It was magical...not getting woken up until after 5:30am! Oh what a feeling compared to the last two years. Bubba says he and Tubbs woke up around midnight to check everything out, but went back to bed.
Hallelujah!
It was wonderful. In fact, Wiggy went to bed in her own bed as well....and I woke up thinking she had gotten in our bed sometime through the night. I was wrong. So it was Luke and I who actually were the first to wake up. I walked down to Wiggy's room to see if she was there and when I walked in her door, she was sitting up in bed and looking around. A few moments after she crawled out of bed, the boys got up and Christmas morning was underway!
Tubbs strapped on his Go-Pro camera when he came out and was ready for capturing the morning. It will be funny to find that video footage one day and show to his own kids.
They were stoked to open up the gift from Grandma and Grandpa Baer....cold hard cash!
For breakfast we made turkey sausage bread and homemade cinnamon rolls. After breakfast, they played Uno with Wiggy's new game that spits out cards at you.
Gift cards from Uncle Bert!
Doesn't my hair look extra special?! :)
The Potpourri Grandma Hogue made for us was on the stove all morning....smelled really good.
After eating and setting stuff up for the kids, Luke went back to bed for a little nap and I took a long bath. Grandma and Grandpa came down around 1pm to have Christmas dinner with us. The kids also got to open up their last gifts from them.
Christmas dinner was traditional this year....for the first year ever. I guess "traditional" is a matter of opinion. Last year we had pasta. This year we made a turkey breast and it was DELICIOUS. We cooked it perfectly. I was so happy! Luke also made a Tri-tip. Nancy made the stuffing and brought a loaded mashed potato dish. We tried almost all new recipes for everything. We tried a brown sugar/bacon green beans recipe, a mushroom recipe with bread crumbs, garlic and lemon juice.
After dinner Wiggy put on a fashion show, with grandma's help, with all of the clothes she got for Christmas. It was quite entertaining. I think Grandpa got all of the video footage of that show. Grandma and Grandpa stayed until the evening and the weather was pretty clear most of the day. We had such a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed. We enjoy having Luke's parents nearby to spend the day with us and the kids.
Christmas Eve morning we headed up to Luke's parent's house in Bear Valley. There was supposed to be a big storm coming in, so we figured we'd leave around 10:30 to head up and have lunch up there. We did the traditional breakfast meal for Christmas Eve. I brought the turkey sausage bread and Luke's mom made bacon, eggs, cinnamon rolls and puff pancake. We didn't eat breakfast before we came, so we were pretty darn hungry....and ate ALOT. We visited for a few hours and then left for home before it got dark. It started to sprinkle as we got on the 58 freeway driving home, but no snow yet.
Our dysfunctional family! XOXO
After we got home we unloaded gifts, straightened up the house and made some cookies for Santa. They lounged around for a bit, anxiously waiting for bedtime. Luke turned on the Santa Tracker on the TV and that was fun for the kids. Around 9:30 the kids all headed to bed---with a little help from melatonin of course. :)
Around 10 Santa came! He came early this year. I think his elves were really tired this year!
My birthday kicked off our fave month of the year. Luke was out of town the following day, so I had to take the kids to school. That meant a trip to McDonald's for breakfast and Starbucks for hot cocoa! Rough morning. :)
We normally get our Christmas tree and decorate the house, the weekend of Thanksgiving. This year we waited until the following weekend. That meant we got one less week to enjoy the tree and all of the decorations we put up around the house.
After picking up the tree and dropping off at the house we headed to Starbucks for cocoa and Krispy Kreme's for hot donuts. Sugar overload!
After loading up on carbs and sugar, we put on the Christmas music, got out the Christmas bins and decorated the house. Since we rearranged our living room with new furniture, we had to find a new place for the tree. Because of the location we had to get a smaller/narrower tree. I swear real trees get more pricey every year...but I can't get myself to go for a fake tree.
Tubbs is playing winter league flag football. So far they have won one game and lost three. It's pretty darn chilly out there on Thursday evenings. I bring my Swell bottle full of Starbucks hot cocoa to keep my company. :)
This girl still sleeps in our bed....every night. She crawls into our bed and kisses us good night. We have tried to put our foot down, but she'll eventually grow out of this...right?!
This girl is the Queen Bee---which is why I had to buy this sweater when I found it at Nordstrom's Rack.
Morgan Montana got tickets to a Kids Bop concert from work. so she asked if she could take Miss Wiggy with her. Of course she accepted and had the time of her life. Morgan even took her to Red Robin beforehand!
A few days after decorating the house for Christmas, the dreaded elf ("Snowy") made his appearance. Wiggy left him a few notes on his Elf box in the hallways closet---so he finally came out to play.
A note he left for Tubbs next to the piano after school.
A few class parties at school. Wiggy's class made Gingerbread houses, from milk cartons. I think the decorations were eaten more than they were used for decorating. It was very entertaining.
Tubbs' class had a hot cocoa and donuts party. Then they exchanged gifts and a snowball fight. Rough day!
The day school got out for Christmas break, Grandma and Grandpa Hogue came down and spent the evening with the kids. They took the kids to Color me Mine and the new Chipmunks movie. While they were out, Luke and I went to an Ugly Sweater Party where we ate finger foods and played couples Minute-to-Win-it games. It was a fun time.
The evening of December 20th, Tubbs and Wiggy had their piano recital at Sister Hanson's home. It was quick and we were all out of there within 30 minutes. The kids did a great job. Sawyer played two songs and Wiggy played one. She was supposed to play a second song, but I didn't know about it, so I didn't make her practice it. Tubbs is not a fan of playing the piano at all and has asked (more like begged) me to let him quit. His teacher said he's doing really well and sees a lot of talent, so I want to give him some more time. We shall see what happens.
Tubbs
Wiggy
Grandma and Grandpa Baer stopped by our house for an overnight visit, on their way to San Diego on the 20th. Before they left Monday morning, we went to see the new Star Wars movie in 3D.
A trip to In-N-Out burger one evening. I ate my Chick-Fil-A as I watched Bubba eat his quadruple patty burger. I don't know where he stores all the feed he eats.
Picking up the little girl from a Christmas party her friend Zach had on the 21st. She went from having popcorn and treats at the movies, to mass amounts of fun for another three hours. Zach had a bounce house and more treats than anyone could eat in a lifetime. Needless to say when I picked her up she had a post-sugar meltdown in the backseat. Poor girl.
On Dec.23rd we went to "Christmas Town" in Rosedale. I got the tickets for 60% off through work, so I thought it was worth a shot. We bundled up and headed out around 5pm. Afterwards we headed to Tony's Pizza for dinner.
The potato gun was the first thing we saw as we walked into the park. You had to try and shoot this Abominable Snowman about 40 yards away.
On our way to the ice skating area, the ladies who did the face painting invited us to sit down and get something done. Wiggy got a Christmas tree and I got a Snowflake. Big Papa was Rudolph! The boys went and crawled the Rock Wall because they wanted nothing to do with face painting.
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.
Established October 9, 1999, we met in March of 1998 when Katie was "hanging out" with Luke's loser roommate. Although Luke didn't let Katie in on this fact until much later....Katie eventually kicked the loser to the curb the summer of 1998. We started dating later that year in December and were engaged in May 1999 when Katie could no longer resist the Hogue charm! What a whirlwind!
Our first "bug," as born in 2002 and was joined by his partner in crime in 2004. Often referred to as the "Hogue Tag Team" these boys are mischievious, snuggly and always up for a good time! Our third bug shook the tag team up with her pink bows and frills. She was born in August 2009 and has turned our tag team into a trio!
