New Year's Eve

We decided this year that we wanted to have a party, but we wanted it to be low key. So we invited my dad and all of the hub's family over. The kiddos had a blast as you can tell by this picture. They love having parties, and I love giving them.The activities were easy, since the kiddos got an arcade basketball game and an air hockey table from grandpa for Christmas. And we also had the Wii, which everyone loves. I had purchased a gingerbread house kit after Christmas which was only a couple of dollars, knowing the kids would love to decorate it, and boy did they ever LOVE it.

Even Bella was loving it, however, I think it was the eating the candy she really loved.

We had good eats, lots of things we knew the kiddos would all love, since they almost outnumbered the adults-almost.

Cute little Josh with his daddy.

Bella loves sitting with Grandpa Renga, and he loves her to death. He's been smitten with her since he first held her after she was born.

We had noise makers and horns for the kiddos, but Bella couldn't blow the horn, so I gave her pots and pans to beat. She loved making the noise.

This was Bella's first time sitting at the big table in the morning. She quickly returned to her high chair the next day, because she wasn't quite ready to sit in the booster seat. This is fine with me, I'd like to keep her little a little longer. I'm not quite ready to see my baby not a baby any more.

Here's one more pic of the kiddos decorating that house. They really enjoyed this activity. We all had fun and it was a very calm, relaxed, fun party. I love throwing parties, especially when they are simple.

The Talk!

It's been an eventful Saturday in the Hansen home. The hubs and I finally sat down with the two older girls(separately) and talked to them rather openly and very frank. We have had small talks with them in the past, well-actually, I have had talks with them, but never have we sat them down and taken them through everything between a man and a woman before. We threw body part words at them, which they kinda knew already due to our talks, but we explained to them exactly what takes place during sex and making a baby.

I picked up this great book to help me prepare and then sprung it on the hubs that he was gonna sit down with me and the two older girls. Needless to say, he was less than excited. I have been meaning to do this for awhile, but life's been a tad bit crazy around here. The book recommends talking with them at age 8, which we have had talks before, just nothing quite so BIG before. We let them in on the amazing, wonderful, awesome, "secret." We also told Laney she would get to know the "secret" this year on her birthday. She's rather excited. I totally love building the "secret" up just like the book recommends, because sex is not dirty, weird, or embarrassing. It is extremely wonderful, awesome, and intense. I want our children to know and feel like they can come to us and ask us "anything." I didn't have an open relationship growing up with my folks, but I sure want my kids to have that with the hubs and I.

We were both kind of nervous to have this talk, but it actually was a lot easier than either one of us thought it would be. We stressed to them a lot on NOT doing anything until they are married, but we felt they needed to know about all the facts about sex-the why, how, who, when, and most importantly God's plan for the power a man and woman have when they come together. There were lots of questions, more from Kaleigh than Alexis(which I expected, due to Alexis's quiet-in-her-head personality), but both girls felt informed, and like they could talk/ask us anything. Mission accomplished in my book. It's a crazy world out there and we want our kids armed with everything possible so they can make the right decisions and not be left in the dark. We also feel that opening up to them and having frank discussions a lot will help them stay on the right path. We know there will be bumps and mistakes along the way, but we stressed to our girls making this mistake-having sex of any kind before marriage, is one we hope and pray they do not make. They understood and no one squirmed or felt uncomfortable which was very nice. I highly recommend reading this book. It helped me gather my thoughts and organize exactly what/how I wanted to say things. My hardest part was actually using the right terms for the parts of the body-I'm still working on this, but by the time it's little Miss Bella's turn, I'll be a pro.

Day 15 & 16

So again, I'm combining two days. I am very grateful for this one huge thing. I'm grateful for groups that are forming to bring about a new awareness to the world. I'm talking about the awareness for children suffering a horrible disease that they shouldn't- CANCER! No parent should ever have to hear the words "your child has cancer." It's horrible and I hope to never hear it again and hope that no one near me has to hear theses words. It shakes your world and changes you and your family forever, no matter what the outcome. Unfortunately, I'm sure this will happen due to the research for these type of cancers get little or no funding. I'm grateful for the groups of people, myself included, who have said "enough is enough, save our children." There's a great movement beginning to get more money for research and for, hopefully, cures so that our children do not have to suffer. I'm grateful that we as a group can be heard and as the awareness begins to grow we will be heard and hopefully our children will get what they so deserve-to live, healthy, long lives!

I put this video link on here asking for you to watch it. Let me warn you, it is a very difficult thing to watch, but I believe every person should see it. It brings the awareness of what families and children experience to light. God bless and hopefully we will cure our children sooner, rather than later.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI4h7u4yNC8

Halloween 2010

I just love the holidays! I can do so much with each and every one. We had our traditional Halloween spooky dinner before we left for our tricks and treats. I made bats and guts as our appetizer. The kids really get into my creepy names. Even when my dad asked for something if he didn't call it by its spooky name they didn't pass it to him. Haha, funny kids!
Then we have our bumps on a log with worms. Yummy!!!

Our bone breadsticks, again, those creepy worms kept crawling all over our food.

Edible eyeballs, yummy stuff.

Our table with our annual putrid punch. We actually lucked out and have had this drink twice this year-since Noah wanted it at his b-day party too.

And our main course, mummy pizzas. I like them this way better. They are on sliced french bread, and ooh, were they yummy.

The kittys from the bunch.

Miss A as a penguin. She was so loving her costume. I just can't decide which one I like best out of the four that I made.

Miss B as the cutest lit'l giraffe you ever laid eyes on. She worked this costume during the 3 days of celebrating.

Of course Noah had to be Thomas. He wouldn't let me make him any other costume, so he chose this one that we already had.

Logan decided to bring out his true nature and request a monkey costume. I loved seeing him in it. Too bad I didn't get a close up of his tail. He loved his tail and banana the most. His tail curls around and is furry.

And she's at it again, strike a pose Kaleigh. You go girl. She saw this sweat suit at target and fell in love. So did I, cause making her into a cheetah would be a piece of cake with this outfit. Now she can just wear the sweat suit all winter. Love when costumes do double duty.

Miss Laney Banes as her all-time favorite animal. Can you guess? I hope so, she's an elephant. I had a lot of fun making this one, and again her costume does double duty as well. All the costumes that I made do. They can now wear their outfits throughout winter. I either safety pinned parts or used elastic. All removable parts, love it!

Smiley Noah so happy to be at the girls' school parade.

Just another cute pic of Bella. She's so adorable!

My favorite group picture of the kids being silly right before we headed out into the rainy night. I love them all and as you can probably tell by this picture, they are a funny, fun-loving bunch of kids. Is it any wonder why I love them and being their mommy so much!

For the love of October

I wake up every morning and see this!

I made myself a calendar last year and this is October's page. These 2 little loves were born only 3 days apart in the same month(of course they are 2 years apart as well). This is my favorite pic of them. It's from last year's Witches at Gardner Village. They were giggling and dancing, and singing to the music that was playing and I snapped midway of them goofing with each other. I just love these two lit'l babes-however, they are not so little anymore.

Welcome October and Fall, I sure do love this time of year!

I'm NOAH...the Pumpkin King!

I can't believe my eyes, my little Noah Gabriel has turned another year older!I mean look at this adorable lit'l angel sleeping

and...
walking!

Well with another year older comes a special birthday for our lit'l guy. He ABSOLUTELY loves the Nightmare Before Christmas movie, so we threw him a "Jack" party! These are his invites to his party- a present for everyone.

with special info inside.

This was our entrance to our party. My dad took the boys out before the party so the hubs and I could decorate the house and keep it as a surprise for Mr. Noah. And boy, oh boy, did he just jump for joy. My dad said they didn't even pull into the driveway before Noah screamed, "Halloween Jack!" Noah has been singing "this is Halloween," from the movie every morning and afternoon when he wakes up. He also yells, "I'm Jack, the pumpkin king!" Funniest kid ever. He flipped out with his party. I forgot to get pictures of a lot of the decorations, but we basically used a lot of black and white crepe paper and balloons mixed in our Halloween decorations and some Christmas ones too.

"Zero" is by far my favorite decoration that I made. The kids love him and we are keeping him up until Halloween is over. He's hanging from our fan, so the kids just swing him around and he flies around our table. Bella loves him too and just screams and laughs in delight!

I made this Jack hanging for pin the "santy" hat on Jack. We lucked out and had most our family back in town, so we had a full house of kids to play the game. We have kept this hanging up too and every morning Noah says hi to Jack.

Noah's cake with worms in it. It was one of the simplest cakes I've done in awhile, but Noah loved it because Jack was on it.

I also made brownies with skeletons and bones in them. The kids all enjoyed eating the bone candy.

I made party hats for all the kids and any adult who wanted one. The treat bags were for our pinata fun we had at the end.

I found these cute spider lanterns at the $ store and thought they added a nice touch. I kept the food simple with sweet and sour meatballs for the adults and bat/bone pb & J sandwiches for the kids. We had finger dip and veggies, eyeballs, bread, and bubbly putrid punch with worm cubes. My kids loved the bubbly drink. I have never done dry ice before and they thought it was the coolest trick they had ever seen. Ah, the simple pleasures of life.

I picked up this little utensil holder at Ikea and was going to spray paint it black, but alas, I ran out of time, so I just decked it out to match the theme. I think it came out cute. We put forks in one side and knives in the other.

This was Noah lurking behind the couch debating on whether or not to play the "Jack" game. I made him the shirt he is wearing as well. He was so excited when he saw it and when he found out it was his to wear for the party, he just couldn't get it on fast enough.

Here is the pinata I made for the party. The kids loved that they got to hit the "oogy boogy man" until he broke. I decided to make one, because they are so simple and I just can't pay all that moola for a store bought pinata that is just going to get hit to pieces. For my first one ever, I think it turned out pretty good. And man, was it a strong pinata! It took quite the beating and only after I whacked it several times did it finally break!

Here's Noah taking a whack at it. We had this cute little orange "carrot" bat that the kids got for Easter. I added some black felt and turned it into a jack 'o lantern.

Mr. Noah being ever so patient at getting his loot from the pinata. Mad dash of kids kinda made him wary of getting near the loot, but grandpa helped him out. It was a fun party for our bunch and now I'm on to the next project-a baby shower. I love all the fun I get to have! I love making my kids' day. I hope they grow up knowing and feeling loved, because the hubs and I thoroughly love and enjoy each and every one of our kids. They make my world go round and I am very blessed to have them entrusted into my care. Happy Birthday my dear Noah Gabriel! I hope this 3rd year brings lot of love, joy, and happiness your way!

Cute lit'l Pixies!

Look at these two cute lit'l pixie girls!

These two girls are so giving and loving, and brave too! They cut their hair off and donated it to locks of love. I love that they chose to do this. I did it back in April when I cut off 11 inches and they wanted to do it too. Well we waited, and waited, and waited, until finally we had 10 1/2 inches to give. It's a little shorter than I thought it was going to be, but they couldn't be happier. I mean look at those smiles. With their hair out of their face you can really see how much they look like their brothers. Laney looks so much like Christian, and Kaleigh looks so much like Logan. Funny, how kids pair up in families and look like siblings. We have Alexis and Noah, Kaleigh and Logan, Laney and Christian, and well Bella looks like Kaleigh and Logan.

Anywho, I'm so proud of these two girls and I am proud to be their mom. They give so much and LOVE doing so! These girls are going to make awesome adults and they bring so much to our lives. I love them tons and hope they always remember others and serve one another always! They did this out of love and remembrance for their brother and I know that our family's tragedy has made them(and all of us for that matter)stronger and more aware of others' needs. They have a greater love for family togetherness and serving others than anyone I know. It has given our family a different perspective on life and made us all value each other a little more everyday.

Floats, Bella, and the 24th of July!

Our last week of our summer fun was filled with tons of outings and one of our events-checking out the floats for Pioneer Day! We love doing this every year, but this one we had a bigger reason to check them out. Our stake made a float(we didn't know about it until it was done, no announcement made to us)so we wanted to see it. The kids got to even push the remote to make the bunnies pop up and eat the carrots. The theme this year was "then and now." Here are the kids at the front of the float...

The backside of the float

The front side again. It had a cow on top making moo noises and shaking its cowbell.


I also tried to get some pics of Bella standing and "trying" to take a step, but she wasn't having it. Instead I got this cute pic of the way she sits when she is playing with one of her MOST favorite peeps. Look at her legs. She just thinks she's a big kid now-minus the fact she is STILL nursing and WILL NOT even try walking. Oh well though, at least I get to enjoy her babyness a little longer.

Love, love, love the way she sits.

She won't actually ride or walk with her little car, but she sat on it and flashed a big ol' grin to Logan(her favorite lit'l peep).

I just love my little bunch of munchkins. Today was the first day of school and I miss my older girls and can't help but feel sad that one day soon this lit'l munchkin will join the fleet of the school children. I better enjoy her tons and tons, 'cause the time flies fast around here and it will seem like just yesterday that she was born. I know this all too well, because my oldest has started her last year of elementary school-YIKES! Oh man, time is just zoomin' past me.