Where does the time go?

If you watch the Bachelor or the Bachelorette (or even if you don't) you have probably heard that each rose ceremony is "the most dramatic rose ceremony yet." Seriously, ever single one is "the MOST dramatic." I'm starting to feel like I'm no better when it comes to repeating myself. :) "Time flies." "That was the fastest year of my life." "THAT was the fastest year of my life." So, I suppose just like the Bachelor is going to keep getting MORE dramatic every episode, my days and weeks and months are just going to seem shorter and shorter as I get older and we get busier. So, with that, I will just say it... The past 5 years and 4 months have DEFINITELY been the fastest 5 years and 4 months of my life!

It really doesn't seem possible that our baby boy is 4 months already...giggling, cooing like crazy, and even got to try rice cereal today! Weren't we just at the hospital?! To make things even crazier, Madison starts Kindergarten on Monday. My sweet girl is growing up way too fast! She couldn't be more excited about starting school. :) They are both such huge blessings...our sunshine. :)

This week I started back at work. It has been hard to get adjusted to not being with the kids all day. I thought the 2nd time around would be easier, but leaving Peyton wasn't any easier than it was when I went back to work after having Madison. He is in such great hands though, which helps tremendously! This year I'm at a brand new school with a new team and new subjects. I'm still going to be teaching 5th grade, but will be teaching a self-contained class - so my kiddos will stay with me all day and I'll teach every subject. The school is beautiful and I really like the team I'll be working with. I think it is going to be a great year! Challenging, but good. :)

Today we got to go and meet Madison's kindergarten teacher! She is so sweet and Madison is super excited!! Her classroom is FULL of cute little reading nooks, fun furniture and bright colors...lots of pink! I think Madison is going to LOVE being in that class!

We have a busy weekend ahead with Landon's 7th bday party on Saturday and an end of the summer BBQ with friends on Sunday AND a lot more work for me in my classroom! It's been a long week too...I can barely keep my eyes open! Good night for now!

All we prayed for and more...

It just wouldn't be right to start blogging again without FIRST telling the story of how we went from our little family of three to four.  Most of you know that Dylan, Madison and I hoped for, wished for and prayed for another baby to complete our family for a very long time.  Dylan and I decided we'd like to start trying for a second baby when Madison was a year old.  We figured a two to three year age difference would be good and wanted to allow for some time just in case it took awhile.  Little did we know, God had a different plan in mind.  After three LONG years of worrying, waiting, praying, doctors appointments (only to be told there wasn't anything wrong), lots of tears, and even more praying, I finally decided that OUR plan wasn't HIS plan and that I needed to truly give up the worrying and start living the beautiful life the three of us had together.  Just when I gave it ALL up to Him, I found out I was pregnant.  No joke.  How many times have you heard that story?  Now I know it is true.  No doctors, no medication, no counting days, checking calendars, etc.  We didn't get pregnant around Madison's 1st birthday, as I had hoped...it was around her 4th birthday, which meant our babies would be almost 5 years apart in age.  It wasn't what we initially imagined, but I can't even begin to list the number of reasons His timing was and is absolutely perfect.  And he is absolutely perfect.

Meet our Peyton. :)

I heard a friend the other day say that God was "showing off" when he made her daughter.  Oh. my. goodness...if that doesn't describe how we feel about this little man, I don't know what does!  We couldn't be more blessed to have this perfect little baby boy in our lives.  And he makes the perfect sidekick to our beautiful, fun, energetic, creative, smart, outgoing, girly-girl...Madi.  What did we ever do to deserve these two?!

Every good and perfect gift is from above.

James 1:17

A work in progress!

It has been almost 2 years since I have blogged...so hard to believe!  Well...I am going to try to make a comeback!  I have thought several times that I need to get back at it but life just got so busy!  On top of that, I am such a perfectionist that I haven't wanted to start again until I had the time to figure out how to make it pretty. :)  I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger thought and consider it a work in progress (new blog title?)! For now, you can at least get some updates, see pictures of the two cutest kids on the planet ;) and even have a few laughs at this crazy momma as we embark on a WILD ride this fall...new baby, Madison starting kindergarten, me at a new school teaching every subject to 20-some 10 year olds while Dylan's job takes him all over the world...first stop - Argentina!

So, my goal is to at least post once a week...I tend to get overwhelmed when I try to post every single thing that they do or say and then start to feel like I am letting people down, so I'm going to shoot for at least weekly posts and if I fit in more, great! :)  But, since I JUST completed the book I made from the blog of Madison's first year, THIS SUMMER, I figured I'd better start recording stuff for Peyton here too so I can have something for him to take with him at least by the time he moves out of our house!!

Have you ever had a Rolo McFlurry from McDonald's??  They are all kinds of YUM!  And I just finished one thanks to my sweet husband. ;)  I guess I'll be doing some extra time with the Sworkit app in the morning...  Good night for now!

 

No...you aren't imagining things...

this really is a new post!!! I have SO much to share (stories about 3 year old rockstars, dresses, big muscles, cats in time-out, ETC!) but I'm one tired mama. So....until then...for your viewing pleasure.... :)

P.S. We checked this book out from the library this evening. Dylan read it to her once. Then, when I tried to read it to her again right before bed time, she took it and said she wanted to read it by herself. Ummm...seriously? This child has better reading comprehension skills than I do!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLWgrqFbGmM

Madison's favorite song

Madison absolutely loves this song by SomethingElse, a band made up of a married couple and a couple of other guys from our church. She tells us often that she wants to hear the "girl with the guitar" and this is what she means. I even have to sing it to her before bedtime sometimes. :)

Here she is putting on her own performance of "Saving Grace" by SomethingElse. Love it...so cute, but also makes me laugh so hard! :)

Summer has begun!

Spur of the moment fishing trip down to the "secret lakes" in our neighborhood one weeknight a couple of weeks ago. Nothing makes me happier to see these two together...

Hawaii

This post has been a long time coming and believe me, it has been on my mind like a 20 page paper for weeks now! All kinds of stuff going on in the Hogue home right now and I'll try to fill you in in a bit. Dylan has been working so hard editing the 1,500 pictures taken by the family in Hawaii, and still isn't done. I was going to use that as an excuse for not getting this post done earlier, but after spending an hour tonight trying to get pictures uploaded, I'm not even going to get to post any after all. The files are just too large! :(

I can't begin to do the trip justice by just saying a few things here, but I'll try to sum it up as best I can before the munchkin wakes up. Hawaii is absolutely the BEST place on earth. I'm convinced. The End. :)

Seriously though, we had an amazing time. We left Houston Thursday afternoon around 1:00 p.m. and arrived in Honolulu at around 7:30 p.m. there time. Of course, after almost 12 hours of travelling, we were all just ready for bed! We spent the next day and night in Honolulu, visited Waikiki beach, the International Market, Pearl Harbor, did some hiking, good eating and other site seeing in the big city before making our way to Maui. Honolulu is an interesting place! If you are like me and have never been to Hawaii, you probably picture everything there to be a lush, tropical beach. Honolulu is a hustling, bustling place...with malls!

Maui = PARADISE. Honestly the most beautiful place I have ever been (I know that isn't saying much...). What I really loved about Maui is not only are there beautiful beaches, but there are mountains and waterfalls and caves and lush, amazingly beautiful trees, flowers, and more plants than I knew existed. It didn't hurt that the condo we were staying in was completely over the top! It was about 2,200 square feet, I think, either the top or one floor below the top floor, with the best view of the beach in the whole place! There were two master suites with two master baths, as well as a third bedroom and 3rd bath. Everything appeared to be brand new and very modern. Walking into the living room/kitchen was probably the best part of the condo. The whole back side of it was all floor to ceiling glass doors that opened up to a balcony that went on forever and an outdoor kitchen and dining table. We ate many breakfasts and dinners out on the balcony and I don't think there was a single morning that we didn't have a whale watching session in our pjs right from our balcony! Truly amazing! We took some pictures inside, but they won't even do the place justice. Here's a link that has some pretty good pictures though. Kaanapali Beach Rentals

While in Maui, we spent time at the beautiful pools on the condo grounds, went snorkeling, took the Road to Hana, shopped in Lahaina, took a fishing excursion, went to a luau, and lots of other fun things! The Road to Hana was an all day trip, taking the windy road up into the mountains where we found waterfalls, swam at the black sand beach, visited the Garden of Eden (where we saw the rock that the helicopter landed on in Jurassic Park), and just got the most breathtaking view as we wound around. I think my favorite part of the Road to Hana was the black sand beach. It was gorgeous - I've heard of it many times, but seeing it was unbelievable. The road is treacherous though! :) If you get car sick fairly easily like I do, be prepared!

I could really go on and on about everything we did and saw and how much fun we had. We didn't want to come home. In fact, it took Dylan and me a week or so to give up on the idea that we were going to just pack up and move there. We will forever be grateful for this opportunity and thank Dylan's parents, Nana and Papa, for everything they did to make this trip a reality for all of us. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience...we just hope it really doesn't turn out to be exactly that - "once" - because we want to go back! Thank you guys again for everything!!!!

Hawaii!!!

Post coming...I promise!

Easter

This year we spent Easter in Beaumont at my mom's house. We really had a great weekend...afternoon at the park with the kiddos, crawfish boil, swimming and backyard games, egg dying, Easter egg hunt, and more yummy food! Madison and Landon were such sweethearts to each other and really had a great time! I love seeing the excitement on their little faces for what seems like the littlest things to us - telling them we're going to the park, filling up an inflatable pool, setting out carrots for the Easter bunny and finding their Easter baskets on Sunday morning. It really doesn't get any better than that! :)

Precious...they love each other so much!

The Easter Bunny left tracks on the paper towel where the kids left their carrots. Silly bunny!

Love these two...they look like little angels. Don't let the picture fool you. ;)

Uncle Devin with the kiddos. Madi loves her uncle so much!

:)

Preschool

Madison transitioned into the Preschool I class last Friday and today was the first time I got to actually meet the teacher and find out about the class a little bit more. First, I must brag, so if you don't like that kind of stuff, quit reading now. :) The preschool class is for those approaching 3 and early 3s. Most of the kids transition into that class a month or maybe 2 months at the most before they turn 3. Madison is 4 months out, so is the baby of the class! I know that she is capable of handling the curriculum that they introduce, but was a little concerned that the structure of it, etc. might be too much for her at this point. The teachers and school director were all confident that she is more than capable of handling being in there and that they wouldn't transition her if they didn't think she was or if we were't comfortable with it. I am all about her moving at her own pace though and not being held in one class just because she doesn't meet the "age requirements", so sounds like this is going to be a good thing for baby girl! She will still get nap time, free play time, etc., but they will also be introduced to science experiments, math, reading, art, and will even spend some time working on computers. Miss Harris, her new teacher, is super sweet, very organized and professional. She is going to school to be a science teacher, and I could tell just from talking with her this morning that she loves working with the children, loves her job and takes it very seriously. It appears to be very different from the classes Madison was in up to this point. She also said that she has started assessing Madison (which they do as a formality in this class - not sure how often) and that she is very smart. She said that she enjoys being involved in the different math and science activities and thinks she is really going to like being in the class. She didn't cry when I dropped her off this morning, which is a first in a really long time, so that is a good sign! :)