Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Tis the Season...

December has flown by for me. I guess taking a week vacation didn't help the matter. Since we've been home, our schedule has been pretty crazy. Last night was Big Man's preschool Christmas program. It was great. It was fun to see how much he's grown up from last year's program. He knew all the words to the songs this year, did all of the actions, and just beamed with pride up on the stage. It was cute.
The lighting in the auditorium is horrible, so this is the best I got of him up on the stage.

Looking back in the baby books, it was at 16 months that Little Man started being a terror. Big man was a little later than that-he didn't have any examples. Little Princess is not quite 15 months and I have a feeling I'm in for it. During a 'quiet' moment yesterday, she learned how to twist my lipstick up and decided to redecorate my room. This is just one stop on her trail of destruction. It continued on my dresser, nightstand, and in my closet. Where was I during all of this fun. Well, doing mom stuff of course. Vacuuming, cleaning, etc. I can't follow her around all the time. I guess I should though, or at least close a few doors. Thank goodness for good cleaners that make fun times like these bearable.
If it were possible, I wouldn't go anywhere the week before Christmas. The last place on earth I wanted to be was Costco. I got there early because I thought they had Christmas hours, so we sat in the car for a while before it opened. As they opened the doors, there were probably 100 people waiting to get in. It was pure madness. I'm glad I'm home now watching the snow fall.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Christmas Vacation...(part 2)

If you haven't read part one of the Christmas Vacation post, read it below.

Our last day in Phoenix we asked the boys if they'd rather go home or go to....DISNEYLAND. They hadn't known beforehand that we were going. They were pretty excited. These pictures are in no particular order. We spent two days at Disneyland and California Adventures. The first day it sprinkled on and off during the day-nothing bad. The second day was rain most of the day-sometimes pretty hard. We made the most of it though and still had a blast.









We had a great time. The boys loved the rides and meeting their favorite characters. Little man's eyes would light up when he'd meet one of the characters. Big man was pretty brave and rode on the Haunted Hotel in CA Adventures. That's all he could talk about for days. He was pretty freaked out by it, but did well. Little man was about an inch short for some of the rides, next time we'll do taller shoes :)
It was a great vacation. A lot of driving, but also a lot of fun. The boys were little troopers the whole time. It was nice to get home and get back to reality. It was also nice to come home and get Little Princess. We sure missed her. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching her.

Christmas Vacation-no not the movie...

For real, who goes on vacation in December? We just got back from an 8-day trip to Nevada, Arizona, and California. Jeff had a conference in Phoenix so we stayed there for a couple of nights. On the way down we stayed in "Lost Vegas". At least that's what big man called it. Our hotel in Phoenix had a pool. It didn't matter that the weather was only 50 degrees. The hot tub was nice though :) The boys and I saw Planet 51 while Jeff was in his conference. It was a cute show. The next day we went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was very different from our zoo, but fun. The boys were quite excited to see some of the animals. These pictures are from the zoo.




You'll notice that Little Princess is not in any of the pictures. That's because she did not come with us. Grandma and Grandpa Snell were nice enough to keep her for the whole week. She would've been miserable with all of the driving. She doesn't handle long car rides well.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a very Happy Thanksgiving. It was fun to spend time with family and relax a little bit. Jeff went shopping on Black Friday. He always gets some good finds. Black Friday was also our anniversary. It's been 7 years of wedded bliss :) I can't believe how quickly the time goes. With all the great deals going on this weekend we decided to get the boys bunkbeds (and no we're not expecting #4). We weren't going to do it until Little Princess was ready for a bed, but we didn't want to miss the great sales.

Here's the boys room.
And the good news-I have a toy room again :) I am so excited. I didn't realize how much stuff the boys have until we put it into one room. It's pretty full.
I also went through Little Princess's clothes. I have a bag of clothes in her closet of things that are too big. I go through them occasionally and move them to her dresser. This outfit was in there and I thought it was adorable. She has so many skirts and dresses that if I only use them on Sunday she'll never wear them.
It's been a busy but fun weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Christmas Card Preview

Okay-it's official. All Hansens will be featured in this year's Christmas card. Wahoo!!! This is the first year that has happened. I am not posting the picture that will be used in the card, you'll have to wait anxiously by your mailbox for that :) If you're not on my Christmas card list, email me and I will add you.

Can I just say I have the cutest kids. Sure they're naughty and make me pull my hair out most days, but when I see pictures like this my heart melts.



Sunday, November 15, 2009

Grandma Susie's new digs...

Grandma Susie got to have a week long sleepover at our house this last week. The closing on her new condo didn't go down quite like we hoped it would, so she got to come and stay with us. The boys loved having her in the basement. Jeff and I even got to have a date night while she was there. Once she closed on her condo, we got to work painting and fixing it up a bit. Here are some before pictures.

This is the outside of the building. She has a great view. It's a bottom, corner location.

This is outside her kitchen window.
The master bedroom.
One of the smaller bedrooms-you've gotta love the pink. The bottom part and trim are kind of cool. She's going to paint the top part white.
The other smaller bedroom-with the lighting, you can't really appreciate how purple it is. Again, the bottom part is cool, but she's going to paint the top.
Who doesn't love a bright yellow bathroom??? We painted it a nice soothing taupe :)

This is the main family room. I'm not quite sure if they sponged this wall, or what happened. It was quite interesting. It's now a nice taupe color as well.
This is the kitchen. You can see the nice hardwood floors. The flooring throughout the whole condo is great. It's wood in the kitchen, family room and hall. Tile in the washroom and bathrooms, and carpet in the three bedrooms.
The camera battery died before we got some good 'after' pictures, so stay tuned...
We're very excited for her to be in her new place. It's only a 15 minute drive from our house and it's shaping up quite nicely. Congrats Grandma Susie!!!

I love messes...

Sometimes I feel like all I do is clean up messes. It's at least three times a day (if not more). If suckers or popsicles are involved, it's even worse. This particular day, the boys decided we needed candy canes from Walmart. Little Princess loved them. I think she was blue all day.



My other mess maker. Little man loves to help while I'm baking. I was making pumpkin cookies and I'm not quite sure what happened, but he somehow fell into the batter. What a helper.


I know Halloween is way over, but I found this picture when I was cleaning off the camera. I thought it was way cute. We wore these shirts A LOT in October.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The fun continues

Tonight was my birthday celebration with my family. My mom wanted it to be a Halloween party. Everybody dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Grandpa did scare the grandkids with his costume. We had to hurry and take pictures so Little Princess would stop crying. We all had a great time at the party.
Here's the devil herself. She went all out on the party. We played a lot of Halloween games. Everything on the menu was orange or black. She'd gone to a lot of work. Thanks mom :)

Christopher and Becky (and my cute penguin)



Me and Indiana Jones (aka Jeff) I borrowed my mother-in-law's Harry Potter robe. It was pretty cool.


The cutest grandkids on the planet :) I think kids make holidays so much more fun. It's fun to watch their excitement. I just wish I could borrow some of their energy.


The first game was a fishing pond. All of the grandkids got a goody bag full of prizes. The favorite toy of the night was the little squishy skeletons that stuck to the ceiling. The kids had fun with those quite a while.


The second game was sucking the ghosts with a straw and carrying them across the room. It was fun to watch the little people try to do it.


Little Princess would not be left out of anything. She may be little, but she's determined. Especially with a doting cousin and grandpa :)

The other games included bobbing for apples, bingo, darts, and more. It was a great night. Not only did I have a great birthday, but I got to watch my kids have fun. Here's Big Man bobbing for apples. It's kind of hard when you have no bottom teeth :)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Let the fun begin...

Halloween is a week long event for us. It started today with the "Spooktacular" today at the gym. The boys had a great time. They went on a hayride, a bouncy house, a huge slide, a horse ride, decorated pumpkins, ate treats, and much more. It was great fun.
The boys on their horse ride.
After the spooktacular we went to Gardner Village with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. We went to the petting zoo, the pony ride, and looked at all the witches. It was fun.

Little Princess thought she was hot stuff. She loved riding on the pony. It was really cute.
The kids thought the witches were great. We had a fun time.