Ready for Kindergarten.

Hannah's preschool recently went to Kennedy Primary to tour the school and classrooms.  And today, she went to Kindergarten Round-Up.  She passed the testing once she decided to do it.  She was a little stubborn in the beginning.  Luckily, my friend, Stephanie, is a teacher there.  She was able to get Hannah to warm-up.

Hannah's favorite part of all this?  The big slide in the playground. 

Power & Light Kids.

This year, Matthew and his friends attended Power & Light every Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church.  They really enjoyed this weekly after school program.  There is a strong volunteer base that assists each week with all the activities.

It has become my routine every Wednesday to pick these kids up at 5:00 when Power & Light concludes.  School is almost over so the after school program will take a break through the summer.

Our Easter.

Our Easter was prett uneventful. 

We stayed home all weekend.

Our church's Easter service was amazing!

Hannah wanted to play Easter Bunny. 

So, I let her. 

She stuffed all the easter eggs

and hid them so that the rest of us could hunt them.

She was so excited.

Rain

This is one of my favorites of Rob Bell's Nooma series.  For more information http://nooma.com/

Pearly Whites.

Hannah had her second visit to the Dentist.  We waited in the lobby and when they called her name she said "Mom, you can just wait here.  I'll go back by myself."  And she did.  All of my kids have grown so quickly.  My baby doesn't even want me to go back with her on dentist appointments.  She came out afterwards all smiles with prizes in hand and a report of "no cavities". 
This big kid stuff is going to take some getting use to.

Breckenridge.

Our second day in Colorado was spent in Breckenridge. 
We found out that you can take the gondola
at no charge up the mountain to the ski lifts.  What better activity on vacation could there be than one that is FREE?

Once we got over the motion of the gondola, we relaxed and had fun viewing the mountains and skiers (or as Hannah referred to them "skeeters".)

It was fun to watch all the people skiing
from beginners to advanced.

Hannah and I were wanna-be skiers.  Maybe next year we'll take enough time to actually do some skiing.

Mallory even enjoyed the trip.

Colorado Vacation

We recently took a mini-vacation to Colorado.  Mallory had her 6 month check up at the Children's Hospital in Aurora so we decided to stay a few extra days.  We made the decision to take our beloved college student, Hanna, with us.  It was a brilliant idea.  She is like family to us and was a BIG help.

One of the best things about our recent vacation-  Our overnight hotel stay.  It was a nice relaxing evening after a day full of driving and doctor's appts.  Hannah took an hour long bath in the whirlpool tub.  She had the bathroom so full of bubbles afterwards.

We also took advantage of the indoor pool

despite the frigid water temp.

Hanna is a certified lifeguard so swimming was a breeze for me.  Poor Hanna tended to the kids and kept them busy.
See....I told you she was good help.  :)

Colorado.

One month ago, we were preparing to head to Colorado, snow capped mountains and all it's glory.  Mallory was due for her 6 month check up at the Children's Hospital.

Grandma's Birthday Celebration

It was so nice to have all of our family together Saturday to celebrate Grandma's 80th Birthday.  All of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were able to join her on this special day. (17 total, not counting in-laws)

Grandma and with great-granddaughter Mallory.

Grandma with great-grandchildren, Matthew and Hannah. 

Grandma with granddaughter, Brandy, and her sons
(Maxton & Brogan).

Grandma with her granddaughter, Amber, and her sons
(Dedric & Cole).

Grandma with her children- Dale, Debbie, & Dawn.

Grandma with Debbie's family.
(John, Nikola, Jesse, Jason, Grandma, and Debbie.)
They were great help throughout the party.

Maxton eyeing the cake. 
Lord only knows how many pieces he had.

Brogan kept stealing mints by the handful.

He would always check to see if Grandpa had caught him.

Each of my kids brought Grandma a case of Diet Pepsi.
She loves her Diet Pepsi.

She met and greeted, hugged and chatted friends and family for two hours straight.  It was a steady flow of people. 
Family, Neighbors, Co-Workers, and Friends from High School.
Happy Day. Yes indeed.

Matthew's Spring Program



Last night was Matthew's Spring Program. 

His class has been practicing since before Spring Break. 

It was a wonderful program.  Mrs. Christner did an excellent job with the 2nd Grade class and putting on this production. 

Matthew was very serious about his singing and dancing.

You could tell that he had been practicing.

He even got to stand by one of his best buddies, Noah. 

 

Caleb

I got to meet this little guy for the first time Saturday. 
Caleb is my cousin Amy's son. 
He will be 6 months.  He is such a happy guy.  All smiles.

These two great ladies had a VERY busy Saturday. 

My grandma, Shirley, celebrated her 80th birthday. 

My mother, Dawn, coordinated a huge celebration in Topeka for grandma. 

Mallory's Spring Program

Mallory had her spring program for school last evening.  She was very excited.  After the program I realized, that the last several weeks Mallory has been "practicing" her songs at home.



Sue is one of Mallory's para's .  She attended the program
and did a great job at keeping Mallory on track.



Looking Back.

The last Walter Family photos to have been taken professionally.  December 2002.

65 and counting.



We headed up to Washington this weekend to celebrate my mother-in-laws 65th birthday.
Unbeknownst to Rosa Lee, a party had been in the works for weeks
to have friends and family surprise her with cake, cards, and well wishes.
She was very surprised.



Mallory enjoyed hanging out with the girls.



Matt learned some new tricks on the Nintendo DS with Brenna.



Hannah had a little Hynek time.  Uncle Todd wasn't there but Teresa and Shelby eagerly stepped in.

We ended up staying with Pat & Dawn that night.  I was a little worried about how Mallory would do overnight.  Well, she did great.  Looks like Pat & Dawn may have us for company more often!  :)