Happy Birthday, Lily!

Yesterday, just a few moments before 6pm, my niece was born.
Lilith Grace Braden - 8 pounds, 14 ounces and 21.5 inches long.
Her mom is a machine.
She's beautiful and perfect and you can see that for yourself -


We'll take some more pictures today, after the bath...

A Sunday at the Hogan's

Keith vs. Squirrels
I found Keith in the driveway. He looked like this.
He said, "that squirrel's been throwing his walnut scraps at me all day. I'm gonna catch it and throw it back"
So he waited. For a long time.
Then he missed.
Keith: 0; Squirrels: 1





























Dodger vs. Sprinkler
I'm pretty sure Dodger will like the lake.
He's certainly enthralled with water from the sprinkler.
He gets horribly dirty - but at least he dries himself off.
Dodger: 0; Sprinkler: 4

it's celebratin' time

Troy and Faith are going to be missionaries.
For real.
In Bangladesh.

Troy graduated from Sem.
Again.

We're celebrating tonight.

My family would have ham buns.

Hogans are having lechon baboy.

I'll let you know how it goes...

I have an announcement to make

The Hogan family just got cuter.

Meet Dodger.

He's an 8 week old Goldendoodle. His mom's a golden retriever, his dad a poodle. He's supposed to grow up with the retriever temperament and the hypoallergenic hair of a poodle. In other words, he's supposed to be the perfect dog. So far, so good.


We got him last Thursday. Keith saw an ad in the Sunday classifieds for doodle puppies at a quarter of the price we've seen them everywhere else. They're a fairly new "designer breed", so I've been reluctant to really fall for the doodle idea because of the cost. Besides, there are tons of homeless dogs, right? Not so fast... we've been getting screwed by rescue facilities. They just don't do customer service. We were shopping on Petfinder and finding all kinds of dogs. We applied, never heard back, and the dog cost as much as these puppies.

So we drove 2 hours north with cash in hand. I was convinced we were headed to a puppy mill - that our evening would end with no puppy, a broken heart, and a trip to the "authorities" to report the racket.
Instead we ended up in an Amish community.
That's right - not only is Dodger from a farm in the sticks, he doesn't even really speak English.
It was great - their animals were clean, healthy and beautiful. And I don't mind at all handing money over to a family with nine kids.

Here's a recap of his first few days:
He slept most of the way home - it was another 2 hours back.

Once we got him home we gave him a bath. We didn't bargain for more than one critter.

On Friday he met "Grandma Johnson" and she turned him to mush.

He kind of looks like his "uncle Sammy"

On Saturday he slept through his entire Vet appointment. Even when they took his temperature from you know where.

On Sunday, he spent all day at my parents while Keith and I worked the CRC 150 anniversary at the Van Andel. Don't we look cool?

And the cats? He's just getting to know them. Phoebe couldn't care less, unless he's running and then she gets scared. Charlie's still not talking to us.


He promises to be a fun addition to our little family.
And I promise to you that this blog will not turn into a pet blog.
At least not in its entirety.

Pictures of the house soon!

me-me-me

Katester says I have been meme'd. Or tagged with a meme. Or something. Here's how it goes.

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So... here's some randomness about ME. In no particular order. And with no particular relevance.

1. I get really random words stuck in my head sometimes. Like Clay Aiken. I am not a Clay Aiken fan, but I can have days when his name (the pronunciation more than it's meaning really) bounce around inside my brain at least 20 times. Foosball is another one. Or Canoe. Say it. Canoe. Say it again. See - that's what I live with.

2. I will eat almost anything if it has sun dried tomatoes in it. Almost anything. On the flip side, there are things I may enjoy that I refuse to eat solely based on texture. And as long as we're talking about eating, I would be okay if everyday involved some form of pizza.

3. My hair gets huge with humidity. Like that episode of Friends where Joey and Rachel hook up and Monica goes ballistic about ping pong. I also have very little patience for "doing" hair. It's not the best combination. And to make it worse, my hairdresser gave me bangs for summer. I love them - they're so Reece Witherspoon. 'Til it's humid. And then I kind of feel like my head is the shell and my bangs are the turtle and he's scared. I have pictures to illustrate, but I'm still deciding if they should be posted here. (Kara, think Pompano Beach...)

4. One time, at Sunday School, I remember my teacher asking me what my ideal job would be. I said taking pictures for National Geographic so I could travel and see cool things. It kinda worked out.

5. I don't consider myself an "angry" person. But I am an impatient one. I've realized recently that 95% of my anger comes from my impatience. And I definitely need to work on having more patience. I think that the other 5% of my anger comes from being hurt. I really can't think of any other major influencer on my anger than those two things.

6. I'm not really a dreamer. I have night dreams, but I don't really day dream - at least not in the romantic sense of the word. When I day dream, I imagine the worst possible scenario for the situation I'm in. (When carrying a baby - what if I fall? When passing a semi - what if he rolls over? When trying on shoes - they won't fit.) I don't know why - I'm not that big of a worrier. And I don't enjoy horror. I think it just comes down to being prepared. I'm not proud of that.

7. In high school, I loved band. Really loved it. I played the snare drum in marching band. I am a band nerd and I am liberated by admitting it. This isn't me, but I could have done it 10 years ago. And yes, band camp really is that much fun.

8. Speaking of school - I graduated as valedictorian of my high school. I took school very seriously. I paid a lot of money (so did my parents) to get a very fine college education. I enjoy learning. But I am not a "sponge" like some people. I'm dumber now than I was. I've lost my learnin' and I hate that. I have no idea what I studied in the vast majority of courses I aced. Don't tell my parents.

Now for the hardest part - the tagging. Most of my blog readers don't blog themselves. Or I would tag you, Meghan, Kara, Quincy, Doug, Wass, any member of my family... So instead of tagging, I'm inviting everyone on this list to START A BLOG!!!! In the meantime, see what the Hogan Fam does with it, or Under a big grey tent, Brett, or Tim have to say. Sorry I'm not as connected as you, Katester :)

i was an english major

Words matter.
So do their meanings.
I get 'em mixed up sometimes - we all do.

But repeated, irresponsible usage of words should be ticketed and fined.
I work with someone who always says "irregardless."
Irregardless is not really a word.

My latest beef is the word "brief." Everyone at work wants to "brief" me on what's going on.
Let's be clear - the word brief means short, to the point, succinct.
3 hour meetings don't count!

I've been "lengthied" all week and I'm ready for a good ol' brief.

Is that Papa John's calling?

When I was a senior in college, my friends and I pulled a few pranks on the freshmen. One of my favorites was telling students they received a bike from the Kletz (the cafe at the student union). Then Meghan got to watch the eager pups come in to claim their prize. Suckers.

But my all time favorite prank was when we called our old freshmen dorm and told them they won a free Papa John's pizza. All they had to do was call back in the next 24 hours with "this" confirmation number to claim their prize. The beauty was two-fold: prank Papa and the freshmen all at once, as well as watching Quincy perform like a star with the "surprise announcement from Papa John's" He would confirm their room number, year in school, etc. He was brilliant. The real clincher was the "confirmation code." He'd repeat it, have them write it down, the whole bit.

Keith just accepted a call from Dish Network. He's been begging me to get cable. Literally begging. We've been working the system, trying to get competitors to out bid each other. Dish tossed the bait and my husband eagerly gobbled it up.

He now has an ID number, confirmation number, account number, and a special phone number. They even called back to confirm that we have the confirmation numbers. He might have another number from that call - I lost track.

Quincy, that wasn't you who called, was it?!