Okay, here goes....

There has been lots going on around the Walker household lately, in addition to all that comes with keeping up with a very active 18 month old. We are still trying to get caught up on yard work after the ice storm, celebrate Hugh's birthday (Happy 39th), enjoy some family time, and get Hugh back on the road again. Here are a few favorite pictures from the last few weeks.

At the sport show last year, we had a caricature done of Houston when he was 6 1/2 months old, drawn as a baseball player wearing a San Francisco Giants uniform. We decided to make it a tradition and luckily our man was there (who only has one eye, by the way) and did another caricature this year with Handy Manny in mind. The two will now hang side-by-side in Houston's bedroom.
Houston was such a big helper carrying sticks and helping us clean up the yard. He would drag one little bitty ol' stick up to the wood pile, jump and throw it, and clap for himself when it fell to the ground right beside him. But, the thought of being helpful was there and it was sweet that he tried.

Like I said, Happy 39th birthday to the man of the house!! Just a few days late with the wishes here, but we celebrated February 9th with homemade chocolate cake, barbecue, beans, and slaw. Hugh got money and a some new shoes to celebrate his turning older. And wiser. And with just a little bit more gray. But we still love him!

Houston, on the other hand, was not quite as happy to continue the celebration when mom told him "no" to his request for more cake!!

And Monday night, Hugh was honored to be an invited guest to the ASU Baseball Banquet with special guest Will Clark (who signed a baseball for Houston saying :To a future super star-Will Clark). Hugh had a great time visiting the Will Clark who was recently added to the San Francisco Giants organization as a special to the GM.

So, busy, but good times around the Walker household. Hugs and kisses to Hugh from us as he travels to Oklahoma and Texas!!

Icy Days

I know folks living around here don't need reminders quite yet of the ice storm. We all went enough time without power, heard enough cracking limbs in the night, and have enough yard cleanup to do to last us for a while. But we have lots of friends and family out of town that read our blog (we think) so we wanted to share with them our lives this past week. We also have some pretty cool pictures from around our house.

This is one of the trees in our front yard-the branches weighted down so heavily from the ice they touched the ground.
Gumballs with over 1" of ice on them.

Hugh holding an icicle almost 2 feet long-this came off my parents house.

This may be the most amazing picture of all. This view is from the driver's side window of our Explorer. A branch that fell from the tree at the corner of our house went through the window and impaled the dashboard. For insurance purposes, we were told not to pull the branch out of the window yet, so we don't know how deep into the dashboard it goes. I'm sure it's safe to say, the radio probably isn't working right now. :)

No, wait. THIS is the most amazing picture from the week. My husband cleaning up the yard!! No, really, he worked hard to get the yard looking better before heading to Texas. When we get all the limbs and branches piled up, I will post that picture, too. Right now the pile is about 5 feet high and 10-12 feet long, no joke. Lots of work still to do around here. Everybody, be safe!

Incognito

I'm loving this age more and more-Houston is so playful and funny. He loves hats-his daddy's cowboy ones, construction ones-you name, he will put it on. The last few days I have snapped some of the cutest pictures of him being silly and sweet!

This 70's attire was for Lexi Allen's birthday party. We had a groovy good time and Lexi is a sweet, sweet girl. (If Michele would update her blog, I would have stolen a picture from the party to insert here.)

Houston was playing with this at the consignment store one afternoon and the lady gave it to us for a quarter. We went to Wal-Mart right after that and he wouldn't take it off. Of course everyone commented on how cute he was. And I have to agree.

Where were you

when history was made today? Like him or not, today was an historical moment for our nation. I was lucky enough to share a 3x6 foot office space with 5 other teachers and about 15 children, packed around a Dell computer. But we got to see it. Most of the kids probably won't remember (and none of them understood), but they were all able to witness the swearing into office of the first black president of the United States of America.

A friend at work shared this quote with me today, a history lesson of sorts about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Rosa sat so Martin could stand. Martin stood so Barack could run.

God bless and guard our country and the actions and efforts of this President!

Tough Guy and Tupperware

The day after Christmas, we enjoyed the 70+ degree temperatures and Houston was in and out all day-just playing outside and enjoying his new Christmas present. He picked out the best part of his tough guy outfit-the hat on backwards and the boots. He has a neighborhood image to protect you know.

Then it was on to his softer side. He made over 20 trips from the tupperware drawer to the patio where he carefully arranged all his treasures. After he had them arranged exactly like he wanted them......

he sat down to enjoy himself. Then, he climbed on top of the table and chunked them all, one by one, all over the patio and then ran off to his next expedition leaving mom with yet another mess of a creative little 17 month old.

Christmas Wrap Up.....

no pun intended.

This has been a whirlwind of a holiday for sure. Here are a few favorites from Christmas morning. Houston really got the idea of unwrapping the gifts by the 2nd or 3rd one and he wanted to unwrap them all. He could care less what was in the box, he just liked ripping the paper.

His life-size Manny which he lovingly refers to as "Manny". Imagine that. He now takes his tools and toolbox and sings the "Hop Up Jump In" song. (We don't leave him in front of the TV all day-it's what he watches in the car.)And the mother of all presents for him-his Quad. Which runs an amazing 3-4 mph at top speed. He rode his cousin Barrett's this summer and can easily work the foot pedal. We should have also invested in plaster to fix all the holes in the walls.

The cutest little construction worker you've ever seen.

The kids opening their stockings at Nana and Poppy's. Hope your Christmas was as awesome as ours.

Merry Christmas Eve

We've had lots of fun Christmas festivities to catch you up on. Tonight, we had an amazing Christmas Eve service at church-not a dry eye in the house. We went to my mom and dad's for chili and then back to our house to begin preparing dinner for tomorrow. Last night we stayed the night in Jacksonville and had a great time hanging out with Hugh's dad, sisters, niece, and nephew.

This is Houston and I at his school Christmas party on Dec. 19th making snowflakes. We had lots of yummy treats and got to take home lots of Christmas art.

We have the cutest pictures and video of Houston using the Christmas wrapping paper rolls as sticks for his own interpretation of Christmas dance. The best part is, after he sings and bangs them on the ground, is that he throws them down in a grand finale before clapping for himself. I will try to get video of that on soon.

Houston waiting for Santa's cookies to get finished baking......

He drew his first picture/letter to Santa with red and green crayons.

A picture with the Big Man. You will notice tears are missing, and you will also notice that his usual adorable smile is missing as well. He looks a little concerned, but the Santa '08 picture is in the books! Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!