Christmas '12 & New Years '13

Finally getting back on this blogging train. New Years resolution: Weekly posts. The great 4 months of morning sickness 2012 really zapped all blogging motivation--I've got some catching up to do! Here's a recap of Christmas and New Years with WAYY too many pictures. You've been warned.

 Cory and I opened our gifts and stockings for each other on Christmas Eve. We filled the Santa Mugs with piping hot chocolate (my contribution to our holiday tradition making) and ate Zebra cakes (Cory's contribution to our traditions in the making. We'll see if that one sticks).

Cory gave me some fancy cardigans (my favorite gift to receive EVER. I've never met a cardigan I didn't like) AND the 1.8 aperture camera lens I've been ever so subtlety hinting that I had to have. I gave Cory grill accessories and a fancy MAX access Craftsman ratchet/wrench set that he showed me a youtube video about, so I thought he might want it.

 Cory really raked in on the ratchets/wrenches this year. He got like, 200 different kinds. Now we just need a project for him to wrench open or something.

Kourtney made this nativity on jars for me--She sells the vinyl cuts on Etsy, so you can make one too :) Click here.

We spent Christmas day with Cory's family, which I sadly didn't get any pictures of. We opened presents in the morning and I got a Dyson vacuum!!! I cried when I opened it. Does that mean I'm officially grown up? I am seriously in love with it.

Then Cory's dad made a giant breakfast of Belgian waffles, spicy eggs, and sausage. We hung out watching family videos the rest of the day and we got to skype with Cory's brother who is serving a mission in Arizona. He comes home in June and we are so excited!

After Christmas we headed over to Marianna to spend a few days with my family while they were in town. We took turns snuggling grand baby Nathaniel, and feeding grandpuppy Daisy people food that she is not supposed to have. Aren't they precious?

We spent the nights playing Mexican train, Cranium and Settlers of Cataan. We'll some people played Settlers. I never really developed a taste for games of strategy, so I declined. But Jesse, Tanya and Cory really seemed to enjoy it.

Grandpa and Grandma couldn't get enough of sweet baby Nate. And Sam couldn't get enough of lighting fires. He kept that thing going for days. And Cory sat in front of it for days. What can I say? The boy doesn't have a lot of insulation on those bones.

We felt adventurous one day, so we took a trip to Alabama. We hit up the flea market where you can buy pretty much anything. Boiled peanuts, fancy pearls, old books, south American specialty spices....seriously, you could buy anything. We found a guy selling fruits and veggies in the back, and they were so fresh! And cheap! We got a ton of grape fruit, sweet red peppers, strawberries, 2 little pineapples,and I forget what else for 13.00 dollars.

Things that made me laugh in Alabama.  Now I'm really jonesin' for a Strawberry-Quiwi sno cone.

Kourtney brought her crafting supplies, and we camped out in the dining room making fancy cards off and on throughout the week. I got some adorable cards for baby showers and weddings out of it. Cory even made a few cards. He was a stamping mad man.

The boys had fun doing boy things. They used saws, and automatic nail guns, and mitered things, and eventually got beadboard and thick baseboards up all over the attic. We had a box of two thousand expired paintballs that they had fun shooting off for about 10 minutes. Seriously. It took them 10 minutes to get through that box.

After that they started our annual new years bonfire (gotta start it early so it has time to burn down). And then they went and bought a few boxes of fireworks from Alabama, the land of legit fireworks. Jesse was really chatting it up with the fireworks dealer, and when they were checking out, the dealer gave them a free box of fireworks ($60.00 retail value!). So yea. He's still got it.

We spent New Years Eve roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, and lighting fireworks that may or may not be illegal in the state of Florida. It was nice. Also, Nathaniel looooved the fireworks. That is one 2 month old who knows whats up. Hansen boy, through and through.

A little bit of Roman Candle magic. It felt like we were in Harry Potter for reals. Expelliarmus!

We ended the night having waaaay too much fun with sparklers. Things got wild.

The break was so wonderful, I want a million more weeks of it. Alas, that's never going to happen. Back to work for me, and back to school for Cory. Today is the first day of his last semester!! We been waitin' for you, 2013.

Hope you had a great holiday break filled with family, and Christmas, and just maybe a little bit of relaxation. Any new years resolutions out there? I think mine is "Get it together" and we'll leave it at that.