Hansen Family Update

Well I took another break from blogging because man, we have been busy!! Jeremy's parents and grandpa came to visit last weekend. We had so much fun with them - seriously I hit the jackpot when it comes to in-laws! We went to the zoo, went swimming at their hotel, had a BBQ at our house and they went golfing on Monday while I was at work. We hated to see them leave, but since I will NOT be having any babies this year, it's nice to know that we can travel to see them soon.

This weekend has also been exciting. We spent Friday night watching Michigan State win to make it to the elite 8 of the NCAA basketball tournament. Honestly, if you would have told me 10 years ago that an exciting Friday night would be watching a march madness tournament game, I would have looked at you like you had three heads, but here we are and it's one of my favorite times of the year. We also felt a small earthquake, which was fairly exciting. Saturday night Jeremy and I actually had a date!! Our friend Alexis is a professional singer and put on a show so we took advantage of Aunt Susu and Uncle Mike - babysitter extroidnaires - and we went to dinner first with NO KIDS! Before we left for dinner, Kathy and I went to a blow out bar to get our hair done for Kathy's birthday and if you have never done this, do it now! It was soo nice just relaxing and having someone else take care of making my hair look nice! We met up with our friends and best neighbors ever at the show. It was amazing - Alexis looked gorgeous and blew us all away with her voice. We felt like real adults but were exhausted all day Sunday haha.

ROAR!!

Ok, well getting one blog post per week hasn't been quite as easy as I had hoped. However, as most of you know, my Grandpa passed away last week, which has kind of disrupted my little schedule around here. I will definitely write about him and my favorite memories with him, but am not quite ready for that yet. So in the meantime I thought that I would write about our trip to the Zoo last weekend. Living in San Diego, we have access to an amazing zoo as well as the Wild Animal Park, but Molly hasn't really been old enough to get into it until now. We had such a great time with Suzi and Mike and can't wait to go back! Get ready for a little picture overload...

 

She might have peed through her diaper onto Jeremy's shirt shortly after this pic...oops!!

I love this picture because Molly is so into it and poor Jeremy look miserable because there were SO MANY people in this exhibit...

This picture was taken at the polar bear exhibit in a play igloo. Molly had so much fun - she was squealing at the top of her lungs and my sweet sister got all the way in there with her! 

Her first time on my shoulders! She kept saying "up high"!

These are my favorite pictures from that day. Gracie could not have cared less that we were at the zoo, but she sure had fun with her Aunt Susu! 

Not much else has been going on around here, just a lot of trips to Manhattan Beach to start settling everything for my Grandparents. We are however getting VERY excited for Jeremy's parents to visit next week and will definitely have a lot more pictures after their trip. Until then...

Welcome Back and Valentine's Day

Ok, here I am again! One of my New Year's Resolutions was to start blogging again and it's now the middle of February and I've just started. True to form for me really... Anyway, I've gone back and forth on what to do with this blog, but realistically I've settled on making this a place to post about our little life to update our family and friends. And seriously, my kids are too dang cute to not have a site dedicated to bragging about them!
There is just way too much to update since my last post, so lets just start with the first of the year. I went back to work the second week of January and was transferred to our clinic in Ramona. I really miss my staff in San Marcos, but have actually enjoyed working in a little country town. I also can still keep my eye on everyone in San Marcos because Jeremy took over there when I went on Maternity leave. Otherwise, we are still adjusting to a family of FOUR! Our little Gracie is such a sweet, happy little girl and Molly has become the sweetest big sister - she loves to give Gracie kisses! This weekend we decided to try some rice cereal with Gracie. She has had some little health problems - she's always been super congested, she has eczema and gets rashes at the drop of a hat and recently had a little stomach bug. So, I think the sooner she gets something in her little stomach other than milk, the better. I think she liked it...

We also tried putting Molly in the booster seat as her highchair was being occupied, I think it's still a little early for this!

Also, Friday was Valentine's Day and because I had to work late (and because we have two small kiddos) we just had a quiet evening at home with some take-out from Cheesecake Factory - not too shabby! Happy Valentines from the Hansen's!!

I'm Baaaack...

Well hello there little blog! Oh, how I've missed you!! No joke, it's been 8 MONTHS since I've posted. Literally, I have been thinking about blog posts this whole time, but actually getting on here to post, that's a different story. What have I been working on?? Well, for starters, this:

And while our little bundle of joy grows, so do I...

Ok, you can't really see my belly here, but I was only a few weeks pregnant and already I was being discriminated against at the sledding hill...

17 weeks

This was obviously on St. Patricks Day with Julie - the belly really started to pop that week, I think just for Julie's arrival. 

21 weeks

23 weeks

28 weeks

(PS, I've been trying to find to quick, easy ways to do my hair for when this little babe comes our way - apparently I'll be a little busy. What do you think? I feel like I may have worn my hair like this for Halloween one year which doesn't really help me wanting to do this one too much, but it's super easy. Suggestions??)

This past Tuesday, I hit my 3rd trimester!! Yahoo! We are on the downhill slope now! I've actually had a great pregnancy so far. I got a little queasy in my first trimester, mostly at night, but I can proudly say that I have yet to throw up! Is it sad that not throwing up is my big accomplishment?? I think I am headed into the uncomfortable 3rd trimester territory, but it's so worth it! As many of you know, Jeremy and I have been trying to start our family for quite a while now and we couldn't be happier or more grateful for this little miracle. Anyway, we are having a sweet baby girl that is due on August 28th. The cat is well out of the bag now and I can tell you with a good amount of certainty that we are going to name her Molly.

You would think that with a little girl on the way, I would be going crazy buying her clothes, right? Nope (my mom is doing the work in that department for the both of us haha). Actually, I have been obsessed with creating the perfect nursery for our baby Molly. We've done a lot of work so far, mostly because I'd like to do as much as I can now while I still feel pretty good. I didn't want to go too crazy on the pink in her room. After all, I really don't think she cares that much what her room looks like now, but Jeremy and I are going to be spending a lot of time in there. I also wanted something that will grow with her and can be easily changed as she starts getting her own opinion about her room. So I decided on whites and creams with touches of pink. The starting point of the room came from a toile fabric I found on-line. Anyway, this is where we started:

I'll be the first to admit that I went a little color crazy when we first bought this house and while I loved the yellow and blue colors, it was a little much and I love the color that we went with for the nursery.

(don't mind the cords and blinds in this last one - we are still a work in progress...)

What exactly have we done so far? Well, here's a little list:
* Cleared out the room and sold most of the old stuff on craisglist
* Painted
* Put up wainscoting WALLPAPER
* Installed the chair rail (thanks Uncle Mike for your help!!)
* Made curtains
* Assembled the crib
* Made crib skirt and matching pillow (which by the way will not stay in the crib, but will go on the glider as soon as we get it - for as little as I know about babies, I am well aware of the SIDS risk that pillows pose)

I will definitely be separating out the big projects and creating posts for each so that you can see how we put everything together. It's really coming together exactly how I imagined it and I am so excited for the day when we bring her home to her little spot in the world. As for this weekend, we will be putting together the dresser that we got from ikea. If you were wondering, the instruction manual for that thing is almost 50 PAGES LONG!! Wish us (or mostly Jeremy) luck!! I promise to continue posting - especially as this little one gets closer and closer to getting here I will be sure to update you all with what's going on in our lives and definitely with some (or a million) baby pics when she does make her arrival.

Button Pillowcase Tutorial & a Little Bit of Fall

Hello friends! Guess what? It’s fall. My favorite time of year! However, if you live in southern California you sure wouldn’t know it. It is currently 99 degrees here.

Not ok.

But, you know what? I am forever an optimist and will pretend that it’s appropriate to wear sweaters and boots and scarves all day long. Do you know what helps my California-fall-fantasy? You guessed it – decorating. (Ok, maybe you didn’t guess that, but I’ll still give you credit for it). It’s no secret; I miss Colorado in the fall. Actually, I miss it incredibly from September (the start of fall in my book) right up until December 26^th. Then, I’m happy as a clam to be here. But it’s hard to ignore that there are no leaves changing, no crisp morning air and no sign of snow in sight (especially not when it’s 99 DEGREES outside). So, for the past 3 years, I have made every effort imaginable to make fall as real as possible in our little house – that I can control, the weather…not so much. So, here’s a little tour around our house right now.

Did you like those last pictures? I hope so, because I have been working my little tail off to create those pillowcases. Since I now have a sewing machine, there is a whole new world of creative decorating possibilities opening up. They were actually pretty easy. I used a template for the pillow covers similar to this one. Basically, I just measured the fabric about an inch wider than the existing couch pillows and sewed them together with a finishing stitch. Then I added the embellishments on top of it.  Not a big seamstress? That’s even easier – just purchase a pillow, or pillow case that goes with what ever theme you are using, then dress it up yourself. Anyway, we have 6 throw pillows on our couch, I made 3 pillowcases using the red gingham, and then the other 3 I made pillow cases with a muslin-like fabric that I found in the “utility fabric” section at Joann’s. From those 3, I made one with an H made out of buttons, one with 2 orange ruffles on the side and the last with fabric rosettes made with all 3 fabrics. Wanna know how to do it? Ok, you asked…

For the fabric rosette pillow, all I did was make a bunch of rosettes out of the 3 different fabrics – muslin, red gingham and orange. I made all different sizes. Actually, this was the last pillowcase that I made and I just used up the rest of the fabric that I had. Then I arranged them on the pillowcase (without the pillow in it) and I hot-glued them on. Done.

The ruffle pillowcase was the only one that I had to embellish while sewing the pillowcase together.  First, I made 2 strips of orange fabric that were twice as long as the length of the pillow. I hemmed the edges – you certainly don’t have to do this, especially if you don’t have a sewing machine, it will just look a little more “rustic” if you don’t. Then, I ran 2 gathering stiches down the center of the strip. Again, you can hand-stitch this if you don’t have a sewing machine – gathering stitches don’t have to be perfect, just make sure not to tie off either end. Then you take the threads from both stitches and pull on the fabric until it gathers. Do this until your fabric is the size of the length of the pillowcase. Pin it in place, and do the second strip. Pin that one in place, then run a regular stitch down the center of each ruffle. Once you put the two sides of the pillowcase together (right sides together) sew the entire thing together, and when you turn it right side out, there will be your perfectly finished ruffles. (I skipped over a bunch of sewing steps for this, but just follow the instructions for the pillowcase tutorial). Again, if you don’t have a sewing machine and just want to dress-up a purchased pillowcase, then fold the ends over just a little and hand-stitch the ends at the seams of the pillowcase that you bought. Again, they are pillows; no one looks that closely at them. ;)

Ok, so the button pillow is totally my favorite one. There is a bunch of button art circulating around pinterest right now that is adorable and I’m sure there is more button-ing in my future… Anyway, to make your very own button flare, go to Joann’s (or your nearest fabric/craft store) and in the button section, they are bags of like-colored buttons in all different sizes. I bout one bag of red buttons, but I wanted a little bit of orange in there too, so I bought some 3-packs of larger orange buttons. Anyway, I pulled up word on my computer and found a font that I liked, and then I made it really big and printed it out. It wasn’t quite as big as I wanted it to be, so I freehanded it onto another piece of paper. If your printer will print is as big as you want, then skip that step. Anyway, I put a piece of felt over the top of the paper and could easily trace the outline onto the felt with a marker. Then I started hot-gluing the buttons into place. There is no rhyme or reason to this, just start. I tried to do the outlines first, then fill it in, but some are going to overlap and I like that a little better because it gives it some depth (not emotional depth, just physical depth – I’m not that crazy about my arts and crafts…). Anyway, once everything is glued down, cut out the felt around the buttons as close as you can, then simply hot-glue your letter onto the pillowcase. Seriously, I never want to take this one off of the couch. Ever.

Here's a comparison of the couches before and after:

Yes, that's Jeremy's head behind the couch in the first picture - because he's a creep and wanted to be the pic.

Otherwise, most of my fall decorations are the same from last year, you can check out that post here. I did make something new for our dining room table, but you have to wait for my next post for that little treasure. Also, I just wanted to thank everyone who’s been reading my blog. I’m still not really sure where I want to go with this – just arts and crafts, our lives, to include tutorials or not – mostly I don’t know if I want to really try to blog “professionally” or just keep this for friends and family. So, I’ve decided to just keep putting whatever comes into my crafty little brain on here and see where it takes me. And at the end of the day, it turns out that whether I have one follower or a million followers, I’m glad that I put it out there and I’m happy for each and every one of you who do read it.  So, thanks friends!!