Church - It's what we do!

Going to church...it's just what we do! Every week, Sunday comes around and the kids just KNOW it's time to go to church. I love that we meet at 11:00 a.m. year. That gives me enough time get up and around and get all the kids dolled up for church. I love curling Hannah's hair each week. When I am done, I can't help but attempt to get a picture of them before we leave the house. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't! Either way, our photoshoots are always humorous. (If you are wondering where Hayley is...well, there is enough time for her to take a nap before church too. So, unfortunately she is sleeping when I am trying to take pictures.)

Eatting breakfast in church clothes is always tricky too! So far, we haven't had any spills just before it's time to walk out the door.

Then Hannah even gets her own personal photoshoot. That is...if only she would cooperate.

I guess I shouldn't expect anything more out of a two year old!

"No! uh uh. I do wannu."

Now THIS is Valentine's Day!

This is what Valentine's Day looks like in our home!!!!!

Making our traditional Valentines cookies was SO fun this year. I have never had so much help! Little hands are the BEST too! It was a messy project, but sure a fun one. I hope these too always remember our baking time together because it is just SO fun! Can't you tell?!

I am so glad that these two just love each other SO much. I didn't even ask them to pose for the picture. I just got out the camera and this is what I captured. I love these two! They are just pure joy and entertainment all the time!

We made cookies for David's teachers, my employees, and then one for each of the kids, Andrew, and myself. They turned out real good. They were very moist! I am not great at writing with frosting on the cookies...but that didn't matter in the end. They tasted DANG good!

Finally, my kids wake up to a Valentine's treat on Valentine's Day. Last year I decided that we just have to have balloons! So, this year, I even continued that tradition! They each got valentines cards to play with, chocolate, balloons, and a bag of their favorite candy. Hayley didn't get candy, so just got a mini bear. Andrew got a bag of his favorite candy and a card full of sweet words. He was so kind to BUY me flowers this year from the local flower shop and the most special gift of all....Laser Hair Removal. I will have a large area of my choice treated up to 6 times over the next year. I am SO excited. I have waited for this my ENTIRE life. I can't wait to NOT have to pluck hairs ANYMORE! I can seriously say, I have the BEST husband in the world. He is ALWAYS looking out for me, my well being, my sanity, my health, my fashion, my cravings, my needs, etc. I could go on and on forever. At the end of the day though, I just could not live without him and my awesome kids! I just wouldn't trade a thing for these guys! I would NOT have it any other way!

It's a NEW year!

It is really funny how I get lost in time! It's like Christmas kind of just came and went. Our holidays were WAY to busy for us to fully enjoy them...I think. With checkouts here on the property, our lives were so consumed with "turning over" apartments before and after Christmas. One top of all the work we had to do, all of the kids took their turns being sick and then again and again in round two and three. Andrew and I were no exception either. We both took our turns as well, just after Christmas. The crazy thing is, we rung in the new year...then it seems like everyone was all of a sudden...healthy. WHY does it happen like that? We had Hannah throwing up 2 weeks before Christmas, David throwing up at our Hansen Family Christmas party, Hannah throwing up just 3 days before Christmas, Hayley throwing up on Christmas, Hannah throwing up Christmas night. Andrew was sick the entire week before Christmas with a sore throat, major chest congestion, and no voice. He went to the doctor and they gave him a steroid to bring back his voice and an antibiotic to kill the bacteria. The medications did not kick the illness though. He woke up on Christmas Day with what we believe was Pink Eye that we assume he got from Hannah. We were never officially told that Hannah had pink eye, but when she woke up with a gooey eye, I took her to the doctor because I didn't want it to turn into anything that close to Christmas. Her eye cleared up in just 24 hours, but then Andrew's eye began looking the same way. After Christmas, I was struck with the same flu bug that all the kids had been fighting for weeks. I never could throw up, but I couldn't get out of bed....so I called in sick to work and slept the entire day. After new years, Andrew decided that 2 weeks to have a sore throat and congestion that bad was too long. He went back to the doctor for the second time. They prescribed him a Z-Pack and that was that! Doesn't reading that just make you exhausted?! It does me. Now throw in check outs and the holidays...and that was our December. In the next few posts, I will provide more details into our December and a few of the fun these we did, including our - newest and greatest to date - purchase. Until then, I just figured you'd like to know, we are still alive and NO, I haven't forgotten that I promised to be a "born again blogger!" There will be more blog posts in the near future!!!!

Thank You Walgreens!

I know that everyone enjoys getting a good deal! Well, I typically am not one to shop around for the best deals in town. I don't get a paper and rarely do I ever have the ads. When I have to shop, I just hope that I come across a good deal. I think I fell upon the best deal so far this holiday season and it was at WALGREENS! I don't normally shop there, but for whatever reason felt I needed to go there to buy my office some wrapping paper. They had strategically placed the wrapping paper at the end of the toy isle. I fell into their trap and looked at and with all the toys in the isle...on my way to get the wrapping paper. This is where I found the good deals: buy 2 toys get one free and $4 off coupon for all $9.99 toys. If I buy 2 get 1 free I pay around $4.50 a piece for three toys. If I buy a $9.99 toy and use my coupon for $4 off - limit 3, then I pay $6 each. Walgreens carrys toys for all ages and they even carry some name brand toys: fisher price, disney, leap frog, etc. In the end, I went a little overboard. No child needs to open a million presents on Christmas morning. Just like NO mother should have to wrap a million presents either! This isn't even all I have either. This is just the stuff from Walgreens. I have already been to Costco and Walmart too. I have a closet full of presents that I am hiding from the Hahahah and David! It's all for the deal though. ALL for the DEAL!!!!!!

Let the potty training begin!

Hannah recently started potty training herself. She really enjoys going potty in the big girls potty. You might remember that Hannah has to do everything David does. Well, this means that if David uses the potty, so does she. We have tried just putting her in panites all day, but she tends to have more accidents when we do that. So, for right now, we leave her in her diaper and she tells us when she has to "go". She runs to the potty, tells us to go out, does her business, then brings us a brand new diaper to put on for her. The funny thing is, her diaper she had on is always dry still. She just wants a new one everytime. She will even throw a good fit, just to have a brand new diaper. She wastes WAY more diapers than she actually wears. I keep telling her though, when these diapers are gone, they are GONE! We will not buy any more diapers!


Another joy of potty training Hannah is that she has been getting out of bed mulitple times when we put her to bed thinking she has to pee! She always goes, but like my parents say, at this time of their lives they can almost pee on demand! For the last 2 nights, she has gotten out of bed maybe 10 times. This is so foreign to me because Hannah has ALWAYS gone to be soooo good! Ever since the day she was born, I have just had to put her in her bed and she'd fall fast asleep within 10 minutes. In fact, Hayley is following right in her footsteps. I am just praying that Hannah doesn't think this is going to be a nightly routiene. I have NOT missed this up, down, up, down behavior since David started going straight to bed for me, like such a good boy. HE was the one to give me a run for my money!!!! Now is NOT the time to begin all the "game" playing with potty training!!!!

Lastly, it seems like it doesn't matter how many times I take her potty before leaving the house, she ALWAYS has to "go" in the most inconvenient places or right when we leave the house. I plan extra time now whenever we go into a store. I know that if we were taking a trip to the grocery story that would normally take us 20 minutes, now takes us 40 minutes.

I am not going to lie, I am really excited to only have one child in diapers in the near future. Paying $80 every 3 weeks just isn't cutting it! Also, David didn't potty train until he was 3. Hannah just turned 2....I really am counting my blessings. Boy, do I NOT miss all the joys of potty training!

Where has the year gone?

Ok! I don't even know where to begin. I look at the blog and realize that I haven't blogged since May of this year!?! I don't even know where the time has gone. I guess having a baby in the middle of the year has just done me in...when it comes to blogging. Now, I have a discount code from Blog2print to print my 2011 blog book, but it's no where near being ready. I guess it is time to kick it in to gear. I think I am going to start blogging regularly now, and then just blog Hayley's birth, the summer, and the fall as time permits. Hopefully by the end of the year I will be caught up!

So, lets start with today! We are still here in small town Rexburg, Idaho. Andrew is getting really antsy to find a job. We have just recently began looking and applying a few places. We still do not have a preference of where we want to go. As the opportunities slowly come in, we have full faith in the Lord that when the right thing comes along, Andrew will be prepared. We also know that Heavenly Father has a hand in all things pertaining to our family, work, and lives and know that he will watch over us as Andrew begins to prepare for this new stage in our lives! In the mean time, he is enjoying his calling in the Young Men's program as the Priest Quorum Adviser. He goes to mutual every Tuesday and stays to play basketball with them afterwards. He also goes to the Young Men's church basketball games on Thursdays as their coach. He is a very dedicated Young Men's leader. This is a perfect calling for Andrew. He loves hanging out with the "boys".

David is now 4 and is in preschool Monday through Thursday in the afternoon. He loves every minute of it. David has transformed into such a wonderful little boy. He reminds me constantly that he is not a baby anymore like Hannah and Hayley. He his my big helper too. I can ask him to get me a Hannah diaper or a Hayley diaper and he's always more than willing to run for me. David idolizes his daddy. He wants to be just like him in every way. David loves to play with cars. The kids has a million cars and counting. When it was David's Superstar Day at school, we bought a Hot Wheels car for all 18 kids in his class. He wanted all of his friends to have a car. I wasn't thinking straight I guess because we have enough cars that we could have given away 18 of them from the toy box and it wouldn't have even made a dent in his collection. He enjoys playing the Deer Hunting game that Aunt Deanna bought him last year for Christmas, golfing, bowling, and playing baseball on the Wii with his daddy, and riding his bike in the clubhouse. He is still our active little guy with amazing hand eye coordination. The kid can bat and shoot a basketball like there is no tomorrow. I really believe HE is going to be my moneymaker!!!! I don't know what I would do without my David. He brings so much joy to our lives. It just makes me cry all the time when I am reminded how fast he is growing. I can't believe I have a 4 year old already.

Hannah is 2 now! She is a little girl with a big attitude. Her attitude does not threaten us, it is really more humorous than anything. Her speech is OK, but still difficult for most to understand. If you are not around her all day every day, it is more difficult to understand her. She still says a lot of "Uh uh uh". Her favorite word is "NO!" She doesn't really scream very well, and this I am so grateful for. For whatever reason, she doesn't have a high pitch squeal or scream. Don't get me wrong, she is a really loud little girl, but most of the time she is just hollering at "Dayda" (David). She is sure bossy when it comes to telling David what to do or how to be. She is going to be JUST LIKE HER MAMA - mothering her brother! She absolutely adores her siblings. She does everything David does and watches Hayley's every move. Hayley will never have her own space, I'm afraid. Wherever Hayley is, there Hannah is also. We love Hannah more than words will ever be able to tell. She is such a sensitive, loving girl. I know this is bad to say already, but it is REALLY hard to tell this little girl no. So, I am going to admit it right now, she might just be a LITTLE bit spoiled when she grows up.

Hayley is nearly 5 months old and our happiest baby yet! She is just ALL smiles, all the time. She only fusses when she is starving hungry or getting tired. Other than that, she is along for the ride. She is SO easy! I am just so blessed to have her as my 3rd baby. Unlike any of my other children, Hayley HAS to be in bed by 8PM or she tells the WHOLE WORLD how bad it really is to be up past 8PM. She is no where near sleeping through the night. She still wakes up every 3 hours to eat, but I really don't mind. Waking up with her so much through the night just give me that much more alone time with my baby girl. Hayley is ALL Hansen. She looks just like her daddy. There is NO mistaking who this baby's daddy is! She couldn't look more like her daddy. Of all my babies, she has the least amount of hair. She was born with fire red hair which is now coming in the exact same color as David and Andrew's hair. We have compared David's baby pictures to Hayley's, and Hayley looks SO much like David did as a baby. We were reminded the other day that David even had a little red tint to his hair as it changed from dark brown to blond. So, I don't actually think she is going to stay my little red head! We love this baby with all our hearts. We couldn't ask for a better baby at this time of our lives.

There you have it. Another Hansen Family update. We are all doing well as you see. We just had our first ever family portraits taken the other day at JCPennys. We will post pictures soon! As for the blogging, stay tuned..because I am just about to become a blogging maniac!!!!!! Happy Holidays to you all!

Snowing in the Spring

This Spring has just been so crazy. We can't really even say that we had a Spring. We had snow all the way into April this year. Our poor kids have just wanted to go outside for so long, but it's pretty dang hard to get them outside when the temperature is only in the 40's all the way into the END of May.

They just want to go outside and play SOOOO bad! This Winter seems to be the longest Winter ever!