Blog Hop- Kids Favorite Photo

This picture is from some of our good friends wedding that the girls were in. They were the most adorable flower girls I've ever seen and did phenomenal walking down the aisle together. I love this picture because it captures Macie's true big sister, nurturing personality as she holds Addaline's hand and guides her. These girls are never apart and will be lifelong friends; looking at this picture reminds me of their bond all the time!!

Show Us Where You Live Friday- Wedding Dress Edition

This weeks 'Show Us Where You Live Friday' over at Kelly's Korner is the wedding dress edition. She's changing it up a bit since we've all shown every room in our house and our yards, so now we're on to different topics. This week is a bit tough for me because I had to scan all of our pictures in because that's the only form of them we have is actual printed pictures so you can't really see the detail of my dress unfortunately. It was a 2 piece dress with a corset top with a modesty panel so my back wasn't hanging out, I loved it... SOOO beautiful!!

The toast picture... my hubby used to shave his head bald, I like him much better with hair =)

Our whole wedding party

Cutting the cake

The back of the dress... I REALLY wish you could actually see the bead work on this dress!!

Thanks for stopping in for another week. Hope you'll come back and visit!!

Blog Hop- Favorite Dish/Recipe

This recipe was given to me by my friend Katie. Every time Gerrad and I go to a party that we are required to bring food we bring this and it is ALWAYS gone immediately; we NEVER go home with any left in the crock pot. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as much as we do!!

Ingredients:

1 can of chicken breast, drained
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 cup of milk
1 can whole kernel sweet corn, drained
1/4 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
Tortilla chips

Directions:

Soften cream cheese in microwave, add remaining ingredients and place in crock pot set on low to keep warm.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture, but don't let that keep you from trying this YUMMY dish!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. This week MckMama is doing a spin on the 'Not Me Monday' and is doing a 'Not My Child Monday' so check it out if you get a chance.

This week was NOT the annual Mexican Fiesta in our hometown and our family did NOT attend it twice to eat the yummy food they sell. The first night we went we did NOT wait almost 2 hours for our food after waiting in 2 of the longest lines I've ever seen. The second night we went we did NOT get our food within about 10 minutes and become highly annoyed that we even went the first time and waited that long, sheesh! Macie did NOT have a blast riding some rides at the carnival portion of the festival; and Addaline was NOT stuck in her stroller watching her sister have all the fun. We would NOT trap her in there all evening so we wouldn't have to chase after her could keep a close eye on her, nope NOT us!

Saturday night Gerrad and I did NOT have a sort of 'date night' and head to KC for his Union Meeting for work. We did NOT leave a little early to shop around one of our favorite outdoor shopping centers and score some awesome bargains during the sidewalk sales either. I did NOT fore go dinner that night because it was not very tasty to turn around and have 2 plates of dessert, I eat healthy and would NEVER do that!

Sunday we did NOT go to church and stay afterwards for a wonderful bake sale auction to raise money for our VBS. I did NOT bid all the way up to $30 on chocolate covered strawberries and squeal with delight when I won them. We did NOT enjoy a wonderful lunch with some great church friends afterwards and enjoy every bite of the free fried ice cream that was offered to us.

I have NOT been perfecting my newest crafting quest lately and am NOT thrilled with the way they've turned out, here's a sneak peak.


I am NOT considering a career change and have NOT been thinking about it every moment of every day and praying my little heart out that it all works out for our family.

What have you NOT been up to lately? Don't be shy, give it a try!!

Children's Birthday Parties

Since we've shown all the rooms in our home with Kelly's 'Show Us Where You Live Friday' now we're moving on to different categories... this week is Children's Birthday Parties. I apparently failed MISERABLY at taking pictures of the girls party set ups this past year, I was more concerned about taking pictures of them. I'll do better this year and post about it after their parties! Macie's 6th Birthday part was a swimming party with a 'flip flop' theme in black and pink.

Here is the birthday girl ready to open her presents so she can swim with her friends!

Getting ready for some cake

Her 'flip flop' cake that my friend Carrie made her

The cheesey birthday girl!!

Macie's birthday is coming up next month so I'll make sure to take lots of pictures of the set up this year and I'll post about it next month!


Addaline's 1st Birthday was a 'cupcake' theme with pink and green and was absolutely adorable. We just had a small get together at our home for close friends and family.

Here is the birthday girl all decked out in her birthday gear, ADORABLE!

Outside laughing and enjoying her party

This was her big cake in the shape of a cupcake that my friend Carrie also made

Addaline's cake, she ate pretty much THE WHOLE THING (I told you my girl can eat)

Cupcakes decorated for the kids

The table set up, nothing too fancy but I love the pink and green combo, which I'm sure you know if you checked out Addaline's nursery from a previous post.

Addaline's 2nd Birthday is in September... we're thinking of having the girls birthday parties together and having a big swimming party for all our family and friends. I need to get on the ball with planning their party. Any ideas/tips for their shared swimming party that is rapidly approaching?

Thanks for stopping by; I hope you enjoyed my girls' birthday parties =)

Way Back When-sday

So this week I decided I'm going to change it up a bit and do some pictures from a year or two ago and change the title from 'Wordless Wednesday' to 'Way Back When-sday'. Hope you enjoy the oldie pictures, I LOVE them =)

Addaline and Macie's very first professional portrait together, SO cute! October 2007

The Hall Family's first professional portrait together! October 2007

Gerrad and I out one night for my friend Natasha's Birthday; when I still had long hair! March 2007

Gerrad and I on our cruise in March 2007, seems like SO long ago!

Me 29 weeks pregnant with Miss Addaline! July 2007

Blog Hop-3 Things About ME!!

***Today's MckLinky Blog Hop is 3 Things You Didn't Know About Me***

So here is my list of 3:

1) I am scared to DEATH of spiders, doesn't matter the size of them, they ALL freak me out. I once nearly wrecked my car because a spider dropped down from my car window on it's little web and almost landed on my arm, I jerked the wheel and had to pull into a parking lot so I could kill the thing. The RIDICULOUS part about that is the spider was about the size of a pinhead-no joke! Irrational fear I know, can't help it! I share the same fear about 'June Bugs' and my husband thinks it's hilarious how afraid of those I am as well-AHH!!

2) I wish I could sing. I sing in the car all the time and would LOVE to have a musical talent but obviously that just wasn't in the cards for me. Thankfully I'm good at other things!

3) I am semi-obsessed with redecorating our house about every year. My husband can't stand it and thinks I picked the most expensive obsession to have. I just don't like looking at the same decorations for too long and like to spice it up a bit. I'm a bargain shopper so he should be thankful for that =)

So what are 3 things I don't know about YOU?

Baby Showers and Girls Night

This weekend was the usual busy weekend for us, but a blast none the less. Friday evening Macie went with a friend to the Fiesta Mexicana parade to ride on a float and pass out dog treats (her friends mom works for Hill's), and then spent the night at their house so it was just Gerrad, me and Addaline all evening. We ran a few errands and enjoyed our quiet time that evening. Gerrad has been working some crazy hours/days so we haven't seen each other much in the past week or so.

Saturday my friend Carrie and I threw another good friend Heather a baby shower. It was SO much fun to get together with some girl friends and gather for a special occasion, the approaching arrival of baby Kori. I didn't get any pictures from the shower because I was running out the door in a hurry and of course forgot the most important thing-my camera! I did however get a picture of the super cute cake that Carrie made and you've already seen the outfit I made for baby Kori but I'll post it again. Saturday evening Macie, Addaline and I decided to take my mom out to dinner after her rough last few days... some mom/daughter/granddaughter time was MUCH NEEDED! Then my mom and I put the girls to bed when we got home and watched 'Dan in Real Life', SUPER cute movie by the way for those of you that still haven't seen it. Gerrad was having a 'boys night out' with the guys from work at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the UFC Fights.

Baby Kori's shower gift, she'll look ADORABLE in this outfit I'm sure of it!!

Kori's room is going to be done in Ladybugs and the shower theme was also Ladybugs, the cake Carrie made turned out great!

Sunday Gerrad worked again all day and the girls and I went to church solo. Then that afternoon we grabbed some lunch with some wonderful church peeps and then headed back to the church for another beautiful baby shower in honor of the Pastor's daughter in law. I also made her upcoming arrival baby Londyn an outfit as well. I think it turned out pretty well and really loved the color combo. What do you think?

Baby Londyn's outfit, SO adorable!

That evening a 'girls night out' was in order... some fab girl friends and I headed to our local favorite Japanese Steakhouse and then went to see 'The Proposal'. I HIGHLY recommend that movie as well to those gals who haven't seen it. I laughed so hard I cried during a few parts; who knew a romantic comedy would actually be THAT funny?! I was SO nice to get out of the house and have some much needed time with some fabulous gals who I absolutely adore-thanks again girls for a great night out!!

I skipped out on another weeks edition of 'Not Me Monday', wonder what's wrong with me that I haven't felt like participating?! I'll be back for it next Monday, PROMISE!!

Emphysema Can Kiss It!!

I apologize in advance for my not very nice blog title but I'm not really in a 'nicey-nice' mood about this situation in general. Today was a pretty emotional, crappy day for me and most of all for my mom. She has been having some difficulties breathing on and off for about a year, she didn't think much of it and scheduled a regular check up to talk to her Dr about it Monday. The Dr suggested having some lung function test done this week as well and a chest/lung x-ray. She went for her breathing test today and called me afterwards hysterically crying about the outcome.

My mom was told today that she has emphysema. Seriously, WHAT?! I couldn't hardly focus on what she was saying after that because I was trying SO hard to keep it together to let her know it was OK and she'd get through it and everything will be fine. On the inside I felt like dropping the phone and letting loose. She is having a very hard time with this because in all reality it is something that she has caused herself by smoking almost her entire life. I HATE CIGARETTES!!! It doesn't make the reality of it any less hard to hear knowing that. I told myself after we hung up to stay AWAY from the computer and not do my typical GOOGLE search immediately because I didn't want to freak myself out. I'm telling you in all honesty that I just NOW googled it at 11pm tonight and only looked at the definition I linked you to, I couldn't bare to look at anything else. I don't want to know and I'm going to live in denial for a little bit about it.

The chest x-ray didn't show any major issues thankfully. The exact words from my mom were 'Well at least they didn't find any lung cancer with the x-rays' AAHHHH!!! It terrifies me to no end to think about this disease and how it is going to start affecting my mom down the road. I can't picture my life with out her and I'm not even going to let myself go there. I know this is not a death sentence and I know it can be maintained by certain medicines so that is what I'm going to focus on. Thank you to all my friends/family for your encouraging words today!! They mean the world to me!!

On another note, I was home AGAIN with our youngest today for a repeat of the ear infection she had 2 weeks ago. Apparently it never cleared up the last time and is back in full force. They put her on a stronger antibiotic and I am to follow up with our primary Dr the day she finishes this antibiotic up (we had to use the Take Care Clinic at Walgreens again last night). Addaline was acting just fine yesterday and you couldn't tell a single thing was wrong with her, today was another story. Today she was running a fever of about 103 all day and didn't leave my side again except to take a 4 hour nap. Hopefully it clears up this time and doesn't become a recurring problem.

Tomorrow I have a very good friends baby shower that I'm throwing and then I'm going to hang out with my mom and the girls all day while my hubby works. I'm excited to have some quality time with my daughters and my mother. Sunday is a busy day filled with church, a baby shower at church in the afternoon and then GIRLS NIGHT in the evening. I'm SO excited... some girlfriends and I are going to dinner at our favorite Japanese Steak House and then we're going to see the movie 'The Proposal' which I'm pretty pumped about. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday

Addaline playing on the slip'n'slide

The girls playing in their little kiddie pool

My 6 yr old beauty posing on the patio 'Mom take a picture of me posing'- ha ha!

Gerrad and I before a date night a few weeks ago

Those eyes are gorgeous

4th of July Weekend

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July weekend. We hosted our annual 3rd of July party Friday night and had a fabulous turn out. We were so glad everyone could make it and we had a blast catching up with everyone socializing and shooting off fireworks.

Macie up close and personal on the 4th

The Hall girls

Mommy and Macie on the 4th before the neighborhood parade in the morning

Sisters

So cute! I'm not sure what's up with Addaline scrunching her face up but it's still cute

Macie and Addaline before the party Friday night

What a ham!

Mommy and Addaline