What did we do on Christmas break?

I love this picture...Jonah is super excited for his new air soft gun, and Abby has an appropriate look of "Great, something Jonah can shoot me with". lol

We aren't super creative so here is our attempt at Gingerbread houses.

This picture represents Savannah and I this break, blankets and books.  A side note this inter tube object Savannah is sitting on was a present from Santa to go sledding with.  All four children did not fight over who would get to sled on it first as you might think...they did however fight over who got to sit in it in the living room.  NICE!

I am not a puzzle person but David is...this puzzle took 1 1/2 to build.  The pieces were accidentally kicked and yes we lost one!

A star Wars Lego was built by the boys...couldn't tell you what this is.

Another Star Wars Lego...I think this is R2D2?

 

Maddy built the Harry Potter Series of Lego's...go girl!

Duplicate picture...can't figure out how to get it off!

Savannah may KILL me for posting this but it is super funny.  Maddy accidentally poked her in the eye while opening presents.  I love the look on Maddy's face!

 

All in all we had a great break.  We were expecting some family to come into town for the Holidays...while we are super disappointed they didn't come we did find our inner laziness and had a bunch of naps and movies.  It was FABULOUS!

Christmas 2012

For some reason, I am having trouble coming up with something funny (except for the above picture) or profound to say this Christmas season. LeeAnne, in her planning mode, has already finished decorating the house, ordered the Christmas cards, and finished her shopping. Traditionally, she left it up me to put some thoughts and perspective on this Christmas season to words on the blog.

But first, if I may, let me update everyone on what we like to call ourselves, The Walker 6.

David C. - This year has been an interesting one for many reasons. My employer of almost 13 years, Caparo, is closing its doors. In June, I made the jump as the company went up for sale for the 4th time. I worked for a brief time at a firm in Madison Heights, but after only a few short months, the long drive was taking its toll. I have since landed at Chrysler and so far, so very good. I am profoundly grateful for the support of my family during the transistions. Also, I can't thank those enough who helped me, recommended me and just listened as I sought advise on what do to.
LeeAnne is the Stake Young Women's secretary and able to balance it all. She is still running and working out and although not training for a specific event, she could run circles around anyone of us. She started the Insanity training program and simply looks fantastic. She is the glue that keeps us together. I don't know where I would be without her.
Madeline - Maddy is a Sophomore in high school. She is driving now, using her learner's permit as much as possible. We have a "new" "family" car, a red Saturn Ion, that she has taken stewardship over. She affectionately calls it Rudolph (as in Rudolph the red nosed reindeer) or Rudy for short. I just wish I could get her to clean it.
Savannah is a freshman and is heavily involved in theater and singing. She had the lead roles in two plays this year, in Mulan and Cinderella and performed beatifully. She is a stellar student and reads voraciously. She and LeeAnne dragged me to a preview showing of Breaking Dawn Part II. Everyone survived.
Jonah hit a huge milestone this year. He turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon. It is nice having two Priesthood holders in the house. He loves camping and Boy Scouts. He is trying out for sports and recently began playing the guitar.
Abigail - This is her year for gymnastics. She has been progressing so well.

LeeAnne and I are very proud of our children and for what they have accomplished during the year. We have had so much fun together with friends and family. There have been "moments" when things were not so rosy, but we are working every day to get it "right."

We, as a family, are grateful for the Christmas season. If it was up to Madeline, there would be at least one radio station playing Christmas music all year round. One of my favorite hymns that I love to listen to is O Holy Night. Here are the words from the first verse.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

You can look up the second and third verses, but this one says so much. Each phrase is applicable to today. What will we be thinking about on that day when we celebrate the Saviour's birth? O Holy Night is a song of hope, a song of faith, it is a song of celebration. As life and the world tend to pile things on "Long lay the world in sin and error pining" this song gives me hope, hope that someday "for yonder breaks a new glorious morn." I hope that me, my family and dear friends will be among those that "Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices!" that on that divine night, we will remember the night when Christ was born and those memories will continue to give us strength, not only during the holiday season, but throughout the year. Jesus Christ was born into this world to pave the way for us to return to our Father in Heaven. Through Him, we have "a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices."

Our hope and prayer is that as we celebrate this Christmas day, we will be able to understand the divine mission of Him, whose birthday we honor, that we can apply the atonement each and everyday so that someday soon, when He returns, we will fall on our knees. But instead of being ashamed, we will be able to look up and hear the angel voices and look into His eyes.

We are profoundly grateful to our Father in Heaven, to put His faith in us, that we can follow His son's plan and return someday to live with Him, together as a family.

As the fearless leader of the Walker 6, my wish to everyone is to have a Merry Christmas. As we celebrate our Saviour's birth, remember not only this moment in history, but His life that He lived. He is our Saviour and we celebrate His life.
 
Merry Christmas to all!

Random Pictures

                                                 Savannah as "Alice" in Alice in Wonderland

Mommy/Savannah Time

Jonah at the Pistons Game

 

                                                                   Fun at Kalahari

                                                  Happy Birthday Jonah!!!  The Big 12

I don't even remeber what this is from...but isn't she cute?

 

                                                Go Savannah and her cheer team!

                                                   Jonah at the Mudhens Game

Top Happenings in the Walker Home

I know, It's been a while...I stink at keeping this up.  Here are some of the top changes/happenings in our home.  We have found that for every negative incident that has happened to our family we were able to find a positive outcome...So here goes:

1. Negative: A Herniated disc in my neck( no idea how this happened...I know it wasn't from my crazy work out routine :) 
1. Positive: My family stepped up to the plate and did more housework and I learned what great friends and family I have.

2. Negative: Having to get rid of the family cat. :(
2. Positive: We got a new couch...no matter how much your try to clean it, once a cat has peed on your couch the cat and couch must go!

3.  Negative: Home Depot putting in our pergo flooring and finding 13 of the boxes damaged.  This equaled a delay in getting the remaining flooring in the basement.  UGH...I hate chaos.  A room half finished is trying my patience.
3. Positive:  Because the flooring wasn't in, when our main water line from the well into the house broke...the water did not ruin my new floor.  The only damaged areas were old carpeted areas and concrete. :)

4. Negative: David's company did end up closing its doors.
4. Positive: A new job came his way...New Opportunities to conquer

That sums up our lives recently.  There are always silver linings!

Lovie Updates:
Madeline, doing great in school (of course).  She is working on her driving and getting better everyday.
Savannah, she is thriving in High School and of course doing all she can to fill her time with activities.
Jonah, he is working hard on earning badges for his Eagle Scout and functioning in school.  Jonah does great in school but he reminds me everyday how he thinks it stinks.
Abigail, she has been a trooper.  She has started gymnastics, and loves it.  Abigail was just made student of the month for her grade at elementary.

All in all they are doing great and I feel blessed to be a part of their crazy lives.

Can I have this dance?

As the mother of a middle school aged boy I never expected him to ask to go to the Mother/Son dance this year.  I was so pleasantly surprised by his enthusiasm!  Jonah rocked the dance floor with his moves and he swept his mother right off her feet!!!

Abigail of course was ALL about this dance!!!  She got a new dress for the date with her daddy.  What a blast and what a super cute Daddy/daughter duo!!!

New York...New York

From beginning to end it is all Madeline!  Madeline took all the pictures from our New York trip...she edited and put them all together for a photo story.  Madeline needed to do a 10 hour project for a church assignment and this took her over that mark.  GREAT job Maddy...everyone enjoy!

The Walker 6 Twelve Days of Christmas

On the First day of Christmas, my daughter said to me, “Can you toss me a roll of TP?”

It seems like an ongoing thing, that the last person to use the last little bit of toilet paper can’t seem to ever replace it. So, if you are the next one in line, it would behoove you to check to see if you have all the right “equipment” ready before you get to the business at hand.

On the Second day of Christmas, my true love said to me, “Where are the keys to the van?”

LeeAnne typically returns home with her hands full and as such, the keys to the vehicles rarely end up in the key container. Thankfully, they can always be found in her purse, usually 3 or 4 sets at a time!

On the Third day of Christmas, my true love said to all, “Aw MAN, REALLY!!”

Have you ever awoken from a nap or been in deep thought when a child runs into the room yelling at a sibling about sharing their prospective air space or similar inconsequently thing. The correct words can never be found.

On the Fourth day of Christmas, Savannah said to me, “Does someone have my shoes?”

This one is good. We all left together on a camping trip. The travel time required a potty break here and there.  At our first rest stop break, Savannah realized she had no shoes. In her haste to make it out the door, she thought that they were already in the van somewhere. Thankfully, her sister packed extra.

On the Fifth day of Christmas, Jonah said to me (while running to the bus), “I need 5 bucks for lunch!”

I bet this has never happened to anyone. Child remembers something important for school, just as the bus in pulling up.

On the Sixth day of Christmas, Mom said to me, “Why can’t the darn cat pee in the box?”

Our cat Calli is challenged. When she has to do her business, she can’t seem to figure out that she needs to keep her rear down and misses.

On the Seventh day of Christmas, my true love said to me, “Who took all the water bottles?”

We are a water family. Besides a little bit milk for cereal and cooking, we mostly drink water. We also like our water cold. So, Mom purchased each person their very own water bottles to use for lunches or whatever. The problem is that there is one among us who either forgets their bottle at school, bed, van, etc. or is too lazy to refill it when it is empty. This person then proceeds to “borrow” someone else’s bottle, which inherently, falls into the same abyss and will continue to "borrow" until there are none left!

On the Eighth day of Christmas, Savannah says to me (at any time of the day), “What are we having for dinner?”

Savannah loves eating dinner. She will ask “What’s for dinner?” right after eating breakfast, when she returns home from school or whenever she feels it needs to be asked.

On the Ninth day of Christmas, Dad says to me, “Where are all the darn phones?”

We have three cordless phones in the house; one for downstairs, one for upstairs in the kitchen and one in Mom and Dad’s room. Each has their own charger and place. Dad will get home from work and, as typically happens with 6 people in the house, the phone will ring. Unfortunately for him, none of the phones are where they should be. Most likely, they are stuck between the cushions of the couches, under a bed, in the bathroom etc. One phone had to be replaced because he believes someone took it outside and it went for a ride on top of a car. Who knows……

On the Tenth day of Christmas, Dad says to me, “Does anyone know how to shut off the lights in this house?”

The first thing Dad does when he gets home from work is to turn off all the lights, computers and such in the house that are left unattended. He starts downstairs and makes his way upstairs until he turns everything off. He really gets bugged when people leave the lights on and there is no one home.

On the Eleventh day of Christmas, Mom says to Jonah, “Turn off the Xbox, NOW!”

Jonah is allotted a certain amount of time on the Xbox. The problem happens when his time is up. Something to the affect of “Just one more minute, I am not done with my level yet” or “just a little more time, I haven’t passed a save point yet.” Yeah, right………

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love said to me, “Who’s idea was it to have kids?”

LeeAnne and I will look into each others eyes after some recent heated exchange and the question doesn't even need to be verbalized. Parents, have you ever thought that question? When you have babies, they are so cute and cuddly. They let you dress them and play with them. You are their whole world. Then they get older. Man how things change! We just love teenagers!

We modeled these 12 days of Walker 6 Christmas on a newer Christmas song called the 12 Pains of Christmas. If you get a chance to hear it, it is pretty funny.

We do love our kids and although they are turning us grey early, we wouldn't change anything. They do make us laugh and are the joy of our lives. We pray that they can succeed and that our eternal family will be together forever.

But seriously, in our home, Christmas is our favorite time of the year. In fact, Maddy wishes there could be Christmas music on the radio all year round. (Dad won’t officially listen to it until after Thanksgiving though.)  We love the good and positive mood that it puts everyone in. We love purchasing a tree every year and decorating it as a family. We love how the season reminds of what is really important, that being our relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our family.

Being a parent, I often think of what it must have been like to be Joseph and Mary back during that time in history. We recently attended a live Nativity at another local congregation of our church. Every year this is a fantastic event that usually takes place the first weekend in December, that at least for me, starts the Christmas time off in the right spirit. This year, in particular, a young couple, that represented Joseph and Mary, had their baby there representing the Savior. This is the first time that I have ever seen this. It touched my heart because, I think, we often forget that Jesus Christ was a little baby, that cried for the same things that our children cried for, yet He was\is divine. On this night, the little baby was just a bit fussy. I wonder if the baby Jesus was ever fussy. I wonder how Joseph and Mary reacted to this divine gift, as they were new parents, figuring all of it out, keeping in the back of their minds, continually, His divine nature and potential.

I often think that when someone says, “I know how you feel,” does that person really know? Well, there is one person that does and He really has felt it all. He understands what it feels like to be a fussy baby, to being all alone, to being over joyed with love for his followers and friends, to being so physically tired that He felt He couldn’t go on, but knew that His people needed Him, and then found the inner energy to continue to minister to His children for hours and hours.

I am eternally grateful for all that He is and what He has done for me. I hope someday that we, together with our families, can return to live with Him someday and see Him standing next to our Heavenly Father with open arms waiting for our hugs.

During a recent Christmas devotional, our prophet, Thomas S. Monson said, “Christmas is what we make of it.” He is so true. As we think about giving and receiving gifts this holiday season, let’s keep the reason for the season in the front of our minds. Sometimes, the best gifts don’t cost a thing.

Merry Christmas

David Walker – Captain and fearless leader of the Walker 6

No need for thanks!

Part One: Here in the Walker home we find ourselves slightly tight on living space.  Bedrooms are fully occupied to the max!  Jonah is the only child with his own room.  The three girls share a lovely abode together.  Usually this isn't a problem, but occasionally we have fighting that occurs as a result of different cleanliness opinions.  Savannah accuses Madeline of having OCD(Obsessive Control Disorder) and Madeline accuse Savannah of having OPD(Obsessive Piggy Disorder).  So this next event stemmed from a stream of arguments resulting in the declarations " I want my own room"....

Part Two:  As I walk past Jonah's room I glanced at a cluttered and messy habitat.  I ask Jonah to clean it up.  Jonah responds with "Sure, I'll get to it".  Day two- David asks Jonah to clean it up.  Jonah responds with "Sure".  Day three- I start to feel bad that three girls are stuck in one room and the child who has his own room can't keep it clean.  These pictures are blurry(camera issues) but I think you get the idea of the room's condition.

Do you see the banana peel??? REALLY??? 
So not wanting to be THAT parent , you know the one who nags and nags, I came up with another solution.  This is what Jonah came home to find on his door.

Let's just say that when Jonah read this he was NOT happy.  His response " 3 days is not enough time"...I told him that I hoped he could make the deadline.  I was pulling for him!

The result:

Nicely folded clothing...I have to give Jonah A LOT of credit on this one.  All my children have to fold their own laundry.  He is the BEST laundry folder out of all of them.  He really does a nice job with this task.

A clean Room!  These pictures are slightly dark but I think you get the idea.

To sum this up I dedicate this last part to my future daughter-in -law.  There is NO need to thank me for all the years of training that went into this awesome young man!  He was worth and I know you will SO appreciate his domestic skills as he applies them in your home.  You can thank me by having adorable cute grand kids!!!

 

First...Second...and Traditional

We experienced our First time geocaching!  Thanks Ron and Elaine for turning us on to such fun.  I would have never imagined that going through grave yards could be so awesome.  This fun event is like a scavenger hunt electronically.  We followed directions to where a little something was left for us to either  leave an additional something or just sign our name.  Good stuff...Jonah even got to hop a barbed wire fence, with no injuries.

This was our Second attempt at a corn maze.  This maze had the shape of the United States.  We had two sections, the first was the outline of the U.S.  The second was the inner workings of the U.S.  Very Cool!  Unlike a couple of years ago we managed to swiftly make our way through the maze, not as quickly as the boys or our friends...but what's that matter (hee hee).  This picture shows Savannah's enthusiasm because we made it out without getting lost!

Our attempt at being angels...I know we need A LOT of help!

Maddy striking a pose...she was the reason we didn't get lost.  That girl was amazing with a map!

Traditional...The camp ground we stayed at offered trick our treating from campsite to campsite.  This would have been cool if I were not so lame.  We quickly realized that our little scarecrow decoration was NOTHING compared to the other campers.  Other campers had a whole haunted trail with the BESTEST decorations.  Oh well...we still had candy, that's what's important right? 

Abby is a scary witch!

Jonah is a rocker!

 Maddy stuck with her 80's girl theme!

Savannah is an Identity crisis!

When I grow up I want to be like Abigail!

Once a year in Activity Days, 8-11 year old church group activity, the girls get to perform a talent.  This year I asked Abigail what she wanted to do and her response was "I have this under control mom!".  So I sat back and waited until the BIG EVENT.  Sure enough when it was her turn to perform Abigail went to the front and performed like a star.  Abigail sang a Taylor Swift song with no music or fear.  I have decided that I want to have that much courage when I grow up.  Her confidence stole my heart!

HOMECOMING

Madeline's first homecoming!  She went with a great group of girls.  Here's to Maddy living it up!

REALLY???

This year is a HUGE adjustment for us.  Our Madeline started High School.  And yes, I am one of those moms you hate.  I really struggle with my children growing up...I am whine about it all the time.  I LOVE having a house full of children and chaos.  I don't want those days to come to a close any time soon.  When I think of Maddy this is what I think of...

Little and having so much fun with her siblings...she still does this but she is all grown up now.  Now she has more fun with her friends.  THIS is what I am not prepared for...

Yep...she is touching a BOY!  Luckily for me this is a camp counselor she had EFY camp (Especially for youth).  She is enjoying growing up and I am loving being a part of this great young woman that she has become.  She is such a tender spirit.  She is like most teenagers and gets a little sassy now and then, I know right!!!  But the great thing for me is by the end of the day if she has been sassy she will usually come to me and say something like " Hey mom...I am sorry I was rude".  She will never know how much that touches my heart.  I know she is being a teenager and I let it slide...but is such a great kid that SHE doesn't let it slide.  LOVE her!

YOU ARE HERE!!!

Every year we enter the summer reading program at our local library.  If the children do a designated amount of reading they get to enter their names in a drawing for a prize.  A few years ago Madeline won this awesome bag with a lot of fun goodies when her name was picked.  Knowing this you can imagine Savannah's complete excitement when we received a call this summer that she won a prize.  She was so eager to run to the library and see what she won.  When we got there and they handed Savannah her prize I almost died laughing.  This is what she won.

You can tell by the look on her face that her excitement was ALL gone!  This is a reusable bag...and nothing was in it!  Just the bag is what she won.  I barely made it out of the library I was laughing so hard.  Savannah was quoted as saying "I've never won anything in my whole life...and THIS is what I win".  Good stuff!

We had a lot of family fun with this event.  My aunt suggested that wherever Savannah goes this summer she should take her bag so she knows were she is.  We LOVED that idea...so we did it!

Here she is up in Lewiston camping with some friends!

And here she is at Michigan's Adventure!

Camping in Pentwater with some friends!!! And somewhere we have a picture of her at the Detroit zoo and Girl's camp...they have seemed to disappeared.  All  in all we have had GREAT fun with this bag!  Thanks library for helping us to appreciate always knowing where we are!

Rain Rain-Thanks for the Day!

We wait all year for our Michigan's Adventure weekend.  This year we were SO worried that the 90 degree weather we have been having, we were worried that it would KILL us.  We made sure we dressed super light and thought about everything we needed to do to stay Cool.  What we didn't prepare for was the rain.  We were actually cold for a bit because it rained so much.  We pressed on though...we rode until they shut down the rides for a brief period of time.  You can see the kids playing in the rain waiting for the rides to start up again.  I was so bummed because I seemed to be the unlucky one.  I was all buckled in to do the bumper cars and they shut it down due to lighting.  Then later I wanted to do the Beebop cars and got to the front of the line only for them to inform me that they were temporarily shut down...Seriously???

All that seems not good but it worked to our advantage.  The rain kept everyone else away.  Once it cleared up everything was up and running, and so were we!  There were very few lines.  The kids would get on the ride-back off-and right back on again.  It was AWESOME.  It even warmed up enough to enjoy the water park fully.  It was a BLAST!  I love this weekend.  I love hanging with our friends and talking by the campfire all night.  Good times for sure!