Guess Who is 8 Months Old?

I absolutely can't believe it.

I love this picture...as she patiently waits for her bath water to run.
She has finally started crawling over the past 5-7 days.
This is where I found her Friday night:

I think its time to buy her a "Team Edward" shirt since she sniffed out my books.

She has been such a happy baby---I really hope this never changes...even in another 11-12 years! :)

She has an appreciation for purses all ready....

And she will try ANYTHING! (She must be female) :)
She doesn't have any beavers yet, but by her "tude" tonight I am thinking we are very close. (Darnit)

With weather hitting 80 degrees this weekend, its time for some fun in the water! Tubbs got his triple lane slip-n-slide and no one in the house was safe...including baby Jiggs. Besides the initial water in her face, she kind of liked it....at least that's what I told myself.


Jiggs has the modeling stance down!


Here she comes. She actually went down the slide twice. What a good sport!
Videos---hee-larious.

Tubby-Tubbs Turns Six

A birthday party at Chuck E Cheese has been his request since his fifth birthday.
Done!
(Even though I am not a big fan of the joint)
Tubbs was able to invite a few friends from church/school and it was actually a really good time...partly due to the fact that they had done a re-model since we were there last year for Bubba's birthday!
The friends were plentiful and generous! I am glad everyone had a good time.

The boys ewwww and ahhhhh over the triple lane waterslide. Cool!

High Fiving Dad after he opened his Nintendo Dsi!







Six Facts about Tubbs:

1. He wants to know EVERYTHING. His latest question was asked on his way home from the birthday party to Grandpa Hogue: “How Tall is Heavenly Father?” He also still occasionally asks me EXACTLY how does Heavenly Father get the baby in mommy’s tummies.” And he always asks at the most "inconvenient" times!! (I know--there is never a convenient time). A few weeks ago we spoke to the boys during Family Home Evening about the resurrection of Jesus Christ….. and I will never forget the emotional conversation a few days later that began in the Carl’s Jr. drive thru on the way to school. I am trying to pay at the window, Tubbs is hysterical asking questions about death and Bubba is getting upset, ordering Tubbs to stop asking questions! Crying out loud people...just sit back and eat your egg and cheese croissant! :)
2. I call Tubbs my parrot because he likes to repeat almost anything he hears. This includes singing in the car to whatever is on the radio---even when he doesn't know the words he will hum along. He can keep a tune amazingly well considering I am his mother....and hope he'll remember his dear ol' mom and dad when he makes it in Nashville one day!
3. He is a great little brother to Bubba. He will buy his brother a toy if he gets money no matter how his brother treats him. He also makes sure he prays for his brother at night and has a long list of items he think Heavenly Father can help Bubba with. (It makes bedtime very comical) 4. This boy can live on almost zero sleep. Luke tagged him "Fox Hole Tubbies" years ago because Tubbs is the guy you would want with you if you were in a fox hole somewhere. Seriously!

5. He has an adult sense of humor which is hilarious...especially when you watch America's Funniest Home Videos (which he likes to watch with dad every night) He has preferred watching non-animated shows earlier than Bubba did because of the humor. His favorite show is "iCarly" and he think the older brother is hilarious.

6. He is always concerned about his appearance. I laid out shorts for him to wear today to school and he asked if anyone was going to make fun of him. When he gets his hair cut, he asks if anyone is going to make fun of him or laugh. Maybe he is just saying out loud what most of us are thinking when we get dressed or style our hair each morning!
Happy Birthday Tubbies! We love you.

Surprise Picnic

Luke surprised us one Sunday after church with a picnic at the park. We all changed out of our church clothes and Luke loaded up ice chests and plastic bags full of stuff.
The weather was perfect...and everyone was in a good mood. We were off to a good start.
Luke BBQ'd some turkey burgers complete with avocado and bacon. The boys got hot diggity dogs.
Throw in some BBQ chips, pineapple, potato salad and some Coke Zeros....mmmmmmmmm!
Luke also brought a basketball, a frisbee,and a blanket for us to roll around on with Petunia. I could've napped for hours in the shade under the tree---- Too bad I had to be responsible and keep one eye open to watch the kids! :)

Eighteen Random Rules of Life

Love these thoughts of the day my dad sends me.....Here is another!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love maxims, those concise capsules of worldly wisdom. I collect them and write them and, of course, love to share them. Here are 18 random rules of life worth posting on your mirror or, better yet, using as dinner-time discussion starters.

1. Find the lesson in every failure and you’ll never fail.
2. The likelihood that you’re right is not increased by the intensity of your conviction.
3. Real friends help you feel worthy and make you want to be better.
4. When you’re in a hole, stop digging.
5. Don’t confuse fun with fulfillment or pleasure with happiness.
6. Refusing to let go of a grudge is refusing to use the key that will set you free.
7. Hating hurts you more than the person you hate.
8. Counting on luck is counting on random chance. Your odds are much better when you plan and work.
9. Being kind is better than being clever.
10. Don’t underestimate the power of persistence.
11. The easy way is rarely the best way.
12. It’s much easier to burst someone else’s bubble than to blow up your own.
13. You can’t avoid pain, but you can avoid suffering.
14. Self-pity is a losing strategy. It repels others and weakens you.
15. Shortcuts usually produce short success.
16. Control your attitude or it will control you.
17. It’s more important to be significant than successful.
18. The world is waiting for you to heal it.
By Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

If you Give a Buglet a Muffin.....

she'll chow down on it like its her last supper!
Let me start by saying that Luke has been inspecting Petunia's squishy thighs and he's concerned.Not that they are dimply and plump...but that her newfound crawling may reduce what he calls the "love rolls."
I had to laugh when I heard him say this one.
Well, this evening I made some of my infamous chocolate chip banana muffins for the gang to snack on before dinner.
I took them out of the oven and as I snacked on one I noticed Tooney eyeing me closely...and eyeing my muffin.
So...Luke strapped her in the highchair, put a bib on her and laid one on her tray.
This little girl went to town! It was so fun to watch because she knew what she wanted and she wasted no time.
Her first birthday cake should be absolutely hysterical and nothing like the boys first birthday. (I don't think Tubbs would even touch his cake, much less taste it)
Anyways---with Petunia's love of mama's treats I don't think Luke will have to worry about those thighs AT ALL!!

Easter Bliss...with a Slab of Shopping, A Smidge of Road Rage and a Large Side of Vomit

After I got off work that Thursday afternoon we took off for Roseville. (A road trip anywhere with my family never seems to disappoint when it comes to stories to retell....)
Anywhoo--Luke had gotten me gift cards galore for Christmas to Nordstrom's so not only was a visit with my family in order, but a shopping spree. Yeah baby.
Friday was great. A bad day shopping in Roseville is still better than a great day doing most anything else! :)My mom, Petunia and I headed to Nordstrom's Rack first to see what damage could be done. Then we headed over to the Galleria mall across the street. I do have to throw in that it was CHILL-EEEEEEEE! Burrrrrr baby. Its not the weather I had envisioned for the break, but with shopping to do I had to endure!!


Here is Jiggs modeling a 2-piece for me. Heee-larious.

A pair of shoes that normally costs $67 and we proudly picked them up for $15. My mom said they were all the rage with young girls, but I had never heard of them. CUTE!
Petunia with the Minnie Mouse Grandma bought her from the Disney Store.

Meanwhile, while the girls shopped, Luke and my dad took Bubba, Tubbs, my youngest brother Bert and Cousin Cooper to Sutter's Fort. Luke is all about history stuff, but it also counted towards something in Bubba's Boy Scout manual. Two birds with one stone. Woo!


Friday night my dad made his infamous breakfast dinner...which always rocks.

Next--coloring Easter Eggs! Of course.
Luke made a "Humpty Dumpty" Egg.
The front:

The back:

(Nice "crack" daddy)
My niece can touch her tongue to her elbow. (Someting I have never seen done before and am sure can get her on some talent show one day!)




Saturday... more family time. Grandma and Grandma had a craft for the grand kids. Grandma was in charge of generating the idea, but Grandpa had to execute the idea.
The idea: Handprints of the kids!
Only the two oldest grandkids were missing that day. So, grandpa mixed up "goo" for eight kids! I think they turned out pretty darn good...especially for the two who are still suckling on bottles! :) Holden and Petunia were able to fit both hands in their tray!

Aunt Jen and Uncle JP made the drive over from Petaluma to join us for the egg hunt and dinner!
This picture is a favorite to many right now...

Petunia was not a fan of Aunt Jen's for a while. But Uncle JP was apparently no problemo. Very funny.

Maybe his bald head put her at ease!
The kids hunted the eggs they colored the night before...as well as a few plastic eggs Grandpa stuffed with treats. A good time was had as the kids hoarded their treats as well as took turns being the Easter bunny and re-hiding the dyed eggs.
Next on the docket: Dinner
Mom and dad made a ham and roasted turkey...with all the delicious trimmings.
Soon into the meal, my little man Tubbs, tells me isn't feeling well. He leans over his container of dyed eggs/treats...and hurls. Oh yes....and my sweet husband was there to hold his recepticle full of eggs and vomit and he continued to fill it. He was nice enough to take him to the back porch as he heaved. Luke pointed out a "whole" Reese's Peanut Butter Cup that came up. Thanks honey for sharing. Tubbs went on upstairs, showered and laid down.
An hour or so later, Luke uses the bathroom....and hurls.
Two victims down...three Hogue's to go. Actually a whole house full of potential victims. This could get scary.
They both continue to hurl.
Easter dinner convenes. Everyone eventually heads back to their homes.
The hurling continues...as I try to play nurse...as well as attempt sleep.
The hurling continues into the night.
Sunday---Easter morning!
I make turkey sausage bread for my family, at my brother's request! It was delicious...and they keep getting bigger every time I make them!

We head out around 9:30 with mama at the wheel. Didn't want to take a chance of Luke vomiting behind the wheel as we cruised down the 99 at 80 miles per hour.
Everything was going swell...until this retarded mini van cuts me off. He actually didn't JUST cut me off, he could have killed us. He zooms up on the right and with not even a car length between me and the car in front, he swerves in. I bet his tailgate was a foot away frommy bumper.
Mama not happy. All that Easter love I was feeling...
gone.
i wanted this driver dead.
Is that so wrong?
I might have said something about just wanting to "nudge" his rear bumper so that he would roll and die.
My husband MIGHT have appeared nervous at that point and wishing he was behind the wheel and not his "sweet" wife.
So--I continue to make him "pay" for the remainder of our little stroll on the 99. I veen had Luke take video footage of the driver and his van FULL of people he almost killed...just to taunt him.
It was bad...
But we made it home....alive. Much to my husbands delight. I almost hated to exit the freeway in Bakes and say goodbye to the silver van I cruised with for the past 2 hours. ALMOST.
And the Easter Bunny miraculously left treats at our house...which the boys found as soon as they walked in the house. When we pulled up to the house, Luke dropped me off with my Target bags while he went to get the mail. I filled the baskets and looked surprised as the boys located the goods. The Easter bunny came through after all! Of course Jiggs got some babyfood that was on sale at Wal Mart...and when she tasted it later that night she wasn't a fan!

Well--another family trip down...and a blessed holiday to share with ones we love. Thankful for the time we got to spend in Roseville...but thankful to be off the road! :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post Trip Update: 12 hours after returning home Petunia gets to hurl a few times...and 48 hours after that mama goes down. Bubba seems to be unscathed by this bug---so far. Cousin Cooper was hurling 24 hours after we left town as well.
Another successful family gathering!

Its Over Folks

Tubbs decided this weekend that he no longer wanted towrestle....at least not this season. We'll see how he feels next year. Its been a fun few months watching him learn...and use his techniques on me, Luke...and especially his brother. This morning Liberty hosted the tournament and as we waited for it to start I captured Tubbs and Luke playing Tubbs' version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors." Apparently in his version there are tornadoes (who wipe out anything) and then there's Heavenly Father (who can wipe out tornadoes). Interesting. I don't know where he got this one from. But I tried to capture this little moment of fun before he headed out on the mat for his last time.

The "Swing by Your Pants" Method

Over the past few days I have been at a loss. To be honest, I have been spoiled over the past 4 months with Petunia's sleeping patterns. So, when she recently began waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep I was confused. The first time she sat back up in her crib and looked at me I wish I had a camera to capture the look on my face.
Huh?!
The next 2 nights I put her back into bed with me...which was a first. First night was a success...the next, not so much. I wondered what the problem could be.--Teething? She couldn't be hungry because I just fed her 4 oz. Tummy ache?
Well..my wise visiting teachers came by to see me yesterday. I really do love their visits. They both have infants/toddlers so I asked them what they do. I heard different responses...and I thought about them...and I thought about them.
So---last night, when Jiggs woke up at 3am I did feed her! (Shame on me I suppose) Next I rocked her for a few minutes...and she appeared to be asleep. I laid her in the crib....and BAM. Screaming.
What do I do now?
I decided to shut the boys' bedroom door (which is right across the hallway) and only leave a crack in her door...and stand outside the door.
In my head: "Is this too early to do this to her? Can you do this every stinkin' night for here on out? Man--you're going to be tired in the morning! I wonder if the boys are going to wake up. I wonder if big daddy down the hallway is gonna wake up. Should I just take her back to bed with me? I wonder if she is going to explode in her pants from all the screaming...and I just changed her diaper.

As I stood outside the door listening (and pondering the situation) I heard Luke get out of bed. Immediately I had in my head a scene from a sitcom we both LOVE, "Modern Family." In this scene there are domestic "partners" who adopted a baby named Lily from China and one partner, is trying to "Ferberize" her. The other partner can't take it. Well---let's say that Luke isn't ready to hear Petunia scream...and scream...and scream.
For 45minutes I listened to Petunia give it all she got. Every 5-7 minutes I would go back in, move her back away from the edge of the crib, cover her with her blanket, rub her head, put her pacifier back in, check her diaper quickly...and walk away... again. I would crawl back in bed while Luke would try to talk me into just bringing her back to our bed so he could snuggle with her. What a pansy! :)
I stood strong. (If you call it that)
Eventually..she gave up...she nestled into her blankets..and passed out.
Sweet relief.
A bonus for me, since I was am sleep deprived today, is she slept in an hour later than usual. Woo-hoo.
So, I made it through night one. Can I make it through night two?

Trying New Snacks

Well---Jiggs is 7 1/2 months old and still bald, yet beautiful! No "beavers" yet but thats ok by me!

The"puffs" that melt in her mouth are a hit--of course. We have now moved on to "pinwheels." Mmmmmmmm!

Learning to Crawl...and Not Very Happy About It...Yet.

New Obsession

Thursdays are extra special for me because that means I get to meet Luke for lunch! His work is about a 20 minute drive for me, so we try to meet somewhere in the middle since. In the past we have eaten a lot at Red Robin (love those chicken burgers)...but our new lunch spot is Jake's Tex Mex.
If you are in town you have probably heard about it or tried it out. I have lived here for 12 years and up until a month ago have only eaten there one time.
Now its a weekly occurance. Mmmmmm!
We always order the same thing: The chicken "works" burrito, a side of scalloped potatoes and chocolate cake.

I Do Exist....

Physically anyways (......and mentally on occasion)
One of my favorite things to do now in the mornings, on my way to work, is take pictures of myself...and send them to people. 99% of the time its my husband. I come up with clever little e-mails to attach my picture to so when he gets to work he can see my beautiful face! At least thats what I tell myself..... It also lets me know I need to wipe that chocolate off my lip from breakfast!
I have tried to talk Luke into sending me pictures of himself at work since he is always in his "pj's" when I leave the house in the morning...but he hasn't bought into the self portrait idea yet.
And I take these pictures so that one day, many years from now, my offspring (posterity.....whatever) will know my boys had a mother with crazy curls and my husband had a wife who did not go gray before he did!

Rice Krispy treat from Sequoia.Mmmmmm

(must of been a special day...I have eye shadow on) haha

Love that Laura Mercier lip stain!

Do I look tan for March or what!?

The Wrestler

Tubbs is my little wrestler...and his daddy is just eating it up.(I can see that sparkle in his eye) Actually, Luke really enjoys going to practices at the high school with him and rolling around on the mat like the good ol' days.
Tubbs wrestled last season but he wasn't old enough to compete in tournaments. Not this year.
I have to say, I never attended a wrestling match in high school and if you take a look at this little "get-up," you'll know why. But it looks amazingly "cute" on a Kindergartner. We took Tubbs to pick one up the night before the tournament and he modeled his stance for us. Of course the next morning he decided he didn't want to wear it.

Tubbs talking to the coach before his match.

This is his 2nd tournament. He got a "by" in the first round this week because he placed 2nd in his 1st tournament. We were a little disappointed because we just wanted  him to get out on the mat and roll around. Tubbs was disappointed too I think. His 1st tournament he had 3 pins and all of them were in under 30 seconds. In the finals he was winning after 3 rounds 9-2 but quit because he said the kid was "taking too long." But we were very proud of him! His coach really likes him and says he has a lot of "natural ability." I think that comes from defending himself again his 80 pound brother.

Tubbs cheering section

This is the same kid he wrestled in the final last week. Jere are the dads putting the color straps on the legs.

This is the other kids' coach with the camera.....

Round 2

I had to throw this picture in....