Tuesday, December 30, 2008

More Christmas Pics

This picture of Baby H cracks me up. I think she looks like a little old lady. This was one of her cute Christmas outfits. The quilt in the background is from Grandma Susie. She made all the kids quilts for Christmas. She is extremely talented. The boys got Thomas quilts for their beds and Baby H got this cute pink one. She always makes amazing Christmas presents. One year she made the boys Teepees and cute little pillows for their beds. Thanks Grandma Susie.

We went to peek at Little man the other night and found him asleep with his headphones on. He got this little mp3 player for Christmas and loves it.
We had a great Christmas. It's always a fun time, but it's nice to have the festivities over with. The tree is down, the decorations put away. Jeff even got the lights off the house today. We're excited for the new year and all the possibilities it brings. We hope that you all have a Happy New Year.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas. Santa brought a fun wagon, tractor, glow board, Wall-E, Magna-doodles, and more. The boys had a great time opening and playing with all their new toys. I just realized that I didn't take a ton of pictures on Christmas Day. I was having too much fun watching them play. Christmas was also Big Man's birthday. He's officially 4. I can't believe my boy is getting so big. It seems like just yesterday I was having him. He's grown up so quickly and been such a joy in our life. Happy Birthday Big Man.

Little Man being a nut. He had a great time this year. Last year he was still a little young to get what was going on.

All pooped out. The high can only last for so long.
Pictures of Baby H to come. She had some really cute Christmas outfits that I need to post.

Cowboy Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Snell's house. The theme was Cowboy Christmas. Grandma went all out with cowboy food, placemats, dart guns, a jail, and more. She'd gone to a LOT of work. It was fun. Here are a couple of the outlaws:


One of the festivities was the Reindeer Pokey. Only those under 25 were allowed to participate. Most of my cousins fit that category, not me though :)

My cousin (in-law) Rachel holding Baby H. She had on an adorable reindeer sweater.
Every year we have a gift exchange. This year's hot item was the lighted penguin. Big man had to give it a hug.
After the gift exchange, we had fun in the garage roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

This year was much less traumatic with a horse pinata. Last year was Thomas and big man did not like that.


Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for making it a fun Cowboy Christmas.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I'm so glad when daddy comes home...

I'm so glad when daddy comes home, glad as I can be. Clap my hands and shout for joy and climb up on his knee. This song has been playing through my mind today because it's so true. The boys ask for their dad ALL DAY LONG. The last few days Jeff has come home early and they've built snow forts in our yard. They all had a great time.






Thursday, December 18, 2008

Big Man's Big Performance

Big man had his very first performance last night at the Riverton City Center Auditorium. Him and all his preschool friends performed a ton of Christmas songs. It was great. He wasn't nervous at all. He sang all the songs and sat very still (I was pretty surprised) Some of the other kids were all over the stage, a few were even crying. I was so proud of him. He's such a big man.
Dad and Big man after the performance
The cute performers-the picture only shows about 1/4 of the kids there.
Baby H watching the performance with Grandpa-if you can see her under the bow :)
Little man watching the performance with Grandma Susie.

Friday, December 5, 2008

What a wonderful, crazy day...

Warning: this is a long post :)

I have always been blessed to live around family, except for the 18 months I lived in Arizona. Even when I lived in Logan, if I needed something my parents would make the drive to help me out. I have definitely been the recipient of hours of service and good deeds by family, friends, and neighbors. Today I was able to help my sister-in-law in a time of need. I'm not blogging about this to make myself look good, but rather to express my feelings.

My brother-in-law left for Iraq last April. Shortly thereafter they found out they were expecting baby #3. The timing was perfect, she was due Dec. 10th. He was due home for a two week visit right at that time. On Tuesday of this week, I called her and she had no change. She wasn't dialated or contracting. She was 39 weeks and her husband was due home Thursday or Friday of this week. Things were on track. Wednesday morning I got a call from my mother-in-law saying they were on the way to the hospital, labor had begun. I was excited for her and anxious to know how I could help. My sister-in-law has a wonderful visiting teacher who had offered to take her kids. They dropped the kids off on the way to the hospital. I picked them up from her house in the afternoon and they came over to play with my kids. The crazy part is they didn't know if they were having a girl or boy because they wanted to find out together. That didn't quite happen. They ended up having a boy. Baby E. was born at 5:35 in the evening. He was 6 lbs. 8 oz. He's such a cutie and so little. My mother-in-law picked up the older two kids that night and looked worn out since she'd been at the hospital since early that morning. She spent the night with the older two kids and the whole next day.

This is all leading up to today-the wonderful, crazy day. We found out that my brother-in-law wouldn't get in until Friday night, so we had to figure out how to get my sister-in-law home from the hospital, take care of the kids, and pick up my brother-in-law from the airport. During this whole ordeal, he has been unavailable by phone, so he doesn't even know that Baby E. is here which just adds to the craziness. My mother-in-law had to go back to work, so I picked up my sister-in-law from the hospital. I didn't want to take all three of my kids with me, so I sent them to a friends house. I went to the hospital, took her to her house, picked up her kids from her saint of a visiting teacher, took them to my house, picked up my boys and headed home. Arranging 5 carseats takes a bit of time. The kids had a great time running around and playing. We made lunch and I got the two youngest boys down for naps. While they napped, I had fun braiding my nieces hair. I'm trying to get some practice in until Baby H finally gets some hair :) It was fun. My niece looked adorable.

The original plan was for me to keep the kids until about 5:30 when my mother-in-law would pick them up and take them home. My brother-in-law's flight was scheduled to come in at 7:30 and Jeff was going to pick him up. That changed when we found out the flight was moved up to 4:05. I had volunteered to make dinner for them, so I had to improvise since we were going over a lot earlier. It definitely takes mad skills to entertain 4 older kids, feed a baby, and make dinner for two families. We headed over with the kids and the dinner at about 4:30. I ended up cooking everything over there while we waited for the guys to get home from the airport.

My brother-in-law has the best sense of humor. He's such a fun guy to talk to and be around. This is the side of him that I'm used to seeing. When he walked in the door I saw a completely different side to him. He was so excited to see his family. His kids ran up and gave him big hugs. He was surprised to see everyone there. He looks immediately at his wife and realizes she's holding a baby. He'd already seen me holding a baby so he knew it wasn't mine. He starts counting and you can see it register on his face. He says who's this? He was already emotional from seeing his family, but by this time he and everyone else was in tears. It was such a tender moment. We didn't want to intrude on their time together or overwhelm my sister-in-law (who had been home from the hospital only hours at this point). So we all left and came back here to eat our own dinner.

I've seen family reunions of service men and women on the news and heard about them a dozen times, but I've never been a part of one before. It was such a neat experience. They truly sacrifice so much to serve our country. When my brother-in-law left for Iraq his son was barely walking, now he's running around and talking. I know it's been hard for him to be away.

So when it's all said and done it was a wonderful, crazy day. It felt so good to be able to help somebody else. I truly believe in what goes around comes around. I've been the recipient of so many wonderful gestures. It's nice to be able to do that for someone else.

Monday, December 1, 2008

My cute family

We had my brother-in-law take some family pictures for our Christmas cards. Getting three kids to cooperate is next to impossible. Just thought I'd give you a preview.

Our neighbors brought over an advent calendar last night so we could start it today. So me and the boys opened #1 today. Well since there are two boys, I had to open #2 as well. The chocolates are teeny. That wasn't enough for either of them. I had to hide it on top of the fridge. Every five minutes Big man was bugging me for more. I finally told him after lunch he could have another one. He wanted lunch at 10:30. We finally ate lunch at 11:00 and so I got down the calendar. If you don't see where this story is heading, we ended up opening all 25 little chocolates. This advent calendar did not quite work at the Hansen house. It was a fun idea though.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Two Months

Today was Baby H's two month visit (It's two days early-I know) She's a whopping 10 lbs. 7 oz. and 22 inches long. I thought that was crazy until I looked at Big Man's baby book. He was 12 lbs 6 oz. at two months. Little man was 11 lbs. 1 oz. So she came out my biggest, but at two months she's my smallest. Kind of crazy. She got her first immunizations and her first medicine. Her ears were full of fluid. Maybe that will help her not be so cranky :) I finally took a picture of her in her blessing dress. She actually wore it again on Sunday. It's not one of those long flowing gowns, so I figure I might as well get my money's worth out of it.


I saw Twilight on Saturday and I LOVED it. I thought it was great. I can't wait to see it again.



Wednesday, November 19, 2008

My Binky Baby

I finally took a new picture of Baby H. Everytime I took the binky out she'd cry (flashbacks of her JCPenney pics) I can't believe how big she's getting. She's starting to coo and smile. It's fun. Her brothers continue to maul her. They definitely love her, but can be exhausting in expressing it.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Put the camera back...

So my darling hubby has had the camera hidden away in his hunting gear, so I haven't taken too many pictures in the last little while. I finally got it back today. Big man and I cleaned up the leaves today. He thought it was great fun to play in the garbage can (gross I know). We did this while Jeff hung Christmas lights. I was very surprised that we were going to have Christmas lights this year. Jeff was not thrilled about hanging them, but they look awesome. The boys were so excited to have them up. It makes me excited to start the holiday season.


This picture of Baby H is actually a couple of weeks old, but it shows her chubby cheeks and chin here. I can't believe how big she's getting. Her brothers gave her a cold so she's been a bit under the weather this week. I hope to take lots of pictures of Baby H this week now that I have my camera back.



Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Baby H's Blessing

The final event of the weekend was Baby H's blessing. I didn't get too many pictures, so I'm going to have to dress her up again later for more. It was a crazy morning getting everyone ready and afterwards I was busy getting food out for family. It was a great day and we're grateful to everyone who supported us.

This is my grandpa with Baby H.


Discovery Gateway

We had a very eventful weekend. On Saturday we went to Discovery Gateway with cousins. We had a great time. We'd never been and the boys loved it.

Big man loves to climb, so this was perfect.

They both love horses.
Quite the musicians.

Little man loved the first area where you play with balls.
Big man and dad in the airplane. They both had lots of fun.

All of the cousins playing in the airplane. I think they spent a good half an hour playing in it.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Our Idaho cousins were down for the weekend, so all the cousins on Jeff's side of the family went trick or treating together.
Baby H stayed home with me to pass out candy. Doesn't she look festive.
Here are the cute trick or treaters right before they went out. Today we are finally retiring the Buzz costume (big man doesn't know that yet). I think three weeks of wearing it is enough, don't you?


Preschool Pictures

I wasn't going to buy any preschool pictures this year, but they turned out so darn cute that I bought the whole lot of them. I also bought the copyright so I'm not being naughty by putting them on here. We forgot it was picture day that day so I let big man pick out his own shirt. If I'd remembered he would've been in something a bit more dressy. Oh well, he's adorable.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sugar high-all week long

Today is day two of the sugar high week. Big man had a party at preschool that ended with a small parade. The kids all marched out to the street to wave at the cars and see if any would honk. About 3-4 cars did honk and the kids were pretty excited. I think preschool teachers are amazingly patient. Doesn't it look like chaos.
Big man was so excited to see me pull up for his parade. It was all he could talk about all day.

Big man held up this Halloween treat and said, "It's saying I love you". Jeff and I thought it was pretty funny.
Baby H in her Bullseye costume. She went to her first trunk or treat yesterday and did great. Everyone thought she was adorable.

You can't have Bullseye without Buzz and Woody. What a cute bunch.
The fun continues tomorrow when we have cousins in town and everyone goes trick or treating. I've tried to limit their candy eating, but so far it hasn't worked. I told big man to come and eat lunch today and he informed me he wanted candy for lunch. I don't blame him :)




Friday, October 24, 2008

Things I've learned...

Baby H is four weeks old tomorrow. It's been a crazy four weeks. Here are some things I've learned with three kids:
1. Leaving the house must be timed very carefully-between feedings, naps, meals, etc. This gives me a very small window of time to actually go anywhere or do anything :)
2. The boys won't need my attention until I'm feeding the baby. At which time they have to be on my lap or sitting close by. This gives them the perfect opportunity to bug her and me.
3. I don't have to have a reason to cry. In fact there have been a few times when me and ALL three kids have been crying at the same time. It's pretty sad when I start crying just seeing Jeff's car pull in the driveway.
4. I'm having a good day when I've showered and dressed. It's a fairly good day if I'm dressed before noon. Some days me and the kids are in our jammies all day. That's okay too.
5. It's okay to have kids songs in my head all day. The kids favorite cartoons have some pretty catchy tunes. It's a little annoying when I can't get them out of my head to go to sleep. We've watched a lot of cartoons in the last few weeks.
6. It's nice not to have to cook. Due to the kindness of family and neighbors I didn't have to make a single dinner for three whole weeks. It was heaven.
7. The boys do a pretty good job of washing themselves in the tub. Why was I doing it for them all this time? I learned this a few nights ago while I was sitting on the bathroom floor feeding the baby while the boys bathed. Jeff was working late.
8. Shopping with three kids is quite an adventure. One I don't want to repeat anytime soon. I went to Kohls to try and find a dress. I took the double stroller thinking the carseat could go in the back, little man in the front and big man could walk. Big man didn't want to walk, he wanted in the stroller, so I'm trying to push the stroller with one hand and hold the carrier with the other. Once I found something I wanted to look at both boys jumped out of the stroller and ran around like mad men. I spent most of the time tracking them down. After about ten minutes I gave up and went home. What was I thinking.
9. Jeff is a great dad. I of course already knew this, but I'm amazed at how great he is with the kids. Especially the boys. They have so much fun with him and when he's at work they ask for him all day. It makes me very grateful to be sharing this large task of parenting with him. My hat goes off to all single parents. I couldn't do it.
10. I am very blessed. Sure I get tired and ornery, but I love my kids and my husband. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Like I said, it's been a crazy four weeks, but each day gets a little easier.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

What a chunk!!!

I couldn't decide on the pictures, so I put them all in. I thought they turned out pretty cute. I took Baby H in for her 2-week visit yesterday and she's already gained a pound. I guess by two weeks it's good if they're back up to their birth weight and she's a pound over that. What a little chunk. I'm glad she's healthy and growing. She's a cutie.




Sunday, October 12, 2008

It finally happened...

After hours of fun playing with the camera, big and little man finally broke it. Jeff put it on a tripod for them and I think it took one too many trips down the stairs. The good news is we bought a new camera last night. It's my birthday present, but I can't wait that long to use it. I haven't even had a chance to mess with it, but here are some pictures Jeff took with it.

This first one is of little man with his dinosaur hairdo. We finally let it grow out long enough to be able to do this. He thought he was pretty cool. Only him and dad made it to church today.

This may be big man's wardrobe for the next few weeks. He wouldn't take it off all night. We're borrowing the buzz costume from his cousins and they brought it over tonight. He was thrilled. The only way we got him to take it off for bed was to hang it on his curtains so he could still look at it. What a nut.