John Hoopes visits Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina!

We had a great visit with Dave's dad just after Christmas. Thanks for coming!

If you come to Dayton, you'll probably end up at the Air Force Museum, like it or not. There isn't a lot to see here, but this is big, and free. Here are Dave and his dad enjoying the planes.

The kids and I finally caught up with them!

John brought Pirate stories and toys. Here the kids are listening to the story while playing with their new toys.

We spent one night at the Great Wolf lodge, a hotel and waterpark. Everyone had a great time! And what a great picture of us in our swimming suits!

We made Thai and Indian food while John was here. Dave and his dad shopped for ingredients at several local ethnic markets.

We drove south to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was just after a snow storm, and was unusually cold for the south. The scenery was amazing! The waterfalls were frozen, and there was snow on all the trees! Perfect day!

We did a short hike to a famous waterfall.

Emily and Benjamin take a little break.

Here we are at the top. It was pretty and quiet up there.

Christmas Traditions

Waiting on the steps Christmas morning. It's almost time to visit the Christmas room!

Emily got some princess books. Dave read them out loud.

The kids were excited about their presents. Too bad they didn't open their new pajamas earlier on in the game! Here is Benjamin with the walkie talkies that santa brought.Emily loved her fancy new dress!

Joshua got a race car set, and was done with Christmas. He didn't need anything else!

Here we are on Christmas Eve. The stockings are hung...
I love our Christmas traditions. We have a nice mix of the Osmonds and the Hoopes. We eat a traditional meal like my family had growing up: Norwegian meatballs, mashed potatoes, rolls, creamed rutabega, green cabbage, corn, and carrots. We had rice pudding for dessert, and Benjamin found the almond and won the chocolate santa. Then we dressed up to put on the nativity play (Dave's family), and finally, we all "laid in a star" (also Dave's family). You can see the picture below. It was fun to have Joseph and Kathryn around to take a picture of our star!

This is just a cute picture of Emily in her winter gear.

On Christmas Eve this year, we made candy trains. The kids (and Joseph and Kathryn) did a beautiful job. The trains looked delicious!Here is our rendition of the nativity play. Emily was Mary, Dave was Joseph, Benjamin and Joshua were wisemen, Joseph was a shepherd, and Kathryn was the angel. They did a great job!

I went in to Ben's class for their Christmas Party. We had a great time. Here is a photo of Ben with his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Smith.

We met Joseph and Kathryn at Clifton Mill for an amazing light display. Fortunately is was fairly warm, and we had a really fun evening.

Being a Mother

Snow day! Benjamin was so happy to have a day off of school! He played and played in the snow. Here is his first snowman. He made a whole family of them!
Emily liked making snow angels. It looks cold to me, but she thought it was worth it!
Emily and Joshua under the tree. Joshua looks innocent, but he has been unwrapping at least one present a day. You'd think his mom would wise up and MOVE the presents. But, no harm done. He mostly just unwraps a jack in the box over and over. It's for him, anyway.


Some comments about my children.

Since I am, afterall, first and foremost, a mother, I am going to take a minute here and tell a little bit about my kids. Here is a funny quote from Emily.

Megan (in a big hurry): Emily, you can't go out in those shoes. You look like poor white trash.

Emily (indignant): I'm not white trash! ..... I'm PINK trash.

Does this translate well? It was really funny when she said it!

Also of note, Benjamin's art work can be seen online, now. The website is www.artsonia.com/Benjamin765
He got his 150 patch for reading that many books last month. His goal this month is to earn both 200 and 250. This is a big goal for him. Wish us luck!

Joshua is potty training. I have this glimmer of hope that there will come a day in my life that I won't have a child in diapers. It has been an expensive 6 years.

BAOTAP

BAOTAP stands for "Books Are Our Thing At Parkwood." BAOTAP is a robot that encourages the kids to read. Benjamin got his patch for reading 100 books this month. Here he is with his certificate. They have an assembly each month to award the kids their patches. This is Ben's 3rd. We sew the patches on to their school shirts. It is really cute, and it sure gets Ben reading!

Thanksgiving

We went to the Dawson's for Thanksgiving dinner this year. They have a variety of pets that we are going to model for you in the next pictures.

Benjamin with the corn snake (a constrictor)

Emily with Angelita (a tarantula)
Emily really loved these animals. She held them for the longest, and kept begging for more.

Joshua with a spider for a hat.

And finally, me with the snake, tarantula, and rabbit. The rabbit I enjoyed holding. He is very soft. The snake I could tolerate, although it was a stretch. The spider was way over the top. I am smiling in this picture, but I am also hyperventilating. Even Dave admitted that the spider made him feel a little nervous.

Photo Shoot

Benjamin, 6 years old
Emily, 4 years old

Joshua, 2 years old

I bribed the kids with McDonald's this week, and they agreed to sit in front of a bush so I could take their pictures.

Falling leaves

All those trees that we loved so much when we bought our house have started to drop their leaves. The yard is beautiful with lots of different colors. Raking has begun in earnest. Fortunately, everyone in our house likes the task in some form or another. Either actually picking up the leaves, or at least raking them into a pile and then jumping in it. Another popular activity is scooping leaves onto the trampoline, then jumping them off again. Good times.

Here are the kids working in the far corner of the yard.

Resting after their labors.

Chicago with Kids

The first weekend in November found us in Chicago. My sister-in-law, Kristin was there from the Virgin Islands for a conference, and Benjamin, Emily, and I drove up to meet her. David was on call; he stayed home with Joshua. We all had a good time. Chicago in the fall is a beautiful city. Here are some of the highlights.

Eating at the Rainforest Cafe

The Chicago Zoo (very fun, and free)

The Museum of Science and Industry, one of the few world's fair
buildings to survive the Chicago Fire.

Riding the giant ferris wheel at Navy Pier.

We had a fun trip. Thanks Kristin!

Halloween

Halloween was a big hit with the kids this year. Benjamin was Batman, Emily was Sleeping Beauty, and Josh was a cow (again). I wasn't sure if Joshua would understand the whole concept, but he caught on quickly, and still carries his pumpkin bucket around saying "trick or treat."

The kids went with friends for the first time. Dave followed along behind to supervise and watch Joshua. It was a fun day.

The bike ride

My running/biking friend, Jessica drove over from Indianapolis on Saturday. We had a great afternoon. We listened to the first session of General conference, then took off on a 40 mile bike ride. This is no big deal for Jessica, but took an act of courage on my part, since I haven't ridden a bike in months. But, we had a great ride, and the conversation was so interesting that I hardly noticed the distance.

The reward: dinner at Abuelo's.

Thanks for coming, Jessica!

Backpacking

David has wanted to take Benjamin backpacking for a couple of months, so this Friday, they packed up and went. They drove down after work, and hiked in in the dark (typical Hoopes family trip). Emily, Joshua, and I stayed home and watched Barbie Island Princess and ate cookies. About halfway through the movie, I got a phone call from David just to let me know that they were pretty much lost. Benjamin was a little upset after walking for over an hour and not arriving at camp. They finally set up their tent just off the trail, and had a good night.








Benjamin at their "campsite," finally!












Benjamin loves this picture of himself with this "pretty fungus."

Cousins

Matthew and Joshua had a love hate relationship. Sometimes they were best friends, sometimes they drove each other up the wall. I guess that's what happens when two 2-year olds hang out for a week. Here is a classic shot of Joshua ordering Matthew "off" of the trampoline. He ordered Sarah off, as well. He's quite the little king at our house.






They got back on, however, for this last shot before Sarah had to drive back home. Thanks for coming, guys! We miss you!

Sarah drives west

My 7 months pregnant sister, Sarah, drove from Arlington, VA with her 2-1/2 year old son, to visit us last week. We loved having them! Here are some of the highlights.




We drove out to the Audobon Society Apple Fest. The kids learned all about Johnny Appleseed, and Sarah and I sampled apple dumplings, apple pie, apple butter, etc. It was a lot of fun. Here is my nephew, Matthew riding a "horse."





Next, Benjamin modeling the hats we made. Then, Sarah and the kids checking out Thanksgiving dinner. Yum! Finally me and my kids with their cousin, Matthew. We had a great day!

Bye, bye, lovebirds

The lovebirds were very friendly creatures, and loved our heads. Joshua thought it was the coolest thing ever when they landed on him.

Try not to notice that Joshua is wearing nothing but the lovebirds and a diaper. I swear I'm a good mother, and usually dress my kids. We were getting ready for bed!
















Here they are on my head, where they spent a lot of time. I thought I was fairly tolerant of the birds. I didn't say anything when they chewed up a stack of bills I needed to pay. Ignored it when they turned the title page of Benjamin's Book of Mormon into their nest. But then they started in on Pride and Prejudice, and it was time for them to go. We gave them away to a good home a few days later. The crazy thing was that they really seemed to like Jane Austen best! Even after I covered the books with a dish cloth, Clyde would pull it off so Bonnie could get back to work on P & P. They had good taste, I'll give them that!

We miss the birds, but I think they will be better off where they are now.

Lovebirds

I don't have any pictures of my family this week, because we lost the cord to upload pictures from our camera. This bird will have to do.

I want to start this note out with a story about my friend Shalauna. She is the wife of Brady, and is the mother of twins Cate and Cal. For Cate and Cal's birthday one year, Brady came home with a rabbit in a cage. I remember thinking it was a cute rabbit, but was glad that MY husband would never surprise me like that. Well, Brady, Dave just gave you a run for your money!

Let me back up and tell about my weekend. Deseret Book did a Time Out For Women in Indianapolis on Saturday. Benjamin and I drove over on Friday night and stayed with the Pugsleys. Saturday, Benjamin played with his old friend Riley, while Becky and I went to the conference. It was a great day. I loved seeing old friends again! Just seeing familiar faces made me feel so good! I was on the verge of happy tears all day. The speakers were good, too. After the conference, Benjamin and I packed up and headed back to Ohio. We had a great drive listening to "Double Fudge," a somewhat newer Judy Blume book (at least I assume it is newer, because I haven't read it, and she references Harry Potter). We arrived home, and Joshua came running out yelling "Yea! Mommy! Yea! Mommy!" which pretty much fills my heart with joy and is the best reason to be a mother. I walked into the house feeling good, and saw a bird on my kitchen counter. This was somewhat surprising, especially when I found a cage and another bird. (There were roses, too, but that hardly makes up for anything.)

I wondered which neighbor had asked us to watch their birds already. But, no. My husband has spent the day on Craig's List and found a pair of lovebirds to bring home as our new pets. He said he wanted to SURPRISE me! Now let me state for anyone who doesn't know this about me. I am not much into pets. Animals are fine, but not really in my house. Where I sleep, and make food, and try to stay clean. I'm just not a pet person. I have 3 children. Doesn't that count? David knows this about me. I'm not sure what he was thinking. The thing is that he's not a sneaky man. That just isn't his nature. He must have honestly believed that I was just too lazy to get a pet of my own, and that I would be happy to see one, just waiting for me to take care of, on my kitchen counter. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Now let me tell you about these birds. One of them, Bonnie, looks like the picture. She is very pretty. The other one is even prettier, with bright green and orange feathers. His name is Clyde. Now for the clincher. Clyde has a nervous disorder. Apparently he needs an avian psychiatrist. When he is stressed, which is all the time, he plucks out his beautiful green feathers on his back and chest. Have you ever seen a plucked chicken? That's what he looks like around his neck. He has a beautiful head and tail, with a mutant middle. It's really disgusting to look at. And yet, one has to feel sorry for the bird. I don't know how long lovebirds last. These 2 are 8 years old. If anyone knows, feel free to respond. What kind of sentence am I in for? Of course, the kids love them! They hop around the house and land on our heads and slit paper into nesting material, and poop on the floor/counter/whatever. Dave thinks I just have to get used to having animals around the house. I'm not sure that will ever happen.

So, we have pet birds. As my mom pointed out, at least he didn't bring home a goat!