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.

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!