Before I talk about Jesse...

What a crazy weekend we have had! Yes, today is Jesse's birthday and he is being spoiled rotten today. But I need to spend today's post catching you up on the weekend activities and my next post will be Jesse focused!

On Saturday, Asher was baptized by our Pastor at Broadlands Community Church. Even though he accepted Jesus into his heart a few years ago (as well as Anna and Jesse), we didn't want to push them to be baptized until they understood the decision and what it meant with their walk with the Lord. We were thrilled that Asher believed it was his time and we knew through many discussions that this was a step he understood and truly wanted to make. What a blessing to witness the pure joy on his face! His testimony was that he wanted to be baptized so that he could be closer to God and he wants to obey God. Then he ran to the baptismal! Afterwards we enjoyed Carrot Cake at home (Asher's favorite) and Jesse was very worried about why I was making a cake for Asher and not him...

Way to go Asher! We are so proud of you!

Then on Sunday, I ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Yes, I have already run a lot of races this season but this was the one all the others were working up towards. I have been dreaming about this race for a year and had time goals in mind! It was an amazing event. Joel even took a day off and spent the day in Georgetown with me enjoying all the expo festivities.

Yes, that is my name on the wall!

We had an amazing date day including eating at our favorite restaurant "Farmer's, Fisher's, and Baker's" and cupcakes at "Georgetown Cupcakes".

My name even lit up on the wall when I walked into the expo!

Race Day! 15,000 women (and a few men). 

The route was amazing...around the capitol, all along the DC monuments, over the Arlington bridge, and through a tunnel twice with drums going to motivate you. The race was so well organized with lots of entertainment. I LOVED it!

 And waiting at the finish line were these men with my finisher's medal...a Tiffany necklace engraved with the Nike swoosh, and the race name and date!

Also waiting for me at the finish line were my amazing family! My husband who never misses a chance to support my passion. I met my race goal with a time of a Personal Record of 1:45.02. I couldn't be more pleased! It hurt, it was hard, but I still love the sport all the same and will do another :).

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I see Joel smiling from ear to ear, my kids cheering, and Jesse screams "Mommy we need to go buy my birthday presents!". I think Jesse was very concerned that we had forgotten him in all this activity of Asher and Me...but he is not forgotten. He woke this morning to balloons and streamers, Cookie Crisp for breakfast, dinner planned for him, and yes presents wrapped on the counter. My next blog will feature him and his party planned for later this week. 

HAPPY EASTER!

As you can see from my last post, we spent the week leading up to Easter with our good friends The Libby's. That means they got dragged into all our pre-Easter traditions dying eggs and making peep dioramas.

Dying Eggs

Explaining the peep dioramas takes lot of pictures so please stay with me! A shout out to Grandma Leslie Thorson who started this tradition for us 4 years ago! Since we had 8 children, we divided them into teams so we wouldn't be eating cake for the rest of the month. Each set of 2 got their own cake to decorate with a scene of the Easter story of their choosing. It was great fun watching the creativity and trying to figure out what each one was planning. As the older 2 boys started attaching Oreos to pretzels and marshmallows we were all a bit confused but then we were blown away with their presentation.

 Asher and Caleb's cake: Palm Sunday - Jesus riding the donkey over the palm branches (the fruit roll up and jelly beans) with all the people shouting praises. 

 Jesse and Josiah did Jesus dying on the cross, complete with the thief's crosses on either side, a crown of thorns on His head, and soldiers with spears. (Oh and I can not forget the torches...jelly beans on top of pretzels)

Hannah and Anna did Jesus rising out of the tomb (made of a circle of Oreos). The green jellybeans on top of pretzels are trees! HHmmm, I think Hannah has some candy in those cheeks of hers!

And I can not leave out Josie who got to do here own cake (since her and Jonas were not always friends). Not sure what her story was but she did keep saying "Jesus"!

 Easter morning our church had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Do you see all those eggs?! All our kids buckets were overflowing!

 At one point Josie said "I don't want anymore eggs!"

 The egg hunt at Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Pat's house was a bit more challenging.

The Easter bunny is quite sneaky there!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebrating that Jesus is alive! What an amazing sacrifice for each one of us and because He lives, we can live this life filled with peace, hope, and joy. We pray our kids get that understanding with each passing day and in despite of some of our sillier traditions. As we were heading to church Easter morning, Anna said "Now what holiday is it that we plant magic jelly beans?" WHOOPS! Oh well, Jesus still LIVES!

Cherry Blossoms Time!

Our favorite time in DC is cherry blossom time! Of course it is everyone else's favorite time to visit too so enjoying DC at this time often involves lots of crowds. But as long as you accept this fact and face it, it is well worth the trip! However, I thought maybe I could avoid some crowds by signing up for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run which has a route designed for the runner to enjoy such an amazing site.

However do our amazingly long and cold winter, the cherry blossoms were late blooming so this was the only tree I saw with blooms during the 1:20.51 minute run (Yes another PR for me!!). This tree was at the finish line. So still a great run, but disappointing. However just 6 days later...this is what they looked like...

A site that NEVER gets old!

We were super blessed this spring time because we got to enjoy with our friends, the Libby family from the Boston area. They are lifelong friends who are staying with us for a week. It has been fun being tourists with them (and we aren't done yet!).

 We became friends with the Libby's during our pre-kid stage. Now we have 8 kids between the 2 families! Made for quite an adventure in a crowded city-lots of stroller bumping, dirty looks from other tourists, potty detours (including port a potties with no toilet paper and one in the corner of a parking garage!), and counting off kids. Needless to say we all crashed at home and ordered pizza once we got there. The kids were such troopers and have paired off into amazing friends. Well, Josie and Jonas (the 2 youngest) do NOT get along. Josie keeps calling him "that baby" and they fight like an old married couple!

 After 2 years living near DC, this is the first time the reflecting pool has been open! It was awesome.

 The boys.

 The girls. 

Hannah Libby keeps having trouble remembering Anna's time. LOL.

Besties.

 The trip allowed for our kids first metro ride...they were beyond ecstatic. Us parents maybe not quite so much. We were squished like sardines and Asher's hands were literally black after he was done touching EVERYTHING. 

And I just have to leave you with this...taming the Thorson's is never easy but it sure is fun and makes for quite and adventure!