Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

Hello friends and family. Merry Christmas! As always where does the time go? It looks like I updated the blog last spring and things are going great!

Tom is still working at Coors as well as working as a contractor part time. He is working on a fix and flip right now and he really enjoys the project. He graduated last spring from Red Rocks with an associates in Science and Math. He also tries to find time to work on his scroll saw. He is working on a cathedral clock that is absolutely amazing. He went hunting for the first time this fall and although he didn't come home with any meat, he is already talking about next year.

Amanda is back at home. After Tom graduated, working nights waiting tables didn't have as strong of an appeal anymore. Almost immediately a need arose from a friend looking for childcare for her two sons and I started watching a couple of boys. I continue to watch her 19 month old son three days/week. He and Sarah have a great time playing together (as long as he lets her boss him around. ) I am also doing the half day kindergarten school runs every week. I have a couple of car pools, but some days I make three 40 minute round trips to school. Since Tom is working evenings, I am also the official cub scout, church club, and anything else that comes up in the evenings mom. It can get kinda crazy, but I LOVE being mom.

Alex is in second grade this year. He continues to excell and loves the science projects and writing. He is very active in cub scouts and church club. His favorite pass time (besides the Wii) is creating things out boxes and other "junk." He has a very active imagination and can create pretty awesome things out of "nothing."

Callum is in Kindergarten this year and is doing amazing. His writing is also progressing very well. His favorite part of school is recess, and being as active as possible. He has done a soccer class and wants to do a gymnastics class next. He has great ball handling skills and it is fun to play with and watch him play any ball sport.

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!!! Oh my, world watch out!!! Sarah is the girl that is in control! There isn't anything that she won't try to do herself, and most of the time she can do it! She is completely potty trained and extremely independent!!! She loves going to Bible Study Class and singing Jesus Loves me with the guitar and will get out her little ukulele and sing her own rendition of Jesus Loves Me. Whenever I am cooking in the kitchen, she has to sit on the counter and watch everything that I am doing. She loves playing with her dollies and I think that she is going to love her little play kitchen that she is getting for Christmas.

Our biggest adventure this year was a camping trip to Hot Sulphur Springs. We camped at the Springs and swam in the pools. It was absolutely wonderful water. After a couple of nights there, we headed into the National Forest and set up camp near a beautiful stream. Tom had brought the 22 rifle, and a 308, and a 30 ought 6. We had a lot of fun shooting the 22 and bb gun. But, we had a little oops.....Tom was helping Alex shoot the 30 ought 6 and the scope kicked back and hit Alex right in the middle of the forehead. We wrapped his head up and headed out the hospital in Kremmling. After five stitches, we decided to take down camp and head back home. He was fine, but he has a nice scar and story for the rest of his life.

Amanda and Tom celebrated their 10th anniversary this summer with a backpack trip to Shelf Lake! It was an amazing time. The lake is beautiful and in spite of some rain, we both really enjoyed spending time with each other in our beautiful Rocky Mountains.

I pray that God will pour out his blessing upon you in 2011. I am so thankful that although we may go through some really tough stuff here on earth, we can go to God for our love, joy, peace, strength, and comfort. He is a God longing to poor abundance into our lives and I thank Him everyday for being a God of hope. We can look forward to one day living in heaven with Him where there is no pain, no sorrow, no scars. Thank you Jesus for coming down to earth. To show us what it means to love and to pray. Happy Birthday Jesus, may our year with you be joy.

Many Blessings this Christmas,

Amanda Hoskins

for more pictures, you can go to our face book page.

Hoskins Update

Happy Spring, The birds are chirping, the bugs are coming out (hurray, declares the boys), the trees are sprouting, the allergies are sneezing, Yup, it's spring. But wait, last week, Snow, says Sarah. Gotta love a Colorado Spring. 75 degree during the day and it snowed that same night. 40 degrees the next day. Things are going amazing here in the Hoskins Household. Alex is growing so quickly. I just registered him for summer camp. The same camp that he was born at. I remember bringing him home from the hospital thinking, someday, Alex can go to camp here. That someday has come very quickly. :-) He is busy doing school, cubscouts, chess club, and Awana's. We are looking forward to Spring Break. We have quite a week planned. Aquarium (he is totally into sharks right now. I never knew so much about them. :-) ), Sleepover at grandma's with cousins, mom, and Aunt Mel, swimming, a play about Flat Stanley, and the Zoo. He is doing extremely well in school, and he loves doing stuff with the cubscouts. He recently has his pinewood derby in scouts. He (and Tom) made a hammerhead shark car, and although he wasn't the fastest, he took home the trophy for best design. Callum is also keeping very busy. He has decided that preschool isn't so bad and is looking forward to going to kindergarten at Alex's school. He has done several sessions of swimming lessons and loves to be in the water. He also keeps busy scootering, playing the Wii, and annoying is sister. He continues to crack me up, and his big blue eyes can melt anything!!!! Sarah is almost two....temper tantrums, new words everyday, wanting the world to revolve around her..... But, she is soooo amazing as well. Call it keeping up with her brothers, or whatever....she is one smart cookie. Her newfound love is the dirt. But, she wants to do anything anyone else is doing. Her theme song right now is, "I can do anything you can do better, I can do anything better than you." (Callum often respond no you can't, Sarah, "Yes I can," Callum, "No you can't." Sarah, Yes I can, Yes I can) Yes I have that song stuck in my head daily. She helps with the laundry, she can practically unload the dishwasher on her own (i'm not exaggerating!!!) She can jump on the trampoline (or get two feet off the floor) and she loves to follow her brothers all over the tubes at McDonalds and down the slide. No fear. She loves puzzles (and I'm not talking about the wooden ones with the pegs, i'm talking about 25 piece puzzles) You have to help her, but she does them. She still has to be rocked to sleep (with a stuffed animal under both arms) but I'll hang onto that as long as I can. :-) Because I work evenings, I don't get every bedtime with her, so that time becomes precious. She will read books for hours, and she really likes reading on the potty. Yup, she has gone several times. So we are on our way. If she is done training before three we have set a record. ;-) Hopefully sooner. Tom keeps busy with his new job at Coors and I continue waiting tables at Village Inn. God has blessed us abundantly and we are looking forward to seeing what plans he has for us in the future. I pray that this spring you find new hope, new life, and renewal in your life. Seek God and you will find. Trust God, and he will be faithful. Love, and you will be loved. Blessings

Spiritual Thoughts from Alex

In the middle of getting ready for bed tonight..... Alex, "Mom, God has a really really really really big job." Mom (somewhat absentmindedly), "Um hum, he really does." Alex, "I think that I would pay him one thousand dollars." Mom, smiling...."That's alot." I love it!!!!!! May God bless your socks off!!!!

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas friends and family!!! Here is our Santa photo of 2010. We have had an amazing year of fun, family, and friends.

Sarah turned 1 in June and continues to amaze us with her achievements. She is trying to keep up with the boys and does a pretty good job!! She started walking at 11 months and she is now running and jumping. She loves shoes, "pretties" (anything jewelry or hairties, although she doesn't quite have enough hair to wear bows yet. :0) ) , kitties, and of course all of the Christmas lights. She loves to dance and sing songs.

Callum turned 4 in July and started preschool this year. He is doing well. He loved the firefighter unit and he loves to play on the playground. Thankfully, his preschool teachers are very patient and love his humor. Most days when I pick him up, he does his own version of the robot coming to the door. He continues to make me laugh everyday. He loves to play any sport with a ball and he got to see a Rapids (professional soccer) and an Avalanche game this year. He is also loving swimming. He can swim with his face in the water and wants to take more lessons in January.

Alex turned 7 in November. He is loving first grade. His reading and writing are amazing. Writing is his favorite subject and he has written about his family, the tooth fairy, and his rat. Yes, he got a rat for his birthday and we are all enjoying playing with Darwin. He has also started Cub Scouts (his daddy is very proud) this year and they have visited a radio station, a fire station and are planning on going to a Mammoth (professional lacrosse) in January. It is a group of boys from his school and so they enjoy playing and doing activities together. He just got his block of wood and wheels for his pinewood derby car and both Tom and Alex are itching to get it built.

Amanda started the year doing childcare for little Izzy, however, that came to an end in July and I was faced with the decision to try and do more childcare or something else. After much consideration, I decided to try and get a job waiting tables at Village Inn. I could work evenings when Tom was home and I would be free to help out in Alex and Callum's classrooms and do car shuttle to and from school. God was so good and I was able to walk in and ask for a job and get in. (My sister Melanie worked there and she put a good word in for me. :-) ) It has worked out really well!! I have also stayed busy with church and the kids activities.

Tom began his second year at Freelance Enterprises working on the edgebander. As the year went on he was given more responsibility in purchasing and ordering, some drafting, fork lift operator and materials handler. It has been a tough year for Freelance and when the opportunity came to apply at Coors, Tom decided to try and get a job at Coors. He started at Coors in December and is really liking it. (other than having to shave his beard because he can't stand wearing a beardnet. :-( ) He has also been very busy with school and will graduate from Red Rocks Community College with a degree in applied science in May. He will transfer to Metropolitan State in the fall and start working on a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology.

Some fun stuff......

We took a very fun camping trip in July. We went rock climbing (the boys were amazing), four wheeling (Amanda had to close her eyes several times), and we introduced the boys to BBguns. They had a great time shooting at pop cans.

In November we took an incredible trip to Hawaii to celebrate my grandparents (John and Peggy) 60th anniversary. The whole family (about 20 of us) all flew to Maui for 8 days right before Thanksgiving. It was amazing. We took the boys kayaking on the ocean and swimming with the sea turtles. They weren't very excited about snorkling, but our guide brought up a sea urchin, an octopus, and a sea sponge for them to see. They also saw the turtles swimming on the surface from the kayaks. We spent ALOT of time at the beech and swimming in the hotel pool. It was a very special time with my grandparents and we are so fortunate to have an amazing family.

I pray that as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, we really take the time to celebrate and be thankful for the blessings in our lives. The Lord is good, all the time and he can help us through anything. It is the hope of one day being in eternity with our Creator that gives me the love, perserverance, and joy to keep going everyday. Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas and an amazing 2011.

Love,

the Hoskins

Sarah

More pictures on Facebook.

Summer 2010

Hello Friends, It has been a wonderful summer and now we are getting ready for back to school next week. We started the summer with a trip to Missouri for my sister, Deanna's, graduation. We piled my mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, sister, her husband, and 5 kids under 7 years old into two vans and drove 14 hours to Columbia, MO on Friday, saw my sister graduate on Saturday and drove 14 hours home on Sunday. Yup, insane. The biggest story was a tick in Callum's ear. We pulled over somewhere in KS to let the kids out to run for a few minutes and a tick managed to crawl into Callum's upper ear. We were sitting down for dinner at a restaurant and I looked over a saw it. So, Melanie grabbed a cigarette lighter and I grabbed his head....we tried to make it hot enough to make the tick come out, but not burn Callum, be we were unsuccessful. Finally Mel just started aggravating the tick with a toothpick and it finally pulled it's head out. My grandma grabbed it in a napkin and by the time we were done we had the whole restaurant looking at us. Callum was amazingly calm and had a great time boasting that a tick was in his ear "sucking my blood." Other than a few missed exits, the trip went very smooth. It was exciting to see Deanna graduate. In June we had Sarah's first birthday. It was a beautiful day at the park and she ate a lot of chocolate cake. She has enough shoes to open up a shoe store and she loves wearing every one of them. She opens her shoe drawer finds a matching pair and brings them to me to put on her feet. She loves shoes. We spent the 4th of July up in Breakenridge at my grandparent's condo. We got to see fireworks on Friday night and Sunday night. We went to a wonderful concert in Dillon and then saw fireworks. On Saturday the boys went fishing and I think that over the course of the weekend, they caught over 30 fish. The boys (including Tom, my dad, and grandpa) were thrilled!! For my dad's birthday, he took us all to Lakeside Amusement Park. We started the evening in kiddie land and the kids loved the rides. After dinner, the bigger rides opened up. We rode a couple of bigger rides, and Ashlynn kept saying bigger....faster.....bigger....faster. I was the only one who would go on this ride that swings you upside down. All of the kids wanted to go on it and they had to have an adult go with them, but it is only a two seater ride. After three rides, I couldn't do it any longer. :-) We then moved onto the roller coaster. It is a big old wooden roller coaster that shakes you till you are crazy. Well, even Callum was "tall" enough, standing very tall, to go on the roller coaster and each adult took one of the kids. We got off and the kids were ecstatic!!!! Alex has been begging me to go again every day. We spent a weekend in mid-July on a camping trip to the Ironclads. It was an awesome weekend of four wheeling and rock climbing. We got the boys a climbing harness and they were amazing, expecially Alex. The last couple of weeks have been spent in swimming lessons and visiting with my friend, Marta. Callum loves the water, and poor Alex froze everyday, but he was so brave and improved everyday. With Marta, we went to the mountains and hiked Chicago Creek, went to visit some old friends, and I tried Indian food for the first time. She is headed to The Congo to be a medical missionary and I will miss her very much. Other news....Tom is working toward a drafting job at Freelance. He is trying to get a new edgebander trained, but the machine keeps running off any potentials. I am no longer doing child care and have decided to go back to waiting tables at Village Inn. Thankfully, I was able to get the job pretty easily and I'll have my days to shuddle kids back and forth to school and keep up with Sarah. Alex is starting 1st grade and Callum will be in afternoon preschool four days/week. Tom is also taking three classes this semester and is hoping to transfer possibly to Metro State next year. I hope and pray that this update finds all of you well. I pray God's grace and blessing on each of you.

Pictures

Sarah's turning one

Hey Everyone, how about an update from the Hoskins!!! Wow, where to start??? I'll start with Sarah since she is sitting (no wait, standing) in front of me. She is growing so quickly. She is speaking in full sentences, okay you can't understand them, but she is an amazing talker. She loves patty cake and can do the whole rhyme with her hands. She is almost walking. She will take about four or five steps at a time. And she loves the applause. She is absolutely in love with Alex. He can make her smile on even the "worst" days. :-) She is extremely adventurous. She is very smart. She knows where the food closet is and how to ask for a snack, she knows how to brush her hair. I think that she is quite a smart 11 month old, but I'm biased. Callum........wow, what a kid!!!! He just grew enough to reach the faucet on the bathroom sink and it was an AWESOME discovery. He is playing soccer although he mostly goes out and dribbles the ball around regardless of what the coach or other kids are doing. He is a nonconformist to the max!!! He makes me laugh and cry everyday. He loves to ride his bike. He loves to jump on his trampoline, play with rollypollies ( I have found them in the car, in the house, in his shorts, in the laundry, in his hands, (as far as I know he hasn't eaten any. :-) ) He loves his cat, Figaro. I just asked him what he wants to tell the world and he said, "God is great, God is good, let the tiger go and he will go to his family, Amen." I just asked Alex what he wants to tell the world, "Hello everybody, I would like to tell you that God would bless you. He will also bless your sins. Sins are the bad things you do. And God blesses you, and tell the other world about God. And this is a note for you. And please don't shoot animals. And I pray for you that you are awesome." Alex is my analytical, thoughtful, wonderful almost first grader. He has LOVED school this year and is reading and writing like a pro. He loves to write and illustrate books. My favorite was his book about PeeWee. It was called, "Bad Dog, PeeWee." He says the best thing about kindergarten was doing my alphabet book. He is doing gymnastics right and has mastered the monkey bars. I loves bugs and has set up his own "bug pavilion" in his clubhouse complete with "activities." He loves the space and dinosaur and gem exhibit at the museum. Someday he and Tom are going to Mars. They are planning the trip even now. He is also helping Tom build a go cart out on the driveway. Lots of fun. He is looking forward to swimming lessons this summer and going to Hawaii in November. Tom is crazy busy. He is continuing to work two jobs and going to school. Exciting news....he just got a drafting position at Freelance. As soon as they find a replacement for him on the edgebander he will move into the office. He is very excited, but also very nervous. It is a great step in the direction of engineering which is what he wants to do after school. He has one more semester at Red Rocks and right now he is looking at an engineering program at Metro State in Denver. I'm just trying to keep up with everything. I'm still watching Izzy everyday and I'll also be watching Amber and Athena on and off this summer. I'm looking forward to taking the kids to the zoo, museum, and railroad museum. VBS starts in a couple of weeks and it is always a highlight in my year. We have about 300 kids come through our doors and the opportunity to share Christ with them is amazing. God puts together over 100 volunteers and it is awesome to see everyone working together with these kids. I pray that God continues to reveal himself in new and amazing ways in your lives. Have a beautiful summer. Amanda

It's Spring!!

Hello friends and family, wow time once again has flown. We are so excited about spring. Our tulips are blooming, the apple tree is about to bloom and there are BUGS!!!!!! The boys are in heaven with all of the bugs. Alex has set up his club house out back as a bug pavilion. He has containers with different kinds of bugs in them, on shelves, and even a little chair that you can sit in a hold the bugs. He loves to invite kids over to see it. He also has a worm farm in one of my flower pots. :-) Very cute. Callum just likes catching them. We have had a couple of big rain showers and they have found some giant earthworms. The boys als0 love riding bikes. Alex has learned to ride without training wheels. I had to run up and down the street with him about five times and he was off. ;-) My mom just moved back down to Arvada from Estes Park and we can take the bike path to her house. Both of them are looking forward to that. I have a little bike trailer that I can put Izzy and Sarah and we can go just about anywhere

Holy Cow

So I'm sitting on the couch checking my email and I see Callum run into the bathroom. I hear the lid flip up and I hear the plop!!! Victory!!! And then I hear, "Holy Cow!!!!" I bust out laughing and ask Callum why he said Holy Cow. "Because it is such a big poop." he says. Gotta love potty training. Dum Dum Suckers, thank you for another victory with poop in the potty.