The Hanson Crew

John and I got the night alone for his birthday and we rented Eagle Eye...it was a really good movie (and only $1). We highly recommend this one and better with a stuffed crust pizza too!

Here are 31 things I love about you... 1. It's amazing that you can actually read a 300 page book in a weekend! 2. You are an amazing cook 3. I love it when the kids wrestle with you even though I look terrified 4. You are a great compromiser (unlike me) 5. I love that you never hold grudges 6. You are an excellent father and husband 7. You are such a wiz at the computer, especially googling the answer to anything (and it's actually right most of the time) 8. You are an excellent leader of our house and family 9. You are very ambitious and I am proud of the business you grew from nothing 10. I love how proud you are about staying home for 2 years with Ashlyn 11. You are a great singer (even though we all give you a hard time) 12. I love that you remember everything you read and learn (unlike me) 13. I love it when you explain things to me in simple words (especially from the bible) 14. I love how when you play Nintendo 64 and your computer games you always find/use a cheat code

We have been turning this song up alot lately in the car...it is called "While You Were Sleeping" and has a great message. It has become one of our favorite Christmas songs in the Hanson house.

1. Fresh Tree/Fake Tree? Ashlyn - Fake Joshua - Fake Caleb - Fake (they all must have noticed the tree died this year!) 2. Favorite Ornament Ashlyn - Ashlyn's baby pic ornament Joshua - Joshua's baby pic ornament Caleb - Clifford ornament 3. Favorite Christmas Song Ashlyn - Away in a Manger Joshua - Little Drummer Boy Caleb - Jingle Bells 4. Favorite Tradition Ashlyn - Looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve Joshua - Advent Christmas Candy Calendar we do each year Caleb - Baking together the week before 5. Favorite Gift Received Ashlyn - American Girl Doll [Ruthie] Joshua - Spider man Scooter Caleb - Huge Firetruck 6. Favorite Christmas Meal Ashlyn - Big Christmas morning breakfast Joshua - Egg Nog Caleb - Chicken and Dumplings on Christmas Eve 7. Favorite Christmas Cookie Ashlyn - Gingerbread Joshua - Chocolate Chip Carmel cookies Caleb - Sprinkle Sugar cookies 8. Favorite Place to be Ashlyn - Home with our family Joshua - Grandma Sue's Caleb - Grandma Sue's 9. Fa

So I have heard many of you are also experiencing some crazy weather where you are...especially those folks in the Northwest getting 12 1/2 feet of snow in a day! Here is a summary of our wacky weather this week in Missouri... Monday - negative 15 wind chill Tues - negative 20 wind chill (so cold it takes your breathe away) Wed - 2 inches of snow just in time for a white Christmas Thurs - a mild day, not too cold, but not warm either Friday - Strangely very warm - all the snow melts in a couple hours and it feels like 50 Friday night/Sat morning - Tornado watch, hail, and really bad winds Sat forecast - freezing rain and sleet until late afternoon I am sure loving that weather radio we won this past summer!

So our real Christmas tree is dying a slow, and depressing death. The entire bottom half of the tree is dead and it is rapidly moving it's death upward. The garland, lights and ornaments are sagging to the ground and I cannot keep up the the needles landing in gift bags and on little busy socks. I have checked the water level each day, and it continues to stay pretty full. I am hoping that Christmas morning the kids don't come out of their beds to a pretty sad look display of decorated dead pine needles....I'll keep ya posted! The picture is a little deceiving - the upper portion of the tree is still has shape and its branches go outward. The bottom half is flat and very poky! Oh, and I'm wondering if this is the year we run out during the after Christmas sales for that great deal on an artificial tree for next year...

So yesterday, we took my little sister and her family to a couple famous places in Kansas City we had never been...and it was a lot of fun. First we went to Arthur Bryants BBQ which was actually REALLY good! Then we wondered over to Cabela's , which was also very neat. The kids enjoyed looking at all the neat animal displays, especially the aquarium. I forgot my camera, but we hope to go back again someday. We have been busy hanging out with family who are visiting and today plan on baking. In case it continues to stay busy here and I don't get to blog some more - We hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Clearly our favorite President...on the eve weeks of another new president, here is one with a great message about Christmas.

Translation: Some history words and the creators name...time to go to the car wash I think!

It's fun to look back and see how the kids have grown (here they are 1 year ago near Christmas)

So since John had a pretty lousy week last week, it had to be my turn this week. I went to a dermatologist on Monday moring for a consultation to look at a small cyst on my eye lid. He was pretty concerned about how quickly it grew and disappeared so he wanted to "freeze" it. That really means to spray some extremely cold stuff on it, which really feels like it is burning your skin away (I don't recommend this to anyone!) So about 10 minutes later I left with a pretty swollen eye, a migraine headache and a little assurance that this should resolve the problem and eliminate the cyst that might later need to be tested for cancer if it returns. Well the swelling continued to grow throughout the day and that night my entire eye lid was so swollen it hung down into my actual eye (it is true that your eye lid is a very sensitive area!). The migraine caused me to be sick all night so I got little sleep on top of the pain of the eye and my head. Well as I found out from the nurse

Relax and enjoy a free Redbox movie today w/ a warm cup of hot cocoa...the promo code for a free movie (only good today until Midnight) is 47J2L8. Our crew recommends Prince Caspian if you haven't already seen it. Enjoy!

This weekend was John's sister graduation party (she graduated with a Masters in Math) and we had family come in from out of town. Since John's great-grandma came from Omaha, we are skipping our traditional Christmas trip to the Omaha cabin we usually do this week each year. She bought the kids the coolest Christmas gift this year and I had to share it. For any book lovers out there with kids or relatives who love to read. She ordered each child an adventure book from Identity Direct . They personalize these kids book with your child's info like their address, birthday, friends/relatives names, etc and then print the book with that info included in the actual story. So Joshua's book was the Cars book and it reads that Joshua is hanging out with Lightening McQueen on his birthday while Jonathan and Caleb are watching the big race. Ashlyn was sitting with Cinderella as she got ready for the ball which she has read over and over! It is the neatest thing and the kids LOVE

40 female employees + 5 male employees = a funny gift exchange (here is John's Christmas gift from work)

So Monday night while I was at my Ladies Bible study Christmas party, I got an interesting phone call from John. "Hun, I almost burned down the house!" Of course I asked how and if he was serious. He was. Apparently he noticed one of his favorite pans had some icky stuff on the bottom and he decided to boil some water in it to get it super clean. Well, I should say he started to boil the water and then went downstairs with the kids to play N64. Caleb came down after a while and said the water was boiling. He just said, "yes, hunny I know. We are cleaning the pan." A while longer, Caleb said, "now the water is smoking bad!" By the time John got upstairs, the house was full of smoke and the pan was black. He mistakenly, put the hot pan under some cold water in the sink and more black smoke filled the air fast. He opened every window in the house, including the garage door and had all the kids go into our room with him for the rest of the night. When I got ho

A good friend of ours gave us some puppy chow the other night and it was a huge hit with all the kids...we really need to make some of our own soon. Anyway, Caleb ran down stairs with a big handful and asked me a silly question. "Mom, do you want some dog poop?" Somewhere in the language and conversation, he heard something about a dog or puppy!

Once upon a time there was a peaceful Gingerbread village that stood in a small town in the Midwest. There was a house, church, school and a library. Everyone who lived in the village loved to learn, read, study, and sleep. The smell from the village was sweet and calm and visitors who came by in November and December would comment how wonderful the village was built and how the 4 little construction workers did so well. Once cold and windy day, a vicious tornado came through the village and 3 of the buildings were torn apart. The books were lost and the roof became snacks for the big tornado. Some of the buildings were no longer hooked to its foundation and pieces were spread among the town. The children who lived there would have to find a new home so the demolition of the village could begin. Reconstruction to begin Nov 2009!

Ashlyn at top right for FCA's performance Ashlyn (top left), Joshua in front of her & Caleb (bottom right) Ashlyn (top middle), Joshua (right), Caleb (bottom left)

After some raking yesterday... The boys enjoyed jumping off the stacked chairs into the pile! Still more leaves around, but the bulk of it is done! (and right before we got some snow - Yeah!)

Printed my Christmas postcards and got them addressed Wrapped the rest of the presents I needed to wrap Tried to buy one of the last 2 gifts I have left, but my coupon doesn't work until Monday Took Joshua to a friend's b-day party at the new Chuck E Cheese (he loved it of course) Took some Christmas tree branches we had to trim off the tree in order to fit it into our house to the free brush place Attended Ashlyn school Christmas pageant where she sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain" with her class - and she actually sang loud enough for me to hear her! Bought a used Super Nintendo 64 with some Craigslist money we had left over from some sales and played Diddy Kong Racing with the kids Made the boys bed back into bunk beds downstairs so we had a big space for the tv and new entertainment Work on my last week of bible study before tonight's big Christmas party finale (pics to come soon- we are doing the ugliest Christmas sweater contest!!) Went to church and went to

Jonathan has recently learned how to give better kisses and it is so cute. When I tuck the kids in the bed he likes to come too (not sure why he isn't going to bed earlier than everyone else anymore) and says goodnight. He makes the smacking noise with his lips now and waves really big saying "nigh nigh" over and over. It is precious. And this past week I noticed when he throws something at someone (yes, it has started happening) and I say "no" Jonathan sternly. He runs over and kisses them and mumbles something. Cute, but won't be lasting too much longer! Caleb has really become more affectionate lately too. He loves to just randomly say "I love you mommy", which was not very routine before. And he is really into snuggling more all of a sudden. Jonathan and Caleb regularly fight over my lap or my my arms. What a fun battle to have - I just love it!

So it looks like Jonathan might be going into a bigger bed at the first of the year and we are trying to decide what bed he should go into. We have Caleb's old toddler bed that he could go into without any extra cost, but it's kinda ugly (the 1st option.) We also have a twin bed frame and headboard that matches his dresser and changing table we could use and purchase a new mattress set. We could upgrade his bed to a twin size and keep him in his room alone for a little while longer as the 2 nd option. I have been researching trundle beds and have thought about doing that instead of the current twin bed frame I have, but I am not sure. When he goes into a twin bed, we have thought about putting the older boys bunk bed back together for Caleb and Jonathan and then giving Joshua the single twin bed in one room together. I am wondering if the new single twin bed was a trundle bed, Jonathan could continue to have his own room for awhile with the option that the other 2 boys cou

We were one of the last couples in our circle of friends to see the movie "Fireproof" this weekend, but man we are both glad we went before it left the theatres. Just like "Facing the Giants", we loved the movie and especially the message! Bring a box of tissue if you go (a big box too!)and plan to feel convicted.

My best friend Lisa took some pictures of our crew with John's parents, sister and niece a while back that I thought I would share. She took way too many to share them all, but these were some my favorites. She does an awesome job with them and I love her so much. I am able to use alot of these for more extended family for Christmas gifts and it is wonderful. Enjoy!