Nov.19th & 65F

It is hard to believe that today, Nov.19th, it was 65 F here in Utah. To make the most of it we headed to the zoo with our neighbors Jeanette and her little boy Alex. Julia ran circles around Alex and everyone was exhausted by the time we left 3 hours later. I am grateful for this little time in our lives where Julia and Luke are home with me. No school to run to or sport practices to shuttle them to. It was great to go to the zoo and practically have it all to ourselves!

Tomorrow we are off to vacation- so no posts for 10 days!!!

Crafts galore

I wanted to find something fun and easy for Julia to do that would help her understand what Thanksgiving is all about. We tried making cookies for her nursery teachers and writing a thank you card. It wasn't too successful-Mom ate way too many cookies and Julia was more interested in playing with the nursery teachers' children instead of giving her teachers the cookies & cards.

Luckily fate was on my side today and I found my new favorite website at http://www.makeandtakes.com/. They have a cute little paper turkey with paper feathers that will transport easily in the suitcase. They were using the turkey as a countdown calendar for Thanksgiving, but I think this will be a great way for Julia & the Thanksgiving guests to write what they are thankful for on the feathers.



So..............tonight I am grateful for all of those little teaching moments you have with your children. Hopefully this project turns into one of those awe-inspiring moments. Most likely though, I can just picture a lot of glue on hands and maniac scissors flying around in a 2 year-olds hand.

30!

Tonight I am grateful to have had 30 years of good health, loving friends and family, and opportunities to learn and grow.

Aunt Mares

We are lucky enough to have my sister Maren and her husband Jordan live close to us. Julia loves them and gets so EXCITED when they come over. Maren is a talented hairdresser and tonight Maren gave Julia her first haircut. As you can see Julia was a little bit nervous at the beginning. By the end she loved it and kept going around showing everyone her new haircut.

I want Maren to know how much I appreciate and love her. She is loving, talented, funky, and always fun to be around. Thanks for helping me so much with Julia and Luke. In a year or so her and Jordan will be moving and we will miss you so much. We love you- Les & the munchkins

Mornings

I am very grateful the Savior created mornings. In the Hansen household everyone is at their best in the mornings. Julia comes bounding out of her room with crazy Einstein hair and chatting away. She is always excited about the new day and it always gives me hope I can survive another day of a messy house, diapers, and toddler meltdowns.

Let's Eat Cake!

Luke had his first piece of cake today and as you can see he devoured it! He sat for a whole hour in the high chair eating, mushing, and smearing chocolate cake. Bet you can guess what I am thankful today- chocolate cake and the many "firsts" that occur in a babys first year of life.

Our internet server was down yesterday so this post was really yesterday's. So here's a little bonus: This is super easy for little ones to help out with. Somtime I just put all the ingredients right in the pan and mix. That way I don't dirty an extra bowl.

No Egg Chocolate Cake

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup oil

2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cup water

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 1 9x13 inch pan or 2 round cake pans. Mix all ingredients except 1 cup water. Beat until smooth. Add remaining water and beat for another minute. Pour into pans and bake for 30-35 mintes. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.

Sleep

Sometimes a night of good sleep makes a bad day fade away. So.. tonight I am grateful that Luke is sleeping through the night once again. We had about a month of him being sick and cutting teeth where he was waking once or twice. Makes for a much more patient and loving Mom.

Here's a picture of both Luke & Julia sleeping right after they came home from the hospital.

Life Before Kids

Tonight I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who often knows what is best for us, even when we think a different path would be better. Next week the whole fam is flying back east for Thanksgiving and today I was thinking about the joys of flying 7 1/2 hours on an airplane with 2 children 2 years old and younger! Before we had children Mike and I would plan a trip and just go. We went to some amazing places and have amazing memories from those places. However, during that time the doctors and us were also trying every miracle to conceive a child. Sometimes I look at my children and think "oh me of little faith". I am grateful now for that time Mike and I had together to build our relationship. Especially now that we don't have any time together.

Here is a picture of one of our favorite trips- just the two of us in Maui, Hawaii- actually just the 2 1/2 of us-right before we left I found our I was pregnant with Julia!

Short & Sweet

Today out of the blue Julia came up to me and said, "Mom I love you. I love Dad too" and then went back to playing with her baby dolls. I am grateful that children are forgiving of very imperfect parents.

Things 2 year olds love at church!

I want to personally thank whoever invented sugar free Ice Breakers Sours. They totally occupied the 2 year old for the last 10 minutes of sacrament meeting today as the speakers kept talking and talking and talking and talking. I also think the greatest invention is the miniature toilets that are in the nursery at church. Julia thinks they are the coolest!

Here's Luke's newest trick!

Songs Galore

Julia's newest passion is singing songs. She knows the Primary songs better than most of the Sunbeams we have ever taught in Primary. She sings them all day and where ever we might be. Tonight on our way out of a restaurant she starts belting at the top of her lungs "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and of course this makes Luke laugh and laugh. We are officially a three ring circus now!

Tonight I am grateful for the gift of music. Not only for Julia's little songs, but music in general and the amazing ability it has to usher in the Holy Ghost (obviously, uplifting music) and uplift your spirit.

Silly Tricks

I wish I was a more creative mother. Unfortunately, I am a analyzer and planner type of a person. So all of the fun activities and games I play with Luke and Julia have been thought about for days or stolen from more "on the fly" creative people.

I am grateful for this silly little trick I saw my mother play with Julia when she was an infant. When my Mom went to change Julia's diaper she would put Julia's pants on her head. Julia had a great time trying to take the pants off and giggle at my Mom. So I decided to start this tradition with Luke and here is today's picture of it. In the process he also found his 2 ears and the rest of the day I would ask Luke "Where are your ears?" and he would grab them and giggle.

Thanks Mom for this little piece of inspirition (along with everything good about me).

Blender Wheat Pancakes

Today I am grateful for my neighbor up the street and her talents! Recently our ward has been focused on emergency preparedness and food storage. One of my neighbors is an amazing bread maker and last night she did a little wheat/bread making class. I was so excited that I even hired a babysitter to come so that I could go to the class. The class was chock full of info and my neighbor made the yummiest samples. Here is one of the recipes she handed out which we had for breakfast this morning.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup milk

1 cup wheat kernels

Blend in blender or food processor for 4-5 minutes until smooth (if you soak your wheat kernels for a few hours before hand or overnight you don't have to blend them for so long)

2 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp honey or sugar

Blend on low until mixed (25-30 seconds)

The 1st Snow!

Snow, Snow, Snow! Julia was beyond excited this morning when she woke up and saw 4 inches of snow in our drive way. Starting at 7am she kept asking to go outside and play in it. Poor girl- it only took us to 10am to finally get everyone dressed and outside. Sometimes Julia & Luke's amazement at new things reminds me how lucky I am to be home with them full time. I would have been so sad to miss seeing Luke stick out his tongue and try to catch the snowflakes for the first time today. So thanks Mike for working hard!

Fruit Snack & Forts

The welcoming of November came with rain, hail, wind, and snow today. Since we were stuck inside the whole day and Julia was bored we had a great time making a fort in our living room. I think I loved the fort more than Julia though. I would give her a snack and tell her to go eat it in her fort and she would spend 20 minutes eating fruit snacks in her fort pretending with her baby and singing songs. So if you can imagine we had all sorts of snacks today. Then Luke would crawl over to the fort and pull himself up to it and that would entertain Julia for another 10 minutes.

Some days I am grateful for just the little stuff. The 20 minutes I had to clean the kitchen without Julia today was such a blessing.

Pony Rides

As a Mom I am the playful at 8am, after that my energy, and mostly my patience, goes down hill. By the time Mike gets home from work the kids are tired of me (and vice versa) and Mike becomes the most playful. I am grateful for Mike and his willingness to help out with Luke and Julia after a long day of work. He is a master entertainer for kids with pony rides of his knees, crazy camp songs, and silly games he makes up. Thanks Mike- You're the best husband and Dad I know!

Here is a picture from tonight's entertainment:

Beautiful Eyes

So I have to admit that yesterday I fell off the blogging wagon yesterday. Julia, Luke, and I are all sick and I spent most of the day sucking out noses, trying to pacify coughing kids, and trying to catch up on no sleep from the night before. The only thing I was truly grateful yesterday was Tylenol. I have no idea how the pioneers did it. I would make a lousy pioneer. Actually I probably wouldn't be alive. As my obgyn said after Julia was born, "Well, if you lived 100 years ago you wouldn't be alive today."

Anyhow..... today is a little better and I am truly grateful for the opportunity I had to attend Sacrament Meeting today (especially since Julia and Luke stayed home). I am grateful for the spirit that was present as testimonies were born of the Savior and his healing power in times of trials. Some days you feel so "spiritually thirsty" and I am grateful for those members in my ward that followed the promptings of the spirit.

No one wanted their picture taken today, so I found this picture taken of Julia about a year ago by her Uncle Noel. Her eyes reminded me of Luke's eyes so much.