What Will The New Year Bring?

I am amazed that in about 3 hours and 15minutes we will begin the year 2010. Someone asked me the other day if I was ready for the new year, and my response was a very honest "No". We have been in Ohio for 3 years now - 3 years exactly in 3 days, we arrived here on Jan 4, 2007 - and I cannot believe how time has just, somehow, disappeared on me. When we left AZ I was pregnant with the twins, Brandon was shorter than me, Trevor was a little boy who lived in la la land, and Joshua was my baby with all his baby teeth. In 3 years the twins have grown from 2 and 4 pound infants to smart, imaginative, strong, active little boys, Brandon is taller than me and talks about college and his life as an adult, Trevor still loves to dwell in la la land, but has become an incredibly thoughtful young man who loves to help his mom with absolutely everything and anything, Joshua has grown at least 6 inches, has lost most of his baby teeth (and grown his big ones in), and has gone from being my baby, to the twins' "best friend" and big brother, and all of these boys are going to, miraculously, become big brothers to their SISTER, who is due to arrive in February of 2010. Besides the changes in my children in the past 3 years, I have seen my husband accomplish some amazing things in his new job (which I had listed until he told me that I cannot write about those things):( . Our time here in Ohio has been filled with becoming acclimated to the four seasons (and learning to love them), witnessing first hand an amazing array of wildlife, meeting some really incredible people who will forever be in our hearts and on our email lists;), and enjoying a variety of new experiences that none of us will forget. When I think of all we have been through in 3 years my head spins!! When I think of what 2010 will bring I drift into la la land. A job transfer to New Jersey, new home, new neighbors, new schools, new friends, new church, new doctors, new grocery stores, new boy scout troops, new civil air patrol groups, new baby, new BABY GIRL AT THAT!! It amazes me how quickly the time here in Ohio has passed, and I am so thankful for all that God has blessed us with, and brought us through, in these past 3 years. Truly I wonder what 2010 will bring.

My Favorite Christmas Pics!

My Trevie...he looks too grown up in this picture...he looked more like my "Trevie Bevie" when he opened this gift (bouncing around and smiling from ear to ear)

Joshua was so happy about getting a Babe Ruth baseball card that he didn't care what his hair was "up to"...he posed for the picture anyway!

The twins loved their sweatshirts from the Rice Family - they could barely stand still for us to take the picture, and they wore them all day! Christmas is my husband's favorite holiday - he got a Dallas Cowboys Football Transformer from Joshua - he loved it so much he didn't mind Jason playing Clone Troopers on his face!Brandon's favorite gift this year was a hat. He spotted this hat (or one similar to it) at the Cleveland Zoo this past year and immediately wanted it! He got it for Christmas this year and hasn't taken it off since - Jason wanted to be just like Brandon!

Answers

New Jersey it is! And... Brandon's cookie is supposed to be Santa's sleigh with the bag of goodies on back...hmmm...
Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Where in the U.S. will the Kopps go next?

Chris got his transfer orders yesterday. I know everyone is curious as to where we will go next so I decided to make a little game out of it. Below are some facts about the state we will live in next. Can you guess where we are going?

*Has the highest population density in the U.S. - 1,030 people per sq. mile - 13 times the national average.
*90% of all people living there live in urban areas
*The only state where all the counties are classified as Metropolitan areas.
*It is the car theft capital of the world.
*Has the most dense system of highways and railways in the U.S.
*Is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the U.S.
*Home to the Miss America Pageant.
*Home to Aaron Burr, Thomas Edison, Frank Sinatra, and Whitney Houston.
*The very first baseball game was played in one of this state's cities.

Have you guessed yet? OK, last fact:

*The street names in the game of Monopoly come from one of this state's famous cities. (this city also has the longest boardwalk in the U.S.)

OK, let's see who can guess correctly - leave your comments and I will post the answer tomorrow.

16 Years Later...

Happy Anniversary to us!! Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. We decided that if we were to do it all over again, we would do it this way...




With better dresses, and a male preacher:).

Our last Christmas in Ohio?

I was thinking today about how this could possibly be our last Christmas in Ohio. I have come to really love Ohio, and I feel so blessed to have been able to live here these past 3 years. I was looking around the house today, getting into the Christmas spirit, and decided that I needed to catalog this (possibly) last Christmas in Ohio. I want to remember how picturesque everything is. Chris and I have said, on more than one occasion, that someday our time in Ohio may all be remembered as if it were a dream. I know that, in the past, I said I didn't want to move to Ohio, and, I did put up a stink on a few;) occasions about being here, but I want to go on record right now and thank God for putting us in this beautiful dream, even if for a short time.

The front of our house - all lit up for Christmas...

(Can you see our Christmas tree in the window?)

Our living room - looking very festive with our tree finally up...

Our beautiful fireplace all decked out and ready for Santa...

(Our little girl's stocking is already up - ready for next year:))

We made Christmas cookies...

Can anyone guess what Brandon's cookie is supposed to be?

Danielle Jarvis

We have some super special friends that live in Hamilton, Montana. Their names are Steve and Terri Jarvis, and they have two children named Danielle and Kevin. Kevin Jarvis and Brandon have been good friends since first grade. In third grade, the Jarvis family moved to Montana:( . When we lived in Arizona we would get to see the Jarvis' every Thanksgiving, when they would visit family in Az for the holiday. We miss our visits, now that we live in Ohio, but we still keep in touch via email, phone calls, and this blog. This is a picture of our last visit with the Jarvis', before we moved to Ohio.


A few weeks ago (we have all been super sick and it has taken me too long to blog about this:)), we received this newspaper article from the Jarvis'. This is what Danielle looks like today:

Danielle secretly (only her brother and best friend knew about the book until she finished it) wrote, illustrated, and self published a book. After revealing her secret to her parents and others, this article was written. After receiving this article, I called Danielle to congratulate her, request an autographed copy of the book, and get all the details first hand. Her mom told me that since the article was written, Danielle has had two small bookstores in Hamilton request copies of the book to sell, as well as a book signing at each store. She has also had many orders for the book from friends (such as ourselves), family, and strangers (Trevor's reading teacher being one of them:)). We are so proud of Danielle! Congratulations Danielle!!

I am adding these videos on the bottom of this post because we may also have a future writer in our home. Tell me what you think...(we had to upload these videos in parts because the original was just too long to post)

Jason did continue to tell, not the rest, but another portion of, his story after the camera went off - but - the dishes had to get done...

Brandon

Today I am dedicating my post to the best big brother in the world. Tomorrow Brandon will be 15 years old. I wish I could go back in time and snuggle my baby to sleep just one more time (although I have to say that my baby still snuggles me pretty good - even in front of his friends:)). It seems like I have more pictures of Brandon as a baby than any of my other kids (I think this is a natural phenomenon with the first born vs. the rest - I would love to hear your comments on that), but fewer and fewer as he gets older. So, I made him pose for me before school this morning! I have learned through the years that Brandon sets the stage for his younger brothers. Brandon and I have had several conversations about this, and have done a Bible study on being the "first born". I have to say that Brandon has met the responsibility and challenge of being the eldest admirably. He isn't perfect (he is human), but I am so proud of my son for all the love and care he extends to his younger siblings - even when he is pulling his hair out in the process:). Trevor, Joshua, Jason, Reagan, and this yet-to-be-born little girl are the luckiest siblings in the world. I love you Brando.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a super Thanksgiving! We had some surprise guests for dinner so I haven't had time to post - but - here are our pics. Grammi and Papa, and Aunt Hopie and Brittany, and Jade, and Grace all surprised Chris and the boys by coming for Thanksgiving. We all had a super time!

We made a Gingerbread house...

We got to visit with Santa Claus...AND WE GOT SNOW!!!!!

There is nothing better than being with family on Thanksgiving, and I am so thankful that Grammi and Papa, and Hope and the girls were able, and willing, to come to cold, Ohio to be with us!

Proud Moments

A new blanket for baby sissy Part 2

I seriously thought about returning the blanket to get something more girly, but I absolutely love the fact that the twins picked it out (and will say "I got this for my baby sissy"). So I didn't have the heart to return it. So...I doctored it up. What do you think?

A new blanket for baby sissy

We all went shopping today. Some of us had birthday money and gift cards burning a hole in our pockets:). I wanted to buy our sweet little girl a soft, pretty, special blanket. So, the twins and I went looking at baby blankets. I picked out, literally, every pretty pink blanket and showed it to the twins, but they didn't like any of them. They picked out this one:

After several minutes of trying to convince them to pick a pink one, I caved. I figured..."girls can have tan and brown, she will, more than likely, be our 'little monkey', and her big brothers picked it out for her. A pink blanket couldn't be any more special." Right? Tell me what you think. Can this blanket be for a girl, or am I so surrounded by testosterone that I have lost touch with what's girly?

A Baby Gift

Last night my neighbor sent over a gift for the new baby. It is a sweater, with a matching hat and booties that she and her daughter made. It is so beautiful I had to write about it. This woman is truly talented - everything she makes (we have received baked goods, Christmas ornaments, and other knitted things) is unbelievably beautiful and well made.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I hope you all had a fun Halloween and that you all got lots and lots of candy!! We had a great birthday party for Trevor. Everyone had a great time trick-or-treating, and it was fun to have lots of friends over for Halloween. Can you guess what everyone FINALLY decided to be?

(Answer: Brandon and Trevor were GI Joe guys, and Joshua was Han Solo)

(Answer: Reagan and Jason settled on being Pirates)

(I settled on passing out candy while daddy took the boys trick or treating so I only wore the shirt of my scarecrow costume:))

Baking Cookies

Trevor decided that this year he did not want a normal cake for his birthday. He said that he would rather decorate cookies with his friends at his party. So I spent the morning baking sugar cookies. Jason and Reagan love when I bake - they circle around the kitchen, like the Hawk in our back yard, waiting for their chance to get something sweet to eat. I caught Jason with the camera:He promised that he was only smelling the cookie ~ I think we will set that one aside just in case!:)

Halloween week

With Trevor's birthday and all the school parties, it seems as if we have been celebrating Halloween all week. Today was Joshua's school costume parade/party and the twins and I went. They decided to be cowboys today - they are already picking out different costumes for the birthday/halloween/trick-or-treating party Saturday night - we will have to see - but - here are the pics:)

On our porch before we left - next to the pumpkin I carved this year (I never do a pumpkin but this year I wanted to try just scraping the skin off so that the pictures carved are illuminated by the glow of the candle:))

The twins watching the costume parade at school

Joshua marching in the costume parade - He was Han Solo

A picture of me before we left ( for those of you who complain that I do not post pics of myself:))

What are you going to be for Halloween?

What are you going to be for Halloween? This is a question that has been circulating in our home for quite some time now. Brandon, Trevor, and Joshua all have their costumes picked out and set aside (I am not going to reveal what they are going to be until after we have pictures - ie. after Halloween - check back after Oct. 31st;)). I will be wearing my traditional (meaning I have worn it for the past 2 years:)) scarecrow costume, with one minor twist to the costume. The twins, however, are having a very tough time deciding which costume, or combination of costumes, they want to wear. Any suggestions?

Another beautiful day in Ohio

After a few weeks of cold, windy and somewhat rainy weather, we finally had a beautiful sunny day today!! The sky was blue, the sun was out, and it was warmer than 55 degrees. That might sound cold to some of you (and I have to say when we first moved here that was definitely cold for us too), but it is perfect weather for this time of year! So... the twins and I went to the zoo!!

We saw fish, and sting ray...

We saw Penguins...

We saw Jellyfish...

We saw the Lions...BUT...

The Tiger SAW US!!

The twins were a little freaked out by the Tiger - it was looking right at them. The twins were quick to back away - Jason was quicker than Reagan (you can see Jay off to the left of the photo). I wonder how strong that glass wall is?