Conrad turns ONE! 4-10-13

 

Conrad is one! Part of me is  very sad that my baby is not much of a baby but another part of me gives a huge sigh of relief. The first year of life is full of special moments but is tough none-the-less. The poor boy was dealing with a double ear infection on his birthday. He had had a fever for a few days so I took him in to get his ears checked out and sure enough they were both infected. His birthday was a hard day. He cried ALL day and was held ALL day. I might have passed on the family party but I had made the cake the day before and the older kids were excited for the celebration. He picked off a little frosting but was done after that.

 

 

This boy has been a blessing to our family. He’s cuddly and will often lie his head on my shoulder after I get him up from his nap. He is completely loved and adored by his siblings. They are always figuring out new ways to entertain him and transport him from one room to another. He is a die-hard banana fan. I have to be careful to never eat my banana in front of him or I have to end up sharing. All of our cupboards had baby locks on them after we moved in except one. It was the cupboard with the Tupperware and pot lids. He LOVED taking them all out and carrying the lids around the house. Seth put a lock on the cupboard and he was so mad the first time he reached to open it and couldn’t. He also loves his polka-doted minky blanket that Grandma Thacker made for him. Every time I put him down to sleep I wrap him up in it and his body goes limp from relaxation. Like his siblings before him, he loves our wooden duck named Howard. He pushes it around the house and then screams when it gets stuck on things. He also loves to be sung to and enjoys clapping along. The only distinguishable word he can say is “go” but he makes lots of sounds similar to the little green martians in Toy Story. Happy Birthday Conrad!

Easter Weekend with the Bryners!

The Bryner family drove over from Ann Arbor to spend Easter weekend with us and do some sight seeing. They arrived on Friday evening after a long day of “are they going to be here soon?” from my kids. Saturday morning the kids were greeted with their Easter baskets. The baskets were simple but very loved.

I LOVE this picture of Lucy taking in the sunshine while gnawing on some bunny ear.

The day was BEAUTIFUL so we decided to head down to the National Zoo for the morning. After some annoyances with parking and a flat stroller tire we were on our way. The major highlight was watching the trained elephant. The trainers were off to the side on a ledge making commands and the elephant performed for peanuts and apples (I saw veggies in the mix but the elephant ignored those.) It was impressive to watch him lay completely down on the ground and then climb back up. It immediately brought back memories of pregnancy for Kelly and me. We really wanted to see the pandas but they were “mating” that day (in-vitro) but it was still a great trip.

We drove back to Rockville for an egg hunt which a family in our ward planned. It was a huge success and after reminding the kids many times to only grab TWELVE eggs Charlie showed me his basket entirely filled with eggs. It was a classic, “I never heard you say that!” moment. The kids dived into their treats and played at the park. Everyone was so happy to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather.  That evening we ventured to Café Rio for our traditional Bryner visit dinner.

Easter Sunday was perfect. I was in charge of sharing time which I was nervous for because I had a couple of guest speakers and was speaking myself about the crucifixion  and resurrection. It all went well and the spirit was very strong. Again, I LOVE my calling!

We drove over to the temple (it’s right next to our church) to take some pictures. I loved watching Lucy prance around in her Easter dress. It made me really grateful to have a little girl.

That afternoon we dyed Easter eggs and made “Resurrection Rolls.”  You take large marshmallows (represents Christ’s pure body) and dip it in oil and a cinnamon/sugar mixture (the oils and spices used to anoint Christ). Then you wrap it up in a crescent roll (the linen used to wrap Christ’s body) and put it in the oven (tomb). I explained all of this to Charlie who replied, “mom, that doesn’t make sense, Christ left the tomb but the marshmallows are still going to be in there.” It was an exciting moment when we we took them out of the oven and cut one open only to see the marshmallow gone (Christ was resurrected). They were actually really good too.

We had a delicious Shepherd's Pie for dinner and the traditional carrot cake which was even better this year!!

The Bryners stayed until Wednesday morning but took day trips into DC Monday and Tuesday. Our kids live far from their cousins but it’s wonderful to see them have cousin love with the Bryners.

Spring Break 2013

Looking back it was really uneventful. Seth couldn’t take time off so we just stayed home. I dreamed of spending every day at a different park but then it snowed the first day. Instead we went to the library and got an insane amount of books. The kids had a play day swap with the Leamans and we eventually made a trip to the park until we all voted it was too cold and went home (it was really windy).  It was really nice to have the older boys around. Lucy and Matthew played a lot together and Charlie read. Summer break here we come!!!

It’s birthday season at our house. It seems that every Saturday for the past couple of months one of the kids has a party to go to. Lucy (in the middle with the gift bag) went to a friend’s super-hero party. His mom made her the adorable cape Conrad is wearing.

The other pictures are of the kids giving each other piggy back rides. It was entertaining when Charlie tried really hard to lift Matthew on his back. It didn’t work out so well.

DC Half Marathon 3-16-13

Running a race with 30,000 other people is crazy!! Sarah, Erin, Holly, and I rode the metro into the district early Saturday morning to run the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon. I was really excited but nervous about the rain (they forecasted a 70% chance of rain). It was still dark when we made our way out of the metro to the bag check area. This was the beginning of long lines for us. We finally got our bags checked and then made our way to the bathrooms. The line was long, really really long!!  Thankfully we had a grand time and were able to meet up with Callie for some laughs.

Waiting in line!!

Sarah, Erin, Callie, Sharon, Holly

Left- The starting line! Middle- running with the capital in the distance

The race started at 7:30 but we didn’t even get out of the bathroom until after 8:00! Everyone was assigned a corral time for starting based on you anticipated finish. Sadly our corral group was long gone when we started but it was still exciting none-the-less. It was tight running at first and I felt like I was playing Tetris weaving in and out and around people. The setting was perfect and miraculously it NEVER rained. The race was hard but I gave it everything and ran faster than I trained. I finished in 2:07 which is a 9:41 mile. My favorite stretch was was running on Capital street and seeing the capital in the distance the whole time. Of course with so many people it made for some awesome people watching.  It was the day before St. Patrick’s Day so lots of people were dressed up and there was even a juggling runner. I felt really good until an insane hill at mile 6 that slowed me down. Holly had some caffeinated jelly beans that I know really helped me at the end.

I did all my long runs with Sarah and Erin (hence the know EVERYTHING about me!)

Due to our very late start, I never was able to see Seth on the course because he thought he had missed me when I hadn’t even gone by. We met up with Seth and Tim at the end and stood in another hour long line to get Holly’s bag. We made it to the metro and we jumped an a train that was about to leave. Sadly the doors shut right in front of Tim’s face so he was left by himself on the platform (just like in the movies). We had to transfer trains so he was able to catch back up to us.

Running a race with a life-long-friend is perfect- Thanks for flying out Holly!