so busy

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately, but the Hoffman house has been very busy. I have tried to get myself back into my UH work, Matt seems to be working around the clock and when we have a free moment, we try to stay on top of the housework or get Makaela and the dogs out for runs. I have also been planning out our Italy trip for spring break. Makaela and Matt leave the island on March 1st to go visit with family in Oklahoma, head out to the Hoffman farm in Kansas and then will meet up with me in NY. From NY, Makaela will stay with the Hammel side and Matt and I fly off to Italy. We land in Venice and stay there for three days, travel to Florence for 1 day, then to Cinque Terre, 5 gorgeous towns on the Western coast of Italy for two days (see the picture below), off to Orvieto, a medieval walled city for a day and then finish off our trip in Rome for 4 days. I have the hotels books...definitely staying in the moderately priced accomodations (don't plan to spend much time indoors) and have booked tickets to the museums and sights in Rome. We are so excited!

Frog Princess

Today Makaela and I went to go see the Frog Princess in the movies. I was a little concerned that she wouldn't have the attention span to sit through a full film, but she did great. At first she didn't want to sit on the booster seat, but when we took the booster seat off, the seat collapsed and folded her up with it- she is too light to keep the seat in place. It was quite funny. Luckily we had the whole row to ourselves because Makaela was up and dancing during the songs.

The new "Big Girl Bed"

Today we switched Makaela's bed from a crib to a toddler bed. She did really well sleeping in a full size bed while we were in NY, so we thought she was ready. In an effort to help get her excited for the new bed situation, I made her a canopy, out of a wire hanger and tulle, and she now calls it her "princess bed". It has definitely helped transition her into the toddler bed. What is weird though is that she will still call me when she gets up- I will walk in and only then will she climb out of the bed...maybe she doesn't realize that she can get out by herself. I hope this continues :-)

The little Mommy

Makaela has turned into a little mommy. She has four little "babies" that she totes around and caters to. We purchased a little tykes kitchen for her and she makes "afest" for her babies (breakfast) and then puts them down for "nite, nite". Before she heads into her bed, she reads a goodnight story to her "babies". In the video she is reading a book to her doll that we have read many times...she's got a great memory (I'm sure the pictures helped :-)

Our home improvement project

Over the last two weeks, we have been putting our Home Depot Christmas gift cards to good use. We have been tiling our bathrooms. The last person who lived in the house had marked up the linoleum with red marker, so we definitely needed to redo the floor before trying to sell the place. It was an interesting process. The first tiles I purchased was back when we bought the place, so we were short some tiles and when matt when back to the distributors, we find out that the tiles were discontinued...great! More money spent. It was truly a group effort though: Matt cut the backboard and cut the tiles, Melanie mortared and I grouted and cleaned. It came out great though.

Leif's bday

Today, we went to Leif's 3rd b-day and there was plenty of fun activities for the kids to do. Makaela had a great time hitting the pinata and gathering all the candy. She is now asking for candy for breakfast since she gathered so much.

New Year, New Things

Today we went out for a walk to get some fresh air (believe it or not, the day was gorgeous in spite of all the fireworks from NYE). On the way to the park, Makaela announced that she was "all done" with the stroller and wanted to get out and walk. Once I took her out, she proceeded to take over Bailey's leash and walk him herself. She took the responsibility very seriously, allowing him to stop and sniff around, but if he dawdled too much, she snapped the leash and said "come ailey, come". He was so patient with her and listened really well. I think he likes her speed though; it was a nice leisurely walk. He is not a fan on jogging.