Easter, Spring Break, AND Bryner Visit!

We got another visit from the Bryner family for Easter this year. It’s a happy day when our Michigan cousins come for a visit. We celebrated with an egg hunt, egg dying (thanks Seth), and listening to conference. We had beautiful weather and I felt so grateful for the feeling of renewal that comes with this time of year.

 

We took the Bryners to our favorite park a few different times while they were here. Kelly had no problem entertaining the kids (and fellow park attendees) with a bit of karaoke and dancing on the teeter totter.

We also had a little Easter egg hunt a few days before with church friends, but the weather was terrible so it happened inside the church.

Easter Bunny happiness!

During the week of spring break, the boys took part in a “sports camp” at a local elementary school. It was a full day of running around!! They came home happy and exhausted

Happy Spring Time Photos!

It’s great to be eight for Matthew! 3/28

 

Matthew chose to be baptized on March 28, 2015. We were so happy that Mike, Collette, Cassie, AND Grandma and Grandpa Thacker were able to fly out to be with Matthew on his special day. We also had many friends from our ward and neighborhood who joined in as well. Is he really eight? The time has gone by so fast.

After the baptism we had a lunch of home-made macaroni and cheese (Matthew’s favorite food) and cookies. He received his first set of scriptures from his Grandma and Grandpa Thacker.  It was a great day and we are so proud of Matthew and his choice to follow Jesus Christ. (Matthew pictured with Nicolas Sosa)

We had fun playing with the Brown family for almost a week. We went to eat at Potbelly in Downtown Rockville and Lucy and Conrad instantly became best buddies with their Uncle Michael.

Grandma and Grandpa took everyone to eat at Red Robin the night of the baptism. The burgers were delicious and Matthew even won a stuffed animal out of the claw machine. Who knew that was possible?

The kids were really sad when it was time to say goodbye.

Matthew with his CTR necklace from Grandma and Grandpa Ackerson.

March Madness.

I finally decided to potty train Conrad. I was not looking forward to this at all but he was a breeze. It only took a few days and he was completely potty trained. A true Miracle! We celebrated by eating pop corn at Target.

Lucy and Conrad get along really well. On this particular day the were having a yard sale in the dinning room. They didn’t have a lot of business but they still had fun.

Matthew created a Dolphin habitat for school and really enjoyed putting it all together. Dolphin’s sleep with half their brains awake.

Lucy took indoor swimming lessons. Learning to swim in 80 degree water is wonderful! She loved this so much more than her outdoor summer lessons. There were no tears and she stayed in the water.

My friend Erin rocks! She is a statistician and her husband is a math teacher so they have a very passionate love for “PI Day.” Since 2015 was the super PI Day of the millennia (3.1415) they threw a massive celebration. There  was a pie making contest, games, and even a PI reciting. She even made awards. Charlie was proud of his medal for winning a race where they ran some form of 3.14.

The Gibson Family came to stay with us for a long weekend. It was fun as always to have guests, especially friends who we go “way back” with.  On Saturday we took all the kids to the American History Museum. Matt was at a conference so it was just Seth, a couple of women, and NINE kids.

It was Kirsten’s Birthday while they were visiting so we had a birthday party! All the kids are big Studio C fans so we watched a few episodes.

Snow Days!

The grand tally of days of school canceled because of snow was EIGHT!! Mostly, they were welcome, and we mostly played outside in the snow, read,  and watched movies.

On one occasion when school was out, we went to Menchies for frozen yogurt. The kids learned the valuable lesson that sometimes putting all the different flavors together can be a bad thing.

We also made rainbow Jell-O. A friend gave me the idea and since it takes ALL day I thought we would do it when school got canceled. Who knew Jell-O could be so beautiful?

Church was even canceled one Sunday. It was only canceled a few minutes before we were going to walk out the door to drive to church so we were all ready. We played games and made a human pyramid instead of church. We also organized all the games in the boys closet….too many!

This is a great hill by our house for sledding but it ends in a pond. The kids kept telling me it was completely safe because they could just stop themselves before they went onto the ice. It made me nervous but was a blast!

Matthew is still our king of snow adventures. He LOVES snow and can spend hours playing in it. The only thing that holds him back is wet gear. His gloves were always in the drier! On the pictured day above I went out with him and had a great chat with our neighbor Nancy while the snow kept coming. I couldn’t believe how much snow was on my hood when I came back in. Lucy and Conrad also enjoyed playing in the snow but they had very limited jaunts. Charlie would sometimes go out but mainly spent a day off of school marathon reading.

It’s great to be eight! 2/14

 

With much anticipation, Matthew turned EIGHT years old . Unlike last year, school was not canceled and his Valentine’s party was able to happen as planned. The class party was the day before his birthday but since his birthday is on a Saturday it just meant we celebrated for two days. Keeping with tradition, I planned his class Valentine’s party. The kids decorated their own Valentine’s boxes, played a quick game and ate goodies. I sadly forgot to take pictures.

 

On Saturday he played with his new toys and then we went to Red Robin for dinner. We came home to indulge on his Cookie Monster Cake. Matthew has a sweet tooth so it seemed fitting. We are so happy he is ours!  He is the “policeman” in our family and makes sure everything is fair. He is still a kind friend and is an angel in school. He still loves Minecraft and playing trucks with his brother Conrad. He is growing taller every day and officially has bigger feet than Charlie (the height is getting closer but Charlie is hanging on). It is also no surprise that he LOVES to eat! He also loves to be tickled more than anything. He is looking forward to his baptism and has been eager to learn about the importance of covenants. We love you Matthew!

Utah Repeat! 2/8

After being home from our Utah Vacation a few weeks, I flew back to Utah for a Michigan reunion with Natalie and Mandy. Traveling by yourself is such a different experience! Mandy and Natalie picked me up from the Salt Lake Airport and we immediately stopped at DownEast clothing to stock up. Unfortunately Natalie accidentally locked her keys in her rental car but fortunately she had Triple A so we shopped a little longer until they came and unlocked the doors. We headed south for a weekend in sunny St George. We stopped in Cedar City and stumbled upon a delicious pizza place that served Nutella pizza- so GOOD!  We shopped, saw a play, and talked and talked and talked. It was wonderful to be together again! 

I also got to visit Paul and Stefanie! I have only met Stefanie a few times so it was fun to visit and help them celebrate her 30th birthday!

The weekend went by way too fast and on Sunday evening Mandy and Natalie dropped me off at Nora’s home. It was sad to say goodbye. The happy part was taking part in Nora’s “Projects Connect” party. She had sponsored a “get-projects-done” blog the year before and many of the people who contributed came to party that night. Vanessa even came from Idaho which meant four out of the five Ackerson girls were together.

My flight didn’t leave until Monday afternoon so I got to spend the next day with Nora. There were plans of exploring the Bountiful DI but there was a misplacement of keys so we happily chatted the day away. Addie is rocking 7th grade fashion! I wish I was young enough to pull off this look. Baby McKay is the ideal family caboose with the happiest demeanor. Macy had stayed behind to play with Paige.  They made me a little rock collection to take home.

I loved seeing my family at the airport when I landed. It was a quick trip but I came home very relaxed and ready to live out the rest of winter.