My parent and Luke's parents each come for one week in August, when Luke heads back to work. We are always absolutely so thankful for this. Luke goes back to work three weeks before the kids start school, so this year I took the first week and headed to Idaho. The following week my parents came with my niece Natalie and nephew Holden.
Grandpa sent me pictures every morning of everyone's activities. Daily trips to the park and swimming were the usual.
Pizza night at Tony's
Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to see the new Disney movie, Planes 2 on morning. The girls are all cleaned up and ready to go!
Grandpa made chocolate chip cookies for us....twice. We like when Grandpa comes down! :) I promised Grandma I wouldn't share the picture I took of her enjoying the cookie dough. Hahahahaha.
The morning they had to leave we made their favorite sweet breakfast treats...cinnamon rolls. Mmmmmmm.
Grandma and Grandpa Hogue came down Monday the following week and stayed with us through Thursday. They did a little pre-birthday shopping with Wiggy and Bubba picked out some Legos with some money he had saved. Grandma and Grandpa also bought Bubba a Lego set and Tubbs a pack of gems for "Clash of Clans." Grandpa also took Wiggy (and sometimes the boys) down to the park in the mornings before it got hot.
The kids really love spending time with their grandparents and we love when they come to visit.
My little baby girl is the big five!
She is every bit five and she seems to be going on 16 with that attitude. She is so unlike her brothers, it's unreal. But she is a lot of laughs and keeps me on my toes. She talks and talks and talks....and sings. If she isn't talking, she is singing.
Five Wiggy Facts...
1. She likes to be called "Baby Girl" and specifically orders us to do so.
2. We call her "Little Mama" and "Little Rosa" because she loves to clean. She is extremely helpful. Heavenly Father must've known what I was up against with the three boys I am living with...and he has blessed me. :) One of her favorite things to do is to mop the wood floors. (I love this girl)
3. She still gets into our bed 6 nights out of 7. She went through a phase where she would walk down the hallway in the middle of the night, but now she is back to sitting up in her bed and screaming at the top of her lungs until one of us come get her.
4. She really, really really wants long hair. Often in the mornings she will examine the back of her head in the mirror, ooohhhing and aaaahhhing over how long it's getting.
5. Her favorite meal is noodles with Parmesan cheese. She also loves Kraft macaroni and cheese shells. She is my carb lover!
Her birthday was on the 2nd day of school, so it was a little crazy and hectic. Before school she popped her birthday balloons to retrieve her $10. Not a bad way to start the morning. She had some chocolate milk and powdered donuts for breakfast. Healthy breakfast food of course!
She brought two packages of birthday Oreos to share with her class at morning recess. She came home off the bus with a birthday crown and a book from her teacher.
Birthday dinner request was no surprise and everyone was happy....Red Robin. She needed her milkshake!
After dinner I took Wiggy over to Build a Bear. I had received $20 in coupons in the mail, so it was perfect timing. She had been wanting to get Apple Jack for a while.
After we got home we opened family gifts. As you can tell, she was a happy little camper with what she received.
Happy Birthday little baby girl. So thankful to have you as part of our family. Heavenly Father has blessed us beyond measure!
First day of school! First day of school!
Like every school year I silently freak out the weekend leading up to school starting. This year wasn't any different. Many parents rejoice in their children fleeing the nest each morning. I do not. I am a nervous wreck. I don't know...I am just built that way.
Sunday evening we had pizza for dinner and Family Home Evening. We sat around the dinner table talking about school and planning out our drop off/pick up schedules. This school year will be a little different since Tubbs and Wiggy have no bus transportation near our house. We put in a change of address so they could stay at BV this year. Bubba starts 7th grade and his school isn't close enough to walk or ride his bike. He could ride the bus but we are opting not to do that. (I think everything you don't want your kid to learn about, they learn on the bus. That's Katie Hogue's theory anyways. He would also be on the bus for 30 minutes before he got to his bus stop.)
First day photos....
This morning I made
the kids breakfast and took them to school. I dropped off Bubba first.
Luke told me not to walk him to class because he said he would get
teased, so I didn't. Instead, I drove him up to the front of the empty
parking lot and he hopped out. He gave me a kiss at my window and we
waved. I slowly pulled away and looked at him as he slowly walked away.
We waved again. I cried. Yeah...I am so sentimental like that. I cried
and I prayed that he would have a GREAT day and no one would tease him.
Hard to believe this big boy was starting junior high.
Then
we headed to BV. I found a decent parking spot and we headed in. Tubbs
asked me several times if I could walk him to his 5th grade classroom. I
was actually shocked but of course I said yes. This was the same boy
who ditched me on the first day of second grade. So, Sawyer held my hand
and we walked to his classroom. He saw some of his friends when he got into
class and we gave kisses goodbye. (He has the same teacher as last year because she is teaching a 4/5 combo class this year. We love her, so we are very happy we stayed at BV this year. Each student also has a Google Chrome notebook for class work, so it's a great opportunity for Tubbs.)
Wiggy
and I walked excitedly to her classroom. Thankfully we had met her
teacher on Friday before, so she knew where she was headed and who her
teacher was. At her little cluster of desks, she sits with two friends from church...so I knew she was going to have a fantastic day. She also had two other friends in her class. What a lucky girl.
I headed out to the car right before the bell rang, leaving my last two bugs behind. I went home to fix my make-up because heaven knows I probably looked quite pathetic. Then I headed to work. I couldn't wait until 2:30 so I could go pick up all the kids and hear about their days at school. Of course that also means a trip to Sonic for Happy Hour beverages. :)
My big kids...
Bubba if 64 inches and has grown 3 inches in the last 12 months.
Tubbs is 58 inches and has grown 2.5 inches in the last 12 months. (Bubba was 59 inches when he started 5th grade.)
Wiggy is 47 inches and has grown 4 inches in the last 12 months.
Our annual Zip Zabba Day celebration. It's always a struggle to squeeze it in before school starts. I think this is our fourth year. I think I started doing it the summer Wiggy turned one.
This year we did it on the Friday before school started. That meant we had a few things to take care of in the morning. I took Wiggy to BV so she could meet her teacher and see her classroom. Then I picked up the boys and took them to Bubba's school so we could get his schedule and gym clothes.
After that I surprised the kids with the announcement that Zip Zabba Day was beginning.
I took the kids to Panera for breakfast and then headed to our first destination....Valencia.
The one hour drive was actually very quick. I took the kids to Sky High Sports, which is a trampoline place. For a $10 each, we all got to jump for close to three hours. What a deal! All of the kids had a BLAST and agreed we definitely had to come back. Their favorite part was the Dodgeball arena. (I could've done without the punk kid who kept trying to hit my boys in the face with the balls. I was ready to jump on in and nail him myself, but I could just imagine how that would've ended. Haha.)
Cooling off with a few beverages.
After bouncing for nearly three hours we headed to Chick-Fil-A (and Cafe Rio for mom) for a late lunch. Oreo for everyone, so they were happy campers!
Our next stop was Toys R Us where they were able to spend $20 on anything they wanted. The boys opted for Legos and Wiggy found two talking parakeets in a cage. She picks out the most interesting things.
We got home close to dinner time and I was going to take them to see "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" but honestly they were all spent from a busy day. I told them I had one more Zip Zabba activity but it would have to wait until Saturday. The next morning we surprised them and thankfully daddy was able to go with us. I think the kids enjoyed another special day with mom. I love Zip Zabba Day.
Wiggy started to complain about one of her lower front teeth hurting. When I took a look it was wiggly. Even though I have been through this with the boys, I seem to forget about all of these little milestones. When I told her she was going to lose a tooth she was a little concerned....until I mentioned the Tooth Fairy. She was all on-board with pulling it out after that.
SHe wiggled the tooth for a few days, but while I was at church one evening for Young Women, Luke sends me pictures of a little girl, minus one tooth.
She didn't sleep in our bed that night, so the Tooth Fairy had to wait until Thursday night. On Friday morning Wiggy was pleasantly surprised to find a $5 bill under her pillow! Here is my rich girl with her money!
The day has finally arrived. Little Wiggy Biscuit is getting her ears pierced. I was thinking about it last year, but decided to wait. I heard so many horror stories and didn't want to risk it. Grandma Baer got her some nice pearl earrings for her birthday, for her to hold on to. That sparked her interest again to get them pierced. I took her to my friend Carianne, who has her cosmetology license and works out of her home cutting hair.
A few days ago we went to Sally's and picked out some piercing earrings in her birthstone....emerald green.
After her first ear was pierced she was a little taken back. I could tell she wanted to cry but instead she giggled. I made a big deal about how beautiful she looked and she never shed a tear. She was such a big girl and just looking at herself in the mirror. It was very cute.
That Stop Wasn't On My Itinerary....
So the Hogue's made it to Florida for our first official family vacation. It was Sawyer's first plane ride....and Simon's first plane ride that he can remember. We were excited....the boys were stoked. We had everything we needed! But it seems that Sawyer packed something with him that wasn't on our checklist: a big case of pneumonia. Yes, the little fella made it almost one whole day in Florida before he started heading downhill fast. Our 2nd day in Orlando we were in the Urgent Care south of Cocoa Beach. (By the way, to see a doctor more quickly, it helps if you vomit all over the waiting room in front of the receptionist. Little tip for ya) After chest x-rays they advised us to head to the ER in Melbourne, where they eventually admitted him to the hospital. So, we had 3 night deluxe accommadations at the Holmes Regional Medical Center. The little whipper snapper was a trooper though! The nurses loved him, thankfully, and made us all feel right at home. We were going to send postcards out with pictures of the hospital since we spent 40% of our trip there...but they didn't have any. Imagine that!Hmmm.....maybe its something they should consider.
