We’ve been able to do a lot of things with her at this new stage of toddler-hood. Sporting events tend to be her favorite events to attend. We try to get to all WIU sporting events if we are in town. So far her favorites are football and baseball, with volleyball a close third. We’ll see how she likes basketball in another month. Rocky, the WIU mascot, will be at those games so she’ll probably like them best! We took Harper to her second Twins game when they played the White Sox in Chicago last month. She finally saw her first Gopher volleyball game a couple weeks ago. She loves watching her Auntie Goof play volleyball for St. Cloud State live and on the internet. There really isn’t much you can’t get her excited about

Harper is learning new things a mile a minute. She talks in full sentences and I can hardly get a moment of silence! She loves to narrate our entire day and learn about how everything works. We tried the “3 Day Potty Training” method a couple months ago and failed miserably. I figured that if she was at the beginning of the developmental window with most things, surely potty training would be a piece of cake before she turned two. The first day went great but she quickly built up a firm resistance to anything potty related. There wasn’t a single reward or incentive to change her mind. She just wasn’t psychologically ready for the change yet…especially since she was just entering the stage of independence where she had to do everything herself. I’ve also learned that if she fails a couple times at something, she is extremely against anything having to do with that thing….a lot like her mommy We decided to put off all mention of it until she expressed the desire to sit on the potty herself. Yesterday we had a little bit of a breakthrough and she “practiced” on the potty a few times. Nothing came out, but I’m so tickled by the fact that the potty chair isn’t such a negative thing to her anymore. We’ll get there someday

We are expecting our first boy around January 12th! The timing isn’t too great with basketball season in full swing at that point, but we’re praying that Wade will at least be in town when D-Day arrives. Harper seems to be really excited about and tender towards her little bro. She is starting to realize what it will be like since friends of ours have newborns. She loves to kiss my belly….and give raspberries. The pregnancy is going super well so far. I feel more pregnant a lot sooner this time around, but I am so lucky that I haven’t had any major complaints. The baby is breeched (feet first), but there is no need to worry about it until January. Most babies turn around by then. We do have a name picked out….but that will be our little secret until he arrives

The basketball season just started for Wade last Friday night. I think they are “cautiously optimistic” about the season. They have much better talent in their recruits…but you never know what you’re going to get when you factor in injuries, eligibility issues and team chemistry. Wade is growing into such a talented recruiter and coach for the program. I am so impressed with the integrity, loyalty and resolve he has, especially in the coaching profession. I am convinced God IS and WILL BE using him for mighty things. I’m so proud of my man! They were able to move practices to the mornings this semester so family time has been much easier to come by compared to years past. Hopefully that will continue!

Our return to MN for our next visit is up in the air. The seven hour drive in my third trimester, with a toddler in the backseat is really unappealing to me at this point. If I get doctor’s approval, and if Wade has a few days off, we might come back for Christmas. But I think its very likely we’ll have to wait until after the baby arrives. You’ll all have to come visit us!!

We are thinking of and praying for all of you! Miss you very much!!

All I gotta say is “Phew!” People weren’t lying when they told me that it only gets harder once your kid learns to walk! Harper has been walking since she was ten months old, but its amazing how fast she’s learned to sprint, dive, climb, reach, throw, push and pull! I take back any judgment I may have had for parents that tether their children in public. The most difficult adjustment to make has been attending Wade’s basketball games. Despite all my efforts to keep her in a confined area of the stands (snacks, books, toys), all she wants to do is run out onto the court. Because of this tantrums are always inevitable at the games, but luckily we’ve only had to leave one early. Life as a parent has certainly become much more difficult, but its totally worth it. Harper is such a joy and blessing in my life.
Her vocabulary is exploding, which gives so much insight into how much and how fast they learn! She eagerly points things out and talks about what we’ve read about in her books. Her favorite thing now is to yell “bus”, “tuck”, or “tar” anytime we see another vehicle. And of course she doesn’t stop repeating the word until I say, “Yes Harper, a bus. Good job!” She’s got nearly every animal noise down to a T. Unfortunately getting her to try to say the actual name of the animal has been unsuccessful….I only get snorts, hoots, barks and the like.
Her current favorite things are Elmo, Rocky (WIU mascot), Ernie & Bert, Goldy, playing outside for hours on end, laying on her back and swimming in the tub, animals, her boyfriend Brady, and her new winter hat from Grandma Betty and Grandpa Larry.
New updates from the rest of the Hokenson family? Wade’s season will likely be over next weekend, the first week of March. Its been a very tough February for us as he’s been on quite a few long five day roadtrips in addition to several long recruiting trips on weeks when the team is at home. I’ve struggled to maintain a joyful attitude through an entire roadtrip, but its helped me to realize how mighty God is. God opened my eyes to how I’ve been trying to shoulder the load of my attitude on my own. I’m so thankful that he has the power to work through me. Despite the busy month for Wade, we managed to go out on a very romantic Valentines Day date to a local restaurant. We’ve even gone with Wade recruiting in Minnesota and Chicago. His team will play in the conference tournament next weekend in Sioux Falls. They will likely finish 6th or 7th in the conference, which is a notch above what was projected at the start of the season.
I continue to watch Sophie during the week while school at WIU is in session. We sometimes have Brady over during the week while his mom works toward her doctorate degree! Brady is ten months older than Harper and Sophie, and very fun to have in the house. The girls adore him. We don’t have anything planned for the upcoming months yet, but I am hoping to get involved in forming adult volleyball leagues in Macomb. There is very little involvement in volleyball in this community and I would love to create a competitive activity for adult women, and even young kids. I also hope some type of vacation opportunity will arise for Wade and I (without the rug-rat, or Wade’s crackberry) during the off season.
As always I want you all to know how much we miss you and look forward to the next time we can visit. Add us to your contact list if you Skype with a webcam (gopher2030)! We utilize that much more now. Please call us or email us sometime to catch up! Love you all!

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.