Hey,
This is Stephanie's blog.
I'm not available right now,
But as soon as I can sit down at a computer that works, with pictures available,
I'll get back to you with some entertaining updates.
Until then,
An apology will just have to do...
Sorry!

He went BOOM! (arms in the air)

Let's just say Carolyn had a great Christmas; all 5 of them.
My parents had an early Christmas, Bryan's Grandparents had Christmas Eve, the in-laws had Christmas day, we opened presents at our house, and then my parents had a second Christmas. I told Carolyn the other day that we were going to go visit Grandma and she looked at me with a serious expression and nodded her head convincingly while saying "Open presents, again."

And on a serious note (to a certain 19-month-old):
Santa broken

We recieved an inflatable Santa from a friend of our family a couple years ago and BOY was it a DOOZY! It was the best (by that I mean most ugly) decoration EVER!!! It looked like Obi Wan Kenobi glowing red with an inflatable round mustache that was completely separate from the rest of its face. Then it had a gigantic white ball on top of its head that failed at all to resemble the puff on Santa's hat. It was roughly shaped like one of those punching bag clowns that always pop back upright and it was constructed out of the same vinyl stuff that they make water flotation devices out of (to its eventual demise). I was pregnant when we first inflated it, and lets just say I rolled around on the ground for a good hour laughing so hard I almost peed myself!
We took this Santa and put it in front of our friends' house, randomly, and it was hilarious. Well, when they moved we stole it back and were going to vandalize someone else's home this year. We went to go inflate it with the air compressor, and while Dad worked on it, Carolyn and I hung out in the house. We were sitting there eating a cookie when we heard a loud BOOM that sounded like a bomb going off. Carolyn was scared so we went to check on Dad to make sure everything was alright. We peeked out the door and asked what happened; Dad said, "huh?"
While Santa's boots were inflating, the brittle frozen plastic shattered and exploded.
Well, this whole event was very notable to Carolyn who had no idea that there was a difference between the Santa we had been talking about bringing presents and the Santa that just gave daddy a percussion headache and temporary deafness.
To add to the confusion, daddy decided to put him in the dumpster with his head peeking out like he had succumbed to the poor economy and was in a last-ditch effort to fill his gift quota.

If you call the Hall home now, or walk in the door you will hear of this story, still. You see it lives on in the mind of Carolyn. She is obsessed with the memory of the Santa that 'sploded, just like a balloon. We can't walk outside without hearing that he peeked out of the dumpsters. Quite frankly its getting to be a little old.

Won't someone start a Valentine on fire or something?

"Holy Empty Shelves, Batman!"

I finally did it... no, not updating the blog, although that is also pretty crazy!
I went Christmas shopping.
No smiley face, no exclamation point; it was completely a failure. I needed to get: socks (forgot), a sled (the aisle was completely devoid of merchandise), a certain gift for Bryan (wrong size), and some other gift for Carolyn (she was with me, does it even count then?).
Oh, have I made this Christmas un-fun or what? Mostly I'm worried about money, so I've largely limited our potential merriment. It's even been too cold to go outside, so we can't even enjoy all of this snow while we try to be un-materialistic. Our dryer broke, our heat keeps going out, and Bryan can't even go fishing with his Dad!
What is going on this year?
I guess the only enlightenment I'm getting is that we are still pretty lucky even though I'm acting like Scrooge. I can't help but think that it would be pretty selfish of me to take a picture perfect Christmas, with a tree surfing on top of awesome gifts, for granted. There are so many people without Mommies and Daddies or any gifts at all, no heat, no cars, no nice comfy apartments, and the list goes on.
Kind of makes me think back to what the Christmas story was all about, and that's the important thing, right?
I just want to say that I love you all (yes, you), and I am so lucky to be spending Christmas with my wonderful family in this amazing place I call home!
Merry Christmas!

Two more to go!

I'm down to two semesters of school and two weeks left in this semester. I'm kind of excited to be at the point where I'm finally registered for some of the last classes I will ever take! It's gonna be a tough spring, but I am excited; is that weird?

Thanksgiving was BRUTAL this year, we ate enormous meals for 5 days straight. My stomach hasn't stopped hurting for a week. This is not a good thing actually, because my doctor wants me to take some more tests to figure out what's going on with my body, lately. I've gained more than 20 pounds in the last month and apparently that is not normal. That coupled with extreme fatigue, unbelievable pain, and some other strange things makes me worry. But, as usual, I'm sure its nothing but stress, so it's not worth the trouble.

Oh, we got approved for a home loan, so we might start looking at houses (maybe, if it doesn't cause me to gain another 20 pounds!). Carolyn tells us, "Carolyn home" when we talk about it, so maybe she's trying to convince us to get her a place with a yard and the potential for a puppy...

Well, that's what's on my mind right now. Perhaps someday I'll have the ability to post pictures again!

CANDY!!!

So, in case you didn't hear, yesterday was Halloween...

I was so excited all day, because Carolyn actually kinda knew what was going on this year. She went trick-or-treating with her daycare and learned all about how to get candy. So when we went to go show the family her awesome cow costume, she already knew to grab as much candy as she could fit into her pumpkin. What can I say, she's a genius! I feel bad, however, because by the time we made it to Grammy and Grandad Hall's, she was too tired to moo anymore; she just fell asleep. I sent a disposable camera with the daycare, so maybe I'll get some cute pictures; but until then here is our little Halloween moo cow.

Bryan taught Carolyn how to eat MaltO'Meal like he does this morning. My thought was, didn't she have enough sugar last night?

I've been thinking...

Not that it is that unusual for me to think; as a matter of fact OVER-thinking is probably my normal state, but I have been in a particularly reflective, inflective, and critical mental state for the last couple of weeks. However, instead of bringing all potential readers of this narrative into my level of psychological torment, I think I will list some interesting things that I have thought about, recently.

My daughter is a genius when it comes to words. I realized this yesterday when we were driving; she pointed and said "Schood bus" when a big yellow bus drove past.

Bryan is perhaps the most patient man in the world, except when his shoes are stuck on his feet, then he completely goes berserk.

We have exactly 3/8 of a dining room table.

When I was a sophomore in college I told someone that my favorite quote was from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol (think Alice in Wonderland). I think that it still is.

The time has come, the walrus said,

To speak of many things;

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax;

Of cabbages and kings;

And why the sea is boiling hot,

And whether pigs have wings.

In a way, I guess it reminds me of what I think congress must be talking about... sorry, sometimes I think I'm funny. But really! why does it seem like our government is so busy worrying about things that don't make any sense to me (Baseball steroid use, horse welfare, cruise security, etc.) I'm worried about real issues that will affect my family and my children's future. What if I am upset that neither presidential candidate appeals to me in any way? that I don't find anyone up for election worthy of representing me, even at the most local level? I am almost at the point of not caring anymore! But that would be unpatriotic, and so would moving to the Northwest Territories, so I guess I'll just keep worrying about it.

I will also have to beg for mercy for my lack of pictures. I don't have time to go online, regularly, at home this semester, and I don't have pictures at school, so you're just gonna have to live with it.

Update

It was just an ear infection, and luckily it rained that night and the sound soothed her to sleep. However, every night since she has been begging for "rai'nn" (I'm trying to show how she says it, it's cute) whenever she gets tired. Oh! And she actually really likes her medicine THANK GOD!