Faces of Pregnancy

Lily 2005- didn't quite learn to control the pregnancy cravings, especially bags of cheetos...puffed kind only. Definitely gained the most weight.  Didn't feel real until we brought her home. This pregnancy was a result of clomid.  Just as we were contemplating fertility treatments, I got mono....which stopped any sort of family planning. I think having to wait to be pregnant taught me to not take for granted the miracle of being able to carry a child and that I was not quite in charge like I imagined myself to be.  

 Gary Jr. - 2008 (smallest baby, smallest belly...probably from eating food storage beans as a poor med school widow.  This pregnancy was a very calculated decision, and even before I was pregnant, I felt like this little one was waiting to come. He made our family feel like a real family. )

 Ben- 2010- Biggest Baby (worst pregnancy, biggest head by far, if I ran at all (like to chase a two-year-old 2 steps, I had severe nerve pain for an hour afterward. Also my pregnancy weight came off too quickly in 3 months, and my poor baby had to be bottle fed because of this. This pregnancy taught me the importance of respecting my body and its limitations)

Grant- 2012 (our only surprise baby, easy pregnancy compared to Ben.  This pregnancy taught me the importance of making God in charge on my life, He knew this surprise would would bring my joy even when I didn't, and looking back it was the best timing for our family...What a blessing it was to have an easy pregnancy!)

And my current condition, about 6 weeks left. Yeah!!! Can't wait to meet this kicker. 

Soccer

We had three in soccer this fall.  It was a crazy schedule, no one's practices overlapped. 

Ben played for the first time.  Because some other team mates would just refuse to go on the field, he play pretty much the whole game, every game with no breaks. 

The high light of the season....the pizza party and trophy. His coach was an angel to deal with these kiddos. I helped most practices with my belly in tow.

Lily was was U10 this season and learned a lot about aggressive defense.  Her coach was from Africa, and really knew how to make the girls better.

Gary Jr. loved his team, lots of energetic boys and most of the dads were there each practice to help out.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of his team.

Baby #5

In July we wrapped up a package that had a card inside that said, 

Dear Lily, Gary, Ben, and Grant :

I am excited to meet you in January, love your new brother or sister ( we'll find out in September)

We'll it is September, so we had little party. I made a cake and told them, whatever coloring the inside of the cake was, would be what we were having . Lily got to cut it. It was pink:)

We are all so excited. I think because it took me so long to make the decision to have another child (about a year), I have been the most excited of all. It has been so fun going through this process with little minds that understand what is happening in our family. 

We have an addition coming in Jaunary and we are so excited.

Back to school theme 2014

This year we have a 1st and 3rd grader.  Despite the 100+ degrees Lily insisted on wearing the jacket because it "matched her outfit". Ben also started preschool. 

This is our theme this year,  We are right in this part in the Book of Mormon about the 2000 stripling warriors, and I really liked this scripture.  Hopefully we will have it memorized by the end of the school year.

Here is our back to school feast.  Lily made name tags again this year.  Can't believe they are so old!

Here is last years theme.

Arkansas Crystal Digging

We stopped in a very rural Arkansas town on our way back to Texas and stayed at the cutest mom and pop hotel. We went crystal picking in the morning. it was pretty productive, but very hot.  We saw some people tubing down the river when we left, and I decided we should do that next time. Gotta try it once though. When our kids get old enough, I would love to do the mine tour.

New Mexico Walker Family reunion

We had lots of fun in Angel Fire, New Mexico with all the walker cousins.  We rented a gigantic VBRO cabin that gave each family their own room. We all made dinner together every night.  We went river rafting, hiking, horse back riding, tubing, mountain biking, running, riding up and down ski lifts with toddlers, and lots of good bonding time.  The highlights were sushi night, the pacman machine, and leaving the oldest 4 cousins to road trip back with Corinne and Les. It was my kind of vacation: lots of outdoor stuff and limited numbers of people. 

Scenes of summer

A few random pictures from summer

 This was driving next to us on the way to Florida

 Pensacola, FL blue angel fighter jets.

 Rachel and Spencer took the red eye to Pensacola and had us pick them up, despite us only having one available seat between our 4 kids.  I know Spencer looks thrilled, but he agreed to marry Rachel after this, so I guess it wasn't too much of a deterrent. 

 Aeronautics museum in Pensacola

 Mesker Park Zoo

 The flag cake I have been waiting a year to make....and then someone brought the same cake to the party....failure. 

 Summer tea parties

 City Meet boy - 6 and under boys freestyle- 4th place

 Lily and I on a Sunday

We aren't getting much use out of our princess dresses these days, and Lily decided to dress up her brothers. This will haunt him one day. She definitely needs a sister.  Poor boys.