Slumber Party

Slumber Party in the house. Kaidin had his first slumber party tonight with all his cousins over at Uncle Ryan and Aunt Darlena’s house. He was so excited, despite the fact that he had an ear infection, he was such a trooper and they said he was a good boy. He can’t wait for the next one…

Lunch vs. Sleep = Sleep WINS

Were on Day 4 of no morning naps... and no sleep at night...

and this is what happens at lunchtime...

Day 3

Bedtime on Day 3. They started out here.

They play and wonder around in the dark

(yes dark, no nightlight, and they still manage to play),

and then they pass out until SUPER mommy saves the day

and moves them to a bed while they are fast asleep…

Day 2

This was day 2 of no cribs, big kid beds and still no naps. We have to LOCK them in at nap time and they play until they just give up the fight. So far morning nap is gone leaving them exhausted and cranky. They are very determined. Bode actually BROKE the child proof door lock which is now being held together with Kaidin’s hockey stick. Mommy & Daddy are being tested to the extreme limits. As the door is LOCKED I must go around the outside of the house to peek on them through the window. Today this was nap time. BOTH of them asleep on the floor at the door.

This was bedtime. They just couldn’t stay awake ANY longer.
I snapped this photo before moving them to the beds and tucking them in…

Boys vs Girl

BOY = noise with dirt on it (just threw her in as a bonus clean)

Hoffman Christmas 2010

We had a great family Christmas at my mom & dads house. As always it was filled with lots of love & laughter (thanks to my dad the good ol’ jokester), never a dull moment with him… The kids always love opening gifts from each other and are at the age where they are very thankful which is really nice to see.

We all exchanged our “family gifts” this year and loved our thoughtful presents. Gina brought the 4 boys a funny gift this year. It consisted of a “Build a Bear” Moose, a DICK’s sporting goods gift certificate, a camo hunting hat (with optional mosquito net), camo hunting jersey, a “moose” gun with bright orange shooting balls and some “moose” drool beer to drink after the big game. They all 4 had to gear up and line up for a shooting the target game. The winner was my hubby, way to go babe, and he won a magazine to Field & Stream! This was funny to see them all dressed up, thank you Gina for such a fun present.

My mom & dad did the annual “stress the kids out” FUN FAMILY game which is our Christmas present. This year my dad used a lazy susan and poker chips with dollar amounts taped to the bottom. We all drew numbers and then one by one picked two poker chips up. Remember the kids game Memory? YEP, that’s what we were playing but the stakes were HIGH. $25, $50, $125, $175, $200 and so on up to $300. If you matched two you got to keep the money. BUT then dad would “spin” the board when someone won just to make it that much harder. And did I mention my dad likes to “spice” things up by usually tricking us in some way, some we blank and some had no matches but this stuff we didn’t find out until AFTER the game. So that $300 you watched the whole game… Yep didn’t have a match! We all won and we very happy but my mom & dads generosity didn’t end there. My sister, brother & I and our families all got a group trip to my parent’s house in Nicaragua 2012 and we couldn’t be more excited. Thank you mom & dad for making our Christmas so special. Here is a picture of me and my beautiful mom...

You Are SO BUSTED

On Friday our little DIVA decided to crawl out of her crib at nap time and head on out to the living room to join her grandma who was babysitting. When we got home she told us what had happen and to be honest we were in TOTAL disbelief. She has NEVER done anything like that! EVER, (All 3 of our kids have done everything for the 1st time while in the care of our MIL, it is now the family joke). We then had Christmas day and all went well, they napped in the pack-in-plays while we were out and then we came home and went to bed. WELL… this morning we were all fast asleep except for my MIL who stayed the weekend with us, she gets up VERY early but then dozes on the couch until we all get up. Well low and behold the little DIVA came strolling out as proud as could be. So my MIL thought Mike or I let her out but we were not coming to the living room so my MIL went down the hall to see our light still off and us asleep, she then went into the twins room and found little Bam Bam playing on the floor in his room! OUT of his crib! YES, it is true; it was a very sad day in our home. We then went about the morning wondering how they did that. THEN nap time came and we put them down, I grabbed the camera and headed to our bedroom to watch the TV cameras and would you look at what I found!

Bode aka Bam Bam

Miya aka THE DIVA

SO BUSTED!

They would not take a nap, we tried the pack-n-play and they crawled out of that, they open the doors and roam the house. So we spent the day buying big boy/girl beds and bedding, new safety items and more baby gates…

more photos coming soon…

picking numbers & stealing

We had such a wonderful Christmas day filled with fun, friends, family & love. We started off at home having a yummy breakfast made special from my infamous MIL. Then we moved on to opening presents from Santa and exchanging family gifts.

We then headed over to our annual family gathering at the Pignone’s house with all of the hubby’s side of the family. The cousins all play (this is one of Kaidins favorite things about Christmas) while we all hang out.

Then after having some fun we eat! YUMMY tri-top, Honey Baked Ham and every traditional side dish and sweets you could possibly imagine and every year it is OH SO YUMMY! The babies ate all by themselves this year, well with a little help from grandma.

After dinner we open presents, the kids go first and then the adults do our annual gift exchange of picking numbers & stealing from each other (forgot to get some photos of that).

Today was a great day… Can’t wait to head over to my mom & dad’s for our Christmas… photos coming soon… Merry Christmas, I hope your day with filled with joy, love & happiness as was ours… OH and a little look-see at the finished Christmas Card wreath, one of my favorite things about Christmas.

Merry Christmas from The Stein Family

SANTA has landed

Today was a busy day with a little work and a little play. We all hung out all day at the house, cleaning out all of our old toys and making room for new ones. We wrapped some gifts prepared for Christmas day over at the Pignone’s house and made YUMMY homemade chicken tortilla soup for dinner in the slow cooker. Kaidin made SANTA cookies before dinner with grandma and had so much fun.

After our YUMMY dinner the kids each got to open “one” gift from mommy & daddy. YEP- You guessed it “BEAR slippers”, I mean what kids doesn’t “need” BEAR slippers. They were all so cute runny around the house…

Before bed Kaidin finished up a couple letters to SANTA. One from him and then he did one from Bode and one from Miya. He is just too much! I am not sure where he gets his thoughts from but boy is he good! He is a “thinker” that is for certain. Then he poured some milk (with a little help) and put his SANTA cookies out…

And then proceeded to get UP a MILLION times to ask “very important” questions and tell me all about the latest news going on around us… ANYTHING to avoid going to sleep. BUT, he finally caved and SANTA has landed…

Merry Christmas from our family to yours… xo

our GRAMMY has STYLE

Dear Grammy…
Thank you for our very special handmade hats
We love them!
We hope that you have a very special Christmas
See you soon…

Xoxo, Bode & Kaidin

annual Christmas Lights Drive

Tonight we got in our sweats & vest, grabbed the MIL and headed off to my favorite

to get some hot chocolate and coffee and then it was off for our
annual Christmas Lights Drive…

the MIL was happy to be with us, Kaidin was loving it as always,

Bode was taking it all in

and well Miya… she just couldn’t keep her eyes open.

OH and Mike was the best tour guide eva!

and then there was me...

We are so BLESSED 2010

I just received some of our “watermarked” photos

from our ROCKING photographer Erin @ Erin Alfaro Photography.

I am so in love with my little family of 5…

We are so BLESSED…

You can find Erin here: http://www.erinalfaro.com/