Big Brother

Jackson is again all into the "big brother" name and would wear his big brother shirt every day if he could. One day he decided he needed to "hold" his brother (who really doesn't need holding much anymore) and he needed to feed his brother (who hasn't needed his bottle held for months now). But I couldn't resist because Jackson felt the need to take care of his "little brother" who will eventually be his big "little brother"

Family Day

Saturday was family day at the Pines. They had a carnival for the kids so we ventured out into the heat with the boys. Jackson loved riding the horse, playing all the games and eating all the food. Brendan did wonderful riding around in his stroller despite the heat. Pretty sure that he enjoyed watching all the people there!

It was our weekend of work though. Friday we decided to stay home and get some things done around the house (have I mentioned how much I LOVE having Luke home on Fridays during the summer!). Luke put up a clothesline in the backyard, we cleaned some of the stuff out of the garage (it's a big task with all that stuff yet!), made some more baby food and did a bit of yard work. It is nice knowing that we will get to enjoy all the work we do here - last summer we spent time working on a house that we really wanted to sell so we didn't get to enjoy all of it. Unfortunately while we were working we kept thinking of more things we needed to do ... always work to do:)

Fourth of July

It was our annual weekend up at Diamond Lake this weekend. In past years we camped in a tent at the VanDorp's cottage but this year we were able to take the trailer up and stay in that. It was wonderful! My brother Eric and his wife Becky took their trailer up too and we put our canopies together so we had a great shaded area for the kids to play in. At one point, Jackson was sitting on our step staring at their trailer as they ate inside... definitely sad I didn't have a camera ready for that shot! At another time, Cohen and Jackson were standing behind the screen doors of their respective trailers and having a conversation together (although their conversations never seem to make much sense!). We had a great time getting together with friends and next year should prove to be a whole nother story as Brent and Emily AND Rick and Kerri are expecting their first! Soon all these little ones will outnumber us adults! The weather was perfect and we had a great breeze all weekend so staying in a camper was definitely bearable! However, it was difficult because Brendan cut another 3 teeth over the long weekend! I didn't know that they were all coming in together.... guess that's the reason why we had multiple poopy diapers and were fussy all weekend long.

Jackson's 3rd Birthday!

Wow! Just saying that Jackson is now 3 seems weird. I can't believe that he's already 3! Our firstborn definitely keeps us busy. He's an active, curious and passionate child. He runs where ever he goes and loves to play "red light, green light". He loves watching his Disney Channel cartoons - Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Imagination Movers, Special Agent Oso.... and we often find ourselves having to help him choose only one to watch each day. The toys he plays with the most are his tractors - anything to do with tractors, he's all over. He'll load up things in the trailers and hook them up to the tractors and go all over the living room. When he wants something, it's extremely difficult to get his mind off of it and he's very vocal about what he wants. Right now we're working on understanding that we don't always get everything that we want. Life with Jackson is NEVER boring and even on those days when he makes me want to pull my hair out, I know that I am truly blessed to be able to raise this little boy.

We actually seemed to have a "birthday week" for him since we started celebrating on Father's Day with my family (we have 3 June birthdays and have gotten smart enough to combine them:)). Jackson was thrilled with his gifts ... he opened the water gun from Eric and Becky and proclaimed "awesome." Then he went to bed with his new bike helmet from my parents on! Could've used that a long time ago with him since he seems to always bump that head of his!

On Thursday, we had a big party here for Jackson. He was excited about it for a long time (I may have had something to do with that as we talked about it A LOT!). He was kind of overwhelmed with all the people and the generosity of all our friends and family in terms of presents but we still hear stories about it from him:)

Being a person who evidently loves to stress herself out, we then headed out on a camping trip Friday morning. Jackson woke up Friday morning and couldn't wait to get out to the campground. Of course it was a wonderful weekend there as we had the annual Sandy Pines garage sales to hunt through (best finds were 2 bed rails for the bunks in the trailer.... a total of $2.50!).

Hello summer!

It is finally summer break! It was quite hectic at school the last couple weeks as we all had to pack our classrooms up since the building will have some updates done to it this summer. Cleaning out my room was a good thing as I got rid of many things but it sure added stress to life!

We took our very first camping trip in the camper over the weekend. It was nice to get away and although camping can be a lot of work it sure was nice to not have laundry or house cleaning to do while we were there (I'm making up for all that laundry now!). The weather actually turned out to not be that bad but we were grateful for the air conditioning at times. The boys did fantastic with sleeping and Jackson was a true boy and was filthy all weekend long! I have discovered that it's impossible to keep him clean! We stayed at Sandy Pines because it was so close to home (just in case we forgot something or if anything went wrong) and we really "camping" there.


As we were packing up to head home Sunday morning, Jackson was getting very frustrated with us because he wanted to stay at the camper. This morning when he woke up and I asked him what he wanted to do today he replied, "I know... let's go camping!" I think that the camper will prove to be a priceless purchase in terms of the memories we're making together.

Memorial Day Weekend

What a gorgeous weekend it turned out to be! The actual Memorial day weather wasn't so great but at least we had a couple of good days to be outside.

We started out weekend with an exciting purchase - a camping trailer! I've been wanting one for awhile because some of my favorite memories with my family are camping during the summers. Luke consented and we found a trailer on Friday night and it was just our luck that it was right in Hamilton - less than 3 miles from our house! We took it home on Saturday and spent most of the day cleaning it inside and out. Jackson is thrilled with it and is quite anxious to sleep in his "bunk."

Saturday night we had our good friends Scott, Lori and Isaac come over. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day as we were able to just sit, relax and hang out with them. Lori and I spent some time trying to get Isaac and Brendan to both look at the camera for a picture. I can't wait for them to grow up - I know they'll be great friends and will cause tons of trouble!


On Sunday we took the boys to the beach. Jackson was all excited to be there again and was not ready to leave after 2 hours there but 2 hours for our pasty white, Dutch skin is plenty! Thankfully we all left without any sunburn. Brendan liked the water and was thrilled to have so much to watch while we were there. I'm sure we'll be spending plenty of days at the beach over the summer.












We also spent some time at Sandy Pines. Jackson had so much fun playing with Trent and Lauryn. And Grandpa Hansen kept them pretty busy Sunday night, finding pine cones for the fire. I love this picture of Jackson - Grandma Hansen had told Jackson "don't move" because he had marshmellow all over him and she was going to get something to wipe it off. He took the direction literally and wouldn't move!



I couldn't resist putting in a picture of Brendan and Evan ... 1 month apart and both have the same color hair!



It was a wonderful weekend but the best part was that we were able to spend a lot of time together. The weeks can get so busy and an extra long weekend like this was just what we needed! And the countdown is on .... 7 more days with students and then I get to be just MOM for the summer. I can't wait!!!!!!!

6 months

I can't believe that we're already posting that our little Brendan is 6 months old! As much as I'm sad to see my little guy grow and change so much, I'm loving the developments that are taking place. Last week we went in for his well child and he's weighing in at 16lbs 9 oz and 27 1/2 in. long. Our "big" guy is definitely starting to grow more like his brother did - long and lean. But who am I kidding, they're exactly like their father:) Everything is right on and Brendan did awesome for his appointment. Shots make him extra clingy for the day but that's okay too.... he's starting to not want to sit still as long as he used to so I'll take anything that I can get.

Brendan's been eating his solids for awhile now. I tried to hold off (just because it was easier for me) but the kid was so anxious to start. He kept trying to eat all our food! His favorite food right now is sweet potatoes but he'll eat anything we put in front of him. He's definitely a chow hound! He loves rolling around the floor and jumps in his jumper like there's no tomorrow. But his favorite place to be is in someones arms (while they're standing) being held face out. Whenever his brother enters the room, Brendan's face lights up. I can only hope this lasts but I know that it'll change:) He's now working on getting his top two teeth through - it seems like such a long process but it's so swollen there that I swear it'll be any day now (just my luck it'll be another couple of months!).