Hans loves his baths and the extra bubbles Mommy gives him! Right when he gets near the tub he grabs the bubbles and turns on the water. As you can see he is extremely comfortable in water. He will lay down in it and even blow bubbles.

Every Tuesday we meet Grandma and Great Grandma for dinner, and great grandma always treats. This week we went to Go Roma. Some of the places we go is Gino's, Benningans, Culvers, Chipolte and Pottbelly's but we love Walker Bro's the most. As you can see Hans makes himself right at home. This week Hans got to eat tortellini with shrimp and broccoli. While we were out to eat we got to celebrates Grandma's birthday. We only have a few more weeks of this routine, as I will be out on maternity leave so Hans will no longer be at Brenda's house.

Hans loves his bathtime. He can blow bubbles in the water, and he even lays down in the water. He is so going to love swimming this summer. When he turns on the water for his bath, he has to immediately give me the bubbles. He loves his bubbles and he is lucky because I make the best bubble baths for him. Most of the time there are more bubbles than there is water that is just the way he likes it.

Hans wants to say Happy Birthday to Grandma Cindy, Great Grandma Peggy, and Great Grandpa Kenny. We love you all very much!!!
(Other news) The countdown is on. There is less than 50 days until baby Elle will arrive. I have been asked more than I can count how do I do it all, and usually I don't even think about it I just do. Although this week it is getting a little more difficult. Hans is having a hard time leaving and going to Grandma's and not seeing us till Tuesday. Mark said to Hans before he left for work today I will see you on Tuesday and Hans had a meltdown. Then he cried again when he had to leave. That is the hardest part especially being pregnant cause I want to cry too. Although I am so thankful for all my mother does. I just keep reminding myself that it is only 3 more weeks where he will be gone for two days, and in 6 week I will be off for spring break. I only have one more week left to this masters class and then I start my final one till June. Please pray that my next instructor is understanding because I am only allowed to miss one class and I am afraid that if I have the baby on a Monday I may need to miss more than one. I also have another big decision to make and that is whether I return to school to finish out the year. I would have to be back the day after Mothers day. With Hans I had no choice, but this time I do. Also the school hasn't found someone to replace me. I am finding out that it is very hard to find chemistry teachers. Well those are some of the issues that will hopefully be resolved soon.

Hans and I have a routine where he goes and lays on the mat and I get his bottle. Then we snuggle while we watch a tv show recorded on DVR before he heads upstairs to read and go to bed.

Snow, snow and more snow. This week there was actually a snow day at my school. It was nice I got to spend the day with Hans, and Mark got to use his snowblower many times. Then this weekend we celebrated Valentines day early. Hans got two cupcakes. The minute he saw them he freaked out so as Mark tried to hand him one he was ready to dive in.

I finally got around to taking a picture of the tiling job. This was the first time Mark ever tiled and he did such a wonderful job. We have learned that even though we have a newer house still many things need to be replaced. Now that we have redone everything on the first floor, we are going to get started on the upstairs bathrooms.

Hans loves the part in Homeward Bound when they come home as you can see by the reaction on his face. We had so much snow on Friday all of the schools were closed in the state except 4 schools and my school happened to be one of them. We didn't even have half of the students. It was pretty pointless considering that I couldn't teach anything. I showed movies the whole day. Then on Saturday Hans and I went out and played in the snow for a few hours. Hans kept on taking off his gloves, but I think that he learned his lesson when he fell in the snow face first and his hands were so cold. Hans also shoveled while I swept off the walkway. Mark is amazed on how he is definently my little helper, and how he is always working on something. Yes in that way he is definently like me. I always have to be doing something or have a project to work on.

Hans, grandma and great grandma all went down to see Luke and Levi play basketball. Then for lunch we went to my favorite town Morris. In Morris there is the best boutique that has the most adorable kids clothes. I have bought most of Hans clothes there. I love it because the clothes are so unique. Kirsten and I decided to get some clothes for the baby girl on the way. Kirsten got the baby some summer clothes and I got the baby winter clothes. Hopefully the ultrasound tech was correct and it is a girl because I have been given some beautiful clothes.

Hans and I went out to eat with Grandma and Great Grandma for my birthday. I also went to visit the preschool that Hans might go to next year. We are having a difficult time figuring out what to do. After dinner Hans and I came home and got in our comfy clothes. Hans got to stay up late and we played for a few hours. Hans likes putting a blanket over his head and acting like a ghost. Then we finished the evening by watching Homeward Bound. Hans of course loves the animals. Mark and I went out a few night later for my birthday. We went to go see some movies at Steve's theatre and figured out why we like to stay home and watch them. In 27 dresses we had some obnoxious women sitting behind us. Then we went to Rambo and got great seats once the movie started a bunch of people walked in who reeked of drugs which made me sick so we left early. With the set up we have at home and Mark's connections on getting movies we decided we would rather stay home.

We went out and got Hans a playhouse. I thought that we would store it in the basement until spring came and we could put it with the swing set. When I woke up in the morning Mark had put it together in the family room and it can't be moved unless it is taken apart. I had to leave to go to masters class and grandma was watching Hans. While I was gone he played in it the whole time. He loves to fall out of the window. When Mark and I tried to go in the house and play with him he wouldn't let us in, although he let Wicket in.





Wicky is such a fun and playful dog. Hans loves to play with her. She follows us around and is very protective of Hans.

Hans continues to help with the laundry although he likes the new machines better because he can help take the clothes out of the washing machine too. Oh, we were able to sell our old ones on craiglist. Now we are trying to find a double jogging stroller on the site!


Here I am blowing out my 24 candles. That is all Cindy had with her.
Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Rich came down to watch the Packers game. We celebrated my birthday and Hans got pizza and cake two of his favorite things. Cindy and I spent the day at the 7mile antique mall. It was the first time I went and totally loved it. It is about 5 minutes from my house and I am suprised I never stopped there.

We spent this weekend at parties and watching the Packers. Well the bad news is the Packers lost. Although we still had a great weekend. We went to Ryan's birthday party at enchanted castle, and then over to Auntie Karen's house. At the birthday party Hans joined right in he loved bowling and riding all of the vehicles. Then his favorite part was going to Auntie Karen's and playing with Kirby the kitten.

Hans was so much fun to be with over break. He always wanted to have fun. Well today I went back to work and started my classes again. It was so hard to have Hans leave us after being with him for three weeks straight. Today, Mark felt the baby kick for the first time. When I was pregnant with Hans, Mark never got to feel him kick . Hans would always stop moving the second Mark touched my stomach. Well tonight the baby was kicking and the minute Mark put his hand on my stomach he got a big kick.

Hans loves taco bell, as you can see it is all over his face. The only thing I want to eat is taco bell. It is my craving for the time being. So Hans has been exposed to fast food!
Hans love all his Christmas toys. The only problem is we are going to run out of room. He has been playing with his toys, but his favorite toy still is his transformer. Thank You Uncle Adam!

Kirsten and I made plans for winter break and one of them was visiting Enchanted Castle. Luke and Levi went on the go cart and bumper cars, while Hans went on all the motorized vehicles. Hans knew exactly where he was going the minute we entered his two favorite games were ski ball and a sponge bob game. Hans ended getting a slinky and the boys got stuffed animals with their tickets.

We took Hans to see his first movie in the theatre Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was so cute he was sitting in his own seat with his bottle in hand. He ended up falling asleep. Mark's friend Steve is the GM at the theatre so we came home with tons of movie posters, and once again Mark and I haven't paid for a movie in 10 years. Thank you Steve!! Hanzie got an Alvin and Chipmunks poster, so we are going to put it up in his playroom. Mark also wants to put up the Simpsons poster, but I am not so sure.

Rockford is our favorite place to go during Christmas break. We go to Stockholm in and get the best Swedish pancakes. Then we go and visit Finnels the Scandinavian shop. This year Auntie Gracie gave the kids gift cards to Toys r us and it was her idea to let them pick out a toy. Hans found a toy immediately and wouldn't let go of it.























The boys love to wrestle Hans get right in the middle of all the action.



















Mark and Hans listened to David Hasselhoffs music on the way to Rockford. Mark is a big fan of the Hoff. For Christmas he got all the Knight Rider shows on DVD. He said he wanted to get a car like the one on the show and restore it. I thought that was pretty funny since he doesn't even know where to put in the windshield washer fluid.