Saturday Morning Donuts

Der made donuts this lazy Saturday morning.  

He got a new book for Christmas, and it did not disappoint.  I would recommend this book if you want to make some delicious donuts.  Or if you live in the Washington state area, go to their bakery.  You can click on the picture for more info.

He made plain cake donuts with cinnamon and sugar and chocolate cake donuts with peanut butter frosting, seriously yummy.

Also a great way to start out 2012...eating donuts, ha!

Six Month Old Adeline

You are already six months old my baby girl...

You love to play with my face when you're nursing, I love it, minus the fact that no matter how often I trim your nails, they're like little razor blades grabbing and pinching.

You're eating solids - rice, squash, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and black beans (your dad's idea, they gave you gas).

You roll and roll and roll all over the place.

You can kind of sit up on your own, but if you get too excited you start to sway and topple over.

Your third tooth just popped through on top, so you have two on the bottom and one on top, you really, really don't like getting teeth.

You are still sleeping in our room and still not sleeping well, but a tish better then before.  We think you would love to be in a dark quiet room all by yourself...but that just can't happen in this house.  Also, you slept really well in ND, can't figure out why.  You kind of just sleep for a couple hours and are awake for a couple hours, day and night...

You fall asleep really well, that's a positive.

We took your swing down, you just didn't like it as much as your brother did.

You love the big bouncy seat play thing (don't actually know what you call it).

You poop a ton, just like your brother.

You are so curious and distracted by everything.

You love to play with anything you can get your hands on.

You are absolutely the most adorable baby girl ever and I will never get tired of holding and staring at you.

You absolutely HATE baths!  You do ok in the shower, but still tense up and grunt a lot (it might be because we don't give you a bath very often, oops).

Your hair just started growing, so you have a little tuft on top of your head, I'm pretty sure you'll be blonde like your dad and brother.

Because you started moving and playing with things, Hakan thinks he can now sit and lay on you, roll you over, push you, shove you and take toys away.  All I hear from him now is, "No shishter!"

You love it when you can touch someone's hair or a certain cat, it makes you giggle:)

You are a mama's girl and I kind of love it:)

You change so much everyday, but you're still my baby.

I love you my sweet Adeline!

Christmas Card

We really wish we could send our Christmas card to everyone we know, unfortunately we are not able to because of cost, but you can see it below if you like:)

Hi there family and friends!  We LOVE getting Christmas cards and reading letters from everyone, it’s one of our favorite things this time of year.  That’s probably why we also love sending our card and letter every year.  And we got it out BEFORE Christmas…for most of you anywayJ

So here’s 2011 in a nutshell.

Adeline Grace Halvorson is our newest little joy, born June 28^th.  She’s named after Derek’s Grandma Adeline and my Great-Grandma Grace.  She has already grown and changed so much since then.  She got her first two teeth at three months, just like her brother.  She has the most beautiful blue eyes, also like her brother, and LOVES him and smiles and giggles every time she sees him…I hope that lasts for a very loooooong timeJ  She’s super sensitive, so don’t look or talk to her the wrong way or her lip will start quivering and then she’ll cry…she cries when Derek sneezes, it is loud, ha.  She rolls and scooches all over the place and everything ends up in her mouth.  She apparently never wants to stop playing because she stays up all night long, but always wakes up smiling.  Mom and Dad are a little sleepy.  She’ll sleep someday…right?   We love our little wide-eyed night owl to pieces!

Hakan turned two on July 28^th, yes, the “I can do anything and everything all by myself without your help, but then I cry and get upset when I can’t do it myself and then want your help anyway,” two.  If I could just have half the energy he does.  He literally bounces off walls…usually with his head.  Our poor kitty, Bear, gets chased and tackled around the house constantly; she’s pretty good for putting up with him.  Some people say he’s a mini Derek, I totally agree!  He currently loves balls, trucks, tractors, dirt, snow, Thomas the Train, Curious George and Nemo, such a boy.  When he’s trying to tell you something he likes to use his hands, so cute.  He tells his sister “bless you” when she sneezes and says please and thank you with the sweetest little voice.  We love him so much!

Now that we have kids, it seems kind of boring to even write about us, but I’ll keep it super short.

Derek’s starting his 7^th busy season at Abdo, Eick & Myers as a C.P.A., he mainly does non-profit auditing, but is still really busy during “tax season.”  He has beautiful blue eyes, ha, kidding, but really he doesJ  One of Derek’s clients is out in Salt Lake City, UT, so we left Hakan with my sister, Alyssa, who graciously watched him, while I tagged along for our first “vacation” since our honeymoon six years ago.  I think he wore her outJ  Derek worked some, we found some delicious restaurants and visited Park City’s Olympic Park, pretty amazing.  It’s a gorgeous place, we’d love to go back…work not included.

I am pretty much at home with the two little ones, challenging at times, but I love it.  I sew and craft when I can (during nap time) and opened my own etsy shop online, etsy.com/shop/anchoredhope, where I sell a few things.  I do still work for the Colon Cancer Coalition, Get Your Rear in Gear 5k races, but I don’t have the same position, I now work with race day registrations and other odds and ends that need to be done.  If you’re over 50, get a colonoscopy, no excuses!  If you have a family history, get one sooner!  It’s the number one most treatable cancer if caught in the early stages.  There, there’s my plug.

We hope this finds you in good health.  We’re praying for healing, comfort and peace for our friends and family that need it.  Please keep Derek’s dad, Ken, in your prayers as he’s been having numerous long seizures and has been in and out of the hospital.  Thank you.

We feel so blessed to have you in our lives and love you so unbelievably much!

                                                                                   

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012! 

Derek, Lacy, Hakan & Adeline Halvorson

Our Advent Calendar

Bear with me, I'm behind on some Christmas posts I need to get up:)

I decided this Christmas I wanted to do an Advent calendar with Hakan, so I purchased a bunch of little things, a few things he needed, a few art supplies, lots of stickers, and a few randoms.

I had bought a couple of these wire lines from IKEA a loooooong time ago and have been wanting to put them up to hang up pictures and artwork, cause they're just too cute not to hang up and the fridge gets full:)

So I thought this was the perfect time to get one up and use little baggies for the gifts and hang them up there to display.  I bought a little stamp kit from Michael's that has an interchangeable stamp and stamp each day on a bag.  

I think it turned out pretty cute.  And Hakan had a good time opening is "presents" everyday...or every couple of days as we got kind of busy:)

 It was perfect because as we took down days, we put up Christmas cards as we got them to put them on display, I love it!

I think next year we'll go with a smaller version and less presents.

Did you do one with your little ones?

Christmas Quiz

I saw this here and here:)

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate for sure, the best kind is homemade with whole milk, I know, super healthy:)  2 cups whole milk, 2 T. dutch cocoa, 2 T. sugar, simmer and stir in pot, serves 1 or 2, yum!

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Um...we're thinking next year we're just going to celebrate St. Nicholas (actual person) on December 6th, his feast day, and then on Christmas celebrate Jesus' birthday.  The grandma's both leave them unwrapped.

Colored lights on tree/house or white? On our trees we use both and if we had a house we could put lights on, I would say colored!

Do you hang mistletoe? No, but it sounds like fun!

When do you put your decorations up? Usually Thanksgiving weekend, but we had to take a trip to MO, so it was the next weekend.

What is your favorite holiday dish? A healthier green bean casserole we made this year was delicious and of course lefse with butter, cinnamon and sugar!!

Favorite holiday memory as a child? I've always LOVED decorating the tree!

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't really remember, it wasn't traumatic as far as I know.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I've always grown up having multiple Christmases, so we opened gifts a bunch of days and now we celebrate Christmas Eve with Der's fam and Christmas Day with mine.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights, ornaments from when both Der and I were kids (handmade and bought) and now we have Hakan and Adeline's ornaments as well.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Absolutely LOVE it!  The past couple of years we've had a ton of snow in ND, two years ago we got 26 inches in two days, it was awesome!  The town streets weren't plowed two days later and my step dad towed us to the interstate, ha!  This year there isn't any snow, ridiculous and crazy! I would like a white Christmas please!

Can you ice skate?  Yes, haven't been in a while though.

Do you remember your favorite gift? That's hard...maybe a portable CD player, only the coolest thing ever:)

What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?  Being with family and always remembering the the greatest gift of all is Jesus.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Just one thing?!  I LOVE any kind of cookie, chocolate crinkle, peanut butter blossom, sugar, I could go on and on.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the tree and baking:)

What tops your tree? Nothing, haven't made/found the right thing yet.

Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I think I like them both equally, with kids it's super fun to watch them open gifts and see their faces light up.

Candy canes: yuck or yummy? Yummy if they're cinnamon or Starburst's.

Favorite Christmas show? Elf, I laugh so hard every time I watch it!

Saddest Christmas song? Sad Christmas song?!

What is your favorite Christmas song? I'm in love with the Sleeping at Last Christmas album, so good!

I {heart} My Dental Hygienist

What?! 

I know most people would never utter these words together...usually going to the dentist has "dun dun dun" quality, but for me, I've always loved it!

Part of it might be because my mom is my dental hygienist and has always cleaned my teeth.  It was never a dreaded experience (minus the teeth pulling, but that wasn't my mom), it was a fun time with my mom.

This lady actually brushes after every meal and flosses at least once a day and sometimes twice...I can honestly say I am horrible at flossing, once a week if I'm lucky, and yes, my mom knows this:)  Despite not flossing regularly, I have never had a filling and only had a partial cavity in my 27 years of life.

She's awesome and doesn't hurt, I have gone to other hygienists a couple of times so I know it can.

I know, you think I'm weird and crazy, but come on, who doesn't love the sucky thingy instrument?!  And my mom lets me play with it.  When I get fluoride, it always results in me drooling everywhere and both of us hysterically laughing, love it (not the fluoride part)!  And the bib, come on, it's so pretty;)!

Every Christmas when we go back home to ND, we get our teeth cleaned.  Yes, only once a year, but when you take care of your teeth and are not cavity prone, that's all you need.

My mom prides herself on knowing when people are pregnant before they've told anyone else because you can't get x-rays when you are, so I thought it was a good way to tell her I was pregnant with Hakan 3 years ago.  She was going to put the apron on me and I told her I couldn't get x-rays, she was pretty confused and then it clicked, yay for a grandbaby!

Grandma even looked at Hakan's teeth.  I want him to be comfortable going to the dentist and he did really well this time...there was a sweet little movie about dogs going to the dentist on the tv, so that helped:)

Also on a teeth note, Adeline's third tooth just popped through on top at 6 months, which equals a very unhappy baby...again.

I love my mama hygienist!  Thank you for keeping my teeth healthy and clean:)

New Winner!

Since I didn't hear anything from Becky, using random.org, I picked a new winner and the lucky lady is...

Becca Groves!!!  Congrats!  You won $15 to my shop:)  Just email me at anchoredhopelacy@gmail.com.

Picking New Winner...

I haven't heard from you, Becky, to claim your $15 gift card to Anchored Hope from my giveaway, so I'm giving you until tomorrow night (Sunday) to email me at anchoredhopelacy@gmail.com.  If I don't hear from you I'm going to draw a new winner on Monday morning.

Stay tuned!

Grandma Jenny's Presents

I love my Grandma Jenny.

with 2 week old Adeline

She's always said I was her gift from God, because I was born on her birthday:)

As she's getting older, she's been giving the most random Christmas presents that she finds in catalogs and infomercials.  When we sit down to open presents, we each usually have around 20 little wrapped gifts just from her of screwdrivers with lights, rolls of tape, mitten ice scrapers, coin counters, a little chihuahua that sings and jumps, dusting cloths, sponges, you get the idea.  

However, she's given us three random things that are my absolute favorite things in the house.

First is our steam mop.  When I first opened it, I was like, really?! we have to store this thing?!  But after having kids and cemented food to the floor ALL the time, this thing works like magic!  The best part is all you use is water, that's it!  You put a washable pad on the bottom, plug it in (not so cool), and go to town.

So this is a crazy 5 in 1 updated version of the one we got 5 years ago, but ours does do carpet, pretty awesome!  Ours is a boring white, but doesn't change how much I LOVE it!

The next thing is our Ninja blender.  Seriously, this thing blends anything and everything!  Puts any other blenders we have had to shame.  This is the exact one we have, LOVE it!  We use it for baby food, smoothies, potatoes, salsas, so many things!  I will say it's kind of a pain to store, but what blender isn't.

The next thing is our Magic Bullet, we actually got these two things the same year two years ago and wondered what we would do with both of them.

Don't worry, it's great to have both.  The bullet is so nice for smaller batches of things.  We use it again for baby food and rice, soups, smoothies, grinding spices, coffee, and other things.  So convenient! 

Thanks G'ma Jenny!

DIY Hand Warmers

These were so easy peesy.  I saw them somewhere, but can't remember where.

I started with a super a cheap piece of scrap fleece.

Then I cut out a heart shape that's about 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches out of card stock.

Then I doubled up the fabric and cut around the heart to get two matching pieces.

Then I sewed about a 1/4" around the heart leaving a small opening.

Then I added some rice with a funnel, you can use whatever rice you have.  Don't fill it too full or you won't be able to sew it shut as easily.

Push the rice as far away from the hole as possible and using a couple pins, pin the hole and sew it shut.

Trim the excess fleece off.

I took some twine, printed a little message and attached it to a pair of hearts.  Voila!  Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds and stick them in your mittens.  The perfect stocking stuffer:)

Help!

I love getting suggestions and advice from other moms, it's their experiences that could possibly save my life:)

So Adeline is still only sleeping 1-2 hour chunks at night, she just seems uncomfortable and cries.  I feel like we've literally tried everything.  So here's what we've tried.

• swing - she totally doesn't like it anymore
• sleeping at a slant - she sometimes sleeps well on Derek's pillow or if you hold her sitting up and slouched, but not realistic for night time
• chiro - she is spitting up waaaaaay less and feels a ton looser then before, so it's helped, but not with sleep
• tylenol - she has her bottom teeth, but she might be getting her top
• teething tablets - teeth
• gas drops - we think this is her main issue, her tummy is tight and she burps and toots a lot, but they don't seem to do a lot
• car seat - nope
• bouncy seat - nope
• sleeping on stomach - sometimes works for a little bit
• sleeping on side - same thing, just for a little bit
• sleeping with her next to me - same thing
• rice - started cereal, she loves it, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything
• gripe water - waiting for it in the mail, maybe it will help...
• sound machine - she wakes up to every possible noise, so this has helped a bit
• light on - didn't do anything

So there you go, I think I got them all.  If you have any other suggestions or ideas, please, please let me know, we're desperate.

The dr. says it's separation anxiety, but then why when you're right next to her does she still cry???

The weird thing is, she'll take 2-3 hour naps during the day and is perfectly happy all day.  At six months could she have her nights and days mixed up?

Just the cutest little peanut ever:)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Woo hoo!  Time to announce the winners, using random.org, the two lucky lady's of the Anchored Hope $15 gift cards are...

Stacy Scott and Becky, congrats!!!  

Email me at anchoredhopelacy@gmail.com and I'll get you all set up:)

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first giveaway, I had so much fun with it and love having new people around:) 

Remember, you can still get free shipping until this Wednesday.

Thanks again!

Thanksgiving (late)

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Yes, this is late, but we had to take an emergency trip down to Springfield, MO where my in-laws were visiting my sister-in-law from ND and my father-in-law ended up in the hospital with some pretty bad seizures.  I'll put more details in another post, but he's doing ok, not great, but ok.

We spent Thanksgiving at home with just the four of us, nice and relaxing.

So Adeline got her first taste of rice on Thanksgiving, she did pretty well.  Only two weeks later, she's scarfing the stuff down, hungry girl:)

Hakan watching with anticipation as daddy butters the most delicious rolls...he may have eaten just a few.

Yes, we make a ginormous turkey for just us...but for the whole next week we make some amazing leftover turkey meals, so it actually feeds us for a while.  We also get tons of broth made and put in the freezer, there's really nothing better than turkey broth, so flavorful!

Our yummy food:)

We tried making a cranberry sauce that had lemon and orange zest, it literally tasted like you were biting into a lemon, so sour!!  So we tried adding some honey and freezing it into a popsicle for Hakan, but he didn't like it either, even though he kept trying to eat it, oops, we tried:)

It was such a beautiful day, we took a walk to the park after a good nap.

Chocolate Pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.  So good!

We are so thankful for all our family, friends and blessings in our life and we thank God daily.  His love never fails!