The best surprise

Wow, what an incredible and crazy last couple of days have been!  Where to even begin?  For about a month now me and my brothers have been planning to surprise my parents for their 65th birthday with me showing up at their family dinner.  Then to make it more fun my brother thought of doing a little photo shoot with their friend who is a photographer and redo the horrible picture that mom treasures from our youth.  It was all a great plan, me and Kason getting there on Friday, get some rest and take pictures on Sat. morning, print it for my parents party and see if they figure out I am actually there waiting to come in.

But of course, we experienced some travel complications before we even left the Fargo airport and ended up staying there all day until finally we left for Chicago airport around 8pm.  Needless to say Kason who was soooo excited for his first airplane ride ever had enough after just one day. :)  To make things worse my cell phone ran out of service days which means it got deactivated and it took me probably good 3 hours on the phone at the airports and hotel over the 2 days to have it fixed so I could communicate with Ehren who left us at the airport thinking everything was just fine. :)  I was really thankful for the tablet Kason got to use while I did that because it kept him occupied for a long time.

Since our flight was delayed by 6 hours we had to spend the night at a hotel and even though it was all "mechanical" problems our airline had they said they cannot give us a voucher for a hotel which I could not believe but at least I found a good deal and we got some 5-6 hours of sleep.

The next day we finally got on our international flight and continued without any problems, other than being very tired from an extra day of traveling and Kason even though he only got a few hours of sleep at the hotel could not go to sleep on the plane for a long time and when he did it was not for too long and was kind of restless.  But I could not believe how much energy he still pulled out of that little body because when we got to my borther´s house he was biking and running around with the kids and then at my parents he fought going to sleep for a long time too.

So at my brother´s house we did our little photo shoot quick and that was a lot of fun.  We laughed and laughed and had a great time and the pictures she took look great.  The pictures I posted here are just with the other cameras, not from the girl who took the nice pictures but I still like them.  I was worried I would look awful after almost 3 days of traveling and not being able to shower or look my best but it turned out great.  

Then it was time to head to my parents.  My brothers went in first, had my parents sit in the living room and presented them with the picture.  Surprisingly, my parents did not think anything of me being in the picture, they totally thought it was some photoshop thing but then I came in the door and my mom´s reaction was priceless.  Both mom and dad were so excited and touched and just could not believe we all kept this secret from them :)  It was an incredible moment for me to be able to just walk into their living room and give them a big hug, which is such a normal thing for other people.  We took a video of it too and I will try posting it here.  Just feel so blessed today with such an incredible family and even though they are thousands miles apart from me I can feel their love, their support and encouragement.

Now that the most stressful part is over, Kason and I can just enjoy our time here with the family and friends.  I already got to hold my 2 youngest niece and nephew today and take in their beautiful smiles.  I am hoping the one on the way will come out before I have to leave so I can see him too.  It was such an amazing day today despite me being beyond exhausted.

At the Fargo airport before we said good bye to daddy

at the hotel we got to around midnight - Kason fell asleep right away

here is before and 15 years later

mom and dad before they saw me

Kason getting overly tired finally

2 brothers with their youngest

My niece Ester

Kason showing the boys how dsi works

the wedding

What a busy weekend we've had but we sure had a lot of fun.  We spent the Friday night at my friend's house who is from Slovakia.  I loved being able to talk to someone in Slovak face to face even though we spoke quite a bit of English so Ehren would understand.  We stayed up way too long that night but it was so good to catch up on things.

love this picture of me and my baby

The next day was Ehren's cousin's wedding.  Our kids have been so excited to go to the wedding since they really haven't been to any.  We talked about dressing up very nicely and when I was trying Kason's clothes on he was pretty proud of himself.  He said "I look like a prince, maybe Kelsey will want to marry me. :)"  When I asked why he'd want to get married he simply said "because then I would get kissed." :) So cute and innocent and it is funny to me how kids at that age perceive getting married as just dressing up and getting kissed.  And Kason out of all our kids is the one who loves giving me hugs and kisses so I'm not surprised he thought about the kiss.  Anika was very excited to see the wedding too and she thought Kelsey was absolutely beautiful and she was.  The wedding was very beautiful and elegant.  It was also nice because the whole Hanson family was there which rarely happens so it was nice to visit a little.  We didn't end up staying at the reception too long because Kade got a bad stomach ache (probably too much food) and Kason was falling asleep.  But the kids still had a great time and this morning they enjoyed the hotel pool with Emily and Aveah.    It was just a fun weekend even though we are pretty wiped out from late nights and early risings.

So below are some pictures from the weekend.  I really wanted to put my hair half up for the wedding and I was so happy that my mother-in-law was able to help me do it how I wanted it because I am terrible at doing my own hair.  It looked  great I thought.  Now back to reality as we're expecting a snow storm tonight. I hope it's not as bad as they're predicting.  Snow is not welcome after March! :)

Getting Ready

the little hair-do

trying to take a family photo but someone's not very happy

after the ceremony

the girl cousins loved playing by the fountain and later on got kicked out :) 

beautiful tables

having fun dancing

we're making a bit funny faces but we're both really excited because it was hard to get Kelsey away from all her friends and family 

daddy is slow dancing with Ani :)

Me and Ingrid

winter

This week we've had the winter I love.  It's warm (around freezing) and the kids are able to play outside as much as they want to without freezing.  They've been having so much fun out there building tunnels and sledding down some big drifts we got a while ago.  Even the little kids are having fun on the sleds and running around.

This last weekend I took our kids skating again too and it was so nice out.  Kason is starting to skate a little bit and it's nice that he's having fun out there.  Anika is slowly improving and is pretty much running on ice now. :) I've been trying to show her to glide her feet but she just keeps walking and running.  But at least she's having fun and is trying.  Kade has gotten a lot better too and we only went skating a couple times this year.  His buddies from church were at the rink with their dad playing hockey and Kade was in heaven having someone to play sports with him.  After a long time Kason and Ani got tired so they got their boots on and were running around and so I joined the boys in hockey and man, was that fun!  Kim (he's a friend of ours that was there) is really good and fast so he gave me a good workout skating back and forth the rink.  And the boys were surprisingly pretty good too, they're getting better at skating.  Then for 2 days after that I felt muscles in my legs I haven't felt for years. :)  I guess hockey is a really good sport for exercise.  It reminded me of the winters growing up when we would go with our friends and parents skating on the ponds close by.  My brothers always played hockey so I joined in once in a while and now I'm so glad I did and can do that with my son.  It's just so good for kids to have fun outside with friends like that.  I wish in our community we had more of that and less of organized sports that are so expensive, competitive and many times very unfair because so many times it is the same kids that get the opportunity to play while the rest sit on the sidelines wishing they could just play the game.  I guess it's up to us to make it happen but it's hard when it's not a priority for many kids and families.

  

clothes

Today for some reason I started thinking about clothes and kids.  I've had several conversations with friends lately about their kids in middle school and how much they struggle with fitting in, girls especially.  I am angry and outraged at what we as a society have come to.  We teach our kids that they have to look the best if they are to be successful.  They care so much about the brands of clothes they wear and if they're one of those that can't afford them they feel self conscious and like they're somehow less.  And the kids at that age are so mean on top of that.  They say comments like :"oh, you couldn't afford shoes like these" or they make fun of other kids' clothes.  If it were up to me I would order everyone to start wearing uniforms to school.  It would be cheaper for parents and kids would have one less thing to worry about when they go to school.

We are starting to see it with our Kade, how he wants to wear the clothes certain way because that's what other boys do, just following the crowd attitude so we're trying to talk to him about it.  Luckily, he could care less about what brand his clothes are for now .  I buy most of them at a second hand store or places like walmart and to him, it doesn't matter where it comes from he gets excited about a new shirt or even socks every time. :) It makes me happy to see that even though I've been having different kinds of clothes issues with Kade.

Even though I try to get clothes as cheap as I can with a good enough quality that they don't fall apart right away, I like to dress our kids nicely and that's the problem.  Kade does not want to look nice, the worse he looks the better, is what it seems to me anyway. :) He has his 2 favorite pants (with holes all over the knees) and 2-3 favorite T shirts and he'd be happy if he could just wear those every single day and then sleep in those shirts too.  He would just wear one shirt all week if I let him but he knows that's against the rules :).  Anyway, maybe there are a lot of boys like that and it kind of reminds me of one of my brothers growing up.  But it's frustrating when I look for the best deals on cute long sleeve shirts/sweaters since our winter lasts forever and all he wears is the same Tshirt over and over. :)

Luckily our Anika hasn't discovered her strong opinions about clothes yet and for now pretty much wears whatever I give her which is such a gift. :)  I really hope it lasts.  I do ask her sometimes which shirt/pants or whatever so she does pick but for the most part she lets me pick out what to wear.  And if she dresses by herself for church and it totally doesn't match, she hasn't fought me once yet to change and put something on that goes together so I am very thankful for that.

And then we have Kason who right away at 2 years old wanted to pick what to wear and he had a period when he would change his clothes 2-3 times a day because he liked them all. :)  At least he listens to me as far as colors not matching or wearing the wrong pants but the outfit has to be his pick or else he won't wear it. :)  So I'm guessing we have another Kade on our hands soon, but maybe he'll be dressed a little better because he likes to wear a different shirt every day.

It is just funny how much of our life we spend on clothes, thinking about clothes, buying clothes, fixing clothes and worrying about right or wrong clothes. :)  I just hope we can teach our kids that no matter what they wear, clothes they wear do not make them who they are and what really matters is what's inside.

Valentine's Day

Well, it must be one of our most pathetic Valentine's Days yet. :)  Not that we try to make a big deal of it, Ehren and I don't even go on dates on Valentine's Days.  But usually I do try to make things special for us and the kids. And I still tried today but now as I sit here I'm thinking I shouldn't have tried so hard when obviously we are all a bit under the weather.  Especially me!  I've been sick since Sunday and even though yesterday I thought I was getting better today I got up feeling worse than ever, throat swollen and hurting a lot.  But, I was not going to let that stop me from my Valentine's plans.  What was I thinking? :)

I had all the kids here today and since some of them were gone before we didn't get to work on our Valentine crafts before today.  So of course we had to get that done today, you can't go to daycare and not come home with at least one Valentine's card. :)  So one by one I took the little kids to do the hand print crafts, then some other finger painting hearts and stuff.  It really doesn't take too long but the kitchen was a mess afterwards.  One of our Valentine's traditions with the kids is to have a special Valentine's snack in the afternoon, after the kids come home from school.  So, I was busy getting some of that ready plus getting a dinner ready so we could have a nice dinner together as a family, with a special dessert too.  Well, as we are about to have a snack with all the kids my little niece threw up.  I was just walking towards her when she was about to do it on the carpet so I quickly scooped her up and brought her over to the toilet.  Poor thing didn't feel good at all.  Anika threw up 2 days ago too so I know it is some bug going around at our house.  Kason and I got it first and had bad fevers for about a day.  And even though he's been doing a lot better during the day, even today he fell asleep on his bed before dinner time and is probably going to sleep until morning.  It is just really wiping us out and I knew it was just a matter of time before it got me too. :)

So, even though the kids were all very excited to get their Valentines at school and have a special snack, it just wasn't the same as when we're all feeling healthy.  Nobody was really hungry for dinner either so all that effort I put into it seems a bit pointless now.

On the bright side, when everyone else is not feeling so great, little Kinley I watch had probably the best day yet.  She's the baby that cries for her mom or me most of the day.  Today, she calmed down right away, took nice naps and when she was up she just laughed and giggled with the other kids.  So yey!  Something good happened today. :)

No, even though it seems pointless so many times, I still wouldn't change anything and wouldn't stop trying.  It's who I am and keeping our little traditions alive means a world to me.  And hopefully some day they'll mean a world to our kids. :)

Hope you are all staying healthy!

one of the crafts we made - this one is for nana

Kade's Valentine's Box

Teachers' Valentines

snack time minus 3 kids

Finally we get a smoothy for snack :)  We only get those in the summer

poor Aveah after she threw up

sick kids

Normally, when you think of sick kids you feel really bad for them and their moms and dads because it takes extra energy to take care of the kids while most of the times the parents get the virus from their little ones.  I don't ever wish on someone's kids to be sick but ironically, the best blessing for me these days is when one of the daycare kids is sick.  I feel bad for the little ones and the parents but at the same time I'm smiling inside because it means a much easier day depending on who is sick. :)

So this week has been one of those - easier and quieter because 2 little boys were sick.  They weren't gone the whole week but even just one day here and there of less kids makes a huge difference.  At the same time, I usually end up getting something from them and this whole week I think my body is fighting something because I have had no energy and am ready to go to bed at 8 with our kids.  So I think in a way God knows how tired I am this week and this is His way of lightening my load for me.  Makes you think how many times other people's troubles, little or small, can be someone else's blessing.  Hopefully I remember it next time something frustrating happens to me because maybe in that moment there is someone who's being blessed because of my misfortune. :)

Happy Weekend to everyone!  More snow on the way for us and we're hoping to do some sledding and playing outside.      

Kason and his best buddy Carsten

another year older...

Well, yesterday was my real birthday.  We have to say that quite often - real birthday.  That's because now I have a fake birthday, March 2nd that legally I have to go by.  I think I wrote about it on here some time ago.  Ehren made a comment the other day how not only do I have 2 wedding days to go by, now I also have 2 birthdays. :)

But it was such a nice birthday weekend.  Ehren was so awesome and tried really hard to make it special.  First he got me some yellow tulips for me and so Anika didn't feel left out Ehren got her some pretty flowers too (don't know the name of them :)).  I think him doing that touched me so much more than me getting flowers.  Anika was so excited and proud of her real flowers and showed them to everyone that came over and stills shows them to whoever hasn't seen them.  He's such a good dad and knows how to make Ani feel special.

On Saturday Ehren and I went on a date to Grand Forks and we tried an Italian restaurant.  It was a tiny place with maybe 10 tables but the food was really good, real Italian food versus a chain kind of restaurants.   It was just a nice time alone, which we don't get too much other than after the kids are in bed and by then we're usually both pooped. :)

Then yesterday (Sunday) it was a bit cold but not very windy and the sun was shining nicely.  Kids played outside for a long time which I was so thankful for and I even got to use my cross country skis - finally this year.  Whenever I had a chance to do it it was either way too cold or we didn't have snow.  So I was loving being able to go out there and ski.  I got pretty sweaty too, probably because I was sinking in the snow and had to work extra hard.  It got easier after I would follow the path I made in the snow, but it would be nice to get a snowmobile to make a track for me to ski on.  So, at least I can say I skied this winter :) and really it was like I got the perfect weather just for my birthday.

We also had Ehren's parents over for dinner yesterday and watched a little bit of the super bowl.  It was very nice to just sit and visit with them.  Ehren and Ani made me a cake (with a bit of supervision by me :)) and Ani was so excited to celebrate my birthday.  So all in all, I had a great birthday weekend.  Getting older is easy when you're surrounded by so many people that love you. :)

Ehren printed out these cute "cards" from each of the kids.  It was a picture of Kade and Anika at 1 years old with a cute note about them.  I loved Kason's card the best because he really is my little superhero.  I can see now how moms tend to be so soft-hearted with their last baby.  Sometimes I have to catch myself and think if I'm babying him too much or if I'm being too soft with him.  It's just so hard not to when he gets so excited to see me every morning, hugs me tightly and says over and over how much he loves me. :)  I love each one of them, but I see how quickly they grow up like Kade has so I want to hold on to Kason as long as I can, while he's still my little boy.  Then again, I know I have to remember Kade might act like he doesn't care and that he's mr. independent, but he's still a little boy who needs his mom very much.