Out of the Mouths of Babes #1

If you had been a fly on our wall this evening for family scripture study (with the children's reader), you would have overheard the following:

Will (pointing to a picture of two men standing in the water preparing to get baptized): "Liam, what are those two men doing in the water?"

Liam in a surprised and nearly appalled voice: "They're getting their pants wet."

Living with Boys

This seems to be the week of me finding pictures on the computer! Here's the latest found on our desktop:

Take a second look. Click on it to see a larger version if you must. We're not alone.

See what I mean. Boys.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

(I won't be surprised if the next one's a boy too.)

Zurg

Dear Zurg,

Shame on you! I thought you were Liam's friend. Why do you insist on making appearances in his dreams...or rather, his nightmares?!

Last night at 3 AM the poor child woke up calling, "DADDY!" Apparently, you'd made your appearance and frightened the little dear so badly that he woke up and called for protection. After installing Buzz Lightyear at the head of his bed and saying a little prayer, Liam finally decided to fall back to sleep. A faster resolution than expected, but still...

Haven't we been good to you? When you first broke and we told Liam that maybe Papa could fix you, didn't Liam take one look at Papa when he arrived and run from the room to fetch you for your repair appointment? Then, when you finally broke beyond repair, didn't we go out the very next day and replace you because Liam couldn't live without you for even that long? For goodness sake, Liam wants to be you for Halloween next year! Could you cut the kid a little slack and just behave yourself?!

Sincerely,
Mommy

Evidence

I discovered these pictures on the camera this morning.

I'd like to think that the sharks are devouring an octopus...maybe not the most pleasant idea, but more pleasant than what I believe is the actual case.

Part of me just knows that that's no octopus...those are intestines.

The two pink fish halves prove my point. They would have to be pink, wouldn't they?

Oh, the things I've learned living with boys.

Fun with Daddy

Daddy always comes up with the best games. Today, we got to play pirates! We each designed our own costumes. I got the award for "Most Creative Use of an Empty Ritz Cracker Box." It's a very prestigious award, and I may be the only one to have EVER received it! We look pretty ferocious, eh?

-Liam

When It Rains, It Pours!

Apparently, it pours right down the inside of the walls in our house! Here is the current condition of our bathroom:



Those are two big fans and a dehumidifier whose NOISE rivals a brigade of jackhammers. They have to be kept running constantly to try and dry out our bathroom so that some water damage from a leaking roof can be fixed. The good news is...it wasn't the toilet, no mold upstairs, and now I can repaint the bathroom.

Seth is HOME!

Last week, my brother came home from his two-year mission in Oregon for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here we are waiting for him at the airport in our matching t-shirts. (The pattern matches if not the color!) He's the only one in our immediate family who has served a mission and we are so proud of him. We just had to go all out. So much for Mom not wanting to be a spectacle! I only wish we'd kicked up more of a ruckus when he came down the escalator!

Welcome home Seth! We know you are ecstatic about being home!

More and MORE Christmas Snow

This year we celebrated Christmas Hoffer-style. It snowed the entire week before giving us the first "White Christmas" we've ever had.

We slept at my sister's house on Christmas Eve with most of the grandchildren. Amazingly, they all went to sleep quickly and didn't wake up too early with the exception of Maddie who, like me, was so excited that she couldn't help but wake up a couple of times during the night. Sheesh, you'd think that after all these years I'd grow up and be able to sleep through the night, but no. I'm as bad as when I was seven!

Christmas morning we put on our coats and got ready to go to Nanna and Papa's house two blocks away (Maddie made her mom promise ahead of time to go before showering to save time). As we opened the garage door, this is what we found:

We knew it had snowed, but we didn't realize how much! Sarah carried the kids to the car while Will scraped off the car and got it warmed up. (Those are Maddie's feet swinging in the picture below!) We decided to cram into one car instead of taking two out in that treacherous snow. It was crazy getting to Nanna's house. We kept reminding the girls not to scream. That Sarah sure has a strong set of lungs. J/K Good thing it wasn't more than two blocks and that our gallant William got us there safely. He's so courageous!

It snowed all day. Papa couldn't help but get out and play in it even if it was still snowing! (That must be who I get it from.)

We went back to Sarah's house when it finally stopped snowing just before sunset to get a little sledding in before dark. It was Liam's first sledding experience and he LOVED it. "Again, again," was his mantra. My thighs protested and were burning after pulling, pushing, and carrying him back up the hill over and over. That was the only part of me that was burning though; everything else was frozen. We soon had to make the trek back to Sarah's house through snowdrifts up to the girls' waists. This is half of our sledding party in front of the pile of snow shoveled off Sarah's driveway:

Merry Christmas!

Merry VERY White Christmas!

Christmas Snow

We have had so much snow this week! I haven't seen snow like this for years! We have about a foot of snow right outside our door. Will is finally beginning to appreciate it now that he doesn't have to drive to work in it. On the other hand, Liam and I have been giddy about it all week. We just had to get out and play in it so we bundled Liam up in his new SIZE 4T coat and his "monster pants" (snow pants). The monster pants were a big hit, and allowed Liam to enjoy the snow without getting wet or cold. He had so much fun. A big improvement from last year when he wouldn't even touch the stuff. (Here he is the first day it snowed being amazed by his footprints.)

We made a snowman and began an igloo (with the help of a couple of neighborhood friends). The snowman became the first casualty of the year when he was knocked down the next day by a five-year-old in the neighborhood. His big brother, who coincidentally helped build the igloo, made him apologize. They apologized to Sam downstairs. I think Sam was a little confused. I asked the five-year-old about it on Sunday at church and he denied the act of vandalism...but I don't think he realized it was my house. He later came with his brothers to deliver a Christmas treat from his mother so I consider the debt repayed.

The snow doesn't come without its treachery unfortunately, and I've seen four or five cars get stuck in the insanely deep gutter across the street already. The snow deceives a number of cars each year by hiding its depth. Our friend Greg and even our mailman got stuck. (That's our mailman and our half-done igloo which is how it remained for a few days while we waited for some nice wet snow so we (I) could finish it. Every child that stopped by on the way home from school asked when and how I was going to put the top on.)

Finally, it snowed six inches of great igloo snow yesterday, and I was able to finish! (I have to admit, I worked on it during Liam's precious nap time even though I had about a million other things I should have been working on. It was just so fun, and I knew the snow wouldn't last forever.) Here's a shot showing the scale of the igloo. Not the biggest, but pretty cute. The mailbox was Will's contribution to the project. Nice touch. Liam refers to the igloo as the "turtle sculpture." He must have picked up the word sculpture from his artist mother.

I was so excited to have it finished!

So were Liam and Will!