The Hanson Crew

try to make a mental note of the 9 deer you saw walking about 2 feet in front of you, collect some flowers and memorable from the trail, remember the path to the awesome waterfall that would be an amazing fall picture spot, and ask your mom every three minutes "Can we please come back again tomorrow, pleeeeease?" (We loved the Parkville Nature Sanctuary trails - thanks again Bethany and can't wait to find more treasures like this one for our Sunday evening family time!)

Season 8 is back on January 17th!!!! We are curious who will guest star (besides Freddie Prinze Jr - yeah!), who will die, and what the real finale of this awesome series will be on Day8! We hear there is not a lot of time between Day 7 and Day 8 like there typically is and that this will be the last season....hmmmm....oh, and it's filmed in NYC...we can't wait! Oh, in case you're new to this blog - I am talking about 24 :)

It is so funny to watch your children enjoy a TV show that you used to watch when you were younger. Sure, I watched Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers and they did too when they were young, but they didn't sit around and talk about them ALL the time....not like the TV show they are watching now, Full House ! We started getting the DVDs at the library when we moved here because their cousin Rylee had started watching them and they thought it was pretty funny. Now we talk about Uncle Jessie and Michelle like they live here with us! They have begun quoting some of the "famous" lines from the show too. They are already on Season 5 (which I think only happened so quickly because I was painting a lot and we don't usually watch much TV). 3 more seasons to go...maybe we should try to get Growing Pains or The Facts of Life next - those were also some I really enjoyed. Are their other clean family shows you liked as a child that you would recommend? Why watch those millennium dat

So here is a small peek at our sun room. John actually calls this room the "Mans Den" because it has become his smoking room (cigars and pipes are his hobbies now). So in attempt to go with his room theme, I put out a bunch of his old political pictures and Maids stuff. He used to intern for Congressman Scott McInnis (who is now running for CO Governor) so he was able to go to Washington DC and help many Republican campaigns while he interned. Here are some famous people with him (including Bob and Elizabeth Dole, the guy who Robin Williams plays on Good Morning Vietnam - Adrian Cronauer, and tons of Medal Honor Recipients)... We also put out tree with lights out here so when it is dark or we have a sleep over out here, we can have "twinkle lights" as Ashlyn calls them from You've Got Mail... We found this chair and matching bench one day by the pool in someones driveway with a Free sign on it. All we had to do was spray paint them and they are awesome... He

Joshua and Ashlyn are going to be doing a 5K Walk/Fun Run in October and are very excited for their school. Our goal is to get $100 in donations per child for the run. Once we get the $100, they will get to attend a school Carnival with blowups and lots of games, etc. So we thought we would advertise their run on our blog in hopes that their might just be one or two people out there interested in sponsoring $5 or $10 to help them walk. If so, please let us know. They love reading the comments on this blog (well and telling me half the time what to put on here!) and would be so happy to see that someone would like to help them out. All donations are tax deductable - just let us know and we'll send ya the school's address :)

A few weeks ago I went to buy a nightstand off of Craigslist and the seller was trying to get rid of some other things that day. She said to make offers on everything she had, so I tried $20 for this fun little enclosed trampoline. She took it! These things are $120 new. We are getting a new 14 foot trampoline for our yard next Spring (when our drainage problem is fixed in the backyard) and in the meantime this has been just as fun! Jonathan and Caleb LOVE it of course and Ashlyn has made it her morning reading spot. The best news is the resale value of this thing - easily $40 on Craigslist next year!!! Yeah for great deals!

It doesn't look like the video is available this time for John's interview yesterday, but here is the article that was on their website about it. He was much more relaxed this time and was able to stand instead of sitting through the interview. We will try to get a copy of the recorded video and put it on here later. Enjoy! - Fox 4 Cleaning Tips

For our local friends, John will be on Fox 4 News again in the morning (Sat) at 7:00 am. Just tune in to channel 4 around 7 and watch him on a live interview talking about our family business . I will check tomorrow to see if it is online again for our out-of-town friends and family :) It must be a good thing that they invited him back...and they have been on the radio a couple times since the last interview!

Union Station here in KC had a Chronicles of Narnia exhibit this summer and since Ashlyn's class will be reading the books this year, her teacher planned a field trip there the first week of school. We took Joshua along who is really in love with the book series (and movies) right now....he enjoyed it the most I think! If it comes to your city someday, we recommend it! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside so we took a couple outside. Here are the kids before we went in and some of Ashlyn's school friends...

We made some progress on our kitchen and it is really exciting to share. The second layer of wallpaper caused us to hire an expert drywaller to fix the walls to paint. We have ordered three new windows that will come in next week and hope to still someday stain the cabinets a deep mahogany to match the pub table. Here are a couple before pictures... And the after pictures (my favorite part was removing the old chandelier above the table and replacing it with a can light) We also took down a small bookshelf in the entryway to create a bigger door opening into the family room...

you might as well decorate with them! Most vase fillers on clearance now at Target for $1.98. I picked Artichokes because they match my kitchen and because I knew I wouldn't get hungry looking at them all day on my table!

We had another little one venture to 1/2 day Kindergarten yesterday and he LOVED it! The K teacher we had in K when Ashlyn went through moved to the third grade this year so she has her again...and we really are excited about that! The new K teacher is very nice and Joshua really likes her. We can't wait to get to know her more and to see how Joshua does, especially with his handwriting. Here he is at his new desk. Ashlyn was a little embarrassed for the picture, but I had it with me for Joshua and her friends ' mom was snapping away so I took the opportunity to remember our first day of 3rd grade. We'll keep you all posted as the school year progresses...

Happy "Steel" Anniversary John!

We picked a popular blue (according to Sherwin Williams) for our master bedroom and sunporch. I haven't painted the ceiling yet, but plan on doing that soon...I need to have my decorating friend over for dinner to ask her advice again because I wasn't to sure about the pink! Here is a glimpse of our small suite...

Sorry for the vast amount of house pictures lately, I know many of you have asked for proof of all my labors this past month. We still have our stairwell, dining room, and hall bathroom to finish. But the rest is done! Our goal was to be done by school and we didn't quite make it, but we are still impressed with what we did :) I will post pics of the kitchen and sun room tomorrow and I think that will be all for house pics (until we paint the exterior in a month!) Here is Ashlyn's room - my favorite room to sit in and rest and think about being back on the beach...

Here's a wide angle shot of the Star Wars Room... The joy of having a bigger closet for 3... Lots of playing room...

The basement "Movie" room The Family Room (still needing some decorative shleves and pics behind the couch) The Living Room (still needing curtains, pillows, and lampshades in new accent color)

This is our last week of "summer" before school starts for 1/2 our crew. The pool doesn't close until Labor day so we are hoping to get some more time in before then on Tues/Thurs and the weekends. Caleb starts preschool after Labor day and Jonathan and I start our new exercise plan that week too. Here are some pictures of them after we swam (I keep forgetting to take pictures while we are actually swimming!) Enjoy!

tax free weekend + awesome sale = dos ordenadors Yeah !!!!! We can't wait to set it up and be able to travel with it! Need an English/Spanish dictionary? click here .

Here is Ashlyn's room before we painted and decorated it. She was excited to do a beach theme in her room this time...we will take a full room picture like this one sometime soon, but for now here are some small shots of her room...

Here is one of the first rooms we finished up at our new house. Here is the before picture (taken with a wide angle lens) of the whole room.... Our pics are of snippets of the room and try to go around the whole room starting near the door... The desk is in between the door and the two closet doors (not pictured)... The accent wall is the window wall which had an awesome roman shade when we moved in... Joshua gets his own bed and is the bed we all sit on while we are in there reading or playing... Above Joshua's bed are some Star Wars movie posters and a shelf with some more Star Wars stuff... The bunk bed is now navy and in the corner opposite Joshua's bed. Caleb is on top and Jonathan on the bottom... Next to the bunk bed is a dresser which is next to the door again. There is a huge area in the middle of the room for playing...we love the size of this room and closet! I'll take a "room" picture with a wide angle lens sometime soon and put it on here too.