The Hanson Crew

Our crew tried out a trunk-r-treat this afternoon and enjoyed the nice weather. We have a Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter) along with the First 3 Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor) this year all anxious to fill back up their candy stash. Because it was so nice today, I got a few good shots of their costumes too...

We finally created and hid our first family letterbox this month. In case you are new to our blog, letterboxing is a family hobby we were first introduced to when Ashlyn was in first grade. The idea is that there are clues online that you print off to find each box. Then we all go and find the hidden box, usually at a park or trail, which has a stamp and log book in. We sign the book with our family stamp and the date we found it and then stamp our own journals with the stamp from the letterbox. We are getting quite the collection! So here is the info for our first letterbox we hid: The box is called "Courageous" and is found online here . Here are a few pictures from the day we hid it...

So on Sunday we celebrated both Ashlyn and Joshua's birthdays with extended family. We decided to make homemade soup (chicken noodle and Minestrone ) and salad for the meal and setup the sunroom for the theme. The kids chose to have a Harry Potter birthday since Ashlyn is reading the books and we have been watching the movies again. The kids got way too many presents like they do every year, and I think managed to both feel a little special. Here are a few favorites from the day...

He lost his first tooth today...and his new tooth is already growing in. He is very excited and can't wait to see what tooth comes out next!

So we celebrated with a few friends last night. This was Ashlyn's first birthday where she didn't have an official themed party at home with friends. Instead, we took a few of her good friends to play mini-golf. Then we walked the Oak Park Mall together. That was interesting and fun! We looked at Justice and the American Girl store mainly. We also ate at the food court for dinner. All 3 girls are very sweet and it is so neat to see them treat Ashlyn so well. Here are a few pics from the evening... Tomorrow is our family birthday party for both her and Joshua....

We finally worked on Halloween costumes today. Ashlyn is going to be Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. She has read most of that series in about a month. We cut and sewed this black cape thing we got at a thrift store. Then we printed the Gryffindor patch off the internet, colored it, glued it to felt, and sewed it on too. We finished everything off with some red duck taped stripes on a gold thrift store tie. She is glad it is all ready...(the halo is not part of her costume, it is the boys basketball goal on the door!) Then the kids worked on making Caleb a Captain America shield out of $1 foam board. They did a great job and he is already to go since we bought his costume this year at Target... Joshua and I made some more pumpkin spice cookies for this wonderful fall day. They were a great dessert to our homemade chili we made for our chili cheese dogs dinner... And of course, we d5th grade, 2nd grade, and 1st grade homework - and finished a little earlier than normal :) Ov

This past week, I finally made the change from pediatrician to family doctor for 2 of our kids. We hope to move the other two over this Dec when they are due for their next well visit. I am so excited to have one doctor for all of the kids and me. John will eventually move over to this same practice, which happens to be 3 minutes from our house and right next door to a hospital! It's wonderful. Anyway, with the switch, both Ashlyn and Joshua got a well visit along with the flu shot. We typically get the flu mist, which has been so nice according to all the kids so far. This family practice office only offers the shot. We didn't know that until we were ready to go back to see the doctor. I had to drag Joshua from the waiting room to the scale. Then the whole visit, was torture for him. After Ashlyn got hers, we began to coach Joshua through it. I thought he was one all over again! Man, it was horrible. He basically said he refused to get it and tried to leave the r

We are both so proud of the young man you are becoming. We praise God for you everyday and pray that He will draw you to Himself. Happy 8th Birthday Joshua! It has been an honor being your parents these past 8 years. Love, mom and dad.

it was simple. 4 boys. fun run. pizza. wii. cupcakes. presents. thinking of going this route again...

So I think I spoke to soon the other day about how sick I was and so glad no one else in our crew had gotten it. The next day, Jonathan woke in the middle of the night unable to breathe he was so congested. Then he moved to a very croup like cough for 4 days, followed by losing his voice. He finally seems to be better today, which marks his full week of being sick. Joshua, Ashlyn and Caleb all left for school this morning with running noses and the look of what could be the next few victims. I'll keep you posted... Today is Joshua's birthday celebration at school, which includes sharing cookie pops. You can buy these in a box now at the store by Pillsbury which include the mix, sticks, icing, and sprinkles for under $3. Joshua and I made two boxes last night because there are 2 second grade classes and all we kept saying the entire time was how wonderful Sam's cupcakes will be next year! What a project. We are hoping they are a big hit today after lunch! Then, aft

So we finally heard today about our house appraisal and it was wonderful news! It appraised for $3,000 more than what we needed it to. And that was $9,000 more than what it appraised for when we bought it 2 years ago :) SO even with the market now doing so well, all of our hard work the past 2 years, really did pay off. Now we can begin saving some money each month while we continue to make more improvements...

Our AZ family joined us at Caleb's flag football game on Sat morning. This was his 2nd game, but John and I missed his first one (we were in MN) so we were really excited to see him play this time. He is #5 and got to carry the ball a couple times. Here are a few pics from the morning...

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week. I was sick for a better part of this past week and was trying hard to just get the day to day things accomplished. Thankfully, no one else in our crew has gotten it. We had a big school carnival last night and I was working on a few last minute projects for that too. John's aunt and uncle (and two cousins) are visiting from AZ this week and we are enjoying time with them now. We are excited to go to Worlds of Fun again with them on Sunday. The kids are still enjoying school and are talking alot about birthdays this week. Joshua will turn 8 next Sunday and Ashlyn will turn 11 the next Sunday! Where has that time gone? So I promise much more pictures this next week of fun carnival, World's of Fun pics, as well as some birthday fun. Hope you are all having a great fall week...

This week we have been working in the yard because of the beautiful weather. I was able to trim alot of tree branches today (3 truck loads) and offload some of the brown banana things I have been raking this past week too. Ashlyn and Joshua help stain the fence today and almost finished one exterior side. We ran out of stain or we would have kept going. I also finished my mailbox area that I started last year. I ended up tilling the whole area and then putting sod down around a box I made with some mums in it. I like the way it turned out. I don't have a before picture for you, but let me tell you it is noticeably better. Caleb loves watering the new grass two time a day. He understands that the grass has to be wet enough to soak your feet on. He's doing a great job with that chore! Here are a few pictures from our progress. We hope to finish more this week before the colder temps come back as well as rain (especially the fence). I'll keep you posted...