Hanson Crew

and we all LOVE it!!!

As Caleb talks a little more and is finally potty trained, I have noticed a big difference in his personality. He is so different from his big brother and little brother! I just love how God gives you so many different personalities in one family...ours began with 2 very different adults who have actually grown to be much alike. Now we have created 4 little people so different from each other. I am an awe of how creative and smart they all are...and I am most excited to watch them grow more. Especially watching the boys has been very neat for me - I come from a family of 3 girls and no idea of what little boys are about - it has been interesting. There are many days where Ashlyn and I will look at each other and just laugh at some of the things they say and do. We look forward to a summer of relaxation and growing together...

T-ball with a good friend from church and 3 others from school. We are excited to see her practice and play games through July! We started last night and she is already looking forward to practice tomorrow! It's a sport we can all play in the backyard together too :)

So I ran across this place on Craigslist when I was looking for a swing for our swing set (Caleb gave his old baby one to Jonathan and has been without his own swing for a little while). This place is awesome! They have tons of swing set accessories for really cheap and lots of furniture too! The best part, you get to drive through all those cool tunnels that the truckers go in - they are like little caves with lights and go on and on. I spent $16 and got a brand new swing, swing hooks, a trapeze bar, and a new roof tarp for our wood swing set (a new swing just like this one was $15 at Lowes). We are going back on Thursday for a plastic tire swing to hang from a big tree in our backyard - that is the home of Jonathan's baby swing now too - which he just loves! Click on the picture above to see their website. It is off Hwy 291 in Independence for those KC readers looking for some warehouse deals on new stuff!!

A while back I shared how many things we are always missing around here...well, yesterday Ashlyn found her dress shoe that had been missing for about 3 months! It was in a suitcase with some baby clothes...then we were missing Joshua's blue Croc until today! It was in the van....so this is a short post, but an exciting one! Our crew is officially not missing anything at this moment!! Of course, we haven't talked to John lately to check on his normal missing list (keys, wallet, phone,etc), but we are sure excited for the moment! We hope you had a relaxing 3-day weekend! We were pretty lazy.

We watched this with the kids and really liked it :) Definately worth the $1 at the Redbox if you want a movie for the 3-day weekend!

The kids built a campfire and tent at their friends house this week and had a fun time enjoying the weather....I actually remember doing this same kind of tent when I was a little girl with this same kind of lawn chair with my sisters! We are going to give real camping a try this summer as a family so this is good practice for them :)

Ashlyn and her good friend Madison on the last day of school (May 16th)...they are ready for 2nd grade! Jonathan hanging out with his friend Isaac in the backyard - we think one day they will be best buds. Neither were very happy about sitting on the grass I think!

I am a big fan of Steven Curtis Chapman and his music ministry and their adoption fund. I was so upset this morning to hear of the death of his youngest daughter yesterday. She died in a horrible accident in her driveway - her older brother struck her with his car as she was playing accidentally . This is a big fear of mine as we play outside all the time and the kids rush out the door when John comes home. There is a blog set up in her memory that I would like to share: http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/ Please keep their family in your prayers, especially the brother who was responsible. I can't imagine that. She was 5 years old.

Not me of course...John read about this woman who apparently has a perfect memory on Glenn Beck this past week, and used the news for our intro question in his High School Sunday School class. He asked the question, "Would it be a curse or a blessing to have a perfect memory? Why or why not?" It got me thinking later about how that would be in my personal life... The good....not forgetting what I just read, birthdays, names, where I put things, grocery lists, phone numbers, and all the obvious things to help me complete my long list of homemaker/wife/mother duties. The bad...remembering all the bad things I said or did, awkward moments I wished to forget, the times I hurt people or was hurt, and of course, those silly things you learn and quickly forget about that don't seem important. Can you imagine laying in bed singing commercial jingles or other catchy things (the Barney song) 24 hours a day that you could not get out of your head... definitely a curse. What do yo...

So today I threw a Surprise Pantry Party for my best friend Lisa (on the left in the red) who just bought a house. It was a lot of fun and she was pretty surprised. We ate lunch and all the kiddos played in the warm, but windy backyard. Now that it is all done and went so well, I think I should start having people over more - I just don't do it enough. I think between the 14 of us, we had around 30 kids. We missed those who couldn't make it and can't wait to have our friends back again soon! I actually remembered to pull out my camera to capture the moment so I had to share some photos. Here are the girls all hanging out...

We went a little camera crazy this year at Jonathan's b-day party with our new fancy camera. He is probably our most photogenic boy so far. Here are a few of my favorites...

J had his 1 year well visit today and he is no longer our chunky monkey. He is in the 50 percentile for weight, height, and head measurements! He basically hasn't grown or shrunk since about 9 months when he was in the 99 percentile. He is done nursing (for about 3 days now) and is on whole milk - which he does not like or take so well. His Dr . said today to add some sugar free syrup, which the other kids are used to doing to get their milk intake (they love chocolate and strawberry milk). He is a huge cheese and yogurt fan so that helps with his dairy too. I am so excited that he never did take a bottle and went straight to a cup...although I do wish he had taken a pacifier, at least we don't have to break him from any of these baby habits now that he is one. He is starting to say a couple words and trying to walk. He's still bum scooting alot , occasionally crawling, and walking with help or along furniture. We think he will be standing alone any day, and hopefully ta...

I got some great Birthday gifts this year for my home...we hung them this weekend and I especially liked the decal above the door...now if I could just find a free weekend to paint the living room and hallway the caramel color we painted the entryway...maybe in June!

We ate, we saw, we loved! Although the movie was a little different than the book, it was different in good ways. I just read that there will be a 3rd movie based on the 5th book we are reading now...and I am already looking forward to it. Joshua and Ashlyn were on the edge of their seats and it was pretty late. The two other boys enjoyed the evening with Grandma and Rylee. Our crew recommends our friends to go out and see this one in the theatre!

So because I am officially 30 today, I thought I would share 30 things about myself that you might not know...well, at least some of them... 1. I have a horrible gag reflex 2. I made the All-State Softball team a few times in high school 3. I got married when I was 20 4. I LOVE to rearrange furniture 5. I can flip you off with my toes (with my right foot) 6. My food can NEVER touch on my plate (yes, I am really 30!) 7. I was offered a full ride academic/softball scholarship to a $30,000/year college 8. I am really afraid of flying (ask anyone on the same plane as me!) 9. My favorite soft drink is Dr. Pepper 10. I graduated Cum Laude from college (even though I was married the last 2 years) 11. I have been parasailing (even though of my fear in #8) 12. I am a computer nerd (at least that is what I have a BS in) 13. I am a horrible backseat driver 14. I am obsessed with reruns of Dawson's Creek (reminds me of high school I think) 15. I can no longer jump on a trampoline (the resul...

Happy Birthday Jonathan Luke!

And we went this route thanks to all of your input!

Many of you seemed interested in buying those wall decals from Hobby Lobby and I wanted to show you what to look for when you go...they are cylinders and are 50% this week again (Home Accents). I am going to put the "Be still and know that I am God" in my entry way and the "All Because two people fell in love..." above my 4 kids' pictures in the living room once I paint. They are so fun!

We finished J's new room this weekend and I am so excited with the accent wall color. I found some time to make a new valance, dust ruffle and 2 pillows to bring it all together (yes, $1 fabric from Walmart of course - it only took 1.5 yards for all 4). My mom got him a new area rug for in front of his crib that we will get later this week at his party that will bring that new color out more. I found a little white shelf at the thrift store for $5 to hang above his dresser and put extra material in an old frame I painted white. This will be where the naked little bottom picture will go next to the window. I also painted an old lamp I had with a blue shade in the old guestroom. We kept a little red on this wall, including some fun frames with his feet pic and hand pic we had from when he was first born. I also left some Elmo's on this wall since he loves watching them sing right now. Oh, and all the tools are over there. The train stuff is all under the crib and we are so exc...

John went to a Men's Retreat this weekend for church (not sure why that happened on Mother's Day weekend!) so I thought I would share a cute pic of Joshua and him relaxing together. If you can see, Joshua has a cereal stick (a cool invention to try to get your kids to drink more milk through a flavored straw) as a pretend cigar. They sat outside one evening catching up while " smokin " and sharing John's Ipod ear buds listening to a book on tape.

The room as a guestroom before : and now the Boy's new room after :