Aubrey Cooking Rock Soup and Rock Pie

So this is Aubrey's "kitchen". Here she lays out all her utensils. This is Omi and Aubrey wearing their handy aprons.

This is Aubrey's "oven". She would even use an oven mitt to get out her Rock Pie.

Aubrey showing off her mad cooking skills. This was Rock Soup.

My cute little chef...

This post is dedicated to my cool mother who is highly creative and is the best person to play with (according to Aubrey).

Here is Isla!!!

This is my adorable niece and as you can see, I had my mom take the pictures. I just can't put the cutie down...
This was before I grabbed her to hold.
Here is Aubrey holding Isla. She LOVED it, and told Omie, "I get to hold her before you."

I am an AUNTIE!!!

I didn't think I would be this excited to be an aunt, but I am in love with my adorable, sweet niece named Isla Nicole. I will post pictures as soon as I can stop holding her to actually take some :).

I am woman...hear me ROAR!

For the past month, my "check tire pressure light" has been on. I brought it to a tire place and, free of charge, they checked all my tires on my adorable blue Rav4 and put air in them. But, the light never turned off. So I did some research and found out that my SPARE also has a sensor in it, and I need to check that. Sure enough, it was 12 psi lower than the rest of my tires. I found this out after I bought a tire pressure checker (yes, I don't know the exact terminology!), tore off the soft/hard cover of the spare, and checked the tire myself. Finally, I drove the car to an air pump, put in 4 quarters, filled the tire up without going over the max psi of 40, and shoved the spare cover back on. You know how I know I accomplished something today? Three reasons: 1) I did it all by myself. No man was involved. 2) The "check tire pressure light" turned off immediately. 3) My hands got dirty!

BTW, yesterday I also figured out how to utilize the Bluetooth that is already installed in my Rav4, and paired it with my phone so I now can talk hands free while driving. This makes my dad and Ryan very happy:)

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

I love Christmas for many different reasons...

like decorating our tree....
like drinking hot chocolate out of adorable snowmen mugs and spreading cheer....
like baking and eating yummy, cute reindeer cookies...
like creating a paper chain to count down the days until Christ's birth AND decorating our outside tree with homemade snowmen...
p.s. we practiced our cutting and gluing with both activities AND we practiced counting circles :)

like making our advent calendar, yes we did make this, and reading our devotions to learn more about GOD....
like just loving on each other while doing these fun things together as a family, all while celebrating Christ's birth :)

Teaching is in my blood...

Tonight was fun! I taught Aubrey how to play Memory. You know, the old fashioned game of flipping over cards to find the match? She received the game for her birthday in July and since then we'd play the game by placing all the cards on a table face up and find the matches. I wanted her to get the concept of finding matches. (In the teacher world, this is called building prior knowledge.)

Back to tonight...for the first time, I took 16 cards and placed them face down. I showed Aubrey how to find a match (teacher talk for modeling) and told her that I was going to remember where the cards were so because the two cards didn't match (this was me using explicit language). She caught on quickly and we played our first game of Memory successfully!
I told her that as she got older, we would keep adding cards until we were playing with all of them. (Finally, this is scaffolding. Less teaching/coaching/modeling by me and more independence/confidence/success on her part).

Cooking and Quilting

There are two things that I love to do relax. Yep! Cooking and quilting. Yes, they both require work, but I really enjoy doing them and they make me feel like I actually accomplished something to make our world beautiful.

Yesterday I made my grandma's Chicken Dumpling Soup and it was so good. I loved reminiscing about all the times I ate it when I was younger. After talking to my mom today, she said that grandma made it yesterday too! What a coincidence:) I also made the best granola...here is the recipe to try at home: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Megans-Granola/Detail.aspx YUMMY! I want to eat it with and on everything:)

Today I spent time working on my mother's quilt. Mind you this has been a LONG process, but I am finally getting my rear end in gear and finishing it by her birthday...next November:) HA! Here is a completed square.
The whole quilt won't look like this. If you know my mom, then you know she wants all different colors and patterns:) It's been fun to make for her.

ahh.....life is good.

I'm Gonna Miss This

Our life is crazy busy! People always ask, "How do you do it?" Sometimes I say, "You just do what you gotta do." Sometimes I say, "God is good and is my rock!" Sometimes I say, "I HAVE NO IDEA!" No matter my answer, we do do it and we keep smilin' the best we can :) And when I am not smilin', I think of the song by Trace Adkins "You're Gonna Miss This". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBDN8yWyNYU

It's so true!

The Story of Jumping Mouse

If you haven't read the above pictured book, YOU HAVE TO! It's about this loving and giving mouse who wants to reach the far-off-land. It's a long journey, but before he goes a Magical Frog gives him jumping legs to help him along the way. So off mouse goes and as he does, he encounters other animals who are not as fortunate as himself. So helps each one immensely by giving away his sense of sight and smell and then he finally gets to the far-off-land to live there forever. Ahh.....I just LOVE this book!!! So, when today was Book Character Day at school, I was jumping mouse with a big ol' heart :)

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, our good friends The Clark's came to visit Smithfield. But instead of staying in Smithfield, which was already a good 30-45 minutes away from their house, we continued to drive another 30 minutes to Surry County. Surry is even more rural than Smithfield, but it has the best "you pick" farm. In the spring, we go strawberry picking. In the summer, we could pick blueberries and corn. In the fall, you can pick pumpkins. Above is us getting ready on a cold, rainy day to do such. Here is Aubrey, her best friend Alex, and the tag along buddy, Liam.

We first tried the corn maze, but got rained out. So we back under the shelter for the rain to stop. Then we got our umbrellas and drove to the field. Ryan was also along for the trip, which was so much fun. Here they are cutting Aubrey's pumpkin off the vine. And below that is Aubrey with her pumpkin.
It was so fun to watch Aubrey and Alex explore. Liam was also pretty cute! (See our Hanson Girls Shutterfly account for more pictures...) Below is a picture of Alex and Aubrey with their pumpkins.

We finished off the day by trying some yummy, but COLD pumpkin ice cream. Aren't they cute feeding each other?!

I love FALL and good FRIENDS:) What a great combination!

one of my favorite things...

...is reading something just when I need to hear it. This morning I read, "I do not ask to be set free from sorrow, pain and care, but only that I be given strength my cross on earth to bear. May take me by the hand and help through this day; then trusting him, I'll carry on and work, love, laugh, and pray."

I don't like good-byes, but I like knowing I can trust God to give me strength to carry on and work, love, laugh and pray. (sigh)

I love my town :)

Smithfield is the cutest little town. If I have to live in VA, I am SO grateful that I get to live where I do:) Today was "Town and Country Day". Check out the link http://visitsmithfieldisleofwight.com/townandcountryday.html just to see how cute my town is!

My friend Christina and her two-year old daughter, Eleanor, came out to join in the festivities. Last year, I ran in the Hog Jog (named such because of Smithfield Hams), but was slacking this year and didn't. Instead, we walked down to the after party and along the way we saw LOTS of old, fancy, shiny cars. It was fun! Then we tried to find the Kid's Fun Run, but those kids were MIA so we walked to the Farmer's Market. Yummy goodies and beautiful crafts!!! Here are the girls taking part in the longest hug ever while standing in front of some plants for sale.
After that we walked to the Windsor Castle Trail and walked in the woods for a bit with the girls while waiting for lunch. We spotted lots of spiders and enjoyed the sun and conversation.
Finally, it was 11 o'clock and lunch was ready. Local Smithfield churches all band together to provide "Souper Saturday". Tons and tons of people make all kinds of soup and desserts. The soups are donated to one church who houses the event. The charge is $5 for adults and $3 for all you can eat, and all the money is donated to the Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Center. Talk about small town community working together for the greater good! Christina and I devoured 2 yummy bowls of soup and the girls thoroughly enjoyed their cupcakes for dessert.
What a GREAT day in a GREAT town:)

Feeding the Fish

There is a nice housing development behind our apartments that has a pretty big pond in the middle and is within walking distance.Here is stopping to smell the flowers on the way:

The pond is nice to walk around, maybe a 1/2 mile and has pretty Willow trees and fountains. There is also a dock to launch a small boat from.

One day, we discovered there are fish in the pond that LOVE to eat. We have fed them Goldfish crackers, Rice Krispie cereal, even french fries!
The majority of the fish are small sunfish looking things, but there were 2 BIG catfish around this summer. Well, we just fed the fish tonight and there were at least 5 HUGE catfish who were feeling frisky! They were going at the bread we fed them tonight, so hard in fact, that Aubrey and I were all wet because of all their splashing!

You can also check out some more pictures and a video at: http://hansongirls.shutterfly.com/

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Summer vacation is always wonderful. I love and cherish the extra time with Aubrey, and not having to work is, AWESOME!!!!!! And then reality hits and it's September, well August since that's when teachers report back. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. Teaching is my hobby and I am thankful that I truly do enjoy what I do. (And NO, not because I get my summers off. I actually love the kids!) I am also SOOOOOOO grateful that I do get at least 6 weeks off in the summer because many people are not that fortunate.

But, going from working to playing and then back to working again is an adjustment. It has been a challenge this year to get myself, Aubrey and the dog back on a "working mom" schedule. There have been 3 blocks to making the process easier:

First, my dog is MAD that mommy went back to work. It means long hours all alone. So, when Emma gets mad, she pees. She has decided the best places to do this were under my dining room table where I could "feel" it, Aubrey's bed, and my bed. All in ONE night, I realized what was causing a funky odor in my apartment (the saturated pee carpet under my dining room table) AND she peed in Aubrey's bed while she was in it. This was after she thought that peeing in my bed a couple of nights earlier would also get her point across. Yes, she is still alive!!!

I think the cutest thing about that whole awful night was Aubrey's comment as I was pulling off her sheets to wash them at 9 p.m., after I had just steam cleaned the carpet and still had a lingering scent so I had to go buy 2 bottles of Nature's Miracle and douse the carpet (yes, the smell is gone!)...was when Aubrey looked at me, smiled and said, "Mom, I am lucky because I get to sleep in your bed now!" God is good to give me a girl like her!

The second block has been figuring out our "schedule". I could go on and on here, but mornings are a bit of a struggle to get out on time. Plus, now that we have a bazillion 7:45 a.m. meetings, it has made it even harder this year!!!!! For example, we've had quite the bout of rain the past week. One morning, Aubrey and I walked Emma and it was not raining. So, we got ready to leave for the day and loaded ourselves down with 3 bags, purse, lunch sack, coffee mug, and garbage. You get the picture of LOTS of stuff??!! When we stepped out of the apartment door, we could see and hear that it was pouring! So....we put everything down, walked back in the apartment and put on our rainboots and got our umbrellas. Finally, we loaded ourselves back up and off we went. All that took time so yes, I was late for my 7:45 a.m. meeting.

I won't even go into the evenings and cooking dinner, but I will say that Aubrey is learning lots about cooking and made the best chocolate chip blueberry heart pancakes with me:)
Third, being a teacher is a lot of work. It's not a job that you just leave at the work site and forget about. I have spent many hours after Aubrey goes to bed working on "stuff". As I get ready to leave Aubrey after we read our books and say our prayers at night, she always asks, "Are you going to do work mommy?" Yes. I am. But, the important thing to me is I try very hard to not let my school work overwhelm me. I focus on being with Aubrey when I am with her becuase that's my first job! School will always be there. I will always have something to do. And it always gets done, just when it's supposed to.

So....the moral of my ranting and raving about my life is that no matter what's happening with the dog, no matter what our schedule is like or our lack of one, no matter what we eat for dinner, no matter what the house looks like, no matter what school work I get done, no matter what time I get to work, no matter what........

It's all about the relationship I have with my beautiful daughter,
And it's all about the relationships I have with my students. Those quality relationships make the adjustment back to work alright, and well worth every struggle:)

Minnesota...great place to visit!

I know why Dorothy repeats, "There is no place like home." There truly isn't. When I go on vacation, it's fun to be somewhere new, see new things, stay someplace new, eat new kinds of good food, etc. BUT, by the end of the trip, I am ALWAYS ready to be "home".

For me, my "home" is Minnesota and my "vacation" is actually where I live in Virginia. Just imagine, I am fortunate enough to vacay where my "home" is! :) No....all silliness set aside, my "home" and "vacation" is actually two places...Minnesota where my blood family lives, and Virginia where my friend family lives. Both feel like home and a vacation at times....God is good and am I loved in either place! What more could a girl want?

So, here is a top ten list of my 2010 summer vacation trip to Minnesota:

10 Wilderness Walk in Hayward. Aubrey and I got to pet and feed a real fawn! It was so sweet and cute and fuzzy! I have never done anything like that in my life:) Plus, it was funny to watch the fawn try to eat Aubrey's skirt.

9 Pie. My mom and my grandma make awesome pies! We had rhubarb and blueberry, and they were oh, so good :)

8 Hermantown Police Department. Aubrey and I got to tour the department and see Uncle Griffin at work. So glad I have never seen ANY part of the police department before that, if you know what I mean?!


7 Swimming in Pike Lake with Aubrey and Omi. It was so fun to take her where I went swimming almost everyday in the summer. The water was just shallow enough for her and had plenty of snail shells to find.

6 Perkin's. It's MN's version of an IHOP. I love the Granny's Country Omelette! And they have the best pancakes.

5 Train ride to Lester River. Aubrey loves pointing out trains while we drive. This time she got to actually be on one and point out cars on the road! It was so exciting....she fell asleep :)

4 Spending quality time with family. There is nothing like family and seeing Aubrey interact with them (aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandparents, etc.) was priceless. My parents are the BEST grandparents!!!
3 Hepzibah's Candy Store. I used to go to this adorable candy shop in Canal Park A LOT during every summer with my friend Kara and get A LOT of Buttered Popcorn flavored Jelly Belly Beans. (Thanks Kara for recommending that I update the blog BTW.)

2 Aubrey's first bus ride in a REAL school bus. She even had her pink fish backpack from Auntie Carole with her. Thanks Aunnie Ennie for hooking us up...check out this excited girl:
1 Aubrey is the BEST traveler! She is such an expert at flying now. I told her to fasten her seatbelt, to which she replied, "Mom, the seatbelt light isn't on yet so I don't have to!"

Painting like Omie

Even though my parents are far away, it is nice to be able to do things with Aubrey that makes me feel like they are here with us. For example, the last time we went to College Run Farms was to pick pumpkins with Omie and Grandpa back in October. This May, we went to pick strawberries, and the reminder of the experience with them was GREAT.

We also paint like Omie. My mom is an amazing painter, and I love that Aubrey shares the same passion for it:) Everyday she asks if we can paint like Omie. I look forward to the day that she doesn't have to paint like Omie, but with her.

To check out pictures, and even a video, go to: http://hansongirls.shutterfly.com/

My Single Mom Life

I just started reading the book My Single Mom Life by Angela Thomas. I've wanted to read it for a long time, well about a year now, and finally found it in a local book store. I was thrilled! In the first few pages, I've cried so hard and laughed even harder. So, I'd like to share...

pages 3-4 "From that day until now I have been a single mom. I've done a hundred things wrong and finally gotten a few things right, but whichever the way, I am absolutely sure this has to be the hardest job anyone could have. ... Someone should stand and cheer every time we get the kids to school on time, fed and with clothes on. Or put stars on our single-mom charts for making it to the soccer games... There should be a finish line to run through at the end of every day's marathon...and there should be someone to hold us tight because we've given all we had to give."

A sticker chart!!! Ha-I would love it:) May I get a cookie if I get 10 stars? :) On a serious note though, I've learned through being a single mom that God is the one who holds me tight, and really gives me my stickers or blessings! I have a redeemed heart. I am stronger and able to navigate through the circumstances and inevitable challenges this life brings ALL because of God-who is holding me.

What Angela writes on page 33 echoes this.
"Just this weekend, I received voice mails and emails that brought difficulty to our family of five. We may have to go to court. The next few months could be hard and expensive. But my soul is full, and I am at peace. I remember all that God has already done for me. He'll do it again. We will walk through whatever comes. And I won't be dead on the other side. This mom has been filled by the powerful presence of God, and there is no going back."

When I first read this, I cried. Hard. I am going to court to have a judge decide whether or not I can move home to be with family. The next few months will be hard. I have to wait and not worry. If you know me, those are two things I do REALLY well:) The next few months will be expensive with lawyers fees, possibly moving costs, even emotionally. BUT I CAN FEEL AT PEACE, remembering all that God has done; believing that He will do it again; and trusting that He will be with me. Amen!!!

New Pictures

On a side note, I have added lots of new pictures to our Shutterfly account:
http://hansongirls.shutterfly.com/

Enjoy:)

Aubrey's Eye Surgery

At the end of January, my baby girl had minor eye surgery. She had a muscle deviation called Strabismus. Basically, when she looked to the far left, her right eye moved up instead of to the left. It was an easy, outpatient surgery at a Children's Hospital and my friend from Care Group performed the surgery. She did phenomenally well with the surgery, was SO brave, and recovered quickly! I am so proud of her!!!