Jessica Kopp

Hello Mr. Solar Panel Cricket

 

If you want to know anything about solar panels, just ask Abigail. After spending the last few weeks working on her science project, she is now an expert.

She can tell you what solar panels are made of silicon.

She can tell you how different watt light bulbs affect a solar panels performance.

She can tell you about her cricket and how the solar panel on his back works.

And she can tell you that the brighter the light the better a solar panel works. 

But she can't tell you how glad Derek and I were when the project was done and finished.

Seriously, we are very proud of Abby and all the work she put into her project. She did a lot of reading and really learned a lot about solar panels. She was so excited for the fair and the opportunity to share her project with the school. And yesterday she got even more excited when her project was chosen to go onto the district level.

Congrats Abby. Good luck at district. We are proud of you!

I ♥ You!

Happy Love Day from the Kopps. Hope you have a day full of love and kisses. Make sure and give the ones you love an extra squeeze today. Spread the love.

And I'd like to wish a special Valentine wish to my guy. He loves me. He supports me. He tries to understands me. Thanks for always being by my side. Love you!

Music and the Spoken Word

The girls and I spent the morning on Temple Square in Salt Lake City with Grandma Stout and David watching the taping of Music and the Spoken Word. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was amazing, as always, and we were spoiled and got to sit at the very front on the 5th row.

Anita, David and I loved the broadcast. The music was outstanding, the message was about love and the spirit was strong. Abby thought it was okay, but poor Syd was bored, bored, bored. She even leaned over in the middle and asked if she could play with my iphone.

After the broadcast, the weather was beautiful and we spent some time following the girls around as they explored the temple grounds. They threw coins in the fountains, splashed in the reflection pools and acted silly with grandma. 

It was a perfect morning!

 

100 Days of School

On Friday the girls celebrated their 100th day of school this year. I can't believe how fast the school year is going by. I don't remember celebrating 100's day as a kid, but it is a really big deal when you are a 2nd grader (not so much as a 5th grader). Sydney spent the day playing games, doing crafts and eating treats all having to do with 100. She even made a cool pair of 100 paper glasses where the eye holes are the middle of the zeros.

Sydney also got to design a poster with 100 things on it. She choose to do a poster with 100 pieces of popcorn. She really liked this project because it involved a lot of popcorn eating. A bag of microwave popcorn has about 300 pieces...and someone had to eat the remaining 200.

 

Favorite Things

Sydney's favorite thing to do right now is read. She is obsessed. She constantly has her nose in a book and is always saying 'Just a sec...let me finish this chapter." She gets up early in the morning to read, reads after school and likes to sneak in a few more minutes at night before I turn out her light. Last weekend she read over 180 minutes and on her homework this morning she recorded 360 minutes of reading for this week.

We got her the complete set of Wimpy Kid books for Christmas and she has already plowed through all of them. Last Saturday we went to Barnes and Nobles for family night. We let each of the kids pick out a book or two. Syd ended up with two Ivy and Bean books and had both of them finished by Tuesday.

I'm very excited about my little reader. We just need to get the girl a library card, because I can't support her habit of a couple books a week.

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This commercial is another favorite around our house. Derek found it last night and watched it over and over, laughing harder every single time. And yes Derek is a Star Wars geek.

It is freezing

When I got up this morning and checked my phone it said 4 degrees. Ouch. I'm just grateful I wasn't in Park City because it was -18 there. 

Abby tried to go to school in cute little sock-less ballet flats and I just laughed and told her that her toes would be frozen before she made it to the carpool. She thought about it for a minute and changed to her Uggs.

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In the spirit of snow and ice and freezing temperatures here are some photos of the kids playing in the snow at the beginning of January. This was Evan first official stomp through the snow. He wasn't very sure about the boots because they were so hard to walk in, but he was grateful for his gloves because they kept his fingers warm while he ate handful after handful of snow.

Culver Summer Camp

Everyone who knows Derek and his family, knows they LOVE CULVER. They talk about it ALL THE TIME. They talk about all the summers as campers and sailing and the cabins and being camp counselors. They all dream of sending their kids and all the memories they will make. I didn't understand it and very reluctantly sent Abby last summer, but when I went and visited her, I finally started to get it. It really is as amazing and wonderful as they've been telling me all along.

Culver is a very tricky thing to explain to people. (I heard about it non-stop for 12 years and didn't get it.) I really think you have to go there to truly get it. It is hard to understand why you would want to send your kid to Indiana for 6 weeks to a military summer camp with uniforms and marching and parades. But this new promo video that they just released is perfect. It showcases all the activities and the beautiful campus. It gives you a sense of what Culver really is and why our family will be there every summer.

Watch and you will be amazed. Maybe you'll want to send your kids along next summer!