Final Blog of 2008

A quick post to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

2008 has been a very strange year for the Hove Family, as I'm sure it was for everyone. The year has been full of ups and downs; we watched with amazement as Jack blossomed into our little man, we dealt with trying to sell our condo, welcoming a new addition to our extended family, worrying about job security in this crazy economy, and staying closer than ever to our friends and family.

Here's to clearing the slate on 2008 and keeping a positive picture of what's to come in 2009!

Happy New Year from the Hove's!

Little Miss Birthday(s)

Yes, three posts today. A lot has been going on - and instead of making the LONGEST post ever, I broke it down for ya. Plus, I needed to get Jess off of my back for the lack of blogging.

Avery had a "Little Miss Birthday" party to celebrate turning 3. It was so adorable - of course Jess hit it out of the park as always. Since Kasey shares a birthday so close, we kidnapped Avery earlier this winter and had their pictures taken together and gave them to Jess - I mean Aves for her birthday. Don't you love the matching shirts??

Jacks started out with a tough day - can you tell!? Good thing he warmed up quickly!

Kip and Brad Maybe the cake was the reason he stopped crying :) Not really - but he looks happy here!!

Trying to help Aves blow out her candles.
My handsome duo.
I love that she smashed her cake like it was her first birthday.
We can't resist a photo opp.

The baby is grown up

Kasey shares a birthday with Christmas, so we have a tradition that each Christmas Eve we have a birthday party for her.  She's the baby of the family, and this year she turned the big 1-8.  Jess made her an adorable banner, so I just had to order her a sweet cake to match.

She had to put on some hot pink socks just to match!  Isn't she adorable?

That's a lot of candles, kiddo...but somehow always just one boyfriend.  Good thing we like him! :)

Tate and I both said the fondant tasted like Play Dough, but they were good entertainment.  Avery ended up eating the numbers in the morning anyway.

OK - so long story short.  Have you seen the movie Madagascar?  You know Melman, super tall, adorably funny giraffe that's always in "surgery"?  Well, that's pretty much Kasey.  Sooo - I had to buy her a little Melman doll.  It's definitely not her favorite nickname in the world, but again...if you've seen the movie...you know it's better than being called Gloria!!

Happy Birthday, Melman - I mean Kas!

Christmas 2008

Christmas was great this year. We didn't do as much running around as we typically do, which all three of us were grateful for. Christmas Eve morning was spent with the Reiter's in Mankato...and for my first time was at a hotel. They used to do this all of the time when Brad was a kid, but Jack and I had always gone to Arnie and Gail's house, which we missed this year.  (Although, I have to say - the long halls were nice for Jack to run and burn off energy.)

Next it was off to Hector to make it to church, and then off to the farm. Jacks walked through the door at my parent's house and said "It's Christmas at the farm!!" when he saw all of the decorations, he was very excited.

It was fun to have Jack understand what Christmas was this year. He had been looking forward to it since all of the presents went under the tree, and knew that Santa was coming, too. He got so many great gifts, and loves to play with all of them already. Good thing Brad and Jacks are home this week so they can play with all of them!

I know I've mentioned it before - but the three of us are nearly incapable of taking a good picture together. This was seriously the best one there was....we just laugh.

Me and my sissies....they're just the BEST.

Grandpa Keith and Grandma Sandy with their grandkids. Some were more excited about taking a picture than others :)

Jacks and Tony

Opening Santa gifts - with no clothes on!? Shocker!

My little Jack-in-a-Box

The only way we could get them all to sit together was to have them stick their tongues out, but it's adorable...and so are they. There's more pictures in the December slide show...you know me, way too many to post! I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Hoversons!

Merry Christmas 

from the 

Hove Family!!

Brad is following in his Grandpa Lou's tradition (with his own twist) and answers the phone around the Holidays and says "Ho Ho Hoverson's!" He also runs around the house from about November through January singing "It's the MOST wonderful time of the year!" Can you tell we love Christmas? (OK, I could live without the frigid weather, but we love everything else!)

We hope your Holidays are Wonderful and full of Joy!

Happy Birthday, Miss Aves

Little Miss Avery turned three today...so we hard our normal dinner out to celebrate.  She can't quite make the three with one hand, but two does the trick!

She was so excited to see Jack when we showed up - it was adorable.

Jacks and Jess.  On our way home he asked if we could go to Jessi's house instead.  He just loves her.

Dancing machines - it's a good thing we go to "kid-friendly" places!

Happy Birthday, Miss Aves...we can't believe you're already 3 (going on 13, right??)!

Sunday Funday

Sunday started with Tate and Avery's Christmas program at church...of course they were adorable.

It drive Jess a little nuts, but we LOVE when the kids wave to us - it's too cute!

Me and my little Godson, Tate.  He's really not little anymore! :(

The weather was too bad for us to make it to my Mom's side of Christmas this year, so Grandma Sandy brought us the gifts and we let Jacks open them Sunday afternoon.  He was so excited to open them!

Winter Wonderland

Saturday was such bad weather, but my friend Heidi still decided to take the long trip from Aberdeen to the cities.  After a really long ride...and picking Carissa up along the way, we were glad she made it.  She lives in Idaho with her husband and two adorable babies, so she had to make the trip when she got the chance.

We always have so much fun together - thanks for another great night!

'Tis the season to be baking

Jack and I had been talking about doing some baking for quite a while, so we finally decided to get our acts together and do it.  I for one did not think it would take THREE days / nights to finish!!

We wanted to get banana bread baked before Darcy and Joel came over Sunday afternoon.

Tuesday night it was cookie making time.  He liked this much more than the banana bread.

Cutting out his own cookies.

I really tried to let him do everything on his own, which is why some of the dough was half-eaten, and I don't think ANY of the shapes are exactly how they should be!

A little fingerprint here or there never hurt anyone, right???  We washed his hands!

I thought we would get the cookies finished Tuesday night, but after I was checking the cookies, and there was an incident with our office and a Sharpie (compliments of Jacks) we quit for the night.

Thursday came and it was time to frost.

This time...I was well-prepared :)

And the finished product.  Don't they look like tasty blobs??  Ha.  They're so ugly, but so adorable in my mind, knowing the Jack really did do them to his own little perfection.

He was so wiped out when we were done, that he asked if I would make him a little bed in the living room while they dried...he didn't quite make it to taste one!

Peek-a-Boo!

Have a great weekend!

 

Oh Baby!!

So - as most of you know, I'm a little bit baby crazy right now (and so it Jacks, by the way...he keeps asking for a baby sister!) Well - to my delight, two of my best girlfriends had their babies this past week!

Ashley (my best friend from High School) had her little miracle baby last Thursday, December 11. After a bit of a scary pregnancy, and being on bed rest for FAR too long, Shay Lynn Barden came only six weeks early. She weighed a little over 4 lb (I'll update when I get the exact details...I didn't write them down since I was driving to work when they called!!).

OK - I just heard from Ash. 4 lb. 12 oz and 18 inches long!

I vowed to wait until they were finally home from the hospital to visit them, but after seeing these pictures, I e-mailed them right away to see when it would work to make a trip to Mankato :) They will be in the hospital a bit longer than they initially thought, but she's doing really well.

This past Sunday, December 14, we got the word from Gina, one of my best friends from college (well - it was actually her husband and a massive text message). She had her little baby boy, Donovan Scott Marco. He was a bit of a boy for such a little Mama, weighing 7 lb. 11 oz. and 19 3/4 long. Gina was a little bit different than Ashley, in hoping she would have the baby early, and her wish came true.

With almost 2 weeks to go, he made his debut a bit early - perfect for Christmas. He had a little bit of trouble breathing, and a tiny infection (the hand contraption is an IV for his antibiotics) but came home yesterday and is doing really well. Two other girlfriends and myself are going to take a trip to Milwaukee in early January to visit the newest addition to our "family".

We love you both, and can't wait to meet (and hold...and smell...and squeeze) your new little bundles of joy!! CONGRATULATIONS!