A Visit From Friends

Our good friends from Ellensburg who now live in Arizona came to visit us this week. It was so fun and went too fast. Tears were shed when they left today. Hailey and Mckenna kept saying they were BFFs. So sweet. And of course Karis and Avery and Alex adore Bailey and she is so good with them.
Highlights:
Swimming at the pool
Going to downtown Boise 4 different times
Alive After Five (not too kid-friendly and very crowded)
MK Nature Park
Playing in the Boise River
Settlers Park and the Splash Pad (lasted about 10 minutes and they were done)
Getting a babysitter and going out to dinner at Mai Thai and dessert at Fork
Lots of laughs!!

Hailey's Tank Top

I finished Hailey's tank top. Same as the one I made Karis, but different colors. I love how it turned out. Now I am working on a dress which is proving to be much harder. Not sure I'll be posting pics of it!!!

1984 Report Cards

 My dad sent these to me and I thought they were hilarious. I wrote these "report cards" when I was 10 years old. Somehow, I can totally see Hailey writing this! I was writing about my siblings: Becky who was 9, Josh who was 6, and Hannah who was 4. There was obviously never any sibling rivalry!!

July 4th

We had a really fun 4th of July. We started on the Saturday before having our annual neighborhood bike parade and barbecue. All the kiddos got to decorate their bikes. Emmett, their cousin, has just moved here so they are thrilled to have him join us for all the activities! The parade was quite hot so it was a little bit of a disaster. We were soooo hot we almost felt sick in fact. Then Karis fell and scraped both knees, Alex crashed twice (but he rides without training wheels like a maniac so would keep on going), and one of the other girls crashed I think. It's all a blur of sweat, blood, tears, and "where's Alex now???!!!". In fact Hannah told me that Alex kept yelling to Emmett, "I'm faster than you!" to which Emmett would yell, "But I'm bigger than you!" Aww...finally some boy competition for Alex!

On the actual 4th we had a barbecue. We had several friends meet us at the pool, then we went home and barbecued and then most left to put their kids to bed. What??!! Hannah and Brent and our friends Dan and Becky and "Baby Avery" (who the kiddos just adore) ended up staying until dark. Which here is like 10:00 because we are right on the edge of the time zone.  Brent pretty much summed up the fireworks viewing when he yelled, "THIS! IS! AWESOME!" It was amazing. Tons of neighbors all had fireworks, as well as us, so they were constantly being lit all up and down the street. Also we could see them above us. The kiddos were at first a little nervous...look at the progression above, but then got really into it and had soooo much fun!! What a great neighborhood we live in!

Crazy Hair Day!

One of the best things about summer is Vacation Bible School. And the best thing about all our kids being at least 4.....they get to all go! No more dropping two off and trying to figure out what to do with the other two! This year they went to two different ones. The church where we go to Mops did an awesome one that was so well organized and the kiddos loved it. Avery and Alex's first time and they actually both went! The best thing was I got to spend time with my girlfriends whose kiddos were also in VBS. To breakfast, to coffee, and to the mall we went! It was a great time!

This week they are going to our church's VBS at the Vineyard. I am actually volunteering....I volunteer each year for VBS. I actually really enjoy it and figure it is my duty since I'm sending all my kids as well as their friends too! This year our mini van is packed to the brim with the neighbor kids. Emmett is even going too, but there was no room for him in the Hoefermobile, so Hannah brings him.

My friend Kim and I are doing Preschool Snacks. We are having a great time passing out snacks to almost a hundred little 4 and 5 year olds! Avery isn't as into this VBS....it's much bigger...so she is helping me. She is doing awesome setting out snack after snack after snack. She is pouring drinks and even putting on hand sanitizer on the kiddos. It has been a really fun week. Today was crazy hair day and boy were they excited to dye their hair and put it in lots of pony tails and buns!!

Every morning on the way there the kiddos sing loudly to the VBS CD. I love it! These are the best days.

A Visit From Cousin Ella

Ella Ruby Age 6 came to visit last week! I must say this was our first time having an extra child (without the parent) for more than one night and I was a little nervous how it would all go. The girls love their cousin, but adding an extra child to the mix for hours on end, well you just never know how that's going to go. Well....this went fabulous! In fact I don't have many pictures because most of the time the five of them just disappeared and played. At times Alex would come up and say, "They just do American Girls or princesses" and then I'd find a manly activity for him! Ella just seemed to fit right in with the "Hoefer Kids" as she calls them. It was so fun to have her.

The first night though was crazy! We put them to bed and checked on them around 10. They were literally almost asleep. Ella was sleeping downstairs with Hailey and Karis. Well, all through the night, I kept waking up, thinking I was hearing things. Finally at 3:30 I got up.....and went out to the kitchen....and Hailey was making toaster waffles for them. Ella was in a Christmas dress and for some reason the sight of them eating waffles slathered with syrup and Ella all dressed up made me go hysterical. I was laughing so hard. I told them it was way to early to get up......well then we realized.......they had never gone to sleep!!! All through the basement evidence of the hours of unsupervised playing was discovered. Playdough on the carpet, games out and mixed up, dolls all over the beds, my scrapbooks out. What a time these girlies must have had!! I couldn't believe it! I thought kids didn't do this until middle school. I'm actually glad they have this little memory now....and how proud they were. Everyone we saw the next day they would announce, "We stayed up all night!". They ended up sleeping until 11 the next morning. And they weren't too bad either....only one Hoefer girl was a little, well a lot, on the crabby side. Bursting into tears quite a bit.

We were all sad to see Ella go. We told her she could come back next year and do it again!

Four Year Old Adventures!

On this day Hailey and Karis and Ella were sleeping until 11. (More on that in another blog post.) I was exhausted from being up a lot of the night, so I was just drinking coffee and reading facebook and blogs on the computer. Alex and Avery were quietly playing outside. Then I discovered why. They had taken paint and painted their feet and ran all over the patio. It was already quite warm out, so it had started to bake on. To teach them a little lesson, I told them they had to scrub it clean. "With bubbles?!" they squealed with excitement. So much for a lesson. They had a great time scrubbing the patio clean!

It is so nice this summer.....they entertain each other so well now....for hours sometimes with almost no intervention from me. I love it. However, I will say, they are now starting to make as big of a mess as the girls used to at this age. That's OK. I love how super creative they are! And we are raising kids.....not magazine cover homes!!

And look at these two brave ones! Avery started swimming last summer and quickly picked it back up. And...this summer Alex also is swimming. Like a little fish he dives under the water and swims. We are at the pool almost every single day! It is a great...the kiddos love it....I love it....and they use up so much energy that they fall asleep by 8:15 at night usually!!

Puppy and Kitty Love

These two sure love their pets! Hailey and Gracie sleep together every night like this!! Karis never forgets to feed Stripes and always says, "I'm sooo glad I got a kitty!" Gracie can always make Hailey smile and feel better! I'm so glad they have their sweet pets!