn for a little while and I have had such a hard time knowing how to get through to her.  We were in one of those stages where I felt like I was punishing her all the time and no matter how much I showed her an increase of love afterward, she didn't feel loved.  She only focused on the punishment and she was really not happy.  So the night before this happened I was pleading with the Lord to know what to do and to know how to let her know how much I loved her even when I am trying to teach her and discipline her.  I really didn't know what to do.  Then the next day this happened.  It is really weird but I could tell that when Rylynn saw me that upset and worried about her, it really showed her how much I loved her.  From the point when she came home something just switched in her and she has been so happy and she and I have been such great buddies.  It's like all of a sudden she has no doubts about my love for her even if I have to discipline her.

It made me think of the story of the prodigal son and how the father didn't care what the son had ever done wrong in his life.  He was just so thankful that his son was home and safe.  Not that Rylynn has done anything really wrong we have just been having a difficult stage with her lately, but none of that mattered or even came to mind in that moment.  I was just so happy she was safe and home with me.  I think also it made me realize how much I really love her!  It gets really tiring to feel like I am constantly "fighting" with one of my kids and I had lost sight of how much fun I used to have with Rylynn and how much I just loved being with her.  It also made me think of how our Heavenly Father feels when one of his children "returns to him".  He doesn't focus on the sins that took the child away from Him, he just feels joy and happiness that they have returned.  So in a weird way, I am really thanful for this terrifying moment as a mother.  It taught me a lot and helped my relationship with my daughter.  That being said, I really hope this never happens again because it scared the crap out of me!  But for whatever reason sometimes I just have to be completely knocked off my feet and realize how completely vulnerable I am so that the Lord can show me how much he loves me and is taking care of me (and my little family).

The children are our future

As today is MLKJ day, we were having a conversation about what this holiday is all about while eating dinner.  Rylynn told us that she had learned all about it in her Kindergarten class and wanted to share with us a picture she had made for the occasion.  She brought a picture of a girl that she had colored very nicely over to the table.  Written across the top was, "I have a dream..." then Rylynn had written inside the girl, "that people will be fair and peaceful."  We all told her how great we thought that was and her response was, "that's not really my dream though, my dream is that someday I will have blonde hair!"  (I blame Tangled) We all laughed and then told her that her first dream was much more noble.  Oh dear, watch out world!

Happy January

I still need to do the enormous Christmas post and I will as soon as I can get to all the pics that are on Garrett's laptop, but for now I just need to post my exciting January news.  So seeing as it is January, which let's face it is the month of fitness and weight loss, I bought myself a little Happy lose weight in January present!  I have been wanting an elliptical for years but it has never seemed to fit in the budget so I decided to look into exercise bikes instead since they are much cheaper and still give you a really good cardio work out in your home.  I went to enrichment this week and of course it was all about being healthy and fit so I came home determined and stalked Craigslist.  I found a couple bikes that looked really nice and even a really cheap elliptical.  But for the money the bike was way better.  So here she is.....

The best thing is that it is really quiet so I can do it while babies are asleep which let's be honest, it's not going to happen while they are awake!  Also the quietness allows for the added bonus that I can exercise while watching TV.  It's less than a year old and looks brand new.  So that's my exciting news!  Maybe I will be able to work off the millions of calories I consumed in December and maybe, just maybe, I won't have to wear my fat jeans in February!  We shall see.

Carter is 4!!

As always with our New Year's Eve baby, we got to celebrate Carter's birthday with our family over our Christmas vacation.  Unfortunately Marianne and her kids and Abby had already left so they didn't get to participate in the festivites.  We started out by eating our traditional New Year's Eve dinner of fondue.  We ate the cheese course with the kids and we also had shishkabobs, but we decided to save the chocolate for the adults after the kids went to bed.  They don't really appreciate it and besides they got to eat birthday cake.

I planned on making the traditional Monson birthday cake for Carter but when I was making it he walked in and saw that it was NOT a Cars cake and was really dissappointed.  Luckily for him, the angel food cake was a disasster because the cabin was at such high altitude so we had to get him a different cake.  Papa was so sweet to drive down and specially order Carter a Cars cake as a surprise!!  Can you see the pure joy on this little boy's face??!!  He was so not expecting a cars cake and he was so thrilled to get one!

I know I look scary in this picture but the kids look cute so it made the blog anyway.  Carter is proudly displaying the two cars toys that came on top of his cake.

Apparently Carter and Thais heard us say to smile and Rylynn and Skyler heard us say to look drunk:)

Carter got to open presents from his Grandma eventhough she wasn't there.  Transformers!!

Jordan and Danielle gave him a cute card with money inside which he spent on, I bet you can't guess, a new Car!

But the highlight of the night was yet again from Nana and Papa.  Carter had asked for the monster truck wrastlin ring for Christmas starting back in October, but Garrett and I really didn't want to spend the money on it so we said we would wait till his birthday when it went on sale and maybe get it.  Well while Papa was waiting for the cake, he decided to pick up a gift for Carter as well.  Nana told him he really wanted the Cars wrastlin ring and so Papa got it.  

Seriously this kid could not have been any happier!!  I love Rylynn's expression of excitement too because she knew how much he wanted it.  Thank you for all the great surprises Nana and Papa!!

As if that wasn't enough, the kids got to play Santa bowling on the pool table!

Thais and Carter were very serious about how many Santas they had knocked over:)

And just because he was the birthday boy, Carter got to keep his very own Bubble Gum Santa bowling pin!  

Next came the Santa bean bag toss game.  Can you tell the theme of Carter's party games?

Rylynn was very happy when she finally got one in Santa's hat all the way at the top!  It was a really fun party and Carter got a lot of great presents but most of all it was so fun for him to get to celebrate with so many people he loves.  

Some four year old Carter facts:

Carter's preschool teachers are Miss Sandy and Miss Anne

Carter's carpool buddy is Billy

Carter LOVES to do puzzles and will spend hours putting them together

Carter loves to play with his big sister 

Carter can ride a big boy bike with no training wheels

His favorite colors are blue and green and he has a blue and green room!

Carter is in CTR 4 this year and loves his CTR ring.

Favorite movie: Cars

Carter loves to do flips on our trampoline and just started a tumbling class.

Carterisms: "Oh darn", "I'm gooder"

Carter is such a sweet boy who cries crocodile tears and has a heart of gold.  We love our sweet Carter boy and are so proud on him!

Christmas Card

For those of you whose email I have lost or don't have anymore, here is our Christmas Card this year.

The Hall Family 
CHRI S TMAS  2 0 1 0 !  

 2010 has been a great year for our family.  We have 

been so blessed that Garrett’s law firm has had a 

successful first year and continues to grow.  We love 

living in Liberty Lake and we have made many great 

friends.  We are thankful for all of you and hope you 

have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Rylynn 

Rylynn started Kindergarten this year and loves it!  She 

loves to read and do math and, as always, loves art too.  

Rylynn loves making up games and activities for 

anyone who will go along with her. She is such a leader 

and good example for her brothers.  Most of all she 

loves being with her family and is a helper to us all! 

Carter

Carter started preschool this year!  He goes twice a 

week and he’s really enjoying it.  He is making lots of 

new friends and loves the puzzles and blocks the best.  

He has started to really love coloring this year too.  

Most of all he likes to play any game his big sister 

makes up! Oh and he still loves cars! 

Beckett 

Our little Beckett is not so little anymore.  He is almost 

1 ! and he’s into everything!  He loves playing with his 

big sister and brother and especially wrestling with his 

dog Ollie.  He loves blowing kisses before bed and 

racing down the stairs when he hears Daddy walk in 

yelling, “Dada, Dada!”  We can’t get enough of him. 

Gearing up for Christmas

We usually put up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving but we needed a few days to recover this year and we still had family in town so we put them up for a family Home evening activity on Monday.  My Grandma gave us a really sweet Christmas book as a thank you for having her for Thanksgiving so we read that before we started.  

The kids were so good about helping this year.  In the past I have waited to put up the fragile ornaments when they are in bed, but this year they got to help.  We only had one glass ball break.  Not bad.

Carter was loving feeling all grown up with the fragile ornaments!

For some reason Rylynn is making a scary face with the flowers.

She was a big help though.

Ollie was not much help but he looked so cute and cozy curled up in the Christmas blanket.

Our evenings efforts!

That weekend Garrett had an overnighter with the YM in the ward so the kids and I decided to do a little Christmas project while he was gone.  Rylynn was supposed to decorate this tree for her kindergarten class and it was supposed to be a family project.  

It was a lot of fun and the kids did a great job  It turned out so cute!

The next FHE we decided to make sugar cookies like we did for Thanksgiving but this time we were goign to deliver them to our neighbors.  Unfortunately they were too good and we ate them all.  Literally.  Don't worry, we made different neighbor gifts the next week:)

My kids got addicted to Rudolph and the island of Misfit toys last year, but we don't have the movie so they have been watching it on the computer.  They were so excited to see it again.  Even Beckett got to watch!  Other than that we have had baking, shopping, parties, and more baking, dance recitals, and all the craziness that is December.  Finally today was the last day of school and we are leaving Wednesday for our Christmas cabin in the woods as my kids call it.  We are excited!  Bring on the relaxing part of Christmas:)