garage

For those of you who don't know, we are (finally) adding the garage and mudroom onto our house!! Yea!! Below are some pictures of the work in progress.

Some before pics of the house - notice the open ended shed that

has been our "car port" for the past year or so - thanks to Rod's folks!!

Step 1 - the footings are poured!

Finally concrete!! The darker cement is the driveway and

the lighter is the garage floor.

More pictures!!

Posing with their Valentine's Day loot

Brooke helping me make sugar cookies - I think
the hat works, don't you?

I strongly dislike the cold, so on my watch

the snow comes inside to play!

My little man - all ready to play in the snow

or stalk prey!

They were having fun - really!

Brooke, my independent dresser. We had to be all

pink for the preschool Valentine's Day party.

Paige still lets me dress her!

Loren working on her First Communion Banner

The finished project

The day after Evan fell face first onto our concrete

porch steps - it's puffier than it looks. It was kinda

tough to suck on his binky for a day or two, but

he managed to work through it!

First Holy Communion

Loren made her First Holy Communion on March 22nd. It was an incredible day and she was so excited about being able to finally accept Communion. We were able to celebrate with family afterward and she was especially excited b/c her cousins came! Of course, my mom has those pictures so will have to post those another time!

Loren and her good friend Bailey.


Renewing Baptismal vows

Catching up!!

Wow, I am really behind on pictures b/c we couldn't find the cord to download from the camera for a while. Anyway, here we go . . . the last 3 months in a nutshell!

Loren the night of her First Reconciliation. It was a beautiful ceremony

and she was not the least bit nervous. I love how comfortable she is with Fr. Joe

because he's in the classroom every week!

Loren's 8th birthday - celebrated at Grandma Hall's

Evan & Great Papa - every day they get with him is precious!

Loren celebrated her 8th birthday along with a classmate and

son's friend at a water park in town. Almost their whole class was there and loved swimming in Jan.
Even Paige & Brooke got to come!

Paige with her My Twinn doll and new accessories from Gma Hoelscher.

I think the picture says it all.

Paige is 5!!

Hanging out at Grandma Hall's

Paige and cousin Dane

Valentine's Day celebration b/c the girls couldn't wait to give Daddy

his presents. Love is . . . . Husker gear!

The girls thought Evan absolutely had to have this

Husker blanket. As much as he looks like he loves it here,

he has refused to touch it ever since.

Much needed words of wisdom

I am writing this for the benefit of all of my friends who have had to listen to me complain lately about my schedule and how I can possibly make it better. Rod and I have explored every option from me changing jobs (not an option - I love my job) to moving to town (not an option - we love our acreage). None of them have seemed like the right answer. I have been praying like crazy asking God what I'm supposed to do and I'm sure he was quietly answering but in typical Cris style I couldn't hear him until he used a bullhorn.
I have an almost nightly tradition of taking 30 minutes in the tub to read some sort of inspirational book. It seems the bathroom with a locked door is about the only place I can find any privacy! Lately I've been reading "breathe - creating space for God in a hectic life". This is an excellent book for us busy moms. Anyway, often each chapter speaks to me on a different level. Wed was an especially trying day for me and I climbed into the tub feeling like the chance of slowing down was hopeless. I started reading the chapter "Reassurance - For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I reached a part of the chapter that said . . .
Many people want to slow down, so they make dramatic, sometimes costly, changes in their lifestyles. But hurry, at its root, is not about lifestyle or where you live. It's about how you think and how you perceive the world. You can rearrange the externals of your life in a radically different way, but you always take your thinking with you. If you are a hurried, rushed person in the city you'll also be a hurried, rushed person in the country. This is good news. That's because many people can't make huge lifestyle changes. YOU LIVE WHERE YOU DO AND SOMETIMES CIRCUMSTANCES PREVENT YOU FROM MAKING A RADICAL MOVE. If you are the parent of a baby and a toddler that's who you are; you can't change this fact (although circumstances will change as the children grow). But if you're a hurried, rushed parent with a baby you'll eventually be a hurried, rushed parent of a teenager. THE TRICK IS TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK. That's where the good news comes in. It is possible to change the way you think.
This may seem like a "well, duh" way of thinking to many of you, but for me it was an epiphany. I have a tendency to run around full of stress and think about how much more relaxed I'd be if I changed externals in my life. The truth is, I have to start by changing how I view my day to day life. The only thing that's rushing my day is me, and the only one who can slow it down is me. Hope you learned something from my "lesson of the day" and I'll keep praying for all of you if you'll keep 'em comin' for me!!

I am finally posting! First, a few pics from Christmas with the Halls!

Paige with her My Twinn doll - a Grandma Hall tradition when the girls are turning 5.

Brooke modeling her new shirt.

My nephews - Cauy 8, Dane 5 and Cade 10 now in their new Husker gear!

Christmas

Welcome to my 2008 Christmas card and letter! For those of you who haven't been around to listen to me "whine" about it, our wonderful vacation and overall busy life have caused me to run out of time for a Christmas letter and card this year. So, for our friends who visit the blog, Merry Christmas!! We had a wonderful year full of family, laughs and lots of celebrating of Jesus' birthday - birthday cake for Jesus Christmas Eve and birthday pancakes Christmas morning, complete with candles and singing! The kids got way more than they needed but all was given with love so we just teach them to appreciate it and hope some day they'll understand how truly blessed they are, and not just "gift wise". We got to spend time with both families and count at the top of our list of blessings the fact that everyone was healthy and happy. Here are a few pics from Christmas with the Hoelschers - the Hall family Christmas pictures will be forthcoming as soon as I find the camera!! We hope all of you had a blessed Christmas season and wish you a new year full of blessings, peace and joy.

Showing off some treats from Grandma

The GIANT stockings are from Rod's brother Uncle Ryan and his wife Elizabeth. They are an annual tradition and are full of "Dollar Tree" goodies wrapped individually. It takes about 25 mintues to open them all!!

Paige modeling her new robe.

Evan with Elmo, a favorite with everyone!