Jonathan's 2nd Birthday

I have a tradition with the kids' birthdays to let them help me make the cake batter--and then they get to lick out the bowl. This has been a fun thing to do with them and we usually make it a day or two ahead so that it is cool and ready for decorating the following day.

Here we are putting the cake mix into the bowl.

And then cracking the eggs.

And tasting the finished product! Yeah!

I think our cake making was a success--see how happy he is!

The following day I had to come up with what was going to go on the cake--I usually do a character or something they love. Well right now, Jonathan loves He-Man--yes that outdated show from the early 1980's. We have several He-Man toys as well that he just loves to play with--I think much inspired by a very fun father, who also loves to play with the toys with the kids. So we got on-line and looked up some images for He-Man. Well, I did the best I could at making it similar to the image--definitely not perfect, but not too shabby, and especially for a 2 year old. He loved it!!Jonathan is watching and playing with He-man as he watches the cake being decorated--and Aubrey is also there by him pointing out the things on the cake that really aren't like He-Man--his hair is more orange, his skin is more brown, the wrist bands are too big, etc.

For those of you who don't know, when He-Man pulls out his sword and then holds it like this, there is white light all around him as he gains his He-Man powers.

Jonathan, what can I say--adorable! We actually took the cake to our family Sunday fast dinner so that cousins and family could all enjoy it rather than coming out to our house the following day--making it easier on people. Well, Jonathan didn't really understand that it wasn't his birthday yet, but we were doing the cake and we would do presents the following day. Infact that night he was quite sober and we said, "tomorrow is your real birthday and you will get balloons and presents". His face lit right up and he was VERY excited. Poor kid, I think he thought he just didn't get any presents.

He blew out his candles very well! He loved hearing everyone singing to him!

Another tradition I have is to let the birthday child pick whatever part of the cake they want--Jonathan got the whole sword! Some of the other kids were quite jealous about this, but hey, it's his cake!

We have another tradition that the birthday child gets to open one or two things in the morning that they can play with throughout the day, then we open the rest that evening after dinner. Jonathan is opening his morning gift. We also put candy or small toys inside of balloons and they get to pop the balloons to get the prize. The girls have always been too scared to pop the balloons. Jonathan was another story! He loved trying to pop the balloons and after his many attempts of jumping on and hitting and sitting on balloons with no success, Aubrey gave him a tack. With delight, he popped those balloons, not even flinching--Mariah stood far away and covered her ears!
Later that day, Jonathan was sitting up at the counter looking at the remnants of his He-man birthday cake. He looked up at me very sadly and asked, "where's He-man?" I reminded him that we sang to him and we all ate the cake. I asked him, "did you eat He-man's sword?". He sadly nodded his head and said, "yes." It was adorable!! I told him that it was alright to eat the He-man cake.
Here is Jonathan playing with one of his presents.

Here is Jonathan wanting to see the camera rather than posing for it--he got the foam sword for his birthday and tring to be like He-man, he tucked it in his sweater on his back--what a funny boy!

And finally, since we already did his cake and candles, we made some brownies and sang and blew out candles again! He had a blast! Especially with his birthday extended so much!

Ahhh-the quiet moments, but they just don't last

Well here I am, looking at people's blogs while I eat breakfast. I try to do something when I eat because otherwise I think too much about what I am eating and the mouthfeel and all I can say is that this pregnancy, food doesn't do well with me, especially in the mornings.
The kids are in the tub, playing nicely together--a sound every mother loves to hear. But, why are they in the tub, besides the fact that kids get stinky and sticky in a matter of minutes and need baths on a regular basis.
Well, I woke up to Jonathan trying to climb into my bed, fortunately I have an innate sense of smell that instinctly kicks in whether or not my brain is fully functioning. This instinct told me to not allow him into my bed or to sit or lean against anything and to change his diaper immediately. Yes, he had a major blow-out diaper. So much so that I spent quite a while rinsing the onsie in the toilet to get all the grossness out. Jon would have just thrown the onsie away. This called for a bath, but Jonathan hadn't eaten or I should say, engrossed himself in, breakfast yet--which is usually quite the event in and of itself. He loves to make himelf into an art form with whichever cereal he is having. For this reason I generally don't dress him until after he is finished. So today, I fed him in the tub. It brought back memories of feeding babies and teaching them how to eat, so it was kind of fun, and he didn't get all messy. Aubrey and Mariah could use a bath too, so as soon as they were done eating, I had them get into the tub. Then it was off to start the yucky laundry, clean up the girls breakfast and ahhh, sit and read some blogs. Well, now I have taken too long-- Aubrey is calling for me to come and bath them and Jonathan is getting out of the tub. Off to finish a task in a day of a mother!

And you thought we only had 3 kids!

Well, it all comes from giving the girls dolls I guess. But to the girls, their dolls are real and a part of our family. This is a birthday party Aubrey and Mariah put on for one of their dolls: Sally, Malie, Sophie, Emily, Doke-n-dokie (yes, my favorite of the doll names), He-man (that is a new name of an old doll that used to be a girl doll that is now a boy doll), Annie, Wanda Joe, Bumpy Bear, and of course--the ultimate favorite doll at the present--Cutie. I have surely left some names out, but I can't keep track of them all. This birthday party was for Bumpy Bear which is a teddy bear that was actually borrowed(?) from Grandma Robertson--I guess the girls are trying to convince him of where he wants to live. They set out plates for everyone, toy food, cups and dishes. Then they proceded to eat and celebrate. It was actually quite cute--they spent several hours doing this--I love when the play nice and are really into something. My favorite of the food items was the fish from the fishing pole game. Anyway, it was quite adorable and fun to listen to, though I was pretending not to listen so that they didn't get embarrassed.

And here is another luncheon on another day that Aubrey was putting on. She is very symetrical--notice how she lays everything out on each side to balance out. I love the random things she has used as "food" and what not.

The Jon & Amy Hansen Family in 2008--What do you know about us--what is True and what is False?

This is the answers to our "Christmas Letter" we sent out--wait to read this entry until you recieve your Christmas Letter/Email.

Note--When we say Jon, we are referring to Jon, my husband and the father of our children. When we say Jonathan, we are referring to our youngest son.

The Jon & Amy Hansen Family in 2008
What do you know about us—what is True and what is False?

1. Jon got a new job in Murray, Idaho.

Answer: False--Jon's new job is in Murray, Utah--this is a small picture of where his office is.

2. Jon and Amy sold their townhouse and bought a home
in Riverton, Utah.

Answer: True--We love our house! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures in the summer when it looks a lot nicer outside, but here it is in the snowy winter!

3. Amy ran a race in a Hooters shirt.
Answer: True--refer to Blog entry in the Blog Archive (right hand side of page) click the arrow next to 2008 and then click the arrow next to June and then click on "5k Run Against Pornography"

4. Amy ran a half marathon.

Answer: True--it was all because of her sister, Emily who actually ran a full marathon earlier in the summer and got several of her siblings to run a half marathon with her in August 2008. It was actually really neat to do and not as hard as I thought it would be--I plan to run more half marathons--I am not sure about a full marathon though.

In order of appearance: Emily Morrise, Ben Morrise, Jeremy Robertson, Jay Robertson, Amy Hansen, Emily Robertson, Rebecca Clary

5. Aubrey and Jon designed and made a Star Trek Enterprise ship out of Lincoln Logs.
Answer: False--It was actually made out of Legos. Jon and Aubrey drew out plans and worked on it for a couple of weeks. They really came up with something neat!

6. Mariah wore hot-pads for shoes.
Answer: True--it was really quite funny, though she wasn't trying to be funny, she was just "dressing up".

7. Jonathan hates playing with Star Wars toys.

Answer: False--all of our kids love getting out the special Star Wars toys--it is one of their favorite things to do with Jon. Jonathan very much loves Dad's special toys--he loves He-Man, Star Wars, Star Trek, and legos--just like his dad. He is just the sweetest and most delightful little boy--most of the time.

8. Our cat had two “6 toed” kittens.

Answer: False--she had five "6-toed" kittens--pretty spooky! We actually did get rid of all of them except for one.
9. We loved taking care of our yard and planting a garden this summer —Jon even loved mowing the lawn.

Answer: True--refer to December 2008 blog on our yard (in the Blog Archive, click on the arrow next to 2008, then click on the arrow next to December and click on "Our New Yard, YEAH!")

10. We canned peaches, pears, grape juice, dill pickles, tomatoes, tomato soup, apples, pumpkin, chicken, green beans, corn, pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, and potatoes.

Answer: False--we canned all of those except for corn, kidney beans, and potatoes--refer to December 2008 blog on our Garden (in the Blog Archive, click on the arrow next to 2008, then click on the arrow next to December and click on "Our new House--and the garden Summer 2008")

11. Jon was almost arrested on Legacy Parkway.

Answer: True--Amy ran the Legacy Parkway 10K race--this was a race that happened in the morning before they opened the parkway to the public. Jon dropped Amy off for the race an hour before it started and was going back home to get the kids and his parents (we had spent the night at his parents home). Well, the security on the parkway was very tight and they only had traffic coming one way--to the starting line. They weren't letting cars out. So Jon asked several volunteers and cops how to get back out and was told several different answers, with a, "well, I am not really sure". Finally a cop told him to go a certain way. Several cop cars suddenly went speeding in the direction Jon had gone. They were after Jon and determined that Jon was up to something--like destroying the parkway--and that he was lying about dropping Amy off and having to go back home to pick up the kids and his parents since we didn't want to wake the kids too early and have them just waiting for the race to start in the cold. Finally they let him go, but made him go another way. It was a fun adventure!

12. Amy finished the infamous t-shirt quilt—it’s only taken 2 years!

Answer: False--it took 6 six years! It's not pretty by any means, but it has a lot of history--if that counts for anything! Jon and I started making it when we were first married. It is our t-shirts from our childhood up to when we first got married. Each year I have pulled it out in the winter-time and worked on it for a while and finally this winter, I finished it!

13. Aubrey made a life-size puzzle of herself.

Answer: True--Aubrey drew and cut out this "puzzle" as a Christmas present for her cousin, James (Emily's little boy). It was really cute and she worked really hard on it! She also had cut out boots to cover the feet, but had left them at home (this picture is at Grandma Robertson's house when she gave James the gift.

14. Mariah dressed up Skeletor (He-man villain) in her doll clothes.

Answer: True--our kids love He-Man--they are going to sadly discover when they go to school that nobody else plays with, watches, or even knows who He-Man is!

15. Jonathan has super powers—he’s still trying to learn how to use them.

Answer: True--Jonathan tried flying off of the stage at the Ward Christmas party--he almost convinced us that his practice flight only looked like a fall.

16. Aubrey is very good at writing and drawing—she used pretzels to spell out Mariah’s name.
Answer: True--she spends a great deal of time drawing and writing. This was a lunch-time activity that she and Mariah came up with.

17. We got to be in “The Days of 47” Parade in Salt Lake City.

Answer: False--we were in "The Days of 47 Children's" Parade--it was still pretty cool and they had a free children's fair afterward (bounce houses, blow-up slides, and other fun activities).

18. The kids milked a real cow at the Utah State Fair.

Answer: False, they milked a fake cow at the Utah State Fair--it was really quite a cute set-up done by FFA for kids to do farm chores.

So those are several of the events that took place this past year--of course many more fun and adventurous things have also happened! Our kids really are adorable and we enjoy them--most of the time! Jon is the most wonderful father and husband ever and I am very blessed and grateful for that! We love our home and yard and have had a wonderful year filled with many blessings!

Our New YARD!! YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!!!!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our yard! What a blessing! It is SO SO SO good for our children! Not only have they been able to thoroughly enjoy themselves in sand, water, and outdoor creativity, but they have also enjoyed good health! While Jon and I worked on getting the garden in it would start to get late, but we wanted to get more done before we took the kids in and cleaned them up and put them to bed. . . we would set up our TV and let them watch a movie outside with popcorn and drinks! They thought working on the garden was REALLY fun and exciting! I think as they get older and have to help us, the excitement of garden work might die down, though we could still bring out the TV and put on a movie if it helps!

Here is Mariah and Jonathan playing in the yard.

The kids "helping" with the garden--I couldn't resist Jonathan's adorable behind!

Jonathan ventuing out into an overgrown corner that we cleaned out and planted grass under (it looks great now)!

Aubrey and Jonathan playing in the water and buckets--they really had a lot of fun!

Mariah giving her toys a bath outside.

The kids with their favorite cousins watching a movie and having popcorn outside.

A Beautiful rainy summer day and the kids running around in it.

The kids having a picnic for lunch--we did this many times--it was really fun (and no kitchen to clean up afterward)!!

Another picnic outside--we all ate outside together on the card table many times.

Our first snow!!

Our New House--and the garden Summer 2008

We were very blessed to be able to sell our townhouse and to buy our house! We have thoroughly been enjoying it! The former owners left us a brand new barbeque as a "welcome home" gift with a note saying that they hoped we enjoyed the home as they did--very thoughtful of them. We have had several barbeques and fun events already!

Well to start at the beginning of our new home--we moved in the last weekend of June. We had planted seeds in planters in anticipation of planting a garden. Well, by the time we actually moved in those plants had way overgrown their planters--we had to get them in the ground asap! So we spet the first few days getting moved in what we needed and then got to work on the garden--which turned out to be a LOT more work than we had anticipated. But in some odd way, it was fun. The garden plot that existed was very grassy and the previous owners had one of those above the ground pools that you set on sand--so we had a huge circle of sand in the yard. We cut and moved sod from the garden to cover the sand and removed a LOT of the sand into the garden--a little tricky, but the kids were great helpers--filling buckets of sand and dumping them where we had already moved grass. We ended up doubling the size of the garden and getting all of our plants into the ground by mid-July. I thought the little plants would die, but once again, we were very blessed and the plants survived! We ended up having a wonderful harvest which we thoroughly enjoyed and even were able to have surplus to preserve we are still enjoying fried summer squash--one of our favorites)!
Jonathan loved helping me harvest the squash--he is so adorable--and in his father's favorite outfit (star trek academy) We also have two peach trees in our back yard--which made the yummiest peaches ever! We were able to can what we didn't eat and we are still enjoying those as well!

I had an enrichment in my previous ward about using a pressure canner and we learned how to can dried beans (pinto, black, etc). It was really neat and just what I needed!

I inherited my mom's pressure canner and got to work trying things out! I had a lot of fun learning all about canning different things and perhaps got a little carried away, but hey, I didn't have a newborn and I wasn't pregnant (a new thing for me for the past 5 years) and we have a wonderful backyard that the kids can just go out an play for entertainment--so I was able to make the time to learn how to do some canning!!

Here I am in front of the garden with some dill pickles and tomatoes I canned.

This is a picture of most of the things we canned (I say we, because although I did most of the actual canning, Jon did a lot of the harvesting and took care of other things to allow me to have time to do the canning)--a lot of it was from our garden or yard and some of it was given to us. We were very blessed!

Pumkin Patch--2008

For the first time in Pmkin Patch history we actually found the witch in the maze!! The kids were very excited!

Jonathan really tried to keep up with the other kids and most of the time he actually did keep up with them. It was really cute!

Here are my three adorable kids!

Every year we go to the Pumpkin Patch in Vineyard with Grandma Robertson and cousins. It is really fun and something the kids look forward to all year! There are blow-up bounce house and slides that they really enjoy as well. Jonathan got really brave and actually climbed up a slide and went down it. James (favorite of all cousins) would just launch his body off the top of a pretty tall slide and go flying! It was hilarious and amazng! Aubrey and Mariah were definitely amazed at his bravery!