Thinking back....

I usually use this blog to post pictures of Kirk doing cute and funny things, but I thought I'd take a minute to just reflect on this past year and all that it has brought to our family.  I think as a mother, you always think that one moment, day, or week is the hardest, or funniest, or most amazing thing that will ever happen.  How do these moments, days, weeks, months, and years continue to surprise me, inspire me, and leave me hopeful for the future?  Sure, I always had a positive outlook and felt good about what the future held for me before I was a mother, but nothing compares to what my heart holds now.  Being Kirk's mama fills me up more that I ever thought possible.  The last 2 years have brought me so much joy, pain, and laughter....nothing I could have ever imagined.  So many things have changed in my life...relationships, feelings, attitudes, opinions.....they are all so different.   2011 brought us so many good experiences, and as I move along this journey with Jeremy and Kirk, I realize that there is nothing more important in life than the happiness of my family.  I am thankful for what we have been given, taught, and reminded of this past year.  I am thankful to get the opportunity to try my best every day to be a Mama to my little boy and wife to my husband.  I hope you all have had experiences this year that helped you grow and love harder. I welcome 2012, and pray that it brings me everything I hope for and nothing I expect!  Happy New Year!

Kirk's first Christmas, December 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!

We had a wonderful Christmas!  The picture above was taken at Jeremy's Granny Dean's house on Saturday, December 17.  Kirk opened his gift, but he liked cousin Holden's Captain America better.  He thought he was a "bad guy" for some reason, and he liked carrying him around.

Kirk is hoarding Holden's Captain America while cousin Jalee admires it.  Why do kids always want what isn't theirs?

Kirk is waiting patiently with his friends for his Christmas pajama party snacks at school (with his friends Olivia and Carter)

Miss Eva's cupcakes were "so yummy!"

Kirk and his buddy Judah attempting to take a picture together

Kirk is sitting with his friends at school...he's moving to the older class on January 3.  He will take 3 friends with him, but leave the rest behind.  His teachers think that this is a good move for him, and that he will enjoy playing with older children (even though Kirk will be 6-9 months younger than everyone in the class!).  Miss Myra says she will miss him dearly, but she thinks he is getting "bored" in her class.  She says he is very smart, and understands and follows directions very well.  In his new class, he will be in another building, eat in the cafeteria (and he gets to choose chocolate or white milk for lunch.....what do you think he'll choose?), he will play on the big playground and in the gym.  They have a more structured day and more structured lessons and activities.  We are excited for the move, but sad that this means he is growing up fast!

Kirk and Miss Myra...he loves her so much!

Kirk LOVED his Toy Story potato head set from Meme and Poppy!

Kirk, Holden, and Tanner at Meme and Poppy's 

Kirk and Bella on Christmas Eve....Bella always likes to play with cars at our house!

Kirk LOVED his "real Buzz" from Erin, Zac, and Bella....can you tell?

Kirk is helping Gramma Debi open the Keurig coffee maker we got her

Kirk in his new football helmet and jersey from Gramma Debi

Kirk is blasting off in his Buzz rocket ship from Gramma Debi!  To infinity and beyond!

Santa left a big pile of presents, even though Kirk told me to tell him to "leave them outside and mama can go get them."  He was just a little freaked out about Santa coming into his house!  I think he got over it after he saw what Santa's visits bring!

Kirk playing with his new train table from Gramma Sullivan

Astro had enough of Christmas cheer....

Kirk enjoyed Mama's french toast casserole (recipe from Pinterest...delicious!).  He "ate it all up" and was ready to play again.  We had an amazing Christmas morning at our house, and we hope everyone else did, too.  Watching Kirk open gifts and enjoy his new toys is the best present we could ever have (although my new vacuum, treadmill, and iron make is nice, too...haha).  Spending time playing with Kirk is such a blessing, and hopefully I'll talk him out of making me only race the purple hot wheels car (apparently he thinks it's the only one I'm allowed to race for some reason?) and teach him how to turn one toy off before starting up another!  He loves everything, and although I look at the toys strewn about and yearn for nice neat toy storage....I wouldn't trade one mess for all the world!  I'm excited for my week off with Kirk, and hopefully some cozy snow days to come....we'll have lots of time to race, shoot Zurg, play "potatoes" (heads), and put together train tracks.  He is such a fun little boy, and the absolute best gift I have!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas spirit

We visited the Gibsons in Lexington, KY, on Saturday, December 3.  We went to dinner and to see the Southern Lights at the KY Horse Park.  Kirk loved the lights (especially the dinosaurs!) and he was super brave with all the animals at the petting zoo!  We were shocked, but we think it had something to do with Miss Suzana who encouraged him to join her.  He hopped right on a pony for a ride and stuck his hand completely inside a baby calf's mouth to feed him a carrot!  Kirk had a great time, and he loves playing with Suzana.  He laughs every time he talks about her, and he says she is his "Favorite, special friend!"  We miss the Gibsons and we can't wait till they move back home!

Kirk on his pony...he said he was "very, very slow"

Kirk was a student in Suzana's school of petting zoo procedures....he listened to her when she told him to feed them (even though I know he was a little scared) and she even helped him get his carrots in some of the animals mouths.  He liked the goats, of course, and the yak.  The kangaroo was my favorite, he was so soft!

Kirk fed a hungry calf....his hand!  I can't believe he stuck his hand so far in that cow's mouth, and he didn't even flinch!  I saw first hand that he is obviously easily influenced by peer pressure!

We had a great time, and the visit to the Horse Park definitely got us all in the Christmas spirit.  Our tree is now up and decorated in our home.  Kirk helped me decorate the tree, and I had to spread out some of the ornaments, since he hung about 12 on the same branch!  He has been playing with his nativity set, and after Jeremy explained to him that the wise men brought baby Jesus gifts when he was born, Kirk marches the wise men over and says, "Baby Jesus, come out of the barn!  We have a surprise for you!  We have presents for you!  Happy birthday!"  He then moved the baby Jesus over (he tapped him like he was walking....he looks like a plastic baby laying in a "hay bed") and he said (in a baby Jesus voice, I guess...) "Oh thank you!"  Jeremy and I laughed ourselves sick.  He is absolutely hilarious!  We look forward to Kirk's interpretation of the holidays!  Merry Christmas!

New pictures of the Walkers!

We had our pictures taken again by Kristi B., and they turned out great!  Kirk was a great model, and we are so thankful to Kristi for continuing to capture great moments for the Walkers!  Look for these photos on a Christmas card coming to you soon!  

H-E-R-D....GOooooo Herd!

I know I've posted many pictures of my family at football games this season, but I got a few more cute ones this past Saturday.  MU played ECU, and as much as I secretly wish football games were only about an hour long, I really enjoyed myself at this game.  It was a close one, and even went in to overtime, and thankfully, the Herd pulled it off.  I have to think that it is because Kirk has learned to cheer so loudly!  In the picture above, he is yelling "GO Her-wad" in Jeremy's face!  He has also learned another cheer, "H-E-R-C-V-B-D....Go Marshall!"  Haha!  That's his version of the cheer, anyway.  It does warm my heart (and makes his Daddy's heart almost melt!) to see how much he has grown to love football.  He wakes up on Saturday mornings, and tells us he's ready to go to the football game!  I am thankful for our friends that we tailgate with and sit with at the games, they make Herd football so much more fun.  We had a great season, and I can't wait to see what Kirk can say and do next year!

Kirk's 2nd quarter nap...look at those beautiful eyelashes!

Kirk is saying that the Herd is #1!

Kirk is exaggerating his "cheese" just a little....

Kirk's silly green hair, he thought this was hilarious!

The Walkers are now looking forward to Herd basketball.  Kirk loves the games, and we've just begun the season.  I'll post pictures soon!  

A magical day for the Walkers...

We went to the Magic Kingdom on Monday, November 21.  We arrived in Orlando on the 19th, and visited our friends the Blacks, and then headed to Disney on Monday.  I can't imagine that there was a kid on that ferry boat more excited than me to jump aboard and watch Cinderella's castle grow larger and larger as we went across the water!  I absolutely LOVE all things Disney, and Jeremy and I had visited several times before, and I had been several times as a child.  I love the magic and the innocence that fills your heart when you're there.  I was so excited to share all that with my little boy! It was hard to take pictures on all the rides and most of them exclaim "no flash photography" (and Jeremy would NEVER break the rules!), so I got as many pictures as I could.  Don't start reading this unless you've got a few minutes to spare.....it's a little lengthy!

Jeremy and Kirk climbed up and down the Swiss Family Robinson tree house

Kirk enjoyed some snacks (check out his CUTE shirt that Cortney made!)

Kirk is eating his pizza on a Mickey head plate at the Liberty Tree Tavern

Kirk and Mama before we got on the train 

Kirk and Daddy in front of the castle

Kirk and Daddy on the Tea Cups

Kirk watching all the busy people on Main Street, USA

Kirk and Mama on Dumbo

Kirk helped capture Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear ride!   He shot his laser with Daddy, and their score beat mine by a couple hundred thousand!  He is modeling how he shot his laser in this picture.

By the time we got to the Buzz Lightyear character line, it was closed (boo hoo)!  BUT, that didn't stop Kirk from watching him and YELLING at him from the side.  Kirk absolutely loves Buzz, and he often flies around saying "To Infinity and Beyond" in the house and he calls himself and others "space rangers" randomly.  Buzz's helpers kept turning around and pointing at Kirk and giving him thumbs up. We laughed so hard and we were so glad he wasn't scared of the characters!

Kirk liked the People Mover ride, but he didn't like traveling into Space Mountain too much after the moon and stars were gone.  He kept saying he needed his flashlight!

Kirk's favorite ride, Buzz Lightyear's Tail Spin

Kirk and Daddy waiting for their honey pot to arrive for the Winnie the Pooh ride

How beautiful is that?  The whole park was decorated for Christmas, and we watched the end of a show in which Cinderella's Christmas wish was for the castle to be decorated in lights.  The castle lit up and looked like it was covered in ice and snow (impressive, since it was 85 degrees!).  It continued to change colors all night!

Kirk eating a corn dog on Main Street...the castle in the background is so beautiful!

We met Mickey and Minnie, and he wasn't even scared!  He gave them both a high five.  I almost cried when Minnie walked past me and patted me on the back and made a kissy sound in my ear!  LOVE HER!

Kirk and Daddy on the carousel

Kirk eating my favorite Disney World dessert....a Mickey head ice cream!!

We had to share it a little....

Kirk after a long day at Disney....he fell asleep on the ferry boat and didn't wake up till the next morning!  I know he had magical dreams!

Kirk and Mama outside our hotel

Kirk and Buzz (made out of Legos) at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney

Kirk and Lego Woody

Kirk and Daddy shopping

Kirk and Mama with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet

Kirk enjoyed some Thanksgiving day golf with Daddy in Gramma Sullivan's backyard!

We went for a swim on Thanksgiving, Kirk still loves the "swimming pool!"

our little Florida fish

enjoying the warm sunshine

Kirk impressively worked a 24 piece jigsaw puzzle set (a gift from Gramma Sulllivan) with Daddy!  I was amazed, because I had never seen him work those type of puzzles, and they can be hard for my preschoolers!  

Gramma said she knew Kirk could do it because he was so smart!  She was right!  He loved it!

It was so nice to visit Florida for Thanksgiving, and spend time with my grandmother and Kirk's great grandmother, "Gramma Sullivan."  She loves watching Kirk, and she says he is such a "happy baby" just like I was.  She tells me that she is so impressed with how smart he is, and that she loves listening to him.  Some of my best memories from my childhood were with my Gramma Sullivan and I am so blessed that I get to share my little boy with her.  We had a very happy Thanksgiving, and we hope you did, too!