The Hopkins Household: October 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pumpkin Carving!

Last Tuesday evening, Christian decided it was time to carve our Halloween pumpkin! So after dinner, we watched Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin Show and got started!

Christian drew the face himself!

Jim helped cut the top off the pumpkin so we could clean it out! We even saved the seeds for roasting!

Christian was so proud of his pumpkin!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Last weekend, the Spies family came for a visit to Northwest Arkansas! Laura is Meg's sister and her husband John and kiddos Maddie and Aidan are the best! Christian and Andrew had a blast playing with them! They played Wii race car games and we spent lots of time visiting our neighborhood park and exploring the area. They are considering moving up our way and have been on the job hunt recently. Our hopes are that they can relocate to NWA! How fun to have them close by! Jim even got a round of golf in with John!

Thanks Laura and John for the awesome Razorback yard sign! We love it! Hope we can get together again soon!

Elizabeth's Sip and See!

Last weekend, Susan and I hosted a Sip and See Shower for Elizabeth!

The Wootens drove up from Plano, TX for their first visit to Van Buren as a family of four!
Kimberly said the kiddos did great on the trip! I hope that means they decide to come for Thanksgiving and Christmas! ;)

I was so excited to get to see my sweet little niece!

She looked so pretty in her outfit for the party!

Susan did an AMAZING job with all the food for the shower!

GoGo put up this beautiful pink fabric over the door and made a wreath too! So cute!

Ready for the shower!

We were so excited that so many wonderful friends and family came to meet Elizabeth!

Kimberly received so many wonderful gifts for Elizabeth!

GoGo enjoys having a little Granddaughter!

So many friends came from far away too! Tasha and her mom Pamma brought Edie and Violet to visit!

Elizabeth loved meeting new friends!

Wrenn and Elizabeth!

I loved getting to be with all of our family and friends to celebrate our little "sweetheart" Elizabeth!

Pumpkin Patch!

Every year, we head over to the pumpkin patch at the Missouri state line to pick out our pumpkins and fall decor for in front of our house!

The boys love to get the old Radio Flyer wagons and pick out their pumpkins!

Andrew was really excited this year! He was big enough to pull his own wagon!

Andrew picking out just the right one!

The couple that runs the place is really nice and the man always delivers our hay, cornstalks, pumpkins and mums to our house in his big truck! :)

They also put out several Halloween displays. This Dracula would pop out of his coffin when you walked by! The boys that it was funny!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Winetopia!

A few weeks ago, Jim and I joined Brandon and Susan for a fundraiser event at Pratt Place Barn.

Winetopia, a fundraiser for Restore Humanity, was a wine and beer tasting and silent auction with many restaurants serving samples of their appetizers and desserts. It was really fun!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Where does the time go???

I have really been cherishing those moments of snuggling with the boys, reading stories or just being silly. Where does the time go???

I know it has been awhile since my last update, but life is BUSY in the Hopkins Household! Since school started, I have been working part time, directing my bible study group and doing all the other "mom jobs" on a daily basis--cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. Jim's new job is going well but he is staying very busy too. Oh, and keeping up with the kiddos activities, parties, etc! Whew. So life in general is my excuse for a little slow down in the blog. ;) So this post will be a little "catch up" on our family!

Christian is really enjoying cub scouts!
He loves all the activities at the den meetings and working on his achievements in his wolf book.
Jim and I have been taking turns taking him to cub scouts so we both can stay in touch with the activities of our den. Last week, I went with Christian and they discussed recycling and not littering. The den worked on picking up litter at the school (with gloves on). Luckily for us, the school grounds are clean as a whistle so the boys were fighting over a few gum wrappers and scap pieces of paper to put in their trash bags. ;)

Last week, we had our first parent teacher conference with Christian's 2nd grade teacher.
She could not say enough wonderful things about how she enjoys having him in her classroom.
She said he is very intelligent and a delightful boy. He received straight As! He is also reading at the highest level that his teacher is allowed to test him. We are so proud of him!

I can't leave out Andrew. ;) Our sweet little man is doing great. He talks so well and loves to play! He really enjoys going to Mother's Day Out and doing all the fun projects they get to do there! He naps well there and loves to get up and go in the mornings! He is starting to work on potty training both at MDO and at home. He is regularly using the potty once a day at home and at school, so that's progress. We may be a diaper free household next year! Now THAT will be an exciting blog post! ;)

Andrew is a little character too. He knows what he wants and when he wants it. I wonder where he gets that?! :) haha
Andrew likes to voice his opinion on his snack, clothes, toys, etc. At that age, Christian was barely talking and certainly was not particular about those things. Whatever you gave him was ok. Christian is still a pretty laid back kiddo. Just like his dad! We love to see the differences in the boys and get such a kick out of them!