Happy Birthday Grandpa Hanson!

We just wanted to wish Grandpa Hanson a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! Too bad it is rainy and wet - he won't get outside much to celebrate. See you soon!

MN Children's Museum

On Tuesday after school, Katie, Will and I went to the MN Children's Museum to check out their new exhibit about Sesame Street. Katie was VERY excited. I think she expected the actual characters to be there. :) It was a pretty cool exhibit. They also had a fitness exhibit where kids could do all kinds of strength, balance, and endurance exercises. Will didn't really know what to think of everything. He DID like watching the kids run around and climbing with Katie - when I would let him. (In the pictures, Katie's face is a mess because they let the kids do face painting...and well, that's how Katie painted her face. :))

We are heading back to Waukon again this weekend for my nephew Jordan's confirmation on Sunday. I don't think we will get to Waukon until later Friday night because we have to stop by Wade and Donna Hogen's. Orv and Sharon Hogen are going to be around and they haven't met Will yet.

Katie and Will hanging out in Big Bird's nest.

A tale of two Willies...

Katie perfecting her surfing skills.

Katie and Will on the job site.

This was pretty cool - they had an area where the kids could sit and appear on screen as if the Sesame Street characters were talking to them. They also had a VCR where parents could put a tape in and record their child's on screen debut. But honestly - tell me, who in the world carries VCR tapes with them when they go to a museum????!

Before and After

Will has started pulling himself up on things. You can tell he is very strong and will keep pulling and pulling until he gets up on his knees or feet. Once he is up, he is still learing that he needs to hold on or topple over. A few days ago he pulled himself up on our coffee table. He looked like such a big boy I had to take a picture. So I went and got the camera and snapped a picture. I wanted to take another one and just as the camera snapped the photo, he let go and, well...the result is the picture below. Being the tough guy he is he didn't cry, whine or even let it bother him. He just started pulling himself up again.

Before:

After:

Happy Birthday John!

Katie helped me make a birthday cake for John yesterday afternoon. She did the sprinkles and some of the frosting. Will didn't get to do anything this year.

I also found out yesterday that I won a drawing at the Byerly's supermarket here in town. We got a $50 gift card and a big basket if Italian pastas, sauce, olive oil, a nice plate, and a dishtowel. So every one's invited for supper I guess. :)

This weekend, Katie's school had a used kids' stuff sale to raise funds for next year. I was able to shop at it last night because I volunteered last weekend to help out. There was an entire gym full of outdoor toys, indoor toys, puzzles, dolls, baby equipment, books, clothes, you name it, they had it. About 25 of us went through everything and had 'first dibs' on whatever we wanted. I ended up coming home with 2 big boxes of clothes, a train set, some Lincoln Logs, books, sticker books, sippy cups, and shoes...all for $50. I was pretty happy. Katie played dress up all morning, trying on her new clothes. She wore a swimsuit, a pretty pink dress, a frilly nightgown, skirts, and tank tops. (I'm sure pictures will follow at some point.) :) Will wasn't very excited so he opted out of the fashion show.

Warm weekend

Yes, it is getting warmer up here...we did have a nice Monday and Tuesday this week. I think it got into the 60's...although there were 40 mile an hour wind gusts so we didn't really make it outside much. Today it's windy again and only in the 40's. This weekend looks to be the best weather we have had in a LONG time, should get into the mid 60's even with a chance of rain. It must be because of John's birthday! Yep, that's right John's birthday is tomorrow! Out of respect (and the fact that I have to live with him) I will not post his age. (Although anyone else is more than welcome to. :))

Waterpark of America

On Thursday after naps we headed to the Radisson Hotel and the Waterpark of America. John was project manager on these buildings when they were built a couple years ago, and we have not been inside them yet. I think we should have gotten a discount because of the work he did on them, but alas - nothing. We got a room for one night, and waterpark tickets for 2 days. Katie really liked our room because it had bunk beds in it! She could climb all the way to the top by herself. Once we got unpacked we headed straight to the waterpark.

They have everything you can think of in this waterpark. They have a lazy river that you can ride around on with intertubes. They have a big wave pool, a pool for swimming and basketball, 2 big hot tubs, and a surfing type area. They also have a HUGE kids area with 6 water slides, 0 entry area, water sprouting from everywhere and every 90 seconds or so a GIANT bucket of water dumps out over everything. For the bigger kids and adults they have 2 tube slides, 3 body slides and 1 giant family raft ride. These are the slides that you can see sticking out of the building. John and I did everything except the raft ride...didn't think Katie could handle that just yet, but for sure next time. She was happy just doing a couple small kids' slides and swimming with her life jacket. Will went down a small slide with me and Katie - not sure if he liked it or not. He liked the water, and he was a big splasher. We always thought with the way his legs kick that he would be great in water - well we were right. We brought him in the pool to swim with Katie and he would just about take off. Didn't mind getting wet at all. And as loud as it was in there...he still managed to fall asleep twice.


Katie also had a good time in their arcade...as did John and I. (Will maybe not so much.) Thursday night we got ready for bed. Katie was so excited about the bunk beds that she didn't fall asleep til sometime after 11. Will fell asleep around 9:30, but woke up by midnight and was in a MOOD. By morning we had deduced that his second upper tooth is coming in and bothering him quite a bit. The last 2 nights have not been fun...constant waking, and nothing seems to make him real happy. Shouldn't last too long...it's just about to pop through. (Yeah, I just keep telling myself that.)


When we left the hotel, we drove hom in snow, sleet, etc. We were supposed to get 3-6 inches on Friday, but ended up not sticking much. Yesterday it finally stopped raining, snowing, whatever. Today seems sunny and dry, but cold. I still say we will never get above 45 again.

John's Vacation

John has been off this whole week, so we have done a little mini vacation. He took Katie to school and picked her up a few times. She thought this was GREAT and has said that she doesn't want me to take her to school anymore - only Dad. :)

On Wednesday night I found a bowling alley that had the bumpers, and had a lane open for us. So I took everyone bowling. John has never been too exciting about bowling, but I got him to go. After 10 years I finally found a sport I can beat him in. :) Basketball, golf, pool, darts, you name it - I lose. We bowled 2 games and I can finally say I won. Don't get me wrong we all scored terribly, but I was just a bit less terrible. :) Katie had a good time, and they even had kids bowling shoes, and she loved her 4 pound pink ball. These pics are from my phone so they may not be great.

Will had his 9 month checkup last Thursday. He weighed 22 pounds, 12 ounces. (Less than what I thought.) His growth is finally starting to slow down a little bit! He was just over 30 inches long.

What a day

Initially we were going to spend the day finishing laundry and possibly picking up some new shoes for Katie. Then I saw the Doodlebops were going to be at the Mall of America. What is a Doodlebop you ask? The Doodlebops are a show on the Disney channel. It's a small kid rock band made up of 3....people, I guess. They are each a different color - one pink, one blue, one orange. Katie hasn't even seen their show, but knows their songs from the computer. I decided that we might as well go and check out their show at 1:30. How crowded could it be?
We got to the mall around 11:30 am, ate lunch and then decided to go get an early seat. They were opening up seating at 12:30 and it was on a first come first serve basis. I thought - heck we'll be really early, but that's ok. As we headed toward the rotunda I saw a LONG line of strollers. Yep, that was the line for seating - there was probably 100 people ahead of us. We had to sit on the floor up by the stage, but that's where Katie wanted to be anyway. The bad news is that we had to sit on the hard, cold floor for an hour before the show started. Will and Katie were VERY good, very patient, just perfect...which is more than I can say for a lot of kids there. The show lasted 20 minutes. :) They are giving a full concert tomorrow night at the Xcel center, but I would rather have a free 20 minute taste.

As long as we were at the mall, Katie wanted to do a ride and since she was so patient and was behaving so well we thought it was only fair. :) Nickelodeon is the new sponsor of the amusement park in the mall. They have changed most of the rides to look like or be named after shows on Nickelodeon. Again, Katie isn't really allowed to watch Nick that much, but she does know the characters. As we were walking through we passed one spot where they were doing a meet and greet with a few characters from a show that Katie has seen - The Backyardigans. It's a cute show about these neighborhood kids (they are really animals) that play in their backyard and imagine themselves in a different world. Got some good pictures.



Katie rode on the train, which is now a Dora train. Then we headed off to look for shoes. Having found NONE that both of us liked we gave up and decided to do one more ride before heading home. Katie wanted to ride the carousel. I figured the three of us could sit on the bench that goes around instead of an animal. Nope, they would only allow 2 people to sit there - I guess Will counts as an entire person. :) She said that I could hold Will and stand by Katie as she rides on an animal. Well that made no sense to me, but we went for it. As she is going around checking seat belts she tells me that her manager said Will actually has to be on an animal too. I ask her if it's really ok for him and she says it's totally fine. Hmmm....ok. As the ride starts, Will is holding on like a pro. I really wish we had gotten a picture of it because he looked so old. Then the horse started going up and down - he started giggling more than I have ever heard (unless Katie is tickling him of course). Every time it went up he would giggle and shriek. It was really the cutest thing. Katie was proud because she held on all by herself and I didn't hold onto her, like I usually do.
We had a good day, but I am beat. It's 10:00...now I'm off to finish that darn laundry.

Correction

Hey everyone - I just wanted to keep you informed of a slight change in plans. Turns out we won't be able to leave town tomorrow (Thursday)...instead we will be taking off Friday morning. Not a big deal, just wanted to let you know.

The new TwisterNeck

Monday night John and Katie entertained Will and I. Katie is quite the little showgirl, as if we didn't know that already. :) Here are some pictures of the new group. I have their first video too, but I'll try and post that later.


On a different note, Will slept very well last night. He went to bed about 10 and woke up at 4. I fed him, rocked him and after about 40 minutes I was able to put him back down and he stayed there til about 7:30! There's a first time for everything, and hopefully it repeats tonight. I can't say I slept great last night because I was still waking up every couple of hours trying to listen for him, sure that he was just about to make a noise. :) So I'm sure those of you that are interested are saying "what did you do differently?" I actually have an answer this time. John moved the little rocking chair out of Will's room and replaced it with our bigger easy chair rocker. This is much more comfortable to sit in at 2, 3, 4 am. Also, instead of covering Will up in a blanket I used the shirt I had been wearing for the last two days. Gross you say? Think again...people have suggested that this makes Will think that I am still sleeping inches away. It could be coincidence, but I would like to think that it had something to do with the success last night.

And just as we are making some headway...we go ahead and possibly screw things up again. :) The four of us will be heading to IA probably tomorrow afternoon. We are planning on staying until Monday. Our niece, Sarah, is getting confirmed at St. John's on Sunday. We are all looking forward to seeing her in a dress. I think the last time I saw her in a dress....well, Denise was probably still picking out her clothes.