Let the holidays begin ...

Tonight we had the first of four Christmas celebrations. We spent most of the afternoon and evening with Arik's family out in Woodbury. Not only did we eat ourselves silly with meatballs, mashed potatoes, and lefse - we also opened some pretty amazing gifts. 

As you will see in the photos, there was no shortage of fun. 

Despite some short naps, the kids were really good. I think Amy was asleep by the time we got out of the driveway!

Thank you again Rod, Diane and Aaron for a wonderful day! Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays...Hanson style

Happy holidays to you and yours--island style!

The Happiest Gnome

Great time with the Nederloes last night at the Happy Gnome in St. Paul. Great beer (the Sprecher and Delirium Tremens were fabulous), food and conversation. We even ran into an old friend--Wally Freier for all your Woodbury HWH followeres--who had dropped in during a break from the adjacent Curling Club. 

May have to make this an annual event...

Pretzels+Chocolate=sweet holiday goodness

Angela busy making chocolate pretzel treats for a party tonight. I've been told in no uncertain terms to keep my grubby mitts off. What, a guy can't take down 24 pretzel rod covered in chocolate in a five-minute sitting? What is the world coming to?

Matthew's 4th Birthday

The birthday celebrating started early this morning. The house was decorated last night (including cupcakes baked!), so we were ready to roll when the family alarm clock of "Can I get up?" came at 6:15 am.

Arik and I went in to Matthew's room and sang him happy birthday. He had a big grin on his face, and asked, "Am I bigger?" He looked in the mirror and decided that he was definitely bigger today than he was yesterday. Very cute.

After a quick trip to the potty, we headed to the dining room where presents and birthday hats awaited. He dove into the presents first. He opened some new Spiderman pajamas, and a toy electric chainsaw (complete with safety goggles :) It was hilarious. He proudly wore his birthday hat during breakfast, and was excited to see us come around the corner with a candle in his raisin toast. We even let him blow it out twice! (see video below)

I joined Matthew and his class for lunch at the daycare. I will say this - it was probably the most balanced lunch I have had in a long time. All food groups were well represented. Notice that I did not say it was delicious. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their birthday cups (Batman or Princess - their choice) and swirly straws. I heard a lot of, "Hey Matthew's Mom ... watch this...." However, my absolute favorite memory is Matthew looking at something his friend Aidan was doing and saying, "Hey Aidan - that looks just like my chainsaw!" You definitely don't hear that every day!

We topped off the day with a quick trip to the local Burger King, and some tasty chocolate cupcakes. We can't believe how big Matthew is getting, and how much he has changed in the past year. Happy Birthday Matthew!

Happy #4 Matthew!

The big guy turns four today. Only 12 to go before that driver's license...

Running with Reindeer

So proud of Angela and Aaron--both ran the Reindeer Run around Lake Harriet on Saturday morning--in subzero temperatures no less. It was Angela's first-ever race! Woo-hoo!

The not-so-funny part? Matthew, my mom and dad and I went out to watch Angela and Aaron run Saturday morning, while Grandma Jane watched Amy (much too cold for a one-year-old). We waited patiently by the south side of the lake. Unfortunately, that's the exact spot where the track breaks in two--we ended up missing them altogether.

However, we did manage to see a bunch of interesting characters running the race including SpiderMan, a group of cows and "present-head", as you'll see in this video.