The Hanson Crew

Our crew started back up our Letterboxing hobby tonight. We hope to not let another 2 years go by before we do it again. In fact, our hope is to find at least 5 this summer and want to create our only family box to hide somewhere. Tonight we went on a hunt for 3 boxes, 2 at the Parkville Sanctuary (where we have hiked before) and one near Park University. We only found one, the one near Park. The two we couldn't find were hidden in 2006 and I think might have been stolen. Jonathan was most excited because tonight was his first time! He has a new journal and his first stamp! We hope to go again next week in Independence, MO. Here are a few pictures from our excursion tonight... We might try Geocachin g too this summer. We'll keep you posted...

Our neighborhood pool is OPEN! We tried it out this Sunday afternoon We discovered that the drive in is no longer charging for children under 12!!! We are planning out our summer schedule now The kids enjoyed $1 McD's sundaes while we used our last BOGO coupons at Noodles & company Joshua's first baseball practice was Saturday morning, which he protested for weeks, and ended up loving Great BBQ and some ball in the backyard Saturday afternoon John enjoyed an evening with some friends smoking cigars and playing Spades After a spring on our garage door flew off and a visit from the garage door repair man, we ordered some new almond steel garage doors (coming in two weeks!) The noise reduction and warmer bedrooms are 2 things I look forward to most (that and the door opening and shutting without bouncing down and sounding like they might go through the cement!) Successful garage sale on Friday - lots of unused junk is gone and now replaced with some garage sale spending m

This past Thursday, our family took a small family vacation here in KC. We don't normally go to the theme park that is not too far from our house, mainly because of the price, but also because it gets so busy in the summer. Well a couple years ago our family too the kids for the first time (minus Jonathan who was 2 at the time) on a Tuesday (a home school FCA day) while the public schools were still in session. It was wonderful! We could ride the rides over and over, there were no lines, and the summer humidity had not hit yet! So we thought we would try it again this year, with Jonathan and allow Caleb to take a Kindergarten ditch day. It was great! The lines were not as great as before only because the KS schools had gotten out already, but we still beat all of the MO side. The weather was perfect and everyone really enjoyed themselves. Jonathan LOVED planet snoopy and still rode many family rides too. He loves to spin and go fast. It's kinda funny to watch him.

Before I begin this embarrassing story, I must give you some background information. This past year, a family at church along with the Park Hill Clothing Center has generously given us trash bags and trash bags full of boys clothes. It has been a huge blessing having 3 boys all close together! We had the chance to organize our current closet (yes, all 3 boys share one little closet), our storage clothes tubs, and their one dresser last week in preparation for the next season. So all the boys have some "new" clothes in their given section from one of our two generous sources. I usually divide them up based on size, except for Joshua and Caleb. Most of the t-shirts fit them the same these days. So I tried to pick shirts that would best fit their personalities, color preferences, cartoon favorites, etc. Well, because Caleb is a little shyer than Josh, I gave him a particular shirt I found. I believe this shirt came from our church friends, but I am not sure. Anyway, it h

Over the past 6 years, I have been collecting Willow Tree figurines. I have two sets that I am most happy to look at. This past week I got a new plate for one set and moved the other one. They remind me of common moments with our crew...

Grandma Sue helped all the kids with some homemade gifts for my birthday. Ashlyn has really become quite the seamstress. Here are some pillows she made for my blue and brown bedroom...she picked the fabric for both sides... Joshua made a fun picture frame. He is quite the artist these days... Caleb and Jonathan made these fun pictures for my laptop desk. They are wonderful too!

complete with a graduation ceremony, family movie night, last volleyball game of the season, pizza party, a few graduation parties, multiple garage sales, a 5 mile bike ride/walk to a park and Hyvee right before a big storm, Wheel of Fortune Wii style, some closet organization, church, another ride/walk to a park, a wedding shower, some laundry, some late night crack dip, a website meeting, and some picking up. We might end it with some more picking up, some hair cuts, and some grocery shopping (oh, and maybe some tornado weather). Never a dull moment around here!

Why be like everyone else (straight) when you can be Caleb! (you may have to click on the picture to enlarge) We just love him!

Ashlyn and Joshua made homemade cookie dough for their bake sale at our garage sale next weekend (we moved it to next weekend because of rain this weekend). Because they knew seeing this big bowl of desirable cookie dough in the fridge for a week would be very challenging for their father, they left him a loving note. I had to take a picture of it...

Monday was a fun day for the kids. We allowed Caleb to miss school (his doesn't get out until June 2nd because of the snow day make ups) and join in on a fun, first day of summer break. We all slept in which was wonderful for a Monday morning. Then we picked up the house for the Maids, went grocery shopping for the week, and stopped by Build-a-Bear. Both Jonathan and Caleb spent some birthday money on a new animal. I think they all had a good time. It wasn't until Monday evening when the flu bug bit everyone. I should say Ashlyn and Caleb first and later in the night, John and I. Jonathan has been lucky enough to avoid it so far. Both sets of grandparents who came to Sunday's cake event all got it Monday or Tuesday night too. It is a very contagious bug! Here are a couple pics from Build-a-Bear before everyone turned pale...

I don't usually buy store bought birthday cakes for birthday parties. This year we decided not to do our typical family lunch & cake party for Jonathan. It was probably for the best since Joshua ended up with the stomach flu all day on our birthday. Either way, Jonathan was so excited to pick out a fun Backyardigans cake instead of the big lunch party. He loved it! We still enjoyed an hour with the grandparents to enjoy the cake and open some presents. The next couple days consisted of everyone who came to the fun, enduring the stomach bug...not so fun of course, but I think we have all had it now, but Jonathan. He had a wonderful 4 th birthday!

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but about 4 years ago... this fun, caring, and lovable little 10 pound baby arrived and has remained our "gift from God".... Happy 4th Birthday Jonathan Luke!

Caleb gets to drive by the Line Creek Train everyday on his way to school and it opened a week ago! He has been counting down the days to give it a try. So we picked today after volleyball when it is 50 degrees outside. No one else was there :) The best news is the cost - .50 per person and it goes around 2 times. We hope to go back more this summer. It reminds me of a childhood train I used to ride in Colorado. Here are a few fun pics...

Caleb's Kindergarten program was last week and it was called "Circus Circus." There are 5 Kindergarten classes. Each class wore a different color Circus shirt. Caleb's class was orange. All the different classes sang together and had different parts. Caleb got to do a number on the stage where he danced and sang about being the ring leader. My video didn't come out so well of the song so I decided to film him after practicing his lion roar in one of the songs. Here is our proud Line Creek Lion...and future first grader!

Joshua with his 2 first grade teachers (Mrs. Denny and Mrs. Price) Joshua with his good friend Caleb at the water balloon toss Beware Second Grade, Joshua is a comin!!

I was able to help plan and organize the 4 th grade Medieval Festival this year for Ashlyn's class. Miss Azdell had everything laid out for us so it was an easy event to plan. I was in charge of decorating for the grand feast. The festival began with a tournament outside. Then the kids got all dressed up and went into the feast. Here are a few pictures of the fun... The whole class ready for the feast Ashlyn trying to joust (minus the horses) Ashlyn's best event - the Quantain (Run of the Ring) Miss Azdell was very good at archery Ashlyn trying out Archery with Madison Everyone washed their hands at the hand washing table Ashlyn with her good friends Kara and Anne The head table for the King and Queen (our PE teacher and headmaster) Standing for the court and praying Entertaining the King and Queen with a poem Serving the food with Kara (that was her feast role) They ate with Pita plates, used no forks, ate Medieval food by candlelight

Yesterday was Ashlyn's and Joshua's last day of school at FCA! We are all very excited. To celebrate, they had their first summer campout in the sun room. 2 kids per tent... Caleb has to go until June 2nd (another disadvantage of balancing two different schools). We'll see how the next few weeks go when he has to get up with me and the others stay in bed. I am so behind on blogging so there will be a few more posts later today....