Open Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

During this holiday season, we wish to thank you for your friendship and kindnesses throughout the years. Many of you have truly blessed our lives as living examples of the words of one of our favorite Primary songs:

I'm trying to be like Jesus; I'm following in His ways.
I'm trying to love as He did, in all that I do and say...
I'm trying to love my neighbor.
I'm learning to serve my friend.
I watch for the day of gladness, when Jesus will come again...
Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought.
For these are the things Jesus taught.

It is interesting how often people forget the waves that ripple through our lives from compliments or criticism spoken in passing. Thank you for the kind words and kind deeds that have blessed us and our children.

As another year comes to a close and we look back we realize that most of the adventures from this year are already on this blog, so we will just give a quick update on growth and changes from this year. Much of this will be old information for those of you who are actively a part of our lives. For those we care about that have less time and other vital priorities here is a recap:

Baby Girl
If things go well, she should be joining our circus somewhere in the middle of February. In utero, she is as calm as Maggie was. If there is a surprise that the ultrasound read wrong, we'll welcome a Wilford happily.

Amirrah Belle (Reflection of Heaven)
Is our girly-girl. She potty trained herself a couple weeks before turning two this year just so she could accessorize her underwear. She continues to enjoy tormenting her older brother with practical jokes and started learning to pray with help.

Timothy Abraham (Gifted Righteous Father)
Is progressing in his reading quite nicely. He enjoys tackle football with his Dad and started taking piano lessons. He enjoys playing Super Mario Brothers. His cooking skills rival that of his Mom's and can often be found in the kitchen cracking eggs and mixing ingredients.

Magdalyn Regan (Tower of Strength in a Time of Rain)
Lost all four front teeth just in time for Christmas. She enjoys playing with a wide variety of friends. Is doing well in her piano lessons and school. She also participated on two soccer teams coached by her Dad this year. She is a great example and takes care of her siblings.

Melissa
I continue to enjoy my full time job as a mother. I take a break from this every once in a while to continue my sewing business from home. I picked up crocheting again this year and produced quite a few afghans and foot blankets. To keep my mind active I took a couple online classes on film, child psychology, and began taking piano lessons again. I have been an assistant room mother. I've also studied Star Trek, 1st grade math and 1st grade reading (with the children). I look forward to weekly dates (sometimes more when pregnant! Yea!) with David, chocolate, church sports, and sleep.

David
Began writing college curriculum for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of his work responsibilities. He also took on five piano students. Coached three soccer teams. He spends his time serving me, the children, and in church responsibilities.

Thanks for reading. We love to hear from you.

Doorbell Ditch?

Our family attempted the first doorbell ditch this evening:

Fail.

First - don't label the gift "from the Hoffmans"
Second - don't get caught
Third - Tim, stop falling down on the ice then tripping on people's doormats

Upon arriving home Maggie yelled with glee: "That was the BEST doorbell ditch EVER!!!"

As I said: Fail.

Zoo Lights

For Christmas, our family got taken to the Hogle Zoo Lights! The children were very excited to see the animals, and the zoo lights were very impressive. The weather played nice, and we enjoyed ourselves (staying warm with lots of hot cocoa/cider). Unfortunately the pictures did not turn out very well. Here are three of the best.

Santa Statements

At a recent party, our children decided they were experts on Santa, we forgot the funniest lines, but here are a couple:

"Santa could use penguins if he wanted to." -Tim

"Fireman Santa gives candy!" - Tim

"Santa is the guy who is kind. He gives everyone gifts." -Maggie

Projects

I've been busy through the summer with several Crochet projects. Much of it has been learning as I go but here are two of the big afghans I made. I have just one more I'm working on then maybe I'll take a break from the hook for a while. Or maybe I'll do one more for the baby coming 7 weeks after Christmas. We'll see. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating and seeing the end results.


From the Musical Wicked


The logo for Geocaching.

Insert your own caption in comments

Oh, and with the .308 sniper rifle, at 120 yards, Gary missed dead center by 10 mm. Richard by 12mm. David by a couple inches (needed to wear glasses). With the handguns, Gary missed 90% of his shots a foot low... which could be worse than death...

Worth the watch.

3 Minutes, 50 seconds, none wasted

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=G44NCvNDLfc

A New Recipe

Have you ever had Hershey's version of the candy corn? David actually liked them. Real candy corns? No thank you for him.

In preparing for Maggie's class party, I found great ideas on Hershey's website, including a "Candy Corn Pudding Parfait" (http://www.hersheys.com/trickortreats/treats/recipe.asp?id=8469). We finally had a chance to make it Halloween morning.

Here, Ami has finished peeling wrappers off all the candy. It was a tough project with the instruction to not eat them. She got the first one to her mouth but after a reminder to just peel, not eat, she did great and no more were slobbered on.


Maggie's responsibility was to wash the parfait and dessert containers after they came out of basement hiding. She had a great time. And she is sure to show off her toothless grin every chance she gets.


Once the pudding was mixed and partially divided, Tim stirred in the candy corns. (Note the new Spider man clothes. They were his apparel as often as he could get away with it for 3 days).



We had a couple spare candy corns after letting the kids eat one so I grated them down and sprinkled it on top. It was a nice touch.

Just a side note, be sure the pudding completely cools before feasting. It tastes much, much, MUCH better when cold:-).