To Grammi and Papa - this Post is Dedicated to YOU!

There was lots of excitement in the Kopp household the other evening!!  Two packages had arrived in the mail that day from Grammi and Papa addressed to Brandon, Trevor, Joshua, Jason, Reagan, and Elli.  Joshua and the twins could not wait for their brothers to come home from school, and Daddy to come home from work so that they could open the gifts from Grammi and Papa.  We had already decided to build a chocolate cookie house for Halloween that night, so our night turned into a mini Halloween party.  We decorated our chocolate cookie house first...

Reagan enjoyed sneaking a piece or two of candy and eating them...

Elli was happy with the final result...

After making our house, we opened Grammi and Papa's gifts...

And we did all these things by the cozy fire that Daddy started...

I love evenings like this!  Thank you Grammi and Papa, we love you and miss you tons!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Amazing Elli.....

Elli has learned how to cough when someone else does...

Elli has learned how to grab things with her feet...

Elli has learned how to be make herself laugh...

Feet, Feet, Feet!

It has been one CRAZY BUSY week.  Homeschooling is going awesome! Joshua is doing so good!!!  However, it takes a good chunk of my day and puts limits on it.  So, we are having to do grocery shopping and other errands after school or on Saturdays - AND with boy scouts, CAP, baseball, and flag football, that jams my week up pretty fast!!  Hence, no new posts this week so far...SORRY!  I know some of you - namely my mom ;) - look forward to your daily read - so today I am doing a quick post on Feet.  My children's feet to be more specific.  My younger children's feet to narrow it down even further;)  Once you get past the age of 6 or 7, feet change from being CUTE, to STINKY.  Sorry Brandon, Trevor, and Joshua;).  There is something, though, about my little ones feet...

Black Feet

Silver Feet

Lots of Fuzzy Furry Feet

Slipper Feet

Baby Feet

Mismatched Sock Feet

Pretty Pink Princess Feet

Happy Columbus Day!

I should actually say Happy Columbus Day WEEKEND! My children had a four day weekend this weekend. To kick off the weekend the boys and I hit the beach - of course. It was a beautiful Friday. The skies were more blue than usual. The tourist season is over, so the beach belonged to the few of us that ventured out to enjoy it. The tide was way out, enabling us to explore a largely exposed beach area and a few tide pools to find treasures. We treated ourselves to a McDonald's lunch picnic - which is a very rare thing we do anymore. We picnicked, built sand castles, hunted for treasures, played ball, ran races, read a little, and chased off the multitude of sea gulls that finished off our picnic lunch while we hunted for our treasures - who knew that sea gulls could open bags and fly away with their contents - only in New Jersey;). Jason was very sad that the gulls took his hamburger, so we barbecued burgers for dinner;). Wish all of our family and friends could have been with us, then the day truly would have been perfect!! Miss you all! Enjoy the pics...

The sky was so wonderfully blue I took a picture of it...

 

After the Sea Gulls ate our food we decided to make them some doughnuts so they would leave our food alone...

Joshua found the remains of many Horseshoe crabs...

Jason found the remains of many little crabs...

You would have thought that the Sea Gulls would have had enough to eat with all the crab remains lying around.  Apparently, they like to be spoiled with McDonald's food sometimes too;). 

Some Days are Just TOO CRAZY for Words!!

Thank God for faces like these to remind me to jump off the crazy train and enjoy life.

Elli discovered herself in my rear-view mirror the other day while we were waiting for the boys to come out of the library...PRICELESS!!

A Beach Moment

One of the things that I love about living in New Jersey is our proximity to the beach.  Even though I am not one to go and lay out on the beach, I love to look at it, hear it, and smell it!!  This past weekend we went to the library in Ventnor, NJ.  It just happens to sit right on the beach!!  So, while Chris and Brandon went into the library, the rest of us played on a playground next to the library - and also RIGHT ON THE BEACH!!

Trevor spent the morning working with his Scout troop so he got to wear his uniform to the beach;).

When Chris and Brandon came out of the library we all took a walk out to the boardwalk and pier. 

It was a beautiful day!!

 

I will also make a little note here about all the hair Elli is sprouting.  We all took notice throughout the day of Elli's blond hair and how much it is growing.  I know that we are all anxious for Elli to have long beautiful hair, but seriously you can see in the pics that she is getting more and more hair - what do you think?