Christmas Photo Shoot

Each year, as I try to compile our Christmas letter and photo to send out to our family and friends, I struggle with some of the common decisions: who's in the picture (whole family or just kids?); serious poses or fun-loving; matching outfits or whatever they want to wear; when are the kids all home (or... when is Matt around to join the photo); what to write in the letter; to make cards or just send the letter; do people really want to know what we've been up to for the past year?..... the questions are endless. In a spontaneous moment as we drove home from Thanksgiving travels this weekend, I realized it was going to be "now or never" to get the kids all in a picture at once, so we called in our friend, Kylie, who LOVES photography (and frankly is FABULOUS at it) and just decided to DO IT!
This was one of the fun poses, but there's even better ones, so you'll have to watch your mailbox for your copy of the official 2008 Hippen Christmas Picture (I will most likely break down and blog it anyway, ha).

Here is yet another fun picture of my three sons.... all happy and healthy, nice boys who, at that moment, melted my heart (of course 1/2 hour later they were bickering or yelling at each other, or sassing their parents, or crying for a bottle). But in this glimpse of time, joy filled their hearts, and mine too.

As you all step into the joyful season of Christmas, I wish you endless joy! Please remember that this is a season of hope, love, and blessings. We don't have to let the hurried schedules and the frantic rush to shop and wrap gifts take our focus away from the reason for the season... Christ's Birth! We are eternally blessed with the loving, unending grace of God who sent His son for our sake, saving us from our sins, and blessing us instead with eternal life in heaven.

Halleluiah! Christ is coming! Merry Christmas to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent a fun Thanksgiving in Minneapolis with Ed's brother's family, Dean & Karen. Noah got a lot of cuddle time with Grandpa Dean and Grandma Karen, and Ben had fun hanging out with his cousin Matt also. Stephanie loved seeing Noah this weekend, but unfortunately she had to work most of the time we were there. Hopefully her schedule won't be so harsh on her next time we come for a visit... she was one pooped out girl. But she still was able to enjoy Noah's cuddles a little bit, anyway.

Noah tried all weekend to pet "Cheeto", Stephanie's cat. Finally on the last evening in Minneapolis, the kitty cat agreed to stay still long enough for Noah to get close. I think it was all our gasps of amazement that caused Noah to look startled and actually avoid pulling all her fur out.

FUN extended weekend trip!

Noah and mommy went traveling this weekend... we visited Aunty Kristen in Wisconsin, and had a GREAT time with her dog Coconut! Noah loves his Aunty Kristen, and never ran out of smiles for her loving cuddles and tickles. We miss her already!

Noah also got to visit his Grandpa Dean and Grandma Karen, and birth-mommy Stephanie in Minneapolis. He had the most fun with the cat's ball of gift-ribbon (go figure). ha. We laughed as we watched the cat eyeing the curly ribbon the whole time.

Grandpa Clink and Grandma Sharon also got some great cuddle time with Noah. He loves his extended family so much, and he is also SOOO loved by them! (but he's NOT a Packer's fan, so don't even go there, dad) hahaha.

Grandma Karen was in heaven with her two little boys on her lap. Devon's goofy smiles cracked us up so much! Noah just giggled and smiled the whole time, at least when he wasn't getting tackled by his older (bigger) cousin. These two boys are going to be so much fun to watch as they grow up together.

Leave it to Grandpa Dean's crew to give Noah his first taste of deer jerky. He is hooked forever now! He loved his grandpa's recipe (no offense Ed, he just hasn't tried yours yet). Mmmmmmmm, good stuff.

Noah laughed the hardest in the Spiderman tube and fort that Grandma Karen had gotten for him... a real big hit with the two boys. Many hours of fun ahead, as we'll travel back there for Thanksgiving. The joys of childhood... so amazing to be a part of it all!

Matt in the Hobbit

Matt is currently in his high school's production of The Hobbit. He's a dwarf (funny to have a 6' tall kid as a dwarf, ha), and plays a really hilarious, fat, dumpy, goofy Bombur. He really played his part well and made the audience laugh a LOT.


Here, he gets water splashed in his face from below the stage... something that was perfectly timed and hilarious!







Noah wasn't sure WHAT to think of his brother in all that strange makeup. the beard was something he never messed with (surprisingly) but Noah didn't want to touch Matt's face, either. I think he was a little unsure of just who really was under that fat-suit that big brother was wearing.

FIRST HAIR CUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Noah is very well known for his CRAZY hairdo! His amazing locks of soft curls have been the attention grabber of anyone that's seen him. The hair on top of his head, and the hair around the back of his neck & above his ears, is the longest, with a mysterious thinner band around the middle of his head... almost like a reverse Friar Tuck look. And the SNARLS that get tangled in there... my, oh my. So... this afternoon, Ed and I were thinking we'd probably had enough, and we had a rare brave streak, and decided to try our hand at the kitchen barber shop.
Noah sat EXCEPTIONALLY still on his daddy's lap while mommy snipped away, and it was actually quite easy, and as far as I can tell, I did a fairly even job of it. He looks SO much more evened out now, and actually even looks older (not that I was rushing THAT or anything). Now it's just a question of how long it will take his biggest brother to notice. ;-)

You can see there was quite a pile of hair on the floor when we were done... Ed was feeling a little envious of Noah's trimmings, since Ed hasn't had a pile that thick in quite a few years (shhh, don't tell him I said that) ha.

Yardwork in this day & age...

Ed and I asked the boys to rake the back yard this weekend... I really can't recall the last time they had to do that (it's been a few years, because I know we've done it for them), and now I can see why we didn't bother having them help.... because just as Ben was getting exasperated with Matt's incessant text messaging, we would have grown frustrated with him as well (but at least his outdoor gear is all cool and trendy).
Ben decided not to wait around for his brother to finish his conversation on the cell phone, because he had friends waiting to go jump their bikes on a dirt pile around the block (boys will be boys). Matt and Ben actually do work well together, and I didn't notice any bickering... must be a sign of them growing up. By the way, they did do a great job on the raking (just took a while between messages on the cell phone).

Ben's first Arena Game

Ben's Junior High football team played their first ever indoor game at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks on Thursday. I'll tell you something... getting psyched up for a football game at 8:30am is interesting to say the least. ha.
As you can see above, the size of the boys on that field was kind of surreal. We had to remind ourselves that the field HAD to be normal sized, as 100 yards is 100 yards, whether it's in an arena, or in our home town. I think it was just viewing them from up above that gave an optical illusion of being so much bigger.

Ben is #11... in 9-man football he's a Flanker (no idea, it's just what he tells me). ha. He had a GREAT game... caught passes and ran the ball for a total of 14 points.... two touchdowns and a two point conversion. He said the "turf" wasn't too bad to play on. Said it wasn't as hard to land on as he thought it would be. The grippy nature of the surface was great, he said, for his zigs and zags to escape the tackles... "you don't slip like you do on grass" he said, as he recapped the highlights of the game. They CRUSHED the opponents, 48-6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TOMMIES!!!

A sweaty and pooped out, (but excited) Ben comes off the field after shaking hands at the end of the game. A game experience he won't soon forget.