Exciting News!!

We had a fabulous Christmas at home in ND with my family. We arrived late Wednesday night after battling drifting snow on the roads. We were even more excited to share with our family that we will be expecting a new little one next August!!

Anyone who knows our situation and the struggles we had to have Maddie will know this baby is truly a gift from God! I still am amazed that I actually got pregnant and so thankful and blessed that I will get to be a mommy again! Maddie did a great job telling Grammy that she was going to be a Big Sister!! My parents couldn't believe it and the look on their faces was priceless!

We are looking forward to next years Christmas picture to be a family of four!

We had a pile of snow at my parents house and there was no better place to be than at home. My sister baked cookies while the guys did some shoveling. It was so much fun to watch the kiddos play together. I only wish I was closer so we could spend some more time with each other. They all played so well!


I love that the girls had matching dresses! It is hard to get four little ones under the age of three to all look at the camera at once. But, we did the best we could! Papa and Grammy love their babies!


As far as pregnancy goes, I haven't been feeling the best. I have been super tired and feel like I need to eat a lot to feel better. I'm hoping this will pass soon and I will have a pregnancy like I did with Maddie? I loved being pregnant and it is my prayer that he/she will be healthy. The best thing about having a blog is I can document the events in our lives. Keep checking back and I will try to update more often. I wasn't quite sure why I wasn't feeling like myself, but was overjoyed when we figured out the news;)

Polar Express

Last night, Maddie and I met some friends and hopped on the Polar Express to head to the North Pole (Train Depot)! Once we arrived, we all listened to the story of the Polar Express! All of the kids received a little bell and got to see Santa! Maddie still isn't to sure of him and wouldn't sit on his lap.We enjoyed listening to carolers sing Christmas songs and looking at all of the trains in the museum.

Trevor and Maddie enjoyed looking out the window while on the train!

I'm so glad my friend Melanie invited us to go with her family! It was fun to watch the excitment on the children's faces!

The train was decorated so nice for Christmas and when it was time to get off, there were cookies, hot chocolate, and a fire to warm up by.

I can't believe that Christmas is almost here! I still have a little shopping to do and this weekend is so busy for us! We have practice for the Christmas program on Sunday and Maddie is excited that she gets to be a little sheep! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Wow! It's been a long time....

Wow!! It has been a long time since I last updated me blog! You can tell that the Holidays are here and I feel like I haven't had much extra time these days. Maddie and I decorated our tree upstairs on November 16th! She was so excited to help that it made decorating a lot of fun!


Maddie in front of the tree before one of our girl shopping days. She is getting to a fun age to take all day. I just have to remember to have lots of snacks packed:)

Maddie was so excited to have Papa at our house and to "fancy dance" with her! My parents came for Thanksgiving and that is all Maddie talked about. She couldn't wait to have a sleepover and wear her dress-up dresses and dance. I think she wore her Papa out a little bit?

Maddie is always wanting to help in the kitchen any way that we will let her. She was excited to help Grammy make whipped cream for the pies. She pushes her chair right up to the counter and is always ready to lick the beaters when your done:)

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, we all headed down to Bayfront Park in Duluth to tour Bentleyville. There are thousands of lights displayed with hot chocolate and popcorn stands along with roasting marshmallow pits and visiting Santa. This is a huge thing for the City of Duluth and about 32,ooo people visited it over the weekend. It's a great place to bring your family and friends and it's free....donations accepted, and a lot of fun!

Maddie wanted to do her own thing and insisted on walking be herself and didn't care that there were a ton of other people there. She was hard to keep track of and thankfully Rob was with us to follow her around. She definitely is little Miss Independent!!

Uncle Matt and Auntie Shell had a fun time with our girl too! They came to our house Thanksgiving night and us girls were ready with our shopping shoes on and out the door by 3:30am on Black Friday. Shell, Mom and I had a lot of fun just spending time together doing what we all love the most....shopping!!!


Bob's brother Tom was also in town for Thanksgiving so he came up to visit us on the weekend! Maddie has been talking to Tom a lot via Skype so she was really excited when he came to visit.
Skype has been a great way to connect with family that lives away and makes it easier for Maddie to recognize who they are.

I feel so behind this year and really need to step it up! I haven't even sent out Christmas cards
and still have a lot of shopping to do. I don't know why I am having a hard time, but better get my act together! I'm very excited to get to go back to ND for Christmas this year! I can't wait for Maddie to get to play with her cousins and to watch them open presents on Christmas morning. Kids make Christmas time that much more special and we have so much to be thankful for!

Elko Visit!

Michelle and I made the trip to see our cousin Steve last weekend. I arrived late Friday morning and she made it in early evening. We were excited to get to spend some time with him and his family.

Saturday, Shell and I spent the morning getting some groceries and new clothes for Steve. We met up with the kids for lunch and spent the rest of the day with them. We hung out watching TV and there was also a little Dance Revolution going on. Shell rocked it out for being her first time!

The kids were a blast to hang out with and made us laugh. We went to a movie and later out for pizza. The trip went fast but well wirth it!

Steve took us to the airport Sunday morning and we headed back to MN. We were so glad that we got to make the trip and help him out a little bit. I can't believe how different he looked after dropping 40 lbs. We hope and pray that he gets his strength back soon and can get back to work and doing the things that he loves. We can't wait to see him and the kiddos again over Christmas!!

What's up with the Hogue's???

The last few weeks have been pretty uneventful at the Hogue house. I haven't even had my camera out, which is unusual for me. So, I don't have any fun pictures to add. We had such a busy October that it was nice to relax a bit. We go to work, cook (Bob), clean (me) and play with Maddie. Bob did celebrate his 50th birthday on the 9th! We went out for a nice dinner and got a babysitter. It doesn't happen very often that we get to go out just the two of us, so we enjoyed our time together! That's what we have been up to!

Tomorrow, my sister and I are traveling to Nevada to visit our cousin Steve. We are extremely excited to spend some time with him. We are glad that he is on the road to recovery and hope to help him out anyway that we can.

Bob and Maddie will have a fun weekend hanging out together and I will miss them a lot. I'm sure she will keep her Daddy busy and entertained! It's amazing what comes out of her mouth these days. She has such a sweet personality, but can be very stubborn at times. I wonder where she gets that?

We are working really hard on the potty training thing so I hope to be done with diapers and pull-ups soon! She doesn't tell us when she has to go, but will go when we take her. If she does feel the need for chocolate...she will ask to go potty so she can get some! :) Whatever works I guess??

Bob's nephew, Ross, starts chemo this Monday for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Please remember him and my sister-in-law in your prayers. They caught it early and we are hoping that after treatment, he will be cancer free forever!!

Have a great weekend!

Pumpkins and Halloween

This was the first year that we carved a pumpkin with Maddie. She loved getting her hand inside scooping out the guts! Even Mom got her hands in there once! EWWWW!!!!

The finished project! We didn't do any of the fancy trace and cut out ones, but Maddie had a fun time participating!

Moma getting Maddie ready to go trick-or-treating!

Our neighbors got all dressed up so we went around our neighborhood with them. Maddie loves Trevor and Ty, but wasn't to sure about their costumes at first!

Even though it was pretty cold outside, Maddie was ready to go! She loved going up to each house and saying trick-or-treat. We only went to our neighbors houses and her bucket was full by the time we got home.

Maddie and I have both been fighting colds this last week. We stayed home together on Thursday and have been taking it pretty easy. I need to find some motivation because there is a lot of work that needs to be done at our house. Hopefully this week, I will be more productive!

Karaoke Maddie

This is from a couple of weeks ago when we were in Rochester. Maddie looked like a pro singing Karaoke and it was so cute! That's my girl!!

Princess Maddie (part 2)

Tonight, Maddie begged me to let her wear her pretty dress. Once she puts it on....she's ready to dance!!!

Princess Maddie

Madelyn got this adorable dress-up bridal dress from Auntie Shelly for being in her wedding. At first she really wasn't interested in putting it on and now we can't keep her out of it!
When ever we are at home, she asks if she can wear her pretty dress? She thinks she's a princess and wants to dance. Sleeping Beauty was her partner for this dance;)

"Will you please quit taking pictures of me!"

I thought this picture was so cute and so Maddie! We haven't shown her the Cinderella dress that she will be for Halloween because we know the she will probably want to sleep in it too! We should have some fun pictures next week!

Playing in the leaves!

My goal this year was to get some fun Fall pictures with Maddie, but it didn't really work out. We have been out of town for the past three weekends when the leaves were really peaking around our neck of the woods. Maddie loves running and jumping into the piled leaves so her Daddy raked them just for her! I did get a few pictures this week as Maddie was playing one night after work....

Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees but maybe if it's nice this weekend, we will get a few more pictures. I love Fall and it's my favorite season! I'm looking forward to sticking close to home this weekend and spending some time with our beautiful girl!

Vikings 6-0

We had a great time with my family at the Vikings game this past Sunday! The weather was great and spent a little time on the plaza with all of the crazy fans.

This was the second year that we have met in Minneapolis for a game. The Vikings were on a roll and we were hoping for a win!

The game was super exciting and came down to the last seconds where Baltimore missed a field goal for the Vikings to win and have a 6-0 record. The crowd went wild and it was so loud in the Dome.

On Saturday, we all sported Hamlin University gear and went to watch my brother-in-law Matt coach the football team. It too was another close game and unfortunately, they lost at the very end by the other team kicking a field goal. We were glad that the sun was shining and it made for a fun, fall, football game!

On the road again!

Here is another cousin picture. I can't believe how big they are all getting. Maddie was so excited to see her cousins that she ran up to them and squeezed their little necks. I wish we lived closer so they could play together more. She has so much fun with them! Maddie and I got home last Thursday and were ready for a fun filled weekend with family and friends.

The tune of our weekend changed when we got the news that my wonderful cousin, Steve, was cleaning a gun and there had been an accident. We believe in the power of prayer and miraculously he made it through surgery and was being transported to Salt Lake City. His parents flew out the next day to be with him as we anxiously awaited updated reports. My sister and I sang in church on Sunday which was difficult for me. The emotions of the weekend and words of the song made it hard to sing. The last phrase of the song says "you never know the miracles our Father has in store. Just watch and see, they will not be unredeemed". He is a miracle and we have a lot to be thankful for!

My sister and I have become much closer to Steve this past year, so it hit us pretty hard. My mom flew out last Tuesday to be with Joanie and Steve and is coming back today. We are looking forward to a fun weekend with my family. We have tickets to the Vikings game on Sunday and we are hoping they go 6-0! So far they are on a roll and we are excited.

This month has been so crazy and I feel like all I do is pack and unpack. I'm looking forward to next weekend just hanging with my girl and nothing planned. For now, we have to keep Steve in our prayers and continue to pray for healing. He has a long road ahead of him.

More Hogue pics!

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to update my blog. Here are a few more pictures from our Rochester visit with Bob's family....

Having a great time with Grandma Phyllis

Moma and Maddie

The Hogue's

Andy, Sara, Blake, Phyllis

Jan, Bob and CeCe

We were glad we got to spend some time with Blake while he was home

My little karaoke star!

Bob's brothers and sisters. The only one that is missing is Tom, but Sara stood in!

Twins Game

Tim (a.k.a. Mr. Fun!) and Maddie enjoying the game

We had an fabulous time going to the Twins game October 2nd! It was Maddie's 1st and last Twins game in the Dome since they will be in their new stadium next year. They played Kansas City and the fans were ready for an exciting game. The Twins needed the win because they are fighting for a playoff spot. They came through and won 10 to 7!!

We were glad that my sister Michelle and Matt were able to meet us at the game.






Maddie was such a trooper at the game. She cheered and screamed like a true fan and was a good little girl! I was glad there were a lot of people to help with her. She bounced between all of us and we tried to keep her entertained. We were in the dome for about four hours and for that long of time, she did really well!

Uncle Andy flew in from Los Angeles and spent the weekend with us. It was great to see him again!

Ross, Rob and Blake

CeCe and Shell!

Sharon, Jan and Bob's cousin Sara. Sara also flew in from San Fransisco to spend the weekend with the Hogue's. She hadn't been back to MN since 1995 and was the first time that Maddie and I have met her. She was so sweet and it was great to get to know her a little bit.

There were a total of 14 of us that attended the game together and truly had a wonderful time.

It doesn't happen very often when all of the Hogue kids are together with Blake living in L.A. and Rob in Iowa. We took this picture at about 12:30 a.m. after the game and a ride back to Rochester. I couldn't believe that Maddie talked with her brothers almost the whole way home and was still going strong. It must have been all of the sugar she had at the game. Cotton candy, snow cone and ice cream were just a few of her choices. I think she is a little like her mother and enjoyed all of the food at the game.