Acker Family: February 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Grace's Baptism!

What a wonderful weekend! Grandma and Grandpa Hayes came into town from St. George to celebrate Grace's baptism this weekend! The baptism was Saturday afternoon and she was a little nervous about all the attention! She was so grateful to be able to share her baptism with her friend Lindsey Bateman. There were lots of church members, family and friends who supported and attended their baptisms! Grace felt so great after, she asked if she could do it all again! Then we went to celebrate at Freddy's, which is quickly becoming an after baptism tradition! Sunday morning, during sacrament meeting, Grace was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Her daddy gave her a beautiful blessing! How wonderful to have a worthy, caring father to be able to perform these saving ordinances for her! Although we missed many friends and family members who were unable to attend, we know there were lots of thoughts of Grace this special weekend and we are so grateful to have such great support! Now Derek and I are off to South Carolina for a Chem-Dry convention! Have a great time with the kids G-ma and G-pa!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wichita Eagle at Thunder Hockey Night!

We advertise in the Wichita Eagle newspaper and work with a really cool guy named Brad! He invited our family to the Wichita Thunder Hockey game last night! We got to go to the VIP lounge before and have dinner(hot dogs and chips)! The kids thought it was pretty cool! They also had drawings for prizes and we won 4 out of the 6 prizes! Ha Ha! The hi-light of the night was when Thunder Dog came in and played around with the kids! He even took Isabella's soda and pretended to drink it! They loved it! The game was fun for some of us, but others only liked in between periods when the music was cranked and Thunder Dog would ride around on the ice with his 4-wheeler! The Eagle took these pictures for us and sent them over! It was a fun family night! Nice to know you are appreciated as an advertiser!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Bella looses her first tooth!

My sweet Bells had a tooth dangling for days! I finally bribed her with chocolate and was able to pull that tooth out(the new one is already coming in). So the next morning, we tried to take a picture and she was so sleepy(they catch the bus at 7:15am) that the poor thing could not get her eyes open! I was laughing so hard, so I had to post the pictures! We waited until she was more awake to get the last picture and she made sure her eyes were wide open!

Last Basketball Game!

Jaxson is playing on two teams this winter at the rec center! He loves basketball!!

His dad coaches the team which is his age group and he also plays with the older boys from church. Today his teacher from school came to see his last game, Spencer and Ryan from his class are also on the team! She's such a nice teacher! A few of his friends played on the opposing team, so they were happy to have this last victory!

Ryan, Jaxson, Mrs. Harrison and Spencer

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Valentine's gram!

Derek always makes a big deal that Valentine's Day should be no different than any other day of our life(yipee!;))..but I always want to do something extra to show him I love him. This year, I ordered him a singing telegram! Nothing amuses me more than seeing Derek in an uncomfortable situation, but deep down I know he wishes he could just enjoy the attention! He always can find a back or leg to rub when it gets really uncomfortable!! I thought about having them go to a basketball game that he coaches for Jaxson or show up at a carpet cleaning job, but I settled for home(he thanked me for that!) among his family and in privacy! I surprised the whole family and the kids were so stunned! They had been guessing all day what I was going to do, but everyone knew they had to be home by 5pm. I'm still figuring out my new camera and I can't find the sound button, so I'm so sorry you are not getting the true effect! Grace said, "I saw those old ladies and I didn't think it would be good, but they were awesome!" so...don't judge the voices by their age!

That evening, he gave me a new journal and a box of chocolates! Great gift Derek! I loved it and I love you! Here's to 10 more years of valentines day...everyday!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Another snow day!

I feel like we are living in Colorado again! We woke up to lots of wet, sticky snow and NO SCHOOL!!
Last snowfall was too dry to make anything so the kids excitedly built a snowman today with the wet snow!
I'm happy to go outside for a few pictures and then stay inside where it's warm and watch from the window! Grace told our new neighbor how I didn't like the cold and the snow and she said, "Oh really, where is your mom from?" .....Grace's reply, "Colorado!" Ha Ha...I look forward to the day we can move to a warmer climate YEAR ROUND!!! but until then...Enjoy the snow kids!!!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Soles for Souls

Thanks to my friend Brigette ( whose husband is down in Haiti as a translator) she shared an organization that is collecting shoes and jeans for the people in Haiti. Our family decided to participate and do what little part we could do from Wichita. We did some great early spring cleaning in our closets and in addition to shoes and jeans for Haiti, we found lots of unused items to pass on to neighbors!
Many of the shoes stores have boxes to collect the items donated. Last night, we drove our overflowing laundry basket of items to New Balance and the kids took in our donation! It's a lot easier to give away clothing knowing it is going to good use. I even had to sneak a few pair of newer jeans back into the kids closet because they were so anxious and willing to share!
I've found it so easy to focus on the tragedy that strikes around us when I had a wake up call to focus on the good that is being done and that I can participate in as well. Helps you to see the bigger picture in our existence in this life and feel the love of god as we come together as humans to help take care of one another!
If you'd like to be a part of Soles for Shoes, check out this website:

http://www.soles4souls.org/

A new pair distributed every 9 seconds
# of distributed shoes to date:
7,233,485

Funny moments in the Acker home!

Sooo many eggs were colored here on Easter and I am really into eggs right now. I was so excited to eat hard boiled eggs and cracked one of the colored eggs and it was raw! I guess Brock got excited and got into my fresh eggs too!

We were reading through these and Grace wanted me to tell the story of when she was about 6 and Jaxson 7 and I was pregnant with Brock and they had just learned about the birth canal and we were at a closing for a business loan with several professionals signing papers and Grace says, "ok I get how the baby comes out, but how does it get in there?" completely out of the blue.
A few weeks later, we were at the dentist (a good friend of ours) and he was looking at my root canal and Grace was watching very intently. After a while she exclaims, "How does the baby fit through there??" Ha Ha...that was quite the explanation to the Dentist and hygenist!
Jaxson wants us all to make sure we remember Brock's last and most memorable imaginary friend was and sometimes still is Orange, that lives in Mississippi where he swims in the pool and drinks hot chocolate(must be memories from our Mississippi/New Orleans trip and hot coco in the French quarters). Brock is now moving up to real friends, his first pre-school at the YMCA, his best friend was a little girl names Erin. Now he is at pre-k at Earhart and just can't get enough of Sara Bull!!
Derek was gone this week and Grace had state assessments every day but Friday so we all were really diligent in getting to bed early and up early for a good healthy breakfast! The kids must have seen it was taking a toll on me because they kept telling me, "Mom, it will be all worth it Friday morning, we have a surprise planned for you to help you relax since you have been working so hard this week." After Grace did amazingly well with a 93% on her tests, Friday morning came and went and they were actually more grumbly than normal. After they got home from school I asked them what happened to my "surprise". They told me they were going to get ready on their own, let me sleep in and make me breakfast in bed before they left for school, but I didn't wake them up early enough...ha ha! Well, I guess it's the thought that counts! LOL!

I tend to burn the most calories on my elliptical when I watch biggest loser while I work out and Brock is never far from me playing with his toys. He woke up one morning and said he had a dream about biggest loser and he was 16 pounds!! ha ha...he picks up more than I realize I guess!!

Grace came home from school saying she got the melted hershey award? When she took out the certificate, we realized it was the Milton Hershey award(founder of Hersey's chocolate) and it was given to her for being the most generous, nominated by teachers! Way to go Grace!

Brock looked at me the other day and said, "Mom, I love you", then he looked up and said, "Jesus, thank you for making my mom!" awww

Kids are all playing a game downstairs and I hear Bella yell, "The ghost is clear", Jaxson says to her, "It's the COAST is clear" and in her know-it-all voice she says, "No, it's the GHOST because it means you can go because there are no ghosts around anymore!" So Junie B. Jones that girl is!

Isabella is a very good student, not at all interested in the social aspect of school like Grace. Each they start at a color and work their way up through 5 colors, with purple being the highest. Only once in the the first year and a half did she come home with the second color and that was because I forgot to put her homework back in after checking it, every other time it's been purple. So, today Isabella comes home telling us what a mean substitute teacher they had and she tried really hard to be extra nice so the teacher would be nicer, but said it didn't work. She then explained that the teacher gave her a green(second highest color) but when I looked at her paper she had colored in purple. When I asked her why, she said she knew the teacher had meant to give her purple, so she made the change for the sub!
"I may be small, but I'm still the boss" (t-shirt from daddy)

Grace was riding in the car with friends on her way home from achievement days and they were all discussing what they wanted for Christmas and all the kids were naming expensive electronics etc. and after being asked what Grace wants, in her very timid, high pitched voice, she says, "All I want for Christmas is a pair of shoes"! Sweet girl! As a side note, she has plenty of shoes and has requested many other items already, but the shoes are one item I didn't like...so she's pushing that now!

When Sophie first got here, Brock was really giggly and the kids said, "Do you think Sophie's cute?" and he emphatically says, "NO!!"...and then a few moments later he says, "I think she's beautiful!"

Signs of having an older sibling!!

-I scored a great parking place at preschool today and Brock said, "You Rock mom!"

-Brock says, "Mom, I love you, you know why? Cuz you're hot!" (then he lays he cheek on my arm)-"See..touch your arm, it's hot!"

-I was painting the bathroom and leaning over and Brock says, "Mom, your bum looks like a hippos!!"

None of my kids have been into imaginary friends until Brock! Poor kid is alone all day while his siblings are at school so he has come up with many friends and it cracks me up to hear him having conversations with them! His first friend for many weeks was Wagon, then after awhile Watermelon joined him. They both live in Heaven by Jesus! Just this week he has added two more, they are Dorn(door), Penny! All boys, but Penny is a girl! He is such a funny boy with such a creative imagination and I want to make sure we remember these things long after he's advanced on!:)

Yesterday driving home from stake conference Brock says to me out of the blue, "Mom, you have the same backside as Grandma!" Everyone laughed, but me, I was a little curious exactly what he meant as I questioned him and then he pointed to my hands and said, "that backside of your hand looks like Grandmas!" Ha ha, we all got a chuckle, not sure if that's any better or worse, I'd really rather not any front or back side of any of me looks like any grandma!!

When something would scare Brock he used to say, "that freaks me out", well he must have heard us using the word scare instead of freak lately because now he says, "that scares me out!"

When Derek encourages me to go out for the evening, there is usually a price to pay...disaster tends to strike when dad's in charge. So last night was my monthly book group and I came home to a clean and quiet house! I was so thrilled and jumped in to snuggle in bed with Derek and asked him about what seemed to be an uneventful night. Like it was no surprise to him he calmly says, "Brock locked us all inside his room (yes we have his lock on backwards for emergencies) and after trying to break down the door, Bells finally came up with a solution. We took off the screen and I lowered the kids out of the window." Pause..."Derek, did you get the screen back on?"..."Kris, I saved that for you!" Well, I guess putting a screen on is easier than putting 4 kids to bed or cleaning up after one of their typical moms gone parties!! No wonder the kids think he is so cool!!

Brock is laying in bed crying out our names and Derek and I kept telling him to go to bed! After repeating our names and in full tears for a few minutes this was our conversation:

mom-What do you need Brock?

Brock- A towel

mom- You have your bath towel hanging in your room

Brock- That's too big for me!

mom-What do you need a towel for?

Brock- To cry into..I need a little towel to cry into!

dad to mom- What kind of things do you teach him during the day?

mom to dad- I have no idea where he came up with that!

So dad takes him in a little hand towel...

Brock- Thanks dad!

He buries his face in the towel and goes to sleep!

Derek and I don't know if we should laugh or cry! He is too sweet!

Grace and I have been sick in bed for a couple days now and we've had lots of good talks and snuggles! Today she was talking about having more brothers and sisters and I asked her why she thought I would have more and she looked at me surprised and said, "why, ...are you retired?" LOL!

Grace came home from school saying that her homework was to show me her "Reverence Book", I was a little surprised and curious to see what the school was teaching her about reverence. So she hands me a math book and I'm trying to make sense out of it and under Mathematics it says "Reference Book" ha ha...I explained to her the difference, I wonder how she was putting it together this whole time...how confusing is language!

After cheerleading practice, Grace informs us that the cheer coaches(teenagers) said if they get in trouble or fight at school or at home that the parents can tell the coaches and they will make them run extra laps. Then she said, "They can't get up in our business like that, don't ever tell them if I do anything wrong!" She is so cute!

After the kids got home from school, I was super tired and just sat down on the floor by the wall to fill out some papers and Grace came walking around the corner and said in the most surprised voice, "Why are YOU in timeout?" LOL...reminds me of something I said when I was little with Dad sitting in my timeout spot!

Last night at football/cheerleading practice, Derek and I sat in the car watching the other kids and Brock stayed in his car seat watching a movie. As we were talking Brock yells out, "shut-up", we thought we heard him wrong but he kept yelling it. So Derek gives him a little lecture on that is not a nice thing to say and we continue talking. Then after a moment he yells, "shut-up please" as we try and keep ourselves from smiling too much I turn the volume up a little and he says, "thank you", then I realized he might have been saying, "turn up" this whole time. I guess we'll see when he uses it again! LOL

So after cheerleading practice one day grace says, "I little(yes she says the t's) mama, she is so cute" (Grace is one of the very few white girls!) and few days later Grace asks me if she can have a nick name, sure of coarse, what do you want? And she says with a smile, "lil' mama"? She's got it down now!!

So after football practice this week, Jaxson says, " I feel like some fried(carry that out) chicken"! Ha, we never eat fried chicken...again, he is one of few white kids on his team!! Funny what they pick up.

Reminds me, when Jaxson was in Pre-K, he was the minority and came home from school one day asking me why he doesn't get to watch BET!!(Black Entertainmant Television!)