Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from the Walkers

We’ve had a great year full of fun visits from family and a trip to Disneyland and the Gollaher Family Cabin in Utah.  After these trips and all the crying, hitting and screaming in the car, we’ve decided that we need to start saving for a minivan so that the kids are not so smushed in together.  Phil and I read Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” and are on our way to our minivan goal.  

At our Ugly Sweater Party this month

Phil’s busy at work in the Packing department for JCPenney.  Thanks for all the orders to jcp.com, but please stop them so he gets the day off for Christmas Eve!  Get your shopping done early!  Phil completed his Green Belt Project this year which was big and got to present it in Kansas.  He also did some training in Connecticut and did some sight seeing in New York while he was there.  He continues to teach Gospel Doctrine at church and is excited to teach Book of Mormon next year.  He was “Phil the landscaper” this summer as he put in new sod, cut down 7 trees with the help of friends, built a swing set and dug a lot of holes for sprinklers.  He was amazing!

This has been the year of books for me.  I made a goal to read 50 books this year, and have read 66.  We actually got rid of TV this summer and so I’ve had a lot of time to read at night after the kids go to bed.  I’ve done some home improvement projects this year redecorating Jared’s room and Kaylin’s room.  I’m still in Primary and loving it.  I also do a book club and have hosted a number of parties this year.

Kaylin (6) started first grade this year.  She loves her teacher and is doing great in reading.  I volunteer every other Friday and it’s been fun to see Kaylin with all of her friends at school.  She’s a great big sister and has fun playing with her brothers.

Zachary (4) is still doing preschool with 5 other kids.  The moms take turns teaching and he’s having fun with his little group.  He is slowly, but surely learning how to sit and pay attention and he is even doing a better job tracing letters.  It’ll be fun to have him start kindergarten next year.

 

Jared (2) has really grown up this year.  He has full on conversations with you (half of which we have no idea what he’s saying).  He is starting to get along better with Zachary and just loves hanging out with Kaylin.  He loves to sing songs and pretend he’s a dog.

We are looking forward to next year, especially our anniversary cruise this January.  We hope everyone is well and has a great Christmas and a happy new year.

Love,

Phil, Rebecca, Kaylin, Zachary and Jared Walker

Halloween

 Kaylin was a "spring fairy" this year.

 Zach-Attack was super strong superman.  I just had to put all his pictures in here because he is just such a ham!

And last but not least, our little DUMBO.  He was so cute and such a trooper trick-or treating.  He LOVED it.  He went to almost every house and shouted with the rest of the kids.  It was so cute!

Ok so I love this one of Jared.  He's like, "I'm in between these two crazies and I'm bored or just tired.  I'm not sure which!"

 Getting ready to trick-or-treat with our neighbors.  We were out for 2 hours and the kids got lots of loot!

Pumpkins and Pumpkin Farms

So we carved a pumpkin this year.  I think this is the first year in a long time or ever, come to think about it.  The kids "eeeewwwed" and "yucked" about the guts and then daddy ended up carving the whole thing since I'm not going to give knives to my kids.  The whole event was captured in 2 pictures, none of which showcased the finished pumpkin itself.  Oh well.  It was a witch and it caved in the first night we set it outside.  Better luck next year!

 This year, we went to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland, CA and had a great time.  We stayed for almost 6 hours, which anyone who has been to a pumpkin patch will say that that is quite an accomplishment!  The kids loved the animals, the slide mountain and "mining" for gold and jewels, the hay trampoline and all the other slides and trains they got to play with.  We stayed to see the pig races and let me  tell you, they were SOOOooo lame.  Instead of racing pigs, which I assumed is what they were going to do since they were called "The pig races," they had mother goose tell a story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf.  Instead of reading the actual story, they changed the story so that they could incorporate the food guide pyramid.  Yes, you read that correctly, THE FOOD GUIDE PYRAMID!  Really?  So I guess the little piggy that built the house out of bricks ate all his vegetables and the other little pigs only ate candy and chips and junk.  Really?  Seriously.  I hate it when people try to shove these concepts down my kids' throat. We are at a pumpkin patch, not some food conference.  ALL WE WANT TO SEE IS PIGS RUN DOWN A TRACK!!!! We don't care what they eat or if they recycle or if they are "going green."  Seriously people, what happen to the good ol' days?  Also Pumpkin Patch, if you are going to preach "eat all your fruits and vegetables," you might not want to only sell apples dipped in caramel, ice cream, pie, snow cones and cobblers at your place.  I'm just saying...

 Aren't we cute in all of our matching orange shirts????

 Hunting for pumpkins, too bad we never buy one since they are always cheaper at Wal-Mart!

Witches Night Out!

 My bookclub ladies all got together to do a Witches Party.  It was really fun.  We all dressed up and if I was smarter, I would have actually taken my camera from my purse and taken a picture of all the hot witches at the party, but...I wasn't.  Anyways, it was a fun night.  I borrowed the witch costume from my neighbor Julie and it was awesome!  I also won the prize for best dessert.  See the spooky caramel apples below...

We love the library!

Our library has a summer (and now fall) reading program which is awesome! Your child has to read for 15 days. They can either be read to or read themselves and for no length of time either. We count the scriptures since we read those at night. Most nights we get in a book or two too. It just depends on the evening. At the end of 15 days, you can go into the library and choose a free book. These are all the free books we've scored. 18 and counting! When I totaled the price of all the books on the back, it came out to $117.00! I love free books!

PAPERBACK: Goodnight Moon, The White Owl, More Parts (we have the book "Parts" and its hillarious!), Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, Rain, Drop, Splash, That's Good That's Bad, Aliens Love Underpants (great one too!), Purplelicious.

HARDBOUND BOOKS: Not Me, The pigeon Wants a Puppy (we LOVE mo Willems), Pete the Cat.

EASY READER: New Kitten by Bearstain Bears, Disney's A Pony for a Princess, I Spy Phonics Fun (this book Kaylin got for reading to a dog at the library).

BOARD BOOKS: You are my sunshine, My Mother is Mine, Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch, Inside Outside, Upside Down.

And just a random shot of Jared in between a diaper change. I blurred his ding dong...

End of summer recap

We've had a very fun summer. We had a trip to the cabin, 2 trips to Yuba City, some visitors to Reno and lots and lots of BBQs. I'm glad that 90 degree weather is starting to faze out. Here are some fun pictures...One of Zachary's first days of preschool. We made apple smiles.

Love all of Jared's cheesy smiles!


We were doing fireworks and Jared was not into the loud noises!




Here's grandpa lighting the little snakes that he got in Battle mountain or wherever.

Eating dinner and the cheesy grins.
On our camping trip in the middle of nowhere with no bathrooms and no real campsite. That was an adventure!
Zachary and Kaylin decided to put every bow she owned in Zachary's hair. This is what he looked like!

Crazy Cute Crafts!

Here are my fall blocks and photo pumpkin blocks. Holy cuteness! They are made from 2 by 4s.

Here is a plain cupboard door that I scored for free from my neighbor.
I primered it and painted the edges black (only one coat so that it would have a little distressed look)Then I mod-podged scrapbooking paper on the inside.Added a "W" and voila, a beautiful front entry way piece of art that was $Free.ninety.free!