Matt's birthday weekend...

Tonight, Matt and I went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. We had Mary Claire lined up to babysit, and were looking forward to a quiet evening alone (basically we were looking forward to having a conversation that could last more that 30 seconds without an interruption)!! LOL!



When Katherine and Caleb caught wind of this plan they were devastated. Completely devastated. After all, how could we celebrate their Daddy's birthday without them??? OK, I totally get that. I really do. It was pretty insensitive of us.... So we did what we should have done all along (and were planning to do on Monday) -- celebrated together. So last night I called Shawn and Carolyn and we all went out to dinner together (at Texas Roadhouse, one of Miss Katherine's fave restaurants) and then went over to their house to play -- aka -- have a dress up and pj party! It was super fun. The kids stayed up WAY late, ate their fill of ice cream and celebrated with their Daddy! It was perfect!





Oh... and Caleb has the same "gift secret keeping" ability as his mom ... NONE!! LOL!! The day before, the kids and I were out shopping and they found an Iowa Hawkeye shirt and wanted to buy it for Matt. So we bought it and hid it in my scrapbooking room. Well Friday night, before we left for dinner, Matt took a shower and put on shorts and a polo. Caleb took one look at him and said, "Daddy you shouldn't wear that shirt... you should wear the new Hawkeye shirt we bought you for your birthday. It has black and yellow on it"! UUUUGH, that's my boy. Can't keep a secret to save his life. So they gave him his new shirt which he wore to dinner. Oh, let me tell ya... they were proud!



Now... that's not to say that Matt and I didn't keep our plans tonight! We left all three kids with Mary Claire and went out to dinner and talked. Oh, how nice it was!!



A couple of little funnies for you...



I drove Mary Claire home tonight and Caleb rode with me. On the way home, I noticed that the moon was huge and orange, so I pointed it out to Caleb making a comment about how pretty the moon was. He immediately stops me and says, "That's not the moon Mommy. The moon is white. That's Jupiter". What??? You're three!?!? What do you know about Jupiter??? I start telling him that actually it was the moon and that sometimes it can appear orange, when he cuts me off again. "Nope Mommy" he says.... "That's Jupiter. I know all about Jupiter and all the other planets. I learned about it from you. You take me to the Science Center all the time, and we talk about Jupiter. Actually Mommy, I know about all the planets! I even know about Mars. I've been there before. Grandma Fran lives on (Le) Mars you know"! Oh, my Goodness! I about wet my pants I was laughing so hard. Matt and I both grew up in LeMars, and he's totally got that confused with Mars the planet, and is convinced that the orange moon is Jupiter. I was shocked that he absorbed so much of what he's been learning at the Science Center and applied it to real life. I was amazed that he even remembered the name "Jupiter", let alone remember that it was huge, orange and had "rings". Pretty good memory for 3.5!



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Earlier today Katherine starts asking me some question about cows. It was so off the wall, that I had NO CLUE what she was talking about or even how to answer it. When I start to tell her that I didn't know or have a good answer for her, Caleb immediately says, "That's OK Kafrin.... We'll just ask Grandpa Wendell. He's our family EXXBERT on cows". (He's a cattle buyer). I just had to laugh. He sounds more like a 30 year old man that a little boy!

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This afternoon Katherine had a birthday party. While she was there, Caleb and I ran some errands. During this time, he says to me, "Mommy, you know what I wannnabe when I grow up??? A truck driver. A truck driver that hauls jelly beans. I'm gonna haul those jelly beans straight to Pop-pop's house because we like to eat them together". AAAAWWW, how sweet is that?

Oh what else.....

Remember this when Matt bought two leather chairs on a whim one day without me??? Since then we've given Stephanie our old couch and love seat so we're left with these two chairs, a couple of end tables and toys. That's it. Oh yea... miles of style in the Hanson living room! We've been furniture shopping all over the place but haven't found anything yet. We did find one sofa at Pottery Barn, but it was just a picture. They didn't have the specific sofa or fabric in the store, and at the end of the day, I'm way to chicken to order something I can't see or sit on. Let's face it... I'd like to say I could decorate, but sadly I can't. I'm just not good at it. So I buy nothing. I'm too afraid to commit to something like a sofa out of fear I'll hate it. So this morning I called By Design and we met with an interior decorator. LOVE HER!! We looked at furniture together and she's going to put a plan together and come to the house Monday afternoon. I can't tell you what a relief this is! I'm just so happy to have someone helping me so that it looks good! WOOT-WOOT! I'll let you know what she comes up with on Monday, but as of now I'm hopeful that she's going to make our living room and beyond look great!