Hansen #5

 So, we have had a pretty exciting secret around our house for the last couple months. The day Dave and I could "spill the beans" to our kids was so great. Yes, it is true, Hansen #5 will make an entrance this July!  I am feeling so blessed to carry another child and am beyond happy to have another baby to bring home with us this summer. I created a book that we gave to the boys and now that Jaxon can read it was fun to see his reaction as he realized what he was reading to himself... he was going to be a big brother! (I had to lay a blanket over the boys as Austin was butt naked, as he often is, when it was time to read the book. He would not put clothes on and I wanted to get pictures!!)

 Excited Big Brother!

 My boys... big brothers together. My baby getting bumped up in this family!

 Jaxon has been so interested in reading about his birth and first days. He has me read to him each week what the baby is doing now and how he is growing. Here's Jaxon reading his baby book :)

 Austin now tells us almost every day... "My name is not Austin anymore, my name is big brother!"

 Here is our peanut at 13 weeks. The babe was all over... just like his/her siblings :) 

And mama at 14 weeks. I am so glad to be past the first trimester. I had a rough 8 weeks... I was really sick with Jaxon's pregnancy and felt great with Austin's. I forgot what pregnancies can be like after such an easy one last time. Hmmmm, do I have another Jaxon coming soon?!?! I did appreciate the symptoms though, as they gave me hope that everything was working! However, I'm very glad to be past that stage!! Pretty sure I was 20 weeks before I showed this much my first time around.... I feel so big at 14 weeks already!!

Fall Back!

My computer started to crash the end of October, so I have a bunch of things that never got blogged about due to being unable to download my pictures. Warning: there are many pic's in this post, but it was my easiest way to recap some of the things our family did/experienced this fall. Some pic's will get their own post later, like Austin's 3rd birthday and a special surprise we got in November!

 Our Learn and Play group has been having so much fun! I have such a great group of kids and they have such a neat little bond. Oh, how I can't wait to get back out in the yard with them!!

 Our good friends, the Hoskinson's, had a couple sleep-overs with us. They were in between homes and it made a perfect excuse to watch movies, hang out, and lay low together a couple times!

 Our family took a little Minneapolis weekend trip. Big boys went to the Vikings game and Austin and me went to the zoo! It was a beautiful day up there and we loved it!

 This was too funny to not post.... I don't even remember why they had time-out now, but it was the first time they all three had to go together. How cute are they, seriously? :)

 Sleep-overs! Mason came for a sleep-over and a couple play dates. These two have too much fun together!

 Of course, leaf pick up in our yard every year is an experience! We get mountains of leaves and have lots of fun playing in them!!

 The boys started sharing a room this fall on their own and then they started sleeping together too! All on their own. They have two twin beds in their room, but choose to snuggle their nights together smashed in one! So precious....I wonder how long it will last?

 Carving pumpkins! We carved sweet pumpkins and made home-made pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread this year. SOOOO yummy and so easy! It makes your house smell amazing too :)

 With school starting we got back in the habit of our breakfast devotions. I enjoy this time each morning and it is so neat to see scripture begin to become recognizable for our children.

 A surprise in early November for us! Not that we weren't trying, but we'd just lost a baby in October and just a few weeks later found out we were pregnant again! I am so blessed to say we are well into our 2nd trimester! Obviously, more posts to come on this joyful experience! (I was too embarrassed to put all 5 tests in this pic, as I just wasn't sure they were accurate!! :)

 Winter activities began in November! Our dining room table pretty much becomes an art station once cold temps hit!

 My friend Kris and I conquered Black Friday shopping this year. We were home by the time the kids woke up and splurged on a fave of theirs... Casey's donuts!

 Austin has found a special interest in Jaxon's old pirate toys. Such a sweet feeling pulling out Jaxon's old toys for the next kid. Jaxon will even play with him a bit for old time sake :)

 Cousins Birthday party! On the Brody side we have so many kids, so we combine birthday's by season's. Here is Austin with his fall./early winter birthday cousins! Jayda, Macy, Austin, Amber

 Of course, our annual Christmas tree hunt with our good friends, the Reisetter's. It was cold this year! I think we cut one of my most favorite trees this year!!

 We always go outside for the first real snow! This year was no different!

 And my least favorite... flu season. We started December 18th and went many rounds through about 2 weeks ago. Ugh! No thanks!!!

 Austin turned THREE! He is going to be 4 next year and that seems SO OLD! My baby is such a big boy! He had a fun party with family and his daycare friends and of course his chosen train cake!

 We added a pet to our household.... Darby, the fish...also Austin's birthday gift from us. He loved it!

And....Jaxon lost his 3rd tooth! He was pretty proud...yanked it out himself, again.

Lots of fun and special moments we don't want to forget. While the big things stick out, the little things make daily living a beautiful rhythm of life.

Glacier Canyon @ the Dells!

Have I mentioned that my husband gets the best deals for vacations? Well, he does! For not too much money he manages to take our family on at least one vacation every year. When we started having kids we decided this was an investment that was very important to us... time carved out from the hum-drum of everyday life to connect as a family, experience new things together, work on our relationships, and have fun making positive memories. We hope to continue this tradition well into our own kids having their kids someday. Our trip to the Dells is a mixed fun adventure's trip with plenty of relaxation too. Perfect for a family with two small children in the dead of winter!! We have plenty to do, plus get lots of down time. Thank you, babe, for another very memorable vacation!!!

 Where we stay we have access to 3 indoor water-parks, a huge wave pool area, and a huge indoor "dry" park with arcade. The beauty is we don't have to set a foot out in the cold weather to get there. By the end of the week we have tracked our miles in all the halls and sky-walks!

 Uncle Dave and Amber riding the waves! Jaxon's in the background going solo...

 First trip down the favorite green slide...

 A little bit of tag down the slide... 

 Jaxon moved so fast I barely got any pictures of him... here is my best attempt! This was the first year Jaxon could ride the Hurricane... and with a bit of pressure from Dad, he did it! I did it last year and screamed most the way down!! Jaxon was pretty proud, but didn't want to do it again :)

 Can you tell he was so happy I made him put his life jacket on? :)

 Dave, Uncle Aaron, and Jaxon jumping in the waves...

 Austin LOVES the water!

 Bumper boats...

 They were fighting over a tube and I just stood there taking a picture laughing....nice mom.

 Dads and their babes...

 Brothers making up their own fun...

 Austin running to the green slide...

Last park of the trip.... wet, tired, and hungry. Time to head home :)

We (heart) vacations!

Ahhhh, vacations are good! We had a week to unwind, relax, have fun, and hang out as a family. We went with Dave's sis Heidi and her family and at the end of the week our good friends, the Rogers, joined us for a couple days. It was great. We took a lot of naps, lived in our sweat pants and swim suits, ate food, played games, read books, watched movies, and played some more. We love vacations of any kind, but the really relaxing ones are amazing :) Dave does an awesome job of finding great accommodations for us and we enjoy just spending time in there while not at the water parks! The Dells has become a great winter trip tradition we plan to keep up in the future!! And the best part may even be that nobody was sick!!!

Here are some "in room" pics... water park pics to come!

 Movie night! Nothing cuter then cousins snuggling in for an end of day movie...

 The kids played a lot of games and Jaxon managed to get us all in a game of Uno at least once.

 We did a lot of hanging around in the mornings....drinking coffee, coloring, reading, cartoons. A lot of little stuff that was wonderful.

 The kids had fun coloring many murals... Heidi finished a scarf and a dish rag at the same time.

 A fave in our rooms... super nice jacuzzi tubs every night! 

 And we laughed A LOT! With all these kids someone was always doing something to keep us going...

I think he thought he was putting chap-stick on?

 Jaxon worked some wrestling moves...

 Four of the cousins got to share a room. So precious listening to them at night. Jaxon read a few stories to them before bed...

 Aves and Austin doing one of their faves... watching Dora :)

The girls cooked and the guys cleaned up! Good trade off for me!!

More "outside the room" pics to come!