Happy 6th to our Canine Companion

Chloe Jo turns 6 years old today. It's a good thing dogs have birthdays too because it forces us to pay extra special attention to them at least one day per year! Seems like before we had kids, she got lots of attention, but it has decreased exponentially each year after:) Unfortunately the winds were so strong today that she didn't even get a walk on her big day. I think Max and Mya would have blown over.

In keeping with tradition, we went to PetCo tonight to get Chloe her birthday presents. She got to look through the aisle and pick out some treats and a toy. We also had to get her some food and this time we got her Iams Low Calorie food per the vet's request. Apparently Chloe is 8 lbs overweight (aren't we all??) and won't live to her full life potential unless we get her to around 62 lbs. So...we've cut down on the amount of food we give her and we're trying to lessen the treats throughout the day.



Last year we made a cake and shared some with her, but I didn't think that was in the diet plan this year, so we changed it up a little bit. I looked up a recipe for healthy dog treats online and found one that had powdered milk in it. I don't have that, so then I looked up what I could replace the powdered milk with. I followed the Internet and it failed me miserably. The treats were a total failure and we didn't even get to use our bone-shaped-cookie-cut-out. Oh well...Chloe still got to lick out of the bowl which was probably just as good as the actual treats.



She continues to be a great dog/puppy. Yes...at 6 yrs old we still see some puppy in her on a day to day basis. She loves to chew...mostly the kids' toys, soccer balls, juice boxes, diapers, beanie babies, used napkins off your lap, and Mya's clothes that have aquafor on them:) Chloe still sleeps with Max, either on the floor or up on his bed when the weather gets cold. The big break through for Mya is that she actually calls her Chloe now instead of E-O. She's been able to say Chloe for awhile now, but I think it was a habit to call her the wrong name so it kind of stuck until we kept making her say it right. If you're interested in this year's rendition of Happy Birthday you can see video below. If you're interested in last year's...click here.

The Trip....Part 1

As Chris mentioned in the previous post, I just got home from 4 days in Arizona with my college besties celebrating all of our 30th birthdays! 7 of us were roommates senior year and have remained close since graduating. One of the 7 had to miss the trip because her hubby is a resident at the U of Michigan and they have a daughter so she couldn't get away. Otherwise, 6 of us were able to go on this trip and the best part was that no one was pregnant or breastfeeding! When we planned this trip 8 years ago we were sure we'd have a designated driver, but it was not the case!

It's going to take awhile to write about this trip, so I'm going to do it in a few installments. Here's Part 1:

I'll start with Wednesday. I had a few errands to run around Dubuque before taking off Wed evening. As I was getting some cash at the bank, I noticed that my license was NOT in my wallet! I had a minor heart attack and called my sister who is an expert at losing ID's. She just said to go get another one at the DMV and everything would be fine. So, I went to the DMV and expected to walk out with my new license. Little did I know...Iowa changed their policy on issuing licenses. They give you a slip of paper and send the real one in the mail 3 weeks later!! I again had a minor heart attack, and decided to just bring my passport. It was expired and had my maiden name on it, so I threw in my marriage certificate. Then I threw in my social security card and my birth certificate just to be safe! I REALLY wanted to go on this trip if you couldn't already tell:)

So, with my 18 forms of ID in hand, I took off for the Cedar Rapids airport with Kindel. We got there in plenty of time to have a $7.50 beer to relax my anxious stomach and were chatting with some of the other passengers at the bar. This one guy was asking where we were going. We told him Phoenix and he said..."Isn't it nice not flying into Sky Harbor?" After asking him to repeat this 2 more times, we realized we were NOT flying into the same airport as our other friends!! Who knew there were multiple airports in Phoenix:) So after a couple phone calls and lots of laughs, we sort of had a plan for how we were going to meet up with everyone.

Then, just as we were starting to board the flight, they came on the intercom and said there was a weather advisory in Phoenix and there was no guarantee that we would be able to land there. They said we would either land in Las Vegas or back in CR. Again...the only thing we could do was laugh and we got on the plane anyway.

An $80 cab ride later and we were united with our friends at the condo in Fountain Hills. Megan's parents own the condo and were so kind to let us stay there for our girls weekend. It was midnight Iowa time when we arrived, but it didn't stop us from staying up 3 more hours drinking some wine and eating Luna bars in order to catch up with everyone!

To be continued....


(halloween senior year at the happy house)

Guest Post - Time with Dad

Beth went to Arizona with her college roommates from Wed-Sat this week. I took off Thursday and Friday and we've been having a good time. Some general observations/comments about our time together:

*Turns out getting Max to pre-school by 9am wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. He didn't wake up until 8:05 and then by the time he and Mya are fed, dressed and out the door, we were already 5 minutes behind our departure time outlined by Beth in my instruction manual. Made up a few minutes on the drive and got them there just as the kids were sitting down for story time. Phew!

*Watching Mya run to give Max a big hug when we picked him up was priceless. 2 hours away from fighting like cats and dogs with each other! I don't know how they lasted that long!

*I've never beed a napper - just can't get myself to fall asleep in the middle of the day. Not like I was running all day long, but I was somehow tired enough to lay down and fall asleep. Both days... Maybe I should champion a nap time at work ala George Castanza?!

*On a windy day, it's not a safe bet that the shopping carts at Hyvee will stay stationary as you leave one kid in the seat while you go to the other side of the van to grab the other. Having a stranger look at you funny while saying "I think this is your kid that was rolling away" doesn't make you feel like #1 Dad. We high-tailed it in and out of the store before social services could make it there. Is there an easy way to do this maneuver when you are by yourself?!

*My biggest fights with Mya were over her pajamas. It drove me nuts that she would keep going in her drawer, pulling off what she had on for clothes and putting on a new "princess" gown. It was cold out! No - you can't wear pajamas outside! She might have put on 8 different sets of PJ's in one day and I was close to moving the dresser outside.

*Crisis averted - the red blotch on Mya's head was not a cut needing stitches which I had no idea how it got there - just self-inflicted marker stain.

*Halloween parade in Asbury at night wasn't all I thought it would be. The crowd was light which was good, but you couldn't see any of the candy on the ground or the floats going by because it was dark! My idea to slap those glow sticks on the kids helped big time in keeping track of them in their quests to fill their McDonalds buckets with candy. Next year we will bring flashlights and hopefully Mya won't be scared to death of the Culvers ice cream cone man. Here's a pic of some halloween gear that Grandma and Grandpa Hoden sent down:

















*Max says the darndest things. I can't keep track of them all but here's one of my favorites from Saturday football today. While watching the Ohio State Purdue game...
Announcer: “Touchdown Ohio State!”
Max: “Touchdown Iowa Steak! Daddy, Jake hates Iowa Steak”.

*Jumpin Janes is a pretty cool place to take the kids - my only rule is that it's during a weekday when all schools are in session. You get almost the whole place to yourself that way. I sat down on a table right in the middle, fired up the laptop and was able to work through a few emails, all while the kids ran from one place to another. Good way to spend 2 hours and surprisingly, the kids were the ones who wanted to get going.


All in all, we had a pretty good time together. That being said, I am very happy to get my wife back tonight. It's interesting how I always felt we complimented each other well, and how now I see the same dynamic playing out with our parenting.

pretty good start

Max has finally become interested in letters! I have to be careful about how I try to teach him because when he senses that he's "learning" he puts his hands over his ears! no joke. So, we have been doing letters gradually. One of the best stories is when we pulled up to Target one day I asked him what letter it started with and he said O. Now...O and T are actually letters he knew at this time (Tara and Olivia) so I was confused. When I looked up, I realized he was talking about the actual "target" and not the first letter in the name!


Anyway...I've been working a little bit with him on writing his name and here's a picture of what it looks like. I tried drawing boxes so he would write the letters in the order they should go and in a straight line and I got the hands to the ears, so I'm going to be happy with this:)

Surprise Visitor

We had a surprise visitor today at our house! Well, I knew she was coming, but the kids did not. Can you tell who it was?




It was Auntie Tara! My sister just got back from 3 weeks in Europe and wanted to see the kids, so she came down for the day and surprised them all dressed up. Max was a little leary, but maintained a smile on his face the whole time. Mya...she was so scared she screamed and hung onto me like a monkey and wouldn't even look at Tara! As soon as she took the glasses and hair off, Mya smiled and ran to her. I was surprised she didn't hold it against her!

Fun Fall Weekend

We were a busy crew around here this weekend! My brother and sister-in-law came for the weekend with my nieces Olivia and Grace. We had a great time watching the kids play so well together. Olivia and Mya didn't separate for much more than to sleep..they were pretty much 2 peas in a pod. Hopefully once Gracie gets a little bigger, Max and her can be buddies and team up against Olivia and Mya:) Not a lot of sounds better than 2 giggling little girls.




Saturday morning Amanda and I took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch. For being close to lunch and naps, they all did great. We tried to get a picture of the 4 of them, but it was quite difficult with 2 -2 year olds and an 8 month old who wanted to eat the leaves insted of look up at the camera. We did what we could. The kids enjoyed the bouncy house and playing in the pool full of corn as well as the tractor ride out to the field with all the pumpkins.







Sunday we went to Cedar Falls to see our friends new baby! Baby Troy was born on Wednesday so he was pretty new:) Tate and Adria are being great big brother and sister. Mya was somewhat interested in him, and Max didn't care at all. He was there to play with Tate and nobody was going to get in his way!




We were all totally exhausted at the end of the day Sunday. Max fell asleep watching the Vikings game and Chris and I were in bed around 8:00pm!

Indian Summer Picnic

For most of you living in the midwest, we have had unseasonably beautiful, warm weather these last few weeks. I even caught myself last week wishing it were cooler! I quickly took it back:) It's just that I had to go back out into the storage garage and get Mya's summer clothes that I had already put away!

Today the kids found their lunch boxes in a closet and immediately went into panic mode begging to have a picnic lunch. I decided the back yard would be just as good as a park, so that's what we did!





Our garden is still producing which has been great. I replanted a few things (onions, radishes, lettuce) and the tomato and pepper plants are still going strong!

(please excuse the runny nose. Although the weather has been great, I'm still wiping snot every 2 seconds)


On a side note...our weed ditching lot is now being taken over by 2 houses:( We love neighbors, but we also love empty lots so we can use it to throw all of our yard waste, weeds, etc.! Max loved to dig in that lot last spring before it got overgrown with weeds, so we'll definitely miss that as well. The positive is that the kids have loved watching these houses go up and so has their dad:)

The college years

This past weekend was Chris's 10 year class reunion at our alma mater Luther College. I know most people who had good experiences in college think their college is the best, but we truly feel that Luther is the best out there. My parents very generously let their favorite son-in-law invite his friends to stay at their house and they came down to Dubuque along with my cousin Kelsey to watch Max and Mya. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that no lamps would be broken so they'd do the same for me in 2 years! I'm happy to report nothing was broken or even out of place:)

Since my parents still live in Decorah and I have a brother who coaches at Luther, we get to see campus all the time. It was really fun to see Chris's classmates and their wives see how things have changed in the past 5-10 years. It was also fun to show them the town and some of the new establishments. We of course took in some of the old establishments as well..T-Bocks, Whippy Dip, Mabes, Roscoes... :) For those unfamiliar...Roscoes is the hole in the wall bar that they somehow are allowed to let 19 year olds in that we attended regularly back in the day. The $1 cover charge has been upped to $3. When I told the bouncer collecting my money that it was a crock that I pay that much he quickly reminded me that tuition is now approaching $40,000 per year and I quickly shut my mouth about the $3 cover.

One of the other highlights of Roscoes was that I bumped into a few of my all time favorite students from my teaching days at Pleasant Valley. A couple of the girls were ones Chris and I coached in AAU volleyball for 2 years and when we saw them they were seriously speechless! The 7th graders with braces and glasses are now sophomores at Luther and wearing dresses and high-heels to roscoes!! As surprised as we were to see them grown up, they were just as surprised to see us in that place! We tried to buy them a beer, but they weren't 21 yet and the cops are a little busier these days than they were 10 years ago.

The weekend was a blast and I really enjoyed hanging out and catching up with our friends who made the trip! Here's a picture of all the boys!

Go Twins!

The Minnesota Twins start their playoff run tonight against the Yankees. We're pretty excited about it because down here in Iowa, we get to see something like 15 games per year on TV....and they are all against the Chicago White Sox. Chris is a superfan and "watches" them online, but I can't seem to get into that. Now that they are in the playoffs and are playing the Yankees..they will be on primetime for every game so we can watch! So today we dressed in our Twins shirts to show some support. On the way to a playdate Max was asking me about why we were wearing the shirts. I started telling him about how we were playing the Yankees and without prompting, he started saying that he didn't like the Yankees! I had to pull over and get it on video. So...we are at a stop sign during this video:)

Updates

I'm feeling like the grandparents need an update on the kiddos around here, so I thought I'd give it a go!

Max: He's still doing awesome at preschool. His tummy happens to hurt each morning right when he wakes up, but then it disappears as the morning goes on. He has a job each day at school and that has been his favorite part by far. His jobs have consisted of weatherman, napkin passer-outer, bell ringer, and today he brought snacks so he got to pass them out. When it is your turn to bring snack, you also get to bring something for show-and-tell. Chris and I had lots of good ideas for him, but he wanted to bring his McDonalds batman toy. He is growing more and more comfortable each day with the whole idea. The first two days he wouldn't go to the bathroom at school. Now...he talks about multiple trips to the bathroom. I found out why today....the kids go to the bathroom in the 4/5 year old rooom across the hall and they have class pets so Max gets to see them while going to the bathroom!! Hopefully our talk on the way home today put the kabosh to that:)

He seems like such a big boy lately. His rail is off his bed and he says he has only fallen out once and it was when he was reaching down to pet Chloe on the floor. He is really into making people feel good. Tells us multiple times a day that he loves us and that the food we made was delicious. That doesn't get old. He wants me to tell him the story about when he was born every night before going to bed. That doesn't get old either to tell you the truth.

Max has decided that getting the mail everyday is a pretty cool thing. He knows what his name looks like so he can pick something out for him right away. Packages are his best friend. Each time the doorbell rings he wonders if it's the package man! Getting the mail is also one of Chris's favorite things, so he has had to give it up to Max, but I think he's okay with it:) Below is a picture of him trying to figure out how to open a package with his scissors.



Mya: Still having baby fever. She's obsessed with her babies and I honestly don't think the child could have too many. Recently Grandma Bev (Chris's Grandma) sent her a double stroller in the mail and she was in heaven. I even put it together because we got it in the mail at 10am. For those of you who know me well..that is a really big deal.




She's doing great on the potty if you count going by herself and then wiping herself, and dumping the potty chair into the toilet by herself great. I'm not so sure. I don't think they make enough Clorox bleach for my bathroom. She still wears diapers at nap and night, but now she's into taking off her pants and diaper and then going to the bathroom in the crib. Let's just say she wakes up many mornings and is put directly into the tub without even a good morning hug.

Mya is awesome at playing by herself - far better than Max. Often when she's too quiet I go running looking for her and she's just sitting in her room reading books or blow-drying her My Little Pony's hair like she was today when I was sure she was up to no good. She has learned to pedal her bike so that is usually the first thing she asks to do in the morning. We park our cars in the driveway and she bikes in the garage most of the day if I need to get things done inside or if it is raining. At 2 years and 2 months she finally started watching TV! 15 minutes of Curious George or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is about all I can get, but I'll take it.



Me: I took an awesome camera class last weekend. Chris gave me a nice digital SLR camera for my birthday last year so I've had it for a year and a half and after taking this class realized that I knew about 5% of what the camera can do. I went in knowing the terminology, but I had no idea how to use it all. Now I feel like I could take a picture of anything....whether they're standing still or moving, daylight or at night.

Chris: We sold our van last week so he has been doing lots of research for a new one. It has been a pain to only have one car, but thankfully we have a few people in our neighborhood who work for John Deere so he has been able to catch some rides. Hopefully we'll have a new one soon! I miss the sliding doors like crazy:)

That's all I can think of for now! Have a good rest of the week everyone.