Happy Father's Day Dad

I have been sick the past few days, so my Dad's father's day gifts will be delayed. I did not want him to go without anything so, here is a greeting from the kids just for you dad. Happy Father's day, we love you very much!

Hallam Women

Grace is the first girl born to the Hallam Family in 87 years. I have a theory. All those years, the "strong will" gene was building, growing, waiting... it allowed itself to show a bit in some of the Hallam men, but conserved most of it's energy, just waiting for the first Hallam girl to come around. It grew, gaining strength from the addition of new "strong-will" genes contributed by Great-Grandma Flo, Nana Marsha, and Mama (talk about a strong willed child!). Finally, when it couldn't possibly grow any larger, the Hallam "strong-will" gene decided it was time to re-appear on this planet. And Grace was born. In fact, there was so much of this gene, that one child was not enough to contain it, and Abi was born 16 mths later. Don't get me wrong, this gene comes with many positive traits. No one will ever push Grace around. She will be a decision maker, a mover and a shaker. She has incredible self-confidence, and a more loyal sister her brother could not ask for! But this is also the gene that can absolutely flabbergast some of the adults in her life! Luckily, her Mama and Dada have strong-enough wills that we can decisively win the battles we choose to fight with her. However, we have to be careful which battles we choose. For example: When Grace was little she stopped taking naps. Her doctor recommended we try to "cry it out." I laid her down and she started screaming. TWO HOURS she screamed (while I read and re-read Dobson's "strong-willed child" two straight times.) She finally fell asleep, slept for 15 min. and then woke up screaming again. Never again did I challenge her to a cry-or-sleep option. A more recent example: Grace just started swimming lessons. She likes to swim, but for some reason she has decided to cry through most of the lessons, even though she is screaming things like "WAAAAAHHHH...I WANT TO SWIM TO THE BAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!! WAAAAAAAAHHH....I LIIIIIIKE MY PIIIINK SWIIIIMING SUUUUIT!!!!!" ??? what the heck? Her teacher today finally said, "Grace, you really need to stop crying, or you will swallow too much water." To which Grace got that glint in her eyes which her dad and I know so well (we have the same glint when the homeowners association tells us they are fining us for something dumb) She looked at her teacher Jenifer and said "no!" Now, granted, this is incredibly rude and not the right answer, but as Steve and I know, the best way to deal with this for Grace is either a) time out or b) a spanking. Jenifer chose option c) which should only be chosen if you are ready to do major battle. She said "Grace, you may not get out of the water until you stop crying. As soon as you stop you can leave." Steve and I took a collective deep breathe and quietly asked "did you clear your schedule for the rest of the day?" Unfortunately, with children as strong willed as Grace, if you give her an ultimatum, you HAVE to be able to follow through or she will figure out that she can be in charge. I think she would have stayed in that pool forever. Finally Jenifer got her out, still crying, and said to us "I have never seen a child this strong willed before." Yup. That's our Grace. The good news is, as long as she is fighting the right battles, Grace will be a force to be reckoned with. I have no fear of her succumbing to peer pressure, or swaying from her convictions.

Birthday parties and more!

While Steve is at his college roommate's wedding the kids and I have been partying it up! We spent the morning at Nana and Grandpa's where Grace and Noah were cracking me up trying to sit in the same small push car. We left Noah there and Grace and I went to her little friend Carter's bday party at a jungle gym place called Makutu's Island. I really don't get her. She was standing at the top of a tall (at least 7 ft!)ladder, and I was making my way over to help her down, when she decided to leap from the top. I have no idea how I caught her, while holding two purses two cameras, and various other bday related items, but somehow I did. (Later today another little boy really got hurt falling from the same ladder...) An onlooking dad commented "man, she's fearless!" I would agree, except that minutes later when we were in the special bday room for cake and pizza, Makutu himself (a guy in a fox costume) came to visit and Grace FREAKED! I mean hysterics!!! I could not calm her down. Go figure. She ended up having lots of fun, and was very excited when she received a gift bag on her way out.("This is the COOLEST Mama!!!")




Noah wasn't super happy that Grace was laughing at him :(





















I can't believe how old she looks!

Butterflies

A couple of days ago (I know I know, I am behind!) Jamie and I braved the heat and took the kids to see the butterfly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens. In Colorado this is an INDOOR exhibit, why in the world is it OUTSIDE here??? It was closing in on 105 degrees and we went midday (smart). I don't know how the poor butterflies survive, but they seemed to somehow. They had just recieved a new shipment of butterflies that morning, so there were a TON! Grace and Dallas got cards with pictures of all the butterflies on them, and quickly started trying to find all the butterflies on the card. They did really well! Gracies favorite was the Zebra butterfly, which I think was mine too! I can't believe how purple poor Noahs face can get when he is really hot! We cut the trip short and only ended up staying about 30-45 min, although the kids would have stayed much longer. Next year we will be going in March :)
The pics are only so-so because we were in the direct sun, but you get the idea. I didn't have the heart to post any of the pics of Noah, he looked so miserable in all of them, even though he really did enjoy his time there, mostly tried to eat all of the plants and flowers


Gracie the butterfly




















A butterfly landed on Dallas' hand and on his head!


Searching for her favorite butterfly using her guide






There were quite a few on the ground, so we spent a lot of time down there




















Checking out the butterflies


Best Buds




















Grace was so excited!




















Dallas and Grace showing off their butterfly card

Memorial Day

This past week flew! I can't believe its almost June! We spent the first half of the weekend cleaning out the garage and doing other odds and ends. Then the whole gang including Katelyn and Chris, Chandra and Abi headed up to the McDonald Ranch. Noah is full-on walking now, including standing up from the middle of the ground without support. We are so proud of him! Here are a few pics, you can go to www.lindsayhallam.com/mcdonald to see all of them. Take a minute to view www.lindsayhallam.com (without the mcdonald) as I have updated my website in preparation for starting my professional shooting. If anyone has any leads for some shoots, please let me know! I will have brochures and business cards this week.

The Grass is always greener!

Especially in our yard! Thanks to the hard work of Chris, Steve, and Rod we now have a new artificial grass lawn. It is awesome! I think it looks really real, and there is no maintenance (perfect for Steve and I who are NOT yard people) plus Noah doesn't get allergic rashes after playing in it. The only downside is it does get hot in the sun, but an umbrella took care of that problem. This morning it was nice and overcast (finally! a break from the heat)so the kids and I went out to play. Here are some of the pics, plus a couple of our finally finished Noah-remodeled house.

My goofy kids





Our hibiscus is blooming



One of our baby oranges




















Our grass :)















Grace loves the new yard!





















For those of you who haven't seen Noah walk (its so cute- he still uses his arms a lot for balance and kinda has the cowboy-after-a-long-day-in-the-saddle-walk)


















Pictures of the house:

Mothers day

We spent mothers day in Skull Valley with both my mom and Marsha. I am so glad we got to escape the 104 degree heat for a few days. It was great to get to hang out with Steve for a couple days straight, and the timing worked out perfectly as we found out a few days before that we would have to RIP OUT ALL OF OUR CARPET. Yes, that's right my friends, Noah has added a couple more specialists to the elite team of doctors that have graced his presence in his 17 months on this earth. He now has an allergist and a dermatologist. His face has had a bad rash (some days/hours worse than others) that we can't seem to kick. Turns out the poor kiddo has eczema. At this point, not much can phase us, so when the docs were telling us all this would entail for the next (probably) 18 years they were a bit surprised that Noah and I were not more shocked. Hey, after being told your kiddo needs immediate heart surgery, hearing that he is going to have to use special shampoo is not too bad. However, we did have to do some fast changes on the house, including replacing the carpeting (lucking only the bedrooms had it) with laminate flooring, adding a hospital grade air cleaner and humidifier to Noah's room, and putting in artificial turf in our backyard. Poor Steve, still not used to how fast I move when the kids health is on the line turned to me as we moved furniture so they could rip out the carpet and said "I can't believe we have only known we should do this for 48 hours and its already almost done." :) Other fun things we get to do: wash all of his new clothes 5 times before he can wear them, use hypoallergenic shampoo, lotion, hair gel (first thing I looked for after we got the news), laundry soap, etc, mop and mop some more. Luckily I like things clean anyways, although this may be enabling my OCD a bit! Anyways, long story short, it worked out for us to be gone over the weekend, and we really enjoyed the time away. (And I love my new floors)
P.S. Noah seems to be doing better now that the carpet is out. Hopefully the air cleaner will help him as well!






Our new floors! (I will have to post a better picture taken in the daylight, but you get the idea)