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!

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!

But these boys sure love to be together! BEST BUDS FOREVER!

Happy birthday Pops! And GO HOGS!

Saturday was the big Arkansas vs. Auburn game in Fayetteville. Jim and I took the boys to tailgate and celebrate Pops's birthday!

This was Andrew's first tailgate party!

Andrew helped Pops open his presents. This year, we all went in together and got Pops an iPad!

Jim and the boys

Will and Alicia

Christian enjoyed playing with Uncle Rob's binoculars

Andrew enjoyed eating birthday cake!

Arkansas beat Auburn 38-14! Woooo Pig Sooie!

Metamorphosis

So what grade did you learn about Metamorphosis? 8th grade? High school biology?

Well, Christian first learned about it in his first grade science last year. WOW. What these kids learn so early these days!!! Last year, we caught a caterpillar (named Zoey) in hopes to keep it until it changed to a butterfly. After a week or so, the "thing" looked like a crusty dead insect. I thought it was dead so we threw it out.
A few weeks ago, Christian found a sweet little caterpillar (Zoey #2) in the driveway and put it in his bug cage. He was so excited! He could not wait to see it change into a butterfly. Unfortunately, I remembered all to well how it ended last time. However, we kept the caterpillar for a few weeks longer in its cage. Every few days, we would check on it to see if it changed. Christian knew all the stages: Chrysalis, etc. I had to google it. ;)
Then last week, we went into his room to check on Zoey #2 too and here is what we saw...

A butterfly!!!

We are all so excited (and surprised)! When Jim got home from work, Christian could not wait to show him! We told Christian that it was time to let him go back out into nature. He was fine with that and actually said, "Zoey, is going to fly home to his family! Then they will say where have you been? and he will say it is a long story!" Too funny!

Christian getting ready to release his butterfly!

Andrew was excited to watch!

Christian kinda teared up (I did too) when his butterfly flew away, but he said it was "happy tears" because he was happy for his butterfly to go home. I love that sweet boy!

Give Breast Cancer the BOOT!

Last week, I attended my first Pink Ribbon Luncheon event, "Give Breast Cancer the BOOT!"
I coordinated a group from my bible study, Mom's Ministry along with some other girlfriends of mine to sponsor a table. It was fun to get out for lunch during the week for a good cause with some good friends!

They did a lunch with a silent auction and boot fashion show. Everyone was encouraged to wear their own boots too. So we took this pic of all of our boots together! So fun! Thanks ladies for a fun outing!