The Hannig Home

Ben and I were shopping for some “ugly Christmas sweaters” at Goodwill a week ago. Before we got very far, we were stopped by a woman, maybe in her early 60’s, and she said to Ben,”I LOVE your style!!  Is that all you..?” And then she looked at me questioning if I had dressed him - you know, like I was a mom who dictated my son’s clothing choices. Funny (!) since most moms who dictate their kids’ clothing choices would choose much of the opposite of what Ben wears. 😉.  She thought maybe I was the creative genius. 😁 I assured her it was all Ben. And then she turned to him and said, “Don’t ever change. Keep having your own style. I just LOVE it!”  ❤️  

A baby kitty showed up meowing at our door a week before Thanksgiving. Sweet Ben fell in love and we now have an outdoor kitty. His (her?) name is Jet because he’s jet black. Benny takes care of him for the most part, but we’ve all fallen in love with Jet. We got a small kitty house from Gracie and originally we put it in the woodshed, but he wouldn’t go in it. So it got moved to just outside the front door and now, because he’s close to us, he stays in it all the time. Here are a few pictures of our week and a half with Jet.

Ben, I’m laying in your bed with you and you’re falling fast asleep. I just said ,  “I love you, Ben” and you responded by saying “I love you more, Mama.” You’ve been saying that to me lately and my heart...it’s bursting with love for you. And sometimes I whisper, “I love you most.”  Then, if you’re not too sleepy, you say, “hey, but I can’t top that. That’s not fair. I love YOU most.” The most precious words I could ever hear:  I love you more, Mama. .

The best trip of my life?  I think so.  I've traveled quite a bit and seen some amazing places, but for some reason this was the best trip of my life.  Thirteen of Marcy and Ernie's Dold clan went to see Brynn (so total, with Brynn, we had 14 of 17 Dolds) for almost a week in March.  We stayed together in a huge VRBO in Venice and watched Brynn run the 800m at USC.  We played in the ocean, saw friends (Lisa Brisse) and family (Jenna Schroeder).  We drove a 15 passenger van, sang songs all day long, and bought too many remote control cars for Ben. We saw a Gopher baseball game in Long Beach, went for runs along the ocean and saw Muscle Beach, and rode the Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier (and discovered the end of the famous Route 66).  We spotted the Hollywood sign over and over again (we had to make sure Ben really did see it) and counted over 100 sports performance cars (well, Ben did).  We learned a lot about WWII from Luke on the van rides, taught Jon how to improve