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!

Christmas Activities

Ok, so I'm a pretty active guy (when you're this good looking you can't help but to be busy with so many friends) and did a lot in December leading up to Christmas so I'm just going to give you a brief summary.

First, we went to see the largest Christmas tree in the world (that would be in my world) at the Galleria in the middle of the skating rink. I even saw Santa Claus there.

We had our annual playgroup Christmas party and book exchange at Madison and Mason's house.

Next, Mommy joined my class for another Christmas party and book exchange.

One night we visited Frisco's Christmas in the Square like we did last year and watched all the lights choreographed to the holiday music. I even saw Santa Claus there.

That same night we stopped by Frisco Fire Department's Safety Town (it's a mini-city designed to educate children about public safety . . . hence the name) to see their holiday light displays and activities. I even saw Santa Claus there.

As you can see I was really busy before Christmas. But apparently not as busy as Santa Claus.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Daddy's birthday and Mommy almost forgot. We were down in San Antonio for Christmas and everyone had already celebrated the night before at Mommy's favorite restaurant (funny how that worked out). But the next morning we were packing up, getting ready to go back home, and everyone forgot the big day until we were walking out the door. Daddy was so nice and never said anything all morning.

When we made it home finally (no tantrums the whole trip!) we gave Daddy our presents and, with my persistence, sang "Happy Birthday" about 20 times (seriously). I think I wore him down and he was satisfied with our recognition of his 29th birthday . . . could that number be right? Anyway, sorry that we almost forgot (even though Mommy would have killed you if you did the same)! We do love you lots- you're the best!

Third Visit with Santa

I finally made it to see Santa Claus before he went back to the North Pole to collect my gifts. I was extremely hesitant to sit in the man's lap but Mommy promised me candy afterwards (she does that with haircuts, too). Her bribe worked because I did not try to "escape" like last year. So we took two pictures (the first one I had a bigger frown) and I hopped right off to receive my much-deserved treat. I don't get candy very often at all so I wouldn't mind a few more visits; I might even muster up a smile after a while.