O Christmas Tree

Let's start first with this loving image of Emmy and Dottie. After a week of not seeing each other, they were both thrilled to be in each other's presence again. What would Dottie do without Aunt Mimi?

The real purpose of today's post is to show off our first official Christmas tree. Yes, we had one when Dottie was 6 months old and my parents came to see us in Provo, but it was a free tree from some friends, and it definitely was a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. This tree, however is a nice one. We wanted a real tree (well, I did anyway). And we heard you could get a permit from the Forestry Dept. to cut one down in Woodland Park for only $10. So, I looked into it, and found out that in order to get to these trees, you need a vehicle with 4 wheel drive, which we do not have. We were going to try to borrow Em and Craig's SUV, but it's new and they really weren't thrilled about roughing it through the wilderness. So, we went to Walmart to see if they had anything. Miraculously, in the garden center, they were selling Christmas tree. We got this nice Scotch Pine for only $16, a heck of a deal for a Christmas tree. So if you're in want of a tree, check out your local Walmart. Sure, it's not the nicest we could have gotten, but it fits in well with our little house. I'm just happy to have our first official tree. It makes our house a home.

Thanksgiving Extravaganza

We spent this Thanksgiving in Utah with Joe's family. Joe's grandparents, the Hollsteins, and Grandma Hansen, live in Salt Lake. So does Mary and her new hubby, Jesse. We drove down to Gunnison and carpooled with Joe's parents. We left on Tuesday and were there until Sunday. So we're just barely back!

It was a good Thanksgiving, filled with gorging meals. Not only did we have a huge Thanksgiving feast, we also went out to eat three times. I wasn't the best at taking pictures, yet again, so I only have pictures from the last two days (when I remembered that I had a camera). I also wasn't incredibly energetic for the first few days of the trip . . . Dottie, Joe and I all had bad colds. And mine was worse, because pregnancy plus cold= worn out. I went to sleep at 7 on Thanksgiving. Talk about a party pooper. Still, it was nice to be with family and to have a break. We watched a lot of TV . . . Joe and I don't have cable, and Joe's grandparents have a satellite. We were pretty excited to have unlimited access. I also read a lot. I read a whole book in two days . . . A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's as good as Becca claims, although sad and often disturbing. Anyway, here's the highlights from Friday and Saturday:

On Friday, we randomly ran into Joe's Uncle Bryan riding by on his moped. Bryan was so excited to see us, he treated us to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. As Joe's dad would say, "That Bryan, what a guy." Joe was intrigued by a dish called the "Burrito Grande." Under the description in the menu, it said if you finished the whole thing, you'd get a free dessert. Well, being the overeater that he is, Joe couldn't resist. He didn't imagine it would be as large as it was. This picture really doesn't do it justice. Imagine three Chipotle burritos combined, and you'd be coming close. Mary's look of disgust should help you imagine the task at hand.


Sadly, Joe didn't finish the burrito. He ate the tortilla part and thought that if he pushed the rest of the food on his plate around, they would think he did it and give him the dessert. The waiter was no fool; there was no dessert that meal.


This is one of those rare moments where Dottie ate Mexican food. Mary tricked Dottie by saying the tortilla was "bread." I've tried that trick at home, and it usually doesn't work. Mary has the special touch.

On Saturday morning, Amanda and Jonathan came and visited for a few hours. As you can see, Dottie's filled with glee to be with Banda again.

Later on Saturday, we went to the Hogle Zoo with the family. Who took this lousy picture? There's shadows all over everyone's faces!

Dottie and Joe chasing a peacock. Dottie kept on screaming like she was afraid of the peacock. This is strange behavior because at the Colorado Springs Zoo she loves the peacocks the most. Who can understand the behaviors of a two-year-old?

Dottie and Daddy climbing a tiger.

Dottie posing with the bunnies. Sorry you can't see them very well . . . they're those little lumps that look like rocks.

Joe and Mary having a musical moment, of which there were many. Joe loves to play his grandparents' piano.

Went to Bed and Bumped Her Head

Dottie's been doing great in the toddler bed. However, Sunday night, there was an incident. Although the bed has side railings halfway along the sides, there aren't railings for the bottom portion of the bed. Somehow, around two in the morning on Sunday, Dottie got flipped around and was sleeping upside down. Consequently, the railings weren't there to protect her, and she fell out of the bed. We put her back to bed, she went back to sleep. Monday morning, Joe went to go get her, and I looked at her face, and there was blood all over it. I went to her room to investigate if there was blood all over her bed as well, but miraculously, there was only two drops of blood on the carpet (also miraculously, the blood came right out with water). So she must have landed on her nose, and jarred it a little. The harm done was insignificant, luckily.

My second story Becca will appreciate. Becca got for Dottie a wooden jewelry/keepsake box with her name on it for her birthday. Being the good friend that she is, she filled the box with two bags of caramels. That was my gift. I put the box on one of the display shelves in Dottie's room, out of her reach. I've mostly forgotten about the caramel treasures except for when I want something sweet and I can't find anything. Then I remember the caramels, and my life is saved. Anyway, when our story takes place, there are roughly a bag and a half of caramels left.

Since we've shifted around Dottie's room due to the toddler bed and crib move, we've put her Dora the Explorer bike in her room (remember, this is a small house -- we've gotta put the thing somewhere). Over the past few days, I've been finding little wrappers everywhere. It didn't really connect that they could be from the caramels. Well, on Saturday, I caught Dottie red-handed. When she was supposed to be taking a nap, she had pushed her Dora bike over to the shelf, climbed on top of the bike, and was eating the caramels. This little girl had eaten most of the caramels. By the time I caught her, there were only five left. Little piggy.

Those are my stories for the week. Here are the pictures:

Dottie and Joe cuddling in most of the blankets in our house yesterday. Joe had the day off for Veteran's Day. I never had Veteran's Day off, but I guess in a military town, they put a little more priority on recognizing those who served.

Grandma Weed spoils Dottie again. This is a Cinderella dress she got in the mail last week. It's way too big, but try getting Dottie out of it.

Baby Boy is Coming to Town

I'm trying to get a hang of this blogging thing. I've noticed that my past blogs have been overly verbose due to my lack of consistency in writing. I'm going to post more often, so my posts won't be so annoyingly wordy. Because hey, I know you're really here for the pictures, not for my diatribes.

Well, first I'd like to publicly thank Amanda for fixing the banner at the top of the page. I knew I wanted to add a picture at the top, but my computer currently doesn't have the capabilities for such fancy manipulations (my computer doesn't have a lot of anything right now, including Microsoft Office). I appreciate the time she took to make that cute pic of Dottie and Joe fit the format of the page. Sorry to anyone who saw it in its working stages . . . it was sad.

Well, Dottie has come to accept the baby coming. Yesterday, we got everything in the baby's room together: the swing, the exersaucer, the crib bedding, the changing table, the baby's clothes, etc. These were Dottie's comments throughout the whole process:

1. "Baby Boy Come Out Couple Months": she's been saying this for a couple of weeks now, because I've been telling her this repeatedly.
2. "So Cute!": She handed me clothes out of a box (mostly onesies for now. . . haven't had the shower yet), and she commented on the cuteness of each one.
3. "Go See Baby Boy's": After we were done with the room, Dottie had to go and check on the baby boy's room every five minutes or so. I guess it was just to make sure everything was in order.

When she took her nap yesterday, she insisted on sleeping with Baby Boy's (yes, that's still his name) comforter to his crib. It warms my heart to know that my little girl is already loving the little boy before he's even here. Hopefully, things will stay this nice between them when he comes.

Dottie tried out the baby boy's car seat. You know, just to make sure it was suitable for him.

Other cute pictures from Sunday and Monday:

Catching Up

I apologize, again, for being so long in posting. My Grandpa Weed died on October 18th, and so I was gone for all of last week for the funeral. Em, Dottie, and I drove out to Provo. It was a very somber yet peaceful experience. My Grandpa was a wonderful man. I was very touched by the things said about him at the funeral. I only wish I knew him better. Growing up in PA, I didn't get to visit my grandparents as much as we would have liked to. And although I was in Provo during college, it was hard to get over to Grandma and Grandpa's often because of school.

I realized on this trip what a special and wonderful family I have. My Grandpa was a man who demanded respect of his children, but in a loving way. As a result, my dad and his siblings have truly become outstanding individuals. They have all chosen worthy careers, but more importantly, they have learned to put family first. I was struck with the solidarity of my family. Although I have many cousins (there were some cousins there that I haven't seen since I was like 10 years old), our individual families are tight-knit. I really think that is a unique thing in this day and age.

Anyway, I was very grateful to be there, and to see my family again. I really love my parents and my siblings. If only we could be together always . . . I also got to see my friends, Morgan and Amanda, my bosom buddies from college. Well . . . Amanda's been my bosom buddy forever, since the 7th grade. I really miss her, since I've moved to Colorado. I was pretty bad at taking pictures on this trip, but I have a few, mostly with Amanda.

Pregnant Me, Dottie, and my cosmically connected friend, Amanda.

Dottie and Mandy Bear cuddling.

The story: Emily needed to buy a modest formal gown. Pretty much the only place you can find such a thing is Utah. Well, Dottie wanted to try on dresses, too. She threw a tantrum, we gave in. Here is her pretty prom dress.

I got back from my long trip to Utah last Thursday in the late afternoon. Joe and I had made plans to visit Joe's parents in Gunnison because we wanted to celebrate a late birthday with Joe's mom. Joe had the day off on Friday, but we had to be back by Saturday morning because I had a practice for the Primary Program (I'm the chorister). So, we had a whirlwind visit to Gunnison. We left at 8 pm on Thursday night (Joe had parent-teacher conferences until then),got there at 11:30, and we spent Friday with them. It was a fun trip -- I got to see Crested Butte for the first time, a cute skiing town nearby. Here's a picture from that trip:

Dottie in the corner o' pillows on Grandma and Grandpa's couch.

So, we left Gunnison at 6:30 on Saturday morning to make it back to Colorado Springs for a 10 am Primary practice. After that, we went and carved pumpkins with Em, Craig, and Maureen. By 3 pm, I was simply exhausted. Joe and I went to bed at 8 pm. Then, the next day was the Primary Program at Church, my first! Things went surprisingly well. I was proud of my kids.

I have mostly spent this past week recuperating from the trips, and cleaning my house. Joe + me being gone = messy house. And then, of course, we had Halloween. This was Dottie's first year of trick-or-treating! I must say, she wasn't a huge fan. She liked the part where she got to grab candy out of the basket, but she was scared of a lot of kids' costumes. She's been having nightmares about it ever since. Then, we went to a Halloween party at our friends', the Hickmans. Dottie slept through the whole party. Trick-or-treating wore her out.

Yes, my daughter was Dorothy. I couldn't resist. The name fit, we had a dress, and we bought the shoes. Can you tell she loved the costume?

Close-up of me and Dottie. Ignore the zit in between my eyes. Apparently, I'm still going through puberty. I was a witch, a pregnant one.

In other news, Dottie graduated to a toddler bed last night! The baby's coming in 2 months, and we need to get her psychologically and emotionally prepared. Step one was potty training (which is still an on-going process). Step two was the toddler bed. We bought one off of Craig's list, and I already had bedding from a mega sale at Burlington Coat Factory. So, last night, we put her in the bed, got her all excited to sleep in a big girl bed, and put the child lock on the door. 30 seconds after we left her, she was crying at the door. I tried putting on the night light and the "Mozart Makes You Smarter" CD (her favorite), but to no avail. Finally, I just cuddled with her for like 5 minutes, and she fell asleep. But, she woke up at 6 am, crying at her door again. Yes, the toddler bed is going to take some getting used to. But I'm glad we're doing it now and not when I have a brand new baby crying for my attention.

Dottie, pre-sleep, when she thought the bed was still "fun."

Busy Bees

Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted. I have my reasons. First, I've had a cold that I can't seem to shake for the past week. I still feel lousy. I can't get better because I have a little girl who doesn't like to sleep, so then I can't sleep and recover in my pregnant state.


Then, Joe and I have a list of things we've been busy with. Joe's started his band competitions. He had two this week, and then there's another one on Saturday. I've taken Dottie with me to these competitions because they're really quite enjoyable. She likes to dance to the music. You wouldn't believe the caliber of some of the bands in this area . . . Some of the bands practice all summer long, then they practice until 6 every night, then they have Saturday rehearsals from 8-5. Basically, if you're in band, you don't have a life. So it's hard for Joe's little band, which is really just starting to get better, to compete with these band legacy schools. I think, though, that Joe has some good ideas for next year with the band. Little by little they're improving.


Last night was the state qualifying competition, and Dottie threw the mother of all tantrums. Wow. She screamed bloody-murder for a half hour straight. I had to take her to the bus and wait for the competition to be over for another hour, because you could hear her all over the stadium. She's just at a very trying time in her life right now. She hates naps, and I think she may be getting my cold. She's also decided that she never wants to eat what we're having for dinner, so she was also starving last night. What's a girl to do with a child like that? I just hope she snaps out of her Demon Dottie (Amanda's term) stage before I have another child.


The other developments in the past week and a half are Emily moving, me getting more piano students, and me practicing the piano. Yes, Em and Craig bought a house, which is really far away from my house. It takes a half hour to get there. So, I haven't been seeing as much of Em lately. Hopefully, we'll be able to work out a system so we can still see each other frequently. Dottie is going through Aunty Em withdrawals. We've been helping them move. They've been gradually moving everything over to the house for the past two weeks. The official moving day is Saturday, but all they really have left to move is their bed, their Eliptical machine, and their piano.


I get over there when I can to help Emmy. But a pregnant girl with a two-year-old is more of a hindrance than a help. So really, Joe's been doing most of the helping. In the mean time, I've redeveloped my passion for the piano, thanks to having a sixteen-year-old student. Yes, I have a new student who is very good on the piano, and likes to practice. Two pluses. Since teaching her, I've noticed that my piano playing skills are certainly rusty since high school. So, I've started teaching myself again. Right now, I'm working on memorizing Debussy's First Arabesque (not that difficult, but hey, I need to start somewhere). I've been practicing for an hour a day in the past week or so. It's good for me to have a goal again. I really think sometimes in motherhood you forget about your own needs, but having goals is definitely a necessity for any progressive human being. I feel like I'm human again instead of just my daughter's play thing.





I'll end with pictures of the week, which once again illustrate a two-year-old's eccentricities.

This is how Dottie eats. She pretends at first she likes the food, and then she throws it everywhere. Good thing this was before bathtime, because she was soon covered in oatmeal.

Dottie wore this outfit three days in a row. It was obviously her own choice.

Dottie wanted me to take this picture this morning. It's her potty-training outfit. We've had another relapse. She went a week straight with only three accidents. Then, I decided to try her wearing pants instead of dresses. Big mistake. Now she pees herself in dresses and pants.

This is my solace, the piano. I must say I like playing now more than I did in high school. It's my sanctifying water in the chaos of Dottie.

Party Hardy

This week was a week of partying in the Hansen house. First, we had Joe's birthday. While his birthday was technically on Thursday, we celebrated it on Wednesday because Joe had a football game on Thursday.
Generally speaking, Joe isn't a picky man. He doesn't really care what he wears, how his hair looks, things like that. But there are certain things that must be "just so" on his birthday. As many of you know, I am a girl/woman who likes to cook. I like the joy good food brings to people. I especially like making special birthday treats (Amanda's key lime pie, Becca's rice crispy creation). However, my husband prefers to have something as non-homemade as possible for his birthday cake. In the past, I have bought him a cake from the store. This year, I got him to let me make a cake from the box, with icing from the can. So here's a picture of this birthday travesty (sorry I don't have a better shot):


But I'll do anything for my honey on his birthday. We also went bowling for Joe's birthday, which was something he's been wanting to do for a long time. Craig and Em came with us, and I must say that the Weed girls weren't as pathetic as you might think. We played two games, and although I got last place the first game, I got first place in the second game. Em was always placed somewhere in the middle, and Birthday boy won the first game. It was a good time for all. Even Dottie had fun, although she got a little overambitious and tried to lift a bowling ball all on her own.
The second party of the week was on Joe's birthday, Thursday. Since my husband was gone, I had a girls' night at my house. We watched "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" and ate lots of food. I think most of the girls didn't really watch the movie. We mainly talked. Dottie got to stay up until 9:30. I was amazed she went to sleep, because the party was still going until 11.

Party #3 was just with me, Emily, Joe, and Dottie. It was really a continuation of Joe's birthday. On Saturday, we went to a fun little amusement park called Santa's Workshop. It's located at the North Pole! No, really. The town is called North Pole, CO. Everything at the park is Christmas-themed, although some of the rides seem oddly familiar (i.e. Santa's Christmas Cups, which are really just the Tea Cup ride painted in Christmas decor). Joe's student teacher at Wasson has worked at the park for ten years and was able to get us in for free! That was a really good deal, because normally the tickets are $17. This was Dottie's first amusement park experience. At first, she didn't know what to think of the rides, and she didn't smile at all on any of them. Gradually, she got the idea that this was "fun," and lightened up. Here are some of the highlights of that excursion:

Dottie and Aunt Mimi on the purple ladybug.

Dottie rode this ride twice, and insisted on the purple ladybug both times.

Believe it or not, Dottie was really enjoying herself. She rode the carousel twice, and each time she had a completely serious face.

Dottie and Daddy.

The Hansen family at the "North Pole." It was a frozen pole of ice . . . I'm not sure how they keep it frozen year round.

This is Dottie's favorite ride, and the one ride she rode solo. As you can see, she's merrily dinging the bell. This is the one ride she smiled on.

Em and Dottie having a tender moment on Santa's train.

Party #4 was later on Saturday. It was our friend Hallie Hinckson's first birthday. She had a Tinkerbell themed party. Her mom, Michelle, even dressed Hallie up as Tinkerbell. It was a fun party, watching Hallie demolish her mom's pretty castle birthday cake.

Dottie and Hallie.

Dottie thought it was her party since she got to wear the cool hat. She even helped Hallie open her presents.