Monkey

Yes I have a monkey at my house, well actually two of them. I was hoping after the first one started climbing out of the crib at 18 months that maybe I would be able to have another baby that would stay in a crib for longer. You may be thinking who cares if the baby sleeps in a crib or a bed, but the problem isn't sleeping it is the time before sleep when they can't go anywhere if they are in a crib so they decide to give up the ghost and go to sleep. Things get a lot more complicated when you have to lay next to them and pretend that you are sleeping so that after 20 minutes of playing around they finally decide that they will go to sleep, and hopefully you got enough sleep the night before because if not you are toast and all that fake sleeping made you fall asleep too and you get nothing done that you were going to get done while your crazy child was finally asleep. Yes, I have had a lot of experience with this.

It wasn't too long from the time Lizzy got into a grown-up bed that she was no longer taking naps, shortly after two years of age to be exact. That's right Lizzy stopped taking naps ALTOGETHER when she was barely TWO. I am starting to see a pattern developing with my younger monkey that is looking very similar and it scares me to death.

So monkey #2 has decided that she needs to try and climb out of the crib, so that means a lot of practice climbing all over everything else so she can perfect those climbing skills. She climbs up onto the table all the time, I always will find her on the table or under the table trying to get up on the chair to get onto the table, or she likes climbing on the toilet too. One day I hear her crying and I run into the bathroom to find her hanging out of the sink because she climbed onto the toilet and thought "I'll bet I can climb up into the sink too". Another new thing she does is climb up on the couch and jump from the couch to the ottoman and back again. Oh well she sure is a cute monkey.

Some Hair!!

I was starting to get a little bit worried that our little Nellie was never going to get any hair. Today I finally was able to stick a little barrette in it. Yay! By the time Lizzy was Nellie's age she had hair down to her shoulders, so I was starting to get a bit nervous, but in the last month or so she finally started to sprout some hair!! I am hoping it will continue to grow at the rate that it is right now, so by the time she is two she will have a normal head of hair. See the tiny barrette that is barely staying in? I will take whatever I can get at this point.

I had to take a picture of this outfit because it was one that I wore when I was a baby. I found it a few months back in my hope chest and thought that Nellie would look darling in it. I think it even looks like it is in style.
It really is growing, in this picture you may not thinks she has much hair, but in real life it looks like more.

Tutus and Doggies

Aunt Chanelle made these tutus for the girls and I would have to say they look pretty stinkin cute in them. Thanks Chanelle, they love wearing them.
Grandma and Grandpa Hansen gave the little gals these darling doggie purses for Christmas. They love them especially because they look so much like real dogs and they can put their pretties in them. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Christmas

We had a really great Christmas this year. We stayed home, but now that Lizzy is getting older it was so much fun because she understood and got so excited about everything. Christmas Eve the girls got to wear their new jammies that I made them. I was glad to get those done, I finished that day and it was a big relief. They really loved their soft jammies. I made them out of flannel back satin so they are warm on the inside but silky on the outside. Lizzy's were Strawberry Shortcake and Nellie's were really cute blue ones. Then we had a treat and had some Christmas dancing, a Hansen family tradition. Then we got Santa's plate all ready, Lizzy was so excited about that. Then we threw some reindeer food out in the front yard. It was really fun!! I got up at 5:15 Christmas morning to make desserts and rolls for our dinner. I was done earlier than I thought so I was waiting for the girls to wake up for a while, I was really excited so it was hard for me to not go and wake them up myself. Nellie still doesn't understand, but she sees her sister get so excited so that makes her more excited. Santa did a really good job, the girls liked everything they got, although Lizzy thinks she got the play vacuum not Nellie. Oh well, Nellie doesn't mind sharing sometimes. I got a really nice serger for Christmas from Kevin, it was really sweet of him although he spent way more money than he was supposed to. He got some really nice golf clubs from me that he is really excited to be able to use. After we opened presents and got ready we headed to Tipton to see his family and have Christmas dinner. It was really yummy and we had a good time down there. It was such a good Christmas I am just really sad to see it end, because January through March are really cold with nothing to look forward to. I always get a little depressed during the first of the year waiting for spring to come.

The girlies in their jammies
Nellie unstuffing her stocking. The stocking has always been my favorite thing
Lizzy and her crazy hair she always looks like this in the morning.

Nellie enjoying her new bug

Nellie got a Dora chair and Lizzy already had one so now they can chill in their chairs. They really like to just sit together in them or play choo choo train with them. they have really started using their imaginations a lot to play and I love it.
Lizzy enjoying her new princess dress and her umbrella. She has been asking for an umbrella for almost a year now so it's a good thing Santa came through. It was one of her favorite gifts.

Moklahona City

We spent the weekend with my brother Austin and his wife Kris and their kids Kelly, Logan, and Sara Jane. We met up in Moklohona City as Logan calls it, so cute huh. They just barely moved to Oklahoma and we haven't seen them for a long time. I haven't seen Austin since I moved to Kansas and that has been close to three years now. So we decided to get together and spend the weekend together. The kids had such a blast. Their kids are just the sweetest little kids ever, I just want to eat them up. Lizzy had so much fun meeting her cousins. Even though Kelly is five and Lizzy is three, they are a lot alike and so they got along really well. She really loved Logan and Sara Jane too. It was funny because Logan was the only boy, that was the first time anyone in the family got together and there was only one boy! Kris and I went to the movie one night and Austin and Kevin went the next night. We did a little bit of shopping and went out to dinner and one of the days we took the little munchkins bowling. It was so much fun Lizzy had a blast. Logan beat everyone in the bowling, he would do the cutest little dance after he would bowl it was really cute. The only bad thing about the trip was that it was way too short, we are going to have to get together again before they leave Oklahoma for Washington.

The kids loved to just sit and color together

Little mini Austin. Logan looks just like Austin it is so cute.

Nellie found what she cared most about at the bowling alley.. the food

Sara and Nellie just hanging out with their bears.

The kids had so much fun together.

All the little girlies. Kelly is such a cutie she has so much personality. I love to hear her cute laugh too.

Lizzy learning how to bowl. She really enjoyed it, We should probably take her again, but the bowling alley in town is so full of scary Whiskey Tango, and they are allowed to smoke wherever they want in there and last time we went when Lizzy was a baby there was a lady puffing away about a foot away, it was horrible. Oh the joys of living in Kansas.

Sleddin'

Last weekend we got almost a foot of snow and the McCall's invited us to go sledding, so we took the little gals sledding for the first time. We had so much fun, even though that good old Kansas wind was blowing and making it feel like it was 10 below. The first time down Lizzy was a bit nervous but after that she loved it. Nellie was the surprising one even though her little eyes were watering like crazy from the cold, she did not want to go back in, Lizzy was done much sooner than Nellie. We kept saying it was time to go and each time Nellie would point to the sled. So we took her down a few more times before we decided we were frozen and needed to go back in. The McCall's grandparents lived across the street so they invited us in for cookies and hot chocolate. It was a really fun afternoon.The little girls loved getting out their snow gear and getting ready. They especially loved their boots.

Nellie wanted to go again and again

Bethanie, Nellie and Lizzy going for a ride.

Nellie loved her boots so much she wouldn't take them off the rest of the evening. Even though they were 3 sizes too big she didn't notice or have a problem walking in them. She is such a big shot.

Ho Ho Ho!

If you ask Nellie what Santa says she says Ho Ho Ho. It is really cute. She is getting so big and I am loving every minute of it.

Taking Care of Business

I go into the bathroom and this is what I find. I ask Lizzy what she is doing and she says "I going poop Mom." in such a matter of fact way like this is what everyone does when they go poop, reading a book and wearing princess shoes.

The Ice Storm

This is our third winter here in Kansas, so I guess I should feel lucky that this is our first ice storm. I didn't really know what an ice storm was, but now I sure do. All night Monday night it rained, but it was cold enough that it turned to ice once it hit the ground, so we woke up to almost an inch of ice covering everything! I also didn't realize how dangerous ice on everything is, but it brought an awful lot of trees down on power lines. Almost everyone around us lost power for at least a couple of hours or more, but we were so lucky we only lost it for about 5 minutes. Kevin had to make a trip down to the school to deliver a generator, so I was worried about having him out on those roads, but everything was just fine. We stayed home and worried every time our power flickered which it did all day. We are just glad that the ice started melting and everything turned out okay.

This is our phone line, it was sagging to about 4 ft. off the ground

It was so scary when you were outside and the wind started to blow just a little it sounded like ice cracking. I just kept waiting for those big trees to come down, but luckily they didn't

these pictures don't even do justice to how bad everything was. It was crazy driving around town it looked like everything was coated in silver, it actually was very pretty, but very scary.

4 years

Kevin and I celebrated our Anniversary last week. We have now been married 4 years and have two of the most beautiful girls ever. It is amazing that we have been married that long. In so many ways it seems like it was just yesterday that we met, but at the same time it seems like I have known him forever. It has been the best 4 years of my life by far, even though some of them have also been the toughest. We made it through our firstyear out here in Kansas which is pretty amazing because it was a really tough time for us and really tested our love. We made it through the whole ordeal with Nellie's birth which was also a really trying time, but helped us to grow so much together as a couple. I love Kevin so much, the feeling I felt when I was first married when I would look at him everyday and be amazed that he was mine is still there. I still feel that excitement about being in love every single day. He is the best father and husband. He has so much patience for me, a lot more than I deserve. He has the kindest heart of anyone I know and I feel so blessed that he picked me. I love you Kevy!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Well the tradition of putting up a tree wasn't quite what I had hoped for. We wanted to go and get a tree for family night but we didn't have time to go to a tree farm so we thought there must be a tree lot here in town...uh no. the only place was the local grocery store and they had about 10 of the saddest looking trees you ever did see just leaning up against the storefront. We found the skinniest one we could find (seeing as though we didn't even have anywhere we could put it in our teeny tiny house). We took it home and Kevin sawed off the bottom and the top so it would fit and we took it inside to decorate. Only to discover that we really had NO place to put it. We ended up sliding our couches down as far as we could into our dining area and that gave us about three feet to squeeze our tree in, (we are now officially packed in like sardines in this house). Then I discovered that the lights didn't work. So I made a quick trip to Walmart (Yay I have a store close by!) By the time I got back and got the lights on it was past 8:00 and the girls were so grumpy and ready for bed that they didn't even have that much fun decorating. It was one of those things that I had built up in my head that didn't turn out so it was extra disappointing.

Lizzy was very entertained with watching Kevin cut off the stump.

Lizzy ended up putting about 9 or 10 ornaments on the same two branches, they were touching the ground by the end.

Nellie just wanted to eat the ornaments. What a shocker.

See what a tight squeeze it is. It actually is a very skinny tree, there is just that little of room.

What is it about boxes that kids love so much?Nellie found a new way to watch T.V.

Other than the treee incident we have had a lot of fun with the girls with Christmas activities. Lizzy and I made a countdown chain or rather I made one and Lizzy cut up paper. We have had fun dancing to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies and making Christmas goodies. It has been so much fun this year because Lizzy has gotten old enough that she really understands and looks forward to things. She absolutely loves to sing Christmas songs and do anything related to Christmas.

Funny Face

I took this picture a month or so ago. I thought Nellie looked so cute in these glasses, she is getting so grownup I can't believe how fast time goes by.