Mother's Day 2010

Happy Mother's Day! What a glorious day. Rocco took my Mom to the Twins game, so we spent the day "Hanson Style!" Aaron offered to host brunch at his place. It was awesome. He made french toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs with vegetables in them. Everything was fabulous. We contributed some Mel-O-Glaze donuts, so you can only imagine the sugar high on the kids after all of that. They were crazy.

We busted out the bikes, and everyone headed outside. The kids rode up and down the sidewalk, and all through Aaron's garage. It was funny.

Such a special day.

This year, Matthew made me both a crown and a medal. You will see in one of the pictures how great they turned out. How did he know that I was worthy of both?

Stay tuned for the next post when we celebrate Grandma Jane's birthday, and do a belated Mother's Day celebration with the Bonello's!!

5.6.10

That's right ... Happy 10-year Anniversary to us! There is a benefit to getting married in 2000. I told Arik that day if he ever forgot how many years we had been married -he had bigger problems. We have a trip planned to San Francisco later this month, but I thought 10 years of wedded bliss was worthy of a night on the town.

I secretly arranged for Arik's parents to come over and watch the kids. I sent Arik little bits of information all afternoon via email. By the end of the day, he knew what time he needed to be home by, that he had to change his clothes, and that only a suit or shirt & tie would do. I didn't tell him where we were going until we were in the car. We had reservations at D'Amico Kitchen in the Chambers Hotel downtown Minneapolis.

It was really fun to get dressed up and go out on a "school night." We split a bottle of wine, ate some fabulous pasta, and topped the meal off with beautiful chocolate dessert.

To quote Arik in his toast for the evening, "Here's to 50 more!"

Lost Tooth #2!!!

Check it out! Matthew lost his second tooth this afternoon! He is so excited. I wonder what the Tooth Fairy will bring this time? She brought a silver dollar last time. I think she set the bar pretty high :)

Matthew thought that this time she could bring him a toy. He said that would make her the "Toy Tooth Fairy" - what do you think?

Bathtime Fun!

Welcome to Matthew and Amy's favorite evening activty - Bathtime! The two of them are so funny in the tub together. They prefer to do them separately, so they can "swim", but throwing them in together really saves a LOT of time!

They love to put on their goggles and look at one another's toes underwater. It is hilarious. Enjoy the photo. We enjoy hours upon hours of watching them have fun together!

Downtown Mpls Fun

Last Saturday morning we headed downtown to let the kids run through the skyways and see what kind of fun we could find. We thought we would take the train down ... but due to some early signs of crabbiness ... we drove.

As you can see from the photos, we found lots of fun! We first stopped at Panera to grab some coffee (for the adults of course), and a muffin. The first stop was a HUGE success. We even got to use the bathrooms - I am pretty sure that was a highlight of the day for Amy and her new potty training skills.

Then it was off to find our way to the IDS tower. In one of the attached pictures, you will see the kids laying head-to-head on the water fountain in the middle of the building. The water actually falls from several stories up, so it looks like it is raining on you if you lay down and look up at it. The kids LOVED IT! They could have spent all day there.

Next up - Target Field!! That's right, the new baseball park that is located just behind the Target Center. It is awesome. They were hosting a Gopher baseball game that afternoon, so we got to see the stadium in action. It was great. The photo of the two kids in the giant glove is from the stadium. The workers couldn't believe what a popular photo attraction that thing was. It was perfect. We debated buying some $2 tickets just so we could get in and walk around ... but we didn't. We figured we would save the fun for another day when we can actually watch the Twins play.

Although the kids loved it, I am pretty sure Arik loved this stop the most. The stadium is awesome.

After that long walk (and yes, both kids walked the entire way), we made our way back to the IDS Center for some lunch. A quick stop at Potbelly, and we were headed back to our house for naps. Whew! What a fun morning! Enjoy the photos and the rest of your week.

Como Zoo in March

Who would have thought that we would spend the day outside at the Como Zoo on March 7th? What a beautiful day. Although I wish we would have gone to the MN Zoo instead, it was a fun morning. Check out the smiling faces on the giraffe statues!

We walked through the Conservatory first, and were pleasantly surprised to see the koi fished moved to the sunken garden. They are usually in the other one! Matthew was super excited to see the snakes at the other inside exhibit before we headed out to see the big animals.

It's ironic, as a child, I couldn't have cared less about the Conservatory. I thought the plants and the flowers were boring. I couldn't wait to see the animals, and collect those weird plastic figurines that were molded before your eyes in the machines that smelled like they were on fire.

Now, I feel the exact opposite.

I find the gardens to be beautiful, and the animal buildings ... well ... too small to house the animals that live there. It is unfortunate. Maybe it is because I am bigger, but the buildings seems to get smaller and smaller every time we go there. Overall, it was a good day, but I think we will hit the MN Zoo next time.

3.6.10 The First Tooth Is Lost!!

Hooray! Another milestone in the Hanson household has been reached - Matthew has lost his first tooth!! The look on his face says it all. I was brushing his teeth on Saturday morning when I noticed how loose it had gotten. One little tug and it was out!

I don't remember ever having teeth this small. It was so tiny in my hand!

We put it under his pillow, and the tooth fairy was kind enough to leave him a shiny silver dollar! He was thrilled. He told Arik he was going to buy some boards at Home Depot (so he could hammer them, of course). Then he told him he was going to get a snowblower ... and then it was some new orange cones. Ok, so he doesn't totally get the concept of money, but his heart was in the right place. That money is destined to help him buy something he really loves :)

Enjoy the picture. It makes me smile every time I see it.