A recommendation for the dvd player

I was excited to be lazy with Ryan on Saturday. Which meant we definitely needed a redbox movie. But when I browsed through the available films the two we'd been hoping for were rented out. So I brought home this disc, trusting at least Jo and Tic would enjoy it.

I was blown away! I read the Ramona books as a kid and thought the film might be slightly endearing for that reason, but it was SO good. How many hollywood productions do you go away from thinking, "I want to be a better mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, etc." Not many. The movie upheld family values. It showed a functional, happy family- with some problems. Every time I looked Ryan's way he had a big grin plastered on his face. Watch it. You'll love it.

A Day to Celebrate Elena!

Someone needs to tell this little boy and this little girl that he's not a princess and, no matter how cute she thinks he is, they absolutely cannot get married someday.

I'm pretty sure you've all already heard about this. But the anniversary of Elena's diagnosis is coming up and Eric and Briana are throwing a party/service project to help other kids with cancer. Here are the details:

When: Saturday, March 19th from 8am-1pm

Where: 114 South 400 West, Orem (Cultural Hall of the LDS Meetinghouse)

What: To celebrate one year of Elena kicking cancer's trash! We will be doing a service project and a blood drive. For the service project, we will be assembling kits for families of newly diagnosed cancer patients at Primary Children's Hospital. We received one of these in the first few days after Elena was diagnosed and we want to pay it forward and give some support to people going through what we did because we know what a terrible time it is.

There will also be good food, good company, and hopefully it will just be a very fun, meaningful night all around.

So, come! We want you to celebrate with us and we need your blood. Haha. :) Seriously, we need 25-30 committed donors. Even if you can't stay long or can only drop in, please stop by and give blood! You - yes YOU! Even friends and family of friends and family are invited. Please come give.

2nd: In order to make our service project a success we need your help in rounding up donations for the kits. This can be done by purchasing and donating the items needed directly, or sending money ahead of time for us to purchase the needed items. If you need our address, let me know in a comment or an e-mail and I'll send it to you. Here are ideas for what we are looking to put into the kits:

• Travel Blanket - like a fleece blanket that can be rolled up and secured with a strap or something. For parents mostly - the hospital has like a million blanket donations, so the kids are pretty well taken care of each visit. :)
• Stuffed animals: need to be small-ish and MUST be new. The hospital can not accept used stuffed animals for health reasons
• Small toys/Activities: same rules as above - NO used toys.
• Hand sanitizer
• Lotion (travel size)
• Chapstick
• Books about cancer for children: ("I'm a Superhero", "My ABC Book of Cancer", "Chemo-Girl(/Boy): Saving the World One Treatment at a Time", etc.) You can purchase individual books off of the internet or send money for us to purchase them.
• Doctor kits for kids to play with
• Gas Cards (Chevron, Texaco, Sinclair, Maverick, 7-11 are all local stations)

We have got the snacks for the kits covered, but they will also be included. Other than no used items, the only other guideline that the hospital gave us was NO latex.

Pretty much Eric and Briana are the bomb.com. You can go to their blog to let them know what you'll be donating or you can leave a comment here and I'll let them know. You rock...

Shopping with coupons

I just got home from our local Smith's grocery store. This is what I bought:

5 boxes of Honey Chex cereal
2 bags 19 oz plain M&M's
2 boxes betty crocker fruit snacks
1 loaf whole wheat bread
1 bottle purex liquid laundry detergent

I used a lot of coupons. Guess how much I paid?

Family Photos by Christy Bateman

This was Ryan's favorite of Jo.

But I'm having a hard time choosing between these three.

And then these three.

And this one is just so dang Atticus.

These three are also tied.

Can't figure out how to turn that one for the blog.

Any opinions? It would make things easier if Christy weren't so darn good at taking pictures:). Thanks Chris! You rock.

Strong Snacking 101

Let it be known, well it already is known, that Ryan and I like to eat SNACKS. As soon as the kids go to bed each night we really feed our cravings. It is probably the best part of the day- Ryan + Food = AH HA HA! I love it:). I tried to give this habit up earlier last month... but then... why? Why stop eating after 9:00? Because it would help me lose weight? Because it's healthy? Because no one else on the planet eats as much junk as us? I'm not sure you've got a sound argument to work with there. Ryan and I are separated too much during the day. When we have our time together we've gotta party. Strongs party- all night long.

Tom told us his mouth starts salivating at the sight of our house. He's been trained like one of Pavlov's dogs. So awesome.

Point of this post. The other night Ryan and I ate an entire bottle of Pace mild salsa. 16oz. 1 lb. A lot. We enjoy our chips and salsa. Especially with cottage cheese. One full size chip, break it in half, dip in cottage cheese, dip a second time in salsa, and eat your heart out. So as I realized we downed the entire bottle in one sitting... I took a gander at the back info (that black and white stuffs I usually ignore- you know exactly what I'm talking about). 14 SERVINGS. We each ate SEVEN servings in one sitting! Is that not shocking? Are you impressed or disgusted? I'd really like to know. Please take into account that "their" serving size reads "2 Tbsp." Who on earth opens up a bottle of salsa, eats two tablespoons and is honestly content?

A Family Surprise and Margaret's Baby Blessing

3 or 4 months ago my brother and his wife, Danny and Kristi, called and asked if I could help them with a huge surprise. They wanted to fly out here (from Florida) to bless their new little Jackson so that both their families could be at his blessing- but keep it a secret until they arrived. When my sister, Jen, heard they were coming she decided to drive her family up too (from Arizona)! It was really fun to plan and lie to my family through the holidays. Ha ha. I decided to bless Maggie at the same time so calendars would be marked ahead of time. Everyone in my family was together for the event- first time we could all be together for a long time.

The Wednesday before the blessings I planned a "half way through winter" pizza party. This is where Danny's family and Jen's family made their grand appearances:

Here's a picture of my brother Danny with some very happy nieces and nephews!

Little Macey Mae



Lily and Briana



Eric trying to figure out a lego snowman he won in Bingo



Dad doing the same



Parker, Maren, Macey



Lincoln, Elena (look at that cute fuzz growing back!), Atticus, Sophie- hanging out at the prize table



Mom, baby Jackson, Christy, Kristi

Saturday, January 29th, the two babies were blessed by their Dad's. I'm grateful to be married to Ryan. I'm grateful he holds the Priesthood.

The entire Hoffman family

Jackson Alan Hoffman

Kristi, Danny, Jackson

Margaret Marie Strong: possibly the most angelic little chunk around.

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She was blessed in my blessing dress, as was Josephine.

Mags: 5 months, Me: 26, Atticus: 2, Ryan: 30, Jo: 3

Thanks To Christy for taking the blessing pictures! You rock. And thank you to everyone who helped with the meal. I couldn't have done it without everyone's kindness. And, last but not least, thank you to Eric and Jen and Danny and Kristi for coming to visit! What a sacrifice. Thank you. I love you guys!

Two Atticus Funnies

One. I have officially reached the "I think I'm fat" stage after pregnancy. I'm proud of myself for making it 5 months this time before getting hard on my body. To combat this very sad spiral I've begun descending I needed to do something drastic. I thought about a shopping spree for new clothes. But I couldn't wait for a babysitter or Ryan to get home. And I knew I'd feel pretty guilty for spending our money frivolously. So instead, in a very spontaneous moment, I took our kitchen scissors and cut myself some bangs. Ha. Not really smart. I haven't decided if I'm going to like them or not. Regardless, I look different. So different, in fact, that when Atticus saw me minutes after the haircut he started crying and couldn't look at me! He immediately wanted me, buried his little face in my shirt, but couldn't look me in the eyes. Poor kid. He kept saying, "I want you put your hair up! Put your hair up!" It was really funny to me. Even after Ryan got home (So it had been a good 4 hours or more) he would say it. "Mama, put your hair up!" Ry and I had some good laughs. He seems okay this morning.

Two. When I went to put Tic down for his nap yesterday he started crying, "I want my brother!"

I mean, really crying in earnest.

"I want my brother!" I kept thinking I was hearing him wrong. I asked what color his brother was, what he looked like, etc. At first I was afraid that God was using Atticus as his messaging system. And I don't EXACTLY feel ready for another little person, not just yet:).

I finally got frustrated, "You don't have a brother! Now go to sleep!" and left. I listened after closing the door and my anger melted as I heard Atticus continue to beg for his brother. I went back in. Atticus was on his hands and knees looking under his bed for his brother.

"Where's my brother, Mama?" Big rolling tears on his cheeks. So I let him come out of his room to look for his brother. He immediately went into the bathroom, found my make-up bag, dug around and pulled out my tube of Mary Kay Ivory foundation.

"My brother!"

He has been carrying this tube of make-up around ever since, sleeps with it, loves it. The foundation IS his brother. When Jo heard about Tic's brother she got very upset.
"No Akus! That's not your brother. You're a brother!"

"No Jo! This is my brother! I'm a sister!"

"Nooooo! You're a boy, you're a brother Akus! I'm a sister!"

"No. This is my brother!" He is as loyal to his brother as any sibling ever was.

"It's not a brother. It doesn't have a face. Brother's have faces!"
I love it. Like that's the defining characteristic between make-up and a human boy.