Come On In, 2010!!!

Happy New Year!!! NYC time, anyways! :) We just celebrated at 11:00 CST and find that is just fine with us tonight. This year, we had lavish plans to host a party for some families; these plans faded as we realized we had to get up early tomorrow to head to the Cotton Bowl and to see Jason's family for Christmas on the way... So, we made party hats and a cake here, and the four of us had a nice evening.

At dinner, we talked about our favorite things from this year. Some highlights from 2009 for our family:

• Fair Hills vacation
• The ability to be able to slowly update Jason's office, including 2 brand new (as of yesterday!) operatories for our hygiene patients. Slowly, the others will follow!
• A church home that we love!
• Both of us coached our first teams: t-ball, soccer and volleyball
• First day of elementary school; first day of preschool
• Several major projects finished at our house, mostly the driveway fix and pergola (complete with skylights now - haven't updated with those pictures)
• Bicycles, tents and trampolines
• My desire to get in to cake decorating! :)
• Family dinners most, if not all, nights of the week
• Great friends and loving family
• Hot wheels and Crash, Smash Derby games
• My improved health!!! and three healthy, happy boys!

Admittedly.... kind of disappointed that no one has checked in with my resolution from last year in the past few months.... what to know the status of it?

Here's to a great 2010!!!!! May all your dreams be possible, and may we always have to work hard enough to get them that when we do realize goals and dreams, that they are appreciated, and not taken for granted.

G's Bedtime Thought

Conversation tonight at bed:

"Mom, can you please have a conversation with God in a burning bush so that we can talk to him and hear him?"
"Why would you want me to talk to the burning bush?"
"Because when I die and go to heaven, I want to know what meat eaters live there so I can know what dinosaurs to expect when I'm an angel."

Not sure how all of those things were put together, but it was a fun story (and I'm glad he listens when we read his little Bible!).

14 Months Ago

It's been 14 months since my post related to this, but after just spending the best two hours in a long time with my husband, I feel the need to share this again - The Ultimate Gift.

That post was in regards to the book that was given to us as a present, and my friend, Kelly, noted that it was a great movie. Hadn't seen it. But, this year, we saw it on the schedule and DVRed, saving it for our quiet time on Christmas Eve. What a great remembrance for this special season and a reminder for the ways that our Christ - OUR Christ -, Jesus our Saviour himself, would want us to live as HIS people on earth.

Let's challenge each other to be better people. To go outside our box. To DO and not just BE.

Plus, the main actor was just a doll in the movie. :)

Now off to go get a chimney ready for Santa's arrival sometime tonight!!! I sure hope Rudolph (you do know that he IS flying tonight since it's so foggy out - Santa needs his nose to light the way - Grant reminded us of this fact!) can land on our steep roof! :0)

Merry Christmas, friends and family. May you each have a blessed, happy, and healthy Christmas. Love you all. BIG HUGS - especially to my parents since this was the first year ever I haven't seen you on Christmas eve. Lots of love. :( boo hoo. tear tear.

Snowed In

Never thought we would actually be snowed in on Christmas, but we are now! We tried getting to my parents' house today, but didn't make it (watched the car next to us on the highway FLIP into the oncoming traffic) and turned around. We're probably not going to Jason's family's house tomorrow either. So, it's really a let down to not see extended family on Christmas Eve or Christmas day! Anyone in town,.... feel free to stop by! AND, to make matters worse, we have all this snow and ice outside, and every single neighbor is gone so no one else to play with outside!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the snowed in Walker crew!

Pictures of late....

Just to catch my family and friends that aren't on facebook (!) up on photos, or to send some that I haven't posted anywhere yet!

Not sure if this was ever shared on the blog - we were generously given this kids golf cart - and Kyle figured out how to drive it in to the kitchen from the garage. It was one of those parent moments where you are totally laughing on the inside but you have to be serious on the outside - I did get the camera first, though - seems I have a lot of these moments with my youngest, eh!?! Last night... love these following two photos - Jason had the camera near the couch so we snapped these keepers. Kyle woke up screaming - must have been a dream - and I brought him down. Then, all he wanted to do was hold on to me and cuddle. The first is on the way back up to bed, and the second is when he wouldn't let go! :) ahhhh.....

and yes, we were watching a Hallmark Christmas movie and I'm in my nighttime gear!

This photo summarizes half of his Christmas program - finger in nose. Then there was the eating of the nose treasures, and the yelling of the occasional word to each song. Gotta be proud!

One of my best friends in town is moving!!! well, has moved. Darn it! Here is a group of us ladies at her farewell dinner last week! Since then, we've added two more babies to the group!

The next few are the Christmas lights festival we went to with my parents on Thanksgiving weekend. The boys loved this particular display! And, not to mention, the ginormous tree lit by lights.

Parents and boys on the bridge

I just like this one - shows their happy spirits!!!!!!! at the base of the huge tree!

okay, that's it for a quick photo update!

Rink Time

What a fun family night we had tonight! Ice skating with some new friends at the outdoor rink, a Christmas sing-a-long at G's school, and then dinner with friends following it (oh yea, not to mention a fire alarm being pulled when all the families were in the gym together!).

Here are a few pics from the ice rink - I was the only one who had been before, and all three boys were AWESOME. Grant was off on his own after only a few minutes. One of us was always holding K's hand, but he became more confident and ready as the night continued.

This would have been turned in to a Christmas card for late delivery had it not been blurry. Darn it, ice rink worker!!!

This one of Grant and me is just about one of my all-time favorites!

Our Little Dears!

What a fun craft project I was able to do this afternoon with one of my DEARest Stillwater friends!

Kyle's Christmas Program

The sweet, angelic child of ours performing in his Christmas program!

Merry Christmas Day

Little Lamb, Little Lamb, what do you see?
I see a bright star shining on me.

Bethlehem, Bethlehem, why do you wait?
We wait for the King of kings to come through our gate.

Donkey, Donkey, why are you so bold?
I'm bringing Him to Bethlehem as Scriptures foretold.

Innkeeper, Innkeeper, where can He stay?
Out in the stable with the sweet-smelling hay.

Shepherds, Shepherds, what do you hear?
We hear the angles singing everywhere!

Angels, Angels, what do you sing?
We sing "Hallelujah!" to the newborn King.

Brown Cow, Brown Cow, what do you see?
I see a little Baby smiling at me.

Mary, Mary, who is in your arms?
I'm rocking baby Jesus and will keep Him from harm.

Joseph, Joseph, who do you love?
I love God's only Son sent from above.

Sweet Baby Jesus, what will You do?
I'll give great salvation to each one of you.

Shepherd Boy, Shepherd Boy, who will you tell?
I'll tell all the people gathered at the well.

Camels, Camels, do you travel very far?
We come from the Far East, following the star.

Wise Men, Wise Men, what do you hold?
Myrrh for the little King, frankincense and gold.

Little Child, Little Child, what do you know?
I know God send His Son because He loves me so.

Christian, Christian, what do you say?
"Happy Birthday, Jesus!" on this Merry Christmas Day!
Nancy L. Sanders in Clubhouse Jr.

Repeater...

From Last Year :o)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Puppy Potty Pad

We just saw a commercial for this Puppy Potty Pad... what?!?! The idea is to help your dog avoid accidents. Okay,... insert a doggie door. Lay down newspapers. Something - can you imagine the SMELL of this thing - at the end of the day you're just supposed to dump the urine and feces out - they say it like it's no big deal. Yuck. We just thought it was bizarre.

Guess it'd be a good conversation piece when entertaining or perhaps you could use it as a putting area?!?!

Our New Pet!

So, thanks to GG and Bubba, we have a new pet. Let's just say that they got me on this one - I got upset (aka nervous) to have a pet weasel at my house, and I was stunned in disbelief that they would get a pet for the boys w/o asking our permission! Jokes on me...

However, the boys LOVE this thing. Kyle asks frequently where his pet is and wants to play with it. Grant, funny enough, is just now getting the nerve to pick it up and touch it (not sure he understands the whole battery thing with it).

Welcome to Jingle!

Kyle's Prayer

He knew I was recording - this was his second prayer for dinner - but I knew that while I was thinking of it, I should grab the camera!