No time to write right now, I will post tomorrow!

BUT..He slept in his bed last night!! He's in there tonight too!

I'll give you the whole story tomorrow!

OPINIONS NEEDED

Prince Harri is getting close to a couple of major milestones, and I want some input from ALL you mommies!

1. Cereal and food. It used to be start it at 4 months, don't put it in a bottle. Now I'm reading wait closer to 6 months, and maybe a tsp. in the bottle won't hurt. So...here's my questions:

When did you start cereal? foods?
Did you spoon it, put it in a bottle, or both?
Is there a benefit to waiting until 6 mo. VS starting at 4 mo.?
Anything else you feel the need at add on this subject...

2. Stomach sleeping. Everyone knows 'back to sleep', but most people(including babies) sleep better on their stomach. The Dr. said it's OK once they roll onto their stomach themselves, but always back before then. H is so close to rolling..... I want to put him on his belly to sleep. He's getting too big to sleep in his car seat and isn't sleeping well b/c he's uncomfortable. So..here's my questions:

Did you always but your kids on their backs? Or stomachs?
Why or Why not?

THANKS!

Say What??

So the DB manager called last week and offered me the job, then said she'd call me back later that evening with my schedule. Fast forward to today, I STILL haven't heard back. So I called the store where the training was supposed to be to speak with her and they said she wasn't there she was at the new store. I spoke to the other manager, and she said that I was supposed to work last night and they wondered why I didn't show up?? Well, it's b/c I had NO clue! I explained I never received a call back with a schedule, she said she would pass along the message.

I imagine she just got busy with the whole new store opening and all, so I guess I'll wait and see if I still have a job. Nothing else is one the horizon :O(

SHOUT OUT!

I want to give a super big THANK YOU to Amy and Staci for putting up with my numerous phone calls today. Thank you for venting with me, laughing with me and cursing the circumstance with me! Ya'll ROCK!!!

I have no dirty laundry!

That is until my family puts on their jammie's! Today was a mighty productive day for me. I did ALL the laundry. Not only is it done, it is folded, hung, and put away! WOW! I also pulled out all of H's 0-3 month clothing and packed them away. I also moved up his 3-6 month and dug the 6-9 month clothes out of the closet. So they'll be ready when he needs them(and I had an extra drawer!).

Harrison earlier this week, looking mighty cute!

This one is my favorite!
I dressed Harrison up for our day out with Grammie. Lunch was awesome. I had Catfish, onion petals, and Logan's Mac and chz. Super Yummy!

Check out those eyelashes!!

I had him in a sweater vest to begin with, but it was pretty bulky and he didn't like it. He looked SOOOO cute though!! I LOVE a preppy boy!

Harrison has started to enjoy his swing. Before it was just another device to get him to fall asleep, but now he can sit up and touch the toys. He loves it! If you click on the pic you can see his " I love my GOD Moo-my" onsie!

H playing with his daddy!

I LOVE my boys!!

Last night I was lying in bed with Savannah and I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. We chit-chatted back and forth for a bit, then got on the topic of college. She said she didn't want to go b/c she didn't think she'd be able to stand being around boys for 4 years. I told her she could go to an all girl's school...she loved that idea! Well, of course Jason and I do too so we had her sign the "contract" below. It'll be a hoot in 11 years when she starts looking at colleges and I whip this puppy out!
Tonight after dinner Jason and I made this baby:
It's a chocolate cake you are saying to yourself..... Yes, it is, BUT it's a HOMEMADE chocolate cake! Yup, no Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker here. This is SO not normal for us, but I have been trying to bake/make stuff to save on money and most importantly to give me something to do!! Here is the cake recipe and the frosting recipe

Lexulous and Poop

My newest obsession is an online game called Lexulous. It's basically Scrabble by a different name. You play with a friend (or 2), and receive notices via e-mail when another has made a move. I play all through out the day with Amy, Misty, and Jason. So if you are ever home, hanging out on the 'puter, and want to kill time, let me know I'll be more than happy to set up a game :O) I have become something of an addict!!

Poop, I'm so tired of it. One of the curses of breastfed babies is they poop...like crazy! My son not only poops, he poops up his back, ALL THE TIME!! Today he was in his 3rd outfit by 11 a.m. Crazy huh? In addition to the 3rd outfit he pooped in his carseat and bouncy seat. So it's all in the wash. Fun Times! You sure you still wanna have a baby Shannon???

I'm going to brag, and I don't care....

I have the best husband ever. I won't bore you with a long list of how awesome he is, but if you've ever met him or been around us you know. He rocks, plain and simple. This was shown again today when I e-mailed him and told him I accepted the DB position for pay WAY less than what I'm worth and it's part time. He replied this:

Well, it gets some money coming in until we can find you a good full time job.

The frickin market sucks now.

We might just end up both working part time when I go to school.

We can do it though.

I LOVE YOU!!

What you do for our family is AMAZING.

YOU ROCK MY LOVE!

SOOOOOOOOOOO PISSED OFF!!!

I called the IRS today to check on our refund since we never received it, and you won't believe what they told me. THEY NEVER RECEIVED THE INJURED SPOUSE FORM!!! Do you know what that means?? DFAS got our whole freakin' tax return!!! I can still fill out the form and mail it in, but I have already lost 2 weeks! I'm so freakin' pissed off. I want to go kick them in their yoo-hoos! GGGGGRRRRR.

On a happier note, I had another interview today. It was a group interview with 3 other people. All 3 of which had a degree, but little personality. At the end of the interview the interviewer asked everyone to choose 1 person in the group that they would hire based on the information given during the interview. 2 out of the 3 choose me!! They have 2 positions open, and have been looking for 3 weeks! That seems like a long time to not have found anyone. They have a pretty rigorous process though. There is the phone interview, the group interview, one on one with the campus director, then one on one with the national director. WOW! The job is close to home(10 minutes), pays decent, and the hours are OK(9-6). It's the best one I have interviewed for so far. i have been avoiding the DB lady like the plaque, not sure what I am going to do about that. I don't want to turn it down in case this doesn't work out, but I don't want to only work there for a week then quit. AGH! I need to check my powerball ticket....

So happy my Grammie is taking me to Logan's for lunch tomorrow!!

I Love Blogging

I used to get upset that people didn't update as often as I did. That they didn't leave comments when I knew they had been here. That me not updating for 3 days is a travesty, but they could go weeks in between blogs. Then I decided. Who gives a crap?? I enjoy blogging. It's as much for me to get my thoughts out as it is for others to catch up on my life. I like sitting down and thinking of something to write about. I make time to do it. My life is in no way exciting, but I always find something to write about, and ya'll must love it b/c I get at least 30 hits a day. I have readers who read and never comment(Michelle and Delta!) I know you're there and I don't mind. I'm flattered. I blog stalk. It's kinda cool to know I'm being stalked too.

Don't forget AI tonight!!

Tired

Is an understatement. Harrison is still not feeling well and was up most of the night last night. I think I slept about 2 hours, and I don't mean straight! It was 20 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Exhausting. He's snoozing now, but of course the big kids are up and awake, dishes need done, laundry needs done. A mother's work is never done...

We had an awesome time Saturday night making Sushi. My brother cam over and stayed the night. He had never has sushi before and enjoyed trying it for the first time. Jonathan even broke down and tried it. Savannah has always loved it. I think I like the Spicy Tuna roll better than the philly roll. It was fun to make our own combos.

The manager of the retail job I interviewed for last week called today. She said they like me and I have a great personality, but I lack retail experience for a management position. Soooo, she offered me a part-time sales position. It's not really what I want, but I suppose it will do for now. I need a full time well paying job by July. I can't put Jason through nursing school on a part-time retail paycheck. It works OK for now though b/c I won't have to be away from H as much and Grammie will probably keep him so he won't have to go to daycare. One day at a time. I'll worry about the rest later.

I LOVE MY FAMILY

ME AND MY BOY

YUMMY FINGERS!

SERIOUSLY, COULD HE BE ANY CUTER??

HALLOCK SUSHI BAR

RICE, NORI, CREAM CHEESE, SALMON, TUNA,

CUCUMBER, AVOCADO, CRAB, AND SPICY MAYO

JASON AND RYAN MAKING THEIR SUSHI

ROLLING

SAVANNAH FEEDING UNCLE RYAN SUSHI

After my rough night with Harrison it was wonderful to get this e-mail from my hubs this morning:

I LOVE YOU:

I love your smile
I love your devotion
I love your mommy skills
I love your dedication to our family

I appreciate everything you do for us.

You Are My Girl.

I'm a lucky gal :O)

A Lil' Somethin' New

On this fine valentine's day we decided to re-arrange the living room.

Only a few more hours until sushi!!

Looking in the living room from the dining room-BEFORE Looking in the living room from the dining room-AFTER

We uncovered the window to add more light to the room.
Looking from the front door into the house-BEFORE
Looking from the front door into the house-AFTER
We moved the shrank to the back wall where the painting was.

Looking from the hallway into the living room-BEFORE

Looking from the hallway into the living room-AFTER

Can I tell you how much I can't wait until we get a sofa. The living room is much brighter and more spacious now. Yay us!

Going to do sushi about 6. More pics later :O)

RSV

For 20 minutes(while we waited on the test) they thought that was what Harrison had. It's enough to scare the daylights out of a momma!! He's had a nasty cough for a couple of weeks, so I finally took him to the Dr. Thankfully, she said it's just a normal cough due to cold. He is eating okay, sleeping okay, and sucking on his pacifier, all indicators of a baby that feels decent. She recommended a cool mist humidifier. Grammie was going to let us use hers, but decided instead we needed our own, so she bought us one. I've always wanted to get one but have always been to cheap to fork the money out. It seems to be helping. Harrison hasn't coughed as much since I set it up. He even slept for almost 3 hours after the appointment.

Of course since my last name is Hallock, we did not get our return. I doubled checked the routing and account number to be sure it was correct and no one else got our money. The website says I have to wait until the 18th before calling them, so that's what I shall do. I should have known better, if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck.

I didn't hear back about my interview :O( I guess it's back to career builder for me. BLAH.

Hoping and Praying

I checked the IRS website to get the status of our tax return and was shocked to see it said:

Your tax refund is scheduled to be direct deposited on February 13, 2009. If your refund is not credited to your account by February 18, 2009, check with your bank to find out if it has been received. Please wait until February 18, 2009 before you contact us again because we are unable to take any action until then.

Wow! Don't they know that their own website states 11 weeks to process returns with an injured spouse claim? Don't they know we still owe the Army $3,500? They must b/c under the above statement was this one:

Your refund may be reduced to pay a past due obligation such as child support, another federal agency debt, or state income tax. If this applies to you, the Financial Management Service, who issues IRS refunds, will send you a notice informing you of any offset they have made. The details of the debt are not provided to the IRS. Please do not call us to inquire about the details because we will not be able to answer your questions. Instead, direct any questions you have about the offset or debt to the agency identified on the notice.

So what does this mean?? Hell if I know! I'm just hoping we get our tax return tomorrow and it's at least 1/2 of what we are supposed to get, but I'll be freakin' ecstatic if all gets deposited!!

Savannah is staying at Grammie's tonight so I decided to tackle her room. She is a bonafide slob! Jason says it's the artist in her, I say it's she has a mother who will clean up after her! Anyway, below are her before and after pics! I threw away all those damn pixos she got for C-mas. What a bad idea that was!! Plus a bunch of drawings, and other crap. I'm guessing it will stay clean for...about 3 hours...

Happy Friday Folks!!

Haslet???

The tracker says I have a reader in Haslet. I thought it was my friend Debbie, but she didn't have my blog addy(until now!), so I don't know who it is.... Feel free to leave a comment Haslet, the more the merrier!!

Last night at parent/teacher conferences we received a not so good report on Jonathan's behavior...One of his punishments was this....
BEFORE
AFTER
Yup, he had to get a haircut. He looks happy in that picture, but he was not happy at the salon. He cried the whole time. Not the loud drama sobbing, but the silent crying where the only way you knew he was crying was b/c of the tears silently rolling down his face. It broke my heart. Every time I said "shorter", he would let out a little sob, then return to silent tears. It was as horrible for me as it was for him.

My interview went OK, it wasn't great. The DM asked really tough questions. I will know tomorrow if I got the position. I hope so. Jason scheduled his campus visit at WSU today. Whoo-hoo! The kids are home until Tuesday b/c of conferences and the holiday...let's hope I don't lose my mind in the next five days!!

Our future's so bright...we gotta wear shades...

A fabulous thing happened yesterday. Jason received is eligibility letter from the VA regarding his GI Bill. In 2008 the GI Bill was re-vamped a little. Amazingly enough, it's for the better. Jason will have almost $80,000 at his disposal for college. If he attends an in-state school that is more than plenty to finish his BA(he's 1/2 way there) and to get his MA.

Initially we thought we was going to have to attend an online school to be able to make ends meet and get the education. The new bill that goes into effect August 1, 2009 will allow him to go to classes while I work.

It covers:

-Cost of tuition and fees, not to exceed the most expensive in-state undergraduate tuition at a public institution of higher education (paid to school); **School gets paid 100%**

-Monthly housing allowance equal to the basic allowance for housing payable to a military E-5 with dependents, in the same zip code as your school (paid to you); **This is a little over $1,000 a month. How great is that? It keeps him from having to get a job to make ends meet while in school**

-Yearly books and supplies stipend of up to $1000 per year (paid to you) **Of course he'll need this**

I will have to work while he's in school, but I have been looking for a job anyway, so it's not that much of a change. Once he graduates he will be able to earn double what he does now, and will have no problems finding a job in that field. It's a means to an end. Work for 3 years and then never have to work again, unless I want too! Hell Ya!

Jason is so excited he can't hardly contain himself. August will not come quick enough for him I'm sure. He called VA today to verify he is eligible for the new program, and he is. So now he just has to apply and start getting stuff in order. I will continue looking for a job( I have another interview tomorrow) and start the process of saving and prepping for this new adventure in our lives.

American Association of Respiratory Care

Who are you???

No Scrappin'

I ended up not scrappin' b/c we got an obnoxious e-mail from the woman who gave birth to my husband, and I ended up chatting with my friend Amy for 2 hours! Kinda sad I didn't get around to it, but I love a good girlfriend convo too!

Not much else going on. I have another interveiw on Wednesday. I had a one one Friday too. I'd prefer the job I intereviewed for on Friday, but it's less pay and farther from home. We will see how it goes, hopefully God will choose for me and I will only be offered one of them.

Kids are good. We have parent/teacher conferences on Tuesday. Then they have a 5 day weekend next week. Crazy, I know. Whatever will I do with them???

I can't wait for Valentine's Day. We are going to continue our traditon of making our own Sushi Rolls!

Soooooo....

Savannah is staying the night with a friend....


Jonathan is staying the night with a friend.....


Can you guess what I will be doing???


Yup....


Starting Harrison's scrapbook!!!

I love me some us!

Hallock Family Super Bowl Predictions

Jason-Arizona Cardinals 31-27
Angel-Arizona Cardinals 23-17
Jonathan- Pittsburgh Steelers 27-24
Savannah-Arizona Cardinals 27-20
Harrison-Arizona Cardinals!!