It's great to be eight!

Two days after his eighth birthday Trevor was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a really big day and he was very excited.  He put quite a bit of time and effort into helping me plan the program, carefully selecting who he wanted to give talks, prayers, and music.  It was extra special to have Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Wally with our family and to participate in Trevor's baptism.  We forgot to get a picture of Trevor in his baptism clothes but got some good pictures of him and the family afterward.    We completed the day by having pizza movie dinner and root beer floats (Trevor's pick!)

 

Pirate Party

The birthday pirate!

I found some cute pirate food ideas online and after doing some prep work I left Michaela to create.  She did an awesome job!

Croissant crabs

Octopus Dip

The highlight of the party was the Treasure hunt.  Jeremiah put a lot of time into creating the treasure map and burying the treasure.

The boys loved that they each got to take turns digging up the buried treasure.

They then got to divide the spoils (chocolate coins)

 Trevor said it was the best day ever so I'm guessing it was a success.  It was wild and noisy with eight boys running around but lots of fun!

Our weekend away

With Jeremiah's parents coming into town for two weeks Jeremiah and I jumped at the chance to get away for a few days and the kids got to spend some one-on-one time with Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Wally.  We took off for the Berkshires Thursday morning and enjoyed visiting museums, hiking, shopping at outlet stores, eating out, and having endless hours to talk uninterrupted.  

We loved the Norman Rockwell museum.  Amazing artist and it was really neat to learn more about his life and accomplishments. 

Funny how this one reminded both of us of our boys!

The weather was great and we loved getting some hiking in.  Mt. Greylock was a very steep and challenging climb but so worth it!

We had fun driving around the area and seeing the sights and came across the Tanglewood which is the summer home of the Boston Pops.  The grounds were beautiful and full of huge twisted trees.

We visited the Hancock Shaker Museum one afternoon and saw lots of baby animals.

Our last hike was on Washington Mountain.  Beautiful day but very soggy trails to navigate.

We had a great four days away and were glad to be heading back to our children.  It was great to have their hugs again and hear about their adventures while we were away.