Our New Pianist

So Daisy started piano up again. We took for a little bit a year or so ago but I wasn't very commited. Daisy's grandma Hall said she would be her teacher. So we go every Wednesday after school. She's doing pretty good I think. She doesn't totally enjoy it but she knows that she has to learn to play the piano before she can learn to play the guitar. Which is what she really, really wants to do. A plus about piano lessons though, Daisy gets to play grandma's grand piano.

A smile at the end of practice-that's a good thing!

Our week in pictures

This girl is hilarious! She came walking down to the office after school and had changed and said her name was Sharpay. She didn't wear this outfit to school. She totally came up with it on her own. She was talking on her phone saying the funniest things.
I love her backpack. She was walking to my car after school and I had to smile cause it's as big as her.
At bedtime Cooper goes around and collects all his animals, and the girls and has to put them in bed with him. If you try to take any out he cries the saddest cry so I let him have them all. His record is 14!

Beating the heat. Sprinklers on the tramp and Otter Pops. Nothing better!

I feel like since school has started, we haven't done too much but focus on homework, reading, and getting to bed on time. Especially since Lindsay started kindergarten, I want to make sure she gets enough sleep. As soon as the girls get home from school we do homework then I have to read with Lindsay and Daisy. Then Daisy has to practice the piano and she always has to ask me questions about notes. Then we have dinner. We might play outside or watch TV for a little bit then it seems like it's time for showers, baths and bedtime. And we all know this takes FOREVER! So I hope our life doesn't seem too boring. It really isn't. I stay plenty busy and they manage to still make me laugh:)

So I Thought.

I had big plans when school started this year, Big plans! With 2 kids being in school all day I was going to get so much accomplished and get caught up on all the crafts and projects I want to finish. I've come to realize that just because 2 kids are gone, doesn't mean I have less to do. I still have to do laundry, clean, cook, go grocery shopping, pay bills, run errands, carpool, piano lessons, prepare for preschool, etc. You get the idea. The only thing really that is different is that I haven't "lost it" by 2pm. If we can only work on bedtime. Cause I can still "lose it" then. :)

1st day of school

I made it through this morning. It wasn't too bad. I think it helped that Jeff was there and Lindsay was so excited! She was up at 6 am this morning! Daisy is in 3rd grade. She wanted me to walk her to the playground because she couldn't see any of her friends but she found one and was like see ya! She is quite the social butterfly!Lindsay was super excited but a little nervous too. She kept asking me when I was leaving. I asked her if she wanted me to leave but she said no. She stayed real close to my side but when the bell rang she lined up and had a huge smile on her face. In the classroom she walked and then I lost it. But at least she didn't see me.

When I was taking the girls pictures, Cooper was on the other side of the wall smiling for his picture. Of course he won't look at me.
What's Cooper going to do with all this free time?

SHHHH! Don't tell

After we dropped the girls off we went to Basha's to get some groceries and Cooper and Jeff got a doughnut and I got a DP. No sharing for me!

While the girls are away, mom,dad, & cooper will play!

I swore I would never....

buy my kids character clothes or shoes. I'm ok with pj's & underwear being characters but that's it.
But look how happy he is! I couldn't refuse. We put them on and told him to walk around the store. He was walking with his head down so he could see McQueen when he walked. He was so happy. He even wore them out of the store and has worn them all day. The white string was still on from the tags. We were getting out of the car tonight he said, "McQueen, buddy." Jeff wasn't excited about my purchase until he said that and it made him laugh so I'm not in trouble anymore. Enjoy them Coop cause I'm sure when you go to kindergarten, you're not getting character shoes.

My little bookworm

As busy as he is, he'll always take time to sit and look at books. He'll even let me read a couple. He loves Wibbly Pig (he stole from grandma) and Dora. He found a nice reading spot this afternoon. Don't you love the sissy bridgie (blanket) and the cars? Can't forget those. And so these 2 don't feel left out. Aren't they cuties?

So for FHE, Well more like FHA(afternoon) we decorated these notebooks for our study journals. I don't know about you but we struggle with the whole having a lesson thing. We had the missionaries over for dinner last week and they showed us how cool and easy the Preach My Gospel book is. My parents gave us one a year or so ago in hopes that we would do family FHE every month together. Ok that lasted about 2 months. But I am very excited about this. I know this is something I can do. And even better is that my husband is actually excited about PMG too! So if you don't have this book I highly recommend getting one!

Happy Birthday

Another birthday, another year older! Today is Jeff's birthday. We just want to wish him a happy birthday and say thanks for all you do for our family. We know we're not easy to put up with, but he never complains and always finds time to play and be goofy with the kids! We love you!

Also- yesterday was Jamee's birthday. Didn't want to forget about her! She's awesome and loves the kids and is always willing to babysit. Thanks Mimi! I've made 3 cakes in the last 3 days! That's alot of cake! But who doesn't love cake. And when you have a cute cake mold, you could make one everyday!

You've had a birthday...

Shout Hooray! I can't believe my baby is 2 today! Where does the time go? Cooper has been such a joy in our home. We love having a boy in the house. Now if I can only get him to look at the camera when I take pictures. :)
Opening his presents.
Throwing a tantrum. He couldn't open his presents so the girls were trying to be "the mom" and he did not like them in his face. Hey girls, he already has a mom. Thanks anyway.
My child is OBSESSED with the movie Cars. Jeff found this Mack truck for him. It unfolds and it looks like the inside on the movie. It has a bed, carwash, gas station. He's been playing with it since he got it.

We celebrated with just our family yesterday since it was Sunday and we were all home. Cooper shares a birthday with his girl cousin Avery. She is 1 today. We are going to dinner tonight to celebrate. And tomorrow is Jamee's bday and Wednesday is Jeff's bday. We're eating lots of cake this week! Watch the video of him blowing out his candles. It's the cutest thing ever.

Just a preview...

The Beach

This is the best vacation ever! This is the 5th year that the Hall Family has gotten a beach house on the beach for the week. This is our 3rd year we have been able to go and we look forward to going all year. This year everyone made it. We had 13 adults and 14 kids! We soaked up the sun, ate lots of good food, and just relaxed. If I could live anywhere, I really think I would love a house on the beach.
Daisy picked up boogie boarding this year. She did pretty good and loved it. It kind of surprises me that she enjoys being out in the ocean because everything else scares her. Her and Megan would go out so far on the tubes and ride the waves in. Daisy would come back and tell me she couldn't even touch the bottom. Ok that would freak me out. She won't ride any rides at Disneyland, but she'll brave the waves at the beach.

When I say we stay at a house on the beach, I mean it. I am on the beach and all you have to do is climb the rocks and you're at the house. It doesn't get much better than that. Thanks Hall's for a fabulous time! I'm counting down till next summer!

Total action shot. She would sit on her tube in like 5 inches of water and wait for a wave then get up and run away.

Cooper loved the beach! He was so nice considering he had some kind of bug and didn't have an appetite for a couple of days but he loved the sand. He would just sit and dig. The first night we were there Jeff took the kids down to the beach in their clothes so they could just see the ocean. Cooper ran out in the water and a huge wave came and crashed over his whole body and brought him to shore. After that, he was a little scared of the ocean.

I know, I know...

this post has been over done and I am the last mormon girl on the face of the earth that has read it, but I just had to say I finished Twilight. I enjoyed it so much, in fact,that I read it in under 24 hours! With Breaking Dawn coming out in a couple of weeks, I need to read the other 2. But like I said, I have a couple of weeks and I read the first one in a day. I think I have plenty of time.

P.S. I don't look at any of the pics of the movie so I can have my own image of what the characters look like. It's hard to do when every blog I look at has it on there!:) So I can't have any discussions of characters until I'm done with all of them.

4th of July

We took the kids fishing in Showlow on Friday. My family was up visiting Devin & Kristin. We stopped by and they were going to some of the festivities so Daisy decided she wanted to go with grandma instead of fishing. (She was afraid of the boat but didn't want to admit it, bit I know my daughter all too well) So we took Lindsay and Coop to Fool Hollow Lake. It's just down the road from Devin & Kristin's house. They had so much fun. It was their first fishing and boating experience. Isn't she just the cutest thing ever? The life jackets were cracking me up!
Cooper wasn't so sure about his. He just stood there like "hey mom, i can't move in this thing." He was annoyed that I kept taking his picture.
Once we got on the boat and started fishing, he warmed up and was happy. He finally got smart and said he wanted daddy, but what he really wanted was the drink dad had. Smart boy. We caught nothing and had only one bite, but Lindsay asked when we could go again!

We had a fabulous 4th of July! We left Thursday afternoon for Heber to stay at the cabin. Lindsay actually left on Wednesday with Grandma, Grandpa, & Becky. She was soooo excited. They took her so we would have more room in our truck. We took that so we could pull the trailer so we could go pick up our new couch from Devin & Kristin. Thanks guys! I absolutely love it. I'll post a picture of it when it is all set up.
We had all 3 kids on the way home Sunday morning. We had to get back for church. It was a little snug on the way home and outside of Payson there was a car fire so we were stuck in traffic for a little over an hour. Yes that's right. Everyone had their engines off and were hanging out on the highway. Jeff took a walk about a 1/2 mile up and a trucker told him that about another mile or so was a car on fire. They had shut down both sides of the highway so the fire truck could get there. It was hot and Cooper was not happy. But finally we were able to get going again! All in all though, we had a fabulous time! We love the 4th in Heber. My camera battery died so I didn't take any pictures of the parade or the fireworks, but they were both fun. We had a full house at the cabin, but the cousins love to play so it was fun. Not to mention that my mother inlaw always does the cooking so we eat good in Heber! Thanks family for a fun time! And thanks for putting up with Cooper on Thursday night! That was an adventure!

Swim Lessons

We took swim lessons a couple of weeks ago with Jeff's cousin, Geri. My girls love going. I should have put Cooper in but I didn't want to deal with screaming. But he absolutely loves the water and screamed because he couldn't get in when Daisy and Lindsay were in. It's always a good refresher for them because at the beginning of the summer they are not very confident in their swimming then they take the lesson and they turn into fish. Thanks Geri!

Oh and we found the best goggles ever! We buy new ones every summer and my kids always complain that water gets in them. My friend told me you have to get the ones that are one piece. Not the ones that have the adjustable nose strap. And they are a little more. I always buy the cheapest ones. Well we bought the good ones and they are so happy. Lindsay was wearing them in the car on the way home from swimming one day!

Father's Day

I got a new camera for my birthday and I left it at home when I went to camp because I didn't want to ruin it or anything. I told Jeff to take pictures on Father's Day since I was gone. I was downloading my pictures and I found these. I didn't think he remembered to take any. I know Jeff doesn't read this but I didn't want him to think I forgot about him on Father's Day. He does so much to provide for us and then comes home from his regular job and works more on his new business he's trying to get up and running. I know he is busy and always tired but he always takes time to play and joke with the kids. And he really doesn't complain that he has alot on his plate. I think I'm a big whiner when I have lots to do. So I love you Honey Buns! This is Jeff, his dad, and his brother Matt. And Cooper and Kasen, the only 2 so far to carry on the Hall name. Don't they look like partners in crime? This is my dad, Grandpa Day with his 3 of the 4 grandkids. We sure love all our dads and all they do for us!