Our Aweful Beautiful Life

Emmalyn - you say some of the funniest things here lately. I wish I could remember them all, but this morning might take the cake. You've been so great about letting me do your hair, and we've found some pretty easy/cute styles to pull off. I recently mastered the "fishtail" braid....and you wanted criss-crossed pig tails. I couldn't figured that one out, so I did fishtailed pig tails. You sat contently on your knees, on the vanity as I quickly did your hair. Or, I thought quickly. You jumped down, and I asked you to go put your shoes on, and you clicked on your whiney voice, and said something about not wanting to wear your school tennis shoes, because they hurt you. And when I asked again why, you started stomping your feet and saying, "It hurts, it hurts. My feet are tired. They're so tired...I can't put shoes on when my feet are tired"..........................and it took me about 15 seconds to realize you were trying to say that your feet ...

Fall is our favorite season, and though I like to fill all of our time with fun things to do, Fall is my most favorite!! We've been keeping busy too... What would end of summer be without a Hall Family Fish Fry? Especially after the Wisconsin fishing trip, and other random trips to the pond?  Frying anything they can get their hands on... Group effort, all Cubs fans! We spent Apple Popcorn Festival weekend camping at the Maxwell's....which, although we had GORGEOUS weather on Saturday, and a great festival, it poured all night Saturday night into Sunday morning. It was a sloppy mess, so Jenna got the bright idea to compound the sloppiness...the kids loved her idea! I'm not sure she still loved the idea the next morning, after taking her turn down the hill... Colton & Wyatt...early in the afternoon... Muddy Em. Muddy Colton. Muddy Keaton. Thankfully, we survived Camp Maxwell without any facial bumps or bruises, so ...

School is finally feeling like our normal routine again (thankfully!) and we're cranking along through the week, hoping to make it to Friday each week. We love jam-packing our weekends, as that is the most time we get to spend with our kids. It's amazing how fast 5:30-8pm goes on a week night, by the time you add in homework, dinner, baths, reading logs and laundry....if I'm even that lucky. Let alone, time to snuggle, read a book & interact with the kids. Today, I wanted to take a minute to just be thankful for you kids. I realize I write a lot about the chaos of life right now, and don't get me wrong, it's certainly chaotic...but everyone promises me that someday, I'll miss this. So, I'm going to stop for a minute and enjoy it. Enjoy you, kiddos! I'm thankful that both kids, Colton & Emmalyn, are THRIVING in school so far. Colton you are an amazing math student, which is so fun for us, because Jason and I are both completely reliant on a calc...

The kids have really been enjoy when I read them the Alexander book recently. I find this funny, since here lately I feel, in ways, like the main character.  Good news, Alexander, they are making a movie about us... Take today, for example. If I knew anything about statistics (and I wouldn't since that's one of those college classes where "D is for Diploma" was my passing strategy), I would say that today is the mean of most days lately. For you new to statistics, that means average. For you old to statistics, after reading this, you might say this is more than the mean. But I have no idea what that word is... I digress.... Let me start by saying that last night, after multiple spilled drinks, dropped crumbs, and dusty shoes...I showed our wood floor some love. Some hands and knees and Mr. Clean love. My floors sparkled a pretty "I love you". Less than 5 minutes later, Keaton decided he was done with his milk, and chucked his cup on the floor....

Sometimes I don't think we realize what a grip social media has on our society. I'm not fully against it. I see several benefits of it. However, I'm hoping it's a trend. Call me old fashioned. I tried planning our 10 year reunion a few years back, and am in the middle of plAnning what might be our 15th. Out of a class of 56, 48 of us are on Facebook. I know what their kids look like, where they live, what jobs they hold and where they vacationed last. What's the point of spending money on a reunion when we already know most of the answers...this is a pitfall to social media. On the flip side, I come from a large extended family, and my cousins mean a lot to me. We made some awesome memories growing up together. Without social media, I can't keep up with their families as well. Because of social media, no one hand prints a note and includes pictures. No one picks up the phone to call and say hello. So, you are somewhat "forced" to use social media to ke...

I often refer to life as a whirlwind....some days it feels like time is quickly swirling past us as we run from this activity to the next, or rush to get the house picked up before company, or simply trying to get dinner, homework, reading time, baths and quality time with the family in between 5:45pm-8pm each evening. However, here lately, since, oh....July 26, 2013....I've learned to realize that the whirlwind in my life isn't the above mentioned things. No, the twister that runs my life these days is our youngest son, Keaton. See these tomatoes on the floor. See that orange box on the table... Culprit. See that sunshine...that's the sun DAWNING on a new day. This crap happens before I even "start" my day... In the time I usually get to myself each morning (aside from my shower time), I try to get myself looking half way presentable for work. However, this little cutie ends up waking up, and cutting that 'my time' in half. And then he started ...

We wrapped up the first week of school with flying colors. Both kids are LOVING their teachers, loving their classrooms and I'm thrilled with their enthusiasm for school!! I am so proud of them both for what they are learning, what they are doing, and how quickly they are growing and changing. Okay, I'm not thrilled with them growing and changing...time could slow down a bit, but it is so fun watching their little minds grow! Successful first day of Pre-K! So excited to greet Colton off the bus! I forgot to get a "group" picture on the first day! So, a first week group picture will do! We ended the first week of school with an on-the-go weekend. I helped man a 7 family garage sale at my Aunt Nina's all day Friday & Saturday. We spent Thursday evening at Aunt Nina's setting up, and on the drive home, Em & I got caught up in the rain. Like, a LOT of rain. We had to come inside, during this monsoon! Thankfully, all the garage sale...