Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Peep, peep, peep

Well, hello there, bloggy friends! I know, it's been a while. Annoying! Let me catch you up to the ever-busy life at the Hansen home.

As I do every single year at this time, I bought some Peeps. I can't resist them-- they're just so... what's the word? Cute? I buy them every year and I eat one every year and, as with all of the years past, I am reminded that I don't actually like Peeps. They're kind of gross. Chris agrees and yet he, too, eats at least one from our yearly Peeps purchase. I'm sure I'll repeat this whole process again next Easter-- it's kind of a tradition.



The boys, on the other hand, love the Peeps. And anything else with sugar as the primary ingredient.

Speaking of the McChildren, they're just growing like little stinkweeds, especially Baby Neil. He'll be six months old on the 5th. Sigh-- let's take a quick moment of silence.

Neil is the best baby, at least for me. He is rolling-- kind of-- and smiling and cooing and generally being in love with his mother. He smells divine and is currently the only child of mine that doesn't talk back to me.

He does have sweet older brothers. Thomas and Gordon both love Neil terribly. They like to fight over who gets to sit next to his car seat in the van every single morning. I keep having to remind everyone that the van actually has enough seats for EIGHT people, so fighting over seats doesn't really make any sense.

When Gordon wants to hold Neil, he says, "I need some Neil Love." Cute!



Since it's still winter here, we've had to take the s'mores inside. Indoor S'mores-- YUM! Here's how you can make your own:

1-- Get some big marshmallows, Fudge Stripe Cookies, and something to roast with. We use metal kabab skewers.

2-- Roasting your Indoor S'more mallows should be done by an adult and with great caution. The mashmallows don't catch on fire, but that stove is HOT. Just place your marshmallow on the skewer and rotate it over a stover burner on high. The marshmallow will brown fairly quickly, and quite perfectly. Chris demonstrates.



3-- Place your perfectly browned marshie between two Fudge Stripe cookies and let it sit long enough to melt the chocolate. Yummy.




I'd still rather be at an actual campfire roasting marshmallows, even with the smoke, but until then, Indoor S'mores cures a bit of the Spring Fever quite nicely!

Oh, look! A Robot!



We went to Idaho Falls last weekend to celebrate Ann-Michelle's 26th birthday on the 28th and Jake's 23rd today with a big huge party. Earlier in the day, Gordon put boxes on his hands, my dad's boots on his feet, and a huge snowmobile helmet on his head to make quite the cute little robot. Silly kid!

The party was at Ann-Michelle's house on Saturday night. Can't beat a DeArton party!

Happy Birthday, Ann-Michelle! Now she's in her "late 20's"-- ha ha ha!



She had plenty of help blowing out the candles!



I decided to forgo the Rock Band and game playing for cuddling with my favorite human teddy bear. Aw.



The party continued on Sunday when we all gathered at my parents' place for a birthday dinner. We haven't all been together in a while, so we had to get some pictures. Six kids... sometimes I wonder why my mom is still sane! :)

Ann-Michelle, ME, Jake, Allison, Kristie & Caitlan



Jake's roommate came along, so we used the extra person to take a picture of all of us. This is my entire family-- and we've just started growing! :)



I have HUGE NEWS on the digital scrapping front: I've resigned my position from Pixel Gypsy Designs and my new shoppe at The Digichick opens tomorrow! Wahoo! The Digichick was one of my first stops when I started digi scrapping, so I am absolutely thrilled to be among the incredible designers there. Let's just hope I can keep up!

I also have a new design blog-- Elise's Pieces Designs where you can find some new free stuff right now!

8 comments:

Holly said...

It seems like forever since you've posted.. and even longer since we've seen you! Shane said he saw you at Macey's though. We need to get together soon. Hope things are going well with you.

Ashley said...

Glad to see a new post, and that you are seem chipper and happy! You're a great mom!

The Hammers said...

Wow! You've been busy! The s'mores look amazing. How come I never thought to use fudge stripe cookies? I love those things! I'm excited for your new challenge in scrapbooking. I loved the brownie scraps ones you did. Who one, anyway? Tell your family Happy Birthday for me.

Becca said...

You're back! I love this pictures on this post--my favorite being the one of you holding Neil, and you're looking exceptionordinarily cute in that sweater . . . and my second favorite being the "robot" . . . now where have I seen that before?

Becca said...

PS- Peeps? Yuck! I judge you. :)

jILl PeTeRsEn said...

Hey girly! I love all the pictures! Thomas holding Neil so so cute! I love that Gordon say's he needs some Neil love! That's so freakin adorable! Enjoy that human teady bear! It's too bad they grow out of that stage so fast and into the backtalking stage! Iwish I had ear plugs some days with my kids! Your family is getting big! We can't get all of us together anymore because there's too many kids!

Amanda and Andy Hansen said...

The DeArton family is growing huge! That is so cool that you all live relatively close to eachother. Congrats on your new digital scrapbooking job.

p.s. peeps are disgusting!

Elena said...

Bloggy friend, bloggy friend, where have you gone? Come back to us!!!

Hope all is okay at your house.