The Walls Family Loves Jesus!!

Well, today was a Great day at the Walls house - our little girl, Kenzie, asked Jesus to come into her heart today!! We are so excited for her. She talked with her dad and he said she asked him so many questions and he could tell she was more than ready to become a Christian. She has been very curious for a while now, but we wanted to make sure that she understood what it meant and how very important it was. She came running up to tell me and she said that she could not stop smiling - she said she might just smile the rest of the day.

So, we got to see our oldest son, Micah, baptized last Sunday and now we get to share the news that our oldest daughter, Kenzie, has accepted Jesus as her Savior! I would say this has been a pretty great week for us!!!

No She Didn't!!

We just got back from Stevie B's pizza and I am still a little in shock - Why, you ask?? Well, some older lady decided that she would come over and talk to Kassidy-which is great, fine, nice....But, then she decided to stick her finger in her ice cream bowl and then stick her nasty, ice cream covered finger in Kassidy's mouth - GROSS!! I could not even respond because I was so shocked that she would do such a disgusting thing to my baby...I do not even want to know what kind of fungus she had growing on her finger or even when the last time she washed her finger was - Ewwww......

I never really understood why people feel like they have the right to do that kind of stuff to babies....you would never even consider doing that to another adult. My friend said I should have put ice cream on my finger and then stuck it in the old lady's mouth....I bet she would have just loved that :) :) :)

My girls on Easter

My Boys on Easter

An awesome Easter!!!

We had a great Easter here at the Walls house...sometimes our Easters tend to be a bit hectic and I expected this year to be a little hard because it was my first go at it with four kids. Matt is never here to help on Easter morning because he has so many responsibilities at the church so I struggle trying to get everyone dressed and there on time. But we made a couple of changes that seemed to help out with the time management issue....we gave them their Easter baskets on Saturday night and I dressed them all up and took all my pictures on Saturday afternoon. So, on Sunday morning, it was pretty much a normal church morning - except trying to dress them up a little nicer that usual. Of course, the church was packed out - which is great - but finding a seat was a bit tricky. The highlight of the morning was that our oldest son, Micah, got baptized!! And Matt was able to baptize him - which was so great. But, the poor little guy was freezing because the water was accidentally let out of the baptistry and they had to refill it only minutes before he had to get in it....it literally took his breath away (just look at the expression on his face). But he did it and we are so proud of our little guy!!

Too many hard choices

Today, I got a little bit stressed out...I was at my husband's office and somehow we got on the topic of vaccines. Weird topic to somehow end up on...but we did. There were some other people around and the topic got a little bit heated. (Ok, my husband would say it was not heated, but when I get that nervous/anxious feeling, I say it is heated.) We were talking about my son and his asthma/allergies and whether or not getting him vaccinated has any role in his condition. Of course, some people there were saying that vaccines were just a way for doctors to make money and they are the reason so many kids are sick and have so many problems... And then there were those that said it was crazy to even consider not vaccinating and risking your child getting a fatal disease or just becoming very ill. And of course we got to the topics of organic food and nutritionists vs. doctors...

Anyway, it just stresses me out because it seems like there are so many different choices and paths that you can take as a parent these days and how in the world am I supposed to know if I am making the best choice for my children?? My husband told me to "chill out" and have confidence in the decisions I have made and am still making each and every day. I guess anytime anyone seems to be questioning your choices as a parent, you tend to begin questioning yourself...but after talking it out some and thinking it through, I came to the conclusion that I have always - without a doubt- had my children's best interest at heart and I know I always did the best with the information I had at the time the choice needed to be made. So, I am now a happy mom who is at peace with herself (at least for the next hour or so).

Squeeze those buttocks!!

So, I decided that I would start doing pilates everyday - just to add a little something different to my routine. The first time I put in the dvd, Kenzie comes in the room and starts working out with me. It was really cute. Then, the next time I decided to work out, Micah, Brody, & Kenzie wanted to do the video with me. It was really cute, so I told Matt to snap a picture. Well, as soon as he took the picture, he laid on the floor with Kassidy on his stomach and our whole family was doing pilates together. Funny thing to try and picture, huh?

Anyway, what was really funny, was how the kids would just laugh and giggle every time the instructor said, "Ok, let's squeeze those buttocks." Or she would talk about how great your "tush" was going to look when you were finished. It was priceless to hear them get so tickled and of course, Kenzie has used the word "buttocks" more than once today. All I can say, is that they need to start putting a rating on those workout dvds :) :) :)

That's a lot of kiddos!!

We went to the park today with a couple of friends - actually it was my sister-in-law, Angie (that's my kids and her kids in the picture) and my friend, Danielle. It was pretty funny because between the 3 of us, we have 12 (yes, that's right) - 12 kids. So, it was fine at the park because no one can tell how many kids are actually with you because there are other kids and everyone is all over the place. Well, when we got to Chick-fil-a, it was funny because you can just tell people are staring and counting all the kids that keep filing in through the doors. We had told the kids they could play on the playground at Chick-fil-a, but once we got there, we realized that we actually had too many kids (mixed in with the kids that were already there) and the playground just wouldn't hold us all :) Pretty funny, huh?

Oh well, we ended up eating outside and for that, everyone inside was extremely thankful!!! It was fun and it is actually nice to be with other moms who really are in the same boat as you. And, by the way, I love having four kids - it keeps my life extremely interesting and so much fun.

The Walls Boys

Well, it looks like I may have two little "stud muffins" on my hands. My two boys are already working it with the ladies at the mere ages of 8 and 3. (Do you think they get this from their daddy??)

Anyway, I'll start with Micah. I was cleaning his book bag out and I found a very interesting note. It was from a little girl who calls herself his "girlfriend." The note went a little like this, "I haven't been saying hey to you because you haven't been saying hey to me. So, do you want to spend some time together? If you do, meet me outside. I will get my girls and you get your boys. So, please do it, because we will be there." (I found it hilarious that they already have a "posse" that follows them around.) He is only in 2nd grade and he already has a girl telling him what to do!

Then, on to little Brody-man. Last week after church, I was picking up the kids and I hear people cheering and clapping. I look over to see Brody sitting on a bench with his little friend, Lanna, and he has his arms around her neck and he is planting a huge kiss on her lips. Of course, everyone is like "That's a pastor's kid for you......" And the clapping & cheering only encourages Brody because he loves to be in the spotlight. So, now in his mind, kissing = attention...which for me means only one thing - Trouble!!

All things Disney!!

These are the stickers you will find on the back of our car...it perfectly describes our family and what we all love - you guessed it - Disneyworld! Our family absolutely loves to travel to Orlando and spend as much time as we can afford at Disneyworld. We try to go at least once a year. We have yet to find another vacation destination that even compares to our trips to Disney.

I thought I would share some of our favorite things about Disney and even a few of the ways we save some money on our trips. Hopefully, some of you are Disney fanatics and you can share some interesting things about your travels to Orlando too!

1. We have a Disney Visa card that lets you earn points toward your next trip to Disneyworld. We pretty much pay for everything with it, but we make sure we pay it off each month. These points really helped out a lot on our last trip.

2. We had our first visit to Chef Mickey's last trip. It was awesome. We got to eat breakfast with all the characters and guess how we paid for it - with our Disney Visa points....

3. We always stay in a really nice 2 or 3 bedroom condo that is off property....we get our room through the Air Force Vacation Club (you just have to know someone in the Air Force). We can stay a whole week for around $350....

4. We only go to the parks like 2 or 3 days - we have learned that this is really all our kids can handle - not to mention all our wallets can handle!!

5. Finally, we spend a lot of time at Downtown Disney - it is free, unless you feel the need to shop or eat (which we do occasionally)....but there are plenty of things there that do not cost money that keep our kids very entertained.

Well, all this talk about Disney has got me itching for another trip to see Mickey...but I will have to wait a few more months until it is time for our annual trip!!

A mind of his own

Well, things around the Walls house have been pretty low key these last few days....that is, except for Brody-man. He is definitely going through "a stage" - exactly what stage, that I am not quite sure of. He is so strong-willed and so determined to do things his way. He is the type of child that is either being cute, sweet, and hilarious or he is being mean, disobedient, and defiant. There is really no inbetween for him.

Things seemed to have gotten a little more intense since Kassidy has been around. He definitely seems jealous of her and so he is always doing things to get our attention - like hitting her, pushing her, pinching her....whatever it takes to get us all upset and flustered. He is so starved for attention - now, he even refuses to be out of my sight for more than 5 minutes. Of course, I feel guilty and I know that I do focus more on the baby and he gets less attention than he is accustomed to, but his tactics to get my attention are so very frustrating. So, we are trying very hard to find a happy medium where we can spend more one on one time with him, but at the same time make him realize that his behavior is not at all acceptable and there are definitely better ways to get our attention. We pray about it a lot and are seeking wisdom from God on how to teach him and raise him in a way in which he feels secure and is also a respectful & obedient little boy. I know that if we work together and make sure that we give him enough love & enough discipline, things will eventually start to smooth out for us. Like I said in the beginning, I know it is just "a stage" and one day I will look back and smile about just how mischievous Brody really was :) :) :)