Hanson Crew

Because we met a certain level of revenue this year at The Maids, we have earned another free trip in Eagle's Air.  This year, the trip is to Jackson Hole.  Sue and Gary went there last summer in their RV, so John and I are taking this trip instead of them (we usually rotate each year and last year John went to Costa Rica with Ashlyn).  We have decided to stay 4 days in Jackson Hole and 3 days in Yellowstone.  We plan to go with a group on a float trip, try out the photography session with a National Geographic Magazine Photographer and do lots of hiking.  Sue has graciously agreed to stay at our home with the kids and take on the first week of summer school.  She is also going to referee between Bear and Ella (her dog).  Gary will help with any work crisis that arises.  We are very excited after seeing the pictures of the resort we are staying in.  Pictures to follow...

Bear's new favorite thing...riding in the car :)

Our boys are such entrepreneurs.  Our elementary is offering summer school to the kids K-6th grade and they added a perk that interested them.  They would go M-F from 8-3:30 for the entire month of June. That is 45 minutes longer each day than Caleb and Jonathan go now.  The morning session is all academic (reading, math, language arts, spelling) and the afternoon are clinics (mad scientist, history fun, PE, art).  They can ride the bus to and from and would be at the newest elementary school in our district close to our house. The reason they are going - $100!  Yep, they basically get $5 a day just for attending.  If they do not miss one day, they earn $100.  If they miss one day, $75 and 2 days $50.  They are going to combine their earnings to buy an XBox 360.  They couldn't be happier! I convinced Joshua to go and try it out.  He has not ever been in public school so he is a little nervous, but his friend from FCA, Chancellor will...

We found a huge kennel on Craigslist for Bear thinking it might be good for hot summer days when we are not home for more than 4 hours at a time. Right now, we are leaving her in our sun room while we are gone where we are adding a dog door to the backyard. When we saw this deal, we thought it would be much smaller. Now that it is home, I think the boys like it alot more than Bear! We keep her dog toys and bones in there so she randmonly goes in and grabs a toy to play when she is ready. We call it her bed (even though it is in the boys room and they think their bed is her bed!)

Yep, our crew FINALLY got a dog this week!  It's been a few years in the making, but after subtle hints, responsibility talks, and a few trips to the shelter, we found one!  She is amazing.  Her name is Bear, and she is a black female Lab mix.  She is 1 1/2 years old.  The best news is that she is already spayed and house trained.  We haven't had one accident yet.  She LOVES to run and play and take walks.  We call her Bear, B or Buddy and she is already loving the boys.  She sleeps in Jonathan and Caleb's room, but ends up in bed with one of them each night.  She can sit, stay, shake and is almost good at fetching.  Caleb could never wake up in the mornings and so far loves her kisses first thing and jumps up to take her on a morning walk.  We can't wait to go hiking and camping with her this summer.  You will probably see a ton of pictures of her for awhile too!

The Maids have been advertising on 99.7 The Point the last couple months and we are excited to hear the ads each day.  The station invited John and I to a Royal game (against the CO Rockies :) today.  It was wonderful.  Out seats were right next to the KC Royals dugout and first base was right in front of us.  I kept praying they didn't overthrow and hit me in the face.  The had hamburgers, hot dogs, an open bar, and some great snacks too in our suite.  It was wonderful!  Be sure to check out 99.7 if you are in the KC area.

Happy Birthday to best gift I have ever been given!  I love you buddy!  Can't believe you are already seven years old!

Jonathan has decided on a theme for his 7th birthday party - a Spy Party!  He is so excited and has been on Pinterest looking for games.  Here are a couple things we have decided on so far: id badges, spy kit including magnifying glasses, glasses w/ nose, id kit, notebook and pen.  We also have some water bottles to hand out.  The game planning has begun too.  We will post pics on Sunday after the party!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year! The kids got me some mason jar glasses I had been wanting from Sam's along with a Spy birdhouse. I also got some candy and breakfast Sunday morning. My mom and I went to lunch the Friday before and then to garage sales. It was really nice to hang out with her. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon with John's family. I got bracelets from my mom and a gorgeous lily plant from John's. Here are a couple pictures from the weekend!

We found some great things this weekend at the Riss Lake neighborhood garage sales.  Our favorite - a gas blower for Caleb for $5.  He LOVES it!  It is hard to start, but otherwise great!

This week was teacher appreciation week at Line Creek. Each day, the boys brought different gifts including a flower, poem, card, and homemade gift to their teachers. We have LOVED all the teachers at Line Creek, especially this year. Mrs. Carlson, Caleb's teacher is amazing! So is his reading teacher Mrs. McCauley. Jonthan's teacher, Ms. Biehl, is also so wonderful. We loved showing them our appreciation this week. Our homemade gift was a candle I saw on Pinterest. We printed class pictures on velum paper and then used double-sided tape to stick it to a vase bought at Dollar Tree. Then we put an LED battery operated candle inside. The whole gift was around $2 and they loved them. We made them for Mother's Day gifts too this year. Here is a picture of how a couple turned out!

 My three closest friends and I went to a painting class together last night in Leawood, KS.  It was so fun!  Lisa M had bought us gift certificates for Christmas for a class and we finally all had the time to go and relax together.  Except, it did get a little stressful, when the lines and circles didn't go the way you hoped!  But it was a night of wine, paint and laughter.  Thanks again Lisa!!

We worked on our Maids Mother's Day gifts this weekend.  They will get a fun tumbler cup with a lid and straw. They have fun bright designs on the side, including chevron.  We will hand them out Friday morning :)

Caleb survived his first week of MAP testing this week.  Each teacher picks one student a day who followed directions the best and stayed focus the whole day.  Then they pick one of those top students at the end of the day.  Caleb was picked for third grade!  He was so excited.  He got a big heavy medal, a free book, and a snack. Way to go Caleb!

We were part of 2 fun May Day projects this year. The first one was with our home school group. We made paper flower baskets and delivered them at a nursing home. The second one was an idea on found on Pinterest. We bought $25 worth of stuff at the dollar store and then made 6 bags of goodies for homeless people we encounter. We included some snacks, a razor, tissue, hand santitizer, Advil, bandaids, a drink, a John Piper booklet, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.  We look forward to sharing our love to them when we see them on the corners.  The bags are ready in the car!