Christmas 2010

 Putting cookies out for Santa.  I think she would've put the whole bag on there.  I had to stop here and then put some back.

 Santa was waaayyyy to generous this year. A Barbie CADILLAC!  Probably the favorite of all the gifts.

 Gracie opening her gifts from Santa and Evie wandering around - she just wasn't that into opening presents.

 We did learn a few things about Evie this Christmas.  #1 - She likes candy canes - it really made me nervous having her eat it. And #2 - she is a perfectionist or has extreme attention to detail.  When she would open a present, it took her a long time.  She would pull little pieces off at a time and get every inch of paper off, including tape!

 The girls opening their stockings.  The consensus is that all the toys are Gracies.  None are Evies. 

 We tried the ride outside, but it was really cold and the grass was still really icy so all she could do was burn-outs unless Hoff was pushing it.  She was pulling an Austin Powers in the house (back and forth) in the kitchen - slamming into my walls. Oh joy.

Even Hoff had fun with all the girls' new toys. HAHAHAHA!

Hofmeister Family Christmas 2010

 

Grandpa and Grandma Hoff with all the Grandkids - Piper, Gracie, and Evie.  It was a struggle for a good picture with all these busy bodies.

 Group picture!

 Gracie opening her gifts - she got so many nice ones!

 Evie opening her gifts - she also got lots of nice things!

 Jeff, Jessica, and Piper!

Grandpa Hoff and all the girls....lots of girlie fun!

Hmmmm...Which One's the Best?

So, I have pretty much every style of sippy cup there is...I mean they'll drink out of this one, not that one, sometimes that one.  So I keep them all in a tub in my pantry.  While Gracie was "going to work", Evie was sucking on each and everyone of those sippy cups - just trying them out.  I thought,"Great...now I'm going to have to clean all the tops to those" but actually just threw them all back in the tub.  Laziness? Maybe, but it sure was a lot faster clean up :)

"I'm Going to Work!"

Gracie comes out of the laundry room almost naked wearing her Dad's boots and sunglasses saying, "I'm going to work."  If only work was as fun as she thinks it is.  All I could think was, "She's probably getting mud/dirt all over the place."  But, it was cute.

Lund Family Christmas 2010

 Colleen's tearing into the mini party ball that Clint brought over.

 Clint's getting a lot of head on this one!

 Our friendly Christmas competition this year was Christmas stories...here's a picture of all the entries.  It took us a long time to read through all of them.  They all were very good, but Colleen (Christmas with the Lundenbergs) and Clint (Phillips Christmas Walk) tied for first place, I (Scrappy the Unfortunate Reindeer) got second, and Amanda (The Christmas Fairys) got third.

 Here Amanda is reading Lane's book - T-Rex's Christmas.

 Mom and Dad with all the grandkids

 Clint and Colleen

 Our family

 Clint, Amanda, Lane, and Kade

 Even Santa made an appearance.  All the kids were really scared!  Gracie was the only one who would even go near him by herself.

 She even sat on his lap! They all got little gifts from him!

 Gracie had fun opening all her presents.  Here she's loving the new frog book she got.

 Evie did a good job of opening presents when she opened them....not too interested yet.  She had fun running around in all the paper.

We also made an appearance down at Great Grandpa and Grandma Lunds and enjoyed some cake, cookies, and a light snack.  They got lots of nice gifts.  We had to do Christmas early this year cause I have to work Christmas.  I just hate that, but I guess its my job.  We all had a wonderful time and can't wait til next year.  I'll have to start thinking for our next competition - gingerbread houses!

Little Farm Girl

 Look at me everyone!  Look what I'm wearing.  Papa gave me his hat.

And I think I'm pretty cool!

There Goes The Tree

It finally happened....Evie knocked over the Christmas tree.  It didn't bother her at first, but after we made a big deal about it she started crying (think she felt bad.)  We called Gracie to come see what Evie had done.  She walks out into the living room and says, "Oh. My. God." as she's slapping her forhead.  It was really funny.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kade!

 Kade loves lions.  He was roaring in this picture.  We celebrated his birthday December 12th with a nice lunch and cake!

The kids had tons of fun playing with each other.  Kade did a good job blowing out his candles and Amanda made a great lion cake!

The Most Popular

The computer is the most popular item in the household, besides the t.v. and food.  It's probably that way everywhere you go.  Thought this picture was funny, but Evie actually prefers the real deal.

Sister Love

 Lately, Gracie and especially Evie have been liking to go and sit in the chair in Evie's room and look and look at books.

 Gracie was really getting Evie to laugh!

 Giving a kiss or just making funny noises, whatever it was, it must've been funny!

 Can't forget the wrestling match!

 Looks like Evie is interested in what Gracie has to say!

We really do LOVE each other through and through!

Can We Please See Santa?

So, we decided we would take the girls to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops Santaland cause you get a free picture.  Evie fell asleep on the ride over so I thought we could look around for a while before we go over to see him.  An hour so later, Evie wakes up. We walk over and are greeted by an elf who hands us a card that says your photo time to see Santa will be at 3:30pm - or in a hour and a half! OMG. There were a lot of people there - kinda figured there would be. So, we went to Westroads to visit Santa.  Gracie was so excited!  She got pretty shy once she got to sit on his lap, but she did say she was a good girl and Santa asked her if she would like a baby or barbie doll - she said barbie.  Evie, reacted as I expected. She didn't want to let go of me as I was handing her to him. Poor girl, but we all did it.  I think most of mine with Santa when I was little was pure fear. Anyways, turned out to be a pretty comical picture.

Fall Fun At Schram

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I love this place.  It is just so peaceful and a guess makes me feel connected with nature.  It was such a nice day.  We fed the geese, ducks and fish some popcorn.  We sat by this Gingko tree for quite some time. It had really different leaves.

 Gracie was having fun throwing the leaves in the air.  They were really soft - not crunchy.

 This was Evie's attempt at throwing leaves up in the air.  Poor thing just put her hands up and let the leaves fall.

 Mostly, she just wanted to eat them - probably had all sorts of bird poop on them.

 Here Hoff was throwing leaves on Evie. I like how she shuts her eyes in anticipation.

What a nice little fall picture this would be had I noticed that dumb stick by Gracies face.  We spent about 3 hours out at Schram that day.  In addition to playing in the leaves and feeding the animals, we walked a little of the nature trails.  A little challenging with the stroller, but it was a good walk.

Feeding the Cows

We went up late to trick-or-treat in Genoa.  While we were there, we took full advantage of the nice weather and went out to feed Dad's cows.  Gracie had a blast and she was even able to pet a cow.  This was Evie's first up close and personal with cows and she got really excited and was mooing.  Evie was mostly feeding herself the corn. Yuck!