"I love Dad more!", "NO!"

Katie and Will have a common argument lately. They fight over John. Every night we get our jammies on and brush our teeth. Will has this strong attachment to John - he ONLY wants Dad to help put his jammies on and brush his teeth. So then Katie runs over to John yelling, "No, I love Dad more!" And because Will can basically only say a few words, he yells at the top of his lungs, "NOOO!" Then Katie yells again, then Will, then Katie, then Will...you get the idea. It really is cute. And it means that John has to do a lot more work with the kids at night so I tell Katie that I think "I" love Dad the MOST. Boy, does THAT make her mad.

Katie and Will in the bathtub. I had to hide the behind...it is the internet, you know.

On Friday, Katie got up from her rest and was complaining about her ear hurting. I kind of wrote it off, thinking it was just another small complaint from a tired 4 year old, but she kept insisting that it hurt. Of course it was 4:00 on a Friday...the clinic was closed. Luckily our clinic here in town offers after hours urgent care which our insurance covers the same as any regular office visit. We stopped in to have her ear checked only to find out that she has her first ear infection. They said it looked pretty nasty - so she has her Amoxicillon to take the rest of this week. The pharmacist asked if I had any questions because Katie had never taken this before. I verified the dosage info and then explained that I basically grew up on the stuff and had taken it about every other month as a kid....whether I was sick or not. (Yes, Mom there were times I was faking. :) ) After Katie's first dose I could tell that she felt better. They also said that it isn't something Will should 'catch' because it obviously isn't contagious.

John had to work on Saturday. So to get out of the house, the kids and I went to the Mall of America. "WHAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU WENT THERE ON A SATURDAY?" I know, I know. But I figured there were just 4-5 stores I wanted to check and then we'd grab a bite to eat and a visit with the Easter Bunny. Ah, those could have been my famous last words. Luckily, the kids were AMAZINGLY good. The mall was insanely crowded and that part was not enjoyable - but the kids were troopers and listened very well with no whining. Honestly - it was more than I expected. Katie didn't even ask to go on a ride. Our mission, which we chose to accept, was shoes. Find shoes for Shelley's wedding. The result? Zip. Zero. Zilch. All of the kids' shoes are either black or white - no brown. And all the brown women's shoes have hooker heels. ("What's wrong with that?" says John - a typical man.) :) So I have decided to order our shoes from the wonderful world of Amazon.com. Never tried it before, but they have literally hundreds of brown shoes to choose from for both Katie and I, and are reasonably priced as well.

Katie and the Easter Bunny - she told me this isn't the real one.

Where's Will? Clutching onto my shoulder with his white knuckles. He wasn't going ANYWHERE near that monster! He did give him a tiny high five, but even that freaked him out.

We've been taking advantage of our Netflix subscription the past week or so. We watched Man On Wire - a documentary about a Frenchman who walked the high wire between the World Trade Towers in the 70's. It was pretty interesting. After that, I made John watch Twilight. This was the recent movie based on the book by Stephanie Miller that I read not long ago. I just finished book #2 in the saga and have started #3. John surprised be by saying that he liked the storyline - just not the movie. I figured he wouldn't like any of it. :) The movie was better than I expected - but it doesn't come close to the book - I think. Isn't that always the case? I also was not crazy about book #2...I have higher hopes for the third one.

And finally - we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall the other night. Holy cow - that was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. Great cast - funny script. It may have helped that John and I both had a couple beers in us, but c'mon - funny is funny. :) I highly recommend it....for those of you over 17 of course. :)

I remembered the Easter decorations! Here, the kids are putting up the window clings.

Question of the week....

It's Thursday again...(really, it is) and I have found another question. Actually, Katie supplied this one. Once or twice a week they will have a question at school during circle time. Everyone answers and then they graph the results for the kids to see which answer was the most popular. Katie really likes it and she can always tell me which answer got the most votes. One week the question was "What do you sleep with at night?" She told them about her two turtles and her blankie. I think that's a little too provocative for my polite little blog so I asked her to think up a question this morning.

"What is your favortie game?" (She said it could be a board game, video game or card game.)

Ah-Choo!

Katie stayed home from school today. She has a cold - runny nose and a cough. She had a SLIGHT fever last night (99) and so I told her that she better not go to school. (Cue the tears) She was quite upset that she might miss something. I think that's a pretty good run though - 2 years of school and this is her first missed day because of being sick. And I still couldn't get her to take it easy. Finally, I let her watch TV downstairs on the couch as long as she stayed covered up. That worked for a while...and I think she is actually sleeping for her rest time too. But, ALERT: We've run out of Kleenex. John will have to pick some up on his way home. :)

While Katie was couch ridden, I turned on Sesame Street for us all to watch together. One sketch especially made me laugh. Oscar was being a news reporter and was trying to report all of the dirty garbage and ickiness that grouches love. However, he was constantly running into things that were nice and friendly. The scene changed to another grouch who was watching Oscar on TV and she said "Hmpf, I'm not watching this anymore - I'm gonna watch Fox News - now THERE's a trashy news show!" Go Sesame Street. :)

One reason the Kleenex ran low was because we went to the library last Thursday. Katie got the movie "Charlotte's Web." Now, keep in mind - we have seen this before AND we have read the book together. She even told me about the spider dying in the end before I popped the movie in for her. Awhile later I am getting Will a snack and I go down to see if Katie wants anything...she is in tears.

"Katie! What's wrong?!" I ask growing concerned.

"She DIIIED!"

"Who died?"

"Charlotte died!" She answers sobbing.

It really was adorable, even though she was clearly upset. We cuddled on the couch for a while and talked about how some of the spider's kids' stay in the barn so Wilber isn't too sad, etc. A few moments later she was able to enjoy her yogurt sans tears.

It's rainy up here today - another reason I'm glad to stay home today. I spent the morning washing the floors, cleaning out the closet and putting some winter stuff away. I've been toying with the idea of having a garage sale this spring...maybe in May. Am I crazy? Everyone should probably have a garage sale at least once in their lives. That way they can say "I'm never doing THAT again!" Making a mental checklist of everything that can go - books, Cd's, clothes, etc. I'm also thinking that Katie could be in charge of selling cookies or something like that. Now the trick is to get John to grab tables from work and to take a morning off some Friday in May to watch the kids. :) (Hint, Hint)

"Hang on sis - I'll get us out of here!"

As Will drives away from Chuckie Cheese a few weeks ago.

Happy Spring

Well, the first few days of spring have been promising...but it's gonna get cold again this week...and rainy. I don't mind the rain too much right now - there may even be some thunder and I'm all up for that, during the daytime anyway. :)

Yesterday we spent most of the day outside. John and I were able to clear out most of the dead brush from the shrubs and bushes in front of the house; a job I am SO glad to have almost done. We took off the plastic from the few windows I covered last fall, and washed some of them while we were at it. John took his pruning shears to a couple trees and cut all the bushes back as well. We are ready for spring! I should have taken a before and after picture so you could have told me if it was worth doing. :)

I'm glad we did that work yesterday - today is quite windy. That still doesn't stop John and the kids from heading outside to play some baseball. Will has been introduced to the tee, and does a fairly good job at swinging at hitting the ball off it.

The smallest member of the Hell's Angels...

The kids got their bikes out yesterday while it was so nice. Will hasn't mastered the pedals on the tricycle yet, although he can reach them just fine. Katie remembered how to ride her bike, and John even thinks the seat can be raised up a bit.

During our clean up, Katie's job was to pull seeds from the marigolds that were planted around our front tree last year. She got MILLIONS of them. :) So we planted 5 cups of marigolds to grow inside...and I'm also thinking of growing a few extras to give as teacher gifts at the end of the school year. Who doesn't like flowers, right?

Yesterday we also went to a home and garden show in Eden Prairie. There were crafts and planting projects for the kids as well as vendors galore. It was like Halloween for Katie - everyone was giving the kids candy. Her and Will both did a planting project too. Katie planted flower seeds in a little bucket to bring home and Will planted peas. John and I have ideas for some landscaping outside we would like to do...but nothing that we wanted to commit to just yet.

Will giving Dad a heart-to-heart talk.

Question of the week....

This week...I have a few more questions for you. Besides the posted question, I have added a couple polls to the page. As some of you may know, the Hanson family is going to grow by two very soon. Jeff and Erica are expecting twins. So far, we know it's a boy and a girl...but we have no names yet. We don't even have 'ideas' of names...so I thought I would throw a few out there and see what sticks.

You ask, "Do you have the right to name these babies?" Well. No. But someone should come up with some ideas. I don't think Jeff and Erica read me - though I have invited them several times. ARE YOU OUT THERE?? :) So I figure we'll narrow it down to a few and provide them with the approved options. :)

Now, I DID put some thought into this. Take the boy names, for example. I like the name Nick...they already have a Joe and Kevin. If we had a Nick...all Jonas brothers would be covered.

For a while the joke was that the family already has a Donnie, Joey, John, and Jordan...we almost have all the new kids on the block. I found the missing New Kids' name...it's Danny. I don't think having a Donnie and Danny in one family is a good idea. We tend to mix up kids.

The middle name for the boy came from my mom's brother who died about 25 years ago. It's a nice sounding middle name - goes with lots of things.

The girls...well, I like all these names. Plus I thought if the girl's name started with "E" and the boy's name started with "J" - that could be a tribute to their parents. The middle name is my mom's middle name...again - it's pretty and goes with lots of options. I like "Anna" for a middle name....it's also Dad's sister who died when she was 7....but Erica's sister is named Ann and I got that idea shot down right away. :)

If you don't like ANY of these that I have thrown out there...PLEASE toss your own ideas into the ring. :) If it turns out that Erica has triplets instead of twins - (maybe they missed one!), the winners of the name contest get to split the extra baby.

Ok - now for the question of the week.....

What would you send in a care package to a homesick friend spending six months abroad?

Waterpark Fun

Last Wednesday we headed down to Owatonna for a couple days of family time. We stayed at a hotel that had a small waterpark - just our speed actually. Well...to be honest, I think we could have used a bigger swimming area, like for laps and such, but overall it was fine.

We arrived at the hotel, got acquainted with our room and then headed down for some swim time. It had been a while since Will went swimming - other than the kiddie pool in our yard...let's see if I remember the last time...ummm.....we went swimming last 4th of July weekend. That would probably be it. Ooops, no it isn't. We did go swimming in Waukon the weekend of Will's 1st birthday, but it was so cold we weren't really in the water for more than 20 minutes. (Can you believe it was too cold for swimming in mid July in Iowa?)

Wet and happy...

Will had no fear with the water. He was quite the dare devil. They had a kiddie slide that he loved right away, and that Katie finally grew comfortable with. He didn't like to be held on to - wanted to just go by himself. It was really all about Daddy...generally, EVERYTHING is all about Daddy these days for Will. I haven't developed a complex about it...yet.

Katie going down the slide. Note Will waiting his turn behind her.

And here comes Willie! FYI: He is giggling.

Katie was excited to get to share a room with Will. She slept on a pull out couch, and he slept in a hotel crib. We were in an adjoining room. They didn't sleep TOO bad at night, although neither one took naps for 2 days. I always tell myself..."It could be worse." Heck, it HAS been worse. :)

Check out the attitude.

Swimming? Piece of cake.

Green Birthdays

A special Happy St. Patrick's Day to all those Irish people out there...and of course those that just "feel" Irish today.

Happy Birthday wishes also go out to my sister, Janet who is $%^*^ years old.

And more Birthday wishes go out to our friend, Julie, who is expecting her first baby this fall!

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

Yesterday was my nephew, Jordan's golden birthday. He was 15 on the 15th. My aunt Carol and I were sure that he was only going to be 14...but I guess I trust his mother more than my own judgement.

Katie made Jordan a card/book to "make him happy." She said that she doesn't think he smiles very much (what 15 year old does?) so she was going to make something for him to make him smile. I asked her if she was going to buy him a present and she said, "No - he only likes boring things."

"Boring things?"

"Yes, like video games and stuff like that."

So, Jordan, according to Katie, your video games are boring. :)

Tomorrow I'll have pictures ready of our mini-vacation and visit to Iowa.

Question of the week

I am submitting this question of the week while on vacation...mini-vacation, that is. We are in Owatonna, MN for a few days staying at a hotel and waterpark. The kids are having a good time, although naps are not going well....yet. I'll post soon about our trip...but some highlights are Will going pee on the potty, Katie and Will swimming (Will is a monster in the water!), and playing in the arcade. I get pictures on soon.

In the meantime....

What words do you hate? Are there some words that just rub you the wrong way? Leave a comment, leave your name or not....

Happy Birthday Gina!

Here's a Happy Birthday shout to our friend, Gina! Even though you lost an hour of sleep for her birthday, hopefully you'll make up for it with lots of sugar consumption.

Don't forget about your clocks...

First of all - don't forget to turn your clocks ahead tonight...at least for those of you that have to do that sort of thing.

Last fall I went to a neighborhood grocery store re-opening and won a $25 gift certificate from a local nail salon. It expires next weekend, so I took advantage of it today. I didn't have enough to get a manicure AND a pedicure and if I just got one of those services I would have an odd $ amount left over. So I decided it was time for some girl bonding with Katie. (Like we don't do enough of that anyway.) She got her nails professionally painted for $5...and got a cute little flower painted on each thumb. She picked orange for her nail color and looks very pretty. I picked a bright pick, but it looks like Katie's color in the picture.

Will heard the words 'paint fingernails' today and got excited because we actually DID paint yesterday. I got out our finger paints and he tested them out for the first time. Neither he nor Katie opted to really use their fingers, so they stuck with the brushes. He only tried to eat the paint once or twice.

When Katie got home today she made herself a snack. She had seen a recipe on Disney somewhere that she just HAD to make. First you take a bun...(we didn't have the right kind, so I got her talked into a piece of bread)....you stick a half of a banana on the bread....then smother it in peanut butter and jelly. Enjoy! It's sort of like a banana taco. She made the whole thing herself and ate it completely. She said she is going to write the recipe down for Grandma Mary and Grandma Lyla.

And finally - I've been meaning to get this on here. One morning last week, Katie decided that it was time to write out the invitations for her birthday party. You know, she only has 3 months to go - why wait till the last minute? This was her first invitation...written on a thank you card. :) I helped her spell some words, but the phrasing was all hers....as was the yes/no boxes. :)

Currently, the invite list is at 11....personally, I think that's too many kids! I'm trying to narrow if down to 7...but try convincing Katie of that idea. You know when people are inviting friends and family to a wedding...not everyone is going to show up. You figure, what...75%?? Do you think the same would apply to birthday parties? Could I send them out in waves two weeks prior to the party? I think I may have a first string and second string invite list. :)

I think I am more nervous for this 2 hour birthday party than I was planning our wedding reception. These kids are gonna want more than music and cake.

Question of the week....

I decided that once a week (maybe) I would post a question that you all could answer (or choose not to answer) in your comments. You can leave your name, not leave your name...totally up to you. Sometimes they'll be silly, sometimes they'll be serious. Here's the first one...

If you could choose anyplace in the world to go for 1 week, where would you go?

The deal with the iPod

John bought me (and the family) an iPod touch for Christmas last year. We have been figuring it out and finding new uses for it all the time. For example you check your e-mail on it, check the weather, chart your fitness goals, keep track of your budget, play games, listen to music, watch TV shows, watch movies, and anything else the 2,000 applications that are available for download allow you to do.

Over the past few months we have found some things that Katie likes to do on it. She likes to listen to her music, she likes to do word searches, and there is spelling application that I recently found. She is allowed about 30 minutes a day on the iPod or computer. So far she has been great on it and has picked it up faster than most adults.

On Friday she got up from her rest time (it's not nap time anymore, you know) and wanted to work on the iPod. She took it into her room as I got Will up and fixed a snack for them. I yelled down to Katie to turn the iPod off and come eat her snack. She listened right away, came up and handed me the iPod.

"I put a game on there for Will," she said.
"What?" I asked back, kind of confused.
"I downloaded a game for Will."

I turned on the iPod and there on the home screen was a new program called iMBuilder. Although the icon for the program looks like building blocks, it's actually a program for generating models of genetic molecules. (Not something we would use a lot...) I asked Katie how she found this program and she continued to explain to me how she went into the Application Store online and found it.

"Did it cost money?" I asked, beginning to get worried.
"I don't know."
"KATIE! Some of these applications cost money!"

I began to dig a little deeper and found that this particular application was $12.99, and after fees we paid over $13 for it. Since it was downloaded, it was immediately charged to my back account.

"KATIE! WHAT DID YOU DO!? THIS IS VERY WRONG!" I yelled. Then I remembered that the way the iPod is set up, she would have had to enter in a password in order to put the transaction through. I asked her about this...

"Katie, didn't you have to put in a password?"

"Yes. I tried one that didn't work, and then I tried another one and it worked." replied the little hacker. I then realized that the password I was using for the iPod was indeed the same one I had used to set up Katie's new computer game she got for Christmas, so of course she knew it.

After a 10 minute time out, I had managed to e-mail iTunes, the company responsible for all the iPod applications. I explained to them what happened and in the end, they agreed to reverse all the charges with the understanding that this was a one-time deal...don't do it again. I have since changed my password, and am NOT going to tell it to Katie. She was grounded from the iPod for 1 week, and can work on it again come Friday.

John said that we had to hand it to Katie - after all, she did figure out a pretty complicated process, AND had found something for Will, not herself. It wasn't her fault the icon looked so tempting and her mother had underestimated the intelligence of her daughter. I can laugh about it now....now that we aren't out over $13.

My kind of Saturday...

What do you get when you take a burnt out mom and mix her with a husband willing to do anything? You get my kind of Saturday.

I'd been feeling a bit out of sorts the last few days - just tired and having a child overload. So I took off to run some errands Saturday morning while John stayed home with the kids. I went to the mall and unexpectedly found two pairs of jeans! "Jeans," you say - "so what?" I don't think you understand....I have been on a quest for the last few months to find new jeans. I thought I had looked everywhere. The jeans I had been wearing were 8 year old hand me downs and had holes so big in the knees, it was really getting to be a problem.

So in Old Navy I found jeans that fit...and were the right size right away. Wanna hear the kicker? They were $19. I don't care who you are...that's a good day right there. I also found some little Easter gifts for the kids and a new blow dryer - since I burned mine up putting plastic on the windows last fall. I came home after lunch to find the kids already down for naps. And John handled most of the discipline this weekend too. It was nice...

Oh, did I forget to mention that he swept the floor, emptied the dishwasher, AND cleaned the basement?

Stay tuned for a post about how Katie managed to rack up $13.46 in charges on the iPod....