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:)