another chapter closes.

life has taken us away from our 'cottage on a hill' and into a new chapter and so it's time for this blog to retire. you can follow along with us over at to a life in between (www.toalifeinbetween.com)... 

weekends on the lake.

I'm sure my response to, "how are you liking your new house?" is reaching the point of being obnoxious. We love it! So much! And we are just so lucky. It honestly feels like we're on vacation every weekend and every evening after work for that matter. Somehow while work life continues to get more intense, living here helps balance it out. Having Amy and my mom here to take care of the babies is a big part of that too. I've been finding little surprises of folded, clean laundry, dishes put away, little things organized around the house after long days in the office. Those things are certainly not expected but they can make a stressful day turn around pretty quickly. 

Friday night at the beach. 

Boating Saturday afternoon with our neighbors. So fun! 

Jonah bear loved the boat ride, but not so sure about driving. 

Saturday night was outdoor movie night at the "big park" as Jackson and Audrey call it. 

Big Hero 6 was up on the big screen and these two loved it... until Jackson passed out half way through, exhausted from a day full of swimming. 

Sunday after church we had some friends over to play. The kids swam off the dock, went on paddle board and kayak rides, played in the sprinkler, you name it. I'm not sure who had more fun, the little kids or the big kids (aka dads). 

After all the fun Jonah was ready for an early bed time. While I was putting him down I asked Dan to give Jackson and Audrey dinner. When I came back downstairs Audrey was eating soup in the dining room on her own. Where were the other two? I looked around and finally looked outside and found this... they just couldn't get themselves to come inside for good and were outside again on the paddle board as the sun set.  

And, obviously, you cannot end a summer weekend without a trip to get ice cream... even if that doesn't happen until well after bed time. 

the peanut lately.

This girl. 
She has our whole heart and then some. 
She and Jackson are the best of friends but opposite in every way that two people can be. That keeps things both entertaining and challenging. 
Audrey is everything creative, imaginative and independent. She seems to live in her own peanut world most of the time- the land where princesses rule, everyone dances instead of walks and clothes are more like costumes that change dozens of times throughout each day.  
She's the perfect balance of sweet and sassy although in those sassy moments I'd be open to a little less drama. 
She is never far away from her notebooks where she draws her "hundreds of stories" as she says. Every page is full of thought, exploding with colors and if asked she will tell you what each and every thing is... "this is a falling star and this here is a beautiful tree with leaves and flowers..."
We'll let our peanut go wherever her heart takes her but if I had to place bets I would have a lot of confidence in saying her soul would never be content bottled up in a box, but will need outlets for creativity for all of her days, whether in dancing, singing, drawing and always putting on a little bit of a show wherever she goes. 

3 babies + a mommy.

Dan has been working around the clock for a few days now, leaving the babies and I solo for the weekend. One of the things I really love about our new house is that we have so many options for adventures without having to leave our community which makes outings with 3 little monsters a whole lot easier (and more enjoyable)... 

Jackson is taking this whole "sleeping-in thing" for summer vacation pretty seriously. I could get fully on board with this if only Audrey and Jonah joined him in this new hobby. 

After church the babies and I went out to lunch. Jackson even sweet-talked his way into some major dessert action.

Saturday afternoon meant pool-time with friends- so fun even with a grumpy, teething Jonah bear.

More treats. The theme of our weekend pretty much went play then treats then play then treats.

catching up: saying goodbye to our first home.

In March we moved out of our old house.
The house that was our first home together.
The home we brought Jackson, Audrey & Jonah all home to.
And the home that we made a home with a lot of hard work and renovations and most importantly memories- lots of memories. 

I'm so thankful for that place. It was the right place for us at the right time but it was also most definitely time to move on and I'm so thankful the new owners love it as much as we did. 

A few photos I snapped right before locking up for the last time. 

The day we closed on our new house with our fabulous (check out her April Fool's Day outfit) neighbor who happened to be the realtor for the previous owners. I'm so thankful to have her next door!

And a few more shots from when we were still living there- I want my babies to remember someday when it's all so foggy in their memory. 

(hollllly moly, I'm behind) catching up: EASTER

Well, it's pretty clear that things have been a little crazy around here seeing as I'm just now getting to our Easter update. I will say that this year Easter was somewhat of a blur since Grandma Nanny passed away that week making celebrations bittersweet to say the least. Thankfully it did mean that the Hoffman family was able to 100% be together since everyone was in town for the funeral which was a blessing for all of us and I'm certain had her smiling too.  

All of Grandma Nanny's great grandbabies with the Easter baskets she had packed and ready to go for them. She made up these exact baskets for all of us from the time we were born so to pass these out for the very last time was surreal. 

Audrey & Wyatt were over the pictures. 

These two- two peas in a (very dramatic) pod. Grandma Nanny knew them well, leaving Elsa & Anna outfits. 

All of Grandma Nanny's favorite people on the family farm.