Miss. Bella's TU TU that I made!!

I'm so excited!!!! Today Isabella and I traveled down to Bonney Lake to one of my favorite craft stores to look for some birthday decorations for her upcoming party. While we were in the store, Isabella saw a tu tu hanging up on display. She looked and said, "Mom there is a pretty and I want it." For those of you who know me, know that the sewing machine and I do not get along, and I really dislike sewing, so my reply to Isabella was that we would go to another store and I would purchase a tu tu for her birthday. However, we bumped into a clerk, who overheard my discussion with Isabella and she told me that these were really simple to make and that she would be happy to show me how to make one. The next thing I knew I was making a tu tu for Isabella and it did not require any sewing! The clerk was correct the tu tu was very easy and quick to make not to mention it only cost me $8.00 verses $25.00 that I would pay in the store for one. If any of you would like to learn how to make one I would be happy to show you. It was a really fun project and I'm sure Miss. Bella will want more in different colors.

The Party!

While the boys were at the school yesterday, Isabella and I attended her little friend Kiera's Birthday party. Isabella loved it, and she really likes the bracelet and the cute owl bag. Thanks Shanda and Kiera for an awesome time! If you have trouble seeing the small photos click on the photo and it will enlarge the photo.

The Role of a Father

Usually, Heidi writes on our blog, but this morning I wanted to write about the special day I had with Zachary yesterday. First of all, I received one of the best gifts, which was spending all day with Zachary at his school. Zachary's school has a program called "Watch Dogs." This program encompasses having fathers coming into to the school and working with administrators, teachers, and students. The purpose is to show students a positive male role model. Today we live in a society where many of our homes do not have fathers, and as a result our children do not have the opportunity to see their fathers participate in their daily activities. Yesterday was a honor and a privilege to assist at my son's school. I truly gained an appreciation for all of the volunteer time my wife gives to Zachary's school, and all of the time and dedication that Zachary's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Cichy gives to him. When I arrived home yesterday, I told Heidi that I observed Zachary listen to Mrs. Cichy dictate a sentence, and then observed Zachary writing the sentence with correct spelling of all of the words. Heidi smiled and replied, "Today students in Kindergarten are expected to perform at a first grade level, and Zachary has come along ways." Yesterday, was an experience that I will treasure. It was one of my greatest Birthday gifts! Below I'm attaching a family photo that will be published on the Kent School District's website promoting "The Watch Dog Dad program."

Happy Birthday Kirk and Daddy!!!!!!

Today I informed the kids that tomorrow is Daddy's Birthday. Since Zachary's teacher encourages Zachary to practice writing we sat down together today and wrote down 36 things that we love and like about Kirk. Zachary asked me to share our list on our family blog because he wants everyone to know that his Daddy will be 36 tomorrow.

36 things we love about our husband and daddy.

1. He loves us no matter what.
2. He works hard for our family.
3. He is smart and loves to learn.
4. He is kind to everyone.
5. He is patient.
6. He plays cars with me.
7. He takes us on pretty hikes.
8. He takes us to the zoo.
9. He lets us watch our kid shows.
10.He listens.
11.He is honest.
12.He reads us stories.
13.He loves to watch the Dallas Cowboys.
14.He is a loyal husband and friend.
15.He takes us to church and practices what we believe.
16.He talks to us about our day.
17.He plays basketball with me.
18.He frequently takes us down to the ocean, which we all love.
19.He makes sure that our mom gets to have time to herself each day.
20.He can speak and write Spanish.
21.He likes to vacuum.
22.He takes mom out for dates.
23.He keeps the car clean.
24.He is strong.
25.He loves to take us out to the Claim Jumper.
26.He loves to read.
27.He helps our mom keep our home clean.
28.He makes sure that we have family prayer each night.
29.He likes to watch funny movies with us.
30.He also likes to play board games with us.
31.He is respectful and responsible.
32.He gives us a lot of hugs.
33.He loves to ride bikes with us.
34.He loves to travel and discover new places.
35.He builds us new things.
36.He loves cats.

Happy 36th Kirk and Daddy!!!!!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Holy Hannah!!!!!!!

This weekend was eventful for The Walker Family!

The Good: I went to the gym this morning and decided to weigh myself. When I got on the scales, I found that I had dropped some more weight. Since November, my weight had remained the same, and I was frustrated. However, several people have told me that the last 15 to 20 pounds is the most challenging to lose and they are absolutely correct. Nevertheless, after faithfully doing the Stair Master for fifty minutes a day the weight starting falling off again.

The Bad: The kids got into my Clinque blush and it was destroyed. For those who know me make-up is not a life or death situation, but my complexion is fair so when I do not have any blush on I feel naked. So on Saturday, the family and I traveled up to The Southcenter Mall so I could go to Nordstrom and purchase my blush. Once we arrived at Nordstrom, I went to ask them for my mocha pink blush, and the lady said they were out so I then decided to check at Macy's, and guess what? Macy's was also out of my blush. However, the clerk told me that they had my color of blush down at there Tacoma store, but Kirk and I decided not to load up the kiddos and drive down to Tacoma so I settled for a new color of blush.

The Ugly: While in the Southcenter parking garage, our car was hit. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. However, this week is Kirk's 36th Birthday, and he has a big presentation to give at work, a huge paper to write for his MBA class, and now dealing with car repairs. On a brighter note, this Friday I have a sitter lined up so Kirk and I can go out to celebrate his birthday. I'm excited because I have fun and romantic surprises planned for him.

Lets hope Kirk has an awesome 36th Birthday this week!

Friends

I have some awesome friends! Thanks for being great friends to me this week. I have appreciated all of you listening to me, taking me out to dinner, and watching my kids. I want you to know that I value each of our frienships and I look foreward to creating more fun memories! Some of you I do not have a snapshot of, but I want you to also know that you are important to me too. Thanks again for helping me this week.

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Kindergarten Conference

"Education is not received. It is achieved!"

I can not believe how fast my little boy is turning into a boy! Today we attended Zachary's conference, and we received a good report. Zachary is at or above grade level in all subject areas including writing sentences. This is a great achievement for Zachary! As I sat down and listened to his teacher, I thought about the number of great people who have helped our son, and how grateful I am that Kirk and I were inspired to give Zachary the gift of time and have him start Kindergarten once he was six. Even the Kindergarten teacher said, that was the best thing we did for Zachary!!! It feels good as a parent to know that you made a good decision. During this time, I reflected back to two years ago when we were trying to understand how to help our son gain the best possible education that he could. I remember making the call to Dr. Fay praying that she would be able to give us answers and direction on how to work with and help Zachary. Dr. Fay was an answer to our prayers. She was able to quickly figure out what Zachary needed to be successful in the school setting. She also helped Kirk and I to become better parents for Zachary. Dr. Fay has been a true gift for our family, and it is with great pleasure that we get to continue to have her on Zachary's team.

Not only did I think about how Dr. Fay helped us, but I also thought about Zachary's previous and current teachers both at school and at church. He has been given great teachers and Kirk and I have truly appreciated all of the time and energy that they have put into our son to make sure that he gets the best education possible. I can honestly say that having a child with specific needs can be costly, exhausting, and even frustrating at times, but it has been worth it taking him to therapies, advocating for his needs with the school, and working with him at home on extra activities.

We are so happy for the opportunity to be Zachary's parents. He is a wonderful part of our family and we can not imagine our life without him or Isabella. (Yes, this includes even the times when they can be stinkers and create a circus in our home. Kirk and I can honestly say that there is not a day that goes by when we are bored. There is always something to do!

The three ring circus

Today I decided that "sometimes sanity takes vacation time on me." Today our home was a circus. Both kids were wild and crazy. Our Miss. Isabella got stuck inside our bathroom cupboard, followed by getting into our food storage and finding a large container of oatmeal and pouring it all over the living room carpet. While I was vacuuming up that mess (Thank heavens for the invention of vacuum cleaners) Isabella was in Kirk and I's bedroom pulling out jewelry and carefully laying it in the window seal. Needless to say, she was a handful. However, our Mr. Zachary was also very busy today. Today was early release since his school has conferences this week. Once Zachary arrived home, within 45 minutes I found out he had invited half of his Kindergarten class over to play. I had a group of Kindergartner's knocking at my door and informing me that Zachary said, "They could come and play." I told them "sorry not today" After that I had to go and prepare to meet with Zachary's teacher which I will write about in the next post. After Zachary's conference, I prepared dinner and both kids informed me that it tasted "gross" Since it was a new recipe I did not force them to eat it so I went to option B which was blueberry pancakes with eggs. When I opened up the fridge, I discovered that we were out of eggs. I told Kirk I'm done lets go over to Costco pick up eggs and get them pizza so that is what we did, and you can imagine both kids loved it. Needless to say, they are both tucked into their beds and soundly sleeping while I'm trying to get my sainty back. Today was one of those days that I thought "Calgon take me away."

So long.....

"The Pain of Discipline is short, but the glory of fruition is eternal." Harriet Beecher Stowe.


Today I had to say farewell to my old gym shoes. I really loved these shoes because they were symbolic to me. These are the first pair of shoes that I wore the first day I entered the gym to embark on a new style of living. They were the first pair of shoes that I wore on my feet when I achieved running 3 miles in 29 minutes. These are the shoes that I wore on my daily walk reminding me each day, regardless of what was going on in my life, that I needed to continue to be disciplined and enter into the gym and complete my excercise activities. These shoes were a visual reminder to me that I needed to rejuvenate myself physically, mentally, and spiritually. Now I have a new pair of shoes that I wore to the gym last night. While completing the stair master for 60 minutes, and feeling my muscles ache, I decided that these new shoes were going to represent endurance and serve as a visual reminder to never give up and to keep moving foreward.

The day we were engaged!

On Sunday, March 13, 1999,was the day that Kirk proposed to me in Idaho Falls, Idaho. We were both in school at the time, but we decided to get married that summer on July 23, 1999. Our life together has been a journey, but I feel so blessed to have shared a life with him over the last 12 years. Together we have created a beautiful family and I know we both feel garteful to have our children Zachary and Isabella in our lives. Happy 12th to us!

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Leapin Lizards!

Today at school the Reptile man from Monroe came to visit Zachary's school and Zachary thought it was so awesome! When I picked him up he was very eager to tell me that he loved seeing the baby alligator. He also liked watching the Python go through the guy's shirt sleeve. He was also upset that he did not get chosen to hold the snake. I think once they brought out the snake I would have ran! However, Zachary said that he was a friendly snake. He also got to see a rattlesnake, but Zachary said the guy removed all of the poison from him. The cutest thing Zachary said was that he was sitting around a bunch of girls and once the reptiles came out a bunch of girls huddled close to him. He then said, "Hey girls back away and sit in your own spot." That would be my Zachary!

Isabella's hair cut

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Zachary's Art show

Tonight was a huge accomplishment for Zachary his art got chosen to go to the Art Show at City Hall.

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Zachary struggles with fine motor skills since he was a premature baby. He has worked so hard during the last year to reach this goal. We are very proud parents tonight. Thanks for allowing us to share.

The Science Project

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Crazy Seattle snow

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Where were you last Thursday? Well we were outside playing in the snow! Can you believe we had snow in Seattle in late Febuary!!! It was a great day! We were all home together as a family. However, we are now ready to spring foreward.

Valentine Photos

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Parenting 101

Yesterday during church, Kirk informed that one of the lessons was on parenting. He was very impressed with the lesson and it led us into a long discussion when we arrived home. Some of the things that they discussed during the lesson was being home when your children are home regardless of their age. This really hit home with me because I was away from home a lot over the weekend, and even though it was for good reasons once I was home in the afternoon on Saturday I expressed to Kirk that I really missed my family; however, the break was nice and occasionally you need a break from your children, still I missed being around them and spending time with Kirk.

Another idea that was addressed was gaming. Kirk and I occasionally like to play video games, and I think as a teacher that there can be some educational value to gaming, but we need to be cautious of what type of games we allow our children to play and the frequency. Kirk and I have discussed getting a gaming system in our home, but we have not done it yet. After talking to friends, who have older children, they have encouraged us to wait and encourage our children to participate in other activities, which we have, and we have not had any regrets. However, I know eventually we will purchase a gaming system. I think like with everything else it is finding the balance. I have a friend, who purchased a gaming system for her family a year ago and she said that regardless of age each family member is only allowed 30 minutes of gaming a day. I liked that idea and thought that it sounded like a good practice.

In addition to the above topics, Kirk and I also addressed sleep-overs. Along time ago, prior to children, I had someone very wise tell me that your children do not need to spend the night with friends. She said that there is no purpose to it since at night we were suppose to be sleeping, and our children can have the opportunity to see their friends the next day. I thought that this was an interesting concept since when I was a kid I remember spending the night with friends. However, times have changed and even if your child's friends seem to be "good" people you do not know exactly what your child could be exposed too. Kirk said that in the article it talked about that a lot of children are exposed to ponography for the first time when they sleep over at friend's home, or are exposed to other negative elements. My father used to say, "Nothing good happens after mid-night." I have found this to be a true statement. We are intended to sleep at night, and my wise friend was correct, my children can see their friends the next day.

Since this article brought such a long discussion at our house, I thought that I would share what we discussed on the blog. Parenting is personal and it is between you and the Lord. However, we enjoy getting advice, and ideas about parenting because it is not an easy task. I thought that it was a healthy discussion between Kirk and I and I'm sure that as we go along we will have more discussions. I feel blessed that we have the Church in our life to help lead and guide us.

What kind of brain do you have?

This past Friday Zachary went to see his Doctor for social skills training. While we were in Dr. Lundy's office Miss. Isabella was in the room with Zachary and Dr. Lundy. When it was time for Zachary's appointment Dr. Lundy said, "Ok mom and Isabella we will see in a while." I reached for Isabella's hand and she turned to me and said, "Bye mom." I said, "Isabella it is time for us to leave." She again said, "Bye Mom." All of the sudden Zachary looked at Dr. Lundy and I and said, "Mom Isabella has rock brain and she needs to go and find super flex." I said, "Zachary what is rock brain?" He said, "Rock brain is something that happens to you when you keep getting stuck on the same idea over and over again and super flex comes in and tells your brain it is time to be flexible." I said, Who taught you about rock brain?" He said, " I learned it during social skills group at school." Needless to say, I had never heard him use these terms before, but I had noticed during the past couple of months Zachary was becoming more flexible in his thinking. I then thought to myself those are pretty good visual terms. I then questioned how frequently I had rock brain? And once I was able to answer my question I thought I could use more super flex too!

Changes

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been facing many changes, which have been exciting and sad. As I have reflected about these changes, I have realized how much Zachary is like me. My little Zachary is a very black and white person, who does not like change in routine, and after these last two weeks I have found that change is difficult for me. I think that is why I enjoyed teaching children with Autism is because I operate a lot like them. I like schedules, organization, clear, concise, and visual directions. I also thrive in an environment that is calm. I'm not an improtu person even if someone invites me to do something fun. I prefer to know ahead of time of what I am going to do. I'm so much looking foreward to a scheduled week. Hence, please nobody else move, please no more appointments that have to be shifted around this week, and please weather behave so that way our children can go to school!!! Psychologists may say that I have control issues and maybe I do, but I'm in need of just a regular scheduled week. That is my soap box for today.

The Art of Self- Discipline

I decided to write about self-discipline because it is an area in my life which I need to improve on. Yesterday I was a TV junkie, and all I did was take Zachary to school and came home and visited with a couple of friends and then I watched TV for the rest of the time. It was not a productive day at all!


As a Special Education teacher, the University prepares us to be self-disciplined in order to be effective special education teachers. For example, your classroom appearance must be highly organized, neat, clean, and not over stimulating. As a teacher you must be able to honestly and effectively communicate with parents and staff, supervise para-eduactors, effectively write and maintain legal documents such as IEPs, figure out the purpose of behavior, and manage those behaviors, have excellent time management skills, conduct and coordinate meetings, be consistent in your use of language and teaching methods, and finally go home to a husband who wants and needs to talk to you, and deal with your own children.

I have always been grateful and prided myself on being a self-disciplined person, and this has come easy to me because of my career choice; however, I have been lacking and I need to bring this skill back up to speed. As many of you know, Kirk is in a full time Master's program, works full time, and tries to maintain some family time. I on the other hand, maintains the home, takes the kids to appointments, tries to daily workout, and a list of other things which I will not mention at this time. I will not say that it is easy to have a husband who works full time and attends Graduate school full time; however, it is easier if you have self-discipline. So my goal is become more self-disciplined within the next month.