Under Construction..

So I am experimenting with ways to improve my blog and set it apart from other ones. As you can see I have a new name for my blog!!! I have LITERALLY been trying to think of a name for almost a year!! I pretty much fell asleep everytime I read "Hall Family Blog" (snore!!) but I also wanted a good name that describes our our family life and me as a mother. I saw an article in a magazine titled "The Perfectly Imperfect Family" and just decided to twist it a little bit since this blog is always from MY point of view. My goal with this blog is to share all of our moments as a family; the good, the bad and the ugly!! Cause lets face it people, this adventure called parenthood is one crazy ass ride!! So I hope you enjoy the new title, I hope you enjoy my posts, and I hope you enjoy reading about our lives "one disaster at a time."

Dumpster Diving.

So about a month ago I was driving down our street and saw this sitting on our neighbors curb. It has a mirror that attaches to it as well, so I assume it's a vanity.

Actually this looks a little better than how I found it, when I found it one of the legs was completely off and it was pretty dirty and gross. I have never in my life taken anything from another persons trash pile. And yet here I was taking something from my own NEIGHBORS yard! I didn't know the rules to "dumpster diving" so I actually parked my car and went and rang the doorbell first. Yes I was going to ask permission to take their discarded possesion. Luckily they weren't home so I ran to the curb and stuffed the vanity in the back of my van as fast as I could. Then I put it in our garage and shut the door, I kept thinking I was going to get in trouble or something.

I was so excited though, I knew that this would be perfect in Harper's room!! I actually took the mirror off of it, I figure she is too little for a vanity at the moment, but when she is older I am planning on putting it back on and getting her a little chair for it.

I sanded the table and slapped a couple coats of paint on it, then once it dried I sanded it again to give it a distressed look. I really like the way it turned out!!

I am not a fan of the white knob at all, I would like to find either a glass knob or an antique flowery one. They didn't have any at Sutherlands like that BUT you could order one from a catalog they had...........and pay $15 for shipping!! Uh no thanks! So I am on the search for a cute knob to put on it.

I am excited for all the cute ways we can use this table. I would also like to find a cute little lamp to go on it. And of course I can't wait till she is older and we can turn it into a vanity for when she plays dress up!!

Woo Hoo for Nice Weather!!

What a beautiful weekend we are having!! I love this weather! After lunch at Willies (yeah for Saturday cheat day!!) the kiddos and I went for a walk to Nana and Papa's house. It's nice that they are only a few blocks away so we can walk over and say hi. They got a kick out of seeing the kids.

Unfortunately I can't enjoy this nice weather tonight cause I have to work. Total bummer!

This morning while I made breakfast, Harper found this hat and wore it around for a while! Ha!

Going for a walk to Nana & Papa's, got my cool shades on.

It's pretty tough (and probably not safe) to walk, pull a wagon, and take pictures of the kids.

Hope everyone else is having a great weekend and enjoying this weather!!

I'm jumpin on too!!!

Seen a few people do this blog so thought I would too cause it's Friday and I have no life!!



ABC's of Me!



A....Age-28 until June. I am not scared of 30, bring it on!!



B.....Bed Size-Queen, I want a new bed but don't think we need a King, Queen is sufficient. Any bigger and the kids might get some crazy idea that they can sleep in it too un-unh!!



C....Chore you dislike-I agree with my sister, toilets!!! I am a germ phobe so toilets scare the bejeezus out of me!! I wear gloves, I NEVER use the same sponge twice (sorry landfills) and I wash my hands with scalding hot water after I am done. However, nobody else is allowed to clean them (aka Josh) because I want to know it's done right AND that sponge needs thrown away!!



D.....Dogs-Nope, been there done that. I have kids and most days I am not sure how I have managed to keep THEM alive so we really don't need to throw a dog into the mix.



E......Essential Start to Your Day-COFFEE!! Do not rob me of my coffee I may rob you of your life. Of course I don't drink it till after I get back from the gym and the whole time I am working out I am looking at the clock thinking "ok 10 more minutes till I can go home and have my coffee!"



F......Favorite Color-Blue, however my friend B would disagree since I only wear black and grey cause I am "blah" like that.



G......Gold or Silver-I only wear my wedding ring (I know super boring, see above comment) which is silver but I like the look of gold jewelry better. It just seems more fancy and exciting!!



H.....Height-Short, enough said



I.......Instrument you play-Well I can play a mad tune on my wine glass however don't think that's what they mean by this. I played the flute for a minute in 6th grade and by "play" I mean I faked it; moved my fingers and pretended to play but no sound came out. Hell I couldn't ever figure out how to read the music!! I am sure my band leader (is that what they're called) knew I wasn't playing cause there was only one other flute player so it was probably pretty obvious that only one flute was making noise but that never occured to me at the time.



J........Job Title-Where do I begin? Butt wiper, nose blower, dishwasher, maid, chef, referee, hairstylist, personal shopper, and oh yeah I have a part-time gig at this one place (I am not "allowed" to say where I work unless I keep this blog G-rated, aka BORING! They have become real sticklers about this).

K.....Kids-2 little rascals, I mean angels (ha!) Paxton and Harper, like you didn't already know that!



L.....Live- El Dorado KS, try not to be jealous.



M.....(by the way totally had to sing the alphabet to remember what came after L, sheesh) Moms Name-Jana aka Nana Jana



O.....Overnight hospital stays-Appendix out in middle school, a handful of stays when I had kidney infections, kidney surgery my sophmore year in college, ANOTHER kidney infection a few months after surgery and oh yeah when my 2 children got cut out of my stomach.



P.....Pet Peeves-DRAMA!! c'mon people we all have our own issues we don't need to hear about yours!



Q..........Quote from a Movie-where do I start!! It changes daily!! I am stealing yours Abby cause I use it ALL THE TIME in awkward situations "I love lamp"

R....Righty or Lefty-Righty, stupid question, moving on.

S.....Siblings-Love them! Tony is 30 and the only boy (but the biggest scaredy cat out of all us girls) Amber is 26 and is the most high maintence (sorry Am, you know it's true and we LOOOOVE you for it) Sarah is the baby at 23 and don't be fooled by her sweet appearance she doesn't take crap from anyone!!

T.....Time you wake up-Some days a little after 5 (if I have training with B) but most days a little after 6 so I can get to the gym and home by 7:30. This is NOT easy for me, I like to sleep...a lot!! But I also like the way I feel after I get my butt out of bed and work out, and I know if I don't get up and go, I won't work out that day.

U.....Underwear-Thongs, they are boring, I need new ones (shush B)

V.....Vegetable you don't like- PEAS, gross!! They taste wierd and squish in your mouth, blech!! I am obsessed with Edamame!! Being on Weight Watchers has got me to try lots more veggies since they are 0 points and I am trying new ways to cook ones I don't really like. Last night I did baked broccoli and it was YUMMO!! Crispy and good, Harper tore it up too!

W.....What makes you run late-My kids and my husband!!! Luckily I don't have a SET time I have to be at work so nobody really knows I am running late but me.

X....X rays you have had-I have had quite a few on my kidneys and it is NOT a pleasant experience! Twice for my ankles after I sprained them.

Y.....Yummy food you make-Ooooh I am becoming quite the chef! I make a mean chicken pot pie (all homeade). I am even thinking about starting a separate page on this blog for all the recipes I have been making lately. Some are things I make up myself! I will take a full fat recipe and tweak it to fit into WW and therefore less points!! Ok enough gloating Amy, sheesh!

Z.....zoo animal-Monkeys, duh!! They are the most fun to watch cause they eat their own poop :) However if we lived somewhere that had marine animals I would say dolphins cause I love dolphins!

Whew, that was fun :) Sorry if I bored you, but like I said, it's Friday and I don't have a life!!

Bittersweet

2 weekends ago the kids and I went back to Manhappiness. We had not been back to Dad's house forever and I needed a quiet weekend at his house (well as quiet as you can get with 2 kids and a bunch of dogs.) I literally stopped at the top of his driveway and took these pictures because I just love this view and how calm I feel every time I see it. I love coming home, it is good for my soul.

The kids love Papa Long's house too. They have so much fun playing and running around the living room and kitchen.

It was bittersweet however because it was the last weekend we would have with Bailey Marie, our precious dog of 12 years. We obviously didn't know it at the time, we had no idea how sick she was, we just thought she had lost a lot of weight. I am so glad we went home that weekend, and I got to see our dog one more time. I am also so glad I took these pictures of her, I had no idea they would be the last I would take.

My Dad took her to the vet the day after we left, she had lost a lot of weight and was having accidents in the house. We thought she may have a bladder infection, or kidney stone, but that afternoon we got the awful news that she had liver cancer.

The vet told my Dad that she was probably in quite a bit of pain and it was probably best to put her down, there was just too much cancer and it was aggressive.

So my poor Dad had to make the awful decision to put our dog down that afternoon. I am so glad his girlfriend, Kelley, stayed that day and night with him. I know this was one of the hardest things my Dad has ever had to do. Bailey was his buddy and best friend.

So that afternoon, Dad took Bailey's chewie and a picture of us kids and held Bailey for the last time as she went off to sleep forever.

We miss her so much, she was a great dog (and I am not much of a dog person), she was so loyal to all of us, especially my Dad.

I am so glad we decided to go home that weekend.

Paxton loves sitting here at the bar and watch Papa cook (Papa is an AMAZING cook!!)

Papa helping Harper put her shoes on.

We had a great time; we got to see Papa and Kelley, my sister got a lot of wedding things accomplished, we had a night out at Willie's Saturday night,we ate Papa's cooking and of course Rock A Belly and So Long Saloon (my mouth is watering just thinking about this!), and of course we got to spend one last weekend with Bailey.

It was a good weekend.