Happy Easter 2012

We had a very busy Easter this year with lots of fun activities planned.  First was the annual Easter Egg Hunt with my Mom group  KinderMoms.  I just love how well it's put together and all the kids don't push and the organizers make sure there are plenty of eggs for all the kids. Liam had lots of fun. I bought these cute matching t-shirs for the boys from etsy they were so cute! If anyone wants the info please let me know.

Daddy & Liam getting in a little fun on the playground before the hunt.

Liam on the hunt with his new Lightning McQueen Easter basket he loved it.

The grass was a little wet but Liam found plenty of eggs

  

Here's a video of Liam on the hunt. He's too cute!

Okay so we tried to get a family pic but it didn't work so well.  They had a photo area to take family pictures which was so sweet. Do you Like the bunnies? 
They're mine! I let KinderMoms use them for pictures. 
There's a girl bunny behind Chris.

Okay Chris tried again but another bad one. But the boy's t-shirts were 
so cute though. I hope to get another picture soon of them together wearing the
 t-shirts before they grow out of them.

When we got home Liam had fun looking to see what was inside his eggs.

On the Saturday before Easter Sunday we went to another Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Party at John Newcombe Country Club. We just recently joined and it is beautiful! So excited to start working out again. They are a tennis club with several tennis courts, a pool, fitness center, lots of fun for the kids. Liam is taking tennis and swimming lessons there this summer. Hope Chris and I will be able to take some lessons too. 

I hardly have any pictures of me and the boys. I know sad but true. My friend Paige was there and took our picture right before both kids had a horrible meltdown. Thanks Paige for the sweet pic :) Blake was teething and Liam was just so moody that day. They even had the Easter come but Liam just did not want his picture taken and Blake was crying with his teething. I was so disappointed but that's kids for ya.

Liam hunting for easter eggs by the tennis courts. But he was not so into it instead he kept watching the tennis players and saying " I want to play tennis please." 

I love Easter pictures. Liam had fun playing with the camera and with these
  bunny ears

This is one of several adorable pictures of Blake. I could not believe how much he enjoyed getting his picture taken! Plus Liam was trying to get him to laugh so here he's really looking to the side at Liam.

Baby Blake's 1st Easter 5 months old!

So far the best picture I have the silly boys. It's so hard to get them together. 
Love how this came out.

My favorite outfit I bought for Blake for Easter. So adorable! 

Chris was so great helping Liam color easter eggs for the first time this year. I thought 3 years would be a good age to start. Liam had a blast watching 
the eggs turn colors.

Resurrection Eggs are so popular now. They basically teach kids about Jesus and how he died for our sins. You can buy them in the stores but I found some ideas on pinterest and decided to make my own for the boys. It was fun. You are suppose to have 12 and open one up every day leading up to Easter Sunday. Each egg contains a bible verse with an object to go along with it. I decided to do a shorter version that I saw on pinterest. I had Easter eggs filled with different things, like a rock, bandaid, a heart, clay for the tomb etc. Liam really enjoyed it and liked looking at them all the time and it helped him to understand in a simple way why Jesus died on the cross for him and what Easter really is about. I hope to keep this a tradition each Easter.

Blake's Easter Basket

Liam's Easter Basket

The boys Easter Baskets

I think Liam liked getting the peeps the most 

Blake checking out his 1st Easter Basket !

St. Patricks Day Fun

St. Patricks Day we kept it simple. I always try to celebrate the day because I am part Irish even if it's just a little I still want the boys to celebrate the holiday. Since they're so young right now I keep it simple. I found this cute Shamrock game on pinterest. If you'd like to check it out go to my St. Patricks Day pinterest board you'll find it there. I like to give credit to these wonderful people who have these amazing blogs that like to share free print outs. This game was perfect for preschoolers. You roll a dice count the number of spaces from the dice on the board. If you land on a shamrock you get to keep a shamrock card. The player with the most shamrock cards wins the game! We also had a little treasure hunt where Liam had to find gold coins which he received a quarter for each one he found.  Liam loves starfall.com. a website that has educational games for kids. He will play all day if I let him. I had to use it for a reward because it got to be too much. But I let him go on starfall.com today to play their St. Patrick's Day educational games.  I highly recommend them here's their link  www.starfall.com

Here's a little video of the game in action. Liam I think was tired that morning he wasn't really "with it" if you know what I mean. He's 3 but sometimes I forget because he usually is so quick but sometimes he has his slow days like us all. He's so smart and he really enjoyed playing we played most of the 

morning while Blake took his morning nap.

Valentines Day Fun!

 Valentines Day has become such a fun holiday for us. Lots of fun Valentine parties this year. We first hosted a Valentines Day cookie decorating play date for our KinderMoms group. The kids were so sweet they had fun decorating their cookies but loved eating them of course. It was wonderful to have some company and chat with some Moms too. I was so surprised that Blake slept in his swing during the entire time.

Liam had two Valentines Day parties. The first one was for our KinderMom group. Every year they hold one and the kids exchange valentines. These have been a hit the past two years so I decided to make them again. These are Teddy Gram crackers and Gummy Bears wrapped in a treat bag labeled "You're Beary Special From Liam Hoffman." Liam brought these to school also for his party there too. He had so much fun!

One of a ton of valentines Liam received from his friends at school I thought this was a cute one

Baby  Blake's 1st Valentines Day!

Blake was such a sweetheart! He's my little Valentine. He went out to lunch with Chris & I  at our new favorite spot The Red Rooster while Liam was at school. Chris had to work at 3 p.m. so we had our Valentines Day lunch to celebrate. It was such a beautiful day out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012

We celebrated the New Year with Liam first. Liam & I went to a "Noon Year" party with friends from our Moms group here in town. We've gone every years since we moved here ( 3 years now) and its so much fun. All the kids get together have snacks and at 12 noon on New Years Eve they count down and have a party! Since most kids are in bed during the real New Year's Eve this lets them be a part of the celebration earlier in the day. We love it. The video of Liam is when we came back home. He kept counting down and saying Happy "Noon" Year. He had a blast. Later in the evening Chris & I attempted to have some kind of celebration. I had some of my favorite clam dip and special spritzers since I'm nursing no alcohol for me. We also were up with Blake who has colic so badly. He cried from 8 pm - 5 am so it was a rough new years. It's always great just to hang out together. We're so blessed to have Blake though. This year some New Year's resolutions I have are to try to keep positive, become more organized with making dinner & cleaning, spending more time with family, having more celebrations and being more social hosting parties etc. Looking forward to lots of fun in 2012.

Kiss Me It's My Birthday! The Big 35

I enjoyed celebrating my 35th (UGH!) Birthday with my favorite guys. I was so happy I was able to sleep in. I woke up only to nurse Blake then Chris got up with both boys. While I was sleeping Chris & Liam baked me a delicious strawberry fun fetti cake. It was so sweet. I really appreciated Chris taking the time to make a cake with Liam. It is such a challenge cooking with a 3 year old I give him props for even attempting. He's an awesome Dad Liam had so much. We then went out for a birthday lunch. Later I went out for coffee with a friend in my Sunday School class that shares the same birthday as me ( January 21st) It was great to get out of the house and have some adult conversation. Is it just me or does receiving birthday checks in the mail still give you a smile on your face? My aunts always sent me a birthday check usually $25 or so. Now that I'm in my 30's I still look forward to receiving them and so blessed they still think of me. They're so sweet.javascript:void(0)

A Happy Hoffman Christmas!

Christmas morning Hoffman Breakfast YUMMY!