Wally Is Eight!

And I can't believe it. Where is the time going?
I love you, my talented, amazingly imaginative, creative to the hilt, scarily observant, handsome, and masterfully charming little boy.

You changed the foundation of my world the second you entered it, and I can not imagine the person I would be had you not done that.

You keep me focused, and striving to be unselfish.
You have taught me to look at the world through different eyes.
You have shown me that it is impossible, and unfair to judge others.
You have given me eternal perspective.
You have kept me on my toes, and you have kept me on my knees.
I never knew what it was to pray with all the intent of my heart like I know now.
Your spirit is unafraid of taking on the challenges of a mortal world.
You are the trail blazer in our family, and you do a good job as Mom and Dad's guinea pig.
You, and your siblings are our priority.
We want so desperately for you to have happiness in this life.
We know that you can find that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We know that if you live striving to stay close to your Heavenly Father, you will live with him again.
We know your decision to be baptized in a few weeks is a good choice.
We know he knows you.
We ask him to help us raise you.
We know he loves you.

We LOVE you too.

Happy Birthday Wally.

Georgia's Room

I have been doing a little revamping in Georgia's room lately. I was sick of the pink we had on the walls. It was a soft pink, but it was tired. One contributing factor in that, is that Georgia had used the walls multiple times for art projects with crayons, marker, and even grease that she rubbed off of the door hinges. They were not adding character. Just making it look unkept. I decided I wanted something more neutral. And I also decided that I have had a change of heart when it comes to gray tones. I have seen gray done wrong too many times. Resulting in a cold depressing place, rather than light and airy. But, gray has been coming around on me. So I thought I would give it a shot. I must admit that now I have been finding room for gray in many areas of my home.
Now Georgia's room is very soft. Maybe too soft for some tastes. I also like bold colors, but I am enjoying the very neutral pallet of her room. And she has made a promise that the walls will no longer take such a beating. What do you think? Can I pull of the gray?

I took pictures in installments. In between taking care of home and kids. And Georgia made changes to some decor as I went. That is pretty much how it is. The book, or stuffed animal out, just depends on her mood. And pictures cover up a tremendous amount of flaws. (Not that my photography is anywhere near good enough to cover up much.  SO grainy!) This girl just knows how to TRASH a room.
Where we read.

Georiga wore the dress the summer after she was born. The baby bonnet came with the blessing dress that I bought while I was pregnant with Wally, after we were told in the ultra-sound that he was a girl.
I used a different dress for Georgia, but kept the original "baby girl" dress for the little one who ended up being my amazing Wally-Boy.

Georgia's Binki attachment from when she was a baby, and the jewelry box my best friend Christy gave me when I was a teenager for a birthday sit in Georgia's room. I have had to remove some things, because she gets too creative. That is okay, I tried. The name sign is a gift from Christy.

Her bedding is just cheap stuff from Target and Home Goods. She hides too many markers and uses them after bedtime hours to put anything worth much on that bed! Oh, and white bedding is always bleachable!

The two pillows on her bedside table are gifts made by one Aunt on each side of the family. The bottom pillow, by my sister, Emily. The "Georgia" pillow, by Del's sister Renee.
Oh, and the tattooed make-up on the sheep is a free gift from Georgia, armed with a permanent marker.

Play time! This doll house is just as vandalized as she would like our entire house to be. She can take out on the dolls.

There it is. A very girly dwelling for my very tom-boyish little one. She loves her room, and spends hours playing "Mimi" in it. (Mimi is what Georgia calls playing pretend, because that is the name of her alter-ego. Mimi can travel the world and get married on her own terms.) She has roped Will into the play as her accomplice, and assigned his character the name "Don-Don."  And this is home to that imagination!

Walkie-Talkie

That is what he is. He doesn't stop jabbering, and he is definitely living up to his name. So when he found this to play with... it was too perfect.

Because No Household Is Complete Without...

A giant, four foot, paper, Emperor Penguin!

When I saw Wally get off the bus with this guy, I threw my head back and laughed! There was been no shortage of paper creations coming home with Wally. At least two five foot snakes, and a UFO the size of an ottoman, are the largest that pop into my head. Wally earns points at school for good focus, and work. His reward when he redeems his points to to make some kind of paper treasure.

Mr. Penguin was a class effort. He is stuffed with cotton batting, so he is nice and full. After the class made him together, there was a drawing to see who would take him home.

Last night was Parent/Teacher Conferences. The first thing Mrs. Pawelko said when she saw me walk through the door was, "So what did you think of the Emperor Penguin?!"
She said she could not believe it when she drew the piece of paper with Wally's name on it, because she had just been telling her husband that there would not be any kid that would appreciate the big penguin more than Wally. Her husband even said he could not wait to hear if Wally won the drawing.

Yes, Wally does have an eye for quality paper productions.

So we seem to have a new member of the family. He has already made the rounds. Georgia immediately informed me that the penguin would be taking a nap with her. There was not much room left in her bed for her to squeeze in once we got him settled.  Walker has been dragging him around. And this morning Will spent some time doing a spinning dance with Mr. Penguin in the kitchen. We will see how long he survives all the love.
But it seems he was meant to be ours.  Welcome to the family Mr. Penguin! And thanks, Mrs. Pawelko!

The Thaw

 Wally kept Walker entertained while I made dinner by attaching the Valentine's balloon bouquet to his shirt. Walker felt pretty cool.

The weather kept us frozen in time last week, it seemed. We tried not to go anywhere we did not have to go, and it seemed hard to use any energy we did not have to use. I guess that is what -35 degrees with wind chill does to a body. And mind. But on Sunday that thaw began. And Valentines Day made our hearts warm with love, and sunlight. I actually broke out the stroller, bundled Walker within an inch of his life, and encased his stroller in plastic, so to be sure he would not freeze, and went for a run.

Heaven.

Even with the wind pounding away at my the entire time I ran North.

I ended up being a crazy, busy Valentines Day. Making sure everyone was ready for school parties, almost missing Wally's bus, and having a neighbor witness me having a "moment," when Wally was spinning in circles in the car instead of getting out and running for the bus as it pulled away, Young Womens Presidency meeting at my home while having a water softener installed, and feeding the sister missionaries from our church.
But the best was when the sisters came around at about 2:30 in the afternoon wondering if they might use our restroom. Great! Except that my water was still turned off because of the water softener installation. I felt too horrible sending them out the door with no help. I would definitely want someone to help my daughter find a bathroom when she needed one, if she were on a mission. So we headed out the door, and traipsed around my neighborhood, knocking on doors, looking for a bathroom with running water. I think I scared at least one off when his visiting mother answered, left to go find her son, and then no one returned to let us in. Oops.
But my WONDERFUL neighbor, Jen came to the rescue. As usual. She is always a champion of helping me in a jam. And we were able to send the Sisters on their way. And we were all relieved, if you know what I mean.
We got to share a not so lovey Valentine dinner with the missionaries, which included Del knocking a tall glass of water over, narrowly missing one Sister's lap, Walker pulling a pitcher of water off the table, narrowly missing his head, but giving himself a nice, icy shower, and lots of running around, yelling, and not listening, by all of our children.

I went to bed tired, and grateful that at the end of the day, hectic or not. More times hectic, than not. I am able to see my supportive, and amazing husband walk through the door.  I am lucky to have such a great Valentine.

The Snow

It took over the state this week, that is for sure! School, and just about everything else imaginable, was canceled for two days, and when the roads were finally cleared, they were half their usual size. The plows could not stack it any higher, so tractors were brought out to scoop the lanes free. They don't believe in a middle turn lane where I live, I swear, so all this made things extra complicated. But hopefully now the -35 degrees with wind chill will leave us, and the snow can get to melting. Mid westerners are hearty folk, and it is no wonder why! I have never been in a snow storm that also had thunder and lightning! That is unnerving!

The pictures I took did not turn out to be very exciting. Just very white!

Time to dig out. Everyone pitches in to get each other cleared. A short meeting of neighbors in the middle of winter. That is great because most years we don't see much of them all season long. Too cold!

Thar She Blows!

Here it comes! Apparently it is the snow storm of the century and I am sitting in the middle of it. So I put my seashells from our beach trip to North Carolina on my mantel to remind me that I was once warm. And I will be warm yet again, after this awful winter blows over.  Outside that window it is already heavily accumulating, and the actual blizzard is not even here yet. I will let you know just exactly what "blizzard" entails over the next 24 hours.

I ran out to grab some vitals this morning, things like frozen pizza, a new vase, and some gasoline. You know, all those things you can't live without in a snow storm. I did see some pretty funny storm scenarios already being acted out. Turns out that those income tax places that have the dancing Statue of Liberty guy out on the curb don't call him in, even when record breaking snow is falling.

There he was, bouncing and waving, when a big plow truck came barreling down on him with a shovel full of wet, dirty snow. I smiled as he ran for his life and dramatically acted out his relief at escaping the avalanche. He almost made me want to stop and have my taxes done by his establishment. That is job loyalty!

So we will wait it out, dreaming of white beaches, instead of white outs. It all makes me grateful for my snug home, with a furnace, oven, children, husband, down comforters, and a mantel for my shells.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa gave us a gift card to Chuck E. Cheese's for Christmas. We wasted no time using it over the Martin Luther King Day break. When our kids know there is a possibility of making a Chuck E. Cheese visit, we don't hear the end of it. They had such a fun time! It had been years since we had last been, and it was nice to have our kids be just a few years older. More time actually playing, and enjoying the games. Not as much stress about someone getting too far out of our sights. Except for Walker that is. He ran away at any chance he got. With a big sneaky grin on his face. We had a nice lunch time visit. I tend to avoid Chuck E. Cheese's at night, the crowd gets a little rougher.

Walker was a fan of the pizza.

And the blue lights under this game.

 He loved riding on the rides with Georgia. But got a little too confident after a while, and kept standing up on them and yelling really loud. So we had to put an end to the rides.

Thanks for a good time! And now, it has gotten far too quiet upstairs while I loaded this post. So I better go do damage control! I wonder what surprise awaits me? I lead a life of such intrigue and mystery!

Baby, You Should Be In Pictures

We have had some brushes with fame here at our house!

Just kidding. That is a massive exaggeration. But we have had some fun little experiences that I want to remember.

First. The boys made the cover! Of a very small local magazine that is. You can just barely tell it is them, with how bundled up they are.

Top right hand corner.

And second. Walker and I were asked to be in a marketing commercial for Adult and Child Therapy. This is where Wally and Walker have been going to speech and physical therapy. Walker was actually discharged (hallelujah!) two weeks ago. Goodbye Torticollis! Lets hope that it sticks! Walker did go to therapy there for almost an entire year, so I guess they figured I would have a lot to say. I basically just held Walker and rambled on.

They said I was a natural at blabbing. What do you know?!

 So we will be seen on tape at local fund raising and awareness events.

Us in front of the green screen. I asked him if he was going to put us standing at the top of a volcano or somewhere cool. Nope. Just in front of the Adult and Child logo.

Walker was a good boy until just the last minute, but the producer said he thought it was cute how Walker would scream out. Okay, works for me! Oh, and you may notice, no glasses on Walker. He has turned on us, and suddenly WILL NOT wear them! I don't know what to do. Stinker.

You gotta start somewhere, right! I don't see this leading to fame and fortune, but it is fun to make the memories!

Dude, Sounds Like A Lady

All of you wives out there can no doubt relate to the little experience I am about to share.
It all begins with the need to get something taken care of ASAP, and your name not being on some financial account or another, and ends with you impersonating your husband, and getting called out on it. Just every day stuff right?

The other day I was trying to gather some financial information on an account that Del has through a previous employer. I did not want to call and bug Del at work again to make the phone call to figure this all out, because I had already pestered him enough that day about another account, and he made it pretty clear he did not have the time. So I thought, I'll just do what any honest and compassionate wife trying to save her darling some time would do... call and pretend to be him.

So that is what I did. I was put on hold several times and asked all the security questions about three times. All of the answers were quick to come because, well, I know the answers. All the while my kids are screaming in the background yelling, "Mom, MOM!!!" And I am shushing and shooing.

Finally, a very uncomfortable sounding man comes back on the line and says," Sir, I have to say that you have an exceptionally female sounding voice, and I am not comfortable giving you this information."

I am mouthing "NO WAY!!!" to the ceiling and laughing silently. I am a terrible lier. Especially when it comes to being outright asked. And I was tempted to just blurt out "Okay, okay! This is his wife! And I am not up to any sleazy shenanigans! I am just trying to take something off his plate!"

But no. My pride got the best of me, so I put on my most manly sounding defensive voice and said, "Well, what do you want me to do? This is my voice."

The guy was yet again, not fooled, and told me that I needed to send a letter now, because he was flagging the account with an attempted hacking thingy, and they needed to compare my signature. Oh wow, have I made a mess. Now poor Del not only has to spend the time doing all of that, but his account is flagged with  "Either crazy ex-wife is snooping, or this guy has a seriously unfortunate feminine voice."

I called Del and fessed up and he laughed, and laughed, and later he laughed again.

Then we decided that when he sends in the letter clearing his name, (or mine.) he needs to dot the "i" with a heart.

XOXO