Hunting the Hummingbird - by David C Hoffman

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Wednesday, November 25, 2020

August 2019 - December 2019


                                                                Aug 2019

August started out with a fun family gathering at the Ranch!









Always so fun when we can get together with cousins!



Grateful for summer sunshine...








In Mid August we went over to the coast for a few days...











Burying the boy...





 












(I love it when I catch them looking like twins...=) )







Escaping to the beach was just the little getaway our family needed! We were smack dab in the middle of purchasing a home during this trip, and it had been A PROCESS. It was so nice to make time for a vacation in the middle of that chaos.


Enjoying our last few days in our old house...






I will always be thankful for that rental home! It was a big blessing to us the two years we lived there. It was so comfortable and we made some great memories in that home and on that property. 
I loved so much about it, especially the way the street was basically a flag lot/dead end. We could just let the kids play out there freely without any worry for traffic and such.


That being said, it was a huge relief to buy a home in the end of August last year. The rental was always meant to be an in between for us, and we were ready to put down some stronger roots. We kept waiting for the housing market to go down...and it just kept going up instead. 

We were semi-content to wait it out in the rental home, hoping a great house in our same area would pop up on the market... but then the landlords were wanting to raise our rent, and we decided that was the push we needed to move forward with purchasing again.
It felt like home prices were still high, but it was time to stop paying rent.
(It felt like it was high last summer, and it's CRAZY to me that it was even higher this Fall!!)

Anyways, we are so very thankful we were able to buy when we did.
And?
We absolutely LOVE our new home!! Like, really, REALLY, Love it! It ended up being everything we were looking for, and more.



Sparkling cider toast in our new dining room after we got the keys!



The only room we painted was the laundry room, that connects the garage to the house. I wanted a happy, sunny yellow to greet us as we came and went.
Sis earning her keep...





Sept 2019

Four fingers up for the first day of Fourth Grade!


School started just a few days after we moved in, but thankfully we were staying the same school so it was only a minor transition for all of us.


Our house has a large empty lot across from it where the kids loved to play with neighbor friends...



The pets adjusted very quickly to the new house...




LOVE being an aunt!




Fall Soccer started up again...


Sister defended the goal, Gus made new friends...









Oct 2019

Soccer continued through October...




Gus enjoyed park time...




The boy and his fancy footwork are always fun to watch!







Brother has had the same teammates three years in a row, and it's so fun to meet up with the families each Fall!




Gus waits "patiently" for scratches while I read my Bible in the mornings...




We LOVE Cousin time!






The kids and I visited the pumpkin patch one day after school...














Coming down the slide with style...







We loved getting out and enjoying the fresh Fall weather!








The Boy's soccer team came in first place for the season! 




Halloween 2019 brought us Rey and a rapper again =)





Nov 2019


More cousin time!




Our sweet pets are such a gift. We are so thankful for how they love each other.



A rousing game of Clue with our sweet friends...



Dave and I got to go on a date to a Blazer game!




Bowling with some besties...





So very thankful for quiet days together in our new home...


Dave channeling his inner Ace Ventura.



Amiright?









Aunt Mem and Uncle Tom came to visit for Thanksgiving!









Blessed to be able to visit family for Thanksgiving!
 
Sis was learning the family stuffing recipe...



We were able to see so much family!










Sis inserted her gravy inside her roll, and we all pretty much declared her a genius...



And of course, tradition dictates we have a massive gingerbread house contest, much like the first Thanksgiving, I'm sure...








SO FUN!




DEC 2019

















Astrid was quite content with our holiday decorating...






Our puzzling game was strong in December apparently.

So was our baking...








We made it to Zoo Lights! My very favorite Christmas tradition...








Learning about elephants from a Zookeeper...



Brother got into a dance off with this eagle...




I know I say it all the time, but we are SO THANKFUL to have cousins living nearby! I think raising kids abroad for two years really made me appreciate having family close. 





We like to surprise the kids one night close to Christmas with a past bedtime, hot chocolate fueled, late night drive around to look at Christmas lights =). 


(It should be clear by now that I'm a complete sucker for traditions.)



We are fortunate to celebrate Christmas many times over with different family members!








Christmas service at Church; remembering the reason we celebrate Christmas at all is Jesus, the greatest gift of all, being born...




We celebrated Christmas Eve with our friends who are like family.

I would call them "framily", but Dave hates word blends and I am going to print this blog out for family memories and I don't want to be TOO annoying, so I will refrain.

Anyways, we went to their home for Christmas Eve fun...
 










Ubiquitous Christmas jammies in front of the tree pic...

#everysingleyear



All tucked in and ready for Christmas morning! 



These next two pics are a little blurry, but I love the moment they captured! Happy kiddos on Christmas morning is just about the best thing ever. Especially when they are so thrilled that they hug you so hard they knock you over...











My people know me SO VERY WELL...



We had a really great first Christmas in our new home!





And before we knew it, it was midnight on New Years Eve...



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