Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to the best woman, wife, and mommy in the world! We are blessed to have you in our lives.
We all love you very much.

Brian, Stefan, and Peanut

Enjoying Papi and Meme!

Even though we only saw Papi for a couple of hours, Stefan still got some playing time in! We're all very much enjoying having Meme around these days.

Checkups!

On Tuesday, Stefan had a doctor's appointment. Due to insurance issues that required us to change doctors, it has been a while since he has been in for a checkup. All is well and he is growing like a weed. He weighed in at 30 pounds (88th percentile), and was "off the charts" in height at 35.5 inches.

Wednesday was the little Peanut's turn to be checked on. We are thankful for a good appointment with things starting to look a little better. Measuring at just over 3 inches the Peanut was rubbing his eyes and kicking his legs. I think he was upset that we were disturbing his rest. (The ultrasound technician prodded and poked to get him to turn around so we could see his face.) The heartbeat was 168, and he is a healthy, growing little baby.

(Please note that the pronoun "he" does not imply a preference of sex)

Fun Weekend With Family

We had a fun weekend with Johanna's cousins' families. On Saturday we all met in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a picnic lunch. Stefan enjoyed playing with his second cousins. There were 6 kids age five and under, so he had lots of playmates. It was great to get together!

Stefan loves to sing

In the mornings before our Bible reading time we always sing. We are trying to learn and memorize the words to some hymns. Currently we are working on learning My Jesus Fair. I thought you might enjoy hearing Stefan join in with us as we sing.

An enjoyable visit!

Jeremy & Bonnie Ruth Farmer and their 4 girls, Abi, Isa, Gloria, and Eden, Vanessa Marshall, and us!

We enjoyed a great visit with my cousins yesterday. We met at a park for a picnic and had some wonderful fellowship. The Farmers are raising support to be missionaries in Cambodia and Vanessa (Bonnie Ruth's sister) is travelling with them to help with their four young girls (5and under!).

We had a great time visiting, the kids got to play, and we had a nice long walk along the harbor. We all got a little wet and chilly due to the dense fog. It looks like Stefan is thinking about taking Eden's pacifier! (they are 3 months apart)

After our picnic last night, I stole Vanessa away! She came home with us and spent the night and the day today. We did a little touring of Plymouth with Stefan, and then came home and left Stefan with Daddy so Vanessa and I could enjoy lunch at The Olive Garden with no children! We had a great time catching up and visiting.

Oh the fun we can mix up!

What can you do with a little flour, some water, and food coloring? Well, of course, make some finger paint. Or something like that anyway. The substitution worked quite fine for Stefan, but of course he hasn't really dealt with the real thing, so how would he know any different? Definitely something easy to mix up again since I don't have any finger paint on hand and sit down activities are needed these days!


Ok, Mommy, what exactly am I supposed to do?

Aha! This IS fun!

Oh yeah, TWO colors. My Mommy is very generous.

Another Fun Friday!

Yesterday we headed out to the Cape for the day. It was a beautiful day, and we decided to do a little exploring of some places we hadn't yet been to.

Here Stefan is enjoying an icecream cone for the first time. Oh boy, that was pretty exciting. The giggles and smiles made that cone worth every penny and mess that it was!

As we were driving along the coast we spotted this windmill. We noticed the doors were open so decided to stop by and see if we could go in. Sure enough, we got to see the inside of the corn mill powered by the wind. This mill is from the 1700's. We got to go to the top of the mill which was kind of neat. As you can see from the pictures, the scenery right outside was beautiful as well.

Our final place (and our main reason for going to the Cape at all yesterday) was for dinner at the Lobster Claw. We had received a $50 gift certifictate to this restaurant courtesy of our classical radio station. I am seriously beginning to wonder if any body else listens to the classical station because we sure have gotten our fair share of prizes from them! We aren't going to complain though! We enjoyed a good dinner complete with Clam Chowder (we are in New England you know!). After dinner we decided to drive the entire length of the Cape. Just because. We went to the very tip and enjoyed the beautiful coast along the way. You see pictured the Pilgrim's Monument. We only drove by as you had to pay to go in. We stopped at one beach just before heading home. I didn't put Stefan in his swimming trunks because it was late and the air a little chilly already. I knew the water would be freezing so we were just stopping to walk in the sand a little. Well, Stefan had a different idea. We had just been to the beach, for real, a few days earlier so he knew that he was supposed to go in. He promptly sat right down in the water. Oh well!

It was a fun day--time with our little family enjoying the beauty of God's creation. Oh--and free dinner?-- that wasn't a bad deal either:-)

Baby # 2 is on its way!!!!

We're very happy to announce that Stefan is going to be a big brother. Baby Hanson is due to arrive February 25, 2010.

Out for some sun!

Well, before Stefan and I went completely crazy with cabin fever, we went out for a little picnic and some play at the Boston Harbor. We had a beautiful view during our picnic. As we ate we watched all kinds of boats on the water as well as planes taking off and landing at Boston Logan Airport. A boys haven...but I had fun too! I sat (more on this later) while the boys wandered around to check up on the boats, the birds, the dogs, and whatever else caught their fancy. Brian did make sure he got one picture of me up and walking though:-) It was soooo good to get out and get some fresh air and sun. (Can you find Brian and Stefan in the bottom left picture?)

Stefan loved having Papi and Meme here!