Family Photo 2010

It is hard to summarize the year by family member, and I'm still giving it a try!

Chuck continues to work at BIC APP in Red Wing full time plus OT as well as attending classes full time at Metro State for Business Administration. I am happy to report that he is decreasing his course load as we miss him - the kids wouldn't see him from the time they went to bed on Monday night until they got home from school on Friday, and it was hard on ALL of us!

Chris (age 25) is the Production Manager for Lyric Arts theater in Anoka and continues to work FT during the day hours at Epiphany church as a "gravedigger". He lives in Minneapolis with his girlfriend, Allie who works as a Manager for a group home in Minneapolis and also completing her Community Psychology degree from St. Cloud State University. We love when Chris comes down to see us, and as he tells his friends about his visits, "I'm a pretty big deal!" Mitchell was Star of the Week and when asked about siblings he said he had 1 brother and 2 sisters! So, Allie is a "pretty big deal" down here too!

Mitchell (age 6) is in first grade and his teacher keeps a blog at http://cf-firstgradefun.blogspot.com/
He is doing quite well in reading and spelling - he'll practice once and then gives us a hard time when we quiz him, and he'll say, "I already know that!" And he's usually correct! He played some baseball this summer and tried football this fall, and he says he likes to run! He's full of energy and quite curious about how everything works - engineer or mechanic perhaps? He's a great big brother to Maria - even though they have their tiffs, they really do have a good time playing together.

Maria (age 4) is a lucky girl to spend Tuesdays and Thursdays with Grampa & Grammie and then she attends Cannon Kids Pre-school full days on the other days of the week. She loves her teacher Miss Megan-so much that she gets confused sometimes which she likes better - Grandparent Daycare days or pre-school days! Grammie and I take her to dance class at In Motion Dance Studio on Tuesdays as she tried a week of dance camp with Miss Shannon this summer and she loved the dancing and Miss Shannon! The dance team in Canon Falls does well in competition and usually earns a place at State, so if the trend keeps on I see Maria wanting to be part of that!

I continue to smile each day I go to work as the school counselor at Cannon Falls Middle School and High School. I enjoy my work and the students and staff - it's nice to work so close to where the kids are as well. My mom lives 4 miles away and comes over every Tuesday and Thursday morning and takes care of me and the kids - all I have to do is get myself ready and go to work - she does the rest! She has been a Godsend as I described Chuck's schedule earlier, it sure is a wonderful thing to have my mama take care of me! It's fun to play with the kids, but it means we have a pretty messy house - we've got lots of time to have a clean in the future though! I've been meeting my dear friend Deb at kick-boxing/aerobics two nights a week-great stress reliever and good for my state of mind. I am blessed to work side by side with her daily, as well as some other close friends. We will be enjoying our winter break with plans to spend time with friends and family.

It's been a great year - we've all stayed healthy and continue to learn and grow with each other! We hope to see you before the next year's annual post!

DC Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

First Snow Fall 2010

r


Halloween started at school for the kids. Elmo (Maria) had a pumpkin party on Friday and I walked down from the high school to visit her classroom. I got to watch her do one of the games/activities they had prepared for the kids. Lots of fun costumes. I stopped by Mitchell's classroom and got a photo of him and his best friend Ty playing a Halloween Bingo game. Cannon Kids, the after school care had a party as well. Down town Cannon Falls has trick or treating from 4-5 pm so the kids stocked up there too! That night we went to the PTO Halloween Bash-what a busy day...and it wasn't even Halloween yet!!!

Mitchell has a Knock Knock joke book he got from Grandma - he thinks it's a hoot! he can hardly read the jokes because he is laughing so hard! He was reading some jokes to the sock monkey - or maybe he fell asleep from laughing so much?!
We love when Brother Chris visits! He's a pretty big deal at our house! Most times he brings his lady friend, Allie, who we love as much too! Mitchell wrote at school that he has 1 brother and 2 sisters!
Mitch made a masterpiece out of his dinner - and you may be surprised to hear that he ate it all too!
We always need to prepare ahead of time for Halloween - Mitchell has a tough time picking out his costume - this year he did wear a Ninja costume from his buddy Hudson Neumann! Maria wore Elmo again - it's always nice and warm. On Halloween she actually decided on a Tinkerbell costume at the last minute!
The kids made masks for Mom and Dad - we were really scarey!

First Day of School 2010

Mitchell started 1st grade and loves his teacher, Mrs. Bracken. Maria has pre-school with Miss Megan and Miss Kim on Monday, Wednesday, & Fridays. Maria gets to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Mitchell gets to ride the school bus there on those days. One day Mitch was missing for about 25 minutes - he followed his friend onto the wrong bus and was too scared to answer the bus driver when they were looking for him!
Maria goes to Dance class on Tuesdays and loves it!

Both kids are learning and growing so fast-Mitch is reading and is like a sponge.
Chuck returned to school this fall too - taking 3 night classes at Metro State for his Business Administration Bachelor's degree - while working full time/over time for BIC also. He works very hard at his day job and at his college courses. The kids miss him terrible as he is gone 3 nights a week and then has homework on the weekends!

Mitchell's First Twins Game!

Mitchell went to his first Twins game in August with Grandpa, Dad, and Brother Chris.
Grandpa made a sign for Mitchell:
"Circle me, Bert! My first Twins game, Age 6!"
Unfortunately, Bert wasn't there that day! Otherwise I am sure that Mitch would have been circled! The guys were at the top row way out in the field - they got the breeze from behind them though!
Chuck and Mitch walking through the Corridor at Target field - love this photo!

My favorite guys (just missing Uncle Brent): Brother Chris, Grandpa, Mitch & Dad getting ready to go to the game.

State Fair 2010

Mitchell wore his Sock Monkey hat all over the Fair - now he's wearing it to stay warm too!

Maria chose to have Princess Hair Do! We waited about an hour for her turn - she loved it! Until it was time to wash it out-of course!

Summer Times 2010

We've had lots of fun this summer with Baseball and our pool. The pool was given to us by Mitch and Maria's Aunt Kim and Uncle Greg - they got a bigger one, which means in a couple years we may just inherit another, bigger pool!!! We've had evenings with the neighbors while the kids swim, I've been able to read a couple pages in a book before the kids need something, and we're all getting nice tans even though we're going through sunscreen like crazy!

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Steve are home for a few weeks from Cairo, Egypt, so we had a Hoffman Clan gathering and even had some extended family from Canada at our house! Marlene and Pat are Chuck's aunts who flew in from Washington DC/Maryland and stayed for 10 days to hang out with all of us - we always have a great time and they are hilarious! The kids had a great time playing with cousins Thomas and Natalie who have been in Egypt for the last school year and also Neil, Jake, Kyra, and Kylie who brought the pool. Cousin Dan came down from Brainerd for the afternoon to see all of us too! Brother Chris was working at his show "All Shook Up" at Lyric Arts theater in Anoka, so he made it down later; however, Allie made it down early to help set up and watch kids...and she got to have a good conversation with Grandpa Gary!

I've been working on coordinating my 20 year class reunion for CFHS with my high school friends. I've been looking forward to it all summer!

Dad and Chuck have tickets to Brainerd International Speedway to see the Drag Races, so we are all heading up to Brainerd for a few days to enjoy sun and swimming - let's hope the weather cooperates! Mom and I have been saving puzzles and other goodies in case we have some rainy days! We return and I go back to work full time. It's been nice to have time off to see friends, go to the zoo and the park, make appointments, and not have to worry about getting up and ready to go in the mornings with the kids! Mitchell starts 1st grade on September 7th and Maria will be attending PreSchool and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa a couple days a week...lucky girl!

July

Taking the dead tree down...kids watching from inside. Maria says, "Dad pushed the tree down!"
Another year of successful swimming lessons! Both kids are jumping in the water and swimming under the water! A big step from last year when Mitchell would not put his head in the water!
Maria had 4 evenings of Dance Camp and loved it!
Mitchell plays on the Nationals, the red Mites team, on Monday nights at the dumps (the ball fields have a formal name, but I'm not quite sure what it is now days). He is looking forward to his last game so he can take us all to the Dairy Inn for a treat to celebrate the season! Grandma and Grandpa are his biggest fans!

June!

Mitchell turns Six!

6 years ago today our baby boy was born! Amazing he is. Reading. Laughing. Growing. Loving.