German Listens to EVERYTHING!

This is our family dog, Tool Box. I posted this picture, because it's rare to get a photo of German and his real smile!
Apparently, Joshua told the boys the story of Adam and Eve one night as they were going to bed. Then the other day German was working on one of his Duplo creations and this is what he made:

Please note: Adam- the repairman, Eve- with her baby, the bushes, and the "apple tree" all contained in the Garden of Eden. Funny boy.

Children's Museum of Phoenix

I'm not sure that they realized that the construction work was not an exhibit, but boy did we spend a lot of time watching the men work!


Finally, now they can do the shopping.


German driving Eli through a "trikewash".

Painting the castle.

So, I thought the Mesa youth museum was great (and it is), but this far surpassed my expectations. I would buy a membership, but I'm cheap and will instead hope for a free culture pass from the library.

I had to drag my children from each station, all the while convincing them that the next room would be just as cool. I thought we'd stay a couple of hours, but we ended up staying until almost closing time. These boys have some great imaginations. Scot loved the little baby areas and was a great baby the entire day.

Sadly, I was lonely. I watched as all these other mothers were there with their pals, and I mingled with the grandmas that were coerced into bringing their grandchildren. Friends, you were missed!

A Sunday Afternoon and a Bag of Pretzels

All I have to say is that I have one determined husband! This project was accomplished using only his teeth - seriously, no knives were used in the creation of this work of art. Impressive.

German turns 4!

We had a rip-roarin' good time at German's Fourth Birthday Cowboy Bash. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Hallberg's Christmas gifts for the boys we had the party pretty well planned. We made paper bag vests with sheriff badges, then we had some tough horse races, lassoed a calf, went to the shooting range, and had a bean eating contest. We finished the party off with some chili and ice cream sandwiches. My favorite game was the shooting range- we had set up some cans with strings attached and placed them at a distance on a box, then when the kids would make their bullet firing sound a dad would pull the string on one of the cans to make it fall. The kids were amazed at how their gun could do that, until Emily figured it out!

I was pretty excited when G said he wanted a cowboy party because I had purchased these ice cream sandwich molds at Williams-Sonoma years ago on clearance and I finally had reason to use them. Joshua mostly made them- he got excited each time one would come out perfectly. (Sorry N's that you didn't make it into any of the photos.)

My Ideal Winter...

I used to hate January.

This blog background is the perfect page for my ideal winter: everything looks wintery and gives you the feeling that you need a blanket and hot chocolate, but then you go outside and you're in AZ! I can appreciate feeling cold and snuggly, but let me tell you it sure was fun at the park yesterday feeding the ducks and walking around in shorts. A few weeks in UT/ID every Christmas is a good fill and reminds me why I now love January.

Merry Christmas!

We're currently half way through our vacation and have had a packed few days already. We were able to spend a day with our good friends the Louds and meet their new daughter, Aubrey. Our Josh's sure enjoyed hanging out and playing with the boys in the snow.

Santa came to visit at Grandpa and Grandma Hallberg's house on Christmas Eve. Scotland sat on his lap and just stared up at him in awe and wonder. All the other little ones screamed and cried!

The boys sure loved playing with their cousins, probably more than all their new toys. In fact on Christmas Eve I tucked in the boys and told them to think about Christmas presents and stockings and German's response was, "But will Payton be here in the morning?"

Scot had his first "meal" and loved it! He eats the stuff up.

The kids had fun, but the adults also had a good time, mostly after the children were all asleep! We stayed up way too late playing cards and eating crab!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary To Us

My husband is awesome! I got home Thursday night (the 17th) from a church activity and Joshua asked, "Do you think you could find someone to watch the boys over night and all day Saturday?" He had booked us flights to San Diego, set up a cool hotel room at a hotel that was formerly a bank, and reserved us a table at a fancy restaurant.

Thanks to Tiffany and Treasure for their help with the boys - start planning your weekend get-a-ways now! These were some of the most needed and appreciated 26 hours of relief ever!!!

Gingerbread Houses

Glue-gunning the gingerbread house ahead of time was a great idea!

Eli lasted about 7 minutes.

German lasted about 20 minutes.

I think I could really get into gingerbread house decorating.

Crazy Boyz

These boys never cease to amaze me. German and Eli love to play together. Their current mischief involves a lot of dirt, water, and bath toys. But hey, boys will be boys!

Scot is learning to sit up and can almost support himself completely. He loves to play with toys, by mostly putting them into his mouth. He can also get up on his hands and knees and practices rocking back and forth. He is such a joy!

Eli - Our Big 2 Year Old

We had a fun birthday celebration for Eli with some of our Arizona friends. Eli insisted upon a "backetball cake" for his "burtday."

Has it Really Been Over a Month?

So I missed Halloween... The boys (and their parents) were pretty cute pirates, but those photos have been removed from the memory card and are now safely digitally preserved on our non-internet computer- sorry folks.

Thanksgiving was great. My parents, sister Annie and her husband Dennis, and little brother Adam drove down south and we spent 5 days together in the beautiful weather that Arizona is famous for. We feasted, Black-Friday shopped, walked downtown Scottsdale, walked a mall (just because it's a Hallberg thing to do), did some crafts, and of course - watched a lot of football.

I would never claim to be a master chef or even a great cook, but I will take some credit for making an awesome looking Apple Pie - it even tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself!

Scot

Scotland is doing great! He's really a perfect baby. He's been sleeping through the night now for quite some time, he never spits up, and he's generally very happy. He has his spouts of fussy time, but I can't complain. This week he's started playing with toys and using his hands more - he tried to grab my taco last night! His brothers continue to love him and shower him with a lot of attention.

For the record, he's not always in a seat, these just seem to be the moments when the camera's out!

German's Soccer Class

The last day of German's soccer class was this week and they got to wear their costumes to class. German was really excited because another friend was also a pirate. German had a lot of fun with these friends during their 10 week class, but I think his highlights will be playing dodgeball (actually throwing balls at Coach Adam) and getting a sticker at the end of each class, or maybe standing on coach's foot in order to reach the drinking fountain.

Pumpkin Carving Time

Well it's now tradition to carve pumpkins with Clint and Marianne and Baby Jack (since this was the second year in a row!). Marianne's haunted house and Joshua's skull and bones tied for the coolest pumpkin and my moonlit night won for best use of a moldy pumpkin.

Eli spent the entire evening saying, "me do it" and so we finally gave him one of the little knives and let him do it, with adult supervision of course. German did a fantastic job cleaning out the pumpkins. And sadly, Scot went to bed about ten minutes after we got started.

Life is Full of Changes

Why we haven't been posting...

A day or two before my birthday Joshua came home and told me that he'd officially been transferred to work in West Phoenix (Tolleson) and that he would be starting the next Monday. We're pretty sure that things were meant to be because our apartment lease was coming to a close and we were unsure about what to do next. After much searching and many sketchy neighborhoods we found a house to rent that cut Joshua's commute from an hour to 4 1/2 minutes! We've only been in the new house for one week, but we already see the benefits. Joshua comes home every day for lunch and then he's home by 5:15pm. I LOVE IT!!! (Can I tell you how great it is to be making dinner and not have the boys standing at my heals yelling at me for one thing or another?!)

These are the only two pictures we took of our entire move (I'm sorely disappointed with myself on that one):

Ten points to anyone who correctly guesses what's inside this box!

Our Trip to Utah

Two weeks ago we made the long drive to Utah to spend a couple days with both the Clark and Hallberg Families. We made it to Provo in time for dinner at Brick Oven Pizza - a college classic - and a tour around BYU. Saturday we were able to be at Cousin Haddon's baptism and then go to a pumpkin patch with the Clark family. Saturday night our families joined for Scotland's baby blessing. It was such a short trip, but wonderful to see everyone (We missed you Aunt Melissa).

Thirty

I turn the big 3 - 0 this week. This post isn't meant to solicit birthday greetings, but rather to express my awe at this new journey in my life. I'm not afraid or embarrassed to be thirty, I just never really thought I'd be thirty years old, so the idea is mind boggling. Weird.

We're Still Here...

... but our computer won't read our memory card.

Update: Scot is growing, Eli is talking a ton (we call him our parrot), German loves to play, I'm learning to can more and getting excited for Halloween costumes, and Joshua continues to work hard and play basketball every Tuesday night. That's about our life! Pictures to follow soon.

What's the Dealio, Mighty Cougars?!

We couldn't be more disappointed!

Go Mighty Cougars!

We couldn't be prouder!