Finally an update...

Well, life at the Hansen house has been quite interesting.... new house, new baby and the holidays. All of it VERY fun though - we can't believe how blessed we are with all that happened in 2009.

We are officially in the new house now and love having the extra space. Still can't find everything but we'll get to it eventually. We had a marathon week of moving in (thanks Mom and Sara for all that help cleaning and unpacking!!!) and then I have had a bit of time each day to get things done. Thankfully Luke comes home in time at night to help with little jobs.

Brendan continues to be a fabulous baby! He's so much more content than Jackson was so I am able to spend time with both boys. He's getting to be so long though - this kid is going to be tall if he keeps growing like that. I'm loving every moment with him and we do spend a lot of time cuddling every day.

Jackson was so much fun to watch at Christmas - he made cookies for Santa and was shocked that Santa didn't eat all the sprinkles left on the plate. He had a great time opening presents and we are still trying to find places for all the toys.

Anyways, we still don't have internet hooked up at the new house so I'm only able to get online when we're at my parents ... I'm getting really anxious to get it hooked up though. But here are some random photos from the last month....

Brendan's first photo shoot

We had Lynette (who took our family pictures back in September) come and take pictures of Brendan at the hospital. She captured those shots of him that bring me back to those first few days with him. I keep looking back at them in awe of how much he's changed already. You can see the pictures if you go to lynettebellphotography.com then enter site and click on clients in the bottom corner - our password is Hansen.

Life has been so much fun with the two boys! Jackson is dealing really well with his brother - I'm sure that having tons of attention from Gamma and Grandpa doesn't hurt much though. Brendan is definitely a sleepy baby! When Jackson was a baby we were lucky to get a 2 hour nap from him and Brendan could sleep for hours on end if I let him. It's amazing how different the two boys are.

On another note - we finally have the keys to the new house. Today we went to check it out and drop some of the stuff off. Tomorrow we're headed over for some cleaning and unpacking. We're anxious to move into our own house but I will miss being at my parents - it's been wonderful to have all this help with the boys.

Baby Brendan

We are thrilled to announce that Jackson has a little brother! Brendan Alan Hansen was born November 18 at 6:42pm. And I really shouldn't say that he's a "little" brother since he weighed in at 9 lbs. 8oz. and 20 in. long. Everything is well and I am thrilled to watching "my boys" together. Jackson was pretty possessive with Brendan last night when he came to visit - he wanted to keep holding him (along with the John Deere tractor that we got him as a peace offering!). We were pretty amazed at how Jackson did with him and can't wait to see if that continues. We'll post more pictures later but here are a couple.

Trick-or-Treat

Despite the cold and windy weather, Jackson was able to get out and go trick-or-treating. Before we left, Cohen and Easton came over but Jackson did NOT want to put on his costume! Cohen was tired so the only one who was happy was Easton (as he usually is!). We did our best to get the picture of the boys. Then we had a surprise visitor at the door. Jon, Grace and Caleb stopped by. Caleb is walking now and looked so cute in his costume! We finally convinced Jackson to put on his costume before going trick-or-treating. After trick-or-treating, we came home and Jackson had to sort all his candy. It was pretty funny to watch as he was quite intense going through it - he is in a stage where he sorts EVERYTHING!

Welcome Baby Evan!

Evan Williams Hansen finally decided to enter the world on Wednesday. He is absolutely perfect and looks a lot like his sister Lauryn did as a baby. Jackson was pretty excited to hear about Evan and kept using my phone to "call" Baby Evan. Of course when I asked him if Evan was crying he told me "Bessie take care of him." He still can't get the "t" in Betsy but he already knows that Betsy's in charge:) Here's a picture of him on Halloween ... next year he'll have to join the kids trick-or-treating.

Family Pictures

Two weeks ago we had family pictures taken with Luke, Jackson and I (one last picture with just the 3 of us!). We went to Holland Fish and Game Club and had Lynette Bell take the pictures - she did such a fabulous job!!! I was worried how Jackson would do being 2 and quite stubborn but Lynette did a great job with him! She really captured some of his personality in the pictures.

We need your help.... we can earn a free picture if we get enough comments on the blog....
http://www.lynettebellphotography.blogspot.com/

There are more pictures posted on her website http://www.lynettebellphotography.com/index2.php?v=v1 and then click on clients and our password is Hansen.

Thanks!

Happy 30th Birthday Luke!!

Happy 30th Birthday Luke! You are a wonderful dad and husband and we can't wait to see what the 30's have in store for you. We hope you enjoyed your day ... a day that Eric has been reminding you of since you were 26! I hope it wasn't too bad to turn 30:) Love ya!

Concord Grapes

Last weekend we took a final trip to our first house to make sure that everything was out and it was prepared for the new buyers. On our way home we stopped to pick some concord grapes at a place near the house. We ended up picking 17 lbs. of grapes within 5 minutes! The grapes were quite plentiful. Luke wanted to try to make grape juice with the grapes so we attempted it. Now we have to wait a bit to see if it turns out - but the best part was watching Luke and my dad in the kitchen!

Moving out...

We can finally post that we'll soon be moving out of our house. It's been a bit of a process since we got the offer in August and are not closing officially until this coming week. Needless to say, since we've had the offer we've been busy packing up the house. Not an easy task with a two year old (BUT I keep thinking of how my cousin Katie did it with 3 kids and one on the way!.... Still wondering how she managed to do that!).

It's been quite crazy for us this last two months as Luke started a new job, we sold our house and just found out that our offer on another house was accepted (we go through for a home inspection Monday and then should soon find out a closing date for that one), and we have a baby coming in around 8 weeks. We certainly have had many changes in our lives.

Yes, life is crazy but we definitely are feeling blessed. It's been quite a year for us - lots of highs and lows in the last 12 months. If you would've asked me last year on this date what the Lord had planned for us I would've had a very different answer. It's truly been a year of learning to trust in Him and be patient as on He knows the plans he has for us.


We'll keep you posted on when we move to the new house but until then we're looking forward to some time with my parents .... can't wait for the home cooked meals!

Labor Day Fun

I can hardly believe that the summer is over! Where did the time go?! We were thrilled to be able to have one last beach day yesterday. Jackson had one last beach day with his cousin Lauryn too.

Updates on the Hansen's

It has been a crazy August. I seriously didn't think that August would fly past this quickly. I'm sitting here realizing that school starts in less than 2 weeks! As much as I look forward to getting back into a schedule and meeting new kids here at school, I am going to miss the time that I've had with my little guy. Yes, there are days when we totally butt heads and get frustrated with each other but then there are other times when I sit there thinking of how precious this time is before Baby #2 comes.

I had to post this picture of Jackson watching the DVD of his new sibling. (how cool is it that they give you DVD's of the ultrasound!) As much as I think it's going to be a huge adjustment for him, I am really anxious to see him with the new baby. Yesterday he sat touching my tummy as the baby kicked his hand (what a precious moment!). We had an ultrasound again on Monday and all looks good - the baby was weighing in at 2 lbs. 7 oz already and continued to kick me throughout the entire ultrasound (this one sure likes to move around a lot!).

Weekend at the Pines

We were able to spend last weekend at the Pines. Jackson was thrilled to be out there again so he could ride the golf cart and go to the beach to play. Friday was a beautiful day and thankfully that was the day that Sara was able to join us out there. Saturday wasn't so nice but we all were able to relax for awhile. It was wonderful being able to just hang out as a family and not have other obligations (like laundry and cleaning the house!).

Ottawa County Fair

On Thursday, we went to the fair with my dad, Cohen, Lee and Lauryn. Usually my dad just goes by himself to look at all the animals (because none of us wanted to go) but this year he had some kids who enjoyed it just as much as him! Cohen loved touching all of the animals and by the end, Jackson and Lauryn were touching them too.

John Ball Zoo

Last week Friday (this is really late in posting) we went to the zoo with Lee, Betsy and Lauryn. It was a perfect zoo day - cloudy and cool. Lauryn and Jackson did really well until we gave them a snack. After that, they didn't have too much interest in seeing the animals. Jackson was more interested in riding in the wagon with Lauryn:)

Diamond Lake

We took a trip up to Diamond Lake on Saturday to hang out with the Van Dorps. It's so fun to see everyone again and we had a beautiful day up there. Jackson was thrilled to have so many people around. Here's the latest picture of the group (with the baby bump showing!).










Jackson and Cohen liked the Kayak.

Happy 4th of July

We spent the weekend at Sandy Pines and Jackson was quite busy! He LOVED the fireworks... he kept asking everyone "you see it?" and then he'd exclaim "oh man!".... can't wait for more fireworks with him! During the day on Saturday we went to the parade at Sandy Pines.

Playtime with Cohen and Easton

We had Cohen and Easton over on Wednesday while Becky went to Shipshewana. It was so much fun watching the boys play - now I know why my mom loves her Thursdays with "her boys." I thought it'd be really busy with all the boys but I was lucky that all the boys took naps at the same time and they play really well together - although Jackson and Cohen like to egg each other on sometimes. Jackson wanted to hold Easton several times.... makes me really excited to see how he is with the new baby!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!

We celebrated Jackson's 2nd birthday on Friday with grandparents and Great Grandparents. It was a lot of fun this year because Jackson knew he got cake and presents. What fun to watch him and think back to two years ago when he was just a little guy! We have been so blessed to have him in our life!


Grandma Hansen made Jackson a photo scrapbook from when he was born until now. It's pretty amazing to look at how much our little boy has changed!


Grandma found a golf club for Jackson ..... now we're golfing all the time at home!





We made sure to get a tractor on his cake (good old Zeeland Bakery cake) because he loves playing with tractors.






Jackson loved his birthday cake. As soon as we asked if he wanted cake, he told everyone to "come on" so we could eat it. We did allow him to blow out his candles twice:)

Early Birthday Party

We celebrated the June birthdays in my family on Saturday night. Cohen turned 3 on June 1, Dad turns 58 today! and Jackson has his 2nd birthday on Friday. It was a beautiful night (kind of warm ... but at least it wasn't raining!). Scott and Lori were honorary members of the family that night too. Jackson thinks Scott is the greatest and Scott claims that one of his best friends is 27 years younger than him.



Cohen just got a Gator for his birthday so he brought it along to the party. It was adorable watching them drive around in it!


Last year we found this pink Barbie Jeep for free (yes, Luke was thrilled with it at that price!) ... the battery doesn't work right now so Dad hooked it up to the tractor and took the boys around and around the yard.


Thank you Lori and Scott for the ANNOYING truck! Just remember paybacks .... (Lori and Scott are expecting their first in January..... any thoughts on annoying gifts to get them????)


My mom made Jackson a microfleece blanket and as soon as he unwrapped it, he laid down on the deck and said "nigh, nigh".... he loves his new blanket! Could it be because Grandma made a tag for him to play with?!

The birthday boys blowing out the candles on the cake. Jackson didn't understand the concept of blowing them out the first time but then when we did it a second time he blew them out before anyone else could. We ended up lighting them a 3rd time just to watch the boys.