Together Again

Gabe & Jaxon in 2006 (above, maybe 2 years old...Jaxon trying to cope without his binky!)

Gabe & Jaxon TODAY! Estatic to be together again!

For those of you who have known our family for at least the last 5 years you also know about our little family friend, Gabriel....aka...Gabe. When I started daycare back in 2004 Gabe was 6 months old when he came to our home... him and Jaxon are 2 months apart and have pretty much grown up together. The more I tune into their relationship the more I see they have a special bond that has formed between good buddies over the last 5 years. Even after I stopped doing full daycare I kept Gabe because we just couldn't part with him. He had grown in all our hearts in a special way and well...just felt like part of the gang here :) Once I had Austin I took a little break which turned into a year break. During this time both boys asked when they would be back together again... well, the time has come! Gabe is coming back to start just 3 days a week (preschool in the afternoon of these days) and the boys couldn't have been more excited! They jumped into each other's arms when we opened the door this morning and while they were playing I heard Jaxon say "Are we still best friends?" All it took was Gabe's simple "yeah"... and they are right where they left off! So cheers to our good buddy back in the house! Two friends together again!

"The ornaments of a house are the friends who frequent it."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

our changing valentine's

Our Valentine boys today...

...and 1 year ago today!

I hope you all had a fun Valentine day today!!! We kind of think this day is a bit cheezy and definitely over commercialized...but we have fun with it in quirky ways and traditional ways...depending on our moods for the year :) The boys and I started the day by surprising dad at work with balloons (thanks to the Dollar Tree) and donuts for the office crew (thanks to Casey's). Dave surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of many roses (thanks to the Farmers Wife Shop...nice work Katie on your creation!)! After nap time today we had a treasure hunt for a prize. Jaxon loves pirates and ate this up! At the end was a little basket with random little things. It made the afternoon go by quick and then we made homemade pizza and ended with a movie. Ah, it was a good year this year! :) It was a good day!! Thanks for the flowers honey...the best gift of all is that I get to wake up and end my days with this amazing group of boys. Love and Friendship to you all tonight... Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

my husband the vacation king!!!

If I haven't mentioned it before I love my husband for his ability to plan some really great family vacations for really cheap prices!! Dave really values taking vacation each year in some way or shape or form. I also really love it and always look forward to this week. Once we had Jaxon, Dave wanted to start this tradition for our kids to always look forward to and for us to get away from "life" for uninterrupted family togetherness. It is always a wonderful time and I'm always so impressed with what he pulls off for not very much money. Seriously, take a guess at how much you think this last vacation cost and then cut your guess in half and that is probably much closer to what we actually spent. Frugal, yet fun! We don't ever look for a week packed with a million different activities and stimulating places to fill our minds for 5 days. We always want a place that is nice, relaxing, includes a kitchen so we don't have to eat out, two bedrooms, and some sort of "fun" thing for the kids. We usually get naps in, books read, and movies watched too... I love vacation!

In early January we went to the Wisconsin Dells for a week. Dave found a great condo suite to stay in and we swam it up at the indoor water parks. It was wonderful and we're already thinking about our next vacation spot! Thanks honey for making this happen for us... we ALL love it!!

relaxing between swim shifts :)

One glance of our room...it was so cozy and nice. I always love the big jetted tub we get in our rooms and the fireplace was used every day too!

The wave pool... they were battling!

Austin loved the water once he got used to it.

Our friends, the Reisetter's, joined us for one night... Mason & Jaxon had so much fun swimming and playing together.

one of the indoor water parks we spent a lot of time at

This was the "dry park". The boys climbed and crawled all over! Their germ-a-phobic mother soaked them in soapy baths right after this! Ha!

Jaxon posing before he tackled the tube slide with dad...

Ah, mom got in one picture! Austin and me in the lazy river.

Now I am not exaggerating but Jaxon rode down this purple slide at LEAST 50 times!! He loved this thing and Austin loved to watch him!

One more family vacation down in the books... can't wait for the next one!

snow, snow, snow

I've been meaning to post some snow pictures, so I'd remember what the winter has been like. Then a friend from Texas emailed me to brag that they get to stay home from work today due to: yup, snow. So, this is for me and you down in Texas who may have forgotten what a real snow day looked like :) The pic above is out our back office window into the open lots behind our house... our two season porch has been covered in snow and the walkway to get to that ladder left out this fall is at least 3 feet deep. Therefore, it will stay until spring I'm sure :)

One of our back decks off the season porch...

This is the first steps out of our front door, before shoveling after a "light" snow one Saturday night. I'm getting kind of used to the Sunday morning shovelings!

This is the first step out of our back sliding doors off the dining room onto another deck. It is at least 2 feet deep. We haven't used this door all winter!!! The grill is covered too!

Our outdoor table set may be a little chilly for evening meals right now :)

Believe it or not, there are two decks under this snow... you would never know it right now and would probably fall down the steps leading to them if you tried!

There is a little flower garden and a pond next to these stairs... I think I forgot to get the fish out again this fall. Poor little guys never knew what hit them. Good thing they are only 29 cents at Walmart to replace.

Of course, snow can be wonderful and fun at times too! Mason & Jaxon sledding in the backyard!

Making forts and tunnels in our front yard....

The boys relaxing after some serious fort making!

So...Happy Snow Day to you down south! What a pretty picture it does make this time of year!

a typical Monday...really

Today was a pretty typical day at the Hansen house...eating, playing, napping, dancing, reading, playing, laundry (of course), bathroom cleaning, and cooking and playing!! We did spice our day up a bit with a little documenting of Austin's 13 month mark on life and by ending the day with a last minute sleep-over!

Jaxon and his good buddy Mason below... they enjoy each others company so much! I surprised Jaxon by just bringing Mason home with me after a hair-cut. (Jaxon had NO CLUE he was coming over!) Mason loved walking through the door and surprising Jaxon. Jaxon fell to the floor he was so happy and then bounced off the walls for the next 20 minutes of pure excitment!!

And, Austin is 13 months old today! It's so funny how I can already see differences in my two son's perosnalities. Jaxon rarely played with trucks as a young toddler. Jaxon always had a ball in his hand. Austin loves to play with trucks already and will push one around for a pretty long time before moving onto another thing! Boys... so fun to watch these little guys grow up!

lets catch up!

What have we been doing the last few weeks??? Here's a quick over view! We just got back from a week long vacation... more blogging on that later :)

We had Brody Christmas on New Years Day... a full house!

We attended the DTI Christmas party... Ugly Sweaters again! (our team has grown a lot since 1 year ago!)

We painted the snow and had cousin play dates!

We had home spas!

We've been sledding!

We had Jaxon's preschool Christmas party...his teachers here.

Jaxon is in the green singing Away in the Manger. So cute!

We hung out all Christmas morning at home!

We had McIntosh Christmas and attempted to get a kids picture :)

We went to Christmas Eve service and Hansen Christmas...

Austin has mastered the kitchen step stool and loves to "help".

We had the office crew over for lunch!

And we've played and made things!

whew... what a busy last few weeks. But loads of FUN!!!

what's going on in 2009???

My goodness... 2009 is here! 2008 was a year full of many moments that brought us to today. Today we are who we are because of these moments and the moments that came before those too. So... what will 2009 moments make of us? We'll have to wait and find out! A few things happening this year...

~ Jaxon turns FIVE. This seemed SO FAR away a few years ago. That moment was a simple blip in the movie scene called "Life". A lot happens when you are five. It's a big year for Jaxon. He will also head off to kindergarten in 2009. I can hardly type that without my eyes watering. Oh, how I love the way life can move me that way at times.

~ We will become a parent of another toddler instead of a baby. We loved the toddler years. I'm sure 2009 will remind us what fun a toddler can be!

~ Holy Cow! I turn 30 this year! I remember being in my teens and feeling like 30 was FOREVER away. I will leave my twenties behind this year and hope I will begin my 30's with a bit more wisdom, integrity, servant-hood, and peace in my daily life. I remember my mom being 30. Weird.

~ Dave & I will be married 8 years this year. That is really close to 10. I feel old in one sense, yet so young at heart still :) I hope this year we do a better job of making time for just the two of us.

These are the few things I know will happen in 2009. The rest... well, it is as much a surprise to me as anybody else!! I already look forward to all our little traditions we do here in the Hansen home in each season of the year and hope we can really live in each of these moments. Day by day. Here is to 2009!!! May it be joy filled, memorable, a learning time, and a year full of peace! Happy 2009 to you all!