10 for Tuesday-Weekly wrap up

1- I am really tired right now and would rather be sleeping, so to keep myself awake I am going to work on this weekly post.  

2- We have a new president.  Half the country is happy.  Half the country is mad.  Half the country is scared and stock piling stuff at the grocery store.  When I went last weekend (the 19th) EVERYTHING you buy in large quantities, ie. powdered milk, sugar, flour, TP, detergent, bulk quantities of meat, etc. was gone off the shelves.  The place was so packed I could barely get through the aisles.  It was madness.  I have never seen it so packed.  I left Ally at the end of the produce section with Clark and the cart so I could even move in and out of the fruits and vegges.  At least people were trying to be healthy right?  

3- Clark is not getting better, well he was for a couple days but now he is all snotty, fevery and staying up all night again.  The antibiotic has a few more days so I will try to be patient.  If not, I will be back in there before Friday.  

4- I found out this week that Emma has been taking lengthy trips to the restroom causing the teacher's aid to have to go find her when she doesn't return after 10 minutes.  She is cleaning the sinks off.   They ought to pay her for that.

5- Luke will actually wear his hat these days.  Who knew all I had to do was take away all his hair to get him to put it on.

6- It was -18 degrees when we woke up this morning.  Our high for the day is 0.  The sliding doors on my van were frozen shut.  I had to put Clark in through my door and go up and over my seat.  2 door vans.  Not a great idea.

7- I spent a considerable amount of time on the computer the other night trying to catch up on CBS Television shows that we no longer get.  Dish network is unable to broadcast it because of some contract ending and the renewal price being extremely inflated, blah blah blah it is stupid.  They better figure it out before Survivor begins.  

8- I normally enjoy winter, but today I wished I lived in Arizona.  I  know, right?

9- Time to do our taxes.  I have already spent the return 5 times over in my head.  I have a wish list.

10- My name is Lisha Hansen and I am addicted to Carbs.  

Bad Decision.

Tell me I am not the only one who makes these. Luke's hair has been driving me crazy lately. It is getting too long. No amount of gel or hair spray can contain it any longer. Ry shaved his head so he is now bald and he never goes to the barber anymore; therefore Luke never goes with him and never gets his hair cut anymore. See where I am going with this? It has been since before Christmas that he got his hair cut and that is a LONG time in boy hair standards. Now he looks a lot more like Dad!



Long story short (literally), we used Ryan's electric razor and shaved his head to a "1". Yeah. He is bald. It is my fault. It is freezing cold outside. And let's just get it out there, I am not the smartest mom on the block. He hates it. He cried the whole time. My brother in law helped Ry finish up the cut because he has real clippers and we don't and it was hurting his head. Justin told him he looks like a basketball player and that made it better.

Snow Day!

We woke up to LOTS of snow this morning.  Ry was "sick" today so he and Luke spent the morning outside and built Luke's first snow man.  He has played in the snow before but he doesn't like to be cold.  The new snow pants have cured him of the cold.  Funny how it took A LOT of coaxing to get him to even try them on in the first place.  When he fell down the first time and realized how dry and warm he still was, he was hooked.  Here are some favs from the day.

Rolling the snow into a ball for the body

Packing the snow down to shape the body

Eating the snow

  

Posing with his new buddy

Eating the carrot nose

10 for Tuesday--All About Ally

All About Ally

A-- Always wanting to be the helper and "be in charge."  She wants so much to grow up too quick and almost misses out on the fun kid stuff.  I can count on her to help with the baby, cleaning, cooking, etc.  She takes her role as A #1 daughter very seriously.

Our Princess Ally

L-- Loves to dance!  When the music is on, Ally is jammin'!  She competes at IDS and loves her classes.  Ryan gave her his old Mp3 player so she can be dancing all the time, even when it seems quiet in the house.  She has improved leaps and bounds this year and I am super proud of her accomplishments!

With Parker at a Dance Performance of  "Kung Fu"

L-- Lovable little girl.  She has an infectious smile that draws people to her.  Her fun loving spirit is easily squashed by a harsh word though, so tread lightly!  

Ally and Emma are Best Friends

Y-- Yells loudly!  She wants to be a Cheerleader!  Cheering on her favorite team has always been one of her greatest ambitions!   

"The Soccer Princess"

When she played soccer she preferred to "cheer" rather than play

H-- Hints non stop about things she wants to do.  There is no beating around the bush with this girl.  And if you say it is going to happen she will remind you over and over until it gets done!  Her persistence often keeps me on track and I love it.  

Losing her first tooth

She wiggled that thing to death until it finally fell out!

A--Attention to detail.  Ally always wants to get things "right".  I think the word is perfectionist. She gets frustrated with herself if she can't do something perfect the first time in dance, but she is learning to practice, practice, practice to get it exactly right.

A self portrait 

(there were about 15 others until she got this one that looked "right")

N-- Never wants to be referred to as a "little kid."  As the oldest, she wants to be included and thought of as such.  Too bad she is only 7!  

At her 7th birthday party in June

S-- Super smart and serious reader.  She loves to read a good book and challenges herself to read "one more chapter" all the time.  Right now she has taken on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.  She is frustrated because the chapters are too long to read all at once.

Her first day of Kindergarten--she has always loved school since her first "preschool" experience when she was only 2 1/2

E-- Example to her brothers and sister.  Luke has learned a lot from watching her and wants to do everything with her.  She helps them clean up and "teaches" them whats what.   When they play she is often the teacher, the mom, or the boss. 

At Lagoon in 2004

N-- No way would I ever want to know what life would be like with out her around.  She is our first and holds that special spot in our hearts.  Life is never dull with Ally around.  She has a flair for the dramatic in all aspects of her life!  

Her first dance performance at "Lamar Days" -- she was so new she didn't even have the "official" costume yet so she wore pink to fit in.

(that IS 10 in case you were tempted to go back and count the letters.  Nice how that worked out huh?)

No Bake Cookies

The "ingredients" in the not nearly big enough pan. 

I like to cook and more importantly I like to bake.  Today, Ally and I made No Bake Cookies. They are chocolaty and delicious and therefore one of her favorites.  As a rule, I always double cookie recipes.  Between the licking of the batter, sneaking cookie dough and eating them fresh off the pan when they are hot out of the oven, we usually end up with only a few cookies.  So I double the recipe.  When it comes to No Bakes  though, I never double it because the recipe makes a lot to begin with.  Having said that, I return to the baking at hand.  Being the big kid that she is, I let Ally help by reading the recipe among other things.  I didn't help her and I didn't second guess her at all.  I got to the end of the recipe and something wasn't quite right.  They were still very runny and not setting up at all.  The batter looked like this

"Chocolate Soup"

I went back to the cook book to see what I had missed and then I realized.  She had said 2 cups of milk when the recipe had called for 1/2 cup.  Not only was I going to have to add more ingredients to make them work, I was QUADRUPLING the recipe. ( 10 CUPS of oatmeal, 3 cups of peanut butter, etc.)  That's a lot of cookies, even for me!  Here is the finished product the way it is supposed to look, in my biggest bowl!

"Chocolate Oatmeal"

If you live close by and you want a No Bake Cookie or two, come on over!  I am sure we have extra! (16 according to Emma)

Here is the recipe for those of you who are drooling and live too far to come by.  

No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2 c sugar

1/4 c cocoa

1/4 c butter

1/2 c milk

2 1/2 c regular oats

3/4 c chunky peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in heavy saucepan.  Stir well.  Cook on medium heat until mix comes to a boil.  Let boil for 1 minute.  Stir in oats, peanut butter and vanilla.  Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased wax paper.  Cool thoroughly.  

Sad Baby...

Clark is sick.

If you have spent any time at all with my baby you know what a easy going little guy he is.  Well this week he turned into a fussy, sad baby.  He has had a low fever all week that steadily got hotter and hotter until this morning I couldn't take it any more and went to the Dr.  Clark has ear infections in BOTH ears.  So sad.  But still cute.  So now we are on our first round of antibiotics.

Combined with Motrin and Tylenol he seemed to be getting better.  Then on Sunday his fever broke and I thought PHEW we are in the clear!  

Monday morning we woke up to this.

That is a Roseola rash ( we think.  Or it is an "I am allergic to Penicillin" reaction.  Hope for the first because it will go away.  An allergy to Penicillin would not. ) Here is an excerpt about it. 

"The high fever often ends abruptly, and at about the same time a pinkish-red flat or raised rash appears on the child's trunk and spreads over the body."  Yup it sure did.

 But  just to be sure it is not an allergy, we are now on our second antibiotic.  

He is still cute boogers and all.

10 for Tuesday--Remember when...

So today I wax nostalgic.  If you read one that sparks a memory, feel free to comment and share. I miss you friends.

Remember when...

1- we used to plan our whole day around Thursday night TV.

2- the only time we spent on the beach was late at night because we were working too hard to go when the sun was up.

3- cocoa hour was the highlight of our month.

4- making our own cubicle on the 3rd floor was the only way we got any studying done.

5- we used to drive 3 1/2 hours to go to a decent restaurant (or wal-mart).

6- we made more money than we knew what to do with, ate out all the time and went to movies on the premier night.

7- we used to have water fights by the stream until we could barely walk because we were soaked and freezing cold.

8-  we would have skipbo tournaments until we could barely stay awake.  

9-  on scrapbook night we got a lot of talking done but not so much scraping.  

10- Grandma would take us to the amusement park and sit on the bench drinking lemonade all day long while we road rides.

Okay so I think I threw something in there for each of you.  Happy reminiscing.  

OUCH!

I was using this.

To make these.

And I did this.

No you can't see the cut. I am too big of a wimp to take the band aid off. It really hurts. Trust me when I say it would have needed stitches if there was anything left there to stitch back together. 

10 for Tuesday-Resolutions Aplenty

Okay so you knew it was coming. But I don't know if I can come up with 10. I will try.

1- I resolve to recommit to my diet. I kinda took a little hiatus and it is OBVIOUS.

2- I resolve to start running. My sister wants me to run a 10k with her in September. I don't like to run. This is something I have never done. NEVER. I played goalie in soccer so I wouldn't have to run. (secretly I have always wanted to be able to run. the freedom to just go is very appealing to me.)

3- I resolve to use my gym membership for the last few weeks I have it. Basically it became a glorified swimming pass. I did use the machines a little but we swam a lot more.

4- I resolve to practice what I preach. For example I tell my kids not to say certain words (shut up, I hate you, things like that) and then I turn around and yell the shut up phrase at them when they won't. I know. You can say it. Hypocrite.

5- I resolve to keep in touch better. Being with Ryan's family these past few weeks have made me realize that I don't have to be in the same city as them to get to know them better. Email, photos, snail mail even are great ways to stay connected. We never had a problem keeping up with my family when we lived in Colorado so I just need to be more focused on it.

6- I resolve to do the dishes everyday. I know duh, but it is a hard one for me. I actually have been working on this one for a few months now. It is a work in progress but I am doing much better at it. As Ryan would say, a dishwasher is a marriage saver. Too bad we have NEVER had one. Our life might have been easier up to this point.

7- I resolve to be more creative in my interactions with my children. Again something I have already been working on for a few months, but still need a lot of work: ie. less TV and computer games, more cooking and crafting.

8- I resolve to do my visiting teaching every month. My partner is great! We have had a pretty good track record, until she had a baby in April and then I had one in September. As far as I know, that should not be a problem this year. Not to mention the people we visit are wonderful and have very flexible schedules. That makes it much easier!

9- I resolve to organize my life. This is also an ongoing project that needs a little more focus this year. With 6 people in a 3 bedroom house we need to de-clutter because we are on top of each other CONSTANTLY. Mostly I just need to get rid of half of things we own.

10- I resolve to kiss Ryan every day. I know sounds silly, but he leaves early and the morning is crazy. We don't always go to sleep at the same time--usually because I fall asleep feeding the baby or he falls asleep watching TV. It is just one of those things I am making a conscious effort to do every day to let him know I love him dearly!

4 months old

My baby is growing too fast.  Make it stop!  

Today at his appointment he weighed 15 lbs. 13 oz. and was 25 1/2 inches long.  

He should be rolling over any time.  

When I was asked by Ally why he had to lay on the floor instead of sitting in his chair I told her the Dr. said he was ready to roll over so he needed to have the opportunity to try in a safe place (aka not the couch or bed).  Later, when relaying the story to dad who tried to pick him up she said, "Leave him there dad.  The Dr. said he was going to roll over today."  If only they performed on command like that. Roll over today, sit up March 16th, get your first tooth April 3, etc.It sure would make catching those moments on film a lot easier!   I love how literal kids can be sometimes.  

Happy Holidays to all

Happy Holidays from the Hansens.  Just in case you are not on the official list here is your card.  Oh and those who think they should have recieved one, be patient.  I mailed them very late!

www.expressionsbyaimee.com

Christmas goodies...

So I am trying to be accountable for my actions here.  I love Christmas goodies...New Year goodies...in my house it all runs together.  Unfortunately for me it has been my down fall.  I went to be weighed in this morning and I gained back...a LOT...like almost 4 pounds!  I can try and justify by saying it was the holidays and we were traveling which equals a lot of fast food...blah, blah, blah.  Pure and simple I had no will power and I didn't even try.  SO there you go.  I am human.  Now these next few weeks I will be paying for it because I got lazy and I crave all that crap again.  Starting over is what it feels like.  But I guess the New Year is a good time to do it.