HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Way to go, all you hard-working women!

Direct quote from Erica: "Jacob, today is Mother's Day. Do you know what that means? It means that mom is famous and she's nice and she's loved."

I'll take it.

Small plane crash-lands into portable potties

I saw this headline yesterday. Talk about a bad day. (no one was hurt)

Mariners with Mom!

We got an email from Erica's school advertising Mariners tickets for only $8!! So I took Erica and Robby to a game. The Mariners were not at their best, but with hot dogs from a street vendor, cotton candy, and the thrill of a ballpark, we had a grand time. (I almost sound like a sports-junkie. My mom, dad, sister Lynn, and grandparents would be proud. The truth is, I only like the games live).

Robby got a little bored until he sat and my lap where he could see better. Erica LOVED it. I think because she's playing t-ball, she was extra excited. She learned about balls, strikes, fouls, outs, mph, Ichiro, and Ken Griffey. She brought binoculars and would've loved to stay the entire game. But it was late and we were losing by a ways, so we left early.

The good news is, our team scored a HOME RUN right before we left! (It didn't help much - in fact, that home run brought the three points they ended the game with).

GO MARINERS!
This just made me laugh because I come from a family of DIET COKE drinkers.

We accidentally got there about 80 minutes early (that was after eating hot dogs!)...luckily, there was a very cool playground for the kids! Once we got used to the 45 degree weather, it was great.

The view of the skyline!! It was gorgeous. This is before they closed the roof once it started raining.

We packed TONS o' snacks. But I told the kids the one thing they could talk me into buying was cotton candy. They watched the vendors walking ALL around the stadium...I think Robby watched the cotton candy vendors more than the players!

Incredible Dad

My dad (Lloyd Hansen) just finished running the Boston Marathon. My dad's goal was to run it in 3 hours and 10 minutes. He finished in 2 hours 59 minutes and 54 seconds! That is a 7:15 pace! He won 6th in his age group. Did I mention he's 60?

I'm so proud of him that I've been jumping up and down and crying! Jacob thinks I'm crazy.

Here's a few photos of my dad and Jan. Someone better be taking photos today! :)

LOVE YOU, DAD!

(pardon the horrible cropping and sizing of the photos -- the originals are on my old computer, so I downloaded these off of Shutterfly...)

The Big Five

Here's to Robby turning FIVE! When I'm thinking about Robby, these are some words that come to mind:

genuine, pleaser, mellow, intelligent, memorizer, animal junkie, computer savvy, kind brother, doesn't mind being bossed, helpful, sensitive, doesn't like scary movies (if you can consider Veggietales scary), chocolate lover, content, book reader, friend maker, calm unless wrestling

Robby is so easy to love. Even as a brand new baby, he slept a lot and was content. As a 1-yr-old, he would take 3 hour naps and would entertain himself for hours. As a 2 and 3 year old, the expected tantrums never came. This past year, he's continued to be interested in the world. We play games together a few times a week. He LOVES Mo Willems books and has many of them memorized because of listening to them during Circle at school. He loves electronics and often begs for time on the computer. Robby always wants everyone to be happy. He's a peacemaker. He's an enormous source of strength for me. WE LOVE YOU, ROBBY!

This is Robby on the bus, with his friend, Ethan & their bus driver (who always slips me caramel candies):
The view from Robby's classroom (okay, imagine it's sunny and there are leaves on the trees) -- pretty cool, huh?

Robby specifically asked me to bring donuts for his birthday. There was another bday, so the kids got donuts AND cupcakes. I was jealous.

Robby is notorious for taking very big bites, lately.Robby pays close attention during Circle. He comes home and asks me to check the books out at the library. He also teaches Erica all the songs they sing.

We had a birthday party for Robby, equipped with a pinata, games, Cars theme, and dying camera batteries.
I've always loved the candles that say "Happy Birthday." I found a place where you can buy them individually! Isn't this cute? 5 letters...

The kids had a great, messy time!

So did the parents!

I know it's blurry, but it shows how much fun Robby had swinging at the pinata!

To the Publisher!

I agreed to create Erica's elementary school yearbook again this year. It's about a 60-80 hour endeavor that people don't seem to understand unless they've done it. The yearbook is 40 pages and this is the first year it is in full color. It looks pretty amazing, if I do say so myself! :) Having said that, I forced myself to send an email to the PTA chairs to let them know that I'm not doing it again next year. Last year I allowed the euphoria of the finished product affect my better judgement.


The last few hours before the deadline were a little crazy. The woman in charge with me (Heather) was looking through the yearbook with me. She collects everything we need and then I do the computer part of actually creating the book. She didn't even see the book until the day before it was due! That's a lot of trust. She loved it, but we realized there weren't any good pictures of Erica in there. (OOPS!) We reserved a last minute spot and my friend took my camera to school to take a snapshot of Erica & some friends. This is the photo:



Here are a few of the runner-ups:

I was such a poser when I was Erica's age. In all the pictures of me, I'm tilting my head and smiling sweetly...like mother, like daughter.

Kailey's photo shoot - you want in?

These are not my kids...but they are my friend's kids! This is a shout out to her photo skills and to anyone around here who wants to utilize them! :)

Announcement! Many of you from the Seattle area remember the lovely and talented Kailey Shakespear, she is taking all of her amazing photography skills and starting her own photography business. To jump start her portfolio and to give back from whence she came (poor starving student central), she is taking sign ups for a Spring photo shoot for UW student families!

Here's the deal:$30.00 per family (15 minutes give or take per family, this will give time to get at least a couple of great family portraits) ($50 if you'd like a full 30 minutes, and time to do more individual shots of kids, or couples) UW Campus Location

Best 5 edited photos on a high res disc. She is currently working on the exact date but time and space will be limited so sign up now to ensure your spot (most likely around April 25th in the afternoon but if there is more demand she might do a Friday shoot as well)! Shoot me a comment, send an email to our friend Shauna at pixie418@juno.com (you can also email me and I'll pass the word along). She'd love to have the word spread through student housing, feel free to post this to your blog!