This, That and the Other

We have had a crazy busy week! Last week was Hal's birthday, again. I wish he would quit having them because every time he has one then I follow suit shortly after and I certainly don't want to get any older! We had a great deal of fun and partied for two days. We enjoyed dinner out with friends and also a comedy show.

Part of the fun is that Hal's Mom is in town. We love having her visit. We went on a walk this morning. It was a beautiful day. We also managed to do a little shopping and of course lunch at a sidewalk cafe.

Also, on Friday, Hannah had her final concert for her community orchestra. Her chamber orchestra sounded the best they have ever sounded. It was a lot of fun to have Grandma here as she has never seen one of Hannah's concerts!

We Don't Know Where They Get It

Joshua and Hannah each win an award for the school's art contest this year. The art contest was in conjunction with the Annual Art Exhibit. The artwork the kids produce during the school's Art Masterpiece program is on display. This year the category that was judged for all the students PreK through 6th Grade was sketching. Out of nearly 200 2nd Graders Joshua took First Place for his pot sketch. Hannah took Second Place out of all the 5th Graders (about 150) for her southwestern sketch. I have included very short videos of their names being called as well as pictures of some of their artwork on display.

Joshua's Pots took First Place for the entire 2nd Grade! Way to go Joshua!!!

Joshua also displayed artwork of a parrot sitting on a branch.

A surprised Joshua wins first place.

Hannah draws a picture reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe's flowers.

Hannah's Second Place sketch. She took 2nd Place for the entire 5th Grade.

Hannah's video!




The judges were not allowed to look at the kids' names in association with their art. The judges did not know the names of the winners until tonight when they were announced. Interestingly, all three winners from the 2nd Grade were from Joshua's class and all three winners from the 5th Grade were from Hannah's class.

Most interesting, however, is that neither Hal nor I can draw...anything!

The kids are chatting at the art show.

Congrautlations!

Joshua

and

Hannah!

I Wish I Could Translate the Phrase "Strong Work" into Latin

We got a surprise phone call today from Rebecca's school explaining that there was an awards assembly taking place this evening and that if at all possible they would like for Becca to be in attendance. We were excited to learn that Becca received an award for Best Latin Student of the year (out of all the 7th and 8th graders). Latin is a required course for all 7th and 8th graders. Here is a short video clip of Becca receiving the award. She has worked extremely hard at this new school and has done very well. Many of her teachers speak highly of her and we are certainly proud of her. For her, this was an unexpected category to win an award in. She was very excited. Becca has now gone to bed. As for me, I am left alone with my blog and my downloads and no way to translate the title of this posting into Latin. Maybe tomorrow she can do it for me! She is the Latin student of the year after all.

Let the celebrating begin~!

Hannah began what looks like will be a week long celebration of her birth! We started off the weekend by celebrating with NO school on Friday! She had her BFF over all afternoon. Then she partied at the D-backs game.

Saturday we continued the tradition of celebrating her birthday at a local Mexican restaurant. (Hence the sombrero in the header!) We have gone to this restaurant for Hannah's birthday since she was 3!

Today we had our Easter dinner and because Hannah's schedule is so crowded tomorrow we had to have her cake and ice cream today. She is saving the opening of the presents for tomorrow...except for the one from Aunt Brooke...and her friend Portia. Portia gave her those darling socks she is wearing with her sandals!!!!! Thanks Portia!!

Hannah's birthday candles burned the color of the candle. I don't know if you can tell from this photo but the green candle has a green flame etc.

Stay posted as the partying will continue all week!

It was a Spanking!

We went to the Diamondbacks game tonight! It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Hal had to work, but we managed to party without him....somehow.

The Diamondbacks were playing the Dodgers. I love to go to the games when we are playing the Dodgers and I love it even more when we win...and tonight we whooped them! It certainly is a lot more fun when the Diamondbacks run 9 people across home plate. Keeps the game interesting. There are always a lot of Dodger fans in the audience which makes it even more fun. Joshua could hardly contain himself and wanted to stand on his chair and scream...fun for me and everyone else near us!

We had tickets that allowed us to go under the stands to use the restroom and it is also near the visitor's dugout. So Joshua "had" to go to the bathroom a lot. He wanted to boo them in their own dugout. All I can say is thank heaven for security guards.

The only disappointment of the night was the cancellation of the fireworks due to wind. Dang! We like to go on Friday nights because when weather permits they have fireworks.

This is what the Diamondbacks website had to say about the game.

PHOENIX -- The D-backs got five runs in the third inning to support a strong debut by Jon Garland as they beat the Dodgers, 9-4, on Friday night in the first game of a three-game series at Chase Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the D-backs, who lost seven of their final eight games against the Dodgers last season.
Garland, signed as a free agent in the off season, allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings of work.
James McDonald started for the Dodgers, and after retiring the first six batters he faced, things fell apart for the right-hander in the third as he walked three and hit a batter during the five-run outburst.
Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.c This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Spring Break in Park City

We had a great time in Park City enjoying our Spring Break. Above is the view out of our window. We had lots of fun visiting with everyone. We got to have Grandma Walker stay with us for a few days.

While she was there we enjoyed a sleigh ride up the mountain for dinner. We had the most delicious Utah trout I have ever eaten.

Kids and Grandma.

We also won the resort's Iron Chef award. See previous post for award-winning recipe created with a "secret" ingredient given to us by the resort and then whatever we had in our kitchen.

We also played a lot of Shanghai Rummy with Grandma Walker, as well as War (when Joshua wanted to play).

After Grandma Walker left Uncle Jeremy and Aunt AJ came for a visit. They brought Princess Ava. The girls loved dressing her up like she was going to get to go skiing but instead she just got to shop with the girls (Kellie, AJ, London and Ava). Thank heavens Park City has a great outlet mall. What else would we do all day...eat Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory treats? Oh, I think we did that too!

April

Then there was "THAT" April.....

April

Well, here it is April. April Fool’s Day no less. April has always been a BIG month in the Walker Family. Obviously, some of this joy has been spread around through the years…other times it tag-teamed us in an April of the same year!

April 1

Hal and Kellie decide to give their relationship another try (many years ago).

Kellie thought several times during that phone conversation…is this just an April Fool’s joke?

April 1 (different year)

Becca was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes

***Saddest April Day***

April 5

Kellie dislocates her ankle, breaks her leg, breaks her ankle, and breaks her foot in the process… and she is nine months pregnant!

April 6 (early a.m.)

Kellie has surgery to repair said breakage and gains 9 pins and a plate in her leg. Also gets the privilege of having dinner brought in from her loving ward for nearly 6 months and gets to be pushed around in a wheel chair for same amount of time.

April 13

(tag-team from April 5th same year)
Hannah is born.

April 13

Same day as her birth, Hannah breaks her collar bone during delivery.

She didn't want her Mommy to be the only one broken.

Also, her delivery day shatters record at the local hospital for most babies delivered in one day at that hospital.

April 14

Hannah makes her TV debut on the morning show to discuss the delivery record for the previous day for the hospital.

April 15

Hal and Kellie get engaged at the Lincoln Memorial. (Tag-team with #1)

From hence forth they strive diligently to have their taxes done so they don’t have to celebrate their engagement date in line at the post office! Of course they don't really celebrate this event. But, it never goes without mention. And the way things are going this year we may be celebrating at the post office.

We end the month by celebrating the following birthdays:

Barbara

and then

Hal!

April is eventful and I am always holding my breath when it arrives and breathing a sigh of relief when it goes…..hang on…let’s hope it is NOT a wild ride this year!