Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it's an opportune time to be a little more mindful of our bountiful blessings!

Today I am thankful that Baby Girl is full-term and could potentially come at any time! I am thankful that all looks well and baby is healthy and exactly in the position she needs to be. I am thankful for an incredible husband who has been beyond wonderful throughout my pregnancy and is ecstatic about becoming a father. And I am thankful for a family who couldn't be more supportive and gracious to us as we are about to make the transition to parenthood. Just to name a few!!

What are you thankful for today?

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Not Possible...

It cannot be possible that Thanksgiving is next week! Seriously, with all the attention we've put on moving, I almost forgot we were headed right into the holidays! I haven't even busted out my Christmas music yet...yes, I am one of those people. But when my mom brought up the Thanksgiving menu last weekend it was kind of a wake up call that it's the middle of November! Did this come as a suprise to anyboby else? Geez-I guess time flies when you're having fun! So I am desperately trying to get myself in holiday mode and finding it to be much more difficult than it typically is. So for the next few days, amongst packing the last of my apartment, getting the house ready for move-in Friday and maintaining some amount of sanity, you can find me preparing my tastebuds for pumpkin pie and homemade cranberry sauce...the break may be exactly what we need!

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Let the Holidays Begin!

Hello Lovelies! I hope your holiday weekend was absolutely wonderful! For the most part ours was too, with the minor exception of me getting sick! That's right, it finally happened.

Because my head is still quite groggy, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Just in the nick of time on Wednesday evening, our new tv showed up and my hubby could not have been more pleased!



Our Thanksgiving began with the Run to Feed the Hungry! It was fantastic! I successfully ran the 6.2 miles and Chris and my Mom ran the 5k! Although I must give my Mom a ton of credit because she said she wasn't feeling well, but we found out Friday she has Swine Flu! I can't believe she ran, cooked Thanksgiving dinner AND got up at 2:30 Friday morning to shop!


After a lovely meal with my parents and dessert with Chris' whole family, it was off to bed to wake up extra early!



As I said, my Mom was feeling really bad by Friday so we only made it until 6, when I took her home. But I was wide awake so I went home, made a pot of coffee and started decorating for Christmas! Chris and I even got our tree, but by Friday evening I started getting a cough...

By Saturday morning I felt awful! Unfortunately, it lasted the entire weekend. Thankfully we were able to get our Christmas stuff up on Friday and as always, my husband tended to my every need. He is the best husband and caretaker ever, despite my tendencey to be very whiny when I'm sick!






So today I am still sick, but I no longer have a fever and my cough and body ache are pretty much gone. I hope I can kick it today! And I am really hoping Chris can somehow resist getting sick too!

Have a very merry Monday!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I write this post today with a heart completely overwhelmed by thankfulness! Hoping your holiday is filled with much laughter, love and delicious food!

I Heart Short Weeks!

Happy Tuesday, or Friday, or whatever day it is today! Don't you just relish short holiday weeks?! I definitely do but I started thinking this morning that I may be a glutton for punishment because instead of giving myself the next few days to sleep in, here's what I'll be doing:

Thursday ~ waking up at 5:30 to do the Run to Feed the Hungry 10k.

Friday ~ waking up at 3am to stand in line at Kohl's and several other stores where we will shop 'til we drop! Then, after a much needed nap, Chris and I will get our Christmas tree and begin decorating!!

I'm a little exhausted just thinking about it!

Not that I'm complaining because the rest of the weekend will be full of relaxing and movie watching on our new TV! We got confirmation that it will likely be delivered tomorrow! Yay!

Have a lovely day!

Happy December!

What a whirlwind! Did we really just have Thanksgiving?

This past week was a thoroughly delightful one. And not because we went on some extravagant trip or because we got to go home for the holiday (so thankful those days are behind us!) but, simply because we spent so much time with our family, friends and each other.

Last Wednesday, Chris and I drove with his dad and step mom to Colfax, a town about 30 minutes north of us, to surprise his grandpa and his wife on their 25th anniversary! It ended up not being a surprise because his grandpa had been golfing in Napa and locked his keys in his car! This caused him to be about 3 hours late to dinner!! Sadly, he knew what was going on by the time he got there, but not to worry, we still enjoyed ourselves and had some great quality time with about 25 members of the family (some of who I have never met). Note my sarcasm when I say that I also enjoyed the family questioning us about kids! Chris dad is the first born and Chris is the first born grand child, so no surprise that he is expected to deliver the first born great grandson. In time my friends:)

Our eventful night was followed by an even more eventful morning were we had to be up at 6:30 for the 5k we participated in on Thanksgiving! Allow me to clarify. My mom and I participated in, Chris was our driver and photographer:) This will definitely become a tradition for us! There were over 30,000 participants, making it the largest Thanksgiving Day run nationwide!! It is such a great way to start off the day! The crisp air gave us the energy to go home and prepare dinner. We officially hosted our first Thanksgiving...Yay! The food was great, the company was amazing and I could not be more thankful to have our family so close. We are truly blessed! We ended our night at Chris' Pop's house for games and dessert. Who could ask for more?








I must tell you that Black Friday shopping is a long time tradition for my mom and me. We have always enjoyed the hustle and bustle, the fantastic deals, the Starbucks run and most of all the thrill of the Christmas season final being upon us! I think this was our best year, mostly because I haven't been home for Thanksgiving since my Freshman year and we have really missed doing it together. We were among the thousands of people (mostly woman) standing in line at Kohl's at 4am!! I should note that it was well worth it since I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping! Don't be jealous:)


Check us out at 4am!

Last but most certainly not least, we spent the weekend relaxing and decorating for Christmas. We put up our first Christmas tree (married that is)! I had a ball putting up all of my new decorations! When I say new I should clarify that they are new since coming from my mom's abundance of Christmas stuff:) She is so gracious and let me rummage through her things and take what I wanted. I guess when you have about 30 bins of decor, you won't miss one or two!


















We ended our weekend with couples night with some of our friends. What an awesome way to spend a weekend!

On a somewhat random note, I am so, so, so excited for my dear friend Stacey who got engaged on Thanksgiving! We were freshman roommates and again our junior year. Just for the record, I like to credit myself with Stacey and Darren meeting:) It's true! But anyway, I am truly happy for you guys and am sure you will make each other incredibly happy!! Congrats!

The countdown has begun...25 days 'til Christmas! Happy Monday:)

Chicago, Our First Married Trip!

So it's back to the grind for the Hansens. We just got back from what was, a pretty fantastic trip! Last Thursday we left for Chicago to visit my family. The weekend was full of fun with my young siblings, meeting new additions to the family and great evening outings with my dad and step mom, Rebecca! This trip started with a little extra excitement because it was our first trip MARRIED! (with the exception of our honeymoon, of course!) It is so cool to realize the freedom you have as a couple!

Upon arriving Thursday night, we took a cab downtown to meet my dad at an event for a ministry that he supports in Zambia. It was really neat to take part in and meet some new people that my dad works with, but we were exhausted from the flight!

We were awakened Friday morning by my brother, Nathan, and oldest sister, Audrey, standing on the stairs and deciding how they would tickle us. It was so cute to listen to and I am pretty sure they thought that nobody could hear them. I just love the mornings I spend there with the kids. They are so adorable and lively in the morning! We also met my new sister, Madeline for the first time!!! She is the most beautiful thing! She looks like a perfect baby doll!

Once we were all ready, it was off to get the kids hair cut. Talk about an ordeal! Imagine getting four kids ,under 4 years old, ready to go and buckled into the car!! And to top it off it was cold so they all needed coats! Whew! Friday evening, after the kids went to bed, we went to a fabulous Greek restaurant. I forgot how much I love Greek! After we ate, my dad and Chris went to a poker game held by my dad's best friend and Rebecca and I went to Second City, a great comedy show where often, the comedians from SNL come from. It was hilarious! Afterward we sipped hot chocolate at Starbucks and chatted for a few hours. We knew the guys wouldn't be home for a while. We were right about that, they didn't get home from the game until 5:30 AM!! Apparently, the game ended around 2:30, but some of my dad's buddies, who are highly successful men, stuck around and gave Chris a bit of drilling about financial planning and a lot of good advice. To top it off, Chris won second in the poker game! A little extra cash never hurts, right?

Unfortunatly for Chris, I woke him up at 8 am on Saturday so we could get an early start to Wilmington, the town my parents grew up in and where a lot of my family still lives. It is only an hour drive, but we had a lot of people to see! Our first visit was having breakfast with my cousin Brianne, her boyfriend Jerry and their new baby Gavin!! I just love babies! Gavin is such a perfect little baby! Next we went to visit my cousin Josh and his new Great Dane puppy, Ellie. Chris has wanted a Great Dane for years, so when Josh sent us a picture of her, he was a bit jealous! Then we drove to my cousin Brittany's new house and spend a while with her and her husband, Josh. It was so great for us to spend quality time with some of my cousins individually, since most of time we spend together is sparce and in big family gatherings. Throughout the day, we visited with my grandpa and a few of my aunts and uncles. The day was fantastic and suprisingly very relaxing.

Sunday was such a laid back day for us. We hung around the house with the kids and the guys watched football. Who could ask for more? Well, we could. The trip wouldn't have been complete without an outing to a sporting event! The four of us went to the Blackhawks vs. Sharks hockey game! The game was especially good because Chris is a huge Sharks fan. Honestly, I had never been to a hockey game, but I am pretty sure it is my new favorite sport to watch! There was constant action and it didn't hurt that we had really good seats where we could see everything! I will admit that I was a little scared that the Chicago fans may throw beer on us or something because Chris was wearing his Sharks jersey. Thankfully, Chris is not an obnoxious fan, even though the Sharks won 6 to 5!!!

The kids after waking us up on our first morning.

Me and Ava

After hair cuts

Me and Audrey. She is acting shy:)

Gavin!!!

Ellie

Beautiful Madeline!! Seriously, doesn't she look like a doll?

Chris and I with my Dad and Rebecca

So we are back home and wishing the weekend hadn't flown by so fast, but incredibly thankful that we could spend such an fantastic weekend with my family! Can't wait to go back, which hopefully will be sooner rather than later!

On a side note, I am seriously considering doing the Chicago marathon with my dad in October. He has done it for years and I kind of feel challenged to do it too. If my dad can run three marathons and do two triathlons this year, surely I can do one, right?!? I have to decide by December. Yikes!

Also, we had such a pleasant welcome home as my dad (step dad) had cleaned our carpets while we were gone! He is so sweet! We had been complaining about them for a few weeks and he took the liberty of taking care of it while we were gone:) Our family is such an awesome blessing!

Lastly, Thanksgiving is in 10 days!!! Can you believe how quickly the year has gone by? I can't wait since this year our families are coming over to our place! Woo hoo!! And, my mom an I are doing a 10/5 K on Thanksgiving morning!

That's it, I promise! If you took the time to read this entire blog, thanks so much and enjoy the season!