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!

A Busy Day

Elizabeth went on her very first field trip today with her cute preschool class. They went to the Library, then walked across the street to the Fire Station. My favorite part was when the kids helped the firefighter act out "stop, drop, and roll."

Katharine had a very special day, too. Grandma Jones arranged a wonderful birthday gift for her. Katharine got to go to a local bakery, The Cake Lady, and design and decorate her own birthday cake. She was so excited she was actually bouncing!

Jameson had a busy day, too!

Lucky Garden

Despite many childhood hours (and a few as an adult) searching clover patches, I've never found, or even seen, a Four Leaf Clover. On this St. Patrick's Day, I let our children ride bikes in the front yard while the baby and I sat on a blanket. Imagine my shock when I heard the childish shout, "I found a 4 leaf clover!" Even more surprises were in store when I followed several excited children to the small patch of clover growing in my front yard. We found LOTS of four leaf clovers. This must be a lucky year for the Hoppers!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!!

Meet Katharine Marie

For some reason, my daughter walks around the house singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." Or is she whistling it? I can't tell since her "s" sounds like "th."

So my husband, Brian, is pretty popular with the kids in our neighborhood. All the children think he's pretty cool. In fact, several of our friends' children have asked their dads to become policemen like Brian. I guess it's true that you're just not appreciated by your own because his coolness factor doesn't impress his own children.

Katharine asked him, "Dad, can you be a baker and not a policeman?" It should be noted that Cake Boss is her favorite TV show, with Ultimate Cake Off a close second. She called for me the other night after she was already in bed. I rushed in, thinking something was wrong. She said, "The new Cake Boss is on tonight at 9. Don't forget." After being reassured that it was set to record, she drifted peacefully off to sleep, all worries at bay.

This is my six year old (almost seven).

2011: the early months

Time has completely flown by and there have been so many wonderful and new things to experience in the last few months. Here are my top 15:

1. Going to Grey Lodge Bird Refuge with the Gale's and the Fry kids.

(see the birds we startled into flying away)

(seriously? using sticks as rifles?!? boys!)

2. Mommy (Amanda) quit her job after more than 7 years at the DA's office. Woo hoo!!!

3. Katharine lost her first tooth and got her first visit from the Tooth Fairy!

4. Our First Blue Eyed Baby!!!!

5. Stitches for the Second Time (under his chin) 6. Eating Rice Cereal for the First Time
7. Family Bowling

8. Eating Vegetables

9. Daddy (Brian) switched to the graveyard shift and his days off are now Tues., Wed., and Thurs. Not so much fun for family outings.

10. Going to Old Sacramento with Grandma, Grandpa, the Fry's and (half of) the Watkins' on Free Museum Day

Why do little boys like climbing and jumping so much?

11. Sitting Up

This is the fat, happy baby we love!

12. Katharine read her primary talk all by herself without any help for the first time!

13. Jacob is mobile (sort of)

Jacob gets constantly pushes up on all fours, lunges forward, and falls. He hasn't quite mastered crawling but somehow manages to move all over the room.

This should be on the front of an exercise video!!

14. Elizabeth: "Mommy, I made a wish on the star."

Me: "Don't tell me what you wished for or it won't come true."

Elizabeth: (in a whisper) "I wished to be Ariel."

Good thing I already warned her that her wish might not come true, huh?

15. Jacob turned 7 months old today. Where does the time go?