Hanson Crew

This was our first full week of school for our crew. Homework was very light on Tues and Thurs when they are home with me so it is hard to know what next week will hold... Caleb LOVES his new school and has made some new friends already. We should start speech next week at NKC too. John is sick today and yesterday with a really bad sinus thing. He is teaching 10 th grade Worldview and 8 th grade Geography/Church History this year at FCA . I think he is liking both classes, but can't believe he is already sick. We're just hoping the rest of us stay clear of it. I am starting to have a little more website work requests. I have been doing this as a ministry for 5 years and only had a couple paying customers. This year, I have started a new client base that is spreading the word quickly. So I am excited to begin a new small business venture finally this year - Hanson Crew Design. I am currently working on a website and new business cards for it in between othe...

Today was our first day back at FCA. We now have one in 5th, 2nd, and 1st grade. They were all up early, excited for breakfast and out the door right on schedule. We'll see if that happens again on Wed morning! Jonathan doesn't start preschool for a couple weeks, so we enjoyed our first day alone running errands together in the rain. I am curious how much homework we will have tomorrow at home... Here are a few pictures from our morning. When I asked Ashlyn if she would like me to take a picture of her at her desk like I have done each year, she politely answered no this year. She is getting so big and ready to be a part of the oldest class in the elementary...oh, and really excited for her locker! Caleb, Ashlyn, and Joshua before we left We are so proud of Caleb, especially his best buddy Jonathan All ready for first grade with Mrs. Denny Joshua ready for second grade with Mrs. McCullison

Here are a few highlights of the end of our crew's summer: Enjoyed some free Redbox and .49 cent Blockbuster family movie nights Played lots of Lego's Setup too many forts to count Enjoyed the outdoors some (bikes, walks, and trampoline) Puzzles Worked in the yard together (clean up from a couple bad storms) Enjoyed the "name game" (Everyone writes a name on a paper and someone reads them all out loud. Then we have to guess who wrote which name). Our kids love this game and pick the funniest names (TV shows, movies, friends, etc) Enjoyed some grandma time (one on one with Grandma Sue and group time with Grandma Peggy) Ashlyn got to sew Some fun play dates with FCA friends and FCC families Organized closets and school room together And of course, we swam alot!!!

We buckled down this week and started waking up at 7 a.m. each day in preparation for school next week. I did this so our kids might be grumpy that first week at home instead of at school. The plan is working. By around 3, everyone is pretty crabby. But I can see them getting up easier each day. Caleb has enjoyed watching the bus pull up in front of our house while he is eating breakfast in his pjs . I think he will miss the bus the most, but loves the idea of John or I driving him each day with his brother and sister. I think Jonathan is starting to realize it will just be him and I again too! His spoiled self is re-appearing more each day. His preschool does not begin until after Labor Day so he will get me for a couple weeks all day on MWF before that. We have another back to school party tomorrow and then our back to school night on Friday. I will be most excited to bring what feels like half of Office Max to the school instead of seeing it all piled all around my school...

While Sue was watching our kids on Friday/Saturday for our anniversary date, they stopped by a lemonade stand at Sue's neighborhood park. Here they are drinking their favorite drink for a good cause...

The boys have been watching the Avengers cartoons on Netflix this summer and are really into super heroes. Today at Hy- Vee , we were able to meet him! He stood like a statue until we got right under his nose. Joshua kept saying, that isn't really him, it's just a statue. And then, he moved his eyes right down at Joshua. He jumped back and started laughing. They thought that was pretty funny. We were able to get a good picture with him too that we had to share. John and I saw the movie on Friday for our Anniversary, and John is hoping to take Joshua to see it soon.

Jonathan is becoming quite the artist. He is really staying in the lines and using a lot of different colors now. We are still working on handwriting, but it's been neat to see our first boy taking after Ashlyn some. She used to love to color pictures like this when she was little. Joshua and Caleb never really did. He is also getting excited for preschool to start after Labor Day. When we drive by Mrs. Taylor's house (his teacher), he waves hi.