Hoden's Holiday Highlights

After a whirlwind tour of Iowa and Minnesota, we are back home tonight. It was a great trip and it would be the world's longest blog entry if I were to write about everything we did. I decided to summarize instead! Here are some highlights!

1. The weather reports were far from perfect this last week. Yes, I do understand that they need to prepare us for the worst, but seriously one person said that to travel would mean risking our lives. Please. We live in the Midwest and we know how to drive when the weather is inclimate. Anyway...we left Dubuque a day early only to find that the weather report was WRONG and we could have stayed here. Luckily for us, Santa got the 911 and managed to get here during nap time last Tuesday so our kids could "wake up" to Santa's presents. We had the cookies/carrots/milk and all, so it was fun.

2. We had a great time up in Decorah for a couple days. One of the perks of having a brother who is a Luther coach is that he can open up the rec center for our kids to burn off energy when they're stuck inside all day. I wasn't there, but Chris told me it took them 30 minutes to even stop moving!



3. The $300 my parents paid/donated to the church for rights to the front row pew on Christmas Eve was worth every penny! We walked into the children's service 3 minutes before it began and the kids still got a D and an F respectively. Can you imagine what they would have gotten had we gotten there 30 minutes early like most years??? Next year I'm chipping into this pot for the pew. Maybe I'll throw in a few extra dollars for a parking space to go with it!

4. Present highlights at the Huinkers...Max got a microphone and a guitar on which he sang "up on the housetop" at least 38 times. I loved all my gifts, but the Andre Agassi autobiography was read in 3 days (and I'm not a reader) so you can imagine how good it was:) Mya got a bike (which Max thinks is his even though it's a Barbie bike) Chris got the Sunday subscription to the newspaper here in town, so he was thrilled not to have to drive to the gas station in his robe anymore! And yes...my brother was elated to have gotten the TP:)

5. The weather people almost fooled us again on Christmas day, but we outsmarted them! After having heard that it would be just too dangerous to drive to the Twin Cities from Decorah, we decided we'd just go very slowly and turn around if necessary. We were driving 70 mph through Rochester. Yep...wrong again.

6. What do you know....Santa found us again in Bloomington! We had a nice time with Chris's extended family even though it was mostly a blur opening presents. Max was thrilled to find a scooter and a helmet that makes police car noises with a microphone (Thanks so much for that Shana:) Mya got a baby doll and a bed for the doll. Chloe even got something from Santa though I don't think she'll really care for it when the time comes to use it....the Furminator!



7. We headed up to Chris's parents to spend a few days there and come to find out...Santa left stuff for us there too! Man alive we must have been good this year. Mya got a little people house (again...Max thinks it's his) and Max got some dinosaurs (which are strictly his..don't even attempt to touch them) Chris is so happy to be married to me because now he gets things like new pots and pans for Christmas. I loved them...he thinks he gets jipped:) I told him he needs to make a list if he doesn't want dishes and pans for Christmas!

8. We even snuck in some time with friends the Milers and Hierlingers while we were in town which is always fun. Oh, and in case you were wondering...our marriage will still be intact next year at this time thanks to the artificial Christmas tree sale at Target. We did indeed purchase one and are already looking forward to the ease at which we can put it up next year! And yes...this started out as a summary and ended up as a long post. I'm too tired to edit right now after being gone a week, so I just hope your retinas aren't bleeding yet!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a Safe, Happy, Healthy 2010!

A run for our money...

We're pretty sure this cute little girl is going to give us a run for our money. She can push buttons like no other and listen to her new thing. She has figured out "time-outs" at a very young age. All I have to do is say...Mya, go sit on the rug. She first smiles at me, walks over to the rug by the door of whichever floor we are on at the time and then fake cries. It's something I really need to get on camera. I can't help but to laugh, only now that I know it's coming, I can go to the other room and do it. She is also in a hitting stage, but definitely knows it's wrong. As she is hitting someone, she is saying "no-no"!

If this is what she's like at 17 months...what will 17 years be like??? Yikes!

Of course she does have a "nice girl" side. Her manners are second to none..she even says thank you for other people/animals when they forget. Like when we feed Chloe, Mya says thank you. She is a master of the word please and tries her best at you're welcome. Her persistence is amazing and like Grandma Linda keeps telling me...it is a great trait to have...just drives me crazy in the meantime!

Christmas gifts

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love presents..both giving and receiving. I get to go shopping and buy gifts for all of my favorite people! I love finding the perfect gift..one that the recipient really likes/needs, is surprised when opening it and is in my budget. I do have one person I shop for that isn't much fun and he's not a regular blog reader, so I don't think it will get me into any trouble:) My brother has come up with some weird traditions in his day (the turkey trot being one of them) Here's another. One year I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he gave me the following list: toilet paper, deodorant, soap, tooth paste and white undershirts. I took it as a joke, but gave him that anyway. Since then it has become expected that I get him this gift! Each year I walk into my parents with neatly wrapped presents and a giant bag of toilet paper unwrapped. This year we decided to draw names and guess who I got....Brian! At least this year he called me and said if I wanted to get him something more "fun" I could, but want he really wanted was the usual. He hasn't bought deodorant for himself in like 4 years! So...the usual it is. Each year I spice it up a little bit and add something or take something off. This year it's advil and a John Deere hat:) Here's the picture of the gift on my wrapping table all ready to be wrapped up! Oh yeah..I'm mixing it up a little bit more this year and actually wrapping the toilet paper!

Uh-oh...he's not that bad!

Uncle Jeff came for a visit recently. One night over Skype, he and Max were talking about his upcoming visit and Jeff mentioned that he'd play soccer with him when he came to our house. Max couldn't stop talking about soccer ALL WEEK! Luckily, Uncle Jeff pulled through and brought a little goal and 2 soccer balls. Max just wanted to kick the ball around and into the net, but of course Jeff and Chris were trying to get him to score a goal and then fall to his knees and pull his shirt over his head and other crazy soccer things. He didn't really understand what they wanted, but I have to say...there is a chance Max could be good at this sport. It's not my favorite sport (as I've mentioned before) but it is great exercise and I'm sure it has a lot of other benefits as well. Just happens to fall in the same season as tennis here in Iowa, so we'll see....:)

Snow day

While snow days do not have the same meaning today as they did a couple years ago when I was teaching, they are still pretty fun! This afternoon after naps, we went outside to play in the snow and sled. First, I had to go into our Santa stash to dig out the sled Max was going to get for Christmas! After 15 miutes of putting all of their gear on, I decided this will be a once a week event for the rest of the winter. Whew! They really enjoyed the snow. Max was catching snowflakes, Mya was doing her best to keep the flakes from hitting her face and I was trying to keep their gloves on! Sledding was a lot of work for me, so after we went down our side yard hill a few times, we went inside and waited for daddy to come home from work! After a phone call from Max, Chris came home a little early to do some more sledding. Here are a few pictures of our first day out in the snow of 2009.



This is Max trying to catch snow flakes.


After Chris got home and took Max back out without Mya, she was not a happy camper. I have to give her credit though...since I wouldn't put her coat on, she decided to do it herself! Here she is trying to get dressed to go outside with her big brother and daddy. Note the boots too:)

First and Last???

After a few years of dropping hints, Chris finally agreed to get a real Christmas tree! He knew we had to do something. Our artificial one was a cheapie I bought at Target before we were married. I looked back through some photos to see if I could show you a picture of the p.o.s., and we don't even have one...that's how hideous it is. Growing up, we always had 2 trees. One real and one fake. I'm fine with fake, but I thought it would be fun to mix in a real one here and there to spice it up!

After picking out the tree, getting it put on our van, dragging crying kids away from the farm animals, (we got the tree at the same place the pumpkin patch is, so Max remembered EVERYTHING about the place and wanted to see it all) unloading the tree, running to Hy-vee to buy a stand, setting it up, having it fall down, setting it back up with two kids hanging on our legs, vacuuming countless needles, watering, watering, watering, and getting pricked each time I turn the lights on.... I decided my life and my marriage don't need any spice. I do LOVE the smell of the tree, but it's a lot more work than just matching a few color-coded branches...that's for sure. Who knows, maybe someday when the kids are old enough to remember cutting it down, we can try this again. For now...the after-Christmas sale ads are going to be calling my name!

I made sure to take plenty of pictures of our first real Christmas tree. Who knows...it might be the last:)







(Chris took this picture of his own arm with all the prickly red spots from the needles. Pretty sure he was going to pull it one out as ammunition next year just in case I asked for a real tree again:)

Turkey Trot '09

The one who “couldn’t compete” pulls out ahead.
By: Tara Huinker


Decorah, IA - Ahhhh what a beautiful morning it was. The sun was shining, turkey roasting, shoppers were shopping, gravy to stir……… and a race to win. Yes, someone was pregnant. Yes, someone wasn't feeling their best..and yes, someone ate too much at lunch and left it on the track for all to see.

Brian Huinker, founder of the The Thanksgiving Mile Run, was his arrogant self the morning of. He claimed a beer or 2 before the race wouldn’t hurt anything….eating about a 1/3 of a very large cheese ball and probably consuming 2,000+ calories for lunch wouldn’t set him back. Besides, his biggest threats for the race (I wouldn’t call Amanda a threat ) either “couldn’t compete” (Tara), wasn't feeling well ( Chris), or had been doing timed sprints at the Dubuque track weeks before the race (Beth).

Runners, take your positions…

As usual, Brian bursts out ahead, cuts to the inner lane, trying to find a good pace, and hoping to gain a comfortable lead. This lasted for the first 200 yards. On the 2nd lap he was forced to hurl over and again on the 3rd lap. gross. He was officially no threat to Chris or Tara. At a time of 7:07, Tara finishes in first place. Not far behind, Chris Hoden takes 2nd with a 7:35 time. Brian Huinker with a rough 8:20, Beth Huinker Hoden at 8:30 (an impressive 2 mn shaving from last year) and Amanda Roiger Huinker at a remarkable 15mns flat.

A special thanks to Thyme Thornton for being a tremendous honorary mention for the day. She fought hard and by far had the best form of all participants. Also a special thanks to the Amanda’s family, Mark, Linda, and Nate for your words of wisdom, timing the runners, and cheering us all on. To Great Grandma Millie for sticking around and watching. Grandma Pat and Grandpa Roger for believing in me and cheering against Brian. And to Marie for taking care of Beth’s kids, while timing her on the Dubuque track. Without your efforts, there would not be this competitive tradition every year. Thank you.

Stay tuned for the next Thanksgiving Huinker mile run of 2010. For all you out there eager to train for a mile, here’s some advice. Don’t train on an elliptical – it does nothing. Instead, get on a track, practice your breathing, and if you have a sibling that is full of her or himself, take it as fuel for the fire.

God Bless.






(Don't try to read what's on Mya's back. It's really inappropriate. Thanks Aunt Tara:)

Thanksgiving 2009

We are back home after 5 days of Thanksgiving fun in Minnesota and Iowa! We left Wednesday morning and went to the Twin Cities to spend Thanksgiving with Chris's family. We had a delicious meal and spent the day with Grandma Bev and Grandpa Bill and the rest of the family in Bloomington. Chris's cousin Shana brought her 140+ pound Great Dane "puppy" Storm. Max was very timid at first, but quickly warmed up to him and now it's pretty much all he talks about. He calls him a big horse and a giraffe from time to time too. Mya never really warmed up, but at least she was petting him at the end of the day while being held.







For the first time in a number of years, we did not get up early to get a Black Friday deal. There were a few things on our list, but none of the deals in the ads warranted a 4:00 wake up. Mya happened to be up during that hour of the night, so I did consider it, but wisely decided against. We did go to the mall at a reasonable hour and got some good deals, but it wasn't too crazy.

Friday night we got to spend the night with some great friends from Luther. We had night away from the kids and had wonderful food and many many laughs at Ben and Liz's house. We learned lots while we were there too...how to make homemade pasta, how to play guitar hero, and how to get red wine out of white carpet were just a few:)

Saturday we got up early and headed down to Decorah for my family's Thanksgiving. Amanda and Brian were kind enough to host because my mom had been a bit under the weather earlier in the week. Amanda's family was there too, and now I'm pretty sure I owe Amanda's little sister Thyme some money for entertaining our kids the entire time! We also ran the 9th annual turkey trot at the high school track. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you can click here. The winner writes a summary about how the race went and yours truly was not the winner. So...you'll have to wait! There were some firsts during the race, so I'll leave you with one picture and see if you can find one of them!



Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so thankful that all of you are in our lives!! We feel very blessed.

Good news for our Grandma

Our Grandma had surgery today on her thyroid. She had a little bump on it that the doctors found and they weren't sure if it was cancer or not, so they decided to do surgery. The good news is that it was NOT cancer and they only had to take out half of her thyroid, so she (most likely) won't have to take medicine!!

I got an owie on my fingers yesterday when I fell off the neighbor's bike so now my Grandma and I will both have owies! I'm planning on giving her some Diego band-aids when I see her on Saturday!

So glad everything went okay! We love you Grandma.

Love, Max (Mya and Olivia too:)

Identity Crisis

Our kids aren't sure who to cheer for these days. Sometimes they cheer for the Hawkeyes. Sometimes they cheer for the Gophers. And sometimes they cheer for both!! Today is one of those days. Our lovely neighbors (Packers and Hawkeye Fans) decided it would be funny to put this sign on our garage door this morning. We were just going about our business hearing people honking as they went by. I kept telling Max I wondered why people were honking! Now I know...

Updates

Today Mya turns 16 months and Max turns 32.5 months, so I thought I'd update and do a quick blog about what has been going on around here! Max is saying the funniest things lately. Chris and I laugh all the time. Last weekend when Mya was having a "Holy-Shit-if-you-don't-get-me-out-of this-carseat-right-this instant-I will-definitely-puke" tantrum in the car, we had to pull over and get her out of her seat for a few minutes. When Max asked why she was out of her seat, I explained that she didn't feel good. Not more than 1 minute later, Max claimed he didn't feel good either and needed out of his seat:) This whole ordeal prompted us to ask our doctor if there is anything safe and legal that we can drug Mya with before our 5 hour trip to the twin cities next week. We haven't heard back yet...Hope they're not calling DHS on us:) Max's favorite saying these days is "I don't want...(whatever it is you asked him to do/eat/say, etc.) I try to get him to contradict himself just to get a good laugh. So today at the lunch table we were having leftover chicken and vegetables. I asked him to eat his chicken. He said, "I don't want to eat my chicken". I said, please be done eating. He responded, "I don't want to be done eating." I laughed and them made him eat the chicken:) Chris especially thinks it's funny to get him to say certain things. He'll say: Max, can you say jeez Louise? Max will say, "I don't want to say jeez Louise." It's hilarious to play with a 2 year old's mind:)

Recently while driving in the car Max informed me that he had a tummy ache on his hair. I had no idea how to respond. I assume he had a headache, but I didn't want to even go there so I said, Oh, thanks for telling me. He also answers "um, yeah" a lot...as if he's saying, duh, of course I want that. One more that I can remember right now. He is really enjoying "reading" his books to us. (you know...the ones he has memorized because they have been read 2 million times each) So, he was reading to me while laying down in his bed and I was sitting next to the bed. He then told me that if I covered him up, he could read better. Hmmm, never heard of that, but sure I'll cover him up if it means he'll be a better reader:) Wonder if that will work with his 2nd grade teachers too? I'll keep it in mind...

Mya is still Mya. She is definitely getting a mind of her own and a stronger personality these days. She insists on being the one to feed Chloe and DOES NOT WANT ANY HELP! So, dog food ends up on the floor most days. She loves to keep up with Max in whatever they are doing. Her vocabulary is expanding. After Max has a potty break, she looks in the toilet and says, poop? with a really weird expression on her face. So proud that one of my daughter's first 25 words is poop. She runs for the bathroom whenever the word potty comes up and the other night she was naked and when we said the word potty, she ran into the bathroom, stood right in front of the toilet and peed. We were pretty proud even though it was a big mess to clean up because both kids were in the tiny bathroom at the time.

Mya is starting to show her girly side. She loves to put shoes on...even tiny baby doll shoes that are about 3 inches long. She insists that I put them on her foot and throws a fit when I can't get the shoe to go on there. She also loves my jewelery and purses. She is not so much into getting her hair done though. She takes her barrettes out immediately and hands them to me and says "pretty" Then when I try it again, she takes it out and tries to put it in Chloe's hair. Mya knows her name now. Yes, it is one of the easiest names in the world to say, but it's still pretty cool when she says it. Here's a 10 second video clip.



She does have a really sensitive side as well. She does not like it when Chris or I raise our voices. Even if we are going to yell to the next room to get someone's attention, she gets so scared. She also is comforted by stroking the hair of whoever is holding her. You know when she's tired by the way she grabs your hair right when you pick her up. It's pretty cute to watch her stroke Chris's very short hair. Now, if only they made seat belts that could extend far enough to allow me to lean over her carseat and let her touch my hair when we're on the road:)

Supper Clubs

When we were driving around Dubuque looking for houses last winter, our realtor started telling us about supper clubs and how popular they were around here. Growing up in NE Iowa, I had heard of supper clubs before, but Chris (the city boy) had never heard of them. So, last night our neighbors and us decided to hit up a supper club across the river in Wisconsin. On the way there, they were trying to explain what it was going to be like to Chris. They said when we walk in, there will be carpet up half of the walls, wall paper on the other half, they will walk around with a relish tray filled with carrots, radishes, a ham spread and a cheese spread. It would smell of years of smoke and it would be so packed you couldn't get to the bathroom without bumping 10 people along the way. It was right on. That was exactly what this place was like. Their specialty was prime rib. They had the petite cut, the queen cut and the king cut. Chris was ridiculed by the other men for ordering the "queen" but after seeing the "king" he knew he made the right choice. The king was a mere 40 ounces of red beef. Our table ordered 2 of each along with some king crab legs and cod. It was so delicious and the quantities were out of this world big. For those of you who can't picture it, here are a few pictures taken with my cell phone. It was quite the experience to say the least:)

The appetizer relish tray

The petite cut (of which 1/3 came home in a doggy bag)

The king cut

Puppy!

No, we did not get a new puppy. You should know me better by now:) We did go down to the Quad Cities for the afternoon last Sunday so we could meet Ron and Maryanne's new puppy (labradoodle) Macy. She was very cute and alllllll puppy:) We could relate 100%. Chloe acted just like her when we first brought her home. Max liked Macy most when she was in her crate or when she was on the leash. He also liked talking about her the entire way there and back. He still brings it up at least 5 times daily and wants me to tell him about Maryanne's puppy. (he can never remember her name!) No-fear-Mya was all about her. She let out this little squeal each time she came near and couldn't get enough. Here are a few pictures of the kids with Macy.




Here's what Ron and Maryanne have to look forward to when they have kids and Macy gets bigger. Mya thinks Chloe is a chair to sit on and relax on while talking on the phone.

Siblings

I get to watch Max and Mya's relationship evolve everyday. Some minutes they are the best of friends and the next it's world war 3 between them. It all depends on their moods. One minute Mya will be pretending to wash Max's hair and he'll say, "Thank you Mya" and then the next minute she tries to wash it again and he'll throw her hand off his head so fast and yell, "Don't touch me Mya!" It's strange. Sometimes when Mya gets hurt, Max will go over and hug or kiss her owie. She usually loves it and it seems to make her feel better. The next time she gets hurt, she throws her body down on the floor and erupts into a violent tantrum if he even comes near her.

I'm just glad I drive a mini-van so they have separate seats and I won't have to draw an imaginary line down the middle of the seats to determine how far one kid can sit away from the other.

Here are a few recent pictures of them playing together nicely. Stay tuned for the not-so-nicely playing together pics:)

Coloring together

Max combing Mya's hair in the tub

Helping me wash windows


It's so interesting how kids can be raised by the same parents in the same way, yet turn out to be so different. Take my two siblings as an example. Wouldn't trade either of them for anything in the world, but man are they strange cats:)

Trick or Treat!

We thought Max loved trick or treating last year. Truth is...we hadn't seen anything yet. This year he couldn't be stopped. He was on a mission and loved every single minute of it. I wish I could have video taped it. We were out with some neighbor kids who were all quite a bit older than him and he hung with them with no problems once he figured it out. He would run up to the house, get some candy and then run across the street to the other house screaming "I got more candy" followed by "No cars!" while he was already in the middle of the street. No worries...there were kids everywhere and plenty of parents in the middle of the street watching over them. Grandma Linda made their adorable costumes. You can tell she has been through trick-or-treating a time or two because she chose the brightest colored M&M's out there and it helped us out numerous times when we lost Max in the shuffle with the other kids. Mya hung in there for 1 or 2 houses, but then she had to be retired to the stroller because she couldn't keep up. My niece Olivia (and Brian and Amanda) came down for the weekend and she hit up the Halloween scene for a few minutes, but had to retire early because she had a cold and they didn't want to make it worse.

After trick-or-treating, we went to the neighbor's house for chili and a fire. It was fun and the kids were super duper tired when we finally went home. Too bad they don't understand daylight savings time and they were up at 6:00 this morning. I could definitely use a nap right about now...:)