April 2023

 We knew that starting in March, our weeks and weekends were going to get even crazier. We had something really big every single weekend for 6 weeks and then slightly less big things every single weekend until the first week of June! It got a little crazy. But we started off April right by watching General Conference together. Don't they look like they are being spiritually fed? Ha ha!

McKenna frequently had big rat's nests in her hair and it was getting ridiculous. I spent probably 30 mins trying to brush out one and told her we were chopping her hair again because I didn't want to keep doing this. So she went from this

to this! 

Luckily she seems to really like having short hair even though her hair can grow crazy fast and it's really pretty and thick.

Mom came out a few days before everyone else to spend some extra time with the girls on our spring break. Of course our girls can never get enough of Grandma and she is so fun with them and is so interested in everything they do. She is the best! She took Brooklyn and Kaylee birthday shopping, we went on walks, she took the girls to the pet store, we dyed Easter eggs, and played lots of games!

Dad and Sharon flew in at almost the same time so we picked them up at the airport and then stopped to show them the renovated temple. That night, we also took them to Batelle-Darby Creek Metro Park and had fun watching the bison and exploring the nature center. We also did a short walk out to a lookout point where we could see how big the park was.

The next day we started prepping for the baptism and also for Holly's family to come. Most of us went to Costco and Richard took his mom and Brooklyn to Menard's. Holly got here a little after lunch and we walked over to Frank's park to let the kids get some energy out and then that night we took them to Handel's for delicious ice cream!

The next morning was Brooklyn's baptism. The font apparently had a leak in it and so even though my dad got there two hours early to fill it up, it was barely reaching the first stair by the time we came. We tried everything we could think of and got it slightly higher by the time the baptism started but we knew it would be tricky. Mom gave a talk on baptism and talked about how we become like Christ when we keep the covenants we make. Brooklyn had to lay down for the baptism and twice her feet popped up so they had to do it again. The third time, we had her kneel and Richard finally got all of her under the water! I know it wasn't ideal and I think it bothered Brooklyn a little bit but she was a trooper. Then Holly gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and talked about the different ways that we can feel the Spirit and how that shows that God knows us individually and speaks to us in a way that we can understand. After that, Kaylee, McKenna, Madeline and Emery sang I Am A Child of God and then we heard a few words from the Primary President and the Bishop. It was a great baptism and we were grateful that people were able to come even though a lot of our friends were out of town for Easter. 

After the baptism, we did an Easter egg hunt at the church and Mom gave them some fun toys to play with. On Friday, we had gone to Walmart and broke up into pairs and gave each pair $20 to pick out some fun activities to put in a pack to give to a children's hospital. McKenna saw a little purse sitting on a shelf that didn't have a tag or anything on it and picked it up. She opened it up and saw a VISA gift card in there. Mom assumed it didn't have any money left on it but decided to call anyway. We found out there was $100 on it! We tried to be honest and took it to the customer service desk but they told us there was no way to find the person who it belonged to and they would hold it for a little bit but then just cut it up. We decided to put it to good use and use it for our service project! We did wait one day and called Walmart again just in case someone else claimed it, which nobody did. So we went to Sam's Club and broke up into different pairs and let everyone use $20 of the gift card to pick out snacks to make snack packs for the adults who stay in the Ronald McDonald house. It was such a fun activity and the kids loved putting the snack packs together! They were great helpers. 

After church on Sunday, the Andreason's left and we headed downtown to drop our projects off at the Ronald McDonald house. 

Then we walked on the Scioto Mile and enjoyed some sunshine. 

The next day, we got to take everyone hyperbowling but then we mostly just hung out here and played games and went on a walk and dad fixed some things around the house for us. Mom and Dad left early the next morning and we had Sharon around for two more days. Unfortunately, the kids were back in school but Richard and I got to chat with her during the day and take her out to lunch. 

Spring sports started up again the week after the baptism. Kaylee tried out track for the first time and decided to learn hurdles! She also ran the mile and sometimes the 800. 

McKenna started up soccer again and was excited to know all of the girls on her team already from last season, even though most of the boys had changed.

Kaylee applied to be a volunteer at the library for the summer reading program. She had to go in and do a short interview with the two librarians who will be over the volunteers. She did a great job and found out that she was accepted! She can't wait to start when school gets out. 

Kaylee and McKenna also got to have a special opportunity to go on a private tour of the temple with the youth and the temple presidency talked to them about each room and a lot of details about the temple. 

We also got to celebrate Kaylee at the Panther awards night at her school where she was honored for her grades. She works really hard in school and we are very proud of how much she gives it her all and really tries to learn and not just pass a class. 

Richard had the unpleasant job of cleaning up some poison ivy in our backyard and tried to be careful but still ended up with a lot of very itchy spots on his arms and legs. Poor guy was pretty miserable for a few weeks!

We had some cool opportunities to help with the temple openhouse. Richard signed up to do overnight security with his friend, Jared Crossley! They stayed in the church in the same parking lot and were supposed to walk around the temple grounds about once an hour to make sure everything was ok. Luckily it was raining really hard so there wasn't much chance of anyone coming to do damage that night.

Kaylee and McKenna signed up to help on the week before it was open to the public (the VIP week). There was a miscommunication and a lot of the youth ended up not being able to help so we were extra grateful that we could participate. We helped with putting on and off the little booties everyone has to wear before going into the temple but there wasn't a lot of people so we got a lot of time to just sit in the lobby where it was quiet and peaceful and then we also got another private tour from a counselor in the temple presidency afterwards. 

The next day, I went in the morning to help with the temple openhouse food. I couldn't believe how much food they had! They had a huge table with a variety of foods and it was changed throughout the day to be more breakfast, lunch, or dinner type foods. The VIPs would get their private tour from one of the general authorities who came and then they would go back to the nicely decorated gym and could eat and ask questions. It was really fun to help!

The last thing we did in April was go to McKenna and Brooklyn's piano recital! It was Brooklyn's first one and she did a great job. McKenna always has her pieces memorized but usually gets too nervous and uses her music anyway. She was the oldest one there and did an amazing job playing her song!

March 2023

 Our friends, the Crossley's wanted to go on a temple trip to Indianapolis and invited us to come. I told them I would stay home with Brooklyn and their two girls who weren't old enough and the rest of them could go. I was worried about how the day would go because I would basically be babysitting for 12 hours starting at 5 am! Luckily they are very good and get along with Brooklyn great. They decided to have a tea party and spent hours in the morning planning and making everything for the party. They decided all of the food, decorated the table and made signs and banners and paper flowers. They did a great job and it was super fun! Everyone else had a great experience at the temple and Richard even took the kids to a pet store and let the Crossley adults do a session since it had been so long since they had been able to go.

That night, the ward hosted a Primary talent show. Some kids brought things they had done and others performed live. Brooklyn was a little nervous to do it by herself so she got together with her friend Abby and made up this gymnastics routine. They did an amazing job and I was very proud of them for working hard on it and being brave to do it in front of everyone.

The next week I got to go to the Indianapolis temple by myself! It was a weird experience to go there by myself but I was grateful I got to go.

The next day we to a city event called We Are Hilliard. People from all different countries and backgrounds put together tables to represent them. It was really fun to learn about all the different cultures we have represented here and thought it was well done.

That night, Kaylee had her birthday party and decided to do another late night. We got Chick-Fil-A nuggets and fries again and she had a lot of fun with her friends.

We celebrated her real birthday early because on her actual birthday she had track practice and then by the time she got home, I had to leave to get Brooklyn to gymnastics and before we get home, Richard would leave to teach his class! Mondays got a little crazy for us this semester! 

I found this idea for an FHE lesson online and thought it was such a cute idea. I changed it a little bit to make it more personal and it ended up meaning so much to me. We have been doing lessons on baptism or the Holy Ghost to get Brooklyn ready for her baptism. I took a picture of Brooklyn and put it into a clear plastic folder. We talked about how after getting baptized, Brooklyn will be perfect and clean. But then she will come home and yell at her sister and we would make a mark with a dry erase marker on her. We kept coming up with things that Brooklyn might do to mess up and then we would draw on her face. The girls had a lot of fun drawing a mustache and horns, etc. on Brooklyn's face. Then we talked about how now Brooklyn has all these marks on her that she can't get rid of. But if she will turn to Christ and repent, he can erase all of those mistakes and sins and leave her clean and pure again. As we wiped off the picture, I got emotional seeing her little face under there smiling so happy! It was a good lesson for me, whether or not the kids ever remember it.

Kaylee got nominated by one of her teachers for a Panther Pride award. This is an award that each teacher gives to one student each quarter who they think are representing good qualities and working hard. They invited each kid and their parents to come before school for donuts and coffee and chat with the teacher who nominated them. We are so proud of how hard she works!

Brooklyn wanted a Harry Potter party for her birthday which I was not going to complain about! I made a brick wall for platform 9 3/4, Monster Book of Monsters to hand out and decorated the house with floating candles and all of our HP gear. Brooklyn made signs for each section of the house where we were going to do the different classes. When the kids first got to our house, we did a photo booth with the brick wall and whatever accessories they wanted. Then we had a sorting ceremony. We put a walkie-talkie into a witch hat and Kaylee was on the other end. We would loudly say that the next person was ready for their sorting and then she would tell them what house they were in. Then we played a game where they had one person in the middle blindfolded and everyone else would switch spots. Then we would pass around Hedwig until the person in the middle said stop. Then, the person holding Hedwig would make an owl sound and the person in the middle had to guess who it was. The kids were a little crazy and energetic so we changed some plans and decided to do a scavenger hunt outside so they could run around. We gathered up everything we had in the house that could be considered a magical creature and Richard and Kaylee hid them in the back yard and the kids had to find them. We bought brown clay and cut out green paper leaves and had them create Mandrakes for Herbology. They did a Harry Potter workout video to try to get more energy out and then we made slime for Potions class. We also did Divination with food coloring in their drinks and gave them all a fortune to match the color of drink they got. Unfortunately, Brooklyn's one friend who loves Harry Potter couldn't come and most of the other kids didn't know anything about it. So it was probably way more fun for me than it was for them but Brooklyn had a blast so that's all that matters!

I got to do a really special experience to help with the temple. They needed help opening boxes, ironing, folding, labeling, and hanging up temple clothes. I was there for about 3 hours and it was so nice to be in the temple when it was so quiet and serve. They also gave us our own private tour after we were done and I loved seeing all the new artwork they hung up and some details about the work that had been done. 

It was hard to find time to celebrate Brooklyn's birthday as well since almost every night is busy now. But we found time to work in her presents and a birthday treat at least and I took her out to dinner after her gymnastics class. Since she had a big bday party and we had people coming out for her baptism in two weeks, I didn't feel too bad. We love our cute 8 year old!