Elizabeth's First Day of Preschool

She was such a big girl and so excited. She insisted on wearing her new backpack and taking pencils, erasers, and a notebook. She wanted to "learn my letters."

Empire Mines

We drove up to Grass Valley to the Empire Mines on Saturday. It was great to get out of the heat and we absolutely loved walking through the gorgeous landscape of the mines.

The kids were fascinated by the frog pond and loved it when their dad caught a frog for them.

The kids loved ringing the (very large) dinner bell that was used to call in the miners.

Brian loved panning for gold!

Katharine caught her own tiny frog.

Elizabeth loved playing around all the beautiful plants.

Jameson kept reaching for the rocks. He threw them every chance he got. One of the funniest things to happen was when we first arrived. Jameson had fallen asleep on the drive so when he woke up and got out of the car, he looked up at the towering pine trees and said in a voice filled with awe, "Whoa, big."

Even Baby Jake had a great time. Not a peep out of him, probably because he spent most of the day in the Baby Bjorn with Mommy.

The First Day of First Grade

Katharine got up and got ready for school so happily this morning, all because she got to meet her teacher on friday. Up until then, she did not want to go to first grade and wanted to stay in kindergarten or not go at all. Now that she met her teacher, saw her classroom and saw her very own desk, she was FINALLY excited for back-to-school. She said, "I guess Mrs. Harvey (kindergarten teacher) and Mrs. Carr (new 1st grade teacher) are the best teachers." I think it helped that Mrs. Carr told her she was friends with Mrs. Harvey.

He's here!!!!

Jacob Steven Hopper was born on July 20, 2010 at 5:19am. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz, and was 21 inches long; not bad considering he was more than three weeks early. We adore him!!

Grandma and Grandpa are awesome!

Jacob loved meeting aunts, uncles, cousins and friends!

Jacob's big sisters and big brother love him so much and are great little helpers. If only they were as nice to their parents as they are to him!

Amanda is finally feeling better and is mobile again. She is dreading Tuesday when Brian has to back to work after two weeks off. Good thing she has so much help running around the house!