Listening Ears!

Stone's preschool teacher came across this great idea to hopefully remind the kids that they always need to have their "listening ears" on... which translates into: Listen and Do!! Do you think they help?? Well, we're still working on that!! :)

Rawhide and Outer Space

That's what my poor little guy has...a rawhide! I meant to write this yesterday, but got distracted after I posted the other 2 posts below. Anyway, he woke up yesterday morning and had a "messy" diaper. Kevin discovered it first, as he changed him while I was in the shower. I didn't think much of it, cause he didn't act sick. Then, he had another one before I was ready to leave for school. I decided it would be better to leave him at home with Kevin, and K agreed. Good call, as not long after I left, Stone threw up a little. Now on Wednesday and Wednesday night, he was fine.. ate normal, acted normal, etc. So, all day yesterday, he hardly ate and ran a low-grade temp. He stayed home today as well, but was much better by the afternoon. In fact, I took him on a little "adventure" to find a much-loved video that we accidentally discovered at the library a few weeks back.

He's been into space rockets/shuttles for a little while (I think because we had a foamie space shuttle that he played in the bathtub for the longest time and kevin would make it "blast off" and Stone always got a kick out of that). So, a few weeks ago (I think the week of Christmas maybe or right after) we went to the library and just happened to see this DVD in the kid's section on space shuttles and n*asa and all that. I grabbed it to see if it was interesting and to see if Stone would like it or not. Well, he LOVED it and still LOVES it and is a little obsessed with it. :) We kept it for the 2 weeks we were allowed to keep it, and then renewed it for 2 more weeks. We finally had to take it back. Since that time, Stone has asked for it every day since, and several times a day! We tried explaining to him that we didn't have it any more and he wasn't quite understanding that and then didn't want to accept the fact that we weren't playing it for him anymore. So, I search the library in HP to see if I could get it out again but it was already checked out.

I check all the libraries in g*boro, and none of them had it. So I broadened my search to the libraries in the winston*salem area and found one copy. Mind you, this was about a 30 minute drive from our house! So this afternoon, we took off to this library, found it, and had to get a library card for that county to check it out (winston*salem is in another county than g*boro). But I was rewarded when as we were leaving, Stone held up the DVD in his hand and announced to the whole library, "I got the space shuttle!!!" Ha ha ha ha!! He was so happy! And he watched it on the way home and once again tonight... :) Maybe he'll be an engineer/firefighter/astronaut!!

Holding his beloved DVD of the space shuttle

Reading one of the many books on space I checked out for Stone and for my class,
in which I'm doing a space theme this month.

Sleeping....and nesting..

Occasionally, I find Stone asleep in the cutest or funniest positions and have to take a pic. The other night, he had his leg crossed up on his knee, as if he were just lying there, hanging out, instead of sleeping. I'm not sure how he sleeps this way, but thought it was cute...


This picture shows how he LOVES his new thomas blanket that my sister got him for Christmas. It's big, blue, has 3 trains on it, has a blinking star and is incredibly soft! So, he loves sleeping with it and on occasion pulling it out and making a "pallet" on the floor, along with all his other blankets and curious george stuffed animal. He's seen his Gigi and Pop do several times (and even here at our apartment over Christmas) and thought he'd pull it all out into the living room, just like they did! I guess it's his own way of "nesting."

Mr. Cool

Thanks to Stone's Gigi, he now has this really cool drum set/keyboard/d.j. mixing machine! I actually found it at our school's consignment sale last September, told her, and she got it for him. We originally were going to give it to him for his birthday, but he got so much that we decided to wait until Christmas. It was a total hit.. he loves it! I have to say that it's pretty cool and has some funky beats/tunes with it that make us laugh whenever he plays them. So, thought I'd capture a pic of him with his cool sunglasses on playing, except, he would only pose and not pretend to play it!! Ha ha... I've trained him too well to pose for all the billions of pictures I have taken of him over the past 3 years.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my dad! I wish I could be just a bit more peppy, but in light of yesterday's news, it is kind of hard. However, my dad knows how much I love him cause I tell him all the time and I'm so thankful to have him in my life. I hope he has a GREAT day!! Here's a pic of him with Stone during our Christmas visit. I hope you have many more years to come dad!! Thanks for all you do!

Not again....

...but yes, it is true. My dear husband came home a little early from work today, in which I immediately wondered why. He was laid off again. It has only been 9 months since the last time this happened to us and to be honest, I am quite rattled at the moment. Was there warning? Sort of. The CEO sent an email New Year's Eve stating that sometime in January, there would be about 12 lay-offs. He didn't give hint as to who that would be or which departments that would affect. K had 2 things going against him... being a recent hire, and due to some changes back in Oct/Nov where he was switching job roles, that was not a good thing all around (the guy who started all the changes up and quit, the guy who was supposed to train K did his best to NOT train him and thus, K was left trying to learn a whole new job with about 1 day's training while still doing his old job at the same time. which meant he made some mistakes, as anyone might do in the same situation) So here we are again!

Please pray as we fervently search for another job for him. We hope and pray that we do not have to move again. Although God definitely blessed us with this move as much as we didn't want to, I'm not sure any of us can emotionally handle another move being that we haven't been here even a year yet. We are thankful that the company has provided 2 month's compensation as well as health benefits; something they did not have to do and it allows us a little time to hopefully find something. Thanks to you all for your prayers.... will keep you posted...

No title

I can't think of a title for this post, so thus the name. Just relating the past couple of days.. still have our Christmas decorations up, went back to school for one day and started getting sick with another cold Monday night... it's now all nasal and thankfully no coughing YET, so we will see how quickly I can recover, and now my little man is starting to sneeze his head off as well. So it continues... I seriously hope we are not sick until summer hits! And I guess some day very soon, I'll get the decorations down.

Speaking of little man, he decided to douse a classmate of his with his juice. Yeah, you read that correctly. We're not exactly sure what provoked such behavior (or is it that he's just 3?)... his teacher isn't exactly sure either so our theories are 1) either she got into his so-called "personal" space too quickly and defended himself with the juice in the cup he had (this was an open little cup, not a sippie, so both of them ended up wet!) or 2) as he was walking past her to dump out the rest of his juice in the sink, his teacher said he sort of tripped on the carpet and a little spilled on her.. she commented "oh, a little juice on me" but wasn't mad.. that's when Stone decided she needed more on her.. we think maybe he misunderstood and was reacting to her comment.. this might be due to him not completely understanding everything spoken to him (APD). So, of course I had him apologize to her, I explained as best I knew how that we don't throw our juice on other people, changed both of their shirts and all was well. It has been funny that the past 3 mornings when getting ready for school, he has protested heartily, "No school! No school!" But has had rather good days considering. He begins speech therapy next week so I'm excited about that and hoping that will help him dramatically.

Yesterday, I got a new student. If you recall, my one student, Malu, had to move back to India with her family. So, I was down to 4 kids again. Then, over the holidays, a family who attends the church where our school is decided to enroll this newbie and his little brother. So on Tuesday he came and so far, he has fit right in. He is still trying to find his place and learn everybody's personalities as well as the "class rules" but I think he'll be just fine. I now have 3 boys and 2 girls. And speaking of my kids, one of the girls told her mom (who then told me when we got back) over Christmas break that I was the best teacher in the world and the most perfect teacher for her. I felt very special! Especially since I think I stink at being a preschool teacher!! :)

One last little sad thought.. Stone is still asking to see his cousin Mercy every time we get ready to go out. I try to explain to him that we can't see her and it just makes him mad. I tell him that I miss seeing her too, as well as Gini, Wyatt and Jason. Maybe we'll have to make a trip down soon to see them. Also thought I'd post these 2 pictures of Stone and Wyatt..so sweet!! Stone has really taking a liking to little W over the last 2 visits with them... maybe he wants a little brother of his own? Not sure, but there is no such little brother (or sister) in the making at this point in time to be sure! I guess he'll have to be content with his cousin and the other cousin on the way next August.

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know it's January 3 and that I'm a few days late, but thought I'd tell everyone Happy New Year anyway! We had a great Christmas! We spent time here in our place until Christmas day... made Christmas cookies Christmas Eve and opened presents Christmas morning and so enjoyed family time with just the 3 of us. Around noon, we left to go to WV to spend a few days with my family. (I might add here that when we looked for a place to eat on the way, we only found a Starbucks open.. I was grateful, even though they are terribly over-priced!) That evening, we feasted on a great dinner prepared by my mom, sister, and dad and then opened more presents! Stone, of course, loved reuniting with his cousin Nate and they spent the next few days together unseperable!

Friday afternoon, my mom's brother and his family came to visit, as we have a yearly Christmas gathering with them. We feasted again and opened even more presents! Nate and Stone were joined by my cousin's daughter Hailey who is 41/2 and the three of them had a ball together. We're so blessed that Stone and his cousins love being around each other!

We came back the Sunday after Christmas and regrouped so Kevin could go to work on Monday. I tried to muster enough energy to clean the house, do laundry, grocery shop and run other errands to prepare for spending time with Kevin's side of the family. What a blast that turned out to be! Kevin's grandmother (his dad's mom) flew in from Shreveport, LA along with her sister (who lives near Houston, TX) to spend time with some of the Hallquists and to celebrate her 80th birthday, which was December 31. So, we had K's grandmother, her sister, K's parents, K's sister (Gini) and her family, K's uncle Rob and Aunt Martha and their 2 kids+ spouses+ kids and one dog!! What a full house!! It was good to see K's grandmother and her sister, whom we last saw July 2007 when they came to Greenville to visit us there. It was also good to catch up with K's cousins, spouses and little cute babes as well. One of the kids is 8 months, the other is 6 months like little Wyatt. (Will have to post more of those family pics when I get them from K's cousin who had the fancy camera and took all the good pics!)

For part of the week, we had Gini, Jason, Mercy, Wyatt and K's parents staying in our 2 bedroom apartment! It was like one grand slumber party! Ha! Stone and Mercy thought it was GREAT fun to be sleeping in the same house as each other and loved waking everyone up WAY before anyone was ready to get up in the mornings. This morning, before Gini and family left, we opened our gifts to/from each other, so Christmas has lasted for quite a while around here. It has been wonderful to have family around, but I must say, I'm pretty exhausted right now and I need to get my head in gear to go back to teaching preschoolers on Monday morning. I think we'll have lots of play time that day!!

Here are a few pics to highlight the past few days.... oh, and a sweet Christmas gift to us all was finding out that K's youngest sister will be expecting around the end of August 2009! Congrats to Meri and Geoff once more and we look forward to adding another sweet baby to our crazy familiy mix!!

Christmas Eve, making cookies

Stone's "big" gift... his very own art table!

Christmas night at my parent's house.. he got new Thomas pj's and a firetruck.
He was pretty happy!

A new Thomas track for him and his cousin Nate to share when they visit my parent's house.
I have to say, this one was really cool!

My brother (Nate's dad), Nate, Stone, and my cousin's daughter, Hailey.

The family picture.

K's grandmother.. celebrating her 80th birthday on New Year's Eve.

A "gift" or "memory" to Nene.. handprints of her 5 great grandchildren,
with space to add Meredith's little one next year.

The 3 cousins at the children's museum in g'boro yesterday..
we had to get out of this house!

The 3 cousins this morning after breakfast and opening gifts...
Mercy was Ariel, the Mighty Knight.. ha ha ha!