Merry Christmas!

Just a few pictures from Christmas this morning!

As I was posting these pictures, Grace came in to see what I was doing. I wished Merry Christmas, told her I loved her and asked how her day has been. Her reply, "Merry Christmas to you, too, Mom. I am just having a wonderful Christmas Day!" Love that kid!


With the Wixom cousins (minus William.) Grace has been in cousing heaven since we got here. With all 14 cousins in the same state, we have not seen Grace in five days. She only showed up this morning for the festivities!
Grace and her twin, Hannah. Do you think these two are related? The Hansen genes are powerful!
Grace felt that Ella needed to be taught how to open presents, she is just a baby after all. Ella let that fly for the first gift, but after that, she was on her own.


I know that by default I have to think my children are cute, but seriously, look at that face!
All of the girls cousins are currently in rehab for their American Girl doll addiction. We thought that coming on this trip and offering our support would help them through this rough time. Instead, they sucked Grace into this world of amazingly beautiful dolls and accessories. I don't think she will ever be the same again.

I have to say that when Grammy, oops, I mean Santa, mentioned that a Kirsten doll might appear under the tree on Christmas I was very excited. I had a Kirsten doll when I was little and loved her so much. A few months ago I found all of my old Kirsten books at my parents house and Grace and I have been reading them before bed. If was so fun to see the doll again and Grace really was happy. Once again, I am that mom who is reliving their youth through her children. Oh, well...made for an extra special Christmas:)

This is the view from our front door. It is supposed to storm again today and it is snowing as we speak! There is definately something to be said about having a white Christmas!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

When we arrived, there was way more snow that we expected and it was considerably more cold that I ever remember it being in Utah. This was not a problem for Grace. She was up at 5:30am ready to brave the cold and snow. She got dressed, went and helped feed the horses, and was then on her way to make snow angels (next to building a snow man, snow angels were at the top of her list of things to do when we got here.)


Getting her dressed totally reminded me of that scene from Christmas story!
Just as she was heading out, it started to snow again. Very festive.
She was so funny. I am not even sure how she even knows what a snow angel is, but she knows what they are and how to make them. After feeding the horses, she headed to the fresh snow of the front yard, stood up straight, fell backward and started waving her arms and legs. Next thing we knew...snow angels!

We're on our way!

After months of anticipation, we finally made our way to Utah. All of us have been looking forward to this trip and were so glad the day arrived to be on our way. The flights out west were going to be Ella's first and we were a bit worried about how she would do, but she was great and we all survived day one of our three week Utah journey!

You are NOT a crappy dad!

On Sunday, our home teachers came over to give us a Christmas message. Brother Barnes, who we truly love, read the girls How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He was amazing...he had an arsenal of voices that he used for the characters, snag his own background music, and read Dr. Seuss like a champ. Really, he could get a side job reading at the library or something. Needless to say, Grace loved it.

Later that evening, Grace was still excited about it. Instead of asking dad to read her a book, she asked Eric to help her find the Grinch movie. Pretending to be offended, Eric jokingly says to me, "Thanks for making me feel like a crappy dad, Bro. Barnes ." Grace, who hears everything, replies from the other room, "You are NOT a crappy dad." Nice!

Hanger Party

Here are a few pictures from the Airplane/Hanger party we went to last week. We were celebrating the completion of Mr. Jackson's ten year project. The hanger was beautiful and the plane was amazing! It was crazy to think that he built the plane himself and after ten year of hard work it is finally in the air!

Fun side story to illustrate the phase of life in which I am currently occupying. As me and my girls and Jennifer and her boys were saying our final goodbye's and on our way out, poor Riley was not feeling well and threw up in the hanger. Not being phased by this, Jennifer and I quickly went about gathering napkins and towels to clean up Riley and the floor. We were about half way done when he got sick again. No big deal...just keep cleaning. For some reason we found this whole situation a bit funny and were laughing while we cleaned. It wasn't until after we were done and really on our way out that we realized that all of the other 20 and 30-somethings (none of which have children) in the hanger scattered, and relocated themselves in the opposite corner of the room. Other people my age were rightfully grossed out and a little surprised by the situation but I strangely found humor in cleaning up vomit. Not sure what this says about me, but I am clearly knee deep in the child rearing phase of my life.

Ella and Ryder wanted in the plane in a bad way. I don't trust my children with anything expensive or meaningful, and since the plane is both, she was making me very nervous!

We finally conceded and let the kids sit in the plane for a quick picture. I made Grace fold her arms so I was sure she would not touch anything!

Mrs. Ann, Jennifer and me with the plane and hanger in the background.

While I am aware that I look 7 months pregnant in all of these pictures, no, I do not have anything to announce!

I love this picture of Grace and Ryder. They are both smiling and it is so cute how they are laying the same way. And then notice Ella on the side, with a button undone and her belly hanging out. Seriously!

This is the look I get from Ella about 20 times a day. It usually is used to say, "Mom, I understand what you are saying, but I am going to completely ignore you and do what I want. " She has recently crossed that very fine line between cute little baby and toddler with a serious attitude problem.

Christmas Dance Performance

Grace has been taking dance lessons since August. She seems to like it and last weekend her class performed at a Christmas craft show/outdoor market in downtown St. Cloud. They all did a great job and were, of course, so cute.

As a side note...I have decided that when we become rich one day, along with a make-up artist, hair stylist, housekeeper and chef, I am going to employ a family photographer to follow us around and document all the things we do. It is inevitable that when something really picture worthy is going on I will either forget my camera or run out of battery. Plus, I am always the one taking the picture, so I have no evidence that I exist in my children's lives!

Case in point...I went to the recital knowing that my camera was dead, but hoped that I might be able to squeeze a few pictures of of it. Yes! The camera tuned on and stayed on long enough for my to video Grace's short performance. Of course, this meant that I missed most of it because I was so busy filming it that I didn't just get to sit and watch. But the sacrifice was going to be worth it when I would be able to show everyone the video and watch Grace's first ballet performance over and over. Wrong! I am an idiot and somehow managed not to record ANYTHING or get any pictures! What a waste.

Thanks to Carrie for having her camera there and sending me these pictures of Grace's first ever dance performance!

Grace and her friend, Ella, in the "holding area" waiting to perform.I was a little unsure about how the girls would do, but for them most part they seemed to know the moves and were having a good time. (Grace is just to the right of the teacher.)
Reason #67 that I love Florida...You can have 3 year olds perform outside in the middle of December, wearing just their little pink leotards!

"What you said, Mom?"

Grace is very bright and always keeps me on my toes with her quick whit! Here are a few of the conversations we have shared in the last few months...

In the car one day...

Grace: "Why we going this way mom?"
Me: "This is the way to Morgan's house."
Grace: "What you said, Mom?"
Me: "This is the way to Morgan's house."
Grace: "What you said, Mom?"
Me: "This is the way to Morgan's house."
Grace: "What you said, mom?"
Me: "GRACE! THIS IS THE WAY TO MORGAN'S HOUSE!"
Grace: "You don't have to yell at me, mom."
Me: "Sorry, Grace. But you were not listening to me. I kept answering you and you were not even paying attention. When you ask someone a question, you need to listen for their answer, okay."
Grace: "What you said, mom?"


On falling off the my bed because she was fooling around instead of resting...

After hearing some VERY concerning sounds coming from my room (whack, bang, boom, thud, whaaaaaaaaaa!) I decide to investigate. I find Grace on the floor screaming her head off, immediately scoop her up, and examine her for any blood, broken bones or obvious signs of parental neglect. None were present and I could tell that she was only crying because it is a talent she is trying to perfect, so I sat down with her to find out what happened.

Her story, summed up, is that somehow she fell of the bed. She had been instructed a number of times in the minutes leading up to this tragic fall that she need to lay in bed, with her head on the pillow. I decided, because she had not followed orders, that this would be a perfect time for a lesson in cause-and-effect. I started in with a well crafted mom speech about how, if she had listened to mommy and stayed on the pillow, she would not have fallen and gotten hurt AND how next time, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. You get the picture.

After listening to me and soaking in this very important lesson, Grace responds. "Mom, sometimes accidents just happen." And she is right. Sometimes accidents do "just happen."

Well played Grace, well played!



Boobies

As a preface to this story, I need you to know that Grace is in a VERY serious relationship with her imaginary boyfriend, Jackson. I am personally not a fan of Jackson. He is very controlling, a little rude and has created his fair amount of unneeded drama in our house. The following is only the latest in the Jackson saga!

As we are walking through a department store, we pass the bra area.

Grace: You have big boobies mom.
Me: Silence
Grace: My boobies are still little.
Me: Silence
Grace: But don't worry mom. Jackson told me that when we get married my boobies will grow.
Me: Silence..."Tell Jackson he needs to stop talking about your boobies."

I told you Jackson is bad news!

Digital Scrapbooking 101

While preparing for all of my Young Women duties, I always wander the Internet looking for good ideas. I am constantly coming across all of these amazingly crafty women creating all of these wonderful digital designs. Their creations were always impressive, but I found myself getting annoyed that I didn't know how to do the same thing. Finally I came across a blog and website with tutorials and free downloads...yea!! This is my first attempt at digital scrapbooking. I have a long way to go, but I am excited to have actually done something. Plus, Photoshop used to freak me out and now I am a lot less intimidated.

The website with tons of free downloads and the tutorial I used to create this page is www.shabbyprincess.com. The blog that tipped me off to this is http://jillsldsyw.blogspot.com/2008/11/trade-secrets.html.

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween this year at our ward's annual Trunk-or-Treat. This activity never fails to please. The girls got more than enough candy, we were fed dinner, and we got to hang out with friends. I am a little bitter, though. I entered the Chili and Apple dessert contests and came away empty handed. While I had no expectations for the Chili (I made it from a store bought mix), I expected big things from my Caramel Apple Cheesecake. I know, just the name should have won something! I think it was rigged.

Super Girl, doing a super hero pose, of course.

I don't think that there ever was a cuter Bat Girl. She was so proud of her costume. She knew who she was dressed as and whenever anyone said "Bat Girl" she would point to the bat emblem on her costume and smile. Every year Sheri Clark takes a picture of our family at the Trunk-or Treat. It is seriously the only picture of our family that ever turns out. I officially designated her the Hansen Family Photographer after this picture was taken...third year in a row!
Ella just learned to say "cheese" when she sees a camera.
Grace and Buzz (alias, Cameron Taylor). They are such great crime fighting friends!

Fall in Florida

The leaves don't change color here and the weather doesn't get cold, so the signal to Floridians that Fall has arrived is when the pumpkin patches start popping up. I was so excited to carve pumpkins this year and was sure that Grace would, too. The idea was appealing to her, but she quickly lost interest in the actual execution. Grace actually picked a great pumpkin. She spent a lot on time selecting the right one. She even checked out the stems carefully to get the full package. I was impressed.


She told me she wanted a Princess pumpkin and we found a stencil online. She helped mark the pumpkin, and then played until the hard work was done.

Yes, I let my child run around without clothes in what appear to be a saggy diaper. Don't judge me...We live in St. Cloud, what do you expect!

The final product (Ariel, a.k.a The Little Mermaid) turned out pretty dang good.

Monster Truck Mayhem

We entered a drawing at the local library to win tickets to the upcoming Monster Truck show. We didn't win, but a friend of mine did. She was going to be on vacation for the show and offered us the tickets. Thanks, Amber! I had never been to anything like this, so we thought we would give it a go. It was actually a really good time and the girls loved it. Our sweet little Grace. This is what I got when I asked her to, "Look at Mommy and smile."

Oh, Ella. We were totally unprepared for how loud it would be. When we got there we bought ear plugs for the girls, but Ella had no desire to leave them in. for some reason she kept pulling out one, but leaving the other in. We figured saving her hearing in one ear was better than nothing.

This guy got a flat tire trying to do some sort of fancy monster truck rally trick. That sucks!

Lately, Grace feels the need to do super hero poses when having her picture taken.

The Magic Number

While at Disney a few weeks before these pictures were taken, we discovered that Grace had finally reached the "magic number"...40 inches. Once the height is reached an entirely new world of possibilities is opened. The first "big girl" ride Grace went on was Test Track at Epcot. She was not scared, AT ALL! Not that we were surprised. A few days later we decided to head to Magic Kingdom where the real action happens! Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, here we come. The properly prepare herself for the mature rides to come, Grace was sure to apply ample amounts of lip gloss. She wouldn't want to stand out among the other "big girls", would she.
Ella, as always, is generally happy to be along for the ride.

Eric took Grace for her first ride on Splash Mountain. When did she get so big?


This is them coming down the huge drop. It is hard to see, but they are in the back row. You can see Eric in the white shirt, but grace is hidden.

After the drop with a huge smile on her face! I love it. I took her again right after this and that time she put her hands in the air on the big drop! She is crazy. We also took her on Thunder Mountain and the story was the same.