Back to School

Back to school it is! I feel like summer went so fast. Now that I have a school aged kid, summer has a whole new meaning. These summer days at home are priceless... I'm so glad I can be home to spend as much time as possible with my kids. Summer days are some of the best! While we love summer, we also love fall. Jaxon was SO excited for 1st grade! With school beginning there comes new schedules, new routines, and a more organized feel to our day. I don't mind the organization that a school schedule brings and even welcome it a bit. We spent the last few days at home getting organized at our house and resting up for a great start to first grade! A final day at the pool, some quiet play time just between brothers, naps, baseball, and good food had all of us ready for the first day of school.

My little bakers!

"Kasey, NOOOO!" Austin isn't into sharing his treats :)

The boys played so sweetly just the two of them the day before school. Austin has asked about 6 different times the last 2 days if we can "go get brother and get him home."

 

First day of First Grade!

Jaxon was pretty excited to have his buddy Gabe in his class again. Makes going back to school so much more fun!

Happy School Year, Boys!

Learn & Play Time

Most of you know, I was a preschool teacher before a stay home mom. I absolutely love being home, but do at times miss the classroom. With Austin getting close to preschool age, I knew I would be starting some early education activities with him and started to think about doing it once a week in my home for others too. I threw this idea around when Jaxon was this age and never went any further. Well, I decided this would be a great way to keep my teaching skills from getting rusty and to include some social time for Austin.

Starting in September I will have 4 spots open for children that are 3 by January 1st, 2011. This Learn & Play time will be geared toward the age range of older 2's through about 3 1/2ish. Children must be potty trained and or finishing the potty training process :)  This will happen each week on Wednesday's from 9:30-11:30am. Cost is $10 for each session.  We will meet each week, following the CF School schedule. (holiday's, spring break and summer we will not gather).

What will your child do at Learn and Play?
Your child will have an opportunity to work on his/her developing skills as a friend, a learner, and in their faith. There are seven main characteristics associated with learning that I hope to implement such as confidence, curiosity, intentionality, self-control, relatedness, communication, and cooperativeness. We will have a variety of activities ranging from circle time, gross motor activities, fine motor activities, art activities, dramatic play activities, music activities, science activities, block play, sand & water play, story time, Bible teaching, and of course...snacks :)

The morning would look like this for your youngster...

9:30-9:45  Greeting/Sign In Time
9:45-10:00 Circle Time
10:00-10:15 Snack
10:15-10:45 Center of the Day
10:45-11:00 Music & Bible Lesson
11:00-11:20 Large Motor Play
11:20-11:30 Goodbye Song & Prayer

If you thought you may be interested please contact me by August 25th. First day of Learn & Play will be Wednesday, September 1st! I have more info for those interested. Just leave a comment! Thanks!


Side Note: I actually have 2 spots left available.

cousins!

Just a preview of some of the fun the cousins on Dave's side had this weekend... :)

Iowa + Summer = SwEeT CoRn

I love living in Iowa this time of year for many reasons. One of my favorite's is late summer and sweet corn trucks popping up everywhere!! Some friends from church were kind enough to let the boys and I pick some fresh sweet corn for freezing. One rubber-maid tub made 17 quarts of sweet corn for this winter!!! Oh man, that will taste good in February!

future farmer?

I may have a future farmer on my hands. Austin loves animals...all kinds. We went to the 4-H Fair last week and Austin ran from barn to barn filled with excitement for the different animals.  He has no fear either, so anything that stood still long enough and was light enough he picked up. I don't know...we survived Lily Brown just fine. I think the Hansen's need some chickens over here!!

 It rained the whole morning and he carried his umbrella from each barn to the next. Ever have those days when your kids seem so old? That was my day with Austin. :)

Training Camp

 We piled the boys into the van and headed north for our first family Vikings training camp experience! We stayed over night and made a mini vacay out of it. By mini, I mean super mini...about 36 hours worth! We packed so much in that time frame I came back feeling like I'd been gone a week. 

It was also Dave's birthday so we celebrated "Dave Hansen" style and had a fun time! (Dave Hansen style is usually little to no celebrating... he really prefers to avoid people on his birthdays so we don't get to whoo him too much. As much as I have tried to break his birthday habit with special meals, fun outings, or surprise parties he still prefers to spend his birthday just like any other day of his life. Boring and not special if you ask me :) That's why being at Vikings Camp over his birthday was super fun this year!!! Perfect for him and for us to tag along!!

They had lots for kids to do this year! Jaxon had a BLAST playing all the football themed games. Austin loved it too, but hardly stood still long enough for me to get a clear picture of him!

j

They had this great VIP tent for season ticket holders. It was perfect...fenced in so i didn't have to chase Austin too much, breakfast and drinks provided, and right next to the practice field. I would totally go again with it so easy to have the kids there!!

Finally, Austin was still :) Cars & donuts work great on him!! :-)

It was a great day in Mankato, MN! I'm sure the Hansen's just started a new tradition this year. These two for sure will be back!!!

love these!

How cool are these? I think they are so cute! A friend of mine makes these very cute dish rags and sells them downtown W'loo. I love vintage stuff for my house and I love the "old" look of things.  When I saw these I thought how perfect for my kitchen. What a great gift idea too!!  I just got a new apron with these colors in a 50's pattern fabric. Can't wait to pick up a set of my own dish clothes at the Shoppe on the Corner. Check it out here at this blog...

http://liberateblog.tumblr.com/post/876576080/7-days-of-dishcloths