The Hansen's: Merry Christmas

CHRISTMAS VACATION 2015

This was the first Christmas we have had in our own home since the year I had Atticus, 2007. I was a a bit sad to be away from family but a lot excited. This would be the first Christmas that my kids would get all of their Christmas gifts on Christmas and I was so excited.

Christmas Eve with the Grady's

A yummy dinner and fabulous company

Reagan telling Isabel all about their Christmas ornaments.

Cute kids eager for Santa to come (and dinner)!

The 'Candy Bar Game' a tradition in Eric's family that we shared with the Grady's.

So. Much. Fun. We always joke and say, "If someone doesn't cry or get in a fight about their winnings, it wasn't a success." It really is so fun.

Excitement over his winnings.

Kate made one of those "Elf Yourself" videos that was pretty hilarious.

My AMAZING Christmas present from Leslie. This Santa is all the way from Moscow.

The Stash... Good thing we didn't have company for the holiday :). Not traveling for the Holiday allowed me to wrap along the way which was really fun. Eric and I would watch Christmas movies at night and Id wrap (thank you Bethy for wrapping all of the amazon stuff I had sent to you!!).

With 99% of the wrapping done, I thought Christmas Eve night would be a breeze and that Eric and I would get to bed at a reasonable hour. Boy was I wrong. It's amazing how long it takes to get everything out and set up. But it was exactly what I was hoping it would be. A quiet peaceful night in our own home around our very own Christmas Tree with "Atticus' Rainbow Lights" (thank you Alexander Family) peeking through the blinds.

From bath tub to Christmas tree!

..CHRISTMAS..

Our sweet Atticus- thought of missed and loved every second of every day.

Isaac really wanted Santa to bring him a bike- and the jolly old man came through!

Santa brought Isabel her very own kitchen- He also left a note telling her she better take VERY good care of it because Santa had his elves working on it for four hours Christmas Eve...

Santa brought Lily a little something for the future!

The video of the kids seeing "Christmas" was perfect. Absolutely perfect. The second Isabel saw her kitchen she yelled, "OH MY GOODNESS!" She kicked her little legs and waved her little arms the entire way down the stairs. Isaac looked at the Christmas tree first then saw the surprises from Santa and yelled, "A BIKE!!" It was a perfect moment.

He was so excited. He had been wanting a "bicycle" since the summer.

Man I love this kid.

I can't help but smile thinking about that morning. It was perfect.

"Yay!"

"Gasp! TREATS!"

This is a total Isaac pose.

Santa brought Daddy a blast from his undergrad past!

"Ohhhhhh my goodness!" Isaac got Isabel jewelry: bracelets, rings, a necklace.

One happy girl.

And one happy Lego maniac boy!

Two of my favorite people.

...Some Action Shot...

"A tea party?!?!?!"

New kicks from Daddy and Isabel.

Happy mom moment.

Isaac picked out a gold necklace and earrings for me!

Isabel loves Cinderella.

Candy Land!

More jewelry and more bracelets!

A treasure box filled with treasures (Fairy Tale charms from Hobby Lobby!): a sword, compass, hour glass, bow and arrow, heart. This kids and his trinkets. He carried it around ALL day.

Tinker Bell dress and...

Elsa! She may or may not have squealed!!!

My favorite picture of the day.

Helping her apply her lip gloss.

"Cheese!"

His "too cool for school" pose.

Lily's presents... We had to help her out a little ;)

Daddy gave mommy the BEST surprise ever and after a very clever scavenger hunt, I found my brand new fancy shmansy pots and pans. I dang near cried. I love to cook and not to toot my own horn or anything, I'm not to bad at it!

Lego building time!!

Little miss getting familiar with her new set up!

Mid-wardrobe change, Isabel decided to adorn Lily with her presents.

Oh Lily-Loo we love you!

Benefit of living in Texas... we can ride our Christmas bikes ON Christmas!

It was a perfect day and to top of all off, I got to nap- we planned to have the Fish Fam over for Christmas dinner but decided to (gasp) go to a restaurant instead. Best. Decision. Ever. Although I absolutely love to host, it was so nice to just chill rather than prep and cook! And like I said, I napped. On Christmas!!!

For Christmas dinner we hit up a Hibachi Grill with the Fishs' and loved every minute of it. Well except the fire part- Isaac is such a scaredy cat about the fire.

Cute Julia with cute Lily.

Isaac and Audrey!

Hallie and Isabel!

Our Texas Family! Thanks for a fun dinner. We love you guys.

Christmas cards are one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I love that so many people take the time to send out cards. Pay for stamps. Write a billion addresses. I feel like it's the one time a year people choose to use real mail rather than email and I love it. So...

THANK YOU FOR THE CHRISTMAS CARDS EVERYONE!

Christmas with Atticus...

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Oh! And PS....

Lily turned 2 months old

And was suuuper happy about it...

This little girl came out happy as a clam as long as she is being held.

December 26th

The day after Christmas brought something none of us could expect. A Tornado. Like a big one. We have had warnings before but up until this point it's never gotten too terribly close. But not this time. This time is was close. We literally saw the tornado from our front door. And spent 30 minutest in the bathroom and another three and a half hours without power.

None of us knew how bad it was until later. We got lucky. Very very lucky. Just two miles from us home were literally torn to the ground. Eric and Kevin went to help a family in our ward (church) whose home was completely destroyed. So heartbreaking and surreal.

This is what happened just two miles from our house.

These are pictures Eric took while he and Kevin were helping.

He came home pretty shaken up. He said, "I use to think tornadoes were pretty cool until tonight. We got their and smelled gas. People screaming and crying. Homes totally destroyed."

These homes are literally across the street from our friends house.

It has been pretty amazing to see our community and churches come together to help put peoples lives back in order.

December 30th

My sweet sweet baby girl. We went through a rough rough few weeks, but thankfully made it through in one piece. Newborns are stinkin' hard. She has always loved to be held and the only place she would sleep during the day is in the mobi wrap, but she decided that she didn't want to sleep there anymore. Then to make matters worse, she decided that she not longer wanted to sleep at night either. She took forever to get to sleep and wouldn't stay asleep. I was seriously loosing my mind. Neither one of us were sleeping and I was an exhausted emotional wreck. That lasted 3 weeks.

Finally she started sleeping good again. At night. Halelujah! But what was driving me crazy is why she would sleep so good at night (like 6-7-8 hour stretches) but not sleep during the day. Thanks to prayers being answered, I think we had a breakthrough. She has been an angel baby both day and night for almost two weeks now. Fingers crossed.

If Lily gets adequate sleep she is such a sweet smiley happy baby girl. I just love her to pieces. She loves to lay and wiggle while I fold laundry or while she's getting her diaper changed. She coo's and goo's and I love watching her as she works so hard to get her little sounds out. She flares her little nostrils she tries so hard. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and the way she looks at me makes me feel so loved and special. Oh how I love my Lily-Loo.

Isabel-- Miss Independent- she picked out her outfit and put her shoes on all by herself!

Isabel is getting much better with Lily. Meaning she doesn't try to pick her up, feed her, or sit in the swing with her anymore. But I still don't trust them to be alone together.

An afternoon trip to the park so big brother can ride is bike!

Best view ever.

December 31st

My GIRLS... It's still so crazy to me. Two boys and Two girls.

She has found her thumb a few times here and there which I love (thumb suckers make good sleepers) but the down side is she is liking her paci less and less.