Summer Summary

Intellectually I know that summer flies by, but each year I am still amazed at how quickly those 80 days really pass.  So here we are, already in our third week of school, and finally updating our status.  Summer has been fantastic, busy, crazy, HOT, long, eventful, exhausting, exciting, and wonderful.  We went to Colorado, Utah, Las Vegas, the water park, the regular park, swimming (a lot), the drive-in movie theater, skating, on picnics, to a concert in the park, fishing, paddle boating, to museums, on BBQ's, boating on Lake Navajo, camping, for hikes, to the beach, bowling, rode in a parade, had a lemonade stand, and celebrated Jacob's 2nd birthday.  We learned new things (notably Katharine can tie her shoes, Elizabeth and Jameson can ride bikes without training wheels, all of the older three can swim like fishes, and Jacob climbs on everything and then jumps right off without fear of the height.)  We made crafts and cooked, played in the sprinklers and had water fights, tye dyed shirts, played with friends and cousins, and completely wore ourselves out.  Bring on the school year!!

My beauties camping near Salt Pond in the high Sierras.

 4th of July Parade

 Fishing at Capote Lake near Pagosa Springs, Colorado

 Lake Navajo (Colorado/ New Mexico)

 Durango Children's Museum

 Anasazi Ruins in Colorado

  Visiting Grandma Great (and the Jones fam's) in Cache Valley, Utah

 Southern Ute Community Museum in Ignacio, Co

 Our baby is 2!!!!  (July 20, 2012)

 Grandma giving her granddaughters (and daughters) the awesome trip to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera live at the Venetian

No trip is complete without running into Captain Jack Sparrow on the strip

 

 

BUT, the fun has to end sometime.  First Day of School!!!!

 Ellie with Mrs. Carr (1st Grade)

 

Katharine with Mr. Perkins (3rd Grade)

 

 The boys doing dinosaur homework while their sisters are at school

 

And the future lawyer (because, "It's the only job I can think of where I'm not going to die.")

Spring Sunshine

My babies are growing up and these past few months have been incredibly eventful.  Pictures will follow but I find myself short on time.

Katharine turned 8 years old on March 20th.  She completely planned her birthday party from the food, decorations, games and invitations.  She loved it!  She is such a sweet, thoughtful, amazing, and mature little girl.  Brian and I were so proud of her decision to be baptized.  It was a fantastic day for our family.  I think my favorite thing was looking up at the front row in the chapel where the 8 year olds, all in white, were sitting next to the person who was there to baptise them.  My little Katharine sat on her daddy's lap, her arm around his neck, cuddling him.  It was impossible to tell who was more happy, they were both glowing, (although Brian was definately more nervous!)  Katharine has set a great example for her siblings.

We celebrated Jameson's 4th birthday on March 24.  (Yes, he had a Monster High happy birthday sign up since I never bothered to take it down after Katharine's birthday.)  That little man is such a delight.  He loves people, games, toys, and life.  He is in constant motion and absolutely LOVED the attention of his birthday.  He was especially thrilled to have his two favorite cousins, Cooper and Nolan, there for his big day.  As it was birthday week at the Hopper house, the children were surprised to find a new trampoline appear in the backyard.  It's certainly gotten a lot of use since then!

My parents took our family on a vacation to Monterey earlier in April.  It seemed providential that all of their grandchildren had the same week for Spring Break so they utilized the time well with a wonderful little trip.  We all loved it, the ocean, Carmel beach, the aquarium, the Carmel Mission, the Dennis the Menace Park, the wharf, and of course, Denny's.  I'm sure it will surprise no one, but on the coldest, rainiest day, Jameson fell in the ocean.  It didn't faze him at all.  I think I was more miserable than he was after I fished him out and his soggy little body got me soaked!  The only disappointment to the whole trip was that Alyssa's family couldn't join us.  They were sorely missed!

In typical Northern California fashion, the weather went from cold and rainy to 94 degrees in two days.  It sure would be nice to have an actual spring instead of jumping from winter to summer.  The kids have been swimming almost every day and the parents have been sweating every day.  Ellie and Jameson have both mastered riding their bikes without training wheels, although Jameson is convinced that Elizabeth's bike is easier to ride than his own.  They all love the park, especially Jacob.  He is obsessed with slides.  He goes straight to the tallest slide there and comes down all by himself.  The kid is fearless like his brother.  Just what I need!

Despite the heat, we are loving this time of the year.  What a glorious earth it is, the beautiful flowers of Spring, the singing birds, new birth and refreshing rains!  It always seems to me that this time of year is meant to reminds us of the many blessings we have been given.  Sorry, Dad for the off-seasonal Capra referrence, but It's A Wonderful Life!!

Oh the things they say....

1. Jameson to his friend Nolan's mom, Lacey: "Do you want to come to my house for dinner, tonight? I'll make you dinner?"
Lacey: "Yes, please. What are you making me?"
Jameson: "Do you like honey nut cheerios?"

2. Elizabeth to her dad, while watching Barbie and the Princess Charm School: "Dad, if you were at the prince school, you TOTALLY would not get picked by the princesses. Uncle Todd would TOTALLY get picked cause he's the smartest and tallest and handsomest."

3. So I picked Katharine up from school today with a car full of five kids younger than her. They see her standing outside the school gate so all start chanting as loud as they can, "Katharine, Katharine, Katharine....". She ran for the car, hunkered down low with a completely red face and begged me to make them stop. Then got home and told her dad how embarrassed she was.
Really? Already?

4. And Jacob's latest attempt to make everyone around him laugh (because he's our little clown... and by the way, turns 18 months tomorrow!)-
He grabs his feet and pulls them up to his face, smells his toes, then wrinkles his face and yells, "STINKY!"

Yep, my kids crack me up.

Elizabeth's gift

After watching "A King is Born" today, Ellie was unhappy with Herod for wanting to kill the new Messiah but expressed her relief that the three Kings went to Bethlehem to worship Jesus anyway.

Elizabeth: "If I was there, I so TOTALLY would have gone to see Baby Jesus. I would take him stuff..... Mom, did Baby Jesus like chocolate?"

I'm still laughing, and still wondering where she gets these things!

so much to be grateful for

1. a truly wonderful and merry Christmas

2. the gospel of Jesus Christ and its immeasurable blessings

3. crazy, sweet, funny, and adorably challenging children

4. an incredible spirit throughout the entire season

5. amazing family

6. dear friends

7. a beautiful new home

8. a husband/father whose goal is to make his family happy

9. good jobs

10. Christmas cards

11. kids' bedrooms that are cleaned, purged of old toys and junk, and organized

12. health

13. finally updating my blog!!!

Here are a few highlights:

Stegasauros Spikes

I promised a big surprise and here it is. Brian decided that Jacob needed a hair cut so he shaved the poor baby's head. Fortunately, they were both happy with the results. I'm still adjusting.

The next day, Elizabeth's friend, Mattie, came to our house. She said, "Jacob got a haircut and he looks so cute." My little Jameson, who I think secretly has a crush on Mattie, came up to me and said, "Mommy, I get a haircut, too."

Now Jameson looks at himself in the mirror every day making sure he has "stegasauros spikes" on top of his head.

Birthday Week

The Hopper Family's tradition of ever-changing traditions continued in 2011. As birthday parties have a tendency to wear me out (can't imagine why) and blast a huge hole in our budget, our children get a "friends" party every other year. The year of no party, they get to choose a family activity or outing for their birthday. This is the year of the boys' birthday parties (see how the gender split gives me a six month reprieve between parties!). The first birthday of the year is Katharine's. My little girl turned 7 on March 20. She absolutely loves "sea animals" and one of her goals is to be a marine biologist (as well as baker, author, and teacher.) She chose to go to the Aquarium. We were lucky enough to take the trip to San Francisco when so many of her cousins could join us. Here are just a few pictures from her day out:

On her actual birthday, we had cake (made by the birthday girl) at home and she opened presents. She's such an amazing, thoughtful, and fun little girl!

She really loved it when her class sang "Happy Birthday" to her while she got to wear the birthday hat. First Grade rocks!

March 20th was a milestone for little Jacob, too. He turned 8 months old!

Just four days later, our sweetJameson celebrated his 3rd birthday on March 24th. He is the funniest, craziest, most active and "all boy" little guy and we adore watching him grow. His "dinosaur" party was a blast and we are so grateful to the many family and friends who were able to join us for his special day, especially my sisters and their families who drove in bad weather to be here. Good thing they made it since Aunt Sara made the awesome dinosaur cake! Jameson's favorite part was the volcano. He shared it with his buddy (and cousin) Cooper and somehow, Grandma got several bites in as well.

The munchkins marched like dinosaurs... roared like dinosaurs... played like dinosaurs... dug for dinosaurs in the sand...

and fell into an exhausted sleep like dinosaurs.

** Stay tuned for a big surprise in our next post!