The Hanson Crew

While we were driving to MN for 6 hours, a couple friends and I were able to talk about everyday routines, activities, ideas, etc we all do with our children each day...I think these conversations were just as helpful as the conference ones! One friend who has older children and just seems to have it a little more together than me shared how effective a schedule was for her family and in what ways. I have been told by about 20 people/books that a schedule in your everyday life as a homemaker is effective, but I have yet to really stick to one I liked. We have a lot of appointments like school drop-off, pick-up, speech, and misc appts that we have a few times a week so I always think it would be hard to keep the same one each day. So I shared with them an idea I have been wanting to try for while, which is what I am sharing with you all... I read somewhere (maybe Family Fun) about putting a schedule on the fridge instead of a printed schedule or a dry erase board. Their idea was to make

I do not usually talk about religion or politics on this blog, primarily because the purpose of this blog is to share pictures and stories about our family with our friends and family who are not close by us, and because we all share so many different opinions about both. Well, it seems a growing audience of this blog goes to my church now or are friends who live in the KC area, which by the way is so exciting and fun because you all get to see the sillier side to our family now. Since I added our McCain/ Palin support sign on our blog a while back I thought I would go crazy and write one post on religion... I just got home from the 2008 National Desiring God conference titled "The Wisdom of Words and the Wonder of God" in Minneapolis and have to share a few of the things I learned there about my tongue and the use of words in everyday life. They have already put each conference speaker at the event online so if you get an hour break or so this evening, you should check o

When I used to work as a web programmer, I would sit in my cubicle and usually listen to K-LOVE radio online. I don't usually have the opportunity to listen to the radio or Itunes to often on my computer because I am on it for such a short time (usually blogging and e-mail). Our office is downstairs so I am unable to do what my in-laws do - they play their computer music all day for their music - we use a CD player in our living room. Well now John has really become the one in our family who enjoys listening to music all day at the computer. His teacher friends clued him in on a couple neat new online radio options. This one allows you to select a musician or group you like and then it will find other artists similar to that one for you and create a play list of songs for you. If there is a song/group you don't like, you can delete it from the library and keep the others going. It's amazing what great songs it picks for you based on your original artist...I got the c

So to help 24 Fans get ready for Season 7 in January and to help us all adjust from no new episodes of 24 for a year, Fox has filmed a 2 hour prequel movie called "24 Redemption" It will air on Sunday, November 23rd and looks pretty good. Apparently Jack Bauer is working as a missionary in Africa and he is helping children from being drafted into a militia. Bauer must confront his own torturous past and face an impossible decision that will change his life forever. A decision that will set the stage and raise the stakes for Season Seven, which debuts in January 2009. Yeah! Oh, click on the image above to view the trailer (for those two 24 Fans who read this blog!) or check out the site to understand why YOU should be watching this real-time tv show (each season is 24 hours long - 1 day and each episode is actually 1 hour of that day). You'll LOVE it! Lisa, I think we should make it a 24 night at my house - invite your whole family who got hooked :)

Jonathan has discovered our kitchen trash lately and has created some pretty interesting treasure hunts for the rest of us! I remember two of the other children playing this game too, but he is sure really into it right now. We have a small table and chairs in the kitchen and the boys usually sit there for lunch. Today I made him a hot dog and he didn't want it (he usually enjoys them). He pushed his plate away and I put it back in front of him, told him he had to eat it and walked away. When I turned back, he was dumping it into the trash - bowl and all! I couldn't believe it. Here is a small list of some of the other interesting things we have discovered in our trash can lately: craft scissors a remote control to the DVD player Ashlyn's headband for school magnets from the fridge kitchen utensils misc toys like cars and trains a book from John's bookshelf Not sure what others things have got passed us that will be "missing" soon. We'll keep you posted o

and it is officially, fall today!

We live in a rural town about 30 minutes from downtown KC and our population here is about 8,000 people. So when there is a carnival, festival, or parade here the town shuts down! It is pretty funny, but also really neat to be involved here. This weekend is the second week of the Jesse James Festival here in Kearney and today was the parade. While I was at bible study, John managed to get the kids ready and off to see the fun. When I returned, they were all covered in political stickers and with tons of candy! That is the best part about small town parades - everyone throws candy out to the crowds...and if the kids are small and cute, they throw more candy your way. So Caleb and Jonathan did really good as usual with their cheesy smiles and huge royalty waves. So the kids really have fun grabbing all the candy at the parade, eating it at the parade (a huge treat for our household who don't normally get candy), and then sorting it all at home. We had three big bowls this year...an

I'm thinking these may very well be the best tortilla chips ever made! Adrienne I was telling you about these last week - find a store in Colorado that has some and give them a shot! All those KC readers out there, go to Hy-Vee TODAY!!! They satisfy any snack craving you have and I highly recommend them!

Our family has always said that each child can be involved in one activity at a time. We decided this so our kids wouldn't get overwhelmed with too many things at once and so our lives wouldn't be filled with driving from one thing to another all the time. So Ashlyn has chosen to be in a bible memorization club called Awana the past 4 years (the boys haven't started an activity yet). During the summer when that activity was not meeting, she has tried swimming one year and tee ball one year. It has been great so far and she is enjoying to try different things. When Awana changed the meeting time this year and we were unable to continue, we started talking about other options. She was pretty interested in trying Soccer, but we missed the sign up date. Then I started thinking about something she could do with crafts and I thought of 4H. We went to the information meeting last night (and even though that was really difficult with all four kids while John worked late), I think s

"Recalculating, recalculating, recalculating!"

From cool shades and big bows... To glamour poses and curly hair dos... To loving flowers... To our latest, using a sleep mask!

sunset dinner cruise a great view each night sailing on the Gulf some friendly visitors our hotel view free souvenirs for the kids everywhere (thanks to Ike) Our awesome resort The Naples Pier (followed by an outlet mall)

So on Monday when I picked up Ashlyn from school the office secretary told me that Ashlyn sat on a piece of gum when she got there. They were able to scrape it all off and continue throughout the day since it came off. Usually, they would have called to bring some new clothes if it didn't come off. When I asked Ashlyn about it, she said that there was gum on the chair at her desk when she first got there apparently and she thought it must have been put there during Sunday school at church. Her classroom is the 3 and 4 year old Sunday school classroom at our church on the weekend. She gave Caleb a hard time about kids his age not throwing their gum away when they are done. I was just glad she didn't get embarrassed or upset since it was 8:00 in the morning and the start of a Monday morning at that. So today, she came home and said, "Guess what mom, I sat in gum again!" I couldn't believe it. There had not been Sunday school since Monday. "Yep, someone put chew

So we officially have a closet now in our laundry room to hide our furnace, water heater, and the rest of the unfinished part of our downstairs! I have to joint compound, prime, and paint the room and I will be done :) I am proud to say I did the majority of this project, but John helped some (thanks to HGTV and Extreme Home Makeover I think). The camera lens is to close to get the whole closet at once, so here are parts of it...keep in mind again, that I just finished hanging drywall so it is not finished yet... The ugly furnace pipe I had to hide going into the garage The way I hid it next to my new wall An outside corner on my new wall (the 1st one I have ever built) The 2 bi-fold doors stretch 72" across the front The washer & dryer are now "around" the corner of the new closet (so no one can see my clean clothes hanging around!) Trim I made for the new wall (trim will be painted white with a light beige color for the walls) The hardest part was lining up the

While doing my bible study this week, A Woman's After God's Own Heart , I was reminded of something John Wesley once said about serving others: "Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, At all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can." -John Wesley My fall bible study begins next week: When Godly People Do Ungodly Things by Beth Moore...I'm really looking forward to that!

So the week I got my wisdom teeth out (August 5th I think), Ashlyn got a virus of some kind. She was on the couch for a couple days with a low grade fever and cough. It continued for about a week and ended with a bad cough. Because school was starting we asked for the antibiotic and was told she had a sinus infection. Then I got it - no fever, but horrible chills, really sore throat, and head pressure. Then the bad cough. About a week later, John joined me. And then about a week ago, all 3 boys (plus a bad running nose). We sound like a hacking choir when we are all together and can't seem to shake this horrible cough. Now John and I feel like we might be getting it again all over again (even though we never did ever finish our cough). Not sure we want to go to the dr. and get the antibiotic (spending $60 for the visit and meds), since Ashlyn still has the cough after her 10 day dose... So, 2 bottles of NyQuil, 2 bottles of Robitussin, 2 bottles of Deslym cough syrup, 1

Each child made their own brownie and Jonathan helped me clean up the dishes and spoons! It was a fun and relaxing afternoon...

This is a really neat Christian group for kids...some friends recommended them to us, so I thought I would share. Most of their songs are about Christ and not Moms, but I thought this one was cute (for all those other moms out there!)

So I can't believe today is our first glance at Fall weather in Missouri :) Although, the rest of the week will get back up to the 70s, it sure is nice to have a cooler day. My sister had a tornado touch down across from her house last week in Colorado - which is unheard of for that area! The weather is getting a little uncertain these days - so please pray as we start to prepare for our weekend getaway to Marco Island, FL next weekend in the middle of hurricane season. They have said this season has started off a lot harder than normal and they are expecting a couple this weekend again...a hurricane would make our honeymoon retreat a little different than we are hoping, but interesting and memorable none the less...how is the weather where you are this week?

Homemade coffee cake (but with oj instead of coffee)

Joshua, Ashlyn and I went to see Kung Fu Panda at the dollar theatre We painted a wall in Jonathan's room Denim Blue (to match the accent wall on the opposite side of the room - I loved this color too much to have it only on one wall I guess) We re-arranged Jonathan's furniture to move in his play house from outside he loves so much and tried to be proactive for colder weather approaching soon After a day, we moved the house back outside because it took up too much room :( and moved it all again (different from the other 2 ways and added his Cars bedding he has had since Christmas - he is now using a pillow and sheet!) Re-arranged the boys furniture in their car room again and added an old Cd player for dancing time Hung new vertical blinds in the kitchen and horizontal blinds in the Car room Organized under both bathroom sinks and got rid of a trash bag of stuff we never used Fixed a broken handle on the Car room wardrobe (wanted to do this forever and always forgot) Hung lat