The ups and downs of Christmas Break...

The Poinsettia Tree at the Lauritzen Gardens.

Let’s start it off with the ups, shall we…

1. Daddy’s home.
2. Getting a lot of house projects done and a lot of organizing.

3. I’ve been spoiled with husband time/family time/me time/sleep time!
4. Kids on Christmas Day!
5. Good Food and lots of movies!

The downs of Christmas break...

1. Trying once again to transition Ethan and Autumn into the same room.
2. Once Christmas day was over, we were ready to see family.
3. Between three kids we have been to the doctor 6 times this month, and myself twice. That's a lot of doctor time.
4. Freezing rain and sub-zero temperatures.
5. Vehicle Dramas. Flat tires on the jeep, and a broken drivers side window on the car. FUN!

But the pictures are priceless.


This was the kids "Santa Claus Tree". This is the one they wanted Santa to visit. They made most of the decorations themselves, and the beauty of this tree is that I didn't have to care too much about the decorations on it being ruined or moved. I love that all the balls are clumped together, right in the front where Autumn hung them. Ethan was a little bit more particular about where he put his. Plus it was a real tree and it smelled so good. There favorite thing to do was to take the laundry (that I had just cleaned that was waiting to be folded on the couch) and hide it from me behind the tree, and sometimes in the water under the tree. Infact, it was there favorite hidding place.

So proud of her Christmas Tree.
Autumn is such a cute little Mommy. "Monkey see, Monkey do," is what comes to mind. She has done everything with this baby that Mommy does with "Carger." She loves her g's.

Transitioning into Ethan's room has really started to take it's toll on our little girl. We came up to check on them, and Ethan had somehow managed to squeeze his 4 year old body into Autumn's size 12 month dress, and this was the last layer of underwear Autumn had on when I got home. Dad forgot the camera in his frustration.

Camping out in the basement. Ethan had been wanting to camp out with his Dad for the longest time, and Corey promised him that over the Christmas break they would do it. Let's just say Corey's had better sleep than he did that night with Ethan being his second pair of skin and farting in his face, and "slash lights" in the eyes, but all in all it was a good father-son bonding night.
Just the boys.

Christmas Day. She was thrilled with all her girly garb! Talk about a shoe fest. She loves shoes.

Usually kids are so excited to open presents that they run downstairs in their PJ's, but not ours. When they woke up, we went into their room and I asked Ethan to guess who came last night, and he said, "Grammy and Grandpa?" I was a little shocked to hear him say that, but he had just woken up, so I gave him another shot. Then he said, "Nanny and Grandpa?" So I gave him the hint of the big guy in the red suit, and he said, "Okay. Let me get dressed first."

And getting dressed was his favorite thing to do. All Ethan wanted for Christmas was BATMAN! Everything Batman. I quit counting how many different times he changed that day. Just too many options. This kid has got such an imagination and the facial expressions to boot. Good thing Santa caught the day after Halloween specials.

And Iron Man as well. AKA "Iron E"
And last but not least, our Fairy Princess.

This feels like it should've been a Halloween post! Hope you all have a Happy New Year! Looking forward to it.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble... Blog, Blog, Blog...

Each taking there turn with the Santa hat.

A face that melts her Daddy's heart. Good thing Mom can see through it, sometimes.

What would the world be like without Nanny? THANK YOU, MOM!

Welcome to the family little guy.

Oh, so sweet.

On Santa's Nice List...

They had a blast having Grammy and Grandpa to themselves!

Now what would give you the idea that Autumn wants to be like Ethan?

My dear friend Carissa took these pictures for us, and they just turned out so cute, I had to post them.

Ethan is such a sweet brother.

Ahh, and finally the entire brood. Kinda takes my breath away.

We'll just get right down to it. The pictures are the funnest part of the blog anyway, right? Life is only getting better. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had Larry and Shaun out for the weekend, and what a relief! IT WAS AWESOME! We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate... and slept... YOu get the idea. Gained a few pounds for sure, but enjoyed every minute of it. Ethan loved having Grandpa around to throw him around a little bit. Autumn didn't really care who they were, as long as they'd read her a book. She was a little shy of Grandpa for some reason though. And Carter kept there laps warm for sure. It was really nice to have some company.

November has been a lot of fun. Lots of transitioning, lots of growing. Carter is now a month old. 5 weeks to be exact. He's finally starting to fill our a little bit. He weighs a little over 11 pounds now. He's starting to smile a lot now, and not just because he passed gas. He's as cute as ever. Ethan and Autumn still adore him. Autumn is right on top of the diaper changing time. She gets all the equipment out we need and then some. And Ethan is the pro burper. That's his contribution to the Carter tasks of the day.

Corey is another year older, and hopefully another year wiser. He is neck deep in Dental School and Halo parties. Can't wait for Christmas break! We might actually get to see him for a bit. Looking forward to it.

With all the rush of getting food prepared and juggling kids, I missed the spirit of the Thanksgiving Holiday. You know, that being thankful part, and I didn't get a chance to tell anyone! So now you have to bare with me. Don't worry, I'll keep it simple. The first thing that came to mind was parents. WOW! So happy to be alive. Don't know how they did it, and how they did it so well. My husband, of course, who keeps me grounded. Trials, that keep me alive and living, and of course my three adorable children.

Life just doesn't get any better than this... Unless it involves more sleep.

I... I will survive...

It's happened! Yes baby has arrived. October 23, 2008 at 11:28 pm. Really cute. 7 lbs 10 oz 20 1/2 inches. IT'S A BOY!!! I gotta tell ya, it was a surprise. But a welcomed one. He broke all sorts of molds. He doesn't look anything like the other two. Maybe the nose. He's the runt of the litter, and now there is more than one Hogge boy. It's all new. He's so sweet. Oh yeah, his name...Carter James Hogge. Ethan is absolutely in love with the little guy. He wants to hold him all the time. He said the cutest thing the other day. I was trying to get a burp out of Carter and Ethan said, "Here Carter, I will show you." And then he burped. It was so cute. Autumn just wants to poke his eyes out. She is still running around saying, "Were da baby?" She hasn't quite figured it out yet.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Since we didn't know gender, we had to play it safe with a costume, so Carter was a dragon, Autumn was a princess, and Ethan was a Knight. It was perfect weather! It was like 72. They had a Halloween Parade at Ethan's school, and he got to lead his class outside with his teacher. Ms. Stephanie was a princess, and she told Ethan that Knights are Princesses boyfriends, and then she asked him if he would be her boyfriend. OF COURSE he said yes. So she would just say, come on boyfriend. And he would grab her hand and away they went. I figured if I picked something with at least a weapon, I wouldn't get any crap, and it worked out. I know I said this last year, but this is probably the last year I will be able to get away with a themed Halloween. It was a lot of fun. I especially love Ethan in Carter's costume. When it got here, we had to open it right away! Then it got quiet, and when I asked Ethan to come down and show me what he was doing, out popped a scary dragon! I don't know how he got himself in that thing, because it took both of us to get him out.

In other news... I have been replaced. Or at least the dish washer has been. What a wonderful upgrade. Our old one was falling apart. And speaking of upgrades, we got a new grill too. Talk about all sorts of fun.

As for family cutes and updates, Autumn has found a new way to hide. She thinks if she barries her head, you can't see her. It makes hide and go seek a lot of fun. She has become our mocking bird. She will repeat almost anything you say to her. She follows Ethan around like a puppy dog. Most of the time, they play SO CUTE together. When he gets home from school she lights up. She will run to the door and give him a great big hug. She thinks he hung the moon. She loves to sing and dance, and oh yeah, like most girls with an attitude, she likes to tell you what to do.

Ethan has just come out of his shell. He is site reading now, and doing really well with it. We had our first Parent/Teacher conference, and it looks like I've got a lot of teachers to warn. We were supposed to go to Parent/Teacher Conference on Thursday night, but we were in the hospital, so the teacher pulled me aside after I dropped him off. I'm not gonna lie to ya, I was wanting to hide myself under a blanket, but she said some things that gave me quite a chuckle. She said he is extremely smart. He is picking up the reading thing really well. He knows his numbers, shapes, etc. He just HAS A PROBLEM WITH AUTHORITY. Just needs some good direction. She also said I am going to have my hands full with his teachers in the future, because he needs to be challenged. Boy does that sound like a guy I'm married to!!!

As for tramatic experiences... I always seem to have one of these right after I've had a child. We have been trying to transition Autumn into sleeping in Ethan's room. We got her a bed and everything and Carter brought each of them a fish. We put our fish tank up in Ethan's room, and we have just been trying to make it the place to be. Well, little did we know what a hip happenin' place we actually made it. We had been putting them to bed at the same time, which was really hard, because they were staying up and playing for until about 10:00 at night, which would be okay if they weren't still waking up at the same time in the morning, so I decided that I would put Autumn down first, and then put Ethan down. Which I thought was brilliant, but then at 11:00 at night, she woke up and would not STAY IN HER BED!!! It got my blood boiling. My Mom and I kept the hallway pretty hot with every threat in the book. I just felt like I was being out smarted by my children. Then I broke out the pack and play and put that in Ethan's room, thinking if I could just pin her in, the party would stop. Not so. I asked Ethan if he would sing her a song, which always turns out to be I am a child of God, and what do I see Autumn doing... Dancing. Finally, my Mom pulled out the big guns. She told Ethan she was going to get Corey. He freaked! Of course, all of Corey's siblings know how pleasant he is when you wake him up. Well, so does his son. So Ethan calmed down. And finally, at 3 am, the party stopped. We woke up at 9:00. I have never had such a laugh though in all my life, hearing those same threats come out of my Mother that she used to say to me. I cried I was laughing so hard. Just thinking about it makes me chuckle. So that's that venture. We'll try transitioning later. When lack of sleep is common place.

These are just a few of the happenings going on around here. Enjoy!

Time Flies....

So I was supposed to blog on my myspace account when I got back from Utah in August, and obviously it never happened. Happy to say I have pulled my head out and am now enjoying a quiet afternoon TO MYSELF!!! So now we'll update. Yes... new blogspot. I'm sick of the crap people. Hopefully you'll all be able to access this acct better than the other one.

So, now to update you. I'll summarize. Our Summer was chaotic, but a lot of fun. Hopefully we got all the sick out of us before baby comes. Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know, we're expecting #3 and final in 3 weeks. Looking forward to meeting it, boy or girl, and then not having to ever be pregnant sick again. It's a beautiful feeling.

Corey started Dental School in August and comes home with a smile on his face almost everyday. He is loving it! Ethan thinks he is going to church everyday because he has to wear a shirt and tie. We were really surprised to find out that 5 other classmates live here in Village Green. That has been a lot of fun. Next year we'll probably have half the class living here. It will be good for those late night study sessions. I thought this whole Dental School thing would be harder than it is, but so far, I am really enjoying it. I guess it's just because it feels like we've been waiting for it for so long, that now that it's finally here, it feels cloudy and dream like.

Ethan also started school. He is in Pre-K at Bancroft Elementary School. It's a good thing his teacher said they like the tough ones, because I have a feeling he just might break them. But he is definitely doing much better. He is growing up so much, and is a crack a minute. He says some of the funniest things and has some of the funniest faces to go along with it. He is very animated. For example, the picture at the top. We see this face a lot. It's kind of the "Oh crap, I'm in trouble face." Because believe it or not, he does a lot of that getting in trouble business.

Autumn... Well, she's found her attitude. She is now 15 months and is talking sentences, and if she can't say the word and you guess what she wants, you get a forever smile that you figured it out. She eats like a bird. Her favorite fit throwing these days, or at least the newest one is what we like to call the butt fit. She has her feet flat on the floor and her hands too, and she shakes her butt in the air. It's hard not to laugh. I used to think Ethan was loud, but Autumn gets the prize. WOW! She has got a good set of lungs on her, and they usually come out at feeding time. She has started fighting back with Ethan. That's pretty funny to see. this little thing pushing Ethan around. She's pretty tough. She has her Dad WRAPPED!!! She can do no wrong. The other day we were taking the garbage out and Corey got home early from school, and she was throwing a fit on the sidewalk and saw the jeep and took off running. She knows where the sympathy is, that's for sure. But with a face like that, it's hard to say no.

All in all, things are good. I will brag and say, I got all of my Christmas shopping done already. We had the budget all worked out and I realized that it is going to be really cold and I'm going to have a newborn and I just don't want to do that, so... I jumped on it. It's a very nice feeling.

And now I will take my bow and pat myself on the back, because although this blog thing is not perfect, or as easy as I thought, it's done!! Enjoy.