{Spence turns 3}

My baby is 3. hmmm...... Where to begin to describe my Spence. Is it possible for my whiniest kid to be my giggliest kid? No? Well, he is. It's so funny. Spencer does so many things that I love and crack me up.

1. He wears a glove on his right hand, daily.(example on the left) Most might worry when there little boy wants to constantly wear one glove. Who does he think he is Michael Jackson? Nope. This boy of mine is obviously wearing a mitt!

2. Spence is the boy you see in the grocery store in the middle of the summer in moon boots. (That was until I hid them.)

3. He tells me almost daily that he wasn't talking to me, he's talking to his dad. He is a daddy's boy.

4. We have the same nightly ritual. I sing "rock a by" to him, and there is a line at the end of the song where it says, "to fetch a little rabbit skin to wrap baby Spencer in". To which he replies, "I'm not a baby!" as he giggles the entire time. Every night it's the same conversation and reaction and makes me laugh. We then sing Pete's Dragon, as Spencer plays with my hair and tells me, "oh mom I fixed your hair."

5. Spencer throws EVERYTHING!... EV..ER..Y..TH..IN..GGGG! It gets so old. (He already broke one of my in laws windows)

6. Spencer's favorite foods are: strawberries, grapes, hot dogs, yogurt, pizza and strawberry milk.

7. Spence has always been very shy and he is now starting to come out of his shell. Whenever he talks to someone he now looks at me and gets excited and says, "mom, I talked to them!"

I love this little "surprise" of mine and I'm grateful that God knew I needed him in my life at a time that I didn't. No one tries to get pregnant w/ a 3 month old at home, but that's what happened w/ Spence. He is a blessing in our family and we love his little spirit. He is constantly making us laugh...and most importantly he can fake snore like no one else! He has a gift. I love, love, love him.

At one point this candle was a 3...until Spencer ate it.

Poor Spencer...rockin double pink eyes.

{Halle's growing up..literally}

This is what I came home to from work today w/ specific instructions:
1. I am to start knocking anytime I need to go into Halle's room.
2. I am to knock because she could be hiding her money. (all $2)
3. I am to knock in the morning, because she could be getting undressed.
(please note the smiley faces and the hearts. At least she broke it to me easy)


Halle's Kindergarten Graduation
(please note my daughter is a head taller than the other kids)

Full of smiles, this one was.

Totally humoring my mom w/ this picture. I grew up hearing the phrase"Carrie close your legs!"...please refrain from the "that's what she said" jokes...thank you!

I've never seen someone fight a smile so hard!

Monkey turns 4

My self proclaimed mama's boy(he informed Spencer that I am his and Spencer is dad's) turned 4 years old on Mother's Day! I can't believe how big he is getting. Ethan had two requests for his cake this year...he wanted a grasshopper and ants on his cake. After walking around Walmart for 2 hours trying to find some plastic bugs to put on his cake (who knew it would be that hard) I struck gold when I found this cake in the bakery. It had bugs on it, more importantly a big beautiful green grasshopper! yay! After adding a trail of chocolate sprinkles (wallah, there's your ants!) and gummy worms, Ethan was sooo excited about his bug cake! The following picture is of Ethan telling me to take a picture of him and his grasshopper....this was the best $20 ever spent....

We went to the park w/ some family and had a bbq...

The kids showing us the "fish" they caught. Notice Spencer's huge catch!

I'm so grateful for this loving little boy of mine. Ethan loves to do what he wants and heaven help the person that tries to disrupt his "plans". ...We had a pretty big scare w/ Ethan in November when he had to undergo 2 surgeries and a week long hospital stay for a staff infection in his neck. It was the longest week of my life, but such an eye opening experience to so many things...mainly...how much I love this little boy and second how naughty this sweet little boy of mine can be! He was.

1. When he does something wrong and you are trying to talk to him about it he likes to say, "mom I just like you!"

2. He loves to pretend to hunt all of the time. He even misses his targets! We were driving the other day and past a field full of deer and he aimed his gun and shot and yelled out, "I missed! Oh deer I'm gonna get you!"..he got it on his second shot.

3. I get asked at least once a day, "mom, what's that I smell?" The kid has a nose on him...I usually get told daily "that I smell so good and that I'm perty!"

Ethan's favorites: pb&j, cheetos, dinosaurs, animals, any book about animals, movies, jumping on the trampoline, roasting "jallows" marshmallows, loves to pretend and fake scare with his dad.

I love him so much! I'm so grateful for his unique little personality and I'm so lucky to be his mom and have him in my family!

Lady GaGa finaly died!

Halle (Halle aka Cinderella)

Halle entertains me daily. I would like to get in her head someday and see exactly what goes on there. Today on the way home we had the following conversation....

...lady GaGa playing on the radio......

Halle: Mom, did lady GaGa die?

Me: whispering to Chris, "Oh I hope so!", but then answering: "No, she's very much alive."

Halle: "Well doesn't she smoke?"

Me: "yes, I think she smokes."

Halle: "Well, she should be dead. Smoking kills you."

Me: "It can give you cancer that can eventually kill you."

Halle: "Well will you take me to her concert?"

...gulp.....

Me: "By the time you can go to a concert I don't think she'll be singing anymore. (only if I'm lucky enough!)

Halle: "Maybe I can go to Adam Lambert then."

Me: " How about Susan Boyle?"

Halle: "I DON'T EVEN LIKE HIM.....WHY DON'T YOU LIKE ADAM LAMBERT, HE'S REALLY GOOD. I KNOW HE WEARS MAKE UP BUT I LIKE HIM!"

Chris: "Susan Boyle's a woman."

......on the radio now singing is Sean Paul.....

Me: " What about Sean Paul?"

Halle: "MOM, HE DOESN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH! WHAT IS THIS THAT HE'S SAYING? I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HIM!"

The conversation ended by me saying when she turns 15 years old, cause that's how old you have to be to get into a concert, we can go to a concert together that we both agree on....This girl is very detail oriented. She makes me laugh so hard! It doesn't help that she gets sarcasm and uses it on Chris and I. Aaahhhh, funny.

Ethan

I get to look at this face EVERY day, I am so blessed!

This past month was a little stressful and scary for us. As many of you know, our oldest son, Ethan was admitted into the hospital w/ a deep neck infection. It happened so fast and literally over night. This infection then turned into an abscess (which was staff bacteria) underneath his curated artery...3 cat scans, 2 surgeries later and a week in the hospital and this entertaining son of mine is back to his loud self. The only proof that something was ever wrong is the 2 inch cut on the side of his neck. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, who answers prayers. I've never felt so helpless as a mother, but through trials and hardships comes humility and blessings. Chris and I are blessed with the greatest support group...EVER! We have the best family and it's very humbling as they continue to help us out in so many ways.

Highlights of the worst week ever:

1. Ethan was so ornery to everyone, those poor nurses! Any time they asked Ethan if he needed anything he yelled, "I told you, nyooo!" completely naughty, but hilarious coming out of Ethan in his mumbly voice.

2. While at Primary children's Hospital, Carlos Boozer and Jerry Sloan came to our room to give Ethan a signed basketball. Ethan says nothing to him, but slaps the ball from Carlos Boozer's hands...they sprinted out of our room.

3. By the end, whenever a nurse would come in the room to do vitals, Ethan would say without looking at them, "I don't need anything, fanks guys!"

4. Whenever they would come and give him his medicine through his i.v...he say, "Mom, what happened to me?"....so sad, yet so cute said in Ethan's voice.

THANKFUL

I'm so blessed! I love this family of mine.

I was supposed to be Daisy duck, but after a "minor"

panic attack, I became a caveman. Seriously, I'll never give

my mom crap again about being claustrophobic again.

My adorable family provides me w/ the comic relief that is needed in my life......

More Hopkins funnies:

1. In the car the other day Spencer let me know that the sun was in his eyes. Ethan said, "Dencer don't worry I'll keel (kill) the sun!" I looked in the rear view mirror to see some FIERCE blinking going on from Ethan towards the sun.

2. Halle informed me that she speaks Spanish, which I already knew because I hear it all day and night. It gets better, when I was watching my one year old niece the other night Halle informed me that Shea didn't understand what I was saying because, she too speaks Spanish. Who knew?...Halle.

3. After seeing her aunt snuggling w/ a boy, Halle informed me that Sharise was laying on her friend's lap, THAT IS A BOY! She then went on to say, "I'm going to have to talk to her tomorrow about that."
4. Spencer has been going around telling me to "spank der booms", ( spank there bums). Examples of what he wants me to spank.. a chair, Ethan, his blanket, a flower arrangement, Ethan, the dogs, Ethan, his ball, his sippy cup, and Ethan. Before child services are called, he's just playing. It's a thing my family does, we say, "I'm going to spank your bum", and then we give a nice rump slap.

5. Spencer was watching basketball on t.v tonight and started yelling at the team, "cum on guys, pass the ball!" He's TWO! Seriously, it's moments like this that give me a glimpse what the future holds for me and my t.v. time.

Funny Hopkins moments

1) We went to a family reunion on Chris's side and as we were getting ready to leave, Halle said to my mother in law that she was sorry that she called her relatives weird..
Lucinda (mother in law): "I didn't know you called my family weird."
Halle: "I did Grandma. But, they're not weird they're just old".

2) Halle and I were driving past some cows and Halle asked me why people have cows. So, I told her that some farmers/ranchers raise cattle then sell them to other people or to stores for meat. Halle's response: "Mom, wait a minute. Are you telling me that milk and hamburger BOTH come from cows?"
Me: "That's what I'm telling you."
Halle (now making this weird throaty noise) says: "mom, that's disgusting!"
Me (laughing): "I know, it actually is when you think about it. Are you going to still drink milk and eat hamburger."
Halle: "yep."

3) I was saying to Halle one day after picking her up from school, how old she's getting and fast she's growing up. She looked at me w/ this concern/sass and says, "mom, I'm not dying. I'm just in kindergarten." ....very true.

4) Chris informed me today that he found out that his great-grandma was an alcoholic. (he really knew that, he had just forgot!) Anyways, he told me that that explained everything.
Me: "what does that explain?"
Chris: "why I'm so addicted to Mtn. Dew. Carrie, it's the burn I love!"
Me: nothing was said.....I just laughed.

5) Spence (my youngest) is severely, annoyingly, adorably attached to his blanket. I snuck it away from him and got it washed and dried without him knowing, (I think my friend Micah would know what an accomplishment this really is!) Well, when I went to hand it to him it was still warm. He grabbed it and said, "Hoh, mom. Hot, blow on it." It makes perfect sense, I blow on his food when it's too hot so naturally I would blow on his blanket that was too hot...smart kid.

6) The other day after I got Ethan and Spence buckled in their car seats I went to go let Halle know it was time to go. As I was walking away I heard them start yelling something at each other. My father in law asked me what they were yelling about and I told him I didn't know. Well, as I got closer to the car I heard:
Ethan: "Stop it Dencer (spencer), she's my mommy!"
Spence: "No, she's my mommy."
Ethan apparently can't come up w/ another response so he stares Spencer in the eyes and just starts screaming. Don't worry I broke the fight up and then started it over again when I said, "I'm both your mommy. I'm Halle's mommy too!"

7) We were eating ice cream the other day. Ethan got distracted, of course, and went off to play. Well he came back into the kitchen and looked in his bowl and let out a gasp..
"Mom, my ice cream dead!"

8) Ethan got hurt on his finger and came over to me crying. I picked his finger up and kissed it. After looking at his hand, he grabbed my mouth and pulled it open and said, "Mom, owie gone!"...I AM pretty amazing.