How did you take those photos?

My sis in law told me today that she went on our blog to check up on us because she knows how busy we get and she wanted an update. She figured we must have been extra busy lately because the blog wasn't recently updated.
Well, here it is.
My friend Noel thought it would be fun to go to Forest Park Zoo. It is a super small zoo, but they do have some exotic animals. Always important is that the kids enjoy it so much.
So below, we have some type of primate:

Here the kids are facinated because the leopard is eating baby ducks. They sounded very crunchy,
An armadillo who needs his blankey washed,
Caleb is posing with a nasty snake,
Melisa is showing Caleb how fun it is to feed the animals... he is sliding it under his mouth,

Zach.....ary is taking a nap,
Noel is also showing her son Holden how much fun it is to feed the goats. Yes, she is wrestling Holden there a little,
Melisa attemps to wrestle Aalyia as well but, Aalyia outsmarted her and threw her cracker at the alpaca. Yes, the alpaca has stepped back and Aalyia feels she has done her part. It's not her fault if the alpaca doesn't know how to dive,
Group photo,
Here is Bobby going for the last swim with the chitlins' before closing the pool. It was a sad summer because it didn't really get used until late July, August.



I can't believe I put two of the same photos here!!!! That's okay, Bobby likes the attention,

Last but not least, is little Zach......ary. He's about 10 pounds now. How cute!!!!!!!!!!! We are loving him up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So there is our update. Oh by the way, I forgot to share that all these photos were taken with my new digital camera that my amazing hubby bought for me! Finally! I am digital.

Gluttoney at the Ackerman house

Mercedes favorite food in the whole world is breakfast. Anything breakfast. Anytime, anywhere. French toast and bacon are on the top of the list.
A few years ago we had the missionaries over for dinner and I decided to make french toast because it would go a long way. Elders Walker and Bueler were over and we commented on how Mercedes eats many slices in one shot. We are not talking about the sad, thin slices of sandwich bread. We are talking Texas toast. Thick and big. The elders challenged her to an informal contest. Mercedes ate 9 slices with toppings, bacon and eggs. They were very impressed. She was tied at 9.
Fast forward to today and Mercedes can still eat. Elder Mower and Kreutzer were over for dinner a few weeks ago and we again had French toast. Mercedes was at Six Flags that night with her aunt and cousin so she missed Elder Mower breaking her record at 10 with hashbrowns, bacon, scrambled eggs,and toppings. Oh, and about a gallon of orange juice. Well, Mercedes was impressed but she didn't take the news laying down. I told her she had to reclaim her title and we set up a French toast challenge for the 12th. My sister and her family joined us that evening along with the Flowers.
The following pictures chronicle the evening. I'm sorry the pictures are out of order, but it is hard to organize them once they are here... unless there's a way I'm not familiar with(I'm sure there is.)












I thought it would be fun to offer a prize, shake things up a bit since we had such an interest. We got a $20 gift card to Golden Corral as the grand prize. Even the little ones got in on the fun. Aalyia and Kaleigh tied at 4 slices each. They beat out Laura Flowers at a whopping 2 slices. Brice was done at 5, Bobby at 6, Roci at 7! The top 3 runner ups were Eli and Mercedes at 11, Elder Mower at 12 and Elder Kreutzer at an unbelievable 15! Mind you there were roasted potatoes, quiche, thick bacon, stawberries and drinks that everyone had to eat as well. No one threw up, though Eli was close when he tried for 12.
The video was much more entertaining, but it's not digital. Sorry. Who would have thought you could have so much fun with food??? By the way, I made 95 slices of French toast for this contest. Elder Kreutzer ate a whole loaf himself.
My sister made four quiches. We had 2 packages of thick sliced bacon, 2 quarts of strawberries and 5.5 lbs. of potatoes. Holy cow.

Feeling dumb

I went on a date with my hubby last night to see 'All about Steve'. It was funny. Rental funny.( That's how I rate my movies. Whether they are worth the $10 or if they would have been better enjoyed at home for a $1 or better yet for free from the library.)I put my phone on vibrate during the movie and forgot to take it off. No big deal right? Wrong!
Never have your phone on vibrate when you are watching someone's house. My friend asked me to check on her house while they are out of town. 'No problem', I say, 'I can watch your house for you!'
Apparently, my friend's alarm went off at 4:00am. Her FIRE alarm. So there I am snoozing away, clueless to the fact that ADT has been trying to reach me and so has she!
The first thing I do every morning before getting out of bed is check the weather on my phone. You can imagine my shock when I see missed phone calls and missed messages on my phone. As I'm scrolling through them I start to panic. Oh great, I think, some friend I am.
I jump out of bed and dress very quickly debating on whether to call her before or after I get back from checking her house. I mean, man, talk about feeling dumb!!!!
"OH no problem, I can watch your house for you!"
So, I race out of the house and by then I've mustered the courage to call her and explain what happen. She tells me that she gave the fire department the code for her house so they could get in through her garage and they've checked it out and it was a false alarm. She said she did appreciate that I was going over to check and if I could reset everything while I'm there. She did also say she was happy that I was able to sleep since it was a false alarm. Hmmm...
In the meantime I'm thinking, what a loser I am. What if it hadn't been a false alarm? What if she hadn't been able to let them in the house? What if they had to smash the front door or windows to get in? Of course, none of that happened but I like to torture myself with the what if's. Growing up, that's what we focused on. Not the good outcome, but the horrid images of what COULD have gone wrong. We'd spend days and weeks, 'What if...?'It was like an olympic event.
SO! That was my Saturday morning. Wondering if I am as good of a friend as I'd like to think I am. "Oh don't worry, you can count on me, I'll watch your house, NO PROBLEM!"

Yeager update...

I called my sister this morning to see how the kids are adjusting to their new baby brother.
Things sounded very chaotic in the background with Caleb being the loudest. My sister sounded tense to say the least.
I asked how things were going and she said they were crazy. I asked if Caleb warmed up to his brother Zachary and she said that he's been saying that the baby wants his mommy and that his mommy is lost. I thought that was funny. So he's in denial. Poor kid is confused.
When Mercedes was born and she had been home a few days, Gage asked me when we were taking her back to the hospital. I was stunned because he seemed to be enjoying her.
Good luck finding the baby's mom Caleb... she's closer than you think...

Matos Family Reunion...and Zachary finally leaves CCN!

I have some photos from the Matos Family Reunion... our very first. I must say wasn't looking forward to going at first, but I had a great time! I was very nervous that I wouldn't remember anyone or worse, no one would remember me! It turned out to be a great time and Bobby and the kids enjoyed themselves.
Bobby doesn't willingly give up sleep, but he did for this event!
I am thankful for Tia Neli for her willingness to organize this and for her family's willingness to support her and help out where needed! Also, thank you to cousin Millie from Cali who researched and put together our family tree. Can't wait for the pix:)
Oh, the best part of the day is that Zachary was released from CCN and gets to be with Melisa and Eli in the room... FINALLY! thank you God :)

Zachary Owen Yeager

He is finally here!He was born on August 28th at 6:36 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 1.1 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long!!

Where was she keeping him? He has very dark hair like Nathan, but as you can see, he's all Yeager!

Melisa's prego pix

My sister just shared these beautiful maternity pictures of her and her fam. They were taken by our family photographer Joe Metzger...

OOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!! #*!%#@?/!*&=

I decided to blog for a few minutes while the girls were in the pool. I don't know about anyone else, but it does take me a while to blog. I have to look up the pictures, and I can only pull a few at a time, sometimes they get mixed up and I have to move them around. In short, it's not quick.
I told myself only a half an hour. I was reviewing and getting ready to save the post when my wonderful hubby comes in and just shuts the computer off. That's right. He just walks over and shuts it down. Why? Well, he wasn't aware, I guess, of the fact that I was on it. even though the tower is sitting right next to me and the keyboard ! He says he came over to turn it on. Out of habit, he walked in and just hit the button.
As much as I enjoy reading other blogs, this is a chore for me. Not a horrible one, but a chore just the same. I enjoy the end result and the comments not so much the process. Kind of like cleaning. I love the end result not so much the process.
Needless to say, it took all I had not to break down and cry or throw something at him. All of you know what an amazing guy Bobby is. I am very blessed to have him. Really. But sometimes that guy thing gets in the way. You know what I mean?? He's a guy.
I finshed my post. And I will use this moment to get me some sympathy and Coldstone...

Cape Cod, Marconi and Nauset Beaches and Museum

It has been a busy week!!!! We went to the Cape on Monday with the Baird fam and on Tuesday we went to Misquamicut beach with my sister, our niece Jillian and Gage's friend Miriam. Wednesday was Holden's b-day at Six Flags so we were there for a few hours. I did a Twilight Zone marathon that afternoon and evening with Mercedes and Bobby.
Thursday, Bobby took the kids to the museum for a show while I went to lunch with Melisa and Erica Racine. That was a nice visit and break from the chitlins. We were supposed to go to NYC today, but we are tuckered out!:0 Bobby is so thrilled to be on vacation. He has planned for us to go to Exit 7 on Saturday to see 'Into the Woods'. (It's the same production group that did Le Mis last year.)
I hope he's enjoying himself. We are enjoying having him home (and mobile!!!)

It's the Monopoly guy!!!

at the springfield museum


Misquamicut Beach RI

Gage and Miriam Baird

Roci and Jillian




Nauset Beach Cape Cod
Jen Dermody, Jen Baird

The Little Mermaid

Marconi Beach at sunset

High Meadows and the Naked Cowboy

Bobby had his company picnic at High Meadows this year and we were able to invite our friends and family for the same price as employees. We got our motley crew together and headed off for a rainy day picnic.
Inspite of the rain, it was alot of fun! The favorite activity was the rock wall. There were also pony rides, face painting, cotton candy, popcorn, an ice cream truck,balloons, golf, swimming, and all the food you could eat. And did we eat!! All included in the price!!!





Oh by the way, the picture of Roci with the Naked Cowboy in New York was the only picture we got in NY when we went with the Baird family in July because Mercedes accidentally deleted all our pictures of the Bronx Zoo and Time Square!!! Don't ask. We were all so devestated.... Doesn't Roci look so excited to have this strange man playing with her hair??? I thought this would be a good spot for this pic...