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!

May 2010

May was a wonderful month, especially since the heat has stayed away. I love being home with my children. We've had so much fun. Here are a few highlights:

celebrating birthdays (late),

riding plasma cars,

painting in the backyard (yes, my son painted everything, including himself, pink),

toddler time at the water park with great friends,

and picking cherries at my parent's house with the Gale's. Brian and I made cherry jelly, I made a cherry pie, orange-cherry scones, and froze the rest.

Memorial weekend was fun and busy! The best part of the weekend was taking our children to the Memorial Day tribute put on by a local church, including a Memorial Wall of fallen soldiers, a 9/11 memorial, and a display of military vehicles hosted by local military members. Jameson loved the big trucks and kept saying, "Wow, wow!" It was wonderful to teach our little ones about the sacrifice so many have made to promote our freedom. Thank you to all who have served our country so proudly.

Winter 2010

The first (and only) time I updated this blog, nine months after starting it, I needed help from two sisters. Hopefully I'll get this right.

Katharine spent the entire evening writing and coloring a book for me and one for her kindergarten teacher. She loves to write stories and illustrate them. She tells me she is going to be an author, artist, teacher (1st grade) and veterinarian when she grows up. I believe her!

Elizabeth's new favorite thing to do is watch "The Lipsticks" on TV with her daddy. It only took a day for us to figure out that The Lipsticks are The Olympics! Her favorite, of course, is the figure skating but she likes the skiing a lot, too.

I went to work the other morning and Brian was still asleep, mainly because he hadn't gotten home from work until about 3am. I put a movie on for the younger two and took Katharine to school, hoping he could get some rest. He was woken up to Jameson sitting next to him in the bed, saying in a growl, "Die, die, die." My sweet little boy kept saying, "die, die" over and over. Apparently giving up on his dad's intelligence, Jameson grabbed Brian's hand and dragged him out to the living room where The Land Before Time, his favorite movie, had ended and he wanted his "Die"-nosaur movie started again. For those of you who don't know, Jameson is obsessed with dinosaurs, so not a serial killer threatening his father, just unable to say the whole word, dinosaur.

This really is just a trial run to see if I can blog on my own. Maybe I'll add more soon.

Hopper Family Math

2

(Brian & Amanda, aka: Mom & Dad)

+

3

(Katharine, Elizabeth & Jameson)

+

1 new addition

(August 11, 2010)

=

Hopper; Party of 6 !!!


PS- Happy Birthday Aunt Stephanie!