Thank goodness I'm a country girl.

I know that when I tell people I live in the country, they are not picturing how it really is. They think I live outside of town and own at least half an acre. However, our street (which is many miles long) has a higher population of cows and horses than people. We've lived here over 3 years so you'd think I was used to my surroundings. Yesterday I was out walking with the babies and we passed the bull in our neighbor's field. I looked at him and he looked at me and we had no problem with each other; or so I thought. After turning around and passing the bull again things changed. I guess I accidentally gave him the evil eye because as I passed he started stomping his foot and shaking his head. Then he started snorting and trotting toward the fence. That was my cue to run off like a crazy person! Gravel sprayed everywhere as I took off. I'm wearing my crocs and I can feel gravel working its way into my shoes. I really thought that bull was going to get us! Ha Ha. I'm such a city girl. Consequently, the bull never even made it to the fence. I don't know what made him act that way but he obviously wasn't interested in us. He probably saw a squirrel or something. Maybe a lady cow caught his eye on the other side of the road. Who knows? Stupid psycho cows. It made me want to go home and grill up a fat juicy steak. :-)
I included a pic or my mailbox and the "guard cows" that watch over it for me. See, we really do live in the sticks. Lots and lots of sticks.

Only 16 more years to go.

Well, Kendall began her long journey of a lifetime full of learning. She started Kindergarten. Last night she was VERY nervous and shed some tears before going to bed. This morning she was full speed ahead for the most part. When she saw the bus she screamed out "The bus is coming. Here it comes". I snapped a picture of her on the bus steps and the anxiety on her face is heartbreaking. Thankfully she had a good day. The best part was recess (of course). The little playground was okay but the big playground after lunch was a BLAST!!! (I'm quoting). Her teachers are nice and she had fun in her room. The potties are little which was very exciting. She got to choose white or chocolate milk for lunch. I'll give you one guess on what she chose.:-) They have rest time which was a concern but she told me "Mom, you were right. I was glad we had rest time because my brain and body were tired." She was a little disappointed that she didn't learn how to read today. Ha. Ha. In good time dear. As for me, I was a wreck for half and hour after the bus pulled away. She is so tiny!!! I can't believe she's big enough to go to school. Grace kept walking around the house calling "kendy..kendy". I suppose we will survive without her. I'm sure I'll get over it now that all the kids will be going down for a nap in the afternoon and I will have 2 FULL hours all to myself. Yeah, I think I could get used to that.

The tradition continues

Do you ever do something and then sit back and wonder what made you do it? Kendall is starting school on Wednesday and I was going through her school papers tonight. I came across the lunch menu. Without missing a beat I looked through it, marked out the lunches she wouldn't like, and put in on the refrigerator. Why? Because that's what my mother did for many many MANY years for my sister and I. It's funny how sometimes we do things without even thinking. Secondly, check out this picture of a frog attaching itself to my front door. We've had a huge frog population this year (due to the flooding maybe?) and they sit on the glass door at night and eat the bugs that fly around the porch light. The only problem is they poop on the door!!! So it you have a sure fire way to remove frog poop from a glass door, let me know.

Bed, Bath, and waaayyy Beyond.

After bath and a half hour of a My Little Pony DVD, Kendall was off to bed. The usual story and prayers were performed and bedtime was in full swing. Five minutes later we can hear Kendall giggling. Giggling turns to laughing and laughing turns to gut buster laughing. Byron goes to investigate. What was so funny? She was having a pillow fight WITH HERSELF. I don't know where she comes up with these things.

Madison is 3 months old!

Yep, I can't believe it either. It feels like she's been in our family forever. We just adore her so. She is a great baby. Easy going and hardly ever cries. She's a good eater and a good sleeper. She's been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now. At her 2 mo. appt. she weighed in at 12 lbs. This is a big baby for our family. No telling what she weighs now. It's turning out she has the typical Hall baby large head which helps her fit in well. :-) She smiles and "talks" when she's awake. Her favorite person is Kendall by far. She talks to Kendall and smiles at her continuously. She isn't rolling over yet but I don't think it will be long. Everyone asks about her eye color, and yes she still has her baby blues. Looks like she might be keeping them, although they have gotten darker since birth. The girls and I call her Maddie Mo, and her father calls her the Mad Splatter. Can't a girl have a little spit-up problem without her family putting her through the ringer? I believe she got that nickname when I was feeding her in bed one night and her spit up managed to shoot across the bed and hit Byron in the chest. The girl's got good aim.

On an unrelated note, I had to post these pics of Grace and Kendall. I can't get the camera out and take a picture of one kid without the whole crew wanting in on the action.

Byron has a Brittney Spears moment.

Just when I've already posted today, Byron goes and does something that requires an IMMEDIATE post. He shaved his head. Please don't email and ask me why. He has reasons that I guess would make sense to men but make no sense to women. He does have more in common with Maddie now. I feel that he already had enough in common with her. The burping, the tooting, and the getting sick after eating too much. I guess now he wants to look like her too. I'm afraid of what they might have in common next!

Welcome back from Outrigger Island!

Outrigger Island was the theme of our VBS days this year. We just completed the week and we are all pretty worn out. Kendall went every night and had a great time. She made some super adorable crafts and had a great time with the other kids and her teachers. Her teachers told me that every time they would pray Kendall would whisper her own prayer under her breath. Yep, she does the same thing here at home, can't seem to break her of it. I guess the only problem was that many times she would pray longer than the teachers and they didn't know whether to wait for her or just go on!! Ha ha!! Byron put in his VBS time earlier in the week by helping set up all the video and audio stuff for the worship rally. He also took care of the two little ones every night because I taught first grade this week. I had an average of 20 kids every night with about 3/4 of those being boys. Yes, they were a very active class :-) It made me realize how much I miss teaching. I had a fabulous time and even though I crave getting the schedule back in order, I was also sorry to see it go. Here's a video (I hope I uploaded it right) of Kendall's class singing at the worship rally on family night. She's the ham, as usual.

I'm counting to 10.....again.

Grace will be the end of me. I love her endlessly. I wish my patience with her stretched as far as my love. Today she has tried to escape from her crib, emptied the two bottom shelves of the pantry, empty the cabinet under the TV, thrown half her breakfast on the floor, tried to sit on Madison, stole Kendall's hair clips, stole Kendall's leapster, hit Kendall when she took her leapster back, stood at my feet and cried while I folded clothes, jumped on Kendall's bed, took her shorts off and tried to put them back on backwards, and peed all over my hand when I tried to change her diaper. This was all before she created an F-5 of toys in the playroom. Then I get up from the lunch table to tend to Maddie and I come back to Grace taking the fruit juice from her fruit cup and dumping it in her hair. Below is her hair do. She thinks she's so funny. Kendall thought it was funny too. The best I can say for myself is I was laughing on the inside.

It runs in the family

The first picture was taken of Kendall when she was 1. The second picture was taken of Grace a few nights ago. Sigh....I wish I could do a better job of teaching the girls table manners. Feet off the table ladies.

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Happy Birthday Kendall!!

Kendall's birthday is August 4th, but we choose to celebrate this weekend because we have VBS every night this week. She is 5 years old and we can't believe it. She is getting so grown up. We all had a wonderful time celebrating with her. She got some great gifts from family and of course some Disney princess stuff from Byron and myself. Here is a pic of her painting a flower pot she got from Grandma and Grandpa. The butterfly cake was made by yours truly.