Engineers Hoffman

 Last Saturday we had a relaxing family day that was very much needed and very pleasurable.  We had no plans, nowhere that we had to be and we had a great time.  All morning long the kids built and rebuilt the train set.  This is one of those toys that they never seem to tire of.  Each one of them took over a certain aspect of the project while I helped troubleshoot track issues. 

 Darragh took many of these pictures. 

 Here is Judah with his parking lot of trains and cars all lined up. 

 Darragh was in charge of setting up the down town area. 

 Grace specialized in bridge building.

 Henry was the overseer.  He loves to sit and watch his brother and sisters play.

 No, Grace is definitely the boss of these guys.  She will happily take the reins in most situations.  That's a big sister for you...no, I don't know anything about this...

 Grace took this picture of Darragh right before Darragh's Saturday gymnastics class. 

 Grace wrote in Darragh's gymnastics on the calendar for Saturdays.  She spelled it just like she pronounces it!

Just a normal family morning at home with child photographers. (who broke my lens cover as you can see)

Baby Belly Blessing for Mary

My sister is about to have her second little one anytime.  A small group of family and friends gathered to celebrate and recognize the coming of this new baby.  Mary looks radiant and excited as she starts this season of her life.  Just in time for this baby's arrival, it has become possible for her to stay home with her two kids while Sean is a firefighter in San Rafael.  I am thrilled for her as she goes into this next phase of life.

 Chatting with an old friend.  So glad you made it Melinda!

 Eating delicious food and sipping champagne.  Eva hosted the event at her house and it was so lovely and comfortable.

Here we are tie dyeing baby socks.  Since Mary and Sean are waiting until this baby's birth to find out the gender we prepared for both.  Tie dyed baby sock are so cute!!!

Sisters and mom...the Burtt Gals.

They came out so vibrantly colored!  Can't wait to see these on the toesies of my new nephew or niece!

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving twice.  On the actual holiday we went to my parent's house for the traditional hike before dinner.  My mom did an amazing turkey and Cathy Summers did her usual yummy green beans and stuffing.  Here are pictures from the hike up on the ridge.

 It was a beautiful, warm day for a hike.  The kids are great hikers. Judah still isn't able to go as fast or as long as the rest of us but he wants to and has a great attitude.

 Who is that way up there?

 

It's Emma and Grace!

 Little rock climbers in the making.

 On Saturday we had a reprise of Thanksgiving at our house for the Hoffman family. (Ava had been out of town and Hannah had been working so we postponed things a bit.) This was to be my first turkey.  We ordered an organic bird from Whole Foods and when I picked it up I was surprised just how big a 20 pound turkey was!  I have come to learn how to cook and bake from who I believe are the experts.  My gurus are Alton Brown from Good Eats and Christopher Kimball, editor of Cooks Illustrated and host of America's Test Kitchen.  I have to brag, the turkey came out great!  I also got recipes for pumpkin pie (from fresh pumpkin) as well as my new favorite pie dough recipe with the special ingredient of vodka!  Along with my Grandma Dorothy's recipe for cranberry pineapple salad, the food was very yummy!  We had a great meal and spent a pleasant afternoon chatting with family around the table.

 Thanks for the wonderful family holiday guys!