First Class Bulldog

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

I am proud to announce that Aiden was awarded the First Class Bulldog award for this trimester. What is a First Class Bulldog? Forty students are chosen each trimester as students that are living out the 16 Life Skills that are taught: respect, integrity, initiative, flexibility, perseverance, organization, sense of humor, effort, common sense, problem solving, responsibility, patience, friendship, curiosity, cooperation and caring. Aiden received it for his honesty. We were very proud of him. He had no idea he was receiving the award nor did he know that we (me, my mom, Jamie and Gavin) would be there to watch. Here are some pictures of my First Class Bulldog.
Isn't he handsome? He's going to be a heartbreaker.
His friend Bryce received the award also. They are cute boys!
Gavin watchin' the program.
Receiving the award from Mr. Roth, the principal. Aiden seems less than excited.
Proud Mom.
All of the SWE First Class Bulldogs.

What's an award without presents!?! He got two skateboard guys, balloons and a t-shirt.

Marcus couldn't go to the program because of work, but to say that we are proud seems like an understatement. I know this award is not life changing, it doesn't give any recognition outside of our small town, but that doesn't matter in the least. To know that the things we try to teach at home are being practiced outside of the home (maybe even more than inside the home ... oh brothers) means a lot to us as parents. We love you Aiden Michael.

February Family Fun!

Once again this month has been action packed! Let's jump right in. Marcus has been reunited with his brother, Donnie after 14 years. We had a big homecoming celebration for him at our home on Valentine's weekend. Below is a picture of all of us together for the first time. It really was a great day.Here are the three stooges - Donnie, Jason and Marcus.
We also were able to welcome a new baby into the world! Emma Rose was born on February 19th. She is gorgeous (just like her mom and grandma). She's a sweet little package.
Yes, my baby fever is going crazy. Especially when I see all the cute little pink things.
Logan just adores babies. Here he is all snuggled up to Emma the night we went to visit her. He could kiss and hold her all night.
And then there's Aiden. He's not thrilled with babies. He wasn't all that thrilled when Gavin came along. He loves him now, just not interested when they're little. He humored me for a picture though.

Well, that's it for now. I have a fun post for tomorrow though! Stop back by!!!

Lessons From Home

I worked from home today. The boys didn't go to school/daycare due to weather and I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I opted to try this out. I wasn't sure how it would go since the boys are pretty active, but I was surprised. Here's what I learned today while working from home:
1) I love wireless internet.
2) I love my bed.
3) I love wireless internet while sitting on my bed.
4) My kids like oatmeal (I already knew this) but are devastated when you drop it on the kitchen floor.
5) I am devastated when I drop oatmeal on the kitchen floor.
6) I hate mopping. I'm no good at mopping (see #5).
7) I can have a day where I don't have to get on the kids for fighting until after 11 am!
8) The Young and The Restless picked up right where I quit watching 8 months ago.
9) Lunch with the boys seems to be a larger mess than a 4 course dinner.
10) The boys could (and did) watch the Sandlot 2 over and over.
11) When the boys are quiet and I am being productive in the bedroom, I should stop and go see what's happening (see pictures below).
12) I can get all the laundry caught up in one day.
13) I am praying Marcus doesn't read #11.
14) I have truly great boys that for the most part were great while I worked and rested today. I am blessed.Some type of war (The Hoffman War) happened upon our couch. The cat may be under there for all I know!
Silly putty sticks to a computer screen. Just ask Aiden. Not sure what he was making exactly. Eeek.

I am feeling better this evening. I hope to return to work/school tomorrow. But I must admit, I enjoyed our day and lessons.

Life's a Circus

Saturday we took the boys (Aiden, Logan and Gavin) to the circus. It was a first for Gavin. He was really needing a nap since the night before he and Nick were up most of the night due to a furnace issue. Anyway, he did great other than asking over and over for them to turn the music off. Nick and I couldn't blame him. Oh, I should mention that the adults were my parents and my brother in law, Nick. Marcus and my sis had to work. The circus was pretty good, although we were worried when the second act was "Felicia and her house cats." Yeah, big fail. Here are some pics from our big outing:

Gavin loves his cousins. He kept putting his arm around Aiden during the show. So sweet.

This pic was actually after the show. This is all of us packing into the Tahoe. Looks like the clown car!

Papaw JJ is a little proud of his grandsons. Just a little ....

Mommy and Aiden playing with the camera. My face looks huge!

Our little Colts fans!

Whitley, IN Lock-Up 2010: Carrie Hoffman

Whitley, IN Lock-Up 2010: Carrie Hoffman

I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Snow Cream!

It started snowing on Thursday morning. It snowed ...

And snowed ... and snowed some more! I think when all was said and done, we received 5 inches of snow. Not enough to cancel school, but an early dismissal and 2 hour delay made Aiden (and mommy) just as happy.


The boys couldn't wait to go and play in it.

It's fun until you get hit in the face with a snowball and Mommy makes you stand still for a picture. Grrrr.





The boys think the grill looked a bit like a monster. Ha.

The best part of the snow was when we made snow cream. The boys thought the idea of it was so fun. What they didn't realize was that it's super sweet and you really can only eat one heaping spoonful. Aw, memories.

Too Much Christmas?

We waited all year for Christmas to arrive. The house smells like Christmas, the house looks like Christmas, the kids are anxious about presents and not sure if they've been good enough all year to received that one particular gift. Then, in a blink of an eye ... it's over. Or that's how it normally goes.

This year Christmas seemed to last a really long time. Our first Christmas Party was the Farmer Family Christmas (Marcus's mom's side of the fam) on Dec 5th! That same night was his work Christmas party. Then the next weekend I hosted a Christmas Candy Making Party. The following weekend was the Hoffman family Christmas. Of course Christmas day we had our little Christmas, followed on the 28th by the Erskine family Christmas and just last week on the 30th was the Davis Family Christmas out in Missouri. WHOA ... AM I TIRED! The boys had a great time and really scored in the toy department. I think we own every game system known to man (ok, not really, but we now have a DS, Wii, GameBoy and a Leapster. Who needs those old fashioned things called books anyway!?!)

Anyway, I've posted just a few (er, 10) of the photos taken from the festivities. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/New Year's. Tomorrow it's back to reality (insert groan here).