new seating

Here's the new seating in the Hoffmann House. You'd have thought we'd have learned that things are twice as big in the house as they look in the store. They are really comfy and the kids love them!

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I think I need to do something with the curtains!

A jungle gym for the Kids

Eric got ambitious and put together the junglegym for the kids. I got all of the wood in the back of the mini. . .probably not the smartest idea in the world. Ian helped out by holding screws and figuring out what daddy missed in the directions. Things would have gone a little faster if Eric payed a little more attention to which side was supposed to be up. The brackets had a right and wrong side up. Oh well. It's done and looks good. We'll put the ladder up in a couple of weeks, when Ian is all healed from the surgery.. . .I'll get a picture of the finished product on here, when it cools down a bit and the kids want to go play on it :)

Mrs. Miranda

On July 12, Kristi Weidner got Married to Ryan Miranda. Beth Balza was one of her attendants. The three of us started our first years of teaching at Orient-Macksburg. Beth is currently working at Boeing in Colorado, and Kristi just moved back from Kansas and accepted a job, working for Marshalltown schools. Good luck with the Married Life Kristi and Ryan. Congrats!

One Step Forward, two steps back.

As we were just seeming to be nearing a somewhat, end to our deconstruction/construction to the house, we've gone two steps back. Two years ago, we redirected the back entrance to make the kitchen space larger. Note:this was AFTER we had moved in. Yesterday we took a trip to Homemakers, in search of a new couch. We had been looking at a sectional that was way out of our price range, so we chose to get 2 couches instead. After getting the 1st one back to Dexter, we realized that the reconstruction that we did on the back entrance not only prohibits from new couches to come into the house, we can't get the old couches out! At the moment, we have two sets of furniture. The old stuff has a couch, love seat, and a large chair (6 inches shorter than the love seat). I had hoped to put the couch in the play room, and the chair and love seat upstairs in the nooks in Ian's and our room. We measured. . . the chair would fit, the love seat would not. . .OK so I needed to only find a home for one piece of furniture. . .I just tried to get the chair upstairs, and it doesn't fit through the door at the base of the stairs. . . I gave up and stuck it in the room at the back of the house, that is currently a catchall for the laundry ( it will eventually be a bathroom/laundry room) For the record, I did have to take the door off of the hinges to get the Chair into the back room. We will be tearing out the window tonight, so that we can get the new couches in. . .too bad the old stuff make it out that window in one piece!

No. . .that's dirt

We had an enjoyable day of pulling weeds, picking beans and eating dirt. Ok, Maren was the only one who was eating dirt, but it did make it possible to tell that her top two teeth had cut through. Maren is now up to 4 teeth :) Ian is doing really well after his surgery. He wants to know where Toby is, so maybe grandma will come over and Toby will be back :) Ian is eating and drinking well, the only trouble we are having is getting him to take the medicine. You'd think we were trying to poison him! Anyway. Things are going fine. Eric has taken the rest of the week off, so hopefully we will get a little done around the house. Saturday is the Tastefully Simple party, anyone need anything?That is a picture of her teeth, yeah it looks a little weird. And, yes, we do have more than weeds in there. we're working on it!

He's Done

This morning was Ian's surgery for the Adenoids, tonsils, and ear tubes. It was a quick procedure and he seems to be handling things rather well. The first three pictures are of Ian before surgery. His nurse was the mother of one of my classmates (Eric Johnson). She set him up with A LOT of car stickers. He was thrilled. Dr. Wellendorf came in with a toy for Ian, a stuffed frog. . .The pictures of him in the green blanket are afterwards. He did a good job of drinking, so they let us out early :) We have found out this evening that they were right in saying that if the drugs run out, it's not good, because then he won't drink. We took a special trip just for Ian, to the grocery store. He got goodies to eat. . .It's going to be a fun week. Ian hates taking medicine. . .

We're back in Iowa!

We JUST got back to Iowa from our trip to Kansas. From the Caseys in Dexter, to walnut, through Kansas City and down to Harper Kansas, then back up though Lincoln Nebraska and back to Walnut we drove. . . drum roll please. . .1,000.3 miles! Wheeww ! We started our tepi at about 1 p.m. on Thursday and ended up in Walnut at about 2 On sunday. This is how our trip went. Thursday: Nick, Barb Eric, Ian, Maren and I Loaded up the Mini and left for KS and got there (without getting lost) at about 6 p.m. We had supper with Mark, Denise, Jeanne, Rusty and their 3 kids. Eric and I got to see the new Dark Knight movie. It was Extremely good by the way. There were a few places that made me jump. I would definately recommend the movie to anyone who likes that kind of movie. NOT A KID MOVIE! Following the movie, we got lost on our trip back to Denise's (KS at 3 in the morning is not my Idea of a good time to get lost). Anyway. On Friday, the troops left for Harper at about 9 a.m. Lucky for me, Nick drove, and I reclaimed at least an hour of the sleep I didn't get the night before. It took about 4 hours from KC to get to Harper. . .It was WAY down there. Friday afternoon was spent decorating the hall and visiting the local water hole. AKA the pool. Ian and Maren had a great time at the pool. Maren is to the point where she will kick in the water and will float on her back, with the help of dad of course. Ian has really taken a liking to the water. He likes to jump off the sides into the water and has gotten some of the doggy paddling down. Friday night we all anjoyed dinner on Karen and Larry, at a local reasurant called the Fence Post.
Saturday morning was the Wedding Day. We slept in, ate breakfast, then went to Karen's, where she attempted to send most of her belongings home with anyone who would take them. After slipping out of there with only a few books and a canopy for shade, we ventured back to the motel to get ready for the wedding and pictures. The kids did a great job, considering the actual time spent at the church. Rember this is a Catholic wedding, not one of those short Lutheran ones! Ian announced that we were "done!" at the end of the first three songs. When we didn't agree with him, he fell asleep. Woo Hoo for us! Maren was passed beterrn the cousins. She enjoyed playing with Clara's bracelets, and kissed lots of people. The wedding went off without a hitch, Congrats Larry and Karen! We rounded off the evening with dinner, church(yes, church, mass before 4 DOESN'T count as church even though there was a full mass and communion) Eric and I were pardoned from mass for the second time. We were just glad to have the kids be as good as they were for the wedding. Maren Barb and Eric took naps during church, so I took the Ian next door to Chris and Cathy's room for a viewing of the cars movie. At 7:30 ish we went to the reception. We had fun. Ian danced the night away, Maren was constantly being held by either Alicen or Adycen. Fine with me, that gave Eric and I a little break. Having all of these cousins and aunts and uncles around was great.
Sunday Morning we got up and going. We all met over at Karen's house for Breakfast and a gift opening, and then we headed back to Lincoln, to stay with Bill and Jenny for the evening. Ian wanted to play outside in the 97 degree weather! go figure. Jenny got a new "puppy" Sadie. She's huge. Bill, Nick, Eric, and I went in to visit Chris and Cathy, and Chris's new car. . .Nice car by the way Chris. We had a nice relaxing time at Bill and Jenny's and headed back to Walnut. 1000 miles, we are back to Iowa. . .has anyone done the math on how may gallons of gas that is. . .17-19 miles per gallon!

Maren Goes boom!

On our outting (to get a pre-Operation physical for Ian) we decided to hit up Wal-mart. While waiting the almost one and a half hours for my prescription to be filled, we coasted around the isles of Wal-Mart, without might I add, buying yet another Disney Cars toy! Anyway, we were almost done, when Maren somehow managed to flip her carseat over backwards and ended up face down in the cart. Not Good! Luckily Maren is OK, my bill got a little bigger when I had to add the instant ice pack and infant tylenol. . .Now I just have to explain to Eric why his beautiful baby girl looks like she has been in a bar fight.

He amazes me some times.

Ian is a very smart little guy, we've figured this out. What still amazes me is that he will watch his Thomas the Train show and knows the puzzles. The dot to dot. . .he can tell which train it is before they even get the dots done. I can't tell them apart when they show the completed picture !

Steps. . .why not?!

Maren has had an eventful summer. On the first day, she decided that she could crawl, (she already pulled herself up on things), then she decided to start walking along things, then free standing came along. . .Just when we thought she'd achieved ENOUGH this summer, Maren has decided to try and conquer the steps. She tried them for the first time on July 7th. I of course wasn't paying that much attention, and didn't realize that she was even interested until she rolled back down them. Luckily for me she'd only gone up a couple. . .Time for the baby gate!
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Today, under the watchful eye of mom, Maren went up 8 steps before figuring out just how high she was!

4th of July weekend

The 4th of July weekend was spent on the move. We started off the weekend by making a trip to Reinbeck, near waterloo. My Cousin Janelle and her family live there, she was the chosen one for hosting a family get together. I got to see cousins that I haven't seen since my wedding, 5 years ago (lets you know just how often we get together) It was nice to see everyone again. It's amazing to see just how many kids the cousins have. There was a baby boom in our family around the time that Maren was born. Beth had Griffin in Sept, I had Maren in October, Natalie had Brynn in December. (In addition to those three, Jake and Tracy had a little girl, Emma, in December and Emily and John Had Lucas 6 days before Maren was born. I can't wait to meet those babies) Tina was there with Kaitlyn, it's amazing just how tiny our babies start out. . . my babies were that size once. . .
It was fun to get together. It's not too often that my kids get to go somewhere where they BOTH can have someone to play with. Needless to say, naps were not taken,and they were both exhausted. Natalie's daughter Julia LOVED the babies, and spent her day tending to them :) THe kids, and parents enjoyed a barbecue, and Parade. . .Lots of playing, Volleyball, Soccer, and on the trampoline. We topped the day off with fireworks in Reinbeck. Ian loved them, he even had commentary. I was glad to see Maren wasn't scared of them. She just watched. It was a late night, the kids were exhausted by the time we left. . .OK . . .so were we. We'll have to get together again sometime soon. . .Perhaps when Emily and John move back to IOWA. . .
On Saturday, we ventured south for a little time with the Hoffmann Crew. We started off at Aimee and Mike's house, for dinner on the grill. Mike did a great job by the way. Following the feast, we went down to Lake Icaria, in Corning. We got to swim and take a cruise on Mike's family's pontoon boat. ( we even got a free visit by the DNR, checking for the proper safety equipment on the boat. . .) As always, it was fun to get together, as I'm sure it will be in 2 weeks when we get together for another Hoffmann wedding. . .

the wonders of nintendo DS

Alicen teaches Ian the ways of the Nintendo DS. Between that and the PS3 that dad taught him, he will be on his way to computer nerdyness in no time.

I didn't fall off !

I got the peak done and didn't fall off. Getting up there is enough to scare the crap outta ya! I would definately put that on the list of things that I shouldn't do. It wasn't fun at all.

Alice, formerly known as Alicen.

Alicen is doing a great job at keeping up with the kids. Wednesday was busy with things other than painting. Maren and I went to a baby shower of a co-worker while Ian kept Alicen occupied. It was HOT out, which meant mostly indoors activities. It was a long day and Ian was NOT cooperative. We are exhausted!
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Ian has decided that Alicen is too hard to say, so her name is Alice. Alice this, Alice that. It's kinda cute. Alicen just laughs every time he calls her name. I think Alice is running out of steam. My kids are keeping is both on the ball.



This is what happens when Daddy is watching Maren. She decided to take a closer look at the trim paint.

What a change!

The house has really taken on a new look, This is what the front looked like at quitting time. It was a puzzle to get the colors to work on the front. Obviously still not done.

Tuesday Progress

This is of 2:00 on Tuesday. Need to work on trim and accents and a little touching up here and there. . but the bulk of the painting is DONE.

I sure am thankful for large families

Nothing beats making a phone call and getting a live in babysitter, all in one day! The frusteration finally set in and I made the call. "Jeanne, can I have your first born child?"Yup. Alicen joined us on Sunday afternoon, and it's all been good. Ian and Maren have bonded, and Alicen doesn't really seem to mind the jungle gym that she has instantly become. In the mean time I have actually gotten a lot done. The house is on it's way to a makeover. On Sunday, we got the power washing done. Monday I got the West side ALMOST done. I have the accent color left to do, but I also had to figure out what color I wanted, and to send my man to go get it. For today, the goal is to get the front of the house done! It'll hopefully be most of the way done by noon :)