A Memorial Day Countdown

1. Playing hide-and-seek with Grandma and Grandpa.  Andrew has a new set of rules every time we play.  This time the "it" had to touch the "found" player with a ball.  When asked by my dad who made him the king of the house, Andrew squarely looked him in the eye and said "Jesus."  Hard to argue with that kind of alabi.

2. Moving on from hide-and-seek (which grandpa is really good at) we mastered our badmitten skills.  Andrew was seriously in the game.  We even beat Grandma and Grandpa one game out of two (and they were trying)!

3. Making strawberry jam for awesome Pre-K teachers. This is one of the good things about living in a small town. You know how to find everyone.  With the craziness of the end of the school year, I had the best intentions to search out some great end-of-year teacher gifts but just ran out of time.  Until now.  I found some perfect ideas on pinterest.com. We had a great time making the jam - and it was super easy (no cooking kind, recipe right off the pectin label)!  This project gave me the idea to make this a weekly activity...not neccesarily making jam but doing something nice for someone else each week.  Next week, I think we will take some of our gorgeous hydrangeas to the nursing home for Andrew and Ryan to hand out.  I'll let you know how it goes...

Our special teacher berry gifts

4. Wearing high heels and playing hide-and-seek.  The fun didn't stop at Grandma and Grandpa's house!  Andrew and Ryan were running around the house playing hide-and-seek with each other - each in a pair of my heels.  Daddy is SO proud!  (It is a good thing that he was at the country club working non-stop this weekend so he didn't have to witness this!)

5. Painting the walls. We have FINALLY settled on a wall color that we both like for the entry hall and family room.  It has been a BIG looming cloud for a while now, but I can finally finish painting and begin decorating the one place that it has been killing me to see so bare!  I will have to do a reveal of the final to-do when it is complete.

6. Talking to Grandma H. on the phone.  You never know these days if the overly talkative Andrew is going to show up when a phone call is made.  Today he was all about talking to Grandma.  Ryan was right there wanting in on the action too.  He was SO sweet asking to go to Grandma's hous-ch.

A Pet Peeve and Frogs

In an effort to eat and live a little healthier I have made it a goal to get in bed at a decent hour.  I say it is still a goal because it hasn't quite happened yet. 

It is just amazing  to me how fast the time goes from when we put the boys to bed to the clock reading 1 am.  The other "morning" I accused Mike of playing a trick on me by moving the clock up two hours.  I was really convinced.  But alas, it was truly one in the morning.

I tell you all of this because I wasn't going to write a blog post today because I knew it would be a completely crazy day since my, ahem!, awesome landscaping skills were demanded at the country club.

Anyway, on to the pet peeve and why I am staying up late to write this out.

Andrew is playing t-ball this spring in the competitive 5 and 6 year-old league. It seems like our team and parents are the most relaxed, laid-back and fun.  I understand following the rules is important since we are in the competitive league, but some teams we have played have been INTENSE.  Parents yelling all the time, keeping stats, and expecting a great deal from something that is supposed to be FUN.

It was our turn to bring snacks tonight, and surprise, surprise! I forgot the snacks at home.  By the time we turned around to get the snackies and then to the ballpark, they had already started the first inning and were 5 minutes into the game.

On the bottom of the second inning, Andrew was up to bat first.  He stepped up to the plate, measured up to the T... and then a mother on the other team stood up and yelled, "He can't play!  He's NOT on your roster!  There is NO WAY that kid can play without being on your roster!!" 

Everyone surrounding me on our team was expressing disbelief that someone would object like this.

I mean really they are FIVE years-old!  Just let them play. 

Since when are we so worried about wins and losses at this age, more so than instilling the love of the game, simple fundamentals, teamwork, good sportsmanship, and FUN!

They finally got it sorted out and Andrew sauntered up to the ball on the T and smacked one down the third base line for a double. 

After the solid hit, I couldn't help yelling out "Way to go!  We are on our way to the College World Series!"

I have seen so many very talented kids give up a sport in high school that they used to love because the fun was gone.  Don't steal the f.u.n.!

On a lighter note, while at the club working on the flower beds by the pool.  Andrew caught at least eleven small frogs (about the size of dimes or smaller).  He carried them around all day in a huge plastic bear that used to hold animal crackers. 

One of the little ones bit the dust and he was devastated!  He came running up to me asking what was wrong.

I told him that the frog had passed away and was now in Heaven with God and Jesus.  He said, "But why is his body still here in my hand."  "Because God gives you a brand new body when you get to Heaven," I lovingly responded.  "Why don't you find a pretty flower and put him under it?" I suggested.  Tearfully, Andrew picked a flower and buried him underneath it.

Sweet boy.  Growing up and dealing with our world is so hard sometimes.

I'm just so thankful and humbled to have the love of God sent by the Holy Spirit to speak through me when I don't know what to say as a mom during those tough conversations.

Hansen Sunday Comics (on Monday)

And-a-one...And-a-two... It is time to have some silly fun with you!

Here are some of the crazy, bizarre and precious moments of late...

• Ryan has been a dumpster-bottomless pit-never full-devouring-everything-in-sight monster.  I was cooking dinner last night and he kept coming in whining, crying, stamping his little feet for "mooore cheesssse! moooore fishies!  mooooore crackers! PUHleez mommmmy!"  I walked away from the kitchen for two seconds and came back in to see the box of Goldfish slide off the counter and hear Ryan happily sing-song "Ryan got the fishies.  I did it! I did it!"  He whipped around the corner SO proud of himself until he saw me, and then turned on his little heels and bolted in a diapered-blur for the door.  He is growing so FAST right before our eyes!  Much too fast. 

• Andrew lost his second tooth yesterday!  He came over to show me how far his tooth could "stretch."  I asked him if I could wiggle it to see and he hesitantly let me.  Boy, was it loose!  He wouldn't let me touch it again, but with my encouragement he pulled it one time and POP!  It was out!  His little lisp with both bottom teeth out is just so stinkin' cute!

• It is now officially summer in the Hansen household.  We were invited over to our first pool party of the summer on Saturday.  We all had a blast, especially the boys being surrounded by other little boys and water.  We marked the start of summer by Mike and I both performing the daring race into the pool fully clothed to fish out the two-year old.  Who, by the way, just screamed "Ryan swim, Ryan swim!" as we pulled him up to safety.

• Is bigger better?  I live with three boys who say, "YES!"  Last night this was proven.  Andrew said "AWESOME, Dude!", Mike had a goofy grin and Ryan woke up and said "Wow-wee!"  And now I can see Kevin Durant's NOSE HAIR as I watch the Thunder on our new 55" TV.  Seriously.  (Go Thunder!)

• We are in the middle of potty training.  Nothing too serious, but just a little acknowledgement of his interest.  It is amazing how your memory fails you sometimes.  I truly can't remember the steps we took with Andrew.  I know every child is different, but sure would have helped to have something written down or memory of it left somewhere (like in my brain).  Call me crazy, but I am really not into reading all of the "how to" potty books.  It will happen when it happens. For now it is so cute watching Andrew encourage Ryan to use the "froggy" (training toilet).  Don't ask how it got that name...

• It's great and wonderful to have friends visit us from our last stomping grounds.  Until they teach your children things... like lines from movies.  I have a cute wipe-off weekly menu that my mother-in-law made me for Christmas.  On it is our weekly menu for this week. It served as inspiration for the lesson taught.  I walk into the living room where the boys were playing together and our family friend says "Ryan, what do you tell mom?"  Ryan (the two year-old) grins up at me and says "Mom, meatloaf!"  Nice!  This has now been repeated continuously over the last two days.  (Thank you Wedding Crashers, and thank you friend!)

Therapist Needed

Okay, so if you haven't noticed by now I'M worried because it appears I am having a major blog identity CRISIS!

I was thinking about changing the look of my blog's layout, but somehow (being the self-proclaimed novice I am) I did more than I intended to and now I am hopeless.

I don't know if this is a reflection of my life right now, but I am beginning to see some similarities!

For instance...

• I hear God speaking to me about some major changes and decisions I have been struggling with recently.  I mean, it has been LOUD and CLEAR. Which is what I have been asking Him for, but I just can't seem to obey.  He was even been talking to me through a co-worker and the lady who cut my hair last night, so what's the problem?  Why can't I take the leap of faith?  Do you ever find yourself in the middle of these struggles?  It seems like such an easy decision when you remove yourself from what you know you need to do.  I don't know if that made sense to you, but it hits me hard.

This is what I envision when I think of God sending me His powerful message and His loving grace.

• This is silly when compared to just pouring my heart out above, but we are about to need to purchase a new car for me, which = our main "family" vehicle.  I desperately want a Ford Flex, but realistically that might be out just out of our reach right now.  Just like I wanted to jazz up my blog and have failed at the current moment, I really would love to upgrade to a nice family vehicle that will meet some of the travel wants (I have) with a third seat in tow.

• Shopping.  Something that every, well most every, girl l.o.v.e.s.  But here's the thing, I don't know if it is because I keep being reminded that I am approaching 3.0. or if tastes just can change drastically overnight, but I am having a very hard time finding clothes that I like.  Which believe me - I have never had this problem before.  (It would be typical for Mike to groan about now since I just mentioned clothes.  I enjoy the same response when I mention our closet).  Here's the thing, I have not been one to pay full price for my clothes.  I walk into any store and immediately dart for the sale rack first.  But what I find is just not what my mind's eye has there waiting for me to uncover, love and take home.  So, like the look of my blog, I am having a hard time depicting just what my look is at this point in my life.  And maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with the fact that five days out of the week I am now wearing more "casual" wear instead of my normal work dress apparel.  Aha!

• Finding or reinventing the person you think that you were, are, want to be is hard work.  Giving it ALL to my Lord and Savior is the first step.

Lions, Tigers, Bears...Fur Real!

Today Andrew's class went to the Tiger Safari near Oklahoma City.  It was a wonderful adventure! 

Two buses of 4 and 5 year-olds, exotic animals so close you almost literally could reach out and touch them, and two bathrooms...need I say more! 

The "safari" started out with tortoise rides, a petting and educational talk session with several different animals, and a guided tour to see the other animals. 

They have some of the biggest, most majestic tigers I have ever seen.  However, I haven't seen tigers so up close and personal either.  They had kangaroos, llamas and a huge grizzly bear.  The kiddos were able to feed several of the animals, and Andrew's favorite moment was feeding the wart hog.  The wart hog - that's my son!

At the end of the guided tour, we went inside the educational center.  And there were more animals!

A huge iguana, an albino python, a joey (baby kangaroo), and a baby spider monkey were passed around to pet.  Shrieks and rolling laughter were a constant  The kids were going WILD!  It was a lot of fun!

We then ate lunch, and prepared for the hayride.  It was a short ride, but just right for the age group.

Once we left the Tiger Safari, we went over to the town we used to live in for Ryan's two year-old check up (finally!).  He received a clean bill of health and a shot (boo hoo!).  He was NOT a happy camper.

On our way home, we stopped at our favorite fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-a.  I decided to get just a sandwich, no fries, but added the yummy banana pudding milkshake.  I thought I was doing a good job by limiting the intake of fatty foods, subtracting one to have the other.

I actually have come up with a new weight loss tip, especially for those of you who are like me - sporting a sweet tooth and the will power of a robust kid in a candy store in Disneyland.

While driving down the highway on our way out of town, I picked up the shake for a scrumptious slurp.  And then dropped the cup in my lap along with half of the yummy goodness.  Stunned, shocked and COLD, I wasn't quite sure what to do (the effects of the cold!).  I finally realized I needed to pull over (HELLO! Genius!), and I made my way to the next exit and pulled off into a medical business park.

Not really sure what to do as I stared at the melting mess making its way around my posterior, so I decided to use the napkins (three total) I had to scoop up enough for me to get out of the car without a landslide of ice cream following me out.

I then climbed out of the car and began wiping myself off, realizing that this was not just ordinary ice cream but had small bits of cookie crumbs in it.  Nice.

Not only did it look like I had efficiently wet my pants, but also might have had another type of problem.

At this point I had not even thought of anyone seeing me wipe myself off...until I realized that there was a gentleman who seemed to be trying to figure out if I needed help or not.  Nice again.

I decided that I had cleaned it up enough and it was time to GO!

So this is my new weight loss strategy.  I don't necessarily like it, but it certainly cut my intake in half.  I could have had the fries!

Great ending to a very "I Love Lucy" day!

Hidden Food Treasure

I continue to try to find easy-peasy meals that are are high in yield (I am feeding three famished boys, after all), low in cost and still are considered yummy and nutritional.  My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I trade recipes back and forth all the time.  Especially if they meet at least three of the four criteria listed above!

I uncovered a jackpot of recipes containing several very yummy, cost efficient, nutritional and ample servings... have I mentioned that these are all the things I dearly love now-a-days in food preparation!?

I have done the necessary daughter and sister-in-law duties of fulfilling the trade quota, so now I will share them with you!

Meat/Veggie (Your Choice) & Cheese Calzone

2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 8oz deli meat, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
8 oz Swiss cheese, grated, divided
1 tbsp vegetable/olive oil, divided
2 pkg refrigerated pizza crust (13.8 oz each)
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 450F. Combine mayonnaise and mustard in bowl and mix well.  Cut broccoli into small florets; dice meat.  Combine broccoli, meat, onion and half of the Swiss cheese into mustard mixture; mix well.

Lightly brush large cookie sheet with 1 tsp of oil using basting brush.  Unroll one package of dough onto bottom of cookie sheet, gently stretching and pressing dough to cover bottom.  Sprinkle with remaining Swiss cheese to within 1 in. of edges; spoon meat mixture over cheese.  Unroll remaining dough directly over filling; matching edges of dough and shaping to fit as dough is unrolled.  Trim 1/2 in. off sides of dough.  Press edges to seal.  Brush remaining oil over dough.  Using knife, make 12 slits, in three rows of four each, into top crust.

Bake 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over calzone.  Return calzone to oven; bake 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is deep golden brown.  Yield: 8 servings

My boys LOVED it!

Here's another one that became a favorite in our home within 30 seconds of dishing it up - which is the time it took for Andrew to ask for seconds!  (By the way, this recipe has also received rave reviews from the mother-in-law - so you know it is a WINNER!)

Cheese Ravioli with Zest

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach leaves

6 oz Provolone cheese, grated

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

3 garlic cloves

2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes with onions, undrained

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1 pkg (24 oz) small frozen cheese ravioli

halved grape tomatoes (optional)

Add oil to 12 in. skillet, heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Add jalapeno to skillet; cook and stir 1 minute or until crisp-tender. Press garlic into skillet; cook and stir 15-20 seconds or until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, salt and black pepper to skillet; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until simmering. Add ravioli; stir to coat. Cook, uncovered, 4-5 minutes or until tender. Stir in cream. Cook, uncovered, 1-2 minutes or until simmering. Sprinkle spinach over ravioli; cook, covered, 1 minute or until spinach starts to wilt.

Remove skillet from heat. Top with cheese; cover skillet and let stand 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Garnish with grape tomatoes, if desired.  Yield: 8 servings

I hope you and your family enjoy these dishes as much as we have! 

I'm glad I uncovered that little recipe book!  I'm sure there will be more to come!

(Not to brag on myself...but I am pretty impressed with my camera skills in capturing these two bon appetit dishes!  Sadly, they turned out so good only because I stumbled on to the "food" setting on our camera.  We have only had it for about two years now, and yes, I had NO idea it could do such marvelous things!)

Catching Up...

This certainly has been the longest blog hiatus that I have had since its creation.  I don't want to drift away from updating everyone who used to be in our lives daily before we moved.  It is my one sound way to feel like I am staying connected in between the phone calls and visits that seem much too brief and too far apart!

So here is what has been happening over the last couple of months.  I will warn you - it is a LOT (good grief, it has been TWO months, really!):

• The biggest news of the past two months is... we have a Toothless Wonder in our midst!  Andrew lost his first tooth on Sunday night (March 18th).  He and Mike had been wiggling and rocking that tooth back and forth and back and forth ALL weekend trying to get the little sucker to come out.  Mike was determined to make this momentous occasion happen before the boys and I left town to visit his parents for spring break.  So finally, after much wriggling and pulling, Andrew said he wanted to take over.  He began wiggling and with eyes wide said, "I can twist it!"  Mike and I said "Go for it!"  He kept twisting and on the fourth twist and eyes even wider Andrew was holding his tooth in his hand grinning, laughing and shrieking! 

Golly!  Doesn't he look SO old! (My heart is breaking! Boohoo!)

• During our great stay outside of Branson with Mike's parents, we were able to just relax and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa H.  We had a great time playing with cars and the super-duper snake track that used to be Mike's, getting beat by Andrew playing the game "Trouble" and checking on the dock as the lake kept rising and rising over the week.  On Thursday we ventured out and headed to Silver Dollar City.  I LOVE this place! It holds so many wonderful family vacation memories for me and I am so fortunate to have gracious in-laws who love treating us to a day there.  We had a great time even though the afternoon was cut short by more rain.  However, it did make me sad to know how fast my first baby boy is growing!  Andrew was measured for a wrist band to ride the "big" rides... and there is only ONE ride in the entire park he can't ride because of his height!!! 

It is so much fun riding with Grandma H.!

• I finally have all the trim painted white in our playroom!  It took 3 ridiculous coats of paint, but it is now time to move on to painting the walls and getting everything back in order.  I am embarrassed to show you this picture, but it is the reality of the progress at this point.  We'll get there... I have to keep reminding myself that the real fun will begin once I start working on the finishing touches!

(A MUCH bigger update is coming on the playroom... I mean, it's been two months since a real post here, friends!  You don't think that I have been sitting around eating bon-bons and folding laundry, do ya?  ...especially not the folding laundry part!)

• We have acquired several new pets on the transition to D-town!  A new doggie named Zoe (she was with us before the official move), a half-dollar sized turtle that Mike found on the golf course named Bob (or Bobbie for short, as Andrew reminds us!), and another loving addition...

By the way, this is not my doing (although I wish I had thought of this before)! 

I told Andrew to go lay down for a "rest" and then couldn't find him until... behold!

•  Easter was great fun this year.  We went to church and then had my parents, sisters, brother-in-law, a family friend who has not missed an Easter with us in seven years, and more family friends when lunch was over and games were gearing up!  A good ol-fashion Easter egg hunt, the indoor kind since it had been raining off and on, was the highlight of the afternoon.

Whew! Finally - this is posted after almost another month of hiatus! 

With a handful of love (and patience),

Melody