Christmas!!!

Well folks its come and gone! AMAZING.  We had a lot of fun this year.  I keep slightly busy during December with two birthdays, the ward rs dinner (this is my third year putting it on! however with my new additional calling I think they were easy on my this year), preschool parties, concerts, cookie decorating party, dentist appointments, printing Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, Christmas and a partridge in a pear tree.  I feel like I take a deep breath after Thanksgiving and hold my breath until the holidays.   Sometimes I find myself thing, Amanda you need to be enjoying this. 

    This year I wanted to do something different to help me slow down... so I did the 12 days of Christmas for myself.  Sounds like I was giving myself presents each day huh?  I did not go that far, maybe next year.  This year I made sure to take time out of each of the busy days and read about our Savior Jesus Christ.  I started out in the book of Matthew and worked my way through the first few chapters of each book that starts out with the Nativity story.  Lesson learned I slowed down a little and enjoyed the season differently as I learned about Christ life on earth.    It was lovely and I would like to thank Lil (who finally started to take naps :-) and Eman who still needs his nap for allowing me a few minutes each day. 

I also promised myself that this summer we would celebrate Eman's half birthday :-)

Our computer is infected currently so I will post photos next year (haha or when we get it fixed)

Christmas Eve I took the kids still in their pjs to the gym (crazy but they thought it was a huge treat, more a peasant to myself to get out the door faster)
Christmas was wonderful we had Christmas Eve at my parents home with my dad side of the family, came home tucked in the children with visions of sugar plums in there head.  E slept with his door closed, although he talked about santa seeing his new pjs all day when bed time came the stranger danger surfaced and he did not want santa to peek in. :-)

I woke up at 5 (or maybe earlier) am to excited to sleep.  How funny is that?  I was so tired and from days of preparation for Christmas and come my time to sleep, I wake up.  E woke up after 7 and miss Lil
The greatest line was Elliott's while opening his stocking

"whoho I must be livin' right"  and he is..

Love to all this holiday season!


ps. both kids started pulling ornaments off the tree today does that mean its time to take it down?  I guess the novelty has worn off, that and it is no longer protected by a sea of presents.

Day Light Savings Time

Dear Child number two,

Day light savings time is when we get to sleep in an extra hour in the fall.  I know it may be the same time you woke up last week but this week when mom sees a 5:40 on the clock she is even more tired than she was last week when that was only 6:40. 


I know day light savings time is confusing.  Just ask people of some parts of Indiana or some parts Arizona- they are sane enough to keep their clocks the same.  Thank you for sleeping in on sunday and sing me such a lovely song as I type.  Hopefully Child number one who got the memo will stay asleep... I typed too soon.  Never mind. 

At least your daddy gets to go play golf (that is not sarcasm by the way).

Love
Mom

this is halloween

the cutest pumpkin in the patch! Cuz keltie :-) getting so big!

our pumpkins i was carving right as thr trick or treators arrived!here we are flora, briar-rose, prince philip, the fire breathing dragon!!!
thanks to a great thrift store find and my good friend Amanda's talented disney magic skills (she made my costume) we had a lot of fun being sleeping beauty! I loved explaining to all the princess at the trunk or treat that I did not know I was a princess yet. you should have seen their eyes light up.

Hello fastest year of my life and Happy Birthday Daughter!

I blinked and this darling baby girl next to me is a year old... I cannot believe how much time flies and how much fun we are having.

lillian is a petite little thing, who can still wear a few 6 month clothing items. We dress her in 12 month just because it looks more comfortable. I know its bad to compare but elliott was wearing 18-24 month by his first birthday and had out grown his infant car seat at six months. lil has 2 more lbs to put on before she can ride facing foward!

When people first hear lillian (that's right they don't see her they hear her first) they hear happy baby noises. She is very verbal, no words other then El e it (elliott ) yet. Then they say "what a cute, oh my gosh look at her eyes!" Her eyes at birth were the darkest blue imaginable. Over the past year they even seemed to turn and iris color. Now they are lighter with a hint of violet. Amazing.

She loves peek a boo and this little piggy. Food wise she is a great eater and loves most everything. She signs please by clasping her hands together and all done when shes done at meal time. She knows the word no and often times will laugh at us as we attempt to protect the bookshelf. Not walking yet, but when she starts we will be running to keep up.

She is a doll. So sweet and lovable as elliott says. Tonight -maybe just maybe elliott will let her open one of her birthday gifts without help! :-)

Indroducing cousin Keltie

On Elliott's very first day of preschool came home to find out he had a new cousin! Steven's sister had her baby girl 9/9/10.

We were able to go visit her this past weekend. The trip which was a short visit on the way up to BYU for more recruiting and a visit on the way back down. Not enough time!! She is a darling little baby and I have to say it is nice holding a new born and not being in pain :-)

What do you do?

A few weeks ago steven was sent to BYU to do some recruiting. I was excited and then I found out my parents would be out of town also! Yikes. I was going to be all alone. After a short moment of panic I realized I needed to keep busy. So I filled our days with having friends over for Elliott!! We had so much fun. One of my favorite nights we had the neighbor kids over for dinner so their parents could go out. It was great. E and L were entertained and E actually stayed in his seat for the meal!!!

The first day I did not clean or pick up a thing (until after the kids were in bed, I know I know I should have left it but they started to drive me nuts!)
Second day I cleaned cleaned cleaned. Strange huh?

The last day I broke down and made it a point to eat out for every meal... sounds expensive but I had a very clean kitchen. Plus E and L really don't eat to much! haha

What do you do to stay busy/ sane when you are flying solo as a parent?

Summer has flown

Can you believe its almost September? I can't. Where oh where has this summer gone? I have love everyday of it. Thanks to having great kids and friends of kids and friends of kids moms. The summer has been filled with play swaps, park days and my favorite beach days.

Celebrate good times!

10 year High school reunion!!!

Sad to say I will be missing my ten year high school reunion this weekend. At first I was okay with it (months ago) now I feel like I am chickening out. Sad. I'll be in vegas so that sounds cool right? haha

I was thinking of the conversations I will be missing...

Classmate:"Hey Hoffman, you crazy mormon. do you still not drink?"
Me: "No here is my drink ticket, oh and here is my husbands also"
Classmate: "Cool, well nice seeing you"

Classmate 2: "So what have you been up to?"
Me: "Oh not much"
Classmate 2: "You have two kids?"
Me: "Yeah"
Classmate 2: "Whoa you've been busy"
Me: "uh, yeah thanks"

Classmate 3: "Hey Amanda looking good"
Me: "why thank you"
Classmate 3: "I can't believe you have had kids"
(hahaha I can dream right?)

Steven: "Wait you used to date that guy?"
Me: "don't stare"
Steven: "the one with the sweater vest over by the bar doing jello shots? Hahaha"(steven laughs uncontrollable)
Me: "Let's go outside and get some fresh air, now please"
Steven: "No wait show me some others, wait no better yet, lets go talk to him"
Me: I hang my head in shame or walk outside to find two random classmates talking about body piecing.

Classmate 4: "Amanda Hoffman, whats your last name now? wait no let me guess"
Me: "um Alfred" Crap who is this, whats their name
Classmate 4: "So its been a while, how you've been?"
Me:"Good"
Classmate 4: "oh look there is so and so"
Steven: "who was that?"
Me: "not a clue"
Steven: "seemed like they knew you"
Me: "funny huh?"

Me: "Oh hello so and so, how are you?"
Classmate 5:" um good"
Me: did you have fun on your trip to south america?
Classmate 5: "yes, how did you know?"
Me: "umm...facebook your photos looked great"
Classmate 5: "yeah" they walk away


Classmate 6: "Amanda the panda"
Me: "Hi good friend"
Classmates 6: "what do you do"
Me: "Im a mom, I did teach for a few years I am luck to be able to stay home with my kids"
Classmate 6: "Oh yea I've seen the photos on facebook pretty stinkin cute."
me: "thanks, they are super sweet, also"
Classmate 6: "so you just take care of them all day like wipe their noes and butts."
me: "well actually the oldest is potty trained now, haha and I thought labor was the hard part." haha
Classmate 6 walks away.

Me: "well its getting late, lets go home"
Steven: "You sure?"
Me: "oh yes, I will see them again in ten years, besides we all look much better on facebook"


Did you just read this? haha Thank you to all the moms that humor me. I kn ow I am truly not this socially challenged and my friends from High School rock! I had so much fun those four years. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. I would never want to do high school again though.... what about you?

Yah they're cute!

 

Speaking in Church!

Steven and I had the opportunity to speak in our Church on Sunday! Each week the bishop asks different members to prepare talks on certain subjects. Ours topic was fathers!!! Here are some of the highlights of my talk that involve Elliott stories :-)

President James E Faust taught that Children need to know who they are. a “golden thread” running through surveys on the faithfulness of our youth. The information shows that the most compelling element in helping our youth make righteous decisions is knowing they will one day be accountable to the Lord for their actions. Hence, he invites us to teach them well and have the Spirit touch their hearts so they will “choose for eternity.”

I am grateful to my parents, leaders and Seminary teachers who challenged me to choose eternity and decide as a young woman that I would marry in the temple. As I grew up and dated I remember times when my father would casually and loveingly remind me you marry who you date, thus reminding me that perhaps dating individuals who could not have taken me to the temple would interfere with the choice I had made years earlier to marry in the temple.

Each morning my three year old son Elliott wakes up with a smile of his face. The first thing he asks me is where is Lillian? When he sees his little sister he will rub her bald head and say mommy I love the baby please can we keep her forever? Oh the joy I feel in my heart knowning that I have kept the promise I made to myself years ago and married in the temple. I tell him yes Elliott we can keep her forever.

Then as most three year olds he will follow up with WHY? Each morning over oatmeal or pancakes I explain that Dad and mommy were married in the temple and because of special promises we made with Heavenly Father if we keep them we can be together forever.

Now the first time this happened I thought this was cute and told Steven and my parents. It happens almost every day now.

This week while tucking Elliott in for bed I told him I loved him and asked if I could keep him forever. He giggled and answered yes. I followed with WHY? He then explained to me that because you got married to daddy in the temple and promised with Heavenly father. I was amazed, some where between pouring milk and getting him more oatmeal he had listen and understood about eternal families.

------------------
and also
2.

President Uchtdof “Be responsive to the promptings of the Spirit. The Spirit will influence your conscience and help you to refine yourself by working on the little tasks of self-control—like controlling your thoughts, words, and actions—which leads to self-control of your whole self, of mind, body, and spirit. remember anger is on letter away from danger.

The prophet Brigham Young said: “We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.”

When Elliott was a baby I was blessed with a teaching moment though listening to the Holy Ghost. Somehow he had gotten ahold of a bright red sample tube of Lipstick and in the matter of minutes while I did some house hold chore smeared it all over himself and the floor. I saw his smiling face and my first reaction was to get upset, angry made etc. I felt my heart change

Then for a moment it was as if the pause button was pushed on my life. I realized that yelling at a baby would do no good. He would not understand and If I allowed myself to fill my heart with anger then, what would happen in the years to come when he knowingly got into mischief.

In stead of being upset I carefully took Elliott to his high chair were I let him have at a bowl of oat meal thus giving him a facial to scrub of the lipstick. To this day when my first reaction is to get angry I have to pause, I know if I get upset at moments in parent I will be missing out moments to teach with the spirit.

:-)

Father's Day!!!

Hope you all are having a wonderful first day of Summer!
And had a Happy Father's day . Hip hip hurray!!! for a husband and father who has an amazing long To Do list with work, Church, the kids and the new house. Yet he still manages to have fun and make time for it all. Summer is here! We love it. Elliott loves riding his bike to the park down the street and playing with his neighbors. Lillian broke her first tooth yesterday and is starting to crawl. I am in no rush to encourage the later. The tooth would explain why she has wanted to be held a lot lately, but still is so sweet.

Movin out!

Tonight will be the first night in our new home. Our beds are put together, clean clothes for tomorrow and we have some food. All we really need right?

Spring break and bond james bond

So yesterday we went to the beach.... My dearest cousin is visiting from Utah and she wanted to go to the beach so despite the fact that it had rained all night we packed up towels, two buckets and shovels. We wore sweat pants and sunglasses. Leaving the baby behind with my grandmother. We headed out PCH to go to the first beach we could find.

To our surprise the beach was rather crowded when we pulled up. As I park I see these people are not normal beach goers. It was a TV show being filmed! Cougartown. We have never seen the show and yet still thought it was impressive that it took over 30 people to film the one scene.
We were the only people on the beach not a part of the show. Elliott loved the beach and playing with us.

To my cousins disappointment we were asked to move, not star in the show. We also saw a seal lion, sea otter (we think) and a pod of dolphins. I was so excited about the dolphins, my cousin pointed out I had alerted the whole crew who were also looking for them. Opps.

So here I was thinking this was a beach day to be never topped. My poor cuz now thinks we always rub elbows with the stars. Then what do we see driving home..... down Las Posas.... THE BIGGEST LOSER contsestants out for a jog with three police escorts and their tv crew hanging out of a silver minivan filming.

Southern california really is not normally this cooul.

Now for the james bond part of the post. Steven wants me to go get him a james bond outfit for his sisters wedding. No not a tux, the one he was wearing while driving on the coast. Yeah like I remember what James bond was wearing.... I was looking at his car!!! Wish me luck.

Easter good eats

Lillian enjoyed Easter Dinner.

Earlier that morning First meal! Not sure about the first taste, but come the second bite she loved it.

Second day Breakfast with bouncing big brother!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

We are fixing our fixer upper we bought this month! The darlings and I at home depot... we split our time between here and lowe's!

I am living an HGTV SHOW.... however mine doesn't end in an hour. First off all those shows about buying a house. So not the same. The home remodel shows... I will let you know.

Steven's busy season is OVER! Just in time for my birthday! It went quickly and Steven did an amazing job of balancing family and the huge corporation!

Lillian discovered toys two weeks ago and has been so entertained. The doctor yesterday (she has a mild ear infection) said that Lillian is the sweetest baby she has ever seen. Which is amazing considering E was pretty mellow himself. What a lucky mom I am!

E has learned to say NO. Most toddlers learn it as one of their first words, E waited a little longer. He is still super sweet just a little more opinionated. A good thing right?

We are looking forward to Easter. E came home from Church concerned last week.

"Mom, Jesus died" So at least he got some of his lesson. The key is Jesus rose again!!!

.

Sweethearts helping

"Sweetheart take your hand out of your mouth!" E instructs his baby sister.

"Like this see" Oh well we tried...

Here Miss Lillian Grace is helping 'da mom

Do the laundry.

Best Dressed baby!

This post is for my MOTHER! She always is saying that Miss Lillian is the Best Dressed Baby in the world. Thanks to some very kind friends gifts of clothing she... just might be. Dressing her is truly like dressing a little Doll. So fun.

Panda power! E's pjs say Mess, what mess? He got them from his dad for Christmas... and has adopted that as his new motto.

I handed her sock (as she has not discovered her feet yet) I had to go get E something when I came back the sock was soaking wet...

Here she is watching Elliott watch TV.

Sunday best!

Super Bowl Sunday... wearing the Birthday suit!




Cute... is her middle name~

PS special thanks to my in house DJ Matt. Every blogger should have one. I highly recommend it. Dance Dance Dance.

January- Zoo Zoo Zoo

Lillian, E and I visited three zoos this month!!! Santa Barbara and San Diego- Steven came with us !!! Also to the LA zoo with my friends. Lots of fun.

She's wearing her brother's old crocodile outfit to the zoo... So cute!

Both kids had little colds/ possible teething. Normally Elliott will watch TV and Lillian will watch Elliott watch tv. Here we tried something new... did not last long, she wanted to see her brother.

One morning before loading up to head to preschool Elliott decided Lillian needed to be measured! My how she has grown!

Elliott has also gotten a hair cut. All the ladies cried at the salon. Don't worry it will grow back!