Ok, time to update the good old blog!

So. It's been awhile! Sorry, some things fall by the wayside when you have three little ones! It's been an awesome winter, summer and spring since I last posted! LOL! We've had tons of fun! I have pictures from Thanksgiving that I keep meaning to post, so I'm a little behind, to say the least!
Here's an update on where we're at and the exciting things that are going on with the Hanson fam.
1. Ryan turned one at the beginning of March! I can't believe it, he is growing so big. Wait til you see a picture of my blond haired green eyed little boy! Who would have thought?! He is such a cutie pie and a sweetheart to boot!
2. Tyler turned three! And now he's almost three and a half! I can't believe it. He started in our beloved Mrs. Tammy's class at Bailey's preschool and he's doing so well. He is growing up to be the most well mannered little boy I've ever met. Truly he's so sweet, love that kiddo!
3. Bailey is starting Kindergarten! I can't believe it! We are actually homeschooling! Yes, I actually said that, and are sooooooooooooooooooo excited about it. We are going through a charter school in our district and it's an awesome program. To learn more about it you can check out this website: http://www.classicalacademy.com/.
4. Erik is going to Africa in Sept! I went two years ago to Malawi, Africa on an amazing missions trip, and now Erik is going, to help with farming. Check it out! http://www.farming-gods-way.org/. He'll be gone for two weeks! I don't know if I can stand it, but by God's grace I should be able to make it through with my brood of children (alone!)!
5. We've done some fun trips this year... Chicago and then the yearly Palm Springs trip and they were a blast! Oh my, I'm so excited my kids are growing up! It makes vacations exciting and fun again!!!!
6. We got a double kayak and our weekend plans now revolve around kayaking. It's so fun!!! The kids just love it, and hanging at the beach is so fun.
Okay, that's enough for now! I'll be back tomorrow or sometime this week with pics!:)

Get involved folks.

My only comments on the election

For the most part, I am trying to keep my blog free of any debatable political material and I didn’t want to mention the recent president elect, because well, my kids are so much more fun to talk about. But, recently, as I’ve perused the internet, checked blogs, forums and status’s on facebook, I’m confused, saddened and admittedly angry at some of the responses of ‘Christians’ to the new president.
Is disappointment normal? Of course it is when your candidate doesn’t win! Many Christians did not want president-elect Obama, to get into office. But I’ve seen recent sayings such as ‘America, you got what you deserve’… written by American ‘Christians’ none the less. What exactly does that mean? It is blatant anti American talk! This is not the time to pit Christians against America. This is not the time for us against them. We are all Americans… and we shouldn’t forget that. This is a time to unite and back our president, no matter who he is. This is a time to back America, not put her down. America needs all the support and backing it can get from it’s citizens, more importantly, it’s Christian citizens. I can’t understand the motive behind this sentiment, but it seems rooted in hatred and anger, rather than the love that God is. Thank God that He does not give us what we deserve! I’m not sure that any of us are in the position to decide or determine what someone else “deserves”… at least I’m not going to pretend that I am.

Well... that didn't go quite as planned!

Well, last night started out with a bang! We dropped the kids off, got dressed and headed up to Salvador's wedding (Salvador works for Erik's company). It was out kinda in the country in Lake Elsinore. It was a nice venue. When we arrived, we were the only non Mexican people there. It was fun though, we just kicked it together and enjoyed the kid free time we had. After awhile, more people started coming and our table filled up. Everyone was having a GREAT time just laughing, eating and hanging out. It was nice for Erik to hang out with the guys that work for there, outside of work. Erik is pretty fluent in Spanish, so he enjoys practicing his Spanish anyway. Well, after about 2.5 hours, we get a call that Tyler is throwing up. Poor kid threw up like six times, then Bailey started in too. So sadly, we had to head home. It was a TOTAL bummer as we hadn't even started dancing... but the kids needed us, so we went. Hopefully we'll get some alone time next weekend. We are going to a wine tasting at Erik's grandpa's house that he just built. It's a gorgeous home complete with a home theater and a wine cellar! I'm looking forward to that.
Anyway, I only got a few pictures to post here. I was trying to take pictures of some of the guys to put up at the office, but I only got like 5 or 6 of the guys. Oh well! We didn't get the memo that Erik should wear a cowboy hat! I told him for the Christmas party I'm buying him one!
Erik and I. We did get a decent picture!

This is Manuel, Erik's business partner, with his girlfriend Patti.

A few of the guys... complete with cowboy hats! The first I think is Miguel and the second one is Luis. (I just learned their names last night so forgive me if I'm off).


This is Humberto, he's a real Character. I think this is his Mexican Clint Eastwood look.

Erik with some of the other guys. The one on the left is Alex, but I can't remember the one on the right.

And finally Tonya, my sister in law. She works at the company too.


All in all it was a good night. It was nice to meet some of the workers at Erik's company and to hang out.

Art Class

Friday evenings we have ceramics class. Usually Tyler does not go, but tonight he came and then got a chance to do the potters wheel, it was really cute. He really enjoyed it. Both of the kids had a great time. I tell you, Friday nights are wild and crazy around here! I thought I'd share some pictures. OK, I'm trying a new thing with my pictures. Now you can click on them to make them bigger.

Bailey on the potters wheel... Tyler trying to "help"

Tyler on the potters wheel

Bailey's creation

All done!

Can't forget Ryan. He's playing at the train table.

Tomorrow, Erik and I are pretty excited to be going out... ALONE! All three kids will be spending the night at my parents house. Yay! One of Erik's employee's is getting married. It should be interesting because I doubt many people will be speaking in English. Honestly, I really could care less. Just give me some music, a dance floor, wine, and a kid free evening, and you can talk to me in whatever language you like. :)
Anyway, now I just have to figure out what to wear. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures together. We'll see. Erik is not very photogenic. (No offense).

Suh-WEET! (and sour!)

Well, I found my cell phone! For those of you who know me, it's kind of like an appendage. I lost it like a week ago. But, I honestly was beginning to enjoy it. It's kind of nice to be unreachable. I think I'll lose it more often. I'm kind of sad, but very very happy to have all my numbers and texts back.
One good thing that came out of this: I found out I'm eligible for an upgrade! Nice. Off to take the kids to art class.

I am officially worn out!

So much has gone on since my last post! It's kind of like one of those things where so much has gone on, but it's been such a blur that I can't remember anything! All I am sure of is that this time change is kicking my butt and I'm EXHAUSTED! (PSA to Ryan, you don't need to get up at 5:30am every morning... Please, enjoy the extra sleep!).
I think what I'll do is break this post down by kid, and post some pictures that are of or relate to events happening with that particular child. That would be easiest, I think.