Fall

Fall is in the air! My favorite season. It's been a busy few weeks in the Hopkins' Household. The wheat is all drilled, we celebrated my Grandma Venda's 90th birthday, went back to a Stockton Tiger football game, and are enjoying the cooler temperatures.

Layton continues to grow, change, and amaze us! He is now pulling himself up to stand and crawls with such speed. He started a new daycare last week and really likes it. There is normally another little boy his age and two or three little girls to make over him. At the end of the month he will start back part-time to his regular babysitter.

A random thought to share; count your blessings each day. This past week really made me stop to think how lucky Evan and I are. We have a roof over our heads, food to eat, a healthy happy baby, loving family, jobs, and health insurance. Also on the blessings is the fact, 3 of my 4 Grandparents are still with us at age 88, 90, and almost 98; all are still living at home, functioning and enjoy to visit (*tear*)

Take Care! Enjoy the start of football season!

Summer Catch-up

Another month (and a half) has flown by! We are having so much fun being parents and have enjoyed the summer.

Layton now weights 16 1/2 lbs (50th percentile) and is 24 inches tall (75th percentile); he only gained about 1 1/2 pounds between checkups but shot up 2 inches.

Layton's first two teeth are in (both on the bottom); he went to his first Rooks County Free Fair; and he is army crawling all over the place. He loves the outdoors and got to experience sitting in the green soft grass last weekend in Scott City; it was an experience.

Wheat drilling is just around the corner, the ground is ready to go but we could use one more rain. Fall is in the air, my favorite season!!

Take Care and more RCFF details to follow in the next post.

Harvest 2009

Harvest 2009 was completed July 4th at Hopkins' Farms, just in time for grilling and celebrating our great country and remembering what the day is about followed by the Annual Mike and Avery Hopkins fireworks show!

Harvest was average in some fields, below average in others, and one above average; the week went by with only 2 or 3 breakdowns and no major accidents. One combine required a new fuel line in which my Dad brought from Hoxie, another combine required an auger cylinder from Portland, OR, a small catalytic convertor smoldering on 2007 chevy pickup, and 2 flat tires. We had great help with Evan's cousin Mike (son Avery), cousin Leonel (son Cody), my Dad, Evan's sister Christy, neighbor Jeff, Evan's Mom (she's the cook, babysitter, and gofer extrodinare!), Evan, and of course his Uncle Robert we farm with. Harvest is very stressful, busy, and exciting all rolled into one. The one time of year farmers anticipate the most and breath a great sigh of relief at the end.

Before we started cutting Evan spent 4 days helping my parents harvest their wheat; it was the first time either of us was away from Layton (glad it was Evan first :) ).

Layton had his first night away from a parent, his first combine ride, first harvest and tonight his first cereal. He ate rice cereal like a pro, first bite down the hatch and then begging for more. He is so much fun!

We get back into a regular summer routine this week with swimming and softball. We won our game two weeks ago then took a week off for harvest, we are 2 -5 on the season.

Hope your summers are all going well!

Update

When I started blogging the promise was made to update more than once every three weeks; but playing with Layton, working, being a wife, taking care of the house really takes it's toll on computer time...

June 1 - 4 month well baby check up. Layton is still growing and is in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height at 15 lbs, 24 3/4 inches. He is still sleeping through the night.

June 6 - first trip to the Lake house in Trenton Nebraska; the water was cold but we all had a great time getting away!

June 9 - 2nd round of shots. We all did better! Layton only cried and got really really really red mad on the second shot for about 2 minutes; Evan took him and all was right with the world again. Another plus the leg knots at the injection site didn't get as big or last as long.

Newest cute baby moves - rolling over (both ways); holding toes and rolling side to side; head shaking no no (not sure where he learned that); and just last night two top tooth buds are visable just under the surface! Our little boy is growing up so quickly; time flies. This week we also braved Mommy and me swim class. Layton loved the water and was already starting to kick! We might have a little fish on our hands!!

Over the next week to 10 days we will begin cutting wheat; Evan will make the trip back to my parent's to help just before that. It will be the first time one of us spends a night or two away from Layton. Photos of our first harvest with Baby Layton to come in the next few weeks.

Hope you are all having a great summer!

Busy Summer

Our first summer with Layton is slated to be a full one. It has become more important to Evan and I to be more active and help create fun memories for Layton; similar to the ones we both grew up with!

Our summer activities include:
1. Co-ed Softball
2. Mommy and Me swim class
3. Lake House weekends
4. Spending time with friends and family at summer outings
5. Farming

We enjoyed our second and third b-b-ques this weekend. Memorial Day weekend started us off with a kbob cookout in Greeley, CO at Evan's Uncle Larry's and Aunt Patti's. We had a nice time and enjoyed the screened in porch; free from bugs! Memorial Day weekend also included a shopping trip - yeah for Layton, he spent most of the day in the stroller with us going through stores and never once complained!! Evan and I even got away for 2 1/2 hours to go and see the new Star Trek!

Back to this weekend; Friday night was a b-b-que pork at Lobmeyer's with a ton of their family it was a nice time. Saturday night Ty and Randy hosted a party for Randy's birthday; another fun evening. Layton does so well when we stay our past his bedtime, we take his jammies and get him ready for bed and put him to sleep wherever we are. He is then ready for bed upon arriving home!

Have a great week and more summer updates and photos to come!

Where has the past month gone! Layton is growing and changing and is the most adorable boy in the county (all parents say that but really he is!) He rolled over a week ago, held his own bottle and is learning how to make "new" noises. One of his favorite games right now is to mimick the noise you just made, he listens, ponders about 30 seconds, then tries it out himself - and is very good!

It's about time for the next round of shots, he will be 4 months old Sunday! He is still sleeping through the night and teeth are surly on the horizon as much as he drools and chews; nursing is still going well, we may start him on ceral over the next few weeks..more stories and photos to come with that!

Hope you all had a nice Mother's Day - we celebrated the weekend in Woodston with my family and made it back to Towner Sunday evening to share dinner with Evan's mom. Layton is one lucky little boy getting to see both grandmas, great-grandma and Mom all in one day!

Mother's Day 2009 - we were back with my family in Woodston.


Grandsons









4 Generations of Poore's! Great Grandpa will be 98 this fall and Great Grandma Venda will be 90. We are so blessed.

4 Generations of Sullivan's, another blessing!

Future Classmates Issac Splitter, Kinsley Williams, and Layton - 18 years from now, this photo may be shown at their graduation! We spend Saturday morning together at Kinsley's baby shower.

Catch-up

It has been a busy 10 days for us. Layton had his 2 month booster shots, going as well as can be expected. No major reactions, only 10 minutes of crying and little knots at injection site. Good thing we have another 2 months to gear up for the next round.

Last weekend we made our first overnight visit back to Woodston to see my parents and grandparents. Layton did so good! He slept through the night both Friday and Saturday (a new trend!!). Great-Grandpa Alvin and Great-Grandma Venda really enjoying having Layton as an overnight guest (us too), they loved holding him and watching him stretch, kick, grow and play. Grandpa Larry and Grandma BJ enjoyed showing Layton off at the Pheasants Forever Banquet (he even slept through the auction) and showing him around the farm on his first visit, even the dogs liked him. The trip was successful and went so much better than anticipated, Layton is a wonderful baby!

This weekend is fairly quiet. Today I spring cleaned house while Evan and Layton went to visit Grandma Cheri. This afternoon we folded the mountain of laundry, gave Layton a bath, and plan to spend the evening in together. We debated going out for dinner and having Grandma babysit, but it started raining....we might melt!! Tomorrow we have an Easter basket for Layton and will spend the day with Grandma Cheri.

Monday is back to the normal routine. Next week one evening we will go visit and take dinner to our friends Randy, Ty, and meet their little girl Kinsley she is a week old today. Layton's class now has 2 boys and 2 girls.

Have a Happy Easter!