Crazy Mommy

Grace came home from a party with a little spinning toy pumpkin.  When you push a button at the bottom, the face inside spins and stops at one of four different faces sort of like a roulette wheel.  As I began to press the button I realized that the pumpkin was showing all of the emotions and faces that I make in this house multiple times a day and in close succession!  Here are the many pumpkin faces of Alice.

Happy, excited

Dumbfounded but trying to have a good attitude

Mean, mad mommy telling everybodyforheavensakepleasepickupyourclothesandputtheminthehamper getoutofthecribandstopwakingthebabyheJUSTfellasleepyoudon'tneedanentirerolloftoiletpapertowipeyourbottom!

Worried momma, are they going to survive? Am I going to survive? Do they know how much I love them? What am I going to make for dinner? How many peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches a week is considered dangerous to a childs health?

9 Years!

If you had asked me the day I got married to John where I thought we would be in 9 years I would never have guessed the life we now live.  I guess that that would be true of most people though.  In my youth I didn't know much about love when I thought that I did.  Love between two people who have promised to stick together no matter what can be the most dynamic, the most comforting, and the most fulfilling.  (Especially when they both serve the Lord)  My love for John has grown deeper and more intimate than ever and it will only grow more that way as we continue to pursue each other.  Sure, there have been times that we have not been loving to each other and these were harder, more lonely times.  We were lost from each other and had to find our ways back together.  Like Hansel and Gretel, we learned to leave a breadcrumb trail back home and then follow that path when we found ourselves lost again.  When I see John trying to love me my heart swells.  The fact that he loves me and looks for ways to bless me is astounding.  Someone loves me!  And he doesn't just love me because he feels like it...let me tell you, it is not always easy to love me.  And yet, he chooses to.
Marriage has grown me in ways I wouldn't have grown if I had never met John and never promised to spend the rest of my life with him.  If we had decided to live together and not get married I think that we may still be together today but it would have been a rougher road with who knows what kind of damage occurring along the way.  John PROMISED to be my husband for as long as he or I live.  I can and must count on his faithfulness to keep this promise just as he must count on mine.  It is this that forms the foundation of our bond.  When I think of him, my soul sighs in relief that he is my faithful partner through whatever may befall me.  I have been loving John for 13 years and I look forward to the many (many!) years to come.

Our 9th Anniversary date at Hill Top in Novato.

Game Time

So for Christmas Grace received some games that initiated her into the game world that John and Nathanael have always been interested in.  The brothers have played Magic the Gathering for years as well at Dungeons and Dragons and other games of the like.  Grace has shown an interest so John bought her a Pokemon starter game.  Over the Christmas holiday both John and Nathanael would play with her every day.  Nathanael would come home on his lunch break and ask Grace if she wanted to play.  After dinner John would put a movie on for the younger kids and ask Grace if she wanted to play. I was impressed with their willingness to play with a beginner as well as their patience in waiting for her to read a card before she played it since the reading level is for at least 4th grade and she is in 1st.  Grace was eager to play and would spend hours at the table with them until she became mentally exhausted from all the hard reading and strategy.  After bed, I would hear John and Nathanael discussing her progress at learning and playing the game.  "She crushed me!" they would say.  I was impressed with their eagerness to train her and play with her.  After that they would sit down and play with her cards.  One day I noticed that they both had new sets of Pokemon cards of their own.  They would play late into the night out in the garage during the brew on beer making nights.  Grace liked to play but didn't seem nearly as excited to play as the guys were.  After this, John discovered a game called Pirates at Oceans Edge that allowed for younger players.  Upon opening the box and discovering the game contains the coolest little ships that you assemble and play on an ocean, the guys went out and bought several more of the games in order to get more of these cool ships.  After playing a few times, alterations have been made to make the game cooler and Nathanael customized an ocean playing surface that covers our entire dining room table.  These guys love to play good games.  Here they are on a typical night.  

Henry

I am in love with this little guy who is currently the smallest Hoffman.  (I have a feeling that eventually my second baby will end up the smallest Hoffman as I am the smallest of the Burtt Tribe even though I am the eldest.)  Henry is now 7 months old and is on the whole a sweet, good-natured boy who enjoys sitting and emptying his toy basket and not going anywhere. (He has yet to crawl and this is a very desirable stage) He is most happy when able to see his siblings playing close by.  He often will squeal and flap his arms when Grace comes to play as she is the only one who likes to interact with him in a way that is fun and not frightening.  Darragh loves to play with him but after about 2 minutes suffers an urge to pick him up and carry him around.  This sight, while uncomfortable for him and not very safe, is hilarious to witness as Darragh is so small and Henry getting so big....it looks a little like what Benny carrying Emma around would look like...awkward:)  But to Henry, he doesn't know that this is dangerous and he just hangs on and looks around as if this is completely normal...as it is to a person who cannot get around except for being carried by others.   Judah has started to really take an interest in his little brother.  He lets Henry grab his hair and face and gently touches his head to Henry's.  Judah's special way of loving his brother is to sing to him.  I LOVE to hear this as it is both sweet and hilarious.  Judah's voice become deep and husky and he sings songs he knows, often jingle bells with made up lyrics.  

Henry is still technically full time nursing.  He has begun to have the occasional Cheerios and broken animal crackers.  A few days ago he cut his very first tooth (phew!) and now has a sharp! edge with which to break up his Cheerios.  We have begun sign language again and are back to the old favorite "more" (touch all fingertips on each hand together and bring the hands together in a clapping motion)  None of our kids have demonstrated this sign until about 9 months but Henry may be sooner.  When I do the sign he looks at me with such focus that I swear I can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he gains understanding. I remember this with each of the kids at various monumental moments in learning and understanding and I will never loose fascination for it. 

 Most of the photos of me with my babies are taken by my other babies.  Therefore, they are usually not the best pictures but they still save an image from the past.  I love to see pictures of me with my babies.

 Darragh holding her little brother.

Cool dude taking a bath in the sink.