Olympics 2014

We've really been enjoying the Winter Olympics this year! I admit, I don't watch any of these winter sports at any other time in my life other than the Olympics. I just love how the Olympics brings people together and everyone from the US is on the same team. I decided last week that since the next time we watch the Olympics, we will not be living in the USA, we should go all out this year!

Chris, the kids and I had our own Olympic party. I made an All-American meal...hamburgers and hot dogs, potato chips, raspberries and blueberries and for dessert and Olympic cake! I just felt like we needed to eat this meal off of paper plates. Could be because it was a classic 4th of July meal, but it just seemed right! We had a good discussion about the food and had a nice night celebrating the USA! Here are some pictures of our party.

(Ivy helping me bake the cake)

(the candle represents the torch!)


Also, I wanted to attach a link to this article I read that someone posted on facebook. I was totally guilty of joining in the "bashing sochi" trend that was going on with all of the news about how bad conditions are in Russia. I thought this article was a really good one. It made me think about how these people have to live with these conditions day in and day out. We (westerners) are having to deal with it for a few weeks and then get to come home to clean drinking water and toilets that flush every single day. You can read the article here if you're interested.

Go Team USA!!

Ears are pierced!

After months of trying to hold her off, we gave in and let Mya get her ears pierced! She successfully completed the 10 day challenge of not getting up after she was tucked in and also not getting up in the night. (only wet the bed once...oops, my bad for not telling her she could get up to use the bathroom!!)

I took her to Claire's tonight to get them pierced. She wasn't nervous at all, despite Max's best efforts to scare her before we left. I highly recommend you don't get your daughter's ears pierced until she reallllly wants them. That way there will be no whining or crying about it! She sat there in the chair like a champ and didn't even blink. She had a smile on her face for at least an hour and a half afterwards:)

The best comment was in the car on the way home. I was telling her that I was starving and that we were having tacos for dinner. At first she said, "yummy! I love tacos!" and then she quickly held up and said, "but what if I get tacos on my ears pierced?" It was pretty cute because it was basically the only thing on her mind. We have to clean them 3X/day for 6 weeks so I'll let you know how that goes!

one photo a day 2014

Some friends of mine here in Dubuque and I have decided to do an instagram challenge and take one photo a day this year. If you don't know what instagram is...don't worry. You don't need to. It's just another social media time waster! But I do love it...It's fun to see pics of my friends and family and it's not nearly as overwhelming as Facebook! In case you really want to be on instagram, you can follow me at bhoden:) I'm going to try to post my daily photos at the end of the month here on the blog so those of you who don't want to join instagram (namely...grandparents) can still see what we're up to! And if you do follow me on instagram...you do not need to read this post! Here goes...



Day 1: the day I drove on the "wrong" side of the road in Japan
Day 2: Spent the afternoon on the beach of the South China Sea!
Day 3: Visited my brother-in-law Tony at work on Camp Hanson
Day 4: Ate the very best sushi I've ever eaten. So badly wanted to bring it home for some of my sushi loving friends!



Day 5: the last full day with my sister in Japan! What an awesome trip we had!!
Day 6: Home sweet home to my loves. My littlest love was already in bed:)
Day 7: Max trying to master the art of chopsticks
Day 8: As I went through my phone at night seeing if I took any pictures that day, I found about 50 selfies that Ivy took that I didn't even know about.



Day 9: I went in to check on the kids and Max made himself a bed on the floor. (they do it a lot)
Day 10: I got fooled by Mya and took her into the doctor for a strep test. Turns out..she didn't want to eat school lunch so she told her teacher her throat hurt! And after 2 positive tests in the last couple of months, I went straight to the doctor.
Day 11: Some serious pre-game layups for Maxwell
Day 12: A bedtime time out for Ivy. Can't remember why, but probably because she wouldn't stop kicking me while I was getting her pajamas on or something like that:)



Day 13: I told Ivy to say cheese and this is what I got.
Day 14: Ski lesson....brrr! All of their ski lessons this year were such cold nights.
Day 15: A rare heat wave in Edmonton
Day 16: My hubby is home! It was a long week with him gone so we enjoyed a night of wine and dvr:)



Day 17: Ivy sound asleep...I love watching my kids sleep.
Day 18: Happy half birthday to Mya Pat!
Day 19: We went to see Clifford the Big Red Dog at the museum. Ivy was all about it until it was time to go see him! Guess Disney is a few years out...
Day 20: Chris was off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we went sledding.



Day 21: I got to watch the last few minutes of ski lessons and I was pretty impressed
Day 22: Just my crew hanging out after dinner
Day 23: Ivy was yelling for me and I found her like this on the steps. Couldn't resist the pic
Day 24: Loving up on baby Clara!



Day 25: Happy 4th Birthday Gracie!
Day 26: A long drive home in the blowing snow from Decorah. We made it in the nick of time!
Day 27: a Marine dude? A ninja? A boy scout? maybe all of the above:)
Day 28: Ivy's favorite activity these days..playing in the sink!



Day 29: Fun at Jumpin Janes!
Day 30: I had to run out to the garage quick while Ivy was in the tub so I asked Max if he could come in the bathroom and sit with her for a minute and when I came back, he was in the tub!
Day 31: All three kids plus me had dental appointments at 7:30am! Clearly I made that appt. before I knew Chris would be out of town:)

Some thoughts as I end the first month...

1. there are going to be a lot more pictures of Ivy than the other kids! (due to the amount of time I spend with her each day vs. the other two!)
2. If you ever see pictures of my kids sleeping, you'll know I didn't take any pics that day and when it came time to go to bed, I realized I hadn't posted a photo of the day and thus...a sleeping child:) Also if you ever see pics of my dog, you'll know the same thing occured.
3. It's going to be hard to remember what day it is once January ends!
4. I have loved seeing my other friends' photos of the day. Just a little peek into their daily lives. It will especially be great when we move and I don't get to see them regularly!

Polar Vortex

It has been so so cold around here! No school for the kids yesterday and today. They're doing pretty well, but getting some cabin fever too. A friend of mine and I were talking last night and it's just a shame that our kids can't even go out and play on their snow days. Usually when they get a snow day, we don't see them all day because they're out building igloos, snowmen and sledding up a storm. We're already up to 5 snow days..really hoping for no more. I don't want them going to school until the end of June! Here's a pic of my crazies...



Chris left today for Edmonton for the week and he texted me a picture of his car on his way to the Moline airport. Check out the temp....



Saturday we went up to Decorah for my niece's 4th birthday and my nephew's baptism. It was fun to see everyone and to get to celebrate those two events! We went swimming for Grace's party and then had pizza and cupcakes afterwards. I felt like I took a bunch of pictures this weekend, but then realized it was with my sister in law's camera! So I don't have many pictures to share. Of course we are always missing Tara and Tony when we're all together so I decided to FaceTime Tara while we were about to sing Happy Birthday to Grace. She had just FaceTimed me earlier in the evening so I just went to my recent calls and clicked it. Turns out...they have their ipad and Tony's phone hooked up to the same account. So when I called and Tara wasn't home, it rang Tony's phone and he answered! Maybe that doesn't seem strange to you, but he was on mainland Japan leading a 94 truck convoy and he answered my facetime call! Unfortunately, the connection wasn't that great and we got cut off soon after he answered, but we got quite a few laughs from that one. I talked to Tara later and she said Tony thought it was hilarious:)



The trip home from Decorah wasn't great, but it wasn't the worst ever. There was quite a bit of snow blowing and roads that were becoming partially covered with drifts. We took it nice and slow. We drove on all the main roads too which made for a longer trip, but a much safer one too. We think we made it home with about 20 minutes to spare before the big winds came up and there were white out conditions. I couldn't see our neighobr's house at one point. We just cozied up and watched/listened to a crazy blizzard all night long.



And one more thing....we have some good news straight out of Japan! Tara and Tony are expecting a baby this summer! We're pretty excited to find out soon whether we are going to be blessed with a new girl or boy cousin! You can pretty much guess what my kids think....Max is sure it's a boy and Mya is sure it's a girl. go figure. They told the kids awhile back and I managed to get a screen shot of Max's face over FaceTime. I wanted to share because it just brings a smile to my face whenever I come across it:)

Miss Mya is 5 1/2

Thanks to my sis-in-law Amanda, I realized we had a half birthday coming up! And a half birthday when your birthday is in the summer is kind of a big deal!

Here's what's up with our half birthday girl. She is loving kindergarten in every sense of the word. She's reading up a storm, learning to spell and not really worrying about the words that she misspells. I was kind of worried at first when she would only write the word if it was spelled right. She loves her friends, recess, lunch (when it's brought from home:) and really doesn't complain at all. (fon=fun)



She has had strep throat twice this fall/winter and we're hoping that trend does not continue. She knows how to get me to jump...telling me her throat hurts! She loves to get out of bed a lot after she has been tucked in, and to get up in the middle of the night which is quite annoying. The other night when Chris was gone she came into my room to see if she could sleep with me. I told her she could (because I was lazy) and when she turned back to go get her blanket, she walked right into the door that she closed when she walked in! It's kind of funny now, but it wasn't then:)

Mya is so so good with Ivy. They play and laugh together all the time. She can get Ivy all washed up in the bathtub and can get her dressed and her shoes on. (All of this requires Ivy's cooperation which doesn't always happen) She really wants another baby brother or sister. When I asked her why she said, "So I can take care of the zero and you can take care of Ivy." This little girl wants to be a mommy so badly! I secretly love it. That was me growing up and I love seeing how she takes care of her babies.




Miss Mya wants her ears pierced in the worst way. I was going to do it for Christmas, but then I thought we were getting her too much so I was hoping to put it off until her birthday. It appears as though that's not going to work. She has begged and pleaded and begged and pleaded some more. We decided today that if she can go to bed 10 nights without getting out of bed, she can get her ears pierced. Check back here in 10 days and I guarantee there will be a post about it! She is also into getting married. Today she told me her wedding was on Christmas so here's the outfit she pulled off...quite a diva if I do say so myself!

Holiday program at Church

I'm waaaaay behind on posts from the holidays, so here goes. More to come....just don't know when!

On Sunday December 16th, the kids had their Christmas program at church. One Sunday in early November, the children's choir director asked if anyone wanted a solo in the program. I explained to Max and Mya what a solo was and their responses were as expected. Mya: NO WAY Max: YES PLEASE.

They had a few practices and we worked with him a little at home. I have to admit, I'm not a music person and the music he was singing was not a typical Christmas song that I could hum the tune. We ended up recording Grandpa David sing it over Thanksgiving so that was a big help!

The night of the performance, he was cool as a cucumber. I was a little nervous, but that's because I wouldn't have done something like that in a million years when I was younger ever. He was the first solo of the evening and he was fantastic. The microphone didn't work and he just rolled with it. By the 3rd verse, the director forgot to cue him to come in, so he was a little late, but did great with that as well. At one point when people were scrambling trying to get the microphone to work he just shrugged his shoulders like "oh well." We were pretty proud. Here's a link to you tube so you can see it if you want.

"Good News" by Maxwell Hoden on youtube

Mya was great in the performance as well. She got to be a sheep and Max got to be a shepherd for the Christmas story and they loved that. (even though it does not appear that Mya loved it in the picture below.:) All in all...a really nice night! Thanks to Grandpa Rog, Grandma Pat and Uncle Jeff for coming to watch and helping with the crazy 2 year old in our lives:)

Okinawa!

Chris and I got back earlier this week from an absolutely wonderful trip to Okinawa to see my sister and her husband Tony. When we found out they were being placed in Japan for 3 years, we decided we had to take a trip. We decided last fall that this was as good a time as any to go because Tara had some time off of school and Tony had time off around the holidays as well.

We left Sunday December 29th from our house at 5am. We drove to Chicago and flew from Chicago to Tokyo. Then in Tokyo, we had a short layover and then flew to Okinawa and arrived at 9:05pm Monday December 30th. Crazy how that goes flying over the international dateline.

Saw this facebook post when we arrived in Tokyo:)



We were pretty tired when we arrived so it was the perfect time to go to bed! I can't explain how good it felt to give Tara a HUGE hug. I have missed her so much and just knew they needed to see some familiar faces and I was so happy it was Chris and me. We face-timed my mom and dad on the way home from the airport and there were definitely some tears of joy seeing both of their girls together in Japan!



My first thoughts....it was really strange seeing Tony get in the car to drive on the passenger side! They drive on the left side of the road in tiny, tiny cars! I was worried our luggage wouldn't fit, but it was a breeze. The 45 minute or so drive home was dark so I couldn't get a good feel for the island until the next few days. When we got to Tara's, there were USMC sweatpants and sweatshirts for us both (we affectionately called them snuggies and proceeded to wear them all week whenever we were inside!) I could write for hours here so here's the shortened version of the trip...

Tuesday: Explored around Yomitan Village (where they live), walked out to the cape, went and looked at some pottery, played lots of cards (a theme for this trip), went out for sushi (another theme) and went to bed EARLY as I felt like I got hit by a truck around 7PM from jet lag! We toasted 2014 at 9pm because we were pretty sure I would never make it to midnight!

Wednesday: Woke up to a beautiful day in Okinawa! I think Chris and I got up at 4:30am that day, but oh well! Thanks to Netflix and the coffee pot, we were good to go until Tara and Tony woke up a few hours later:) Jet lag at its best I tell ya! We hung out a bit and then went to play some tennis at a local resort. We had a great time doing some drills and getting a good work out in. Afterwards Tony dropped Tara and I off at a friends house nearby to get a bike for Tara and we biked/ran/walked back home. We got lost on the way home, but after not seeing my sister for 5 months...we had plenty to talk about until we made it home! We made sandwiches and headed to the beach for a picnic. It was so nice to feel the sun on our faces and our pale skin! The beach was beautiful...it is located on a coral reef so the color of the water was breathtaking. The water was a little cool so we never got in, but the views were unbelievable. We played cards, took a nap and soaked it all in. The rest of the day was pretty low-key and I'm pretty sure I went to bed at 8pm that night!

Thursday: Woke up to another beautiful day! Well...when I woke up it was pitch black for a few more hours until the sun came out and then we knew it was a gorgeous day! We went to Kadena (the biggest base on the island...an Air Force base) and got some more groceries, did a little shopping at the Commissary while the guys hit some balls at the driving range and drove around the base. I loved seeing the base as I really had nothing to compare it to and Tara talks about base a lot. We ate lunch at Coco Currys and headed to the beach again! We found a different spot this time that was totally tucked away and we had a great afternoon playing cards and hanging out!

Friday: Tony had to go to work Friday so Chris, Tara and I went to the beach for a couple of hours Friday morning and then we headed up the island to Camp Hansen, where Tony works. We got to see what he does every day. It's always very humbling to be on a base and see what our Armed Forces are doing for us each day. After a short tour, we headed to lunch, caught the last quarter of the Alabama/Oklahoma football game and then headed home in the rain. Tony got home early and we played more cards, ordered take-out and had a great night laughing and hanging out.

Saturday: We split up for most of Saturday. The guys went golfing on Kadena while Tara and I got manicures/pedicures. After nails, we headed to the American Village for lunch and had sushi at a place called Sushi-go-round. The name made sense once we walked in. you sit down at a bar type thing and the sushi is going around and around on a conveyor belt and you just grab what you want! The prices are based on what color plate it's on. It was delicious and my stack of plates was not small:) After sushi, we headed to Tara's school and rearranged her desks for spring semester (she's getting 3 new students) and I got a tour of her school. Tara is not a teacher by trade but what she's doing there is very admirable. The kids love her and she's doing an outstanding job with little (if any) training. After meeting back up with the guys, we hung out (probably played cards) and headed to dinner at Menomee Sushi...the best sushi I've ever had. Even Chris ate it!!!! I can't explain it, but the atmosphere was perfect (we sat on the floor with our shoes off) and the sushi...to die for.

Sunday: We had a total chill day. We did a little shopping, were planning on going to the beach but it was a bit too chilly, played lots of cards, watched some play-off football games that were airing Saturday night in the US, did laundry, packed, ate at the only place left on our list for lunch and just hung out the rest of the day. It was a great end to a great trip.

Monday: Our flight left at 12:50 so Tony left work, came to get us and drive us through incredible traffic to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time. The short flight was first, followed by the long flight to Chicago. Everything was on time and we made it home just in time for the arctic blast. I was really worried our car was not going to start, but it started right away. A nice man from the park-n-ride we were at helped get the car dug out and we were on our way. It was so good to see the kids (Max and Mya) when we got home. Ivy was already asleep...I considered waking her up, but wisely did not do it! They had several surprises for us around the house and talked a mile a minute. Thank you so much to both of our parents for coming to Dubuque to take care of the kiddos while we were gone. We couldn't have done this without you and really appreciate being able to leave and not worry about them. The kids did great, but are not ready to have us leave again anytime soon! I'm pretty sure Max grew 2 inches while we were gone and Ivy's vocabulary doubled.

Here goes the pictures!

Not cold enough for us....:)

As if the cold, arctic like days we've been having in Iowa weren't enough for us, we've decided to move to Canada! Yep...you read that right. Canada. Chris accepted a job with John Deere in Edmonton, Alberta. We're not exactly sure all of the dates on when this will take place, but most likely Chris will go in March and I will stay with the kids until school is over.

I've had some time to process this so if it seems like it's not a huge deal right now..it's because I found out it was a possibility the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Chris knew he had a meeting that morning that he thought seemed a little weird. All morning I was e-mailing him to see how the meeting was and he wouldn't email me back so I knew something was up. He got Hy-vee Chinese for us to eat quick before we hit the road to Minnesota for Thanksgiving and I barely let him in the door before I made him tell me what was up. Obviously I was shocked and completely overwhelmed instantly. An expat assignment was not something we had ever talked about. We talked about it the whole way to Minnesota, the entire Thanksgiving weekend and eventually with both of our families. It was not an easy decision at all, but we decided it was a good opportunity and to just go for it while the kids were young and flexible.

I'm a huge believer in that there is a plan for us and that we just have to figure out the signs along the way to help us get to that plan. When Chris brought home that Chinese food and we were in a hurry, we didn't get a chance to eat the fortune cookies right away. When we got home from the weekend I opened one up and here's what the fortune read. "Now is a good time to explore." It was before we told John Deere our final decision and it just was the sign I was looking for. There were others, but this was one of the big ones.



We told the kids a few weeks after Thanksgiving. At first Max laid down on the floor and started whining about missing his friends for about 10 seconds. Then he got up and said, "I'm going to go pack!" Mya and Max had tons of questions. Mya's were mostly about her stuff...could she bring this or that, etc. They asked lots of questions about whether or not it was closer to various people...Grandpas and Grandmas, Tate and Adria, Santa, etc. The only one I could answer yes to was Santa! They also asked about Chloe and we're not sure yet what we're going to do with her so that was a hard one to answer. Max asked about whether or not we have to learn a new language (answer is no...Alberta is not a French speaking province) Other things they did/said. Max asked to be home-schooled, requested a 3 story house (pretty sure he means a 2 story with a basement) and they had lots of questions about their new school which I couldn't answer yet. Mya wanted to be driven to her new school instead of taking the bus and of course I obliged. They were excited about the fact that to come back to visit, we have to take an airplane!

Now you're probably wondering...where in the heck is Edmonton??? Here you go. Western Canada...capital of Alberta.


Some other fun facts....

--Edmonton is the northernmost North American city with a population over one million.
--Edmonton is home to North America’s largest mall – the West Edmonton Mall, spanning the equivalent of 48 city blocks. It was the world’s largest mall until 2004.
--On the first day of summer Edmonton enjoys 17 hours and three minutes of daylight. --The sun rises at 5:04 and sets at 10:07. You can head out to golf 18 holes at 8pm.
--Winter is another story. The sun rises at 8:49 and sets at 4:16, providing only seven hours and 27 minutes of daylight.
--It's in the mountain time zone so one hour behind us here.
--4 hour drive to Banff National Park (in case any of you have been planning a trip there!:) Get your passports ready:)
--There are two direct flights to Minneapolis every day
--School does not get out until June 26th so that is one of the reasons I'm not going to pull the kids out mid-year. They started the middle of August so they don't need to be going until the end of June!
--They use the metric system so it will be quite a change to get used to measuring everything differently.

Dubuque has been absolutely the best place for us these past 5 years. A few people told us that Dubuque was a hard town to crack if you were not from here and we had the opposite feeling while we were here. It was the most welcoming city and we made some lifelong friends here that will be very very hard to say good-bye to. I know we were put here for a reason...to be surrounded by some of the best people for 5 years while we were going through the craziness of parenting 3 little ones. I love love living here and sincerely hope our paths cross again someday. Thank goodness for social media and free phone calls/text messages to Canada:) We are so thankful for the support of our families as well. We are less than 2 hours away from my parents here and about 5 from Chris's parents. It will take significant more time/money to come and see us now, but they have been awesome about this and I know we will make it work.

(it's a bit of a drive...and yes I did this at 5:15 am...jet lag at its best!)


For now....we still have 5 months here and lots and lots (and lots) of unanswered questions. Chris and I will go on a house-hunting trip and to look at schools sometime in the next couple of months and we'll go from there. I'm trying hard to be patient and to not be sad. There are good days, and there are some harder days too. And btw...this was my 500th post. Didn't do it on purpose, but I guess I saved a big one for #500!