The Hanson Crew

6:30 - Woke up to make Ashlyn's lunch, do her hair and say bye for school 7:00 - Took shower and got ready for the day 7:30 - Woke all the boys up and did breakfast, got them dressed 8:10 - Left for Speech Therapy which starts at 8:30 9:05 - Left Speech for a dentist appointment for Josh and Caleb (each one has a cavity :( so we will go back in a week and see how that goes - horrible grooves in back teeth like Ashlyn) 10:00 - Got a voicemail on my cell from my mom that she is wondering why I am not home yet to babysit the boys (she arrived at 9:00, was supposed to come at 11:00) 11:00 - Got home to explain to the boys grandma was no longer coming over today (miscommunication problem and no way to get a hold of eachother), cheered them up with McDs and headed to a web site photography appt at noon (the one I needed a babysitter for) 12:00 - Took pictures for a friends website while the boys hung out with a waiting room TV and some dental hygienists 12:40 - Drove back home for some p

In case you had not heard yet, Wed (tomorrow night) is a great day at Baskin -Robbins! Here is their special: Join us for 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin -Robbins®and help us honor America’s firefighters. Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream scoops to 31 cents.* At some locations, you may also have an opportunity to make a donation to your local fire charities. Our crew will be there after church :)

Today we went on a field trip for Ashlyn's school I took all 4 kids to this one and we had a blast There were pretty neat stations for all ages Favorites were the store, hospital, construction zone & fire truck We did some face painting and a lot of playing before lunch! Caleb built a giant tower w/ Jonathan during the safety talk

So our horse picture we showed you a few days ago, won the photo contest for "Most Creative Photo" at the Hallmark in Kearney. There were two other winners, one for "Most Webkinz in Photo" and "Closely Dressed like your Webkinz ". We were pretty excited considering there were about 60-70 entries. He got this certificate that gave him a free Webkinz . He picked the duck above and named him " Koolaid ." Caleb's frog picture didn't win because he was in the same category Josh won. We officially have 4 pets now (one for each child), Ashlyn got a new one at the big sale on Saturday for free when I bought some Yankee Candle air freshener refills . We were very excited and think we will frame the photo in their new room for awhile :)

Getting ready to "scoot" around on his bum (yes, its time for that 2nd haircut already!)

Our Hallmark store close by is having a big WebKinz Weekend celebration for kids. They will get a free Webkinz with any $10 purchase and have games and balloons throughout the entire weekend. One of the scheduled events for the fun is a photo contest. The kids and I went out today with our 2 Webkinz and took a few pictures to enter the contest on Saturday (we even tried to find some spots relevant to the pet!) Here are the entries...which one would you vote for if you were Hallmark?

So in preparation for our garage sale next week, we are slowly sorting through stuff in the garage...mainly re-arranging junk. The good news about our garage changes today, we sold my minivan! I couldn't believe how many calls we got the hour we listed it on Craigslist. We were pretty happy to get $1500 for it since it had so many miles and was almost 10 years old (and the buyer had a neat story and was pretty excited about it). John is happy to have his van back so he can listen to his Ipod again (my cigarette lighter was broken in my van so he couldn't plug it into the car). We are glad to have the Durango back from the shop and all ready for winter and summer. Once we finish up the garage sale, the boys will be ready to be moved downstairs...oh and I need to get going on that closet in the laundry room. Pics coming soon....

So we received our two $40 off coupon cards today to be used on a TV converter box like the one above. I am so excited to have these so that each box will only cost us $10 (we have a smaller TV downstairs for those tornado days when we are watching the news in our basement!) Now we can continue to watch our cheap TVs we own next year when all that regualtion is placed on TVs. If you also need to get this fancy little box, check out www.DTV2009.gov to apply for this coupon...what a deal and it didn't take much at all to get! Thanks Department of Commerce!

So the kids have decided when ever they see an open window to start singing this song (mainly in my car and living room)...we have been singing it alot lately. I'm hoping to get this movie for my birthday in May so we can watch it again!

Monday morning bible study ended for summer break (we did two Beth Moore studies and I really enjoyed both of them with my mother-in-law) The new Durango didn't pass our MO safety inspection and will be ready tomorrow for pick up and licensing (needed spark plugs, rotor, and brake stuff - it was still a great deal I think even after the repairs and I can't wait to get it back) We enrolled Joshua into a preschool close to our house - Northern Hills Christian Academy (he'll go Mon, Wed, and Friday for 3 hours a day starting in August) Jonathan learned to sit up from a laying down position (this child is lazy - he was still crying on his back in his crib in the morning, he can finally sit up and play awhile! He even will go from laying down, to sitting to standing now in like 5 seconds) The Maids didn't come today :( like they normally do on Mondays, but they will come on Wed instead I got babysitting planned for most of tomorrow for me to go get my hair permed and hang

After living in Colorado for 21 years, I finally own an SUV (too bad there are no mountains in MO to go four wheeling!) We are excited to be going from a mini-van to what feels like a little bigger car inside (seats 8 instead of 7). Although the gas mileage will be an adjustment, I am really excited to have something "new" and something I had been wanting since before Jonathan came. We plan to still use John's work min-van for our weekend driving to save a little money. We hope to sell my mini-van next, and yes, on the same place we found this one - Craigslist! Introducing our new 2000 Dodge Durango...

A baby bunny was hiding in our bush yesterday when we were enjoying the beautiful weather. That is so much nicer than the snakes, mole, and frogs we saw last year! Hopefully, our visitors will continue to stay cute this Spring/summer. We'll keep you posted...

So I am a huge fan of computers and the internet , enough that I got a computer science degree in it, and love to learn new things technology offer. I was doing a website long before blogs became real popular for our family. I would type little paragraphs about what our family was doing that week in html and update the site weekly. When my friend Anna told me about blogging, I was so glad to do that same stuff in about 5 minutes...and then this blog became a reality. So since then, I have learned about so many of my friends' blogs. It is just about the only non-child hobby I have. I have routinely began checking them as they are updated. I really enjoy them so I had listed them on my blog for others to check out. Well, to my amazement, many of my friends (4 already!) have had to delete their blogs or make them private because of some crazy comments/visitors, etc. I don't feel I am ready to make ours private quite yet because we have so many family and friends checking it in 5 o

So with about 4 weeks left of school, I finally decided to get a little more organized and make the office into a school room too (this adding a 4 th bedroom has been the best thing for me during Spring Cleaning time!) I had to move a dresser/closet thing that the kids all had in their nursery's out of that room and decided to make it a great school closet. I sold a recliner chair from the office that took up some space before and had to rearrange the furniture a little. I got to give each child their own shelf with the stuff they each work on as well as drawers for coloring stuff, play dough, and misc items like a whiteboard and flash cards, etc. It was awesome doing school time yesterday. I also added a couple more chairs around out school table (the first picture) and pulled it away from the wall where it was before so I can have everyone sit down at the same time. When it was up against the wall it was totally a "hot spot" or a place where everything just got piled

Yes, Joshua found this fun little dress up costume today at Sears clearanced for $4.00 and the big button on the vest actually plays Lazytown music! That show drives John and I crazy, but it is on 2 Nick Jr movies we own and he just loves bouncing off the walls saving the day! I always think it is so cute when he call Jonathan little Ziggy. We hadn't seen anything Lazytown before today in the toy dept so we were a little excited to get it - who ever knew that Sears has great sale stuff? We might start shopping those clearance racks more often!

So I have to share a very neat story that happened today that was totally all God. Caleb got $20 in a birthday card a couple weeks ago from his Great-grandparents in AZ and we went shopping last week. We went up and down the toy isles, mainly running, pointing to some great things to buy with the money. Caleb is pretty entertaining normally, but you give him a little thing like money to get excited about and it is very entertaining! So after a few "Oh, that one costs a little more than you have" disappointments from mom, he found a few great items under the $20 he really liked. One of those items was the Little People fire truck you see above. It was $15 and made a really cool siren sound, one of Caleb's favorite things to listen for right now. I told him that if he bought the truck that he couldn't get the 4 or 5 smaller things he also wanted because it would take all of his money. He was a little sad, but not much when he realized he could get 4 other things

During cold season (when will it end?) ...we went with the Wal-mart brand and poor Joshua's face is completely raw! Next time we will pay the extra .40 and go with the Kleenex brand like we normally do. Poor Josh!

So yesterday was a great day to get a bunch of projects going. We found this awesome wardrobe at my new Kearney thrift store for the boys room for $75. Now we will not have to build a closet for their new room. This became a project because it was too big to fit into the hall to their room. So we had to take the whole thing apart, move the pieces into their room and put it back together. We are going to mount it to the wall and leave it there when we move someday I think (hopefully that will count as a closet so this room can be counted as a 4 th bedroom, who knows). It has 4 huge shelves, drawers, and a big hanging rack part with extra storage. With the two pull out Rubbermaid containers we have under their beds, they should be all set. I am so excited to not need a dresser in there now! We also finished painting the stairwell and downstairs hall with the new paint. It turned out great and fresh! We finished the entry way too, using a huge ladder. I added a mirror and a wreath be

So the kids watched this one today while John and I painted the entry way. We had a pretty productive day and got a lot done (more coming soon about that)...good news - we found the Nick Jr DVD and the car key today :)

The new paint on the wall...I loved the color Not a good match next to the existing wall color... The solution: not only an accent wall in the entry way, but a new living room, hall, and entry way. We start soon!

So I organized my envelope system a little before our trip to Colorado and thought I would share (in case there are any other Dave Ramsey fans out there would would like to give this one a try). We had started using envelopes and cash awhile back for 5 of our budget categories and I was having a hard time at the check out. Imagine separating out gifts, clothes, diapers, food, and toiletries at the Walmart checkout with four busy children asking for gum over and over, then dipping into 5 different envelopes to pay for it all! I had tried paying separately for awhile and watching the person behind me roll her eyes when I say, I have 4 or 5 separate transactions. I also tried shuffling money from one envelope to the other trying to pay for it all at one time and still manage to get the correct change in each envelope - didn't work so well either. So here is the solution (and great chew toy for Jonathan while I am checking out!) A file folder thing from Walmart with the 5 categories l

Isn't it funny how things get lost around your house and the list of missing items just continues to grow, until one day all of a sudden most of the turn up at the same time? We are in one of those moments where the list continues to grow! I just about had a nervous breakdown yesterday when my car key was added to that list. It is actually a Maids key (single key not on a key ring) that goes to John's work van I am driving. The last time I remember seeing it was in the microwave on the phone with Allison yesterday (Yes, I know the microwave is not a safe place for a key...this is how Caleb tried to get my attention when I was on the phone I think - he never pushed any buttons!) He put it back on the island where it was supposed to stay until we had to leave for a 5:00 appointment...it was missing when we went to leave of course and it is the only copy we had here. So I have the World's Greatest mother-in-law who was willing to come up here and help move all the carseats int

A local college team here in the KC area won the 2008 NCAA Basketball championship last night. It was a pretty close game all night and it is neat to hear they won. We aren't huge sports fans, but we did watch a little of this game...great job Jayhawks!

So there is a new thrift store in Kearney about 1 block from me that I just love. It is really like a big garage sale that gets new things daily to sort through. The kids and I have already become regulars and are friends with the owner. We are also excited to donate our stuff there that doesn't sell on Craigslist. If anyone around KC is looking for a deal, check out Just a Second next to the Kearney Dollar General. If you're not around here, we'll have to check it out next time you come to visit!

...life as a family of 5 for 5 days. And it wasn't all that bad - thanks to the Redbox and great weather. I must say those few melt downs everyone had did make the time seem to go by a little slower, but all in all I can happily say we made it through it all with no huge problems (oh, we did have to go to the overflow room at church because no one could sit still and I didn't get any painting done, but that's about it). We did rent Alvin and the Chipmunks and that was pretty good. We enjoyed an evening with Aunt Carol and Rylee and got to hang out with some friends from church we hadn't seen in a while. Oh, and we made homemade choc chip cookies (since John usually eats most of our dough when we try to make them when he is home), which of course was good eats! We also went garage sale shopping on Sat and played outside most of Sat (can you believe everyone was cutting their grass already? - I guess I am already garage sale hunting!) I think next year I will try a little

3 weeks early, 3 years ago today Happy Birthday Caleb!

So after about a month of car searching, we have decided to buy either a Dodge Durango or Dodge Grand Caravan. My preference is the Dodge Durango if we can find one in our price range without too many miles. I search Craigslist about 3 times a day in hopes to find that perfect deal...I have had a little luck, but they have sold very quickly. As you can see, this tax refund is burning a hole in my pocket...and John really wants his 2007 mini-van back (we switched cars when mine started acting up, which is a 1999 and what a difference those 8 years make!) We'll keep you posted on the search and hopefully show you a picture of our "new" car soon!

I am not sure if it is Spring in the air or two close friends preparing to freshly decorate their "new" houses later this month that have me wanting to makeover a few rooms myself. I am excited to share with you what my plans are for April and May. First, fix all those little dents/holes made throughout my entry way and down my stairs (no one is claiming to have made most of these today!) Then a fresh coat of paint - an earth tone brown that I already bought this week. This color will be in my entry way and down stair hall and will double as an accent wall in my living room. Secondly, we are going to add a closet around our furnace and water heater in our laundry room. This has been on my to do list for a long time. I can't wait to cover all that up and make my laundry room officially "finished". Thanks to the awesome ceiling my dad and stepmom put in when they came to visit last year! I will finish that room up with some drywall taping and fresh coat of paint

Just like his mother, sucking on his lip to sleep!