The Stewart Gang!

terror

2012-01-23T20:29:00.000-06:00

night terrors have been a weekly occurrence in our house for about 3 months now. they are so difficult to watch and so hard not be able to comfort a child when they are screaming. olivia has them anywhere from 2-4 nights a week. they last about 5-15 minutes depending on the day and they are so painful to my heart. she cries, screams, thrashes and just looks like something awful is happening. i can't touch her, talk to her, or hold her. if i leave the room it gets worse but being in the room is hard. i am anxious for her well check appointment to talk about this with the good dr. hopefully he will have some insight. here's hoping that she grows out of it soon..

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-24T11:01:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from us to you. Hope your holidays are filled with family, fun and great food! see ya in 2012!!

best & worst

2011-12-01T19:28:00.000-06:00

about a year ago we started a stating our best and worst moments of the day. its a way to talk about our day at dinner without hearing every detail from every kid. i love that we do this because the kids can thinking about what they loved that day and what was not the best part of their day. well this is what olivia had to say about her worst today.. i died laughing and made her re-say it for camera...

enjoy!!

YouTube Video

for record keeping
wyatt b: was taking off his shoes at school because they were good during testing w: not going to reading with mrs burdyl today

drew b: was going to the library and seeing the dragon w: not going on the computers today

olivia b: playing outside with sarah (this did not happen but she is only 2) w: not going to hawaii with dad....

failing grade

2011-12-01T16:44:00.000-06:00

if my thankful thirty had been a class assignment i would have failed, big time. luckily its just something i do for me so its no big deal that i didn't make it past 12 this year. so many things have been going on lately that blogging has taken a backseat.....
here's a run down of the past few weeks

a) baseball ended for both boys... wyatt team ended in 3rd place for his division- he became a pretty consistent hitter at the end of the season.. drew's team did not take score because his coach (who i LOVED) wanted the season to be more about learning the game and it was so great for drew this year. he got to play 1st base, pitcher, shortstop, 2nd base. he made a few outs at 1st and really improved this year.

2) my moms birthday came and went and we all had a great time being together.

iii) glenn had about 2 weeks off of work and we spent a LOT of time together.

d) the kids had thanksgiving week off of school and we played, cleaned and ate.

5) we had thanksgiving dinner with my parents at the Omni this year, it was so nice to just eat and leave again. i love this personally but know that glenn is missing out on having leftovers..

vi) basketball started up for the boys- this season i chose to play drew up an age group to make it easier on me and sadly harder on their coach. it is nice to have one game and one practice a week for me. they are the celtics and won their first game.

g) glenn got the outside lights, village and tree all up and decorated before he left for work.

these are the things that occurred in the month of november and i can't believe that its DECEMBER... where does the time fly?

2011 thankful thirty-12

2011-11-12T22:25:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for-

a strong example of commitment

my parents do not have a perfect marriage, they have had ups and downs and twists and turns but they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last week and i am so blessed to have that as an example. there have probably been times in their marriage where it might have been easier to give up but they dug into their relationship and made it through the other side. i am grateful for their example of commitment and how to really work hard at your relationship. i am thankful they choose to be together and am so happy for them.

2011thankful thirty-11

2011-11-11T18:18:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for-

veterans..

i am so thankful for the men and women who are willing to sacrifice so much for all the rest of us to be safe and somewhat carefree. i have been blessed to know people who have served and have grandfathers who both served as well. i have a special place in my heart for the elderly that wear their veterans hat with such pride on their heads. i tear up at homecoming stories of soldiers being able to see their families. i am blessed to have my best friends husband be one of those people who kept the rest of us safe while he spent years separated from his loving wife. i know that those people who are so willing are truely an amazing group of people.

2011 thankful thirty-10

2011-11-10T22:15:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for-

technology..

its wonderful to be able to talk to glenn every day while he is gone for work. some days we talk via the phone or via text message but now we have started using facetime on our phones and it has really changed the way we talk at night. i really feel like he is listening to me and what i am saying and i would hope he feels the same way. i like that olivia(who is starting to have a harder time with him leaving) can see daddy and talk to daddy now as well.

2011 thankful thirty-9

2011-11-09T21:44:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for-

sports

the end of baseball is coming close and the beginning of basketball is here. some people might wonder why i keep my boys in sports practically year round... well i am thankful sports are available to them to keep them active. they love to be involved in a team sport and love to play, so i am thankful that there is an avenue for them to play and try all the different sports..

2011 thankful thirty-8

2011-11-08T20:57:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for-

my mom....

today i feel like crap. just straight up crap and i am blessed with great friends who step in and help me out but nothing compares to having your mom take care of you. my mom wanted to do so much for me today but i talked her out of most of it. she took olivia home with her so i could rest while the boys were gone as well. she made me toast and made sure i was doing decent enough. its such a wonderful moment to know that if i really needed her she is just a phone call away. i love being able to be my mom and have her when i need her!

2011 thankful thirty-7

2011-11-07T20:30:00.001-06:00

i am thankful for

schools for my kids to attend

i love watching my kids go to school and be surrounded by learning. i am not a typical parent who is sad on the first day of kindergarten or the first day of school. I am excited for my kids. i know that i am good a plenty of things, but teaching them school stuff is not one of them. i am thankful there are teachers and people who love to teach kids and spend their life doing it and usually not getting paid very well. i love watching my kids grow as the learn new things. its fun for me to see drew just light up when he talks about school and how much he has changed in the last few months. its fun to see wyatt's reading lightblub finally light and how he loves trying to read. its fun for me to see olivia learning her letters and singing songs to me that she learned.

2011 thankful thirty-6

2011-11-06T22:14:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for-

my parents

this interesting life we have going is not their problem. they did not choose to live with this schedule, we did, but man are they helpful. they feed us dinner every sunday, which is sooo helpful to me. my mom is always there for me and helps me out a ton. my dad is one of those people that you know will do anything for you if you only ask. i am so thankful to live to be able to live close to them/with them since we moved here.

2011 thankful thirty-5

2011-11-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

i am thankful for-
great friends

i have been lucky to make some great friends here in texas. they are so helpful and understanding of my situation and really try to make it the best it can be. my friend's husband babysat my kids tonight so we could go have a girls night and i totally needed to just be girly and laugh at stuff. i am thankful that i know i have friends to call on when times are hard, when times are silly and when times are joyful.

2011 thankful thirty-4

2011-11-04T18:24:00.002-05:00

i am thankful for-

small traditions in our family.

glenn started a tradition of giving me flowers on halloween instead of valentines day about 8 years ago. i am thankful he still does because it means a lot to me. i know how much he hates buying flowers.

2011 thankful thirty-3

2011-11-03T19:47:00.000-05:00

laugh all you want but i am thankful for:
sonic drinks..

there have been days in the past two years where a sonic diet coke is what made my day go from bad to good. so while it may seem trivial it has saved many a day and helped a fire a friendship. so thank you sonic for great ice and a great diet coke mix.

2011 thankful thirty-2

2011-11-02T23:01:00.002-05:00

i am thankful for-

the kids-

while they may be challenging at times, they are the best thing ever!! i can't imagine my life without them.

2011 thankful thirty -1

2011-11-01T18:29:00.001-05:00

last year was the first year i did thankful 30 for the month of november and i really liked having to look at my life and be thankful for what i do have not what i don't have- so look out blog its happening again!

i am thankful for-
this guy-

i know i don't tell him enough about how thankful i am for him. he is so good to me and i know that i would not be able to have all i have without him.

four hundred

2011-10-11T19:19:00.000-05:00

holy cow- yesterday i hit 400 posts- that is crazy and proves i don't blog much... i better get on top of getting my posts going. i made my 2007 and 2008 books a few months ago and want to have all the memories written down so i can keep my books going...

i scream. you scream

2011-10-10T19:19:00.000-05:00

we had a fun summer of playing, swimming and family visiting. we ended our summer with a trip to bluebell ice cream factory. we went 2 summers ago and wanted to go back. we had a blast.

kids in front of old ice cream truck

olivia and wyatt outside- you can not take pictures inside boo and drew refused to be in the picture

kids posing with the statue

with the cow

our attempt at a family picture- olivia was tired and drew hated us at this point.

break my heart

2011-09-27T10:01:00.000-05:00

lately olivia has been very cuddly and wanting some extra snuggles that she usually doesn't want. she is also having a harder time with glenn leaving each time for work than she use too. poor girl cries and cries for her daddy. the thing that breaks my heart is that now at night she holds on super tight for her hugs and says, " don't go your my mommy." i tell her that i have to tuck the boys in because i am their mommy too but she just doesn't care. she tells me that i am only her mommy and that she wants me to stay. she holds on soo tight and it just breaks my heart for her. some nights i can indulge her and stay a little longer but other nights i have to get those boys into bed. poor little ladybug.

his arm was stuck

2011-09-26T15:37:00.000-05:00

today as i was leaving the boys school from helping out i ran into drew's aid. she had quite the story to tell me about drew and his adventure today. it seems that while drew was using the restroom he decided that his arm needed to go between the wall and the support bar. the downfall was that his arm got stuck and he freaked out. poor kid is so curious and adventures that he gets himself into some funny situations. he was fine and his arm isn't going to bruise at all but it made me laugh that he would do that. silly kid.

remember when school started

2011-09-08T19:40:00.000-05:00

3 weeks ago and i never posted pictures.. ah the joy of no camera. how about a little update about this school year???

- wyatt started 1st grade and is loving it. he has a good teacher and some friends in his class. he is getting some special reading time at school to help his reading improve. he loves art class, going to the library and recess.

- drew gets to go to the pre-k program at the school. its half day and he ended up with the perfect teacher for his emotional little soul. he is really loving it after having a few hard days. i am so thankful he is able to go to this program. it gives him so much educationally and it gives me the much needed break from my hard middle child. he loves eating breakfast when he wants to at the school, coloring pictures and the idea that he gets to go to the library someday.

- olivia is going to a small group school with some girls from our ward. it is the perfect enviorment for her to get introduced to school. she LOVES it. she gets so excited and loves to wear her backpack and talk about her day. she likes painting and being with avery l.

i am so happy that school started up again. i have a total of 4 hours a week with no kids. i have been indulging myself and glenn these last 2 weeks and doing nothing during those 2 hours but next week its go time. i am so excited to get stuff done in those hours. i am also excited to get back to the gym. finally after 3 months my foot feels well enough to put a shoe on and that means its game time... soon baseball season starts and that is a fun crazy time for us. the next few months will fly by.

cut cut cut

2011-08-18T15:48:00.000-05:00

so i had been debating about cutting olivias hair for about 2 months now. the other day the last straw was broken when she proceeded to take her hair out of the french braid she had in. when we got to the airport to pick up glenn she looked like a HOT MESS. i was soo frustrated. so i finally broke down and cut it. i wish i would have done it months ago.. i LOVE it. she looks older which makes me sad but her hair looks so much better. sorry for the blurry phone pictures. its all i gots

half way there

2011-08-10T20:50:00.000-05:00

you know when you were little there were things that seemed so strange to you. thirty year olds seemed so old to me and now here i am 6 months away from something that once seemed like a death sentence. today is my half birthday if you will. in a full 6 months i will be thirty. my mom told me that 29 was harder for her than thirty but for me thirty is hard. even though i am an adult (i have 3 kids hello) i don't feel like it sometimes but to me your thirty's seem like true adulthood. anyways... in an effort to make myself grow a bit i am challenging myself to do 30 things before i turn 30 that i have meant to do but not done or have been afraid to do. not gonna publish the list yet but i will some day. so happy half birthday to me...

goofing around

2011-07-30T12:00:00.010-05:00

we were all hanging out in the bathroom while olivia was trying to go potty and i started taking pictures cause she was being so silly. wyatt and drew had to get in on the fun too.

a little learning

2011-07-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

while shane was here we made some flags- why would we do this you ask... maya needed to make some for soccer camp and the boys didn't want to get left out. so they made flags too.

drew with the flag of chile where uncle quinn served his mission

wyatt with the canadian flag where daddy served his mission

take me out to the ballgame

2011-07-28T19:42:00.000-05:00

for shane's birthday at the beginning of the month, my dad took us all to the astros vs red sox game. it was the boys second baseball game and thanks to great friends we didn't have to take olivia :) wyatt was so excited to see the "real" red sox play and was totally cheering for them. drew was cheering for the astros and had a great time. drews favorite part was the food. all he wanted was cotton candy and i kept making him wait until later in the game and then by the time we were ready for some the guy was gone. poor drew. i would feel bad for him except he got to have nachos, snow cone, cracker jacks, peanuts. not too shabby. wyatt loved the whole thing and was so happy. since it was days before the fourth we got a firework show too. the fireworks were so good.

when the uncles come to town

2011-07-21T20:26:00.000-05:00

we do a lot of playing!
Since my camera is gone, these posts are going to be a lot less picture (like none) and a lot more words..
So nick came first and we did a lot of fun things
- swimming
- movies
- dinner at P F changs for his b-day
- playing in the playroom
nick is so good with the kids, he loves to play with them and just be with them.

then, shane came and we did a lot more stuff
- bbq
- baseball game
- family party for maya's 8th b-day
- dinner for glenn's b-day at papasitos
- fireworks from hell for the 4th
- movies- percy jackson, star wars, how to train your dragon, indiana jones, tangled
- swimming
- eating
- pictures at target
- flags
- tattoos- silly kids
shane loves my kids soo much and you can tell that he loves to be with them.

we had a great 3 weeks with uncles to play with us but it was good to get back to normal. now we are counting down the days till our neighbors get home (hurry please) and for school to start again. 1 month countdown.. some of us are ready for school to be back in session :)

to do list

2011-07-08T11:18:00.000-05:00

about a week ago i made a new to do list and starting crossing things off the list. it felt great but it was a long list. one of the things to do on the list was two-fold. it looked like this-
10.- upload pictures from camera- do blog posts-
i never got around to doing #10 on the list because i just didn't. i have had my bros in town for the last 2 weeks and everything has kind of fallen to the wayside.

fast forward to the 4th of july.
we went downtown to the miller outdoor theater for a symphony performance and fireworks. we left and the car had been broken into and my purse was GONE. inside my purse was my camera (fluke that it was even in there because if you know me i never have my camera ever)

on the camera were about 4 months of pictures that i had not uploaded to the computer- awesome right. i lost baseball pictures, end of year parties, easter, drews performance, drew falling asleep under my bed, me and glenns cruise pictures, glenns birthday pictures from earlier in the day. i am totally bummed about losing all of those memories. the sad thing is that if i had only followed my to-do list they would be here on the computer.
the lessons learned- upload pictures on a super regular time frame. :(

shhhhhhh

2011-06-11T21:01:00.001-05:00

today was a long day- that started too early for my liking and when we finally made it home around 2:30- my back was killing me and i needed to lay down. i sent all the kids to their rooms for my mandated hour of quiet time and laid down myself. i did not intend to fall asleep but the sleep gods had other plans. apparently i fell asleep and the boys decided that the hour of quiet time was a waste of time.

this is where you would worry they got into trouble or were loud or something along those lines. instead, my sweet, wonderful wyatt ushered the other two downstairs to watch some quiet cartoons and as he said," shhh, lets let mom sleep, she must be tired."

when i woke up some time later i realized what had occurred and i was super grateful for my oldest kid and his sweet heart. my tired body then rewarded him with a trip to the pool.

where has time gone?

2011-05-18T16:53:00.000-05:00

i can not believe that school is almost over, springs baseball is almost over- in the past few months lots of things have happened
1. glenn worked alot
b. glenns parents came in to town
iii. we went on a cruise :)
4. drew finished pre-school for the year ;(
e. baseball play-offs started

i have pictures of some of these things and when i locate my camera i will post them. maybe

more later- off to a bball game.

in drew's words - blood- cool

2011-04-13T22:10:00.000-05:00

drew met with his new gi dr last week and she was AMAZING.. she wants to run some tests to see if we can figure this weight stuff out. she wanted to re-do the blood work because it was all 2 years old. so off drew and i went to get his blood drawn. poor kid had to fast for the test and he was so hungry. he did super awesome. when the lady started the draw he got excited to see his blood- hopefully we won't have to wait weeks and weeks to hear something. we are also re-doing the stool sample and she wanted to do a lactose tolerance test.. we did that test on tues and it was an experience-

he had to have a special dinner the night before of plain chicken, plain rice and water. he ate like 3 bites of it and refused the rest. poor kid was so hungry and thirsty. so the test involved blowing air into a bag to test the hydrogen amounts. so there was the initial blow and then you drink this sugary drink and they have you blow into the bag every 10-15 minutes. anything over a 5 is negative. drew was blowing a 0 for about 2 hours. the nurse was awesome and actually talked to me about this test and even tried to see if she could get a sneak peek at his blood work but we had that done somewhere else. i really appreciated her alot. it felt good to have someone else in the medical word acknowledge that something seems off. anywho... a 0 is bad- it means he has no hydrogen.. just when she thought she had it figured out drew blew a 2 then another 0 . she was baffled.. then we had to drink another drink that was more concentrated and blow 4 more times. he blew a 4, then a 2 and then finally a 16. we could leave. drew was so happy to leave that hospital.

i was so happy we did not have to drive downtown for the test and that the hospital is so wonderful. everyone that walked by was friendly to drew and that made me happy. he gets so shy around new people and it makes me laugh cause that is not how he is once you know him.. so for now that test was negative and on to the next step.

she is a HOT mess

2011-04-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

olivia found a tube of diaper cream and went ahead and covered herself in it. she thought it was either lotion or hand sanitizer- she loves both. she put it everywhere and it took forever to get it all washed out of her and the carpet

sad that she got into trouble for making such a HUGE mess

close up of her face- it was in her hair- i think we washed her hair like 3 times

her hands and legs- it was everywhere-

giddy up

2011-03-31T11:00:00.011-05:00

in february wyatts school had western day where the kids got to show off their square dancing skills. it was so funny to go see him dancing with a girl- he kept telling glenn not to laugh at him while he danced with her. it was cute. he tried to be a gentleman to her but she was not having it, anytime he would try to touch her she would push him off for a second and then realize they had to hold hands.

square dancing with his partner

waiting for the song to start

sillly legs

2011-03-29T15:00:00.016-05:00

one day i am doing the dishes (all though you can't tell by the sink full i have sitting there) and i keep hearing the boys laughing in the hallway- i turn and look and here is what i was greeted with- pillow legs. they thought this was the funniest thing ever. they were trying to walk all over the house like this. olivia was just following them around laughing at them and their silly legs. they can be so silly sometimes.

silly face for silly boys

getting olivia in on the fun

wyatt thought this was the best thing they had ever done

missing... tooth

2011-03-28T20:56:00.001-05:00

this post is a bit hard to write because i am really not ready for this new phase. i tried to stop it from coming and it came anyway- wyatt lost his first tooth tonight. for me this is huge- he is no longer my baby boy, or even my little boy- he is a KID. school going, sports playing, tooth losing kid.

we noticed his tooth was loose about a week and a half ago- it was the friday of spring break and we were eating lunch with my mom and he said my tooth feels weird. i went over and wiggled it and sure enough it was starting to become loose. he was super excited about the fact that he was starting this new phase. fast forward to practice last friday night- he got hit in the mouth with a ball- he was super lucky that all it really did was knock his tooth super loose- all weekend he has been playing with the tooth with his tongue and then tonight he pulled it out- he was so excited for this to happen and he thinks that the tooth fairy is going to bring him money tonight- ahhh why did he have to grow up..

golden boy

2011-03-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

at one random hansen family gathering we nicknamed all my bros with a nickname that ends with boy. pony boy, big boy, golden boy and baby boy.. these are all quite fitting for my bros and today is the golden boys birthday.

Quinn is 3 years older than me and we have a special relationship. growing up i admired him so much, he has always seemed to have it all together. he is the kind of person who knew what he wanted and went for it. i hated following behind him in school because he was such a great student and i was just okay. i remember my freshman spanish teacher was super excited to know that quinn was my brother until she realized that i was pretty opposite my brother. spanish seemed to come easy to quinn and it was a struggle for me (lets be honest it was horrible) as i have gotten older i have realized just how hard quinn worked for all the things he has.. he studied and studied and made good choices that have allowed him to have a pretty great life. he married an awesome girl and has a pretty adorable daughter. he is still hard to follow sometimes because he makes homemade bread every day and is tolerant to so much little girl drama, i envy his patience... but i am so glad he is my brother, even if he is the golden child..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUINN

february recap

2011-03-13T19:00:00.006-05:00

here are some of the things that occurred in february

a) i got older and got birthday cake too
b) we celebrated a few other birthdays like grandmas and sister in laws
c) we had valentines parties at school
d) we had western day where wyatt got to square dance and drew got to pretend to be a the rodeo, both got to wear the cowboy hat to school
e) we had a snow day with no snow (silly texas schools)
f) baseball practice began
g) dad was home for a bit of time so we got to get stuff done off the to do list
h) i got to have several girls nights out- and they were super awesome and needed :)

it was a pretty good month, even if i turned older:)

i promise we don't beat them

2011-03-12T21:00:00.001-06:00

but if you were to see them right now you might question that statement.. wyatt has a black eye, drew has a bruise down his check and olivia has two red scrapes right in between her nose and her eyes. they all look like they got into a fight and may or may not have won.

wyatt- fell on the tile floor at my parents house while running around in socks. (now its starting to heal and is getting to that really ugly yellow color on some parts, its so ugly.) must take a picture tomorrow :)

drew- fell into the corner of a table at a restaurant, we are lucky this was not higher up cause it probably would have been a huge cut instead of a special looking bruise

olivia- her nails need to be cut and she scratched the crap out of her eye (sorta her eye).

i hope no one calls cps on me... i promise i don't beat them often

snails and puppy dog tails

2011-03-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

isn't that what boys are made of ? so for about a week wyatt has wanted to catch a lizard but always just missed grabbing one. well on tuesday he got one with a bit of help from dad. he was so happy- we had to document the success. he did have thoughts about taking it home and keeping it as a pet- i had to nix that idea- one pet and 3 little kids is all we need :)

busy little bumblebees

2011-03-10T21:00:00.001-06:00

today was the end of a week that went super duper fast- it was one of those weeks that was so filled with fun that you are tired when it ends and the normal everyday things get left until you have the energy. at the beginning of february quinn called to say that he and sienna were going to come visit but it was surprise for my parents- i was excited and so i kept the secret. - well this past week they were here and we filled it up with lots of cousin time. we went shopping, ate great meals, went to my boys baseball games, went to the children's museum, ate more great food, went to the waterwall and played alot in the backyard. it was so much fun- i am so happy they came and can't wait till the next time we can play again..

buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks

2011-03-05T20:05:00.002-06:00

baseball season is here again- yippee- today was the "opening day" for our little league and it was quite the show. unfortantly for us, it was FREEZING. oh it was horrible and we were ill prepared for the level of wind and cold that we had while at the "opening day" ceremony. we had to come home and change into warmer clothes for the afternoon games.

drew had his first game and decided to be super silly and get into trouble by walking to first base instead of running like you should- i think his team won but i dont actuall pay attention to the score since he is 4-

wyatt had his first game and they did awesome. something must of clicked for him since last season. last season he hit 3 balls all season but never made it home. today he had a hit at his first upto bat and was able to make it home and score a run for his team. for me it was like seeing a totally different kid playing ball until we got to the part where he was in the outfield being so strange and not paying attention. hopefully we can work on that part but the team did win with a score of 7-2 for the red socks :)

i need to

2011-02-24T14:35:00.000-06:00

catch up on this blog of mine- last month i made my blog books from 2007 and 2008 and i LOVE them. it has been so nice to go back and read what we did those years. i am not a scrapbooker but i have mostly blogged about the big stuff we do and some of the little stuff too. i am so happy i stated doing this because now i have those memories written down and the kids can see them too. i was lucky and bought a coupon deal about 4 months ago and was able to make 2 books off that 25.00 it was awesome..
so here's to more blog updates and more pictures so we can remember what happened years from now.

sorry grandmas no pictures- soon.. very soon

technology

2011-02-07T09:32:00.000-06:00

in 2009 my mom got my dad and ipod touch for christmas. at first he was not into his ipod as a gift. his reasoning was decent, for work he has a cell phone, a blackberry, a laptop and then his computer at work, he was not interested in another piece of technology- fast forward a year and some months.. the man can not live without his ipod now. he does everything on it, email, music, pictures, scriptures and now he has become a game player- my mom keeps saying he is addicted to some games and we laugh. the picture was taken yesterday and my dad sat like this with the kids for like 30 minutes.. they were all in awe of their poppy and his game playing skills... i am betting he is now happy about this piece of technology.

the time drew got beat up by his sister

2011-02-03T12:47:00.000-06:00

you read that right. olivia attached drew yesterday and as the result his eye looked like this

it looks even worse today- poor kid- she has a temper and he touched her toy or something because she attacked. i am going to have to watch those too.

s.l.e.e.p

2011-01-31T12:00:00.004-06:00

so all of the kids are different sleepers and the pattern is going from great to worse. wyatt is an AWESOME sleeper, drew is okay once he goes to sleep and as long as he doesn't nap and olivia is horrible. she has only slept through the night for 6 months of her life- do the math- for 18 months i have not been sleeping through the night (give or take a few random nights)
the only way olivia will go to sleep at night without banging and crying at her door, is to go to sleep in our bed. i finally gave in and allow this b.c she was banging on the door for 10-45 minutes each night and bruising her hands. so we have evolved to a calm tuck in but its in daddys bed ( she only calls it daddys bed) and she will wake up if you move her or if you get lucky and can move her she will wake up somewhere in the night screaming and banging and freaking out. i held out for one week and let her cry it out and she slept through the night for 2 days. then it was back to square one. it is horrible. i have tried just about everything and it is maddening. i am ready for her to sleep in her own bed and for an entire night. so if you have any children like her, give me the advice. i have tried the following
crying it out, super schedule, letting her stay up later, late naps, early naps, no naps, sleeping in her room, putting her on my floor, putting her in bed with the boys. none of this worked for more than a night or two... HELP...
isnt she cute snuggling pink bear. she has to have him to sleep and then halfway through the night throws him and then wakes up hours later frantic she can't find him.. its strange

box head

2011-01-30T19:03:00.000-06:00

last saturday we had a ton of errands to run and i promised the kids we would go to mcd's for lunch if they behaved and didn't make our extreme errand running a nightmare- shockingly they were great, so off to mcd's. we pulled into our local mcd's to find olivia has fallen asleep- usually this would cause a meltdown for both kids b.c there was going to be no playland time today, however, it was opposite day and they were awesome about that too. so we went through the drive through and got our meals. we came home to eat and this is what drew decided to do with his box-

then wyatt followed suit and i took pictures with my phone. it was awesome.

to my dear friend on her birthday

2011-01-28T10:01:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY- today is one of my oldest friends birthday- Miss Lisha- i wanted to take a moment and wish her a very happy birthday and let her know how amazing i think she is. she is one of those people who i have always admired. in our younger years she was so dedicated and balanced- i wish i would have been more like her back then. she was always so driven to do well in school but also knew how to have a great time. we got into a lot of trouble way back in the day. sadly for years we lived without contact but always i knew she was there if i needed her, ( i hope she knew the same) now that we are back in each others lives i am so proud to have a friend like her in my life. she is so loving and kind. her strength and fight for her daughter is inspiring. she is amazing and i am so blessed to be around someone who sees the good in things and trusts in our savior to have a plan and to be with us. lisha was understanding of my religion and my choices that were not so great and never judged or looked down on me. i always appreciated that. so to my one of my oldest and dearest friends- i hope your day is filled with love, kindness and joy and i also hope that lee and elle take good care of you.

love you :)

snip, snip

2011-01-20T15:35:00.000-06:00

so it had to happen- olivia's first haircut- she had this special level of hair going on and i just could not take it anymore- it needed some help. so we went to a local kids cutting place and this kind lady went to work. overall we took the tiniest amount of hair off but it made a difference. her hair is more even and less mullet-like looking. my mom thought i was crazy but my mother-in-law had a great advice for me. if olivia was a girl who had curl or whose hair was growing in nicely i would not have cut her hair but it was neither of those things. i am so happy and she was so great. the lady was surprised that she sat so still ( i have been doing her hair as soon as it was possible just for this reason) of course in true jessica fashion i didn't snap an after picture- good thing there is always next time :)

happy, happy birthday Olivia dear

2011-01-19T04:05:00.001-06:00

i can't believe its true. my baby went from this

to this-

she is such a joy to have in our family. i can not imagine my life without my little lady. it has been such a blessing to get to learn how to be a mom to a girl (it is sooo different) the drama and the girlishness- it is fun. i am so excited to watch her grow and learn and becoming a little lady. we all love her so much and are so thankful that two years ago she came in to this world (rather quick and painfully)

ps ( i love the post schedule option and purposely set my post time for her actual birth time :)

its not just a river in egypt

2011-01-16T22:21:00.000-06:00

i am in full blown denial over here. where did the last two years go to? i can not believe that in two short days my baby will be 2. once i realized she was gonna be two wyatt wanted to know how the order of birthdays went in our family. so we went through them and he got to his birthday and shouted " i am going to be seven" i cringed, it sounds so old and i feel like time is just flying by so so quick. oh how i wish i could bottle them up and keep them little- but time must move on and sadly we are about to enter full blown terrible two's- somebody get me a direct line of diet coke to make through the next year.
pictures of olivias "birthday party at my parents" tomorrow

eight feet of christmas joy

2011-01-07T11:27:00.001-06:00

years ago when i met glenn i was introduced to the christmas village- i remember looking at my mil's village for hours, it was so pretty and i loved it but did not want one of my own. i saw the trouble putting one up could be and just didnt' want to be bothered- ha ha ha- now its not christmas if the village isn't up. she was tricky in her work- she started giving the pieces to the kids and over the last 6 years we, i mean the kids have acquired quite the collection. here are some pictures of them (not the best but they will have to do.)

thats eight feet in length and 2 1/2 feet in depth (yikes)

gingerbread houses

2011-01-05T19:14:00.000-06:00

years ago and i mean years, my mom had this gingerbread houses cut outs made out of this awesome cardboard but almost wood material. so every year that i can remember we decorated this gingerbread houses. it is one of my favorite memories from christmas time. i am so happy that the kids get to do them now. i was able to pawn my kids off on their uncles (score for me) and they went away decorating.. olivia was in heaven with the frosting and candy- poor jared (he did volunteer to help her) she wanted to eat not decorate.

hansen traditions

2011-01-05T19:03:00.000-06:00

so in the hansen family we have several christmas traditions that occur during the holiday season. gingerbread house decorating, bowling, christmas eve dinner/program, watching the muppets christmas carol, pappasitos, game playing. last year was awesome because everyone got to be together and we enjoyed it so much. this year the dr in the family had to work so we were missing the dr's hansens, it was sad but only cause we missed miss sienna. one of the best parts of shane is that he always takes pictures, when he is home i just rely on him to take my pictures (not fair to him but he always takes pictures) so the next few posts will be about the stuff we did mostly for my memory sake.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2010-12-24T13:37:00.002-06:00

hope everyone has a great christmas and a happy new year- see ya in 2011-

they are dropping like flies

2010-12-17T18:27:00.000-06:00

that's what the school nurse said when she called me yesterday. i was in shock when she called b.c wyatt seemed fine that morning and didn't complain and ate great but somewhere in the day he got a fever and a really bad runny nose. so he came home early and because his fever didn't leave till late last night and he looked pretty pathetic, i kept him home today. that meant he was going to miss his holiday party today and not get his gift to his teacher- he was upset but drew was devastated- i mean full on tantrum about wyatt not going to school. it was not a pretty sight. well here we are hours later and wyatt is feeling great and has not had a fever all day- he is tired and i am hoping that they all go to bed early tonight- we shall see. so this year there are no pictures of the holiday party- bummer-

eye spy

2010-12-15T16:35:00.002-06:00

so wyatt didn't do so well with his eye exam at his check up= which led to a trip to the eye dr. we went together cause I needed a new pair of glasses too. turns out wyatt has an astigmatism just like me. so this bundle of cuteness needs glasses to help him see a bit better.

I think he looks great.

thankful thirty-26-30

2010-11-30T22:41:00.000-06:00

this was harder than i originally thought- i even tried to push the last week of this onto glenn (he was not having it) so here are my last 5 things
glenn
wyatt
drew
olivia
and this project being OVER.
now that thanksgiving/november is over we can all get excited for my favorite holiday season.

thankful thirty-25

2010-11-25T22:21:00.000-06:00

happy thanksgiving to everyone-
i am thankful for so many things (24) that i have listed so far. i am really grateful for my family, friends and all the blessings i have been given in my life. hope your day was awesome and filled with love and friendship.

thankful thirty-24

2010-11-24T20:09:00.000-06:00

good weather
today our weather was awesome/strange all day. i think the high was 80 and it was not super humid or super sunny. it was an awesome day. we played outside, we went on a walk and the kids wore shorts- in november- shorts.

thankful thirty-23

2010-11-23T14:00:00.001-06:00

good schools for the kids
i am thankful that the kids can go to school and get a good education and learn so great social skills. we are blessed to live super close to the schools as well, which makes mornings little less stressful.

thankful thirty-22

2010-11-22T23:00:00.000-06:00

naps
there are these days, they are rare but they can actually happen- the kind of day where a nap is perfectly timed and the kids nap or allow you to nap without causing the house to burn down. those are some of the best days.

thankful thirty-21

2010-11-21T18:45:00.000-06:00

good music
i love going to church and hearing some of my favorite hymns; it really gets me in the right mind frame for church. some days turning on some music gets me motivated to get the cleaning done and enjoy tasks that i might otherwise grumble about doing. i am thankful for all kinds of music and that there is always the right kind of music for my mood.

thankful thirty-20

2010-11-20T21:00:00.000-06:00

game time as a family
the boys really like to play candy land, memory and the wii. they are starting to be at an age where playing the wii is fun and we all have a good time. i am glad that they enjoy it as much as we do. its gonna make for some fun family times in the future.

carving pumpkins

2010-11-20T11:00:00.000-06:00

once dad was home we could carve our pumpkins. there are a few jobs i leave to glenn and this is one. the kids thought it was so fun and cool. its so fun to get their thoughts on how their pumpkin should look. wyatt always wants his scary and drew always wants his to be funny/silly. olivia had picked a tiny pumpkin and i was not sure glenn could carve it without it caving in but he did an awesome job.

playing catch up

2010-11-19T22:18:00.000-06:00

before halloween some friends invited me to join them at a pumpkin patch one morning. i wasn't going to go but am so glad i did. we had such a great time and got our pumpkins, it was a win win day.

olivia found this hat and thought she was soo funny

they had horses and they kids all got to ride them. here is drew during his ride.

olivia on her horse- she loved this so much

wyatt on his horse- he thought he was cool since his was a different color.

thankful thirty- 19

2010-11-19T09:54:00.000-06:00

traditions
there is something comforting about knowing that you are going to do the same thing at a certain time of year. every year for my moms birthday we would go to old town spring and shop our little hearts out and eat fudge, it was awesome. i am glad that now that i am back in houston we can continue this tradition.

thankful thirty- 18

2010-11-18T17:15:00.000-06:00

modern day meds
olivia started spiking a fever last friday and had one until monday night- luckily we got her into the dr and turns out she had croup. i am so thankful we have the ability to go to drs so easily and to get the meds we need to make us better and in olivias case, keep us out of the hospital.

thankful thirty- 17

2010-11-17T23:00:00.004-06:00

taco soup
my friend tara introduced me to this wonderful delight just a week ago and i am in love. it is so yummy and perfect for a cold night.

thankful thirty- 16

2010-11-16T19:00:00.000-06:00

french fries
i had a conversation with a friend the other day who mentioned that fries make her feel better- oh how they help me too. comfort food to me is usually a good hamburger and french fries. when i was sick with my olivia pregnancy wendy's french fries got me through. they are soo good.

thankful thirty- 15

2010-11-15T17:08:00.000-06:00

my mom
she is always there for me in whatever way i need and lately its been a lot so- THANK YOU MOM for always being there.

thankful thirty-14

2010-11-14T17:53:00.000-06:00

sunday dinner
i love going over to my parents house for sunday dinner. not only does it keep me sane, my dad is a pretty great cook. with glenn's work schedule its nice to not have to cook every meal for us. i was lucky that when we lived in utah we were able to go to glenn's parents house for sunday dinner and we loved that time. the kids always looked forward to dinner at their grandmas house and they always roped grandpa in to playing with them. we are lucky that we have always lived by family so we can enjoy sunday dinner with our families.

thankful thirty-13

2010-11-13T17:00:00.001-06:00

my van
it is the best car for my life right now. i love the luxuries i am lucky to have in the van. the dvd players are my lifesaver most days and the sliding doors. i am lucky to have such a great car and am super thankful that we have a car we can rely on.

thankful thirty-12

2010-11-12T22:29:00.000-06:00

technology
about 10 years ago i had one brother in utah, one brother in portugal and me in va and then houston. because of the internet and msn messenger we would talk to each other almost everyday. those are some great memories and i have the internet to thank for them..

thankful thirty-11

2010-11-11T18:47:00.000-06:00

the PARK
we are lucky we live across the street from the park. its so easy for us to run across the street play for a minute and come home. i love the afternoons when we go and end up playing for two hours. its so nice for me to have it just right there on days when the kids just need to run and play.

thankful thirty-10

2010-11-10T18:42:00.000-06:00

sports
i love that my kids can participate in sports. they learn so much from being on a team and about how taking care of our bodies is important. i hope that they will continue to enjoy playing sports and being involved in something. i look forward to the future to see what sport they really get passionate about.

thankful thirty-9

2010-11-09T22:33:00.000-06:00

answered prayers
today was a day where some prayers were answered and the people who answered them would have no idea how their involvment in my day was so helpful and amazing. i am grateful for a knowledge that we have a heavenly father who hears our prayers and answers them.

who done it?

2010-11-08T13:28:00.002-06:00

we keep track of the boys growth on my parents door jam and we measured drew yesterday for his annual check. afterwards the other kids wanted to see how tall they were so we had them line up against the wall. then wyatt started saying who's guilty. It was so funny. i only had my phone but i was glad i got a pic.

thankful thirty-8

2010-11-08T09:34:00.000-06:00

carpooling
this might seem silly but i am glad when i get to take the kids to school. i enjoy their little conversations and hearing about their days and getting to send them off in the morning so full of excitement. but i also am thankful for friends that can help on the days when other things are going on. its so nice to get to share my kids with others and them share theirs with me.

thankful thirty-7

2010-11-07T07:44:00.000-06:00

S.L.E.E.P
i am grateful for those rare nights of sleep that are actually refreshing. i am also thankful that my boys are good sleepers, once they are asleep they are dead to the world. olivia on the other hand is a horrible sleeper and causes me some really bad nights of sleep. on the nights she does sleep great i am so happy.

did i ever mention that i am not a fan of thanksgiving

2010-11-06T22:32:00.000-05:00

one of my least favorite holidays- bar none. the idea of cooking for hours and then eating for 20 minutes and then cleaning for an hour and my least favorite part- eating leftovers for DAYS. its has lead me to a place of dislike for the whole holiday. i also may hate that the cowboys always (i mean always) play on thanksgiving. but as i have been sitting here today being in a grumpy mood and wanting to lock my kids in their rooms and not let them out (possible ever) i decided to embrace the concept of thanksgiving and do the thankful 30 blog
general concept- blog every day in november about what you are thankful for. so here we go days 1-6 since i am behind.

thankful thirty-6

2010-11-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

the change of seasons (as little as it is here)
i love when the leaves start to change and the air gets cooler and crisper. its one of my favorite times of year. people put on sweaters and make soup for dinner. you want to cuddle up on the couch and watch movies and read books. you get excited for christmas even though its months away. one of the things i miss the most about utah is fall. the mountains look so majestic in their fall colors and the air is awesome- i am grateful that we have a tree that's leaves change and fall and that it felt like fall in my backyard.

thankful thirty-5

2010-11-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

my kids-
you have those moments with them that make it all worthwhile. i am thankful for those moments and the bad moments too. they may be challenging and stubborn (i blame glenn for that one) but i sure love those kids so much. i am super thankful that i that i get to guide them through these years and that i get to be around them.

thankful thirty-4

2010-11-06T22:24:00.000-05:00

you can laugh now but i am serious- sonic DIET COKE and my TV shows
there are days where having a sonic diet coke just makes it all feel like its gonna be okay. i hope everyone has that something that makes them feel that way. tv gets me through the rough days, the sad days and the lonely nights. so yeah for tv and double yeah for sonic's awesome diet coke. ( you may laugh at me now)

thankful thirty-3

2010-11-06T22:22:00.001-05:00

good friends are hard to find-
i am thankful for the good friends we have- some are far away and some are really close but they all mean the world to us. we have some amazing friends that are always there for us. some of these friends look after me when glenns gone and don't even realize the little things they do mean so much to us.. we hope our friends know we appreciate them.

thankful thirty-2

2010-11-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

we are FAMILY- all my brothers and sisters and me.
families can be annoying and stressful and AWESOME all at the same time. i am grateful that we have had the opportunity to live close to both sets of family. some people have to move far far away from all family like my parents did and it can be hard to not have that family support when you need it. so i am thankful for our families- glenns parents did so much for me while i worked and without them i could not have worked as long as i did. my parents took us in, all five of us, and took care of us when we were down and out. my mom is my friend and we get to hang out and i missed that so much over the years.

thankful thirty-1

2010-11-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for glenns JOB-
remember that time when both glenn and i got laid off- NOT FUN at all. so as much as his job is hard on me and the kids, i am grateful he has the job and that he gets paid from said job. we were lucky that we had great support during the not so fun times and we are forever grateful to our families who supported us in more ways than we can ever express.

Coming soon

2010-11-03T15:43:00.001-05:00

so many things have been going on in the last month. I forgot my camera for most of them but coming soon are pictures from drews birthday party, wyatts birthday party, drews birthday with the family, Halloween and the pumpkin patch. Writing that makes me feel like I have alot of posts to do. So to tide you over ( this is for you LeAnn)

We went to wyatts school to eat lunch with him and got this smile.

Painted face

2010-10-19T16:17:00.001-05:00

saturday we went with some friends to a pumpkin patch at a horse farm. it was fun and the kids got their faces painted. olivia was not interested in me taking her picture so i only have the boys.

Up up and away

2010-10-12T14:00:00.001-05:00

we had some balloons for wyatt's birthday party leftover and drew played with them- and got stuck. It was so funny. The picture is not the best.

the break we needed

2010-10-09T14:55:00.000-05:00

drew started preschool this week and it is so needed- not only for him but for me (mostly for me). i was worried that he would not like it or be shy- not the case at all. his friend is a the school too so we are carpooling and the other dad was home from work so he took them and i was kind of hoping drew would put up a little fight but nope he wanted mr. john to take them. it broke my heart for a nano second and then i was overcome with JOY- pure joy from him being able to fly on his own. i am so excited to hear what he has to say when he gets home. he is LOVING it and that makes me so happy. olivia and i are kind of confused some days on what to do with ourselves but its been fun being alone with olivia. i worked with the boys so this is a first time i am with a toddler all the time (its hard) but i love being with my girl. anywho.. here is is the traditional pose.

holy cow- super late post

2010-10-07T14:55:00.000-05:00

how has it already been six years since i had this beautiful baby.

the worst part for me is i feel like he is a kid now that he is six. its a strange feeling. i am so happy to have him in our family. he is such a great big brother- here are some of the awesome things about our wyatt

1- be a huge help most of the time. he usually follows my orders well.

2- shows love to drew and olivia all the time.

3- wants to be a good example to drew and livy that he asks if he is doing the right thing sometimes.

4- loves going to school and enjoys the time he spends there

5- sleeps like the dead- i never worry about wyatt falling asleep or staying asleep. he inherited his grannie lisas ability to sleep through just about anything.

6- he is silly and fun.

He is so awesome and we love him.

Old Mac Donald had a farm

2010-10-02T20:27:00.001-05:00

drews preschool starts this week and i am excited. Friday was meet the teacher and they introduced the kids to the farm theme that they use all year round. They made pig bagel snacks (drews picture) and farm puppets. I thought drew would be super shy but he was much better than I expected. I am so excites for him. Cant wait to see how this new adventure goes.

i got nothing

2010-09-23T15:15:00.000-05:00

glenn mentioned that i haven't updated in awhile and so here it is. his work schedule has been INSANE so to make him feel more at home i am going to try and blog more. here are some random thoughts
1- wyatt had chapstick in his hand and told me he need some cause his lips were "chatty"
b. drew says things with a little bit of a texas accent and i LOVE it. grass is one work that has a accent to it. its
     way too cute.
III baseball season is about to start and my life will be a bit busy. if you need me you can find me at the ballpark 3-    4 days a week. i am excited and a bit overwhelmed with the next few weeks but i think its gonna be awesome.
4. a few of my friends have either had or are having babies in the next few months and i am so excited for them.
e- drews preschool starts soon and i am ready, oh so ready
VII i miss my hubby but am not going to complain about him being gone because its not gonna change his schedule plus i want him to work hard and make lots of money..
7- i love living by my mom, its so nice to go and lay in her bed and talk with her about things... it makes me   happy...

alright.. no pictures on this post... maybe later...

small moments

2010-09-09T19:57:00.003-05:00

i vent alot about drew and how hard he can be, but he has these moments that are so priceless they make up the abundance of hard (at least that is what i tell myself at night). so today he was super mellow and kind of good, emphasis on kind of. he has these random moments that make me laugh instead of want to lock him in his room -

i am leaving after tucking the boys into bed and they want the dog to sleep in their room and drew screams, " i am the strongest man in the world" all because he is holding onto the collar of the 5lb dog. - awesomeness

or the moments when he will just be sweet and tell you he loves you. he will randomly hit olivia but he also randomly gives her kisses and hugs. he's strange that kid but i love him even if he is so, so , so challenging for me.

Imaginary friends

2010-09-01T12:55:00.001-05:00

drew insisted on eating lunch outside. I could hear him talking to himself and snuck this picture. He was talking to pretend drew.bear( his imaginary version of himself).

flat on my back

2010-08-30T15:12:00.003-05:00

i have back problems, they suck and flare up at the worst times. last week my back went out. it was some of the worst pain i have had in years. luckily it happened while glenn was home so he could handle the kids, the unlucky part was it happened on wednesday and glenn left on thursday. i was stressed out about how i was going to do it. thank heavens for great friends and family. my friends came and took drew for the day on thursday and another friend took him on friday and it saved me. i am so thankful for great friends. i do not think i would be walking today if it wasn't for them. thank heavens after 4 days of resting my back it is feeling better and i am finally able to get some cleaning done around this house. 4 days of not mopping the white tile floor is unacceptable. this floor is in dire need of some major scrubbing (can you guess what i have planned tonight after the peep go to bed) its gonna rock.

girls = drama

2010-08-28T12:00:00.001-05:00

olivia has entered the world of tantrums and i hate it. boy tantrums are so much less dramatic. i mean they have their issues too but girls are so intense. olivia wanted to push the trash can around the house and i said no and the following is what occurred because of that no.

mad face at me

full on screaming because the trash can won't move

screaming at me because i had the nerve to take a picture

hands on the face screaming.

this lasted 20 minutes- all over a trash can. it was tiring to listen to and i imagine tiring to go through. silly girl- i have a feeling the terrible twos are going to really test us...

kindergarten

2010-08-26T19:03:00.004-05:00

traditional first day of school pictures of wyatt and his best buddy henry. we are so happy we have great friends to share this new school year with.

ready to get on with the day

drew couldn't be left out of the attention

wyatt and henry posing together.

new crayons

2010-08-22T19:09:00.003-05:00

i can not believe the first day of school is tomorrow. i am so excited for wyatt, the new adventure that he is about to begin, its exciting. i remember the first day of school- the new school supplies, the new people and new things to learn, i enjoyed it and i hope he does too. i am not sad about him leaving me and going off to school, i am pumped for him. he is so ready for this and i am too. its gonna be different not having him home but its gonna be great seeing him learn new things and make new friends. one thing i am really excited about is that his bestest friend is going to the same school. they can walk to school together and play together at recess. i will post the first day of school picture tomorrow for you grandmas who want to see it!

the dr appt that sucked

2010-08-12T09:41:00.003-05:00

olivia finally had her 18 month check up the other day. it was a not good experience. wyatt had to get a shot for school and so i scheduled their appts for the same time. good in theory, bad in reality. glenn got wyatt freaked out about his shot and in the end it was a horrible experience with me holding wyatt down. the worst part is that i learned he needs 2 more shots.. i think i will let glenn go to that appt. so after wyatts freak out it was olivia's turn. she needed 2 shots and she did better than wyatt. we had to get her follow up blood test done on her iron level. everything came out fine which is great.

for my records

weight 20 6 1/4 oz (3-10%)

height 32 1/4 inches - (75%)