Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!

Merry Christmas from the Hookers! We celebrated here in Greenville last weekend and get to head to Columbus to celebrate some more! It's been a very relaxed Christmas at home this year (remembering that last Christmas we were misplaced due to our personal flood of 2010-still Thank you, city of Greenville) Our cousin Lee stopped by last week for a vistit to the delta and a getaway from law school exams. We got a great visit with him in to start our Christmas celebration. Christmas weekend we enjoyed Christmas Eve mass and then headed to Mimi and Papaw's to eat and share gifts. Christmas day was lazy and included playing with Santa's gifts, breakfast brunch (with a great new cinnamon roll casserole thanks to pinterest) with Mimi and Papaw, and video games with Mark III all afternoon (don't know who had more fun- Daniel or Mark ?)

Excited to share that Hooker #3 is on the way and this time bringing a little blue to our house. Baby Brother will hopefully join us around the 14th of May (or sooner, if he wishes). Been a great pregnancy with a little morning sickness through the first trimester tapering off to more energy and less sickness in the 2nd. Starting to wake up in the night and not as comfortable as I wish I could be but that is to be expected. If that's all I have to worry about, life is good! Happy 2012 from this whirlwind household!

History in the making

This is a picture taken at the lake front on May 6, 2011. The river, and therefore the lake is at its highest point since 1927 (broke the 1973 record today). And we are still rising. The lake front usually is a wide open lot with probably 20-30 rows of parking spaces. Now only about 3 are visible. Hoping that this is the only excitement that we will have to report.

A happy Easter...

Dyed eggs: check

Easter bunny cake by Dan the Man: check

Easter picture in the front yard: check

candy: check

Smiles: check

Easter parade: check

A blessed Easter: check!

Eatin' good!

A shot of Reed enjoying daddy's spaghetti as much as the rest of us! (or maybe a little more?)

And my two Bulldog cheerleaders on their way to school during "Wacky Week", a week that we got to dress up differently everyday. This just happened to be Touchdown Tuesday and our normal breakfast in the car.

A collective "Go Bulldogs!"

Swing time

We've been taking advantage of the good weather!

Two ladies that love the swingset!

Which one...

Can you tell which one is which?

As good as it gets...

Just to share- Reed's first pics with Santa (Christmas 2010)

We did get to stop by and visit with Santa at the mall this past Christmas but Hannah Kate bargained that she really didn't want to take a picture with him. I agreed since we had seen Santa at a school party that week and Reed still seemed a little traumatized. What do you think?

We had a wonderful Christmas at Mimi and Papaw's. Lots to be thankful for this year!

Swinging in to our 4th year

We celebrated Hannah Kate's 4th birthday at the Y this year with a great time for these busy little ones. Bouncing and tumbling around the gym was such a nice chance to enjoy our 4 years with HK and her boundless energy.

Reed loved being a part of the excitement, too.

Reed's 1st

We actually got to do this twice ! The first time around was while we were recovering from the flu and staying with Mimi and Papaw. And our second chance was the weekend of Hannah Kate's 4th birthday when we finally made it back to our house. Let me just say, Reed didn't mind. She loved the squishiness and the sweetness. This sweet little bear has been such a love to live with for a whole year.

Just as I was getting the blog back on track...

The "Great Flood of '10" hit our house and we were ousted out for around 6 weeks! We celebrated Christmas and Reed's first birthday while camping out at Mimselle's and Poppy's (that's Mimi and Papaw's new nicknames per Hannah Kate). The Monday before Christmas we had raw sewage emerge from our air conditioning return and ooze throughout our house, ruining flooring and some central walls. This was not on my Christmas holiday To Do list.
Just as I had started organizing one closet and run to Wal-Mart to buy storage bins for said project, I came home to soggy carpet and a horrible smell. The city guys were still in the front yard waiting for me to tell them if my toilets were flushing okay again. "Yep", I called "They're great! Thanks so much!" Little did I know that the little spot of sogginess that I was splashing in and couldn't figure out where it was coming from was thanks to them and "blackwater".
With that shared, we do have great new hardwood floors, new carpet, new front door, and new paint up in 4 rooms so it was a great opportunity for a little remodeling. Timing could have been a little more on our terms. My wonderful in-laws did host us for our extended vacation. We stayed at the Hooker Hilton with complementary laundry, cooking and even babysitting....back in the real world, it really was a huge help having my mother and father in law be so generous. Can't. thank. them. enough! Can you imagine opening your home to two busy little ladies that love to learn (touch everything) and play (move everything from its original place), not to mention two grown up children to cramp your style? They are saints.
But I did miss sharing some milestones with the blog.....so Christmas will be coming (I know you are excited), and 1st and 4th birthdays, a little snow, and maybe a few random laughs along the way. Just wanted to let you know that we have not abandoned the blog, life just got in the way.