3 Brothers (and fire update)

It has been a rough week. Mine and Jeremiah's hometowns are being threatened by the second biggest wildfire in Arizona history.  So many memories are tied to those beautiful mountains,

from our first date (Homecoming 2000), to our mini honeymoon in Greer.

 I have spent many many hours this week stalking facebook and glued to the news, waiting for updates on the fire.

Springerville and Eager are evacuated but my dad, Jeremiah's dad, and my Grandparents stayed behind to protect their homes and property from spot fires and looters.

So far everyone is ok, and I just found out that Greer made it out of the fire almost unscathed. They only lost a handful of houses. This is fantastic news because last night we were all convinced that Greer would be a total loss.

Did I mention that Greer is probably my favorite place in the world?

Anyways,  to try and keep my mind off of the fire I got my boys together to get some pictures of all 3 of them. Melesa has been teaching me some photo editing tricks with Photoshop and I have really been enjoying playing around with new pictures.

And I couldn't help but snap some shots of little tiny Mason by himself.

My favorite shot of the day.

 Simon really loves his new brother. He has already started "teaching" him things like how to wave and alphabet sounds. He is such a loving brother. Ryan still can't understand why Mason won"t talk to him or play with him. But I have found him giving Mason kisses and rubbing his soft hair. I think they will be best friends someday.

Someone told me this week that having 3 boys is "nirvana". 

I completely agree.  

Simon's Preschool Graduation

So much has been going on here at the Hall house: birthdays, babies, visitors, ect. but I can't forget to mention a momentous occasion for Simon!

On May 19th Simon had his preschool graduation. He has been going to Christie's Cuties Preschool. His teacher is Christie Hatch, and she has been the greatest teacher! She is fun, creative, and she gets genuinely excited about teaching these little people.

Once I got to his graduation ceremony I realized I left my camera at home. Way to go, mom.

Thank goodness for modern technology. I used my cell phone camera to snap some shots of the big event.

Getting his diploma. (Love the graduation caps!)

Simon and his fellow classmates and teachers. Cutest bunch of kids around!

The highlight of the graduation was when the kids got up in small groups and recited the Preamble to the Constitution with sign language!!!  (wow!)

I can't even describe just how proud I am of this little guy. He is so excited to learn new things! He has even started reading on his own. He reads simple books to his little brother and I am amazed at how good he is at sounding out words he doesn't know and immediately recognizing "sight words".

His handwriting has vastly improved since he started preschool and he has loved drawing pictures and writing little stories to go along with them.

Simon will be 5 next weekend! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. Now, with Mason here, Simon seems even more grown up. We are so proud of him!

 Congrats to our Preschool Grad! We love you Simon!

Getting their ears lowered

My dad always referred to getting a haircut as "getting your ears lowered." That's what our boys got to do on Friday.
First, we spent the morning at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. That happened kind of by mistake. We were going to spend the day at the Children's Museum of Phoenix but on the way there I missed the freeway turnoff and as we got off the freeway to turn around I asked the boys if they would rather keep going and go to the train park. The vote was unanimous.

We brought our lunch and enjoyed a picnic in the lovely, (almost cold) weather, as we waved to the train whenever it passed by.

And of course they got to ride the train!

And I took random pictures of my handsome boys.

 Then we headed west to Phoenix to see Cabrena at her fancy salon in the heart of the downtown culture/sports district.

Now watch as they magically grow up, right before your very eyes.

Simon before:

Simon After:

Ryan Before:

 Look how little he is in the big chair! Cabrena had to sit him on a pile of towels so he would be tall enough.

Ryan After:

Amazing right? They both look a year older and stylish as can be.

I'm suddenly missing my babies. Where did they go? It's a good thing we have a new one joining us soon. These sweet boys are growing up way to fast!

We interrupt this challenge for an update.

We have been up to some fun stuff lately so I wanted to share a little.


I got my hands on a wheat grinder and learned how to make homemade fresh ground wheat for bread! I think I'm in love.

And we canned some yummy blackberry jam. To go with the homemade bread, of course.

 And while I've been working inside the house our weeds have been growing like. . . weeds. So me and the boys attacked the garden and said goodbye to the weeds! They were such good helpers and wow did they get dirty. I wish I would have snapped some "after" pictures.

 Some of the weeds were almost as tall as the boys. We had to dig about 18 inches underground to pull out all of the Bermuda grass roots. It was gruelling work for 2 little boys and a 7 months pregnant me but we got it done! Woo!

Me and da boys went to Greenfield park for the first time in about a year. It was all brand new to them.

Ryan showed off by climbing up the monkey bars!

Simon makes a good monkey too.

I snapped some shots of a new T-shirt I made for Ryan. I posted a tutorial on my Cantaloupe Corner blog if you want to make one too!

 Funny Simon. He got a new t-shirt too. Since he is such a train fanatic, we made him a Trainiac T-shirt. He wore it two days in a row. I had to hide it on the third day so he wouldn't wear it again. :)

 I sure love this kid!

And this one too! I love that the duck looks like it was colored with a sharpie. lol. 

The boys favorite part of the park was the "shaky shaky bridge". Ryan was so scared of the moving bridge at first but once he built up his courage we couldn't get him off of it! He found his new favorite playground game, running across the shaky shaky bridge.


What else have we been up to?

Simon is still loving preschool and we are currently trying to pick the "perfect" kindergarten for him. I can't believe he is that big already! It is bitter sweet. He has been working hard on his letters and numbers and can easily count to 100 now! He is also getting to be a good reader. He read me "Hop on Pop" last night. I'm such a proud mommy.

Ryan is as mischievous and fun as ever. We get to spend some time together while Simon is at preschool. He goes shopping with me or we will spend time reading books or coloring pictures. He has just discovered Simon's markers. No matter where I put them he finds them and he colors some part of himself, or his clothes, everyday.
His favorite color is orange and he insists that he wears and orange shirt everyday! We have even picked up some orange plaid shorts and orange sandals to match all of his orange shirts.

Our little Mason will be here in about 2 months. May 30th is the due date. We are hoping I can be induced early since our other boys were so big. The earliest the doctor will induce will be May 23rd.
Mason still doesn't have a middle name. I'm sure we won't pick it until the last minute because right now every time we start talking names we start throwing out random middle names like "Danger".

The boys are getting excited for their baby brother to arrive. Simon loves to feel him kick and Ryan is finally starting to understand that he gets to be a big brother soon.

I'm still running Cantaloupe Corner for a little while longer. My shop has been doing well and I am really enjoying it! But. . . pretty soon I have to close it down for a while. boo hoo. But I have more important motherly duties to attend to and I am sooooo excited to meet our sweet little boy. Being a mom is the best thing in the entire world!

Jeremiah is still working the daily grind at Farnsworth Wholesale. We love getting to spend some quality time with him on the weekends and he has been working hard trying to get our yard, and his sister's, back into shape.

That's all that's going on around here. We are having fun, staying busy, and enjoying life!

Nice Caboose! (And Day 16)

We went up north to RV for President's Day weekend and didn't touch the laptop once while we were there. Hence the reason why I am so far behind on the blog challenge, and why I have brand new pictures to share!

This works out perfectly because the next blog day says:

Day 16-Another picture of yourself

I'm sure there is a picture of me somewhere. . .

yep, here's one!

Wait! That is a nice caboose, but it's not mine (thank goodness!)

Here we are.

I'm glad I'm sitting down because that belly is much bigger in real life.  I've only got 3 more months to go and our little guy will be here!

Jeremiah convinced me to ride up north with him so we could help Veronica move her spa to a bigger place. I told him I would go if it wasn't going to snow.  He assured me that the storm had passed and it wouldn't snow. So me and the boys tagged along.

And it snowed.

Just a little bit. But it was freezing cold!

On our way up we stopped for a bathroom break at the park in Superior, you know, the one with the caboose.

They also had some old rusty mining train equipment that we hadn't seen before.

And some HUGE tractor tires.

And an old steam engine boiler! Simon's favorite!

 I chased Ryan around trying to get some shots of him and the caboose. Come back!

Gotcha Ry!

He was hitching a ride on the back of the caboose.

We detoured through St. Johns to visit our friends Nic and Shelly Finch and their cute little daughters. Shelly got me excited to start canning again so hopefully I will get going on that before the baby comes.

We also stopped by the St. Johns Court House to see Jeremiah's mom , a.k.a. Grandma Sue.

 It was my first time to see the inside of this historic building, and my first time seeing the inside of a court room in real life.

On Sunday night we attempted to drive back to Mesa from Springerville and we got hit by a HUGE snowstorm. About 20 minutes out it was white-out conditions and we thought it best to turn around and go back. Jeremiah is a brave driver and he usually doesn't mind the snow, unlike me. But he even felt uneasy, like we needed to go back.

So we spent part of Presidents Day with family, waiting for the roads to thaw.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Baby Train

I haven't quite figured out how to tell 4 year old Simon about the new baby sibling that is coming. We have asked him a few times if he would like a new baby brother or sister and he always replies enthusiastically "good!!" 

About a week ago he came inside to tell me that I just had to go see his sidewalk pictures he was working on outside.

Trains!

He loves to draw trains.

 But these trains were extra special.

He drew his family driving the trains. The biggest one is daddy, the next biggest with the coal car is mommy, he is working on the Simon train in the picture above, and on the left side of the picture you can see 2 little trains.

Ryan, and baby.

I guess our little hints have worked. He knows a new sibling will be joining the family. And he or she is already a part of our train lovin' family.

Next time won't you sing with me?

Ryan has become a budding singer. And of course I enjoy every second of it!

He sings all day long but my camera has always been to far away to catch it on video.

Yesterday, he and Simon had spent the morning rummaging through my jewelry box. Simon found Ryan a silver "I Love You" necklace (which he so appropriately named because it has a heart on it.) For himself, a long strand of faux pearls. He stuck them around his neck and proudly asked "Mom, do I look my best?"

ha ha. I love that kid.

Anyways, back to the singing.

I finally caught the two boys singing a duet of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (Notice they are still wearing mom's necklaces.) It was the fifth time in a row they sang the song so they are past their sweet little voices and belting it out as loud as they can!

(I apologize that the picture quality isn't that great.)

Here's a proud mommy moment. 2 year old Ryan singing his ABC's. 

Smarty pants. I love this kid!! 

Ryan's other favorite songs include:  How much is that doggy in the window? (or kitty, buffalo, elephant, etc.), the Thomas the Train theme song,  and  I am a Child of God.

Simon sings right along and loves making up new words and adding his own twist to the songs. Yesterday he was singing "How much is that Cheerio in the door?"

And who can forget the classic "How much is that door in the window" creak creak?

Life would be so dull without these boys.