HanksTown - Brian Hanks & Natalie S Hanks

New Years' Eve 2011

2012-01-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, we stayed pretty close to the Kaysville home front. We enjoyed a Prince and Princess Tea Party hosted by Cinderella (Grandma Hanks) and a unicorn (Aunt Janna) and then rang in the New Year early with the kids and then again (early) with the adults.

Grandma and Aunt Janna (and the Cricut) helped the kids make their paper doll characters for the tea party.

Cinderella and the fairy godmother explained to the kids what their challenges were to get to the tea party.

First, they had to jump across the stones to the tree without falling in the lava.

Then they had to build a castle.

Then they had to pin a tail on the fiery dragon (aka: Grandpa Hanks).

After all the tasks were accomplished we went to the castle to have juice and treats.

All of the cute characters ready for the tea party!

Then the kids enjoyed some exercise time while jumping on the trampoline. They LOVE that thing!

Just before bed, we went outside to light some sparklers to start our New Years celebration.

Our friends, the Bairds, and their son, Tyler, came over from his grandparents house next door to do sparklers with us.

After we counted down (to 8:00pm), we made all the noise we could to celebrate!

Of course there were lots of pictures being taken and much enjoyment by all. :)

Then the kids got to enjoy some festive cookies (yep, right before bed).

Brian's Hanks Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle stopped by for the night on their way back home so we were able to have the adult's countdown to 2012 around 10:00pm. Pretty exciting group! :)

Post Christmas Utah Trip

2012-01-24T07:20:00.000-08:00

On December 26th, we loaded up our things at my parents' house, made a quick stop at our place in Seattle to drop off gifts, and then headed straight to Brian's parents' house in Utah with an overnight stay in Boise.

One morning in Utah, we got together with a couple of our friends from business school who were also in the area for the holidays. It'd been over 18 months since the kids had played together but they acted like old friends!

We got a picture with the Hoopers, but didn't get one with the Grays, who were also there. It was so fun to see some of our great friends from business school and missed those we didn't get to see.

We also went down to BYU so we can continue our "Pavlov's Dog" quest for our kids with the school. I mean, what kid wouldn't want to go to a college where you can pick out any candy you want every time you go there??? :)

Janna and Audrey were hanging out with us, too. After the bookstore, we hit up Cafe Rio for my indulgence.

We then went to Brian's cousin's wedding reception in Provo. We weren't dressed up, but we're family, so oh well! :)

The decorations were done by one of Brian's other cousins and his wife through their business Signature Party Rentals. I was SO impressed. We walked into a church building, then walked through the gym doors into a beautiful reception. The tent was inside the gym and it totally transformed it. What a brilliant idea! An indoor tent...everyone can stay warm!

The kids also did some coloring. I think Sydney's picture is a cat.

And I think Wes' picture is a dog.

I also took Wes to In-N-Out one day (my other indulgence) on a mommy-son date.

Grandma Hanks gave us a tour of the Family History Center in Salt Lake City where she serves as a missionary.

Sadly, the tour was cut short for the kids when Wes threw up all over the 3rd floor carpet! I guess he wanted to leave his own bit of history there...

We then walked around Temple Square (dragging Wes along even though he'd just thrown up).

We also went to the Conference Center and tried to get a cute picture of the kids. "Tried" is the key word. :)

A beautiful view of Temple Square and the lights coming on as the sun is going down.

A family picture with the Temple Brian and I were married in!

A beautiful sunset before we attempted to meet my sisters and their families for dinner where Wes threw up yet again so we finally decided we should just take him home. (We like to push our kids to the limit!) ;)

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

On Christmas morning, we got the kids up around 6:45am. They were already awake, but very obediently, they stayed in their room until we came to get them.

Santa had come and replaced the cookies we left him with play cookies. He also had read the notes the kids had left in their stockings and written a note in return.

The kids had a great time opening their stockings (that was nearly as tall as they were!).

Reaching in...

Ooooh...an I-Spy stick.

After the grandparents got up, the kids helped them open their stockings.

Santa filled Great Grandma Smith's stocking too!

Since we had church at 9:30am, we let the kids open one present before we went.

Santa had brought us special coordinating Christmas outfits! Here's our Christmas card picture since we never sent one out this year. Merry Christmas from the Hanks! :)

Wes and Sydney cheezing it up for the camera.

FINALLY, it's time to open presents!

We went youngest to oldest, but the kids were pretty interested in what everyone else got, too.

Wes' "big" gift from Mom and Dad this year was a Wii game.

Sydney's "big" gift was a cupcake/cookie decorating kit. She was excited about it.

After we were done opening presents, the kids got right into playing with their gifts.

Of course we had to try out the decorating kit!

Both kids mostly just loaded on the frosting.

Wes' masterpiece. The placemats were actually a gift from Wes to Sydney. I cut up the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and then had some of the pages laminated. I actually love the way they turned out. The idea came from Real Simple.

The kids got these giant Hershey's Kisses in their stocking. They made a dent in them after dinner.

We put them to bed right after this. It took them another hour to wind down. We learned our lesson about letting them eat half a giant Hershey's Kiss right before bed!

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, the men (Brian and my dad) ventured out to run a few last minute errands. The rest of the morning was normal and then our "party" got started around 3pm.

After baking some frozen cookie dough to make cookies for Santa, we watched The Polar Express. It was fun to see Wes really enjoy the movie this year.

Craig and Sara came over and then we went to look at a house a couple of blocks over that had their house lights timed to music.

After our fondue dinner, we read and "acted out" the Nativity Story (using a nativity set) and sang some Christmas songs.

Then we had dessert which was this festive cake I made, pumpkin pie, cookies, Study Mix, and lots of other goodies!

We helped the kids write their letters to Santa to put in their stockings. Sydney said she wanted "lots of stuff." When I asked her what she specifically wanted, she said, "I just want lots of stuff."

Wes said he wanted a sword and shield and then he said at the end that he wanted an iPad "because those are pretty cool." :)

The kids then opened their Christmas Eve present.

Christmas pajamas!

Hello Santa and Mrs. Claus! I love that I was able to do these pajamas this year. I have one boy and one girl who I can still dress up in - mostly - whatever I want. However, Wes wasn't too fond of people calling him Santa. He really just likes to be Wes. Sydney, on the other hand, loved her pajama dress and desperately wanted to wear it to church the next day.

A quick picture with Uncle Craig and Aunt Sara before they went home on Christmas Eve.

Then Brian read them their Christmas books that came with their Christmas PJs. We set out some cookies and carrots and it was off to bed for the kiddos!

Pre-Christmas Pics

2011-12-31T16:16:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of a few things we did in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The kids painted ornaments. Wes had a dog bone that he painted blue and yellow.

Sydney's was a penguin that she painted pink.

The kids helped me with a special present for dad, so I decided to take a picture of them.

We went to my mom and dad's to hang out the week before Christmas. The kids decided to cuddle and watch a show.

My cousin, Ryan, and his wife, Becky came by for a visit and to take my grandma to breakfast.

The kids were admiring the Christmas tree a few days before Christmas.

A different view of, essentially, the same picture.

Preschool Parties

2011-12-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 16th, we got together with Sydney's preschool friends for a little Christmas party. After Sydney's party, we went to Wes' preschool program. After his program, my mom took the kids back to her house for the weekend and Brian and I went to party at The Melting Pot and the Seattle Symphony.

At Sydney's party, the kids painted sticks to make ornaments.

After they were done painting, we had food and decorated sugar cookies.

Wes had a preschool program. I never did figure out why he wasn't dressed up and most of the other kids were.

All the classes sang some songs.

As we headed back to Wes' classroom, Santa was handing out candy canes. Sydney timidly took one (since she's still afraid of Santa).

We then enjoyed reindeer cookies that all the preschool children had helped make.

Here's a picture of us at the Seattle Symphony before we saw Handel's Messiah.

Fun day!

Natalie's 30th Birthday

2011-12-29T10:06:00.000-08:00

On December 15th, we celebrated my 30th birthday! Oddly, I feel no different than I did when I was 29. :)

The day started off with me babysitting some kiddos (which works out fine because then my kids are mostly occupied) and a 30-clue scavenger hunt that Brian made for me (to test my aging brain, apparently).

I've come to realize I don't really like cake all that well (or pies, for that matter), so I opted for a hot fudge brownie sundae as my celebratory dessert.

Wes and Sydney with their 30-year-old mamma (and the poster they colored for me in the background).

A brownie topped with ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream. Who can resist?

Yum!

The kids helped me pick which cards and presents to open.

I think they were slightly disappointed there were no toys among my presents, but we all still had a good time!

Christmas Rush 5k

2011-12-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

On December 10th, Brian and I ran the Kent Christmas Rush 5k with some friends in our ward. It was my last 5k in the 25-29 age division. However, considering I haven't run more than once a month over the last six months, I had no hope of placing in my age division.

Luckily, I was able to finish the whole race running, which I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do. My finishing time was 30:50.7 (definitely not a PR). Here were my stats:

Division Place: 21 of 68
Sex Place: 234 of 1119
Overall Place: 532 of 1848

Brian finished just a few seconds ahead of me. After the race, Brian and I went to breakfast at Shari's. We consumed at least as many calories as we burned during the race. But we had fun! A special thanks to Aunt Sara for watching the kiddos for us during our Saturday morning date. :)

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

2011-12-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

After we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, we pulled out the Christmas decorations.

On December 3rd, we went to our ward Christmas party. They had a big piece of paper on the floor for the kids to color on.

After dinner and some carols, the kids gathered together to hear the story of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Then, Troy and Wes waited in line to sit with Santa. Sydney wasn't interested in talking to Santa.

Thanksgiving Week in Boise

2011-12-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

Since I'm behind in blogging, all of the Thanksgiving week pictures are going into one post.

We arrived on Tuesday, November 22nd and the kids spent the 23rd playing in the backyard. Luckily, the weather was pretty nice so they could spend most of the day jumping on the tramp, climbing on the swing set, and riding around on the 4-wheeler.

Wes, Ryan, and Danny were doing a great job sharing the space!

Grandma Swensen read the kids a book.

Lunch time!

On November 24th - Thanksgiving morning - Sydney helped Grandma prep the turkey.

Sydney then helped Brian make deviled eggs. Sydney loves to cook!

Baby Ruby (2 months) enjoyed her swing and all the people around to hold her!

Many hands make light work! Everyone contributed to the Thanksgiving Feast.

The kids stayed out of the way by being sucked into iPad games.

A rare picture of me! :)

My Uncle Kirk with football in the background. My Grandma and Grandpa Swensen were also there, but I didn't seem to get a picture of them.

The little kids' table.

Little Lanie having her first Thanksgiving meal. She was a big fan of sweet potatoes, the rolls, and jello with whipped cream. :)

After Thanksgiving dinner, we drove down the street to sing at a nursing home. The kids wanted to ride in the back of the truck, but Grandma didn't feel comfortable with them being in the back without adult supervision. I think she was still uncomfortable riding in the truck bed, but the kids sure had a great time!

Here's a picture of some of the grandkids outside of the nursing home.

Wes volunteered to do a solo...well, duet with Brian, I guess. I was pretty shocked since usually my kids like to play the "shy card" when it comes to performing.

Later, the kids all attempted to make these Oreo Turkeys. They look a bit psycho, but the kids thought they tasted good. :)

On Friday, November 25th, we found out that Santa had made a special delivery for each of the families.

He dropped off an elf to watch each family until Christmas.

Here's a picture of Little Miss Lanie.

After some shopping (for the adults) and a movie (for the kids and some adults), the kids got PJs on and then decorated gingerbread houses.

Here are the girls working hard on their house and dolls!

Here are the kiddos with their finished products!

On Saturday, November 26th, we went to downtown Boise to the holiday market. Grandpa was nice enough to share his doughnuts with us.

I think Sydney liked them. :)

In one building there were a couple of Christmas activities for the kids.

Sydney's face is painted with a snowflake (or spider web?), but it's hard to see.

Sydney really felt like cuddling up to Danny for this picture!

The Hanks Family in Santa's sleigh.

Sunday, November 27th was Ruby Lyn Dildine's blessing day. What a cute family!

Here are all of the cousins with their Great Grandma and Grandpa Swensen.

The cousins in a line: Nathan (13), Danny (11), Madison (8), Ryan (7), Mitchell (5), Lydia (4), Wesley (4), Sydney (3), Lanie (8 months), and Ruby (2 months).

A Swensen Grandparents Weekend

2011-12-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Well, after a week of Thanksgiving and a week with a computer virus, I am back to blogging! I'm sure I've been missed. ;)

On the weekend of November 18th, my Swensen Grandparents and Uncle Kirk were in town, so we went down to Puyallup to stay with my parents.

The kids had lunch on the way down to Puyallup. I came across this idea for a travel snack tray from this site. Great idea, if you ask me! What is it? A paint tray! Super simple and super cheap, but it minimizes the mess.

We had a fun weekend playing with toys and watching football. The kids even threw a "party" that we could all attend.

There was also plenty of time for cuddling and relaxing.

Beautiful Mt. Rainier also made an appearance. I think I've said it before, but I love this mountain!

Caprese Cups

2011-11-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

I volunteered to make an appetizer for a girls' night the other day and I came up with this idea based on some other ideas I'd seen online. I thought it was pretty tasty and easy for an appetizer, so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients:

Won Ton Wrappers (can generally be found in the refrigerated area of the produce section)
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, diced
Tomatoes (I used vine-ripened), diced
Fresh basil, diced (you could probably use dried basil in a pinch)
Balsamic vinegar
Salt

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease (or spray) a mini muffin/cupcake pan.
3. If desired, gently cut won ton wrappers using a medium-sized biscuit cutters. (I think this made the cups a better size for eating and they looked a little prettier.)
4. Gently, but firmly, press the won ton circles into the muffin pan.
5. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until lightly brown. Let cool.
6. Mix mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt to taste. (I just eyeballed the amounts. Just make sure you start out with a little vinegar and add as needed.)
7. If serving immediately, use a spoon to put the caprese mix into the cups. If serving later, store the mix in the fridge (probably for no more than a few hours though or the basil starts to wilt and the tomatoes start getting soggy).
8. Enjoy the yum of the Caprese flavors (one of my favorites)!

Overnight Portland Trip

2011-11-20T08:01:00.000-08:00

Since neither of us had spent any time there before, and because Brian had Veteran's Day off, we decided to make an overnight trip to Portland,

Our first stop was the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry since we have reciprocity because of our Pacific Science Center membership.

They have a great children's area so the kids had a great time playing around for a while.

There's a giant sand box in the middle of the play area that the kids enjoyed.

There's also a water area and Wes was fascinated by this whirlpool.

Sydney preferred getting her hands wet.

I had the kids sit in this birds' nest and tried to get Wes to pretend to feed Sydney a worm, but neither of them would do it.

Wes rocked it out at this balance challenge. After the OMSI, we went to Red Robin for dinner and then we went in the "bubble pool" (hot tub) at the hotel. Pretty great day for the kids!

On Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at a local place and the kids inhaled their food. It was yummy!

We then went to Powell's Books, a bookstore that is as big as a city block and 68,000 square feet. It's a really cool - and almost overwhelming - experience. They have so many books!

We then went to a toy store and the Portland Saturday Market before doing a bit of outlet shopping (sales tax free!) and then heading to Puyallup for a night on our way back up to Seattle.

How to Entertain 7 Kids Under 4

2011-11-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

For my turn at babysitting co-op the other day, I watched four kids under two, two three-year-olds, and Wes. I blocked off the stairs, turned on Sesame Street, and then taped down some paper and put out crayons. The kids had a great time, I think!

The hardest part was feeding all of the kids at once, especially because I don't have any baby stuff any more, but we managed. I just had a floor picnic with the babies and the older kids ate at the table. Anyway, if you're looking for a fun change for coloring, put out some paper on the floor and let the kids color away!

Club House

2011-11-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

The other day my kids were looking through a toy magazine (a great distraction for the kiddos, by the way), and Wes told me we should get this Club House.

After looking at the picture, I realized we had plenty of big boxes lying around and we could make our own that would be sufficient (more like, awesome) for a 3- and 4-year-old.

I used a few boxes, packing tape and a knife to make the beautiful abode. Wes was pretty set on painting it (because of the original), but he settled on coloring it with markers.

He also insisted on having a mailbox, which I just happened to have the perfect box and wrapping paper roll for. It was a like a "perfect storm" of cardboard house building products. They then spent the next half hour writing notes to each other and putting them in the mailbox while pretending they were Brian and Natalie.

Pure preschooler happiness and I saved myself 40 bucks to boot!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

On Halloween, the highlights for the kids were preschool, quiet time, dinner, and trick-or-treating. It was also Brian's first day of his new position at BofA, so he got to work from home all day.

I bought this cereal on a whim one day since it was on sale at Target. I think the kids were excited about it.

When I originally pulled out the Halloween decorations, Wes asked if he could eat his breakfast in these bowls. I told him he could on Halloween. As you can see, they are quite large bowls!

I was in charge of teaching Sydney's preschool on Halloween, so I skipped the regularly-scheduled lesson plan and did all things Halloween. First, we played with Pumpkin Pie Playdough and Halloween cookie cutters.

After a number of crafts and activities, the kids made their own spider snacks (Ritz, PB, pretzel sticks, and mini chocolate chips).

We also did pumpkin-ghost bowling.

For dinner, I carved pepper jack-o-lanterns.

I then filled the peppers with "brains". We also had mummy dogs and Jell-o worms (which I forgot to make with enough time to solidify, so they don't look that great).

Sydney sort of looks like a zombie eating some brains.

For dessert, we made witch's hat cookies.

After dinner, Brian attempted to take a picture of the kids in costume. I made Sydney's Princess Zelda costume from things I found at the DI. I painted her little apron thing with puff paints and cut it out of a shirt. We bought Wes' costume from Target. I had originally made him a Link costume, but he had decided he didn't want to be that anymore, so he got a choice of whatever was left a Target the Friday before Halloween.

Since we don't live in a great residential area, we drove to a different neighborhood to take the kids trick-or-treating.

For some reason, the kids would ring the doorbell and start running away. I'm not sure what they thought was going to happen. Eventually they figured it out and we had to try and help them to remember to say, "Trick or Treat" first, then to not take candy out of people's hands and then to say, "Thank you." It's a lot to remember for 3- and 4-year-old!

Here are the kids and their spoils from day two of candy collecting. Brian and I both agreed that the kids get a lot better candy these days than we did when we were kids. Let the candy consumption begin!

Trunk-or-Treat 2011

2011-11-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, October 29th, we went to the Seattle North Stake's trunk-or-treat. I was glad it was held at 4pm, so it was still light out. Plus, it was a sunny day which was a treat for the parents!

The kids were a little too distracted to get a good picture before they started collecting candy. Sydney was Princess Zelda and Wes was a Lightning McQueen driver.

At this trunk, the kids got to go fishing for their treats!

The kids kept their distance from this gorilla, but were still able to get their candy.

This trunk had a dog dressed up as a turtle and a turtle dressed up as a dog. Pretty clever!

About halfway through, we took a break and had doughnuts and apple cider (as if we needed any more sugar!).

Some of the kids of the Seattle 7th Ward eating their doughnuts.

A real Kent firefighter (from our ward) passing out candy.

After stopping by all the trunks, the kids sat down to check out their spoils.

Mmmmm....candy.

They got a ton of candy at the trunk-or-treat and we hadn't even had Halloween yet! They were pretty excited, as you can imagine.

Brian's 31st Birthday

2011-11-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

On October 26th, Brian turned 31! This was more weird for me than my "baby" turning 3 a few weeks before. It's just weird we keep getting older, I guess!

Brian took the morning off of work to accompany Wes on his preschool field trip to a pumpkin farm.

I think it was a bit chilly, but I'm pretty sure Wes was stoked to have his dad hang out with him all morning.

At Brian's request, I made Lasagna of Roasted Butternut Squash, which is delicious (and a lot of work) for dinner and German Chocolate Cake for dessert. The kids did a great job helping to blow out the candles.

Wes got Brian a Super Mario book and was disappointed when it wasn't actually full of pictures of Mario and friends. Sydney got Brian candy and an iTunes gift card so he could buy a new iPad game like Plants vs. Zombies, a family favorite. Brian's brother Craig, and his wife, Sara, also joined in on the festivities. It's so fun to have family nearby!

Random Kid Things From the Last Little While

2011-10-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures of the kids that didn't really work in a specific blog post thus far.

I could say it a thousand times: these kids LOVE their dad. Whenever Brian's around, he really can't go anywhere without two little bodies following him around.

Back in September, Sydney helped her dad install a new stereo in his new car.

Sure, it'd be great if my little girl looked cute and coordinated all of the time (in fact, I would love to look that way). However, the reality is that she is her own person, she likes to be comfortable, and she dresses herself in the morning (meaning, I don't have to help her!). So, oh well. And yes, we did go out in public with her looking like this. She got a lot of attention. :)

After I took the picture above of Sydney, Wes wanted one, too. As long as they let me to take pictures of them, I will!

Sydney's hair is actually quite a bit longer than it looks. I actually do her hair nearly every morning (some days, I just can't take the time, so on goes a headband - or 10), but by the end of the day, she's pulled out her bows, slept, scratched her head, etc and her curls turn into a big, frowy mess. Again, oh well. I remember my dad telling me I looked homeless as a kid one time, so I can relate. :)

Here are the kids sharing an umbrella in the rain on the way to preschool one morning.

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I took the kids outside to blow bubbles for them and they started running around singing the bubble song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It reminded me of last year when Sydney ran in circles singing the Hot Dog song.

Sydney put on this mask and crown from a book I've had for a while. It looks a bit more scary than Princess-y, in my opinion.

The kids had the great idea of putting lotion on my legs. Yes, please! :) (Not pictured are the purple butterfly wings that Wes is wearing.)

I took Sydney to JCP for her 3-year-old pictures. As a reward for good behavior (aka: smiles), we got her a pink cookie at Nordstrom. She sure loves frosting!

One day while Wes was at a friend's house, Sydney and I made these cute acorn cookies (Hershey's Kiss, mini Nila Wafer, and mini chocolate chip). We took some to our local librarians and then I sent some with Wes to preschool the next day for his "Letter A Sharing" day.

Impromtu Pumpkin Patch Visit

2011-10-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, October 13th, it was a beautiful day so Tenley initiated an impromptu preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Lily, Sydney, Troy, Claire (Snow White), Wes, Avery (Tinkerbell), and Carson. Caius is also in the preschool class, but wasn't able to come that day.

Me with my kiddos.

On the hunt for the perfect pumpkin!

Sydney and Troy were having fun exploring.

The kids played on this hay wagon for at least 20 minutes.

It's a natural modeling shot. :)

For some reason, I think kids look so grown up with their hands in their pockets. :)

Wes, Sydney, and Troy getting their picture with the tractor.

Wes and Sydney made a go of the Kids' Maze. We ended up with a medium-sized pumpkin, apple cider for Brian, strawberry milk straws, and fun memories! :)