Let's Go WI-LD!

The day after Christmas Amelia's baton class performed at an Iowa Wild hockey game.  Oh the day after Christmas - perhaps not the best timing.  Amelia was running on the brutal combination of post-Christmas let down and adrenaline surge for the performance.  The performance turned out to be a bit rag tag - they were supposed to be on the ice, but ended up on the concourse next to the concession stand. None the less, Amelia was thrilled and had a great time and we had fun watching the hockey.

Spitting into those splits....

Whoosh!

And just like that the whole month of December flies by in a blink.... Every year I promise myself we will focus on simple celebration, and I often come up miserably short. We have been so fortunate to have a month of really fun opportunities, so the blogging has been light, but the memories great. Some of our celebrations have been simple, but we aren't immune from the stress of the season.  It has been nice to have a couple of quiet days now minus the whirlwind to enjoy some family time. 

The Saturday before Christmas the girls had a home swim meet. I am just so proud of how hard they work and how much heart they display. Both girls had some pretty good time drops at this meet, but the also had a lot of fun mugging with their teammates.

Amelia and a posse of little girls strike a pose....

Ava and her relay team (she's the tall one in the back)....

Every Christmas Eve for the last 10 (??) or so years we've hosted bar food night at our house after church. The tradition started small, but has grown and grown to the largest crowd we've had in 2013.  This meant almost 30 pounds of chicken wings, queso, potato skins and fried raviolis. Which of course required the biggest thing of oil Costco sells.... Our house smelled like a greasy diner until about this morning....

The girls decorate sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve....  They are holding on pretty tight to Santa.

A heated game of Uno breaks out on Christmas Eve night after everyone is done eating.....  My heart was so full listening to them, watching them play that I thought it might burst right out of my chest.

Santa was good to the Walto-lachs... Lane models his new swim fins - it's a good look!

The present I was most excited for - I managed to buy a pair of One Direction concert tickets for our superfan in a pre-sale offer.  I've been holding this secret for almost a month, and its been so hard not to tell her! Ava and I will head to Chicago to see 1D next summer. She was be.side.her.self.

Amelia in the panda ear warmer, minus a tooth, the very essence of a first grader...

Christmas afternoon, lounging with my girl, enjoying the quiet house, grateful beyond all measure for the people I get to celebrate with....

Weekend Roundup

We came into this long weekend really ready for some family time.  And I have to say, mission accomplished to that! We had a lovely weekend, but after four days of non-stop togetherness perhaps we're all ready to return to a school and work routine, a little more rested and a little more appreciative of each other. We've slept in every day, eaten really good food, exercised well and taken care of stuff on the home front.

By Friday night we were feeling a little cooped up, so Saturday afternoon we headed up to Des Moines to run some errands and get out of the house for a little while.  We decided to head to Exile Brewing Company for an early dinner. The food was excellent and the girls were very well behaved.  They gobbled up some calamari, Ava had fish and chips and Amelia had a custom ham sandwich, prepared just the way she wanted by the kind cooks in the kitchen. Here we are goofing around with the camera while we were waiting for our food.

Me and Mimi, looking more alike than I realize…..

Ava snaps a picture of me and John….

And Ava, looking so very much like her dad….

Today was the big Christmas tree day, so you know what that means….  The annual gastronomic delight!

Temperatures have warmed up a bit and we were out picking up our tree in 50 degree weather. How nice is that?  John, the girls and Orbit's behind….

The perfect tree!

Just had to get a shot of Ava's awesome outfit.  BTW, that's my coat.

Loving on my girls...

Santa!!!

Ava would have none of telling Santa what she wanted… too grown up? And I had to post this picture, because this is how Amelia responded when Santa asked what she wanted. Power down, crickets chirping. Apparently nothing?  After several attempts she finally squeaked out that she wanted a camera and then got out of there asap.

When we got home Meghan, Albert and Lane came over to help hang lights and finish decorating our tree. We snacked and snacked, then ate these sandwiches… (so, so good! I want them at least once a week!) Then Meghan, Albert, Ava and I headed off to restorative yoga to wind down a really nice day.

The boat, all lit up….. ready to enter this busy holiday time where we will focus on a season of simple celebration.

So Thankful….

We celebrated an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving yesterday. We had Meghan and Lane, Papa and Grandma, Bill and Annie and enough food for twice as many people.  It was such a nice evening and I was enjoying myself so much I apparently could barely be bothered to pick up the camera and take some pictures of these people I love so much who were gathered at our house to feast. But trust me, it was a great evening, full of love. 

I did get this great picture of these two sisters as the night began… Meghan braided Amelia's hair in a fishtail braid and she was thrilled. 

And Meghan snapped this picture of Lane and Orbit.  It is difficult to tell, but Orbit is full of bitterness that he was not allowed at the table! 

And here's a bit of miscellany… Amelia (Mimi) was so excited that AE is making egg nog combined with chocolate milk - two of her very favorite things - AND they named it after her.  But after she tasted it she said, in her husky little voice, "you can barely even taste the chocolate.  It just tastes like egg nog."

Celebrating a Very Good Day

Yesterday was quite a day.  The girls had their second YMCA swim meet - and the first home meet in our new Y. Compared to last week, there were about half as many swimmers at the meet and being so close to home made everything run a little smoother.  Again I was so proud of how hard the girls worked and I just love watching them swim.  We had time improvements and a couple of disqualifications.  They are learning so much and getting so much from this program.

Amelia (in the bright pink cap) getting instruction from Coach Tiffany (one of my good running friends)....

Amelia, on high alert - ready for her Freestyle Relay event.  As it turns out, swimming just 25 meters of the relay wasn't enough for our Mimi, oh no! She swam her leg, then chased the anchor down the pool, putting in a 50 instead.  Shockingly, that wasn't one of the disqualifications and Amelia's team got 3rd place in the relay.

Ava Jane, on deck, waiting for her relay to start!

 Home meets require a lot of parent volunteers, so John and I each had jobs on the second, four hour shift.  He ran the DQ notices to the coaches and I was a timer. When the meet finally wrapped up around 5:00pm we raced everyone home so we could change clothes and head out to dinner to celebrate our 13 year wedding anniversary. This year we decided instead of having our usual date night we would take our whole family to dinner at Centro.

Meghan tried to take a picture of me and John and the littliest decided to hop in with some bunny ears....

Miss Amelia, who was very well behaved at the fancy restaurant after spending all day at a swim meet, still needed some silliness outlets.  Bunny ears and posing for Meghan in her dad's glasses did the trick...

Here we go - 13 years... this time with no bunny ears!

Our server brought us raspberry creme brule to help us finish the meal and celebrate.  Not totally sure why there was a candle, but we blew it out together and made a wish....

 John and I both had lumps in our throat when we told each other what we wished for....  What I know for sure is that I couldn't love these people, this family any more.

Holiday Parade

Friday night our little town hosted a holiday extravaganza that included events on the square and concluded with a lighted holiday parade.  Lucky for us Friday night it was about 18 degrees outside! Amelia's baton studio was an exhibit in the parade and they had been practicing and practicing a routine to a cute Christmas song.  We headed up to the square about 7:15pm so Amelia could meet her class to get ready.  Yup, it was dark, really cold and kind of late for us on a Friday night!

After getting Amelia settled we walked around the square a little bit.  Me and Ava warming up in the gift shop...

Amelia waiting patiently (ahem) for her glow bracelets…..

The Grinch was there, with a random teddy bear!

The parade didn't start until 8:00pm - Amelia's usual bedtime. Our tired twirler waiting for her turn. 

There were actual geese, that were tame, and dressed in costumes…..

A pretend Santa and his real reindeer….

When the parade was over Amelia was a little bit let down. It was hard to hear the music, it was hard to do the routine in heavy coats and boot and it was so, so cold. "But it was still really fun mom, I can't wait to do it again!"

All Day Swimming

Yesterday was our first, big deal, YMCA Swim Club meet. There were 550 young swimmers from Central Iowa who competed.  All day.  And I do mean all day.  We arrived at the Waukee Y at 11:30am for check in and warm up and didn't finish until 7:30pm and that was scratching all the freestyle relays.  The Y apparently has an 8 hour cut off rule and keeping the relays would have bumped us over.  

The coaches were busy reassuring us that this is the longest meet of the year - information that would have been helpful BEFORE we signed up.  Even so, the Waltolach's will work on a new strategy to manage swim meet days...  Because I know there are a lot of swim meet days in our future.  The girls worked so hard and swam with such heart - I was just bursting with pride watching them. Since this was their first big, official meet they recorded their baseline times in the events they swam.  It will be so great to watch their confidence grow as they get more practice and experience racing.

Ava, waiting for the 50 backstroke to start....

Off she goes....

On the way back!

Love that sweet face - you can just see how big her heart is....

With Coach Tiffany....

Miss Amelia, coming to the wall on the 25 backstroke....

Working her way through her first breast stroke event - the one where she was most nervous....

Our little swimming elf!

Spring Will Come

Yesterday brought our first dusting of snow of the season as temperatures dropped and winter started knocking on our door.  I actually like this time of year with all it's dark coziness. I am a serious homebody and winter is the perfect excuse to huddle up with my people.

Amelia had her culminating event on plants yesterday.  It was very sweet.  We started by moving through a check list of items she shared with us.  Stories about plants, a diagram of a seed, a side by side explaining the difference between perennials and annuals. Then we went outside (about 10 minutes before it started snowing) to help the class plant some bulbs in front of the school  Amelia takes all of this work very seriously -I was glad we got to be there with her.

Amelia and John reviewing the difference between an annual and a perennial…..

Getting ready to plant bulbs….

So Much Awesome

I know everyone thinks their kids are the best... But really, our kids are the best.  Not only are they bright and charming, but they are genuinely good and interesting people. I really like being around them, hearing what they have to say. One of the coolest parts about being a mom and a step-mom is the opportunity to know people like Meghan, Lane, Ava and Amelia.  Want proof?

This weekend while I was off having some relaxing girl time Meghan competed in the MAT Games Cross Fit Competition. Lane, Ava and Amelia there to support their sister....

That amazing Meghan placed in the top three in all three of her heats and was number 13 overall. Look at how strong she is, getting some high fives from John and Lane....

Sunday night when I got home we celebrated Lane's birthday. Amelia, carrying the birthday cake, which was really mini-key-lime-tarts...

Happy Birthday Lane!

Don't think I don't realize all the time how very lucky we are to have each other....