An Extreme Lego Birthday Party!

Once again, all the kids that were invited to Charlie's party showed up. Like last year, I figured a few wouldn't show so we could all fit in our tiny little home. They all came and it was wild!

We had them each build a Lego car and then they raced them. Note: Lego cars do not go that far when pushed on cement.

In a matter of moments our Lego supply quadrupled. I wish I would have taken this into consideration before Christmas shopping early.

Lego head pops:)

The Pinata, thanks to Seth. I was already to purchase a treasure chest pinata from Meijer when he volunteered to make it. I think I'm burned out on Pinata making:(

The cake!
It was a LOT of work but they ALL had a lot of fun.

Six Times around the Sun!

Charlie turned the BIG SIX! He has made a huge jump in what he can do now vs a year ago. He can read, count to 100 plus, tie his shoe, and build anything from Legos!

His teacher has a fun ritual each child gets to do on their birthday. The birthday child gets to pick a friend (Zach) to be the sun and they get to hold her big globe and circle around the sun as many times as they are old. He has been anticipating this even for months!

Charlie's favorite food in the world is breakfast food, particularly pancakes. We decided IHOP would be a perfect destination for his birthday dinner, and there were no complaints during dinner:) (a big shout out to restaurants.com that sponsored our dinner for cheap, make sure you look for their promo codes) Our neighbor Shannon hangs out with us on Tuesdays while her mom is in school so she happily came along.

He was concerned they weren't going to sing to him but IHOP came through!

We love you Charlie and have loved having you the last six years.

Anna Christine Hawkins!

She's here and beautiful! Baby Number FOUR for 2010 in the Ackerson family has arrived. After an exciting arrival in Salt Lake instead of Park City due to the "storm" she and her mom are doing well. Congratulations Donna and Bevan, I can't wait to hold her!

Giving Thanks!

Thanksgiving had it all (almost) this year: food, craft, movie, friends, and games. We missed the fam but loved feasting with the Harmers and Bryners! My boys had as much fun as we did playing with all the kids!

Kristi is a phenomenal cook and did all the big stuff! I'm still dreaming of the sweet potatoes.

The kids put on a reenactment of the pilgrims traveling to the new world, thanks to Luke for directing them.

Seth and I taught the group how to play Qwirkle. Sadly it was one of my poorest performances ever, but a big congrats to Kelly and Eve who scored a 21 in one lay down:)

The turkey hats were a huge success this year. A different variation from last year but a lot easier!

It was Lucy's first Thanksgiving and she slept through it! I think it was for the best;)

Lucy 10 Months!

On the day after her TEN MONTH birthday Lucy took her first four steps! I'm not surprised because she is constantly trying to keep up with her older brothers. She now officially sleeps through the night (I know I'm taking a huge risk by typing this) and can drink from a sippy! She loves to play peek-a-boo, climb stairs, and I was finally able to clip a bow in her hair!!

I know, salt is not the best thing to let your baby play with but this kept her entertained the WHOLE time I was cooking dinner.

Teddy Bears and Fairy Doors!

We love visitors! Seth's sisters family came the beginning of November. We loved getting to see Uncle Michael who was able to come as well. Who new we still had things to do on our "Ann Arbor to-do list"? We went and saw some of the fairy doors all around downtown. The boys and Cassie loved this!! I loved the hot chocolate from Sweetwater and can't stop thinking about it:)

I love this pictures. Charlie sure made himself at home on his uncle Michael. We love Toy Story!

We visited the Chelsea Teddy Bear Factory. We took the tour of the factory but the college age guy, who was our guide, seemed a little out there (wink, wink).
It was Saturday so nobody was actually making all the teddy bears but it was still interesting to see where all the magic happens:)

We had Michigan's best cider and donuts from Wassem's Cider Mill. Yum!
Matthew and Cassie became instant best buddies. My favorite was when she referred to him as her "little brother."
The weather turned warm (for November) and sunny towards the end of the trip so we made a run to the park! Thanks for the visit Browns, who's coming next?

Waiting....

We are going home for Christmas this year for the first time in FOUR years. The anticipation is huge:) Christmas with family and snow capped mountains are not my only longings...check out these darling boys..

Baby Luke arrived in October, check out that shiny blond hair.

Baby Isaac arrived a few weeks ago...oh the cheeks.

And that's not ALL, My other sister Donna is ready to deliver Lucy's best friend any day! I couldn't post these pictures without including my baby, though not so little anymore:(

Soccer Stars

Charlie and Matthew both played peewee soccer this year and they both LOVED it! Thanks to great coaches and great weather!

Matthew just loved running around and I think he did end up scoring a few times.

Charlie loved scoring goals!

Halloween Sunday!

I was so worried about Halloween falling on a Sunday but it turns out my worries were for nothing. We had "enough" fun!

We started the weekend with trick-or-treating on main street. The chocolate dipped Oreos from Schockolad were the high-light for me:) We had a pumpkin, transformer and an Indian.

Charlie had a "fall party" (they don't celebrate any holidays at his school, lame, so PC) that I took Matthew too. Charlie loved showing off his siblings and even got a chair so Matthew could sit next to him.

The cutest pumpkin ever! Our ward hosted the BEST ward Halloween party EVER! There was a chili cook off, fresh donuts and cider from local places, and a trunk-or -treat. We all had a great time and the kids got a load of candy.

Thanks to a great neighbor who works at a local farm, we had FOUR pumpkins to carve! Matthew wanted an "Alligator" pumpkin. Can you guess which one is his?

These not only look cool but they were very tasty, a big thank you to Martha and the wonderful cupcake book! Our friends were kind enough to arrange a few hoses for our kids to trick-or-treat at on Saturday. They already had a ton of candy from the night before, so they seemed content just going to a few houses.
On Sunday we made this great haunted ginger bread house. I tried to maintain control at first but finally relinquished the reins and the kids took over. It turned out great!

Lucy is NINE months!

She claps! She climbs stairs! She doesn't sleep through the night anymore!:( She steals other babies toys and cheerios at church! She has THREE teeth! She snorts when she laughs! She loves the bathroom! She loves toilet paper! She is the queen of this house and we love her!