Our Boring Latest

I know I haven't updated much lately, but with me being in school still and the kids having been so sick, not a lot of stuff has been happening. Kyle's been working and hunting, which is pretty typical this time of year. I bumped my course load up to 2 classes instead of 1 this quarter because I'm just trying to get done. It's doable, but I'm definitely much busier and get a lot less sleep.:) I'm also serving in Young Women's now, which keeps me a lot busier, but is also so much fun! I love it! I love the girls and the sisters I serve with.

Let's see......Hunter. He's been improving a lot in the anxiety department. I've been having a heck of a time getting him to go anywhere. We finally have him liking Primary again and I don't have to deal with the fits every weekend, so that's good. I've also been able to take him different places to be babysat, which I haven't been able to do for quite so time, so that's a relief. He gave his first talk in Primary a couple of weeks ago. He did GREAT! He pretty much wrote it himself. He told me exactly what he wanted to say. I helped him give it and when he was done he told me he wanted to do another one. Good sign.:) What else? He's just getting smarter and smarter by the day. I can't believe the things he understands and says. He wants to be just like his Daddy and wears camo and hip waders around the house every day. If he gets tired of that he grabs his chainsaw to go cut firewood or gets his tools to go fix things. He and Tanner drive their Jeep around the yard for hours, as long as it's not too cold. He's absolutely awesome at basketball and soccer. Kyle's not too delighted that he's so good at soccer because it's during baseball season (which he's also great at), so we'll see how that turns out. He still loves to read and would make me read to him all day if I didn't put a stop to it. He's doing really well with his letters and numbers. I'm incredibly happy about that since we had to pull him out of preschool. Anyway, he's absolutely a delight to have around. He's so sweet and has a really nurturing personality. Haylee just loves him. I think they're going to be best friends. Warms a Mom's heart.

Tanner is still Tanner. He's all boy and I'm positive that won't ever change. He loves to wrestle and practice his football tackling. It's amazing to watch. Once he makes contact that kid's feet don't stop moving. He's going to be quite the player. I've never seen so many muscles on a 2 year old in my life. He can now demolish Hunter wrestling.....and I mean, absolutely demolish him. Hunter will pin him, but then Tanner can stand up with Hunter on his back and flip him onto the ground. It's crazy.....but very entertaining.:) Hunter loves teaching Tanner things, so Tanner is pretty good with his alphabet and numbers now too. I can barely get him to sit still while I read one book because he has so much energy, but it's better than it was. I can only imagine how many calls I'll get from the principal's office.:) Tanner was tongue tied at birth and the doctors refused to fix it because they said unless it gave him speech problems it wasn't a big deal. WELL, now it's given him speech problems, so thanks a lot. He has a hard time enunciating words (and this seems to be getting progressively worse) and he has a hard time saying the correct letter sounds at the beginning of words. It doesn't matter if he can say the letter, the beginning of words are frequently wrong. I found out that they'll start speech therapy through the school district as early as 3 years old, so we'll probably be doing that very shortly. Oh, and I nearly forgot, I've never seen a child so obsessed with Cars (the movie). He sleeps with his Lightning McQueen and Mater cars and won't go to bed without them. Sometimes he can be enticed to take different cars or Jeeps to bed, but Cars is always the favorite. You know, it's amazing how different my two boys are, but I love the unique things about each one. What a blessing it is to have them both in our home.

And then there's crazy Haylee.:) She turns one in less than two weeks. I can hardly believe it. What happened to my little baby? She's turned into quite the active toddler and I spend half my day chasing her around. She still won't even attempt to walk, but she will stand up next to things and let go, which she thinks is VERY exciting. She loves her brothers and follows them everywhere. If they lock her out of their room (because she messes up their train tracks and eats their cars and Legos), she pounds on the door, growling until she gets in. She's a riot. Occasionally she gets caught in the middle of a wrestling match. This doesn't induce crying either, but instead the same fit-throwing growl. She still won't really say "Mama." That's a rare occasion and she has to be really mad at me. She calls everyone "Dada." "Uh oh" is her favorite phrase and I'm convinced that she purposely throws things all through church just so she can say it. She's always on the move and I can't wait to get this one into the nursery. She'll be in with Tanner for awhile, so that should make it very exciting for their teacher (not). She's still my most cuddly kid and I love that. She always chases me down just so she can get hugs and cuddle. Then she's off again. She's a Mama's girl for sure. I can't believe what a delight she is to have around.....and I can't imagine how we ever lived without her here. She's a wonderful girl. And yes, I know that everyone thinks this about their own children, but just the same, I absolutely love her.

Last week, Kyle went hunting on his 4-day weekend, so I took the kids over to my parents' house to visit. They'd been asking to go and Hunter informed me that I just wasn't driving fast enough. I told him that I could only drive so fast or the police would pull me over and give me a ticket. He looked at me with this look of disgust and said, "Whatever. There aren't even any police around here!" I said, "And how do you know that?!" He looked at me like I was an idiot, "Well, do you see any!?" I tried not to laugh and we had a frank discussion about obeying laws and commandments even when people aren't looking. That seemed to suffice.:) That kid's a hoot. He also informed me that it takes too long ot get to Grandma and Grandpa's. I told him I couldn't do anything about that and he said, "Sure you can! Make them move closer!" Yeah, if only he could control everything in his life, I think he'd be happy. He's too smart for his own good.

Anyway, so we spent a few days visiting my parents and a couple of my siblings that still live over there. Haylee got really sick while we there and ended up having bronchiolitis and an ear infection. The doctor there misdiagnosed her and had us all in a panic, but all is well. She still has a terrible cough and I'm hoping I won't have to take her in again. I'm now getting sick, which is totally delightful. Anyhow, I know that pics are what everyone is after, so.....
Haylee loves playing with Grandpa. And loves standing....although walking seems to be of no interest to her whatsoever.The boys wrestling with Uncle Joey. They loved it! And hey, at least I wasn't the one getting tackled this time.

Haylee playing the piano, her new favorite pasttime. She LOVES it. As a matter of fact, we get the typical growl if we take her away from it.:)

It was super cold, but the boys were out playing baseball and she wanted outside with them so badly, so we bundled her up and she got to go swing. She was in heaven and absolutely giggling.

My handsome boys (stealing Grandma's chair when she went to answer the phone). I love their little smiles!

This is the cheeseball face we get from Haylee lately. It cracks me up every time.

Cousin Kennady and Haylee. They seem delighted, don't they?

Reading stories with Aunt Katie. Katie was the one forced to read all day instead of me. Thanks for the break, Katie.:)

All the Walker grandkids. Now technically Evan (#2) wasn't there, but Katie did a nice job of photoshopping him in. L to R: Kennady, Evan, Tanner, Hunter, & Haylee. What a good looking group.