I've been tagged!

Blogging is somewhat of a new sport for me but I credit my friend Courtney for inspiring me to start one. I started reading her blog a couple of years ago and found I thoroughly enjoyed 'blog-reading'. She has a great writing style and very often makes me laugh as I read her recount events like finding her 3 yr old crunching on spaghetti in the kitchen. I recently saw that she 'tagged' me in one of her blog posts and I am finally getting around to playing the game! Here are the rules:
7 Random/Weird Facts about Me:

1. I have a weird phobia about Earthworms. I remember the moment it started. I was a kid probably 8 or 9 years old, over at my neighbors house while she was working on the garden. Her boyfriend was also there and while he was turning the soil, he found an earthworm that was probably 6 inches long, he held the wriggling pink earthworm high in the air above his head and then he opened his mouth and slowly lowered it into his mouth. I am cringing and making an uncomfortable face as I type this and remember it vividly. It messed me up. I can't tell you how relieving it is to live in Arizona where there are no earthworms squirming across the ground after a fresh rain. I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really can't stand earthworms. Really.
   
2. I have a mild fascination with what life was like in the 1950's. I have this idea that it was the perfect time and place to live albeit there were still huge social issues but it was a time where patriotism was true, not fair weathered, being a Christian made you part of the majority, not the minority and strange diseases and syndromes were far less prevalent than today. I don't care that they didn't have microwaves or cell phones. I would trade modern technology for living during that time in a heartbeat.
3. I make it a point to see every mafia movie ever made; The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, Road to Perdition, Donnie Brasco, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Casino, Once Upon a Time in America, Bugsy, American Gangster. Even the comical ones; Analyze This, Analyze That, Oscar. I love mafia movies and if you've seen a great one, let me know so I can check it out!
   
4. I'm a technology geek, if I could afford an iPhone, I'd have one. Any time some new technical 'gadget' comes out, I eww and ahh over it and then eventually I buy it off eBay when it's affordable. (But I would still choose to live in the 1950's if I could.)
5. I'm an organization junkie. Some people like to do puzzles to relax but 'downtime' for me is rearranging a closet. A disorganized closet IS a puzzle to me and for some reason I enjoy arranging and putting things in order. I love places like The Container Store, it's a feast to my eyes, literally a playground for me!
6. I have a knack at figuring out how to use most software programs. Most recently, I learned to use a graphic design program called QuarkExpress and I actually created a few collateral pieces that went to print for Sun.
7. Looking at houses and floorplans has apparently become a 'lifestyle'. I guess Greg and I have moved so much and we've looked at so many houses, floorplans and properties that it's just become a habit now. If there's an open house, I check it out! If there's a model I take a look! In all actuality though, this habit needs to be broken. It feeds the monster within and we've said "We are not moving again for a long time!".
   

So that's it, 7 random facts about me. As far as who I will tag...Courtney tagged me, Janessa has already been tagged, Steve shut his blog down, I don't actually 'know' Elizabeth, I'm just a fan.

• So that leaves Mike, I can't see him doing this but he might surprise us and
• Robin

About Nathan and the Drums...

You may remember the post that mentions Nathan likes to play drums with Greg...that was a nice feel good story to tell but behind the scenes...that cute little story escalated into something very ugly. We soon discovered that when the time came to STOP playing the drums, Nathan would literally have an emotional meltdown. When I'm telling someone about this in person, they nod their heads and say something about a tantrum. Let me tell you something...what I have witnessed with my own two eyes is more than a simple tantrum. During these raging breakdowns, we have had to stop Nathan from banging his head against the floor because he is so distraught. I have never actually gotten this on video but I've come close. The video below is a very mild display of what I'm talking about just to give you a 'for example'.

Like I said, this was a very mild example. As a result of these disturbing meltdowns, we just had to shut the door and not let Nathan near the drums. But then I started to fear we were holding back a savant or child prodigy so I immediately began looking for a toddler size drumset, something for someone who only stands 3 ft high! I found a set on eBay for $16 plus shipping, not to bad. So Greg won the auction and the set was on it's way. I was very excited the day it arrived, I had it put together and ready for when Nathan came home. He saw it immediately and he automatically knew what it was and what to do with it, it was uncanny. So here are a few videos of Nathan's first few minutes on his new drumset.

Pumpkins & Costumes!

I'm happy to report that we have been having to much fun lately! A couple of week ago, Lynn brought pumpkins over and we all embarked on the pumpkin carving tradition. Greg and Lynn (The A Team) actually did the carving, while Josh separated pumpkin seeds and I watched Nathan and/or snapped pictures. Here are a couple of snapshots from the night.

On Friday, the Norton kids planned a 'surprise' costume party at their parents, who have been back from Africa for only a week. So we all dressed up but before we headed to Gary & Elaine's for the big surprise, Nathan walked down to our neighbors, the Lennen's, to do his first 'trick or treat'. Except he was so intrigued by the swirl of activity around him, all the kids in costumes, that he didn't want to hold his little basket.

I happen to catch the next picture as we were walking away, it just strikes me as funny...
Later at the Norton's; Dave, the Toast & Mari, the Egg were the masterminds of the big surprise. Mari is 9 mos pregnant and they cleverly disguised her belly as the Egg Yolk - to clever! Dave and Mari even planned costumes for Gary & Elaine since this was a surprise after all! Here is Gary & Elaine as Cowboy & Indian...too cute!

I dressed up as a 'Frazzled Working Mom' and Greg dressed as a 'Carefree uh..Minority Landscaper' to put it pollitically correct. However, my costume blended pretty well into a Sarah Palin look-a-like!

Nathan's costume was my favorite though, he was a fierce lion...ok he wasn't that fierce but he was super cute!

Josh was a...a...I'm not sure what Josh's costume was, a green swamp monster?

Later, Dave put on Gary's costume, it was to much fun for one night!

Open for Business!

Well outside of the home improvement projects, the child rearing and full time job that keeps me pretty busy these days...I've decided to start a side business venture, as if I have alot of spare time to spare! A couple of things led me to do this.

• First reason: A few years ago I created a little scrapbook for a manager at Sun and she has been asking to pay me for another one ever since. See the "Children" Album.
  
• Second reason: A couple of months ago, I needed to create a scrapbook for another person at Sun but our move back to Arizona and my trip to Washington really put me in a time crunch to get it done and I learned that I really can put a nice quality scrapbook together in 5 nights. See the 'Appreciation' Album.
  
• Third reason: I could really use some extra dough!

Now that we are settled in and for all the reasons I've stated above, I've decided to offer my scrapbooking services! So basically, this post is my shameless plug for myself, here it is:

If you or anyone you know is interested in a customized scrapbook, please send them my website. (I used the same blog template because it was simple for me to put together and why change something that works?!) Click here to see SpareTime Scrapbooks and let me know what you think!

Since this post was really just my elaborate marketing plan, I do realize it isn't as fun as seeing pictures or videos of the Hull's so I'll check back in later this week. Teaser...Nathan will be wearing a Lion costume this Friday!

Just for Fun...

This is just a shout out to everyone because you may have noticed I haven't been posting as frequently to the blog. Although we are pretty much settled in the house, we are now in the trenches with little house projects that seem to occupy every minute of our spare time in addition to the little guy who is relentless in demanding attention for himself...which I tolerate because he's so darned cute! :)

Anyway, I came across this video and couldn't help but have some fun and post it. I would like to title this video "How NOT to Impress a Woman".

I'm Done.

For the most part, I'm done setting this house up. There are a few things here and there still to do but for the most part, I'm done. It took longer than I'm used to but I still think I'm ahead of the game as far as how long the average person takes to get squared away in a new house. I will admit though that we do have this one extra room that I've just been tossing things into that I don't have a plan for right now.

Here's some pictures of the main rooms in the house. I used a wide angle lens on the camera which creates these shadows in the corners of each picture, I'm not sure why that is, I need to ask my Professional Photographer friend, Steve Horvath located in Murphy, Texas. (shameless plug)

The family room from two different angles...


The formal living room...yes, there is furniture missing! We got rid of the piano and the living room tables before left Texas. And I haven't figured out where to put the antique Singer sewing machine yet...


Nathan's Room...


The master bedroom...


The Kitchen...


The Dining Room...yep, we sold that furniture to!


The loft which is our office space...ironically, this is the room that took the very longest to get set up!


Greg's side...


My side...


Craft room/Guest room. I still need to move the sleeper sofa and then it will be ready for guests...I'll let you know when that is. ;)


Greg's music room...downstairs...he's ecstatic about this fine little detail.


That extra bedroom that I'm throwing things into! See if the rest of the house looked like this for any extended period of time, they would have to put me in a straight jacket! I could not handle it. And truth be known, this room will probably be 'fixed' over the weekend. I'm so OCD, I don't even need a professional diagnosis to know it!

Weekend in Virginia

In my last post you read that we were attending my brother's wedding in Virginia over the weekend. While the wedding was definitely the highlight of the trip, I loved just hanging out with my peeps more than anything.

Friday Night
We flew in Friday afternoon and went to the rehearsal dinner that night. Here's Daniel, my brother and Vanessa, the Bride. We are definitely getting the better end of the deal with Vanessa joining our family! She's truly one of the kindest people I've ever met. Case in point, Vanessa knew that Nathan watches Handy Manny, a cartoon about a handy man in a small town. She had Build-A-Bear, create a custom teddy bear with a toolbelt and tools for Nathan as a gift at the rehearsal dinner. I couldn't believe it! Here's a picture of us with the bear but Nathan kinda got lost between us...lol.

Saturday Morning

The next morning, Tatyana had a soccer game that I wanted to take pictures of, so we all ended up on the soccer field cheering on Taty and her team.

To see the rest of these pictures or order your own prints, click here: Snapfish.

Saturday Night

The wedding started at 4 in the afternoon and I have to say from a very objective viewpoint...it was the prettiest wedding I've ever seen. From the venue, to the dress, to the bridemaid dresses, flower colors, cake, everything was just beautiful. My sister was a bridesmaid and looked stunning. My niece was a flower girl and was to cute with her curly hair bouncing around. My dad was dressed in a nice suit, only the 3rd time I've seen him in a suit. My other mom, CC, was decked out in a satin plum colored dress, she also looked absolutely stunning, like a tiny barbie doll. Greg looked very snazzy in his suit and his red shirt matched the bridesmaid dresses, Mr. Nathan in his little dress clothes was to cute for words! And the Bride was drop- dead gorgeous, to beautiful for words!

Here's the not-funny-at-the-time-but-funny-later story. Nathan and I were hanging out in this corrider waiting for Greg. While I was talking to Leo, Nathan played with the water fountain...then suddenly, Nathan made a beeline for this storage closet with a wide open door.

Just a few feet away, I started to run afterNathan but the little munchkin was to fast, he promptly walked in the closet, turned around and closed the door...locking himself inside! Leo ran to find someone with a key, while I pleaded with Nathan to open the door from the other side. He just jibber-jabbered with no concern in his voice whatsoever. Thankfully, someone came quickly and Nathan was locked inside less than a minute, but it felt alot longer to me!

I took about 1,500 pictures over the weekend which is why it took a while to post them. Ironically though, I didn't take a single picture of just Greg, Nathan and I all dressed up at the wedding. Fortunately, I had given Tatyana my little camera during the reception and she happily ran around taking pictures of important subjects to her and she happened to get one of just the three of us, here it is. Thanks Taty! :)

To see the rest of these pictures or order your own prints, click here: Snapfish.

***Wedding Videos***

Nathan became the center of attention once the music started because we couldn't keep him off the dancefloor. Here's a few videos...




Here's a fun video of Daniel & Vanessa dancing...


In the next video, I started out watching Nathan but noticed CC dancing the night away next to me and I couldn't resist turning the camera on her. She's the cutest little Grandma I've ever seen! It's a little dark at first but lightens up a little at the end.

Sunday

We went over to CC's on Sunday for breakfast and lunch. The weather was so nice we literally hung out on the back porch all day, while the kids ran around and played outside. If Nathan could talk, he would probably say it was his favorite day of the weekend. He loves being outside and Grandma CC's house has tons of fun toys to play with!

This next series of pictures is really just an illustration of 'sharing'.




To see the rest of these pictures or order your own prints, click here: Snapfish.

***Sunday Afternoon Videos***

Nathan playing in the car...


Here is a video of CC speaking to Nathan only in Korean...ironically when she would do this, he would respond to her as if he understood exactly what she was saying.


Here is Greg pulling Taty 'on the grass' in a 'snow sled'. This is about the time, I started to feel little bit like a redneck. ;)

Monday

Monday morning we had breakfast at Yorkshire Restaurant, a restaurant that is literally 50 years old. It was Southern style home cooking, it was so yummy. We decided every time we visit from now on, we have to make eating at this place part of the tradition. Nathan attended incognito...

Then we took the kids to Signal Hills Park, just around the corner from Daniel & Vanessa's place.

To see the rest of these pictures or order your own prints, click here: Snapfish.

Ice Cream at Klines just before our trip home! It was supposed to be Ice Cream at Nathan's Dairy Shop but they were closed so we will have to save that for next time.