A Boy and the Pigskin

Today is NFL day around here; therefore I thought it only appropriate to give another blog post about football. The only thing is this one is about my youngest boy.

This is George's first year in football, and let me tell you he is funny to watch. He rarely listens to the coaches, he tries to wrestle all the kids out there, and every movement he makes looks like it is done in slowwwww motionnnnnn.

George is still too young to know if this is something he will like to do, or even if he will be any good at it. A couple of things football is doing for him is, (1) it gets him outside and moving, (2) he is with his peers playing. Those two things are what he needs instead of watching TV and playing with kids twice his age!

But back to slow motion kid. I thought for sure that when he got out there he would be aggressive, fast thinking, great blocker, and just plain amazing. Let's just say he surprised me. He is timid, doesn't think, gets thrown to the ground most times, and is just plain lazy! I don't take any of this as a sign he isn't gonna be great. I take it as he is six and doesn't really care what he is doing.

The funny thing is when he is wearing his pads, and facing a dozen boys his own age, he doesn't show any desire to tackle them. Then take the same kid and put him in the front yard with no pads, and face him up against a dozen boys twice his age, and you will see aggression and desire to wrap them up and take em' down. In fact last weekend he got a bruised check, and then again just last night he got a black eye! So why is he different on the football field verses his front lawn?

Whatever the difference, I am staying hopeful that George will let the "yard" boy come out to play on the "football field" one of these days. Wouldn't that just shock the coaches?

Until then I am going to just sit and enjoy looking at this adorable son I have, and think how blessed I am to have him in my life. I also get to enjoy seeing him stand just like how his brother has always stood during football (hip cocked out and showing off his butt).........I love this stance!

Okay I am off to make some breakfast, clean up the house, do some laundry, and watch some NFL football! Hope you all have an amazing Sunday!

15 minutes of fame...........

So yesterday was a busy day for me. I didn't get a chance to check my e-mails till around 7pm, and even worse I was unable to surf my favorite websites. So you can image my jaw dropping to the floor when my friend e-mailed me to say congrats!

Congrats for what you ask? My photo is on The Pioneer Woman's website as one of the photos that touched her! I feel like I am floating on cloud nine right now. I feel that my photography is improving (and editing skills). I have to admit it was PW who really got me inspired to step outside my box and play with editing. I remember her saying, "Editing can take a good photo, and make it an amazing photo!" SO TRUE!!!!

Here is the photo that made it onto her 20 picks:

Are you ready.............

ready for some FOOTBALL?


Michael is playing ball for his Middle school team this year, and his jersey number is 31. He enjoys every second he is out there on that football field. Whether it be practice, scrimmage, or a game. This boy could care less what the reason as long as he is playin'.

Michael isn't one of the biggest kids out there. In fact he is shorter than most of them. But don't let his size fool you because in a blink of eye he will tackle one of the biggest kids out there. He hits like a Mac truck, and can run like Ferrari!

I have missed watching this kid in action. When Michael plays I get excited, and I yell "You Better Hit Somebody" and "Run Michael Run". I'm the Mom on the sidelines snapping photos and cheering at the same time! I love this sport, and more important I love watching my son doing something he truly loves to do.

The coaches have Michael playing two key positions. He is on the offense as their full back (here he is blocking, and the second is him carrying the ball):



He is also on the defense as one of the linebackers (which is my favorite position):



Yesterday was their first game, and they got their butts spanked. They played the toughest team in their division, and lost by 28 points. In all honesty we had a lot of errors made by our team, and I think nerves got the better of them. I am sure the coaches are gonna make practice today brutal!!!!

BUT..........Michael will love coming home exhausted and smelly. He will take a nice warm 30 minute shower, eat three bowls of homemade soup (he eats so much these days), do 2 hours worth of homework, text all his girl "friends" (about 6 of em' right now), crawl into his bed around 10pm, and try and get rested for tomorrow where it starts all over again!

Why does he do it?

Because ladies and gentlemen he is a...........FOOTBALL PLAYER!

Making a come back..............

Can you believe I haven't posted anything since June? How did that happen? I can tell you one thing I have super busy with kids, vacations, doctor appointments, and photography. All is going wonderful here at The Hallman Tribe. Mikey is due to return home in just two and half weeks. Morgan changed her look. She is now sporting brown hair instead of blonde. Michael made the middle school football team, and is tearing up the field as a linebacker. George is, well he is George. He just fell off the playhouse roof the other day............my life what can I tell ya.

Not too long ago I took Morgan out for a photoshoot. I wanted to get her some new photos for her Facebook and MySpace pages with brown hair. Let me just say the photos turned out to be beyond beautiful. So for my first post back I thought I would show off my baby girl!









































If you want to see the entire photo collection you can go to my flickr page and view them there. Hopefully now that things are slowing down a bit I can post at least once a week. Now I need to go and catch up on all my blog friends....CHOW

Young Star

Okay I almost cried while I watched my youngest perform his Kindergarten program yesterday. I thought after the first two I was over doing the teary eyed thing, but I can't seem to stop.



I think I tear up because of the overwhelming feeling of total unconditional love I have for my kiddos. I am such a proud mother, and I feel blessed to have each one of them in my life. I adore their unique personalities, and in my opinion they are beautiful to boot. I must be smitten!



George started out calm, but got into the on stage thing really fast. By the end of the program he was being GEORGE.

After a little poem reading and singing, we all got to sit and watch a small slide show of the Kindergarten classes. I took a photo of some of the ones I saw George in:



Mrs. Bolva was the assistant in George's class this year. She held a special place for him in her heart. She said he was just like one of her boys at this age. I thought: OH YES.....there is hope for me! And in this picture you can see GEORGE!

George was lucky to get such an awesome teacher this year. Mrs. Batten has been able to keep up with all of George's antics, and I think she adores him. She always talks about how he is just like a little man. Don't I know it!

I love the sunglasses pulled down with his eyes looking over the top of them! He kept doing this kind of stuff towards the end of the program. Morgan and I just sat and laughed at him.

Here is one of the last shots of him up on stage............... This says it all!!

Have a terrific Thursday everyone!