just nichole

When Nichole was in Kindergarten, she brought home all her assignments with the name "Nichole Stephanie" written at the top. I thought perhaps that she had mistakenly brought home another little girl's work. But at parent teacher conference, her teacher told me that I should be very proud of Nichole's enthusiasm and the effort that it took for her to learn and write out her first AND middle name on every assignment. Except that she doesn't actually have a middle name.

And before that, soon after Merissa was born and Amy came to stay with us for a bit to help out, Nichole was so enamored by her aunt that when I would call her by name, she would ignore me for awhile. And then correct me. "I name Mimi," she would say.

Also famous for saying, "I do it I-self!"

So here's some old and some new pics of our little Nichole. Love you - tones and tones (as she used to write on notes to me).

Love
The Momgoose

It's a new year

It's a new year and already we've been a busy family. It snowed during the week after Christmas - a whole 6" shuts down everything in P-town and surrounding areas. The commute home from Missy's work was looking like a 4-hour trip, but she waited until after the initial panic began to clear and the road crews got out with sand. Then she drove home in about 40-minutes, not much longer than a regular drive. Good job, Miss.

Rick filled his camping cooler with snow before the rain came in and melted it all away. Then on New Year's Day, he made ice-cream with the snow. He swears the snow is twice as good - saves having to crush the ice. We had blackberry-cinnamon ice-cream for dessert after a turkey dinner.

Rick and I spent New Year's Eve at our traditional hockey game. A bunch of our friends always buy a block of tickets together in a group. This year, there were 70 in our group, called "Friends of Thor." Ryan, Megan and our grandson, Atreyu went with us this year. And the Portland Winterhawks won 6-0 against their arch-rivals, the Seattle Thunderbirds. Our seats were at the visitor's goal for 2 of the 3 periods, so we got to see most of the goals scored close-up. Very exciting. Plus we all got free Winterhawks' hats, although it looks to me like an angry duck.

I've had time off work since Christmas eve. We are taking the tree down today, and Rick flies out to Arizona tomorrow for his next job. I am terribly sad to have to return to the real world on Monday.

Hope all of our friends and family had a wonderful holiday wherever you may be. Much love from the Hoffman Clan.

The Momgoose

Christmas Part Deux

We started with a house-full: Missy, Becca, Chantz, Kristen and Mitch. Then Ryan, Megan and Atreyu arrived. We could hear Ronnie bumping from up the block long before he pulled into the driveway, as usual. First round of lasagna was just served when Nichole and Michael got here, and it was a full house. Lots of presents. Flowers. The History of All that is Bionicle (thanks to Atreyu). And football - of course.



Finished out the evening with a video chat from Papa and Grandma in Salt Lake City. Seems their new computer cam is working just fine. They got to see our Christmas tree and meet Becca's boyfriend, Chantz. Isn't technology amazing?

Still two presents under the tree for Uncle Randy and JR.

Onward to the New Year!