Weekend fun!

Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins came down today to meet their newest great-grand daughter "Madeline"....who is now three weeks old. Of course, no visit would be complete without a great meal to go along with it!!!!sooooo.. Ken and Emily planned a meal of pork loin, sweet potatoes, green bean bake, ramen oriental salad, green jello, corn, and delicious desserts! Emily made her own recipe of chocolate chip/cherry cookies! Yum!! and Ken made an Triple Layer Mud Pie (don't try to count the calories).

The decision to get together was kind of spur of the moment....but we had a wonderful time!! Enjoy the pics!

Dad was playing with a puppet and

entertaining Isaac, Seth and Annabelle

Triple Layer Mud Pie

3 squares semi sweet chocolate, melted

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 oreo pie crust

1/2 cup peanuts or toasted pecans

2 cups cold milk

2 pkg. instant choc. pudding

1 tub cool whip, thawed and divided

Mix melted choc. and condensed milk. Pour into crust; sprinkle with nuts.Beat milk and pudding mixes with whisk 2 min.; spoon 1 1/2 cups over nuts.Stir half the cool cool whip into remaining pudding; spread over pudding in crust.Top with remaining cool whip.Refrigerate 3 or more hours.

Thanksgiving Dinner in Onekama

We spent Thanksgiving Day at my parents house in Onekama. As always we had an abundance of delicious food to eat!!!
There were 14 of us all together! I was so glad to see Dan and Vanessa whom we haven't seen in quite a while! Clint and Andrea were there with Elliott. He is certainly a happy baby....and loves having his picture taken! We were joined by Don and Mary Ellen Miller (Don's parents) who are also from Onekama.

Kurt and Heidi were in Ohio with Heidi's family getting ready for her brother's wedding on Saturday....and Jason and Emily were in Cadillac at Emily's sister's. We will be together with our kids on December 27th and really look forward to that!

Hope you all had a relaxing day....and enjoy the weekend to come!

Mary Ellen, Don, and Don Sr.

Dan and VanessaGrandma Linda and Grandson Elliott

Relaxing after lunch

Uncle Dan and nephew Elliott

having a good laugh!!!

The Hoagland's

Andrea, Elliott, Clint

Ken relaxing after lunch

(actually he is snoozing!!!)

Andrea cutting her banana cream pie with

Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins looking on

The Miller Family

Andrea Aunt Judy Dan

In Everything Give Thanks

I just wanted to take a moment and share a few of my Thanksgiving thoughts!

My heart is overwhelmed when I look back on the past year and see what has transpired in my life. Yet......this year I can truly say I am grateful and thankful for my physical illness! I know.....some of you probably think I am off my rocker on this one....but in my heart I have grown and matured as a Christian even deeper and my heart rejoices! The opportunities I have had to share my faith, make new friends, and deepen my relationship with old friends have been overwhelming! And.......the fear and worry I wrestled with in the beginning are all starting to turn into confidence and praise!

So......this Thanksgiving.....even if your circumstances are such that you find it difficult to be thankful.....think again...and give thanks for everything.....and trust that God will bless and guide you even in the middle of impossible challenges!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.....whether you're with family or friends (or both)....whether you're shopping at the crack of dawn, or whether you're simply grazing on yummy food.....may your time be blessed!

Happy 85th Birthday to Our Dad

Our Dad, Dale Hopkins, has a special birthday today!!! We wish him a wonderful and relaxing day! Words can't express how grateful we are for our Dad's love and friendship! As daughters, Linda and I knew we had a wonderful example of what a Father should be......and we always knew we were loved!

May God bless your birthday Dad!

Your Family went from the 2 of you.....to an amazing

2 Daughters 2 Son-in-laws

4 Grandsons 1 Granddaughter

3 grand-daughter in laws 1 Grandson-in-law

"9" great grandchildren

(5 boys 4 girls)

24 of us all together!!!!

Kurt and Heidi's Visiit

Kurt and Heidi came up from Jenison on Saturday to meet their new niece and spend time with family! They left their 4 kids at home with Grandma and Grandpa Scott so they could spend some time with the new baby Madeline, and Isaac, Seth, and Annabelle! We have a wonderful time....and as always Ken fixed a great meal! We really missed Andrew, Jon, Kirsten and Rachelle...but appreciated our alone time with Kurt and Heidi. Joel had fun playing the Wii with Kurt and Heidi and challenged them with a couple games of "The Price is Right". Too bad the prizes weren't real!!

The orignal 25 cents

Kurt said if all of our grandkids had 4 kids each someday we would have 36 great-grand-children!!!! Yikes!!!Think of the all the birthdays, graduations, and weddings!

Here are a bunch of pics from the day.....enjoy!

Glad to have visitors!!

I had a wonderful visit this afternoon with Tanner and Kayla Kiley. Both Tanner and Kayla were in my choirs at CHS and performed in our musicals. Now they are all grown up and out in the real world! it was such a joy to spend time with them today. We walked down memory lane and watched our CHS musical "Bye Bye Birdie". it was a blast!! Kayla was a senior at the time and played a leading role and Tanner was a freshman and sang in the chorus. Tanner also had a leading role in "Fiddler on the Roof". We had a lot of laughs and reminisced! Then Joel got the Wii system out and played a few games with them!

I have so many wonderful memories from teaching....so when we have visitors like Tanner and Kayla....it just brings all of those fond memories back to life!!!

Tanner, Kayla and Joel

Tanner and Kayla

First Introductions

Madeline met her brothers and sister for the first time on Saturday. It was quite an exciting time for them also because they hadn't seen Daddy and Mommy since Wednesday night! What a joy to watch this reunion!

Everyone had a chance to hold the baby....

and she slept through it all!

Annabelle is trying out Madeline's hospital bed

A parting shot until Daddy, Mommy, and Madeline come home. which is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Grandpa and I (and Uncle Joel) will take the kids after church...feed them...then lay they down for naps before we take them home. Please pray for Emily as she recuperates from

her c-section.....and for a smooth transition into the daily routines of "4" children!!

Welcome Baby Madeline

Congratulations to Jason and Emily as they welcome their new daughter....Madeline Mae Nichols, born November 6, 2008 at 11:11 a.m. She weighed 7lbs. and 12 oz. and was 20 inches long.
Emily is doing very well....but please continue to pray for strength and healing from the c-section. Brothers Isaac and Seth, and sister Annabelle will get to meet Madeline on Saturday! I'll update more pics then! Unbelievably this is grandchild #8!
We now have 4 grandsons and 4 grand daughters! What a joy and blessing!!!

Proud parents Jason and Emily

Grandpa and MadelineGrandma and Madeline

Madeline at 2 hours old

Mommy and Madeline

Grandma Karen and Grandma Judy

meeting Madeline for the first time