The Hanson Crew

Our small attempt at fall decorating at the Hanson house - The 3 Mums I have on my porch have about died so they're not included. I hope to have more time next year to look at some magazines I have collected w/ some awesome ideas...

We finally finished painting every room inside this "new" house! We are now prepared to spend October painting the exterior...we are going to pick up our free paint this weekend. Our end of the deal for the free 15 gallons of paint is to have it completed in 21 days....so in between birthday parties, fall festivals, and Halloween parties, we are PAINTING :) Here is the hall bathroom, the last room to be done in small snippets ...

when your 3rd grader tells you that she needs a bigger backpack! Uh, I guess we're off to doing more schooltime :)

2009 Desiring God National Conference (the guys really enjoyed it!) Mall of America (deals, deals, deals) Great conversation (driving, riding, sitting, eating, walking...) Awesome weather (the best we've had I think) A great chic flic (took Lisa to see the Proposal cause I just love that movie - she did too) Cold Stone Creamery (got dolled up and met up w/ the guys for a short date) Red Robin (we drove somewhere this year for the dinner break instead of our traditional stroll to Applebees) Fitting Rooms (hours spent there being girly and silly and just trying on things we would not normally get to do with 4 little ones - we even bought some!) Travel movies (just as enjoyable as an adult I think to pass the time in the car in between bible study time) Books on tape (something we heard in the background in the car that the guys liked I think) We can't wait until next year again, but have been told the girls will be back at the conference again...the kids loved being at Grandmas.

The AC is OFF (and I think for the rest of the year)!!!!

Jonathan is really enjoying jokes lately. Here he is doing a knock, knock!

Had some kind of horrible virus go through the kids (sneezing, coughs, running noses) Mom got a different strain of the virus which included body aches, low fever, sore throat and hives Planned, prepared and had a garage sale with some friends (4 mommys and 11 kiddos, and one helpful grandma Sue) Skipped running two times since Caleb missed preschool those days because of his cough (and I was finally almost able to run the entire first 1/2 mile before that break!) Finished working on the hall bathroom walls and are looking forward to painting them this week Worked on some landscaping and cleared out some trees that were not supposed to be trees I think Prepped the exterior for our house inspection to get our free paint Spent time with Grandma Peggy for a day while mommy got a little R&R (the bad day of the virus) Watched all 3 X-Men movies and watched the new one that came out on DVD with the boys Up this week - catching up from being sick, packing the kids up to stay at Grandma

We went back to that awesome trail with some friends last week We didn't see any deer this time, but remembered our camera Ashlyn was a little out numberd (only girl and over 5)

So we are a big movie family. Did you know we met working at a Blockbuster Video during college? Our entertainment budget, unfortunately, does not reflect that love or hobby. So we typically overwhelm our local library with holds on Blockbuster favorites each month. Since the Red Box was invented, we have really used that venue as a means to get all the new ones for free or a buck, which we love! We also have a gold membership at Blockbuster (a perk we were given for being a valued alumni employee) which allows us to rent older movies (2 for $1.00) during the week. The kids and I have started getting some harder to find cartoons this way on home school days after we are done with our homework. Well, this summer with the move and maybe because of some of the bigger titles that came out, we were able to go to the drive-in a couple times and the "big movie theatre" as the kids call it. John and I were even able to get in a few date nights. We are big fans of our $2 theatre too,

We decided to do a huge picture collage on our stairway wall at this house. It is really big and has a variety of black and white frames filled with both color and B&W pictures....we really enjoy it on our newly painted wall accented with our new stair light (which was missing before and a little dark!) It's hard to get it all with this lens, but here is a glimpse...

Caleb's first day of preschool!!!! He loved it of course! My first attempt at running this year with Jonathan in the jogging stroller - we made it 1 mile and I was unable to run the whole thing - looking forward to trying again on Friday Went to Hobby Lobby with only 1 child - a first in a LOOOOONG time - and did not have to say "do not touch anything" 5 or 6 times :) Went through the drive thru and ordered only 1 water and 1 order of french fries :) We got our first water bill here! This is exciting because I was very nervous that had not received it after living here 2 months and knew we would have some kind of late fee. I had called so many times this past week and no one answers the phone....paid and done now - oh, 2 billing cycles! Was able to talk on my cell a couple times in the car and could hear them perfectly! Children are sure a blessing, but so is school :) - for all that learning of course!

We scraped all the wallpaper off the top, covered the bottom two layers of wallpaper with a textured bead board paper, painted the walls with the kitchen green color and living room latte color, replaced the light fixture with a $13 clearanced one (reg. $54) and changed out the curtains (also a clearance deal for $12 for both valances - reg $50). I found an area rug today at Target I'm keeping my eye on too...

Finished wallpaper removal in the dining room and spackled the walls to prepare for paint Put up this awesome paintable "wallpaper" on the bottom half under the chair rail in the dining room Painted the bead board paper the green color in our kitchen and then painted the top half of the room Latte to match the living room Hung a picture, new curtains, and put up the crown molding and chair rail to finish it off (pic to follow soon) Had dinner and hung out with the Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary Caught up on some laundry and worked on Money (budget stuff) Went to the Labor Dale sale at our great thrift store and found some great deals (including a Halloween costume, Jonathan sign, and clothes for John) Went to get our free chicken sandwich in our team wear and locked the keys in the car while taking the above photo outside of the restaurant Got our free sandwich coupon and then walked to Red Robin to eat while our kind Grandma Sue drove to our house to get our spare key and r

for the the fish tank though....meet Gary, our new snail. The sales clerk told the kids they should name him Gary because of SpongeBob's friend. He seems to like Princess Leia so far. They kids have really enjoyed watching him move around the tank cleaning....we just love it when someone else does the cleaning around here :)

...unless your daddy is cutting your hair with a #4 clipper guard and screams " oooohhhh nooooo " and then you're trimmed with #1... Soon after that scream, your whole head is a #1 and you kinda look like you're 1 (and a little like dad too!) We're glad (once again) that his hair grows so fast!

Build-a-Bear had a great sale in August where you could buy any bear, any outfit, and any shoes for $29 (usually ends up being about $45). So Grandma Sue took the kids there for an early Christmas present from her. She will be in the Philippines with Carol and Rylee for Christmas so we're starting some new traditions for Christmas this year, including less gifts at Christmas :) Here is a picture of all 4 kids with their bears - introducing Mailman, Sparky, Super Hero, and Ginger - new friends who have become sleepmates.

Yep, we did it all once before (about 3 months ago)...we scraped, caulked, primed, replaced wood, and painted - well, along with 6 or 7 other kind friends. And friends we are about to do it all over again! We were approved for the free KC paint program and now have to do the paint prep work...and before it gets to0 cold and have it completed by Dec (We hope to be done by Oct). We'll keep ya posted... The bonus for this house is even though it is bigger, it is much shorter and we will only need our huge ladder for the front. That was the part that made us most nervous about starting last time. Since John is dreading this house project alot more than me, I have agreed to try to do at least 2 sides by myself...should be interesting! We will be going from a white house with white trim and green shutters to a dark khaki color house with light tan trim and black shutters. Pics to come sooner than we had planned...

We LOVE garage sales and will actually be late to an appointment, school, or just about anything to pull over at one! Well we are entering the season again and I wanted to let those in KC know about a few near us....the two larger communities - Embassy Park and North Lakes - behind the Hy- Vee and AMC Theatre on Barry Road will have their neighborhood sales the weekend of Sept 12 th . The Coves neighborhood (where we live) will be having ours the weekend of Set 18 th ....we are participating this time. The kids are selling more stuff than me and are excited for the extra cash. Check Craigslist for some other big ones (even if you're out of state)....I always go to the Garage Sales category and search for "neighborhood"... most of the bigger ones show up each weekend. Happy Bargain Shopping!!