.18months.

AP is 18months old today!

Yeah what was life like with just one kid? NO CLUE! I do know that things are WILD and ON THE GO with two. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love the life that the Lord has blessed us with and called us to!
AP these days:
*in to EVERYTHING(toliets, dishes, washing machine, tree ornaments, climbing on everything!)
*talking up a storm (most of the time he will carry on a conversation with you that is just gibberish mixed with several recognizable words, but he knows exactly what he is saying!)
*loves to nag HJ
*he runs everywhere he goes
*is good at communicating with real words what he wants
*sleeps 10hours a night and still takes 2- 1.5hour naps each day
*loves to throw a ball and has a great arm!
*WAY different than HJ was- he is so adventurous, and lives with NO FEAR.
*could stay in the bathtub all day
*loves to brush his teeth.. I am talking NUMEROUS times a day
*loves to wrestle Andrew
*jumps on the bed with some skill
*is still a mommy's boy (which I love!)
*everytime he wakes up, no matter nap or nighttime he says, "eat, eat, eat"
*he eats EVERYTHING! the kid eats sooooo much food.
*he loves to sit down and "read" a book to himself
*he will get a book and come to you and sit in your lap saying, "read, read, read"
*LOVES to dance to the wobble and move it move it!

AP,
We love you and are thankful for the sweet boy that you are. We pray that you will grow to know and follow Christ at a young age.

.GSO parade.

We went to the parade a couple weekends ago. It was so much fun! Defintely started a GSO tradition!

The weather was gorgeous, the company was great, and the parade was wonderful!

.bless the Lord.

.love to hear her singing!.

 

.this is how she dresses most days at home...here she is doing a remix of bless the Lord oh my soul.

 

dessert? yes please!

.one chose a chocolate donut and the other her advent candy cane.

.Wordless Wednesday: grateful.

.donuts.donuts.donuts.

  Last Saturday we wanted some donuts, so Andrew went to Harris Teeter and got us some. They were DELICIOUS! They were fresh and HUGE.

.Advent.

"Advent is what we call the season leading up to Christmas. 1 Peter 1:10-12 is a clear description of what we look back to during Advent. For four weeks, it's as if we're reenacting, remembering the thousands of years during which God's people were anticipating and longing for the coming of God's salvation, for Jesus. That's what Advent means--"coming." They were waiting, but they didn't know what God's salvation would look like.

Advent is a season of looking back, thinking how it must have been, waiting for the promised salvation of God, not knowing what to expect. And at the same time, Advent is a season of looking ahead, preparing ourselves to meet Jesus at his Second Coming." 

This is an excerpt from Noel Pipers book, Treasuring God in our Traditions. I found it on a blog and loved this explanation.
So what does this look like for the Hoppers? So glad that you asked! haha.
 

 We are using The Jesus Storybook Bible, which if you don't have it... GET IT! It is amazing. Each story in it ends with a paragraph that points to Christ.
 Each day the kids open up that days little baggie and in it is a slip of paper that tells us which story to read and then has an activity or candy! It has been so neat to see the excitement that HJ has about it all (she loves the candy days!). Here are a few of the activities:
*sing Christmas carols as a family
*eat a picnic dinner by the Christmas tree
*go look at Christmas lights
*go shopping for a child that doesn't have a lot for Christmas
*watch a Christmas movie and drink hot chocolate
*make cookies for our neighbors
*make Christmas cards for our cousins

.So thankful that in the busyness of this season that we can take time as a family and truly sit down and savor our sweet Savior and reflect on His goodness to us.

.field trip.

One of the many joys of having BecBec being our nanny is that the kids go on a "field trip" everyday! It is WONDERFUL! They have their set routine of certain places, and the kids love it. The other morning HJ said, "BecBec, what is our plan today?" And Bec told her they were going to Barnes and Noble for storytime and HJ quickly responded with, "Oh yes, that means we get a starbucks!" hahaha..
Here are pictures from the Science Center last week:::

 When HJ saw the meerkats, she looked and Bec and said, "Oh I am going to tell Santa that I want one of those for Christmas and then Gdaddy can build him a house to live in." OH MY GOODNESS- these things are cute, but NO WAY! 

 BecBec, we love you and are so thankful for you!

.sandbox?.

Leaf angel!

 Who needs a sandbox when you have a leaf box?!?! We have this huge box? Well, its supposed to be a garden or something... not really sure. In any event, Andrew blew a HUGE amount of leaves from our yard into and the kids played, played, and played in it! It was perfect!

.Christmas.

  .its beginning to look ALOT like Christmas!.

.to Gigi and Poppas house we went....

At the beginning of November we headed to FL for a long weekend visit! Andrew and HJ drove down on Wednesday and then AP and I flew down on Thursday after I got off of work. We had such a great time while we were down there. We had lots of fun play time with the cousins, celebrated Ryan's birthday, shopping, story time at the library, fun in Gigi and Poppas yard and fort, naps, an adventure to get a nose pierced (that would be mine!),and just enjoying time with our family! The trips are never long enough, but we always pack lots of memories into a short time.

Gigi always has some "dusty d's"

these two are BFF's

craft time with Gigi

my little stud

this girl is PURE joy!

nothing like a wildlife safari with the cousins

gigi and hj in their "birthday shoes"
 

races!