Tessa had fun with the Hoffers!

They say that one picture is worth a thousand words--

so here is 3000 words telling about Tessa's trip to the beach at Christmas with the Hoffers!

Aunt Bev {and Tessa}

Hoffer Family August 2007

Just a photo of the Hoffer Family from last August. Aren't they cute? And to think that just this week where they were standing had snowmen and snow sculptures. (Brent is apparently a "snow-sculptor".) I love family photos. I love pouring over them and examining all the little details. I like how you can see the comparative height of everyone. And how people relate to each other in the photo. See how Miranda is leaning back against her Dad, and Al has his hand on Sarah's upper arm. And Brent is standing sort of tentatively (usually he would have his fingers in a V behind the head of the person next to him) and Bryce is smiling and standing very close to Miranda.

I remember a photo of Grandma and Grandpa Andy on the basalt fireplace in Hood Rive.r I still remember although it's been awhile since I've seen it how Grandma was sitting there with her hands folded in her lap. (At least that's how I remember it.) I remember looking at it as a child and not having any idea who these people were. The background looked so foreign to me. It looked like some sort of European house.

Well, hope the snow has melted and a family snow picture would be great! Everyone stay warm!

No Snow? No Problem!!

No snow today, though it was expected to be upwards of 4 inches this morning. Just melting patches around the yard. The remnants of a VERY LARGE snowball...I like those because they are safe. No one could lift it to throw!!

Bryce is not worried about the snow melting for he made plans yesterday and is well prepared for his fight. The things I find in my freezer!!!

Bryce reading

Homeschooling affords some interesting options...you can do school even if you are infectious (but still feel ok.)...you can do school in the evening after playing all day in the snow...you can practice your reading in your underwear...you can read to your mom while she fixes dinner.

Sarah eats Snow

Ok, I told her NOT to eat the snow, then I asked her to pose so I could get a good shot of it. Do you think that is "mixed messages???"

Snow Angels

So, Jan said to me, "What can you do outside in the snow for that long? Making snow angels? That takes 2 seconds. "

After the phone call, I went out to take more pictures and found the kids doing ..... guess what? SNOW ANGELS!! And it took them about 32 seconds....punctuated with "it's soaking into my pants!!!" and "help me up!!!"

Brent and Sarah in the snow

I interrupted Brent from his sculpturing in the snow (Sarah was helping him) for this picture.

Bryce would NEVER throw a snowball at mom!!!

He's making a snowball. He looks so innocent. He seems so sweet tempered.

That seems like just a nice size snowball for a snowman. He wouldn't think of THROWING it, would he?

QUICK!!!!........DUCK!!!!!! SPLAT...... Wet, icy, down the back....... time for hot chocolate!

Hot off the press, very nearly sizzling....in 30 degree weather. The sun is blinding on the new snow. How can you do school in this weather? Especially since Brent was in the doldrums recently, saying that there was never any snow! So, forget school for a while. PAL was cancelled today (all schools in North Kitsap were). I called in sick...mainly because of roads, but also because of the tail-end of this cough/runny nose thing. Notice the hats????

Hoffer kids with Grandma

Photo taken July 2007.

Just a day for posting some older photos that I really like.

Family Photo Time

Christmas 2005 at Heathergate. Each of us posing doing our favorite hobby.

Family photo from several years ago taken in Grandmas back yard. This group just can't seem to take a serious photo!

A Porcupine is like....

This cracks me up! Absolutely hysterical. Bryce's poem from last year but the illustration is clearly a Bionicle with SWORDS! The connection between the two sort of loses me, but the poem is lovely. (And yes, Bryce, the Bionicle is very fierce! And by the way, you still owe me a robot, alien, or dinosaur drawing.)

Let's go on vacation!!

Photo from a couple years ago that just made me want to go on vacation. Bryce just home after a trip to Las Vegas. He certainly seemed to enjoy the shopping! Actually he was at a casino in the game section (for families) and when the rest of his family stepped away after playing a shooting game, he apparently stayed there and WON!! Must be all those video games that honed his sharpshooting skills.

Anyway, it was fun to go on vacation and hoping to go on one this summer or fall. Miranda....save your money!

Blast From The Past

Just for fun, here's a photo from about 1980 or 1981. Wow....we all look so skinny!

Snow Last Winter

I'm sure the kids are waiting for snow like they had last year.

The kids had fun throwing snowballs and found out that snow in the face doesn't feel so good.

Hope everyone has gotten over their fevers, coughs, nausea, vomiting, and limp-noodle-syndrome.

A Most Satisfactory Niece

So tonight is a salute to MMPH. When out to dinner tonight Bev told me she'd heard about MMPH's evaluation by the substitute teacher who apparently didn't know MMPH very well. She asked MMPH what she liked to read and my darling niece answered "I like the books my aunts send me. And then I go to the library and try to get more books by those authors."

Doesn't that just warm the cockleburrs of your heart? It sure did mine!

Here's a photo from a couple years ago. Miranda is holding the book on Greek Mythology that I gave her when she was much littler. (Hmmm...not sure how to spell little-er.) Anyway, she has basically memorized it. Ask her any question about Greek or Roman mythology and she knows the answer. Once while driving by a place in Poulsbo, she saw a sign and said "Oh, that's the name of the Norse god of......" (She has apparently branched out into world mythology.) Patty and Al just looked at each other surprised because they had just assumed it was the name of some famous citizen of Poulsbo.

Bev has often bought books from the company Chinaberry and also keeps the kids supplied in magazine subscriptions. MMPH got a little crazy last summer, and royally irritated (something not uncommon in divas) when she found out she had to go 3 months without her magazine arriving because the magazine was only published during the school year.

Snow in Dallas

Well, we've all been waiting the past several days for a snow storm we've heard is coming. Today (Sunday) there was even snow on the beaches at Seaside and Cannon Beach. I'm sure the Olympic Peninsula is going to also be hit.

Mom and I lost power today for a couple hours. Not sure why since it was not at all windy. And the dusting of snow was light and couldn't have caused any power lines to snap. The temperature was 30 degrees and Bev took time to make sure the birdfeeders were stocked. Tessa took time to run around the yard in giant swooping circles checking for I-have-no-idea-what. She looked like she was having fun though. Tessa did tell me before I left that she wished the kids were here to run around the yard with her and make snowballs.

Hope everyone stays warm and safe. Mom is grounded and is NOT to leave the house. Although somehow she talked us into going to Murphys since it wasn't snowing and then as we were being served dinner we looked out the window and saw snow falling. Tomorrow she is DEFINITELy grounded.

Brent and his swim friend, Colin

Brent was so disappointed that he wasn't making friends at Kumon. So, it is fun to see the friendships that grow from swim team. This is Colin Borek (his mom is team mother) and Brent thinks Colin is very cool...of course, Colin has a Nintendo DS and lets Brent play with it occasionally at swim meets.

The boys have a meet tomorrow in Silverdale. The girls are doing their big bible quiz practice in the afternoon.

MOVE THE SUN

It's been a "Very Viral" week at the Hoffer household. Everyone, except Patti so far, has run fevers, had either cough, nausea/vomiting, achey body....just feeling sick. Fevers go up and down so the kids energy level goes up and down.

Except they all have apparently seen the news on TV where the latest advice from doctors is that children should not have ANY cold medications. I think they're referring to babies and young toddler/preschoolers....but who knows. At any rate, the Hoffer kids do not want cold medicine anymore. (Probably a blessing in their eyes since I think that they don't really like the taste.)

The morning I left Kingston I went up to see Miranda who was sleeping in (not unusual for her) but she was really sleeping. So when Patti checked on her a little later, she said "Miranda has a temp of 100.4 and the sun is on her face. " Patti laughed and said "She just told me "Move the sun."

Miranda is very Diva-like. Cute, but Diva-like. She finally turned around in the bed so her head was at the foot. And in this photo she was rubbing her face and all in all just feeling miserable.

Bryce and a cell phone

There is no finer toy than a cell phone...for games, phone calls, or just checking the time. Bryce has loved them from toddlerhood on...

Our new cell phones should arrive tomorrow. It's amazing how quiet my life has been without mine. It's amazing how much I depend on mine!

Driving home from church

While Patti went off to work, Al and I drove "around" rather than taking the ferry across Puget Sound. I looked over my shoulder and saw everyone was asleep except Miranda who was watching a movie on her DVD player. (Brent is hidden behind Sarah in this photo.)

Patti tells me that Bryce fights taking naps, but he apparently still needs them occasionally because when he's in the van and can't go anywhere, he goes down for the count. He slept heavily the entire way home.

Of course, the angels must sing and the Spirit must "interede for us with groans that words cannot express" because sometimes parents are SPEECHLESS WITH JOY!!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Brent Alan Hoffer

Baptized January 20, 2008

Northwest Church

Shoreline, Washington

Blood bath in Kingston...Teal vs. Olive

Should I feel safe or threatened? Today, I discovered a blood bath of a battle had occurred in the living room. The teal army has destroyed a band of the olive army. I can't show you, but this battle occurred on the summit of the ottoman. Below, presumably at the base camp, the olive army has the ottoman surrounded by sharp shooters. I think the teal army is in for a rude awakening when they try to return to base.

I'm not sure at all what it means to find a sharp shooter in the freezer...fortunately, the boys followed on essential rule of our house...do NOT point the gun at a person or animal!

Sarah is sick :-(

Sarah woke with a fever this morning. So, she is cuddled under Dad's africa quilt, kept company with her lamb, and sucking on oranges. Her flushed cheeks are a red flag for fever (no pun intended!!)

It's a bummer to be sick.

Baptism and Knowing Enough

In the summer of 1979, I asked Jesus to come into my heart. The ministry intern working in the Tetons National Park encouraged me to make the decision. Jan told him I "didn't know enough." She was right. He rebuked her (I thought rather sternly) and said, "She knows enough."

I've pondered that many times in the past year as Brent has asked me if he could be baptized. Does he know enough? What's enough? Our church leans toward the age of reason or responsbility...usually 12 to 13, even older.

Baptism is one step in one's walk with God. It starts with belief and genuine sorrow for wrong doing...it involves (as Eugene Peterson would say) a long journey in the same direction. I would never have told my kids to wait until they were older and could understand what parent/child relationships were all about before they could sit in my lap. I've come to the place where I wondered why I thought God would be any different. Would He not welcome us at any age, and help us from that point on?

I'm so proud of Brent and his desire to see good prevail.

Patti

Brent's Special Day

In 3 days, on Sunday, Brent will be getting baptized. He's talked to his parents about it in the past and they've decided that he understands what it means and he is ready. It's a big decision.

I'll see you this weekend, Brent! I'm happy to be able to share in this special day with you.

Yu Hong Hing

Ah, Mrs. Yu. How can we say enogh about her.

This is the woman who we all respect and love. She gave such good care to Miranda and Bryce who came from the orphanage she heads up in Yangchun, China. She especially protected Bryce for which we are eternally grateful. These photos were taken July 17, 2004 while Hong Ying was here in the Pacific NW on her way to the Yangchun Reunion back east. I'll never forget meeting her.

"Whatever"

It's hard for me to believe that this sweet, chubby cheeked baby is the same one who now is thin as a rail and goes around saying "....like it was almost time for... like dinner." We've given her a test and she can NOT make it through a paragraph without using the word "like". And the other classic "Mirandism" is the word "whatever".

But she's just as cute now as she was then. (She's just got more slang.)

Sarah and Mental Imagery

In swim team, the children were given a long and serious talk about mental focus and concentration. Then, they were given these thick packets of paper...a paper lesson on mental imagry...imagining yourself winning a race, thinking about each aspect of the race, each element of the stroke...etc.

So, last night I find Sarah pouring over the packet with great concentration and seriousness. I got the impression that the other kids may not have taken the packet quite so much to heart.

Examples of exercises with Sarah's answers in italics:

Describe a situation in which you often tend to think/talk negatively to yourself:

My coch told me to try to do a 25 yard under water. I told him that I will not make it he was correct I was wrong.

Identiry a negative statement you say to yourself:

I will not make it under water and I thought I will dq (disqualify) on my butterfly.

Identify words or thoughts you can use to help you stop the negative thought:

i could try to make it and I will not dq in my butterfly.

Swim Team Brothers

Brent and Bryce had a great swim meet last weekend (actually, all the kids did, but only two agreed to put on their wet swimsuits so I could photograph them after a VERY hard practice last night!)

Bryce got two first place ribbons in gold times (the fastest for his age group). Brent is holding some ribbons from last year, plus this year. He got a first place in his breaststroke and third in the relay.

Miranda got 5th, 6th, and 5th place for some of her events. She is competing against some very big girls and is fast enough to qualify for silver times, so she is competing with much faster kids...a great showing for her.

Sarah placed 9th, 11th, 15th and 19th....a huge improvement for her...she also swam a new event...the 100 yard breaststroke.

The Voice of the Sea

"The voice

of the sea

speaks to the soul."

Kate Chopin

Taste Tester

I'm not even sure how to DESCRIBE this photo.



Apparently it's a Hoffer custom that when the Mother figure opens a new can of whipping cream, she calls her youngest child and has him taste test the whipping cream. Now, to me, it would seem to be more efficient to squirt a dab out onto the small child's finger. But the "Hoffer Method" is to squirt a LARGE amount of it into the child's mouth. This apprently does not cause discomfort to the child (although it sure looks like it to me!).



Photo from Oceanside, OR. December 2007

Sarah, pushups, and the "I thought you said..."

I mentioned that one goal for this year was to learn to do 20 regular push ups in a row. Sarah proceeded to demonstrate the "wrong" way and the "right" way to do one. Dad teased me by telling Sarah that some people have trouble doing pushups because their breasts get in the way. Sarah replied, "Yup, that happens to me a LOT!"

Alan and I just looked at her. I asked her, "When do your breasts get in the way???" She looked puzzled, then said, "Oh. I thought you said, 'wrists!!'"

Wow, I was worried there for a minute! :-)

Patti

That Boy LOVES Chess (and Legos)

This kid LOVES chess. (Although I strongly suspect that he makes up some of the rules as he goes along.) The other thing he loves are lego blocks. Bionicles, dinosaures, and even chess sets. This was what he asked for at Christmas and boy was he excited! He carried it with him everywhere and if I "accidently" picked it up and moved it, he knew immediately.

Who wouldna thunk that a chess set would make an 8 year old boy so very happy.

Great-Grandfather Isaac Hirvaskari

Isaac's Declaration of Intent filed for some strange reason in Minnesota, even though he lived in Michigan at the time and eventually settled in the Dakotas. Go figure.

WHY didn't people keep more detailed journals about the whys and wherefores of their lives.

and WHY don't I?

Well, Bev is busy again as usual. She's realized we have a more information on our Great-Grandfather Isaac Erkinpoika (Erik's Boy) Hirvaskari born 1849 in Siikajoki Finland and she has been amassing even more. Maps, diagrams, photos from old railroad advertisements, translations of his journal, explanatory notes, newspaper clippings, etc. And she found a website called blurb.com that has the ability to publish a single copy of a book that she can assemble. Here she at Oceanside in December showing Patti a rough copy of the book so far.

Christmas 2008

Ok, I confess I miss the themes we used to have at Christmas. Remember the "Creche" Christmas when everyone was giving and receiving nativity sets? Remember how Brent rearranged the wisemen and shepherds on Bev's nativity set in a way Bev had never thought of doing before?

And WHO could forget the frog Christmas we had one year.

I guess we sort of had a 'quilt-Christmas' this year.

Someone needs to declare this next year's theme! Any suggestions?

Also, I'm very excited about returning to Heathergate!

Three Explorers On The Beach

Here are three daring explorers looking for treasure on the beach at Oceanside. Pirates had been sighted here about 2 centuries ago, and explorers keep looking for buried treasure. (Unfortunately, they didn't find any.)

I love how Brent always holds his sisters close. I think he's going to be the glue in 40 years that holds the family together.

Treasures

There are treasures like on Treasure Island............

and then there are the treasures of family and "Mom" and "Dad".


And a comment from "Dad" (=Alan) on the family blog would be a real treasure..............

:)