Santa or no??

I know the whole Santa thing is controversial in the Christian thought process. Some go with it and others don't. While we don't harp on Santa, we do go with it after much harping on Jesus. We teach Landon first and foremost what Christmas is all about, why we celebrate it, and how it has nothing to do with presents but everything to do with Jesus. That being said, it's a pretty difficult lesson for an almost four-year-old in this very commercialized country we live in. So we give into Santa just a little... and here's how cute it is.

Writing his letter to Santa

We only let him choose three things. He's working on his letters,  he just needed a "wittle bit" of help :)

Off it goes to the North Pole!

We don't think Santa is a big evil joke for our kids to discover later and then hate us for lying to them. We indulge in the jolly old man a little for the adorableness it brings out in our little guy. It makes Christmas morning a little cuter. And for goodness sake... what parent doesn't enjoy a HUGE plate of cookies and milk to celebrate the exhaustion of the season? We've told Landon that chocolate chip are Santa's favorite (mommy's too!)

So far behind!

I love to sit and read my friends' blogs about all of the adorable things their precious kids are doing. Alas, I find little time to update about my own precious kids. Most of the time I feel like we're just running around and trying to keep our heads above water. Let me update you on what's been going on around here.
We'll start with Halloween...

Landon is still obsessed with ALL things superhero! And Moose made a very appropriate boxer!

I should clarify that Moose made a very (unfortunately) appropriate boxer. He now walks up to any and everyone with a closed fist and a resounding "Boom!" as he punches whatever body part he can reach.

THE cutest little elephant on Noah's Ark!

I was so glad I wasn't the only dorky mom there trying to inconspicuously hide the wetness in my eyes while he sang his super adorable "hip-hip-hip-hippopotamus" song. It was so sweet to watch him sing songs about Jesus' love for us!

An adorable pre-school program complete with precious hand motions!

My sweet baby boys

We spent a much needed family evening at Kemah a while back. Moose took his first train ride and Landon did a great job of watching him on the boardwalk :) Such a good big bubba!

Moose has found a fondness of pb&j.  I'm having flashbacks of his brother at this age!

He is very much starting to "communicate" with us. He goes to the cabinet where his sippy cups are when he's thirsty. He also says "bebe" for binky and gets out "mi"for milk. The one phrase he very clearly states "UH-OH!" His new nick name is Linus. He seems to have a fondness for his blanket as he feels the need to tug it out of his bed every morning and insists on lugging it everywhere he goes around the house. Pics of that will be here soon :)

Keaton seems to think he's the most adorable figurine ever, therefore he must adorn every table he sees!

I forgot how much I HATE the climbing phase of toddlerhood. Everything is a jungle gym to Moose. The worst part is that he has no fear of anything he climbs on, no matter the height! FABULOUS!

So that's what's been going on around here. I promise to try to be more punctual :)

Purse Party Success!

Wednesday night I had a girls' night out at my place. It was a blast and it served a purpose. We gave money to Heartline Ministries and walked away with some really cute purses, diaper bags, work bags and beach duffels. It was so much fun to have my friends over here and to be able to support Heartline together.  Desserts, purses and women. What else could be that much fun?

The box-o-purses.

Awaiting their new owners!

Rebekah doing some shopping :)

Sara sizing up her bag

Wouldn't the Haitian women have their hands full if this popped out of the return box!

Purse Party!!

I'm having a purse party. Not your ordinary purse party. Don't think Luis Vitton, Coach or Fendi. Think.... Haiti! Think Heartline and Haitian Creations. Check out these websites. Dig into theses ministries and see what they are all about. Well, I'll just tell you what they're all about. It's Jesus. He's the man and He's working B*I*G in and through Haitian women. Come to my purse party. You won't be disappointed!

In other news: The boys are growing like weeds. And I may be a bit biased, but I think they get cuter every day. Just a mom's opinion though. :) Check out the updates.

He doesn't know I'm about to walk out and leave him in that pack-n-play :)

Love my Bug.

He shoved a very large marshmallow in his mouth... very quickly :)

If you have boys... this needs NO explanation!

He sometimes walks with quite an heir of authority :)

I do love these boys!

Bringing up boys

Summer has drawn to an end and Landon started pre-K yesterday. He was pretty excited about it since Trixie (the main character from one of his favorite books) got to go to pre-k, too. He walked right in yesterday after dropping his back pack in my hands at the door and never looked back. I put his bag up in his cubby and had to call his name to get him to look at me so I could tell him bye and I loved him. He just waved a small wave bye and went right back to coloring. I'm fairly certain he was ready to be rid of me :) I, on the other hand, was not happy about this extreme independence. And when I looked at these pictures... I nearly lost it all over!

His first year of Mother's Day Out. 18 months old

Such a big boy!

He's growing so fast! Oh how we love him!!

My big boy on his first day of pre-k. 3 1/2 years old

These make me cry. They also make me want to place a large concrete cinder block on Keaton's thick head so he'll stay little for a much longer time than his brother did. We love these precious boys more than they'll ever know! If someone can loan me some Xanax when Landon starts kindergarden that would be great :)

Christmas giving

I know it's only August but here is a really cool way to give without breaking your budget. This awesomeness just screams "Target dollar bins!" Keaton also got two really cute Bible story board books from Dollar General from MiMi. I expect we will hit those up as well. Christmas is going to look a little different in the Hall house this year... and I'm excited.

We're going to do a box for each member of our family. Way cool :)

Happy Birthday Keaton!

Being one year older is a big deal. It means that God allowed you to make it through 365 more days in hopes that you would live for Him. Along the way He gives you these incredible moments and memories to remember and share.

365 days ago Keaton Blayne joined our family. He was BIG and healthy and still is. Each day he brings me immeasurable joy and love. I cannot imagine our family or my life without him. How precious is he to us! Happy birthday big boy. We love you more than you'll ever know.

Moose eating as only Moose knows how :)

Project Wean the TV!

 During early weeks of my pregnancy with Keaton I was so incredibly tired, as most women are. So I parked Landon in front of the TV so I could doze. The last 2 months of my pregnancy with Keaton were MISERABLE. The heat and the sciatic nerve back pain were intense and proved destructive to my leaving the house, much less moving. So I parked him in front of the TV so I wouldn't have to. Then when Keaton got here and Jeremy went back to work I needed a distraction to keep Landon entertained while I took care of Keaton... I think you know where this is going... So I parked him in front of the TV. I continued this destructible behavior to get things done. Dishes, laundry, email, dinner, facebook, etc.


I tell you all of this to confess.... my precious son has a serious addiction to the TV. With pre-school starting in a few weeks we have begun "Project wean the TV" aka: TV boot camp!

I bought a three dollar timer.

He thought this timer was sooooo cool!

 Then the timer went off.

The timer is now his arch enemy :(

I am convinced that TV is an evil weapon from the devil. The last two days of TV boot camp have been miserable. He has completely forgotten how to entertain himself and things I used to do to entertain him don't any more. He doesn't want to practice writing his letters, his attention span for books is short lived, it's too hot to play outside. We are only allowing two hours a day since that is the most that the AAP  thinks is acceptable. It is a work in progress. Bless you Nicci!! I don't know how you do it :)

Almost there

My how time flies! My sweet baby Moose is almost one. We are celebrating with the people we love most this coming weekend. Next Wednesday our littlest (or youngest :) baby will be one year older. I have NOT forgotten the miserable last two months being pregnant with him and I think that might make me appreciate him even more. God has blessed the last 12 months of our lives tremendously! There have been way more ups than downs thanks to our sweet baby boys. Landon has become the greatest big brother we could ever ask for and I pray nightly that God will give him the skills to lead his baby brother in a Christ like manner.  Much like I ask God to help Jeremy lead both of them. Party pictures will appear after this party intense weekend. What one-year-old do you know that has TWO birthday parties? Sheesh!

(A one-year-old that has a BIG family, lots of people that love him, and parents who's house cannot hold them all at once!)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above."
~James 1:17

Fun in the sun!

I know. I haven't updated in a very long time. Let's just say it's been a tad bit crazy around this place lately. Here's a quick update.

Camping Memorial Day weekend. Round 2!

Watermelon is a big hit amongst the boys. Not so much for mom.

Silly boy.

Moose loves to swim as well. He must be the greatest splasher I've ever seen.

The boys now play "wrestle mania".. a lot! But it's pretty cute for now. Not so much when they're seventeen though.

Did I mention the boys like to wrestle? This is Moose saying "I'm gonna getcha!"

Moose decides he likes this trip a little more than the first one. We're making progress people.

Mimi bought Landon a slip-n-slide. I loved these things when I was younger. My body isn't quite as young as my mind so trying to explain to Landon how to properly slip-n-slide without showing him was a little confusing I think. But he got the hang of it.

No need for a swimsuit in the back yard! Thomas undies will do the trick.

Moose was mostly a spectator.

But soon decided he needed to try this slip-n-slide thing too!

I think they had fun!

There have been many more fun adventures over the last month, but I just don't have the time or energy to post them all at once. Soon... another update :)

growing up.. and all that jazz!

There are so many milestones that kids hit that point to growing up. Scooting turns into walking, babbling turns into conversation, prosthetic eye appointments turn into miraculous in-and-out-of-the-office-in-under-30-minute adventures.  So maybe not everyone has that little milestone but yesterday.... we did! We headed to see Robin (the greatest occularist in the world) yesterday afternoon for his annual 6 month check up.  This is a post from July 2008 about our first appointment with Robin.

So we met the ocularist on Monday afternoon. She's really great. The process of fitting Landon with this scleral shield has been a bit traumatic for us both. Robin, the ocularist, informed me that my son is "abnormally strong." Yea, tell me something I don't know. When she went to fit him for the shield, he squeezed his eyes shut so tightly she had to pry them open with her hands to get it in. This was a three person job! And we had to do it 8 times; 4 times to put it in, 4 times to take it out! By the end of the 3 hour appointment we had had it. We had all hit our limit (my mom included) and were ready to get out of there. Robin was very patient and did a lot of work in one day. 

This is how every appointment has been.... every six months.... until yesterday. Yesterday my baby climbed up in the chair all by himself and sat quietly while Robin took his eye out, polished and cleaned it, and put it back in. Then he picked out his sucker, we paid and left. Seriously! In and out in under 30 minutes. I think I was more upset at the fact he acted like a big boy than I was when he kicked and screamed. Robin said to me "remember when I told you he would do this one day? That he would climb up here with no fighting and let me do what I had to do?" I just smiled and shook my head. That seemed like eons away from where we used to be. Holding him down was THE worst part. He almost always fell asleep on the way home from sheer exhaustion from fighting us so hard. He didn't even sit in my lap this time!! (I'll admit I was slightly offended at this :)

So this is a very cool milestone for him and for us. He truly is becoming a little boy and not a baby. Unfortunately, I think his brother is reaping the repercussions for this. He may be a baby a little longer than Landon out of sheer force from his mom! Yesterday was awesome!

Obeying!

Landon got a very detailed biblical lesson in obeying yesterday. For some reason he woke up in a foul mood and it carried over into the afternoon. Our discussion went something like this:

Mom: "Landon you HAVE to obey me and daddy. Jesus tells us in the Bible that we have to obey Him and our parents.

Landon: "And you have to obey MiMi and Poppy."

Mom: "Yes, because Mimi and Poppy are my PARENTS so I have to obey them and listen and do what they say because that's what Jesus tells us to do."

Landon: "And Keaton has to obey me."

Mom: "No Keaton has to obey mommy and daddy just like you do." 

Landon: "And you have to obey Mimi and Poppy."

Mom: (rubbing her hands down her face quite aggressively) Landon lets worry about you obeying instead of everyone else okay? I need you to start doing things the first time I tell you because I'm not going to tell you to do something 5 times anymore. You HAVE to do it the first time!"

Landon: "No you don't say it 5 times. Say it this many times! (holding up 5 fingers!!)"

Mom: "NO ONE TIME! and if you don't do it after the first time, you're going to time out."

Landon: ......

Mom: "Do you hear me??"

Landon: ......  now playing with his Spiderman puzzle, he no longer realizes I am in the room.

So we'll keep working on it.....  :)

10 minute strawberry pie!

I took the boys to pick strawberries last week at the farmer's market in Manvel. It was awesome and we came home with tons of berries! Jeremy and I ate our fill through the weekend and I still had an entire gallon size bag of strawberries left. What's a girl to do? Bake of course!

I found this strawberry pie recipe in my cancer kids cookbook (you must check out this website. Brooke is a little girl I used to take care of when I worked pedi oncology. Her story and her family are amazing! As is the cookbook, in which all funds go to the organization her parents have set up in her honor.) I haven't actually tried it yet, but my lifegroup will be my guinea pigs tonight :)

10 minute Strawberry Pie:

8 oz. cream cheese 1 grahm cracker crust

3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pint strawberries quartered

8 oz cool whip

Cream together softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Pour into pie crust. Leave 2 tbsp. in bowl. Toss strawberries with remaining cream cheese mixture and pour into pie crust. Top with cool whip and enjoy! 

Just needs the cool whip!

And what day full of baking is complete without a fabulous sioux chef?

Our crazy life!

If cloning was Biblical I'd be all over it! But since it's not... I need a maid, a nanny, and a taxi cab service so that maybe I can have ten whole minutes to myself! Since that isn't going to happen, I'll just keep trucking along in this blessed little world we live in and enjoy the life of a semi-stay at home mommy. My babies were road warriors yesterday. We went to Little Gym, grocery store, home for lunch and a quick nap for Keaton, to get Buggy a haircut, Sam's for diapers and such and then home for dinner, bath, and bedtime! WHew! That wore me out just thinking about it all over again. I am very grateful that God has given me well behaved and somewhat patient children as they were drug all over town yesterday, in and out of shopping carts and car seats. Thank God for mild mannered kiddos!

So if that isn't enough of an update of what's going on around the Hall house, here's some more!

What is it with boys and trees ?

We took the boys on their first camping trip where, as you can see from the pic above, they had a blast! Keaton will take a little more adjusting but soon we'll be on the road all the time!

Moose celebrated his first Easter and we all celebrated Jesus' Resurrection! Love these boys.

Mommy and her Moose! (Landon was quite the uncooperative one at this moment!)

Buggy has started swimming lessons and true to typical Bug, he plowed into the water off of the steps on the first day! Thankfully there was an instructor near by that grabbed him up and sat his bottom back down. You can't swim just yet Bug!

I took the boys to pick strawberries last week and we made a haul! 2 strawberry pies coming up this week. They loved it!

Blogging is a hobby of mine. Finding time to blog is quite difficult. I promise to do better :)