We had some visitors today!

Santa and two elf' helpers named Greeny and Candycane dropped in today!



Merry Christmas!

Ethan's First Real Haircut

It was time...

On November 17, 2012

Ethan's hair although cute was too long...

He was sporting the hockey hair look...

What really initiated the cut was the fact that

Ethan developed a hair twirling habit...

As a kid I use to twirl my hair also...

So I guess I passed on this gene...

It was getting to the point that Nate and I

were having to cut 3-4 knots out of his hair a day...

A few times Ethan would twirl his hair so tight 

that his finger would get stuck in the knot...

And he would call for help...haha

After a few weeks of this his hair was really

starting to look pretty crazy so we decided

It was time!

So after a ten minute do it yourself YouTube video

I learned how to give a little boy haircut...

I think it turned out so cute!

Notice the tight knot in the front

And the knoted hair in the back

Ready to take the first snip



Ethan held up really good during the cut...It went really smooth...
No crying and he even sat pretty still...

The finished product...What a handsome little fella!

Christmas at the Hofstetter's

 

 

I am so behind in my blogging...

I have so many stories and pictures that I want to catch up on...

My efforts will start now in hopes that I will get on a roll...

The last couple months have been really busy for our family...

 

I went back to work the first week of November and Nate went on paternity leave...He is due back around Jan 6th...I am getting my Masters and if you can believe it going back to work and having Nate home to help has made things so much easier for me.  Yes I miss being with the boys all day but it is really special to see Nate bonding and sharing this special time with our sons. They get dads full attention and between evenings and weekends we have been soaking up family time. A plus is that even though I went back full time I only go into work 3 days a week as I get one education day and I have over 8 weeks holidays this year plus stat days so I can take at least a couple days off...This makes things a lot easier.

Last week I finished my second term of school...My last two assignments were big ones...Lots of library time that last week...It didn't help that I and the kids had wicked colds/sinus infections.  We got through it and Nathan was a star...He is such a good daddy and took such good care of our precious little boys which made the time away so much easier.

Nate and the boys have been doing a lot of boy things together...Ethan LOVES choo choo trains...|The boys take daily car rides out to the tracks to see the trains whiz by...Apparently the conductors are getting use to seeing my guys there and often wave and toot the train horn for Ethan (Is it a horn? a bell?...I not sure and that is why this is a daddy activity)...They also go to the airport, listen to loud music in the house, play with the Thomas the Train set, watch trains on you tube and who knows what...All I know is that my boys are happy, healthy and just loving their daddy time!

One of the best things with having Nathan home and off work is that he is around for everything...No more missing out on stuff because of work...It is so nice to have him home every night for dinner...And it is even better to have him around for all the Christmas festivities! Like most families Christmas is such a happy, special time and we really look forward to this time of season.  We start the Hofstetter Christmas early every year (The year we were out on the farm (prekids) I remember setting up the tree on Halloween day...This year we started Christmas on November 2...We put the tree up and started decorating the house. The evening started off with a Christmas feast while watching the Polar Express (Ethan obviously loves this movie because it is all about a train), I made Cinnabon's for dessert...After the movie we got the decorations out and went to town with the Christmas tunes playing in the background, oh and we got some Bath & Body Work Christmas candles to enjoy...It was fun time and below is a few shots from that night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Our First Visit to the ER...Not Impressed

 

This picture above was the cause of our visit to the ER

It breaks my heart when my babies get hurt...

A few weeks back Ethan fell when getting out

of this wooden highchair...

What kills me is that right before it happen...

I was thinking...

I have to get a dang belt for that chair!

About a month ago Todd took over Ethan's old highchair

Ethan moved to the big boy wooden highchair...However,

this new taste of freedom when eating got the best of Ethan...

He soon realized that he could get in and out of the chair

as he wished...Which led to some frustration for us...

We were constantly saying "sit down Ethan"

But of course he is 2... so he doesn't pay attention to our plea.

Unfortunatly...

I was too late acting on my gut feeling to

get a belt for this dang chair...

Man o man!

So this is what happened...

I was in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner

as Ethan and Todd were finishing up...

Both Nate and I told Ethan a number of times to sit down...

And like I said...

I was thinking at that moment...

I better get a belt for his chair...

I was getting a little frusterated with Ethan not listening...

That is when I hear a big bang...

My heart dropped...I knew what happened...

My little boy fell out of the chair...

Both Nathan and I ran to him and I was thinking the worse...

My kids fall all the time but this time I knew he was hurt...

He landed on his hand...He held it up crying and saying "hurt"

The top of his hand started to swell and

looked limp at first glance...

And upon assessment he wasn't using it...

So off the the ER for some x-rays

My poor little man...







Ethan's hospital band...He wasn't too sure about it!





The hospital was so fun...NOT (lol)

I was told a good 2-3 hour wait...

Picture this...(cold and flu season)

A couple of kids with high fevers...

A father sitting beside me with his four year old boy...

His father told me his son has had a fever of 105 for 3 days...

105 really...I just held onto Ethan tighter...

I looked around the warm, infested room

 and I saw a few more kids looking very ill,

While taking in the sounds of croupy seal like coughs...

And of course by this time...

Ethan was back to his hyper little self...

He seemed to not be bothered by his hand anymore...

Even though he wasn't using it...

He seemed excited to be at the ER and not in bed...

Ethan wanted to play with the toys in the ER,

"Down mom"...He wanted to walk around!

Luckily I told the ER nurse I was there for x-rays and she called that in...

We were able to get the x rays within the first 20 mins after arriving...

Then we were told to wait in the waiting room for the doctor...

They quoted a wait of 2 hours...

I tried keeping Ethan on my lap in the waiting room

after the x-ray...But it was a struggle...He just didn't understand

why I wouldn't let him down...

After I knew I was going to lose this battle I thought...

Why do I have to wait for 2 hours to find out the results

I work in health care and I know that they will have to call even if I leave...

So after talking to the nurse and letting her know that I was choosing to leave...

I booked it out of there...

I couldn't get Ethan out of there fast enough...

I knew if I statyed luck would be me returning there

next week with 2 very sick kids...

With fevers of 105 and croupy seal like coughs.

I called the hospital the next day to confirm the results...

The x-ray was normal (Thank goodness)

However this experience opened my eyes...

Are health care system has a lot of issues...

This being one...

I wonder how many parents bring their toddlers to the ER

for similar reasons and expose them to really

terrible contagious viruses or bacterial illnesses...

And do not realize what I know and stay for the two hour wait...

It is next to impossible to keep a healthy two year old in your lap

without having them have huge melt downs...

And toys in the ER...Are you kidding me...

Parents come to seek health care for there children but

unfortunately often leave with much worse illnesses

brewing in there little precious ones...

Then it is past to the other children in the household.

Costing many more dollars to our health care system and

increased distress for the families that seek these services.

Why don't they have a doctor in triage for these type of cases...

Get the healthy kids in and out

Okay this is my rant for the day

I need to be more politically active...

We all do...

This is the only way to

CHANGE OUR SYSTEM






Ethan showing off his hospital band the next day...
He is showing the hand that he hurt in the last picture above

While downloading the pictures above
I came across this one from another injury of Ethan's
We didn't go to the ER this time thank goodness...



My poor baby stepped on a nail outside this past summer

in our backyard...It went right through his shoe...

He handled it well...But was not a fan of the blood...

I see blood and injuries all the time but...

It is sooooo different when it is your baby!

I might of went a little overboard wrapping up his foot...

But Ethan thought it was cool...

It healed up great...

Poor little Ethan!

He is such a BOY

Fall Pictures

On Halloween day we took the boys for a

ride out to the country to pick a pumpkin...

I had the great idea to try and

get a few family pictures...

So I took our camera and stand

and this is what we came up with.

Not too bad...

Much better then the pictures

I tried to snap last Christmas!

It was painful...

This time it was fun...

And it only took 10 minutes!

 

 

 

Our Halloween Day in Pictures

 

 

 

 

BEFORE AND AFTER TRICK OR TREATING

 

 

Happy Spooky Day!

Hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween!

 

I am excited to spend the day with my family...

We will be visiting the pumpkin patch,

Getting some pictures of our pumpkins with the pumpkins :)

Carving our orange friends,

Watching E and T's face when they touch the pumpkin guts...

Last year Ethan wanted nothing to do with it...

I wonder what this year will be like now that he is another year older.

Roasting the seeds...Getting into costume...

Trick or treating around our street,

Making our rounds to some family with the kids...

After the kids go to sleep maybe

Nate and I can watch a scary movie...

But not too scary...

Because I am a chicken

 

I made a fall soup last night...(Chicken rice with a sweet potato base)...

We will have that for lunch...

Candy and chips for supper (haha)

Or maybe it will be a pizza night...

Off to make some dough!

 

Ya for Halloween

Please rain stay away!

A couple pictures from a little Halloween party

with some Mommy friends that I took the kids to the other day...

 



Doc from Back to the future and my lion cub