Latest and Greatest

So....it dawns on me this week that I have turned into a terrible blogger/journalist on everything thats going on...whether its extremely boring or not. I used to look forward to updating the blog EVERY stinkin' day..... once upon a time. But I'm determined not to give up on the fantasy.....so here we go.

Miss Petunia - Healthy this week. Yay. At least by my standards.
Its her babysitter who "called in" sick on Monday (and is fighting the funk Petunia had last month.) So, Petunia got to hang out with daddy at home on Monday. Or I should say she ran errands with daddy and was dead tired by end of the day when I got home.
Petunia turned 18 months last month which meant she can officially go into the nursery at church. I have been longing for this day for MONTHS. But now I find myself in the nursery with her....not wanting to be away from her.....and because she has a bit of an anger management problem. She likes to swat, hit, scratch, poke, pull hair...and occasionally bite.
Its so hard to figure out how to discipline her when she does these things. Its really frustrating. Last night after she pulled my hair for the second time I put her in her crib for 5 minutes. She was so angry with me when I took her out she ignored me until bedtime.
Fabulous.
I look at this girl every day and wonder how the heck she is mine. The girl (my ONLY girl) is a clone of her father.
Good thing he's pretty cute.

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Tubbs and Bubba have started swim practice at a local swim club.
We are trying to get them some extra, individual help with their swim strokes before the summer swim season starts in May. I am hoping they feel confidant enough to swim the breast stroke and the butterfly this summer at the swim meets.
Their practices are twice a week for 40 minutes....and since the pool is indoors, its heated. The boys love that.
If I am going to sit in the 100 degree heat all day on Saturday I want these boys to look GOOD...and make it worth my wild! (Yes---I'm so selfish!)

The boys have been ADDICTED to everything Pokeman.
I am not quite sure how Bubba was smart enough to figure out how to get on YouTube and find videos on how to do "stuff" with his Pokeman on his Nintendo DSi....but yet he still can't figure out how to zip up his pants before he leaves the house each morning. It really has me intrigued. I don't know anything about Pokeman or their card games/video games, but whoever created it has Bubba and Tubbs itching for more. Bubba had some birthday money left over and he spent it on this $20 Pokeman guide for one of his DSi games. The boy is dedicated to defeating he game I guess....however that happens.
When I was a kid, "Super Mario Brothers" was the rage...but there was only one game for it....and we played it over and over and over.
Until we saved the princess on level 8.
Good times.

(I am pretty sure Petunia can eat a chocolate chip muffin without getting it all over herself...unlike these two)

Some of my homemade hot cocoa on a cold, rainy evening
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We got Petunia a new bike seat for Luke's bike so now she doesn't have to ride in the bike trailer or in a stroller. She loves her new helmet and picked it out herself. I have Spring fever really bad and I cannot wait until the weather stops toying with me so we can do more activities outdoors together as a family.

Luke has been working on Jeep projects for the past month or so. I think he is about done...with this round. He got some gift certificates for his birthday and Christmas so he finally was able to purchase the items he really wanted; Some new crusher corners, rear lights, and fender flares. Exciting stuff! :)

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I have been spoiled lately. My BFF's lil' sister moved to Huntington Beach in January. Whenever she comes for a visit or someone goes to visit her, they bring me back some Sprinkles cupcakes. These morsels make me VERY happy!!

I haven't been able to run but once or twice in the last 6 weeks, which is no bueno! As you just read, my sweet tooth is not doing me any favors---so I am looking forward to the change in weather (and hopefully a healthier family) so we can all get outdoors and play.
Last night we got the results for Bubba's "Cat Scan" that was order Monday by the ear, nose and throat doctor. He has quite a few polyps way back in his sinuses. The doctor thinks he needs to have an extensive sinus procedure done if he gets another ear/sinus infection again in the next 1-2 months. When Bubba was 5 he had a sinus procedure done, but apparently this one is more "invasive." We are praying for the sun to come out and dry him out for the next 6-8 months. We are about over all this winter funk around here.
Bring on the blazing hot sun!! :)

SF Getaway

Luke had the opportunity to attend a National Special Education conference in San Francisco last week (with a bunch of school psychologists) and OF COURSE I had to take advantage of the time and join him.
Thank goodness we have Grandma and Grandpa Hogue who live relatively close (60 minutes) and are kind enough to tackle the chore of the Hogue tag-team and Petunia.

Monday was a school holiday for Luke and the boys and he flew out of Burbank before noon. My plan was to drive up Wednesday and we'd drive home together Friday after the conference ended.
I have been looking forward to this little getaway ever since Luke found out about it in October! I love having a trip to look forward to...especially if it involves some time alone with Luke. :)

The first 48 hours apart were agonizing. (ok...I am being a little dramatic and "needy") I just really dislike being apart from Luke for more than 24 hours.
He helps me out (...or should I say I help him out) a lot at home....and he is my teammate. When he isn't around it isn't just me who misses him, but all the kids...which makes me feel good.

I couldn't wait to see Luke on Wednesday!
Luke called Tuesday and Wednesday morning EARLY in the morning, which was a surprise because I thought for sure he'd sleep in and enjoy not having to get kids ready for school. But it was so nice to hear his voice...it almost made the morning seem normal as I hustled and bustled to get all of us ready and out the door by 6:40am the first morning he was gone. Wednesday morning I took the kids to school and spent a little quiet time with Petunia before leaving her with Grandma.
I left the house around 9:30am and made pretty good time. I arrived at the hotel an hour before Luke had a 3-hour session to go to.
After he left the hotel I tried to take a nap but eventually gave up after 30 minutes. I was hesitant to go walk the town by myself but I knew there was some good shopping closeby. (The conference was held at the Hilton Hotel in Union Square so it was the perfect location for SHOPPING and people watching.)

First item on my agenda was to find the closest Origins store.
I had a birthday coupon and lucky for me, it was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The gal who helped me offered me a free mini-facial.
I looked at my watch and realized Luke was busy for another hour and I had no kids to tug on me or whine so I said, "SURE!"
She spent about 20 minutes and even reapplied make-up.....and it was so nice. I had to take pictures of the process to send to Luke so he could see what a fun time his wife was having all ready. :)

After he got out of his session he met me at Cheesecake Factory so we could get our traditional raspberry lemonades, fried macaroni and cheese appetizer and chicken stuffed tortilla. I swear...I could eat there every stinkin' night if it wasn't so darn expensive. After dinner we walked around a bit and people watched. All of the "homeless" people make for an interesting show. We sat inside a Starbucks on the corner and had a great view while sipping on the worst hot chocolate ever! I think some of these "homeless" people have day jobs and come out at night and make a killing! Really.
Its crazy.
There was a husband/wife out front of Starbucks and the husband had on hunting gear that looked expensive and his wife would come in/out of Starbucks, sit in the corner to get out of the cold and charge her cell phone. But everyone was stopping to give them money because they had three large dogs....with nice shiny coats. Not only did the husband look well fed, but so did the dogs.

Thursday morning we ate at Dottie's which we were told was delicious. The little cafe only holds 40 customers at a time so the wait was about 45 minutes. We almost said forget it, but stuck it out. The best part of breakfast was the cinnamon coffee cake and the blackberry crumb cake.
Soooooo good! I'd go back for these! They were both warm with fresh sauce/creme on top. If you are ever in Union Square I would try it out!
http://www.menukarma.com/menus/menu-for-dotties-true-blue-cafe-in-san-francisco

Next up....cupcakes. Lucky for me this joint was only a 3 minute walk from the hotel.
The cupcakes all looked good, but the clear winner was the strawberry cheesecake! (The empty slot was where my cheesecake cupcake was previously residing) :)

Graham cracker crust on bottom. Mmmmmmm!

The only downfall of the trip was the weather.(ok...maybe I missed the kids a little bit) Cold winds and rain off/on all day Thursday meant that walking/sightseeing needed to be within a 1-2 mile radius.

Shoe shopping in Union Square. (Luke is a very good shoe-shopping companion and was very diligent about helping me find just the right shoe...in the right color.)
I couldn't resist giving my cheesiest/corniest grin after finding two perfect shoes....for 25% off!

Thursday night we roamed around looking for trinkets the boys would like. Inside Urban Outfitters we found a metal head massager. We took turns on each other and it felt so good. We had to buy it for $6.

I did have some nail envy when we stopped into the new Banana Republic accessory store. This DUDE had on a cute little black/white outfit...and his nails were to die for. They were nicely groomed and polished. I asked him what color he had on and he enthusiastically replied, "Black!" It didn't look like black, but whatever. They were all filed and the same length. How can a dude have nicer nails than me? The world just doesn't make sense anymore!

Friday morning I did a little more shoe shopping before Luke went to his conference. Another successful trip!! :) I also made sure I made one more stop at the "Cako" bakery for cupcakes!

Goodbye San Francisco!

Like Family

Meet the newest members of our family.
We picked this baby up at Costco and I am in love with the hand vacuum attachment on the front. I can suck up the food out of Petunia's high chair no problem-o now!
Its also sweet not having to sweep everytime my children get crumbs all over my floor. Tubbs even offers to vacuum up like its a toy. Delicious!

Meet Bob!
We used to have a blue double BOB jogger with the boys and I LOVED it....even though I didn't actually use it for jogging/running. :) (But now that I have picked up that dirty little habit, I couldn't wait to get another one.)
I spent quite a bit of time researching jogging strollers and comparing prices. Finally...after literally 10 hours of research/stressing I made my selection. I was able to get a great price since its a 2010 model and free shipping.
Delicious again!
Petunia cannot wait to to ride in it outside of the house, but I am waiting for it to warm up a little. For now she just parks it inside and sits in it. Silly girl!