Singing

Michael sang in a duet for an Easter program our stake had. I thought he did great. I took a bad audio recording of it with my camera, (kid voices included) but wanted to get it up for the family to hear. I'm going to try and find a better recording. The lady sings first. Don't you think he should sing more often for things?



This is a video you can actually see him singing in. Kynlee heard him practicing for a ward talent show last Fall and wanted to join with him. She only had a few days to work with him on it, but they both did great. She sings a lot with Michael. It was Kynlee's dream to sing up on a stage. She even tried throwing in a little vocal run at the end : ) I was holding wiggly Ander, I know the recording is the pits! But they were awesome.

A Different Easter

This year our Easter was quite a bit different. I've been trying to work on traditions that seem to celebrate Easter. I saw this sheep at Target and thought the design of it was so cool I had to buy it. I told Michael it's my duty to support good design (if I had any picture taking skills you would see that he actually is pretty awesome). I decided he could be our Easter sheep and only come out at Easter time. When the kids woke up Sunday, he was sitting on the couch. They asked about him and I told them that he had a story. Kynlee said very energetically, "Oh, you mean the one about the guy that cut off all the arms protecting the sheep?"

Uh, no, not quite the Easter story I was looking for...



So this year's sheep story was the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Ander and Easton played the roll of the 99 sheep, and Kynlee was the shepherd looking for the lost sheep. She affectionately carried him back home on her shoulders. They love him and have named him Sheepy.

I saw some cute wiggly wooden fish at the store a few weeks before Easter and thought they could definitely tie in with the holiday. I bought a bunch to do with the cousins, but the schedules didn't work out so we just painted as many as we wanted. I told them the story of Christ telling the fishermen, Peter and Andrew to follow him and become fishers of men.





Ander wants to do everything we do, he even seemed to stop painting and look at me so I could take his picture, kind-of made me chuckle.



Bless all the little fishies, even the red belly piranha Kynlee wanted to paint.



Because of some things going on, we had an unplanned family fast Sunday. We told the kids the night before we would be fasting. They wanted to do it too, although I knew about three hours into it they would max out. We just encouraged them not to eat any extra things like treats. I decided it would be pointless to tempt them with Easter baskets in the morning. I never said anything, and they seemed to never think about it.

This next tradition has been in the works for a few years. One year, I decided that teaching the kids to be disciples of Christ on Easter would be a good tradition. For a week we marked down all the good things they did. My younger sister was thinking about that idea during a lesson on the Parable of the Ten Virgins. She thought it would be neat if each person could add oil to their own lamp for each good deed. Last year I got the lamps, but didn't get around to the oil-- bad virgin. This year we got to burn them. The kids thought it was the coolest thing.



It was a little strange not to have big meals and tasty treats, and the day seemed to quietly go by, but it was a nice different. I'm not sure how much the kids were able to apply the stories, but maybe on down the road they'll figure it out.

Memphis Weekend

We took a spontaneous trip to Memphis over the weekend to visit Michael's brother. We didn't get in until Friday night and drove out Sunday afternoon. It was a bit of a whirlwind. We lived the first five years of our marriage in the city. When we left it nearly four years ago, I didn't think we would ever see it again. It was fun to relive memories there. I think the kids thought it intriguing to see the city they were born in. We lived in the heart of midtown with all it's charms and crazyness. We drove by their first home, and took them places we would regularly visit. They got to walk around in those places they could only remember from old pictures and videos. Unfortunately I forgot the camera, and just was able to snap a fuzzy picture with our phone by the Mississippi River for record of the trip.

Even though it was not a trip for pleasure, the kids found joy with nearly every step.

Old Memories:

Outside of our apartment.



Don't you want to sit in that sunroom and write poetry all day?



These are from a video we took when Kynlee was just turning one.
It's a park a block from our old place I used to walk to weekly.
Kynlee's watched the home movie a dozen times. She was really excited
to see the place again in person.





Old Bern dog. We did a lot with Michael's brother while we lived there.
We all had a place together for about a year and a half.

The China Study

If I am like my grandmother, I have cancer in my body already and I will lose the battle before I reach 40. If I am like my mother, I will survive cancer, but it will take several battles over many years, and some things will physically never heal.

For any book reader out there, I'd like an opinion. This book was recommended to me. I am glad I took the time, it's well worth the read- worth a checkout from the library, a borrow from me, or the ten dollars it will cost to buy one new. It took me about twenty pages to get into it, but now I am glad to feel like I am not just a walking time bomb. There's significantly more I can do to help. I thought I'd throw this out there since we all face scary medical issues in the unknown future, and since we all know people who have or are currently going through some major health issue. It's not just another nutrition book. Dr hubby is right there with me on this one. For those in the LDS faith, the study seems to go right along with section 89, and made me see wording in that section I had never noticed before. I think as a whole our church culture has not noticed this wording either, at least the culture in this country.

If you do read it, let me know your thoughts!

Star Wars

I mentioned before there have been some Lego Star Wars video games going on in our household. Things are actually slowing down a bit since all the different levels have been covered. (Maybe the brains can start reshaping.) The kids have now started an interest in physical Legos though. I had not bought any in the past, but the Star Wars ones are pretty cool. I knew there were strange Star Wars fans out there, but I didn't know there were obsessed Lego Star Wars fans. It's a crazy world I've embarked on. Who knew I'd be involved in an Ebay bidding battle for some hand painted, customized Lego characters that have become my children's favorites...a mother's love.

Introducing Easton's man:



Jango Fett, the renowned human bounty hunter and Mandalorian warrior adoptee- not to be confused with the more readily available Boba Fett.

And Kynlee's:



Togruta Jedi Master, Shaak Ti- not to be confused with the highly commercialized, also more readily available, Ahsoka, Anakin's padawan in the Clone Wars. (Oh the lingo.)

I have to admit, they are very intriguing people. Easton tears up the levels with Jango's double blasters and flying pack.



And who can deny Shaak Ti, a little alienish yes, but what girl wouldn't like a large pearl decoration attached to her forehead.



It's a little early to start sewing, but the kids have decided this is what they want to be for Halloween. Kynlee already prepared a sewing basket for me with all she thought necessary to get the project done:

Brighter, Greener, Happier

Ahh, the warmth, the sun, bare feet, and bug catching.



Short sleeves...


and rock digging.



Then I woke up:


Ha! We're in the middle of winter!
BUT, I had some good sleep this week- a rarity. It's amazing how much brighter, greener, and happier things appear. I've got a tune in my head and a skip to my step. I thought, "Maybe I'll update that old blog of mine."

The holidays seem FOREVER ago, but I promised to post some things from it. After Christmas, we headed South to Michael's side. Maybe you grew up singing a barbershop trio of the Star Spangled Banner with your siblings, but I didn't!
I was a little shy to sing songs around the piano on my first trip to meet my in-laws, but I about fell to the floor when Michael's dad tried to give me my own pitch and part! My weak little voice finds other jobs to do when the singing starts now, like camera man:



The Walker side:



I would show you our cute family picture around the Christmas tree, but we don't have one.



And I would show you how perfect our tree was, but by the time we found the tree farm we were looking for the best tree silhouette:


The doll for Kynlee was a hit, so much so if I had known I may have sprung for the American Girl brand... may have.
With Easton we could have stopped at the Lego Star Wars video game and pjs. One word, obsession. I'm glad I caught the spontaneous present kiss on camera.

Kynlee's Growing

Kynlee recently turned six, aahhhh my little one. She also recently lost four teeth. Seems crazy she has lost 7 teeth- OK one was knocked out, but still I didn't expect it until after Kindergarten. She is the type to really work a tooth once it is loose. I jokingly mentioned tying a string to the tooth and to the door knob to pull it out- not even an hour later I saw her stringing it up. Those little teeth my not have come out exactly naturally, but I do see some new sprouts. AND the tooth fairy has been very faithful- she even had to step it up and leave a fancy tiny fairy quality note along with the prize. That started a correspondence. Kynlee left gifts in return and invited her to her birthday party, among other things, she asked her what her first name was and if she went to church. Love that girl.

(Notice the hat. She loves it. Not normally something I would buy, but I couldn't resist her face when she put it on and remarked how beautiful it looked.)