Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

My sweet friend Rebecca made an amazing Christmas Advent Activity book and shared it with us. We have had so much fun learning the "Names of Jesus" in a new and exciting way and what a great way to help us focus on why we even celebrate Christmas!

Thanks Rebecca!!

Day 1 - Lion of Judah

Day 2 - The Living Word

Day 3 - High Priest

(Gabe is speaking on behalf of his stuffed animals just as Jesus speaks on behalf of us) Day 4 - The Son of God

(Gabe is holding a picture of himself as an example of the fact that he is the son of dale amd even though gabe's daddy loves him so much it doesn't compare to how much God loves him!)We only got 4 days on camera....but we are headed to Colorado tomorrow to spend a week with cousins and to continue on!

Side note.....if you are interested in getting a booklet for Easter Advent let me know and I'll make sure you get a copy. Rebecca created these as a fundraiser to help them adopt orphan children :).

Below are some pictures of a fun Christmas party we went to with our very own Santa!

Brrrrrr!

So, I sent this in an e-mail to my sister and thought it might be blog worthy....for those that don't live in the midwest, be glad.....for those that do, go ahead and tell me to stop complaining about the weather!

We are looking forward to coming to Colorado to “warm up”! Seriously right now it is 13 degrees and “feels like -1”, yes in the middle of the day! And snowing like crazy. Yesterday the high was only 9 degrees and who knows what it “felt like”. Dale couldn’t get any of the car doors open yesterday and had to pry them open. Needless to say we are using our Christmas money to buy an automatic starter for my car….just might be my favorite present of all time :). Pretty sure you NEVER want to come here for Christmas….save your money and come in the summer when we could actually leave the house!! You should have seen Gabe and I this morning running errands….first we get him all suited up in his poofy coat, hat, gloves, snow boots, then I have to get all suited up with scarf, gloves, poofy coat as well…..then to the car without slipping (because snow + really cold temps + humidity = ice), then in the car and attempt to get the him strapped in to the carseat (where did his face go?? Oh yea somewhere between the poofy coat scrunched up from the straps and hat). Then we drive to Pete and Wanda’s to check on the house and get some food that they left (they are in SLC)…the gate lock is frozen shut (I tried yesterday, but now I came prepared with a lighter to melt the ice around the lock) and at least 6-7 minutes later I finally get it open. Gabe is distraught trying to figure out why mommy can’t open the gate…again. Then loading food in my car, etc, off to the shoe store to buy me some shoes (not sure why I choose to this today….but we were right there!...and there are only so many days left to get things done), then to the grocery store. All goes well in the store except that the lines were down the aisles….everyone is trying to beat the big storm…that has already started! Now is has snowed so much and the air is so cold that we can’t really get our cart to drive outside because of the ice (neither can anyone else….but nobody else has a toddler in it!). Finally get to the car, load the food, get gabe in the car seat again. Last stop, drop off dad’s lunch cuz he forgot to take it this morning and Gabe has been asking to “pweese see Daddy at the office..right now!” all morning. Finally home and can sit and watch the snow! Since we are going out of town soon tonight is the only night to deliver nieghbor gifts.....so we all get suited up again and trapse around the nieghborhood delivering bread and candy, yes everyone thought we were crazy! Gabe loved playing in the snow and little did he know that he was on the verge of frostbite anytime :). Mission accomplished....and the highlight of the day……we ate at Qdoba tonight! Yeah!!! Qdoba is like Chipotle and we have NOTHING even close!! It just opened on Sunday…it was awesome and heavenly!!! So there was our day....how was yours??? :).

Random pictures and events.....

So, here are some random pictures of the goings on in our life. Of course I usually forget to bring my camera most everywhere we go :). Oh well! We are spending Christmas in Colorado this year and are sooo excited to go!! Likely I won't post until after we get back...unless I stumble upon some extra time before...ha!!
A question for you professional bloggers....is there any way to post a song track from Itunes??

Gabe decorating the Christmas tree. How fun this year, he is so interested in new things! Loving his excitement for new things!

Playdate at the mall....yes the mall. When you live in the midwest there are not many options on a cold day! Anyway they had a choo-choo train.

I promise they do actually love each other :)
Shopping trip to Chicago! Super fun....even when the bus slid off the side of the road and we had to wait 2 hours for a tow truck! Doesn't really matter where you are when you are with the girls.....just as long as the kids aren't there you can talk for hours!

Gabe's first movie.....Madagascar! He loved it and felt soooo big with his own little popcorn and drink...thanks grandma!

Just another fun day with dad!! Our little 4-wheeler!

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas as we remember the reason for the season....the birth of our Savior! Lots of love from the Hanssen's!

Making Rusks!

Gabe and I made rusk (an African sort of biscotti) for Daddy who loves rusks more than just about anything (maybe even us?!). Gabe LOVED making them as a "surprise" for Daddy. Also, my aunt asked to post a video of gabe (sorry it took sooo long to do it shelly!).

The process........

The result........

Gabe the photographer

Gabe discoved his photography skills. Not that he didn't understand that once a picture was taken you can immediately see it on the camera and boy does he ALWAYS want to see it right away! But, he discovered when he took the picture he was capturing what was in front of him....which happened to be mom and dad.....on his way to a great career!

1st try


A little better....



Way to go!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Yes! Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to Peoria! (well not actually Peoria....Pekin, but that is like the difference between Sandy and Draper :)). It was really exciting on many fronts....seeing the community come together for a cause, watching the whole production, being part of it, etc. The slideshow shows some pictures and sorry they are small...I actually didn't bring my camera (because they said we couldn't) so I got these off the website and they are obviously very small! Here are some of the highlights...
1. I was one of 300 general volunteers (of 4000 that applied!) and my shift was the last day, so I got to see the family come home to see their new home!
2. The family chosen had 7 children (combination of natural and adopted) and have fostered 250 kids in 25 years!
3. Jake their youngest was adopted and has a syndrome where he doesn't grow. He is 8 yrs old and the size of an 18 month old, but super smart.
4. The house is 7 bedrooms, 4 bath with an elevator and the entire house is equipped so that Jake can do things on his own. I cried when I recieved an e-mail from Jake's sister just after they moved in telling us that Jake went to the bathroom on his own for the first time in his life!
5. The production was crazy! Total Hollywood :). It took 8 takes to do the "move that bus" sceen, which happened long before the family ever arrived :). It was awesome to see their faces though when the bus actually moved and they saw their new house! It also took 5 tries to get them walking in the front door. Those people have to become instant actors! They had 5 blocks blocked off and three streets were full of trailers, tents, etc. I have no idea how they got all those people to be OK with all the ruckus that goes on that week.
6. Unfortunately I didn't get to see inside the house because my shift was on the last day from 12-4 and they were due to arrive at 2, so the only people that were in the house were the cleaners and designers rushing to get everything finished up. I got to serve food to the crew :).
7. Yes, I got to see Ty! Probably about 5 times, but he is a mover and doesn't stick around in one place for very long, so there wasn't any "hi's" or pic opps with him for anyone really.
8. The most impactful was to see the builder and other skilled construction people work so hard and long to put this house together! Of course they worked around the clock as they didn't let any of the general volunteers do the building (for obvious reasons!). The show itself doesn't pay for anything, it is the community donating time, money and materials, so you can imagine the super fundraiser that went on!

All in all it was a super exciting and fun experience and I can't wait to see it on TV! It is scheduled to show in January, I will let you know when it is supposed to air :)

Halloween!

Hi all!
Sorry it has been a good many weeks since I have posted anything....I will catch up soon, but in the mean time here are some Halloween pictures!

"Tackle ball" player! (gabe's word for "football")

Thanks aunt Mindy for the cute Halloween shirt!

We had chili with family and friends on Halloween....who's hungry?!

Trick or Treating at Woody's (our neighbor) house!

Davis (builder bob) and Gabe!

Emma (Dorothy) and Gabe!

Brooke (lady bug) and Gabe

Spoon River Drive, Harvest Festival, and Apple Blossom Farm!

Whew!! It has been quite a weekend for us, but LOTS of fun! Yesterday we went to our neighbors church's harvest festival, which gabe loved....tons of fun games and prizes and candy! Then today we took a walk down memory lane to was is called Spoon River Drive. Spoon River is a river that runs along many small towns, so the first weekend in October many small towns (about 15 or so) have little festivals and people come from all over the midwest to drive from town to town to see what "goods" they have. When Dale was younger his parents had bee farms, so they used to sell honey at all the local festivals. Well, Spoon River Drive was the best and most memorable. So....we strolled past the spot where thier booth was, ate apple dumpling and butterfly pork chop sandwiches (all of which were traditions of the past) and Wanda and I bought way too many candles :). Then tonight we went to Apple Blossom Farm which is a local place where they grow apples (hense the name :)), pumkins and have all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. Our church rented it out for the night, so again we had all sorts of fun! Here are some pics of the many events in no order (only cuz I have no idea how to move the pictures around once they are on my posting page! any suggestions???).

Gabe went on a choo-choo ride all by himself through the orchard, loved it!
The HUGE slide! He was for sure the smallest kid sliding by himself...but he insisted!
Mom and Gabe on the hayride.
Random picture, I know....but this was Gabe's first table setting (minus the lit candles)...and I'm a super proud mommy! Seriously all I told him was to put the napkins on the charges and put a fork and knife on each side and he went about his business, way to go gabe!
"The Rock" which is directly across from where "the booth" was on Spoon River Drive
Blowing HUGE bubbles at the harvest festival.
Jumping with my friend Jade on the bouncy twister thing
Playing twister on the bouncy twister thing with my friend Sarah and some other boy we don't know.
Standing in the mums while grandma talks to the gardner about her garden....have you see thier garden!? pretty amazing!

The Last Days of Summer

So it is official summer is over! The days are getting shorter and the air is much cooler! Here are some random pics of the last days of summer time :).

We found a family of crawdads in the pool (yes after we had been swimming!). Country living at its best!!

The last day at grandma and grandpa's pool (last weekend). It was bit chilly..but worth it!

Playdate with my best friends Kenzi and Brooke at the park.

Off with my back pack!

Play doh isn't for anything but making a "ramp" for my 4-wheeler and "vroom, vroom" :) (the general as it is well known...grandpa has a red 4-wheeler called "the general").

Biking with Daddy......

So I know I have been an advocate of the Strider Bike previously, but here is one of my favorite videos of Gabe riding with his daddy. He also rides with grandma and grandpa whenever he stays there as well. It is seriously the best "toy" he has every had! He rides it everywhere! And the cool thing is that he can ride with older kids who are riding real bikes. Very cool!

Pretty much everyone 2 year old we know has gotten one (or will be getting one) for thier brithday :).

The Flood.....

So...4 days after all the rain we are getting all the water from Chicago on the banks of the Illinois River. For those not from Peoria, we have a "riverfront" presence with lots of restaurants, concerts, etc. Pretty much everything on the banks has flooded. Unfortunately it is only going to get worse. Here are some pictures we took today.

Not knowing anything about the flooding (I guess I should watch the news more :)), my friend and I headed out for a walk with the kiddos this morning along the river front.....NOT!! But Gabe thought it was cool anyway :).

CEFCU Center Stage....concerts are here. Notice the water is over the stage and close to the umbrella!

Gross!! All the rubish from the banks getting caught at the dock.
At the marina......

seriously!! Is he really docking in the parking lot??!!
Here are the docks...yes way out there!
And the gas station
This is the marina parking lot
And this is where we workout..in the distance is the outdoor swimming area, good thing it is fine covered in water :).

Water Steet with the railroad track next to it...all covered in water
More of Water Street
It's glass!!

No skiing for us, that is unless you want to dodge huge trees as they float down river.
Gabe doing his part to take pictures with his phone along with me.

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