Christmas Day 2009

Having spent the night in Woodbury, getting to Christmas celebration #3 this year was a piece of cake! Snow? What snow? When you only have to drive a couple of miles down the road - a half a foot of snow is nothing! We spent most of Christmas Day with the Bonellos.

It was another fun filled day with lots of food and lots of presents. I think the highlight of the day was the kids making a snowman with Rocco and Meg out on the deck. Check out the photos - it was awesome!

Again, we couldn't be more thankful for the time we get to spend with our families during the holidays. We love it as much as the kids do.

We are looking forward to a wonderful new year, and can't wait to share bits and pieces of it with all of you! Stay tuned to the blog for the latest and greatest Hanson fun! Happy Holidays!

Christmas Eve 2009

Here are a few photos from our Christmas Eve celebration with the Hansons. Diane made her famous meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lefsa. It was awesome. The kids were so excited to sing Christmas carols with Rod at the piano before opening gifts. And then ... there was chaos... Everyone got great gifts. We are so thankful to live close to our families so we can celebrate with them every year.

Due to the weather, we actually spent the night in Woodbury this year. It was fun. The kids had a blast, and it was fun to have breakfast with everyone the next morning before heading off to Christmas celebration #3!!

"Christmas Morning"

For those of you who do not own a television, the weather forecast for Christmas in Minnesota was not so good. We got lots of snow, and the roads were pretty icy. Therefore, we decided to ask Santa if he would come to our house a day early. That way we could spend most of Christmas Eve with the Hansons, and Christmas Day with the Bonellos.

Well, needless to say, Santa said yes! Isn't it amazing how accomodating Santa can be? With all of the places he has to go, I think he appreciated getting one stop out of the way early. That Santa ... he is such a planner!

I should also point out how smart he is. He is an unbelievable shopper. He knows just what to get the kids, and he always takes advantage of the crazy sales after Thanksgiving.

He brought Matthew a solar system puzzle, a Mickey Mouse doll and a Transformers costume. He brought Amy this baby she was absolutely in love with, a light saber and a Minnie Mouse doll.

I let each of the kids pick out one cookie to leave for Santa. Matthew thought it would be a good idea to have each of them take a bite out of their respective cookies so Santa knew they were from them. I thought that was brilliant. Santa even mentioned it in his letter back to him. Again, what a guy!

Enjoy the photos. Posts with pictures from the various celebrations will be up shortly! Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Holidays...Hanging with the Hansons style

Last year, we stopped sending a hard copy Christmas cards, and started creating photo montages that summed up the year that was. Since the feedback we received from our family and friends was so positive, we decided to give it a try again this year.

We had fun putting it together. Hope you enjoy the show!

The Garbage Lesson

I just had to share these photos. Please excuse the poor quality - we left our camera at Aaron's house last night, so all I had was my cell phone.

Matthew is quite the creative kid. While I was busy mixing up cookie dough in the kitchen - this is what he was busy doing!

He was very serious about his work, and seemed surprised when I asked him what he was up to. This is how the conversation went:

Me: "Matthew, what are you doing?"

Matthew: "Um .. I am putting garbage on the Christmas decorations. I got it out of my recycling box."

Me: "Interesting."

Matthew: "Yeah ... and Mommy ... if you want to learn about garbage ... you can just come in here ... because I am going to talk about garbage ... and how you get garbage ... and how you get rid of it!"

Me: "Sounds fabulous!"

I did make him take it down. I know, I am a mean mother. Matthew tells me that often. I should have gotten a picture the day that he moved a few of the decorations on the mantle to make room for his orange construction cones. That was pretty funny too.

Enjoy the garbage! My favorite piece, and I am not sure you can see it in the picture, was the empty bag of Goldfish. Also present were some little plastic applesauce cups, paper birthday cups, and even an empty soap box. Hilarious!

Matthew's Birthday - Part 2

So the official family party was held today for our 5-year old little boy. It was a ton of fun. We spent the day doing some baking and getting everyone in the spirit of celebrating. Matthew and Amy helped me decorate the cupcakes ... and everyone helped to sample the cookies :)

Tonight we had a house full of people. The guest list for the festivities included my Mom, Arik's parents, Rocco, Meg and Aaron. Everyone came to enjoy some pizza, salad, cupcakes and ice cream.

Matthew made out like a bandit with his gifts. He got an awesome Cars racetrack, some new legos, a Transformer, a Batman toy, and a cool thing from Rocco and Meg that lets him put together little circuits - right up his alley!

Enjoy the photos. We had a great day. Matthew is one lucky 5-year old boy to be surrounded by so many people that love him!

Matthew Turns 5!

Can you believe our little boy is already five? Geez! Where has the time gone?

Today was so much fun. We woke up a little early and had a family celebration before heading off to work and daycare. Arik and I had decorated the house last night with balloons and streamers - so it was a quite a sight this morning. Amy woke up first and said, "Whoa!" as she came into the dining room. It was really funny.

We put a candle in Matthew's toast, and sang "Happy Birthday" to him before opening presents. We got him a little Leapfrog Tag reading system, a couple of books to go along with it, and a Star Wars light saber. As you can probably guess ... the light saber was the bigger hit ...

Today just happened to be "Parents Cookie Social" at the daycare. I was able to get away from work to attend, and brought along some special birthday napkins, cups, and twisty straws for Matthew's class. The kids loved it!

After that, it was off to Burger King for dinner. There is one close to our house that has a play area. While it wouldn't have been our first choice for eating establishments ... today was about what Matthew wanted to do. After downing some kids meals, he and Amy were off and climbing!

Matthew and I then took off to the Mall of America to do some shopping. It was nice to have a little bit of alone time with him. We hit all of his favorite spots, and even got home with enough time for him to watch part of a movie before going to bed.

Overall, a great day. Happy Birthday Matthew! We love you!