Grapes and Wrath

I love that we are getting to the phase where the kids try to sneak things over on us.  For example.  I sent the kids outside all bundled up.  Wanted to lock the door, but didn't.  I'm sitting at the island and Emilie comes flying in, leaving the door open and letting all the cold air in.  (How many times do I have to say "Shut the door, it's cold!"??) So, I'm looking at the computer screen and she is coming downstairs really slowly and quietly.  Therefore my suspicions are up.  She's a thunder stepper like her dad.  So I look up and she's squat-walking past the half wall in front of our kitchen sink that looks into the living room, thinking I won't notice her.  

Two problems:  One, she's too tall.  Her squat walk didn't hide the top of her head.  Two, she's wearing cowboy boots that click as she takes steps...I could totally hear her.  

Sneaky pants.  Right behind her is where she tried to sneak.

Once she rounds the corner and tries to sprint out the (open) door, I say, "Hey!  Whoa!  Whatcha got?"  

She slowly turns.  "Nothing."

"Oh, ok.  Well, what's in your vest?" 

"Oh, this?  It's tape.  We have to fix something."

"Ok.  What's broken?"

"It's JUST a glass jar, mom!"

That got me promptly outside where I found a baby food jar that I had poked holes in the top of the lid so they could catch bugs.  It had been dropped and luckily was in three large pieces that Aubrie was grabbing with her bare hands.  Yikes.

We had police officers come visit the school the week we were doing community helpers.  I wish I could show more pictures of my class but we aren't allowed.  I have the cutest classroom full of kiddos!

Soccer trophy!

Emilie has actually failed a hearing test at her four year check up.  The nurse was like, "Emi honey? Hear any beeps? You move that little peg if you hear anything!"  Haha.  It's only one ear and the girl has had four straight months of runny noses.  And she's the world's loudest talker who is ironically REALLY sensitive to loud noises.  We have her on a nasal spray for a couple of months to see if that helps and then we might be talking about some tubes.  

We've recently found out that Kyle gets naked when he's mad.  

It first happened when my mom and dad were here for Thanksgiving.  We were in the car and we had to stop at Marcie's house to drop something off and he got really mad when he found out that he wasn't going to be going inside.  Marcie's house is like his Disney World.  He LOVES it there.  It's got trains, cars, swords, super heroes....the works.  So he screamed the whole time with my mom and Adam in the car and started taking off his shoes and his socks.  Then this past Sunday, he woke up and was having a party in his room around 5 am.  As you can imagine, after church he was a fire breathing dragon.  He was overwhelmed with exhaustion, hunger, and heat from the adorable sweater vest we made him wear.  He did the arch-my-back-so-I-can't-be-buckled move for Adam which in turn made Adam's rage come on from his own hunger, sweat, and exhaustion and I had to buckle the angry child in.  Then when we were leaving the parking lot, a sock flew into the front seat and hit the radio.  

I usually am the one who has to drive after church because Adam has the tendency to drive un-Christian-like or make wrong turns because of hunger.  He's in a hurry to get to lunch, whether it's home or at a restaurant.  He once turned south on 65 when we wanted to go north.  No biggy.  We'll change plans!  

Adam's parents were in town and we had a busy morning of playing and we found him like this after lunch.  Poor kid.

We went hiking around Radnor Lake last month and he rides in a stroller.  When we got to the car, he insisted on wearing sister's "Helmont".  Good thing because he crashed!

Last weekend, we were eating a casual lunch and we always get fruit out if everyone eats their food.  We chose grapes and Kyle was at one end of the table and I was at the other and he was excited and yelling for grapes.  So I tossed one at his mouth and it shocked him!  Then he laughed.  So I tossed one in Adam's mouth to show the kids how to catch grapes, But Kyle is horrible at catching them so I just started throwing them at his face just to watch him laugh.  So he throws them at my mouth and I tried to catch them.  I will say, Adam said, "this is going to come back to haunt you."

So sure enough, we have the Drabyns over for dinner and Adam gets the grapes out and sets them on the table.  Steve is in the middle of talking and I'm looking at him and this grape flies into the side of my face.  Everyone goes silent.  I glare at Adam because it was thrown SO HARD and Adam's eyes are as big as golf balls and points to Kyle.  Brit has her head on the table because she doesn't want Kyle to see her laughing and I'm still in shock while Adam gets on to Kyle for throwing food.  

Not my finest parenting moment.  

Aubrie is loving Kindergarten.  She's such a good reader.  It's amazing what she has learned and how her teacher has fostered her growth.  There was a book fair at school and they had a competition for people if they brought in something to go with the theme...Sir Read-a-lot's Book Fair.  So we got some cardboard out and constructed a castle.  She let Emilie help paint it and it really stressed me out.  She's the sloppiest painter this side of the Mississippi.  And they were using house paint because it's the only gray I had.  Then she picked out her favorite book characters and we printed out their pictures and she taped them in the windows.  It was a lot of fun to do.  Her castle came in first for Kindergarten.  She was so excited!  

First place!

Painting the castle.  Emilie ended up slipping and her whole elbow was in that bowl of paint.  

This is Aubrie working on math.  She's working on subtraction and was showing her work.  She loves being on the computer and doing work like a big girl.  

One morning we woke up and heard the girls whispering in the kitchen and cupboard doors opening and shutting.  We came out and the girls were making a "juice" for everyone and then started pouring cereal.  Please notice how dark it is outside...

Without fail, every weekend the girls get up around 6:15-6:30 and on weekdays we have to rub their backs and coax them out of bed at 6:45.  And on weekends they wake up wrestling.  Full blown tickle fights.  So that morning, after breakfast, they won themselves an opportunity to go rake leaves.

My parents came to town for Thanksgiving.  We were so happy to see them.  They drove here from Texas and as soon as they walk in the door the kids go running from them.  My mom takes the bait and starts chasing them all over the house.  Then Emilie stands on the couch and looks at Gram with a big smile and says, "You wanna wrestle?!" 

Aaaaand once again Gram takes the bait.  

Gram didn't win because Kyle came running out of nowhere and landed on Gram's head.  I would have taken a picture if I weren't so nervous Gram was going to need a neck brace.  And yes, Emilie is about to do a top rope jump on Gram in this picture.

 Adam has been wanting a fried turkey.  So I thought I would makes his dreams come true and fry one, but in my research I found an oil-less fryer.  It uses propane and infrared to cook the turkey.  It takes 10 minutes per pound to cook.  I bought one and sent the info to him and my mom so they could figure it out because I wanted no part of it.  Boy was it a scene.  They didn't like where the thermometer was, they disagreed on the position of the turkey, they had to season the fryer, the thermometer said it was done in the first 30 minutes, Mom would go turn down the propane when Adam wasn't looking, and they were both pacing the floor.  It was quite the sight.  But it was an excellent turkey!  It was done to perfection and the moistest turkey I've ever had.  

Turkey drama of 2014

 My mom and I use this 60 minute roll recipe and I have started using mostly white whole wheat flour.  So I'm in charge of the rolls and I made them but they weren't rising much.  I didn't get much support with my roll problem because the focus was on their precious turkey.  So I went ahead and baked them and they were hard as rocks.  I mean, you could barely get a knife through them.  I was so mad.  I love those rolls.  So I spent the afternoon researching yeast, different types of flours, and how to make it work.  I ended up using the white whole wheat flour and added orange juice to my yeast to make it extra active and added more liquid to make them less dense and baked the rolls so we would have some for dinner leftovers.  They were way better, but still not as good as using white flour.  

 

my turkeys

 Mom and I did just a little shopping on black Friday and the crowds weren't bad.  We made a trip to Trader Joe's and mom bought a gingerbread house kit to do with the kids.  They got to do it when they woke up from their nap.  My mom had a lot of fun and the kids tasted a lot of candy.

The final product

I used our china and I love getting it out and thinking about the people who came to our wedding and bought our gifts.  The girls loved having hot tea in the tea cups.  As you can see, their pinkies were up!

Poppy did a lot of playing cars with Kyle.  They got him a brown cowboy hat because he was wearing his sister's pink cowgirl hat EVERYWHERE.  He also got a coon skin hat but he's hot and cold with it right now. 

It was such a good Thanksgiving.  On Friday, we put up our Christmas tree and all of our decorations.  We exchanged Christmas presents with my parents.  We had a lot of fun.  Thanks, mom and dad, for coming.  We hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving as well and are enjoying this Christmas season!

Love to all!

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Shake out your sheets

I was giggling yesterday as I was getting everyone's nap mats out at school and putting the freshly washed sheets and bedding on them.  The end of the month, I send home bedding to be washed which makes the first day back in the new month extra long as you get everything out and wrestle nap mats.  I have a friend who works at a mother's day out across town and she said that one time she was shaking out a sheet and out flew the mom's lace underwear!  I mean, come on.  Funny.  But so uncomfortable for both parties.  Could you imagine handing it over to mom when she picks her kid up? Luckily that hasn't happened to me.  Just a bounce sheet or sock has flown out.  But let this be a lesson to you, moms.  Don't wash your nap mats and sheets with your sexy underwear.  

Moving on.

This October was a busy one.  I have to share two big events that happened that month that kept us busy and earned us some frequent flyer points! 

Back in August, Adam reminded me that for my father's 60th birthday, my mom surprised him by having us all get together in Phoenix.  It was my dad's first time meeting Adam.  Adam's first time in deathly heat (It was July and the heat slapped him in the face when he stepped off the plane).  And mom had to end up telling him part of the surprise because he was being burro about everything she was trying to get him to do.  So, I talked to my dad and we decided to all meet in San Antonio.  My nephew, Dee, just moved there.  It's the furthest west we could get in Texas that was a direct flight, and a close drive for both my brothers.  Plus, there's Sea World.  So we told mom that Adam had to go there for work and that I was going to go along with him and leave the kids behind with Steve and Brit.  But there would be a couple of days that Adam would have to work so I wanted her and dad to come hang out with me and we could go sight seeing or shopping.  I also said I would run a 5k with her at Sea World.  So she was hooked.  Dad was supportive.  Game on.  Everybody helped out and we got the ball rolling on surprising my mom for her birthday.

There were a lot of obstacles in the way on our end.  Kyle got sick the week we were going.  I seriously thought we were going to have to cancel the trip.  Luckily he felt good enough to go.  We also had to drive Sea World's office bananas from all the phone calls so we could register as a team and get our running numbers picked up for the race.  We had to book mom and dad's room because we didn't want them asking for a reservation for Walker and the front desk revealing there were 3 Walker parties staying there.  But mom and dad were checking in way before we got there, so we had to make that work. Luckily, mom didn't suspect a thing.  She was so focused on training for the race and we didn't really talk about her birthday much.  And I told her Kyle wasn't feeling well and how I couldn't wait to get away without the kids.  But we were set and headed to Texas!

This kid's latest trick is putting cheerios in his nose and shooting them out.  BOYS ARE SO WEIRD!

Mom and Dad ran into Troy and Tammy first.  She thought Tammy was there for business.  Then she saw all my nephews and Robbie and Kasey and figured that I had my whole gang with me.  We got in late because our flight was delayed and then we had to rent a car and squeeze 3 car seats into a Kia.   

Cousins reunited in the hotel lobby!  This was our first time meeting my nephew Nathaniel.  He's so cute! And my niece Lindsey.  Look at her.  I love how she poses for pictures!!

Surprise Gram!!!!  The girls made her signs.

The celebrating and hugging didn't last long because we all had to be up early to go to this race.  Plus, if you got there early, you didn't have to pay for parking.  Dee was a sweetheart and picked up everyone's numbers.  Sea World's 5k saved us a lot of money!  Race registration was cheaper that admission.  Mom, Dee, Dillon, Dalton, and I all ran in the race.  Everyone else walked in the Family Walk and we all met at the finish line.  Mom was crazy on race day.  She was so happy and excited.  She walked around and talked to people.  Everyone who was working the race knew it was her birthday and that we all came to surprise her because of how many times we had to call the office to straighten things out.  

While my mom was on her high, the rest of us were nervous and dreading the run.  This was Dillon, Dalton, and my first race.

 I'm happy to announce that we all survived the race.  Dalton ran the fastest out of all of us.  Dee killed me.  I was dry heaving at the finish line because I was determined to beat this skinny mom pushing her stroller that looked my age.  She kept stopping to look at the animals with her kid and husband and then they would pass me while I was sucking air.  Dillon was right behind me and mom right behind Dillon.  Immediately when we finished, mom was walking around, talking to people, eating all the free food and high-fiving people.  I literally sat on a bench for 30 minutes waiting for my face to turn from purple to a normal pink.  (It's my running app's fault.  It told me I only had .2 to go so I started running really fast but the finish line never came.  I ended up sprinting the last .5 miles of the race.  About died.)

The Walker men.

 It really was an awesome race.  The beginning not so much.  We had to run this small gradual hill in the parking lot and weave through back water tanks and storage barns before entering the park and running past all the sea animals.  But the worst part is you had to run through the penguin exhibit and it stunk REALLY BAD.  Aubrie said, "Why does it smell like Red Lobster in here?!"  Haha.  

Loving on cousin Dee.

After the race they put on a show with the whales for all the people who participated.  The park was closed to the public.  Gram sat in the front row with the girls to see if they could get splashed.  It was pretty cool.  They also announced winners.  Mom came in first in her age group.  We are so proud of her!  I love how she takes care of herself and even though I made fun of her, I love how excited she gets and loves competing.  I came in 2nd in my age group.  I am now retired from running 5k races.  

watching the show

Hanging with dad

It's Abby!  I didn't know that Sea World was partnered with Sesame Street.  The kids got to see most of the characters and give them hugs.  

Post race family shot.  Love my family! 

After the race, we went to the kiddy park and they had the rides open. We rode on all of them without any lines.  They had a great selection of rides for the little kids.  And Adam.

We got to go to all the exhibits and see all the different animals.  But as you can see, we were pretty worn out by noon because we were up so early and have been walking quite a bit. 

Sweet nephew Nathaniel and Robbie.  Nathaniel is a Walker family name.  

The next day we went to a park and attempted to take some family pictures...

Mom LOVES when we pose like this.

Then we headed downtown and walked through the Alamo and saw some more sights.

SOOOO Ready to kick this stroller to the curb.

Then we ate at the Riverwalk and dad got the mariachi band to play for my mom.  One time mom was inside this large Mexican market in El Paso and my dad was outside in the parking lot.  A man was walking around the parking lot, playing his guitar and singing for money and dad paid him to follow mom out of the store and sing to her really loudly all the way to the truck.  

And on our last day, we made our trip to Kreuz Market for some famous BBQ.  It was served to us on large pieces of butcher paper and you paid by the pound.  You didn't get silverware.  It was delicious and worth the trip.  Plus it was on mom's bucket list.  

We had such a great time.  I'm thankful we were all able to get together and make memories.  Happy 60th, mom.  

The very next weekend we got back on an airplane and flew into Chicago.  Adam's dad picked us up and we drove to Indiana to celebrate Grandpa Huhnke's (Gaga) 90th Birthday!!!  This one wasn't a surprise.  If we tried to do that, we would all be in trouble.  He knew we were coming and Granny arranged for us all to eat at Amish Acres in Nappanee.  Nappanee has a huge Amish community and this establishment has a restraunt, puts on weddings, has a store, and also puts on shows in it's theatre. We had an awesome lunch together.  Fried chicken, roast beef, mashed potatos, beef and noodles, green beans, homemade bread, soup, coleslaw....that's just to name a few.  And they bring it out and you eat family style.  Then at the end, they bring out a huge tray with every kind of homemade pie you can think of and you get your choice.  It was so delicious.  It was almost like having an early Thanksgiving dinner.  

Granny and Gaga.  I love them so much.

Amanda put together a gift from all of us.  It was a book of 90 things we remember/love about Gaga.  It was filled with pictures of him as a little boy, in the service, as a newly wed, a new father, a proud grandfather, and a great-grandfather.  We all loved looking at it with him and hearing his commentary.  

Hanging out with Gaga.

We got to celebrate Emilie's birthday, too.  

 We hung out with Gaga and Granny while Grandma took the kids back to her house for a nap.  We love playing euchre with him and visiting.  Then later that night, we sent the kids off with Grandma again and watched half of the Notre Dame vs. FSU game with him.  He is a weary ND football fan like the rest of us.  He also likes to watch ND women's basketball, but I think his favorite team was any team that Adam played on. I have so many awesome stories about this man.  He served our country during WWII.  He ran a small bank and was a successful farmer. Adam is blessed to have all four of his grandparents.  We got to meet up with them for breakfast after church before we flew home.  

Grandpa and Grandma Huhnke with Grandma and Grandpa Mark

We had a great time and our October was busy, but filled with lots of family time and lots of love.  Thanks everyone for the memories!

Love to all!

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Testing. Testing. Anybody?

Yes.  I know.  It's been since August.  Yes, I know.  It's November.  And really, it went by so fast.  It's so true what everyone says.  Once your kids get into school, it flies by.  I mean, my daughter is reading now.  And she's loving her some Kindergarten.  No lie...we got the best teacher in all of Nashville.  She loves our daughter.  I've gone by the school several times to work on things for her.  I get to sit in the hallway and I hear what's going on in her class as well as the classes around me.  My observations during that time confirmed that Mrs. Reid is THE BEST.  

THE Mrs. Reid.  You know you have a good teacher when you're sick of hearing your kid say stuff like, "Mom, Mrs. Reid says..."  "Well, Mrs. Reid always says...."  She warned us at orientation that kids will come home tired because they work them hard at school and boy was she right.  Aubrie was a fire-breathing, eye rolling, dragon the first 3 weeks of school.  She was exhausted.  By Thursday, she would end up in her room for a timeout due to the side effects her grouchy-ness had on her mouth.  Now she knows that on Thursdays, if she needs it, she can come home and lay down for 30 minutes.  We ALL benefit from it.  :)

I so cried.  Like...ugly cry.  Sunglasses in the building, get your stuff together cried.   

But if you thought I took it hard, you should have seen Emilie.  Her little heart was broken and she cried so hard.  

But luckily, back during basketball camp, I promised Aubrie an end of summer party and I had that to focus and deliver on that day.  It actually was really nice.  The kids had a half day and then it helped ease their pain of having to get back into a school routine (or starting school) and parents were giddy because summer was over!

Poolside snacking

My buddy Grayson loves a good pool party.  I've gotten to spend more time with him now that his mom is back to work and dad's basketball season is in full swing.  It's such a drag having this kid around.  He never smiles...

And my girl, Lily, was happy summer is over and she can get some peace and quiet while big brother is at school!

I teach Emilie's Mother's Day Out (MDO) class this year with my friend, Marcie (Lily's mom).  Marcie's middle child, Trace, is also in our class.  We had so much fun putting our classroom together.  We call our students The Happy Campers.  Marcie knows every campfire song known to man.  

Our classroom. 

First day of MDO.  Kyle's hair has gone from stick straight at the beginning of the summer to thick, wavy, unmanageable hair.  It's out of control and he constantly looks like we don't comb his hair.  Oh, and don't worry.  Emilie ended up wearing shoes to school.   

Next on our summer agenda was Kyle's birthday.  Poor kid...with me setting up my classroom and having inservice, and Aubrie's school starting, I didn't have a lot of time or energy to put into his birthday.  But luckily, he's an easy going kid and enjoyed the laid back intimate party we had.  

Cannot believe our baby is 2! (see his hair?!!)

He LOVED his apple cake.  And I love his eyes.  And his wild hair.  Why do they grow up so fast??!

Now it's story time.  When I was in the hospital after having Emilie, Adam walked into the room and said, "I just ran into Kevin Murphy.  They had a little girl today, too!" I had to remember how we knew Kevin, but Adam reminded me.  Kevin was an accounting major with Adam and he played baseball at Belmont.  Fast forward to 3 years later.  We start going to a new church and run into the Murphy family!  Then we sign Emilie up for soccer and get assigned a team that Kevin ended up coaching.  (Here comes the magical part)  Emilie immediately falls in love with coach Kevin, affectionately nick-naming him "Famous Coach Kevin", and then falls in love with her birthday buddy, Maggie!  THEN...we go to our first day of ballet and Maggie is in Emilie's class!  Needless to say, I'm so glad God brought our two families together.  It's been so fun getting to know them.  Maggie has a little brother, Henry, who hangs around with Kyle while the girls are in dance.  Love how stuff like that happens!

Maggie and Emilie.  Birthday buddies!

Emilie had a blast playing soccer.  We only signed her up because, with her being a middle child, we wanted something that was just for her.  She cried when practice was rained out or when she was sick and couldn't go.  She was pretty aggressive out there.  She definitely used her elbows when things got tight.  It was a lot of fun and she relished it being "her thing".

I feel like it never got super hot here this summer.  The weather was very mild.  We are all adjusted and in a pretty good rhythm now with school going full swing.  Now that soccer is over, Aubrie will be doing basketball for a couple of months.  She's pretty excited and worked really hard this summer to get enough strength to get the ball up and into the basket.  She was so funny.  We would be outside shooting hoops and riding bikes in the cul-de-sac and she would get out this exercise band and do curls with it.  She was pretty serious about getting better.  Now she's consistent on getting it up and into the basket. Adam has raised the hoop one more step and she's working on a new height.  She's such a determined and driven girl.  Her grades so far have been excellent.  She's reading so much and writes the cutest notes and to-do lists.

Emilie is doing well with me as her teacher.  I didn't know if she would be a nightmare or what.  I mean, ages 2 and 3 were not kind to her.  But she hit age 3.8 and smoothed out nicely (Praise the Lord!)  She turned the corner just in time for little brother to start with his terrible 2's.  Emilie is the tallest person in her class.  When you go somewhere, the odds are pretty high that when you get her out of the car, you'll have to stop her and put her shoes on the right feet.  And if you take her shoes off, the odds are even greater that her socks WON'T match.  She's still pretty clumsy and leggy.  Hopefully ballet will continue to help with that.  She still tries to keep up with big sis.  She's pretending to read books that she has memorized.  Her math game is strong.  Sometimes when Adam is giving math problems at the dinner table, Emilie can yell out the answers faster than Aubrie.  In Aubrie's defense, she's super tired from a long school day and Emilie is wound up with energy.  But still, she's pretty bright.

Kyle is talking paragraphs now.  He says so much and acts like such a big boy.  He spends 80% of his day death gripping a matchbox car of some kind.  He asks to watch Disney's Cars daily.  He also has a love for Thomas the train.  I tried to move him out of his crib right before he turned 2, but it didn't go well and I remembered the wise words of our pediatrician, "Don't borrow trouble.  Wait until he climbs out."  And this kid probably won't try to climb out until he's 9.  I'll put him into a timeout in his crib (because he won't sit in a chair) and he just stands there and cries.  Won't do nothing about it.  Which is fine.  I mean, I don't want to turn that nursery into a big boy room.  I want to keep him a baby FOREVERRRRR!!!  But that won't happen.  Right now he will bring me food from the pantry at all hours of the day...like 30 minutes AFTER we just ate.  So I'll lock the pantry door and he will then scream and throw his body at the door.  We'll be replacing that door at some point, I'm sure.  He does a lot of weird boy things that I don't quite understand, but I'm learning.

We are enjoying this moment of our lives right now.  We are about to have 3 kids and no diapers and it's weird.  I am excited about it, but a little sad I won't have a baby anymore.

So I just watch Grayson and get my baby love from him.  :)

Love to all!!!!!  (Lots of love!)

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