Pixtons Feb 2015

I see that we are all trying to be better at posting--that's my goal for this year too.  I know I've tried for the past 2 months, but I couldn't log in for some reason and so I easily gave up.  But today I got it all figured out!  Yeah for me!!  I am seriously technologically handicapped!!

So, we had a wonderful Christmas too.  We made our Roladen, acted out the nativity,  and did lots of fun Christmas things.  For New Years Eve we had a movie, game, wii marathon.  It was great and we finally watched the last disk of the "Avatar-The Last Airbender" movies.  My kids were just introduced to them in the fall and fell in love with them  So we have now seen all 3 books.  Here we are seeing the lights at the Washington D.C. Temple.

I had a birthday and turned 39--I can't wait until next year when I hit the bit 40! 

We have had a lot of snow for us this year and it's been really cold.  The kids only had  4 hours of school all of last week because of Pres. Day, 2 snow days, one delay, and one day off because it was so cold (it dropped below 0 degrees).  We also had today off because of the snow.  It really makes a mess of the roads and the commute out here.  But it's been fun to have so many days at home.  The kids love playing LEGOS together from Alex down to Julia.  They make villages and make up games with all kinds of trading, swapping, etc.  They spend hours down there at the lego table.  It's fun to see!  Here is Alex with one of this little village homes--notice the garden and flowering vines growing up the wall.  The roof is removeable and it is set up into rooms inside.  Don't ask me about the dot on his forehead--it's just Alex.

During the snow days, Rachel and Isaac also finished their latch hook projects that we bought for our road trip last year to Utah. 

And of course they played in the snow and build a tunnel ....

Isaac and Caleb raced in the pine wood derby races.  We are just keeping up with daily life.  Caleb bought himself a Chinese dwarf hamster which he named Nevil.  He painted his car to look like Nevil.

We are redoing our basement.  We originally tore off the ceiling with plans to add a room down there for Alex.  But days before the walls went up, I changed my mind--Mom's are allowed to do that.  So all three boys will still share a room upstairs and now we are just going to put a ceiling in downstairs (it had a really low panel ceiling before) and maybe some new carpet--as long as the tax return money goes that far.  :)  Here are Isaac and Alex helping take the wall and ceiling down...

Let's see... Isaac earned his Arrow of Light and will cross over into 11 year old scouts in a few weeks.  He auditioned for the school musical and got a speaking part.  It was a very small production, but he had a great time.

Isaac is on the back row on the far right...

Rachel just finished her YW personal progress and hopes to get her medalian in church next week.  She wants to earn it twice so she is eager to start it all over again.  She also got her braces off last week.  She is loving that!! 

Before....

After.....

She also played volleyball and basketball with the YW at church and loved its!!


Alex fractured his toe playing soccer in the gym after scouts.  He wore a cast with his school colors and  paw prints for the Lake Ridge Wolves. 

Julia and I are still  having fun doing our own little preschool.  We actually only get to once in a while, but it is enough for her to feel like she doing something fun.  Here are her Artic animals that all start with "P"...

Okay, well that is enough for now.  We do think of you and love you even though I am so bad at keeping in touch. 

Please tell everyone hello from us. 

Love,

The Pixtons

Barnards Feb 2015

Merry Christmas! Better late than never, right? We had a great holiday. We had our traditional Christmas Eve Chicken Cordon Bleu dinner and program with the missionaries.

In December, our stake put together a nativity event for the community. I was in charge of the children's room. We had crafts, coloring pages, costumes and a photo booth. It was a lot of work, but so worth it.

This new year has been just as busy as the last. The kids are continuing to grow and do great things. Emisha found out she is one of 5 freshmen who made it into select next year. Select is the highest/best singing group in the school (comparable to madrigals.) The group is amazing and has a great reputation for how good they are. She is so excited.
Abby joins the rank of teenager this Friday. Yes, we will have 2 teenagers in our house. She is very excited.
Matthew won his middle school National Geaographic Goegraphy bee. He competed against 6th, 7th and 8th graders. He is on the schools Science Olympiad team as well and will go to competition this month. He was asked to be the piano player for jazz band next year. Go Matthew.
Blake is super busy getting ready for woodbadge. He is the quartermaster for the course. And, he is training for 3 50 mile bike races this spring. I go riding with him when the weather is okay, but it sure is hard to keep up with him.
I was released as cub master and am now the primary chorister (again.)

Happy Valentine's Day from Matthew and the rest of the crew!

Original Ackermanns Feb. 2015

     Tyler wants me to send some pictures so I thought I'd better write on the blog.  Dad is keeping busy with his new job. As with any new job there is a lot to learn and a lot to do.  He is already making some changes and they seem to be liked especially by the missionaries and the volunteers.
     I am trying to make some sense out of all the pictures and papers that Oma Elli left in my care.  I'm actually beginning to understand some things and make some connections.  Opa did some genealogy before he came to America and left some good information. I'm trying to figure things out.......not an easy task! I've been able to put together new information and find a couple mistakes.  The bug has hit and I'm pretty excited about what I'm finding.  (I also know this is what I should be doing)
    Yesterday (Valentine's Day) we spent most of the day at Tyler's volleyball games. He came away with a gold medal which he is pretty excited about.  A picture that was taken of Tyler last summer at scout camp is going to be used by the Division of Wildlife Resources on the back of their brochure. He is also pretty excited about that.

 LOVE  YOU ,
Dad, Mom and Tyler