Christmas Break 2011: Part One

The other night I sat down to write a blog post about our Christmas vacation. I made it about three paragraphs in when I hit major writer's block. Seriously. I mean, how do you sum-up three weeks worth of parties, vacations, 12-hour drives, and Christmas? I decided that I can't. At least not without it being extremely long and boring. So I am breaking up the highlights of our Christmas break 2011 and giving it to you in parts, little by little, for the next week or so. I feel better already.

Part One: The Drive

 Our girls are really fabulous travelers, or we would never attempt to drive over 700 miles and spend over 12 hours in the car twice in three weeks. That much time and distance in a car is kind of mind-boggling. But the time passed quickly as the girls were content to sing Christmas Carols, play I Spy, and watch an occasional movie while we drove through 3 states to get home for Christmas.

Luckily we had great roads for the drive. Montana and Idaho have no snow! It was a little crazy and a little depressing, but really great for travel.

Unfortunately we discovered during our drive that little Leah gets carsick. That's right folks. She became sick after every curvy mountain pass we drove over (minus one when she was sleeping). I think her grand total came to 4. Poor, poor baby girl.

Because she gave us little to no warning that she was sick we didn't have time to pull over to help her, or even grab a bag, so each episode resulted in an awful, smelly mess. I peeled off one of her little t-shirts and left it by side of the road somewhere in Montana. I just couldn't bring myself to keep it. Let it be known and recorded that cleaning puke out of a carseat using only baby wipes is the worst experience EVER.

Let it also be known that I love that baby girl and my heart broke for her each time she became sick.

About an hour outside of Rexburg, Lainy decided she needed to throw-up too. And all I could do was laugh. I know that is horrible. Brad thought I had lost my mind (or my heart). But sometimes it's better to laugh when you really feel like screaming and pulling your hair out at the thought of cleaning up yet another gross car seat and sick girl

Needless to say we were thrilled to get to Rexburg, not only to be welcomed by our wonderful and anxious family members, but to take nice, hot showers and wash the drive down the drain.

Driving portion of the trip done! Enter part two: party time.

Girl Time

Brad has been gone for the past two weeks interviewing for residency so the girls and I have had a lot of time to ourselves. And though I think we all agree that it is much more fun to have Daddy around, we've managed to have some fun in his absence.

We've made a gingerbread house:

And ginger-"head" cookies:

We've decorated for Christmas - Even the girls have a little tree in their room!

We've written letters to Santa Claus:

And we've given lots of snuggles and hugs under the Christmas tree because we need a little extra nowadays.

I am so grateful to have these sweet little girls. Though we have our trying moments, for the most part I don't need breaks from them. I don't feel the need to escape them for some "alone time". They are a joy to be around and I am so happy to be their mom. It's especially magical at Christmas-time.

Thursday we begin our long drive to Rexburg for the Holidays. We are beyond excited! Particularly to have Brad to ourselves for a few weeks. So, in case we don't see you, Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving and a Birthday

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, as you know. It was also my birthday (did you know?). And, like a good Thanksgiving Birthday, my day revolved around turkey.

We couldn't make it home to Idaho for Thanksgiving, you see. So we did the next best thing, we coordinated Thanksgiving dinner with a few of our closest friends in Seattle. And since all of us are young, inexperienced turkey roasters, I volunteered to take on the bird. My first turkey.

I was pretty nervous. I have barely roasted a chicken. Once. So, I scoured hundreds of turkey tip blogs and watched way too many videos on the Food Network. I bought my bird a week early, and by Wednesday night I had a plan.

Thursday morning I prepped the bird with Lainy watching closely. We decided to call him Young Master Thomas, aka Tommy. While I was stuffing things and rubbing Tommy down with butter, Lainy made "observations" about him. "Mom, I have an observation," she'd say, "Do you see this little hole right here? I think it's where Tommy's head used to be." And you know what? I think she was right.

We heaved Tommy into the oven (he was 20lbs, afterall, and required heaving) and waited patiently for him to roast. Lainy and Leah checked on him often, peering through the oven window.

Finally, the moment of truth arrived. This is what we found:

Isn't he beautiful? He was good too. I am so proud. And, for the record, Lainy tasted Tommy and declared him to be "yummy". High praise from my picky eater.

We ended up having a wonderful Thanksgiving. And I had a wonderful birthday too. Some people seem to pity me when they discover my birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving, but I have never minded much. When I have a Thanksgiving birthday it means my day is full of family, friends, and good food - all things I love. And what's to complain about that?

Opening presents after a birthday breakfast of stuffed french toast.

My birthday sign - a Hansen family tradition

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lainy Pics

Today, I present to you a photo montage of an afternoon at Green Lake, and the subsequent drive home. Photography by Lainy.

To end this photo montage, a self portrait of the photographer herself:

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into Lainy's world. Doesn't she just make you smile?

My Lovely Little Darlings

Just look at my beautiful girls!

Aren't they precious? These were taken by my friend, who is obviously a very gifted photographer. I love them.

ps: you can see more at rendytuckerphotography.com