Emmett's One!

This year has definitely been the fastest one yet. I can hardly believe that 365 days ago I was snuggling my newborn baby boy at Northside Hospital. Sigh... In an effort to make up for my sadness, we planned a really fun night with our little family. It was so much fun that they kids just barely went to bed at 10:30! The party started at Emmett's favorite Mexican restaurant (ok - so maybe it was ours, but he still enjoyed it). Then we came home and things got crazy (ok-so maybe not crazy, but definitely silly).

Emmett was all giggles while we were singing Happy Birthday to him. This one has no problem being the center of attention.

He went to town on the cupcake, attacking the cake before we were finished singing. Once his hands were good and chocolatey he didn't like that his hands were dirty though! How can I have two boys that are so the same?
Love those messy birthday faces!

Time for presents. He kind of got the idea of opening the gifts.

Reading books from Gramma Hansen.

How cute is that hat? Hansbergers, You Rock!

"Kissing Dad" - which is a lot like biting Dad.

Trying to get a hug in between the playing.

Who knew that a 10, 7, and 4 year old could have so much fun playing with a 1 year old's toys!
Time for a bath and bed for everyone.

The End. Couldn't resist that cute 1 year old little bottom!

Elf Yourself

A little fun holiday project from Jackson to you. He was so excited to do this. I got a serious kick out of him giggling watching all of the options. Love these 10 year old boys. Easily amused I tell you...:)
Hope that you are all finding time to enjoy yourselves during this hectic holiday time!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/joWJrqDsvhmI0n0flhLQ

I'm no Kenyan....

But I still had a blast running my 2nd full marathon! On October 25th, 2009 I participated in the Marine Corp Marathon, in Washington D.C. where I ran as a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team-In-Training.

Due to a heavily over committed fall, I wasn't as well prepared for this race as the last one. I'd like to think that I made up for my lack of training by slowing my pace down and savoring the moments. I might have to do that every time because the event was absolutely fantastic! We had sunny 63 degree weather, a highly scenic course where we ran through all of the major sites, and the crowd support rocked!

Here are a few of my favorite motivational signs from the day:

- Pain is weakness leaving the body

- Release your inner Kenyan

- Never given, always earned

- Pain in temporary, pride is forever

But my favorite one, the one that made me laugh outloud at mile 23 was...

- Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much a**

How awesome is that?

I truly loved every minute and am looking forward to the next race. Speaking of....my brother, CJ and I are running the Thanksgiving Day 1/2 Marathon in 2 days. As long as the weather is good, we should have a fun time. Our goal is to finish it under 2 hours. My PR is 2:02 so I am pretty sure I can reach it. Wish us luck! If things go really well, he may even consider doing a full with me next time. (Now I just have to keep up!)

Grateful...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints put out this timely message and I feel that it is too awesome to keep to myself. They sure hit the nail on the head! (as usual ) :)
If you haven't seen it, I hope that you feel as much thankfulness as I did after watching it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuwid8_O8dk

Thanks Heidi!

Wow. A dear friend, Heidi Jamieson, did an amazing photo shoot for us last July. You may remember that we met Heidi and her family when both of our families were on the same Make-a-Wish cruise in February. As Jake (the Jamieson's son) pointed out, both he and Kate have the same type of leukemia, are both 7 years old, both have ports and are both terribly silly. What else does a friendship need? I'm pretty sure that they are kindred souls because they became instantaneous friends from the first moment they met. Kate is still asking us when we can see Jake again. Jamieson's, are you free in March?
I am just getting around to making prints from the photo shoot and thought I'd share the cuteness with you. These are seriously only a few of the great shots. I am holding off on posting my favorite so you'll be surprised when you get the Christmas card thought.
If you live in Utah and you need a photographer, look Heidi up!

I knew I could do it...

Was Ava's reply when she took off on a 2 wheeler today! This afternoon she asked me to help her ride her bike and within 15 minutes she was balanced and only falling occasssionally. Those who know Ava well can appreciate how cute it is when she falls and then pops up exclaiming, "I'm OK, I'm OK!" That girl has some serious determination that I can only imagine will serve her well in life.

Gramma and Grampa Visit

As usual, we ran Gramma and Grampa into the ground with our crazy schedule this weekend. As usual, they didn't complain one bit. And as usual, we want them to come back quickly! I don't have very many pictures because Grampa takes them all and I hope sends me some copies (hint,hint). For posterity sake, Friday we picked them up from the airport, ran to swim practices and then out for a yummy Mexican meal at Monterrey. Ava had her class stuffed animal, Flipper, so he came to.

Saturday - Jackson, Jason, Emmett and G&G went to Jackson's soccer game while the girls and I went to the church for the Primary program practice. We met up at home after lunch and spent an hour tackling the leaves in the front yard. Next, we were off to some friend's home to watch the BYU game. She'd made some delicious food and were had a wonderful time visiting. Gratefully BYU creamed Wyoming and the rest of the day was spent with happy husbands! To make the day just a big more jam packed I did a 10 mile run with a friend and then Gramma and I ran to Target for a few short hours. Soooo glad we did that because we were very productive and seriously whittled down our holiday shopping lists.

Then Sunday, we went to church. The kids all participated in the Primary Program and it was wonderful. I got teary at several points during the program but was especially touched when the children sang, "The Family is of God" with all of their hearts. There was no way that you couldn't feel the spirit in those moments. We had a wonderful Sunday dinner with friends and then Gramma and I packed up the Christmas presents for her to take back to Utah. Phew, I am tired all over again thinking about it. :)

We are so grateful to have such a wonderful Gramma, Grampa, Grandma and Papa! Our children are very blessed to be surrounded by loving grandparents. Hurry Back Y'all!!!!!!!!!

Littlest Ballerina

Ava began taking a weekly ballet class in October. She is having such fun and can show me all 5 positions. When asked what her favorite part of ballet is she replies, "the kitty part". Not really sure what that means but gratefully she seems to know.

When Ava began taking off her ballet attire the other day I had to snap these pictures. This is such a fleeting stage...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We sure had a fun day today and hope that you did too! The weather was dreary, damp and drizzly but that didn't stop us one bit. This is such a fun holiday and we made the most of it! Here are a few pics of our little ghouls and goblins.

It is quite a chore to get Emmett to look at the camera. We weren't sure whether we should call him a silly monkey or a howler monkey. It varied from minute to minute. That little boy is developing very healthy lungs!

Ava wavered between wanting to be a ghost and Fancy Nancy this year. In the end, the pretty clothes swayed her to the girly girl costume.

Kate was really excited to dress up as Lucy from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She was disappointed when she realized that Lucy wasn't the one with the bow and arrow though. It's all about the accessories I tell you!

Jackson really didn't care what he was going to be for Halloween. I just didn't want any scary masks or gorey creatures so we settled on GI Joe. I know, I'm no fun at all.

Ava was such a trooper tonight. She even came home once to dump her bucket in order to lighten her load for more goods!

Kate made a quick costume change and immediately began dividing up her candy into piles upon returning home.

Jackson just dove into his candy until we called uncle and made him brush his teeth.

Can you relate?

I laughed so hard that I cried when I saw this napkin. A little too close to home perhaps?

Silly Boy

Emmett is seriously a funny kid. He pulls the most hilarious faces and keeps us all laughing. These pictures were taken in a span of 2 minutes the other night.

I Haven't Died, I'm Just Overcommitted!

OK- There will be no apologies for my blogging hiatus but I really have missed checking in on all of my friends lives. I am seriously overcommitted (No way you say. Carolyn taking on more than a sane person would?). That's right people, I may have to be medicated for this condition. Well, since science still hasn't discovered a way to actually be in 2 places at the same time, the blogging has taken a serious back seat.
Suffice it to say that the Hansen crew is alive and well and I will getting back to my usual posting patterns this week. Until then, a virtual hug from me...to...you. :)

Peachtree Jr. Road Race

Jackson has run several races to date, but this was to be Kate's first race.  I guess we should have thought to prepare her for the mayhem at the start of the race but really had no idea it would be so crazy.  I guess that happens when you have 2,200, 7-12 year olds all trying to "win" it.  So Kate got knocked down, skinned her knee in the starting gate but Jackson made it though without any trauma. He told us that he finished the first mile in 7:15 and the entire race in under 15 minutes.  He really likes to run and we are hoping that the love continues.  

Seriously now, he's smiling while running that pace!

She's 7!

(Look how long her hair is getting!  Those bangs have almost grown out.)

Kate's closing words for the day were, "Today was so much fun, I don't want it to end"!  I guess that means she had a pretty great birthday.  She had one crazy busy, fun-filled day that went as follows .

1. Woke up at 5:30 am in order to make to the news station for a spot on the morning news.  Kate is the honored hero for the upcoming Team-in-Training Nike race in San Francisco.  Here is a link to the spot from this morning.  She was nervous but I think did great!

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=130812&catid=40

2. After her 5 minutes of fame, we headed over to Piedmont Park for the Peachtree Jr. Road Race. Over 2,200 kids ages 7-12 participated in a 3K event in the park.  This was a bittersweet event because Kate got pushed to the ground (by overzealous runners eager to make a break away) within the first 100 yards, scraped her knee and was whisked away to the medical tent. We didn't even see it happen and kept looking for her at the finish line.  We eventually found her when somebody told us what had happened.  She was really disappointed that she didn't get to run the race.  Here is a pretty cool picture of her with her friends, Ben and Will, before the race started though.  

3. After a nap, she bounced back though, for her super fun birthday party. Kate's party started at 12:45 pm at The Movie Tavern.  She (and 22 of her closest friends :)) got together to watch the movie UP (which by the way- I LOVED!!!).  This was both, one of the most successful and easiest parties we've ever done for the kids.  The theater provided pizza, popcorn and drinks for each child.  I provided the party favors and a cupcake cake and everyone had an awesome time at the movie.  No clean up, no prep work - HOLLA!

4. At 4pm we came home, opened up all of the loot (er - I mean, 9,000 Littlest Pet Shop Toys) and spent the rest of the day playing with the toys.  In honor of Kate turning the big 7, the family each said 7 things that we love about Kate.  These are some of my favorites.

1. Carolyn - She is silly, wacky, zany, kooky and in general we love her goofiness.

2. Jason - She is a great listener and not just when we are asking her to do things.  She listens quietly when we talk and is interested in what we have to say.

3. Jackson - She has a great imagination and can draw very well.

4. Carolyn - She is an awesome reader.  She's flying through those chapter books now.

5. Jason - She is the best snuggler around.  She always wants someone to lay down with her every night and cuddle.

6. Jackson - She is really good at gymnastics.

7. Carolyn - She has a smile that melts my heart.  Those dimples are to die for.

He's Got it Figured Out

Out of the blue Jackson hits me with this one...

J - Mom, when I grow up I'm going to be a scientist. And I am going to find the cure for leukemia.
Me - Wow, that would be amazing.
J - Yea, I think that the key to being a scientist is figuring out how everything fits together.
Me - Sounds like you've been thinking about this for a while.
J - (Long pause) I think that there are like, only 1 or 2 pieces missing too, so when I get those I'll be able to put the puzzle together and cure leukemia.

How cute is that?! I love how wonderfully simple things are in the mind's of children.

Instead of going to bed...

my children do this,

and this with their stuffed animals before finally falling asleep!

What do yours do to avoid going to sleep?