Piano Duet

OK, here's the duet Lisa and I played for the talent show. I may have sped it up just a wee bit for web streaming purposes. It is a fun little number to play...

Talented Orphans

Our church ward had it's third annual talent show. I didn't think the Walkers would be represented, but it turned out Lisa got me to do a piano duet with her, Michael was asked to play his guitar for a family singing, and a couple of ladies put together a group of girls ages 5-7 to do It's a Hard Knock Life.

This was perfect for Kynlee's drama desire. I'm really glad the ladies had the idea and put in the time to practice, the girls had a lot of fun. We came up with the outfits. Kynlee's wearing an old second hand dress with some cover thing I came up with in my non sewing ways. Lisa (my sister) made a nice scratchy burlap jumper for Hadley, who wasn't totally excited after seeing Taya's -that is so cute it could be featured in a boutique. And check out Taya's face expression. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. I think these girls are too cute; they would be snagged up quick out of an orphanage.




Here's the movie production:

Tri Time

Michael was able to catch the last triathlon race in town. A good sprint tri that's a 500 meter swim, ten mile bike, and 3 mile run. I got there a little late and missed the swim, did I mention I have four kids now? I'm still getting the hang of it. We may have made it had I not needed to stop for gas.

He hardly did swim workouts and decided he'd take it easy in the water during the race so he'd have something left at the end. Taking it easy in the water turned out to mean a great time. His tall body and long fin like feet could have made him a Michael Phelps I think had he known back in the day.






I sent the kids after him at the end so they could cross the finish line together. Hopefully the officials didn't mind that. This race draws around 500, so what's a couple of kids at the end? He was just off from his great time last year, which I think is impressive since the first half of the year he spent all his spare time studying for boards. Way to go mikey-o!

I'm thinking for the next race we'll both have all the right gear. I'm going to make sure he has the shoe clip in things for the bike, proper running shoes, and swim goggles that aren't Ander's!

First Day

Got to have first day pictures. Look out second grade and kindergarten. The kids wanted to do crazy poses. They look so well groomed. Everything is new on them, even the socks. They must feel so cool. Kynlee really wanted a stylish scarf, and check out how white her shoes are (I give them a week). They are bathed, with teeth brushed and mouth washed even. I know a month or two from now they'll be jumping out of bed just in time to run out for the bus looking a bit crumpled. Last year Kynlee went to school with hair so tangled they sent her to the nurses office to have it combed out!

Rock Climb Camp

As expected, I have not gone out to do a lot of summer activities with the kids since baby arrival. In an effort to keep Kynlee from being too bored- because she shows signs of going crazy indoors the most- I signed her up for rock climbing camp. We had her in the same camp two years ago and she loved it then as much as she loves it now. It suites her natural strength, her inner desire to climb, and her fearlessness. It lasts a week for five hours a day. I had to be presentable by nine every morning with all the kids. I wonder if anyone noticed I had the same outfit on 3 of the 5 days (I'm in the stage of not fitting in to much).

The last day we all went in so I could take a few shots. For her first climb for me she tackled the hardest wall- the arch.


I was impressed when I saw how far she got on it, and how when she reached for the next notch, she slipped, but held on and swung her legs back so she could reach the big orange notch before falling. I've climbed this arch before with Michael- Kynlee got farther on it then us. I've got to get out there and beat her!



For her next climb, she wanted to show me how it's fun to climb blindfolded.





The owner of the place just had a baby the day before Maeleya, his third and the oldest is three! We bonded a little. He let Easton and Ander do a climb at the end.


Easton by nature is a bit timid and cautious, but I think having a sibling- and now two siblings- that are fearless pushes him to do things he might have not done had he been an only child.


Did you know they have full body harnesses so your two-year-old can climb? Ander loves it, I think he'd do it all day if he could.





After seeing all this, I got thinking that Kynlee may end up in an extreme sport unless I intervene. Another favorite sport of hers is swimming- nice, smooth, safe lap swimming. I think we'll start steering her that way.

The Help

Her name is officially Maeleya Ona. I had to keep saying it out loud for a while to get it right. May-lee-uh, Mae comes from my side, Ona comes from Michael's. Whenever I tell someone her name I feel like I should start singing Mele Kalikimaka.

Thanks for all the congratulations. Whew, we made it through a month. It seems when you have a newborn that's all you worry about- but then there's a whole house full of other things to worry about. Fortunately, Michael took a week off work and took over the older three kids. After he went back in, Michael's dad came. Can I just say how impressed I am that a father-in-law would even think to come and help with kids without a wife? He worked hard entertaining so I could focus on Maeleya. He did music with them and played card games- his two favorite things.


On Sunday, my parents also made it into town and we blessed her while we had family here. Then she got very sleepy, I'll have to try another photo shoot with her dressed up and awake.



My parents stayed at my sister's house- she's about a mile away from me, and we all got together that night. I unfortunately didn't break out the camera much- I was a bit occupied.



A tradition in Michael's family is to run after the car when company leaves and bark like a dog. I like it, we started doing it with my family. The first time we tried it we got some strange looks.


Don't be mistaken by this photo, my mom hardly sat, she was working hard cleaning and cooking most of the time.


We love Maeleya! Thank you for the help, the gifts, and meals everyone!