For those of you not yet familiar with the Hoffman Family, we’d like to introduce you.
Keep in mind this is Mom’s point of view, you are free to make your own observations. Of course, I’m going to focus on the positive!
For your own uplifting family experience take time to make a list of the wonderful things about each of your family members too!!! (Even better yet, spend time doing one of our favorite family nights: spin the bottle and give a compliment to whoever it points to, then it’s their turn. Simple concept, great rewards!)
So here it is: a picture of our crew:
Michael: the Dad. Mike is the hardest worker I know. He believes in doing his best. He works hard and does his best as a doctor, as a leader at our church, but it seems the thing he works hardest and does his very best at is being husband and father. He knew before we were married that those were (& are) the roles he would keep forever, husband and dad. I see Mike sacrifice his own comfort and well being constantly for people in our community, friends at church, and most especially for our children and me. He’s taught me how to have a happier life by living for others. He gives our family happiness every day by putting our welfare before his own. I’m SO grateful for Mike!!
CaMarie, me: The Mom. Yes, I’m the mom of this crew and I really, thoroughly, love my job too. Exhausted and overwhelmed is the rule, not the exception, but real joy and deep satisfaction are my constant companions! Perhaps someday I will pick up horseback riding or finish a whole book at once again, but I’ve happily resigned those things for more precious times now. My recreation (in other words, sanity savers) involve playing with the family, texting close friends, writing (has always been my outlet), & of course, my favorite break, dating my ‘handsome husband’.
So first we met! A blind date! (Say yes to those now and then! We owe a mutual friend, Heidi, the credit for our miracle meeting!) We dated 9 months, then got engaged! We married 8 weeks later. Wow! That was awesome!! It’s been a whirlwind of challenges and great joy ever since. The greatest thing that ever happened to us, in these almost 20 years, are our children! So here they are, one at a time!
Isaac: the big brother, the oldest, and our only son. Isaac’s thrilled to be getting ready to serve a mission for our church. Isaac is loads of laughs when you get him going, he’s a whole lot of help around here too! He’s well versed on everything from … well, on just everything it seems like to me! If there’s ever a dispute among the girls they just ask Isaac; his word goes ‘cuz Isaac knows. Isaac loves music! He’s played the piano since he was four, sings in a few vocal ensembles at school and has had a lead in the annual school play these 4 years of high school. Isaac enjoys soccer and running too. One life changing event for Isaac was a medical service trip with Dad to Tanzania, Africa last spring!
Emily: twin, sister, and oldest daughter (by 20 min. or so). Emily has an organized, deliberate way of doing things that makes for real progress on all fronts of her life and ours! Emily is a planner. She’s a huge help to our family because she puts even more energy into working then planning. I feel I could completely trust Emily to take over and things would run smoothly. In fact, Emily had somewhat of that chance, as much of the pregnancy I had to take it easy and spent a few weeks in the hospital with the twins. We are immensely grateful for Emily.
Anna: twin two, sister, shares the role of the oldest girl. Anna is a delightful human being! She is super small but packs great energy and drive into that little being. Anna is determined and works very hard to accomplish what she’s set her mind to do. Anna LOVES her family, and the whole concept of family, with the deepest devotion. Anna enjoys running cross country, dating, phone calls and friends. I LOVE her zest for life and spunky energy of spirit! Her favorite, and best friend is her closest, Emily.
We can’t talk about Emily and Anna, identical twins, without mentioning them together because they share sooo much! Emily and Anna have always loved singing together. They started doing this together at 6 months old in the back seat of our Golden Oldie (car) as we drove home from Grandma&Grandpa’s, perfectly synchronized “ahh ahh ahh”s! They’ve taken it to stage recently as leads in the high school musical along with big bro Isaac and sister Mikela. They laugh a LOT together (every night’s a slumber party here). Emily and Anna have a great LOVE for children and vice versa. They shower love on all the little ones they meet and have many adoring underage fans. They both hope to be teachers one day. Emily and Anna share a love of horses and riding also. Together they bring a LOT of energy, enthusiasm and excitement to our home!
Mikela: Kia, Mikla, Fird. When Emily and Anna were little they would often yell, “Me first, me first!” Of course this was always an issue with two. When Mikela became old enough to talk, they still yelled out “me first, me first!” Mikela simply consented by yelling out, “Me Fird!” She’s taken the role as third girl in perfect stride. Mikela brought peace with her when she came to our family,and restored my confidence in mothering. She has always been a blessing to all of us. Mikela has an extraordinary mind and fantastic grasp of the deeper meaning of life. We’ve seen miracles happen for her as she underwent surgery for a ‘tethered cord’ at age 8 and regained full recovery of her whole lower body. Mikela loves the harp, piano, singing, and reading. Mikela is extremely independent and on task. She’s always ready, done with her jobs, and asking how she can help everyone else. Her little sisters know they can trust her and often ask for her help or request her company on a game – everything from homework to dress-ups, Mikela has been willing to be there for them.
Kate: The Baby of The Classic Five, as my brother refers to them. Kate came along at the end of medical school, just before our huge move away from family across the country to start 5 years of residency. “Our residency baby” we call her, she spent her first five years growing up in that challenging, and extremely rewarding time of life. Kate came BEAUTIFUL! Her heart matches her outward beauty. Kate LOVES, purely and deeply, family and friends alike. It’s such a joy to see her growing up before our very eyes now. She’s making the transition from child to young woman look easy! Kate’s loving middle school, friends, even homework projects. Kate LOVES a good craft or creating, a good book, a good laugh, and a good adventure.
Esther Beth: Esther earned the nickname ‘smiley’ as a two year old grumpy girl with a killer glare for anyone but Mama.(Ok, Daddy, ‘aunt’ Kara and big bro and sisters were spared also.) But her smile and songs lit up any room to sparkling! We are very glad they have grown as she has! Now the smiley face is her symbol on every school paper, but she will always be my star… and my jewel! Esther has had a great fascination for jewels, minerals as she accurately refers to them. Her fascination came from an intense interest in rocks from the time she could toddle. Jewels are just the most beautiful ones. I’ve always heard rocks turn into jewels through time and intense pressure – maybe there’s hope for all of us!! You may see Esther often on her ball, as it seems to be a part of her these days.
Grace: as she goes by at school is more affectionately known as Zoie. Zoie Grace has ALWAYS been her Daddy’s girl, his MOST loyal and loving fan! I LOVE her smile! Gracie LOVES funny!! Jokes and games are a favorite with her. Right now, her jump rope is attached to her being. She’s getting good! Grace is THRILLED with learning! She LOVES it! Anything from reading, writing and arithmetic to piano she revels in the learning! Grace came rather precocious and often seems to, or at least believes, she knows more than most adults! I find it pretty adorable.
Clara Joy: She is my joy! Clara was the baby of the family, until our ‘little sisters’ came along. And now she is absolutely elated about being a big sister too. I’ve been elated that she has stayed so elated, despite losing out on so much time with Mom. Just when I think Clara won’t be able to take it (me being completely hands full with babies – she’s always been a mama’s girl) she says with the most sincere look in her eyes, “I’m so glad we have our babies”. Clara is kindness, thoughtfulness, service, radiant light beaming and bouncing around! Who wouldn’t be overjoyed in that?! I’m sooo glad we made it to baby #8 so we could have our Clarly!! Clara loves Momma, babies, and Missy most it seems for they are mentioned in every single prayer.
Adelynn: Tiny Twin, ‘Little Sister’. Adelynn brings a sweet spirit of snuggle with her. Her favorite time of day is nighttime when Daddy puts her in the mobi wrap. Instantly content she snuggles against his chest, asleep in seconds. Emily or Anna give her that sweet snuggle time too and she seems to snuggle back as much or more. She’s been a little more laid back for me as the Mom, and I’ve often found her looking over at Sarah in concern as Sarah’s ‘energetically’ fussing.
Sarah: She was born with her eyes wide and watching everything! Sarah has seemed to love a good adventure from day one. She seems like she doesn’t want to miss anything (hard to get her to sleep with this mentality). A friend affectionately called her ‘energetic’ and it stuck with me, helping to explain her being so vocal at times. She REALLY seems to say ‘hi’ already as several times when someone comes up to her and says ‘hi’ she repeats back with perfect intonation ‘Iii’! An eager one!
We would call both Adelynn and Sarah our miracles. First of all, a miracle that we were expecting, then that we didn’t miscarry (I’ve actually had several miscarriages before), then that these were TWINS! (The chance of identical twins twice is 1 in 70,000 I’ve been told!) This last pregnancy was the hardest (& all mine are hard) of all, or maybe I should say scariest, of all. I went through extreme morning sickness, then side effects of morning sickness meds, then placenta previa concerns, then extremely low-potassium troubles, then pre-eclampsia (which I’d never experienced but is very common with twins I’ve since learned). They even diagnosed me with gestational diabetes for the first time! I feel my life, but even more especially the life each of these precious babies is an awesome miracle and I thank God every minute for them!
I’ve realized and relished more now the miracle of each one of my children, and of my husband and his love.
Recognize and cherish your miracles today!- the family God gave you to LOVE.
C
I love your family CaMarie! I love your posts! U guys are amazing! I am so lucky to know you guys! U and your family are an inspiration to all of us! u are amazing parents and loving and kind and can do it all! Best wishes to Isaac with his mission! He will be amazing!!!
Oh my goodness Adrianne, thank you sooooo much for your kind, uplifting words! Your encouragement means so much! I’m glad you still have confidence we can do it all even after seeing those piles of laundry on video!- lol!! Thx for seeing the good in us. We feel so blessed to know of the good in you too! Much love, C&Crew!
Thank you for sharing, love the smiles and love that you share them.
Dear Sally, you and your husband ALWAYS bring smiles to us- soo glad if we can give any in return! 🙂 thx for commenting and encouraging us to share. Lots of love, our Fam
I just found your blog via Jocelyn at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ. What a beautiful family you have! I’m a mom of twins, too (although not TWICE!) and I just love seeing your adorable babies and your older girls together. Your video is just the sweetest thing. I’d love to make something like this for my two boys every few years, just something for our family to keep and for them to get to look back and see how their mom described them at different ages! Thanks for sharing your family – it’s so wonderful to see such a loving, fun, united, happy family, especially in times like these. Good luck with your new blogging endeavor! I’ll keep coming back! 🙂
Dear Jen, I’m so grateful for your kind comments and support of this new endeavor! SO WONDERFUL to hear of your own family! CONGRATS! I have been surprised by how much my children have enjoyed the video and realize now we have a great family history recording to keep! What a great idea out had to do a video like this for the family once a year – so fun to see them in action and changing. Every year for New Year’s we make positive predictions for the next year – things we think may or may not happen in the year to come. My sister recorded them last year and we watched them this year for New Year’s. It was SO NEAT to see how much the kids had each grown! It was extra neat to see that my 16 year old (then 15) twins had predicted we would have TWINS that year – WOW! I had not remembered that – hadn’t even thought it a possibility! Just one more fun idea for keeping family memories! Our best wishes to you and your precious family!
Watched your video via my sister, Jocelyn’s blog…It is so nice to hear you speak so lovingly of each family member. You are truly blessed!
Thx Dawn! Really great for all of us to focus a little more on the positive, yes? Now my niece wants a video done about her! lol! The wonderful thing is knowing that every one of us have some spectacular qualities worth celebrating!
What a cute family. I’m glad Becky has been sharing these so I could get to know you and your family better. Do you have a therapy dog for a reason or did (s)he just happened to be trained and you fell in love with her?
Thank you Hanna-Marie! So glad to meet! As for Missy my four oldest girls had wanted a puppy forever. We had challenged them to stay off treats for a year with a reward of $100 dollars each. (I don’t know if this is wise but it helped us out for a healthy year.) They all made the goal and put their money together to ask for a golden retriever puppy! Even though we’d just had our baby Clara it was too hard to deny all their efforts hunting the newspaper and putting their money together, so we ended up with Missy-doggin’. A friend of ours felt our puppy had such a great temperament we should take her to classes to train her as a therapy dog. My girls did it! With the help of the friend who suggested it. After the 6-8 training classes she passed the test! First try! We were so thrilled with her- the test is really hard for a lot of dogs! It’s made a really good dog into a great dog. She’s great to have around. She sits in compassion by anyone who is down, stressed out or crying. She watches over Clara and barks if she strays too far down the driveway. She stayed faithfully by my side during the end of the pregnancy when I was pretty much in bed all day due to placenta previa and preeclampsia. We love her and are glad she’s part of the fam. Hope to see more of you online! C&Crew
Hi CaMarie. I don’t know if you will remember me or not, I lived in your New Hampshire ward for two years while my husband went to Tuck. We had twins while we were there and I am so grateful for the wonderful advice you gave me about twins. My husband and I also have fond memories of watching your older children with your baby while we were there… When we left New Hampshire we had 3 young children and we added another three while in Minnesota (including another set of twins). I don’t know how I stumbled on your blog. But, I was so happy to hear and read about your sweet baby twin girls. What a beautiful and amazing family you have. And yes, twins are amazing and fun, while at the same time so overwhelming–but we never do it alone. Thanks for your wonderful words and sharing your insights with us. -Jamie Sorensen
Jamie! Oh, what a WONDERFUL SURPRISE! Not only to find you here but to hear of your WONDERFUL FAMILY!! That is AMAZING and so great to hear that you’ve had 3 more including another set of twins! THAT is worth celebrating!! We would LOVE it if you share your fam in a video response on our youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/allboysbutnine We can’t get over the miracle of these babies and I’m sure you feel the same about yours! And yes, some days, well probably MOST the time it’s overwhelming! But then there are extraordinary moments like the one I just had as I nursed the babies to sleep a minute ago. I felt so overcome with gratitude and joy for the blessing of taking care of these babies. I actually felt a moment of great satisfaction for just having a simple successful morning playing with, loving, feeding, and bathing my 3 at home. 🙂 In the end it’s those simple mornings that make us happiest I think. Still in my nightgown and no breakfast though, so now off to take care of me! LOL! Thx so much for saying sharing!
Wow, CaMarie! I haven’t checked in on your lovely family since I got Mikela’s old highchair from you in NH (thanks, by the way). Your family has really grown! Thanks so much for sharing. I was always impressed with your beautiful attitude toward mothering and family. Hurray for eternal families!
CaMarie! What a beautiful family. I always admired your positive attitude and love of motherhood. What a fun website. Much love, Melissa
I’m mother to seven, myself, but no twins. And I also met my husband on a blind date!
What a beautiful family you have. Truly. So glad I found your blog.
(I’m here from Top Mommies)
Thank you for your note Anne! Soo great to hear of you and YOUR family of seven children!! Hurray! Grateful for a new friend!!
What an amazing family you are! My son who is serving a full time mission in your area, Elder Chandler Draper, sent me a link in his email this morning to check out your blog and see what an awesome family you are. He has many wonderful things to say about your family! Thanks so much for treating him so amazing and helping make his 1st area somewhere he will never forget!!
Sooooo great to hear from you Sister Draper!! We are THRILLED to have your son here! He’s a very caring, loving, friendly, cheerful, service-oriented missionary and will bless people’s lives wherever he goes!! We will continue to do all we can to support him and the other missionaries here – we always feel blessed with the BEST in this area! Thanks for your kind comments, we are simply doing the best we can like you and sooo many awesome people out there! Keep up the good work! Love, The Hoffman Crew
Hello! Thank you for your wonderful family and your example. I love reading your blogs and the letters of your son and daughters. I returned home from my mission 7 months ago and sometimes I feel like all the memories are starting to become vague that sometimes it makes me wonder if it really happened. But reading their letters brings back mission memories and the happiness I felt serving my Savior. Seeing how happy you are as a family makes me so eager and excited to have a family of my own. Thanks for sharing your story 🙂
Thank you for your comment Jeanell!! It’s sooo neat to hear about YOUR mission!! Hold on to everything you learned from it and all the love you have from it! It’s got to be hard to feel the memories fade as distance and time gets in the way but yes, you’ll always have it to draw back on, to tell your children about and it’s changed you for good I know. What a treasure to have that experience. Thank you for serving! And as for your future… we are just WAY EXCITED for YOU!!!!! 🙂 Good things ahead in life for certain!!!
I had missionaries bring me a free book of Mormon. It is beautiful. Do you consider it wrong to tear out the artwork of Jesus and hang it in a frame? I love studying all religions, but it gets.mind boggling.
Dearest Danielle, I am so deeply touched to hear you’ve had the missionaries and that you are enjoying the beauty of the Book of Mormon. (And my husband says it’s great that you take out the pictures to frame.) The reading and studying of it, along with the Bible – two testaments of Jesus Christ- will change your life in a million amazingly wonderful ways, one little line at a time. We read scriptures as a family every single night we possibly can and it has blessed our whole life! Praying for you Danielle. Love, CaMarie
Dear Ms. Hoffman, I came across the video of the two little ones – Sarah and Adelynn eating marshmallows while browsing for some random videos. To say that the two are incredibly adorable would be an understatement. And since then I came across your blog and YouTube channel. I love your channel and the main reason being I have no idea what it feels like to have siblings. Yes, I am an only child and I am not close to my parents. I have never known joy as I see in your family while growing up. I had plenty to eat, wear, sleep, toys, when I was a child but I also had a lot of alone time. Your channel makes me visualise the other kind of childhood that I never had the opportunity to experience. So I just want to say thank you.
P. S. I apologise for any grammatical errors. English is not my first language and I tried my best to put my thoughts into proper words.