legomania 2013 peoples choice winner

Holidays 2013

Always the hot kid: Luke on the way home 

from Thanksgiving weekend.  

Chris watches each Bison game on TV after watching it in person.  The entire game was done; Marie had been enduring most of his "watch this play" moments in slow motion (training for being a good wife some day)  and then she saw a yellow dress.  It was now Chris' turn to rewind to the fancy yellow dress and get himself quickly to the computer to find her one.  

Fancy, fancy Bison fan.  

Greatest Bison family picture ever (minus Jason, who didn't quite "lean" hard enough.)  Jamie, Chris, Tee, Travis, Luke, Wyatt, Erika.  Can't wait to travel to Frisco with the Syllings again!  

The flu made its way through Fargo in November/December.  Here is my office mate for a day because of it.  A very productive day still because she is so helpful and calm.  Quite different than bringing Luke to work in years past....

He told you his hair was better than Justin Timberlake's.....Two sucker worth in-fact.  

Luke's learning that you can't always fix your mistakes, but "sorry" does make them a lot less painful.  He pounded the silverware he was cleaning out of the dishwasher on my table and scratched it.  When I told him how proud I was of him for making me this note that said "I am sorry I scratched your table," he said "well, you took away my screen time.  There was nothing else to do."  Still, I'll take it!

Speaking of the flu, Travis got it on his boyscout' bell ringing day.  Luke, Marie and I filled in for him.  Luke and Marie played bell ringing horsie. I'm beginning to realize why I had perma-headache throughout the last 2-3 weeks before Christmas between basketball and the flu and work and volunteering and Sunday school and Bison games and presents and.... well you know...may have to cut back next year. I woke up Dec 26th headache free. Sad for a beautiful season to become so stressful I felt pain like a car accident victim.

Christmas vacation:  I absolutely tortured the 10 year old, Eva, by dragging her to Oxbow on a 30+ degree day to go sledding.  These snow tubes were so fun and relaxing.  

Santa brought her what she wanted:  "Barbie Sister Horse Adventure."  Luke got her the movie, so she was all set!

Best Christmas present to everyone:  Baby Eleanor Joy Buckhouse. (Adam and Sheena's.)  

I think the horsie was intended for dollies?  But Marie and Luke are showing Halle that being little has its' perks because you can actually fit on this small horsie... in a princess costume and crown.  

INTRODUCING YOUR 2013

 LEGOMANIA PEOPLE'S CHOICE WINNER!!!!!!

Oh my goodness.  It was about time.  This was our fourth year winning nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.  I would've given up long ago.  Not Travis.  Such a good attitude about losing.  Just kept trying harder.  The judges didn't pick him, but the people did.  He had a line in front of his display three people deep.  He couldn't go look at other displays unless I was there to keep the "admiring fans" under control.  He says "this is the greatest Lego day ever."  Not to be confused with other wonderful lego days such as playing legos at Andrew Evens' house, playing Palpatine's rescue all Christmas day, building with Grandpa Gerry, playing legos with his friends... those are all "good lego days."  But, this was the greatest.  I think I have another four years of losing in me now.  

bison fancy

Marie turns 4/ Halloween

 My yummy little baby Mi-mi.....

went and turned 4. 

 She had her friends Kyler, Brynn and Malia over for a birthday party. 

 

We've also been going to the Bison games.  My kids like to make these wonderful homemade Bison signs.  

 

And we are lucky enough to have season tickets with the Syllings again this year!

Star Wars party at the library.  Uh-huh.  You're jealous of my birthday afternoon I'm sure. 

Travis the storm trooper and Luke is Darth Vader.  They imprisoned Orion and Marie.  The party actually lasted only about 40 minutes.  The real fun came when a bunch of us parents let them run around in the grass outside the library and "battle" each other with all the light sabers and guns they had brought for an hour. 

We also took family pictures.   

 

I've been trying since then to get a good picture of these two.....impossible.  

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I was more shocked by Luke's calmness throughout pictures or Chris' lack of pouting?  Those two definitely do better with cold weather photos versus hot. 

First year ever I buy the dog a darn costume and she ends up needing to go to the vet just before this for a "hot spot."  So, she was "Coney" for Halloween instead of having to be a hot dog.  

 

Marie baby jaguar.

And Eva the Jaguar.  Somehow the boys didn't have to be this? 

Eva meets Taylor Swift

Once in a lifetime for this ten year old.  Thank goodness I made her comb her hair as she was leaving.  Eva was told she was going to "work" the pre-concert with Chris.  Chris knew there was a meet and greet for radio employees only.  He wasn't sure he would be able to take her in with him, but he wanted to bring her just in case.  He certainly didn't know that Taylor Swift's mom would be giving them a backstage tour under the stage and to see all the costumes and such.  And Eva was greatly surprised when all the scary security people turned out to be in the room because TAYLOR SWIFT WAS ALSO IN THE ROOM!  Yeah, there's pretty much no way I'm going to top Chris on this one and get a bigger smile out of Eva.  Ever.  



 

Eva said Taylor Swift was asking her questions and she couldn't even understand what she was saying because she was so nervous and excited...so she just kept saying "uh-huh."  

 

 Eva's first concert and she is this close.  The yellow security guard in this picture has his back to a side stage that we were second row from.  She seriously might as well never go to another concert in her life because it will never be like that again. 

 

 

Luke's first day of kindergarten and summer vacation

 Eva's first day of 5th grade.  Last year of elementary school!

 Third grader Travis.

 And the newest Hanson elementary school attendee....Luke the kindergartner!  I know, I know.  They are the only kids in the US of A that did not get a new outfit for the first day of school.  I'm sure I'll hear about how I ruined their childhood some day.

What we did this summer..........

I did Hard Charge in June with Tiffany Scheel and Jamie Sylling and her friends.  It was so fun!  Join us next year!?

 We went to Ian Althoff's graduation and stopped by the American Girl Doll store for dinner.

 We also went to the zoo that weekend.  So cute to dress Marie and Halle the same, even with the grumpiest Marie face.  This is my every-day of the summer around 11am when people are so hungry for lunch they can barely function.  My being pregnant with them and being hungry as a bear must've come from their enormous appetites even in utero.

 Buckhouse grandkids.

Fun day at the zoo; In the rain.  My husband is so cute sometimes!  Not so much when he snores.

We went boating and swimming with the Hoffmann's.  The only life jacket I had at the lake that fit him was this Hannah Montana one.  It went perfectly with his tighty-whities he swam in.  Luke doesn't care at all about wearing girl stuff......

 ....or riding a girl bike.  He loves this "heart breaker" bike.  We have a boy one the exact same size, but he likes this one best.  He says it's faster.  And the basket is actually a "boy basket" I purchased on amazon.  Really.

Marie and Luke took care of Toni during the storms.

Minecraft is the hot game at our house.  I don't think Luke is supposed to play on one of these worlds?

We did a field trip day to Detroit Lake's beach one day.  A very cold day.  We still burned an entire day and they spent an hour here trying to figure out how to best spend the money they had brought.  A goose next to a pop machine was also a highlight.  Pretty exciting stuff.

Eva and Luke played together... ONCE.  I had to document it.  Travis was gone, Marie was napping.

The Luke and Marie destruction stage of life has finally ended.  All that's left is "cuddle fun."  I have finally convinced them to just take the top blankets and not the fitted sheets and mattress pads off every bed.

They were very obnoxious at Costco pretending that this was their house.  A house of loudness.

I decided to make my summer a little easier by having sandwiches more often.  Travis was not impressed.

Genius way to play the drum even though the strap is broken!

Eva and Travis went to Neesodak Bible camp where Chris worked for a few summers.  They found his name!

They went to Grandparent camp at Neesodak with Clint and Lois.  They LOVED it.  One of their favorite things ever.

Eva jumped in the lake first thing each morning at Neesodak and at camp Cormorant where she went for an entire week.  (Can you say EXPENSIVE?)

These two love each other.  Marie is very sad at daycare without Luke.  Luke says he wishes Marie could come to kindergarten with him.  Marie was in a time-out the other day, crying and screaming.  Luke went and got a blankie and stuffed kitty to take to her.  I said "you can't go in there, she needs a moment."  He said "I can help her mom!"  and he started crying also.  She is such a spoiled baby sister!

We headed to Leech Lake to stay at Chuck Evens aunt's cabin.  It was a great time.  You can see Toni in the back guarding the door.  If we do this again, Toni needs a xanax because between bugs, fireworks, their puppy Lily, and the inability to see the door and the van at the same time, she was a nervous wreck!

Why is this kid still so delicious to me?  My greatest summer feeding idea ever: Salad bar!  Kids will eat anything with bacon, cheese and ranch on it.

Sue had a brilliant idea to have the kids put on a play.  It was terrific!  The teamwork was unbelievable!

Chuck and Chris took the boys on a fishing trip.

We also went camping with the Buckhouses near Brookings, SD.  Luke made this clever little bench/table.

Travis "perched" to make hot dogs.  I think they call this "owling?"  We call it perching.  He has at least stopped sitting on the toilet like this for BM's.

The children's museum at Brookings is actually better than the one in the cities.  Worth a drive for sure.

Halle and Marie played in the grocery store for hours.

They served Grandma Tree in the restaurant.

Look!  Luke managed to barely get wet in the children's museum water area.  This is a big change from the time we went in the cities.  I was pumped!

Travis' favorite thing to do was to deliver the mail.  He kept checking the post office like it was his paid occupation.

I was pumped too soon.  He swam in the ponds outside. Well, so did two other people (who we did not know) so why not?

I got to do fun things also!  Ginger took me to Washington DC with her where we stayed at the super fancy Mandarin hotel, got to see Heidi preside over the Senate, drank many adult beverages on a rooftop bar overlooking the city and had a great time.

And Ginger came to Fargo and we went out with Ingrid and Jen and all the hubbies downtown.  Such a fun night.  Laughed and laughed, just like the good ol' days.