Christmas Day 2009

We prepared for Christmas Day from the moment we got home late on Christmas Eve...

We scattered reindeer food upon the porch for Santa's reindeer

And we sat out cookies and milk as a snack for Santa

(Sam remembered we used Vanilla Wafers last year, snicker)

Then we snuggled into bead to hear daddy read

Twas the night before Christmas

and say our prayers.

Wasn't long before we thought we'd heard

Santa round our chimney

and sure enough...

When the boys awoke,

he'd payed us a visit!

Joe could not wait to open one gift after another

While Sam preferred to savor each gift for awhile

Then daddy reminded us that Santa had filled stockings for all

Even Mama and Daddy had surprises to find!

Then it was time to Celebrate with my brothers and families.

We began with a brunch.

Biscuits and Gravy by Jill, Ham and other fixing by Chris,

Bug juice by Aunt Polly

and Pancakes by Dan

Family time by All!

Oh how I wish my parents were here to celebrate with us, wouldn't they be proud of this special bunch?

Drew (3.5 ) Sam (4) Cole (11) Jaelyn (7) Blake(16) Morgan(14) and Joe (2).

Christmas Eve 2009

I have been working on catching up on posts for almost a week now.
Didn't forget, just not tech savy.
Between a home comptuer that won't download and photos that won't rotate...
Anyway
Without further delay...

I recall our Walker Christmas Eve Events...

{You didn't really think a blogger like me was going to give a whimpy post to Christmas, did you?}

I really look forward to the noodles.

Like really look forward to them.

They are more like dumplings.

My grandma made them for years, now my uncle Carl makes them.

Some families make their meals around the meat, not ours.

We start with these noodles.

Cooked in this pan, no other would do.

Then we all run around like chickens until all the cousins have arrived.

I mean all my cousins and their kids-my dad had 9 brothers and sisters, so this is  A LOT of cousins.

And then we read the Christmas Story.

My niece Blake is the oldest Great-Grandchild

{who will read the story - Max is older but generally shys away from attention}

Then time for the frenzy of gifts. 

That is gifts for

8 remaining siblings, their spouses,

their children and their children's spouses,

and their children's children.

Yep, I fit in there somewhere.

And in the middle of it all sat these 2 precious almost 4 year olds, Sam and Drew, just waiting.

We had lots of cuteness.

These rosy cheeks while cute, lead to high fevers, snotty nose and cough

while we vacationed. Poor guy.

Lots of cheer

Me and my Aunt Peggy

And some entertainment from cousin Corbin...

And lots of family -everywhere.

And am I quite certain, that these two folks who started this all.

We shining down upon us with smiles from afar!

Celebrating New Years in the Jungle

We spent New Year's Eve at Sarasota Jungle Gardens.

What a great place for kids our children's age.

It is a quaint place that rescues unwanted pets, etc.

The flamingos were my favorite part.

They are so beautiful.

Did you know they stand on one leg?

So curious.

Feeding these fish was Joe's favorite part.

The lemeurs were very active.

They like to move it, move it...

Then we watched a crocidile show...yikes.

If you get caught by one on land, run in a straight line.

If you are in the water, pray, they are faster than us.

they can swin 20mph, Michael Phelps swims 5 mph...

Then it was time for Sam's favorite part- the bird show.

This bird is 73 years old...and did this very trick on the Ed Sullivan trick!

Did you know that some of these birds (the larger varities) need 8-10 hours of interaction a day!!!

Yep, otherwise, they can have self destrucive behavior such as chewing their feet and plucking out their feathers that don't grow back.

It was rewarding to see some birds that had been rescued and had lost these destructive tendencies.

and then it was on to dinner at
Phillipe Creek Oyster Bar

Lots of yummy seafood.

and then even though we had a party to attend {wink}

we spent the night at the house we stayed at with our boys.

See daddy in the background?

He went deep sea fishing while we were at Jungle Gardens.

He took Dramamine - {I gave him the less drowsy}

He was snoring by 8pm, poor guy.

I asked Sam at one point if he thought daddy needed anything...

He said Nope, he just needs to sleep it off...

So Happy Zoo Year to ALL