best pumpkin ever

If you read this post from my In the Trenches Blog, Gardener's Harvest, you will understand the joy I wanted my middle son to find when he discovered this pumpkin... However, I stretched the truth a bit. You see, my wonderful husband accidentally cut the vine off when he was weeding one day with the weed-eter thingy. I didn't have the heart to tell Austin that his dad killed his pumpkin vines and so like any good mother, I plotted to let him think he is the best pumpkin grower on the block. I couldn't help myself and bought this lovely large pumpkin from a sweet mama farmer and her children down at the market. I hid the pumpkin in the garage and placed it in his little patch the next day. Austin believes almost everything you tell him, so when he found the pumpkin I told him it was the one he grew! He was SO excited. I may be a liar here, but the pure joy it brought him made us all smile around here!! 

Besides, he'll never know or at least not until he's years older and it doesn't matter anymore :) Right?

 Finding it...

 What!?!? Yes...your pumpkin grew!

 Carrying it away...

 Proud pumpkin grower... :)

fall & friends

This fall we've had some fun play dates with some sweet little friends...I don't have pictures of them all, but here's a hand full of them!

Our neighbor boy, Jakey, made a day trip one weekend and Austin got to spend some great time with his old best buddy. These two play so well together and Austin is still sad they moved away. What a fun surprise to see his buddy after many months.

Austin also finds great joy with his feathered friends. I love this picture of him hugging his hen, Rosie!

Jaxon and Mason have been pals since they were in diapers. I love that they still share a real friendship with one another. They are always making plans for sleep-overs and get togethers that often times don't involve parent approval until last minute! As moms, we are the last to know...but it's easy to say yes to these two!

The kids had a super fun sleep-over with some of our friends with four kids. It was so fun to watch this crew. They had a blast and even with only one girl, I think they each enjoyed their time together! Funny stories from this night!

 All tucked in for movie and popcorn...and some fun :) probably more fun to be had if I hadn't ruined it...as one boy said to me when I laid on the couch..."Are YOU going to sleep there"? When I replied yes he was deeply disappointed :)

These two are becoming pals. Jax has been offering to help more with Carson and Carson loves his big brother. He lights up when he gets in the van after school and shrieks from joy when Jaxon plays peek a boo with him. This night Jaxon took over bathing, pj dressing, and story reading duty. He's going to come in handy!

We can't forget our pal, Natalie!! If you didn't know, we have a roommate this school year! Natalie is a senior at UNI and we've known her since she was little. She's grown up with our boys and has been our go-to gal for any baby-sitting or house or dog help for the last 5-6 years. We will miss her when she really grows up :) She is a busy gal, but when she is here she jumps right in to play with our busy boys or help where she can. She's an A+ gal and we're blessed to have her in our home this year.

And don't forget these two buddies...one day a week two of our favorite little boys join us for the day and we keep busy with all kinds of things. On one of our random summer like October days they were fire-fighters. We love our little friends and are thankful for the circle of friends that surround our family, truly blessed.

game day

It's Saturday morning around here so it seems appropriate to post some football pictures of our little player.  Jaxon loves flag football season and always seems to end up with a couple pals on his team, so it makes it even more fun. This was his first year for a Dome game, which they all thought was super cool. I have a feeling we'll have many years to come of football seasons for these boys in the Hansen house!

 By the way, he was NOT excited about me taking pictures...as you can tell :)

 Dome Game!

 When he was 1 I could have guessed these pictures...he has loved football since he could say ball and hold a football in his hands. Happy Game day, little man!

a day for him

The second day of our get-away was for him... doing his favorite thing ever, Vikings game! He had some connections and managed to get some field passes, so we sat on the field for this game and not his season ticket seats.  He was pretty excited! It was a cool atmosphere and fun to see all the work that goes into making a game happen on TV.  Vikings even won and made the game that much more fun! Dave has been coming up to games for years and often takes Jaxon or a buddy or two. I get to tag along once every few years. Happy he shared his big day with me this weekend...I love to see him in his happy place!

Headed into the dome!

We were able to walk around the field before the game...it's so big!

 Scoping out pre-game warm-ups. Those NFL players are HUGE in person!!

 One of the Hansen family fave's and our dog is even named after this guy...Percy!

Vikings mascot...can you believe he used to be a middle school counselor?

I so appreciate this as a mother with sports loving kids... professional athletes on bended knee. I hope kids see this along with those amazing touch down passes and big tackles.

Our seats were literally right on the field...so there were some great moments right in front of us, as well as some moments I could only see from the Big screen. But still fun to be down there!

Vikings date :)

We had a GREAT weekend doing a little of both of our favorites. It's nice to get away and remember we still have fun together away from our kids... a tradition I hope we make happen more then every 3-4 years!

Games are so fun for my babe...he actually just left with our oldest boy for tonight's Thursday night game! Go purple!!

a day for her

My wonderful hubby planned a weekend away for just him and me. We haven't done this in years and it was a welcomed trip used for some R & R and a little fun. The first day he indulged me...Main St walking in Stillwater, MN, apple orchard, and relaxing at the bed and breakfast. Everything this gal loves and my man happily tagged along with :) He must have been practicing because every time I asked him if he wanted to go into a new store to browse he responded with no eye rolling and an enthusiastic "yes". For a bit, I thought I brought the wrong man with me:) But he was the best all day!!

I love to just browse junk or antique stores and book stores. We literally roamed the streets for a few hours and he never complained about any store I wanted to poke my head in. This toy display caught my attention and I took a picture for my car loving boy.

High-light of the strip...Cherry Berry! The only thing we bought...and well worth it. This frozen yogurt place made me happy in many ways. Great yogurt and fun atmosphere. And I didn't have to share.  I think we need one! No really, its.that.good.

Our view. It was such a pretty town!

The apple orchard was kind of a dud, but we laughed a lot and got away with only losing a little time and 10 dollars worth of caramel apples for the kids.

We arrived to our bed and breakfast and you literally had to pry me off the bed. So comfy and I was ku-put. Here's the peaceful view from our room...I have it memorized since I honestly never left the bed most the night!

A quick dinner out and stroll by the river...

And we were back here by 6:30!! Bath and bed for this gal...and couldn't have been happier!

Thank you, thank you honey for a much relaxing day. It was needed and the next day was made for him...:)

We...visited the Splash Park!

There was a new Splash Park put in close to us this summer and we took advantage of the splash'in water on a hot day. It is really cool. Right next to the river front and in a nice sunny spot. The boys loved it. It is different and a nice break from our normal summer activities...I think we'll make this a regular summer visiting spot!

Fun climbing area next to the water area. Carson will love this in a year or two!

Dad joined us for this visit...plenty to sit and see.

Austin loved the ropes...

Carson loved to watch...

 And finally got brave...

Of course, had his football with him!

 Jaxon was the bravest!

How fun is this place!

No fear!

Austin went down this about 50 times...

Still going...

A perfect summer afternoon activity for the whole fam...even mom jumped in :)

We...played inside!

This summer was very, very hot. Some days we just found a little relief inside and headed out back after dinner. Three boys always seem to keep things busy around here and I love seeing them develop their own relationships amongst each other. As I always tell them, brothers make the best of friends....but even best friends fight sometimes :)

I try to keep our toy collection to a decent amount and provide plenty of creative playing toys. The blocks in this house get used for a variety of things...car garages, villages, trophy stands, bowling pins, letter making, towers, roads, football fields, and so on.

We pulled out some of Austin's old ride-on toys for Carson.

Austin loved showing him how to use it and Carson loved the music!

Every so often the three of them will engage in one thing together...every so often :)

Games, games, and games...

And yes, some movie watching!

Carson fell in love with the football this summer and carried this one everywhere for a long time.

Made this big brother happy!

A busy family room floor...

Sometimes I just filled up a tub of water for some indoor play time. Carson loves water, but hates his baths...until recently! Most of his baths were outside this summer!

Lazy mornings...love summer for these!

And my busy, busy climber. Always.