The Hall Family Album

He smiles!

Ronin has been known to have a particularly serious-looking face. So, I am happy to present these adorable smiles. And...this morning he smiled so wide at me that I saw a dimple!! Also, he's become a thumb sucker. 

Roni Roni Macaroni

I forgot to tell you about Liam's first joke! He was cooing about Ronin and said, "Roni Roni, Macaroni." Needless to say, the phrase has stuck. Ronin is growing so so fast. He's taken on his own little personality and is no longer my little Liam clone. He is still very serious-looking but now throws in plenty of smiles and giggles. The move has been a bit rough on him...he's been very stopped up, if you know what I mean, but we're getting through that, too. Jeff has also nicknamed him "Captain Bubble Beard" due to his frequent and furious bubble production. Sorry the pictures are so huge. I need to fiddle with that. 

Fireman Sam Liam

In a sense, Liam has graduated from a kid career of Bob the Builder to one of Fireman Sam. Hence, Liam now calls himself "Fireman Sam Liam." Here he is in his fireman getup. And yes, a picture of him with the Nampa fire department (Thanks, Grandma Janie). We're even going to do a fireman themed 3rd birthday!

Liam is adjusting very well to our move. He often spontaneously says, "I like our new house." I am so thankful for this, but my heart aches when he asks when we are going to see Cohen or Brian or go to "our old church." We miss you!

Wild men!

We made it. The hard goodbyes with our California friends. The looong drive to Idaho. The 5 day wait for the moving van to catch up with us. Lots and lots of boxes. For me, at least, it's been a hard few weeks, but on the verge of being settled in, it's plain to see that we made a good decision in moving back to Idaho. It is wonderful having the grandparents all be a short bike ride away, to be able to park our car right outside our front door, and to let Liam have a bit more freedom when he wants to go outside to play. Nampa is a new place to us now that we have children and we are excited to rediscover it. I have landed a part time job at the same site Jeff will be doing his internship at. We have found a new preschool that Liam is excited about. We have already gone camping. Jeff went fishing yesterday with Papa. There's a great built in table in our garage that I anticipate being able to use to paint in the future. Liam loves playing in Grandma Sharyn's yard and feeding the ducks at Grandma Janie's. Ronin is growing by leaps and bounds. He's continued to be quite fussy, but seems easily amused by his big brother and soothed by sitting on the back porch. All in all, we are doing quite well. We are so thankful for our loved ones here in Idaho, but we are also missing our dear friends in California. Take care, everybody! 

Baby Dedication

We are going to miss our church family at Bresee very much. Last Sunday, our last Sunday at Bresee, we had Ronin dedicated. It was so nice to share this special time with our church family before we leave California. It was a bit of a tough morning. Liam and Ronin were both a bit out of sorts. So, we have no pictures from this time, but here are a couple of recent good ones of Ronin. 

Thanks, Elita!

Potty Training

Liam is doing quite well at this, particularly because of the motivation provided by Bob the Builder (Not to be confused with Bob the Banker and Bob the Baker, as we tease him). Whatever will we do when Liam has earned every single Bob toy there is by using the potty?

"Beachy beachy beachy!"

Last night was another "last" in SoCal for us. We took the kids to the beach and it was soooo fun watching Liam run around. He was fearless in the ocean, thinking it was pretty cool when the water started sweeping him away. Ronin seemed to enjoy himself, too. Being at the beach made me feel a little sad to be moving, but it's not like we were frequenting the beach more than once a year anyhow. 

2 Weeks

 Only two more weeks til we move. Here's the duplex we'll be renting that Janie found for us. And a cute family pic (although we have yet to get a picture where we're all happy and smiling at the same time). 

Almost gone

3 1/2 weeks until we move to Idaho. We are so excited to have more space, a yard, a washer and dryer, and family nearby! At this point we are living in an anxious state of not quite here, not quite there. The apartment is a mess of moving/cleaning in progress. Liam finished his last swimming lessons at the Duarte pool last week. The boys are as cute as ever, although they've both been sick.