Visiting Santa

Marie at 3 mos, still lovin' her "burritos."

I have no patience for sitting and making kids take pictures. Just take what ya' get. And, I was not going to do my hair and put on make-up any time in the near future, so this is what we got.

Luke's plate for Thanksgiving. Who needs turkey?

We've been there so many years in a row, Santa remembered us!

Travis was all about making sure he heard what he wanted.

Luke didn't like him at all but wanted the sucker.

Marie 7 weeks

Whistlin for Toni and Marie

Now this was a first, even for me. Marie was a little over-stimulated after attending a football game (of which Hankinson won and are now State Champs!), having her pictures taken, and having a bunch of people over to the house. So, she wanted just the fan and a swaddle and to be left alone.

Marie 8 wks.

Whenever Chris whistles for the dog we forget about that we left unattended outside about 2 hours prior, Luke "whistles" as well. This is that video.

Whistlin for Toni

Halloween

Thanks for the leopard and dinosaur costumes Auntie Mardi!

Luke, Paige, Maggie, Eva, Travis and Emery. Luke loved trick-or-treating. Then he decided to taste every candy that he got at each house, and that slowed him down. The girls went with the big girls because they were all business. Travis is still at "scared" age, and there are many scary houses on our street. He stayed close to mom/grandma. Chris was out of town. I would've never been able to pull this off without Grandma I fear. Marie was having a very "needy" day.

Doing our part to save the environment... and avoid shopping in any way: Recycling costumes.

Lukey the lion.

Travis the lion.

Eva the lion.

Remember when some of you NDSU alums used to come back for Homecoming? Maybe again some day? At the parade: Travis (classic pout mode of his age), Luke, Eva, Maggie and Harry (darling neighbors that are moving in less than 18 days. Boo.)

Bad Chicken part 2

Travis and Luke made this for Chuck and Andrew. Funny to watch Luke say "nothing," but you can't really hear him above Travis' non-stop jabber.

MVI 1997

MVI 1998

Baby Tip of the Day

I'm sure most of you with babies have discovered this... But just in case you haven't, had to share the magic with you. Marie is a little tougher than the boys were. Can't hold a candle to Eva, but then again I had no idea what I was doing.

marie fan

The Hanson kids! Looks like Lukey is going to be the only blonde-haired, blue-eyed out of this bunch? I told Chris it feels so complete now with Marie. He thought it felt complete before her as well...........he's greatly wrong.

Lukey standing on his little stool to look at the baby, Me-me. Note how she is positioned as far away from him as possible, yes in a blue blanket and yes, Luke has no pants on.

Chris has realized that offering to take care of the baby while the Twins are playing is a great excuse for not doing anything else.

I know lots of you are swaddlers. Aren't baby burritos so darling?

Luke LOVES his "TA-DA" (Travis.) Ta-da is pretty much the coolest person on earth to Luke. Whenever he sits on the couch, it's right on Travis. Travis was at Grandma's for a night and every time Luke heard the door open he'd say "TA-DA!!!!!!!" and run to see him.

We definitely need to buy furniture for downstairs at some point.....grandma tree with the kids.

This video is kind of long...but the excitement happens in the first 1-2 min. Travis is very pouty when we tell him what kind of baby it is. But, Travis also said he pouted like this at preschool the other day when he didn't get to be calendar person. He's our very sensitive "flower."

It's a girl!

More pics of Marie Elizabeth Hanson

It's Baby, baby, baby time!!!

Here SHE is...the 2009 model Hanson! Erika was at waddling around Bed Bath and Beyond at 3:00 and she was born at 6:22. She's 7lb 15oz and 19 3/4 inches long. All is good with mommy and baby. The name is yet to come, so we'll have to get back to you on that!

Go Vikes!

National Holiday around this neighborhood... looked like a mob scene of purple on our sidewalks. These are our neighbor girls, Paige and Allison.

Travis' first day of preschool in the guitar shirt he picked out all by himself.

I'm not sure which day Chris ran to get his keys and checkbook faster? The day that Travis wanted a new Vikings hat or the golf clubs and bag? It was pretty much "Dad, I want golf clubs/Vikings hat." And Chris says "Go get in the truck."

Eva's first day of 1st grade. Boy, they aren't messing around in 1st grade! No more "it's all about socialization." Nope. You'd better be ready to read and do homework and get smart!

Finally it's summer... but no swimming for poor Eva. She was out in our blow-up pool any chance she got all summer, and now she can't.

But, we did rig her up a bag system so that she can go down the water slide and run through the sprinkler and such. Although, she is not a very good aimer with this sprayer and one left hand. Dad got sprayed pretty good dressed up on his way out to celebrate good radio ratings.

Eva with her bag. Neighbor girl: Maggie. I know, she's super cute. She's as sweet as she is cute and we love these neighbors and they are moving. I tried for a long time to just not like them.... impossible.

Eva's broken arm

A pregnancy just wouldn't be complete around here without someone getting casted. Too bad it had to be Eva though. She broke the distal (far) end of the ulna and radius, a greenstick and buckle fracture for you medical people. She fell off her razor scooter. A scooter Chris had not wanted because he thought they were so dangerous. I thought it was great for balance and coordination and just a part of growing up......hmmmmm. I had also been beating myself up that we were horrible parents that had not taught her to ride a bike without training wheels yet because she just didn't seem coordinated enough........ guess I got that one right! She said it really didn't hurt that bad. Expected to heal very quickly, cast off in 3 weeks and back to normal in 6. She was at the neighbors' playing as soon as we got home and is now at a movie with them. She has now broken her leg, head and arm and she is SIX YEARS OLD!!!! And yes, I did ask if she has some weird bone disease or something as well and they do not think so. Just bad luck. She is completely fine though. We had been planning a trip to a hotel that has a big, sandy beach and a pool in Detroit Lakes that Chris stays at while he is at WeFest. We went last year and they loved it. She can't go, she wants to stay at the lake with Grandma Lois instead of watching the boys swim or instead of us all staying home. Every pregnancy I am doing this ortho/bathing with a cast crap. Yes, yes, yes..... I know.... this is the last baby.

No pictures of the purple cast because dad took the camera to WeFest......

Bad Chicken

Remember when the 4th of July used to be about beer and mooseluck, maybe a little golf? Well, Chuck and Chris tried out the beer and golf. Maybe lots of beers because this video clip was what Chuck taught Travis after they got home. Sorry, a little dialogue with Lois while Chris is grillin' BBQ chicken. We also talked when after a day of drinking and mooseluck and wakeboarding, we'd then get ready to go out around 8 or 9. We were in bed instead.

bad chicken

4th of July

I wanted an hour to myself and I didn't care the cost. Luke's thing to do (taught to him by Eva) is throw plastic cups over the stairs and say "PARTY!" Well, they took it to the extreme party for my "hour off." The nice touch that Eva wasn't so proud of when she had to clean it up was the paper she cut into itty-bitty squares for "snow." I could hear laughing and laughing from Luke, so I at least knew he was safe. An hour off, but an hour to help them clean it up. Not sure that was the smartest idea I had, or they had.

The neighbors had a nest of baby bunnies. It was the gathering place of the neighborhood. Paige told Luke that the bunnies were going nigh-nigh, so he went in the house and got his blankie and laid down.

I did at one point look out the window at the bunnies and see Toni digging in the nest and about an hour later rolling in something in the yard. I thought our sweet Toni was a murderer, but didn't find any dead bunnies anywhere.

Our pool man.

Chuck taking Andrew and Travis for a canoe ride. Poor Andrew, Travis had big-brother-brain that weekend and was so nervous that Andrew was going to drop the paddle in the lake. He was also so nervous about Luke on the dock and started crying that he was just scared he would fall in and didn't want me to let go of him. Isn't that sweet?

Travis using my belly for a pillow. The other day, I was outside watching Luke and talking to the neighbors. Eva went in and Chris asked her "where's mom?" Eva says "She's outside talking to the neighbors. Mom's the fattest one out there!" I asked Chris if he gave her a high five..... he says no?

Sue brought to our attention how funny it is that we run and get the camera whenever tantrums occur. How horrible is it that I had never even thought of that? HA! For some reason the chair needed to go through the glass for Luke at that moment. I tried putting it in, nope. I tried setting it in front of the door, nope. He was just mad, mad, mad. Funny to us.

Travis' huge muscles.

Giving Luke some big muscles with baseballs.

And then attacking Chuck with his big muscles. Eva in her cool sunglasses and Hannah Montana life jacket. See, I get her girl stuff sometimes!

Luke trying to get the camera.

Our darling God-daughter, Norah Louise. She's really cute even without all this stuff, but I didn't get any good pictures of her.

Travis and Eva both passed swimming lessons this year. Yes, Eva who puked in the pool when she was 4 because she was so nervous passed level one. I thought she'd be 10 before that happened. Taking Luke to swimming lessons where he couldn't get in the pool was a total nightmare.

Stealing daddy's hat.

Chuck and Sue made my kids so happy by decorating the pontoon and being in the boat parade this year. No wonder Travis has asked me every day for the past 2 months "when are we going to Chuck and Sue's?"

Travis playing cars at home. I LOVE toys in the kitchen so much.... NOT!

See note above about how we run and get the camera when our children are having a bad moment. Occasionally, Luke is crabby for 30 minutes when he gets up from his nap. This was one of those days, so he got his blankies and laid on the kitchen floor.

Backyard fun.

Oh look, there's no one around Eva, she must be winning?!?!?!??! Oh no. She's last. Not last out of 10 kids, last out of about 50. I know I'm nearing the age when it won't be nice to make fun of her anymore, but it is funny..... and sad right now. I don't think I have to worry about spending my life in the bleachers watching Eva. She asked me "why does everyone want to run so fast?" HA! I told her "because Eva, winning can be really fun." She says "mom, I'm NEVER going to win." This was before I knew that she was coming in last. Then, she went to BB camp. The first day, she pointed to the other girls and shook her head "no" so that they wouldn't throw the ball to her. I almost fell off my chair laughing. She did get much better though in a week, but she still didn't like it. She asked where the "camping" part of BB camp was? You know, tents, smores, etc. She just isn't into it at all.