The Hanson Crew

Well, while we have been surviving freezing temperatures all week and staying pretty warm, we have been watching our last snow storm melt away. Today, right when my grass was almost visible, snow began to fall. Not much of course, probably about 1 - 2 inches, and now the ground is covered again! We are excited, sad that church was canceled, but looking forward to a movie rental (The new Ester movie came out on video!) and homemade chicken noodle soup. Hope you enjoy the snow falling on your screen while we watch it fall outside our window. I know you CO folks will have much more than us again...keep me posted on how much.

This is a funny joke that I read today and liked... thought I would share it! My kids love going to the Web, and they keep track of their passwords by writing them on Post-it notes. I noticed their Disney password was "MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto," and asked why it was so long. "Because," my son explained, "they say it has to have at least four characters."

Thought I would share our wedding song in honor of being together for 10 years this Valentine's Day! We even had a cat named Valentine after this song and our first date (Feb 15, 1997). We will be married 9 years in August, but actually started dating 10 years in Feb!

John is already very excited about a new movie that is coming out Feb 23, 2007 to theatres - Amazing Grace. It is the story of John Newton and William Wilberforce during the 18th century when Wilberforce uses his role in Parliament to try to abolish the slave trade in England. It looks very interesting and a great date night! Check out this site to see the trailer and learn more about these men. The site also has the story of the song Amazing Grace and other neat resources about this time in history. http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/index.php

"I got a new spiked haircut and just love it!!!"

Here is a link to a blog that John really enjoys reading. Justin Taylor has posted about our Music Pastor's new CD which sets the poetry of Amy Carmichael to music. It is one of our favorite CD's and we are excited for others around the country to enjoy these songs. Here is the link to the blog post today: http://theologica.blogspot.com/2007/01/his-faithfulness-cd.html

I was tagged by Alicia to come up with 6 weird things about me in my last blog so I thought I would give it a try... 1. I love to re-organize furniture when I get REALLY stressed. John would come home from work some days and the entire living room would be swapped around as well as the bedroom furniture. He knew we were going to be spending most of the night talking about something or other - I should say he was listening. It is also a great workout! 2. I can't eat food that is mixed together much at all, especially different textures or temperatures. I am just starting to eat tacos with lettuce and trying a few different meats with stuff on it. I always order everything "plain" and rotate my plate around eating one item at a time like a child. NOTHING can ever touch anything else or I can't eat it. Casseroles are truly a nightmare for me! 3. I am an obsessive back seat driver. I have to drive anywhere we are going or drive my husband crazy telling him "a car is

A funny lesson to be learned from typing the wrong email address: A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel plans. So, the husband left Minneapolis and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email. Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son

One of our "plans" for a new baby girl was to re-decorate the "girls" room. Ashlyn was so excited to finally get some orange in her room since that has been her favorite color for a long time. When we found out it was a boy, Josh was excited about his new bunk bed purchase and Ashlyn was not so excited about keeping her old pink, purple room. So we agreed to sell a few of her things on craisglist (love that site!) and use that money to redecorate! Here is the work so far. We are going to change out the fabric in the frames to a bright purple or orange this week and start stenciling along the purple/orange line. I am thinking we will alternate, bright purple, bright orange flowers along the entire line. That is a project in itself, so I am taking a little break. Here is what we got done while we were snowed in.....thanks for the inspiration Anna. Ashlyn's name by her top bunk Her baby bed and canopy Window and play area Dresser/Hamster area (newly painted shelf

I know this doesn't compare to you Colorado folks, but we are excited!

So, I guess I have to throw away my girl name list now, which is really hard to do since I finally found the name I love! Because no one will ever get to see it on a birth announcement, I thought I should share it before I reveal our top few boy names. If it was a girl, I was going to try for Kaylen, which is kinda close to Ashlyn and means "loved" in Hebrew. But, since that isn't going to be the name, we have to choose yet another boy name. Here is our list so far, we are both trying for one of the top two: Jonathan means "God gives" in Hebrew Karsten means "follower of Christ" in German Blake Drew John loves Jonathan of course (form of his name!) and I love Karsten. I keep trying to tell him Karsten John Hanson would be great, but he is really hoping for Jonathan I think. We both wouldn't want him to be called John only Jonathan. Let me know what you think.

The suspense just kills ya!

Well, I just love browsing craigslist now everyday...we are hoping to get a cheap queen mattress set for our "new" guestroom by May. I found this great looking bassinet for $20 and a new hamster cage for $10 today. I drove through ice and snow, and got them both! I was so excited. The cage for the gerbil's will be really nice because the little hay stuff can't fall on the floor (we have a metal bar cage now) anymore and it will not take up as much space on Ashlyn's dresser. John used to have his gerbil's in one like this and the kids thought it was neat to have one like dads when he was little. I wasn't going to buy anything for this new baby since we kept all the needed baby stuff from Caleb, but our cradle broke and I didn't want to use the crib right away. So here are our deals today... Clue and Mystery enjoying their new wheel, hut, and cage The baby's (no name yet??) first bed next to mine!

Q: Should I have a baby after 35? A: No, 35 children is enough. Q: I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move? A: With any luck, right after he finishes college. Q: What is the most reliable method to determine a baby's sex? A: Childbirth. Q: My wife is five months pregnant and so moody that sometimes she's borderline irrational. A: So what's your question? Q: My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labor, but pressure. Is she right? A: Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current. Q: When is the best time to get an epidural? A: Right after you find out you're pregnant. Q: Is there any reason I have to be in the delivery room while my wife is in labor? A: Not unless the word "alimony" means anything to you. Q: Is there anything I should avoid while recovering from childbirth? A: Yes, pregnancy. Q: Do I have to have a baby shower? A: Not if you change the baby's diaper very quickly. Q: Our baby

Caleb has been a little obsessed with his favorite toy puppy for quite awhile now. We are sure one day he will lose it and have a nervous breakdown. We tried finding a duplicate and did not succeed - we found one that looks close for Christmas and he rejected it. When we went on our last vacation to NE, he lost it in a pit of balls, but thankfully found it the next morning. When we gave it to him the next day - he grabbed it, smiled, put it where it always goes (hangs from his mouth), and fell fast asleep. I mean within minutes. It was crazy! Here is a picture of that day.

okay, so we go for our 20 week sonogram in only a few days and the pressure is on. I am still not sure 100% if we are going to find out the sex or not. I thought it might be fun to hear what you all think before I go. Here are the symptoms I have noticed with this pregnancy that stand out a little: I am carrying in front, but also gaining weight in my upper thighs and bottom I have gained 12 pounds so far (average is 10-14 - not too bad!) Heartbeat has stayed very fast - it is around 160 now I was very sick with this one and stopped throwing up completely around 18 weeks I have started feeling some contractions already (happened with both boys...) More emotional this pregnancy (cry all the time!) I sleep on both sides, and have a hard time even rolling on my belly or back Haven't noticed one boob being bigger than the other - BUT they are BOTH bigger this time!!! Never happened with the others until nursing. This baby moves all the time and hates elastic waistbands Guess away and l