Another amazing year for the Walkers! Wow, where do we start? Thankfully, Facebook has kept us all up to date, but here is a little update on how each of us is doing:
First, we introduce our newest family member, Shadow! He turned one in November. He is a sweet, yet super wild lab/pit mix puppy. Despite a few flaws and a rough start with some rescue pup-type health problems, we got him all fixed up and he is a perfectly imperfect addition to our active family. Shadow loves to play fetch, bark at other dogs, pee when you pet or talk to him, and chew stuff he isn’t supposed to.
Nicolas just turned 11 and is in the fifth grade. He is an honor roll student, which is awesome! He has adjusted extremely well and continues to make new friends. He started swim team this fall, but said he wanted to return to football, so we will be doing that next year! He is also getting the technology bug, texting and what not; we are doing our best to keep that in check! Nicolas is amazing on rollerblades and ice skates, and mommy is working hard to convince him to play ice hockey. I am not kidding; he is ridiculously good on skates. Stay tuned!!! We are very proud of Nicolas; he is sweet, smart, friendly, and very funny. And don’t tell anyone (hehe) he still loves to be snuggled and tucked into bed every night (which I am sure is short-lived, but we will take it for now!).
Madison turned 10 last month and she is in 4th grade. She has adjusted extremely well to the move, made a lot of friends and is a friend to everyone she meets. She is a straight A student and we think that is pretty impressive. She is an avid reader and takes after her mom in that she is not into anything sci-fi, just the “real-life, girly stuff”. This fall, she started swim team and improved very fast. While the kids (and mom) decided to take the winter off from swim team, she did say she would like to return in the spring and maybe try water polo (to mom’s delight!!! Oh yeah, and maybe soccer-uh, ok, maybe). Madison is very smart, kind, competitive, and quite an athlete; she is just an amazing little girl!
Evan is 7 and in the 2nd grade. Evan is slowly warming up to CA. His transition has been a little more difficult, although he is doing well. He is extremely smart (all A’s), and a voracious learner. Evan is a speed reader and I can’t believe how fast he finishes a book. He loves the Beast Quest series right now, but reads everything Nicolas and Madison read (and even faster J, shh). Evan is quite the techie too these days. He helps me with my computer and my ipod, which is just crazy! He also joined the swim team and he is fast!!! He caught on very quickly and I really hope he continues in the spring. Evan loves to go fishing and mountain biking with daddy, and we enjoying watching him blossom. While a challenge at times, he really is a very interesting, sweet, introverted, and fun-loving kid. He definitely adds some spice to our lives!
Malory will be 5 next month and she is still our spunky little miss independence and quite the fashionista. Malory loves to play with stuffed animals, ride her bike, and control the Wii. She is being homeschooled for preschool this year. It is fun and she is learning a lot. This year, Malory mastered three under water summersaults, riding without training wheels, and ice skating. She is very active, but really loves to sit and play “house” and “dogs”. It is interesting to see the twins’ differences and similarities. They are both very close, best buddies most of the time, and I still melt when I see them holding hands (which is quite often).
Bryce will also be 5 next month and he is still our little snuggle bug. The “Wookie” as he is also known around here, is a true little boy, (but, still a bit of a “mommy’s boy”)! He loves boy stuff, bikes, anything with wheels, legos, video games, and going fast. He is a whiz with the computer, the Wii, and the Nintendo DS; I wonder where he gets that from? J Bryce is also homeschooled with mommy this year. He is learning a lot too and I think they will do just fine in Kindergarten next year. Mommy will then have all five in school, and is not sure if that is good or bad!
Ted is still working as the Director of Operations for Alere, a medical device company in Livermore, CA (hence, the move to CA). He is enjoying some of the CA outdoor activities like fishing, camping, and some mountain biking and he is excited about the upcoming snowboard season. He is a very busy daddy, doing an excellent job of juggling his career and familial obligations. We are all proud of his hard work on both fronts!
Aubri is busy taking care of the family, making sure the move was as smooth as possible. She has been focused on getting everyone plugged-in here in CA and will be actively looking for a counseling job out here in CA in January, for which she is very excited!
I am still in awe that we packed up and moved our family of 7, plus our dog, to California this year. We live about 45 minutes east of San Francisco. We are enjoying many things about this move, but still miss our Florida family and friends very much. Thankfully, we have met some wonderful people out here who have made this move much easier for us all, and mom and Gary have come out three times already, which was wonderful. So, to make this move fun, we decided to make sure we see and do a lot on this coast. Since our arrival this summer we have been busy; we have camped four times- twice to Yosemite which is absolutely gorgeous, have taken a few trips into San Francisco, gone to the beach, drove up to Mount Diablo, Muir Woods, Big Tree State Park (awesome), and visited a handful of other beautiful west coast destinations. We also traveled to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, which was wonderful. There is nothing more important than family! We very excited about snow ski season and will definitely be hitting Tahoe and some other ski spots in the next few months. Our adventures continue….
We wish you all a wonderful holiday and a prosperous and adventurous New Year! With Love, The Walkers 2011