Fall Update

The months are blowing by us and we can’t keep the blog up to date! I think the combination of Harper’s mobility, curiosity and over-the-top fascination with a keyboard might have something to do with me not getting to the computer much too Our baby girl is one already! I can’t believe how quickly it came and past.  Harper and I traveled back to Minnesota the second weekend in October for various celebrations, so we added Harper’s first birthday in there as well. She was so lucky to have most of her family in attendance. She dove into her own personal chocolate cake hands-free and had such joy receiving all her new gifts. She made it through the majority of her party like a champ and finally crashed after a couple hours. Some other fun things that weekend were attending our very first St. Cloud State volleyball game to watch Auntie Goof play, watching Harper dance with Grandpa Hokie at Chasity’s wedding, and celebrating Auntie Tara’s bridal shower.

In October we had the privilege of hosting both sets of Grandparents at our house for a few days.  We visited a pumpkin patch with the Hokenson’s to pick out a pumpkin and go on a hay ride. Harper loved snuggling the pumpkins and riding in the pumpkin wheelbarrow. She got lots of play time with Grandma and Grandpa….me and Grandma quickly realized the lack of hugs and kisses we got from Harper that weekend compared to Grandpa! She’s definitely Grandpa’s girl! Similarly she is turning into a MAJOR Daddy’s girl. The second she hears my phone ring or Wade’s car door slam she lights up and says, “Bapa!”. I try to take her away when he leaves for work and she clings to him for dear life! Its so precious, although I’m pretty jealous We also had tons of fun spending some alone time with Gma and Gpa Cipperly. There wasn’t much to do while they were here, but I think it was perfect for them just to finally get some alone time with her.

Halloween weekend was very exciting with Harper this year. Our town has trick or treating and various Halloween festivities going on for two nights. On Halloween Eve we were invited to our friend’s house for a potluck dinner. Wade was gone that night for basketball so we were very thankful to the Waldrops for the fellowship that night! We spent a few hours at Miss Sophie’s house for her first birthday on Halloween! We also met up with the Waldrops later on to take the kids trick or treating. Harper dressed up as her favorite character, Elmo, and got quite a bit of wear out of it! I end up getting the “Elmo’s World” song stuck in my head, so I sing it quite a bit when we get silly together. Being the little copy-cat that she is, she started singing it to! Every time we put her costume on she started shaking her hips, singing “la la la la”. SO PRECIOUS!

I can’t believe what a little old lady Harper has become. Her personality shines more and more every day. She continues to be a replica of her father with her little joker demeanor. If you’ve seen pics of Wade when he was little, you’d see Harper’s personality in there too. Wade tends to be a little more serious outside of the home, but the two of them together are a couple of goofballs. I sense she gets from me an impatience and stubbornness…and we see that more and more as she learns to express that with tantrums! Yay! Luckily we have learned how to avoid meltdowns as best we can. And the good news is that she never seems to have tantrums for anyone else but us! Like her parents, Harper loves to play sports and she is extremely quick to point to and say, “ball” anytime she sees one. I’m amazed at how long she keeps entertained with one ball! She also loves being outside, eating anything you have in your hands, watching tv (although we avoid it as much as possible), Elmo, getting ready with Mama, reading, playing with animals and inspecting the functions of any and everything  in sight (future engineer!). I have so much fun with her and am reminded daily how blessed I am to be a stay at home mom.

We are very excited about the months ahead. Wade’s season officially begins this week as he travels to Arizona State. We are looking forward to his upcoming home opener the week after next. It will be fun to follow his team after witnessing all the training and preparation to get to this point, both academically and athletically. Thanksgiving is just around the corner! We will be celebrating in Macomb this year and hope to invite others over that can’t make it back home either. Shortly after Thanksgiving will  be my sister’s wedding! It will be so much fun to celebrate and see family and old friends again. And then of course, Christmas! We are anxious to introduce Harper to the joy of the season! She is learning so much every week and how tender it will be when she someday shows evidence of knowing who Jesus is and why God sent his Son to this earth.

I hope you are all doing well and taking time to enjoy the weather, family, friends and fall activities! Can’t wait to see many of you in a few weeks! All our love!

p.s. We bough a minivan….officially a soccer mom!!! Ahh!!

Back to the Grind

Summer has come to a close and we have started to get used to the new grind. Wade’s players returned to campus on August 24th. He’s been a lot busier taking the guys through workouts and assisting them with their academic endeavors. The college began renovating their office in July and it’s yet to be completed. It will be exciting for them to work in a spruced up space, but in the meantime all five staffers are cramped into one room with a large table and one couch! Wade’s come home a little claustrophobic at times! The staff has higher hopes for the team this year. They’ve been impressed with the talent the new recruits are proving and the work ethic they bring on the court and in the classroom.
The schedule has been a lot better for our family this year compared to last. We’ve been able to enjoy more weekends and evenings together. Over Labor Day Weekend we drove up to Chicago to meet Abbey and Randy Chall.

We met up at Lamb’s Farm, which included all kinds of activities for families and kids. We spent most of our time in the petting zoo and pet shop with Harper. Afterwards we attacked the breadsticks and good eats at Olive Garden. It was such a blessing to catch up with our wonderful friends. Instead of heading back to Macomb, we spent the night at a hotel in Chicago. Wade got to play with Harper in the pool the next morning before we met up with his older brother Brock for lunch.

While Wade’s been busier with work, I’ve been a little busier at home. When school started at WIU I began watching another ten month old girl (Sophie) a few days a week. The first couple weeks were difficult figuring out routines and getting Sophie more comfortable at our home. But now things run a lot smoother and its a joy to watch the girls develop, play together and gang up on Koda.
As far as updates on the princess, the biggest news is that she just started walking at the beginning of September. She adds more steps, speed and balance every day. She learned to go down the stairs recently. She loves to read books out loud, flip the pages and look at the pictures. She learns more words everyday and is so eager to point out the words I say. Tree, book, balloon, ball and baby are her favorites. She loves to copy sounds and actions right now. Repeating “baby” or mimicking Papa’s goofy actions are her favorites.
Harper and I are excited to travel back to MN on October 8th. Wade cannot make it because he will be recruiting in Iowa. But we have a lot on tap for that weekend….Chasity’s wedding, Tara’s wedding shower/bachelorette party, Goof’s volleyball game, and possibly Harper’s first birthday party! Looking forward to seeing many of you then! Have a great start to the fall! So far its gorgeous out here!! LOVE IT!

**p.s. We’ll try to upload some videos soon! Its been such a headache trying to figure out how to get our cameras to sync with our computer…the formats are all weird and unrecognized!

Belated July Update

Our five weeks in Minnesota have come to an end and we arrived back in Macomb on August 2nd. Wade spent July traveling to Cincinnati, Kansas City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Tulsa and Dallas to recruit the next batch of players for WIU. Harper and I stayed with both sets of Grandparents throughout the time Wade was working. Luckily Wade was able to take a week off at the start and middle of the recruiting period, so we got the vacationing in we SO needed as a family.

Harper and I were able to spend three weekends up at my parents’ cabin in July (Wade once). It was unusually cool at the cabin, but quite a relief for us since Macomb had been so hot and humid.

We spent two days in Duluth and Grand Marais with Wade’s parents. We toured the Glensheen mansion, hiked Gooseberry Falls and ate a pizza at the legendary Swen and Ole’s.

Harper and I primarily stayed with my parents in July, but visited the Hokensons a couple times a week. We spent a lot of time outside on the farm with Harper looking at cows, playing under the apple trees, chasing after Pete (their dog) and checking out the swing set. We spent one afternoon at Como Zoo. Harper was pretty comfy on Grandpa’s shoulders but perked up a bit more once we entered the butterfly garden.

It was great being able to spend time with my family as well. Some highlights included bike rides, beach volleyball, visiting Grandma’s work, and Harper’s very first Twins game!
Harper is now nine months old and turning into a toddler quicker than I would like! She’s standing up alone longer and more often each day. She walks around the living room holding onto the coffee table and couches pretty quickly. It seems like Harper picks up on at least two new words a day….which we’ve put to use in teaching her pointless tricks to entertain us with Our stressful sleeping-through-the-night issues were finally resolved once we noticed her top four teeth cut through. She’s been sleeping like an angel ever since! The most exciting thing to see in Harper has been her recognition of faces. She was exposed to so many different people throughout our visit, but would consistently respond with excitement when she was reintroduced to familiar faces. The BEST has been her reaction to Wade after being gone for 10 days. She got the biggest, cheesiest smile on her face when she saw him. She instantly went into hyperactivity mode and wanted to play with him. I have to be honest…Mommy is a little jealous of their goofy little playtime bond.
It was such a blessing to have stayed in Minnesota for a month. All of our other weekend visits become such a blur with all the visits and activities we try to squeeze in. This gave us lots of time to relax and spend more quality time with all the wonderful people in our lives. Thank you to everyone who was able to take time to visit with us! We can’t wait to be back again!

Summer is Here!!!

Harper is now 8 months old! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. She’s hit many milestones since we last updated. She crawls at lightening speeds and I literally cannot take my eye off of her for more than five seconds. I learned that after I caught her eating out of Koda’s dish while I was cooking dinner! The funny thing is she likes it. She gets so mad at me when I redirect her from his food. Haha! Wade learned this lesson after he caught her halfway up the staircase…eek!
Harper pulls herself up onto anything and everything. She’s starting to take steps while she holds on to various sturdy objects. In fact, its made bedtime more of a challenge. We were making progress with her going to sleep on her own in her crib…but now she HAS to stand in the crib if she’s awake. She doesn’t fuss…she just likes to stand and play. So Mom has regressed to rocking her to sleep again in order to get her to bed sooner….such a softy
We battled teething about a week ago and I think we’re in the clear for awhile. Her top two teeth cut through and now my little baby has four teeth!!
I absolutely love my precious time with Harper at home. I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to do so. It can be monotonous at times, especially when Wade puts in long hours, but its a lot more fun with each stage as she gets older. She’s so much more interactive now. She understands more each day, like “no”, her name, “Koda”, “Mama” and “Papa”. We tell her to “clap, clap” or “YAY!” and she claps like crazy with the proudest smile I’ve ever seen. I ask her for “kisses” and she lays a big ol slobbery open-mouthed wet one on my mouth. She’ll chase me or we’ll race-crawl down the hallway upstairs. Best of all is simply rediscovering the wonders of the world through her eyes.

As a family, we are enjoying lots of time together lately. We love our family walks and meals together. I’ve been able to get out and enjoy some alone time working out, shopping and helping with VBS at church. We’ll be traveling to MN on June 26th and staying through the end of July. Wade will leave from Minneapolis to recruit during July after the fourth. So we will enjoy lots of time with the family!! I’m so excited to be around the lakes and trails this summer!
Below are a bunch of new pics of Harper…

Quite our escape artist! She loves to pull on her velcro tabs. We usually have to keep her in a onesie to keep her distracted from her diaper

Grandma and Grandpa Hokie visited on Memorial Day Weekend. We did a lot of yard work, walking, some golfing and playing with Harper. It was our first time NOT at my parents cabin this weekend since we’ve been together, but we were so blessed to have visitors!

Harper loves this toy from the Schmigs and Dreiers. She will sit for the longest time honking that little red horn!

April Flowers Bring May Showers

Summer is arriving quickly in Macomb! The leaves are in full bloom and the grass has been mowed half a dozen times. We’ve been hit by lots of rain in the last few weeks, which is very unfortunate for the farmers itching to plant in our area. The river in our backyard rose all the way up to our deck just recently. Our beloved “Chuck” gave birth to a litter of “chuckettes” this spring. We’ve been entertained by the three little groundhogs popping up all over the yard, although it has caused Koda (our watchdog) to get a little nutty.
Harper is hitting some exciting milestones this month. She started crawling a week ago! Its so funny watching the determination in her face as she crawls across the room to grab something that catches her eye….lately its been cords…eek! We’ve discovered her love for cheerios as well. Its our cure-all during her fussy moments when Mommy and Daddy want to eat supper in peace. Sippy cups have a similar affect. Its been fun watching her learn how to hold onto and raise the cup to drink.

We got Harper’s six month photos taken and you can go to shootingstarsphoto.net to view the proofs. If you click on “proofing” and type in “hokenson” as the password you should be able to retrieve them.
The office has been a little more laid back for Wade. The students left campus this past weekend and the team has the next few weeks off. Wade’s been working on summer camps and helping to finalize the 2009 recruiting class.
My job is going well too With the nice weather I’ve been getting out and running with Harper in the jogger stroller. We also take our daily walk with Koda and try to keep the house together. I’m very excited to be involved with Vacation Bible School at our church next month. I am an assistant with the first grade group! Can’t wait! I already know that they will be more of a blessing to me than I can possibly be to them.
My little sis turned 18 yesterday and will graduate in June I am still stunned every time she stands next to me because she is my 5′2″ LITTLE sis in my head, but in reality she nearly towers me….I said NEARLY towers me….I still think I have her beat! We will make the trek to Minnesota to celebrate her graduation on the weekend on June 6th. We’re really looking forward to spending time with extended family and friends at her grad party!

April Events

This month has been so blessed for us. Since we had Harper we’ve been feeling more homesick for Minnesota, wanting her to experience the wonderful family we have there. For a long time we were so desperate for Minnesota that we prayed about the decision to move back with our ears shut to God’s answer. We knew in our soul that He needed us in Macomb, but kept second guessing and refusing to believe it. Our attitudes became negative and our perspectives clouded. It took awhile…God had to beat us over the head for awhile before it got through…but we finally surrendered the situation to him. We made the decision to let go, choose joy and walk in faith. God’s got a great plan for us in Macomb…and we want in on it.

Since we made the decision to leave it up to God, the blessings keep coming. We got plugged into an AMAZING small group at church. The fellowship we have with these wonderful people each week is an experience we’ve been longing for since college. We’ve also been blessed by Wade’s work schedule. He’s been free almost every weekend this month. Related to that, we were able to go back to Minnesota for Scott Ferguson’s wedding on April 4th. We spent the evening celebrating a beautiful Christian couple and catching up with old best friends from FCA.

Harper continues to bring us so much joy….she is the biggest blessing of all! She’s growing up so fast that I don’t know whether to celebrate her milestones or cry! She babbles “mama” and “baba” like crazy. She can sit up on her own without us spotting her. She is sprouting a cute little tooth on the bottom. The best part of all is the personality emerging. She is such a goofy, smiley, giggly little girl.

We hope all of you had a blessed Easter and have opportunities to enjoy the spring weather! All our love!

March Update

March has arrived and we’ve already seen quite a few changes in the little monster. She’s giggling more frequently and cracking us up. She hasn’t figured out how she does it, but she’s rolled from belly to back a handful of times. Harper is a lot more active…jumping and kicking in her jumper, grabbing anything she sees, and wiggling with all her might when mommy tries to put her down for a nap.  She’s discovered new sounds to make. Her favorites are sighing, roaring, and lip farting. Its hilarious watching her work herself up for the last one. She’s also become quite the leech giving Momma hickies on her shoulder and putting anything she grabs into her mouth.We’ve started feeding Harper rice cereal and she attacks that spoon with all she’s got. Feeding time is a lot more fun!

We had the pleasure of surprising Auntie Goof in Indianapolis at her National Qualifier. We left Harper in her stroller just outside Goof’s hotel room. She opened the door, screamed and made Harper cry. Harper loved the sights and sounds of the gym and aspires to be like her big stud Auntie.

Wade’s season came to an end over a week ago as they just barely missed a trip to the conference tournament.  He’s been busy recruiting and gearing the guys up for off-season training. He has the weekend off coming up so we’re looking forward to a brief trip home to Minnesota.

I’m over half-way through the season coaching a wonderful group of girls from the Macomb area. We started out pretty shaky but have managed to make significant improvements each week. I’m hoping to get partially involved with the WIU volleyball team this spring.

We miss everyone in our lives and pray for you often. We’re planning to make it to MN for the weekends of March 14th, April 4th and April 11th…hoping to see as many of you as possible!

She Giggled!!!

I got to witness what I’ve been most looking forward to with Harper on Wednesday night. I was playing with her on the changing table and out of the blue she let out these cute little giggles. Most of the time when I play with her she’ll squeal, and I assumed that was her laugh…until I heard the giggles. I was so excited that I scared her and she started crying You could probably make $100,000 on America’s Funniest Home Videos if you put hidden cameras around the house and captured me making a fool of myself trying to get her to do it again.

February Update

Our little girl is growing up so fast! Its crazy looking back at our last post because she has grown so much since then. We are guessing she weighs about 13 pounds now. She’s getting close to fitting into 6-9 month clothes because she’s so long in the torso.

Harper seems to discover something new every day, which keeps us pretty entertained.  She rolled over for the first time a couple weeks ago and now does it like its her job.  She can’t quite roll from back to belly yet…she just whines until Mommy does it for her. This is especially fun at 3 am when she’s in her crib! She’s also discovering the different tones and VOLUMES of her voice. She’ll happily sit on the couch squealing for 10 minutes at a time.

If  its possible to tell a baby’s personality at this point, I would say Harper is a joker. She loves to get our attention by squeeling and grunting.  When I feed her she loves to pull away, flash a huge smile and kick until I smile back. Its become very hard to make sure she eats enough….Mommy isn’t so good at ignoring her or keeping a straight face! We’ll also play the binky game…I’ll try to insert her binky and she’ll grin and squeel. Once I take it away she stops until it gets close again.

Wade was able to spend a full day alone with Harper on Sunday while Mommy coached a tournament. It was the first time he’s been able to spend the day with her since Christmas…and the first time I’d been away from her for longer than two hours! Everything went well and I can definitely sense a closer bond between the two now.

Wade is currently on his final regular season road trip of the year. THey are tied for seventh place at the moment. If they make it to the conference tournament in Sioux Falls at the end of February, Harper and I will probably tag along. We’re excited to be able to spend more quality time with Papa in another few weeks!

I’ve posted some newer photos of our angel. We are hoping to make it back to Minnesota for a week around Easter. We look forward to seeing you all again soon! All our love!

January Visits

We recently had Grandma and Grandpa Hokie and Grandma and Grandpa Cippy out to visit to ring in the new year. We caught a couple WIU basketball games and played with Harps at home. Much to everyone’s entertainment, Harper began to discover the joy of conversation during this time. We’ll “goo” to her and she’ll crack up and “goo” back for about 30 seconds at a time. Its hilarious.

Harps and Mommy surprised Grandpa Cippy the following weekend in Minnesota. We made the trek to help throw him a surprise party in Brainerd for his accomplishment of 25 years of sobriety. Nearly 40 people were there to celebrate and we enjoyed seeing friends and family. We are so proud!