The Birthday Balloon Still Lives

Lesley is still in love with her birthday balloon. We actually gave one of them to her friend Ashlynn who had an Elmo birthday party just a few weeks after Lesley. We not only reuse gift bags at this house, but also birthday balloons. What a green family! We recycle and we reuse. :)






Even the cats had fun with the balloon and chasing Lesley around.



Too bad birthdays don't happen every couple months.

Mama's Garage Sale Find

Lesley is going to be surprised when she realizes everything Mama buys isn't for her.




And of course she is missing a sock....



Uh-Oh

I forgot mention in a previous post that Lesley and Evan had their own little conversation going at the lunch table on Saturday. It went something like this...

E - Uh Oh
L - Uh Oh
E - Uh Oh
L - Uh Oh

You get the point, right?

I still love you when...

...you open the trash can and throw away your books. Yuck! Mommy hates digging in the trash and cleaning green beans off books.

...you throw up on Mommy 3 times in one night. Double yuck! Next time, please wait to get sick when Daddy is home.

...you throw a tantrum at church because you aren't allowed to get out of the pew. Jesus loves you too, but would appreciate quietness during mass, just like everyone that sits around us.

...you stray from your near perfect bed time record and need extra Mommy snuggles to get to sleep. Mommy thinks you have gotten clingy since Daddy has been gone a lot lately.

...you need more medicine for your eczema and it costs $168! It works though, so worth the money.

...you refuse to eat your dinner, but want grapes and crackers all day long.

...you struggle to communicate so Mommy ends up emptying the entire toy box not realizing it was the cup you wanted. (Although I don't think it was necessarily the cup you wanted, just the last thing in the box.)





At one point I even tried putting her in the toy box to get whatever it was that was causing so much distress. Didn't work! Apparently it was more fun to make Mommy empty the box...and fill it back up later.



All of the above is worth it when you see your toddler blow a kiss to Grandma over the webcam. So, so sweet! Not to mention the real kisses she gave the computer screen and keyboard because Grandma wanted a kiss. Thanks for letting us borrow your laptop Grandma Nancy! Without it, we wouldn't have been able to chat today.

A Rainy Day at the Farm

We joined Evan and his parents for a trip to the farm. Jayden joined the fun a little later. Thankfully, we were able to fit the chicken coup, dairy barn, and goat pen in before it started to get rainy.









We abandoned the picnic lunch to have some food at the McNeil's. The kids thought it was great because they not only had a fun trip to the Farm, but they also had time to play with all Evan's toys.

We'll hope for sunny weather next time!

My Cutie Pie

This Cutie Pie decided to eat dirt, bark, and leaves at daycare yesterday. Tasty!


Why am I not creative enough to make onsies like that? Has to be simple to add that edging around the collar, right?



I am in love with the ruffles on her jeans. Adorable!


Hopefully Oxi-Clean gets that dirt out of her clothes! Our neighbors girls, Greta and Abby, were very concerned about Lesley's dirty clothes and thought it was hilarious she ate dirt.




This was in the daily e-mail from the babysitter:
breakfast: cheerios or baby oatmeal, banana, or apple juice, milk
snack: grapes, shark crackers, water
lunch; chicken nuggets, instant potatoes, apple sauce, wh wh bread, milk
Lesley also had oatmeal since she only ate the applesauce, She wanted to feed herself today and refused to let me feed her the cereal or applesauce. Miss independent!!

And the independence struggles continue...

Utensils are neat-o!

Lesley is learning how to use utensils. Actually, she insists on using them these days. I think she does a good job most of the time. The biggest problem is keeping the food on the the spoon while it travels to her mouth. This issue resolved when she eats cereal or mashed potatoes. But, we know she can't eat those for every meal....so we keep practicing, and cleaning up big messes and taking lots of baths.


Lesley still gets baby cereal on a daily basis. She loves that stuff and if she won't eat what's served for lunch, she devours the oatmeal.





Lesley LOVES Daddy's concoction we call "Hamburger Pie". Easy peasy to make, and it has vegetables Lesley will eat. Bonus!


She has also started saying "Um, um, um" when she eats something she especially enjoys. According to the babysitter, Lesley's friend Jake says this a lot so I'm guessing Lesley has picked it up from him.


The fork still needs a lot of work. She tries to stab food, but isn't so successful just yet. But, she insists on trying, which usually means one hand stabs while the other shovels pieces into her mouth.

Lesley has also learned how to go down the stairs (with supervision!). She walks to the edge, drops to her behind, and then slides forward until she can stand again and walk to the edge of the next stair. Jason has been teaching her this and she picked up on it pretty quickly. Supervision is still necessary since her perception of the edge is not always perfect and she sometimes steps right off. Or, if she doesn't get far enough ahead of the step behind her, she bumps it on the way down and tends to fall forward. But, she is good enough that I can hold one of her hands to assist and carry something down the stairs. So much better than making multiple trips, i.e. carrying Lesley down and then going back up for something else that is needed downstairs. Yeah Lesley!

Cousin's Weekend, Part 4

Year 4 of the Annual Hoffmann Cousin's weekend was a success! It's funny how times have changed...when the event first started it was a lot about the drinking and placing drunken phone calls to the aunts and uncles. Well, now it's more important to have beds for everyone and free drinks at happy hour. I think we fit 12 people in one hotel room the first year which was quite impressive. This year we had two, 2 room suites both with 2 beds and a pull out couch. No one had to sleep on the floor!

Trip to the German Bierhaus....




Even Lesley wanted a taste from "das boot" before heading off to Grandma's.



Love, love, love the Embassy Suites happy hour...they even had kiddie drinks for the responsible (Chris) and pregnant (Me) ones.

Aaron and Tim even got the happy hour bartenders to fill the mugs from the bierhaus - several times!




Cathy opted for the fuzzy navels. We couldn't figure out why some were made with pineapple juice...don't these bartenders know that "fuzzy" refers to peach and "navel" refers to orange. Geesh! I guess there's a reason they work at a place handing out free drinks.


Jason desperately trying not to fall asleep while waiting for his cheesecake.


Chris to the rescue!


Umm, Mike, I don't think those boots are allowed in pool. Just saying....

Thanks for a great time Chris, Cathy, Ben, Jen, Eric, Andy, Tim, Aaron, Aimee, Mike, and Jason. I couldn't think of a better reason to let Lesley have her first sleepover with Grandma...looking forward to next year already!

A little stinker!

We've been working hard to transition Lesley off the bottles. Finally, Lesley's babysitter gave back the bottles so Lesley gets no more bottles at daycare. On the weekends, Lesley only gets a bottle in the early morning and sometimes before bed so hopefully her transition at the sitter's won't be horrible. But...one day last week when I was picking her up one day last week, Aiden had just finished a bottle and Chris was carrying it from the table to the sink. Lesley saw the bottle and threw the biggest fit ever. She was PISSED that it wasn't for her and seriously cried the entire way home after I had to pick her up off Chris's kitchen floor and forcefully put her in the carseat. It is hard to get a crying toddler in a car seat when she arches her back and straightens her legs. I could not believe it, and I hope this week goes better without the option for a bottle. Good luck Chris!

Then, tonight I attempted something new. I put her milk in a sippy cup and offered her that instead of a bottle. She was not a fan and would not settle down until I put the milk in a bottle. She was so impatient and just kept getting more and more upset. I didn't warm it up for her and just started feeding her. She took a couple swallows and then got all squirmy and wanted down. I let her down thinking she just wanted to play a little longer. But, as soon as she got off my lap, she tried to grab the bottle and take it with her. I've always been very insistent that she not carry a bottle around with her, i.e. if she wants to drink, she must sit on our lap. She would not give up and kept whining, pointing, and fussing. So, finally, I handed the bottle to her to see what she would do. She took off towards the kitchen, stopped in front of the stove and pointed up at the microwave. What!!!? Is she really demanding that I warm her milk now? How did we get to this point!?

Lesley's First Sleepover

It took over 13 months but I was finally ready to be away from Lesley overnight. It was time for the annual Hoffmann Family Cousin's weekend so Lesley got to have a sleepover with Lilly at Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Keith's. I am happy to report that everyone survived - Lesley, Mommy, Grandma, and Grandpa! And, I think everyone had a great weekend.


Meeting up with the head babysitter at the German Bierhaus. Grandma Nancy gets this title since Grandpa Keith refuses to change dirty diapers. I don't blame him, those nasty diapers make this pregnant mama gag too!


The biggest complaint from the babysitters was the jealousy that appeared between the girls. Lesley would get pushy if Lilly was sitting on Grandma's lap, and Lilly would just hit. I guess a friendship has to start somewhere.


At least she is not standing on the chair this time.


Pulling the toy wagon was a big hit this weekend. They didn't want to sit still too long in the big red wagon. Too much to explore at the farm!


Lesley always finds this toy at Grandma's...it's one of her favorites!

Grandma admits she didn't get many good photos since her hands were full. I guess that's a good enough excuse. Some of the highlights of this adventure including visiting a garden/farm store where the girls got to pet some baby ducks. Grandma thought they were going to have to buy one of the ducks after Lilly got a hold of the poor little guy. Gentle, Lilly, gentle! They also went to church where Lesley made sure Father Frost knew he was talking a little too long for her liking. She's not afraid to speak her mind! Next they went to a graduation party and then headed to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house for a quick "hello". Then, off to bed the girls went...and I'm guessing Grandma and Grandpa weren't far behind.

Thanks for watching the girls so we could enjoy a great night out with the cousins! Can we reserve your services for next year? Add another kid to the mix and you'll have to play zone defense instead of one-on-one.

Wook!

Lesley has been saying some new "words" lately. My favorite is "woof, woof". She hears a dog and says "woof, woof", she sees a dog and says "woof, woof", we ask her where the dog is and she says "woof, woof", she sees a cat and says "woof, woof". Oops! That's not right! I've been working on "meow", but she is really stuck on dogs right now.

The neighbors next door have a yellow lab named Gus and Lesley can always hear him out the window. She likes to look out and see if he's there. So does Charlie Brown...





We've also met Chloe from down the street and Bella from next door. Dogs don't really scare her which is good, I guess.

Her other new words are "uh-oh" and "wook" (like look with a "w"). We think she must have picked up the "uh-oh" at the sitters since she just all of a sudden started saying it. So cute when she throws her food off the tray on the floor and says "uh-oh". Well, the verdict is still out if that's actually cute or not.

She's been saying "wook" for quite some time and we always thought she was saying "work". Whenever we'd get on the computer, we'd tell her that "Mommy's working." Or "Daddy has to work". When she'd see the computer she would point and say "Wook!". So, we figured her word for computer was "wook". But, more recently we have noticed her using the word a lot more and we are certain she is trying to say "look".

She still has a LONG ways to go before we can truly communicate without grunting and pointing, or tantrums when we don't understand her.