Hoefer's In The North End

Scott and I were amazed by how excited our kids were about Easter. In fact some of them were up by 6:15 to see what the Easter bunny had brought! These are the same children who have to be drug out of bed on school mornings by 7:30! Well the Easter Bunny this year brought them new beach towels for the pool (which they desperately needed after years of the same towels and daily swimming all summer long) and huge Nerf water guns that spray really far!

Then we had a yummy breakfast of sour cream blueberry pancakes! After that Scott and I hid the eggs all over our new neighborhood. Well, I should say all over the empty lots of the new neighborhood. We then invited the only other neighbor child Dani who is 3 to join in the fun. The kids absolutely adore Dani so were thrilled to have her join in. We had tons of eggs so it was awesome!

First Annual Somerset Village Easter Egg Hunt

After that we frantically got ready for church and went. The church really thought this out because they gave all of the kids little bags full of crayons, coloring books, prizes, candy, etc. It was an awesome way to keep the kids entertained during church! Although at one moment I looked over and Alex had a plate of chewed up fruit that he had spit onto a plate and was then sucking on jelly beans and spitting colored spit on top. Lovely.

Then we went to Emmett's 7th Birthday party! We had a great meal and then the kids hunted for color coded eggs! No fighting and everyone got the same amount! Hannah Style Easter Egg Hunt! What a fun day we had!

I've taken a real long break from blogging, but I think I'd like to start up again. Mostly because I so enjoy reading the blogs from a few years ago and I think it's a great way to create memories. However, I'm going to be private this time. So if you want to read you will need to let me know. I need to figure out all the kinks. But the main thing is I am blogging for me and for our kids. Not for others opinions as I'm quite sensitive and take too many things personally. I don't want to worry that I'm annoying people or that people I hardly ever talk to are reading it and making a judgement. It's just for me! So with that.....here we go! Let me know if you want to follow me!

So since Emmett moved into the neighborhood this summer he gets to go to school with our kids! We were so thrilled. He didn't get in the same class but that's OK. They still go to school together some days and apparently play at recess. Avery says she sees Emmett, runs and finds Alex, tells him where Emmett is and then they all play. They also look for the girls to play with too. I LOVE that they all have each other at school!!! Happy times. Love these little guys so much!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!

Hailey Grade 4 Mr. Summers (the all time favorite 4th grade teacher that every kid wants!)

Karis Grade 2 Miss Moore "She's as pretty as a teenager" Karis said. "She practically is a teenager." I said.

Avery Kindergarten P.M. Mrs. Stred - Karis had her too and loved her

Alex Kindergarten P.M. Mrs. Stred

Every summer (well the last 2) and from now on we try to get together with Alex's little buddy Wilde. If you remember, we travelled to Haiti on our court trip with his parents and really bonded with them. Something about leaving your sons in an orphanage for who knows how long and the heart-wrenching drive away from them as you all do the ugly cry pretty much cements you as friends for life. Then going through the earthquake and process after with them! They live in Canada and since we STILL DON'T have citizenship for Alex and can't travel out of the country with them, we have to meet them somewhere in the US. Well this summer we met in a random little town in between us going to Oregon and them being at Great Wolf Lodge! We  had hoped to go to Great Wolf with them but the 2 weekends we were in Washington was my 20year reunion and Michael's wedding. More on those later.

Anyway we had a great time. Went to a park and had a picnic, took a walk, and went to ice cream. It was so fun to reconnect!! The boys just start right in playing, laughing, and giggling! Love the bond they share!!! It is so amazing!!

On the way we stopped and looked at Mt. Raineer. Loved it and it was so fun to see it through our kid's eyes.

One of the fun things we did this summer was see Grandpa Hoefer and the Prosser relatives! Grtandpa is really struggling with dementia right now so it was sad to see him and realize how far the dementia had progressed. I was really glad I was able to get a picture of him with the kiddos. He has recently moved into a care facility since it was no longer safe for him on his own. We are so blessed that three of Scott's siblings and their spouses live close by and take such good care of him. Scott being the youngest and the only sibling with young children at home and living in Idaho has not had the responsibility that his siblings have with him. They have loved him and taken care of him every single day in such a loving and respectful way. We are so blessed to have such a large family of love!!

I posted on Facebook this summer that one of the best things about having more than one child is that they can sleep together at night! Thus, freeing the parent's bed from the kid invasion. (Sometimes this works.) We have gone through times with all our kids where they seem to be more scared at night or have a harder time settling down. By the end of the day though, I am often not really wanted to spend my few free adult minutes with kids, but rather with my husband! So a great solution has been putting kids in the same room or same bed. Alex and Avery do amazing sleeping in the same bed. They usually fall asleep faster than on their own in fact. And look how adorable they look?!!