Sheepy's here!

Sheepy finally came at last, 7 days after her due date!  It was quite the event.  We went to a fundraiser dinner for Family Works, the food bank/family skills center that Hannah happens to be on the board of.  Emily and I both went.  After the dinner, which ended at 8:30, Emily started feeling some contractions.  By the time we dropped her Grandma off at home and went to get Abe at the Locke's they were less than a minute apart.  So we raced up I-5 (going 80+ in some stretches) to Northwest Hospital.  And at 10:57 PM we welcomed Mei Li Irene Hoff into the world.

Mei Li is Emily's Chinese name that her Ning-Ning (Grandma) gave her, which means "Beautiful flower".  And Irene is her Grandma's name.

 Abe likes to stand next to Sheepy's crib.

 He tries to make her feel better when she starts to cry.

 Guess I got this upside down.  Whoops.

 Abe, Emily, and Mei Li enjoying each other's company.

The beautiful family relaxing bed together.

Capitol Hill Coop

This was taken at Abe's school.  This year he's in the 3-5yr old AM class, which meets 3 times a week. So far the grandparents have been taking him and working in the class room on Fridays.  After Sheepy is born (whenever that may be) I'll get to start working in the classroom!

Abe's class also took a poll of what he should name his new sister.  Here are the suggestions:

Abe	Baa
Asha	Karen (her grandmother)
Dante	Mari
Donovan	Pudo Thomas
Ezra	Mommy
Graham	Pink
Harrison	Sammi
Hazel	Wheedle on the Needle
Isae	Aya (her sister)
Ishyn	Thomas
Jude	Samuel
Leilani	Jellyfish
Neel	Maya (his sister)
Samantha	Isabella (her sister)
Samuel	Me
Tilly	Hunny
York	York

Dancin' Alby

Back in July we were enjoying a nice sunny day at Jacob and Jenilyn's apartment on Lake Union.  We decided to play a dancing video game on Kinect.  Needless to say, one Abram Hoff had quite the good time.  And at the wedding we just went to in Oregon last weekend, he was such the dancing fool on the dane floor that some ladies came up to him the next morning at breakfast to complement his moves.  

Go 'Brammy!!!

A Fun Day at Remlinger Farms

Hog Heaven for the Thomas the Train Fan

Feeding the lambs (The cape is Abe's tie)

 

Look who's driving

Giddyup Coconut

Just as fun as the real pony

River Rafting

On Saturday we went to the Remlinger Farms County Fair Fun Park.  It was perfect for Abe.  The rides are for little kids.  You pay to enter and go on as many rides as you want.  Some of the rides you had to be under a certain height & weight, rather than the other way around.  I think this was better than going to something like the Puyallup fair for Abe.  Our group of a toddler and a pregnant mom was quite typical.

Abe's birthday part 1

Today we had some friends over for Abe's construction birthday party.  Sarah had given me some great ideas for the theme from a family fun magazine.  We painted several cardboard houses (as you can see--Abe got really into the painting).  We had building--where kids could hammer nails into the boards that Stuart cut for us.  But, the best touches (in my opinion) were lifted straight from columbia city==traffic cone and caution: construction area tape.  I'll return the cone.  :)

All tuckered out after an exciting day of construction fun!

Real Men Wear Kilts!

This seems to be another year of weddings.  Last week we traveled to Orcas Island for my friend Meris' wedding.  It was a gorgeous day and a great wedding right on the water.  Abe spent the last hour or so "feeding sharks" by throwing rocks into the water.  Sadly he was disappointed when he learned that the next wedding that we had this Saturday wouldn't include feeding sharks.

Nance's wedding featured a lot of leg.  Here's a picture of all the men in kilts.  Check out the cute little ring bearer!

 Towards the end of the night some guys picked up their instruments and started jamming.  Abe played and danced on stage for at least a good hour.  Afterwards he kept telling me how he had fun being in the band.  At one point Abe followed the guitar guy out off the stage and they started a conga line.  Abe even had a solo improv on the maraca.

Lake Creek Lodge In Sisters, Or

A Game of 500

Catch of the day

Water Bazooka

Dinner in the Cabin

This is a fly fishing only area.  We didn't catch anything.

McKenzie River

Deschutes River

Emily couldn't go rafting because of her condition.  I don't know why.  She would have floated with no problem.  Mom was supposed to go but got sick.  It was a lot of fun.  It helped that it was warm, since the water was cold.