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.

r

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.

Jo keeps shoving a small water gun up her shirt and saying, "Look Mama! It's like my chests!" And so the stuffing begins.

Maggie 4.5 months

It is insane how fast Maggie is growing. She is so fabulous. She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 6 weeks old. She's smiling all day now and can roll over from back to front. We just started her on some rice cereal, which she thinks is mighty tasty, but can't quite figure out how to swallow. Here are a bunch of pictures of said cutie:

A couple of days ago Atticus gave Maggie this monkey and she totally busted a gut. Apprently he's pretty funny.

We love our little Mag Pie. And if you need your heart melted anytime soon, come listen to Atticus call her "Mags."

Christmas 2010

Where are you Christmas?

Why can't I find you?

Why have you gone away?

Ha ha, ha ha ha. Faith Hill. So hot right now. Christmas came and went rapid fire this year. I can't believe it's over already. It is most definitely the best time of the year. Ahhhhh. Only 11 months until next Christmas! We were with the Strongs for Christmas eve and Christmas day playing many games, thanks to Casey and Tyler. 2 new games to aquire: The Game of Things and Whits and Wagers. I was a natural phenomenon in Wits and Wagers. I don't know why. It's all about guessing and then betting on who guessed the most correctly. It was weird that I did so well.

Christmas night and morning we spent alone however. It was great.

This year Mom helped me make these fabulous stockings! I needed to take pictures of all of them... but once again I have failed you. We made the stockings from sweaters Ry and I found at savers. I really really like them. Thanks Mom!

Every time Atticus opened something he said, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" It was super funny. He's never said it before, or since I don't think.

This is the sweet dollhouse Ryan and I made for the kids. I found it at a yard sale this summer. We painted the roof and wallpapered it with scrapbook paper. We really like how it turned out.

This knife came in a toy cookie making set (Melissa and Doug). Atticus has not parted with it since Christmas morning. He keeps telling us that he's going to cut us. I think this is Rob's doing.

I made Ryan give me bedding. This equals, I picked out my own gift and Ryan didn't get to enjoy picking anything out for me. I'm pretty sure that's not how gift giving is supposed to go. But I absolutely love the set. I still want a bed skirt and possibly more throw pillows. Must save up the money first though:).

I love the bedding so much that when I start getting upset during the day I just walk back and look at my bed. And I am happy again:). Might be dangerously close to idolatry.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas too!

Pandora's Box

I like these kids. But they kind of remind me of that Greek chest filled with danger.

The analogy works many days for many reasons. But this morning it refers to the night I just spent with Maggie who threw up every half hour from 11:30 untill about 2 or 2:30. It was so so sad. Poor girl. Sometimes I feel like these kids are walking virus's! Dangeresque. So probably stay away from us for a few days.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

These are terrible pictures. But they do offer some record of our Christmas tree decorating event! We had a good time. I wish I'd taken a picture of the candy canes. They were ALL on one poor branch, barely still holding itself up. I loved watching the kids get excited about every small Christmas tradition this year.

And Maggie- doing what she does best!

I am so sad I never took a picture of the final product! How could I? However, I assure you, the tree was again ugly- with character. We looked through 4 lots before finding it. Some people said it looked like a Dr. Suess tree, others another Charlie Brown one. We loved it!