Whirlwind

It's been a whirlwind few weeks in the Hoffman Household. Due to the passing of our beloved Papa, the three of us took an unexpected trip to Erie. It was hard to say goodbye to the man who was once so full of life and love, but has been ravaged by Alzheimer's disease in the last few years. Losing him little by little over time left us without an opportunity to mourn him fully until his passing. Pulling together pictures for the viewing allowed me to bask in the memory of a man who lived life to the fullest, loved to laugh, eat, travel, and loved his family endlessly.

The joy in this time of sorrow was being surrounded by my amazing family. Papa had 4 children, 21 grandchildren, and 12 (including baby boy Hoffman) great grandchildren. All of the children and nearly all of the grandchildren were able to attend the viewing and funeral. It was a rare treat to have the rowdy, hilarious, loving bunch all together.

Eleanora with her "big girl" cousins

Eleanora was a great traveler, especially with her Dad along to make everything more fun. They made an endlessly fun game of opening and closing the window shade, then kept busy coloring, playing with cars, eating snacks, and even squeezing in a nap.

Once we got home and settled from our travels, we were hit with a super fun cold/stomach bug. Eleanora shook it off pretty fast after a day or two of taking it easy, but I haven't been quite so lucky. After an exciting night stay in the hospital for fluids and anti-nausea medication, I am on the mend.

With all that has been going on, I haven't had a chance to some of the more fun happenings of our little girl. She has been the master of imitation lately, in actions and in words which is a little scary for us!. She loves to say (about a toy, Charlie, bird, anything) "Where'd id go?" with her hands up in the air, and then excitedly answer, "Dar id is!" when she finds the missing item. She also loves to sing "E-i-e-i-ooo, goggie" (translation, "Old McDonald had a doggie, e-i-e-i-o). She calls for all of us with a "(insert name) back!" which we think translates to "come back!". She can also name and point to her nose, hair, eyes, ears, toes and knees (especially when she would like for them to be tickled!).