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!

Where's Wyatt???

There he is!

Shopping at Sam's. (EStutts - Wy wanted to give you a shout-out. This was right after I got off the phone with you. You know how you heard him squealing while you and I were on the phone? Well this is what the squealer looked like!)

Wyatt and Mia. He loves his Mia and Papa Sam! He lights up when he sees them and gives big big hugs. He definitely knows his people!

Christmas trees and Grill Masters

Emily came home the other day to this! Jacob had been busy getting ready to go to the deer lease. Apparently part of getting ready to go deer hunting is to buy and put up a Christmas tree! He did a really good job - it's a really pretty tree. Emily waited for him to get back so he could do the lights...as she says he's VERY particular on how the lights go on the tree. Best wait and let him do it! They've got the tree skirt that Granny Rice made for them for their wedding below, and a few ornaments, including a J, W, and E, but they are hard to see. Max was busy carrying around random ornament boxes and such...go figure. Wyatt really likes to look at his tree and he'd really like to be able to hold the branches and maybe an ornament or two.

Here is Emily's little nativity set that I gave her. She had said a while back that she wanted one and when this set went on sale over the summer through Southern Living I had to get it for her! I managed to keep it AND remember where I put it as I waited for Christmas to roll around! Mom set it up as well as her new Santos Angel and the wreath that Em had never used because she didn't know where to put it. How handy! The picture in the frame is of Wyatt and his first visit with Santa Claus! I decided that the sheep that is up close and personal to baby Jesus represents Maxwell since he's up close and personal to well, pretty much everyone!


Last week Emily had to work a basketball game at her school. She went home during her break between school and the game to see Jacob and Wyatt. When she left the house to head back up to school for the game, a couple that worked for Grill Masters had pulled up to the house and Jacob and Wyatt were visiting with them. Emily left with the Hoffarts talking to the Grill Masters. She said the thought crossed her mind that she probably should have left under these circumstances, but she did. When she came back home later that evening, this is what she found in the freezer.

Now what you're looking at is a VERY crowded freezer. A small freezer at that. A freezer that was already full before adding the GM products, which are the packaged meats with the black casing. You see what happened was the Grill Masters go around and try to sell their meat. They must have talked to some girl scout troups or tree removal service places to find out that Jacob Aaron Hoffart is one easy sale. They explained their product, and Jacob quickly said that he's quite a "meat man" but he simply didn't have room in his freezer. The couple said they hear that excuse all the time - people say their freezers are full, blah blah blah. Jacob said, no really, my wife and I are giving each other a deep freeze for Christmas because we're that short on freezer space. Then he even went as far as to say, "you can even come up and look in my freezer. And I'll tell you what, if you can find room for it, I'll buy it." So what did the Grill Masters do? They went upstairs, looked in the packed freezer, and began stuffing it with pre-packaged steaks, filet mignons (sp???), patties, etc. etc. etc. And what did Jacob do? He paid for all of the meat they just managed to stuff in the freezer. Then he told Wyatt that he (Wyatt) needed to do a better job of not letting his daddy spend that kind of money to door-to-door vendors. Yeah right, come Girl Scout Cookie time Jacob will do it again. He claims he has a hard time saying no. You think?!?!

Emily and I moved a few things around and grouped all of Jacob's new GM purchases together. The freezer is full of meat, meat, and more meat. Oh and some of Wyatt's food (Emily makes his baby food) and a little bit of ice cream...which is the most important! There should always be room for ice cream!

The Dinner Party That Wasn't

Last week a friend and I had talked about getting together for dinner. I mentioned it to a few others. We all decided on a time and day, and the plan was for everyone to come over to my house and have dinner. I volunteered to cook (yes, COOK) dinner. This is a big deal because I don't cook. I don't like to cook. It's not my thing. I can, but I just don't like to. Emily introduced me to a taco soup recipe that she saw on another blog. It's very easy and requires very little cooking. Perfect. Tonight was actually my 3rd time to make it. I made it once but forgot to buy the taco seasoning (taco soup without taco seasoning - go figure). Then I made it just last night to practice and make sure I could make it right! I then made it again tonight since some friends were coming over...or so I thought. Two out of three that were committed had to cancel. I mentioned it to several other friends but everyone already had stuff going on. I continued to make everything in case people all of a sudden showed up. I made the soup, prepared a salad, and made a tasty little treat. I also utilized several of my Southern Living at HOME pieces :)
Here is the delicious taco soup. I made it with ground turkey instead of ground beef. There's also an onion, a cup of water, an undrained can of kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and TACO SEASONING! Brown the meat and cook with the onion...I used my Mix 'n Chop of course. It's only the greatest utensil ever (Pampered Chef)! Then add the water, kidney beans, tomatoes, sause, and seasoning. Simmer for 20 minutes and serve-it-up. So appropriate with this weather we had today - it's in the upper 20s!

Lovely salad with mixed greens, red bell pepper, mushrooms, avocado and almonds. In the small bowls are tomatoes, avocado and cheese. And the candle that's burning is from the one and only Maggies!

The famous "pretzel-rolo thingies," as these are often called. They're so good but don't have a name. Dad suggested they should be called "stick-in-the-muds."

My newest SLAH piece! I've had the lantern for a few months, but just got the hook. Dad come over during the day today and hung it up! I like it!

Mikey is relaxing after a busy day...he went out to mom and dad's, took himself swimming, and probably lounged around all day. Busy day? Whatever!

My friend Emily ended up coming over for dinner. We ate, visited, and laughed. We had a good time afterall. A few friends asked for a rain check so I've got another dinner evening planned for next Wednesday. I'm going to branch out and make something I haven't made before - skillet lasagna. Emily saw it on the Sisterstuff blog. I'm nervous about all the ingredients...I don't do well with a recipe with more than like five or six ingredients. But it is made with bow tie pasta...which I LOVE! I'll post next week with feedback.

It's a rough life...

...but somebody's gotta do it!

Friday afternoon

Wyatt took a really good mid-morning nap. I think it was not quite 2 hours. During that time, I took a shower, got dressed for the day, caught up on email, and took an hour nap! This is what Max did. I couldn't quite tell if he was waiting on the snow or if he was just sad that Wyatt was down for a nap.

Wyatt woke up very happy! Such a cutie. He layed in his crib a little bit, read his letters on the wall, and listened to his mobile.

After that long nap he needed to get the blood flowing through his body. He exersaucered and had a grand time. Notice his goofy socks. Those things are cute but such a pain and don't stay on.

Getting ready for lunch! On the menu - squash (very stinky squash), rice cereal and a banana for dessert! He ate very well. Again, Max is always nearby. And Wyatt loves to dangle that left arm and be in contact with his buddy Max!

Watching the snow! It snowed in The Woodlands for about three minutes but instantly turned to water as soon as it hit the ground, or maybe even right before. But there were lots of flurries. I really do think Wyatt was watching the snow. You can't really see it in this picture, but flurries were a-falling.


Watching some more ESPN - notice the toy is in his mouth. Such a goof.

Back in the exersaucer. We were jammin' to the Sounds of the Seasons. He loved listening to the Christmas music! We were waiting on Emily to come home. She had called on her way from school to Target and then at this point would be walking in any minute. We greet her at the door and everyone was all smiles!

Playing with a metal pan - who knew it would be so entertaining?! This reminds me of how Melissa used to set Matthew up in the living room with a sauce pan and a wooden spoon. He would go to town and make some lovely (or not so lovely) music with his "new" toys!



Who needs pants when you've got a stocking cap on?