The Shirt

David’s birthday was this week. Have I mentioned that I love this man? I was trying to think of a few memories to capture regarding his 44th year and there are just too many. Let’s just say getting engaged, getting married, instant family, all fall into the top 10 favorite memories of the year. As you may have learned, David is a talker. I have gone to my physical therapists for years and knew most of the folks there. However, after David attended once, all of the ladies at the desk started greeting me the moment I walked in and asking about the kids. David is diehard for his kids’ baseball games. He attended every one he could, often attending 3-5 games a week. He’s a great father, a great husband, and just a wonderful person. He is my ideal.


I took Harrison shopping for his Dad’s birthday. I followed him around Target for a while before he declared: “We need to go to DI.” Many items were initially considered and then discarded: Camouflage boxer briefs, Avenger pajamas, sailor clock, a toy Liahona, Man bag. I admittedly was wary about the DI trip. However, after consulting Mom’s Book of Lectures and remembering these are the memories that count, I left work early so we could go. I am glad that we went.  He was in heaven. He kept declaring “I can’t believe I have never been here before.” “You can get a TV for only $15?!!” “Look at this.” After finding many treasures, it was difficult to talk him down to only two birthday items for his dad. He ended up getting women’s exercise shorts with “Pi Phi” written on the butt, and a men’s 8XL shirt. We got a lot of comments as we waited in line to pay. Obviously Harrison had vision that I did not. When we got home, the shirt was a hit. Brandon was even impressed with the find, asking his dad if he could have it for his ski shirt. Despite being made fun of by the boys, I insisted we take pictures. Words cannot adequately describe the emotion in the room as David (and Harrison) tried on his shirt for the first time. It was hard to tell if Brandon, Harrison or David was more excited it.

The Shirt: (Twice as big as David)

Harrison was so excited he had to try it on before we even got home from DI:

David and Harrison in the shirt:

Brandon declared that he will be giving birthday spanks to everyone. He instructed that his style is to give one spank for every year, and then one additional one to make sure it is finished off right. He smiled and eyed his dad as he said this, then declared, “And Kimberly, you are included. Priscilla is too as soon as I know when her birthday is.” Needless to say, Harrison got the brunt of the birthday spanks. Thankfully, I think he forgot by the time David’s birthday rolled around. He was so excited about the shirt that a few days later he woke us up at 11:45 PM to ask where it was, as he was getting ready for the ski season. He had to try it on with all of his gear. (I was glad he let me take a picture.)

Brandon in Ski Gear:

Football

Harrison's football coach gave him the nickname of "bulldog".  That nickname fits him perfectly.  To those he likes he is quite nice and friendly.  However, get him on a football field and he attacks.  Harrison loves football, and is quite good at it.  He tends to be in the middle of the action.  My favorite play this year was when we saw Harrison carrying the ball, moving to the goal, with 5 guys all trying to tackle him.  It took all 5 of them to bring him down.  Here's a few shots of Harrison in action.

Harrison was #10 this year, and his team color was red.  In the first picture you can see him literally lying on top of the kid.

This was his last year on this team since next year he moves on to middle school football.  The middle school coach is one of his favorite teachers and has been talking to him about being the team lead.  He will do a great job.

The Ugly Stepsister

Harrison turned 13 this week.  I’ve only known this kid for a few short years, lived with him for only a matter of weeks, and already I am smitten.  He is quite the gentleman and has a heart of gold.  I find myself laughing every day with this kid. Here are a few memories of his 12^th year.

·         When I asked him if he had washed his football uniform he confided, “I can wear my football uniform four times before it needs to be washed.  My dad doesn’t think so, but it’s fine.”  We washed his uniform …

·         Finding out that when receiving an assignment to write a paper about his family, Harrison wrote about his ugly stepsister.  He wrote about how much she smelled, that she was flatulent a lot, and that she was pretty ugly.  The teacher was concerned and called him in.  Only then did he decide to tell her that his “stepsister” was a bulldog.

·         For weeks trying to talk me into buying a certain lighter that he could make into a flame thrower for his birthday.  According to him, he promised he would never use it in the house. J (He got an iTunes gift card for his birthday instead of a flamethrower/lighter.)

 

·         Coming home from work one day to find him with a very large bandage on his thumb.  When asked, he was creating a flame thrower in the backyard with a coke bottle and lighter that got a little out of hand.  According to him, he “only got hurt a little bit.”

 

·         Coming home from work one day to have him ask, “Kimberly, I can’t say how I know this, but why do you have pepper spray in your drawer.”  (I later learned he was searching for his lighter he lost after burning himself making the flame thrower.)  The kid has an insatiable curiosity and no boundaries, I’m sure he knows what is in our room better than I do.

 

·         When finding a 2 liter bottle that I had filled with water and frozen, begging for days to smash it in the road.  (We did cave on that one.)

 

·         For his 13^th birthday party he wanted a chocolate fountain.  They ate a ton, did chocolate shots, and then entertained themselves by turning on the touch faucet with their tongues.

 

·         Losing terribly to him at Monopoly.  He wasn’t satisfied to just win, he insisted we play until I was bankrupt.

 

·         When girls were blocking his locker at school and would not move, he knew just how to solve the problem.  He “lifted his leg and farted”.  He then proclaimed proudly, “They moved!”

I was in college when Greg went through the teenage years, and was not around much.  I think I missed out.  Teenage boys are a riot, thankfully David can keep one step ahead.  I just watch in awe (and try to make sure he doesn’t burn anything down.)  Attached is a video of Harrison’s friends singing to him at his 13^th birthday party.  It truly was a unique experience.  To get the full effect, turn the volume up to high.

Love,

Kimberly

 

The First Hallan Family Council

We had our first Hallan family council yesterday. The first agenda item was the boys helping out around the kitchen with dishes and meals, etc. Since they are the number one creators of messes, and their mess creating capability is pretty exceptional, we felt it was appropriate. The second agenda item (which is a repeat) was eating upstairs. Since we have been running out of dishes downstairs, and finding empty bowls in drawers, we figured it was well past time. I’m sure you can imagine the excitement generated by this family council.

Here were the suggestions generated as we discussed these two items. Guess who these came from …

• Purchase paper bowls and plates to use instead of real dishes, the boys can pitch in.
• The boys will help plan nutritious meals. The meals will consist of a protein bar, a FiberOne bar, an apple, some carrots, and a glass of milk.
• Since David is a stay at home Dad, and it really is his responsibility anyway, David should take over all kitchen responsibilities and Kimberly can watch NetFlix (with a reminder we need to keep NetFlix).
• Lower the standard for cleanliness.

After we discussed our two agenda items, the boys had some issues they wanted to bring up. Here they are …

1. Where we keep the bread. The freezer is not an okay location for bread storage. We also need to purchase bagels and mini muffins.
2. We need to switch from Ranch Doritos to Nacho Doritos.
3. We need to switch from Chewy Chips Ahoy to Original.
4. They cannot call each other certain body part names.

We were very worried about the boys feeling comfortable in a new home. I think we over achieved …