Twins 1st Visit to Chuckie Cheese

Nana helped me take Corbyn, Elijah, and the boys to Chuckie Cheese last Tuesday to kick off fall break. We were heading for a vacation in the Smoky Mtns. on Wednesday so the children were wired. We finally had a rainy day in East TN so where better to spend the day with kids than Chuckie Cheese?

Corbyn and Elijah were pros at the Chuckie thing but the boys had never been (when they were old enough to walk anyway). They were so excited they didn't know where to begin. Micah tried out a ride with Barney first. Carson not so much a Barney fan...

What Carson does love though is a good game of basketball. He and Micah spent forever at the basketball game.

Everybody had a great time at Chuckie's. The boys played the duck game, drove cars, whac'd some moles, and shot hoops. Corbyn and Elijah played a little of everything. They made sure they played their usual air hockey game. See the other pics in the slide show.

Grandpa's 80th Birthday

Last Saturday my mom's side of the family (the Winters) got together at First Baptist Church, Kingston to celebrate my Grandpa's 80th Birthday. It was great to see all of my cousins and their families. My Aunt Dinah's 3 boys were there as well as Marci's daughter Stephanie and son, Tristan. I couldn't help but feel the gravity of the absence of other cousins who normally would have been there. My cousin Carl passed away last month and was sorely missed by everyone. His warm smile always lit the room. Also missing were Adam and Jared. Adam and his wife Rebecca and son Keenan are overseas doing God's work and spreading the gospel. We can't wait to see them at Christmas. Jared and Dorothy had to work as well but we look forward to seeing them during the holidays. And lastly, Daddy wasn't there in body but we felt him in spirit. Sorry to be a downer but I couldn't share the fun we had without taking a moment to reflect on those we missed.

Grandpa & the Great-grandchildren

Grandpa seemed to enjoy seeing his children, grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren (he has 8 counting Keenan). We will be adding a couple more to the flock soon. My sister, Tracy (and David & Elijah) is expecting in the spring and we learned some amazing news from Stephanie and Nathan. Stephanie is also expecting a baby that we have prayed fervently for a long time. I want to take this opportunity to share God's abundant grace as he provides this awesome gift to Stephanie, Nathan, Marci, Tristan, and George. They had to say goodbye to Carl last month and though he can never be replaced, God sent an angel to lighten the grief and remind us all that his plan is perfect and full of love. Isn't God wonderful?

Congratulations, Stephanie & Nathan!

The cousins enjoyed visiting together and relishing the moments of playtime among our children. It was a wonderful gift to see the many generations together sharing in fellowship and love for one another. Our family has been blessed to remain close enough to share in each other's lives through the years and we look forward to welcoming more children into the family and witnessing the generations to come. Check out some of the pics taken at the party.

Grandpa with his children

Marci, Dinah, Doug, and Carol Ann

Grandpa with grandchildren

Tristan, Greg, Brad, Russ

Stephanie, Grandpa, Tracy, and Lisa

See more birthday fun pics in the slide show...

Big News - Big Boy Beds!

This weekend marked a very important event at the Hoffmeister house. Carson and Micah graduated from their cribs to "big boy beds". We had braced ourselves for a terrible transition since the boys are active to say the least but they have done remarkably well. They love to jump on them but we try to disuade them as much as possible. The key seems to be to wait until they are exhausted and it is totally dark outside because they can't see their way out of the beds.

Carson has learned to tattle on his brother and will sit up, point at Micah, and say "He up" when Micah is sitting or standing up. He also reports in when Micah is jumping - "He jump jump". Sunday evening after getting them settled, I came out of their room and was bragging to Randy on how well they had done when low and behold their door opened. Micah was peeking out and grinning with Carson right on his heels. Carson was pointing and saying "he up". They both then took off running through the house giggling along the way. They seemed so proud of themselves for breaking out.

Last night at about 1:30 a.m. I heard Micah crying. He had gotten up and opened the door. He was standing outside their doorway just spinning around trying to get his bearings. It was so pitiful. This was such a new experience that he didn't know how to find anyone. He settled right back in when I returned him to bed.

Disney on Ice - High School Musical

Nana treated Corbyn, Tracy, Elijah, and me to Disney on Ice - High School Musical on Sunday. We all had a good time and the show was pretty good (not my favorite one though). Its always a little disappointing when the skaters aren't the true characters.

Corbyn and Elijah bought concert lights and flashing sunglasses. There were nachos, popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones. Oh yeah - and a little ice skating.

Corbyn's Soccer Debut

Corbyn began playing Upward soccer a few weeks ago and really enjoys it. Upward is a program through our church that teaches fundamentals of different sports as well as offering Bible study and a focus on Christian actions and how they influence the activities in our lives. Every child gets equal playing time and it is supposed to be non-competitive (yeah right). Neither Randy nor I ever played soccer but we are all about he competition and Corbyn doing her best. She has played defense (which she likes the best), offense, and goalie. At first, Corbyn told us that the coach kept telling her to play "distance" and she was really confused on what her job was. Once we explained that "distance" was really "defense" she understood and rose to the occasion. Here are some pics of Corbyn playing defense.


She's waiting at the half line for the ball to come her way in this one.
Corbyn is second from the left. This is at kick-off (or whatever it is called in soccer).
The next few are Corbyn playing "keeper" (goalie).

In the meantime on the sidelines...

Corbyn's hard work paid off. Her team won.
Here is Corbyn and her best soccer buddy, Abby

Check out the rest of the soccer photos... (slideshow coming soon - check back later)

Teacher Appreciation Day at Ripley's in Gatlinburg

Every year Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg offers a special for teachers in the area. You can get yourself and one guest in for free and every other person in your party is half price (up to 4). This year Ripley's included all of their attractions for the same discount. This included the aquarium, the haunted mansion, the motion theatre, the museum, and two miniature golf attractions. We obviously knew that we couldn't take the boys to play putt-putt (discount or no) since we would inevitably be asked to leave. Our neighbor next door asked if we could babysit his daughter for the day so she went along. Becca is Corbyn's very dear friend so she was excited that we were asked to keep her. As it turns out, Becca has never been to any of the Ripley's attractions so that made it all the more sweet for us. We were thrilled to share this awesome experience with her.

The boys absolutely loved the aquarium. At every turn, they would say "LOOK!" or "FISH!" They enjoyed playing with all of the interactive valves, dials, etc.

One of the funnest areas to play is in the hollow tanks. These are tanks where you can crawl up inside and appear to be within the tank with the fish. All of the kids enjoyed these! Micah even had company once! Take a look...

We also got to peer down inside the tank with the sting rays and small sharks. You are allowed to reach in and "pet" the sting rays (just not the stingers - duh!) The boys were excited at the prospect of going swimming so this part of the visit was cut a little short. People were watching to see which one fell in first.

As you can see from the above photo, chocolate ice cream was also included in the trip. Please see the slide show at the bottom for additional aquarium photos of the children and the wildlife (see if you can tell the difference).

Following the aquarium, we venture off to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. We had always been curious about the freaky things inside but never wanted to pay admission. We decided to take advantage of discount days and proceeded inside. It wasn't long before Corbyn began to fall apart and become terrified by some of the exhibits. She was frozen in terror so we decided to wait downstairs at the entrance until Randy could walk through. Before we went down, the children and I rode the elevator up to the next floor just to see what we were missing. Low and behold, there was an interactive floor and the children had a blast (even Corbyn). Here are the boys in a gigantic chair. I said, "come on boys and let mommy take your picture" and this other little boy who had been playing with them came along too.

I know what you're thinking about the pacifiers. We plan to lose them after fall break. In their defense, it was after their bedtime in this photo and they were pretty tired but we still had a great time.

Here is a photo of Randy next to the tallest man.

Due to Corbyn's semi-hysteria at the museum, we concluded that the haunted mansion was obviously out. Randy took Corbyn and Becca into the movie motion theatre though and they really enjoyed the ride. We finished off the evening with a stop at the Smoky Mountain Candy Kitchen. Corbyn and Becca chose chocolate and gigantic lollipops and the boys got chocolate bear suckers. They weren't given the suckers until Sunday after church.

Here are the rest of the Ripley's adventure photos...

Play day at West Town Mall

Due to the outrageously warm weather, we have been forced to seek alternatives for play time. Randy discovered this awesome indoor play center at West Town Mall last year when he took the children on outings while I was in grad school. This little play area is super for little ones and is always very clean. The boys love to go and run around. We love it because it is closed in and has a padded floor to cushion all the jumpings, tacklings, and trippings. Corbyn gets right in there with the boys and always has a great time!

Micah's nose is all scraped up because he took a "header" at Pam Pam's house. It seems that the train he was pushing stopped but his face did not.

See the rest of the pictures in the slide show below...