Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Spring Break Chicago Style Day 1

Hello from Chicago!


Daddy had to work in Chicago for a couple days so we figured it was a great way to get in a cheap Spring Break vacation. Yes, we are aware that everyone else is headed to the beach and we are still freezing, but we're having a blast in the cold!
We arrived Monday night and checked into Hotel Felix (thank you Priceline). Hotel Felix is the only LEED certified, eco-friendly hotel. It is considered a "boutique" hotel, which we now know means small. The hotel is beautifully renovated and has a wonderfully comfortable bed and is within walking distance to the Magnificent Mile, where we spent all of  the day today!


Inside the hotel lobby

Immediately upon getting here we checked in and went directly to Gino's East Pizza for authentic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza! YUM!


Shelby and Cole  loved that you could draw all over the walls!

New York can keep their pizza! We're a Chicago style family!
Today, while Troy worked, the kiddos and I went on a marathon shopping spree in downtown Chicago. We started our morning at an amazing little breakfast spot called Yolk. Cole had smores pancakes and I got crepes. It was the best way to start the morning!



Cole has been asking for a year to go to the Lamborghini store. He now knows why we don't own one!

Yeah, he's cool!
We went to Hershey, American Girl Store, The John Hancock Center, Filene's Basement, Disney Store, Crate and Barrel, Lego Store. Neiman Marcus and then to eat at Life is Food before we wandered back to pick up daddy at the hotel at finished of at Ed Debevic's 50's diner for dinner.













We're eating WELL on Spring Break!
Onward to day 2!
I'm tired.



Thursday, March 24, 2011

The older men in my life... Happy Birthday Boys!


Two big events this past week.  Troy turned 40 on the 19th and on the 21st Cole turned 11.  My men are getting older. Trust me when I tell you that one day apart in birthdays is not the only way that they are similar.


They both have these amazing blue eyes, blonde hair (Troy's was when he was little) and strong jaw lines and when they smile they melt my heart and brighten a room.





Both my men have this amazing gift to be able to fix ANYTHING you hand them. They will tear it apart, put it back and sometimes you have all of the parts put back. Sometimes... but it always works.  When Cole turned three, I noticed, he began taking things from me and saying, "I'll fix it mama." Now he just looks at me and sighs and says "hand it over..." and he fixes whatever I need.  Troy in his old age fixes things I don't always want fixed, and didn't think were broken.

Both my men have a giving and protective heart.  Both willingly volunteer to help at the local homeless shelter, Cole and Troy delivered food and toys at Christmas. Cole is always helping with our local Rotary projects. Cole jumped at the chance to serve hot chocolate to the community for Polio relief.  Cole is usually the first one to grab Shelby if she is hurt. He comforts her, holds her and kisses her until mom/dad/nana/papaw can get there.  He told Shelby that if some boy picked on her at the gym that her bubba would handle it. He and daddy stand in line to tuck the princess in at night.
I so hope she never has to learn that all men aren't that wonderful. 

Both my men are stubborn to the core.  They will argue and argue.... sometimes it's just easier to know secretly I am right. It's been fun to watch as Cole gets older, he begins to win the arguments with his daddy, because he thinks like his daddy! It must be hard to argue with a little version of yourself.


While Cole was pretty excited about turning 11, Troy was less than excited about turning 40.


In celebration, we packed in lots of party into one small weekend.  Friday night we went out with our close friends to a wonderful German restaurant. We proceeded to help Troy forget that turning 40 was a bad thing. By the time he played tambourine with the band, I think he had forgotten he was 40! Troy is typically our designated driver, and I can't remember the last time he cut loose, so this was truly a rare occasion and I am sure now he is glad it is rare!


Yeah, this isn't his usual look.
  
Needless to say, he has never before been on stage before. The rest of us girls loved it!

Cole celebrated the following day with a Lego/Nerf party at home.  The boys enjoyed putting together lego kits that Cole had pre-made. They also played Nerf Wars and flew kites.  All very non-electronic, which wasn't really planned that way, but the boys had a great time.




My nephew Jake. We do grow handsome men in the Hoffman family!


Sunday, after church, we went to the brick world Lego convention downtown and Cole was able to mingle with those like him. WOW are those little pieces of plastic expensive! We stopped at a chocolate shop and enjoyed a beautiful Spring day in Indy.

I don't even want to know how much this would cost, or how much time it took to put together!

Love the little Lego Colts! Go Horse!

Yum! Hot Chocolate!




Thursday, March 17, 2011

Looking up..

It's SPRING at the Hoffman House
and
we have CHICKS.
 For those of you following along at home,
 yes there was a time before when we had SEVERAL chicks
and they grew... it was a time that Troy was traveling,


We were trying to manage
2 houses
2 kids
2 50+ hr a week jobs
40 chickens.
+ 1 bunny and
Troy was traveling to Cleveland
while I was mowing 6+ acres at home in Indiana.

We were stressed,tired
frustrated, angry
resentlful, and overwhelmed
To put it honestly, we were strectched to our limit and beyond

About this time in 2010,
On a pretty Spring Day, with ice thawing and two kids in the car
wearing high heel boots and work clothes,
I HAD to go feed the chickens. I slipped.
Landed in a pile of wet, muddy, chicken S**T.

I broke down, called Troy... telling him I couldn't do it.
I remember praying for a way out... I was failing
I hated the demands of my job, how it interfered with my children.
I felt like I had failed as a mom, wife, daughter and friend.
There were never enough hours in the day.

Troy drove home, loaded up all but a few chickens
and the bunny, and we found someone who was willing to take them.
I had never felt so guilty in my entire life.
Yes, I realize they were just chickens,
but they represented the beginning of the realization
that I couldn't do it. I was failing
Our life wasn't working, our marriage wasn't working
and our family wasn't working.

Fast forward one year.
INSERT MAJOR LIFE CHANGE
Troy is home. Different Job.
I am home and truly blessed
 to realize how much I was giving up by working outside the home.
So when chicks came in this year, we bought 10 (not 40)

Sometimes you need to look up to realize you're in too deep.

I love where we are now.
I love the marriage and family we have.
I love that I have time with my children, family and friends.
I love that my husband and I have time to talk.
Thank you God for making me look up.
I was in WAY too deep.

This one is mine. It's name is George. It may be Georgina. We're not sure yet.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Mardi Gras & Masquerade Ball


Not being Catholic, we have never really celebrated Mardi Gras or delved into Lent and what it means.  The kids had been asking some questions, so I decided to go ahead and throw a small Mardi Gras party tonight and talk about Lent and why people celebrate with Fat Tuesday prior to making their Lent sacrifices.
Needless to say, Shelby is NOT keen on giving anything up, but she volunteered to give up her bedtime. Awfully big of her huh? We made Jambalaya, and I grabbed a King Cake from the store. I have seen lots of people who have been so creative and made their own King Cakes, I'm not one of those moms.

Shelby kept telling Cole, I GET JESUS!!!

We enjoyed dinner, ate our cake and the kids both put together little flower pots that we recently received at a benefit ball Troy and I attended.



Yeah.... the Benefit Ball.... First, I should explain that both Troy and I are in our local Rotary Club. Next year our club is thinking about putting on a Masquerade Ball as a fundraising event. Neither of us has actually been to such an event. So while wandering facebook, as I am known to do... (yes, dear, sometimes too much) I found a post offering free tickets to a local Masquerade Ball benefiting a local Domestic Violence shelter. I jumped on the tickets! Pretty excited that not only could we get a change to "borrow" some knowledge for our own event, but also be able to benefit a local agency that does wonderful work.

Evening of the event, we get dressed up, Troy puts on a suit. We are ever so slightly nervous that we may not know anyone, but figure, hey, it's free dinner and dancing and we'll meet people! Worst case, we leave early.

Arrival at the hotel..... there are some interestingly dressed people getting out of their cars... there are two domestic violence fundraisers...same hotel.... go figure.... We walk up to the first table and we are immediately impressed.  We begin to register and they look at the mask I am carrying and their faces drop from a smile to a look of "oh, you're that type" they tell us "you're down there" pointing down the hall.

Alrighty then... As we near "our" event, we continue to see more interesting costumes.... but hey! it's a Masquerade Ball!  As we stand in line to register, we begin to notice lots and I mean LOTS of body art on those around us and pentagrams. I lean very close to Troy, who is now growing pale and whisper ever so slightly..... I think we're at a Witch Ball.... Troy says .... uh huh.

Apparently, this particular group of Wiccans/Witches throws a ball every year and picks different local charities to support each year. Huh, who'd a thunk!

On our tables were programs for the evening and attached to those programs were glass ornaments, filled with green leafy material with a sheet saying this was a Witch Ball. Please know we resisted EVERY urge to rip the ornament open right then to smell the contents!


No, this does not contain anything illegal, but we did get home and immediately dump Troy's out, just to be sure!

Yeah, it's a fairy
Lovely woman, not sure this is a costume.

At this point, what can only be described as the WEIRDEST humans possible began streaming by us with the most creative costumes I have EVER seen. Troy looks at me and says, Do you really want to stay, I look at him and said... it's free dinner and they have chocolate cake.

I have BEGGED Troy to get an outfit like this.

Dinner was good. We checked out the table with the door prize options, most of which were spell books and Witch materials. I advised Troy not to make anyone mad. He could end up as a toad. We did end up sitting with a lovely couple, she worked for the shelter, they were also unaware of what they were walking in to.

By the end of the evening, and yes we stayed till the bitter end, we walked out with a set of BBQ sauces (door prize) and 2 tickets to our local theatre. We also walked out with a true appreciation for a group that went through a lot of work to donate time and money to organizations who would not necessarily approve or support this groups lifestyle. Regardless of whether or not people agree with their choice of religion, their hearts and time and energy and money was going to make other peoples lives better. We can support that.  In the end, we met interesting people, had a fun night of dinner and dancing and we laughed! It doesn't get better than that!



And I got my face painted! Woo Hoo!