Fall Fun

It was a great weekend at the Hoyer house, filled with fall activities. Saturday, G.B. and Poppy took us to the Zoo Boo bash (pictures to come at a later date), and today they took us to a pumpkin patch. Wesley picked out his pumpkin all by himself. We walked to the pumpkins which meant that Wes got to ride in his new radio flyer wagon. It was a beautiful 70 degree day in Florida and we enjoyed it.

Wesley's birthday

Let's just say that if you missed Wesley's birthday, you missed a good time. You also missed seeing the Kees, Van Dorans, and the Moores. We had good food, old friends, new friends, and....wait for it....a bounce house (thanks Kees) and washers. If you don't know what washers is, well, you should have been there.

the beautiful baseball cake we slaved over

just playing some bocce

i've decided that every parent should invest in a bounce house

checking out the cake...

then deciding that eating cake would be a traumatic experience

opening gifts

wes had a lot of helpers

peyton getting ready for the big game!

wesley's first haircut

Before...

During...

After..

Lookin' good!

Just because he's so darn cute!

So this post is primarily for Aunt Sara. This past summer (when Owen was still in the oven), we thought it would be cute if we had nicknames for the two boys. Wes would be "big w" and Owen would be "little o". So after Owen was born, I made onesies for the two of them and sent Owen his. The following is my attempt to get a picture taken so I could send it to his new cousin. As you can see it took a while and by the end, I needed some help. As you can also see, the pics were also taken at just the right time because the onesie is getting a little small

So here is the thing that I'm beginning to remember about Florida in the month of September...it's still hot and it's annoying! Especially when you're watching your morning news show and the anchors are wearing their cute fall sweaters and pea coats. It makes me sick.  BUT I'll have the last laugh come February and March, you'll see. However, here is the great thing about Florida this time of year, you can still go to the beach, which is where we are this weekend.

It's hard to believe that Wes will be one in a few shorts weeks. I was talking to his Aunt Sara on the phone the other day about babies (you know she just had one herself). We were discussing the usual, you know, sleep, eating, etc. I was telling her that I really don't remember what we did for Wesley when he was a newborn. I do remember the tears (on my part) but not the stress behind it, which is why I guess people have more kids.  Anyhow, I'm trying to decide on his birthday theme. Now I know that Wes won't know what's going on but I want to have a theme. Someone told me once that a kid's first birthday is really just an excuse for parents to drink beer, which may be true but at least we can have cute decorations to look at while we're at it. So originally I thought I would have a baseball theme since Ben likes baseball so much (you know so we can start as soon as possible brainwashing him into liking baseball as well). BUT now I'm thinking just a "ball" theme in general. Wes loves balls! So I thought that I would go and buy those cheap balls at Wal-Mart, all sizes, maybe some footballs and other shapes, and then some balloons (which he also loves). My grand vision is starting to come together. His B-DAY is Oct. 11, all are invited. 

So life continues on here in O-town. Wesley has been steady walking for about a month now. Lord knows how many miles that boy treks everyday. He also has taken up the sport of weight lifting. He found his GB's (Grandma Betty) 5 pound weight and loves to pick it up and walk around. I told GB that maybe it's time to move up in the weight department if your 10 month old grandson can pick it up. We've had lots of visitors as of late. Our good friends Zach and Allison Zehnder, along with their son Nathan, came down from St. Louis for a few days. Grandma (my mom) came a few weeks ago and Aunt Lindsey was here last week. It's nice to have adult conversation during the day. HOWEVER, the most exciting news of the week is that we have a new member of the Hoyer family. Ben's sister Sara and her husband John welcomed their new son, Owen Mueller Russell, last Wednesday. GB is up in Chicago this week helping the new parents settle in. We can't wait to meet the little guy!

Just some fun pics

Not much to say. It's Florida in the summer...humid, hot, and buggy. Enjoy the pics.

I know, I know...it's been awhile. No excuses for not blogging...I'm just lazy.

So, it's official. Ben is now a pastor. We had the installation/ordination at the beginning of June. It was a wonderful service . Our friend Justin from seminary came down from Michigan and gave the sermon and our pastor from college and good college friends were also able to participate. Needless to say, it was a great day that ended with a fabulous after party at the in-laws. It was great to catch up with old friends and if you missed, well let's just say a good time was had by all.

After ordination, we took a big Hoyer vacation to Daytona Beach. It was a great relaxing week. Wes had a big time in the water. He wasn't even afraid of the waves. He also had LOTS of aunts and uncles and gbs and poppys to play with him(much to the delight of mom and dad).

After the beach, Ben took me to Disney for a few days and Wes stayed with gb and poppy. It was hot to say the least but the hotel was very nice and it was great to get away for a few days. After we got back from my grandmother's 80th b-day party in p-cola we were finally able to begin to settle in to our new house and Ben started at church.

So that's about it, our life this past month or so. I've got a kid attempting to climb up my leg so enjoy the pics! I'll post pics of the oridination when again, I don't have a kid climbing up my leg.

Home again

On May 16, 2008 Ben completed his Master of Divinity degree at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Now the Hoyers are officially Floridians again. We've moved into our new house and have even begun some new projects (a sanding and restaining job that was only suppose to take two days....we're on day 4). Wes is enjoying exploring his new house, crawling, and climbing on anything and everything. He's also getting a lot more baths these days...ah humidity. Next up, Ben's ordination and installation, a week at the beach, and then two days at Disney!

Howdy

So it’s been awhile since the last blog (I really can’t wait until we get internet). There is much activity in the hobbit hole these days. We’re in the process of packing and Ben is trying to finish up school. We move to Lake Mary, Florida in about a week and a half and to be honest (even though I’m very excited and ready to get out of the hole) I’m having major motivation problems in the packing area. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I’m packing and moving for the 4th time in 4 years?

In case you haven’t heard, we received the official word a few weeks ago that we’re going to be at Holy Cross. It will be really nice to be back in Florida and close to family again. We flew down to Orlando last weekend and found a house to rent in the town next to Lake Mary. It’s a 3 bedroom 2-bath house with a fenced in backyard and a screened in porch. It also has a HUGE Jacuzzi bathtub in the master bath (I’m mean it’s like you could put two people in it and be like they each have their own tub). It’s kind of comical going from no bathtub to Wesley’s own swimming pool. Anyhow, Ben graduates this coming Friday and then Wes and I will go to P-cola with my family on Sunday and Ben and his brother Jacob will move to Florida that Wednesday. We’re a little ready to say “bye-bye” to the hobbit hole, can you tell?

Wes is developing quite the personality. He’s all about talking, screaming, singing. Really whatever will get a laugh out of you, he’s all about. He is really close to crawling and we’re hoping he doesn’t figure it out until we move (that would make packing a little harder). He pushes up on all fours and rocks back and forth but he can’t quite take more than one “step” with his arms and legs. He just falls on his stomach and then does an army crawl to get whatever he wants. He’s had a bad cold this past week that somehow made it’s way to his eyes. So the doc gave us two different types of eye drops to give him twice a day. Let me tell how fun it is having to have Ben hold him down while I pry his each eye open four times a day. This is about the only time it would be nice if he were a little more docile.

So Ben’s installation/ordination is June 8th, 4 pm at Holy Cross. All are welcome. I’m sure we'll have something afterward as well so be sure to bring your party shoes!