A Family Home Evening to Remember

Opening Song:


Lesson: money management

Activity: driving to a car dealership in Bloomington to pick up the newest member of our family. (And cutting the biggest check of my life, so far... fun!)

Treat: It's official, we're a minivan family! (2005 Sienna Ltd... thanks to Brian's crafty haggling). It's been a loooong time in coming, and it's quite the step up from our 2-door Celica convertible that has seen better days. Our little car has served us well, but I am thrilled beyond measure not to have to toss my kids into their child seats anymore, to have a place to set my purse, and not to have my knees next to my ears when I'm in the passenger seat.

Woooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring on the road trips!!!!!!!!

Oh, and the baby!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today I was spoiled by my boys!


Yes, those are crêpes--with steamed asparagus and a light sauce. (Made by Mr. Brian Hall, who does not particularly enjoy cooking.) They were just delicious--perfect, perfect crêpes, and the perfect breakfast for my palate (I don't usually eat "breakfast" foods for breakfast), and my fixation on protein and vegetables, haha.

Can I just tell you how completely, utterly astounded I was?? I was absolutely blown away by Brian's creativity and generosity, and the love and care he put in to this meal. WOW!

Isn't he the best?

Word has it that Brian was actually the sous chef, and that this little man spearheaded the food prep. (What a cutie--he got himself dressed this morning. I love his budding sense of style!)

And flowers!!

Then I came downstairs and realized that the reason Brian had stayed up super late the night before was because he was priming the wall over the fireplace (where we had taken down the dated mirror), and hanging the lantern hooks and Sacred Grove painting we had just received.

I am speechless with gratitude for all that Brian does! He is an amazingly dedicated employee, leader and member of our church, and husband and father. (And he still has energy somehow for his 25mi+ bike rides on the weekends.) I would be hard pressed to try and think of something in his life that does not receive 110% effort; I'm always a little worried he's going to wear himself out with all he does.

But his family certainly is his highest priority--and the way he takes time to read to the boys at night even though he has work left to do that will keep him up past midnight, or play on the floor with them even when he's totally spent, or listen to me go on and on and ON about trivial things in my life even though his brain is burnt out from work... all show just how much he is a husband and father first and foremost.

Boy am I ever lucky to be this man's wife!

Easter Joy!

A family picture on Easter...



Dying Easter Eggs for Family Home Evening the Monday before...



Family Easter Basket...

Flowers from a friend...
Easter Egg Hunt with Friends...













Graduation (I graduated last Dec, but Spring commencement was that day, so we likewise celebrated)...





Happy Spring!!

THREE BOYS!!!

The New and Expanding Hall Family!

Baby Hall--coming late July/early August, 2011
(I'm 20.5 wks along)

Cute Little Profile!

Baby Feet!!

No Shame = No Room for Doubt!

My THREE Boys!!!!

So Sweet to Me

I love it when Brian is home to put the kids to bed with me. The routine is much more enjoyable, and I'm able to admire not only my cute kids (why are kids twice as cute in jammies?), but also my husband in his father role. Love him!

After changing into pjs, brushing teeth, reading scriptures, and saying family and kids' prayers, we will each take a kid and tuck them in. But for Ezra this means tossing him (with blankie and mouse) into his crib and bidding him adieu--maybe pausing for a toddler smooch before turning off the light.

For Felix, on the other hand, "tucking him in" has come to mean: hearing all about an adventure he had that day with puppy (fav. stuffed animal), the intricate workings of some body part (like the kidneys), and/or his plans for the next morning's breakfast; reading 2 bedtime stories (with 6 questions per page, and corrections if I leave out a word); more pressing life questions as he climbs into bed and requests that his blanket be flattened and pristinely tucked in; and a complex call-and-response style exchange of good-nights/I love yous/sweet dreams/and see you tomorrows.

Incredibly endearing and precious. But a bit time consuming!

So you can guess which kid Brian and I usually vie for.

Well, tonight after prayers, Felix warmed my heart with little conversation:

L: "Felix, who do you want to tuck you in? Mommy or DADDY!!!!"
F: "Mommy!"
L: "Oh, but Daddy is so fun, and he does awesome sound effects when he reads books."
F: "Oh, I want you, Mommy, because you're so sweet to me!"

Smitten!

To Costco or Not to Costco... I Need Your Input!

Hello there, wise family and friends... I'm facing a potentially life-changing decision here, and I need advice.Yea or Nay?

Here are some factors that impact my decision:

• There are two Costcos relatively nearby, one is in St. Louis Park (5 mi/10 min away) and the other is in Maple Grove (11 mi/20 min away).
• We're pretty strict about our grocery budget, which is generous enough to let us eat deli turkey and red peppers (mmm), but not so generous that I shop at Whole Foods very often. So if I spend it all by the 18th, we're playing creative pantry until the next month (curses, January...)
  
• I'd be ok with the XL shopping carts, because somehow the boys have gotten into the pattern of running toward those FUN shopping carts with the car attached to the front at the grocery store. It's like driving a 2WD semi truck. That magnetically attracts random bottom-shelf grocery items throughout the store.
• I'm kind of choosy about food, and I'm wandering if Costco will have enough variety. Like, I like unsweetened applesauce, not-squishy whole-grain bread (but it has to be $2.50 or less), plain yogurt without junk (cornstarch, gelatin) in it, whole-wheat tortillas without preservatives (funny aftertaste, yuck), natural peanut butter... etc. I guess I could go browse the aisles with a checklist and see for myself on this one.
• We don't eat much meat, and that's one thing that most people love about Costco. We do eat 'meat analogs' regularly--does Costco sell tofu, veggie burgers & hot dogs, tempeh, seitan, etc? (Trader Joes has the market on cheap tofu. They offered to start delivering it directly to my house to save the step of shelving it and me unshelving it. I wish that weren't a lie.)
  
• We do eat a lot of produce, so the 4-lb bag of spinach is AOK with me. I have a hard time buying produce that's above the "benchmark" per pound prices I have in my brain, so I've been feeling kinda deprived this winter... (Why is winter squash $1/lb everywhere! If that's not in season, I don't know what is. Someone show me .29/lb; I'll even take .49. I could eat a butternut squash every day of my life for the rest of eternity. That's probably not normal, oh well.)
  
• I went through Costco once last fall, to scope out prices, and found them to be comparable to sale prices at other grocery stores. So, it would be more convenient to be able to get these prices all of the time, in one place. Then again, I don't mind waiting for sales and then stocking up when an opportunity arises. I'm totally that crazy lady buying 36 jars of Classico pasta sauce (3/$5 baby. We'll eventually use it). I love when the cashier or other customers point out that I really must like pasta sauce. (Probably not any more than they do, but I do hoard it in my basement, lined up pretty on shelves, which is only normal if you're Mormon.) Of course, shelf-stable items are one thing; the same tactic doesn't work for produce and other perishables.
  
• Have you noticed that Target is starting to sell Utah family-sized packages of home stuff? I haven't compared prices, but it's worth considering that Costco and Sam's Club don't have the monopoly on jumbo-jumbo sized packaged goods. (I do a lot of grocery shopping at Target, since their prices are competitive, Rainbow kind of bugs me [I can really only buy 1 gallon of milk at the sale price?? Gimicky], Cub foods is a little far away, and every time I go to Byerly's I come out with sushi too (mmmmmm), in addition to overpriced groceries--or sometimes just sushi. Boy is that wrecking my grocery budget. Curses, January... But that has nothing to do with anything.)

Another important consideration is whether Costco would really save me money, or whether I would just end up buying huge-o boxes of stuff so that cost per item was lower, but total grocery bill, after getting a variety of items, is not?

And, at the heart of the matter--can I really be a Mormon Mom, in every sense of the word, and not have a Costco membership? (JK here, I'm a maverick. Look at the car we drive. Wait, that's cause we're cheap.)

What has your experience been? And what other things should I consider?