My Kind of Santa

So I had to post this mainly because one day I want to be able to remember this and tell Quinten all those funny things he used to say when he was a kid. The boys and I went to my mom's house this weekend while Josh worked overtime. My mom has this old-fashioned Santa that has been around since I can remember. Anyway, Santa has this big brown sack full of presents on his back. Well Quinten is playing with the Santa and yells at the top of his lungs from the other room, "Mom, Santa has garbage." It takes me a minute to figure out what he means, but my dear sweet kid thinks that Santa carries around a big old sack of trash, not presents. So I figure this Christmas is going to be one of the easiest ever. All I have to do is throw a big sack of garbage under our tree and tell him Santa came by. Now that's my kind of Santa! I just hope that at preschool today he doesn't learn that Santa really brings presents and not garbage. I'd hate to have to be a good mom ;)
Oh yeah, so today Gavin got his 2nd tooth and finally learned how to crawl. For the past little while he's just been rolling around and then sitting himself back up. He was able to get to whatever he wanted this way, so crawling really wasn't that big of a deal to him. Well he finally got frustrated with face planting it all the time, because this morning I was watching him play with his toys and he started crawling around to all of them. I guess it's finally time to put the gates up because I have a feeling that this moose is on the loose!

Thanksgiving & BSU

Thanksgiving Day!!!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving this year! We spent the day at Josh's mom and dad's house. It was so much fun to get to hang out with everybody. I love this time of year!!! I know it can be pretty chaotic, but I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays. We had a great dinner (thanks Teena) and I only managed to spill half the pan of sweet potatoes in the back of my car while transporting them from my house to theirs :) After dinner we all just got to hang out. Quinten and Josh had a blast playing the Wii. It was pretty funny to watch them duke it out.

Quinten and Josh boxing on the Wii

The next day Marc and Teena watched the boys while Josh and I went with his friends from high school and their wives to the Boise State game against Fresno. His friend Quinton (yes this is who my little guy is named after) helped build the sky suites above the stadium, so he got us tickets on the 2nd row (thanks Quint and Steph). We drove up with his other friend Trever and his wife Barb. Awesome news by the way, Barb finally gets to use the big "R" word - yes she's in remission!!! I couldn't be more happy for you guys right now. All those prayers really were heard!! Quinton also got all access passes at the game so we could go up and see the sky suites. It was pretty awesome to see the game from up there! Oh yeah, so Josh got his fifteen minutes of fame on ESPN. I guess he saw the camera filming the fans and started hollering and stuff, and all of us girls are looking at him like he's crazy because it is like 2nd down and nothing very exciting is happening. So then about 10 seconds later his boss calls and says he saw him on ESPN. It was pretty funny because I think Josh's boss is the only person we even know that saw it because everyone else missed the first of the game. We also got to eat dinner at this awesome place called Baja Fresh. It was awesome Mexican food and highly recommended. It was the longest that I've left Gavin since he was born, and he wouldn't let me out of his sight when I got home. Sometimes it's nice to know you're missed :) It was such a fun day - thanks everybody!!

The Girls - Steph, Barb & Me


The Boys - Josh, Trever & Quinton


I know this is really blurry,
but that blur at the very top of
the suites is Josh & Quinton.

Catch Up!

So I've been really bad at updating my blog lately. I really haven't been all that busy, but for some reason I just never seem to get around to it. Not too much has been going on, but I'll try to catch up on what has. Halloween was pretty crazy. I woke up sick as a dog and then had to pack up the boys take Quinten to preschool. All the kids got to wear their costumes to school that day and it was absolutely precious to see every single one of the girls in his class dressed up as a princess! Quinten, of course, was a ninja turtle.

Last year on Halloween, we had a billion kids come trick-or-treating at our house and we ended up running out of candy within the first hour. I even scrounged around our pantry and gave out fruit snacks and microwaveable popcorn. Josh finally told me to just turn off the lights before I ended up giving out cans of soup. So this year I was prepared. I bought a literal ton of candy along with all sorts of other little things like Halloween pencils. Well go figure, we barely got any kids this year. Josh ended up pretty much dumping armfuls of candy into all the kids sacks just to get rid of it all. I was a total slacker mom this year because I had absolutely no idea on what Gavin's costume should be, and anyone who knows me knows that I am one of the biggest procrastinators you will ever meet - but in my defense I have to say that it gets done, it just gets done at the last minute ;) So I ended up just wrapping him up in tin foil just long enough to get a picture and I guess in the future when he asks me what he was for his first Halloween, I'll just tell him he was a baked potato. I figure it was very Idaho of me.

Josh and I have this joke about Mr. Potato Head that is kind of dumb so I won't bore you with the story, but for his costume I taped little pieces of Mr. Potato Head onto the back of his shaved head so he could be Mr. Potato Head.

I was a party pooper and didn't dress up. I was so exhausted by the end of the day that I ended up crashing on the couch after the kids passed out from an extreme sugar high. I think Josh felt pretty bad for me because he carried me into bed-which I'm sure was no easy task.

Gavin has accomplished a few baby milestones over the past few weeks. He started by sitting up all by himself. It's so nice to be able to just set him down and not have to worry about him flopping over when he gets excited. He went to his six month checkup back in October and he weighed almost 20 pounds. He absolutely LOVES food! Quinten never seemed to enjoy eating all that much, but Gavin will eat anything you put in front of him. He squeals anytime you don't get the spoon to him fast enough. I also discovered his first tooth on November 2nd while I was eating at Red Lobster with my mom. I'd say overall he is a pretty happy little guy (much more content than Quinten was) even though he's decided that he wants to be a morning person, which I am not. The other morning he woke up at 3:00 and never even took a nap until almost noon. I guess I'm just blessed with two boys who require no sleep to function. He's now working on crawling which mostly ends up with him face planting, but he's getting there.

Quinten has been loving preschool. So far the teacher has only lost him once. Apparently he decided to be independent and go outside to wait for mom and left all the other kids and teacher inside. Sometimes I miss those days when he couldn't walk. Quinten's new found loves are pistachios and spinach. He'll sit and shell pistachios all day and then says he wants salad. This is a whole new Quinten since his past loves were chocolate and burritos. I had to laugh the other day because Quinten has finally started to like kid shows. In the past he's picked some of the oddest shows to watch. His first favorite was Sports Center. He wasn't even a year yet and all we had to do was turn on Sports Center and he would stop crying. Then he loved America's Funniest Home Videos, followed by Wipeout, MXC, and Ninja Warrior, and now he's into Tom and Jerry.

Josh got his deer out on the desert between Arco and Blackfoot. He shot it out in the middle of the lavas and then had to pack it out 3 miles in the dark while it was snowing. I kind of thought it was funny even though I know he didn't. I thought Quinten would be grossed out seeing the deer and all, but he was right there in the middle of it. A true boy I guess.

I'll have to post some pictures later of what I've been up to lately. Josh was awesome this summer and bought me all the stuff I needed to start doing photography. I hated missing all these great pictures of my kids because my little tiny camera would take too long to focus and take the picture. So he bought me a really nice camera and I've had so much fun blinding my kids to death. I think they both just want to turn and run when they see me reach for my camera. Luckily for me Gavin can't crawl yet, so I have a few more weeks to torture him - sorry son.

TAG: Have you done...?

I saw this on Krystal's blog and thought it would be fun. Copy this list and bold the things YOU have done. Then post it on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

The Big 3!!!

Quinten turned 3 this week. I know every parent says this, but I can't believe how fast he has grown up. My mom-in-law made him the cutest ninja turtle cake and I have to say it was pretty creative.

Quinten is absolutely obsessed with ninja turtles. He makes Gavin and me put on hair bands and then all three of us play ninja turtles all day.

Quinten also started preschool. It's so funny to see him walk in with his backpack on his back that is bigger than he is. It's kind of crazy how quickly little kids learn to do new things. Quinten amazes me every day on all the new things he has learned. The other day I bought him all of these new puzzles that were about 40 pieces each. Well little did I know that they were double sided. I didn't think there was even a chance that he would be able to do them, but pretty soon Josh and I looked over and he had them all put together. I can honestly say that later that night when I was playing puzzles with him, I even had a hard time. And then to shock me even more, my mom-in-law took him to the Challis hot pools and she told me that he would hold his breath and swim underneath this bar that separated the deep end from the shallow end. He definately doesn't get that from me. Yes, I can swim, but I can't go under the water without plugging my nose. I'm just hoping that the days of the terrible twos are over with. Let's just say that he finished off those terrible twos with a bang after he threw a handful of gravel in Josh's new four-wheeler's gas tank, pooped in the back of my dad's truck, and then peed in my mom's fridge. I think we're banned from going back to my parent's house anytime soon. So I also spent one day this week bailing our dog out of the pound. He some how managed to chew his way through our fence and went galavanting around town. I guess some lady picked him up on his way to Shelley and took him to the animal shelter. So now he's safely home and microchipped ;)

Gavin's new thing is sticking his tongue out all the time

Spending the day out at Josh's family's farm in Arco

End of Summer

Well I've been a major slacker lately when it comes to blogging. Mainly because we have yet to spend a weekend home this entire summer. We've spent almost every single weekend out camping. It's been great getting to hang out with our families.

All of my mom and dad's grandkids

We spent a lot of time out 8-mile. Quinten ended up throwing his Crocs in the stream, so we had to drive in to Alco to get him new shoes. Well, the selection was pretty slim and the only shoe that was even in his size was a pretty pair of pink girl's shoes. I figured who really cares what he looks like out camping so I bought them. It was pretty funny though because he sure thought they were pretty cool. He kept showing them off to everybody saying "Look at my new pink shoes." Then my nephew Caden went wading in the stream with Josh's hip waders to see if he could find Quinten's old shoes. So he stuck this huge stick under the bank and lifted it up and out pops Quinten's shoes, two balls, and a Frisbee. It was pretty funny to see what all the other past campers have lost down the same stream.

Quinten and his pretty pink shoes

Earlier this summer Josh surprised me and bought me a really nice new camera, so with hunting season coming up I decided to surprise him and get him a four-wheeler. Quinten was so excited he could barely handle it. Anything with a motor and wheels on it is the coolest to him. Josh was way excited, especially about the power steering part, and he put 100 miles on it the first weekend we took it out.

Quinten on Josh's new four-wheeler

My family took a trip up to Birch Creek so the guys could all go antelope hunting. It's the first time I've been camping with my brothers, sister, and dad in a long, long time. It had to be one of the funniest family camping trips I've ever experienced. Anybody who knows my dad would know why. First off, I'm in charge of cooking, which was totally fine by me. The only problem was, my dad said he would get half of the stuff on the grocery list. I should have left him with easy things like cookies, because when I asked for chicken breasts to make Dutch oven chicken, I ended up with two bags of fully cooked chicken patties and chicken nuggets (yes, the microwaveable kind). Josh and I were the first to get up there, and after waiting and waiting we could finally hear the old diesel truck. About 5 minutes later it finally arrives pulling the old hunting trailer behind it. My dad and two brothers are so wedged in the front of that truck that I'm sure there would have been no need for seatbelts if they would have wrecked because none of them would have budged. Both of my brothers are complaining about how the huge oversized semis hauling wind turbines for the wind power projects were passing them as they were going 35 mph up Fish Creek. We hiked up to this awesome cave that had petroglyphs of an antelope on the rock. It was pretty cool to see. It was a pretty fun trip. My dad's version of the whole escapade is in this week's edition of the Caribou County Sun. Let's just say at least the women in the family were smart enough to bring the camper with AC and heating.

Gavin and me after our hike up to the petroglyph

Dad "roughing it" by being the only one to sleep outside

Gavin has been growing like a weed. It's kind of sad to think that my little guy is no longer so little. Over the summer he has mastered the art of rolling all over the place and he's recently started sitting up.

Always such a happy boy

Not so sure what he thinks about the sweet potatoes

Quinten starts preschool on September 9th. He's so excited to get to go, so we've been working on the potty training thing. I'll say we're about 90% there. It's that dear sweet 10% that's about ready to push me over the edge. I swear he just wants to see my face when I discover the present he has left for me on the floor.

Getting a drink at the fountain

Gavin just absolutely loves his older brother. I can't believe how hard he laughs at him as he's getting rolled on. I'm glad Gavin is one tough little guy.

Quinten bouncing Gavin in his bungee bouncer

I'm sad to see summer go, mainly because this means I actually have to clean my house since I've completely abandoned it for the whole summer. My laundry pile actually tipped over and buried Quinten underneath. All in all, I can say it has been a pretty great summer for our family.

Me and the boys

Memories

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! I guess good or bad, but be nice!!!!!!!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

July Happenings

I've been so bad about updating my blog, but it has been a pretty crazy month. We've been gone every weekend, so I spend the rest of the week trying to recover from the weekend. We had a pretty fun 4th of July. We went to Soda and watched the parade with my family. Then Josh played in the 3 on 3 basketball tournament. We then watched the fireworks at my Grandma's house, but Quinten seemed to be more interested with the fireflies flying around her yard. I didn't even know Soda had fireflies, but they were pretty cool to see.

Quinten catching candy for daddy at the parade

The next day was my nephew Caden's birthday. I can't believe he is going to be in high school this year. Josh took all the kids on the four-wheeler then we went over to my sister-in-law's parent's house and hung out. We got to ride around in her dad's model A car which was so fun and Quinten thought it was a total blast. It was "just my size" as my niece Bailey would say.

Quinten and me cruisin' town

Josh and all the cousins riding around

The next weekend we went up to Coeur d'Alene for Josh's aunt's birthday. The whole family went up there so it was a fun get together. The kids got to run around and play together while we just got to hang out outside. I love it up there. They live in the coolest place right by the lake.

Quinten and Josh in Tosha's backyard

Gavin and his cousin MaKena

We've also been camping a lot in the last little while. I would camp every day if it was up to me. Camping is definately one of my all time favorite things to do.

Camping at 8-Mile

We spent the last weekend in Arco where Josh played horseshoes, volleyball, and baseball in the Atomic Days tournament. Poor Gavin was pretty miserable cause it was so hot. It's been a pretty fun summer for us so far.

Gavin with his Aunt Julie watching Josh play baseball

I love getting to hang out with my boys and eat "pine cones" - Quinten thinks ice cream cones are called pine cones and it's one of those things that is too cute to correct.

Quinten hanging out in his playhouse eating "pine cones"

Busy Week

It has been kinda a busy week for us. Last week Lynzi, Carson, and Barrett Hobbs came to visit us. Quinten absolutely loves Carson to death. It is so funny to watch them play together and it makes me so thankful to have a friend around who has two little guys the same age as Quinten and Gavin.

Carson & Quinten playing baseball

Then on Friday I had to take Gavin to his doctor's appointment for his 2 month checkup. He's growing great - 85th percentile for his weight and 100th for his height. He got his shots too, so I had a pretty sad boy for the next couple of days. His temperature got pretty high and to top it off he also got Quinten's cold.

My Growing Boy

He sure loves his daddy

Porkchop also got his shots on Friday. The vet told me he is some kind of a pug cross with probably a terrier or a beagle.

Porkchop running off with Gavin's binky

On Saturday, my sister Andrea got married. She married Jared Gardner (he's from here in Blackfoot). They had their ceremony out at my mom's cabin. I was an idiot though and took all the pictures with her camera and forgot mine, so I'll have to post pictures of her wedding later. Then Sunday was Father's Day. My little guys are lucky to have such a great daddy. He is such a good dad, and he loves just hanging out with his boys.

Dad and the boys

Monday was Josh's birthday. We bought him one of those big Craftsman tool chest things (with a lock) so he could finally keep Quinten from stealing all of his hammers and trying to break down any locked doors - true story. My niece Bailey came and stayed with us for a few days. It's so nice to have someone for Quinten to play with. They had so much fun together and really kept each other entertained. We went to Jensen's Grove and played in the water. It was so cute when all three kids crashed for the night.

On a sadder note, we just learned that one of our friends was just diagnosed with stage III cancer. Her name is Barbara and both she and her husband were friends with Josh in high school. Josh now works with her husband Trever out at the site, and they have a little boy who is 2 1/2 and just had a little girl a few months ago. They have always been such good friends to us over the years. We would love it if anyone reading this could send up a prayer for her and her family, along with all the other people and their families who are battling cancer.

Barbara with her little guy, Boston, playing "phone" with Quinten. We spent a few days in Boise shopping and swimming while Trever and Josh went hunting in Salmon.

Boston and Quinten after we visited Build-a-Bear and took in a full day's worth of shopping.

Potty Training

Okay, I had heard that potty training boys was hard, but nobody ever told me how hard. I honestly can't even tell you how many failed attempts we have had at potty training Quinten. It seems like every time something big happens in our lives, he responds by completly reverting back to the diaper. Our first attempt was when he turned 2. He did so good, but then Josh and I went to Hawaii, and as soon as we got back, he decided to punish us for leaving him by no longer using the toilet. After that, it's been interesting. One of my most interesting mommy moments came when I was first pregnant with Gavin. I was really worn out and was laying down on the couch. I had given Quinten some chocolate to tide him over while I tried to get some much needed down time. Well Quinten at the time had this obsession with not wanting his hands to be dirty. So as I'm laying on the couch, Quinten comes over and is just whining to me and holding his chocolate covered hands up to me. Well being pregnant and all, I was too lazy to get up and wash them in the sink, so I just did the thing that most mothers do at some point in their lives - I licked it off. It was then that I realized that I must have given him dark chocolate, because what I was licking off wasn't sweet. Only after I had dutifully licked off all the dark chocolate, did Quinten turn around and I saw the brown handprint smear running from the back of his diaper to the middle of his thigh. It was then that I realized that what I though was dark chocolate was in fact, yes, poop. Of course being pregnant and all, the gag reflex kicks in and I'm thinking to myself that this might just be the first time during both of my pregnancies that I might actually throw up. Fortunately, I held it down and changed what was left of the poopy diaper. So I figured that this was my one bad potty training experience and it would be smooth sailing from here on out, but no. Bad experience number two occured just a few weeks ago. I was nursing Gavin when I heard Quinten go into the other room and rip off his diaper. I was hoping that he was just going to hop on the potty and all would be well, but no. Pretty soon he comes walking in with a gigantic pile of mushed poo in his hand and says "Mommy, I pooped". I'm not sure exactly what to do at that point because he's looking at me with these eyes like I should be so proud of him for bringing it to me, but I'm not so sure I want to accept his thoughful gift. I then think about what he'll do with it if I don't accept it and visions of finger painting on the windows and cupboards with brown feces motivates me to just smile and let it move from his hand to mine. So I'm sitting on my couch with Gavin nursing in one arm and a pile of poo in the other and I'm trying to remember if any of those parenting magazines I read while waiting in the doctor's office had any advice for this situation. I figure that I'm on my own with this one, so I set the poor nursing kid down and tell him I'll be back momentarily. So I clean up the mess, get Quinten changed and go back to Gavin to explain why being the number two baby stinks sometimes. So as you can tell, my potty training experiences are getting the best of me. I'm holding onto that advice that everyone with a boy keeps telling me - don't expect too much from them before they are three and that there aren't any 10 year olds still wearing around Costco diapers.

Gavin Marq Hansen

Quinten Joshua Hansen

Gavin in the Bilibed

Our Newest Addition

Gavin Marq Hansen, the newest addition to our family, was born April 11, 2008. He was born 4 days overdue. He was quite the story to tell because he was born while I was standing up in the shower at the hospital. My midwife (who by the way is one of the coolest people I know) had to catch Gavin while I stood there because he came out in only 2 pushes. He weighed 8lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long (a huge relief from Quinten who was 9 lbs 3 oz). Because Gavin was born so fast, he was extremely blue when he was born and he had a cephalohematoma (a collection of blood under the skin on his head) from hitting my pelvis--poor kid. The hematoma caused him to have really bad jaundice because of the blood reabsorbing. He was in the Bilibed for two nights after we got home. Those weren't the best two nights of my life, but we survived. His hematoma has completely gone away now. Quinten is adjusting to life as a big brother. At first he was really rough with him, but like Lynzi told me (she's who I call when I need questions answered) he got better. Life has been an adventure with all the boys in my life--even our dog is a boy. I'm starting to feel way outnumbered, but I wouldn't trade my life for the world.