Thanksgiving 2015

I'm guessing that my parents never thought that their kids would end up living in Kentucky or New Jersey. It certainly wasn't on my fifth-grade MASH line-up. But somehow my big brother and I both flew the coup away from our beloved hometown in the Texas panhandle, both 1000+ miles (err... 2000 miles) away from our little white-bricked home on Elmhurst Road and no closer to one another. 

Ryan is a second-year anesthesiology resident at the University of Louisville and, as such, spends nearly every day and night scrubbed up putting patients to sleep and, more importantly, waking them back up. This Thanksgiving he actually had the holiday off so we (lost our minds and) decided to carpe diem! and make the 28-hour round trip to Louisville with our toddler. 

After surviving the winding mountain roads in the dark and fog from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Ohio to Kentucky, we finally introduced our daughter to my brother and his sweet wife, Ashley. Mary Allison took no time to stick Uncle "Ay-an's" stethoscope in her ears and uncover her Christmas presents that Aunt Ashley had already wrapped. She quickly befriended their "woof-woof," Benson, with her sticky fingers, neck hugs and open-mouthed kisses. Our days were filled with good meals and even better desserts, parks and museums, baby-dolls and magna-doodles, family lore and many more reasons to be grateful for our Hogue reunion.

My dad said it best as he said grace over our Thanksgiving meal. "We are grateful to gather together today and pray that we would be blessed with many more opportunities to gather again."

They should be AARP models, amiright?!?

 Happy Thanksgiving!

b + c + m

October 2015

It's hard to beat October in Princeton. Each set of pictures was taken a week or two after the next. Just check out those trees, y'all! Green --> yellow --> orange --> red.

Loli came to visit!

All our sweater-wearing, apple-crisp-baking love,

b + c + m

The months of May: Eighteen!

It's 18 months of May!

Over the past three months, Mary Allison has decided to leave babyhood to the babies. She blows her own nose, throws away her own trash, uses utensils at mealtimes, takes the stairs by herself and says "please" and "thank-you".  She plays Mom to her favorite baby doll-- rocking her, nursing her and sharing her Tylenol when ear infections strike. May loved her first gymnastics class, made strides in her dance moves and thinks labeling people's body parts is a great past-time. She discovered the age-old, child-hood trick to stave off bedtime by bringing just one more book, again and again. "Where the Wild Things Are," "Pete the Cat," and "Little House on the Prairie" are top picks. This tiny tot jabbers on all day long and proudly introduces herself as "May-Mee!"

All our love,

b + c + m

a tiny love letter

My sweet baby-

You are the tiniest thing I have ever loved so much. 

Almost as soon as I knew you were here, you were already gone. I didn't have enough time to dream of what your little face would look like or what your sister's would have looked like when she met you late next spring. I didn't have enough time to give you a name or smell your soft hair or show you sunshine, music and Christmas. I just didn't get any time. 

Still I am so grateful for your sacred life, for the chance to be your mom, and for the time we shared as one body. You are the tiniest thing I have ever loved so much.

Love, Mama

Amarillo, Texas

After two cars, one train and three planes, the three Smalls made it home to Amarillo, Texas for a wonderful week of family! Mary Allison made laps around my parents' backyard, smelled all of the flowers and charmed her grandparents. We swam with friends, conquered all of the best Amarillo parks, ate too much BBQ and Mexican food and spent an evening playing a few holes of golf. We watched the lions and monkeys at the zoo and made a day-trip to Midland, TX to visit with Chris' family and let Mary Allison chase her cousins around the playground. The saying is true, "there is no place like home."

Watching monkeys at the Amarillo zoo!

Hitting a few holes at the Amarillo Country Club.

Mary Allison and her second-cousin Kaiden!

May's second-cousin Alyvia!

 All our love,

c + b + ma