MIM and more

Last year we got Elf on the Shelf for a Christmas gift so this year was our first time using it. We named him Mim (Max, Ivy, Mya) after many many names that the big two kiddos came up with that Chris and I vetoed:) We had a ton of fun with him, despite the fact that we weren't the best "Elf Parents" in the world, but the eventual reminder on my phone helped! We didn't really use it as a behavior tool, but just a fun thing for the kids to do in the morning when they woke up. Here are a few pictures of where that little guy showed up each day! I would usually come out to the living room/kitchen area in the morning and every.single.light would be on so they could see where he was!

The kids have been loving the snow that we got on Thursday. They have gone outside 3+ times each day and THANKFULLY they're getting better and better at getting themselves dressed. Now the problem is that Ivy wants to go out each time too and so I have to deal with a little temper tantrum each time the door closes without her! I've been super impressed with Mya this year...she lasts out there as long as Max which was not the case last year. Chris can hardly wait to get her on the slopes.

A week ago Thursday was Mya's Christmas concert at school. It was a short, but very sweet little Christmas program. We are really going to miss her preschool next year! Between Max and her, this was our 3rd year in a row. Ivy will be there soon enough though I guess. Santa made his annual appearance after the program. You can see Mya's angel wings ar still on:) Wish I would have gotten Ivy in this picture, but she had enough at this point in the evening.




We are headed out tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with both of our families. But not before we get a visit from the big man Santa! We sent him a letter in hopes that he could come to our house a little early. Hopefully he got it!

13 months

Ivy is 13 months today! I've been wanting to post some pictures of her "month" photos from months 1-12 so here goes...in reverse order!

First Snow!

It feels like forever since we've had snow. In fact, I overheard someone at church today say that it has been 277 days since the last snowfall!  I guess that is some sort of a record.  I am not a snow-lover like some other members of my family, but I have to admit, I was pretty excited to see the snow on the ground this morning. I had no idea it was coming so that added to the excitement!

The big kiddos were outside before 9am and it would have been earlier if we would have let them! Thankfully I got their new boots in the mail last week and their snow gear was all set and ready to go. Their little sis was not a happy camper when they went out without her. I need to go dig in the storage bins and see if I can find Mya's snow gear from when she was that age! Next time we'll get all three out there....

Turkey Trot 2012

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family a few weeks ago and time has totally gotten away from me since then! Unfortunately I am not the winner AGAIN this year. Sometime I WILL win this damn race fun family tradition. Tara's fiance Tony won again this year...go figure! 

2012 HUINKER THANKSGIVING TURKEY TROT

Top 10 things to remember

Tony 5:20

CJ 7:18

Pandy 7:23

Tara 8:08
Brian 8:48

Beth 8:53

Max 9:18

Popsicle 10:18

10. 1st 3 to cross the finish line were NOT the Huinker kids.  Apparently we all married/engaged "up"

9. Max started to cry on the last turn as he got passed by Brian and Beth.  He was bummed because he thought he was going to get last, but he bounced right back when he learned that he beat Grandpa Roger!! (12 times his age)

8. Speaking of Grandpa Roger - this was his 1st trot that he participated in - AND RAN THE WHOLE THING!! way to go "popsicle"!!!

7. Poor Gracie had no idea what to expect since last year she was sleeping in the car.  When Grandpa started the countdown at the beginning of the race, everyone pushed off their runners block while Grace stood there in tears not knowing what to do. She stayed back for awhile with Ivy, but eventually warmed up to the idea!!

6. The besties, Mya and Olivia were inseparable during much of the race.  This meant holding hands for nearly 3 laps.  Tara was able to run behind them for a short while, capturing video - and caught Mya telling Olivia "I feel like I'm going to die" on the 3rd lap. That we all did, Mya. I predict these two will have official times next year and it will most likely be the exact same:)

5. Brian was NOT a happy participant when the tradition was tweaked a bit this year.  Instead of running AFTER lunch, we decided to run BEFORE, due to nap schedules.  By him not throwing up on lap 2, we're hopeful he will consider making this a permanent change. 

4. Tony took off running as fast as he could right out of the gate.  Unfortunately for the rest of the runners, he continued at that pace for the 2nd lap, 3rd lap, and the 4th lap as well - never minding the mental torture he put the others through when he lapped them.  

3. Coming off a pretty strict and impressive 1/2 marathon training program, Chris and Amanda both finished with respectable times.  Amanda did get beat by Chris - which I'm thinking will be quite the motivator for next year - but my prediction is that Grandpa "Popsicle" will secretly train all year and blow everyone away.

2. Beth and Tara were proud to finish, enjoyed watching the kids, hated getting lapped, and needed a drink ASAP after the race.

1. In summary, no one threw up, all runners had a smile on their face within 5 minutes of finishing, Grandma "Patski" was a proud supporter/photographer/babysitter/nose-wiper, and we are blessed once again with great memories of the Huinker Thanksgiving Turkey Trot.

..... til next year.

The Crew 2012! 

These two besties ran 3+ laps holding hands:) Pretty much the cutest thing ever! 

basement organization

Our basement playroom/family room/office/laundry room has been driving me nuts lately! There are clothes piled way too high on the ironing board, the toys are taking over the entire room so you can't sit down to watch TV without sitting on a lego creation or a Wii remote and there is no room to do any office type work on our current desk! Everything is changing starting with some toy organization! My sister and her fiance (yes..I said fiance! more on that soon:) came down last week for a couple of days and Tony and Chris built this little closet-maid organizational unit for toys, dress up clothes, games, puzzles, etc. All of this was in bins on the floor before this and just having it up off of the floor has made the biggest difference in the world. Sometimes I just stare at it for a few minutes because it makes me so happy!

The dress-up clothes are hung now (the kids can't quite figure out how to hang them back up after they're done playing, but they'll get it soon) The two drawers contain all of the dress-up accessories like masks, shoes, eye patches, hats, boas, fairy wings, necklaces and other jewelry, wigs, etc. The puzzles, games and musical instruments are up high enough that they have to get an adult if they want to play which is just the way I want it!

We are getting a hand-me-down desk from my parents that used to be a big office desk at my dad's bank (so you can imagine how big it is) and I'm crossing my fingers that Santa says I can get a new couch in 2013! With some window treatments and some new paint on the walls that doesn't show every.single.fingerprint we will have a whole new basement! I'll be sure to post pictures along the way! 

Ivy's 1st - Dad's post

I think that the “first year” for all three kids has gone quicker with each one. Maybe it is the fact that there was only one commanding 100% of two adults at once, then two where it was a bit more difficult but we could at least split the duties and now with three it’s sometimes just about survival. I say that likes it’s a real thing – survival in our fortunate world is staying calm and hoping for a full night of sleep. It was a blessing to get a girl after Max; everything was new all over again in a totally different way (as I suspect will continue the rest of our lives…). With Ivy, it’s interesting seeing similarities in her from both our other two. That being said, there’s a lot of Mya in her. I took the blog I wrote for Mya when she turned one and added some commentary for Ivy in red italics after it below…

Daddy's Little Girl... 1 year old already. She can drive me crazy one second and melt me with her smile or kiss the next. Riding in cars and her knack for liking to see us multiple times in the middle of the night are the only things I would wish to change. Ivy is a bit more into her mom than I remember Mya being at this stage. Don’t get me wrong, she still melts my heart in the exact same way when she buries her head on my chest and rests, but she definitely prefers Beth… She’s better at riding in cars – possibly because of the entertainment of the other two rug rats.

I couldn't ask that she be any less determined. Like when she gets the idea in her head that diving into Chloe's water dish and spilling it everywhere would be such fun and will literally climb over, under and around me 20 times trying to get there until I finally give in and just put her dish on the counter. That determination and perseverance will serve her well when she is older. Chloe has provided enough blog time to go around, and her dish and Ivy are best friends just like it was for both Max and Mya – it’s like a tractor-beam! Constant clean-up! Overall, she is every bit as determined and stubborn as Mya was.

I couldn't ask her to be any less daring. Like when she decides to dive head first off the couch, climb a flight of stairs before she can really crawl or actually enjoy being tossed up in the air as high as I am comfortable letting her leave my arms. She is learning that taking chances with uncertain outcomes is an important part of life. Daring is the key likeness here but in a different way. Ivy will climb anything and everything. She’ll get on a chair and start rocking back and forth like she’s trying to get it to move. She also likes tosses into the air, but is a bit more gun-shy about letting go all the way.

I couldn't ask her to be any less caring. Sure, she treats her "baby" like a ragdoll and will chase Max around trying to take him down, but she also hugs that baby like it needs it and gives her brother nice big kisses from time to time. As for me, nowadays she is the first one scurrying to the door to greet me when I get home from work and she gives great hugs. She is a fun loving person and people are attracted to that! Here’s the best part – Ivy is now my #1 fan when I get home. Mya is a close 2nd in terms of showing excitement when I walk in the door. Chloe doesn’t count or she’d always win out. Max – usually he’s playing with his friends and depressingly enough I am rather invisible in those instances – my coolness must be fading with each passing year. Beth? Depends on if it was another night of telling her I’d be home 45 minutes ago… Ivy is WAY more into people than either of the other two, and we thought at the times that they were ultra-social. Ivy takes it to a whole new level with real people; she hasn’t shown an interest yet for dolls. When that time comes, I hope Mya is nice enough to share one of her 356 babies in the house. Last thing – Ivy is very caring and very protective of her siblings. When I am wrestling with Max and Mya and they yell at all, Ivy starts screaming and runs over to us and starts smacking me. Almost the same reaction we used to get out of Chloe when she thought I was actually hurting the kids – innate protective instincts.

You can learn a lot about someone in a year. It's been fun seeing her explore and learn new things every day. She can be a real pistle, but it's hard to not smile even then. AMEN… Love her and am thankful every day for all the love and life. Now where is that remote and what is that in her mouth this time!?!?

Happy 1st Birthday Ivy!

Dear Ivy,

Happy Birthday to our sweet baby girl! One year ago today you made us a family of 5! This year has flown by, but I've tried so hard to enjoy every moment of it. You have brought so much joy to our lives and we feel blessed to be your parents.

You still haven't slept through the night, but I take 100% blame for that. I just can't seem to let you cry it out (even though we've tried several times) and when it takes me less than 5 minutes to be back in my bed and sleeping it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I try not to complain about being tired and I'm careful who I tell that you're not sleeping through the night or else I get lectured about how you don't need to be eating in the night:)

You are such a lover. You will go up to any adult in the room and hold your hands out to be picked up. Sometimes you put your head down on their shoulder and it just melts hearts. Most people think they are your favorite and I don't have the heart to tell them that you do that to everyone! At Mya's field trip the other day, you went up to the DNR lady who was leading the field trip and she carried you around for awhile! I hope you can always bring smiles to the faces of others.

Now for some stats and other tidbits...you weigh just over 20 pounds, wear size 4 shoes, size 3 diapers, wearing 12-18 month clothes, take 2 naps a day..one longer one and one shorter one, go to bed around 7, have 6 teeth that are through and two more on the bottom that are just about ready to pop through. You love your purple blanket with the silk around the edges, like the pacifier at bedtime and in the car, but could take it or leave it the rest of the day, can sign "all done" and "more" even though I'm pretty sure your "all done" just means GET ME OUT OF THIS HIGHCHAIR, you hate being contained, are starting to throw tantrums when things get taken away from you, you prefer to read books by yourself instead of letting me read them to you, you love to be sung to and I can tell you're trying to do some actions with the songs, you have very little hair, but it is coming in a bit darker than Mya's, you hate when Chloe barks and when I put the shade up in the morning in your dark, dark room.

We've only had to call Poison Control once and you've had Chloe's food in your mouth several times, but I don't think you've actually ingested it yet. Her water dish is your favorite toy behind my cell phone, the remote control and the kids' backpacks. You love to carry around bags, backpacks and purses through the house. It's a tad annoying when the bus is here and we can't find Max's backpack because you put it somewhere! You take your socks off every chance you get, you really dislike things on your head and you've had a very difficult time adjusting to daylight savings time ending.

I'm really going to miss the baby stage. Can't believe I just wrote that because prior to you I was not really a baby person. Either you were so much easier or I finally figured it out after two other kiddos:) The newness of having a baby has not worn off yet with your brother and sister. They are still equally excited to see you every morning when I get you out of your crib as they were when you were a newborn and your big sister still asks countless times per day if she can hold you. They can't get enough of you (except when you wreck their Legos) and I hope it stays like that forever. I'm so happy you're the one who was picked to be in our family...we love you Ivy Anne!

11/11/11

11/11/12

playing catch up

Things are getting back to normal around here and I wanted to write a little bit about our Halloween activities! A couple weekends ago we went to the local pumpkin patch and had a lot of fun. It was the day after a big rain storm so we were all pretty muddy by the time we left, but the kids loved running through the corn maze and running through the pumpkin patch trying to pick out the perfect pumpkin! Ivy is starting to become a little pistol when we go places. She's not content to sit in the stroller or in your lap. She wants down all the time and wants to eat random things too!

I'm loving all of the hand-me-downs Ivy is wearing of Mya's these days. It's so fun to remember Mya in the clothes and tell her about how it was her shirt when she was little. Here's Mya at the pumpkin patch in 2009 in the same shirt Ivy wore in 2012:)

Max and Mya had a great time trick-or-treating once again. They filled their pumpkins and had a blast counting the pieces when they got home! Chris reported that Mya got really scared at one house and that it took her awhile to get back at it, but eventually she did! Max was a GI Joe Ninja, Mya was Sleeping Beauty and Ivy was some sort of blue horned monster! My mom got that constume for Max when he was 18 months and it was so warm (and cute) that we decided to put Ivy in it as well!

Grandma Grady

The world lost another great lady today. It was just over a year ago that I wrote about losing Chris's grandma and today my Grandma Millie joined Bev in Heaven. This woman was made of steel and more than once I've prayed that I got her genes. She has made it through so much and today she decided enough was enough and went to be with God.

I have so many memories streaming through my head tonight. She always called when she missed "the little poopsies" (Max, Mya and Ivy:) and wanted to know what they were up to. No matter what I said they were doing, she'd pause and I could visualize her shaking her head and she'd say.."I tell ya...those kids are so darn smart! How did he/she know that!" She was always so concerned about Chris and his travels. He doesn't leave the country that much, but since he did quite a bit of traveling a few years back, she still had it in her head that he was always someplace exotic! Once in awhile I would call and she'd be in the restroom, but would still answer her cell phone! I always got a kick out of that:) Never wanted to miss a call from a loved one, so she'd put it in the pocket of her walker and took it everywhere!

She didn't have a lot, but always remembered my kids at Christmas with a $2 bill and a book. The best thing about the books was that she always signed her name and wrote a little note. When Max turned 1 she bought him a firetruck book that we still read and each time we look at the front page and see her handwriting, we think of Grandma Millie. She does not have an elementary ed background, but she sure knew how to pick the books. Many of the kids' favorites are from her.

She was an awesome secret-keeper. She was the first person (after Chris) that I told I was pregnant with Ivy. I just knew she would be so happy to hear the news and I couldn't wait to share it with her. She loved to talk to me about the deals at the grocery store. When she moved into assisted living and then the nursing home, I think grocery shopping is what she missed the most. She would call and tell me about the deal they're having at Fareway on butter and chicken. "Bethy...chicken is $.39/pound!" or something like that. She also loved to help me with my cooking/baking questions and always made me feel better about my inabilities by telling me her mom used to have to come out to the farm to roll out her pie crusts. If only rolling out pie crusts were my only problem....:)

The picture below is the first picture to appear on my blog. We have some newer ones than this of Grandma, but I thought it would be neat to include the picture I posted on my first blog post of her with 5 of her Great-Grandchildren in the fall of 2008:)

My Grandma was a CNN fanatic. She knew what was going on at all times. She was an avid democrat and one of the last things she did before she died was to make sure she got her vote cast for this year's election. So tonight, I am proudly wearing my Obama/Biden shirt to bed in her memory.

Love you Grandma...I'm so happy to have you looking over us from above tonight. I can picture you in your rocking chair flipping back and forth between an old western and the news while drinking a strong cup of coffee:)

Chloe Joanne Hoden--8 years old!

Our dog turned 8 yesterday. I haven't written about her in awhile so it's time for the annual update!

Chloe had kind of a tough week last week. She had a sty on her right eyelid that was growing quite rapidly so we had to get it surgically removed. The vet played the surgery down big time and told me it was no big deal so I went ahead and scheduled it when Chris was out of town. Big mistake! The day she had surgery everything was fine, but the next day she went crazy trying to scratch out her stitches! I had to go back to the vet and get one of those cones which she hated of course and she ended up wearing that for 3 days until it healed up a bit. I knew immediately when she was back to normal, because she ate a sippy cup in the living room while the cone was still on!

She continues to drive me crazy several times a day. We worked hard on training her last winter and then when she got really good, we sort of backed off and now she's getting bad again! The trainers totally warned me of this, so I need to go back to square one with her and start again. The biggest problem is her jumping on the counter and stealing food.

My saving grace is the car. She loves the car. I don't particularly love her growling/barking at me to go in the car, but whatever I guess. She rides with us every day to preschool, running errands, etc. Once in awhile we take Max to school and the ladies who help him out of the car absolutely love her. They want me to roll the window down so they can pet her and tell me how well behaved she is, etc. I get several other comments from people when I'm out about how well mannered she is. My car is full of dog hair, but other than that, I really don't mind her riding along. She's happy and it's not really a bother to me.

In some ways I can see her settling down a bit which is kind of nice. The other day she was in the car with her head on the arm rest. I opened the window for her to stick her head out and she didn't even get up! I ended up having to roll the window all the way down and she stuck her head up on the window to get the fresh air. L-A-Z-Y!!

She doesn't get many walks, but loves to run in the yard with the kids and Chris. Ivy loves her (and by loves her I mean loves to pull her tail, her hair, her ears, her nose, and feed her food!) Chloe doesn't even flinch....for that we feel very blessed. Most nights Chloe sleeps on the floor either in front of Ivy's crib or in Max and Mya's room. Besides the occasional puppy dream that wake the kiddos, there never seems to be an issue with her in their rooms. With Max and Mya both being slightly allergic to dogs, we are supposed to keep her out of their room as much as we can. In order to do that, we'd have to put Chloe in a crate or close the kids' door completely and they would freak if we did that! So we put a high powered air filter in their room instead. So far it doesn't seem to cause any issues, so we'll continue this way until there are problems.

Yesterday I was out of town so Chris took the kids and Chloe on their annual trip to PetCo to let Chloe pick out a toy and get her loaded up on some treats. They had a great time doing this and bought so much that the check-out person had to help Chris out to the car:)

All in all...as much grief as she causes me, she's a pretty darn good dog and I wouldn't trade her for any other. My friend Marie (the anti-dog lover) can even tolerate her so I know she's good stuff:)

DWTS--Mya style

On Wednesday afternoons the last few weeks, Mya and I have enjoyed Ivy's nap time by watching Monday and Tuesday's episodes of Dancing with the Stars together! She is in tap/ballet this fall and absolutely loves it. They had open viewing for parents a couple of weeks ago so Chris and I went to see what this dance thing was all about and we're still not really sure! It doesn't really matter though because Mya loves every minute of it.

Anyway...back to Dancing with the Stars. Each week it starts with her sitting by me on the couch and it ends with her in total dancing get-up, striking poses and watching herself dance in the reflection of the fireplace glass! Today her outfit consisted of 2 skirts...one on top and one on the bottom! She has also been obsessed with getting her ears pierced lately so you will notice that she has my earrings in her ears...pretending that she has her ears pierced:) We're working on her daddy to allow her to get them pierced, but he's not budging!

I've mentioned this before, but one of my favorite things about Mya is her ability to pull off girly-girl and tomboy all at the same time. Last night before dance class, the neighbor came to the door to see if she and Max could play. So out they went shooting baskets. Mya was playing ball in her leotard with a tu-tu! Wish I would have snapped a pic!