The Big 28

Kevin turned 28 on the 10th. Wow, already 28. Time sure does fly. Okay I guess I can't act like Kevin is old when I already turned 28 this year. That sure is crazy. We both seem like 21 year olds to me. For Kevin's birthday we were able to leave the girls and get away by ourselves for the first time since Nellie was born. I know that is sad that we can't get away very often, but like my mom has always said, "A time and a season." And at this time in my life there arn't many chances for us to get away, but one day that will change.

We were able to go see a movie!! Yay! and we went to dinner and stayed at a nice hotel. It was really fun. I always have such a good time being with my man. He is absolutely the greatest. I hope he had as much fun with me as I had with him. I love you Kevy Ray!

Side Note: I need to take more pictures of Kevin and I. The only ones I have of us without kids are from our wedding or when we were dating. That is sad.

Little Walker

She loves it. She thinks she is so big.

I like how Lizzy's pants are low riding in this one.

Now she can follow me even quicker wherever I go.

So much for Preemies being developmentally delayed. Just as I predicted the day before Nellie's first birthday she started walking for real. For a few weeks she had been taking a few steps here and there but nothing more. Well now it is her only mode of transportation. If she falls she gets right back up and starts walking. She is so tiny it looks a bit weird to see her walking around. I have gotten it on video, but Kevin has to help me figure out how to put it on the computer. I guess I could figure it out myself, but it is much easier to have him just do it for me. Until I do here are a few pictures of her walking around.

Birthday Party

WE had a little Party for Nellie's birthday. We invited our friends the McCall's and Kevin's parents and our brother -in-law Lance who was in town. I decided to make her a bear cake, I made a butterfly for Lizzy's first birthday, so I felt it was important to make a fancy cake for Nellie as well. The presents weren't much of a hit. She enjoyed them enough, but Lizzy was the one to open them, Nellie didn't care much for unwrapping. What she did care for was the cake. We gave her a big piece and she absolutely devoured it. And then she started getting mad because she wanted more. So I gave her another piece. Hey it's her birthday. When she was done I went and dumped her in the tub and she was still wanting cake so bad that she was grabbing for the crumbs that were floating in the tub. It was pretty funny. She loves her food. You would never know it seeing as she is like 15 pounds. But she really packs it in

Nellie enjoying her new toys with Madison

Lizzy.. I mean Nellie opening presents

Loving her cake

One Year Old

I really can't believe that it has been a whole year since our little Nellie joined our family. It was such a scary experience, and really trying emotionally, but time has still flown by. Even though Nellie cried for pretty much the first nine months of her life, she has been such a blessing in our life. She has the strongest spirit. She showed how strong she was by having no health problems even though she was eight weeks early and only 2 lbs. 15 oz. She is such a fighter and very stubborn, which can be a little bit frustrating at times, seeing as she wins every battle of wills with me which I am not used to. She is such a joy in our family. Lizzy loves her to pieces and Nellie feels the same way. I love seeing how much they love being together. I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. I am just grateful to be her Mom and to have been blessed with such a special girl.

Nellie just born, so tiny

The day we brought her home, August 27th, such a great day! Notice how big the seat belt is compared to her.

Getting bigger, but those preemie clothes are still drowning her.

Blessing day!

Happy Halloween little pumpkin

Six months old! And a whole 10 pounds

Sisters, they sure love being together.

Sitting up like a champ, and starting to get happier.

She sure loves taking baths

the happy baby we always knew was in there

Happy Birthday my sweet little Nellie Belle!

Sundance

The main reason we came out to Utah was for the Hansen family reunion. All of us were able to come except my brother Jarom and My brother Austin, his wife and three kids. Because there are so many of us and no place for all of us to comfortably hang out together we rented a cabin in Sundance for a couple of nights. It was so much fun, the cabin was so big and nice. We only wish it could have been a bit longer. Next year we will have to have a longer reunion. it was so nice to be able to see everyone but not feel like we were stepping all over each other.

The second day we were there we decided to go a a hike to Stewart Falls. I wasn't going to go because Nellie is past the point of carrying in a Baby Bjorn, but since everyone was going I didn't want to miss out on the fun, so I put her in the Bjorn anyway. She is small for her age, but it was still a bit hard to carry her that way for so long, but it was worth going with everyone. Lizzy did pretty well on the way up, but on the way back she wanted to be held pretty much the whole way back.

We all watched movies, did puzzles, hung around talking a lot. It was so much fun to be together with everyone. It makes me a little bit sad to think that we all can get together so infrequently, but I guess that is just how life is. It just makes the time we do spend together that much more fun.

Most of the grandkids (except the babies)Lizzy striking a pose

Me and my sister Janae

Our little family all dirty and hot

Lizzy and Grandpa ( I love this picture)

The dirty little urchins taking advantage of the sweet master tub

Family Pictures

While we were out in Utah we decided to get our family pictures and pictures of the girls done. There is absolutly no one to do pictures out here in Kansas. My sister told me about a photographer, but she was out of business, so I decided to google someone and found Jennifer Fairbanks in Highland. She did such a great job and I was so happy with all of the pictures. Of course the day we went to do them the wind was blowing out of control, We were able to get a family shot that we liked and then she took us back to her studio and she finished the girls. It was so worth the money spent. It actually ended up being less than the last time I got the girls pictues taken, because she gave us a CD and we were able to go to Costco and get the pictures printed for so cheap.
It was so nice to find someone that had the time and patience to work with the girls and get some good pictures. The only problem is I have so many cute pictures to choose from I don't know which ones to pick.

Independence Day

The Fourth this year was an interesting experience for us. We decided to go down to a town called Junction City, becuase they have a huge celebration, with a carival and all kinds of shows and booths. We went with our friends the McCall's. Jeff McCall works nights so we decided to go in the afternoon after he had gotten some sleep. We left aroung 1:30 and it is a little over an hour drive. It was a beautiful day, but when we got there, off to the west were very black clouds. We thought maybe it wouldn't get us, but over the next five minutes it dropped about 20 degrees and the wind started to pick up. The black clouds rolled in really fast and they were looking a bit scary. WE looked up and the clouds were actually rotating. Not a good sign. Someone said that a funnel cloud had been spotted nearby. We decided to hightail it back to the car and no sooner than it started to pour. So then we took the kids to McDonald's becuase not much was open and they were hungry. So I am thinking "Great we drove all the way down here to go to McDonald's." But after eating the clouds started to clear, so we decided to go back. I am sure glad that we did because Lizzy had a blast.


She wanted to go on the Tilt-a-whirl with her friend Bethanie, I thought she would be scared but she giggled and screamed with delight the whole time. About halfway through the ride she looked at me and said "Mommy this is so fun!" It was really cute and then when we got off she said "That was really cool!" She was a total daredevil.

I thought for a little girl that is so afraid of the water she would be scared of the rides too, but she rode the little roller coaster by herself and all the other rides and had a blast.

Riding with Dad down the Magic Carpet Ride. They have so much fun together.

Lizzy and her friend Bethanie

Nellie just chilled in her stroller the whole time. She was so good.

That picture of Nellie reminded me of this July 4th two years ago. Nellie and Lizzy look more alike than I thought they did.

New Jammies

For the first time in a long time I was actually able to work on a hobby. This last year has been a little bit rough with Nellie, but since she is moblie now she is so much happier and easier to take care of. Making it possible for me to actually have a little time for me. I made Lizzy this pair of jammies.

I forgot how much I enjoy sewing. I am excited to have a little more time now to be able to do a few things here and there for myself.

My Crazy Girls

Lizzy is a crazy kid. She is so full of mischief. She got ahold of scissors, seeing as last time she got scissors she cut her hair, I try really hard to make sure she can't get stuff like that, but nevertheless she got them, and what did she cut up? She got on my bed and cut up my nice expensive sheets and comforter. Lovely.

I had to call poison control because Lizzy ate a whole flower. She eats stuff like that all the time. Since she was going to eat plants no matter what I did apparently, I told her she could eat the plants in my herb garden, and sure enough she eats basil leaves all the time. She loves them.

I called poison control again because she got ahold of baby ibuprofen and got the child proof cap off, (she has been doing that since she was 8 months) and tried to pour it down Nellie's throat, good thing most of it ended up on the carpet, but since they keep record of the calls to poison control, I am worried they are going to report me to child services.

Right about now people reading this must think I am a neglectful parent that leaves her child to get into trouble. Really I don't, only to go to the bathroom or do the laundry or things like that, it's just that Lizzy attracts trouble and takes advantage of any time alone.

I was telling Lizzy it was time to put her jammies on and she said "Now's not a good time, sorry." She thinks she is an adult I swear.

Lizzy isn't the only one who thinks she is an adult. Nellie refuses to eat baby food and has for about a month and a half. She wants what we eat. And she wants big pieces like we eat. She can eat big chunks of fruit, whole strawberries, even her own sandwiches. Keep in mind she still doesn't have any teeth! Does she choke? Heck no, she can handle it, she is a grownup. She has only been crawling for a month, but she has already decided that is too boring, and she is trying to walk. She can stand on her own. the other night she just stood in the middle of the room while she drank her bottle. She has even taken a few steps. These girls are crazy! what happened to the mellow girl that is just like her dad that I was supposed to get. Why did I get girls who are full of attitude and sass. Maybe my boys will be just like their dad. Let's hope because I don't know how many more kids like this I can have without losing my mind!

All kidding aside I love them to pieces and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. They are the cutest sweetest kids and I am the luckiest mommy in the world to have them.

Fathers Day

I am so grateful to have been blessed with such a great husband. He is so patient with me and so loving. He does such a good job with the girls. We all feel so loved by him. He is so good to always help me out with everything. He loves his girls so much. When he gets home he spends all his time with his family. He always puts us first. He is the best.

I was also so blessed to have the best dad in the world. He sacrificed so much for his family and always was so patient with us. I remember as a kid always going to Dad for things because he was such a softie. I always said I wanted to marry someone like my dad becuase he was so wonderful and sure enough it is crazy how much Kevin and my Dad are alike. So slow to anger so full of love and kindness. Both are the best men I know.

For Fathers Day the primary sang Daddy's Homecoming and Love is Spoken Here. I am the Primary chorister and since there is no Nursery, Lizzy goes to Primary. Well we only have about 8 kids. We get up there and I have to lead the kids and sing with them. Lizzy knows the songs perfectly and just sings her heart out. I start crying because I am a total baby. I could hardly make it through the songs, the other kids are just standing up there not singing and looking at me like I am a freak and all the while Lizzy keeps singing her heart out and doing all the actions. She is two and she is the only kid who got up there and sang. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

I recorded her singing it but I can't figure out how to put video on this blog, so if anyone knows how to will you please tell me.