11,000+

WOW! In one year of tracking visitors to The Hanson Hat Trick site there have been over 11,000, which seems a bit crazy to me. Granted, there are plenty of sites out there that get large amounts of visitors daily; however, I never planned on being that type of site. I just wanted to have a family blog to share photos and stories with all of our loved ones who we don't get to see as often as we would like. I know several of those family members and friends check in on a regular basis as well as many other people from various parts of Minnesota and beyond.
So thank you for caring and continuing to come back to check out what we're up to. I'm really blown away...

Tonight's Funny

Tonight while eating supper I was talking to Mark about asperger syndrome and students that have been in my classroom who had this diagnosis. Anthony was busy eating and not paying too close to our conversation or so I thought. After swallowing the massive amount of taco soup on his spoon he blurts out, "ASS BURGER". (Granted, asperger sounds an awful lot like ass burger and overall it's just an awful moniker for a syndrome that impacts school-age children. Knowing our luck this will be his new word to use at daycare and various other places.) The hard part is to remain expressionless (not burst out laughing) and try steering the conversation somewhere safe and void of swear words. Mark and I really tried hard not to laugh, but we were overcome by giggles, which caused a couple more ass burgers to fly out of his mouth.
Oops.
Oh boy.
ASS BURGER.
It really was hilarious!

Weekend Visitors

Anthony enjoyed LOTS of reading time with grandma and papa.
Mom brought down three new Sesame Street books that he loved.
(Thanks for reading them over and over and over, mom!)
One had monsters in it, which is right up his alley!

Mom and dad came down for the weekend, which was great being they hadn't made a trip like that since September. (Completely understandable given the circumstances they've been under the past eight months...)
Anyway, it was great to have them here for a visit, eat good food and give Anthony some grandparent time. (Mark and I were even able to go out Saturday night to see a great movie, Taken, and eat some yummy food at Applebee's.)
They stayed through Monday and Anthony had a busy day baking cookies, having papa read him lots of books on the couch, making a kite and ducky during craft time and playing constantly. He had a great time and is definitely looking forward to the next visit.

Anthony loved spending time with papa and helping him "fix" things around the house.
It was pretty funny when he checked out papa's left hand and realized two fingers were missing. He kept staring, running away and then coming back for another look. (Don't worry, Bubsa Bo, it took me a long time to figure it all out too and not be completely freaked out!)

Our budding hockey star

Hockey has become a new obsession for Anthony. He loves it and is always talking about the sport - skates, ice, puck, net, helmet, etc, etc. One night before bath time he was naked and "skating" around with two books under his feet, which was hilarious. Almost every day he'll pick up something - a golf club, his bat, a ruler - and call that his stick. If someone mentions watching or playing basketball or football or any other sport he'll chime in with HOCKEY! So it really wasn't a surprise that I found the boys playing hockey in the driveway today. (Okay, A is actually caring around a gigantic golf stick and hitting a gigantic golf ball, but you get the picture, right?!) What a bunch of cuties!

Jammin' with Joni

On Wednesday night Joni came over for supper, some play time with Anthony and some chit chatting time with me. It was great to have some one on one time --- we've missed her! The highlight for Anthony was all of the music and dancing. We found out quickly that Jo can really jam on the guitar to Anthony's delight. She also did a great job during "Ice Ice Baby Time"! (It's become a nightly ritual lately to dance to Vanilla Ice and M. C. Hammer after supper.)
Yesterday after picking up Anthony from daycare he asked if Joni could come over to play the guitar again. Too cute!
Hopefully there will be another Jammin' with Joni session in our near future.

Cautiously Optimistic

April 11. 2008

Today was absolutely fabulous! It felt amazing to leave work and be greeted with such a warm, yet completely foreign, wonderful temperature. I loved having the windows open, playing outside before supper and then going on a family walk. Oh, how I've missed those! Today just makes me even more excited for spring and the warm days to come. (One of my students today coined today the beginning of "sprinter" - the in between seasons stage. I like it!)
After looking through my photos, though, I'm hoping that warmer temperatures are truly here to stay. The above photo was taken last year on the last snow storm of the year. Hopefully our last snow storm of this year happened last Tuesday.
Even Sven on Kare 11 said that if the temperatures reached into the 50s that winter was basically behind us. (My fingers are crossed!)
So once again, I'm cautiously optimistic and hoping the warmer and longer days are here to stay.

Happy Anniversary, Hanson Hat Trick!

Our family blog turns one today. Throughout the course of this past year there have been 250 posts written, over 10,000 visitors and lots of "Kathy Lee" moments of sharing all about Anthony. I have become thoroughly addicted to blogging and love using it as a way to keep in touch with all of our loved ones.
Looking ahead to another year of blogging I know there will be lots to share. I'm already looking forward to summer and all that it will entail - trips to the beach, playing with friends, going up north, time spent camping and celebrating Anthony's third birthday. Wow! There definitely will be a lot to blog about and share.
Perhaps I'll even be blogging about bunk beds? (Yes, bunk beds. This was Mark's endearing term to start the discussion about baby #2.) We now official could begin the process again through LSS to adopt our second child. It's something we've been talking at length about in the past few weeks. So who knows? Maybe this time around I'll be sharing all the behind-the-scenes pre-adoption joy and angst. I guess everyone will just have to stay tuned to see what happens.
Thank you all for checking in this past year and being a part of our family via the blog and other ways too. Cheers!

Zimmer Get Together

Emerson, Mason, Rylan and Anthony trying to figure out which toy to play with next.

Today after Anthony's nap we headed up north for a get together at the Zimmer's household. It was an exciting event to finally meet beautiful, little Gracelynn and to see the AMAZING addition to their house. (I can't believe I didn't get any good shots of Gracie. I guess I'll just have to visit again sometime in the near future!)
As soon as we got there Anthony was greeted by toys, which made him immediately drop to his knees and begin playing. There were tractors and cars and animals and monster trucks galore! I know for sure he'll be asking to go to the Feierabend and Zimmer households because they are the mecca of amazingly fun toys! (Tomorrow he'll probably go through some major toy withdrawals after today's fun events. Seriously, he will!)

Anthony, Mason and Clara taking some time out to enjoy a bite.

Nummy time! I think Anthony basically just ate chips today; however, that's better than nothing. Right? On the flip side, both Mark and I enjoyed wonderful food throughout the day. Jenn's pudding concoction was definitely a highlight for me! I realized on the way home that I had FOUR servings of it today. YIKES!

Pinata!

The pinata was a highlight for the kids. Thankfully Mason had some muscles as well as a karate chop or two to really do some damage. Good idea, Charlie and April!

Anthony and Luke just hanging out together.

Mark and Cam-a-roo enjoying some quiet time on the couch.
This birthday boy had quite the busy, but fun day!

What a treat it was for us to spend the majority of the day
with my wonderful and fun-loving godson.
To say we love him would be putting it mildly.
He's such a great little guy who makes us smile all the time.

Honestly, we just love our friends and feel so fortunate to have an amazing group of individuals who continue to be such an important part of our lives. They are a big reason why we love living in this area so much. Tonight was the first time we've all hung out together with all of the kids in tow too. It really was fantastic; I can't wait to do it again!

Emerson

Hey everyone!
Meet my friend, Emerson! Isn't he super cute?! I had lots of fun hanging out with him and am looking forward to when he can start crawling/walking and playing right beside me! You should check out his blog too! He's such a funny baby and has fun, crazy parents that love him lots.
A

Two Already?

Cam-a-roo turns TWO today!
His sock monkey party today was a ton of fun with lots of yummy food, fun toys and friends for Anthony to play with and the cutest little two year old around!

What a big boy Cam has become!
I still cannot believe how much he's talking and how he's grown into a toddler. What happened to that little baby?!

It was delightful watching Cam-a-roo open gifts!
(Yes, delightful!)
He put so many smiles on my face with his reaction. Most kids would be totally ripping into everything. Not Cam, though.
Lots of things were just thrown out of the bags still wrapped and he would wonder off to a grandma or another loved one in the room. Clearly he was distracted by other things rather than opening up his gifts, which was so cute and so Cam!

Thank you, Cam, for allowing us to celebrate in your wonderful day. You are greatly loved and such a special little guy. We look forward to a lifetime of celebrations and cheering you on throughout your life.

We're still here

Anthony's new look.
He's constantly wearing daddy's gloves and is in love with all things sports. On this particular night it was basketball, but hockey has become a favorite too.

Yes, it's been awhile, but we're still here. I guess our weeks have been filled with trying to balance life at work and at home. (For me, I feel like I'm swamped lately with correcting - yuck!) Anthony is doing well and had a great two weeks at daycare, which is a good thing given what happened three weeks ago... (A two year old really shouldn't be headbutting and putting others in headlocks - YIKES!)
Everyday he finds a way to make us laugh. Last weekend he declared that he would like a little sister named Stickers Hanson. What?! Just last night he hopped off the bed and declared that it was "pooping time" as he left the room. This morning he started crying in the bathtub because his pee pee was turning into a prune like his fingers and toes. What a hoot! Where does he come up with all of this?

Anthony loves our weekend breakfasts, but loves it even more when daddy comes home with a paper and donuts. Clearly this was a big mess, but he enjoyed every bite!