Sleep and exercise

We've made it through another week! Woo Hoo!!!

Nana and Papa were in town this week, came in Tuesday night and left this afternoon. Papa spent Thursday night in the cities entertaining clients at the Vikings game. He's a fabulous grandfather. "Father Goose" we call him. He's constant stimulation and makes me a bit tired to watch, but mostly I appreciate every second he is entertaining the girls.

Nana and I went for a run both Wednesday and Thursday. Mad props to DeEtte for getting back on the running trail again. It's hard to find time and it's exhausting, but the benefits are well worth it and we're glad you desire to be healthy adn stick around to see your grandbabies grow up.

Not only did I get to run three days in a row, but I snuck in two...count them, two...naps this week. Wednesday I caught a cat nap on the couch with Mia - Frosty was kind enough to document!

I also got in about an hour and a half this afternoon. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!!!

Chris taught Ella how to count sheep last night. actually hijacked a little stuffed lamb from Mia's room to "jump" over her. He's awesome. Sadly, though it doesn't work when mom does it!

We're looking forward to the weekend and college football - GO 'SKERS!!!!!

Alligators abound

OK, so maybe they don't actually "abound" but there was, in fact, an alligator in our neighbor's driveway! A FREAKING ALLIGATOR! I live in Iowa for Pete's sake. The woman whose driveway it was in called 911 (she's a grandma and was a bit freaked out, besides, I'm not sure if Web. City actually has it's own animal control). Turns out it belonged to someone in the neighborhood. The turnout for the show was something to see....I'm pretty sure every kid in the neighborhood was there. They ended up tossing the recycle bin over the lost little guy (about 2-3 feet long) to hold it until we could figure out what to do with it. It was quite the spectacle. Believe the Discovery Channel when they say those creatures are fast....the thing raced right towards Addy as it tried to escape its captors. Addy wasn't budging, and was likely excited it was coming at her - she was dying to pet it - Thank God Jim was on the ball and snatched her up before it got to her.
The only thing we're wondering now is where the heck the newspaper was....that had to be the most newsworthy occurance in our quiet town in quite a while!

New Pics...

...and New Stories

I was cut off from cyberspace from Tuesday-Friday due to a bad modem. Ack. The good news is I was supposed to be off-line until sometime tomorrow morning, but my wonderful husband offered to take the modem to Fort Dodge to trade it in himself instead of waiting for the cable company to come to us...he's so sweet!

Giff and Betsy brought Bergen up to visit and meet Miss Mia this weekend. We had tons of fun, and the kids were great. They ate too much sugar and didn't get enough sleep, but they are great friends and had two great days. My house was pretty much a war zone for about 48 hours but it was worth it.

This is what happened when we left Giff alone with the kids! But the most fun seemed to be had by jumping on the air mattresses!

Mia had her first bottle this weekend - Betsy and I had gone for a walk and it seems Mia wasn't super excited mom wasn't here for a snack. Chris and Giff managed to get the milk out and ready, but couldn't find a bottle! Poor thing had to wait until we got back anyway, but still got her bottle. She did pretty well, ate a little over an ounce from the bottle...Ella was thrilled about it, and as you can see from the pictures was, as always, anxiuos to help!

I'm still running, and have managed to almost double my time since starting. I've also jumped up to two days in a row and one day off. It feels so great to be moving again. I was back mowing again this weekend - and crazy as it may seem while I was out there I thought to myself I'm ready to do it all again (Chris, thankfully is not....he makes sure I don't make super bad decisions). And scarry as it is, I actually thought to myself it wasn't that bad, and I think I could do the natural thing again...Chris assures me, it WAS that bad! :)

Turns out we've got some stellar neighbors. We live on a corner, and of the four houses we could call neighbors three are new since we moved in last October. The newest clan is a retired couple that just sold their farm. They rock. We've gotten fresh corn, cucumbers, onions and most recently a tub full of green beans, potatoes, a cantelope and more cucumbers. To top things off, I ran into the woman today at K-Mart while trying to buy flushable wipes for Ella....we chatted on our way out and mentioned they didn't have them so we'd run to Hy-Vee. We didn't run to Hy-Vee and it's a good thing cause she found them, bought them and brought them over to us! How sweet. This is the same woman whom I spotted running across our yard because it started raining and I had clothes on the line. Have I ever told you I love my little town?

We've got a busy few weeks ahead....mom and dad are coming Tuesday night and will be spending Wednesday with us, before dad ships off to the cities to do business (Mom will stay here until he comes back)...they officially head back on Friday. The next week Wednesday we're taking the fam to Lincoln for one month pics of Mia at Raders. We had planned to stay all weekend, but Chris was accepted into "THE" fantasy football league in Web. City (Yes there are more than one, he just happened to get an invite into the elite league - they think he's mister football here in central Iowa!), and his draft is Sunday so we'll be leaving Saturday night.

We're all ready for a new week - I love Mondays. I'm excited to see what's in store for us in the next seven days!

The Blanket Monster Attacked My House!!!

The Ministry of Music

I've decided if I could have any one talent that I don't have it would be musical. Specifically songwriting. I am continually amazed at songwriters' abilities to put into words what my heart so often feels. For today we'll talk about this one...

Mark Schultz; Broken and Beautiful:
It's beautiful
Beautiful
Come as you are
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful...
Cause there's nothing more beautiful to God
Than when his sons and daughters come
Broken

How amazing is it to me that there truly is nothing more fabulous to God than when we present ourselves to Him broken. Not prideful, not in strength, not whole...but broken. I've tried to come before Him whole, and I know for certain from the times that I've come before Him broken that His strength really is made perfect in our weakness....
Thank you to everyone who helped me see this, and to everyone who stood beside me when I thought it better to come whole. You are all why I am where I am today, why I can walk beside Jesus and know He loves me wholly as I am.

Just a few new pics to share. Not much else going on around here.

I survived my first full day alone with the girls. True to form after three nights of sleeping from 9-2 then 2-6 while dad was home to help out in the mornings, the morning he's gone she didn't go back to sleep after eating at 2 for a good hour plus, and was up three times after that before seven. Ah well.

They were both super good during the day. Ella can now sing her abc's start to finish - although she has a tendency to run lmnop into one noise, she skips "r" and misses "tuv" but other than that she's golden! We spent the afternoon at the park with all of our friends. After four days of rain it was nice to have a sunny afternoon.

Chris caught a grasshopper and a cricket for Ella almost four days ago...and they're still alive in her bug box. Good job dad!

Small Victories

The last few days have been a series of small victories for the Hansen family. First Miss Mia seems to have established a pseudo-schedule (which I am confident she will alter w/in the next five hours). This pseudo-schedule includes a meal around 9:30 p.m. and no more feedings until 2. So while it means I'm going to bed early I'm getting at least some sleep. Also...although she has been waking up to come see mom in the middle of the night, Ella finally slept in a bit this morning - first time since we brought Mia home!

I got to go for a run this morning...it was awesome. I was VERY slow and it was just over 3/4 of a mile, so not very far, but then the title of this post isn't Major Accomplishments now is it! :) I had expected to get a few hundred yards before I'd have to walk! I felt ridiculously out of shape, but I did manage to finish!

Today is the second day in a row I have showered! This may not seem like much, but on Wednesday my mom asked me if I was exhausted to which I confidently replied "Nah...I feel great!" It was only a few hours later and after 9:00 p.m. that I realized not only had I not showered, but I was still wearing the shorts I had worn all day Tuesday. Ouch. Turns out I was a little tired.

Most importantly, though, it would seem we have all successfully sustained life for a full week! Woo Hoo!

Chris is off today, and we're enjoying an afternoon of quiet. He managed to get Ella to nap and is planning on taking her to the pool when she wakes - which means another hour of peace and Mia bonding for mom!

These pics are from Frosty's camera...Enjoy!