Things we love

Riley loves playing with Jonathan's hat...Brooke was the same way! She also loves snow, as her shirt tells us.


Sammy loves playing games such as jacks, pixie sticks (is that what that's called?) and also juggling. He dropped the sticks in this perfect design and is giving a voila hand motion!

Riley loves milk. She had milk in 3 different containers at the table at T-Rex in Downtown Disney. She counted several times...sometimes she counted 4 milks and sometimes "seben" and then would say "take my picture with my milks!" We call her a milk guzzler but she says "I not a milk guzzler!" Oh yes she is!



Max loves to get on furniture. He's not supposed to, but he does. He doesn't even really fit on this couch with a pillow and boppy already on it, but that didn't seem to stop him!

Wyatt loves to take his socks off. He chews on them or does silly things like this:

Wyatt loves his new blocks!

Emily and I LOVE to ski. I also love to take self-portraits!

I love this picture of the boots lined up at the cabin. How cute are those tiny little ones? Wyatt got those as a gift from one of Jacob's friends when they were still at the hospital. It took a few months for Wy to be big enough to wear them!




Wyatt loves playing with some of Granddad's satsumas! He wasn't thrilled about sitting in his high chair or eating while he was sick in Colorado, but all you had to do was hand him a couple of these suckers and he was good to go! He still wasn't thrilled about eating...which may have led to him losing a pound over Christmas :(

Wyatt loves his great-aunt Mel! Their super cute brown/red Christmas outfits matched!


LOVE love love Riley's boots. This was right before we took our group cousin picture with Santa (Anna Claus is what she calls him) and she was rather nervous. She tried to smile but it didn't quite work out...


I love these A&M pjs on Wyatt and he loves his Baby Einstein video and his Busy Bee!

Deer deer and more deer

Like I said in a previous post, the deer are everywhere. They're out of control. They literally just lay up on the mountain behind the cabin and wait for someone to come outside and feed them. They are pitiful. At any given moment, you can easily look out any window (towards the back, the side, or the front) and spot deer. I counted 13 laying up on the mountain. Emily and dad were out earlier taking some laundry to Nicki's and there were 5 bucks down eating. Dad and I took all the dogs for a walk around the entire loop and there were deer all throughout the neighborhood. Here are some deer pics from today:







Maxwell and Mikey have both had encounters with a deer - Max got scolded by a doe after he wouldn't leave her alone. She firmly placed her hoof on his body, he hit the deck and then slowly walked back to the cabin. He wasn't physically hurt but it definitely hurt his pride. Mikey almost didn't live to see Christmas day thanks to a buck he decided to go after. He has a small injury on the inside of his left eye. Thank goodness the horn (or hoof - not sure which one it was - it all happened so fast) barely missed his eye or else he would possibly be without a left eye.

SMART Santa

Warning: This is an extremely dorky teacher post.

The second to last week of school for the semester, Santa visited my classroom (as well as every other classroom at my school) and his workers installed this:



My district has had a huge technology boost! All classrooms on all campuses now have SMARTboards...the high school was the last campus for each classroom to get one. Some classrooms on the high school campus already had one, and others (like mine) just got one! I have played around with it a little bit but still have a lot of learning to do because it has a lot of bells and whistles. It's like a big touch screen. Very fancy, very helpful, and very expensive! It is displaying my desktop, and in case you're wondering what in the heck that is - it's a picture of a banana field right along the border of Costa Rica and Panama...taken from a small airplane from a few years back when Emily and I were traveling.

Curry cousin picture with Santa Claus

Curry cousins got together Tuesday December 22nd to decorate gingerbread houses and visit Santa Claus at Bass Pro Shops near Pearland. Here are the older cousins, the middles, and the littles - Jonathan, Brooke, Emily, Wyatt (on Santa's lap), Matthew, April, Riley, Zachary, and Hayden. Don't "the middles" just look SO THRILLED to have their picture taken?!?! We should have spread ourselves out a little better but oh well. It would have been super cute to have Riley and Wyatt both sitting on Santa's lap but Riley is NOT a fan of "Anna Claus." In fact, she will gladly tell you that she loves Christmas but does not like Anna Claus. It's too cute. She's definitely afraid of him because as I was holding her and walking near him to get in position for the photo she tucked her legs really high and squeezed my arms with her hands. Cousin day continued to Gringo's for some Tex-Mex and then ice skating later that evening, but Emily, Wyatt and I had to head back to The Woodlands to pack up the last minute things and head to Willis to meet Jacob and then get on the road to Colorado!

A few Christmases ago (I think it was Christmas 2005?) Emily and I hosted Cousin Night in The Woodlands. It was great fun - we ate at Johnny Rockets in The Woodlands, took a picture with Santa, and then went to the ice skating rink but only stook on the sidelines and watched...the kids weren't all that in to it so we adjusted our itinerary and went bowling instead. We had a blast bowling, especially once the lights went out and it was glow bowl! Afterwards we went to Emily's house and had popcorn, ice cream, a movie, and a sleep over! Like I said, it was great fun. It's crazy looking back at that Santa picture because Hayden was only three at the time and he was the little cousin back then! The Merrills have grown up so much and Emily's life sure has changed since then. Mine on the other hand..........................we won't go there. But here's the Curry Cousin 2009 Christmas/Santa picture!

Sick & tired on his first Christmas Eve

Poor little Wyatt :( He's not feeling all that great. And poor Emily too, she's feeling puny as well. They both are felt badly since we've been up here at the cabin. He's still his happy smiley self, but at night he has a hard time and coughs a lot. So sad to hear! He is still nursing and eating well, and we're trying to push fluids, but he's not the biggest fan of fluids...except he was VERY interested in a Dr. Pepper can earlier! Here he is trying to squeeze out a smile in his high chair before eating his dinner...

He still had enough energy to do some clapping...

And then he just tired his little self out and had to rest his eyes...

(Just kidding - he was just blinking at the bright flash, but it totally looks like he fell asleep! If you've been around Wyatt at all you'd know he wasn't asleep because his left thumb isn't in his mouth. He's become QUITE the left-thumb sucker...he did it for many many hours on the drive up here. But at least he's not dependent on a pacifier! That left thumb is always with him! I'm not knocking pacifier babies whatsoever - supposedly I had one until I was 2...which is supposedly a big reason why I didn't talk until then...whatever.)

Here he is in his super warm soft and cute pjs from his Great Aunt Mel! I wish I could look this cute in pjs!


'Tis the Season - here are the Hoffarts sporting some fabulous Santa hats for a quick picture on Wyatt's first Christmas Eve! Right now he's responding with really cute smiles to someone singing Jingle Bells, Patty Cake, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider (only if don't correctly though...apparently I do my fingers wrong?). He's grown out of his instant-smile-stage when someone would sing the Cookie Monster song...that song is for babies, he's a big boy now!

A Christmas Story, deer, turkies, and my cute 8 month old nephew

Does he not look he could be in the movie A Christmas Story? He couldn't move his arms and legs much, but he was SOOOOO cute and stayed nice and warm! We went out on an afternoon walk through Ponderosa which is the cabin's neighborhood. 5 adults, 1 cute baby, and 4 dogs! We are quite noticeable to passersby.





The deer up here in the moutains have been flat silly. They lay up on the mountain and wait for someone to walk outside. As soon as someone walks outside they walk rather briskly in hopes for food. They'll come right up to your hands and gladly be handfed or eat off the ground. Sam and Jacob have been busy keeping the deer fed and Wyatt has been a little helper as well. The dogs aren't all that much help since they usually chase them up the mountain. There are between 10 and 20 deer at any given point in the front, side, and back of the cabin. Sam told Jacob that they've been sticking out their tongues to him (Sam) since they can't be hunted here. But he (Sam) has told the deer they've got the wrong guy...Jacob is the huntin' man, not Sammy!






The wild turkies have been just as out of control as the deer. They clean up after the deer have eaten (which is several times a day) and have been in groups of 15 to 20. They're huge. Jacob said after seeing them fly that he thinks their wing span is about 6 feet. I'm not a huge fan of the turkies, but it is interesting nonetheless.






Tonight the Hoffart 3 took some cute family photos - tune in to this blog or Emily's blog (you'll notice a lot of our Colorado pictures will pretty much be the same!) - on Wyatt's first Christmas Eve! And you know tomorrow will be well documented and photographed since it will be his first Christmas! He's the cutest happiest and sweetest little boy. Unfortunately, he and Emily are both under the weather with colds. Hopefully they'll be able to shake those colds off quickly and start feeling better.

Also, about the trip up here...it went so well and Wyatt did AMAZINGLY well for his first long road trip! Jacob said earlier this evening that he (Wyatt) couldn't have done any better on the trip. The Hoffart three, Cheyenne, and I all left Willis at 6:00PM Tuesday evening. We made a dinner stop in Huntsville and got back on the road around 7:00PM. The next stop wasn't until 11:40PM in Wichita Falls. Wyatt slept the whole way from Huntsville to WF and then woke up for a midnight gas station stop. Then after getting back on the road, he fell back asleep and didn't wake back up until about 6:30AM in Raton, New Mexico. He stayed awake through Raton Pass and then we got out in Trinidad, CO and had breakfast. He was so cute the whole time and so happy! He dosed off a little bit but was awake most of the time through La Veta pass and then we made a quick grocery store stop in Alamosa. From Alamosa to the cabin is about 45 miles. He stayed awake from Alamosa to Monte Vista and then dosed off the last 15 minutes or so until we pulled into the driveway! He was SOOOOO happy once we got here because he was greeted by his Papa Sam, Mia, and his puppies! He most definitely knows his people and his puppies and has HUGE smiles for everyone. We made the trip in 16 hours which is not bad AT ALL considering we stopped for 2 sit down meals and were traveling with an 8 month old! And can you believe Jacob drove the whole way? Yep, he sure did. He was nervous the entire time. He said he was nervous because he wasn't sure how Wyatt would do, he was nervous how the whole driving-through-the-night would go, and he was nervous about any potential adverse road conditions through the passes. Wyatt did incredibly well, the roads were clear, and there were no problems whatsoever! Thank you Lord for a safe trip!

Now his nerves have moved on to being nervous about skiing for the first time! We'll see how it goes! I'm sure he'll do fine since he's overall fairly athletic, coordinated, and has good balance. Now, the hard-headedness might be his only obstacle :) I plan to do some Christmas day skiing tomorrow, but not sure if I'll be skiing solo or with company. It all depends on how the Hoffarts are feeling in the morning. Check back to see more pictures and updates from South Fork, Colorado! Merry Christmas everyone!

Skillet Lasagna

Quick post here because I'm going to work on putting up some snowy Christmas pictures! I just wanted to follow up on my making of skillet lasagna. It was DELICIOUS! A girlfriend of mine came over and we ate it up! I also had some green beans and a grean salad. My friend was in charge of the wine and she chose a fabulous wine at Spec's. It was a great meal and great to catch up with a good friend! The recipe goes something like this:

1 pound ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/4 cups water
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups bow tie pasta, uncooked
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In large skillet, brown meat with onions and garlic; drain. Add tomatoes, water, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Stir in uncooked pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover, simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once. Stir in cottage cheese. Cover with and Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle in basil and pepper to taste if desired. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

I simply followed these directions and it turned out perfectly! I highly recommend it and I WILL be making it again...January 1st for a birthday party to be exact!