Here Comes Santa Claus ....

St. Nick's Day is celebrated in the Hopper home. Brian has fond memories of the holiday from his few childhood years living in Germany so he started the tradition in our family before Katharine was even born. This year, both Katharine and Elizabeth remembered and asked us when they got to put their shoes by the fireplace. This is what they woke up to on the morning of December 6th:

Tree decorated with almost no help from the parents. These munchkins did an awesome job! They're modeling the Christmas pajamas that St. Nick brought them.

Welcome Winter!!

Where has Fall gone? So many wonderful things have happened in the last few months that I've decided it would be way too much work to update my blog. So instead, I will do a quick recap and then move on.

1. Trick-or-Treating with four kids was awesome. Jacob slept the whole time, Elizabeth slept half the time, Jameson whined most of the time, Brian came down with strep throat and Katharine stayed out late with Mommy and we had a blast.

2. The whole family got strep throat, but Mommy got it the worse and was laid up for a full three days.

3. Katharine likes First Grade most of the time and has discovered the joys of jump roaping.

4. Elizabeth loves preschool all the time, especially the play room with dress-up clothes.

5. Jameson tells us every day that he has "school morrow" while wearing his backpack- usually with socks and underwear and nothing else.

6. We took a WONDERFUL trip to Utah for Thanksgiving and got to spend a week with the most amazing people in the world and playing in the snow.

7. Autumn decorations packed up and Christmas (all twelve totes) unpacked and displayed.

8. Mommy went back to work last week. I'm pretty sure it's harder on me than the kids, but they're not too happy either.

9. Christmas Tree up in the house and soon to be decorated.

10. We got to meet the adorable, beautiful, amazing TJ Watkins!

Saying Farewell

We will always love you, sweet Dakota.

Thank you for enriching our family.

Dakota Marie Hopper

2000 - 2010

Fall 2010... so far

I love Autumn and all the wonderful things it brings. This has been a very busy Fall for the Hopper family so we're going to share a few of our favorite things.

1. Grandma and Grandpa Hopper came to visit!!

2. September 19th was a special day- We celebrated Brian's birthday with so many loved friends and family who joined us for Jacob's baby blessing.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

3. Our annual trip to Apple Hill with Grandma and Grandpa Jones and the Fry's. Mommy forgot to take pictures after the first stop. My sister took a bunch, as did my mom. Maybe they'll share with me??

4. Elizabeth celebrated her 4th birthday at BounceU and we had a BLAST!!!

5. Bishop's Pumpkin Farm!!!! My very favorite fall hotspot.

We've been five times... and counting!

Trust Brian to teach his kids to lay on the train tracks.

Sleepy Jameson

Think he was ready for his nap??

Cracking Heads

Our first child to have stitches was, of course, Jameson. He was injured while playing with his sisters in Grandma Jones' living room. Jameson's little forehead met the corner of Grandma's brick fireplace. He was such a little trooper, despite being covered in blood (only 15 small drops made it onto Grandma's white carpet), rushed to urgent care, waiting for two hours to be seen by the doctor, waiting another thirty minutes for the topical pain killer to work (it didn't), then being held down by three people (his bawling mom included in that number), getting a shot right in the middle of his forehead to actually numb the spot, then getting two stitches. It looks much better today.

He's actually quite proud of his war wound:

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!

My Little Barber

Jameson before he found scissors:

Jameson after he found scissors:

Jameson after I took him to the hairstylist:

I'm not showing the pictures of me crying.

Storytime

I was working in Jameson's room this evening when Elizabeth came in and grabbed a book, saying she wanted to read it. She started to "read" out loud as she turned pages. I was only half listening to the normal "princess" story with all the usual suspects until I heard her say, "and then her Hamster prince came along." My ears perked up at that so I listened more closely. It was only after several more minutes that I realized she was not making up a story about royal rodents but the "hamster" prince was really just your average "handsome" prince in Elizabeth-ese.

Children and their delusions

So I teach Katharine's primary class at church and last week we got on the topic of making poor choices. I said everyone makes mistakes and then we learn from them. A little girl in the class asked me if even I, the teacher, made mistakes. My sweet little Katharine said, "You do, Mom. Sometimes you make horrible choices."

I replied, "Yes, everyone makes mistakes, your parents and even your grandparents all make bad choices sometimes."

This was too much for my little girl. Katharine said, "Not my Grandma. She doesn't make mistakes."

Seriously! And I thought this was my one kid who understood reality. Boy does Grandma have them fooled. She's perfect and I'm apparently a total screw-up.

Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe my sweet little Katharine is going to be a first grader! We have been truly blessed this year with the most amazing kindergarten teacher ever, Mrs. Harvey. It has been a wonderful experience watching Katharine learn and grow. We could not be more proud of our beautiful six year old!

Elizabeth can't wait for her turn in kindergarten. She already loves Mrs. Harvey!