Merry Christmas!

Waiting for presents ... Notice Brendan's black eye???  Baseball incident :)

A huge hit!  Fruit snacks from Grandpa and Grandma!

Santa knew EXACTLY what he wanted!  That smile says it all!

Luke went a little crazy finding stuff around the house to give as gifts.  Eric truly did open coal (however it went with a charcoal grill that he had wanted). 

Cohen was hilarious with his present - he even did a little dance when he opened it. 

Look at that mischievious smile!

Trying to get a family shot

Brendan's ornament for 2012 was a replica of his "bike" from Sandy Pines!  He loved it!

Poor Lydia didn't grasp the present concept this year - however she certainly love the excitement of it all.

My little golfer - is it summer yet?!

Has Christmas truly come and gone already?  We had a whirlwind of a weekend (and start of the week) as we finished our shopping and prepared for the family Christmas parties.  There's something about watching Christmas through the eyes of a child that helps you remember the significance of it all! 

What beds???

Our boys are typically pretty good at getting to bed alright at night.  Yes, there are nights when we ask them several times to get back in bed but I had to laugh at them lately.  In the busyness of the last few weeks, the boys would want to stay up and hang out with Mom and Dad rather than go to bed.  Actually they wanted to "cuddle" with one of us.  However, twice in the last month, I would hear "noises" on the stairs and then silence.  And this is what I found ....

Christmas Card Pics

And this is why I DREAD the picture each year....

Is that excitement or frustration?

Is it just me or does Brendan look like he's ready to beat someone?

Lydia pulled "her" chair over and declared herself DONE!   Brendan and Jackson ... near the end.

Now officially done!

I don't know why we take the Christmas picture every year ... wait .... yes I do.  We take it because it's fun to look back at how much we've changed in a year.  And to laugh about the chaos that surrounds the picture.  The first year we sent out a Christmas card, we had just gotten Rudi and so Luke and I spent an HOUR! trying to get a shot where we were all looking.   I remember Luke throwing a ball at the camera just at the point when it was about to take.   I now laugh at how easy that was compared to the kids.  However, I have to admit, Lydia did a great job with our picture this year ... she was the easy one in the family picture.  It was the boys who wouldn't sit still or had goofy smiles.  Regardless of all the insanity that surrounds it, I'm going to be the mom who insists on the picture each year and in all honesty, I'll enjoy the ones that are not perfect the most:) 

Happy Birthday Lydia! And Brendan!

We spent her birthday evening at Craigs Cruisers with Keunings ... our second family in the summer!

Give me cake!  The girl LOVES birthday cake.  Takes after her mother!

A present from Jackson - wrapped with love and a whole roll of tape!

Lydia received so many wonderful gifts

Wow ... two birthdays in one weekend makes for a lot of singing!  And of course Jackson struggled because his siblings got all kinds of presents but he didn't get anything.  We had to remind him that his birthday is special too and they don't get anything then.  Being the big brother that he is, he convinced Brendan to let him play with all the new toys too!

Trip to Schaumburg

Waiting for the Lego Discoveryland to open ... at least the weather was great!

Can you sense their excitement for going in?

Jackson, Gerrit and Brendan playing with the "earthquake" Legos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dear Brendan... had to wear his winter had to the pool.  Love that kid!

A couple of weeks ago we journeyed to Schaumburg with Luke's college roommates and their families.  We decided to leave Lydia at home with my parents since we knew we'd be busy going from place to place so she'd be stuck in a stroller most of the time.  And of course my parents were okay with having Lydia spend the weekend with them:) 

Starting the birthday celebrations

Getting ready to open some presents

Brendan and Evan - only 3 weeks apart ... the two red heads!

The birthday kids!  Blowing out their candles.

Lydia loved her first piece of cake!  She didn't make too much of a mess either (I think she was more intent on getting it in her mouth - the girl LOVES food!).

Grandpa and Grandma Hansen and all the grandkids

We're back!  My camera card was taken over by Luke to use in his trail cam (and I didn't have time to go get another one) so the pictures for the last two months are pretty scarce.  However, we've upgraded the camera and just got one that takes much better pictures (although we're still trying to understand all the functions!).  Anyways, hopefully we'll become better at getting pictures again and get some more postings on the blog.  It's always fun for us to look back at how life has changed.  In all of life's craziness, the blog is a great record keeper for us and the boys love looking back on it. 

I can't believe that it's almost Lydia's first birthday and Brendan's third birthday.  This year has flown!  I guess every year I say that, but with all of the stuff going on, it's hard to believe that Lydia has been with us an entire year!  Last year at this time I was sitting around with a ginormous belly waiting for something to happen.  (and she sure took her time making her appearance!)

On Saturday we celebrated Evan, Lydia and Brendan's birthdays.  It's easier for all of us to group them together and it's kind of nice to not have all the celebrations in one weekend for the kids.  The best part is that the older kids are getting to the point where we hardly see them when we all get together.  I look forward to the days when all the kids will play so well yet I hate to wish the years away.  I do still love the cuddles from Lyd! 

I'll post again soon about Lydia at 1 year - she's such a happy little girl right now and definitely has become a Mommy's girl! 

Lions Game

On Ford Field!

Trent, Jackson, and Lauryn on the field during warm-ups

One of the things that I love most about Jackson's age is his excitement in doing new things (especially when it involves sports).  Jackson is now completely obsessed with sports (much like his father) and loves it when Luke takes him along for a game.  So early this morning, Luke, his brothers and their oldest kids and his dad all took off for Detroit.  The 3 kids were all lucky enough to go and visit the field during the pre-game warm up.  A LONG day for them, but what a fun memory! 

1st day of Kindergarten!

All smiles for his first day of school!

Luke stayed home a bit later so he could get Jackson on the bus for his first day.

As much as they fight, they sure adore each other too!  Brendan was a bit lost without Jackson at first:(

Waiting for the bus ... thankfully Aunt Sara could come and watch the two youngest and get some extra pictures too!

I love how Brendan seems just as excited as Jackson.

Well, we survived, Jackson successfully completed his first week of kindergarten!  I can't say that he didn't shed a tear at all, if you know Jackson, you know he's a tender heart and can cry easily.  There were a few moments at school where he was a bit overwhelmed but he managed to work through them and he absolutely adores school!  When we asked him his favorite part, he told us it was riding the bus but I kind of think that his favorite part is seeing his teacher since he talks about her quite a bit!  Luke and I of course are constantly asking him about his day and one of his comments to us was .... "It's such a rough day with you guys asking me to talk so much!"  WHAT!!!!!  How is my little chatterbox too tired to talk about school?!  This has to have been the hardest first week of school for me as we sent Jackson off and I missed the big moment.  Thankfully I was able to rush home on that first day and saw him get off the bus.  I have to admit, I did get a bit choked up watching him get off the bus.  I still wish that I could be a bug on the wall and watch him during the day but I know he's in good hands.   How can my little guy be this old already!  How the time flies!

Week at Sandy Pines

The boys heading out on their daily golfing trips ... they golfed at least once a day.  Luke figured out he went golfing 11 times in one weeks time!

While they were golfing, the young ones would play.

Lydia loved the superyard gate ... she was able to crawl around, play with toys outside and stand up ... we loved it too because it kept her semi-clean!

The kids - playing with play dough ... LOVE playing play dough outside (the mess stays outside!).

Cleaning off the fish that they caught ... small fish but the kids were so proud that we could eat them!

Little Lyd enjoying the beach.  I couldn't keep her on the sheets/towels, she would crawl right to the sand and start eating it.  At least she was happy!

We finally got an entire week of camping in at the Pines (well with only a few trips back home!).  Initially we were supposed to camp at the Conference Grounds with the Keunings but after both of us bought places at the Pines we figured we'd save the money and stay at our trailers.  We had a blast!  Luke and Dan found plenty of time to golf and play competitive games with the kids while Lora and I watched the younger ones.  It was a wonderfully relaxing week before the craziness of school began.  The week started off a bit cool but we loved being able to have campfires while wearing sweatshirts.  A tradition has begun... many more summer weeks to be spent there with the Keunings!

Summer Pics

When summer starts I always feel that there's so much time to do everything that there's not time to do during the school year.  3 months of not rushing out of the house in the morning and worrying about getting things done both at school and at home.  However, after 9 years of teaching I'm learning that summers are anything but relaxing (wait, they were kind of relaxing when I didn't have kids ... but I was still taking classes so it was not completely relaxing).

So what have we done this summer... well, we started with swimming lessons and VBS at church and in the mix of all of that, we bought a trailer at Sandy Pines.  For years we've gone there visiting Luke's parents and even doing some camping of our own out there.  We'd always drive around looking at trailers and talking about what kind we would want and where we'd want it.  Well, over Memorial Day weekend we made a low offer to someone who had their trailer listed for 2 years and was on the golf course there.  We didn't think they'd accept but low and behold, two days later we went to talk with her and things started rolling.  June 12 we finally signed for the lot and trailer and our summer fun there began.  The trailer was nothing special and we talked of doing something in the next few years but a week after being there (and realizing that it really wasn't made for our family... one bedroom and the boys sleeping on a small pull out couch) my brother told us about a trailer for sale that would be perfect for us.  Well, that worked out too so on July 5 we had our old trailer removed and the new trailer brought in.  We are absolutely in LOVE with the new trailer - tons of space and most importantly, air conditioning!!!!!  Needless to say, we've been spending more time at Sandy Pines swimming, playing, moving things around and just enjoying some time together.  The boys do not love leaving there (a nice way of saying that they think we're terrible to take them away) but every once in awhile we're needing to come home and enjoy being home. 

Lydia in the old trailer.... one day I looked in the window while she was supposed to be napping and instead found a little face peeking out ... can she be that old already?!

Moving the picnic shelter off our lot so they could get the old trailer off.

Luke, Jackson, Brendan and Trent watching the guys work on getting the trailer off.

A quick breakfast in the trailer before heading the swimming lessons at Sandy Pines.

Happy 5th Birthday Jackson!

When I asked Jackson what kind of cake he wanted, he said "sprinkled" cake.  He even helped make it ... although both the boys did get quite a few sprinkles on the floor!  I love his expression - I can almost read his mind ... "yes... I'm FINALLY 5 and this is all for me!"

The BIG ball that Jackson got from grandma and grandpa Hansen.  Yikes!  He loves it!

Luke found the gumball machine awhile back and both boys were thrilled with it.  Of course we had to put a limit on how many times they can use it during the day:)

Miss Lydia wanted in on all the fun - her favorite part, crawling to all the wrapping paper and then trying to stuff it in her mouth before I got to her.

The boys and one of their favorite exhibits at the zoo - the bears.

Aunt Sara and the kids ... we LOVE her!

This birthday is going down as one of the most exciting ones for Jackson.  He waited all month long for his birthday when he would turn 5!  The countdown was excruciating for him but his birthday finally arrived.  Our little guy is a whole hand!!!!!!  A couple weeks before we had celebrated the June birthdays with my family and then night before his birthday we celebrated with the Hansen's.  On his birthday we had a pretty low key day (our first low key day of the summer!).  Jackson would walk by his wrapped presents all day waiting for the moment when Luke would come home and then Jackson could unwrap them.  (How awful are we making him wait?!).  Luke did get out of work early and we then headed to the zoo.  We surprised Jackson by having Aunt Sara join us there as well.  I'm pretty sure his smile remained plastered to his face as he slept ... our little guy is now our 5 year old.