Snow, A Wedding and Pain

 We started our holidays early this year because Mike's sister Maria got married.  Just about everyone was there.  I love the above photo because everyone looks so happy.  It is generally a good time at the Hansen house.  (Although Mama forbid us from playing tag in the house because she just got her couch fixed from all the diving we have done on it since couch is base.)

 Jocelyn helping Kimmy drive Colton's new remote control car.  She was such a good driver she ran it into my toe.

 The couple of honor.  Kyle and Maria.  It was so wonderful to see them make eternal commitments to each other.  We snapped this photo as they walked out and it looks pretty nice for the end of December, but most of the time . . .

 It looked like this.  Rainy and cold.  Kyle's sister Erin was such a trooper to hold the umbrella for their photos.

 Lydia liked the beautiful cake. 

 She also liked watching Maria and Kyle have their indoor photos.  (And I think this is the only photo of me our whole trip)

 Jocelyn and her cousin Will at the reception.  They are great friends.  Will is a month older and much more active, but Jocelyn wins the heavy weight title.  If only the photo did justice to those thighs.

 "Uncle Mat, did you pinch her?"

 There was a tea party table for all of the grand daughters.  They loved it!  A real tea set, pearl bracelets and beautiful cupcakes.

 Lydia was looking so cute in her jammies with her toothless grin.

 Lydia was not feeling so well in this photo with her cousins.  She had just got back from the hospital.  Lydia broke her leg sledding and now has a blue cast up to her hip until sometime around Valentine's day. 

 A photo of the kiddos on Christmas Eve.  Colton loved his "Dash" jammies.  You can kind of see Lydia's cast on her left leg.

 Christmas morning and Jocelyn and Will's 1st Christmas.  They were most concerned with stealing the mardi gra beads from each other that are in Will's hand.

 Colton was the helper with the Santa hat and got to distribute the gifts from under the tree.

 Lydia with her stocking.

 Thanks for the Mini Mouse Grandma and Grandpa.  She takes up half the bed, but she is a great friend.

 Thankfully, many of Lydia's Christmas presents were games or craft activities that she could sit down to do.  Here she is drawing on the big windows with her new window markers. 

 Though Lydia got hurt sledding, it didn't stop Colton from continuing to enjoy himself. 

Though she didn't want to, we made Lydia go outside so she could get some fresh air. 
We are now back in Indiana.  Mama kept Colton for an extra week so Lydia can rest and heal a little bit without her pesky little brother.  We got Lydia a walker and she is getting the hang of it, but is very slow and tires quickly.  She did not like the boring grey walker so we got some rainbow duct tape and souped it up.  It is very colorful and distinguishable now and much more suited to a  6 year old girl. 
It was a very merry and very eventful Christmas!  Wishing you a happy new year!

Happy Halloween

Mike got to go to the BYU vs. Notre Dame game.  Touchdown Jesus.

Shoes

Next to the front door we have a basket.  That basket is supposed to hold everyone's shoes.  But most of the time, it is a cornucopia with shoes spilling out all around it and cluttering up the entryway.  Often times I get frustrated tripping over all those shoes and it seems like a constant chore to pick them all up several times a day.  However, the other day I looked at my pile of strewn shoes and I saw Mike's big sneakers, and Lydia's little white high heels.  There were Colton's lace up spiderman shoes that he loves and I despise.  I had my pink running shoes and I thought, 'how blessed am I to have big shoes and little shoes all over my floor.'  They are a symbol of the wonderful family I have.  We wear them here and there, we do activities together with our various shoes.  We are blessed enough to each have several pairs of good shoes.  Big strong shoes for Mike, versatile shoes for me, cute sparkly shoes for my princess and very active shoes for my active little boy.  So, for this week at least, I am not annoyed by the mess of shoes, but grateful for each person who wears them. 

Stuff

Time is flying!  Have the kids really been in school for a month and a half?  I am loving the fall weather and we have been doing lots of  fun stuff.  On Fridays before home games, the Purdue football team, cheerleaders, etc. walk across the pedestrian bridge that runs across the river.  The kids were so excited to see Purdue Pete. 

Lydia bucked up some courage and got her photo taken with some cheerleaders.  (I love how the male cheerleader is posing, but got cut out of the frame.  Poor guy)

We went to a place in Indy called Conner Prairie.  It's sort of like Nauvoo.  People are dressed up like it is 1836.  They do re-enactments and have houses and schools, and blacksmith shops that you can visit.  You can see how they made candles, wove, cooked, etc.  I love that kind of stuff and I could have honestly stayed there all day just learning, but the kids wanted to do the hands on activities and only last so long. 

Mike and Josie enjoying a quieter river area of Conner Prairie.  We are not really crowd people and we didn't know that it was a free day at Conner Prairie, so there were a ton of people there! 

Colton trying out a canoe in the indian village.  He was sad he couldn't find any real 'alien'- what he kept calling indians, but he did like the mountain man who showed how to make a real fire. 

sweetly sleeping.  Look at those cheeks. 

Lydia got to participate in a cheer clinic and then cheer at the highschool football game.  She was so excited all week to use her new pom poms to cheer at the game, and then the day of, it was cold, rainy, and miserable. She did her cheer (without pom poms because she didn't want them to get wet) and then came home. 

Lydia and Colton treating a younger sibling like all older siblings do.  Poor girl.  They were supposed to be setting the table. 

I wanted a picture of all three kids for my office.  (I've started working part time at LUM again and I love it.) 

Yesterday, after the photo of the three kiddos, I helped Lydia pull her front tooth.  I love her little toothless grin. 

Keepin' my head above water

 First Day of Kindergarten

 Sporting his sporty hat. 

My little Piggie.

Taken today.  Can't get enough of her bonnet!

School has started, life is busy.  A few snapshots . . .

school

 I forgot to post this photo of the beach house we stayed at in North Carolina.  Isn't it cute? 

I haven't downloaded the photos of Lydia from the first day of school yet, but a friend sent me this photo of her with her best friends walking to the bus stop.  Such cute girls!!  Lydia is really enjoying school.  She likes having so many friends to ride the bus with and she has a little boy from church in her school class. She LOVES packing a lunch- which means the extravagance of a juice box and go-gurt. 

North Carolina

 Can you tell that she has older siblings?  Poor girl.  She is very patient.

 Colton wanted a puppy  cake with his spiderman figure on top.  It's his birthday, so whatever her wants is fine with me. 

 Everyone at Ella's baptism. 

 Lydia likes to party! 

 Burying Mike.  They made him into a Merman. 

 Look who is smiling!  This photo was taken today.  She is almost 7 weeks old.  Time is flying! 

 Jocelyn at about 2 weeks.  I have yet to edit this photo shoot. 

 Colton was so proud he climbed this tree.  When I went to put the camera away, he fell down the tree.  He had a big cut from his eye to his ear, but I'd say he fared quite well considering how far he fell. 

 Jocelyn and Lydia  on Jocelyn's blessing day. 

 My mom and dad came out for the blessing.  Colton was helping Papa fix the sink sporting his new John Deere hat. 

The family at Jocelyn's blessing.  What a good lookin bunch.  

It's been a busy summer!  I've been to Ohio a few times and we went to North Carolina with Mike's family last week and spent a few days at a beach house there.  It was tons of fun.  Just about everyone got the flu while we were there, but it was still worth it.  I got the bug on a rainy day which worked out well.  Lydia wasn't so lucky. She threw up all over herself and the car on the 10 hour drive down there.  That was the low point. We pulled off the road and started stripping down Lydia, so she is half naked in the parking lot with puke in her hair and crying.  Colton was in such a hurry to get out of the car, that he cut his foot and won't let me look at it, so I am trying to hog tie him while he is screaming.  Jocelyn is crying and Mike is running on 3 hours of sleep and is so frustrated he is just kicking the car tire.  We just laughed about it though!  We also celebrated Colton's 4th birthday while we were in Ohio with the cousins.  My niece Ella was baptized and Jocelyn was blessed.  We went to Cedar Point as well, but those photos are on my other camera, so I'll have to post those photos later.  (Cedar Point is one of the biggest amusement parks in the country.)  School starts on Wednesday and I can hardly believe that our summer adventures are over.