Oh I wish I were an ....

Oscar Mayer Weiner! That's right, the "weinermobile" was just parked in front of our house for the past hour. Arik met the person who does social media for them at a conference he went to in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. He asked if he could get a ride in one of their cars the next time they were in Minneapolis.

He never actually thought he would hear from them ... but guess what? He did! He thought he would just get information on where they would be for a promotional event, but they actually contacted us and asked for our home address.

Such a riot!

It took a lot of convincing to get Matthew out there, but Amy loved it (and so did the neighbors). They gave the kids little red weiner whistles, and their own little stuffed weinermobiles. Hilarious! They even honked their horn a few times. As you probably guessed, the horn plays the Oscar Mayer weiner song :)

Such a fun way to end our Sunday afternoon!!

Fall Leaves

Nothing says Fall in Minnesota like a day of playing in the leaves. The kids and Arik were outside for about an hour raking up piles of leaves and jumping in them! They loved it, and we loved it because they ultimately napped like champs! Enjoy the photos!

Halloween 2009

Well ... a favorite holiday has come and gone - Halloween! We had a great time with the kids yesterday. After we fueled up on some much needed coffee, we kicked off the annual pumpkin carving. Just one pumpkin for us this year. The kids weren't big fans of scraping out the "guts," but they loved deciding which shape each of the features on the face would be.

As you can see, we aren't too high tech here in the Hanson house!!

The kids were so excited to put their costumes on after dinner. Matthew was dressed at Batman this year, and Amy was a spider. Both costumes were great. From the smiles on their faces, I think it is safe to say that they liked them too!

Grandma and Grandpa Hanson joined us for trick or treating this year. They were a great addition. We met up with the Studdifords over at their place, and did a two block circle with the four little kids.

Some of the neighbors went all out with decorations and sound effects. We thought Amy would be scared, but she totally loved it! The more noise and moving parts the better!

The kids were exhausted when we got home, and went to bed almost immediately. Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend! Enjoy the pictures!

Our fall visit to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market

A photo and video summary of our trip to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market today...











This was Amy's favorite...

Soccer Star!

Check out our little soccer superstar!  Tonight was Matthew's last soccer game of the season.  We decided to sign him up through the local YMCA to see if the Bonello love of the game made it into his gene pool.  The jury is still out :)

It is probably just his age - but he seems to be looking around a lot and not paying attention to the game.  Except - of course - when he is the goalie!  He loves being the goalie!  He got a chance to rotate into that position in almost every game.  Arik and I are convinced he likes it because he gets to use his hands!  Funny kid.  

Tonight was his best game to date.  He ran around like a maniac.  He did get distracted by a giant red flag in the corner of the field for about 3 minutes ... but then he was back.  

We are very proud of him.  

As you can see from the photos, he got a medal tonight.  The Y is great about giving those out to the kids with every session.  He loved it.  The little boy in the picture with him is his buddy Adam.  His Mom also works for Blue Cross, and the two of them have been in the same daycare class for the past couple of years.  Adam is a great kid.  It has been really fun getting to know his family better, and watching them play.   

Great job guys!

Twin Cities 5K

While many other (and shall I say more skilled) runners were preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon this past weekend - I was running the Twin Cities 5K!  I had a great time bonding with some fellow Blue Cross employees and trying to win the corporate challenge.  The results won't be in for a couple of weeks, but keep your fingers crossed!  In order to have a corporate team, you need two things:  A few really fast people, and some extra bodies.  

For this event - I was a body.  I am new to this whole running thing, so speed really isn't an adjective I use to describe my style.  

Our whole family is getting over a horrible cold, so my lungs were not in the best shape on Saturday morning.  And as you can see from the pictures - it was also pretty cold and wet.  I was hoping to finish in under 30 minutes ... but alas ... I came in at 30:14.  Not bad, considering the circumstances.  

It was fun.  The women in the picture all started off together, but in the last mile we split up and finished at our own pace.  Looking forward to doing it again next year ... and beating my time!  I would love to say that I would beat the guys too, but their times were insane.  Gerry (back row far left) finished in under 19 minutes!  Are you kidding?  He is a machine!  My buddy Marlo (middle dark shirt) came in around 22 minutes, and Dean (back row on the right) at like 21.  I don't know how they do it.  Time to up my speed on the treadmill!

Goggles

I just had to share the pictures off to the right.  The kids recently showed an interest in goggles when we were swimming at the YMCA.  So ... like any good mother ... I got them some.  I thought they could use them for swimming lessons, or for playing the pool.  

However, tonight I was treated to a show of what goggles can do in the bathtub!  The black and white photos don't even do them justice.  Amy's are pink, and Matthew's are blue.  I think they are hooked!  They had their faces in the water so much I could hardly get them clean!  

They don't really get the concept of being able to see underwater, but I think they love not having to wipe their eyes when they get done blowing bubbles.  Amy's picture is extra funny, because she is doing her usual "float" in the tub.  She literally lays with her head on the bottom of the tub with her ears underwater for several minutes at a time.  She is such a fish!

The pictures were just too funny not to share.  Enjoy!