Random pictures of our week

Enjoying the johnny jump up!

Looking cute in her outfit from Grandpa and Grandma Hanson. (She kept looking at her brother so I couldn't get her to look at the camera. Oh well.)


Excuse the mess...there was some fun going on. Ok, I know I'm a proud Mommy and all, but I was completely shocked when Stefan came to me this morning and said, "Look Mommy, a T." I mean, it's one thing to recognize the letters, it's another thing to create them.
(And just in case you're wondering, I was not even in the same room when this happened.)

Five Months Old

Our little peanut turned five months old this week. That dimple just kills me... :-)

Here is her big brother at five months.

Fun in the rain!

Sometimes a warm summer downpour is the best thing to go play in!

Erik & Bethany's Wedding

We just came back from a whirlwind trip to PA for Brian's brother's wedding. We are so glad to welcome Bethany into our family!


The happy Bride and Groom

The Hanson family

The two Hanson boys!

Stefan's first baseball game

And Olivia's too, but she didn't really care:) RVC, Brian's employer, was hosting the Independence Day fireworks after the Rockford Riverhawks baseball game tonight. They gave out a number of free tickets to employees so we got to go as a family. It was a beautiful evening, and a fun outing.

Summer Days!

It's awful nice knowing someone who has a pool in their subdivision. Just sayin'. Stefan, Olivia, and I have thoroughy enjoyed it twice now, thanks to another Mom who has come to pick us up and take us there. Stefan loves the pool, but he also loves riding in our friend's van. I honestly don't know which is more exciting. Who knew a van could be so exciting to a little boy. Someday, Stefan, someday. Anyway, the very nice thing about this pool is that not only is there a large pool (obviously!), but next to it is a wading pool only about a foot deep. It is absolutely perfect for the kiddos, and even nice for us Mommies to just sit in. Love!


It doesn't take much to have an exciting summer day. Just pull out the little table into the yard and have lunch outside! Happy and dirty boy, watermelon, sunshine = summertime!!!

Lest you think we forgot Father's Day...

we didn't :-)

Breakfast involved these blueberry streusal muffins along with smoothies.



Dessert was inspired by the scrumptious strawberries that Stefan picked almost entirely on his own when we went strawberry picking the other day. Let's just say that trying to pick strawberries when you have a baby in a carrier isn't the easiest thing I've ever done. Thankfully my boy was quite the dedicated picker. (I did find quite a few half eaten strawberries as I was cleaning them. But hey, that's half the fun, right?)


And the rest of the day included lots of hugs, kisses, gifts, relaxation, etc. Stefan and Olivia are so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy!

Fun day in Madison!

In lieu of a vacation (since Brian is accumulating vacation days very slowly to say the least!) we are trying to take advantage of Saturdays that Brian doesn't have anything at church to go on little family outings. Today we decided to go to the farmers market in Madison. Oh, was it so much fun! I honestly felt like I had stepped back into Europe for a minute! So many booths, crowds of people (obviously a very popular place!), random musicians around playing for a few bucks, etc! Loved it! We also briefly went inside the Wisconsin capitol building (the market is all around the the capitol building), enjoyed some gardens and a walk next to the lake.

Some friends of ours just happened to be going to the farmers market today as well. We happened to mention it at church the other day and found out we were both planning on going to the same place, so we decided to meet up for a picnic lunch on the grass and then later on in the day we met up again for ice cream! So much fun to do something together as families!

My four month old!

It's very hard for me to believe that Olivia is four months old today. I feel like life is just zooming by and I need to stop and catch my breath and enjoy the moment.

For comparison sake, here is Stefan at four months.

Off to go enjoy a few snuggles, coos, and smiles from my growing girl!

Big Red Barn

One of Stefan's favorite books at the moment is Margaret Wise Brown's Big Red Barn. She is the author of the classic Goodnight Moon which we don't have, but seeing how much he loves this one we might have to get that for his birthday this year. It is so beautifully written and illustrated. Good children's literature is so fun to read. In my opinion, if I don't enjoy reading it, then it probably isn't written well enough for children to want to listen to it. Anyway, this post isn't about children's literature so I will stop myself. But if you got me going...well, I have a lot to say about that topic. So back to the book. Stefan loves it, and we have read it dozens of times. It starts out,

"By the big red barn
In the great green field..."

I hope you can find our "big red barn", the "great green field", the "big pile of hay and the little pile of hay."

Toward the end of the story it reads,
"And there they were all night long
Sound asleep
In the big red barn."

It was so cute to see Stefan lay the animals down in our barn. I didn't even tell him to do that! Love, love ,love that!

(p.s. I did not stop reading to take pictures. I got the camera out after we had had our beautifully, fun reading time. It was actually Stefan's idea. We got the blocks out to play together and I asked him what he wanted to build. Usually it's a tower, but today he said a barn and pointed to the book. I couldn't have been happier to oblige. Oh, and we got a little carried away and added everything...even the animals! I hope you enjoy the pictures!)

Fun times with friends!

Today we headed back to the Arboretum, only this time with some of our friends from church. The kids had an absolute blast together (and got completely soaked-what kid doesn't like that?!) and we moms did as well! We walked around the arboretum, played in the fountains and then finished up with a picnic lunch. I'm so blessed to have friends with kids to do things with!

(I got there and realized I had left my camera battery at home. Thankfully someone else had their camera!)

Reading in our fort

Yesterday Stefan and I made a fort in the living room. I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of both of us in the fort so you'll just have to believe me that I was really under there with him. We cuddled under the sheet -- I mean fort-- with pillows and a book. Somehow being under there made reading so much more exciting. I'm willing to do just about anything to help my son grow a love for books. Yes, even crawl under a fort in the living room. Fun memories with my boy!

Arboretum

Here are some pictures from our outing to the Arboretum. We took way too many to post them all here. It is just a few minutes from our house and free on Mondays--love that! It was so beautiful and we had a nice time and got some much needed exercise and fresh air walking around. Stefan loved the alphabet garden in the "Children's Garden" area. He got the biggest smile when we walked up and he saw all the letters. He then ran to each letter as we called them out. So fun! He loved playing a game with Daddy under the great big tree and collecting pine cones and rocks!

Final day with Grandpa & Grandma!

We went out to eat on Monday night. Stefan made his Grandma proud by using chopsticks. He did pretty well! Unfortunately the picture of all of us at the table at the restaurant didn't turn out, but thankfully I got a great shot of the kids with their grandparents!