More Christmas Pictures.

'Liza and Annie are growing their bangs out
so we bought them lots of accessories to
help keep them out of their faces

"I can't believe it! Now I have TWO Pillow Pets!"

Aliza has matured so quickly and I think every-
one can tell. 

I guess she wanted it pretty bad. . . 

"Oh my! It's just what I wanted!"-- Anna's response
to everything she opened.

Loxley fell asleep like this, and someone stuck
this guitar in his arms just so. . .
"nothing but a hound dog" (literally)

-A.H.

My munchkins.

Last week Aliza and Anna were here visiting, Joyce came and Aiden and Ella came over last minute to join the fun. 

We did a lot of singing, dancing and laughing.  We raced strollers and glued glitter and beads to pretty paper. . . then we watched Mickey Mouse and rested on the couch.

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And after Aiden and Ella went home, Peter came home from work needing a nap of his own.  This is how I found them:

Some cute things these little ones have said to me recently:

Me, "Joyce, when are you going to start going on the potty, huh? We should start that soon, don't you think?"

Joyce, "*cries* Shh. Shhshh!"

I suppose that's why we don't ask and learn to tell. . .

___________

Me, "Natalie, did you know I used to ride horses? I think you would really like it, especially since you want to be a cowgirl."

Nat, "Well. . . I was thinking, and I might want to be a Wiggle instead."

I changed career choices quite frequently when I was 3, too.

___________

Ella, "Angela?" (It actually sounds more like "Ash-uh-la". She doesn't even know my sister's name is Ashlee. . .) "Angela, uh, I wuv you!"

She absolutely melts my heart.

-A.H.

Christmas 2010

I didn't sleep well Thursday night. Not at all. In fact, I woke up about every hour.

Truth is, I was so excited for Christmas that I couldn't sleep.  I woke up every hour only to wake Peter up and ask if we could go downstairs and open presents. "Not yet?" "How about now?" "I'm so excited! Now?"  Finally at 5:45 (I am a child) we started a fire, turned on Christmas music, and our first Christmas morning began. And it really was special.

He did the greatest job ever on my stocking-- it was filled with nearly 30 different tiny things, and all things I wanted. He showered me with new clothes, 2 pairs of boots, gloves, a wallet and more.

Peter got clothes, shoes, an engraved Zippo lighter, clothes, an antique cigarette case, gloves, candy, clothes. . . . . . .

We had a blast shopping for each other this year. It was so much fun in fact, that we both nearly doubled our "budgeted amount" for one another. . . oops.

Loxley got first dibs on opening his wrapped
bone first.

sadly, it took me a while to figure out how to
actually get decent pictures in the dark. . .

leave it to Peter to figure it out.

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Thursday afternoon we left to spend Christmas with my family in Detroit. Friday morning Daniel and Ashlee flew up from Charlotte-- it was so great to see them after 4 months of only Instant Messages, phone calls and a few letters.  Friday evening my mom invited over some neighbors and threw an out-of-this-world Christmas Eve party.  She somehow always knows what drinks to offer, what food to serve, how to decorate and set-up the house and who to invite. People stayed well into the evening, with the last couple leaving well after I was asleep at midnight.

No one's ever hungry at my family's house.  We arrived around 8:30-9 Thursday night and there was a kitchen counter full of food waiting to be devoured by hungry Christmas travelers.  All you have to do is open the fridge or subtly mention that you could use a bite to eat and she's whipped up something gourmet (and of course with a mixed drink on the side).

Friday night we had Christmas sangrias, punch, wine, a million varieties of mixed drinks, coffee, tea, bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, cheddar sausage sandwich bites, a variety of cheeses and meats, olives, crackers, cookies, Christmas popcorn, chocolates, nuts. . .

she's incredible.
oh, is that Daniel there?

he pretends to like me,
I pretend to like him.
(we also pretend to really hate each
other).
that sums up our relationship.

Aliza, Peter, Danny, Dad

the whole family.

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Christmas morning.

these 3 were never far from each other
 all weekend.

'Liza hung on Peter all weekend, and it took me till Friday morning to figure things out. 

Thursday night she asked me quietly, with a grin, "Sis, why does Peter always smell that way?"

"What way? Good, or a bad smell?"

"Oh! Really good!"

I explained how that was his cologne, it was called Ralph Lauren, and I love it too. 

Later that evening she sat by me and observed Peter and Nick talking by the fireplace. She whispered in my ear, "Sis, can you please ask Peter to move his drink so I can sit next to him by the fire?"  I didn't really think anything of it, but was also engaged in a conversation, so I brushed it off and told her that she should ask him herself. 

Early Friday morning I figured it out. She has a teeny tiny crush on my husband.  Hah.

I explained what I thought to Peter; he giggled, said it was cute and went to give her a good morning hug. 

Later that afternoon I decided to ask her about it and said, "Aliza, do you think Peter is handsome?" She blushed, then nodded, with a big grin spreading across her face. 

"Yeah, Sis, I do."  

"Really? How handsome?"

"Well, I think he's handsomer than fire."

I think so too. :)

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Anniversary to us, Happy New Year. Whoa, that's a lot of holidays in 1 week.

-A.H.

First Christmas tree.

The plan was to get an ugly tree because it's what I had envisioned for quite some time.  I guess I felt like an ugly tree was what a first Christmas tree should look like-- a scrawny blue spruce with more branches than needles.  Well, when you live in the city (by city I mean "not between two cornfields, where the closest form of civilization is the Travel America 5 miles down the road and the nearest grocery store, called Miller Brothers nonetheless, is a good 15-20 minute drive) its a bit tough to find an "ugly" one when they're all brought in from local tree farms miles away.  Naturally, everyone would want the "pretty" trees, so that's what they bring into this so-called "city".  

After stopping at a couple places and not finding anything that jumped at us, we ended up at Heights Garden Center and then this baby was sold.  (I actually cried-- 1. because it is our first Christmas tree and it's special, 2. I think it's just plain cute).  We spent more than we had anticipated but both decided it was well worth it. 

 Locally grown,  healthy,  absolutely beautiful -- check.

We spent the night making ornaments with recycled cardboard, glitter and glue.  Then we had cookies, watched a Christmas movie, and I fell asleep. ;)

It was really special to spend some time thinking and talking about the boys while decorating the tree.  We hung their ornaments and talked about which one we thought would have been Daddy's buddy and which would have been Mamma's boy.  Ironically, we both had the same thoughts:  Peter said, "I always thought Hugh would have been my little buddy." I told him that was so cute because I always thought of Leif as mine.

some of our homemade ornaments. . .
the birdies are of course significant.  I'll never think of
them the same. . 

These empty-cradle ornaments were given to us
 by sweet, sweet friends who had the boys' names and
birthday engraved on them.

Our precious tree-topper

Both of our stockings are finally here and I am just tickled pink. I'm starting to adore burlap more and more, though not enough to wear it just yet. ;) These stockings are green, earthy and uniquely match while still being different and "us" individually. 

made from a recycled coffee sack and lined

with red and off-white ticking.

Plain old burlap, long and lean, accessorized 

with a cute ivory linen flower.

-A.H.

Graduation?

Last week I was blessed to witness something monumental: my husband's high school graduation. Ok, not really.  He actually graduated 5 years ago (just a bit earlier than me. . .), but recently completed the GED-- another necessary, but unexpected stepping stone in the path we're heading down.  Apparently one student is chosen annually to speak at the graduation ceremony.  A student that scored "exceptionally high", that is.

Peter scored in the 97th percentile in the nation and was, therefore, asked to be the guest speaker at what was the high school graduation of many.

He gave an inspiring 15 minute speech that was more than captivating enough to hold the attention of nearly all of his fellow "graduates" who, for the most part, had found texting and whispering of more importance than listening to the previous speakers. He challenged them to claim a personal vision of their own, a family/community vision, and a generational vision-- all things we have put in place for our own family and found to be promises we swear by. 

He pulled in lots of great historical references like he always does and of course, cracked a few jokes (he wouldn't be a Hopkins if he hadn't), through which my mother-in-law and I cringed and broke sweat (we're married to unbelievably similar men and suffer together in times like this), not knowing the end of the joke or how the audience would respond.  He talked in-depth about me and of our plans for the future, where we had come from, what we are doing now and what we've gone through. He said some more things about me, about nepotism, about the importance of having goals and plans for the future, cracked another joke, then about the GED, and me (you get the picture).

It is not my intent to seem as if I am taking this lightly.  In all seriousness, I've been blessed with a husband that possesses the gift of speaking, and he encourages and inspires others with his words.  It is completely fortunate how we complete each other so, because if I were asked to speak publicly to save our heads from the guillotine, I fear I'd lose my head (pun intended).

At the end of the speech, an older man who was standing next to us during the entire ceremony approached me, knowing I was Peter's wife, praised his admonition and then said with a smile, nod of his head and a gentle touch on my shoulder, "It's a good, good thing when a man loves his wife."

Unfortunately this is the only

 picture I got. . . I was truly disappointed.

Though, the purple was just splendid with his

 skin tones.

;)

It is a good, good thing.  Then he is married to the happiest, proudest, most blessed woman on the earth.

-A.H.

pictures!

I've finally gotten my hands on the edited AND raw images from the talented Rachel Clarke at Rachel Clarke Photography. I just think they're all so great, and the 25+ (or however many I actually got Blogger to upload) posted here are such a small portion of what we actually own. See her brilliant work here.

Or here:

This portrays our marriage surprisingly well.

Not everyone likes to or is willing to photograph us. . .

. . .we're just so darn silly.

She can make the most hideous of
photos look beautiful.

Peter will kill me when he find out I posted this.

He kind of makes me laugh. . .

Some of us were having more fun than others. 

But that kiss cheered him up.

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-A.H.