OK, so this morning I am awakened in the wee hours of the morning by the very unfortuante and all-too-familiar sound of our cat hocking up his breakfast on the floor right by the bed.  I know.  Nice.  Jim and I dream of the day when poop and barf and all other related grossness are no longer part of our daily list of tasks to clean up.  Admittedly, when we decided to be parents yet again at the ages of 40 and 42 we were certainly asking for it, but we have also had the worst luck with our pets being naughty.  On Saturday we finally put the recliner out in the garage that is listing to one side and also smells permanently like a well-used fire hydrant because of our little pug that I finally gave to an older couple that could pamper him the way he required.  I think we would be wealthy if we could have all the money back we have spent on pets and the messes and havoc they have wreaked on our homes (and psyches).  Oh, well - we are on the downward slope.  Mason will be potty-trained soon (fingers crossed), the cat is house-trained, just has your occasional gastrointestinal upset, and the current dog is decent now that we have removed all traces of the stupid pug from the house.  After these animals have gone the way of all the earth we have vowed to never have pets again.  Ever. 

Also, the other day I talked about high heel shoes that I have been saving for the day when I can wear them because there is no snow on the ground.  I had to take pictures of two of them because they make me so happy:  Enjoy!!!  The colored ones I saw on the shelf at the thrift store and I couldn't resist - are they hot or what?!  The boot thingies I got for 75% off at DSW.  Love.That.Store.  Oh....and there is a cute pic of Mason on the day he wouldn't take a nap, this is after he fell asleep on Preston's lap, we just laid him on the chair after Preston got tired of heavy baby on his lap! 
AND....the big news that we've had for a week now is that our big boy is going on his mission to Villahermosa Mexico!!!  I can't believe he is old enough to be going on a mission!!!  This is a boy who spent three years in Puerto Rico and can't say Hola correctly.  Jim and I were both hoping fervently that he would be called to a Spanish-speaking mission, just so we could at last have the satisfaction of hearing him speak fluent Spanish!!!  I love that kid - that's all.  And I love that he gets this opportunity to serve - sigh.....did I mention that I loved that kid???  

Spring has sprung........maybe?????

Today it is supposed to reach 50 degrees.  Really.  This may not seem like a big deal to you all out there is mild weather land, but to me, here in the frozen hell (yes, I said it) of Minnesota, this is like Christmas, birthday, and Valentine's Day all wrapped up in one.  I can finally look forward to all the many things that I have been deprived of the last six months, and in honor of the string of 50 degree days that are forecast for this week, I have made a list of things that I am glad to say good-bye to, and things I can't wait to say hello to.  Here goes:
Hello to the ostentatious brick pillars at the end of the driveway that have been completely covered with 6 feet of snow all winter.  Jim is going to remove both of you as soon as you emerge completely from your wintery tomb.
Good-bye to having my constant companion, the space heater with me as I shiver in the computer room each day and work on my homework and assignments - I don't have to take it up to Mason's room each night so he doesn't freeze to death in the night, but is kept warm by our blessed little space heater that undoubtedly saved both our lives this winter. 
Hello to all my wonderful open-toed high heels that I get to wear to church now.  Every time I went to the thrift store I bought a more outrageous spiked pair than before, just in the anticipation of not having to wear a fur-lined monstrosity on my feet everywhere I go (actually I have some pretty cute boots, but I digress). 
Good-bye huge puffy slipper socks that haven't left my feet in six months.  I have worn holes in 4 pairs of them this winter, as I said, they don't leave my feet.
Hello to daylight after 4:30 pm.  What a miracle.  Eating dinner in the daylight!!!
Good-bye to my beloved BFF.......my electric blanket.  We have the one where there are controls for both sides, Jim didn't even turn his on this winter, he is part-Eskimo, part abominable snowman.  Also, the heat emanating from my side was enough to keep the entire room warm.  Oh blanky, I love you.
Hello to long walks on the path to the lake, my favorite pasttime in the summer - those three short months when there isn't snow on the ground.
Good-bye to dripping wet snow pants, gloves, mittens, hats and boots leaving trails and puddles to wipe up and slip on.  You are all going into storage where I won't have to acknowledge your existence for a while at least. 
Hello to taking the kids down to the lake, walking to down to Dairy Delite for an ice cream cone, and playing frisbee outside with the kids.
Hello to barbecuing, garage-saling, cute summer baby clothes for Mason, sandals, short sleeves, sprinklers on the trampoline, and mowing the lawn, oh how I love the smell of fresh-cut grass.
Hello to fresh produce and flowers from the farmers market (that I can walk to every Saturday morning with Jim), hanging out with the kids during the day, going to matinee movies, and fireworks on the 4th of July.
Hello to fireflies, crickets chirping, birds singing (not a lot of that when it is 20 below zero), and our cat being able to go outside instead of stare forlornly out at the snow piled outside the back door.
Good-bye a million times over to driving on icy roads, shivering in the van while I wait for the heater to warm up after driving for 20 minutes, and slipping and sliding and getting stuck in the snow.  (yeah, I drove us out of the snowbank after Jim failed, I have skills).
Hello to pedicures and red toenails- aaaahhhhh.....
Good-bye to frostbite after forgetting to take my gloves to school and nearly losing digits on the 15 minute walk to class from the parking lot in nosebleed territory.
Good-bye to having numb toes ALL DAY LONG.  They NEVER get warm.  What is that???
Good-bye to standing like two inches in front of the fireplace to get warm at several intervals throughout the day.
Good-bye to snuggling with Karly in the electric blanket while we watch a chick flick movie in my room.
Good-bye to warm soup or stew at least 5 times a week.
And finally.....hello to open windows, cool breezes, sandy toes and sandals, sunscreen, fishing poles and bathing suits, the smell of chlorine, sunglasses, the zoo, and a very warm car to get into . . . . aaaaaahh.  I can hardly wait. 

Catch-up time

The girls shoveling after a Christmas snowstorm

 It has been quite a while since I posted, so I thought I would put up a few Christmas pics and also Mason's birthday pictures as well.  The holidays started off so wonderful when DJ surprised us by coming home the day before Thanksgiving after telling us he wouldn't make it till a week after.  What a wonderful surprise!  We had the best Thanksgiving, we invited a couple of families over from the ward and enjoyed a full house, complete with tables and chairs borrowed from the church.  That is how I figure we've really made it into "real" family territory - when we've had to borrow tables and chairs from the church to accommodate everyone in the house.  We enjoyed having DJ home for all of December as well.  He was my right-hand man, shopping buddy, baby-hauler and all around good company during the day (after he would roll out of bed, that is).


Preston and Mason and a random child at the sledding hill

  The party really started when Kasey came home.  I had a wonderful time cooking meals for everyone (is that weird?), we went to lots of good holiday movies, (my faves were Tangled and Harry Potter), and did lots of shopping.  Does it get any better?? 
We celebrated New Years' Day by taking the kids to a really nice restaurant as final good-bye to the big kids.  It was so fun - the kids had a great time ordering from such a nice menu, and even Mason behaved fairly well.  We will make it a New Years' tradition, once a year is good for a place that expensive!!  (But, oh, so worth it!).  School started for everyone soon after, and


Getting ready to open Christmas Eve pj's

 DJ seems to have settled into his life at Utah State well.  Basic Training was good practice for succeeding at school.  He is preparing to send in his mission papers - hopefully we will have him at home for a month or two before he heads off for his mission this summer.  Kasey headed back to continue at BYU, she is plugging away at her Elementary Ed degree - she and I will actually be done at the same time - May of 2012.  As far as family time went, it was right up there this December with the kids - I can't wait to get us all together again. 


Aren't we lovely in our matchy-matchies?




What a good-looking group of young men




He was ready for bed before any of us




Putting together the Chrismas Lego set




Wearing big brother's cool military hat




Happy Birthday to You!!  (3)




Birthdays are happy - especially when they fall on Chinese New Year!




The coolest race track ever!



Halloween, graduation, birthday and other fun stuff

What a handsome soldier, don't you think.  It is weird to see Mr. Happy looking so somber, but there you have it!



Seeing the sights at Ft. Benning.  Jim said that DJ automatically went to the "at ease" postion any time they were standing still.  Too funny!




playing in the leaves with apple juice for sustenance




Happy birthday number 12!!  He is now a deacon and is happy to have particpated in his last Primary program!! (which was the week before his birthday)




He actually asked for those books - we will have a reader after all!!




Mason was chowing down on the birthday cake like crazy, it was so funny, he's never done that before.




pumpkin carving time!!




A lizard and three power puff girls at trunk or treat!!





looking at the "fishies" is his favorite thing to do

 In other news, we finally got our basement back - YEAH!!!!  Preston was not sad to give up the couch, but we are keeping the fish tank upstairs because Mason has so much fun just staring at it.  We are so excited for DJ to come home on December 3rd, though that means he can't camp out on Black Friday at Best Buy.  sigh. . .   Karly will have to do it.  It actually snowed here the other day, though it didn't stick thank heaven.  How long before we can move to somewhere warm??????  Soon???   

Happy Shriners'!!

Yesterday Jim and I took baby Mason to Shriners' to begin his orthopedic care there.  It was a great visit.  Traffic and construction made me 45 minutes late so I was totally stressed by the time I got there.  I think Jim has recovered from me screaming at him on the phone that I didn't know where the #@% I was after construction had sent me on yet another detour.  Oh well, he understood.  So, the doctor said that Mason is improving so very much on his own that further interventions are questionable at best.  It was really fun running up and down the hall with a diaper-clad Mason to show off his abilities to the doctor.  We decided in the end with a device that will keep his left foot from flexing so that he is required to utilize the bend in his knee more.  That's it.  No surgery or casting!!  He will never have a compete range of motion in his knee, but the doc said that the structure of his knee probably makes that impossible, and that all the extreme interventions like surgery will have negligible results.  I don't have to put those awful orthotics on him ever again!!  Good-bye leg brace!!  Shriners' is such a cool place - so kid-friendly, and organized, I'm so glad I heard about them. 

Jim went and watched our big boy graduate from basic training.  It was really cool, and DJ is so happy to be done with it, though he actually really liked it.  (Who likes basic training????)  He's now at Ft. Leonard Wood until December, he can call and Skype now so we can talk to him every day.  He is definitely on the path to adulthood, he bought his very own laptop the other day! 
We have been following the story of the miners' in Chile and I watched highlights of the men as they emerged from the rescue pod.  How cool was that??  One guy quietly knelt down in prayer after he emerged, there with millions watching he gave thanks.  What an amazing example of gratitude!  You would have to have a heart of stone to not be a mess as these guys emerged to their families, with their kids and wives crying and hugging them.  Gosh, it was cool.  Preston finished his season of football, and Jim has proclaimed that we have another softie who can't hit hard in a tackle.  I can't help it if we raise sensitive sweetie boys!!  Jim still has hope that Preston will get in touch with his inner beast, time will tell!!  I guess there is always interpretive dance. . . . . . .             

Time surely flies!

There really is never a boring moment around here - well, during the day when it's really quiet maybe sometimes.  Nevertheless, we have had a few momentous happenings lately.  Last week I went downstairs to get a toy for Mason and stepped ankle deep into soggy carpet.  It was everywhere!  The rain that had poured non-stop for the previous week had overwhelmed our sump pump and unbeknownst to us, the motor had burned out.  As a result water was pouring into our basement through the pump for a few hours before we realized.  It's a good thing Mason wanted to play with the choo-choo that was downstairs!  We knew it was beyond our capabilitie to manage so Jim called a Flood Restoration company and they came to our rescue.  We also called a plumber.  The Flood guys came and were in our house until 4 am pumping out water and pulling up the carpet to try and dry it out with big fans.  The basement looked very interesting with all the big humps of carpet with huge industrial fans underneath them blowing them dry. The water hadn't been there long enough to ruin anything but the carpet and most of the baseboards, it hadn't started seeping into the drywall yet - yeah!  (I think).  Our insurance has a sump pump rider.  Heave a big sigh of relief here.  Jim ascertained this at approximately 2 am on the morning of the flood when he was checking over our policy to see if we were covered.  A silent prayer of gratitude went forth for the little rider that will cover this big old mess!!  The plumber came the next morning and installed a new sump pump.  I have learned more about sump pumps the last week then I ever thought I would, or would want to if we're being honest. 
     So, the silly little dance studio that was in one corner of the basement will have all the warped hardwood pulled up and the wall of mirrors removed and we will put carpet there with all the other new carpet being put down.  Now we will have two bedrooms down there - yeah!!  Poor Preston is sleeping on the couch upstairs, showering in Karly's bathroom, brushing his teeth in the kitchen and getting his clothes out of the garage, where all the contents of his bedroom currently reside.  Just two short weeks and we will be good as new.  The Flood guy even brought me a donut today, he has my heart forever. 
     In other news, Mason got accepted for treatment at Shriners' Hospital!!!  The treament there is free and they deal only with orthopedic issues and burns for children under the age of 18.  We are so happy and blessed.  We love Gillette Children's, but even with our deductible, the expenses were substantial.  He has his first appt next week.  I'm so glad a friend of mine told me about Shriners', I researched them and they give top-notch care, the best!!  The application process was simple, and we heard back within a few weeks.  Honestly, after applying to adopt a baby from China, no application or paperwork will ever intimidate me.  Really.  He continues to do so well, his progress is amazing.  Once his knee bends and he has that increased mobility, it will be fun to watch him progress. 
     Mason's transition to daycare has gone well, though he still cries when I drop him off.  I still feel very good about that decision, though the requisite guilt is still lingering.  He has learned to do so much more by himself, as Marilyn (the daycare provider) pointed out, I did everything for him.  I didn't really realize it, but I did.  He now is so much more independent, eats so much better, sleeps better, and is more obedient.  Who knew?  I slave away at the computer all day while he is there, and I try not to touch schoolwork after I pick him up.  I am getting more used to my days, though it was certainly a huge adjustment for me.  I still go to bed every night feeling like I've been hit by a truck. How can doing schoolwork make someone so tired???  I still get a little scared each morning that I won't be up to the challenge and the my professors will e-mail me that I am too stupid to be in the program, but so far that hasn't happened.  I drive up to the University about once a week, and enjoy the face-to-face time with other students and the professors.  I hope I make it through this program.  21 months to go!!!
     Jim left today to go to DJ's graduation from basic training.  My heart is aching at not being able to be there.  He also took my camera which is why this post has no pictures!  There was no way I could leave - with a two-year-old and lots of schoolwork it just wasn't possible.  Jim promised to take lots of pictures and to give him lots of hugs from me.  I miss that kid.  I'm glad that he is making grown-up decisions and is becoming an adult, but there sure is a empty spot in the house without him.  After graduation he is off to Ft. Leonard Wood and specialty training until December first.  I can't wait!  He will be home until school starts at Utah State in January.  There will finally be someone to eat all the food that I am used to cooking.  With Jim's diet and everyone's busy schedules, the meals that I cook never get eaten anymore!  I suppose I should be glad that I don't have to cook as much. 
     That is a sum-up of the latest at the Hansens'.  General Conference was great, as was the RS General Broadcast.  I am so grateful for a prophet to give us counsel - we are so blessed!      

Back in the saddle!

What a week we've all had here!  I just have got to give a shout-out to my honey, he has lost a total of 40 lbs in the last couple of months!  Amazing.  Once he made up his mind there was no turning back.  Some very ugly cholesterol numbers, plus my insistence that he live for a few more decades at least, must have helped make up his mind.  I've given him my best years, now he has to stick around for the slow descent into decrepitude.  I'll do the same for him!!  Here is a recent picture of him with the chili-cook-off hat he won at church.  That was a proud moment, he actually made up the recipe and cooked it from scratch.  I also figured out how to make pictures turn the correct way when I load them from the camera.  I amaze myself sometimes.  Is there a cuter 45-yr-old anywhere? 

     OK, speaking of age, I am the oldest by far of anyone in the OT program.  Way.  I'd say the average age is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25, maybe 27.  So, mostly 20 somethings, a few 30's, and . . . .you guessed it.  Me.  Do I admit I also have 5 kids?  Actually I already did, and got the requisite oohs and aahs, but everyone was nice.  I have never actually been the oldest person before.  I don't like it.  So, for you all to judge, does this look like someone that is the oldest person in her class - by far?   I know.  The answer is yes.  Though I do take comfort in the fact that I used to not be old.  Really.    There is also comfort in the thought that this first semester there is a lot of writing to do, we read lots of articles and other stuff, and then write in many different formats.  This is right up my alley, and I also have a lot of life experience to draw from when I have to analyze all this info.  I don't know what these young whippersnappers are writing about, but at least I have a small advantage that way!  I also need a whole bunch of immunizations to be in a health professions program, and my answer to that was when I was a kid we all lined up in the cafeteria from time to time and got shots from a cool little shot gun. . . . with the same needle.  Since that didn't seem to hold water for the admissions people, I had to go to the doctor and be a human pincushion.  Ouch!!  I still have two more visits to be current on my shots.  Who knew?

     My little caboose is still rather ticked off at the whole daycare situation.  It turns out he's used to getting his way all the time, and getting waited on hand and foot.  This doesn't work so well at daycare.  In my defense, here is a picture.  You tell me if you could resist spoiling this little bug rotten.  Right.  Didn't think so.  This is his smile face - we can't get him to do anything else.  He has pretty much resigned himself to being one of the daycare crew, and Marilyn says he is just fine after I leave, though he is still miffed on a daily basis when Marilyn tells him no or to do something himself.  Life is tough little guy, real tough. 

     Our big National Guard boy was attacked by wasps the other day and was sent to the hospital.  It turns out he's allergic!!  A shot of Benadryl and a nap and he was out shooting some gun or other after just a couple of hours.  I think he's getting a lot of mileage out of the story, everyone we talk to seems to have already heard about it.  He got phone privileges on Sunday for a couple of hours, so he was able to really get the word out!  He will be home for Thanksgiving!!!!  Yeah!!!  It was going to be a small group, but just feeding DJ will make it seem more like Thanksgiving. 
     I've got my first full day of classes on-campus tomorrow - eek!  We go up a few times each month for a long day of classes, and the rest is online.  The class time will be fun, it is kind of lonely sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours a day.  So, I am off to gather my stuff, and then hit the rack!!