the Big T-H-R-E-E (11/2)

my oh my...... where has the time gone? it's hard to believe that just three years ago we brought this adorable little one home from the hospital. and from the second her daddy saw her adorable big blue eyes she has had him wrapped around her little finger. three years later the blue is not quite so strong, in fact it's all but gone, but her daddy is still wrapped firmly in place. i love to watch the two of them together. they share such a unique bond.

we had a quiet, family celebration to mark this momentous birthday. i called it the pinkalicious party due to the shockingly bright pink cupcakes. and yes i can count - there are 4 candles because it's a hahl tradition to put an extra candle on for good luck.


and to finish off the night we enjoyed a viewing of the newest ice age movie.

just a little side note here ~ this blanket is quite possibly the ugliest blanket i have ever seen in my life. but larry has had this for about as long as he can remember and has no immediate plans to part with it. and it is by far the warmest blanket i have ever seen. just goes to show you that the old school stuff really was of superior craftsmanship.


i asked each of the kids to give me one word that described lily.

brendan - irresistibly cute


bella - sweet


brooke - friendly




as for me; i would say that lily is:
adorable
full of life and energy
beyond mischievous
affectionate cuddlebug
infectious smile and laugh

happy birthday baby girl!

we love you!!

knocked out lily style

lilster's plays so hard all day everyday. the nice thing about this is that some nights she is sooo ready for bed. last night she ate dinner, walked into the kitchen, aked larry to cut her a piece of cake and promptly laid down on the floor and fell fast asleep. larry turned around to hand her the cake and she was already out.

it seriously took her all of 60 seconds to crash on the floor. in this exact position. what i wouldn't give to sleep that soundly.

the chocolate thief

a couple weeks ago i was trying to work out some details about our new roof installation with larry on the phone. lily was being a little, shall we say, NOISY so i went upstairs for a little bit of quiet. on my way back down the stairs this is what i found.

and in the family room i found this

i asked lily who got into the kisses and she looked at me with her big ol greyish blue eyes and said

"it's not bliss mom but it's still good chocolate"

she never ceases to put a smile on my face

evolution of a self portrait

hmmm...... not quite
closer but still lacking

perfect - especially the cheeto smile

larry and brendan spent last weekend hunting. the results of the big hunt.... nadda. but they did have a lot of fabulous father son time and that counts for a lot.

it seemed like a good idea

earlier in the summer, larry was painting the house of our neighbors\friends and they offered to let us have their basketball hoop. well the summer has come and gone and we didn't do much about collecting said hoop. so last weekend when brendan and a couple of his buddies were standing around outside without much to do i told larry we should go get the hoop. "it'll entertain them for hours" i told him. he was a little reluctant, didn't want to "bug" but made the call anyway and promptly went down to retrieve it. the boys and girls in the neighborhood "gang" were very stoked at the idea and helped larry get it set up. all was well and everyone was having a ton of fun until.......

brendan caught the ball with his mouth knocking out his half fake tooth again for the second time in less than 6 months. this tooth has been SUCH a pain - and i'm not just talking physically. it got knocked out for the first time in 3rd grade before it was even all the way in. his baby tooth had barely been gone. i remember thinking at the time, why couldn't this have happened 2 months ago and then we wouldn't have to even worry about it?? why must we destroy our permanent tooth when it's just barely scratched the surface?? so from that day forward he has had a partial fake tooth. and this is the 3rd time it has gotten knocked out. except for the initial impact, the tooth doesn't hurt when it comes out. until this time. apparently 4 times is the magic number. this time it really hurt and the dentist had to put some special medicine on the nerve to try and "calm it down". which also meant that he couldn't fix the tooth all the way. so poor brendan is stuck with just a little stub until the end of the month when the dentist will build up the tooth to normal size. and he informed us that the earliest he will be eligible for a cap or crown is around 18. so we decided that it would be fun to have a running bet as to how many times the tooth will need to replaced before that time. my personal guess is 12 more for a total of 16 knockouts. and we are getting him a mouthguard for all sports. no sense in tempting the fates where this little puppy is concerned.

the three muskateers

i'm really behind on my blog posts but am trying to get them caught up. while working on the post of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary last month i found this adorable picture of lily and brooke with their cousin rebecca. the whole weekend those three had so much fun together. you would have thought they had known each other forever rather than just met.

it really touched my heart to watch the girls bond so quickly. i don't think that i could ever put into words what their sweet little smiles did to me. priceless.....

opening a new chapter

i'm not really sure how it happened. where did the time go? and how on earth am i old enough to have this happen???

brendan started middle school about a month ago. to say that it's been surreal is a complete understatement. i swear to you it seems like just yesterday he was starting elementary. a small little kindergartner. and now we are in middle school. i ran into a friend i haven't seen in forever the other day and she told me her oldest is a junior this year. a junior! no way! and then i realized, that before i even blink that's going to be me. time just flies so fast and i can't seem to keep up with it.

here's brendan on his way to school yesterday. everyday he lugs that huge, weighted down backpack and his trumpet. the trumpet is a new addition. he really, really wanted to try band this year and since electric guitar is out he opted for trumpet. as for his playing skills, well right now it reminds me of a wounded animal bugling others for help. but i'm sure in a few months it will actually sound like music. in general he is loving middle school. i was super nervous and still am but he is taking it all in stride. it's been kind of a tough transition because almost everyone he knew from elementary is in a different pod and his neighbor friend is older so they don't see each other at all. so he is basically starting from scratch in the friend pool. hard times but again, he's a trooper my son is. he has such a positive attitude about the whole thing and i'm sure (praying anyway) that before long he'll fit right in. the other big change middle school has brought is his desire to wrestle. the season doesn't start until winter so he might change his mind by then. but for right now he is super excited about it. i think it would be a great sport for him and am anxious to cheer my little man on!