Walker-Party of 5: January 2009

Monday, January 26, 2009

Winter 2008

DECEMBER 2008

Macall was Mary in her pre-school Christmas program.

Gingerbread House Disaster

I took Macall & her little neighbor friend to the store to buy a gingerbread kit this year. They sat on it & broke it. Although I knew it was broken, I also knew we broke it, so I bought it anyway. Neither hot glue nor frosting was going to put that house back together again. It was fun to build, eat & then watch it crash into pieces! Who needed it out to tempt the dog or collect dust anyway?

A nice start...

Looking good girls (notice Macall holding it together & one of the big cracks on the front)...

CRASH! Now let's eat!
They don't look to upset about it.

YEA SNOW! Madeline, Macall & Reggie wouldn't miss a chance to play in the snow.

It looks like our little snow dog has had enough & is ready to come in.

Piano Recitals

Two piano students, two teachers, two different piano recitals, both on the same night!

Madeline & Katie Gibbons

Preston & Jo Phillips

I have some great new art!

I found this quilt block in my uncles barn this summer. It was fun rummaging, I could have been out there for a year, but it was so DIRTY! My great-aunt Leonora made it in 1911, she would have been about 18. It is 24"square & I then rummaged his house for a picture of her to frame with it. I remember walking to her house from my grandparents, to visit "The Girls" (Leonora & her two sisters, Alice &Lizzy.) I was young, and didn't know them well. I love that I can imagine she & I working together on a sewing project; it makes me feel like I know her a little better.

This is me on a break from my rummaging. You can not fully appreciate how dirty I was from this picture, so I will help. I found a cool old bottle that I took with me. It was filthy so that night I attempted to soak it in hot, soapy water when I went to rinse it out it had the skeletal remains of a rodent in it. No one saw that coming! Over 100 years of dirt will hide a lot! The bottle ended up in the trash & out came the bleach! I also found many other treasures; I just wish my uncle & I treasured the same things. He had boxes of books from early 1900's (some older) beautiful copies of things like: Dickens Christmas Carol and the entire Little Women series all exposed to owl poop & roof leaks. But he had a pile covered up by a tarp, excited, I peeked to see what was important enough to protect if journals, hand made quilt blocks, photos and amazing books were not. I pulled back the tarp & dug into the boxes; no lie, there were boxes full of 100 year old bars of soap & shower caps, plastic containers, just JUNK! What a bummer!

This is another new painting from my mom. Christmas Kaleidoscope. It is hard to fully appreciate how amazing it is unless you see it in person. She has embellished it with tiny Swarovski crystals & whit glitter in the snow flakes. It is so pretty, thanks Mom.

Maddy Turns 10!

Kylie, Maddy, Kate,Preston, Justin, Marissa & Macall

After cake the kids went ice skating, but mom forgot to take her camera along.

Wow, my baby girl asked for an ipod shuffle. Is she even old enough to care about the tunes?
She also got Legos, High School Musical CD, Webkinz & craft stuff.

Cheesecake, now that's a girl with good taste.
Maddy's favorite things at age 10: the color yellow (still), roast beef, stew, quesadillas, playing Legos, playing with Preston & Macall, piano, her friends, Reggie, Webkinz.
November 2008

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Sturgeon Fishing

Grandparents Welcome!

A visit from Grandma L. would not be complete without a tea party lunch, it's he specialty!

We visited Bruneau Canyon. Grandpa; do you have a good hold of her hand, cuz there aint much for guard rails out here?

Even Reggie got some extra attention!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Preston's Baptism

November 1, 2008

Our Family with Grandma & Grandpa Walker

Preston's 8th Birthday!

For Preston's birthday; he chose a place to have his party (a gaming place on base that could accommodate all his fiends with video & arcade games, pool table, ping pong, etc.) & a bunch of friends to invite. We called to reserve the place, but it was totally booked. We suggested some other options but he insisted that he wanted to just have a Wii late night with Madelline. For days we tried to come up with other options, but he continued to insist on nothing more than Wii with his sister. Finally, Thursday at dinner I asked why. He said He didn't want to hurt any of his friends feelings; if he only invited a few friends then the others who he didn't invite might have their feelings hurt. If he invited them all then they would have to take turns playing & some might feel left out or bored.

Light bulb moment for Mom. The next day I got on the phone and called all his friend's moms & arranged not one but two surprise parties for him.

Oliver & Preston

Party #1: Oliver moved onto base which is far enough away that they don't play much anymore. So Friday night Oliver came to have a Wii late night with Preston & Madeline (what he wanted to do for his birthday.)

When I returned from picking Oliver up Preston was so excited to see him. Then, as quickly as the sight of him brought a smile, he got a sad look on his face & I thought he was going to cry. I asked why he was sad & he said he didn't want his other friends to be left out. Surprise #2 was ruined, I told him my plan for Saturday night.

The CRAZY party!!!

Party #2: All of his friends in our neighborhood (plus a few) came Saturday night during the Priesthood session of General Conference (so I was on my own.) They were supposed to watch a movie but instead ran around the house, totally loud & insane. Well, most wanted to watch the movie but soon gave up, as it was impossible to hear. I nearly lost my mind until I overheard two of the boys talking. One said to the other "this is the best party ever!" I hope Preston enjoyed it because it's going to be awhile before we repeat that night!

October 2008

Preston's favorite things at agr 8: Reggie, wii, Webkinz, Legos, playing with Maddy, reading, Harry Potter, math, stew, roast, friends, sledding, scouts, games, movies.