Hoffmann Christmas Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the Hoffmann family Christmas. I thought this picture of the long table was fun! It looks like it goes on forever! We missed all of you who weren't here with us. Hopefully we'll see you all soon again. Passing out gifts
The Great-grandkids putting on a program
Grandma reading "Cinderella" to Darci and Paige
Darci in her chef's outfit from Grandma

Thanks Rebekah

Just wanted to thank-you for all your hard work hosting Christmas for our family....Darci and I had a blast! Love you all!

Hoffmann Christmas

We're looking forward to having everyone here (well, almost everyone) for Hoffmann Christmas! I was talking to Mom on Sunday and thought maybe I should just put a little info here for you guys.

I think we'll say come around 4:30
The Aunts are taking care of the food
You probably already remember this but I think usually the Grandkids bring the goodies to snack on after the meal...not necessary but fun...so if you have time, you can bring stuff like that.

I think that's all the info. If I'm forgetting something, let me know!

Love you,
Bek

Holiday Shopping

The Holiday Shopping season has more than began...but for us the visitors to our Chicago retreat have just began. We had a great crew of 10 up here this weekend (don't worry they didn't all stay in our tiny apt.) We had both sets of parents up as well as Spencer, Holly and 4 of her friends. We went to Moody Bible Institutes Moonlight Christmas carols on Friday night and shopped all day Saturday. The weekend was great, even with the beautiful snow fall that began falling on Saturday. Thankfully for the girls driving home, it quickly turned to rain. But we enjoyed the snowing sidewalks for a while!
We have another crew coming in this weekend, all attempting to take turns. Two people Wed thru Fri, Three Fri thru Sun and 4 Sun thru Tues. If you think of it say a prayer for my sanity. I'm quickly learning how to be a non fussy host...
Luv you all!
Booxy

Blessed!

My little jumping bean...jumping on her trampoline...growing up so fast...and POTTY TRAINED!!! Granted, it's only been 2 days now that she's been in underwear, but no accidents the last 2 days either! She's been going on the potty for a week or so, so I gave the undies a go & so far so good! We had a gift card so we all went out to eat last night & grocery shopped together...it was kinda fun. But Abbi told us 2 times she had to 'pee on poddy', and both times she went. (she had a diaper on since we were out but still told us...I am still in shock at how easy she has been after Josiah's struggle)

My 'Trick or Treater's'

2 Balerina's & a Zoo keeper =)

Thanksgiving Memories

Jack...what a stud
Cereal party!

Ab's & Rae...what a pair

Well, I hope everyone's feeling better...Chad was sick Mon night-Tues, but so far no one else here got it! (hoping that means we're in the clear) But I'm hearing of people everywhere with this, so who knows if or when we actually will get anything. We're heading to Belvidere tonight to be with the Jepson's. We're coming home tomorrow night, so pray for us as it sounds like it could be nasty. If it's too bad we'll just stay & drive back Sun morn or something...Anyway, so good to be with everyone last weekend! Love you all! Kristy

New Niece

Meet the newest Plattner, Colette. Last weekend I traveled to Detroit to visit my newest niece. Aaron had to work, but I had a chance to spend some time with my in-laws. Colette is a beautiful little girl....dark hair, dark skin, and dark blue eyes. I didn't think you could get any cuter then the Kaufmann nieces and nephews...but she's pretty cute!
Aaron was jealous, but he hopes to get to meet her on Thanksgiving. And we're looking forward to seeing all of you on Friday!
Spencer, the proud uncle. He was a little disappointed they had a girl...but that soon changed;)

More Pics from the Weekend

Shopping with the whole family


Joe dressed as a firefighter at the Children's Museum
Watching the street drummers, they can do amazing things with 5 gallon buckets!

Chicago thru the Eyes of a Child

This weekend Aaron and I had the privilage of hosting Joe, Maggie and Chet in Chicago...what an adventure we had! Seeing the city through the eyes of children is a wonderful thing to do once you've lived here a few months. Besides the fact that I fell asleep at 8 last night (from pure exhaustion) we had a great time and would do it again! After a night of playing at the park and eating at Potbelly's for supper Joe and Maggie learned how to play the game Sorry....and yes Joe won! Maggie's attention span isn't quite long enough to keep up with the game yet:) Saturday morning we headed downtown. Instead of driving we thought we'd take the kids on the public transportation (brilliant idea by Aaron).
Waiting for the "train" Chet liked to keep looking down the tracks. Chet: "Sigh, when's the train gonna come?" But it was worth the wait, they were all pretty fascinated by going in the tunnel (subway). From there we caught a bus, and I thought Chet and Maggie's eyes would pop they were so big as we drove through the city.
We finally made it to the Discovery Museum and the kids were entertained for hours with all their exhibits. The water works exhibit being their favorite, they also "dug for dinasaur bones," built model airplanes and timed how long they would stay in the air and went bowling. This all happened before noon, needless to say, lunchtime came quickly. We met up with Andy and Marie for Chicago style Pizza and then went to the Lego store and Sanria.
We had a great time, Thanks Andy and Marie for coming up!
Booxy

Costume Party--Year 3

Michael & Jane had another fun Costume Party again this year! Being pregnant, my costume options were very limited. So we decided to dress as an oven and chef. Klint was SOOO excited not to have to color his hair or paint his face. Now it was my turn to make an idiot of myself. This outfit was really hard to get on and take off. Jane informed me the week before the party that we were going to do a scavenger hunt around Bluffton. I kind of freaked out b/c I literally could not sit down in my costume. So, Jessica took a captain seat out of their van so I could kneel the whole time and not have to take my costume off. The girls beat the guys bad! It was alot of fun!

If you look close on my oven timer, you will see we had it set to the exact minutes when the "bun" in the oven would be done (88,260 minutes until my due date)

You may have to click on this pic to see everyone:

L-R: Nick & Jessica (Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head), Andy & Jenna (Mike & Carol Brady), Klint & Sarah, Joel & Erin (Gypsy (SP?) couple), Jeremy & Christy (Jean & Gene - a pair of blue jeans), Michael & Jane (Sister Jane & Father Michael)

Hope you enjoyed!

Klint & I will be in Bloomington Sunday...hope to see some of you then! Loveya all

Sarah

Baby Shower!!!

Klint & I had our Baby Shower on Saturday at the Fellowship Hall. It was alot of fun and pretty overwhelming! We feel incredibly blessed and unworthy of all the people that came and the gifts we received!

Here is the committee
Opening all the gifts. Liz did a great job writing it all down.
Yum!
We really appreciated Christa coming! Isn't her hair cute?
Rachel & Jane were both on the committee. Jane did a great job with the decorations.

Side note: After our shower Klint & I drove down to Indy for a few hours to eat at our favorite restaurant (PF Changs) for our anniversary. On the way home I couldn't take it anymore and opened both of our ultrasound envelopes. So, we know if we are having a boy or a girl! However, we are TRYING to keep it between the 2 of us (that should be very interesting!) Hopefully, we can hold it in for another 8 wks. I am very glad that we know... for some reason I feel so relieved. We are excited. See you all! Loveya Sarah

Just To Let You Know...

Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry it's been SO long since I've put anything on this blog! I always enjoy reading what everyone else puts up here though! Sara, I LOVE everything you did to your new room! How fun! I love the creativity! Can't wait to see pictures of the baby room!

Well, probably all of you know by now but we are expecting baby number 3 the beginning of May 2008! We actually just found out we are going to have another baby boy. So, that is our latest news. I am still in the feeling yucky phase so I'm going to be glad when that's over. I am only 12 weeks but usually I get over this "morning" sickness thing around now.

Well, that's our news. I just thought I'd post so I can say I put something on here!

Love,
Rebekah

P.S. We are SO excited to be hosting the Hoffmann Christmas this year. Can someone just remind me the date!!! I am losing my mind...I just need to carry a planner with me and write everything down the minute someone tells me anything!

We've been blessed!

Mom & Dad at the waterpark

This is Jake, Chad, Jodi & Ethan getting dumped on

The grandkids at the playground outside the hotel & the whole fam outside some shops

Abbi & PawPaw

At one of the restaurants we ate at.
Part of the waterpark - there were 2 huge waterslides that you can see the ending of them way in the back. (red area) They were alot of fun.
They all loved going across the 'Mill Run' (below)

It was really fun watching Eric & Jake attempt to run across them without touching the rope above. Jake did make it once.

She was such a little dare devil all weekend!

Hi, everyone! Great pic's, Sarah...the room looks AWESOME! And thanks for your post and questions, Bekah! Hopefully this gets some conversation going! =) Our kiddo's are doing good. Kels is loving 2nd grade! Josiah is doing GREAT...he's 100% potty/poopy trained =) woooo hoooo! (has an occasional accident, but hey...don't they all?) And Abbi is our little F4...as in a tornado. (she destroys everything in her path) =) Actually, she's alot of fun and is doing and saying alot of hilarious things. And I think she just gets cuter & cuter everyday...but I'm not biast. We actually just got back tonight from a little 'get-away' with my family. It was great. We went to Amana Colonies, Iowa. It's where my Mom & Dad went for their honeymoon, and we actually stayed at the same hotel they did. It's been added-on to & now has an indoor waterpark. It was perfect for all of the kids, and since we stayed on a Sunday & Monday night, it wasn't busy at all! God has blessed our family so much through others, it's been overwhelming! This was a COMPLETELY free vacation. (for all of us!) First of all, a customer of Dad's who calls him occasionally to see how he's doing sent a check for $1,000 when Dad told him we were going on a weekend family trip. So Mom gave us each $200 before we left to use for when we check-in. (it was $90/night, & Mom & Dad are staying another 2 nights alone...so this covered all our rooms almost to the penny!) But when we got there to check-in she said "here's your room #'s & keys, everything's taken care of!" We were like...what do you mean? She said someone had called and taken care of our ENTIRE BILL! We were speechless! Then when we all went out to eat that night (still with $200 for each couple!) Mom & Dad insisted on paying & said they were given alot of money specifically for our meals! That too was annonymous! We have just been overwhelmed...God has blessed us so much, and He is using others to give SO freely! It is so humbling to be on 'this side.' But we had a wonderful time, and Dad felt really good! Hope you enjoyed the pic's =)

well, gotta switch laundry and all those fun post-vacation duties =) It's almost November, which means Thanksgiving! Yeah!! I love you all! Kristy

Our Project...

Hey all! Here is a little diary of what our spring/summer consisted of. Most of you already know that we made part of our garage a room. Well here it goes...

The first step was to clean out our DISGUSTING garage. It REALLY felt good to unjunk!

Klint & Clint Gerber are tearing off the old walls. It was a mess.
Good old faithful Andy. He would go work all day in Ft. Wayne, go to class, come to our house around 8pm and help us until 10:00 or 10:30. Needless to say, we could not do this with out Andy. It was great!

Taking a lunch break.

Its coming...

The drywall is finished (great job guys!) Time to add color to the ceiling & walls)

We did an olive colored ceiling to match Grandma's couch & chair. Mom told me she was going to paint the ceiling (considering I was still dealing with morining sickness & kidney stones) She came over while I was at work and painted it for me...thanks mom!
Ready for the design work...measuring!