Evidence

Although I am always quiet during naptime, Mommy found proof that I don't always stay in bed.

Open House

I had Open House at my school on Thursday and was able to show my parents (and Mya) what I have been doing lately. I love going to school (almost as much as my mom loves me being there) and my teachers are great so I was excited about it Plus, I knew that there would be cookies and balloons.

We have read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Rainbow Fish (one of my mom's favorites) and my favorite book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (remember my love of letters?), so my work and crafts lately have related to our readings. My parents are hoping that we do some chemistry and calculus soon, but I think that may be a bit too advanced for me.

My life since the new addition

Sorry I have neglected my blog lately. As you can imagine I've been very busy since Mya's arrival: crying over trivial matters, throwing huge tantrums, trying to boss the folks around, testing everyone's patience. You know, typical new, big brother behaviors. Plus, something was wrong with our Flash Player and I couldn't make slideshows. Mommy finally fixed it while I was at school one day by spending an hour on the phone with some foreigner at tech support.

Over the past month, I've had a lot of people come to see me. Lola and Papo stayed with me while Mommy was in the hospital and for a week after she came home. When they left, Nona and Papa let me spend the whole day with them at their house a few times. Then, "Aunt" Jen came up from San Antonio and brought me my new favorite toys. My friends' mommies had also been coming over and kindly bringing us dinner since Mommy has for some reason been really tired and busy. I'm not quite sure why I've been getting so much attention lately but I'm loving it!

My baby sister's arrival

Even though my parents have been prepping me for several months, I never quite believed them; they kept claiming that they were going to give me a little sister. Well, they've gone and done it. Early Thursday morning, they went to the hospital to finally have the doctor get that baby out of Mommy's tummy.

Little Mya Victoria arrived loudly weighing 7 pounds and 19 inches in length. All this happened before Lola and Papo took me to school at 9:00 a.m. (7:53 to be exact)! Daddy brought me up to the hospital the next morning to meet the newest family member, however, I didn't initially take to her well. After some time (and snacks), my interest peaked and I was able to show her off to all my grandparents. I know that they will not love and adore her as much as they do me, but I hope that they at least tolerate her being around. After all, I will have to!

Days of Love

I had another great "string" of Valentine's celebrations this year. We had our playgroup party at Meredith and Caroline's again. Their mommy was very brave and had over 30 of us (plus the moms) over for treats and box/cookie decorating. It was such a messy chaos! But, I had more cookies and brownies in two hours than I've had this year.

At school on Thursday morning, Daddy came with me for "Donuts with Dad." I had five donut holes and still wanted a big chocolate one, but I was cut off. I then gave him a new tie that I had made (with a picture of me on it- so it's super cute), and we sang a Valentine's song for all the dads.

In the afternoon, Mommy came up for our Valentine's party (sorry, no pictures because Daddy forgot to leave the camera in my backpack- he didn't hear the end of it from Mommy), and I had MORE cookies and brownies. You'd think that I'd gain some weight after all that over-indulgence and finally fit into my pants . . . probably not.

* Update: My teacher took a picture of Mommy and me at the party and sent it to her so at least I have one to show you. If you can't tell, I have gotten over my phase of crying whenever the camera comes out; now I always say "cheese"!

Flight Museum

This past weekend was Brayden's 4th birthday party at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. His dad, Mr. Bill, has been proudly serving in Iraq since September and the flight museum is their favorite place to visit together (Mr. Bill will be back in April- just in time for the birth of little brother Matthew).

It was a very cool place with interesting exhibits and a fun play area for the kids. Daddy was really in awe of the Apollo 7 capsule and had to be pulled away for lunch. When the party was over, I even got a flight school certificate of completion. However, I overheard Daddy comment that he would still never get on a plane that I was flying. What's that supposed to mean?

Super Bowl Sunday

Today was Daddy's annual flag-football game with his friends in his fantasy football league. Although his team lost, he made it through the game with only a bloody nose and, most importantly, without seriously injuring his back like last year. Mommy is so very thankful for that since, being in her last trimester, she did not want to have to take care of two "dependents" in the house again (three if you include Chopper).

Afterwards, we went to Jackson and Ryan's annual Super Bowl party at their house. I had a lot of fun playing with friends I hadn't seen in a while and a whole lot of toys that I don't have at home. I didn't pay much attention to the game but there were some interesting 3D commercials during half time. I wonder if Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes in 3D.

Papo's Golf Cart

Since Lola and Papo live on the golf course at Sonterra, they have a golf cart that Papo takes me on whenever I'm in San Antonio. With all the grandkids in town, he took Reese, JP, and me around the course (after it closed, of course . . . ) and let us play at some of the stops. I'm not sure what he's going to do when Joseph and my baby sister are old enough to want to go with us; I guess they'll have to widen their garage and get another cart. That's what any loving grandparent would do.

At dusk everyday there are herds of deer that come out and graze on the south course. Daddy said that he saw around 75 of them and several of them were 10-point bucks. Good thing he didn't have his deer rifle with him.

Family Reunion

After Christmas (but during the "marathon") Nona's two sisters and their families came to Kyleigh and Mikinley's house in Colleyville for a reunion which we haven't had in several years. Actually, I had only met one of them previous to this day. Nona's older sister, Ann and her husband (James) came from Tyler. Their daughters Stacey (from Tyler) and Kristie (from Athens- no, not Greece) drove in with their families as well. Nona's younger sister, Debbie, traveled all the way Oregon and her son, Robert (from Tyler), came with his wife and four kids. It was great meeting everyone even though I can't recall all my "new" cousin's names. But since they're all much older/bigger than me, I do remember that none of them needed a mid-afternoon nap like me (although I decided to play in bed instead of sleep this time).

The whole clan

The Hoges

Christmas Marathon

Since we spent Christmas in San Antonio with Lola and Papo this year, we had an extended holiday season. On Monday the 22nd, the night before we left, I opened up my presents from my folks. Daddy thought that was strange but Mommy didn't want to have to travel with all my gifts down there and then bring them back home. She's a lot smarter than him (so she says).

On Wednesday the 24th, we went to the Petroff's Christmas Eve party which Mommy had been attending since she was a child. It has always been a tradition that after dinner Uncle Peter plays the piano (he's a physician by trade, but a pianist/composer by heart) and everyone sings Christmas carols. Unfortunately, Happy Birthday (my favorite) is not a holiday song that we could sing a million times. That was a late night for me (about 10:30) but I was really entertained by the music . . . and the pretty girls.For dinner on Christmas day, we went to my cousins' (Caleb and Jacob) house and saw my extended family again. I got some pretty cool gifts from everyone and of course wanted to play with each of them before unwrapping the next ones. It was another late night for me (around 11:00) but my hundreds of cousins (ok, a bit of an exaggeration) and new toys kept me occupied.

At Lola and Papo's, we didn't actually open up our gifts from Santa until the day after Christmas. Reese, JP, and baby Joseph didn't get in from Dallas until the early morning hours on the 25th and everyone was sick so they all slept in or rested in the morning, then we couldn't seem to coordinate all of our naps/meals/etc. with the whole group before we had to leave for Jacob and Caleb's house. Luckily, I was ok with waiting to up open up my gifts (probably because I had gone through so many already). I'm just glad that Santa knew I wasn't home for Christmas and dropped off my gifts at Lola and Papo's. I'm also thankful that he apparently overlooked most of my behaviors over the past year. That night we also celebrated Daddy's birthday a day early. I didn't get to bed until later than usual again (9:30), but not as late as the previous two evenings.We came back home on Saturday with Mommy's SUV literally packed full of our stuff (mostly my toys). My parents said that we'll be needing a bigger car to travel in once my sister arrives. I think that since Mommy's car is paid for, we should just keep it and leave the baby at home if she's going to take up that much room. I'm pretty smart like my mom.

Finally, we ended the season on New Year's Day at Nona and Papa's house since the Hoges weren't together on Christmas. My other cousins and I were super spoiled by the grandparents (as usual) and again left with a packed car. Mommy had brought my pjs because she knew that it would be yet another late night for me (only 9:15 this time).

I had a really busy and "profitable" Christmas this year, but I'm ready to get caught up on my sleep!