Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Caisson and I wish we lived closer so we could spend this time with you, but we will see you all soon! Charleston is beautiful right now. They have the park in the middle of downtown all lit up, and we went last night to a Festival of Lights on James island. Once we got there we found out there was so much more to do besides look at the lights, so we are going back in a few days. I am going to try to take some pictures and I will post them. They had some great displays!!

I got to see a firework show before I left the house tonight. It was awesome, but was driving poor Macy and Runty insane!! We don't have the codes up here preventing you from popping fireworks in the city, so we had at least 4 houses in our neighborhood popping fireworks in their front yard. All the kids in the neighborhood were outside watching. My neighbors, Cole and Nathan had on their Christmas PJ's and were so excited about Santa. They are so cute!

We are leaving for Texas on the 28th - we can't wait. That will feel a lot more like Christmas to us. It is a long drive, so we would appreciate your prayers for a safe trip.

We hope you have a great holiday and a happy new year. We miss everyone so much!


P.S. - Meredith and Hollie - will you send me your e-mail address? You can put it in a comment, or send me an e-mail at tiffany_hogue@hotmail.com. I have been wanting to write both of you, but I don't have your addresses. Thanks for leaving me messages! I miss you!

I'm so lucky!

I know...it has been a long time since I have posted anything. But, there hasn't been too much to talk about up here. We did go to Texas for a week. That was great to see our family!

It is still in the upper 50's up here so it doesn't feel to much like Christmas outside, but we have had the Christmas music going non-stop and we have all the decorations up. It was fun to have our first house to put lights on.

I am really posting today to say how lucky I am. I have always known it, but this week I was reminded again that I have the best and most supportive family in the world. Caisson and I have moved so many times, started so many new jobs, moved half way around the world, and they are always there for us. On Tuesday I had a job interview. On Monday, while I was frantically cleaning my house to keep myself from getting nervous, the doorbell rings. There stood the lady from the Blossom Shop with a vase of flowers. My whole family had sent me flowers with a note saying "Knock em dead tomorrow". I know that may not sound like much, but to be 5 states away and they still find a way to be at my house...I can't imagine a better family. I hope when Caisson and I start a family we can be as successful at making it a happy and close knit home like my parents did.

Thanks Dad, Mom, Kimberly, Michael, Garrett and Presley! I love you all so much!

Halloween Madness

You can rank who has the best costume: We will start with the star of the show - Presley. Of course we had a lot of fun putting her in a few different outfits.

The little ghost

The Texas Cowgirl

We also had her in this great dress Mom made for her, but I didn't get home with a picture of it somehow...I will have to add it later.

These next pictures are the few that I got before my camera died at Caisson's resident Halloween party

Elvira and Dr. Phil Good

The Witchdoctor, Moses, and Jeannie

Abbu and Mr. Cardinal

We had a great time! I wish I could have gotten pictures of Joe Dirt. He was hilarious!

Presley at the Pediatrician

Presley's first doctor visit...

"Wait...Shhhhh...I think I can hear it...."

"Yes!! I gained an ounce!!!"

"I could have told you I was tall for my age. I mean just look at my legs!"

Presley is finally home!

I know some of you are questioning whether this is my niece or my own child with as much as I have been talking about her lately, but I could not be more proud of her. She really is the sweetest baby I have ever known. And that is not just because I am the aunt. She is content whether you are holding her, changing her diaper, even cleaning her nose is no big deal. I think this experience has been a bit dilusional for me because I know a baby this sweet can only come around once in a blue moon and I am sure it would be impossible to get two in the same family. Here are some pictures of what I lovingly call the best baby in the world!!! Presley is excited about leaving the hospital and getting to her own room!
Mama C gave Presley her first bath at home this morning. She wasn't so sure she liked it.


Presley is ready for trick-or-treating! (a little early!)



She is so excited about finally being in her own bed!! It is so much better than the hospital buckets!!

Is she not the cutest baby ever?

I will have a really hard time leaving!!

Presley's photo shoot

I am officially an Aunt!!

Presley Shea Holmes is finally here and she is soooooo beautiful! She has the longest legs - just like her mother! She was born around 8:30 Friday October 21. She weighs 7 lbs, 1 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. Kimberly and Presley are both doing well. I will post more pictures later - I have to go run some Aunt errands for now!

VICTORY

By the way, I have meant to post this for a while - but I have to say HOOK 'EM HORNS! Victory is ours at last! For all of you OU fans who were too scared to return my call - shame on you! I took the beating for the 2 years we lived in Oklahoma. I also have to say it is no fun living in SC sometimes. On Gameday I was searching for some way, internet, tv, that I could watch or even listen to the game. I have never been through such a run-around for a football game. I finally found a broadcast map of the games and what would be showing on ABC in what regions. I was supposed to watch Virgina and Boston college with only 13% of the rest of the nation. SERIOUSLY??? I could have gone to Hawaii or Alaska and still been able to see the Texas Ou game, but not in Charleston. But don't you worry, I finally found a sports bar that gave me one TV to watch it on and boy was it worth it!

T - 3 Days...or less

Well, I am back in Texas, anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new niece! As soon as I landed in this great state, we went to eat Mexican food (great for me because it doesn't exist in South Carolina, great for Kimberly because we are trying to hurry up Presley's arrival), later we walked the dogs, then went and walked some more on the treadmill. Kimberly got quite a few looks from those hoping they would not have to help deliver the baby right there on the workout floor! Kimberly also has a blog now that she will be updating with stories of Presley for those who want to keep up with the latest...http://kimberlyholmes.blogspot.com.
I will post pictures as soon as she gets here. Please pray for Kimberly and Presley, that the delivery goes well, and pray for Michael, Kimberly and Presley as they start their new life as a family!
Next time I post you can all start calling me AUNT TIFF!

Ok, Ok, Texas Fight is back

I have this cool feature on my verizon phone called ringback tones. It means I get to choose the music you hear while you are waiting for me to answer the phone. It is fun becuase the first time anyone calls they are a little confused, and it really messes up telemarketers. I had originally just put the Texas fight song as my default ring. Then one day I thought it would be nice of me to give my callers a little variety. So, I got 3 more ringback tones, each from a different genre. I put them all into a jukebox setting so you would never know which one you would get. I enjoy a little spontaneity in my day, but I have found that is not the case with those who frequently call me. I have never had so many upset Texans over not being able to hear a marcing band! So, I have changed it back to Texas fight for all you fanatics! For anyone else who may want to hear anything different, here are the songs I have: Texas Fight Song, Chariot (Gavin DeGraw), So Far Away (Staind), and Shout (The Isley Brothers). If you have a preference, leave me a comment and I will make sure I change yours. (by the way - OU fans don't have a choice. It is Texas fight for you all day long! I know that is really what you want anyway. Ha ha!)
Have a great day!

T - 44 Days and counting!

Most of you know my sister is having a baby in October. Most of you also probably know that my mom and I have gone what some would call "overboard" in our excitement about being a grandmother and aunt. Well, I guess I can't argue with that, but can you blame me?

I was able to come home from Charleston to surprise Kimberly at a shower at the Hunter Douglas office. She about had Presely right then she was so shocked. It was great to be able to surprise the queen of surprises! The next morning she had a shower in Tyler. I am posting this blog to show you that I have partially proven my worth as an aunt. Kimberly, Mom and I had to race against each other in the essential duties of a mom. We also got a little taste of what it was like to be an infant again. First we had to empty the apple juice from a bottle, then change the dirty diaper on a teddy bear, then guess what flavor of baby food and puffs we were eating. I finished my bottle first, got the diaper changed first, (and the only one to get it put on correctly - mom and Kimberly put them on backwards) but I didn't do so well in the taste test department. I have a new respect for the poor babies who we force to eat what someone has labeled "food". Our three bottles were 1. peach, 2. apricot, and 3. squash. My answers for the three bottles were 1. peach, 2. bad, and 3. worse and I am convinced that is a much more accurate description. They were terrible! Mom and Kimberly did much better at guessing the food, although Mom cheated with the help of 3 of her friends. So I guess my Aunt duties will be restricted to changing diapers and bottles since I would feel too sorry for Presley to make her eat such mush! We had a great time though. Thank you to everyone at Hunter Douglas and all the ladies who gave the Tyler shower. I am so thankful I was able to be here for both of them. Kimberly is so lucky to have all of you!

In the Doghouse

Many of you have already heard about the doghouse. If you haven't, well, I built a doghouse. The man who built our fence left tons of wood behind, so I put it to good use. We only have one pine tree in the back yard and it doesn't offer much shade. It gets really hot out here when the humidity is high so I thought I would give the dogs somewhere to hang out outside without suffering a heat stroke. It is not quite finished yet. I still need to put shingles on the roof and paint it. They actually do use it (thank goodness!) and Macy loves the porch. The plans I got for the house were for a medium sized dog, (Macy and Runty supposedly fit into the small catagory), so I thought the med. would be big enough for both of them. But, once I started building the frame I could tell it would be too small and they would never go in. So I started "winging" it and it turned out a little bigger than I expeced. My Dad got a real kick out of the fact that it is big enough for me to crawl in so I have included that picture in case you need a good laugh today too.
I hope everyone has a good day. Talk to you tomorrow.
Tiff

September 3, 2005

Hello from Charleston! I know I have been terrible about writing since we moved, but I will be better from now on. I decided doing a blog would be the best way to get pictures and info out to everyone since there are so many of you that I miss so much.
Caisson is on his internal medicine rotation right now which translates into he lives at the hospital. I would give anything to be able to help him somehow, they work him to death. He is doing very well though. He has had several people comment to his attending physician on what a great doctor he is. Everytime I go to the hospital someone is telling me how great he is. You would all be very proud of him. I AM!! He also has a 50 year old nurse that is in love with him. ha ha!
We have joined the Summerville Church of Christ. It is only about 5 miles from our house. It is a very friendly congregation and we have really enjoyed it so far. I am working on starting my own business doing video editing. I met a girl at Church that is a photographer and we have been working together to get our businesses going.
We are really enjoying it here. It is a neat place to live. The downtown areas make you feel like you are in a movie setting, the beaches are great, and there are all kinds of great shops with local artists and craftsmen. I love to go down to the markets on the weekends and just see what people have come up with. There are also farmers markets every Tues. and Sat. and several fresh fruit/veg. stands open all week. I have loved those! I would love for all of you to be able to come see Charleston while we are here.
Well, I don't want to write too much of a novel on the first post or you will never come back to read more so I will stop here. I will leave you with a picture of the sunset in my neighborhood this evening. It was beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice. Please write me or post on this blog site when you get a chance. I would love to hear from all of you.
Talk to you soon,
Tiff