How to Turn Your Kitchen into Pompeii Without Really Trying

Every morning our household goes through the ritual of preparing that highly aromatic drink that is coffee.  No matter how you brew it, it's what gets you going in the morning.  This morning my day started out in a totally different manner than I was expecting.
I dragged myself out of bed, eyes barely opened, and began to pulling together all that was required to make espresso in my stove top Italian brewer.  Water in the bottom, check; coffee in the holder, check; rubber seal to keep the two parts together, check; twist close and put on burner, check.  I set the contraption on the stove with the lid open to know when the water started to boil that way I could turn it down and just wait for the espresso.
The first trickles of liquid begin to ooze into the top, and I noticed it was kind of tar-like.  I thought to myself, why are there coffee grinds in this thing?  So I decided to turn off the stove and just let it cool down because it was ruined.
I turned my back and headed to the fridge when I heard a loud spewing sound and only when I felt hot splashes of liquid on my shoulder did I grasp what was happening.  The stupid thing had erupted all over the kitchen!  Never mind coffee on the stove it was all over the walls, kitchen blinds, fridge, floor, I half expected there to be some on the ceiling but I guess the microwave to most of that force.
When all was said and done, I took the demon possessed thing and was trying to figure out what had gone so horribly wrong.  One of the most important features of these brewers is a gasket that goes between the coffee and the top part, it keeps grinds out and the water at a slow trickle up to the top instead of the Yellowstone National Park Geyser that shot off in my kitchen this morning. 
If there is some comfort to this story it is the fact that the kids now have a quick volcano/geyser science experiment, although I would recommend protective gear!

The Son, The Father, and the T-Shirts (Chronicles of a Father's Day Present)

Father's day is fast approaching and since we celebrated it a day early at casa de Hall, I thought I would share with you our son's present for his father.
I took Mason to the store to pick out a gift for his dad with the intent of trying to subtly(HA! HA!) point out things that would make an excellent Father's Day gift from a hat to a t-shirt that said SUPER DAD! Well he liked the T-shirt idea with the exception that he wanted to pick it out all by himself. We've all been at this age where we've handed our dads those insanely ugly ties or the aftershave where you know the manufacturers were using essence of skunk, well my son's gift was no different.
Once the contents of the bag was emptied and the tissue paper had settled, there lay a white shirt with every Super Mario Brothers character imaginable printed on the front of the T-shirt for Steve and a small green shirt with Yoshi just right for a little boy. "See Dad, we can match!" Mason said.
So tomorrow after church Steve will be donning his extremely awesome Mario Brothers shirt as will Mason! (Hoping to post pics of this memorable event!)

Mom's Red Badge of Courage

Now I know by the title it seems as though something traumatic has happened but once you've read this post....it maybe easier to take a bullet.
It's been awhile since my last blog(minus the Father's Day one)...okay maybe well over a year? so this is what's happening in the Hall household. We have increased our brood to three so the kids range in ages from five, three and seven months, and if that's not enough to keep me busy, I've decided to go back to school!!!!
Okay, now pick your jaws up off the floor and just listen for a moment. I love staying home with the kids but I need something that is separate from the house to keep me sane, well now I have two since I've started blogging again, but this is mostly about my home life anyway so it only half counts. I love to learn in a classroom environment as evident from the two degrees I already have, but with the plan we have for our family the degrees I have really won't pay the bills so I'm going to enroll in the NURSING PROGRAM! YAY! Okay now here is where the CRAZY you're insane part comes in (no it wasn't the going back to school part) I plan on enrolling in the TWU WEEKEND program so Steve can work Monday through Friday 7am-5:30pm (might as well say 6pm because that's when he gets home) and on the weekends he keeps the kids while I go to school, and this insanity will take two years beginning the fall of 2012. As of right now I'm doing prerequisites that are required before I can enter into the program so I still have Anatomy and Physiology II and Microbiology to take this fall.
So as of right now things are looking very promising that I will get into the program and succeed I'm also fairly confident that there will be many adventures of Steve and the kids while I'm away at school that I'll be glad to share here, and don't worry about Steve, there are plenty of people on hand if help is needed....and that's my cue to stop because I have a little girl roaming around the house and not in bed because according to her "My eyes are up".

All's Quiet on the Western Frontroom

Having two kids(now it has turned into three) means a house full of noise and activity! Someone is always wrapped around your leg or running past screaming in the background as you're trying to talk on the phone. Those are the times when you know what is going on, and have a sense of where everyone is at...98% of the time. It's the 2% when you can actually concentrate,..form coherent thoughts that the ice cold sweat begins to trickle down your back. What's that strange NOISE....it's quiet, a little too quiet!
It's during these times when you rush around trying to locate everyone that you find your daughter in the bathroom with mounds of toilet paper strewn about or like the other night, when everyone is supposed to be in bed, the sounds of gurgling noises coming from the bathroom because she wanted to "fix the potty" with the plunger, and you spent the night mopping up the small sea that has become the floor.
The thing about my kids is that they are totally different. If it's quiet the boy has found some game or toy to occupy his time...the girl, well she'll be the one with half a bottle of lotion on her body because she "needed" it. So even if I want peace and quiet I have to wonder what will I be getting myself into(or what my is daughter getting into)?

Charge of the Potty Brigade

As a mom you come to realize if it's not nailed down or bolted to the wall....it can be flushed! That's what my three year old and his little sister has taught me during this whole potty training phase. It is nice when they can go to the bathroom by themselves but it is not safe to presume that they can handle everything by themselves.

Tonight my toddler proved that is just the case. Steve, my husband, went to go check on Mason when we couldn't hear any noises coming from his room which only means one thing, something is about to go terribly wrong. Mason took it upon himself to go alone to the bathroom without notifying anyone. He's being a big boy right? Normally I like to keep the toilet paper out of reach when he is in the bathroom because it usually ends up all over the floor, but tonight, tonight was different. Instead of mounds and mounds of toilet paper on the floor, it was in the toilet. Needless to say I let Steve handle this one on his own!

But as I said this is not the only incident. One morning I had taken Mason to the bathroom and was trying to keep his younger sister out. So we left (toilet paper out of reach at this point) to give him so privacy...only she had sneaked back into the bathroom (or at least tried). I heard the door opening and when I went to retrieve her I had to retrieve more than I bargained for...at the bottom of the toilet sat the pink toy phone she had been carrying that morning, and if I could have flushed it I would for that wasn't the only thing in the potty.

The last incident that really takes the cake was when I had taken Mason to the bathroom and he didn't want to leave the potty so I thought okay he's not done. So I leave to tend to Chloe when I hear a lot of flushing going on. Great he's playing with the toilet again I thought (he does like to flush a lot) so I go back to get on to him. I walk in to find him standing in the toilet flushing himself! It's bad enough that you catch them sometimes playing in the potty but actually standing in it! Ugh.

The Call of the Heels

When growing up there are certain milestones that a girl achieves along her way to becoming a lady.... such as curling hair, applying makeup, and learning how to walk in high heels.

I had my first pair of heels when I attended my first high school dance (that's right I said high school). As a kid I was too much of a tom boy to want all that dress up stuff for little girls....how was I to know that those items were not toys but training tools disguised in glitter and bows. I remember getting the shoes the week before so I could master them before hand. Picture it, a tall skinny girl on chicken legs trying to maneuver down the hallway, walking stiffly trying to keep my face from the collision course it was on with the floor.

Needless to say I was able to remain on my feet and now I am the proud owner of two pairs of high heels. I still occasionally get the slip going on or the little wobble when the heel goes down wrong, but hey I'm only semi-pro.

Now here is where the story turns embarrassing....isn't it already, you ask? My daughter is now a year and a half. She is a very prissy type of girl and I can tell with her it's going to be all about barbies, clothes, purses, makeup and shoes. She's already asking to wear my lip gloss and when I'm putting on makeup she is right there asking for some. Of course the only thing she gets is a little Burt's bees on the lips and a swipe of my makeup brush across her cheeks. She's always walking around in her dad's shoes because like any man he leaves his things everywhere in the house. Seriously you wouldn't believe how many pairs of shoes I pick up in a day...but I digress.

One day my daughter went into my closet and discovered a sparkling pair of shoes in the floor. I was in the living room and heard the clunk, clunk, clunk coming down the hallway. I looked up to see she had on my strappy high heels, and was doing a damn good job maneuvering in them. I think "Aw my little girl is so cute". It only took her walking all the way to me to realize she walked better in heels than I did! What took me years to achieve she did it in a few minutes...and the shoes didn't even fit! Now my daughter is the proud owner of six (yes six) pairs of sparkling Disney princess heels.

The Taming of the Grill

Grilling...a skill many have and one that I would like to acquire. That's what I had set out to do tonight. Although it really wasn't my idea to grill; I was talked into it by my husband as he left me alone at home to go and get supplies from the store.

So here I am outside, alone armed with bratwurts and a grill. The first thing I do is fire up the grill. Easier said than done. I turn the knobs only to hear the whooshing sound of propane and no sparks of fire. I turn off the grill and try again. I guess I should have waited a few minutes before trying to relight because of the instant flames that leaped from the sleeping beast. I jump back in horror, eyebrows slightly singed but hey at least now I can cook right?

I give a small thanks to God that we live just down the street from the fire department as I begin to put the brats on to burn...I mean cook! I can just picture it now the neighborhood consumed by a five alarm fire all because a flaming brat got away from me. But I digress.

How long does it take to cook a brat? I had it pretty well charred by the time I decided to remove it from the grill, but when I cut through the leathery skin it revealed to be slightly undercooked. Well I know when it's time to call it quits and order pizza. I have decided to try grilling again in the near future, but I think I will make a few changes: 1. Grilling requires a beer in hand, at least that's how I've seen all the pros do it, and 2. Try grilling steak, at least if it's charred on the outside and raw/pink on the inside they at least still call that edible.