Blueberry Pickin'

We finally got a nice rain-free day to go Blueberry pickin' The kids had a great time competing for the "biggest" blueberry. We picked about 5 pounds. Well, they weighed out about 5 lbs that doesn't count the ones that didn't make it into the bucket. Mia didn't do much picking. It's hard to pick blueberries attached to someone's hip.

Follow along

For those of you who enjoy reading blogs, I have been faithfully reading the Chapman blog and thought some of you might find it enjoyable. It is the blog of Mary Beth Chapman(and her husband Steven) The family is on vacation in Hawaii and then on to China and uttermost parts of the world. You can follow along here:
www.chapmanchannel.typepad.com/asiaandbeyond

now don't go get so engrossed that you forget to follow the Walling family because while we are not Rockstars we too are pretty interesting... You agree right? right?

Would it quit raining already?

This has been the strangest summer ever. Just when you think it's a great day to get in the pool, the sky clouds over and it thunders just enough to have the lifeguards blow their whistle to exit the pool. The kids are going stir-crazy and frankly so am I.
So with ominous skies again overhead today I thought it would be "fun" to go to Chick-fil-a for lunch. I could get a good sandwich and the kids could play a while on the indoor slides. I was quite wrong on the "fun" part. I think everyone burst into tears at least once during the 45 min. dining experience...I was close but held it in for sake of appearances.
All I really wanted was my sandwich. Not only did I choose to do this I had to go and drag Gayla into the pit with me. Although, some part of me knows she wasn't quite as exasperated as I, due to the constant giggles under her breath. You know the kind where it's really not appropriate to laugh but you're just so glad it's happening to someone else and not you. All I can say is thank goodness for friends who don't judge you on one time experiences, they give you an overall rating.
On the way home I began to reflect on possible causes for this type of atypical behavior for my crew. I think it is a compound problem.
#1 the kids,except Trent, have been at Nana and Paw Paw's for a week& are tired
#2 I have only had one child to 'tend to all week and I got a little spoiled. So we are all trying to get back in the right "pecking order" and I am trying my best to end up on top. It's a struggle for all of us.
Now, I am home and everyone is either sleeping or resting.... I will go and eat my sandwich, that's all I really wanted in the first place.

The big surgery

All smiles before the big operation. Trent had his tonsils and adnoids removed on Tuesday.

After surgery...... my poor little man... The only thing he complained about was having this IV in his arm. They started the IV once he was asleep and he woke up with this bandage.

After 10a.m. all the kid channels(actually only one-PBS) went off at the hospital. So dad saved the day by bringing the laptop and Trent played Webkinz with Zane. It really helped to keep him distracted

As my pediatrician once told me, "Diagnosing kids is similar to veterinary work, sometimes you just have to guess" Well looking at this picture leads me to guess that Trent is really beginning to feel better.

Dog(&cat) Days of Summer

Trent tiptoed into the kitchen and whispered,"Mom, come quick and bring the camera"

I'm so proud....he's recognizing picture worthy moments. Before long he'll be blogging as well. I guess he needs to learn how to read and write first.

Mia's 3rd Dora Birthday

Nana worked hard to make Mia this really cute Dora cake. Mammie helped also. It sure was nice to show up on Saturday morning and everything was all ready for Mia's party that evening.

Who wouldn't love playing this game? You can win tons of tickets and Paw Paw feeds the coins in for you.

Mia opens 2 baby dolls from her cousin Jonah.

Mia's present from Nana and Paw Paw got lots of smiles and giggles

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary of Mia's Gotcha Day. What an emotional day it was 2 years ago. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were flying to China. However, Mia has grown and developed so much it feels like she's been with us forever. June 13,2005June 13, 2007

and Happy Birthday to Nana today.... We have the best Nana in the world!

Day 2 of SCW

Here's the crew the Wallingmobile transports to VBS each day. More swimming this afternoon, with a trip to the Vet sandwiched in between.

Day 1 of Super cousins Week

Zane and Nickolas had fun making their Tie Dye T-shirts.

After a great morning of VBS we spent the afternoon at a friend's pool. The kids had a great time doing splash contests, Marco Polo and sneakers.

A night with Steven Curtis Chapman

Last Friday night we had the honor of seeing Steven Curtis Chapman live at an event downtown. It was such an awesome night for us because we were able to take all of the kids. They had never been to any type of concert before. The kids went nuts because the first song he sang was "Live Out Loud" They couldn't believe this was the same song we have listened to over and over again in the car. There was a free concert to support The Source for Women, which is a crisis pregnancy center, and a classmate of Zane's - mother is on the board of directors. Zane was most impressed because we had VIP tickets.
SCC did such a great job. It was just him and his guitar. He played and talked and shared his heart for adoption. Which of course is so close to our hearts. We were even privileged to hear one of his new songs that will be released on his newest album, the song was called "Cinderella" I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. What a great guy, I hope one day I can have just an ounce of his passion for finding homes for orphans.

Sleeping Beauties

Or should I title this picture "Fly Catchers?"

BOGO Cats

So did you ever think the animal shelter would have a Buy One Get One Free Special on Kittens? We took a trip down to our local shelter to check out the kittens. (Our black cat, Molly, was hit by a car 2 months ago. The kids have been wanting another kitten but I was trying to wait until school was out and we would be home for a while.) So today was the day! We found the white and orange kitten first and then Zane really liked the black and white kitten. They both kept meowing hysterically at us. The orange one even tapped Kaylee on the shoulder from inside the cage. We were only going to adopt one but Zane really wanted the one "with the little mustache"

So, after some deliberation, cell phone calls to Dad and promises to help mom we brought home TWO...... Of course the workers are trained well and know just when to throw comments into the conversation like "They really do better in pairs" "The price is the same for 1 or 2" "If you get one now and then try to introduce another kitten later to an adult cat it could be bad"

So here we are home with Izzy and Webster. Izzy is the Black and white female and Webster is the Orange and white male. Both have been respectivley neutered and spayed. David and I had different ideas about the name for the Mustache cat..... I voted for Groucho and David voted for Adolf.

There has been one major advantage, the amount of time spent holding a cat has been increased.

That was THEN this is NOW

It seems like just yesterday this little guys were waddling into our lives and now their almost full grown. (OK so it was almost yesterday) Man do Ducks Grow fast or what?

We took them yesterday to a pond near our house and released them into the wild. They liked swimming in the baby pool so much we knew it was time to let them go. Plus they were beginning to annoy the dog. For the last few weeks the ducks and dog have been loose together in the backyard. Sometimes the ducks would get a little to close to the back door and Rocket would chase them back to their corner of the yard.

The release went well. Except they didn't want to leave us. We rode our bikes to the pond. (David pulled the baby cart with a rubbermaid containing ducks) When it was time to leave they huddled up near the bikes. We had to take them further out and stay for quite a while until they got use to swimming in the pond. They made some new duck friends and they didn't look back.

A cool thing we saw there was a mother duck and her 8 baby ducklings. Then when we walked the ducks farther we spotted another mother duck and 8 more baby ducklings. Apparently it's a family pond.......

Scrapbook Retreat

The 4 day Wonderful, Glorious, Highly anticipated, much needed Scrapbook Weekend.

This was my third scrapbook retreat to attend and it was just as much fun as the first two. There were 13 of us who spent the weekend at Lake Livingston just working on our scrapbooks. We didn't shop, we didn't put on real clothes and make up was highly discouraged. This event has become a semi-annual event for me and I try to rope any scrapbooker I know into coming along. It's more than a crafty weekend it's a True Retreat......Go to sleep when you want, wake up when you want and scrapbook in between.

Now does this look like a care-free, no cooking, no cleaning, no make-up, no worries, shot to you? Looks like I am hard at work here..... Deeply enthralled in my lay-out..... this is serious business........:)

Robyn, the mastermind, behind the whole retreat weekend. Also the person who taught me how to scrapbook 10 years ago. I give her all the credit.

My Friend Darla,(aka my sister-in-law) rearranges her layout yet AGAIN! Just don't ask her to write Prom on your paper because she sometimes writes Halloween instead.

Apparently Stacy works better standing up. I guess it's hard for most pharmacists to think sitting down.

Apparently some scrapbook glue can make you down-right GIDDY! But it doesn't take much to make Carla Giddy! (Another reason she may be happy is that she surpassed me in the finished pages count. She did over 35 pages. Kudos Carla!!!

My friend, Tiffany waits patiently for the Cricut to finish laser cutting her title. She and I both brought our new machines. This machine is awesome it cuts any paper into any word or letter you program in. NO computer needed.

Been Farmin' Long?

This is Trent's friend, Kevin who moved away not long ago. Trent was so upset because he finally had a friend that was a boy and was his exact age. His Pre-K class was 12 girls and 4 boys, and his playgroup has 6 girls and Trent. Hopefully Kindergarten will bring out a few new "boy" friends.

Take out the ducks and here come the kids....

I think the ducks may have a kid magnet in them. Several of the neighborhood children came over to play with the ducks. There were 11 kids in the front yard. It was a lot of FUN!

Slip N Slide

Let's hope it's true....

I've always heard a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human mouth. Let's hope it's true

Bragging Rights

Sheri, Sheri, quite contrary how does your garden grow?

With Silver Bells and cockel shells and

SEVEN ORCHID blooms all in a row!!!

Ok So this may not seem as important to the rest of the world as it is to me BUT....I grew an orchid plant. Last year I bought Mom, Granny, Toni and I orchid plants for Mother's Day. After the blooms fell off I kept my plant in the window for a full YEAR... I was getting rather disgusted with it about a month ago and threatened to throw it out because it had not bloomed again all year. When all of a sudden I noticed there was about a 10" bloom stem on the back of the plant. (It must have sensed my frustration) So now all 7 blooms are open and are perched beautifully in line.

On a side note: (I have since rescued Mom and Granny's orchid plant from the front yard of Mom's house where they were not so lovingly taken care of last year. I don't blame her I usually can only grow weeds, myself. Maybe next mother's day this orchid will have company)

Upward Football and Cheerleading

Zane and Kaylee participated in Upward football and Cheerleading. Yesterday was the last of their 8 games. They both had a great time playing. Zane played on the Eagles team and Kaylee cheered on the Butterflies.

Mia got in on some sideline cheering. Kaylee taught her the cheers and she knew every word. She was just missing some pom poms. I made her a little outfit to match her big sister's uniform. She can't wait to "cheer for real"