New Hampshire Visit: 2014

Our trip to New Hampshire this year was the best. It was so nice to spend time with my in-laws (weird thing to say, I know, but true). Abe's brother Tanner, his wife, Holly, and their three boys were visiting as well, so between their family and the New Hampshire cousins, there were lots of kids to play with. I hardly saw my boys (save for the occasional story time). 

The weather was perfect. I loved hanging out my clothes to dry in the sunshine while songbirds made a joyful noise. We had lots of time to play outside in the lush, green grass and woods. 

And we got to see many people that we love--Abe's parents, of course, and his Nana, and his "other" family, the Irwins (we met his friend Jared's adorable baby boy), Six of the eleven kids in the family were there at some point. 

Also! We went to Santa's Village, the Christmas-themed amusement park where many of Abe's younger siblings worked as teenagers. It was truly a delight. 

I can't capture the joy of this trip in a blog post, but I'll try to compensate with a few pictures, 99% of which were taken by Abe's sister, Lara. (Thanks, Lara!) 

In which we visit people: 

The boys with Nana, Abe's grandmother.

Playing at Nana's house.

We had dinner at Quentin's house.
Here are Soren, Auntie Tailour, and Oliver.

We ate dinner with Lara and Nathan, et al. Here are Nate and Abe being all playful.

After dinner, we went for a stroll.
L-R: Maya, Abe, Nate, Lara, me, Soren, Liam

Abe and Soren enjoying the lovely New Hampshire evening.  

Me and Abe enjoying the beautiful New Hampshire evening.

                                                                We must have found something awesome.

    I couldn't resist the sweet tree house.

Yep. This pretty much sums up these two. 

(Though this was how they interacted 6 years ago.)

In which we spend the day at Santa's Village:

Liam sleeping en route.

Soren emerging from the spinning drums of the little drummer boy.

Waiting for the bumper cars (both above and below).

 Soren contemplating the magic of the wishing well. 

Me and Soren water racing. After a traumatic experience on a ride called the Flume (it's Splash Mountain-esque, Liam didn't want anything to do with water rides). 

        Ferris wheel! Liam yelled at me every time the car rocked. "Stop it, Mommy!"

There was an awesome water park portion inside Santa's Village.

                    This ride made my tummy sad.

Lara's remark here was that she thought the reindeer was a bit "dainty" for Abraham.

Chase and Maya on some Christmasosaurs. 

The Chimney Drop made me and Soren laugh hysterically. Chase and Lara liked it, too.

(P.S. My calves do not usually look that massive.)

In which we frolic in the water at Beaver Brook Falls:

L-R: Tailour, Maya, Soren, Me, Liam, Chase, Holly.

Building a dam. 

Sistas-in-law: Tailour, Holly, and me (above) or Lara (below)

Yes, Lara's hair is blue! Isn't it fabulous?

I love these ladies. 

In which the children do a lot of playing:

                                      Treehouse!

A very serious game of chess. L-R: Samuel, Chase, Liam, and Auntie Ivy

 

Uncle Caleb was a favorite playmate when he could be found. He and the kids created a "Hideout" in the woods. They all wrote their names on the sign. 

They were all VERY excited about having their "own" fire in the hideout.

In which Abe's and Caleb's birthdays (36 and 26, respectively) are celebrated

Abe sitting with his mama. 

Sharing a joke.

Birthday dinner! There was so much delicious pie.

In which various people demonstrate their affection for one another:

  Quentin resisting Abe's brotherly affections.

B and Gramps being adorable. 

Caleb, Gramps, and Abe.

The boys giving each other piggy back rides. (Quentin is hoisting Caleb while Abe looks puzzled.)

Maya is actually five months younger than Soren, but she can heft him easily!

L-R: Chase, Ethan, Soren, and Maya

Tailour and Quentin. 

Lara and Nathan.

Caleb with the kiddos. L-R: Chase, Soren, Liam (concerned about the crying baby), Oliver (also alarmed by the crying), Isaac (crying), Samuel, Maya, and Ethan

Caleb playing well his role as Pied Piper. 

Liam looking hale and hearty. 

Rachnabe.

Six of eleven. L-R: Caleb, Lara, Abe, Quentin, Tanner, Ivy 

Reading to some kiddos. The listening crowd grew from here. In the end, even Gramps joined storytime. No idea why I felt compelled to poke my leg out like that. 

Breakfast club! It was so fun to get out and have some "girl time" with these ladies.

Liam shows his love for his Uncle Nate by pretending to shoot him.

 This is called "mad scientist hair."

The apple and the tree.

Cedar City Reunion

This year for our Hanson family reunion, we spent some time in Cedar City, Utah. 

Highlights:

• Staying in a cute house owned by my Uncle Dorr. It was fun to have all our families in one place. 
• Soren and Charlotte took to each other instantly as kindred spirits. Liam tried herding Luke and Sylvie around, without much luck. 
• There was splashing in a little swimming pool in the back yard. The big people played dice and badminton and volleyball. 
• We watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which was a delight. 
• We celebrated Luke and Sylvie's 2nd birthdays with cake and a pinata. 
• Auntie Amanda broke out some glow sticks for the kids. Soren and Liam sword-fighted (fought?) themselves to sleep on their air mattress that night. 
• We saw Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors in an outdoor theater as part of the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. It was truly riotously funny. 
• Exploring Cedar Breaks. There was hiking and picnicking. Charlotte diligently completed all the requirements to became a Junior Ranger and even got a badge. 
• Celebrating our dad's retirement. We ate dinner in a nice steakhouse and, above the din, shared shouted memories about Daddy's working years. 
• Mostly, of course, it was just so good to spend time all together . . . the parents, the sibs, the sibs-in-law, the nieces and nephews. 
• Ya'll, I scored big in the family department. I love every single person in my family. My parents are da bomb (For reals. Ask anyone who knows them.) My siblings are the very, very best, and all three of them married amazing and delightful people, who, in turn, have helped produce amazing and delightful nieces and nephews for me to adore. 

Some pictures:

Here we're all crowded into the kitchen for a meal. 

I got all excited when I noticed that my nieces (Arielle and Calysta) and I had similar swirly designs on our shorts. Abe was forced (by me) to take a picture. I would just like to comment here that my bum stands up pretty well next to those firm little adolescent tushies.

A gorgeous panoramic view of the Breaks. 

Ready to go on what turned out to be an electrical hike. There was rain, there was thunder, and there was lightning. At one point everyone's hair started standing on end and Abe felt an electrical current move through his body. We beat a hasty retreat. 

Another hike let us to this scummy pond.  

 Here, Soren attempts to eat his brother. 

There were thousands of beautiful wildflowers decorating this gorgeous area. 

We discovered an awesome old-fashioned mining shovel outside a museum in Cedar City.

 The boys were very concerned for our safety while exploring the machine ("Mommy! Don't go up there! It doesn't look sturdy!"), but were eventually persuaded to sit in the scoop for a photo. 

Reading Journal

Yeah, it's been an entire year since I've blogged about what I've been reading. Yeesh.

Poor, neglected blog.

But anyway, I'm happy to report that over that past year I read 16 books, which is not a tremendous amount, but is slightly more than one a month, which is pretty good for a chronically tired working mom of two who requires at least 66 hours of sleep a week to function properly.

Said working mom is too tired to upload images of these books, so just, um, use your imagination, eh?

Rework 
by 37 Signals
This was a quick read about rethinking the traditional wisdom about how to start your own business, written by some funny guys who have started some very successful web-based businesses. I found it exciting and inspirational.

Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control
by Heather Forbes and Bryan Post
My friend Hana loaned this to me. It's an interesting look at parenting, and bonding with, kids who have traumatic pasts and possibly very troubling behaviors, which is something I find fascinating.

My favorite concept from this book is the idea that all emotions spring from either fear or love, and in parenting (and in all human interactions, really), we need to recognize when we're being fed by fear and switch to functioning from a place of love.

My favorite quote? "Fear sees problems. Love sees solutions."

A Thomas Jefferson Education
by Oliver Demille
Another loaned book from Hana, who uses this approach in homeschooling her children. It's a wonderful system and very appealing to me--I would absolutely use this approach if I were to homeschool my own kiddos.

The author does make some pretty bold statements about how children learn that don't appear to be backed by data or research (at least, there's no bibliography attached to this book), though he does provide a decent historical context for his educational approach.

Undaunted Courage 
by Stephen Ambrose
My dad looooves this book, so I finally decided to give it a whirl. It's the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, focusing more on Meriwether Lewis' personality and contributions. It is a long, heavy read and it took me MONTHS of fiction-fasting to get through it, but I learned a ton and was so impressed by everything those men endured during their ground-breaking expedition across the continent. They should absolutely make a movie about the expedition.

My favorite part was when Lewis got shot through the buttocks (the ball went in one butt cheek and out the other) and Clark tenderly cleaned the wound for him every day until it healed.

Undertow
by Lara Hays
This is book two in the Oceanswept series, and it kept me up at night. You should buy it on Kindle for only three bucks. (You can get Oceanswept for .99!) Better do it fast, so you're ready for the release of  Rebel Tide.

The DaVinci Code
by Dan Brown
I liked this so much more than the movie. All the talk about symbolism and early Christianity was fascinating.

Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
This one was gory and I didn't love it as much as The DaVinci Code, though it was still an intriguing mystery/thriller.

Game of Thrones
By George R.R. Martin
This book was fascinating. George R.R. Martin is an excellent craftsman and created a fascinating world peopled by characters that seemed real. That said, I'm not exactly a literary prude, but this did push my boundaries a bit. I probably won't read the rest of the series.

Harry Potter: All Seven Books, but Not the Weird Extra Ones
By J.K. Rowling
WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ THESE? I loved them.

No Biking in the House Without a Helmet
By Melissa Faye Greene
This book was a sheer delight. Melissa Greene is a gifted storyteller with an adorable personality and I laughed aloud throughout the entire book. It's the true story of an adorable Jewish family in Georgia (Melissa's) who decided to add to their family of four biological children through international adoption. They adopted a child from Bulgaria, then four from Ethiopia. You will love their stories.

Brothers Update: September 2014

They are the best of friends, they are the worst of friends.

Thing #1: I would say that they play and laugh together really fabulously about 70% of the time. The other 30% of the time, Soren is either unnecessarily persecuting Liam or Liam is intentionally irritating his brother. Both scenarios generally end in loud, prolonged wailing from one or both parties. 

Thing #2: One morning while I was getting ready for work, Liam's siren-like wail erupted from the boys' room. Apparently he wanted to play with Soren and Soren didn't want to play with him. Violence had ensued. I pulled the injured Liam onto my lap and when he had calmed himself enough to speak, he said, "I hate you, Sowwen." "Well, that's just fine," replied Soren. "I don't particularly like you, either." I stroked Liam's hair for a moment and then said, "It breaks my heart to hear you two talk to each other that way." Soren's face crumpled. "Is that why I feel so bad inside?" he asked, and, crying, ran over to Liam, "I'm sorry, Liam! I'm so sorry! I love you!" The three of us hugged it out for a while.

Thing #3: Soren entertained Liam on an hour-long drive to Darby Canyon by telling him stories in the back seat. There were lots of monsters and dinosaurs and dragons and explosions. Liam was enthralled.

Thing #4: One sunny Saturday morning, three imaginary friends joined us on a walk to the park: Boer (who is kind of a stinker), Blangerine (female), and Isa (Liam's girl) came along. The boys played with them very nicely. And then they disappeared.

Thing #5: While I hid in my room after church (I always have to spend some time decompressing from the social anxiety horror of church), the children played and laughed outside my bedroom door. Pleased that they were playing so well together, I let them be. When I emerged a while later, I discovered that they were creating piles of spittle on the hardwood floor.

Thing #6: One Sunday morning the boys accidentally switched their church pants, leaving Soren wearing pants that stopped mid-calf and sleeves that ended well above his wrists. The boys thought this was hilarious, and giggled drunkenly about it for quite a while.

Thing #7: Soren left for our family reunion in Cedar City a day or two early with Grandpa and Grandpa, leaving Liam temporarily an only child. This is how a phone conversation between the two brothers went:

"Hewwo?" 
"I love you, Liam!"
"I wuv you, but I miss you!"
"I miss you too!"

Thing #8: One early morning in New Hampshire the kids barged into the bedroom with something special to show me. "We made up a song!" They proceeded to sing the following song, complete with choreographed hugging and other actions: 

We're brothers,
We're brothers,
We love there chother (each other)
We don't wrestle anymore,
We don't do weird annoying things, 
We just do fun weird things.

Thing #9: After school one afternoon, Soren had to tell Liam something very important: "Liam! Guess who comes to my school? Star tutors!" Liam immediately burst into wild laughter. I was flummoxed. What was so funny about star tutors? Then Soren said it again. "Star tutors!" And Liam laughed anew. "Star tutors," I thought to myself. "Star tutors.... Star ...." And then I got it. I couldn't help but giggle a little too.

Thing #10: The ride from the Manchester airport. Two little boys, one pillow on my lap. Their little heads nearly touching while they slept. Streetlights shimmering across their soft hair.

Thing #11: Liam threw up in the night. (He just does that sometimes.) While I was scraping barf off his bed, Soren--apparently grateful for my service to his brother--said, "I love you, Mommy."  The next morning, Liam cheerfully recounted, "Last night I throwed up and you cuddled me and Daddy too-- and that's nice!"

Thing #12:  
Airport Shuttle bus.
Liam's little face beaming with excitement.
Soren's little hand holding onto a pole, bright eyes trying to see everything.
Both boys. Cerulean eyes.
Flanking their handsome daddy.
So little. So precious.

Thing #13: A conversation: 
"Oh, Liam, I just love you!"
"I wuv you too, Sowwen."
"We 'besfwends," right, Liam?"
"Right, Sowwen!"

The boys all burritoed up with their friend Adaineh. These three play adorably together. One day they pretended to be baby triplets. Another, they were a queen and knights with special powers.

One Saturday morning Soren kept hollering under my bedroom door. "Mommy! We have a surprise for you!" I felt fairly confident that my pillow was a much better surprise than anything outside my bedroom door, so it took me an hour or so to drag myself out of bed.

When I finally emerged, I found this tray waiting: breakfast in bed for me (there's some Cocoa Pebbles in that brown paper bag), along with love notes from the boys. The "MR" stands for Mommy Rachel.

Chillaxin' in our eternally cluttered front room.

Just three cool dudes hanging out by the movie theater.

These boys were exhausted and ready for bed.

Superhero fight. 

\

Mother's Day 2014. One happy mama with her two adorable boys. 

Note the heart sculpture hand-crafted by Soren.

Twenty-five cent garage sale finds made these kids very happy.

These boys fit very nicely into the scoop of a front-end loader at the fair.

But watch out, children! Soylent Green is people!

Going for a ride on the Daddy Machine.

Soren's first day of second grade.

Soren reading to his brother.