Daddy's Boy

Apparently Benjamin is overcoming his fear of loud noises and now likes to "help" Ryan mow.

No Depth Perception

Ryan says I'm not allowed to park a mini van in our garage if we ever get one b/c I'm dangerous with our compact car. I have a tendency to misjudge clearance with the bumpers of our Honda. I didn't realize it was bigger than our Toyota when we got it. This was the damage I did in the Children's Museum parking lot. I left a note for the people and took pictures (I'm glad my cell phone has a camera). They never called. You'll have to ask Ryan about our trip to San Antonio in 2006 with a rental van. He exaggerates the story better than I do.

Splash Pad

This is at Schwer Park in Papillion. I love the splash pad concept where there's no standing water and no worry about drowning kids. There is no way I would take Benjamin and Alexander to a pool by myself.
Alexander is along for the ride.

Happy Father's Day!

Now a tribute to my dad. I hope I'm not getting too personal.

When I sent my dad (a.k.a. Pops -- I'm not sure when I started using that term, but it's mostly just when I'm addressing cards to him) his card this year I was thinking a lot about my childhood and young adulthood. He was a major influence in my success in life especially during my senior year of high school and college years.

I saw an article the other day about a study on "self-taught fathers" that gave me a bit of insight. On the story highlights it said: "The men who felt distant from their fathers focused on being a breadwinner and not wanting to be a “bad dad.”" See: http://byunews.byu.edu/archive09-Jun-fathers.aspx

I think my dad did an excellent job as a father especially considering that he didn't have an ideal role model in his formative years. My dad was a great breadwinner. He provided for us wonderfully. I have a lot of great childhood memories because of him. (Now mom, if you're reading this, this is in no way meant to lessen your role or influence in my life... I'll write a tribute to you another day when it's not almost midnight :)

I remember watching my dad shave off his mustache so he could dress up as a clown for Halloween. (Now to finally set the record straight: I know I said "He could put just it back on", but it was Halloween and I was envisioning a wax mustache like the wax lips, but no one ever gave me a chance to explain myself b/c they were so busy laughing about how silly my comment was. -- Yes my "Love Language" is being understood!)

I remember our camping and fishing trips and family vacations (Benjamin loves to hear the story of the sign that said "Back out straight") to Florida (Space Mountain), Utah (The almost empty gas tank... and not running out of gas. Blaring music while driving down the canyon to get to Grandpa's), Washington D.C. (Especially "MickyD's"!), Mexico, etc.

I remember my dad bringing a HUMVEE home and giving us a ride to school in it (can I say that out loud?) I remember being so proud of him when he came home from Desert Storm and visited my Jr. High class to talk about it.

I could go on and on, but now it's after midnight...

My dad taught me the importance of saving money and spending it wisely. He taught me patriotism. He taught me about dedication and hard work.

Yes, it's true, there was many a paper in H.S. that I probably never would have finished writing were it not for my dad sitting next to me until the wee hours of the night. I wouldn't have called anyone (I hate talking on the phone) to pull strings to get into A&M after the admission deadline. My dad helped me apply for my ROTC scholarship, went with me to visit A&M, and cheered me on when I was PTing.

Thanks Dad!!! I love you!

A Tribute to Rochelle Lorraine Sirulnick Hoffman

I'm really backlogged on my postings and I want to get this one out before too much more time passes. We were riding on a trolley bus in Council Bluffs yesterday for "Train Days" and I was missing my visits with Grandma Hoffman. Other than the 7 months we spent visiting her 1-2 times a week we only go to Council Bluffs about 6 times a year.

Grandma Hoffman was hospitalized with Pneumonia on the 16th of April. It was the day my parents were driving from Colorado to pick up their RV in Louisiana. The amazing thing is that it was the day after my mom had her PICC line removed and the first day they could leave. The timing really couldn't have been better.

She passed on at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday 22 April 2009 one week short of her 91st birthday. We were with her on Tuesday evening and answered the phone for relatives to tell her they love her and say goodbye to her. My mom was amazing to think to do that and I'm so glad I didn't have to handle things alone.

I'm a bit of a family history buff and think the information on her death certificate is interesting... It just makes me a little skeptical of records I find because there are so many differences to what I thought were facts. The major one is that it lists "Informant's Name: Ronald Hoffman" from Pennsylvania. There is no "Ronald Hoffman" from Pennsylvania... That is my father and his last name is not Hoffman nor does he live in PA. (The reason it says PA is extraneous and the Hoffman was just an assumption). My point is that it would bring up questions for a family history researcher that aren't explainable by the death certificate alone or even without a lot more information.

It says she died of Alzheimer's Disease... Grandma was really quite sharp considering she was 90. She did have Alzheimer's moments when we would show up and her eyes would be all glassy, but usually when Benjamin started nattering at her, she would come out of it and be very alert and responsive. (She even corrected my bad math in my "new mom sleep deprived state"... Oh, I forgot about the time she told Ryan and I, "I know what you're really here for...", but once in 7 months really isn't that bad).

The spellings of her parents names are different than I would have spelled them, but it is quite understandable considering that I found them listed on an Ellis Island ship manifest as "Joine and Malke Zirjulnikow" not "Joseph and Molly Sirulnick (or Sirlnic)".

So a tribute to Grandma: I'm not sure where to start with this... but here we go. Grandma was a bit of a bitter New Yorker Jew... not really Jewish in faith though... mostly agnostic without much direction (she really feared death).

*** Disclaimer*** I was told that the previous comment could be interpreted as being anti-semitic. It is not intended to be that way in any shape or form. I am proud of my Jewish heritage.

She was a waitress for much of her early life and said she tipped well because of that... but I've never seen waitstaff walking on eggshells as much as when we went to 3Gs Deli in Delray Beach, FL with her where she was a regular customer. Grandma washed my brother's mouth out with soap when we were kids (I don't remember the details so you'd have to ask him). She didn't really have any friends or hobbies... she had husbands instead. When I was about 13, she sent me all of her old lacy padded bras. I was a very shocked by the gift and quite embarrassed.

In spite of all that, Grandma was a good woman. She never forgot my birthday or Christmas and she was always good to me. (Even if I did write a poem in Jr. High about my Grandmas called the "Thin one and the Plump one"... which my mom gave her a copy to read... I'm not sure if it gave her a complex, but there was a while she lost a lot of weight, but when you're only ~5' tall it's hard to look thin).

When my parents moved her to Iowa in Aug, she stopped walking. We tried to get her to use her walker to go to the dining room and she lashed out. It was that sort of hurt/scared not knowing how or not wanting to be courageous lashing out. The trying to deal with getting old sort of lashing out. She was always grateful when we came to visit her.

Grandma had a hard life. She had a single mom growing up and was a single mom for about a decade. Eventually, she married the man I know as my Grandpa Hoffman. He helped heal some of her hurts and made her a better woman. I never really new my Grandma well other than from reading her book. It is an autobiography which my dad said contains a lot of untruth... but no matter how factually true it is or not, it shows her perception of her life and it was a hard life from the facts I do know. I didn't get to know Grandma much better during our visits because there is much of the past I believe she wanted to keep buried, but I am grateful for the time I spent with her. I just tried to show her my love for her (while Benjamin ran around a bit crazy entertaining the other residents).

I know that God judges us by our hearts and judges our lives based on the knowledge we have and I'm not worried about where Grandma will end up. I just hope she had a joyful reunion with Grandpa Hoffman.

As a sad and bit twisted aside, we got a Birthday card in the mail for Grandma from the nursing home staff. They must have not relayed her death info quick enough. We also got the invitation to her memorial service an hour after it occurred when we picked up the mail. I guess they figured it only took a day for mail to get across town.

Railroad Days 2009

It is a good thing we live in the Omaha metro area because Benjamin loves trains. (Almost as much as he loves cars).
For $10 for an entire family, they open up 5 train museums/exhibits and provide transportation by bus (school bus to be exact which was also a highlight for Benjamin) and trolley between the locations.
Our first stop was at Lauritzen Gardens -- Omaha's botanical gardens. We had never been there before and it was one of the best parts of the day.
The "train" we rode on.
Crafts at Lauritzen Gardens.
Outside the U.P. Museum.A model train exhibit at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum.
A steam engine at the Railswest Railroad Museum.

Dinner at Fontenelle

It is so nice to live .5 miles (in either direction) from Fontenelle Forest trail heads. We discovered their "after hours gate" and went on a picnic dinner there. Alexander LOVES being outside. He squeals in delight and waves his arms practically the entire time we're out walking.

Sunday Walks

I am quite Pharisaical about Sabbath Day observance to the point that Ryan doesn't watch Sunday football. He even records the Super Bowl to watch Monday morning.
We were sitting around staring at each other when we'd go to Ryan's parents' for dinner on Sundays so we started a "walk around the park" routine. It generally is a good thing unless Benjamin is tired and then throws a fit about not being able to play on the playground equipment because it's Sunday.

A Bad Compressor in the Fridge/Freezer

I waited to frost Benjamin's birthday cake until the day after his birthday when we were having Ryan's family over to celebrate... and when I opened up the freezer to pull the cake out: everything was 50 degrees! (Of course it happened while Ryan was gone like those sorts of things always do -- Luckily the property manager said we didn't need to leave the fridge in our old house, so our EQP had the other fridge to our new house by Monday evening -- We are blessed).
Anyway, I have to freeze cakes to frost them or I don't have any luck. This race car cake was supposed to be standing up, but when it started to shred I gave up and didn't bother to tint the frosting or anything. I was pretty stressed about the fridge as it was. Benjamin didn't seem to mind that the cake was ghetto and it still tasted good.

I went way overboard on suggestions for birthday gifts for Benjamin and Ryan's parents gave him a train table. I need to be better about taking photos with his family because they're not into photos, but that means we have a lot of pictures with my family, but not Ryan's.

Look Who's Three! Part Two (The Actual Day)

Benjamin opened his present from M4 on his birthday morning. It was a bunch of DVDs Maxwell and Miriam had outgrown. He loves "Thomas and the Jet Engine" so much so that it took a long time to watch any of the other ones.
Until the boys start school, I'm making it a habit to get their photos taken on their birthday.
We went to Red Robin for lunch (which is in the same shopping center as the photo place). Uncle Kendall was gracious enough to meet us there so we could take part in his employee discount.
Benjamin had already shared a milkshake w/ Gram by the time his birthday dessert showed up so he wasn't too interested in the sundae... which was good for me.
Grandma and Grandpa taking a photo of themselves.
Gram... and Alexander who is... along for the ride.
Benjamin opening a birthday card at the RV.

Look Who's Three! Part 1

Ryan was leaving for his two weeks of annual Army training before Benjamin's birthday so we had a bunch of celebrations for Benjamin this year.
Benjamin enjoyed the cupcakes. This is a typical "Benjamin look" he's making.

Benjamin is opening the tricycle my parents gave him. I have no idea what we'll get him for Christmas because he has a TON of toys. The toy room is better equipped than the church's nursery.My mom gave Alexander a gift too so Benjamin didn't think he was the only one who ever gets gifts.Ryan and my parents were both taking photos. This is the most flattering one of my parents.

The Omaha Children's Museum

The Children's Museum has a "Sesame Street Body" exhibit right now and Benjamin is fascinated with the giant nose that sneezes water and the digestion display -- especially the poop part.
We were watching Benjamin "shop" at the grocery store and Alexander is once again along for the ride.

Amazing Cloud Formation

God has created a beautiful world for us. We were having dinner at my parent's RV at the Fam Camp and saw this amazing cloud formation. I've never seen anything like it and am glad we were able to capture a glimpse of it.