The Hanson Crew

Last week before we got colder weather, we were able to host a play day at our house. It was a lot of fun and all the kids got along so well (the mommies all got to sit around and actually talk most of the time). Here are a few shots of the kids playing so well together...

My dad lives in Seattle and recently got us a web cam so we could keep in touch a little better "live". We were so excited and came up with a script for the first message. It was supposed to go something like "Thanks for the camera grandpa. We love it. And we love you and miss you so much. We can't wait to see you sometime again soon. Caleb's birthday party is tomorrow. Wish you could be there." Instead Ashlyn and John walked in from school during the record and Caleb got a little camera shy. Here is the result....

So we can't move until we sell our house and we can't sell our house until we put it on the market and we can't put it on the market until we paint the outside of the house and we can't paint the outside of the house until it is nice outside.....so, our painting weekend has been moved to next weekend pending a small rain/snow storm this weekend. Caleb's b-day party is moved to this weekend now and the painting party on his birthday. We're praying for better weather then... The good news is we decided on the colors.... Sage green for the body and Olive green for the trim!

Our fun new park up here in Kearney we have shared with you before has another great feature we are enjoying. This is the park with the HUGE slides and play area, the outside Amphitheatre, and a great lake where you can fish. It also has an awesome 1.5 mile trail that we have started taking advantage of. The kids rode their bikes one night and the other night we all walked. We even found a fun clubhouse someone has built off the trail that the boys found to be very cool. John is going to take them on a night hike someday in the woods here. Ashlyn and I might have to start running here to get in shape for our 5K we hope to do in the fall...we also hope to bury our family Letterbox here somewhere (I am thinking we are going to make a 24 letterbox this summer for fellow MO letterboxers)...we'll keep ya posted!

We enjoy playing cards with Pat and Shirley and love that they enjoy eating out! They are headed back to sunny Arizona today and hope to go visit them next time. It's always neat to hang out with 4 generations at the same time. We'll miss you guys!

Because we had some great weather this past week (unlike the past couple days!), the kids decided to have an early egg hunt. It was alot of fun, especially for Jonathan. We usually have Easter dinner at our house and usually have an egg hunt after the dinner. Because they all understand why we celebrate Easter (the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ) and don't believe in the Easter Bunny, we thought it could be a fun game we sporadically do throughout the Spring and Summer. Here they are having a blast! We have a huge collection of eggs so we make some extra difficult for Ashlyn and worked our way down to Jonathan who enjoys picking them up all over the yard!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts again this past week. Ashlyn and Joshua were on Spring Break and what seemed like a very relaxing week was pretty busy too. John's grandparents were here visiting from Arizona so it felt like we lived at Grandma Sue's all week visiting them. We also had some great weather and was able to really get a lot done on the house in between visits. We power washed the swing set (which looks brand new now), power washed the house, caulked the house, scrapped it, and primed a lot of it. We are almost done - only a few more boards left to prime. Our scheduled paint day is this coming Sat if it doesn't rain (it popped into the forecast this morning). We looked at colors and I think we are going to go with a sage green for the body color and a olive green for the trim. It's very exciting. I also started touching up my kitchen cabinets this week, but haven't finished yet. The kids and I met some friends a couple times this week which was a nic

So I went beyond Goodnight Moon , Charlotte's Web , and 10 Little Monkeys and read an adult book this week! This is John's favorite hobby and something I did all through school. Naturally all those years of "required" reading put a little rebellion in my mind that I couldn't do it for fun. My friend Heather told me that she has read some Karen Kingsbury books and that they were pretty addicting. The goal for me was to start enjoying reading so then I could try some deeper, theological books that John has always try to tempt me with. And I did it...in two days! I read about 450 pages, both nights from 9-midnight, and couldn't put the book down. It was a large print book from the Library which I think helped my mind feel like I was getting further as I read...worked for my psychotic mind, so maybe about 250 pages in normal print. I'm getting those going forward! Divine was a modern day Mary Magdalene fiction book and so addicting. John has already proudly

These were from last week..and this week is better! (I think Spring might actually be around the corner here)

So I have been invited about 5 times to join Facebook this past year and it seems lately most of my adult friends are joining. I have been afraid to join, not because of the crazy psychos out there, but because I know the time I would lose once I joined. I keep going back and forth and am driving John crazy using his account all the time to email friends I haven't talked to for awhile. He keeps telling me to get my own account. He joined last year because his youth Sunday School Class was all on there and it was better for them to discuss and email through Facebook . He is just now using it to re-connect with other people or talk back and forth with KC friends here (he no longer teaches the youth at church). When my friend Sara joined she said her inbox was full of friend requests and how crazy it was to get requests from people she never really talked to back in high school. Is it rude to just decline those people or is the "cool" thing to just have a bunch of friend

They really are a lot more excited about their new looks (not so excited about getting their picture taken though)

The kids and I like to stop for a cinnamon twists or a nachos snack from time to time when we are out running around and have really liked the taco bell triple layer nachos for .79 Well, now they invented these beefy 5-layer nachos for .10 more and I have to say, they are pretty good. If you're out late or even early in my case most of the time, give them a try. Nothing like a great snack for under a buck that everyone can share :) Taco Bell was our 4th meal (or maybe a meal every day) growing up and I'm totally addicted. Nothing like some new variety every once in awhile!

We are a family who tends to lose things easily...the basics, like movies, shoes, favorite animals, even books. We typically look for something a couple days and it turns up. So this weekend we had a small hunt for an important treasure - GOLD! Yep, John's new wedding ring he got for our 10 year anniversary came up missing. John was certain he went to bed with it and someone came in and took it in the middle of the night. The kids were told that they could do anything they wanted (with a limit) if they could find the ring. Of course, they looked for a long time - but soon gave up and decided it was gone. The good news, we found our Prince Caspian DVD which has been missing for about a month. We found the baby blanket which was missing for a couple hours, but no gold! Finally, last night after I re-arranged the entire office/school room (I was convinced that's where it was) we took apart our queen size bed and found it behind the headboard! What a hunt! Usually John&#

Chris Tomlin's "I Will Rise"...sit back and listen. It is very good!

Today was a monumental day for the Hanson Crew - we sold our last big baby item! Bought in 2000 when we were pregnant with Ashlyn and used for all 4 little ones - our white crib is no longer here. In a way it was very exciting to think back to all those days and to look forward to all the days to come. In another way it was crazy to think there will not be another little one crying all night here. We got to visit some friends who had a newborn yesterday and when we left the hospital, we both looked at each other and asked if we missed that size and those days...funny enough, we both laughed and said nope, let's go out to lunch before we have to go get the rest of our wild crew from Grandmas!!! (By the way, Jonathan still loves his toddler bed - not one night have we had an issue with him going to bed or getting out - for those with little ones, this is totally a 4 th child thing I think, our others cried for nights and fought staying in those things forever. Praise God for such

Our decision today is to still try and sell our house even though yesterday we were thinking of staying...we were second guessing our decision with the economy and housing market again. But today, we are a go for a move again (at least an attempt for 6 months!) The best news - we got the windows today and man what a difference they make. I am really tempted to not put all my curtains back up - the natural light does wonders for this little space :) The weather is crazy and probably warmer than it was in Florida so they are all open! Before those new windows 4 of them never could open so it really is neat to enjoy them a little before we move. The siding project starts early Monday and after many, many bids we are going the cheaper route. We are fixing all of the old rotten boards and trim and then having our friends help paint it with some new fresh color. Pray for good weather because once they finish up the siding next week, paint is all we have left to do. Then we will be "si

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So I really did come home on Tuesday, it has just taken a little longer to get back to normalcy here. So I finally got a little time to write a few thoughts about our trip. I promise to get a slide show made sometime this weekend to share with you, it was very memorable! The weather was really good even though they had a cold front come in while we were there. It was in the 80s our first two days there, but then got down to the low 70s for the rest of the trip. It snowed here while we were gone - about 4 inches :) Excellent conversation with Godly women...We talked, we cried, we prayed! What more could you ask for in sunny Florida! Beach and sand ! The first beach day was amazing, hot sand, soft waves and a lot of sun tan lotion. The other time, windy, cold, and too wavy to swim. Shopping ! Outlet malls, fancy outside shopping, and a great discounted girly store called "Best of Everything". We went there a couple times - picture the Mama Mia soundtrack blaring, 30 some tabl