Fun Times!

We had a good time this year over Christmas! Ben had a few days off, and we enjoyed just being together and doing....whatever! Riley broke out with a rash at 4:30 am on December 24th, but I got him into the doctor later that morning and found out it wasn't chicken pox but rather a viral exanthema...not too contagious but still itchy. Wierd! But we were still able to have fun over the next few days with eachother and friends and family. Hope everyone else had fun too! And not too much stress :) My Dad and I. He was trying to make friends with this crazy horse who had been bucking at us when we first came to the farm. Looks like they are new buddies!

Ben, Darci, and Riley on the four wheeler pulling Ben and Sam on the sleds. Riley liked being on the fourwheeler watching Ben and Sam struggle to stay on the sleds and try to avoid the big weeds we would pull them through for the fun of it! My brother Ben actually got a bloody nose...all part of the fun :)

Family picture on Roger's four wheeler. Someday we will have our own, but where would we put it right now??? We have no room!

Riley got a new room! We moved him into the bigger room since we will be needing the baby room for the baby. His new room is Disney Cars themed. I couldn't get the whole room in the picture, but you get the idea. So far he is doing okay in it, but we are working on getting him to spend the WHOLE night in his new bed, not just the first half, after which he ends up in our room sleeping on the floor. I wouldn't mind so much except when he's dreaming he whines and kicks the floor really hard with his feet (like a tantrum) so this obviously interferes with my sleep! So I usually go into HIS room and sleep the rest of the night on his bed.

This kid LOVES four wheelers. I guess most kids probably do, but he just feels like such a MAN when he is on a four wheeler! We would like to get him his own little one someday soon when we have more space.

Our best Christmas present of all! Of course he just HAD to climb in this box.

We had a really fun Christmas together. Riley's really gotten excited about Christmas this year. He's loved having the tree with the lights, making treats, giving away treats, and eating treats. He loves seeing Christmas lights everywhere, the snow, the whole deal. So it has been really fun watching him enjoy the season. His favorite Christmas present from Santa (why does this guy always get all the credit???) was a big black remote control truck. I honestly think this is just as much for Ben as for Riley, but hey it's something they both love!

CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR

In the past, I have spent the month of December looking forward to (and stressing about) Christmas day. But this year, it feels different for me. Instead of focusing so much on what will take place on that one day, I am really just enjoying the season. It has been my goal this year to simplify Christmas in order to be able to relax and enjoy it. So it has been so nice this year. I think everyone realizes that most people are trying to scale it back this year with the money spending, and so the gift expectations for extended family has been very reduced. For example with the Cook family, instead of Ben, Riley and I each giving to someone, we just give something to one of the families and the price limit is $20. Similar cut backs are happening with the extended Hansen family, and I LOVE it! Not just because we are spending so much less...but it has made things so much more simple and I feel like it's taken the focus off who's getting what, and making sure we spend enough, etc. It's like a burden has been lifted, enabling us to enjoy the spirit of the season more. I hope this new "tradition" of keeping it simple can continue year after year so that we all can relax and enjoy just being together more.

After Thanksgiving, Ben and Riley were able to go with some family up to the Cook cabin to help get some Christmas trees. Riley LOVES going up on the mountain, and Ben even found a little tree for Riley which we decorated and put in his room. We didn't get a big tree for us because we have a fake tree which I love and won't part with even though Ben calls me a meanie every year and sais I'm infringing on his childhood memories of getting a live tree every year. Oh well, it's a small price for him to pay since he gets me for a wife!

And true to the words of my poem in the previous post...we have a little nose picker on our hands. The Ultrasonographer got a kick out of it, and snapped a picture for us. We are so proud of our little girl for this talent she is developing. She already takes after her big brother, who is an excellent nose picker :)

HIP HIP HOORAY! A LITTLE GIRL IS ON HER WAY!

LAST YEAR FOR HALLOWEEN RILEY WAS OUR BEAUTY QUEEN.

NOW WE'LL HAVE A GIRL FOR REAL, TO US THIS IS A REAL BIG DEAL!

WE SAW HER ON THE ULTRASOUND...SHE PICKED HER NOSE AND KICKED AROUND.

SO NOW I'VE GOT SOME SHOPPING TO DO....BECAUSE LET'S FACE IT-BLUE WON'T DO!

Talented Ben

This is not an advertisement! But I do have to show off some of the beautiful things that Ben has built for us. Probably the biggest and best project was this beautiful door which will go in our house someday. It's so big and pretty, and it even sounds great when you knock on it! The sidelights are opaque so they are very private which was important to us.

His most recent project is Riley's new bed. He isn't sleeping in it yet, but for Christmas we plan on surprising him with a Disney Cars theme bedroom, and then we'll slowly make the switch over from the "baby" room to the big boy room. This bed is something we will have for a very long time! It's nice and sturdy, not to mention great looking.

He built this to fit in the corner of our bedroom, which is the best place for the T.V. I love this piece of furniture!

He made this frame for me one Christmas. I love the picture and wanted a nice frame for it, and walla! He made it!

These are some slanted frood storage shelves (the cans roll). It has been a nice addition to our pantry to help keep things organized. As you can see on the top shelve, we are almost out of spaghettios. Riley's likes them...probably because they are SO nutritious :)

This is Riley's toybox. He got this two years ago for Christmas, and it has been the perfect size. We realized once he wasn't a baby that he was accumulating more toys (and bigger toys) and we needed something good sized, but we wanted something that looked nice and could maybe be used someday for a storage chest.

In addition to all of these things, Ben has also built shelves for our laundry room, a huge flower box in front of our house, two big flower boxes in our backyard, a sandbox, and probably other things I am forgetting. When he builds something for us, it is always beautiful and sturdy! I'm so proud of him and this wonderful talent he has developed.