Garage Sale 4 A Cause!

This weekend we hosted a Garage Sale for a Cause! For a good laugh, click on the picture above to enlarge, I had no idea this is what I look like when I laugh...and does it look like I'm holding the dogs tail? :)

Our church home group, recently discussed how easy it is to get caught up with materialism and consumerism these days, especially during the holiday season. The only cure for those ailments is to think of and invest in others. So we hosted a 'Garage Sale 4 a Cause'. A local family who has no near by relatives or any community/church support to speak of is suddenly in need. Mr Ormand had an unfortunate motorcycle accident while on his way to work, while Mrs. Ormand, who is 8 mos pregnant, stays at home with their 3 children, ages 3, 2 & 1. The accident occurred about a month ago and he is still hospitalized with severe head injuries. The Ormand family was who we needed to be thinking about.

It made me proud to work side by side with people who were willing to sacrifice STUFF and personal TIME for someone else's benefit. So we posted signs, we shopped our own garage sale and we just hung out. The last picture in this group is of the White family, Amber (who watches Nathan during the week) Maysen and Lance.

Nathan loved being outside and drove his little car around the shoppers...'Don't mind me!'...

When it wasn't busy, we kicked back and relaxed a bit....


We had some 'Shenanigans, Tom-Foolery and Ballyhoo' (can you name that movie line?) that took place as well. We were selling Nathan's lion costume and Lance couldn't resist trying it on. And normally Dave looks pretty intimidating because of his tattoos and biker boots but in this hat he pretty much just looks like a regular goof!




We worked the garage sale from 7am-11am, by the time us gals paid for our own purchases we had raised about $100 for the Ormand family. I was a little disappointed though, I met a neighbor who made $1,400 at her last garage sale so I felt like we could have made out better than we did. Since we had a ton of stuff left over, we plan a repeat in late January...at which time I should not be in charge of any prices! In the midst of a garage sale, my alter ego, 'Crazy Korean Lady' comes out, it's very scary. Her personality is very similar to the Chinese waitress in Mickey Blue Eyes. In the movie she is forcing someone to eat a fortune cookie, repeating 'Eat Cookie!... Eaat Cookie!....EAT Cookie!'. At the garage sale my alter ego is trying to force people to buy stuff they don't want and as incentive, I slash prices ridiculously low and practically give stuff away. It's not good for the bottom line so Crazy Korean lady cannot be present at the next garage sale! All in all though it was time and energy well spent and for a good cause. The last picture is a group shot of our home group, minus 1. Some are old friends from our previous stint in AZ and some are new...hmm, how nice! ;)

What? Greg is on GodTube?

Since this is my personal blog, I can be mushy and say I'm so proud of my talented husband!

See for yourself: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4aac3d43a6974ae091f0

Shiner...Sleepover and Soundcheck

We had a full weekend and since we had company over for dinner both Thursday night (the Norton's) and Friday night (Landon & Julie) it kinda felt like the weekend started early for us!

Saturday morning, Greg had softball practice for our home group co-ed team so Nathan and I joined Greg at the park. Much to our surprise there was a lot more going on than just softball practice. In the small town of Queen Creek, AZ (population 23,000) there was a Skateboarding contest taking place. Needless to say, Nathan and I both were intrigued and we ended up watching some of the contest even though we were supposed to be over at the softball field!

Here's Nathan watching from the fence...


This little guy was the youngest competitor, he was a tiny 7 year old! I couldn't believe it.


While watching the skateboarders, Nathan decided to take a seat...next to complete strangers. He sat right next to the girl in blue and he sat so close to her they were literally touching leg to leg. Funny part was, she didn't seem to notice, she never even glanced at the stranger who practically sat on top of her. He seemed to like the girl in the pink coat and whenever she applauded, he would to.

The bad part about sitting on the bleachers though was, he fell backwards and landed pretty much on his face somehow and came up with a face, mouth and ear full of dirt. Scared me to death! He got a good size knot on his head and a little bit of a shiner around his right eye and of course, I felt like a horrible mother and completely responsible for his boo-boos.

We did make it back around to the softball field for a little while. Here's Nathan with Amber (in the hat) who watches Nathan during the day and her 11 mo old little girl, Maysen. And Brian, a Fever Pitch Red Sox fan. If you haven't seen the movie 'Fever Pitch', you need to see it to understand how dedicated Brian is.


Watching from the fence is so boring for a little boy...so Nathan tried to sneak on the field...DOH! he was caught by Dad!


If you can't join them, move on. Since Nathan couldn't play softball, we moved over to the playground. If you enlarge this first picture, you can actually see Nathan's shiner around his right eye.


Remember the post about the Asian posture, where Nathan holds his hands behind his back? He still does it...so cute! As for the next picture, one day maybe I'll get the timing right when he's coming down the slide, seems to be a bit of a challenge for me.


Saturday night, Nathan had is first sleepover! Greg, Lance & Amber had to be at the softball tournament so I babysat Maysen, Nathan's little buddy. These could have been really good pictures of Maysen, if I had used the flash but I was trying to do the natural lighting thing but they came out blurry. Hopefully, one day, I'll figure it all out....


Here I used the flash, big difference. Here are both of them with their bottles just before bedtime...how cute is that?


Nathan was so pooped, he fell asleep with both feet outside the crib!


Sunday morning Greg played drums at church, as usual he did a great job. Normally, he is very stoic when he plays and doesn't move around much but in this brief video I captured, he actually moves a little bit, I'll take the credit for loosening him up!


The strangest thing is Nathan always knows when Greg is up on stage. After everyone leaves the auditorium, I let Nathan walk down the steps to the stage, fortunately, he has yet to figure out to get up there, so we're safe for now!


Just another beautiful and busy weekend in the life of the Hulls!

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!