Holidaze!

Season's Greetings!

This Christmas season has flown by and we cannot believe we're approaching the new year. Here's what has been going on this month . . .

This month was unusually cold for Arkansas. We had several days around only 20 degrees and a couple ice storms. Alice still counted it as snow and enjoyed playing in it---for about 15 minutes, then she was too cold and wanted to come back inside.

Alice had a Christmas party at her school. I was really impressed with her sticker skills in this picture. She placed the manger stickers all by herself on the paper.

We were happy to welcome Dustin's mom, brother, and sis-in-law the week before Christmas. We made gingerbread houses and had a good time visiting. FYI, Alice will be your best friend if you come stay with us :) We know Arkansas isn't a popular tourist destination, so we truly appreciate those who do make it out here.

Alice got to open her presents from Nana while she was here. Nana gave her a trunk of dress-up clothes. What a lucky princess! Oh, the puppy in the picture is a stray that got dumped on our street. If anyone wants to give it a home let me know.

Gus wasn't too excited about playing dress-ups.

On Christmas Eve, our friends the Eddy's, invited us over for dinner. We also played a little Rockband.

Here's the two guitarists

Christmas morning! Alice asked Santa for a 'Belle dress.' He also gave her a 'Mrs. Pott's Tea Set.' She played with both of them all day. I can't believe how grown up she's getting.

WARNING: PREGNANCY IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR BRAIN CELLS!!!

It is apparent I am in the last stretch of pregnancy just from my absent-mindedness. I left a bag of frozen roll-dough out all night. In the morning this was the result--an exploded bag.

Later that same day . . . .

Dustin and I returned from Christmas Eve dinner. I wanted a glass of milk for some heartburn. It wasn't in the fridge. I looked around the kitchen for 15 minutes, dumbounded. We even entertained the possibility that someone had broken in the house and stolen milk. We started looking around for other possible stolen items. Dustin then mentioned something about being 'pregnant and hair-brained.' So I looked in the pantry. Yup, there it was. I had put it away with the flour hours earlier. Please pray my family will make it through the next couple months without me giving them food poisoning!

Last, but not least, here is a video of Alice at her school singing "The 12 days of Christmas" Her teachers all said she was such a ham. I love how she's the only one patting her back and taking a bow at the end. Enjoy!

Squadron Party and Perimeter Check Completed

We had Dustin's squadron holiday party for the kids last week. We had a jolly time and Alice had a full day of sweets and Santa

Making new friends

Snowball fight! This was such a great idea--cotton filled nylon snowballs--no injuries!

Face painting. She got a snowman and Christmas tree

The big moment! Santa arriving from the North Pole on a C-130

She was speechless

Santa came back to the squadron and passed out presents.

She loves Santa, and was completely enthralled.

Don't tell Alice, but Santa was played by Dustin's squadron commander

For some reason he didn't want us all to sit on his lap . . .



After my entry about Belle's perimeter check, I decided to update on the latest kitty drama

Sunday night we noticed a big gaping hole in her side. I took her to the vet on Monday and they admitted her (yes, a cat can be admitted) and fixed her up. She apparently had been in a fight with the neighbor's cat and been bit--this turned into an abscess that burst open. ewwww.

Now she's exclusively an indoor cat (especially if every time she wants to fight costs me $300) She has to wear the lampshade and stiches for 2 weeks as well as a bout of antibiotics. Most people would say a cat isn't worth all this trouble. Not for me, Belle is my anti-stress medication. Does this count for losing 1 or 2 lives? Anyhow, perimeter check is officially completed. Neighbor cat wins :(

I'm posting a poll today too. I'm debating whether to give Alice her new baby doll for Christmas or to wait until the new baby is here. What will make her transition to big sister better? Cast your vote!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Halls have a lot to be thankful for, we know we're truly blessed. We spent the holiday with friends and yummy food. We decided one great thing about getting together as friends is the collaboration of the best of several family recipes.

This week marked the beginning of the last trimester-yea! Unfortunately, I know the last one will feel longer than the other six months. But no complaints :) I have had a really easy pregnancy.

Alice was up late playing with friends the night before (we had a sleepover at the Preston's) and she slept all the way through the meal. So no pics of her. Also, I thought I had pictures of our friends, but I guess not. So yes, I'm fired. Sorry guys.

I did get a picture of the table. My family will recognize the candy-filled-turkey cups. My grandma used to make these every year and I couldn't resist making them. Alice really liked them, a little too much. She needed to eat more real food and less candy.

One night while I was studying (more on that later) Alice asked Dustin to do her make-up. Well he did, all with brown eyeliner. The result? I call it 'Gothic Cinderella'. She was ecstatic. "Thank you so much daddy! You did my makeups!" I love the whole ensemble'. Eat your heart out Suri.

Perimeter Check Initiated . . . .

Every morning I wake up with Belle (above) asleep at my feet. As soon as I get up she runs to the back door to be let out. This is when her 'perimeter check' is initiated. She walks the fence line around our yard in search of any intruders, like the neighbors cats. I have never known such a territorial cat. This ritual makes me laugh, such a serious thing for such a fluffy furball.

Halloween

Getting ready to go

3 little pumpkins . . .

Class picture

Dane and Alice--could they be any cuter???

This year Halloween was different--it was the first time we had trick-or-treaters! Everywhere we've lived before had maybe one or two kids in the neighborhood. This time we were out of candy in an hour, it was great.

On Thursday, Alice had a fall party at her school. On Friday, we went trick-or-treating with friends. She was Cinderella-of course! She loves Cinderella and wears her dress almost every day. We had lots of fun this year and are glad that she shared all her goodies so willingly.

mmmm Reeses

One of the videos is of her singing the song from the movie"A dream is a wish your heart makes" Well, it melts my heart, so sweet. But I have no idea where she gets her theatrics . . . .

The second picture is of all the kids--such great costumes!

Home from Italy

On our drive home from Georgia, we checked Luke's (Dustin's brothers) fire station where he works. We are very proud of him and his hard work. It's hard to believe that only 4 years ago he lived with us and attended Logan High--our baby's all grown up!

When we arrived to our home in Arkansas, we had some new tenants in the house. I just would like to say how much I despise these wolf spiders--soooo disgusting. They're fast too, they don't spin webs they just run to hunt down their prey. gag.

Rome, Pompeii, and Positano

Here's the slides of our last leg of the trip. Sorry it took me so long to post!

Rome was an absolute must see, but I don't know if I would go back. Very dirty and crowded--but you have to see it at least once. One thing we didn't know was that most of St. Peter's marble came from the Colosseum. We really enjoyed the Roman ruins, it was our favorite part of Rome.

Pompeii was huge--I can't believe how much they've excavated. It's amazing to see graffiti on the walls and art on the walls of the homes. We only spent a couple hours, but easily could've explored for a few days.

Positano was the highlight of the trip for me. The Almafi coast was to die for---so beautiful. I would definitely go back and spend a whole trip there. Loved it, loved it, LOVED it!

The best part of the trip was talking to Dustin without toddler interruption for 10 whole days--we missed Alice terribly, but really enjoyed our time together. It was so worth it.

Firenze! (Florence)

Even though Florence was crowded (like most touristy spots) it was beautiful. They would clean the cobble stone streets each night and there was a gelatto stand everywhere you went. What more could you want? We went to the famous Ufizzi art gallery and saw priceless works by Michelangelo and other renaissance painters. We also saw the statue of David, but were not allowed to take pictures.

Do view the slide show--I've got a picture of a guy in skinny pants (everyone wore them there) it's hilarious. Our favorite part was climbing to the top of the Duomo. It had gorgeous views of the city--definitely worth the years of waiting I had to do to get there!

I have one video of us on top of the Duomo when the bells were ringing in the Campanile---you can tell from my videos that I loved to hear the bells always ringing, it was just like a fairy tale. And yes, I still turned the camera not thinking the image would go upside down. Sorry!

*Note: you can speed up or slow the slide show. If you stop your mouse on a pic, a caption will appear.

Ahhh, Venice!

Good evening! We've had a BUSY couple of weeks and I'm finally able to sit and post a little. Dustin and I were able to go to Italy and really had a great time. For anyone who has known me a long time--Italy has been a dream of mine for at least a decade. Alice stayed with her Nana in Georgia and did surprisingly well.

For the first couple days of the trip we spent it with our good friends the Giffords. They too were once Vilonia-ites, but moved to Italy in June. It was great to catch up with them and have a personalized tour of Venice which is what I have in the first slide show. I also have a video of us entering "Palazzo San Marco." The timing was perfect--sun streaming in and bells pealing. Oscar and Misty, you really know how to give a tour! Too bad the person taking the video, that would be me, keeps turning the camera upside down. . . . *Note* You can speed up or slow the slide show. Also, if you pass your mouse on one of the pictures, a caption will appear.

It's a girl!

That's right folks, "100% girl" they said. Although we had told everyone we wanted a boy next (only because we already had a girl) We are thrilled that she is healthy and doing well. Alice and her will no doubt be best friends and now Dustin doesn't have to permanently give up his study because they can share a room! I also told him, that when he gets older, there's nothing better than having a bunch of women dote on him--which is the truth.

I love this picture of her legs crossed. It won't be long before she can't stretch out like this! The second picture is of her profile.

I have had several requests for belly pics so I took some today to post below.

Utah Trip, Dustin and Corey's Birthday Party

Good Evening everyone! We've had a busy couple weeks, and they're going to get busier! Alice and I were able to visit Utah (we hadn't been home in a year and a half) It was great to see my grandparents who haven't seen Alice since she was five weeks old. Now that she's getting a little older, she really enjoys to travel and visit family--we don't have to worry so much about her being in 'her element' and 'on schedule'.

Playing with a Cinderella doll and dress on the Airplane (that thing was a life saver!)

Grandma and Grandpa's newly landscaped backyard. Her favorite part was the rock waterfall. Saturday morning, we had pancakes and hot chocolate on the new deck with the cousins.

Kora is Alice's cousin that's only 12 days older than her. We call them the twins. They especially loved picking apples from grandma's trees and chatting on the 'table rock.'

Cousin James and Alice getting rides on ponies at Gardner Village.

Aunt Ginny and Vilolet at Gardner Village--what a cutie!

James and Alice trying on bracelets. Sooo cute.

We had dinner with her great-grandma Harding. Alice was in chocolate chip cookie delirium.

The 'twins' enjoying a slumber party and gelatto :)

Grandma took us to a corn maize and we actually made it all the way through!

Man I miss these mountains! If I wasn't preggo I would have done some serious hiking.

We went to Logan to visit my two younger sisters, Aunt Jess and Aunt Cass. We had lunch at Angie's restaurant, a Logan original.

hmmmm. Jess, do you feel like Betos?

Little Alice on our Logan River Trail hike. Auntie Cass showing off her cat-like reflexes.

Alice wasn't so cat-like. She fell and skinned her knee-which resulted in much drama and my sisters and I carrying her for about a mile and a half.

She was finally soothed with a granola bar.

We were anxious to get home and see Dustin again. When he picked us up from the airport she didn't stop hugging him for 10 minutes straight. awwww.

As promised, here's some pics of the deck we, ahem, Dustin built. His buddy, Andy came over and helped him a lot while I was in Utah.

Here it is 95% done. It's very nice to have all this outdoor space, I'm very proud of my handyman!

On Saturday, Melissa and I had a joint party for our hubby's whose birthdays are only 3 days apart. She got them these hilarious shirts and Corey did his famous crab and shrimp boil. Oh, Dustin turns 31, so give him lots of grief if you can!

What a handsome man!