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!!

Happy Day

Hooray for finally being able to play outside again! (It's been a looooong winter...)

Pickles and Ice Cream? How About Cucumbers and Yogurt.

I'm pretty sure it's not ok to go through a bottle of green tabasco sauce in 3 days, even if I am pregnant. But it's just soo yummy! (At least we got a killer deal on them--I found $1 off coupons in one store, collected a bunch, and used them at a cheap store where the little bottles were $1.09. I have about 4 dozen bottles, which, before this pregnancy, I was thinking was like a lifetime supply...)

But as I'm sitting here eating my lunch of peas, strawberries, and ww tortilla with scrambled egg & cheese (yep, with green tabasco sauce on everything but the strawberries), I'm realizing that this is a predictable part of growing a baby for me.

So I don't consider myself really particular when it comes to food. I like pretty much any food that's not gristly or greasy or too sugary. I like to eat balanced meals and snacks. I like simple foods best, but also adventurous recipes made from good ingredients (Thai curry, sushi, fresh Mexican recipes, etc.). I don't eat much 'processed' food, not for any ethical reason, but just because I don't like the taste and because I'm cheap and can make stuff on my own. Oh, and I don't like chocolate, which I know isn't normal, but hey--more for you!

With that background, my food choices during pregnancy aren't too weird--just amplified versions of these preferences, I guess. And there seems to be three phases to my eating habits in each pregnancy, which (surprisingly enough) correlate with the three trimesters. For your reading enjoyment...

FIRST TRIMESTER: Find out I'm pregnant at about 6 wks. Nausea takes about 2 wks to set in, during which time I both doubt that I'm actually pregnant, and think maybe this is the lucky pregnancy where I won't get sick.

But then the morning sickness sets in. Sense of smell heightened. Sense of appetite squashed. Nausea. Disgust at the thought of eating... anything, just about. No energy. Crabby most of the time. I usually find 2 or 3 foods I can choke down to stay alive for the next 2 months. (With Felix: yogurt and dry wheat chex , Ezra: nectarines and honey-7-grain kashi granola bars, Baby #3: Mi-del graham crackers, butternut squash, and oranges). It's a challenge to prep food for other people. (When I was pregnant with Felix, I made a cake for Brian in June and spelled out "Happy Father's Day" in chocolate chips. It took me two hours and about 5 trips to Mr. Porcelain to get those horrible smelling chocolate chips on. Blech.) Poor Brian probably loses a few pounds along with me in those first months, since my strategy for making it through this time involves hitting the sack at 7p or so and sleeping my nausea-filled life away.

The first three months of each pregnancy have seemed a little tougher with each baby, but only because I can't nap as easily with tots around, and because those tots have to eat. Since even the act of spreading peanut butter on a piece of bread makes me want to throw up at that point, my kids eat a lot of plain yogurt-fruit-cereal combo, which isn't anything to feel too guilty over probably, even if they did eat it twice a day sometimes....

SECOND TRIMESTER: Wake up on day 1 of week 14 with an appetite. Let me at that fridge. I'm able to slowly start eating normally. My energy level is great, and I'm interested in cooking and eating again (much to Brian's relief). This is the happy part of pregnancy.

Since this is where I'm at right now, I'll record my 'cravings' this time around (they're more or less the same as the other two times):

• protein, protein, protein. Yummmm. Tofu, veggie burgers, garbanzo & kidney beans, eggs (hard boiled, scrambled), plain yogurt, chicken sometimes, and deli turkey. But only the pricey deli turkey, the kind that is just shaved turkey breast--not the pressed together slimey stuff. I search out the best prices for these foods, and buy a lot...
• Nuts. I have eaten more almonds this pregnancy than most people do in 5 years I think.
• Whole grains. Dense, hearty breads--anything that takes longer to chew than to read the ingredient list, basically. TJ's ww tortillas and pita bread, or homemade. Oat bran muffins.
  
• Veggies. I looove veggies. Spinach, squash, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, etc, etc.
• Fruit. Especially citrus (Grapefruit Farmers of America sent me a personalized thank you note this year, they hope I'm planning on having at least a dozen kids), and berries. Super yum.
• Random strong flavors, like feta cheese, artichoke hearts, vinegar... and green tabasco sauce, of course.

THIRD TRIMESTER: A toned-down version of the previous trimester, with heartburn. It seems like I'm always hungry, and then after two bites I'm too full. So I snack, a lot. Since my babies don't tend to stick out very much, they take over my entire abdomen instead. I'm not sure where all of those organs go, because I remember feeling the baby kicking in my back and up almost in my chest a lot. The net effect is not being able to sit comfortably for the last month, and having a lot of heartburn. Really though, since that's about as bad as it gets for me in pregnancy, I'll keep my complaining to a minimum.


So, that's quite enough about my pregnancy eating habits. What have your cravings and aversions been?? I'd love to hear!

PS, here's a belly shot from a week or so ago.

Bright Boy

This morning, Felix and I decided to make banana nut oat bran muffins for breakfast. While they were baking, I wrote out some sentences to see if he could read them:

Spring is fun!
I love to splash in puddles.
My new rain boots are bright green.
My jacket is red.
Ezra has green boots too and a yellow jacket.

I was pretty surprised--he read everything perfectly! I only had to give him a hint on two vowels and tell him that the "gh" in bright was silent. Impressive, little guy.

I had been figuring that when he was "reading" books to me that they were memorized, because he doesn't sound things out much out loud. But I guess he really is truly reading! (I can't take too much credit for this, I've helped him here and there, but he really has just taken off on his own.)

It really is amazingly fun to watch your child learn and develop, isn't it?

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!!!!

Snowman

General Mills is a wonderful company to work for. They offer a lot of perks, including employee clubs and activities of all sorts. One funny activity that Brian forwarded me an email about (probably just because he thought it was silly) was a snowman building contest for employees during the work day. I thought it would make a fun family activity though, so team Hall met up a week or so ago on the day of the activity, geared up and ready to compete.

Scoping out the competition

Snow Tots

The snow was actually really powdery, and almost impossible to pack. We added lots of water, and scaled down our plans a bit.

Out little headstand snowman, coming together!

I wanted to do something a bit more creative, but still simple enough that Felix and Ezra could help--and not get frostbite while we worked.

Well, our efforts paid off, because after the votes were tallied up (from employees who could see the snowmen from the cafeteria window), out little Upside Down Snowman took first place!

Hooray!

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!

Coolest Nerd Dream Ever

Last night I dreamt that I was Abigail Adams's friend and we were accompanying some of the Founding Fathers to England to petition the King and parliament to redress their cruelty toward America. I was sitting next to Ben Franklin, and I was wearing a sweet dress, kind of like this one:
The King didn't listen, but some people in parliament were sympathetic, and did our Boston Tea Party cheer with us. I remember feeling kind of scared that they were going to punish us for speaking up.

Then we went east instead of west to go home, and stopped in Thailand to tour some temples and grab some street food.

Pretty much the greatest dream ever.

Any other rockin dreams out there??

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?

At Long Last...

Thanks to an incredible outpouring of support from heaven and earth over the past 5 years (much of it in the past 6 months), I have finally graduated!!

Photos from undergrad graduation

I've been waiting to share the news, because it finally became official on my student record last night, as I saw this when I logged in this morning to check my status:

DEGREES AWARDED - BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY           
--------------------------------------------------------------
DEGREE             :  BS                    
DATE RECEIVED      :  Aug 2005              
SCHOOL             :  Family Life           
MAJOR              :  Marriage, Family, & Human
                  Development
HONORS             :  Magna Cum Laude             
HONORS             :  University Honors with Thesis
GPA                :  3.92           
--------------------------------------------------------------
DEGREE             :  MS                    
DATE RECEIVED      :  Dec 2010              
SCHOOL             :  Family Life           
MAJOR              :  Marriage & Family Therapy
GPA                :  3.80            
THESIS             :  The Relation of the Expression of
                  Offense to Forgiving

HOORAY!!! I have finished the race! It has been a long, arduous process. We have moved 7 times since I started my degree, Brian earned 2 Masters degrees himself, and I've had 2 babies. I've had to navigate way too many sticky situations to list here, situations that had me in tears and almost throwing in the towel. Although it has been a character-building, enriching experience overall, if anyone were to ask my advice I'd have to strongly encourage them to finish up the student phase of their life before moving on.

I am deeply appreciative of the privilege of gaining an education; of the opportunity to develop new skills, work ethic, and endurance; of learning to rely on my family and friends for support (especially with childcare); and of working with my amazingly gifted and charitable professor, Dr. Mark Butler.

To sum up my appreciation, I'd like to share with you the Acknowledgments page of my thesis:

I owe my deepest gratitude to numerous associates, friends, and family members who have supported me during my journey as a graduate student. To friends who have cheered me on, prayed for me, and helped with childcare, I thank you for the integral role you have played in my completion of this degree.

To the faculty and secretary of the department of Marriage and Family Therapy, for the forbearance and generosity you have shown me as student on a non-traditional trajectory. I thank you for continually extending the opportunity to complete my work.

To Dr. Mark Butler, for ceaseless support and encouragement over the past eight years as I have worked as your teaching assistant and graduate student. The absolute positive regard and faith that you have always conveyed to me as a scholar, clinician, and associate have been central to my progress. I am humbled and forever changed as a person because of the privilege of working under your guidance.

I also express my profound appreciation to my family for their understanding and zealous support. To my loving mother and father whose enthusiasm for my education has been inspiring and contagious. To my dear eternal companion Brian, for your confidence in my abilities and tolerance for the imbalance in our lives over the past few months, and to my precious sons Felix and Ezra for your sweet temperaments and unconditional love. You, family, are my deepest source of joy, and the inspiration for my efforts to meaningfully contribute to this field.

Finally, I am everlastingly indebted to my Father in Heaven for the opportunity He has given me to grow in light and truth, and for the privilege of taking part in a small portion of His work by strengthening marriages and families.

:)

Busy, Odd Day. Or, The Little Car that Couldn't

I could tell last night when I was folding this week's laundry that I had had a pretty easy week: the only clothes that came through of mine were 3 pairs of pj pants, 3 sweatshirts, and 3 pairs of fuzzy socks. And that's pretty much an accurate snapshot of what I looked like M-Th.

So today is Supermom day: I started off with my first ever yoga class at General Mills at 7am. I am totally converted. I already am totally in love with yoga! Since it wasn't a beginner's class, I was worried I would feel weak and inflexible, but I actually didn't feel too out of place. (Guess my daily grind as a mom keeps me in decent shape...) I was even able to do most of the advanced variations of the poses, like the crow pose!

I am really grateful to Brian who's willing to head in a bit later to work on Fridays for the next few months so that I can bring some balance back into my life, now that I'm not running outside regularly. I am looking forward to stretching, toning, and balancing my way to a better life. :)

Later in the morning, the boys and I braved the -20* (yes, NEG 20, eek) weather to head to Ezra's 2-yr well child exam. Another visit that confirmed I'm raising linebackers with big heads: both my boys are in the 75%ile for weight and head, with Felix in the 10%ile for height, and Ezra in the 25%ile for height. (For the record: Felix: 38 lbs, 38" tall, 20.25" head. Stats from 4-yr check-up a month ago. Ezra: 30 lbs, 33.5" tall, 19.5" head).

But hey, they're happy, healthy, intelligent, active linebackers--and they completely win over my heart every single day. Love my boyzzzz. :D

So this is where my day got odd. I drove out of the parking lot, and was about a block down the road when suddenly I heard my car alarm go off. (This is all the more odd because I barely remembered I had a car alarm. The battery died in my remote like 3 years ago, and after trying unsuccessfully to replace it I just took the remote off my keychain and figured anyone who went to the trouble of stealing my car could just have it. It would help me get a minivan sooner, right? Plus, I think the false alarm rate on car alarms is something like 99.97%, so its probably not the biggest deterrent to a would-be criminal. But I digress.)

Anyhow, so all of the lights in and outside of my car start flashing, so I shut my car off when I reach a stop sign. What's going on??! Then my car won't turn back on, and the engine won't even crank! Ahh! Why didn't we renew AAA this year! I'm stranded! I'm going to die in like 15minutes, it's SO STINKIN' COLD OUT!

So after like 10 minutes of panicking, trying to start my car, and trying to answer Felix's questions without showing my frustration, I finally remember to take a deep breath and say a prayer. I'm at a fairly busy four-way stop, and I'm getting a little annoyed by the dirty looks from other drivers who I guess assume I'm doing this on purpose?! (But it made me think that I'm often guilty too of not having as much empathy as I should for people who I perceive as being "in my way"...)

So just then this kind man and woman pull up and offer to help me push my car around the corner onto the less-busy road. After trying to figure out what to do next, they notice I have two little guys in the backseat, who are now crying because of the cold. They offer to drive me somewhere to call for a tow truck or ride, and then they offer to drive me home if its anywhere nearby. So, generally I wouldn't accept offers like that from total strangers, but... they were an answer to prayer, it was abominably cold out, I got the "trustworthy" vibe from them, and did I mention we opted out of AAA for the first time in our married life? So I didn't really know who to call anyhow.

So Mr. & Ms. Good Samaritan drove us home, and I was so grateful for it!

After getting home, I remembered that I was going to stop at the store and pick up some staples we were out of. So I decided instead to make a batch of whole wheat bread and 2 doz whole wheat tortillas. Now if I only had a cow, some chickens, and an orchard and vegetable garden that produced throughout the winter, I'd be set.

So, the icing on the cake of this busy, odd day is that tonight Brian and I have an appointment with someone that has to do with something I've been excited about for a little while now, but that I'll have to post about later.

How's that for a mind-boggling cliffhanger?

Admission of Guilt

Absentee blogger.

Guilty as charged.

My reason? We lost our camera back in... September? And we still haven't bought a new one. I have no idea why really. Actually, that's not true, I know exactly why. We get paralyzed when a decision involves both money and consumer products with lots of choices. We are perfectionists who are utterly terrified of buyer's remorse, and of not getting the absolute best thing at the absolute best price. So we just put off making purchases for a long, long time. We have a long history of it. That's another blog post altogether though.

But a camera is a necessity, and I feel horrible about not having taken pictures of anything in our lives for the past 4 months. That's ridiculous. Plus there's the secondary effect of not having done as much, because we don't have a need to do something to take pictures of. You know?

You know?

No, you all aren't incapacitated by such trivial matters. And I, too, need to overcome my fears and apathy and jump back on the photo-snapping, mommy-blogging train.

All ABOARD!!!!!!!!


Wow, Laura. Just wow.

Yum

I love summer for fresh fruit, and autumn for earthy vegetables...

Lunch:

Acorn squash with maple syrup and pecans. Yep, it was blogworthy.

Also blogworthy: A successful thesis proposal meeting yesterday! My awesome committee liked my lit review, theory on anger in forgiveness, and proposed study (analyzing a brief survey of therapists regarding, what else, anger in forgiveness). So, if I run the stats we discussed, and write up the results and significance, my thesis will pass and I'll be able to... GRADUATE!!! Hooray! I have until the first week of Nov to finish writing, so til then, I'll have a messy house, ad hoc dinners, and a skimpy blog. Sorry.