Finding Fun in a Corn Field

Everybody knows that the best pumpkins are always in the BACK of the pumpkin patch.

Which way out of here?

Gretchen checking out the map from an overlook.


Rich and Neal discussing which path to take. Well, not really. Who knows what they talk about
hopefully its where he got that camera so my hubbie can get one for me! I have camera envy ;)

One of these dudes did not wear his coat....too cool for warmth.

Anyone who knows Richard, knows we are headed into his FAVORITE season. He loves fall: leaves changing, cooler temps, spirited drives with leaves blowing behind, pumpkins picking & carving and stealing candy from his kiddos. It had been pretty warm around mid TN up until about a week ago and the cold weather has blown in. I am wondering where those indian summer days went.

Last weekend we went to try out the corn maze at the Rippavilla Plantation with some fun friends. The corn maze is cut out like the solar system with pitstops along the way telling you about the planets. For those of you with kids, you know we read about 2 sentences total about the planets the whole time we were there. What's more fun: learning about the galaxy or running through a corn maze, hiding until the right moment and then jumping out at your family to try to scare them? We managed to not lose anyone, checked out the pumpkin patch and warmed up by the campfire before heading out. It was a fun afternoon and a great way to get started on our fall festivities.

Proud Mama

Gretchen was promoted to the Level 3 gymnastics team this past spring. This took our gymnastics days to 3 practices per week. I often hear from the boys, "gymnastics again?" She has been diligent in her practicing, never trying to skip practices, and always giving it her best, even when she fell on the balance beam mid handstand. She was a little skiddish after that, but jumped right back on that beam. This month started competition season. Not knowing what to expect, her first preliminary meet was a little overwhelming. She was nervous, excited and I was just plain stressed. She did not do as well as she could have done, which led to her comment on our car ride home, "I don't want to talk about it!" We were proud of her for getting out there and trying something new. Our first state sanctioned meet was this past Saturday. I was still nervous, and she was counting the days until the meet all week. She worked her fanny off at practice this past week and all those hours in the gym paid off. She ROCKED at the meet!

The sparkly leotard
Warming up with the team. (She is the cutie on the end.) The competition
Performing her beam routine.

The VICTORY!

Gretchen took 3rd place in: vault, beam AND floor!

She also won 4th place All Around!

Go Gretchen! WooHoo!

First Day Smiles

The first grader, Gretchen in her favorite clothing item.....leggings.

This girl LOVES her some leggings. No, change that, she loves any clothes that SHE picks out.

Parker, 3rd grade, who as you can see is totally thrilled that I am taking the yearly first day of school picture. He really wanted to ride the bus the 1st day, but I really wanted to walk him in. He was a good boy and let me walk him all the way to the door. No hug...he ditched me as soon as he saw his teacher and friends. Good thing I got one before we left :)

Dallin is so excited to be going to middle school. Yeah, 6th grade!
I think he secretly enjoys that he knows whats going on and I don't.


All 3 kiddos has their first days of school last week. We have successfully made it through our 1st full week of school: no tears, no complaints, no drama. Both of my elementary schoolers have great teachers and several buddies in their classes. This definitely helped calm the first day jitters! They have jumped right in and even made some new friends. Dallin is loving middle school. He mastered the combination lock on his locker on the 1st try, and is a pro at getting from class to class in time. He likes his teachers, though he admits that he thinks a couple are strict and give more work than others. We are off to a great start!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!

Okay, so maybe I have been riding the lazy train or the busy train or the "what blog?" train. Sometimes a gal gets so far behind it looks like she is in first place. So, after hearing the Phineas & Ferb song for the 100th time, "There's a 104 of summer vacation..." I started thinking about how fast the summer has gone by. With only 2 weeks until school starts, how did we spend those days we had off? Which by the way, was 83 days of summer vacation for my kiddos. Not nearly enough! Whatever happened to going back AFTER labor day? Granted there are some days I thought about holding them under the pool water to see just how long they could hold their breath ;) or really wanted to see anything but pb &j for lunch, but I love summer break with my kiddos. So here is a glimpse into summer break, Hopfer Style! Maybe if you are lucky, when the kidlets go back to school, and I am left with the dog all day, I'll expound on the fun seen in the pics. Or maybe not.......

Parker and Dad checking out downtown Nashville via the top of the Adventure Science Center.
Pioneer Pals riding in the handcart at Pioneer Day.

Dallin's 11th birthday-the boys having some pizza & cake post kayaking the Duck River.

Parker, Trevor, Porter and Dallin watching the fireworks at the University of North Texas.

Happy 4th of July from Sydney, Gretchen & Kara!

The big brothers with the little sisters battling in the pool.

Gretchen with 2 of the 100's of quarter horse babies at the ranch.

Parker checking out the quarter horses at the Green Valley Ranch.

The boys riding the trolley in downtown Dallas: Parker, Dallin and best buddy Trevor.

We did a little exploring in Cabela's after we visited the Bureau of Engraving. Lots of stuffed dead animals and outdoor sporting goodies at Cabela's and lots of stacks of money at the bureau. No pics of the money they run everyone and everything through security. I wonder why????

Sydney & Gretchen in a hall at the art museum that was full of origami butterflies.

The gang outside of the Crow Musuem of Art in Dallas.

Taking a little time to brush the goats at the Nashville Zoo with buddy Neal. These 2 were in Kindergarten together and he told his Mom "Gretchen is the most beautiful girl EVER!" I'm going to keep my eye on these 2. It starts out brushing goats....

Our little princess, dirt covered, could not be pried off the four-wheeler. She loves it and rode well into the night. Got to the love "the farm!"

Enjoying a nice summer night at the drive-in with buddies Neal & Wyatt. This night we saw Up & Night at the Smithsonian. We love the drive-in!

Hanging out at the park by the Franklin library. I have sucessfully gotten 2 of my 3 kiddos to love reading as much as I do. Guess which one tolerates it?

It was a marathon until the end of school......but we made it!

Dallin and his fantastic teacher, Mrs. Dreyer. He had a great 5th grade year

and adjusted well to the new school thanks in part to his teacher. She knew

exactly how to motivate him.

Dallin with his best bud Cameron, who lucky for him

was in his class and lives in our neighborhood.

These 2 guys are almost too smart for their own good.

Who knows what they will be up to next?

Dallin accepting his 5th grade promotion certificate from Dr. LaChance.

Look out 6th grade, here he comes!

Gretchen with her pals Hamsa and Dejana at Kindergarten water day.

Gretchen doing a demo

on the uneven bars at the Victory Games.

Gretchen performing a
balance beam routine with

Coach Diana watching.

Our little dancer, 3rd from the right, did an amazing job performing

her jazz number at her recital last Friday and Saturday nights.

Gretchen with her glittery roses after her recital.
Gretchen and Grammer at the recital.

Dallin and Javier hanging out at field day.
Parker taking a turn at the frisbee toss.

Gretchen & buddy Ashtyn at field day.

Parker displaying his writings from the school year at the Author's Showcase.

One of your Favorite Gymnasts

needs YOUR help!

Gretchen made the MPact Girls' Gymnastics Team. WooHoo Gretchy!! We are proud of her hard work the past 2 years, here and in Knoxville, and it has paid off. Gretchen will be competing in several gymnastic meets in the fall and is currently doing a fundraiser to help offset some of the costs of travel, meet fees, coaches fees, leos, etc. Sooooo, this is a shameless plug for some yummy pizza kits. :) Who doesn't love pizza?

The team is selling Little Caesars Pizza Kits. They come frozen and can be baked in about 10 minutes. The orders are due May 27th and the kits will come in on June 5th. Don't worry if you don't live close enough by for our cute gymnast to deliver them, you can order online and have them shipped to you! Just let me know if you are interested.

Each regular kit has THREE 12" pizza crusts + all ingredients:

• Pepperoni pizza kit $18.50
• Cheese pizza kit $17.50
• Whole Wheat Cheese pizza kit $17.50
• Thin Crust Pepperoni kit $17.50
  

Each personal pizza kit has NINE 6" pizza crusts + ingredients:

• Personal pepperoni pizza kit $18.50
• Personal cheese pizza kit $18.00

We also have Crazy Bread and cheese stick kits, and break & bake cookies. Any help would greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I made it 10 years, 9 months, and 16 days with kids before something like THIS happened!

The Before Picture: the "fang" point on the right is where both front teeth should be filled in down to. The one on the left is broken exactly in half. The right has a huge c shaped chuck missing. These USED to be pretty large Sponge Bob teeth as my kids like to call them.

The After Picture: Looks just like his original smile but with smooth edges.

My sweet little Parker, who just celebrated his 8th birthday last weekend, had an unforgettable accident on his new bike. He just taught himself how to ride without training wheels during spring break. So, we took him out on his birthday to get his new big "cool" bike with hand brakes and foot pegs. He has been riding all over the neighborhood every chance he gets. So,here's the rest of the story: Friday night after dinner he asked if he could go back out for a ride around the block. Me, being the nice Mom that I am said, "Sure Parker!" 10 minutes later Gretchen comes running in telling us Parker's lip is bleeding & that he crashed his bike. Richard headed out to check the damage, and sees Parker headed down the street with a neighbor Mom and friend from his school class. His mouth is covered in blood, he is crying hysterically, and the other Mom looks freaked out. Richard brings him in and casually motions to me that he needs "a little help". What an understatement! After a couple of frantic calls to the doctor and dentist, a LONNNNNNGGGG night with some tylenol, and a nervous lengthy sit in the dentist chair on Saturday morning Parker was left with the pieces of original permanent teeth that were still in his mouth and some composite bonded to make up the missing pieces. He came out looking like the cute 8 year old I had before the bike accident, and that made me one happy mama! His new teeth should last him through any other bike, skateboard or sports incidents until he is older (READ: can handle dental torture) and can get a more permanent crown put in place. So, it was the exciting end to Parker's memorable week!

Parker's Special Day

Parker and the family at his baptism.

The birthday boy: 8 years old! WooHoo!

The birthday boy with some of his guys.

The ladies taking a break on the side.

Parker turned 8 years old this past week, so Saturday was his BIG day. He had planned for a double header since we had family and friends in town. So on Saturday, we had a beautiful baptism followed by an exciting Roller Skating party. He was all smiles all day! The baptism was sweet and all 4 of the kiddos looked adorable & happy. Parker was excited to have so many friends and family members there to see him.

Later in the afternoon, we headed out to the Skate Center for some FUN! Parker had friends from school and church come to celebrate his 8th birthday. Everyone was skating, smiling and trying to avoid the occasional fall. It was a great day, and one I hope Parker will remember!