Catch Up!

Day 24

Activity

Tradition as follows, mom bakes cookies the night of the 23rd and as a family we decorate them the morning of the 24th for Santa's arrival. The kiddos have grown up doing this and about the 2nd day of December they started counting down the days until this activity was upon us. It wasn't a surprise for the kiddos when Alexis pulled down the sock and it said activity. They all shouted, "Cookie Day!"

Kaleigh showing off her frosting covered fingers.

Some of the finished masterpieces.

Day 23

Present

The kiddos opened up a new book. It's frosty the snowman and when you open it, it plays the song. We were constantly hearing it due to Mr. Noah's love of that song.

Day 22

It was an activity. We delivered our neighbor gifts that we made the day before.

Day 21

We made our neighbor gifts, and I forgot to take pics. We made chocolate popcorn munch-popcorn, toffee bits, and green/red m&ms. We made a cute tag with the hub's tagline, "Seasons Eatings," and bagged them up. The kiddos love being in the kitchen, they must be mine!


Day 20

Activity

It was the hub's and my anniversary, so in stepped grandpa to get pizza and a movie for the kiddos. I love when my work is done for me. And the kids love pizza and a movie night!

Day 19

Activity

We had a family party with the hub's family. The kids ate, laughed, and performed to their hearts' extent! Fun was had by all!

Day 18

Activity

My dad took us all out for a movie. We don't all go out to the movies very often, so this was a real treat. I was afraid the kiddos would be bored by the movie(they had never seen/heard of yogi bear), but they were laughing and loving the entire movie. Kuddos to grandpa for picking another winner!

Day 17

Present

The kids got a new book for Christmas, Jingle Bells, which plays when you open it. These kiddos LOVE their books, hence why we have boxes of books because we have no more space in our 6 bookcases!

Day 16

Activity

We saw the 3 older girls in their play, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It was a blast and we loved it!


Day 15

Present

We gave the kiddos Toy Story 3 on Bluray. Man, is bluray ever so clear. It is so sharp and bright. They were really happy to get this. They had been begging us to get it ever since it came out, but we told them we couldn't because we didn't have any extra moola to buy it. Little did they know, mom scored with a sale and coupon! How sweet it was!

Day 14

Present

The kiddos got a new game, and although it's advertised as a little kiddo game, all the kiddos had a blast, including this one. Scatterpillar Scramble is HIlarious! It's a challenge even for me, but oh so much fun.

Day 13

Activity

We finally got to go see Santa, and even better, NO WAIT! The kiddos got to sit right on his lap, mom got to take as many pics with her own camera as she wanted, and Bella didn't cry at the sight of the Jolly Ol' Elf! Good times and the kiddos walked away with a fun new book. Gotta love Fashion Place Mall for leaving Santa alone and not demanding to make a buck off of him.

Don't they all look so HAPPY! They all enjoyed this last year's advent calendar and so did we. They all kept telling their friends and their church leaders and now some of our neighbors are wanting to do this fun way of counting down the days too. If you're not having fun along the journey, what is the point of the destination, right? And man, are we ever having fun along our Hansen Family journey!

A New Year and New Luck!

Another year has started and man am I glad it began with GREAT, WONDERFUL news!  The end of 2010 was a rough one for me personally and for our family.  A lot of bad things happened and then more bad things happened.  Many do not know the bad, the ugly, and the horrible because the hubs and I just don't share what's going on in our lives.  We've kind have been like that our whole marriage, but not now.  I'm spilling the beans, mainly 'cause I'm SO glad it all worked out for the good.  My life has flashed before my eyes and I've come out of it with a new determination to NEVER sweat the small stuff and ALWAYS enjoy the here and now.  Not that I didn't try really hard before, I just have a new viewpoint now.
    Let me back you up.  I really thought I was done having kids, but my inner soul kept bugging me about one more.  I know, you would think 7 is enough for anyone, but I guess not me.  Well in strolls September's events.  We lost the hub's grandma and so we had the whole family in town for the funeral.  Perfect timing for a family photo.  The hub's and I had a suspicion I might be with child, so we laughed at how every time we take a family photo, there's a bun in the oven-making the family photo all ready null and void.  Fast forward to a week later and said bun-in-the-oven no more.  I lost what we now refer to as the maybe-baby while on a family getaway to our family's cabin.  I wasn't sure at the time it was really a MC(can't even type the word), but after many months of problems we now know it was.  This event however, wasn't even the worse of the last 3 months.  Moving on to what I like to call a little Too Much Info for some.
   The problem with being on a family getaway is you don't want to end the fun, or at least I didn't, so suffering silent is what I did and after about 10 days of pain it finally stopped-so no doctor did I see(looking back, SO wish I had).  This is what started the ever so stress, worry, and life scaring events for me.  I wasn't the same after this(luckily I am now), at least my body wasn't.  I was having problems emotionally, physically, and mentally.  Finally after a few weeks I was able to see my doc, only to be put on an emotional rollercoaster.  They wanted to test me for everything from cysts to the ever dreaded... CANCER!  We really don't like that word, but with my symptoms and family history, they really, really thought it was.  I was a nervous wreck waiting for the results.  The hubs and I would talk, but he didn't want to hear it.  One night he got really upset and asked if I would stop wondering how/what we would tell the kiddos.  My life of only 33 years was quickly flashing before me and I couldn't get out of the what if I do have cancer, what will my kiddos do, what will we do, what will the hubs do?  It was a place I never want to visit again.  While all this was going on with me, I also had to deal with my dad's results for his heart test as well.  I was scared to think of losing him too.  It will kill the kiddos to lose their grandpa, he's too young.  My dad was a little bit of a wreck too, he had never been sick in all his 57 years, so this was a new thing for him.  He didn't like the prospect of having to go under for heart surgery just as much as I didn't like it.  I felt overwhelmed, neurotic, angry, and just plain old TIRED!  On top of all this, the holiday season was upon us and the last thing I wanted to do was put on a happy face and celebrate, but that's exactly what I did.  Finally, by the end of December we had some news, but it went from o.k. to NOT,  very quickly.  I didn't have any cysts, blood work was o.k., but was told symptoms are not and I needed a few more ultrasounds and scans.  So, in I went and finally had an answer the first week of January.  Heed this advice from someone who learned the hard way... if you think you have suffered a MC and your body starts to act funny, get in to a doc ASAP!  My GREAT news that I received was I all clear, not even a spec of precancer cells anywhere.  Just a body that should have been cleaned up after the MC and since it wasn't, I had an infection and it was messing up with my natural hormones causing all the confusion and pain.  And on top of that GREAT news, my dad's heart is finally healing with the new meds they gave him and so it looks like he might stay out of the operating room.  They are giving him another check-up in 6 weeks, but the doc is very optimistic that it will heal 100% by then.  I mean in a little less than 2 months it went from 29% pumping to now 42% pumping.  Let's just say I'm crossing my fingers, hoping and praying that the meds do indeed fix it all the way.  I'm very thankful we have the medical advances we do today.  I hated the thought of my dad in surgery and I'm glad I don't have to think about it for the time being.  I'm also glad it is a new year with a new chance of great things to come.
   I know, a long story, but it explains why my blog/journal is a month behind.  Hopefully I'll get it caught up over the weekend.

Advent Calendar and cute Bella!

This lit'l gal is growing SO fast! I can't catch my breath!

She had her 18 month check up and man, she shot up through the roof on her height. She is now in the 80th percentile and still 48th percentile in weight. She's growin' like a weed, but doesn't she look so cute in her Christmas dress.

She loves this little Santa ornament. She gets it out everyday and plays with it. So cute!

We also started our family countdown to Christmas. Last year we started doing 12 days of activities and 12 days of family presents. It worked out so well, I thought I'd continue it so here's what we've done so far. I'm gonna do it backwards because I'm a tad bit behind in my blogging.

Day 12- Present
This is what they got...



Day 11-Present, they got Pictureka Flipper and had a blast! My camera was down so no pics of them playing it, but they had fun searching all over for the items.

Day 10- Present

This is a huge floor book that's just like the Where's Waldo books, only it's where's Santa?

Day 9-Activity

We went down to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point and we met some new friends!

Oohing and ahhing over our new friends

Bella screaming and pointing, and at one point trying to climb out of daddy's arms to touch this...

An adorable reindeer all nestled in hay. It was so cute and so fun to see the kids so excited to see some of Santa's reindeer.

One of the light displays Logan yelled at because it was an elf fixing a house. He's very excited about Christmas and just loves the elves.

Day 8-Present

Christmas t-shirts that everyone just loved. So much that they had to wear them right then eventhough it was almost bedtime.

Day 7-Activity

We went and did our annual trip to Christmas Street, Bible Street and the Christmas Utah house in Murray. The kids had a blast and there was much laughter and cheer had all around.

Day 6-Present

We got the kids a new Wii game and they love it! It's just like the ride at Disneyland and now they can hardly wait to go and check out the ride. The great thing about this game is that EVERYONE can play it, even Noah and yes, sometimes Bella too!

Day 5-Activity

We made some ornaments. We did some fun paint ones and the artist of the family really enjoyed herself.

Kaleigh chose the colors of Tinkerbell and it actually does remind me of that cute lit'l pixie.

Here are all 8 of them done and we all had fun. We also made some memory ones with everyone's initials on them. We then each wrote 5 things we liked about this year and placed the strips of paper inside the ornaments. I thought it would be nice for the kids when they are older to open them and see what they wrote about the year 2010.

Day 4-Present

We added a new family game, Sorry Sliders. It is so much fun. The hubs and I played it that night with the two older girls and we were laughing the whole time as we each knocked eachother's pieces out of the scoring rings. Good times!

Day 3-Present

The kids got a new tent with a tunnel. They all love playing in it and they can all sit inside and play a game together. I really like items that all the kids can use at the same time. It cuts out all the fighting and we can have a fun time without the screams and tears.

Day 2-Activity

We made friend presents and Bella screamed until we finally gave her one. They are snowmen on sticks. They turned out really cute and it was an easy thing for the kids to make their friends. They got to take them to school and hand them out. They all loved helping in the kitchen. I think I might need a bigger kitchen to let us all have more room when we are all in there.

Here's Alexis trying her hand at dipping her snowman. She had a hard time at first, but once I showed her how to hold it at an angle, it was a piece of cake-or marshmallow if you will.

I made some for the younger ones to eat right then because they were drooling at the bits. I mean, who wouldn't, when there's chocolate, marshmallow and candy around.

Logan could hardly wait to eat his. He almost couldn't wait while I was trying to take a picture of him. I just love those gorgeous, big green eyes!

Here's what they all looked like when we packaged them all up. These ones were Kaleigh's. She liked the Christmas colors and went for that color scheme on all her snowmen.

Day 1-Present

The kids could hardly wait to open a present. Noah was singing and dancing until he realized that the presents weren't under the tree, they were over on the other side of the room.

And this is what the kids got to kick off our countdown-Gator Golf! They played all day and night, even Bella was whacking the golf balls all over the place. She thinks that she is one of the big kids.

All and all, we've had fun so far with our countdown and can hardly wait to finish it up. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

More crafts!

So, I've been a busy lit'l bee trying to get family presents done, baking, and our advent calendar has been going on too. I decided to make each kid their own personal present this year and when you have 6 of them, it takes a lot of careful planning-especially when they are home the whole month. I decided on an art display board for Alexis since she is all about the art. She always ask me where she can hang her new drawings and now she'll have a place. I just got a piece of molding and spray painted it black and did her favorite colors for the giant clothespins. I spray painted them blue and green and then modge podged scrapbook paper on top of them.
She can now hang it in her room and display all her drawings anytime she wants-at least when she gets it for Christmas.

I also made photo holders for her with the same scrapbook paper. I again spray painted wooden spools black and then added the paper.

I made cute little spirals out of wire and hot glued them to a wad of paper and stuck them in the top of the spool and voila...

Cute photo holders for my baby-well, she's not much of a baby anymore.

After almost 4 1/2 years of searching, I finally found an entry table that I'm in love with. It was on sale and in the exact color and size I needed/wanted. So, of course I needed to make some cute decorations to display on it. I'm in love with vinyl right now, so I made some cute glass blocks with a nativity scene on them. I also made some $store hurricane candle holders. I just bought a piece of glass and a candlestick and then glued them together and voila...

cute new decoration! This one is on our table in the dining room/craft room.

Here's the one I placed on my new entryway table. I can change them out for each holiday/season.

I stumbled upon this 3 pack of frames in the $ spot at target and thought I could do something with them and here it is. I just took some scrapbook paper and some chip letters I had and instant decoration. I can change it with EEK/BOO for Halloween too. Love multi-purpose decorations!

This one kinda got rushed, but I still like it. I just modge podged scrapbook paper on an old canvas I had laying around, put the believe letters on it, and sprayed it with glitter(the picture doesn't do it justice, it's quite sparkly).

So these are just a few of the projects I've done this past week. I also finished up all the in-law presents, but I can't post them, just in case they still read this blog.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Here she is lovin' on the Christmas trees. She is just so cute! I love this age at Christmas time. She gets all into the lights, the trees, the sounds, the smells! Ooh, I just love my kiddos.We have a tradition of trimming the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. And on Thanksgiving, we give the kids a small present-a new ornament for their tree. I like to take a picture of the kids holding their ornament and one of them placing it on the tree. We start the trimming with the new ornament first.
Here's Bella with her fluffy penguin. We got this one for her because she just LOVES cuddly things.

She wasn't very happy putting it on the tree. In fact she cried until we let her have it back. At least until she saw the other kids putting their ornaments on the tree. Then she was okay with it on the tree. She loves coming in to see the tree with all the ornaments on it all lit up. She squeals in delight EVERY time!

Noah, very happy that he got a train ornament this year. This cutie and his trains. Oh my!

We needed to help him put it up high-out of reach of Bella. You can always tell when we have a walking baby in the house, the ornaments start about 3 feet off the bottom of the tree.

Logan got a backpack this year and it's green-his "FAVORITEST" color of all time. He is SO excited to go to school next year and this is to remind us of that. We have been having "mommy school" and he loves it. I'm in trouble though, 'cause I have another smarty in my midst. I still need to put his picture in his ornament-we're having a hard time picking one(Logan mainly).

Laney got a barbie ornament and simply loves it! Her and Barbies are BEST FRIENDS!

Kaleigh got a performing Hannah Montana ornament. It fits her so well, after all she loves the dramatics and performing!

Alexis has an artist ornament. Fitting that it is about drawing and this year she won in Visual Arts. I think I'm pretty good with the ornaments, I picked them out last year after Christmas for this year's ornaments. Not bad, if I say so myself. Yep, there I go again, tootin' my own horn. Don't hate me 'cause I'm awesome and all! :)

Once everyone put their ornaments on the tree, we stood back, and the hubs and I realized...

we just might have to get a bigger tree soon. The thing is packed and we still have a few more years before any children will be leaving/moving out. I guess that's what happens when you have ornaments for 7 kids-yes, we do still get one for Christian every year. The hubs and I will be keeping his always and forever. I am proud and love having that many ornaments on our family tree, even if we do have to get a bigger tree soon.