The Hojnacke Family

Monday, March 31, 2008

March Travels

I decided to start traveling before Spring Break this year. On the 8th, Alona, Natalie, and I left for Tennessee. We visited Catherine (my sister) for 10 days. We wanted to go before Natalie turned 2 so she could fly for free. It was so much fun. Ruth and her two kids, Sydney and Hunter, came on the 15th along with Dad, Anna, and Morgan. On Sunday evening we celebrated Dad, Anna, and Sydney's birthdays. They were all that week, so we did them all at once while we were all together. It was fun to have all three girls together. Alona, Chloe, and Sydney are only a couple months apart in age. Catherine's baby Sophie is so adorable. She was getting a tooth and it was a little rough for her for a while.
We flew home on Tuesday and Wednesday morning I left bright and early for Utah to visit Aurelia (another sister). She was having her Sophomore piano recital and I wanted to be there. I went alone this time. She is so blessed to have so much talent. She plays beautifully. I got to see Grandma, Uncle Paul and Aunt Katy, PaulPaul, Daniel, Julia, Nicole, Aunt Roxanne, Cynthia, and Becca (another sister) and her husband and kids. We made cream puffs for the recital and served strawberries and ham, cheese, and rolls along with them. The cream puffs were a real hit. We went to Paul's place afterwards for crepes. Yum! We played Psychiatrist with the cousins and it was so much fun. One of our problems was we spoke with an accent when one person crossed her legs. It took Becca quite awhile to figure that one out. It was so fun! Even Aurelia's boyfriend and his friend enjoyed it.
I will post pics from my travels in a day or so.

The Oregon Coast

We went to the coast this weekend with some friends. It was about 44 degrees, but it was beautiful. It was almost 7pm by the time we got there. The sun was just starting to go down and we got some beautiful pictures.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Our Christmas (the novel)

We decided to go somewhere this year for Christmas. Thus the late Christmas cards. (You should be receiving them soon.) We opted for a warm, sunny Christmas this year in Phoenix, AZ. We left on Friday at 4pm and drove straight through. It was a long 21 or so hours, but we arrived at 2pm Saturday. Rebecca and Jason were still moving into their house. It is quite large compared to ours. Natalie sure loved the stairs.

Rebecca and I made fudge, Mexican wedding cakes, and peanut butter hershey's kiss cookies. We went Christmas caroling with Becca and her family on Christmas Eve and gave out the goodies we made. We had a great Christmas. How can you not with Jason, the toy man? It was so much fun to watch all the kids open presents. We opened them one at a time from youngest to oldest and then started all over again (just like we did growing up). I wasn't sure we would have room in the car for the haul our kids got. Jeff was excited about his PS3. He definitely wasn't expecting that! He wouldn't have had it if not for the Moose and Zee stuffed animals I sold with Erin (mooseandzee.blogpsot.com if you are interested, as Erin still makes them). They sure helped with Christmas expenses this year, but it took so much time and I was so burned out by the time I got down to my last 2. We gave Jason Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy. It is a popup book with lightsabers that light up. I think its pretty cool and I don't even like Star Wars. He loved it! We had such a good time visiting them and didn't really want to leave.

We stopped in L.A. on our way back to visit Jeff's Grandmother. The girls had a great time again! The weather was great. It got into the 70s while we were there. Jeff's Uncle Gary spent quite a bit of time visiting with us (mostly with Alona). He looks so much like Jeff's Dad that Ashley kept calling him Grandpa. So his wife Beth told them to call him Uncle "Grandpa". They loved it. Even Natalie went right to him! We also got to see Aunt Roxanne and Aunt Elaine while we were there. The girls got to pick oranges off the orange tree in Grandma's back yard. It was overflowing with them!

We also visited with Jeff's Uncle Randy (his Mom's brother). He lives in Corona Del Mar about a 1/4 mile from the beach. We walked down the hill and went out on the jetty and then back on the beach so Alona could get her feet wet (the water was a little cold). Ashley didn't really like that so much. Then we went back to Randy's and the girls played magnetic darts with Randy. Maria (Jeff's cousin) came with her two kids and it was fun to visit with them.

We headed back home at about 1:30pm on New Year's Eve. We drove straight through again. We got home at 5am. We were tired and glad to be back in our own beds!

We hope you all had a great Christmas!