I'm GETTNG MARRIED!

Marc and I are getting married in 2010! We couldn't be happier to have found each other and both believe all of our lives (us and our FIVE kids) will be more fun, more fulfilling, and happier together. We don't have a date and we do have a lot of work in front of us, but we are excited to get the ball rolling -sooner rather than later as Marc says. Willow adores Marc. Adores him. Here they are toasting - Willow has no idea that any of this is happening, but she was thrilled to have an opportunity to drink a limitless supply of bubbly grape juice in a fancy glass:

I told Lily in a sweet, quiet moment in the early morning in front of the Christmas tree: "Marc and I decided to get married." Long pause. "How do you feel about that, Lily?" "Good, but there's only one problem: our house is not big enough for 5 kids."

After I explained that we'll sell both our houses and get a bigger house, she said that she'll miss Marc when he goes to Hawaii. When I asked why she thinks he'll go to Hawaii, she said "Every man goes to Hawaii after they get married, don't they??"

Since I told her about our plan, she is more affectionate and connected to him than ever. About 2 hours later, she wanted to call him. When he answered she said "I'm glad you and my mom are getting married, Marc."

Here is the toast between Lily and Marc:

At 39 years old (and previously married), I wouldn't consider changing my name... if it weren't for the girls. They already have to deal with "Is that your real mom?" and "Is that your real sister?" constantly. We are all going to be a family, and I don't want to add on a life time of "How come your dad has a different last name than you?" and "Who is your real dad?" etc. It's so much more grounding for them if we are all Hansons. Here is the newest part of the Hanson clan-to-be:

December

These girls are so excited for Christmas! Lily has been asking me how many more days since Thanksgiving. She asked Santa for a Nintendo DS, a Cookin' Mama game, candy, and a white bunny with a blue bow tie. I have NO idea where she got the bunny idea, but Santa hasn't had much luck finding one yet. Dang.


We went to Eastman Nature Center for a walk in the woods, crafts and snacks with Santa. Willow did end up sitting with Santa (when he gave out candy), but Grammy had technical difficulties at that point, so there are no photos. Grammy was going to arrive during the class and take them home with her so I'd have the afternoon to do Christmas shopping. She showed up right as the class was starting! I had no problem leaving early and got a bunch of errands done. All these pictures are thanks to Grammy. Thanks, Gram!

The bear was part of a school assignment: each Kindergartener takes the bear home for one weekend and then writes a journal entry about their time together with photos included. He made it to the Holidazzle parade, the Nature Center, and to the over-night at Grammy and Papa's house that weekend.

This is one of my all-time favorite Christmas shots:

Lily bundled up at the Holidazzle parade:

It's hard to believe this is the same child who had 30+ fits a day when I first met her. She is happy and silly and bright almost all the time. When she's mad, she's REALLY really mad, but when she's happy - she's joyful:

Willow has named her American Girl doll (from grammy) Fan. That's right: Fan. I asked her one day what the doll's name was. She blinked in thought, looked at the doll, looked back at me and said "Fan".

One night when I got to her room (after bed time stories and prayers on the couch) she had her PAPER gingerbread man in bed with her. I said "You're not going to sleep with a stuffed animal or a doll tonight?" She patted her little craft from Di's house (daycare) and said "no". I said "You're going to sleep with a piece of paper?" She said "Yes". So I kissed her good night and she said "Night night, mom. Night night ginger man." His little head was on her pillow and he was under the covers just like her. WEIRD!!!

That same "ginger man" had an incident on our couch recently: As I was reading bedtime stories, Willow (as usual) got up off the couch and went into her room. I kept reading to Lily, ignoring Willow's inabililty to sit still as long. She came out of her room with "gingerman" and climbed up on the couch with him. She bent his little legs like he was sitting on the couch between her knees, patted my arm, and said "Boo boo biaper, mom". That's how she tells me her diaper is in need of a change. So, this gingerman was going to the bathroom on my couch! Lily and I laughed 'til her eyes were watering. Willow was all business. She just kept saying "boo boo biaper", I kept telling her to get his stinky butt off my couch, and Lily kept cracking up.

We always have our Santa pictures taken at Portraits of the Heart in Andover. I love that we get an appointment (instead of waiting in a line), Santa sneaks in the photo while the camera ladies make the girls smile (instead of terrified kids forced to sit on the stranger's lap). Plus - it's not much more expensive that the mall shots. I love how Lily is her typical poised self and Willow is bursting out of her skin with JOY:

Before we left they asked the girls if they wanted to visit with Santa. Lily did; Willow didn't. Lily sat on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. I have to admit that I put Willow on his lap for ONE SECOND in case I could get a cute photo (which I did NOT), and she screamed for about 5 seconds. As we got in our car leaving the studio, Lily and I waved saying "Bye, Santa. We love you!" Willow said "Willow no love you, Santa. Only Lily."!

Wrapping up November

Beam bought the girls matching outfits recently - they love matching each other!
We shared part of our Thanksgiving with Marc, Ben, Sam and Megan at Grandma King's house. At one point Willow fell and got a little goose egg on her forehead (between her eyes). She reached out of my arms for SAM! He cuddled up with her and read a book for about 1/2 an hour - 'til she forgot about her sorrows. No wonder she adores him.

They just play and play constantly - they are seriously kindred spirits!

Willow shared her myPod with Papa.

One night after dinner at Marc's house, Ben and Megan each put a little girl on their back and ran around the house. Lily would holler "SWITCH" after a while and they'd switch backs and start all over again. By the time it was done, they were all 4 hot, sweaty, and giggly.

Here are some new dance moves:

October Update

We didn't visit an apple orchard this year. Marc has an apple tree in his backyard, so we picked there and then Sam set up the peeler/corer/slicer. Marc made the best apple pie with our harvest!

Willow's been using the potty! She still need diapers, but they're very often dry at the end of the day. YIPEEE!

Lily loves Marc! We walked over to the park near his house many times this fall.

Marc's boys had homecoming this fall and we got to take pictures the night before the dance. Lily and Willow were totally impressed watching teenagers get all fancy!

Willow loves Marc too. When he walks in the door of our house, they run to him wrapping their arms (and often legs) around his legs screaming "MARRRRRRRRR!" They are sad whenever he's not included in our business. He adores them too:

We carved pumkins - the girls had a blast. It is not my favorite thing. It takes all my strength to sit back and let them dig and make that gigantic mess.

We had an Early Childhood class with a halloween theme. Lily's been going to these classes since she was 18 months. This was Willow's second class. The first time she was nervous and quiet - she didn't really want to do any of the activities. This time she painted, colored, and played in the kitchen area. I'm not sure if it was because Lily was along this time or because she was familiar with it. Either way, she had a blast.

Willow did not like her Elmo costume at first and the fact that she ended up wearing it was an incredible accomplishment! I got it out in mid-October, hoping she'd play with it and get used to it. Instead, every time I offered to put it on her she'd holler "NO ELMO!" Lily wore her princess dress a lot this month to try to help. Nothing worked. I told Willow she'd get candy if she wore it and said "Trick or Treat".
She put it one twice halloween night, both times she ended up screaming/crying and ripping it off her body. Finally, when all the cousins were getting ready to trick or treat, she put it on and loved it.

Lily, Willow, Grace (Cruella Deville) and Tate (Mr. T)

When Willow realized she really did get candy when she said "Trick or Treat" she loved halloween. She said it, got candy and said "Thank you" every time. It was adorable! We lasted about an hour before I headed back to Jen and Ross' with Willow. She was a sweaty mess under that costume!Lily loved her costume, but she wanted it shortened (as if it were a bridesmaid dress that we were going to get altered). She lasted trick or treating with Tate and yaya for nearly 2 hours! Willow wanted to eat all her candy. I gave her a limit and after she reached it, she picked up every, single piece and said "Tomorrow mom?" and I'd repeat "Tomorrow, Willow". When she found a Rolo that she REALLY wanted, she cried and begged and wouldn't accept "tomorrow." After about 15 minutes of crying and begging she held it right up to her face next to me and said "Elmo on, mom?" hoping the deal still stood: If I wear Elmo I can eat candy. I let her have it - that kind of creative desperation deserves a reward, right?


And Lily just sorted her candy. She opened 3 pieces, tasted them and then threw them in the garbage. She's a dentists dream!

October Update

I am disappointed to report that I only have 2 pictures to post. My only excuse is that September is always hard on a teacher (and a kindergartener). We are all adjusted now, though, and I expect to pick up the pace with "events" and more photo opportunities now that we're used to day care, school, and work.

Willow adores grammy. She cheers when we mention her name and runs to her arms when we see her. Willow has been going potty on the toilet for a week now! At first I'd ask her if she wanted to call someone to tell them, and she rotated evenly between wanting to call Yaya, grammy, papa, and Marc ("MAAAAARRRRR!"). Now I just give her an M&M and she's satisified. She loves going to day care and cheers when we mention Di's name too. She is incredibly happy most of the time. She's got a hot temper, but is generally silly, playful, and smiley. She goes willingly to the nursery at church each week too - she's not the least bit afraid of being left witha roomful of toys and other kids (like her big sister always was).


Here grammy is reading out on my deck: Lily loves kindergarten. She loves the "homework" and her friends and her teacher. Her favorite part of the day, I'm sorry to report, is Kidstop. It's the school-based day care program. She gets to eat breakfast in the cafeteria, go to the computer lab, make art projects, watch movies, play outside, and play games/toys in the classroom. She absolutely loves it there! On Saturday when she got up, Lily asked me if she got hot lunch or cold lunch that day (she BEGS for hot lunch every day). I told her we were staying home together and she was devastated. She just loves going to school!

OK - here's to a photo filled October!

First week of Kindergarten

Lily LOVES kindergarten! On Labor Day, she had some jitters, which nearly put me into crisis mode. All along she's been excited, so I've been looking forward to the big day. When she started crying because she worried some kids might be mean to her, I wondered if it was too late to open enroll her to my school (the night before the first day).





Here she is talking to grammy the night before her first day:





Marc offered to join us and took lots of pictures. I was incredibly thankful to have him there, because I think it changed the dynamic enough to help all of us feel (or at least act) braver. Lily was serious at home, but got bouncy and happy once we got to school. She hung up her backpack, and found a friend to play with at Kidstop right away. She'll attend the school-based day care program while she's not in kindergarten.

I worried all day long. I looked at the clock and wondered how she was feeling, where she was, and what she was doing about a hundred times during the day! I just couldn't wait to see her get off the bus so I'd know how her first day way. Can you imagine how I felt when this is what I saw coming toward me at the end of the day:

She chatted excitedly all afternoon and evening. She was giddy! She told me:
1. She has a friend named Maria who lives somewhere

2. You can never bring chocolate or nuts for snack

3. If you can't reach something you can ask a neighbor if they can please reach it for you

4. She has a friend named Tia who wants to have a sleep over

5. Everyone else has sleep overs all the time

6. Her school has puzzles with bumpy edges and straight edges

7. Some kids cried because they wanted their moms

8. The bus is really hot and really loud

9. They read a book about a cowgirl

10. They went to the office to look for a zebra (scavenger hunt)

She talked to grammy and papa on the phone after her first day. She said so many random bits of information, they had a difficult time understanding most of it:


Willow cried when I dropped her off at Di's the first 2 days, but yesterday (Thursday) she happily walked off to play with her friends. I love having the first week behind us! WHEW!

Summer's Over

Summer is pretty much over at the King house. I went back to work this week and grammy moved in. My mom and dad sold their house, but are waiting to hear from the bank about the town home they want (which was in foreclosure) so they are homeless. Dad's been up north and mom's been raising Jen and I's kids! My girls got to put day care off for one more week thanks to grammy's homelessness.



On August 20th we appeared in court so that I would officially be recognized as Willow's mom. Now she'll have a MN birth certificate with my name on it. The judge did not have a shiner - I need to figure out the red-eye reduction problem with my editing software!
After court we got happy meals to eat at grammy and papa's house. I love this picture because they're all so true to character - Willow is being sassy with papa (who's across the table), Lily's doing as she's told and smiling pretty, and grammy's drinking them in. By the way, Willow is COMPLETELY over her fear of grammy. She runs into her arms, talks about her lovingly (instead of shaking her head and hollering "NO" every time we used to mention the word "gram"), and gets excited to see her.





Lily turned 5 on August 27th. We celebrated with the Johnsons at a hotel with a pool. Lily was far more excited about the bunk beds in the hotel room. When we served cake I asked "Who wants cake?!" Willow's hand shot up in the air as she yelled "MEEEEE!" and Lily said "Not me." She honestly didn't even eat a piece of her own (High School Musical) cake. She's so odd. Willow had enough for both of them.

Here's Lily with the Johnson cousins.

We spent some time last weekend at Marc's brother's cabin. The girls had a blast playing with Marc's "big teenagers":

Sam is SO patient with them. He is constantly playing and thinking of things they'll have fun with. Willow called him "Bam" until recently. Now it's "Sam". He wiped out on a dirt bike this weekend, and Willow was VERY concerned about him. Over and over I heard "Mom! Bam! Owie!" She wanted to kiss it, but it was too bloody.

And Lily just follows Megan around everywhere she goes. I have to put my foot down once in a while because Megan is so patient with it she'll never say no. Megan would draw these elaborate pictures and let Lily add details. Lily adores Megan and all her friends.

Lily will start kindergarten on Tuesday. She is so excited she talks about it all the time. She wanted me to read her open house fliers out loud 3 times - the menu, the conference instructions, etc. At bed time, after open house, she told me she had a shaky feeling in her tummy during open house. I said "Shaky?" She goes "Yea, you know when you feel like you have water in your tummy and it's shaky?" She was nervous! When she met her teacher, she was smiling and bouncy, so I know she has mixed emotions. I will be very happy when we have the first week behind us.

Every time I mention Diane's house to Willow, she hollers "NO!" and shakes her head. I just keep telling her "Not today, Willow." Good luck, Di.

Road Trip to Oregon

We are home from our road trip to Oregon! We got up early on Monday, July 27 - leaving Maple Grove at 3:30am. My mom went with us and was very helpful, to say the least. The girls slept most of the morning on the way to Mt. Rushmore, then they watched movies, ate, fought, and played the rest of the trip.It was pouring rain in Keystone, SD. We killed a few hours at Mt. Rushmore to avoid setting up the tent in the rain. We took shelter under a tree when we got caught in a downpour:

And then headed for the bathroom to dry the girls' hair and dresses. They thought this was a blast. I was not impressed with this part of the trip.

We did make it to Mt. Rushmore between bursts of rain.

We went for a walk around Sylvan Lake near Keystone.

After spending 2 nights in Keystone, SD we headed further west for Yellowstone. We camped at Grant Park and spent a lot of time at Yellowstone Lake.

I didn't bring my cooking stove to save space (did I mention we all 4 traveled in my tiny Civic?).

We spent a lot of time walking around Grant Park the first day in Yellowstone. We wanted to avoid getting in the car after spending 9 hours driving from Mt. Rushmore that morning.

Lily desperately wanted a camp fire. Check out that fire!

The girls spent over 2 hours collecting sticks, pinecones, branches (and rocks and sand from Willow) for the fire while grammy and I got to sit back and relax.The second day in Yellowstone we spent about 6 hours near Old Faithful and surrounding geysers. Lily was finally impressed! The entire drive anytime I'd say "Lily! Look at the mountains!" or "Lily! Look at the elk!" she'd get annoyed that she had to look away from her movie long enough to appease me. She did love Old Faithful, though. And she had a blast naming the unnamed geysers and hot springs with us. Willow, on the other hand, hated Old Faithful. She has fine-tuned her scolding of all things hated to include bent knees, arm outstretched, pointed finger, shrill SCREAM, body leaning forward, "NOOOOO!". She didn't enjoy Old Faithful because of the fine mist it spewed in our direction.

This photo is significant because I have mastered a trick to get Willow to cooperate with pictures. Right before this was taken it occurred to me to only invite Lily into the picture. I said "Mom? Will you take a picture of Lily and I? Willow, you can stand over there." and pointed off in the distance. She ran to get in the shot! Why didn't I think of this a couple months ago? For the rest of the trip she ran to get in pictures and say "cheese".

Willow refused to ride in the stroller at Old Faithful. She hiked 1/2 mile up a "mountain" with us and then back down. She walked for about 4 hours around the geysers. She REFUSED to ride and I REFUSED to carry. The next day she couldn't walk! Every time I set her down she lifted one leg, cried, and waited for me to pick her back up. I kept saying "I broke my baby".

After 2 nights in Yellowstone we were back in the car on the way to Ontario, Oregon where my cousin Heather and her family live:

We spent a few hours in Heather's ADORABLE and homey quilt shop in Ontario. Lily was watching her cousin Hutton sew:

And then we drove just 2 hours from Ontario to Sumpter, Oregon where Heather and Julanne/Carl own land.

Lily spent a bunch of time picking huckleberries with her cousins in Sumpter. Ignore the "KEEP OUT" sign I guess.

The kids also loved digging in the rocks/sand:

We went on a steam-engine train ride while in Sumpter:It was attacked by robbers! Thankfully the robbers only gave out candy when they made their way onto the train.

Here are most of the little cousins in Sumpter. Hunter stayed back and Harper was asleep when this was taken:

Lily loved this dog! She drug Patches around constantly either carrying him or on the leash. Jen suggested I get us a dog and Lily will focus on that instead of climbing all over me, but all I could imagine was the dog AND Lily (and Willow half the time) barnacled to me.

Here are all the little counsins on our last night together in Sumpter. Heidi and Phil hosted a movie night:

And then we were back on the road on our way to the Oregon Coast:
With one stop on the way at this incredible mountain waterfall:

We tented 2 blocks from the ocean in Cannon Beach. It was incredible and I was instantly glad we made the trek.
Willow's first look at the Pacific Ocean:

I think it felt good to be out of the car again:

Grammy and her highly protective sun hat. WHAT is a sun hat?

I just hate the showers at camp grounds. I had to include this one to show how much the girls didn't hate camp ground showers. Why is that? I'm standing there thinking about all the other feet and.... well, I won't go on. I'm just glad to be home!

Lily got home sick in Cannon Beach. She cried and said she wanted to go home. I asked what she wanted to do first at home and she said "take a shower"! I guess I must have rubbed off on her. She said she missed her room (with the door shut) and her bed. Me too!

Willow was upset here because, once again, she wanted me to carry her. I wish I could have taken a picture of all I had in my arms: a stroller folded up, a giant beach bag, towels, my own back pack, and snacks for the day. She didn't seem to care:

And here's my view from the other direction. Thank God for grammy on this trip!

Lily and Gram went exploring and Lily found 2 perfect sand dollars. Notice grammy's cute, cute hair cut:

We spent almost 5 hours at the beach the first day and 8 hours the second day! It was heaven.

Ahhh, the life. An Oreo cookie, the sand, sun, surrounded by your favorite people and nothing to do but play in the sand and water.

We drove 14 hours 2 days in a row to make it home in 2 days. At our very last stop for gas in Fargo I told the girls they could pick out any candy/chips they wanted. Without hesitating, Willow pointed up high at this pink snowball thing. I can't wait to email Sandra and find out if she ate these things in Guatemala. I have never eaten one, much less given one to her. She knew EXACTLY what she wanted.