Merry Christmas 2009

Just a picture post today :) Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

a winter wonderland

So we got appx 20-22 inches of snow yesterday! Everything looks so beautiful out there. Brenden had a great time playing in it and sledding in the driveway. Avery is inside sick with a cough and terrible runny nose - so we did her winter pictures inside. And well, the dogs - they LOVE it!

FINALLY

Mr G.Q. huh? Brenden modeled in a photography workshop back in May (yes, in May.....Im a bit preterbed) We finally got to see some of the images! When he got home from school yesterday, I showed he and he says...... "mom, I look like a real life model! ......was I on T.V.?" So funny!!!! He is a riot!

Avery had her belated 15 month appt yesterday and she is doing well. 21lbs and 31 inches. So she is still a tiny girl, but doing quite well. She is still wearing 12 month clothes for the most part (18 month tops, but 12 month jeans) I think she will be ready to move up a size in the next month or so. she is walking with more and more confidence and getting a little faster too. She is beginning to show interest in books, actually looking at the pages rather than just flip them. She can identify a handful of things in books like, banana, ball, frog, dog, zebra. She is also discovering body parts and knows where her head, belly, nose, tongue, and ears are! She is learning new stuff every day!

Speaking of reading - Brenden is knocking my stinkin socks off! This kid is reading soooooooo well! We are so proud of him! Brenden is really looking forward to Christmas. He is also getting prepared for the 1st grade shoe tying relay. Should be a hoot!

Things are busy in the Hopf house. School, sports, holiday shopping...oh my!

updated condo post

getting ready for the tile!!!!! No it's getting exciting I can begin to see a little progress, not just junk moved from room to room. Now, to fit all this stuff in with the holidays - ***Eeeek***

getting our Christmas tree ..... in the mud :)

What a muddy mess! We got some snow on Saturday which was just beautiful, but after the amount of rain that we have had over the past few weeks, makes a Christmas tree farm pretty darn muddy! We got an 8 foot Frasier fur (which thankfully just fit... since we thought it was a little smaller). We were all covered in mud - I mean really covered. Yuk!

A condo post ... as promised

The Before....... and the After (not done yet)

So we bought a 30+ year old condo from the orig owners (who, now Im sure never ever cleaned this place) It was quite a retro mess and now - well, now it's just a concrete couple of rooms. We are replacing just about everything! We are getting ready to get started on the floors, we are doing ceramic tile through the whole unit - which will make a huge difference! I went down last week for one night and ripped up the old ceramic tile in the bathroom and tore down the drywall in the bathroom - what a chore! I hope to get some updated pictures soon - we didnt take any this past trip - these are a few weeks old.

Avery 15 1/2 mos

Avery had her infant and toddler eval today and it may be her last!!! Yippie. Her fine and gross motor skills are right where they should be! I get myself so worried over these appointments, a lingering sense of fear from when Conner had his eval I suppose. They are not discharging her quite yet, but have no plans to see her again. The nurse is going to follow up with me in a couple months to see if she is saying any words. Speech is the only hold up at this point. (Im trying not to freak out since Brenden didnt talk until he was 2) They are not really concerned - just a sorta wait and see kind of thing.

She is also following in big brothers steps with the biting - yikes, she left teeth marks in Brenden's arm earlier today - good thing she only has 4 teeth so far. I remember being pregnant with Conner when Brenden was this age and he got frustrated and bit me in the stomach and drew blood - ouchie. I just tried to explain that since she cant talk she has to find creative ways to express herself - lol

Brenden is doing great in school! He is making tremendous progress in reading - it's really amazing! His latest geometry (yes he's only 6) test he scored a 92%!!!! He also told me today that "mom, so people dont celebrate Christmas, they celebrate Harmonica" - how cute is that. We are also doing this elf on a shelf book for Christmas - what a great idea! He is amazed at how the elf moves around the house watching him. The book comes with a small stuffed elf that is featured in the book - the elf watches you until Christmas and reports back to Santa. I move it about 4-5 times a day all over the house - he is stunned everytime "elfie" is in a new spot. The best was in the pantry when he got home from school. He went to get a snack and opened the door and yelled - "that elf is really freaking me out"

The weather here in Md has been wet and all around crappy - so I have not been talking to many pictures - lets hope for some sunshine soon!!!!!

A condo post coming soon.....slowly making progress. Getting started on the floors soon! We hauled 46 boxes of tile at 50 pounds each last weekend in the freezing cold - boy that was fun!