Austin David Hansen

Austin David Hansen joined us Wednesday, December 19th at 9:44pm. He weighed in at 7lbs and 11.8oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. He's got tons of black hair (I know, not sure where he gets it from!) and we think has brother's matching dimples. Delivery went REALLY well and we were in and out of the hospital in less then 48 hours! Praise God! Austin has been a champ sleeper so far, is eating well, and is very adaptable to his energetic big brother. Jaxon loves to love on his baby brother with kisses, bear hugs, and eskimo kisses. We're all just loving our new addition and spending this week bonding at home as a new family. Thanks to you all for your well wishes, prayers, and gifts. We are so blessed with a circle of loving friends and family and we're over-joyed to know Austin will be welcomed with such loving arms into this circle of love. Here are some pictures of Austin 2 days old!

Gotta love Christmas sweaters!

Who doesn't love a great Christmas sweater???

This picture was too funny not to share! This was our company Christmas dinner and it was also designated Christmas sweater night! As you can see, we all pulled out our best sweaters to dazzle up the evening. Too funny! Yes, Dave and I are matching :-) If you have a great Christmas sweater like one of these hiding in your closet I encourage you to dig it out and wear it at least once this season. It is well worth the stares you will get and the smiles that you will bring to strangers faces! Happy Sweater Season to you all!

Hello Winter!

My goodness...has it ever turned to winter quickly? Last week we were jumping in leaf piles and this week we were digging out the mittens and hats for a little snow play! Jaxon loved the first couple snow falls we had, even if they were very light :) He stomped on it all over the yard and of course had a fine snack while playing in it too! What fun and how pretty it looked as the snow fell all around us.
With colder days comes some more family traditions that we really enjoy... we always get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. The last couple years we've gone with our good friends, Reisetter's, to the great Kris Kringles tree farm outside of town with our kids. They love it! So...Saturday we bundled up and picked out the finest tree we could find and hauled it home for decorating and adding good scents to the house for the holidays!
I love these little traditions and each year they remind me of what we're celebrating together... the joy of family and friends together, love and peace that comes out of this time of year, extended hands helping others this time of year, and of course the reminder of the most precious gift of all...God's gift to us...His son. As we go through these traditions I'm reminded of why I get to celebrate such a holiday and look forward to what my heart goes through during and after this season...the preparation of realizing once again what God's son does for us. Receiving God's love through His son and then being offered His grace through the death of His son is the most amazing thing through all the hustle and bustle of trees, gifts, get-togethers, decorations, and goodies. It is my hope that through our special traditions our children will learn to enjoy this time of year for the very same reason Dave and I do, as we do our best to teach them what we're truly celebrating for. I hope you find time to reflect this holiday season on what is truly important while fully enjoying the joy and fun of all this season brings to us!

Welcome Winter and have a Happy Holiday season!

At the tree farm...warming up after a cold walk to find the perfect tree!

Brrrrr, it was cold this day!

Jaxon warming up in front of the heater at the tree farm...it was so hot and blowing so hard I thought his face was going to burn off! He didn't seem to mind though. Ha!

Jaxon playing in our first snow of the season!

Fall Days...

One of our favorite things to do is walk and hike through Hartman Reserve here in our home-town. We don't do it enough actually... Jaxon calls it "the jungle" and loves to run through the trails and just talk about anything and everything as he goes looking for animals or cool sticks or big rocks to throw into the very small creek that runs through. It is times like these that I truly stop and let myself get lost in the moment of being there with our child that God has given us. I can remember our moods, our laughs, questions asked during these walks, hear Jaxon's little feet on the ground, feel his small and gentle hands in mine, hear his little voice asking great questions and giving me great explanations of what he sees...I simply get lost in these moments and the beauty that surrounds us while we escape for a couple hours into a quiet place. It's such a wonderful thing to share! These pictures are from our last trip there last week. It was lots of fun and might be one of our last with just Jaxon ... the next time we walk the trails we may be backpacking a baby with us too. And then, we'll share one of our favorite family traditions with the next Hansen member. Jaxon will be a great little leader for that! Happy Fall days to you all and I hope you each find moments of quietness to get lost in.

Pumpkin Farm!

Hansen family at the pumpkin farm in Grinnell,IA. We spent a Saturday afternoon with our good friends, the Reisetter's, at this very family friendly farm. It was a fun day that the boys (and mom's & dad's) really enjoyed :-)

Jaxon getting ride from dad in the wheel-barrow! Faster Dad, faster! Dad later impressed us with jumping over 3 wheel-barrows...you still got it hon!

Jaxon and his good buddy, Mason, in the corn field maze.

Jaxon getting a ride with "Lucy". He was all smiles and got off saying "I loved it, Mom."

Here's Jaxon in the cool little shed filled with CORN! It's like a little boy's dream and easier to clean up from then sand. An ideal play place for mom's too :-)

Of all the things he did...Jaxon loved the slides the most! Slides from the tree-house and in the hay-barn. Feet first, hands first, on his tummy, on his tushy...he found lots of ways to enjoy the slides!

It was a fun day and we look forward to pumpkin farms again next year!!

Baby Johnson

Babies...they're everywhere, they're everywhere! My sister just had her first baby this week... A little girl named Madalynn Isabelle. Jaxon's 1st cousin on the McIntosh side. That's kind of exciting! Jaxon wasn't as impressed with this one because "she's a girl" as he quoted to me on the way to visit her. If only his idea about girls lasted until he was out of the awkward and hormone induced adolescent years! Hmmm, probably not. Anyways, baby Madie and my sister, Andrea, are both doing well and coming home as a new family this weekend. Congrats to them and welcome to the family Madalynn!

Baby prepping...

Mom & Baby at 17 weeks!

Mom and Baby at 21 weeks!

Mom & Baby at 27 weeks, with friend Kris at 29 weeks!

Baby Boy Hansen at 20 weeks!

So we've come into fall and the cooler weather is reminding us that winter is just around the corner, as well as the arrival of our little guy. We're excited and anxious all at once. Excited to meet the little guy whose been moving around and growing for well over 7 months now and anxious about the changes that will be taking place soon on our family. Once in awhile a little bit of me feels overwhelmingly (?) sad as I say goodbye to days with just my first-born. I have treasured him so much and am so thankful I'm able to stay home with my children. Watching him grow, learn, play, and turn into such a little boy of God's brings tears to my face every so often. It's such a bitter-sweet new beginning I'm approaching...
And, then there will be 4 of us! Dave has really kicked it into gear the last couple weeks to get some things done before baby arrives. Painting baby's room, baby's room furniture, a couple home projects, buying some baby clothes (off e-bay of course), putting the crib together, getting the car-seat out and cleaning it, preparing Jaxon, setting up baby's insurance, and thinking of names (yes, he's still nameless at this point...any ideas???). I must say for a husband who does not like "projects", he's been the apple of my eye these last few weeks in that department :-) So...we'll finish preparing the home for baby's arrival and keep preparing our hearts as we await his special entrance into our world. Can't wait to meet the little man!

Rainy day activities

Yesterday, it rained and rained at our place and that means finding alternatives for playing outside, which is how Jaxon likes to spend his days. It also happened to be Dave's day off, so he went and rented movies for himself and Jaxon since it was a work afternoon for me. Jaxon napped and then followed that with plopping himself down for the first movie dad rented for him. The boys watched together and after the first one he wanted to start his 2nd one already. I tried suggesting playing with a variety of things instead...farm set, train set, blocks, tree-house and little people...even jumping on my bed! He wanted to watch Franklin now and well, that's what they did. So....I started making a lasagna asking Jaxon if he's just going to watch TV all evening? As we sat down to eat a bit later....Jaxon, well...was tooting quiet a bit...which openly happens in our house in case you don't know that about my husband or son! Serious as can be after a few minutes of that, literally...he looked at us and said "Actually, I'm just going to watch TV and toot all day". Dave and I were laughing so hard and Jaxon just looked at us like "what"?
Oh...makes you want to come over on a rainy day, huh? We find our humor even on the dreariest days :)

Family photos!

Alright...I navigated myself through this blog system to figure out how to place pictures here. I always love seeing other family pics and so hope you enjoy. A few here from our late spring and summer days. Have a great weekend everyone!

"Hey Mom, can you bring my shades...and a cool drink while I'm waiting here"? Ahhh, the life of a 3 year old in the dog days of summer! Gotta love it!
Dad and Jaxon sitting on a picnic table that found it's way to the middle of the creek. Camping trip with the Reisetter's here... a yearly tradition we always look forward to!
Dave took me to San Fransisco in May to see the city and experience a little of what he does when he comes here for mission trips. It was a nice get-away for the 2 of us! Jaxon stayed home with our room-mates at the time, Mark & Kris. I think we all had fun...
Our fam waiting for my sister's wedding to start the end of last spring. I think Jaxon has inherited his dad's & Aunt Heidi's trait of half open eyes in most pictures. (thanks guys :-)
Jaxon and Mom sorting his "Farmer's Market" produce at the Iowa State Fair. if you haven't been and done the kids farm exhibit we highly recommend it! A great experience for little ones and so fun for them too :)
Jaxon & Gabe having fun swimming on the sand bar in the Mississippi river. We enjoyed a few days camping in Lansing with Gabe's family...fishing, swimming, campfires, boating, napping, and lots of eating!
Dave's 30th birthday! A surprise party and Orange Crush makes for a fun 30th (at least for your 3 year old!) Dave played softball this night after his party and Jaxon took full advantage of the Orange pop served afterwards.
Jaxon with a couple of his favorite buddies. Jaxon loves having Gabe and Mason over to play. Here they are having fun in the backyard pool on a hot summer day!


Jaxon and Mom (4 months prego) at the Fireworks for 4th of July...Jaxon cried when they started and I had to cover his ears until he fell asleep. He still talks about those "loud fireworks that I don't like." Maybe next year?



Jaxon all decked out for his uncle August and now Aunt Katie's wedding. I know I'm biased, but what a handsome fellow :)

keeping up in a busy world...

Okay, in an attempt to keep in touch with friends and family all across America (and sadly even some across town!) I'm going to try and keep up somewhat with a family blog. This way we'll stay connected a little more and hopefully take advantage of the technology world we've found ourselves in. So... we'd love to hear from you, so please drop some comments when you find time and hope you enjoy reading about the lives and times of the Hansen family!

PS I'm fairly new to this, so bear with me as I navigate myself through blogging!

3 + 1 = 4

well, the latest with our family... we're adding another little hansen come Christmas time! we're excited and looking forward to meeting this precious one :)