What do you think??

Been wanting to blog about this for a while, but after this morning and seeing it for myself, just had to take a poll. I know not everyone who reads my blog has a boy, but even if you don't, consider the poll and vote. Will post later why I ask....

Would you buy your son girly things such as "My Little Pony" items, "Barbie" or lip gloss?

• 
  
  Yes


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  No


• 
  
  Maybe

view results
Free vote poll

Ain't no denyin'.....

....who our child belongs to... check out THIS blog to see what I mean. Kevin's Aunt Kathy has been posting old pics of them as kids, and then she put this little picture collage together... uncanny! :)

If you want to see a couple of other pictures of Gini, Kevin, and their sister Meredith as kids, go back to her main page and scroll down... fun pics!

Done!!

Well almost! We got everything moved on Saturday into our storage unit, with little difficulty, so that is a definite praise! We even had a chance to clean some... we'll get to the rest of that this week. So, we are thankful that is over with for the moment. We still have some things to take out to storage that are currently stored at my inlaws, but that can be easily done.

We are thankful to Gini and J for keeping Stone while all the moving took place. It was nice because we hired movers, so we basically just directed traffic! We didn't even break a sweat! Ha! I tell you, shelling out the money was well worth not having to do it ourselves or having to beg friends to give up part of their Saturday to help.

After cleaning some, we picked up Stone from Gini's after his nap, and volunteered to take cuz M with us for a while so they could go out on a date. Funniest quote from that adventure: from M who was in the back seat of our car at the time, as we were driving home, "This car is broke." I asked her, "What do you mean?" She replied: "This car is broke because it's not going very fast." To which Kevin and I burst out laughing!! Funny thing was, I was driving and I'm the speed demon of the two of us!! I then think Stone chimed in: "Faster!" Ha ha ha ha! Then the two of them competed for who could be the loudest from the back seat. Kevin and I just laughed. I wish I had a hidden video camera for when we travel with the two of them together... hilarious!

OTHER NEWS:
So, I guess I'm a bad wife in the fact that I kept forgetting to post and/or email about this, but it all happened so fast and right in the middle of being sick, packing and arranging details for our move, so I just never thought of it when I posted. But, K actually had 2 interviews during the past week/week and a half or so. It was for the same job, a job transfer for a Cost Accountant position within his current company. And, the 2 interviews were for the same job (the initial interview and then follow up interview.) We were pretty excited about the possibility. However, it didn't happen. I think I was more disappointed than him, but he took it exceptionally well. So, we ask, if you would, to continue to pray for another opportunity to open up for K.

Road Side Theology and other random thoughts

Driving today, I saw the following statement posted on a church sign that advertises the name of the church and service times, etc. and had to post:

"Never give up. After all, Moses was a basket case."

Ha ha ha ha! I mean, who sits around and thinks these things up? Deep stuff, and boy, did it help me to "not give up." Whatever.


Went to the pharmacy yesterday to pick up some meds. One was for stone, for his allergies. Get this....the antihistamine that was prescribed to him is actually an over-the-counter (or OTC) med. Not a big deal, except of course, our insurance doesn't pay for OTC meds, as most probably don't. So, the pharmacist told me that it was going to be around $22.00 for this little bottle of children's GENERIC claritin. WHAT?? You know how much it costs at Wal-mart or Target for the same size bottle? Under $6.00! So I asked him why it cost $22 to get it from "behind the counter" to which he didn't have an answer. I told him I'd just get it elsewhere and save the money. Now, what is up with that? The sad part is that I think we unknowingly paid that much for it the first time around, as we didn't realize it was an OTC until after the fact! And they just let us pay the whole amount without telling us that it was and OTC! I think I should get my money back! Doubtful that will happen of course, but I feel totally ripped off! To which I say, ARGH.

Well, moving day is fast upon us. Saturday is the big day and I can't say I'm exactly thrilled with having to move again. Oh yeah, already said that in previous post, but in case you didn't get that the first time, I hate moving. And we're going to have to do it twice! I told my mom the other day that I think Stone isn't too sure about us packing up all his stuff (in the old house.) She replied, "Well, he better get used to it. You guys move about every 7-12 months!" Sadly, so true. I feel like a nomad! Ha! Except we have WAY too much stuff to be nomads or gypsies or anyone who moves as much as we do. And believe it or not, we've downsized and downsized and continue to get rid of stuff and still have too much stuff. What's up with that? Seriously, I've gotten rid of stuff I held onto for years (for no reason I kept this stuff, I just did.) We've both downsized our wardrobes, books, movies, CD's, kitchen stuff, and stone's stuff and yet, it took many boxes to pack it all up. Again I say, Argh.

That is all for now... nothing profound. I again am fighting off another cold and K is borderline of having one. S is doing well for the moment, so that is where we all are. :)

Busy weekend and the big move..

Whew... I'm tired! Had a very busy weekend, but good one. Here's the synopsis:

FRIDAY A.M.:
Helped SIL watch a few kids at my church for a Ladie's Bible Study. Afterwards, went by a storage facility to secure a storage unit. Went back to inlaws house, had lunch and nap. Got ready to go to our house to spend the evening packing. Brought some YUMMY pizza (my new favorite, I think) to eat at the house and met hubs there. Got things ready to take over to SIL's house for garage sale in the morning. (This was a last minute thing, so we weren't quite ready, but still pulled it off with help from inlaws.) Packed until around 8:15ish. Inlaws kept Stone and helped put him to bed. Went to bed sometime that night (remember I still have trouble sleeping.)

(Okay, sidebar here: why are we packing and renting a storage unit? Cause we're moving again! When we moved into the little house we've rented for the past year, we knew we wouldn't be there longer than the lease. The lease ends at the end of Feb, so we started looking for a new place. We found one we liked..an apartment complex right beside our church, but they didn't have the floorplan, location (2nd floor) or price that we wanted to be able to move in at the first of March. So, my gracious inlaws offered for us to stay with them until one came open. That will happen in mid-April, so we'll actually have to move twice... to which I say, "Oye-vey" but what else can we do? Which, we've actually been at my inlaws since the first of Feb cause we cut off cable/internet and garbage and it would allow us plenty of space to pack and not have to live in the same place simultaneously. So, that is the story on that!)

SATURDAY A.M.:
Hubs got up early to go over and help with garage sale at Gini's. Stone and I went back to the house (where we spent much of our past week during the day) to pack some more.

11:00ish: Needed a break so we went over to Gini's so Stone could play with Cousin M and I could help wherever needed.

12:00 Noon: Started wrapping up garage sale. Made slightly over $200... pretty good for last minute! But, we had some big items to get rid of. Ate lunch with hubs and Stone at one of our favorite places. K took S back to inlaws house for rest and nap, I went back to house to continue packing.

Around 4pm: Stopped the packing process to go back to the inlaws to get ready for date with hubs (our V-day date).

5:30pm: Out the door for date. Inlaws kept Stone again (did I mention how great they are?) and put him to bed for us, so we could enjoy the evening and not have to worry about what time we would get back. Drove by one restaurant for dinner, but looked way overcrowded. Went to other place and would be 1 hour wait. We decided that was okay, and even if we didn't make the movie I wanted to see, that would be fine.

6:50pm: Finally got seated to eat. Those people weren't exaggerating when they said it would be an hour wait!

7:40pm: We finished eating scrumptious dinner and even had dessert. I looked at the time and exclaim to hubs that we could still make the movie (which started at 7:55) if we paid now and got out of there (movie theater just across the street from restaurant). He said great and we took off.

7:50pm: Hubs drops me off at ticket line so I can get tickets while he parks the car.

7:56pm: Made it inside... couldn't find a seat at first, but found 2 dead-center but very close to front. We both prefer towards the back, but this actually worked.

10:00pm: Movie over, was great fun! We head out to car, in what I'm guessing is the general direction of where hubs parked. I have no idea, remember, as I was in line getting tickets. We walk all the way to the end of one line of cars and I don't see his car. Hubs doesn't see it either.

10:10pm: Still walking around parking lot looking for car. Hubs can't really remember where he parked it! (Seriously, I'm not making this stuff up!!!!) I keep asking him if he parked it on the other side, where we drove in from. He says he's pretty sure it was on the end where we were looking. People drive and walk by staring at us probably thinking, "Ha! Can't believe they can't find their own car!! Ha ha! And they are not even senior citizens!!!"

10:12pm: Hubs finally spots it, to which, of course, we were no where close to it when we first came out. He claims he didn't pay any attention to where he parked, cause he was focused on getting to the theater and meeting me to get in. We go home and go to bed cause we got church in the morning.

SUNDAY: Church in the a.m. and we all went together (I usually go by myself since I have to be there so early and then K comes and brings S.) Leave around 12:15pm, come home and eat lunch, take nap. Around 4:30ish, I leave to go back. K stays home with S. Now Kevin is not feeling so well (Stone was sick all of last week with a nasty cold again.) I get home around 7:30, eat dinner, play with Stone and put him to bed. We then turned on PBS to finish watching "Pride & Prejudice" which they played half last week and half this week..... well, almost half anyway. I don't know why I had to watch it, cause I own it on DVD, but I just LOVE that movie and so we decided to watch it with the fireplace going.

And that, was my weekend. I also have to spend the rest of this week packing up whatever is left to get ready for movers on Saturday, who will move stuff into storage for us. All that said, I had forgotten to mention in earlier posts that 1) we were moving again, 2) when and where we were moving and 3) that Stone is now, and has been since we came to the inlaws to stay, sleeping in a BBB.... a.k.a. "Big Boy Bed." He's done very well with it and K and I decided that we would move him into his own BBB when we moved anyway, cause I didn't want to have to reassemble the crib again, and he was getting old enough to at least try it. Plus, on the few occasions prior to us moving in here with the inlaws, my MIL had put him down on one of her twin beds to sleep during naps or at night and he had done fine. So, this is not his BBB, as his will be in storage for 2 months, but he's sleeping in a BBB at his GiGi's house, which is cool for him! See pics below.. the first of him climbing in and then one of him posing. The boy seriously needs a hair cut!! Notice the 2 side-rails. GiGi had to put the two of them up and lock them together cause he could push the one out, thus defeating the point of having one on in the first place. The boy is strong and sleeps all over the place (like I do) and so I worry a little each night cause I'm afraid that he will somehow find a way to flop himself out of the bed and hurt himself. You can see how far off the floor the bed is. But so far, so good!

Funny for the day....

First, if you think I have too much time on my hands because I write crazy posts, then you should get to know my friend, who constantly sends me emails of insignificant things, such as the V-day jokes and this picture. I also get random news stories, facts and other nonsense that I hardly read. However, this one made me laugh out loud, so thought I'd post it. (Disclaimer: I am not endorsing the product shown in any way!)







Redneck Cat Carrier

Happy V-Day!

What once was a very dreaded holiday for me (since I was single for so long) has now become somewhat tolerable. Okay, it's become kinda fun, although we don't do any extravagant things to celebrate. We just like to hang out and enjoy time with each other, without having to entertain a 2 year old. I don't know when we'll celebrate...I know it won't be Thursday or Friday and it really depends on securing a babysitter, but I really just want to do dinner and a movie. So, that's what we'll hopefully shoot for. This year, no roses or candy or presents, just time spent together... yeah! BTW, I love my valentine!

So, thought I'd leave some Valentine's Day jokes for everyone to read and enjoy, since I really have nothing more to say about this holiday! (I didn't spend time making these up, nor did I stay up all night to find them; got them from a friend. *smile*)

Valentine's Day One-liners

What do farmers give their wives on Valentine's Day?
Hogs and kisses!

Why did the pig give his girlfriend a box of candy?
It was Valenswine's Day!

Do skunks celebrate Valentine's Day?
Sure, they're very scent-imental!

What did the chocolate syrup say to the ice cream?
"I'm sweet on you!"

What did the paper clip say to the magnet?
"I find you very attractive."

What did the French chef give his wife for Valentine's Day?
A hug and a quiche!

What did one pickle say to the other?
"You mean a great dill to me."

Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Olive.
Olive who?
Olive you! (I love you!)

What did the elephant say to his girlfriend?
"I love you a ton!"

What did the bat say to his girlfriend?
"You're fun to hang around with."

Did you hear about the nearsighted porcupine?
He fell in love with a pincushion!

Sleepless Nights and what's in a name...

I don't know what it's been lately, but I've been having a string of sleepless nights as of late. I take "sleeping aids" which in the past have worked beautifully, but for some reason, they take forever to kick in, so I'm left frustrated that I can't get to sleep. I have even tried taking them earlier, but still, the same thing. So, this leaves me up late at night, which much to think about and ponder.

Like, for example, trying not to be angry when people at church email me to tell me that they don't think they can help in preschool any longer. Or wondering if working at a job that can be this stressful even worth it? Or, everything I have to do to get ready to move AGAIN. Or why does sometimes God choose to heal some and choose not to heal others from fatal illnesses? Or, will Stone ever get over this cold? ...... and they keep going from there... from one thought to the next and even when I try to do something "mindless" I still can't get to sleep!

The latest thing to emerge from these sleepless nights is a list of possible baby names for my SIL's new little baby boy, who should arrive in late June. I don't think they've nailed down a name yet, so I thought that maybe I could give them some ideas. I mean, it's a hard and important job to name a child, so you need all the help you can get. I've actually thought on this for several days now, really since the Super Bowl when I heard one name that I thought would be a shoe-in for the little guy, if not at least in the top 2-3 choices. It has then evolved from there into an entire list from A to Z. If you want to give your suggestions, I'm sure G wouldn't mind! Just add them to the post here and I'll make sure she gets them! Below is the list with either the meaning of the name and/or my comments as to why I chose it in parenthesis. Enjoy!

My all time favorite name pick for them is: PLAXICO (in honor of one of the players for the NY Giants who won the Super Bowl)

A= ALADDIN (in honor of one of my favorite Disn movies)

B=BJORN (in honor of mom2mom Bible study)

C=CHUONG (a Chinese name, in honor of G's cousin who is married to a sweet Chinese lady.. thought it would help to have a Chinese name in the family on this side too)

D= GO DIEGO GO!! (because M and Stone love that show so much! why not name him something they both already know and love?)

E= EBERHART (i just liked this name.. it's meaning is really insignificant to anything related to them... it means 'strong, wild boar')

F= FRODO (to pay homage to Lord of the Rings trilogoy)

G= GADI (means 'my wealth' ....may he bring you guys lots of wealth!)

H= HEVOVITASTAMIUTSTO (means 'whirlwind' thought that since M can be a whirlwind of fun, this little guy could be too! AND, because you guys are Katrina survivors and your life has been in a whirlwind ever since, thought this name would be appropriate)

I= INIGO MONTOYA ("My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." ...to pay homage to The Princess Bride movie)

J= JUSTUS (Justice and Mercy)

K= KEVEEN DEWITT (in honor of my hubby and this little guy's uncle!)

L= LUDWIG (as in 'Ludwig Beethoven' ....needed a name to represent the musical side of the hallquists, so thought this would work!

M= MAHEEPATI (means, 'the king'..... he will be the king of your household soon!)

N= NIRAD (means 'given by water'... thought this would be appropriate since G is going to try the nature birth method this time around)

O= OBEDIAH (just always liked this name from the Bible, plus it's unique and sounds cool...say it out loud... Obediah Young)

P= PEDRO JESUS (you have to pronounce this like you would in Spanish, so the J in Jesus is like an "h" sound... otherwise, it looses it's effect. also, this is a tribute to one of the dumbest, yet funniest movies around, napoleon dynomite, which i believe J loves)

Q= QUANTIKO (couldn't find a meaning, but it sure is different and cool sounding also--- Quantiko Young)

R= ROCKY (no, this is not to pay homage to a set of films which had the worst-acting in movie history, but rather to have a name that is similar to Stone's.... then M can be between a Rock and a hard place (Stone!) ha!

S= SOFRONIO (means 'self-controlled' hey, I mean, who doesn't want a kid who is self-controlled? again, goes well with the last name of Young)

T= THUNDER (I like this one because not only is a nature-related name, it also is a good, strong boy name. Nobody's going to mess with someone named Thunder Young!)

U= UMAR (means 'long living' ...we do hope this little one has a long life!)

V= VARIYA (means 'excellent one' ... we sure do pray he will be most excellent!)

W= WACHINTONKA (means 'patient'... yeah, we all want a patient kid too!)

X= XANTHUS (means 'golden haired' ....who knows, maybe he'll have blonde hair... but even if he doesn't, we know he'll be cute!)

Y= YASASHIKU (means 'gentle and polite'.... seriously, i love all these names that are good qualities we want our kids to have. however, i picked it because again, it was cool to say it with it's last name... "Yasashiku Young")

Z= ZANIPOLO (is Italian for 'little gift of God' ...and indeed, this little one is a precious gift from God!)

What to say....

I don't even know where to start with this post. It's hard to put into words. I will start with asking prayer for a dear family, one I know from when I lived in Memphis. After I moved to Memphis to work as a children's minister, they were one of the first families/people to kind of "reach out" or "adopt" me since I was single, had no friends there yet and my family was 12 hours away in WV. Brad and Kay are the mom and dad, and their 2 sweet girls, Hannah and Sarah both came through my ministry while I was there. Really, there is no way to say how much they ministered to me throughout the 5.5 years I was there, when I was supposedly there to minister to them, since they were one of the families in my "area." I learned much from them and enjoyed loving on their daughters. And now, it seems it is time to say good-bye to Brad, although I'm not sure how. He was diagnosed 2 years ago with cancer (in the gall bladder area). During the past few days, he has not done well and they have called in his parents, sister, and Kay's mom. If you'll join me in praying for this sweet family, I'd appreciate it greatly.

Addendum to the first day of school

Ha.. I forgot to share about the funniest thing from Tuesday's first day of school experience for Stone... when I picked him up, I asked the usual, "How did he do? Was he good?" And of course, the teachers answered in the affirmative. Then, one of them went on to say, "Oh, he did do something rather funny. At snack time, he was sitting with all the other kids at the table and he started banging his juice cup up and down on the table and saying 'Mama, Mama!' and then all the other kids starting doing it with him. It was pretty funny." To which I replied, "Great, my child is now a ring leader." Ha ha! I don't think he's never done that before. Today, he sang them some songs...which I told his teachers beforehand that he loved to randomly break out in song. Anyway, thought I'd share.

Yoda and first day of school

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. Stone happened to find one of my sleep-shirts and wanted to put it on. Kevin helped him and it was so funny seeing him walking around in it, that I called him "Yoda" cause the shirt was green and you couldn't see his feet. We put him on the bed for a posed pic.


So yesterday was Stone's first day of school.... again. I switched him to the preschool where I work (RCBC) for several reasons, but none because we weren't happy at TFBC preschool. In fact, I hated switching him for the very fact that he had 2 AWESOME teachers there and they were very sad to see him leave. But, it just made more sense for us to move him because 1) it makes work for me a little easier to handle because I can now take him to his room and then go up to my office and if there's any problems, I'm right there and don't have to travel 20-25 minutes to get to him, 2) since we're in the process of moving closer to the church (another post in and of itself) having him there will again be more convenient and 3) it's monetarily cheaper since I get a discount being on staff.

All in all, it was a hard decision but we felt it was the right decision. He had a good day yesterday and his new teachers seemed to enjoy him (at least for his first day anyway!). I hope tomorrow goes as smoothly. The only problem I may forsee is that they aren't as strict about keeping peanut products away from the school like at TFBC (you can't even let your child take pnt stuff for lunch or snacks because there are so many kids who are allergic to pnts now). So, Stone has to eat his lunch a little bit separated from the other kids so he won't accidentally eat something with pnts, but he's still close to everyone else and not an outcast. Hopefully though, there won't be any major problems with that. We hope he has a great rest of the year there and we will miss our TFBC friends, and especially being able to play with Cuz M on the playground! :(

Happy Birthday Nate!

Today is cousin Nate's 4th birthday! Happy birthday Nate! Stone LOVES Nate... too bad he doesn't get to spend more time with him, since he lives in WV. (Nate is my brother's son.) We hope he has a great birthday!