Haircutting at the Hoffmans

Hello Blog-friends-


Saturday mornings are nice for writing...because of the laid back routine, I have some free time to write an update.

Tim's flag football season is wrapping up...I think he has a 'double header' today at 12 (rumor has it he'll be playing Quarterback).

Cassie has experienced her first hair cut. Ugh. Yes, I did it myself. I was combing her hair after a bath on Tuesday and thought, 'how hard can it be to just snip a toddler's hair'....well, I took maybe an inch off but once her curly hair dried, it looks more like 3-4 inches! Yipes! Of course, Cassie is cute as can be with long or short hair, but I feel like I butchered her! I have always liked cutting hair...usually I'd restrain myself to only cutting dog-hair--on my Mom's long-haired malteses. We had this one dog, Tedi, when I was little who endured my haircutting experiments. I should find some old pictures of Tedi's 'bobs'--the 'style' reminds me of Cassie's curly-bob!

• Triple coupon weekend at Bloom. I'm so tired of coupons after the Shoppers' coupon trip (bought over $200 in groceries but only paid $20 due to the triple coupons) that I'm going to have to FORCE myself to go today! Thankfully I have a friend from church who is a wiz with a spreadsheet! She emailed me the 'list' of good deals so I'm going to print that up and do the best I can!
• Our Sunday night Dynamic Marriage class is over! It was an intense class-with lots of homework, but we graduated and have a better marriage as a result. There's a lot to be thankful for but also a lot of work left to be done. I highly reccommend the class to our local church friends--it starts up again this January and is for marriages at any stage (strong, healthy or struggling, detached, etc.).
• My Mom's group is going well...I've been reading our book while running on the treadmill and have been absorbing some good principles regarding mothering. Specifically, I'm learning to 'observe' Cassie better...and thus be able to shape my prayers for her more precisely. It's actually been a good habit to develop in regards to my own self maturity/development. It helps to observe/record the characteristics in my heart that need to be changed by God and leave them at His feet rather than obsess about how I can take control to 'whip' myself into shape. That doesn't usually work with toddlers and it certainly hasn't worked with myself! I guess that's one of the bigger principles I've been gleaning..raising a child begins with 'raising' yourself. I can't sow character into Cassie that hasn't first taken root in me--so I'm learning to care for my own needs just as tenderly as I care for Cassie's needs. I'm sure I could go on and ramble for many pages here...but this is enough for now.
  

Cassie just went upstairs by herself...maybe I should go see what she's doing! Thanks for checking in with our family...we covet your prayers and would love to know if you stopped by!