Jessica Kopp

Break out the Smores

We spent Father's Day weekend camping with my family in Mantua at the Box Elder Camp Ground. We had a wonderful time. I love it when whole family gets together. We spend the whole time smiling and laughing. I especially loved being all together for Father's Day. Derek, Nick and Grandpa are amazing men and we are so blessed to have them as our dads. They are loving, caring, supportive and hardworking. And they make nice fires to keep us warm and roast marshmallows when we are camping!

 

 

 
Even though we struggled with finding a camping spot, once everyone was settled we had a blast. We had perfect weather, great fires, and amazing food. The kids loved getting dirty together, playing in the stream and gathering GIGANTIC slugs. Aiden was my favorite Uno partner.....when we worked together we always won. Derek was full of silly pirate jokes and Grandpa sang all his usual and unique campfire songs. We spent Saturday conquering the mountain on 4-wheelers and then Sunday was spent lazily fishing and splashing in the water. Syd was so excited that she was the only one to actually catch a fish. 

  

 

 

We did have a couple of mishaps. First Katelyn wasn't feeling well and had to go to an instant care for throat medicine (and she also fell into the muddy creek). Second, I decided to roll a brand-new 4-wheeler down the mountain onto myself and Derek. (I would not recommend this to anyone!) Derek was luckily able to jump off the back and out of the way.....and I was blessed to land perfectly in a big hole so I was protected as the 4-wheeler rolled over my body. My elbows, legs, hip, bum and back all got scraped and bruised up, but considering what could have happened, I'm not going to complain about a couple scabs and sore muscles. 

EDITED: Derek would like it to be noted that he did not jump off the back of the 4-wheeler and run away, leaving me to be smashed. He tried very hard to save me.....but was no match for the machine.

  

 

 

On the way home still covered in dirt and bugs and smoke the girls were asking about when we are going to do it again. I told them the next family get together was going to be a hotel with a pool and not a tent with sleeping bags.....and they said that sounded okay to them as long as we went camping again next summer. And I said okay to that!

Real or Fake?

 

What do you think? Are these real prescription glasses? Or not? 

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When Derek and Abby flew to Chicago on Thursday, I told Syd we could go do whatever she wanted when I got home from work. She had BIG plans when I got home. We were headed to the mall and Target. At the mall she wanted to visit Claires and get some fashion glasses. She heard they sold the BEST glasses and she wanted to get a couple pair so she could trick everyone. And then we were headed to Target for silky boyshort underwear (exactly the same as what Abby got for camp.)

And that is exactly what we did. (With a late dinner at TGIF thrown in for fun.)

Sydney loves her new glasses and especially loves when people ask if they are real or fake. (She always says real.) And when she finally put the underwear on for the first time she told me they felt AMAZING and then asked if it was okay if she wore them as a swimsuit bottom.

I love that he doesn't take much to make this girl happy.

She's Out of Here

It's official, Abby is a Culver camper. 

Yesterday was her first day. Derek spent the day on campus with her buying uniforms, getting her settled into her cabin and meeting her counselor. She is going to be having the time of her life, making new friends, learning new skills, playing sports, and living in a forest. This is all she could talk about for the past 3 months, but Derek said it finally hit her that she is going to be a long way from home, for a really long time. There were some tears shed (by Abby and Derek), but overall she is being brave and eager to meet new friends and start this new adventure. 

I promise to keep the blog full of updates and info about everything. Derek says he took tons of photos and I'll post those when he gets home next week. I sent Abby with a nice stack of already addressed and stamped envelopes and the letters should start rolling in soon. (Her and I made a deal...... if I don't get at least one letter a week.....she can't ever go back.)

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Several people have asked, and I have all her contact information. If you'd like to send her a letter or package, please let me know. I know she would love to her from you. I've heard getting mail is the BEST! Sydney and I are already working on our first of many.

Almost a Year

Seriously I'm in shock. 11 months old. I can't believe that in a couple short weeks my little man will be celebrating his first birthday. I remember so clearly this time last year when I was huge and uncomfortable and wanting time to speed up. Now I'm just wishing time would stand still so he will stop growing and turning into a big boy. 

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He has changed so much this past month.

• We've transitioned from army crawling to full-speed, head-down, charging crawling. 

• He pulls himself up onto everything and is walking along the edges of the table and couch. 

• He has figured out how to open drawers and cabinets and just giggles while he pulls everything out.

• He loves to bang pots and pans together. 

• He has started exploring the stairs and just this week we had our first fall to the wood floor at the bottom. 

• He has 5 1/2 teeth. 2 on bottom and 3ish on top. That silly 6th tooth just won't come all the way in. 

• He has discovered splashing and loves to take baths. Before he would just sit there.....but now that he knows about splashing he just soaks the walls and cries when I take him out.

• He eats EVERYTHING! If we are having it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, so is he. He is especially in love with quesadillas, bread and anything potato.

• He has learned to drink out of a straw and loves to share drinks. He's not a huge fan of soda, but he loves juices.

• He has had a bruise on his forehead for the past 2 weeks from repeatedly banging his head into tables, doors and walls.

• He is learning to share. He likes to eat a Cheerio and then feed one to you. 

• He spends hours a day chasing the cat and dog around the house. And if by some miracle he does catch them he just lays his head on them and cuddles. It is the sweetest thing. He only pulls tails and hair sometimes.

• He is learning to mimic what people are doing. He clicks and sticks out his tongue. He kind of waves good-bye and will play peak-a-boo.

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If I had to pick one word to describe Evan right now it would be BUSY! He is a BUSY, BUSY, BUSY boy! He gets braver and more curious every day and I can't wait to see what he's into next.

 

Tatum Mae

Introducing the newest member of the Dowdle family, Tatum Mae. 

She is the cutest, sweetest, tiny thing you'll ever see. She looks exactly like her big sister and her brothers love to cover her with loves and kisses. I'm so glad she moved in across the street so I can give her lots of cuddles and take lots of pictures.

 

      

You gotta wear shades

Poor Evan has to stay home all day with girls and put up with whatever craziness we throw at him. Abby and Syd are always coming up with great costumes to put on him. Last week he was a pirate and a cheerleader (complete with bow.) This week we found these amazing sunglasses and tortured him with them while he was trying to eat cereal. Doesn't he look amused?

small, medium, large

Nothing makes me happier then watching my kids all playing together. They giggle. They laugh. The enjoy each other. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does, it is wonderful. 

Last weekend while I was working on cleaning out the garage the kids were pretending they all lived in box-house-boat-things. I sat around the corner where they couldn't see me and just listened to their amazing adventure. Of course Evan kept trying to 'swim' away and Sydney wasn't following ALL of Abby's rules, but for the most part it was pure wonderfulness.

And just like it always does, the bliss came to a screeching halt. Sydney didn't like the way Abby was playing the game so she closed the lid of her boat and sat on top not letting her out. When Abby was finally able to escape she was FURIOUS and ready to strangle Syd......and then all the sudden we were back to reality with everyone screaming, crying and pointing fingers. (And Evan just sat and ate fishies.)

Cruisin' with Mom

Look at these hilarious photos of Evan. He is totally and completely OUT!

I wanted to start riding bikes this summer so I ordered this great ibert bike seat and Paul Frank skull helmet for Evan so he could come along. Evan HATES the helmet and even though I ordered the x-small it is still way too big and slides all around his head (but he does look adorable). 

Derek hooked the ibert up to my bike on Saturday and on our first trip around the block Evan went from scared to death to sound a sleep. He didn't even seem to care that I was dying and gasping for breath as we started up the hill. And he didn't even stir when I finally couldn't peddle anymore in the middle of the hill and had to get off and walk. And when we finally got to the top and it took me 4 attempts to get back on my bike, he only started snoring.

Yes I am a spaz and completely out of shape.

 

 

Evan's First Haircut

Evan's has a good amount of hair, but it is stick straight, full of cowlicks and always looks like a mess no matter what we do to it, so Derek and I decided it was time for a trim. I was a little worried he would squirm and fuss, but as soon as he had a sucker in his mouth he didn't really care what was going on. 

 

He looks so handsome with his little spiky do..... even more like his dad if that is even possible.I tried really hard to get a cute picture of my "grown-up" little man, but this is as good as I could get. Doesn't he look thrilled to be see the camera again.

As soon as I would set him down and step back to take a picture he would take off for the flower beds. I was excited to get some action shots of him crawling, but I quickly had to ditch the camera to fish the handful of bark out of his mouth.

 

New Favorite Photo

Miracles do happen. You just have to be patient!

I have tried for months to get a nice photo of me with the kids. And it finally happened. Derek was able to capture everyone actually smiling and looking at the camera. I'm still in shock that no one is grumpy, crying or frowning (which is what I usually get when I pull out the camera.) 

I love my 'little people' so much and I'm so glad that I have this beautiful photo to represent life right now.