February = Party Month!

February is always an eventful month at the Walker home! Malea turned 4 on February 12th, Malea’s Valentine’s Day party for pre-school was on the 13th, Keith turned 29 on February 14th, and we celebrated Valentine’s Day! It was a stressful weekend, but so fun too. (On a side note, in addition to February being a big birthday month in our immediate family, we have Keith’s sister, Keith’s brother, Keith’s niece, and my brother’s birthdays in February too!)

We had a friend birthday party for Malea on the 11th (since her actual birthday was on a Sunday this year). We invited a few of her friends to go to Provo Beach Resort for some fun activities, and then had everyone over at the house afterwards for a ‘My Little Pony’ themed party with pizza and cake & ice cream. It was so much fun! Malea got lots of fun presents, including her first bike from mommy and daddy! She got to ride around on it a little bit that day (seeing as how it was like 50-ish degrees that day!) but then the next day it snowed :( Oh well, she will get to ride it soon enough!

On the 12th (her actual birthday), we had a family birthday party for her and Keith. We had the family over for tacos and cake & ice cream. It was so fun hanging out with family!

On the 13th, Malea had her Valentine’s Day party at pre-school! The night before we put together little treat bags for each of the kids in her class with some candy and a “Tangled” valentine. She decorated a bag the week before to hold all her fun treats. They got to eat yummy sugar cookies and watch a Charlie Brown Valentine’s movie. She was a little grumpy about going to school that morning (her new phase lately….not sure what the deal is!) but she still had fun.

(Side note #2: See if you notice anything funny on the picture of the V-day decorations I hung up….)

That morning I made the kids heart-shaped pancakes with pink food coloring (and didn’t realize until I went to take pictures that BOTH my kids were wearing Christmas jammies…lol). To make up for that, I made sure to get a picture of them together in their Valentine’s jammies. :) That night Malea and I made some homemade Valentine’s and hung up hearts on our front door. She also decorated a birthday card for daddy.

Unfortunately on Keith’s birthday/Valentine’s Day we both had to work so we didn’t get to see each other much :( We did make Keith’s favorite cookies (No Bakes) and took them to his work though. Hopefully we will get a date night soon (hint, hint to anyone who wants to babysit for us….;))

I think I am all partied out! Now Spring can hurry up and get here! (Please?)….

Princess Festival

During Christmas time we found out about this Princess Festival they did at the Provo Towne Center. We have a Pass-of-all-Passes and found out that it was free with the pass so we took Malea. It was really fun! She got to dress up, I did her hair like a princess, and I even put a little bit of makeup on her (don't worry, we're not going all "Toddlers & Tiaras" or anything ;)). You basically get a ticket and go watch a little program, but you move through different rooms and stuff. She was being super shy about it but still had a lot of fun. Then she got to have her face painted afterwards :)

First Haircuts

On December 23^rd both my kids had their first haircuts! My amazing hairstylist Chalene Parkin was the brave soul who did it. As you can see from the pictures they both did NOT like it and both cried! They looked so cute after though and of course I kept a little bit of hair from each of them for their baby books. Isaac’s hair was especially bad but I didn’t want her to cut off all of his adorable curls so she just trimmed it down. I couldn’t believe how much curlier it got once she trimmed it! Malea’s doesn’t look that much different but it just looks healthier I think. Good job Chalene!

Christmas 2011

This post is so late but oh well, better late than never! We had a great Christmas season. We have some little family traditions of our own that we have started, and it makes it really fun. Malea was so fun this year especially since she is a little older now and understands more. We of course went to see Santa (see previous blog post). We went to see the lights at temple square, which was really fun because we ran in to a sister missionary who is serving there who Keith knew from his mission in Malaysia! We also made lots of crafts and goodies, and had fun decorating. We also had so much fun at the annual Nu Skin Christmas party, and they never cease to amaze with their generosity! This year they gave everyone Kindle Fire’s!
Woo hoo!

Temple Square

Helping mommy make treats

Christmas jammies

Crafts & counting down to Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we went to the annual Christmas Eve dinner at my Grandma and Grandpa’s condo clubhouse in Provo. We played the most hysterical game….my cousin Travis took about 12 of us aside one at a time secretly and had us sing a Christmas song in to a tape recorder, but the funny part was that we had to disguise our voice! Then he played all of the songs in a row and we had to guess who’s voice it was. We were all rolling by the end of it! After the party we stopped by the Riverwoods mall for a minute to look at their beautiful lights, and then we headed home to make sure and leave out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Santa came and even left Malea and Isaac a letter! The main thing Malea wanted this year that she asked for from Santa was a Wuggle Pet. Her wish came true and she was so happy! She also got an art desk (since she loves to do crafts and anything artistic), a giraffe plush chair (her favorite animal), some My Little Pony’s, and some clothes. Isaac got a Cozy Coupe car (which he loves), and some little toys and clothes. I got Keith the first season of Star Trek on DVD, a Blu Ray set of all the different Star Trek movies, a BYU pillow pet (haha), and some clothes. I got a cute pair of boots that I’ve been wanting for a LONG time and that I love, a pair of Toms, and a couple of other little things. Overall we had a great Christmas! It came and went so fast as usual, but we have tons of fun memories.

(Christmas Eve)

(Christmas Day)

For New Years Eve we had some of my family over for the evening for soup and to play games. Isaac didn’t make it very long but Malea made it until 11:30pm!! I couldn’t believe it. We had a lot of fun ringing in the New Year!

Hope you all had a great holiday season as well!

Santa's Lap

So I am one of those mom's that makes my kids sit on Santa's lap, or at least get a picture standing next to Santa, each year even if they are scared to death. I know, I know....so mean. But I love the tradition and I love looking back at the pictures. This year we have actually seen Santa twice; once at my mom's work at the Smile Center dentist office and once at the mall. Malea was excited to see Santa and we even wrote him a letter. When we got to the office and walked in the door, Malea instantly clung to my leg and would NOT even get close to him. I kept telling her that if she didn't at least give him her letter he wouldn't know what she wanted for Christmas (which is a Wuggle Pet....if you don't know what that is, go here to see the commercial). I finally managed to get her to stand by him in my arms and I handed the letter it to him. Isaac just screamed and got away as fast as he could!

The next day the truth came out.....Malea told us that the reason she didn't want to sit on that Santa's lap was because he was the "real" Santa, and the one at the mall was not real (so funny, especially since the mall Santa has a real beard and looked way more authentic that the other one!). She said she still wanted to go see the mall Santa, so that's what we did. She went right on his lap, didn't cry (didn't smile either), and was totally fine. Isaac screamed bloody murder again. :) I don't know why she was more scared of the "real" Santa, but oh well!

Here's some Santa pictures from throughout the years :)

Merry Christmas!!!

The Banana Dance

I really need to get on here and do an update, but for the time being I just wanted to post this funny video of Isaac doing what I call "The Banana Dance"....there's not much to it other than he loves bananas and will do a little dance to get one :)

Christmas Card 2011

Merry Christmas!

(Designed by Mary from marybeachphotography.blogspot.com)