On the way to a Big Girl Room.

On Thursday we are having our 20 week ultrasound! I am extremely excited and hoping to find out what sex the baby is. In the mean time I am running ideas through my head in hopes of making Maren's transition to the Big Girl Bed, better than Ian's was. ( Ian spent the next 1 1/2 yrs wanting us to sleep with him. . . not good) I decided that it was necessary to carpet Maren's current room, one, to make it cleaner, and two, to make it more kid friendly. The area rug that was in there was not good for a kids room and the wood floors were rough and had big spaces between the boards. ANYWAY, with the help of my parents, we located a carpet remnant that would fit her room. . . we found a NICE one. . . very thick plush! Anyway, today, Nick and Barb visited and volunteered to help watch the kids and help with carpeting the room. After emptying the room, we swept, swiffered, pulled up quarter-round, and swept again, before finally starting the installation. After nailing down the tack strips, laying down the pad, stapling, and re-stapling the pad, it was time to get the carpet in. It ended up being quite the job, the carpet was about 2 inches wider than the room and about 3 feetlonger. The biggest challenge was getting the carpet square in the room, with the extra length and the weight of the carpet, it took 3 of us, quite a bit of maneuvering to get it into place. When all was said and done, it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get it all down. . .This, by the way is about twice as long as I had figured it would take. I am still needing to trim a few places and re-install (new) quarter round, but for the most part it is done. Thursday we will hopefully find out whose room that will for sure be, and we will go hunt down some paint. Maren wants a princess room. . . I must say that I NEVER thought that a daughter of mine would be so girlie. . . what can you do?! Oh well. I am hoping to grant her wishes. We have already surfed the isles of target in search of what she might consider a "Princess Bed" I am just hoping to get by not having to spend a small fortune on some decent bedding. ( I am kind of wishing Eric's Grandma had made a pink quilt along the line somewhere) Oh well. I will post more on this journey later. It is time for BED!

Meeting our newest cousin!

Last night Ian and Maren got to meet their newest cousin, Samuel. We made the visit short, one because the Iowa game was on, and two, because my kids turn into crazy kids at Erika's house for some reason. Here are a few pictures from our visit. It will be interesting to see if Maren is as possessive of her new sibling as she was Sam. She wanted to hold him, and pet his hair, and give him kisses. . . not mom or dad or anyone else! Ian brought some cast iron planes for Sam to share with him. . . he has a while to wait until he has a playmate. I bet Ian can't wait :)

After visiting with

Erika Hermes and Sam, we went over to Greg and Dana's house for some gift giving and football. A good time was had by all. It was a late night.

Our holidays were spent away from home. (our home at least) We spent Wednesday through Saturday in Walnut, where we had a good time visiting with Sara and Jason. Maren really liked

hanging out with those two, and it was nice having enough people to keep an eye out for the kids. It made for some much needed relaxation.

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On Sunday we made the 5 hour journey to Bellevue. We did make one stop on the way, to visit Erika, Hermes, Mom and Jerry in Ankeny. The kids got some great toys and Eric and I got some clothes. Yay! I was a little irritated that after driving ALL THE WAY to Bellevue, on crappy roads, that I get there, go to turn around after not finding a parking spot, and in an attempt to not hit the other minivan with the back end sticking out, I backed into the 3 ft tall cement wall. In my defense, you couldn't see it. It was covered by snow. It did, however, crack the rear bumper of the van. I was NOT HAPPY! We did make it to the Christmas gathering, there were still some people there, however quite a few had wither left already or were leaving as we got there :/ Oh well, That's what we get for having to drive the furthest I guess. . . . . . . .

On the bay back from Bellevue, we stopped in the Comfort Suites in Iowa City. This hotel has an awesome pool for anyone interested. It had a 100 ft waterslide that we went down about 50 times (not exagerating here) with the kids. Maren even attempted a solo slide. . . she made it down on one piece, but from then on she rode with Eric. It was a great time. While we were at the hotel, Marilyn, Erin & Christian, Tina, Scott and Caitlin, came to enjoy the water. It had been a long time since seeing them, and actually the first time I had met Christian.

On the way home, I took another visit to the Chiropractor, I have been having back problems, and took another stab at trying to correct it. I fell on the ice twice while up in Bellevue, so I was really uncomfortable. He fixed the extreme pain but I am just going to be stuck with the back pain until after the baby is born. . . then we can X-ray and figure out where things aren't right.

Tuesday was going to be spent with Mom and Jerry in Elk Horn, however, Erika went into the hospital to have Samuel. He was born at 4:38 pm. weighing right at 8 lbs. 21" long. . . everyone did great.

I sent Eric and the kids to Walnut and hung out at home, waiting for a phone call from Erika. Finally I got one around 5. I went in and visited for a bit, then rode back to Elk Horn with my parents. Wednesday we were using their babysitting services while Eric and I went in to the OB for our monthly visit. The baby appears to be doing fine. Heart rate was 152. We have our ultrasound in 3 weeks :)

Thursday was Nick's birthday bash in Walnut, so we left Elk Horn in late afternoon to get to New Years Eve mass. The church will 1/4 full of Hoffmann's. I'd like to see just how much we fill it if everyone was to show up to the same service, the family is getting big! Speaking of big. . . On Friday was the Hoffmann family gathering! At one point in the evening, there approximately 94 people at the party (in the amvet hall in Walnut). It was extremely crowded. . . at some point we may have to find a larger venue!

We finally returned to Dexter on Saturday afternoon/evening. . . the kids were exhausted and extremely off schedule! Sunday was spent keeping things low key. Laundry and dishes were about all that got done. . . Monday was back to school for me. . . and away we go. . .