Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Hoffmans!

Time Well Spent

An evening with Grandma and Grandpa--what could be better? Check out the faces on these two kids and you'll find your answer: Nothing!

It's Potty Time!

New Monkey Pajamas! Maria is loving it, and
Mitchell is thinking, "Aw, Mom, do we have to dress alike?"

In reality, Maria doesn't really care what we put her in,
and Mitchell was the one who said Maria had to wear her
Monkey jammies just like him! He is an awesome Big Brother!

Tandem Toilets!!!

Mitchell went potty on the potty chair on November 12, 2007! And again today, November 13, 2007. What a big day in the Hoffman House!

Mitchell called Uncle Brent to tell him, "I went potty!" and we're not sure what Uncle Brent said to Mitchell; however, later on Mitch was playing with his cars and one car said to the other, "Now you're just like everyone else!" Grandma called later and boy was she proud of her little guy!



Maria doesn't have a large vocabulary, but the last two days she's been running around saying,"Potty!" She wanted to be just like her big brother (I sure can relate!), so we took off her diaper so she could sit on the potty and wouldn't you know it...she went! And no, it was not a coincidence, because she did it again tonight!

Thomas the Tank Engine and the Fire Dog

We picked up the kids from Weecare Daycare Center where they both had Halloween parties earlier. There is a parade in town for the little trick or treaters where the local businesses give out candy. They actually close down the main drag for an hour so the kiddos can go safely from store to store. We met Grandma and Grandpa downtown and they walked with us. It was pretty busy, so we didn't stand in line for much candy. It was fun just walking around and seeing all of the costumes! Mitch would "choo choo" up to the people and they would put his candy in his little smoke stack in front!

After the parade we met Grandma and Grandpa at our house where they brought us dinner from the "Chicken Nugget Store"--even though we only got cheeseburgers by mistake!!! We survived, nothing a few Reese's Peanutbutter Cups couldn't solve! Mitch really got into the trick or treating spirit around our neighborhood--everyone was so great! We are about the only kids they expected to see and they had special bags made for both kids at every house!

We stopped by the Dombeck's house to see their set up--talk about a family's favorite holiday!!! They had smoke machines and mechanical frankensteins and his bride and all kinds of lights and spooky stuff!

Then it was on to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the last stop! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Prep

We worked with Mitchell a little bit this year. Instead of trying to get him into a costume the night of Halloween when everything is crazy anyway, we started preparing him early! He loved his Thomas the Tank Engine costume, but then he thought he wanted to be a Fire Dog. We let him try it on, but it was a little too tight as it was ordered to fit Maria! Then he thought he might want to be Elmo again this year. He had the whole thing on, he took about five steps towards the bathroom to look in the mirror and he said, "Take it Off!" Too constricting, I guess! His little train outfit was the best! He wore it a little bit every day leading up to Halloween!

Brother Chris Visits!

Brother Chris came down for the weekend of the Housewarming on Hagen in October. They all play so well together! Chris even got some chores done while he was here...nice! We look forward to seeing him again over Thanksgiving weekend and for his Christmas concert at Orchestra Hall on December 6th!

Dad's New Toy!

Arctic Cat, I think! Vroom! Let's hope we get some snow so Chuck can ride it!

Choo Choo Bob's

Mitchell & Thomas--you can just imagine Thomas saying, "Choo Choo!"
Natalie & Maria hanging tight!

Cousins Thomas, Dan, Natalie
Peter, Thomas, Natalie, and Mitchell

Happy Birthday to Thomas and Natalie Hoffman!

They turned four years old on October 15th, 2007!


We enjoyed an afternoon at Choo Choo Bob's in St.Paul with Thomas and Natalie, Peter and his mom, Cousin Dan Neshiem, Aunt Barb, Aunt Lisa & Uncle Steve, and Grandma Pudge. We were busy playing trains, eating pizza and birthday cake and watching the electric trains go clickity clack clickity clack!

Mitchell got a haircut! I asked him if he wanted to go to "Barber Bob's", which is now run by Barber Buzz, and he said, "No, I want to go to Grandma's haircut store!" So we stopped in at Family Salon and Mitch got a haircut while Grandma had her hair done in the next chair over!

First it was Natalie's pants, now it's Mom's tights--I'm a little worried about this boy! He wore the same Thomas the tank engine shirt 3 days in a row last week. Hey, whatever works to get me to work on time! A teacher, Anne, from my school also brings her girls, Lily and Cora, to Weecare Daycare, and she caught me the other morning feeding Mitch and Maria Pringles on the way to drop them off! She said I was an awesome mom--and told half the teachers at CFHS my trick! If they only knew...

And last, but not least, another still life by Mitch--new Thomas the Tank Engine shoes his dad picked out for him. This was a photo taken by Mitchell.

September Recapped

Grandpa turned 66 on September 1, 2007 and he's still swingin'!
Maria, Kirsten, Uncle Brent, and Mitchell hanging out and eating at Dad's final retirement party on Septmeber 8, 2007. We were enjoying a lovely picnic dinner grilled up by none other than Chuck Hoffman, Grill Master.
Dad and all his "Druggie" buddies! Lots of Pharmacists around that day!
Maria is finally getting some hair in the back! She loves her pony tails! She's always smiling, and she has such fun teasing her brother!
Nice Ponies!

September 29th

Sorry no new photos...I don't have time to download and do all that fancy stuff--Mama needs her sleep! The kids have been fighting germs since their first week at Weecare. Some days it feels like they have been home more than at the center! Grandpa has been a lifesaver! Grandpa had to pick up Mitchell last Tuesday because he had a fever. He actually had his first ear infection at age 3 years and 4 months--quite amazing. His first round of antibiotics of his life too! Amazingly healthy child...strange that it's still few nights he sleeps straight through the night! Maria, on the other hand, sleeps really good, even when she's sick! We just lay her down and she goes right to sleep...with Mitchell it's at least a half an hour process. And that's just the time after we get him in his room!!! Okay, enough already!

We are having a fabulous time with the new house! Our neighbors are great, my new job is great, and the kids are really great too! Besides all the germs, Weecare is still awesome for both kids! Chuck probably knows more people in town now than I do--of course, with his friendly ways what would we expect?

I love working in the high school I graduated from a few years ago! Someone said, "I almost called you 'Siggy'!" That would be fine! I hear "Mrs. Hoffman" over the loud speaker and I have to make an effort to remember that it's me! I even wrote "Sigmeth" on something in my office!

We are looking forward to the housewarming party on Oct. 20. We sent out an evite, and some people have yet to view it--if it got spammed out, or if you haven't RSVP'd yet, you should give us a call! We didn't mean to miss you...we'd love to see you!

The Hoffmans

September

These are some more photos taken with Mitch's Fisher Price camera.

We took a trip to Brainerd in August and got to spent some quality time together. It's so awesome when Grandma is around because the kids know she's in charge and I get a little break! They love Grandma and Grandpa!

It's hard to believe it is already September and the school year has started. With this little cold snap some of our trees are already dropping leaves--I'm not ready for morning frost yet!

Mitchell still likes to go to Weecare! It's never been so easy to get him going in the morning--I hope the honeymoon never ends! One day on my way to get coffee with my pal Amy I was complaining a little, okay, ALOT, about being awake with Mitch from about 2 am that morning and still getting everyone going to work and daycare that same morning. We rounded the corner and one of our severely disabled students was being pushed in his wheelchair. We said good morning and Amy turned to me and said, "And you were complaining about not getting sleep..." A good way to put it all in perspective!

Dad had another retirement party this last weekend! He has started working one day a week at the local pharmacy. I think it's pretty cool, and it keeps him in the profession--he is so good with drugs! Thank goodness he's not too busy--he's our back up daycare. He's already been called on, and the only mishap besides him knowing it was time to change Maria's diaper was when her diaper leaked all over his shirt was that he still puts diapers on backwards!!! His response, "well, they still work, don't they?" Truthfully, he was a real life saver, and he and the kids got time to bond! He got to drop off and pick up Mitch from Weecare as well as take care of Maria with an ear infection and the croup!

Still glad to be back home!

Sand Angel

Mitchell was making sand angels. Look closely. I think he has a halo!!! He is an angel! "Like Grandma!" he said.

Kids in Cannon

Mud Pies!


Both kids have adjusted well to the move and to their new daycare center. They love to play in the sand box!