The Walker Blog

Cat's Litterbox

2011-07-30T22:39:00.000-04:00

I think we mentioned this before, but if you'd like to see daily pictures and read about what we're doing, check out Cathy's blog! Just click on the picture and it'll take you to her blog!!
<3
Steve and Cathy (and Gus)

June Already!

2011-06-05T12:14:00.000-04:00

Where has the time gone??? This blog hasn't been updated since before we went to MI for Gus's finalization! Cathy updates her blog DAILY and includes pictures and videos of Gus and what we've done for the day. Click here to go to her blog. You might want to subscribe via email so that you never miss a post (she posts EVERY night before bed). Gus also has a blog (written by Cathy) and it's updated every Tuesday with pictures and videos. Click here to go to his blog and be sure to subscribe via email as well.

This will be the last post to this blog (for a long time anyway)... be sure to read Cathy's blog or Gus's blog to know what The Walker Family is doing! Thanks for reading!!!

:)
The Walker Family

5-25-11 Eating With A Fork

2011-05-25T23:11:00.000-04:00

5-24-11 Growling Gus

2011-05-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

5-23-11 Practicing Eating with a Fork

2011-05-24T08:32:00.001-04:00

5-23-11 Playing in the Pool

2011-05-24T08:32:00.000-04:00

5-15-11 Oceanic for Dinner

2011-05-21T21:50:00.000-04:00

5-15-11 Beach

2011-05-21T21:48:00.000-04:00

5-20-11 Gus Running Throwing and Kicking

2011-05-21T21:46:00.001-04:00

5-20-11 Gus Down the Slide

2011-05-21T21:46:00.000-04:00

5-18-11 Wrestling with Elphie

2011-05-21T21:44:00.001-04:00

5-18-11 Laughing At Elphie

2011-05-21T21:44:00.000-04:00

5-14-11 First Birthday Party

2011-05-21T21:39:00.000-04:00

5-12-11 Faces at Lunch

2011-05-21T21:30:00.000-04:00

5-6-11 Walking

2011-05-11T23:13:00.000-04:00

5-5-11 Grace and Gus at the Zoo

2011-05-11T23:10:00.000-04:00

5-11-11 Water Table

2011-05-11T23:09:00.000-04:00

5-3-11 Unaware of Mom

2011-05-04T11:19:00.000-04:00

4-30-11 Laughing at Dinner

2011-04-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

4-27-11 Gus Laughing- HILARIOUS

2011-04-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

4-26-11 Dancing Boy

2011-04-26T11:52:00.000-04:00

4-26-11 Wiggle in the Sun

2011-04-26T11:51:00.000-04:00

4-25-11 Monkey Boy Gets Hurt

2011-04-25T21:35:00.000-04:00

4-25-11 Apple

2011-04-25T21:34:00.000-04:00

4-20-11 Gus Outside

2011-04-20T22:45:00.000-04:00

4-18-11 Laughing not Napping

2011-04-18T21:57:00.000-04:00

4-13-11 Dinner and a Show

2011-04-13T21:46:00.000-04:00

3-16-11 Walking

2011-04-10T21:02:00.000-04:00

3-13-11 Steps.mov

2011-04-10T21:01:00.000-04:00

4-10-11 Chatty Gus

2011-04-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

4-10-11 Hands Behind His Back

2011-04-10T20:58:00.000-04:00

4-10-11 Standing at the Gate

2011-04-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

Grabbing the Sun

2011-04-10T20:56:00.000-04:00

Finalization Here We Come!!!

2011-04-09T14:01:00.000-04:00

April 9th, 2011

We got a call about ten days ago informing us that Gus's finalization hearing needed to be scheduled, and we had to pick either April 15th or May 13th. When Cathy asked if it mattered, she was told that we had to BE there IN PERSON for the hearing. She called Steve and together we freaked out because we didn't know we had to physically be there for the hearing. After debating between the two date, neither of which really works for us, we decided to do the 15th (the sooner the better).

We'll be going to MI this coming Thursday and we'll be there Thursday night, and then his hearing is at 11am on Friday the 15th. The 15th is also Tax Day, and should be a great day to celebrate each year. Cathy's mom will be coming to court with us and we'll be meeting Gus's birth mom C and her mom P. We're very excited that they wanted to come to court with us, and it means so much that they'll be there for this very special day. After court, we're going to lunch and C's grandma (P's mom) will be joining us and she'll be meeting her very first great-grandchild. We're super excited to meet her as well, as she's been so very supportive throughout the entire adoption.

After we have lunch with everyone, we'll be coming back to Cathy's parents and then later on, we'll be going out to dinner with her brother's family, and then Jessica (Gus's God Mother and second cousin) will be joining us with her daughter B. It's going to be so special to celebrate Gus's Adoption Day with our family.

We have nothing planned for Saturday, but it'll be a great day with Cathy's parents and hopefully Scott and his family. Then we'll be leaving bright and early on Sunday to drive back to NC. It'll be a VERY quick trip, but one that will be very special.

We had hoped to go back to MI in May/June for Gus's 1st birthday and to see Charlie (Scott and Christie's baby- due on May 18th), but with the unexpected trip next week, we'll be pushing back our MI trip to July. We're hoping that Cathy's parents can come down to NC for Gus's first birthday party which is May 14th.

We've been enjoying our time as a family and Cathy loves being at home with Gus. It's like she was put on Earth to be his mom and is loving every minute of it. Steve loves when he comes home now and Gus gets REALLY excited to see him. He usually goes to the baby gate and stands there waiting for Steve to pick him up. It's really cute.

Gus is amazing. He's walking, sometimes even running, and chatting up a storm. He only says mama and dada right now, but there are a lot of things that's he's saying that we can't quite understand right now. He's got an amazing personality and is very easy going. He doesn't fuss and doesn't usually wear anything but a smile. He loves the cats and his favorite friend is our puppy Elphie. They are the best of friends and Elphie is so tolerant and loving with Gus.

Gus is eating solids (table foods) and has been for a few months. He loves the sippy cup and we don't anticipate a lot of problems when it comes time to ween him from the bottle. He still doesn't have ANY teeth... and has already had his first haircut! Here are some pictures from that event:

Steve and Gus before the haircut

We love the way his haircut turned out and think he looks even cuter than before!! He shouldn't need another haircut for a while, but when it's time for another one, Steve will be taking Gus back to the barber shop. It's going to be a "Daddy and Gus" event and we're excited that they'll have something to do that's special and just between them.

Be sure to check Gus's blog each Tuesday and our family YouTube page for videos. Cathy is going to post some of the more recent ones to this blog so you can see what's been happening. Also, you can now subscribe to our blog through email... if you haven't signed up for this, please do! It'll ensure that you never miss a post!

See you soon!

The Walkers

Welcome Spring!

2011-03-23T12:31:00.000-04:00

8 Months: January 11th, 2011

9 Months: February 11th, 2011

10 Months: March 11th, 2011

Oh my!!! It's been three months already since we last posted!! YIKES! Maybe we can get Cathy to start posting something every weekend so that we can stay up-to-date with things and not get so far behind!

As you can see, little Gus has been growing like a weed! He's now ten-months-old, and believe it or not, he's walking. He's been walking for about a week now... and each day get just gets more and more stable and comfortable. He's not able to stand up on his own, but he's quick to get up if he has something to grab. He's amazing.

Some of the highlights from the last few months include Gus starting to stand on his own (January 9th). He also has gotten really good with his eating and pretty much skipped over the pureed foods and went straight to table foods. He doesn't have any teeth, but he can gum it like the best of 'em!!

One of Cathy's favorite pictures of Steve and Gus (1-13-11)

We enjoyed watching the Green Bay Packers win the Superbowl and of course, we had to dress Gus up to watch the game.

The only thing that could have made it better was if the Bengals were playing!

February was a really busy month for us. Not only did Cathy take Gus out for a lot of fun playdates, but we also headed north to see Cathy's side of our family. While we were there, we were able to arrange to meet Gus's birth family too! It was a great trip and we'll be heading back north in May/June... as soon as Cathy's SIL Christie has her baby girl!! She's due May 18th and we're hoping to head up around Memorial Day so that we can take advantage of the extra day!

In February (on the 2nd), Cathy took Gus to the park for the very first time. He loved it! He wasn't too sure about the swings at first, but eventually got comfortable and had a great time!

We headed up to Michigan and here are some of the great pictures of meeting his birth family:

Gus's birth father's family

Gus's Birth Great Aunt and her family

Gus's Birth Mom's family

While in Michigan it snowed and Gus got to experience REAL snow. He liked it and enjoyed his first taste of snow!

We got back to Michigan and Steve's dad and Sue Ann came for a nice visit. They bought him his first wagon and had a blast taking him on wagon rides around the neighborhood!

On February 28th, Cathy took Gus to the park again to enjoy the 75 degree weather that we were having. Gus really had fun and while they were out, he started to show signs that he was ready to start taking his first steps!

This brings us to March. So far this month, Gus took his first steps (March 14th) and then really started to walk on the 16th. Cathy was able to capture the walking on video, and Steve got the first steps on video too!!

On the 17th Cathy took Gus to the zoo with our neighbor and her best friend Wendy. They spend just about every day together and the kids all love to play together. We're very blessed to have such great friends in our lives. Here are some pictures from Gus's first trip to the zoo!

As you can tell, it was St. Patty's Day and Cathy dressed Gus in the cutest little outfit! Here are some other favorite pictures from this month:

We'll make sure to post again soon!!! Be sure to check Gus's blog each Tuesday for updates and always check the You Tube channel for new videos!!!
:)
The Walkers

3-13-11 Steps.mov

2011-03-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

1-10-11 Happy New Year!!

2011-01-10T13:22:00.001-05:00

Our Sweet Baby

Gosh it's been a while since we posted! Cathy has been super busy posting each Tuesday on Gus's blog, and then she's been posting daily on her personal blog... we guess this one got over-looked! Sorry!!

Our first Christmas together as a family was wonderful. We spent it just the three of us, and had hoped that Cathy's parents would be able to come down for the week between Christmas and New Year's, but they weren't able to get the time off of work. Instead, we spent the time together and didn't really do much. It was great!

Prior to Christmas, Cathy took Gus to Wal-Mart to have his pictures taken. She had a coupon for 30 pictures for $8. We felt it was too good a price to pass it up, so she took him to get his picture taken on the seventh of December and they were back by the 14th. The lady was so surprised at how happy Gus was and decided to take as many poses as she could! Because Cathy has her new camera and takes MILLIONS of pictures of Gus, she wasn't interested in buying anything more than the coupon package. She was able to get the coupon package (which is all 30 pictures of the same pose) and then two additional pictures. All in all, she did very well with walking out the door only spending $20.

Here are the pictures that we bought:

Naked Santa Boy :)

Rub-a-dub dub... Gus in the tub!

Black and White Jolly Boy

Gus's First Christmas

The pictures were back in time for us to send some out to Gus's birth family, and then our own family and friends.

Christmas at the Walker house was incredible this year. Not only did Santa spoil all of us, but our lives were enriched by the joy that Gus has brought to our family. The first Christmas as a family was more than we had ever dreamed it would be, and it was so very special. We went to Christmas Eve Mass with our neighbors Wendy and Ryan and their family, and then came home and prepared for the big day! Here are some pictures from our special day!

Gus all dressed up for Mass

"Let's go to church!!"

Steve got some coal in his stocking... was he a bad boy???

Gus and Steve opening presents! Gus LOVES his Tickle Me Elmo X-treme!!

Steve was not a bad boy afterall!! He got an iPad!!

Gus was so excited to open present after present!!

Santa brought Cathy a bracelet that says her favorite word: Gus

Some of the toys that Santa and friends and family brought Gus

Such a happy little guy... basking in the wrapping paper of goodies!!

After such a great Christmas, we were blessed with snow on the 26th! We had some snow back on December 4th, but it was a light dusting compared to the snow that we got on the 26th. We took Gus outside for some fun in the snow (he did NOT enjoy himself) and then we came inside to get warm!!

Chillin' (literally) in the snow...

Um... not feeling it so much...

READY to get out of the snow and cold!!!

Cathy and Gus and their matching frog hats (Christmas gifts from Wendy and Ryan and the girls)

We rang in the New Year with Ryan, Wendy, and the girls by having pizza together at their house and then watching the movie Inception. Cathy hated it, Steve loved it. Then after midnight we headed back home and then slept until ten on the first!!

Happy New Year!!!

Steve went back to work on the 3rd and then our lives went back into our usual routine. Gus has been growing and changing each day and you should definitely check his blog each Tuesday to see videos, and highlights of the week. This last week he started to try and stand on his own (by grabbing something) and yesterday he actually stood up. Once he figured out how to stand, he started cruising... we're in for it now!!

Such a cutie!

Everything was soooo funny yesterday! Here's Gus standing and laughing... looks like he's talking! He's saying, "You're in for it now!!"

Gus LOVES vanilla yogurt!

We had to include the Dayton onesie that Gus was sportin' the other day...

Well that's about it from us. Tomorrow Gus turns 8 months old! Can you believe it? Cathy will post pictures on his blog, so be sure to check it out. He has a follow-up appointment on the 13th for his second flu-shot. We're hoping they weigh and measure him and we can see what growth has been made since the six-month appointment!!

We'll post again soon!

Steve and Cat & Gus

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T16:13:00.000-05:00

Well, we made it through our first Thanksgiving as a family!

We had Cathy's parents for a week and then Steve's dad and Sue Ann were here for the actual holiday. While they were all here we did a lot of fun things and took a lot of great pictures. One fun thing that we did was take Gus to meet the Santa elf at the mall. He was so cute when meeting the elf and was all smiles. We're sure that this time next year will be a different story, but for his first picture, it was priceless. Here's the picture:

While Cathy's parents were here they went to Apex and took some great pictures on the tracks. Here are some of those pictures:

One day while they were here, Cathy brough Gus and her parents to The Hill Building at ATC to meet Steve for lunch and see the building. Cathy dressed Gus in a really cute tie onesie and matching orange shoes. Here are some pictures from that:

Steve, Gus, and Yola (Steve's co-worker)

Cathy's parents left and then a few days later, Steve's dad and Sue Ann came down for their visit. They brought Gus some fun Purdue gear and we took some pictures of the three of them all decked out in black and yellow!

We had our first post-placement visit and it went well. We have one more in January and then the paperwork for finalization can be submitted to the court in Michigan. We don't know how long it'll take for the finalization to be granted, but we're hoping that it'll all be finalized before Gus turns one.

We are gearing up for our first Christmas as a family. The gifts have all been bought and it's sure to be a very special Christmas for everyone! This will be the first time in several years that Cathy's parents won't be coming down to spend the days after Christmas/New Years with us. Cathy is sad about it, but understands. It's hard to be away from family, but it's especially difficult during the holidays. Thankfully we have Gus to focus on, and we'll make sure that his first Christmas is a very special one.

We don't know what 2011 will bring for us, but we are so very thankful for all that 2010 has given us. We started the year with a recent submission of our formal application for adoption. We were waiting patiently (or, not so patiently if we're being honest) to begin our home studies and were so nervous about them. January and February were the months that they took place, and then March was when they were submitted. We were anxious to go and meet with Doris and finally get on the Waiting Families list! Little did we know that just 33 days from the day we did meet with Doris (April 1st, 2010), we'd find out that Gus's birth mother had picked us to raise Gus. We thought we'd have a month to really prepare for him, and it was only a week later that we got the call that his birth mom was in labor. The months from that point are all so special and have been filled with so much joy (and sleeplessness).

We hope you've enjoyed reading Gus's blog each Tuesday and have enjoyed seeing the pictures and videos. We absolutely love sharing them with friends and family and hope that they make everyone smile.

Merry Christmas and we'll see you in 2011!
:)
The Walkers

VIdeo of Gus Laughing (November 22nd, 2010)

2010-12-19T15:10:00.001-05:00

Gus Laughing (11-12-10)

2010-12-19T15:08:00.001-05:00

Gus in the Snow (December 18, 2010)

2010-12-19T15:07:00.001-05:00

November Update

2010-11-15T18:14:00.000-05:00

Where to start?? Right after Mindy Jo passed, Cathy had the opportunity to help a friend of one of the MOMS Club members. The family had a cat named Hobo and they had to relocate for health purposes. They asked if anyone could take Hobo for a few months until they were able to bring him to their new place. Cathy asked Steve about it and he said sure. We had Hobo with us for just over a week when Hobo's mom called to say that they'd be able to take him sooner than they had hoped! Just when Toebe was getting to love Hobo, it was time for him to go. This left Toebe very sad and he walked around the house crying and looking for Hobo.

Our neighbor Wendy wanted to adopt a puppy from the Wake County SPCA and had told Cathy about it. Cathy went online to the SPCA's website and saw that they had an October special... $20 cat adoptions! So on Wednesday, October 27th we went to the SPCA to see the kitties and fell in love with two. One was named Quincy and the other was Perry Como. We decided to adopt them both, and we renamed them.

Quincy became "Bing Clawsby"

He is a 14 month old Maine Coon cat!

Perry Como became "Purry Como"

Purry was rescued from a research lab here in NC

The addition of Purry and Bing has been amazing. They get along with Eddie and Toebe and even more surprising, Purry and Elphie really like each other!!

Cathy's parents are coming today for a week long visit and then Steve's dad and Sue Ann are coming next Wednesday through Saturday for the holiday. We're very excited to spend time with them and for them to spend time with Gus!!

We'll post again soon! In the meantime, be sure to check Gus's blog every Tuesday for updates and pictures!!!
:)
The Walkers

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

2010-10-06T17:11:00.000-04:00

Today is a very sad day in our house. Cathy had to take our oldest kitty, Mindy Jo, to the vet this morning. For a while now, Mindy has been losing weight and not really eating. She's an older cat, and has been in Steve's life since he was in college at UD.

Mindy has had some problems with her kidneys and thyroid and was on medication twice a day. Lately, she got to the point that she wouldn't take her medicine, and started to refuse food. While very sick, she still purred and was as vocal as ever.

Cathy took Mindy to the vet this morning and they basically said that the most humane thing to do would be to let her go to a better place. It was a heartbreaking decision, but one made out of love and compassion. Mindy was a wonderful cat and loved Steve more than anyone on the planet. She was "his cat" and he was "her person." They shared a love that radiated throughout the house and it was always a pleasure to watch them interact with each other.

At 11:30am Mindy passed on to a place where she is joined by Bob and Tommy. We are sure that the three of them are playing together and are as youthful as kittens. All three passed from illness and left our family too soon.

While we cannot say that losing a pet is as devistating as losing a child, we can say that it hurts and is painful. There's a hole in our family that cannot be replaced. Mindy was loud, bitchy, and stubborn, but she was a beautiful friend and brought so much love and comfort to Steve throughout her 14 years as his kitty.

We came to North Carolina in June of 2007 and brought with us six cats, a dog, and a tortoise. We lost Bob is September of 2007, then lost Tommy this past February, and then took Hurmin to Cathy's parent's house in April of 2010. We then gained our puppy Elphaba in May of this year, and now we've lost Mindy. That leaves us with Toebe, Eddie, Elphie and Ned.

-The Walkers

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

2010-09-29T15:30:00.000-04:00

So it's been over a month since we last posted and so much has happened! In case you didn't know, Gus has his own blog (he's such an over-achiever) and it's updated every Tuesday. You can find the link to his blog on the side of this blog... definitely subscribe so you can follow his growth and development. He's now 20 weeks and has quite the personality.

9-11-10 Gus @ 4 Months

Gus will light up when he sees his mom. He is, hands-down, a mama's boy. He loves-loves-loves Cathy. He should, she is staying home with him and they spend their days laughing, snuggling, and getting to know each other. Gus is a VERY happy little guy and is always laughing, chatting, and smiling. He likes to be talked to, and will eagerly talk back when he's being engaged in conversation.

A few weeks ago we had dinner at McDonald's (yes... not the healthiest choice, but it was 7pm and we needed to get Gus home for bed) and had salads. Well, we paid for it because we both came down with an EXTREME case of food poisoning. We both were up all night throwing up, and thankfully our neighbor Wendy came over in the morning and took Gus for us so we could sleep. She also ran to CVS and got us some crackers, Pepto and Gatorade. She's an amazing friend!

Two weeks ago we drove up to Indiana to surprise Steve's dad for his 60th surprise birthday. It was a wonderful occasion and it really meant the world to his dad for us to come up. He got to see Gus and he and Sue Ann were both amazed at how big Gus had gotten! It was a quick weekend trip, but we went to the oldest orchard in Indiana, and we enjoyed our time with them. They're planning on coming to see us for Thanksgiving, and Gus will be six months!

Gus and Grandpa Walker

Picture taken by Greta at the party... SO CUTE!!

Back at the beginning of September, Cathy's parents came for a visit and we went to the beach with them. It was a great visit and they were surprised to see how big Gus had gotten as well. They had not seen us since July 11th, when we left Michigan to come back to NC. The visit with them for Labor Day was amazing and we had a wonderful time with them. They'll also be coming back to NC for Thanksgiving, which should be absolutely amazing to have both of our parents here together! It'll be a very special holiday for us!

Family Picture at Wrightsville Beach, NC 9-5-10

Cathy's Parents <3

Gus dipping his toes in the Atlantic Ocean for the second time!

Cathy has been asked by Scholastic to stay on as an advisor for another year. It's hard because she's not in a classroom, so she won't have the chance to go to NYC again (the other advisors get to go back to NYC in February), but she's excited to still participate and be as involved as she can be.

Her business has taken on a new set of products just for parents. She's excited to start making items that parents can use (chore charts, calendars, etc.) and can make them year-round. This summer she did a lot of business with teachers, and did more business this summer than last summer. She would have had more business if she had been here in NC during the peak months (June/July).

Steve is still with Burt's Bees and is as happy as ever. He's been adjusting to some changes that have been implemented, but is as eager and excited to go to work each day as he ever has been. He loves what he does, and is so good at it.

The Bengal Boys

Gus and Steve and their matching jerseys that they wear to watch the Bengals play!

Saturday is Cathy (and her twin brother Scott's)'s birthday. She'll be 34! We'll be going to Outback for dinner, because it's Cathy's favorite place to go! Our friend Jen will be coming with us and it should make for a nice birthday for her. She's so happy to start her 34th year with Gus. She's wanted to be a mom for the longest time, and her birthday will be very special because of having Gus in her life.

The weather here in NC is FINALLY starting to cool off. We're looking forward to the leaves changing colors and the weather to get out of the 90s and 80s and start cooling into the 70s and 60s!

We'll write again soon!

The Walkers

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

2010-08-21T15:16:00.000-04:00

e-Mealz

So when Cathy and Gus returned home from MI we decided to start using e-Mealz for our dinners. Cathy's friend Aimee had told her about it while she was back in MI, and she got really excited at the thought of actually being able to make dinner and it be easy. Steve was excited at the thought of Cathy actually cooking and us not having to eat out all the time. Besides-- with Cathy staying home with Gus, we really can't afford to eat out anymore!

Anyway, Cathy has been doing AMAZINGLY well with cooking delicious dinners for us to enjoy! Here are some pictures of some of the recent meals that we've had thanks to e-Mealz and Cathy's cooking!

Crunchy BBQ Chicken, pasta and broccoli (8-10-10) This was deeeeeelicious!!

Chuck Roast in the crock pot (8-13-10) Very yummy!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (8-15-10) This was a recipe that one of Cathy's former co-workers shared with her via Facebook. It was absolutely to die for!!!

Marinaded steak tips, mashed potatoes (from scratch) and veggies (8-15-10) The steak tips were marinated in Coke (as well as other items)... it was so good!!

Garlic Butter Chicken, pasta, and oven roasted squash and zucchini (8-16-10) The chicken was coated in sour cream and then breaded with potato chips! Then baked and then you add the garlic butter to coat it and then bake a little longer. It was one of the best meals so far!!

One Dish Nacho Bake (8-17-10) The name says it all! Next time we'll add some lettuce and black olives- but it was reallllllllly yummy!!

Baked Spaghetti and Garlic Bread (8-19-10) It was a new twist on an old recipe that Cathy made up!! She did it herself (not e-Mealz) and it was really good!!

Be on the lookout for more pictures of the great things that we're eating after making ourselves at home!!

:)
The Walkers

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

2010-08-03T16:26:00.000-04:00

Well we are happy to report that we're finally home in North Carolina!! We came home on Gus's two-month birthday! Steve got the call from our attorney on July 9th and he was able to get a ticket for Saturday the 10th.

As much as we hated being apart and not having the first two months together as a family, but the timing worked out well. Cathy's oldest brother David came into town with his family from Arizona. They arrived late on the 9th and then Steve arrived on the 10th. For the first time ever, Cathy's mom was able to see all six of her grandchildren and her three children with their spouses at the same time. It was wonderful!!

We came home to NC on the 11th, which also happened to be Gus's two-month birthday! It was so nice to be home with him! Since we've been home, we found a pediatrician and took him for his two-month well baby appointment. He weighed in at 11 pounds and 5 ounces, and his height was 23.75 inches! That's almost two-feet tall!!

Gus has his very own blog, be sure to check out his blog and follow him!! We also have a lot of videos posted to our family YouTube page! You should check that out and subscribe as well!!

We had our first baby shower yesterday at Burt's Bees. Steve works with some of the nicest people! Cathy brought Gus up and everyone enjoyed meeting him. He was all smiles and was in his usual good mood!

Today Gus is 12 weeks old! It's hard to believe that twelve-weeks ago today we were in Michigan in a fog of bliss! A week from tomorrow Gus will be three months old and we don't know where the time has gone. Gus has become the major focus of our lives, and we cannot remember life before him! We both feel like he's the greatest thing to happen to us, and we've concurred that he's the world's greatest baby.

We'll write again soon...
The Walkers

Monday, July 5th, 2010

2010-07-05T14:41:00.005-04:00

Gus being swaddled (7-5-10)
Happy boy showing off his smile (7-5-10)

Fourth of July shirt (7-4-10)

Lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Walker (7-3-10)

Well, it's been eight weeks today since we got the call that Gus's birth mom was in labor. In the last eight weeks, our entire world has changed for the better, but has changed none-the-less!

On the 30th of May, Steve had to fly back home for work. He left Cathy and Gus at the hotel and headed home with the hopes that we'd all be reunited in just a short week or two. Obviously, it was more than a short week or two, as Cathy and Gus are STILL in Michigan, and Steve is in NC by himself.

The most frequent question that we get from friends and family is, "WHY ARE YOU STILL SEPARATED??" The basic answer to that complex question is, we're separated because of human incompentancy. It took four weeks before our paperwork was even submitted to the Interstate Compact Office and Macomb County Courts (June 8, 2010). It took four weeks because there was a problem with the birth parent history form being submitted with the correct information (it was filled our incorrectly at the hospital), and there was some problems getting members of Gus's birth family to cooperate and help us.

So the papers FINALLY got submitted on June 8th and then we thought we'd have 2-4 weeks to wait for the Interstate Compact Office to give us the approval to take him home. On July 6th it'll have been four weeks. Then there's the papers to the court, so 30 days from the date of submission is Thursday, July 8th (also our fourth wedding anniversary).

We assumed that we'd get the approval to bring him home, before the court date for his birth mother to appear before the judge adn terminate her parental rights. We assumed wrong.

When the papers were submitted to the ICO, the person who was supposed to deal with out case was on vacation. Apparently when that person returned to MI, the papers were "misplaced" and missing documents. Our attorney never called to tell us this... Steve found out when he called to check on the status of things. The attorney told Steve that it's been taken care of and they're expediting things, but it could be another two-four weeks.

To say it was a set-back would be a HUGE understatement. We were devistated. This is the longest that we've been apart EVER and it's so difficult for us to have a newborn and yet, not be together as a family. We're praying that we hear something soon and can get back together as we're meant to be.

When we do get the okay, Steve will fly back to MI and then we'll be driving back to NC together.

On the positive, Cathy's older brother Dave and his family will be arriving in MI on the 10th, and Cathy's excited for them to meet Gus. Cathy's mom and dad are excited to have all their children and grandchildren "home" together. Her mom plans on having pictures taken of all the grandkids together, since it'll be the first time that this has ever happened.

Cathy is excited to get home and start being a stay at home mom. She will be taking some time off from teaching to raise Gus. While it'll be an adjustment for all of us, we're so excited! Cathy hasn't been out of the classroom in ten years and while she'll miss teaching, she's looking forward to teaching Gus all that she can about life!

Steve is doing well with his job. He's eager to see what changes come as the company moves into the new fiscal year. He's always eager to go to work and loves what he does, and for that we're both grateful.

This weekend was the Fourth of July weekend and we spent it apart, but Cathy was able to spend Saturday the 3rd with Steve's dad, Sue Ann, and Steve's Aunt Priscilla. They drove up from Indiana and spent the afternoon with Cathy and Gus. They went to Buddy's Pizza and spent some time visiting at Cathy's parent's house. They were surprised at how big Gus was! They had not seen him since the baptism on May 22nd!

We'll give another update soon. For now we're excited to report that Gus is going to be eight weeks old tomorrow, and will be two months old on Sunday! He's had quite an eventful two months! He's starting to make a lot of noise and has discovered his tongue!! He likes to stick his tongue out and he has also been smiling a lot! He does very well on his tummy and has even rolled over from his tummy to his back! He's getting taller and filling out more. Cathy will be taking him to the pediatrician soon for his two month check-up. He'll be getting his shots (sad face), and will be weighed and measured. We're certain that he's close to ten pounds at this point!!

We'll write again soon! If you'd like to follow Gus's development each week, check out his blog: Gus's Grandiose Gabble. We also have a YouTube site where Cathy has been posting videos of Gus. Be sure to check it out and subscribe!!

:)
The Walkers

We Are A Family!!

2010-05-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

We have had quite a few weeks! We traveled to Michigan on April 30th (Friday) and were in town for Alex's First Communion on Saturday, May 1st. We had a great visit with Cathy's side of our family and enjoyed seeing Scott, Christie, Alex, Lily, and Cathy's parents. We decided to take Cathy's mom and Christie to dinner on Monday, May 3rd to Outback Steakhouse, to celebrate Mother's Day (we wouldn't be in MI for the holiday).

While we were at dinner, Cathy got a message on her phone from Fb from her cousin Jessica that had her phone number and it said to call her. Cathy told her that she'd call her after dinner.

Cathy's cousin Jessica lives in MI and is a nurse. She has a co-worker named Sharon. Well, Jess is on Fb and has been following our journey with us, as many of you have as well.

So a few weeks ago, Sharon came to work and was telling Jess about some things happening in her family. Sharon's sister's daughter (Sharon's niece), had just found out that what they thought was the flu, was actually a pregnancy. So the family was a little concerned and were trying to work out what they were going to do. The niece is a minor, and bascially decided that she wanted to find an adoptive family to adopt her baby.

So Sharon was telling Jess about this and Jess mentioned to Sharon that we were in NC and in the process of adopting. She told Sharon that we had our home study completed and were on the website and waiting for the right match. Jess gave Sharon the link to our profile on the CAS website, just for them to see it if they were interested.

Well... they were interested.

When Cathy called Jess, she told her the story (way more details than she is putting in here) and said that basically, they had chosen us to adopt their baby. We were in shock. When Cathy asked when she was due, Jess said May 28th.

So... Tuesday the 4th started our quest for an attorney in MI because our agency only deals with NC children due to the Interstate Compact Agreement. We talked to Jess a lot and got more and more information.

On Wednesday, we said goodbye to MI and hello to Indiana. We still were trying to work out information with an attorney. We had two that we were talking to and trying to find the right one for the best price.

While in Indiana, we decided to bring home a new puppy that Steve's dad had found. She is super cute and her name is Elphaba, we call we "Elphie" for short. She's really Ned's dog.

We drove back to NC on Saturday the 8th. We got home pretty late... it was after 9pm. Got up on Sunday and did laundry, Steve put together the new crib that Cathy's parents had bought for us while we were in MI (the old one was missing parts to connect the drop down side... and the company informed us that they don't make replacement parts, so her parents just bought us a new one). Then Steve mowed the yard and did the bills.

On Monday, Cathy had lunch with some friends, took Elphie to the vet, got her Rx sunglasses, and got her nails done. Got home and chilled for a little and then headed off to Burt's to pick up Steve for our Old School Showdown at the Old Durham Athletic Park. The Bulls were playing at their old stadium for one last game. We got there around 5:00 and found an awesome parking spot. Then we realized that the gates didn't open until 6, so we just sat in the car, slowly watching everyone start to arrive and park.

At 5:40ish... Cathy got a cell phone call from Sharon. Instantly she was confused, because she had only been texting Sharon, but she answered the phone and Sharon said, "Hi... it's Sharon. I wanted to let you know that she's in labor..." so a little bit of panic ensued, but we left the parking lot immediately, headed home, called our parents and freaked out a little (A LOT), and got home around 6:00. We threw as much as we could into bags and packed the baby stuff that we thought we'd need, and loaded up the car.

Our neighbor, Wendy, is a life-saver. She came over with blankets and clothes, and said she'd watch the cats for us. She also said she'd watch the dogs overnight, and take them to the vet in the morning to be boarded. We were on the road by 7:30 pm.

We drove through the night and at 3:40 Cathy got a text from Sharon's sister (the birth-grandma) that said it wouldn't be long and the birth mom was doing well. Then at 3:51 I got another text that said, "It's a boy!" I started crying... not only was I excited that the baby was born, but I was exhausted, stressed, and a HUGE ball of emotions! Oh, and I was in the middle of WV. HA!

We ended up getting a picture of Gus a few hours later and that's what killed us. Seeing that he was real and was going to be our son was too much. We both cried and kept on trucking to MI.

We went straight to the hospital and arrived there around 8:30. The nurses were aware of the situation and knew that we were coming. When we got there, they showed us to the room and we walked in and met his grandma and mom. They were very kind, and baby G was laying in the crib thingy. Then his birth grandma picked him up and brought him over to us and gave him to Cathy to hold. She instantly broke down and was crying like a baby. It was amazing to hold him for the first time and to realize that he was her son! Then Steve held him and he started crying too and it was an amazing first moment as a family.

We stayed in the room with them for a while and then they wanted the mom to take a shower, so we headed out of the room and into the room that they had set aside for us to stay in. It was very thoughtful. Cathy was given the other id bracelet (the baby and mom have to have the same matching numbers on their bands) and we went to the room. We talked to the grandma for a while and got some info and just tried to settle our nerves.

The remainder of the hospital stay is a blur at this point, but we spent most of the morning of the 11th with him. He was 6 pounds 8 oz at birth, 19 inches long and his head was 12.75. He has blondish hair with some red, but not a lot. He has beautiful blue eyes.

We asked if they had a preference for a name and they said they wanted us to name him. We started calling him Gus from that point on. :D Cathy's parents, Christie, and Lily came up to the hospital on Tuesday night to meet him, and they were in the room with everyone. It was very neat to have Gus's birth family there with his adoptive family. One big group all together for the love of one beautiful baby boy.

The mom was released from the hospital on Wednesday the 12th around 11:30. Then Gus was released around 1:30. We were able to say our "see you laters" to his family and it wasn't an awful exchange. We are going to have as open of a relationship with them as they are comfortable with.

We headed to our extended stay hotel with Gus and enjoyed spending time with family. Over the course of a few days, we were visited by several friends and surrounded by Cathy's side of our family. We feel so fortunate to be here in Michigan with family to be apart of the first moments of Gus's life.

There have been some ups and downs during our stay, and we have moved hotels... but it's pretty good. Steve has to fly back to North Carolina while Cathy and Gus stay in Michigan and wait to be cleared from the Interstate Compact. Gus is a great baby and is growing each day! His looks have changed so much from the 11th to now!!

Be sure to check in for more updates on our family!!
:)
The Walkers

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

2010-04-24T09:30:00.000-04:00

Planet Earth Celebration 2010

Last Saturday we went downtown to the third annual Planet Earth Celebration. It was another wonderful event and we had a great time. This year we were stationed at one of the waste stations- not the most glamorous job, but it was fun. Cathy was quite impressed by how much Steve knew about composting.

We are very excited for our upcoming trip to Michigan and Indiana. It's been almost five months since we saw Cathy's family, and it's been seven months since we've seen Steve's dad and Sue Ann. We're looking forward to spending time with our nephew Alex, who will be receiving his First Communion next Saturday, and our niece Lilyanne. We'll also be celebrating Mother's Day while we're there, since we won't see Cathy's mom on the holiday this year.

Cathy is currently tracked out (she's super excited). She is excited to read on her Kindle and get some sun (but not too much), and plans on taking a day-trip with some friends to the beach over track out.

Steve is speaking at NC State this upcoming week. He'll be talking about what Burt's does in regards to sustainability. He's excited to share his passion and knowledge with others.

No news on Tadpole... the people that Cathy works with are planning a baby shower for her on June 16th and we're hoping to have heard something by then! We are still getting gifts from friends and family and are so appreciative of their thoughtfulness and support!!

We are going to see Wicked today at the Durham Performing Arts Center. Cathy is more excited than Steve is-- but we'll be meeting some friends for lunch and then heading over for the 2pm showing.

We attended the Spring Training Showdown at the DBAP a couple weeks ago and watched the Durham Bulls take on their affiliate Tampa Bay Rays. The Bulls lost, but gave a good fight! We went to our season opener last Sunday and watched the Bulls close out the series against the Norfolk Tides. The Bulls are currently on a seven game winning streak!! We have excellent seats this season... a little closer to the field.

Well-- that's it from us for now. We'll be in touch!!
Thanks for reading-- leave us some love!!
The Walkers

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

2010-04-10T18:38:00.003-04:00

We are on the CAS website!!! Definitely check out our profile!!! We are on the bottom of the first page!! We were placed on the website this past Wednesday (April 7th). We are super excited and cannot wait for whatever happens next!!

We had the Wake County Teacher of the Year Semi-Finals Reception on Wednesday night. We went with Cathy's principal and her IRT (Instructional Resource Teacher) and had a nice time. They called each semi-finalist up and gave them a keychain that says "2010 Teacher of the Year" and then announced the finalists.

Cathy was not one of the 12 finalists that they named, and while there was a bit of disappointment, she was proud nonetheless. She would have had to do an interview with the committee of 20 people- which was a bit overwhelming to her. She was just honored that her fellow teachers had chosen her as the Oak Grove TOY.

There are more than 9,000 teachers in the county and of them, there were 190 named as Teachers of the Year for their individual schools. Of those 190, Cathy was in the top 24 which is something to be very proud of. The group of 12 is made up of a lot of middle school and high school teachers (only five elementary teachers) and several men and minorities.

We received another package for Tadpole Walker this week. Cathy's friend Andrea (from Phi Sigma Pi) sent us some goodies and we were pleasantly surprised with her gift. We have quite a lot of things for Tadpole and our collection keeps growing. We don't have any bottles or safety things, and very few clothes, but hopefully those will come when we get matched.

Anyway- it's been a beautiful weekend here in NC and we're both doing well. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we wait for Tadpole. As they say, the waiting is the hardest part.

With love,
The Walkers

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

2010-04-02T11:05:00.000-04:00

We are on the waiting list!!! YAY!! We went to Charlotte yesterday to meet with Doris and spent about two and a half hours talking with her and sharing more about ourselves. It was a great visit and the best part was leaving the three Adoptive Family Albums and Expectant Mother letters with her! We should be on the CAS website in about a week or two.

Things are going well for both of us at work. Cathy has the Semi-Finals Reception on Wednesday for Wake County Teacher of the Year. She'll find out if she has been selected for the Finals (top 12 teachers in the county) on Wednesday night and she's already nervous about it. She had her observation at the beginning of March and didn't really get any feedback (positive or negative) about her observation. She wrote about it in her blog, so if you're interested in getting more information, definitely read her blog.

Steve is getting excited for the 3rd Annual Planet Earth Celebration with Burt's on the 17th of April. We'll be going downtown and volunteering, though we don't know what we'll be doing this year.

Steve is especially proud of recent accomplishments at work. His hard work and determination has helped lead Burt's to being a 100% Zero-Landfill company! That means that everything that they use each day is diverted to other places, and NOTHING goes to the landfill!! This is quite a feat and Steve is very proud of his effort, but also proud to work for a company that is able to do what many are not!

This weekend (tomorrow) we have our first Bulls game of the season. It's not the regular season yet, but we're going to the DBAP for the first ever game of the Bulls versus the Rays! A Minor League team versus their Major League Affiliate team!! We are going to cheer loudly for the Bulls and are excited for the forecasted 80 degree day tomorrow!! What a great way to spend the weekend!!

Last night we celebrated as we watched UD (University of Dayton) beat UNC (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) in the NIT College Men's Basketball Championship!! It was a great game and UD won 79 to 68!! It was a HUGE victory and Steve was especially excited. When on Earth would UD ever have the chance to play a power-house like UNC??? And then to win... it was amazing!! Steve wore his UD Basketball t-shirt to work today and proudly took his UD Flag that Cathy's parents bought him last year for Christmas. He is definitely soaking up the win!!

That's about all the news for us for now. We'll keep everyone updated on things with the adoption for sure. We were told that it could be very soon that we're matched, or a while. It's all a matter of what God has in store for us and we're asking for plenty of patience... and all the prayers that we can get!!

We've had several people ask about our registry (we're not having a baby shower), so we thought we'd put it out there again. We posted it a few months ago, but if anyone is curious about it here's the link again: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/2JQYX39EHGS21.

We'll write again soon...
:)
The Walkers

February 13th, 2010

2010-02-13T14:28:00.000-05:00

We had our last home study meeting on Thursday!! Walt came to our house at 6:30 and unlike the other two visits, he actually stayed for the full two hours. He took a tour of the house, and was taking notes the whole time.

When the tour was finished, we sat down in the dining room and talked about what happens next, and he had some additional questions for us. Bascially, he has to complete the home study report (he said he should have it done in less than a week or so), then he'll send us a copy (email) to look over and approve. Once we've approved it, he'll send it to the agency and they'll meet and approve it. He said that within two to four weeks we should hear from Doris to come to the agency and give her our books and pictures for the website.

He also said that the average wait right now is seven to nine months. We hope it doesn't take that long!! Anyway, he said that he doesn't see why there'd be any problem with our approval, so now we just wait.

:)
The Walkers

February 6th, 2010

2010-02-06T17:21:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! We hope this finds you all well! We are doing fabulous and are excited to share some recent updates with you all.

First, we had our second home study meeting this past Tuesday. We had to reschedule it from the 28th because Steve was violently ill. He spent his 35th birthday being very sick. Fortunately, he was only sick for a few days, but he was out of work for almost a week and was severely dehydrated and couldn't quite shake it. He's pretty certain that it was food poisioning from eating at Tossed.

Anyway, Cathy made Steve a cake for his birthday and that was good enough for him.

We went to Clayton on Tuesday to meet with Walt. This second visit was when he was going to meet with us both separately. He said it would take roughly two hours, so we went into it expecting to be grilled. Steve went first and was back to get Cathy after about 30 minutes. Then Cathy went in and met with him and was done in 20 minutes. We were on our way home in an hour from the time that we arrived.

He asked us questions about our parents and siblings, he also asked a few questions about our previous marriages. It was really easy and surprised us both that there wasn't more to it than that. Walt told Cathy that he thinks that we're a delightful couple and that he thinks we're very transparent. He likes that what you see is what you get and we're not trying to be something that we're not. He said he bets our home is a lot of fun. :)

We have our final home study this Thursday. Cathy tracks back in and then we have Walt coming over to the house around 6:30. We don't know how long this visit will be, but we're not expecting it to last any more than two hours at the most.

We've been recieving so many wonderful gifts for Tadpole Walker. We received the diaper bag that Cathy really wanted from her hair stylist Shannon. She also gave us four books that we wanted that are children's books on adoption. We also got a froggy johnny jumper from Kim (Cathy works with her) and then we also got a toy bag, froggy towels and another children's book on adoption from Mindy and Jason (Mindy is Cathy's little sister in AGD). Sue Ann sent us a cute frog blanket (pictured in the slide show) and some onesies. We're so lucky to have such great friends and family who are supporting us.

This week we decided to "save our marriage" and hire a cleaning service. Steve is having a hard time with the idea of paying someone to clean our house, but thanks to his coworker Christie, he decided to just give in. Cathy is very excited because we'll have someone coming every other week and they'll do all the dirty work. We'll just have to pick up and maintain, but it'll be so nice to have it vacuumed and clean!!

Cathy goes back to work on Thursday. She is going to go into work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and get some work done, so her vacation is pretty much over. She is going to be going to NYC at the end of the month for a wonderful opportunity with Scholastic. She's excited-- you can read more about it on her blog.

Well, we'll be sure to post something next weekend about the final home study visit. Pray for us that we're called by Doris soon and able to get put on the waiting list! Cathy (and her mom) has a good feeling about March. Her psychic said that March would bring a lot of change for us... so maybe that means placement!

Wishing you well,
The Walkers

Nursery Slide Show

2010-02-06T17:06:00.000-05:00

1-21-10 Home Study & Baby Walker Update

2010-01-21T15:15:00.001-05:00

Well... we were contacted by CAS two weeks ago (January 7th) and went on the 14th for our first home study meeting. Cathy was SO nervous!! We met at the Clayton Public Library and our case manager's name is Walt. Walt is the supervisor for all the CAS case workers and he's the one that signs off on their home study reports. Because he's the supervisor, his (our) home study report will be signed off by Jim (co-founder of CAS).

Walt told us that he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information that we provided in our formal application paperwork. He said that the average couple will submit anywhere from 5-8 pages for their autobiographies, and Steve submitted 22 and Cathy submitted 28. We officially hold the record for the most information provided!! Whoo hoo!!

Because we submitted so much information, Walt contacted Jim and asked him what he should be talking with us about since everything he would have asked us was already answered in our paperwork. As a result, our meeting didn't last the typical two hours, it was actually a little more than one hour. He said he doesn't think our process will take very long and he's anticipating a quick placement for us. He said he'd be surprised if we had to wait longer than June for a baby!! YAY!!

So... we ended up scheduling our next meeting for the 28th. We'll be going back to Clayton to meet with Walt and this time he'll meet with Steve for 45 minutes and then with Cathy for 45 minutes. After that, we'll schedule our home visit where he'll come to our house and do our final meeting.

After the final meeting, Walt will write up his home study report and it'll go before a committee and they'll either approve us or deny us as a waiting family. We'll (hopefully) get a call from Doris (Jim's wife and co-founder of CAS) and we'll take our three Adoptive Family Albums, and our pictures for the website, and our Dear Birthmother letter and we'll give it all to her. At that point we'll be on the waiting list and just wait to be matched with a birth mother!

So when Cathy's dad was here he and Steve built shelves in the FROG. Last weekend we moved books from the plastic shelves that we had onto the new book shelves and the FROG practically doubled in size! We'll be adding items from the spare bedroom this weekend (Cathy's C4 desk) and then that room will be the nursery. We are going to put the crib together this weekend and put it in there.

This week Cathy discovered Craig's List and we actually bought just about everything that we need for our little tadpole! We have a frog theme, and we found "Sir Leapsalot" bedding-- it's super cute. It's a frog prince and princess and it's lavender, yellow, celery, and cream (very gender neutral) and then it came with a cute lamp, a diaper holder thingy, a changing pad, a really pretty picture of the two frogs, and then we also got two valances for the windows.

We also got two strollers-- one for easy trips, and then one that is our travel system, we also got a changing table, a high chair, an exersaucer, some toys, and then the car seat. We're super excited!!

We'll keep you posted on everything as it comes about... until the next posting please keep us in your prayers!!
:)
The Walkers

Happy New Year!!! 1-01-2010

2010-01-01T15:46:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!

We welcomed 2010 with Cathy's mom and dad and some delicious snacks! Cathy's parents arrived in Holly Springs on Sunday, December 27th and they've been with us for almost a week. They're planning on going back to Michigan Saturday morning. :(

Our Christmas was fabulous! Cathy was well-spoiled with a Kindle, a Nintendo DSi, and a Flip camera. She also got the accessories that go with the Kindle, some DSi games, books for her Kindle, a beautiful bracelet, a beautiful ring, some shoes, 90210 season eight, and some other books. Steve got a personalized Bengals jersey with Walker on the back, a Carson Palmer Bengals jersey, some books, a Bengals grill cover, a Keurg coffee grinder thingy for the K-Cup maker, and then some shirts, a pair of shoes, and everything else that was on his wish list!

We figure it's our last Christmas to go all out on each other (hopefully) and so we went a little over-board, but that's okay.

While Cathy's parents have been here, we asked her dad if he'd be willing to help us by making some shelves for the FROG (front room over the garage). He was more than happy to help, and he and Steve have spent the entire week working on building shelves. We're so excited because with the shelves in there, Cathy can put all her classroom books on the shelves, and then we'll be able to take the plastic shelves out. It makes for more room and makes the FROG so much more useful! We are super excited too because we'll have the room cleaned and looking nice for when we have the home study. That room is the main room that we've been stressed about, and it's so nice to know that it's almost ready to be used!

Cathy is going to move her desk for C4 in there, and then she can also do scrapbooking in there. We're also going to move our love seat from our bedroom into the FROG and we'll have a television in there as well. It'll be a nice "get-away" room.

The last of our four CAS reference letters has been sent out and is being worked on. We had a minor blip because one of the people that we had asked to write a letter for us was not able to commit, and so CAS has had to use another person. Once they get their letter (she said she's going to mail it Monday), then CAS will contact us and we can schedule the home study. We'll post more when we have more details!

We hope that everyone had a nice Christmas and a fantastic New Years!! We're really praying that 2010 is a blessed year for us. We hope that this time next year, we have a family and we can post about what wonderful things our little baby is doing!!

Love to all!
The Walkers

12-11-09 Updates!

2009-12-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

Well we attended our informational meeting yesterday in Matthews. We have been quite busy this week with preparations for adoption! On Tuesday we went downtown Raleigh and got our fingerprints and criminal background checks done. Then while we were out and about, we decided to get the physicals completed and out of the way.

It ended up being a long day, but we were able to get a lot of really big items finished. On Thursday we headed to Matthews for the CAS informational meeting. We are so glad that we went! It was very informative and got us really excited and motivated.

This morning, Cathy went to the bank to get the last of our mandatory documents and then she dropped off our formal application packet at the post office! It's in the mail and out of our hands at this point. We're praying that everything moves smoothly and all works out as it's meant to.

Last weekend we created a registry on amazon.com. Feel free to go on and start buying us things for our nursery (lol). We picked a frog theme because it's gender neutral and Cathy has a special love of frogs and we have an abundance of frog-themed items from her classroom that can go into the room when the baby gets older.

We will be sending out cards for the registry as soon as we're finished with the home study.

Speaking of the home study... that's the next step in the process. We should hear from someone at CAS in the next two weeks (just before Christmas) and they will assign us a case worker and then we'll make appointments for them to meet with us together, us separately, and then at our house. Then when that's done, we go back to Matthews and meet with Doris (she and her husband Jim are the co-founders of CAS) and then we give her our book and get put on their website and go onto the waiting list!

It's exciting and stressful all at the same time. We don't know how long/soon it will be before we get a baby. It could be a few months, could be more than a year. So we're going to try and get the nursery ready and get items now so that when we do get a baby-- we're ready to roll.

Cathy has been referring the the baby as "Tadpole Walker" because we have a frog theme and it's a baby (like a baby frog). So... when will our little tadpole arrive??? We'll definitely keep you posted! In the meantime, keep us in your prayers!!

Can you believe it's two weeks until Christmas??? Cathy's parents are supposed to be coming down for a week and we're eagerly anticipating their arrival. It's been so long since we saw them... it'll be so nice to see them and maybe even take a trip to the beach!!

Ho! Ho! Ho!
The Walkers

11-29-09 The Month of November

2009-11-29T20:36:00.002-05:00

Let's see... it's been a month since we last wrote and there have been a few new developments with our lives.

As most of our friends and family knows already, we're actively pursuing domestic adoption. We have talked about it for a while and have gone back and forth about when the time would be right to actually do something, and that time has come! We submitted an initial application back on November 5th and then waited for two weeks before hearing if we were accepted or not. Well, we were accepted and asked to complete a formal application. It's a monster- we have to have physicals, references, criminal background checks, fingerprints, and submit a bunch of legal documents. We also had to complete an "Autobiography" which was a beast. Cathy's was 26 pages and Steve's was 19. We worked on our autobiographies all day Friday and spent over six hours total working on them.

We will be going to an information session in December and then submitting all of our paperwork before December 20th. Then we wait... and hopefully they'll assign us a social worker to complete a home-study. Once that's finished we have to complete a family album and then an online album and write letters to the expectant mothers and hope that someone picks us!

It's a process that can be as short as four months (March) or as long as 18 months. It just depends on fate and what's meant to happen. We ask that everyone keep us in their prayers as we go through this adventure! In the end, having a baby be ours makes it all worth while, but it's still grueling and stressful!

On another note, Steve had a great trip to New Mexico. He's still loving his job and enjoys going to work each day (which is a wonderful blessing). Cathy was just named Teacher of the Year at her elementary school and we're very excited for that! She was nominated by her fellow teachers and then they voted. She's very humbled by the award.

This weekend was Thanksgiving and we spent it together. We were invited by a few different friends to join them for dinner, but decided that it might be our last Thanksgiving as just us (let's hope), so we stayed home and enjoyed a feast for two. Cathy made a turkey, delicious greenbean casserole, and stuffing and Steve made mashed potatoes from scratch. Cathy made Magic Cookie Bars for dessert and it was just enough food for the two of us.

We are getting ready for the holiday season. We're hoping to have Cathy's mom and dad come for a visit from the 27th-2nd (they came down during that time last year as well). We plan on going back to Michigan/Indiana in May for the wedding of Cathy's brother Scott and his fiance Christie.

That's about it from us. We'll keep you posted on the adoption information. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers!
:)
The Walkers

10-26-09 Back From The Mitten

2009-10-26T15:26:00.002-04:00

We are back from our trip to the north!! We left on Saturday, October 17th and arrived in Indiana to visit Steve's dad and Sue Ann. We had a nice visit with them and enjoyed a bonfire while there. It was a little colder than NC, but not too bad. We also went on a nice hike through the woods near their farm. We also went to Lumpy's for breakfast with Steve's dad on Sunday, and then on Monday we went to breakfast with some of his friends from Verizon.

We headed over to the old house (where Steve grew up) and met his dad's realtor. He's trying to sell the house and there are a few people interested in buying it. We hope it all works out for him!!

We had dinner at a nice Amish-like buffet on Tuesday night and then we headed out on Wednesday, October 21st and drove the four hours up to Michigan.

On the way, we stopped at a Meijer and Steve was able to get a ton of Cincinatti Bengals stuff and a couple UD shirts. He got a zip-up hoodie and a polar fleese jacket, and then a couple t-shirts.

We arrived at Cathy's twin's house around 3:00 and we were able to meet our new niece Lilyanne Opal (aka LOG). Cathy was so excited to finally hold her and we took a lot of pictures of LOG. Scott headed off for work and we headed to Cathy's parents house. They all played Guitar Hero and then also had fun singing on our two American Idol Karaoke games that we brought down with us.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Canton. We were able to do some shopping and drove around and saw how the area has changed (and in a lot of cases, not changed). Cathy got an Elvis wig and glasses from the Halloween store and then she also got a skeleton hoodie costume. Instant costume. :)

We went to dinner at BD's Mongolian BBQ and it was absolutely delicious. We wish we had a Mongolian BBQ near us!! We spent every night at her parents playing on the Wii; either singing or playing on the Guitar Hero/Rock Band.

On Friday, Cathy and her mom went to see a psychic. She's going to write a blog about it on her other blog (be sure to read it if you're curious as to what the psychic said).

On Saturday, we had LOG's Baptism. Alex was also being Baptized. It was at St. Richard's and Fr. Terry performed the sacrament. We went to Buddy's Pizza for lunch after the ceremony. We actually went back to the hotel and changed before heading over to Buddy's.

After Buddy's, we went to Parmenter's Cider Mill and enjoyed their famous cider slushes. Steve had plain cider, but Cathy enjoyed the slush (it's as close to a Slurpee that you can get)! It was raining and got very cold while we were there, so we didn't get to explore the mill much, but it was a cute little place. Scott, Christie, Alex, and LOG were there so it was great!

We went back to Cathy's parents house for one last jam session and then we had N&N Coney Island for dinner before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the hotel.

We headed back to NC around 6am (we had to stop and pick up Ned). It was a pretty uneventful drive back, it was LONG, but not bad. We arrived in Holly Springs around 7ish. The cats were VERY excited to see us. We let them come upstairs last night and they all slept in the bed with us.

Steve leaves tomorrow for a conference in New Mexico and Cathy gets to enjoy her track out for the remaining two weeks.

Check out our Facebook accounts to see pictures of our trip!!
:)
The Walkers

9-5-09 Has It Really Been Three Months???

2009-09-05T21:35:00.003-04:00

Some things that have happened since we last posted...

1) Lilyanne Opal arrived!! She was born on August 20th!!

2) Cathy finished her school year and successfully started another one!

3) Cathy's parents came to NC for a visit at the end of July.

4) We went to Carolina Beach for a week to celebrate our third anniversary!

5) Cathy's business has REALLY taken off!! She's been getting an order just about every other day!!

6) Steve has had some reorganization take place at work...

7) We ordered season tickets for the Durham Performing Arts Center and we'll be seeing seven spectacular shows!!

8) We went to Michigan and surprised Cathy's mom for Mother's Day and for her graduation (she got her Master's Degree in Pastoral Ministry), and for Scott's graduation (he got his BS from Ferris State).

9) We saw Kenny Chesney in concert.

10) We saw Heart in concert.

11) We saw Jimmy Buffett in concert.

Anyway... this is Labor Day weekend. It's always hard to spent this weekend away from family because for so many years, Cathy was with her parents and spending time exploring the upper penninsula of Michigan. Her brother Dave is actually in Michigan for the week, and her whole family is up at the cottage in Reed City.

We're going to be going to our last Bulls game on Monday, and then we're going to have a BBQ with two of Cathy's friends from work. It should be a very relaxing holiday.

We're planning on going to Michigan in October to visit everyone. We'll be going to Indiana to see Steve's dad and Sue Ann, and then heading up to Michigan to see Cathy's parents. Lilyanne will be baptized, and Scott and Christie have asked us to be the Godparents! We can't wait!! The Baptism is on October 24th in Michigan. We'll be coming home that Sunday (the 25th) because Steve is going to a conference in New Mexico the following week.

That's it for now... we'll try and stay on top of this!!!

:)
The Walkers

Kelly Clarkston and Wild Weather

2009-05-06T14:46:00.005-04:00

So we bought Kelly Clarkston's new cd a few weeks ago. Not sure how everyone reading this feels about her, but we love her. Her cd is so great! It's very catchy!

We are having some crazy storms here in NC!! Last night there were a bunch that ripped through and cause tornadoes and then we're currently on a tornado watch until after 9pm tonight.

Trying to stay dry!!!

The Walkers

Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-05T21:23:00.004-04:00

So today is Cinco de Mayo! Whoo hoo!! Viva Mexican independence!! LOL We had some CRAZY storms tonight-- tornadoes and such and fortunately, Steve made it home safely from work. The people at Burt's had to take cover because there was a tornado warning issued for Wake County. Kinda scary-- and he was in a car.

Steve got home from work and then we decided to try a new Mexican place for dinner. Los Tres Mayguyas (something like that) in Fuquay-Varina. It was VERY clean and Cathy really liked their salsa-- however, the rest kinda fell flat. The sauce used on the enchiladas wasn't very appealing and the beans and rice weren't the best. We decided to try something new, but we'll be going back to El Mason again.

The service at the restaurant was SOOOOO SLOOOOOW!!! They only had two servers for the entire restaurant (apparently the others called in sick). It was packed and two servers. So, dinner took a lot longer than we had hoped.

Then we drove to Sonic for dessert (small cream pie shakes) and they had super slow service too! It took more than 30 minutes to get our shakes! We ended up getting home at 8:40 and missed 40 minutes of Idol (Cathy was NOT happy). It was rock week and we were both really excited to see how the top four did, but because the DVR had something else listed as a priority-- it didn't record Idol!

Oh well... it's just television right?

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!!

The Walkers

Chuck Dio

2009-05-04T20:01:00.003-04:00

So we just got home from picking up Chuck. The dealership said they resealed the windshield. Hopefully that's all that needed to be done. We'll find out when we're out in the rain next time.

Cathy went to the movies today and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. She said it was alright. Very predictable and was exactly what she expected it to be. Of course, she loves Matthew McConaughey so it was more like a movie of drooling over him than anything else. LOL.

That's it for today...

The Walkers

Bulls Game

2009-05-03T14:53:00.003-04:00

We're about to head out the door to our second Bulls game of the season. We're excited. It's supposed to rain tonight, so it could be an early night for us. Fortunately, we have seats that are under the cover so we won't get too wet.

Happy Sunday!!

The Walkers

A Post A Day In May

2009-05-02T18:02:00.004-04:00

Well it has been a while!! We've been having so much fun that we've lost track of the time! :)

We have finally finished updating the Walker Website! Please check it out if you're interested! www.steveandcat.net/steveandcat. It's wonderful and has a bee theme. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Cathy got a new Ford Edge about two weeks ago. She has been wanting one for a while now, and it was the right time to buy. We were able to get 0% financing, and they gave us a pretty good deal on her Escape. It wasn't as much as we had hoped, but it needed the air-conditioner fixed and now we don't have to even worry about it.

Cathy is on her track out right now and has been enjoying herself. We rented a beach condo for her next track out (July-August). We'll be on the beach and it'll be nice to get away for a few days. We'll have a chance to explore the Outer Banks and see the coast of NC. The next trip after that one will take us to the mountains. We'd like to see the Biltmore House and some of the other neat things in the mountain region. Cathy teaches her 4th graders about the state and all the cool things to do and see in NC, so it'll be great for her to see some of them first hand!

We have partial season tickets for the Durham Bulls. We had our first game of the season during Easter weekend (the Saturday before Easter Sunday) and we have our next game tomorrow night. It's a Sunday night game (which stinks for Steve), but it should be fun. We're really excited for the games when there are fireworks after. We have excellent seats too. They are right behind home-plate!

That's about it from us. We'll be trying to keep up with the "Post A Day in May" idea. We're already a day behind, but we'll see if we can do it. We're ready if you are!!

:)
The Walkers

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-15T10:19:00.003-05:00

We hope you all had a great Vaentine's Day! We went to Outback last night for dinner and they had a "Sweetheart Special" that included an appetizer, two salads, two 7oz filets with one side each, and two slices of cheesecake for dessert. This was all for $45. It was a SUPER deal considering that we always order the 7oz filets for dinner and the salad isn't included. Just the filets and salads come to $42. So we got the Bloomin' Onion and two slices of cheesecake for just $3 more!

Steve bought Cathy an iPhone for Valentine's Day. It's the coolest phone! She loves it and now Steve thinks he might want one too. If you haven't had a chance to ever see one or play with on-- you shouldn't try it unless you are prepared to buy one! You'll definitely want one once you play with it and see all that it can do. There are literally applications for EVERYTHING under the sun. Cathy got one for grocery shopping and we put our list on her iPhone. Very cool.

Cathy goes back to work this week. She's not looking forward to it, but Steve is. She has nine more weeks in her current classroom and then she has to move to another room (April 19th). Her Ecology Club is still going strong and she's been enjoying the time she spends with her kids.

There's not much more to report at this time. The Walker Blog is just about finished... so keep your eyes peeled for a link to view the completed site!!

:)
The Walkers

Update-- Where did January go??

2009-02-03T09:35:00.003-05:00

Hello!! Honestly, where does the time go? We need to get better about coming up more often and posting an update. Sometimes it's hard because there's nothing new to report, but then a month and a half goes by and we're shocked at all that's happened that we haven't reported! :)

As of our last posting, it was two days before Christmas. We had such a wonderful holiday this year. We actually put up a tree, and Steve decorated the outside of the house (see the pictures in the above slide-show).

We went to Cathy's friend Elizabeth's house for Christmas this year. We had ham that E made, and then Cathy made the BEST au-gratin potatoes ever from scratch, and Steve made a mean mac-n-cheese from scratch. It was a very delicious dinner and then we went to view some Christmas lights. We got back to Elizabeth's house and we played a game... "Holly Springs Trivia"-- lol and we were awful. Who cares when HS became a city?? LOL.

Cathy had a party on December 30th and she invited some friends over to sing on the Wii (American Idol Encore and Encore2). They also played Guitar Hero World Tour-- but the tour ended abruptly because the fans just didn't appreciate their efforts. LOL.

Cathy's parents arrived the next day and we were so excited to see them! We gave them their Christmas gifts right away because Cathy couldn't wait. We gave them both a gas gift card to share (help pay for gas on their drive back north), and then we gave Cathy's mom a digital photo frame. Cathy spent three days adding pictures to the card so it'd be ready for her mom. He mom received three this year for Christmas... one from Bill, one from us, and one from Dave and his family. We think next year we should communicate about gifts. LOL. We gave Cathy's dad his annual gift card to REI (he loves that store) and then Steve gave him the DVD "Shine A Light" and then Cathy put together this really cute picture frame for him. It had a picture of Scott and Cathy when they were little in Washington DC, and then there was a picture of them together in November in DC, and individual pictures of them in DC this last November waving (it's their thing). Anyway, her dad REALLY enjoyed the picture and got a little teary-eyed. Cathy was really excited to see his reaction and to see that he really loved it.

We welcomed in the New Year and then went to bed soon after. While her parents were here they played Guitar Hero World Tour. Cathy and her dad set out on a mission to play every song and finish the tour and they did! It took them the whole visit to do so, but with Cathy on the lead guitar and Bill on the bass, they made their way (some songs they played OVER AND OVER AND OVER). It was fun to watch them having so much fun together. And let's not forget the fun they had singing together. LOL. We have some incriminating audio of them singing "Living on a Prayer" and we'd love to share sometime. HA HA HA.

So that was the beginning of January-- we had our first snow fall (see pictures at top) on the 20th. It was perfect timing because it also happened to be Inauguration Day. Cathy had a snow day (who would have thought there'd be a snow day here in NC?) and was able to watch the Inauguration here at home. She had a second snow day on Wednesday the 21st. Thursday the 22nd she had school, but it was a two-hour delay. She had to make up the missed day on the 20th by going to work on Saturday (yeah... Saturday school is no fun for anyone). It was not her favorite thing to do on a Saturday, but it was only a half day and she tracked out on the 27th so it wasn't too bad. She has to make up the other snow day on April 4th.

Right as Cathy tracked out, she came down with a severe sore throat. She went to the Minute Clinic and they did two strep tests and said they were negative. The nurse practitioner told Cathy to rinse with warm salt water and see a doctor if it got worse. She was in so much pain the rest of the day and the whole next day. She finally went to the doctor, they did a test for Mono and the flu and both were negative. The doctor gave her medication to knock out strep-- when Cathy got home, the nurse at the Minute Clinic had called-- her lab results had come back positive for strep. So she did have it! Steve started meds too just to make sure he didn't get it-- and after a few days she was better.

So that puts us into February. Cathy is tracked out (her favorite place to be) and working on the finishing touches of the new and improved Walker Website. As soon as it's done we'll let you know so you can check it out and bookmark it! It looks amazing-- we're sure you'll absolutely love it as much as we do!!

:)
We'll write again soon!

The Walkers

Washington DC, Thanksgiving, Burt's Holiday Party

2008-12-23T14:59:00.004-05:00

It's been a while-- sorry about how much time has passed since the last post! We've been very busy!

Working backwards to present, we will begin with our trip to Washington D.C. to meet up with Cathy's twin brother Scott and his fiance Christie and her son Alex. We met them November 21st-23rd and had a fantastic time. We arrived late on Friday the 21st and stayed at the Hotel George. We had a fantastic room and were super close to Union Station.

We spent the whole day on Saturday sight-seeing. There's so much to see and do. We did the Old Town Trolley tour and were taken all over D.C. for one fee. We could get off at any stop and reboard at any time during the day. It was definitely worth the money. We met with Scott, Christie and Alex at the WWII Memorial. We went to the Korean Memorial and then they went to the Lincoln while we went to Arlington. We were there to see Kennedy's grave on his death anniversary. We were able to meet up with them at the National Archives and then we had dinner together at the Austin Grill. We took the Metro back to Union Station and walked back to our hotel.

Sunday the 23rd started with us taking the Metro to the Portrait Gallery. However, it wasn't open yet, so we walked around for a bit. We wanted to see Ford's Theater, so we headed over to see it. We turned around and there were a bunch of people in line at a house, and we realized that it was the house that Lincoln had died inside of. So we got in line and went inside (it was free). It was very cool to stand in the room that Lincoln passed away inside of.

Our last thing that we all did together was the Portrait Gallery. It was pretty cool. We said our goodbyes and drove back to NC. We were home before 4pm, which was nice since Cathy had to work the next day.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Steve's dad and his wife Sue Ann came down from Indiana and then some of Cathy's friends from work came over. They're all from out of state too and it was nice to share our home with them. Everyone had a nice time watching "the band" on the Wii. The guys played Guitar Hero World Tour, while the girls cooked. Then after dinner, the guys cleaned while the girls sang karaoke with American Idol Encore 2. It was a lot of fun!

The last BIG thing that's happened took place last weekend. We went to Fearington Village, NC for the annual Burt's Bees Holiday Party. It was Sunday, December 14th from 12:00-4:00. They had traditional southern BBQ for lunch (which was absolutely delicious) and then cake and cobbler for dessert.

The highlight of the party is the awards presentation. There are three awards that Burt's gives out each year. One is for Social Responsibility, one is the Roxanne Quimby award and then there's the Burt Shavitz Environmental Steward Award. Last year, Steve was nominated for the Burt Shavitz award, but didn't win anything more than a $25 gift card to Harris Teeter. This year, not only was he nominated (by several of his collegues), but he won! It was amazing to see him be recognized by his peers and the CEO. He was given a wood caving (Wood Spirit) and a certificate. He was also given $2,500 for himself and Burt's matched $2,500 towards any charity that Steve would like to donate. It was awesome!

So... that's about it from here. We're excited for Christmas and the week after because Cathy's parents are coming for a visit. It'll be nice to see some family during this first holiday away from friends and family in Michigan. We're going to Cathy's friend Elizabeth's house for dinner on Christmas. We'll post again soon!

Take Care,

The Walkers

November Fun

2008-11-05T10:24:00.002-05:00

Well Halloween has come and gone and yes, we had a ton of fun this year! We believe in all things easy and stress-free, and Halloween is no exception. We decided to put up a few decorations on Thursday and then on Friday we set up the strobe light and got the music ready. We of course, had the best house on the block (we might be a little biased though).

While we were getting ready for the trick-or-treaters, Cathy was wearing her costume (Green Bay Packers fan-- cheese head and jersey). She went into the garage, and our neighbor (Gary) was outside getting ready too. His little boy (probably 6 or 7) said to him, "Dad, did you see that Steve's daughter had cheese on her head?" At that, Gary laughed and said, "That's not Steve's daughter, that's his wife, Cathy." AH HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Cathy loved it!! (Steve didn't think it was quite as funny.)

Saturday we drove an hour to Clayton, NC for their Fear Farm. Stacy (works with Cathy) came over and we went together for their corn maze. We had a great time! When we first arrived (8:30pm) they said we couldn't get tickets for the corn maze because they stopped selling tickets at 8:00. Steve flipped out... got a manager and explained that we drove an hour... and their website said they stopped selling tickets at 10pm. They ended up letting us in and it was all good.

Cathy worked the polls yesterday for the election (see her blog for more information). We're both very excited for the change that will come our way under an Obama administration. The US as we know it will never be again.

Steve has oral surgery tomorrow. He's going to have his implant put into his gum (ouch). He'll be off work tomorrow and Friday to recover. Cathy has to go in Friday after 4:00 to set up her new classroom. We're both dreading it because it takes a lot of work to get her room ready.

That's it from here... we hope you're all doing well and are as excited and happy about this election as we are! YES WE CAN!!!

:)
The Walkers

Obama Rally

2008-10-20T10:47:00.002-04:00

We attended our first policital rally together this past Sunday! Barack Obama was appearing in Fayetteville, NC and we decided to head down and see him.

Let us first say that whenever you have 10,000+ people gather for an event, you should have a meeting before the event to talk about procedures and brainstorm ideas to make the event run as smoothly as possible. Apparently this idea was lost on the fine people in Fayetteville.

We arrived at 11:00 (when the gates were supposed to open). There were no signs as to where to get into the line... and looking at the mass of people, you couldn't see a beginning of the line or the end of the line. There were people all over who were volunteers for the event, but none of them said anything about where to go to get in line. So we just kinda followed everyone else and as they moved, we moved. We were given tickets so we were pretty sure we'd get in, we just didn't know when or where.

We stood outside in a hodgepodge of people for about 45 minutes. The crowd was mild and no one was getting upset or causing any problems. UNTIL we got to the barriers that they had put down. Apparently there WAS a line and we weren't even in it. We were on the outside of it and everyone that was on the other side of this barrier was allowed in and they told us to go get in line like everyone else. That was a BAD idea... people started getting really upset and the next thing we knew... the line pushed ahead and moved the barrier out of the way and everyone stormed forward. We had no other choice but to "ride the wave of people" and keep moving.

Had we not been in that spot, it's possible that we wouldn't have been able to get inside. They had more than 2,000 people outside that couldn't get inside. We got past the barrier and it was open and no lines for about a minute. Then we had to get in line again for the doors and metal dectector. Once again, there was no order, rhyme or reason to the lines. Instead of having everyone merge into one line for the ONE metal dectector per group of two doors, we had stayed in two separate lines and then had to fight it out at the door. We stayed in that line for about 20 minutes or so.

Once inside, we found some seats (two people that were in line with us were next to us) and then we went to use the bathroom. Steve asked them if they would save our seats and they did. THANKFULLY!

We headed to the bathrooms. You'd think that in a stadium, there'd be bathrooms all over, but not this place. There were ONE set of bathrooms. Of course there was a line for the women's but that was nothing compared to the line for food. We waited in line for food for more than 45 minutes. It was crazy.

We got back to our seats and had time to eat before Barack Obama came out. It was really awesome to hear the roar of the crowd when he came out. He sounded exactly like he does on television and because we have been watching the debates and some of his speeches, we weren't as wowed as others. It was a great speech though and when he announced that General Colin Powell gave him his endorsement... the place went crazy.

Cathy's Barack Paper Scissors shirt was very popular. She had a lot of people ask where she got it and a lot laughed when they saw it. It was neat to see all the Obama shirts that people were wearing. The crowd was predominately black, but there were some white people and a very small number of hispanics. We didn't see any Native Americans, Asians, or other minorities present. Steve said it's because of the area.

After the speech was over, we got up to leave and headed to the right... back the way we entered. The entrance area was blocked and the people at that door said, "You can't get out this way... you have to go back to other way." At this point, there was a huge crowd forming behind us trying to get out. For us to turn around and go the other way... NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So once again, someone pushed forward and everyone else followed and rushed past the workers. The odd thing, once we were past that section, there were volunteers from Obama's campaign asking people to go vote early and passing out flyers. If we weren't supposed to go out that way, why were there volunteers waiting to give flyers?

We got to the car in record time and beat the crowd. It only took 5 minutes in a line to get to the road that took us back home. So let's see... we were there from 11:00-3:00. In that time, we spent two hours of it waiting in a line. Crazy!!!

The Walkers

Our Trip to the Mitten and Indiana...

2008-09-21T18:00:00.006-04:00

Well... we're back! We left on Saturday, September 6th and drove and drove and drove to Ohio. We stopped to see Kevin, Greta, Ben and Ayden (Greta is one of Steve's oldest friends). We went to a nice dinner with them and had time to relax and forget about the remaining three hours ahead of us. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30 pm, quickly unpacked some things and crashed.

Sunday (9/7/08) we were up early and had breakfast, then headed over to Cathy's parent's house. We said our hellos to her parents and then we headed back to the car for an hour and a half drive to Frankenmuth. We met Cathy's cousin Terry, her husband Chuck and their daughter Natalie, as well as Terry's son Nicholas, his wife Natalie, her son Alex and their son Jack. Cathy's brother Scott also met us there and so did her brother Dave, his wife Heather, and their three children Eamon, Aine and Benton (they drove to Michigan from Arizona). We had lunch at Zender's restaurant and then did some shopping. After shopping, Scott, Dave and his family and Terry and Chuck and Natalie left, but Nick and his family stayed and we enjoyed a car show. We enjoyed seeing all the different cars and they had a German polka band! We even ran into Fr. Terry (small world). It was the only time that we were able to see him, so we were glad to run into him.

On our way home from Frankenmuth, we stopped at Cathy's Aunt Margie's house. Cathy was excited to see her aunt, uncle, and cousin Derek (he's leaving for France). Dave and the kids showed up and we stayed for pizza and had a nice time catching up. They have goats and sheep, so we had some fun outside with Eamon and Aine feeding the animals.

After dropping off Cathy's parents, we headed back to the hotel for bed. Monday we had breakfast and headed over to the house to figure out what we were doing for the day. We all went to Mongolian BBQ (our favorite place) for lunch. Then we drove to Plymouth Orchards for cider and donuts. Cathy's mom had to work, so she left, but we stayed a while and the kids enjoyed looking at the horses.

We headed off to Freedom Park in Canton, and stayed there with the kids for a while before heading over to Matt and Aimee's house. It started to rain and we had some time before going to Matt and Aimee's, so we went to the new Target (right behind our old house). We bought Mario Cart for the Wii and also the American Idol Encore karaoke revolution game. We took both to Matt and Aimee's and hoped to maybe play one of them.

We went to a nice Italian restaurant called Dolce Vita and had dinner together. It was still early when we were done, so we went back to their place and played the American idol karaoke game. It was so much fun!!! They decided that they wanted to buy it because it was so much fun.

On our way home from their place we stopped at White Castle for some gut-burgers. We headed home and crashed.

Tuesday Dave and Heather were leaving to go to Ohio for a visit with Heather's sister. We went to Big Boy's for lunch and then they left. We went back to Cathy's parent's house and spent time with the kids while Dave and Heather packed up their van. They left around 4:30 and we stayed and talked with Cathy's dad (he had come home from work early). We went to dinner with him (Texas Roadhouse) and then went to Dairy Dan's for dessert.

Then we headed back to the house and we all played American Idol. Scott came home from class and he joined in and then Cathy's mom came home and she played too. We had so much fun doing the tournament. The judges give you feedback and then they eliminate contestants. Cathy ended up being named the American Idol. LOL.

Wednesday we went shopping and then headed to Federal-Mogul (where Steve used to work) to pick up Cindy. We went to lunch with her at our favorite Thai place in Southfield. Then we headed over to Cathy's parents. The plan was to maybe go see a movie, but we didn't all get to the house in time, so instead we just hung out and visited. We had to leave around 4:30 to get to Mitch and Jess's place on time.

We said our goodbyes and headed off to Albion. As much as it gets easier each time we leave (because we know we'll see them again). it was really hard on Cathy this time. She cried a bit and then was able to settle down, but it was difficult to say goodbye to her parents, Scott and then even when she said bye to Dave, she got a little choked up.

Out visit with Mitch and Jess was good. They're expecting a baby girl in December, so we got to watch their ultrasound and see the baby. We went into Albion and had dinner at a cute Italian place called Cascarelli's. We had a great dinner and then went to an ice cream place for dessert. Our visit was short, but it was nice seeing them. The next time we see them, they'll have a baby!! CRAZY!!

We headed to Connorsville, Indiana on Thursday. We arrived around 1:00ish and Steve's dad was in the barn working on a rocking horse that he's making to sell. He made it out of wood and is planning on taking some to different craft fairs. They look really neat!!

We visited with his dad for a bit and then Sue Ann came home. We had dinner with them and their friend. After dinner, we headed outside for a fire but it started to rain, so we called it a night.

Friday we got up super early (for being on a vacation) and headed to a place called Lumpy's. Steve's dad eats there a lot and is President of the "Lumpy's Liars Club." We had a great time meeting their friends and then we went back to the house. We ended up taking a nap and then Sue Ann's niece Cathy had a baby that morning, so we drove to Indianapolis to see her and the baby. We were absolutely SHOCKED by the room that she was in. It was a suite and she had the baby in that room. It even came complete with a man cave!! :)

After our visit with them, we went to Italian Gardens restaurant for dinner. Yes, it was Italian. We were soooooo in the mood for Olive Garden (where had planned to go with Matt and Aimee) so this was the third time we wanted Olive Garden, but had other Italian instead. It was okay, because we like Italian, but we thought it was kinda funny.

We ended up getting home late and went straight to bed. Saturday we had lunch at Macaboo's Steakhouse and then went to the Kenny Chesney concert. It was a fantastic concert!! We saw Luke Owen, Leann Rimes, Keith Urban, and Gary Allen. It was an amazing night-- and the last stop on his tour so he played for almost three hours!!! It was fantastic!

We didn't get home until 2am and then had to turn around and drive home at 7am. We got home around 6:30 and had time to unpack the car and then relax a bit before heading to bed.

We'll post pictures soon...

:)
The Walkers

Bla...

2008-08-04T21:04:00.004-04:00

Well, we went to an official pig-pickin' this weekend. A guy that Steve works with had his 40th birthday party Saturday night up in Wake Forest and he had a pig. It was really tasty!! A little gross to look at, but it was very delicious to eat.

We sat outside tonight for a little and enjoyed the luxury of a screened porch. It was 85ish but not too uncomfortable. We had fun watching Toebe bark at birds and try to get bugs outside the porch. We also watched Finding Nemo tonight. We forgot what a great movie that is!!! "Just keep swimming... just keep swimming..."

We're excited because Toebe has discovered his voice and purr! He hasn't been vocal at all since we've had him and just recently he's started to meow. It doesn't help that we've left him on the porch overnight and he's meowed so loud that it wakes us up. He's never purred before either. Just not a cuddler or lover, but today Cathy heard his purr! She was so excited to tell Steve when he got home from work and then he was able to hear it too!

I guess that's what we have to talk about--lol. No kids to talk about their great accompishments. We have cats to talk about. Sad isn't it? It's not like we're not trying to get pregnant... we are. Just taking a little longer than we had hoped. We're still young though (right?) and have time on our sides still. Until we have kids to talk about... we'll continue to bore you with details about our fur kids. LOL.

Ned is going to the groomer tomorrow. He is SO hairy! He is in desperate need of a shave! He'll be a new pup tomorrow!!

Later--
The Walkers

Paisley Party Tour and more!

2008-07-30T14:49:00.004-04:00

Jewel
Steve singing
Julianne Hough
Brad Paisley and Jewel
The Walkers
Brad Paisley
Us
Chuck Wicks
The Burt's Bees VIP Box

Goodness it's been a while since we last blogged!! What have we been doing??? Well, we know we have loyal fans that tune in regularly to hear all about our life here in NC (lol), sorry to make you all wait so long!!

As the pictures show, we went to the TWC Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek (like a DTE Energy Center/Pine Knob in Michigan) for a fantastic concert back on Saturday, July 19th. Steve stumbled upon some free VIP tickets to see Brad Paisley, Jewel, Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough and he couldn't wait to tell Cathy. We were super excited to go because we both love Brad Paisley and Jewel. Neither of us had heard of Chuck Wicks or Julianne Hough, but we enjoyed their time on the state none-the-less.

Cathy has started a new school year and has a challenging class so far. We're hoping that everyone just needed a track out to get their heads straight (Cathy included) and that when she goes back in August, it's all good. She is still teaching 4th grade and is still really happy at her school. She was asked to present to the teachers twice (on United Streaming) and she was nervous but really excited to have the opportunity to share her knowledge with others. She still receives emails each day from teachers all over the United States about her website and we're thinking about how to channel that positivity into a productive future. You wouldn't believe the emails that she gets... it's really amazing.

Steve is still loving Burt's and is really starting to make some wonderful changes for the company. He's respected and definitely regarded as someone who knows his stuff! He put together something called "Dumpster Day" and to his surprise, he was featured two different times on the "official" video that was made of Dumpster Day. If you'd like to view the video, send us an email and we can send you the link so you can watch him. :)

We both were super excited to set a new record for ourselves. We've been married longer to each other than to anyone else!! July 8th we celebrated our second anniversary. We're more in love today than ever before and it's awesome to have found each other in such a huge world. What are the odds?

This weekend we're going to a surprise birthday party for someone that Steve works with. It's a pig-roast (hopefully a real one) and we'll blog again with pictures.

We're getting excited for our trip home in September. We'll be leaving NC on Saturday the 6th and driving ALL DAY to Michigan. We'll be spending Saturday the 6th through Wednesday the 10th in Michigan with Cathy's family. Her brother Dave and his wife and three kids are going to be there as well so it'll be a great visit with them. Then we're heading to Indianapolis to visit Steve's dad and SueAnn. We'll be staying with them from Wednesday through Sunday and then driving back home Sunday morning. We'll be going to the Kenny Chesney concert with them on Saturday the 13th. It's the last stop for his tour and should be a ton of fun!!!

Talk to you soon!

The Walkers

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-06T16:59:00.003-04:00

This weekend we celebrated the fourth of July by going to see Hancock. It was a really good movie! Not realistic at all, but very entertaining. We give it two thumbs up!

Cathy finished her last day of school last week. She was very sad on the last day of school because she really loved her class this year. It's safe to say that they loved her as much as she loved them, and we're both grateful that she's had such a wonderful first year teaching in North Carolina.

She's been really stressed at work. She went into work this whole last week, Monday through Friday and tried to get everything ready for the first day, but she had to bring things home this weekend to work on. Even with all that, she's still not done and has to go in early tomorrow to get completely ready for the kids.

She's going to have a challenging year this year. She has 15 boys and 8 girls, only 5 that are identified as Academically Gifted (the other teacher has 13) and she has 4 CCR kids (special education). One of her boys, isn't special ed, but requires a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan) and she has to keep track of his behavior for every minute of the day. She has to meet with a special team every two weeks to discuss his behavior. She also has a girl that's diabetic and wears a pump.

It's going to be interesting!! Steve is doing well at Burt's. He was really excited to be featured in their "Dumpster Day" video that was professionally made. If you're interested in viewing the video, let us know and we'll send you the link to view it. It's pretty impressive!!

Friday night we were entertained with the jack-asses on our street. They had like 50+ people over for a party and were drinking and being THEM, well, it got dark and they decided to light some fireworks. We're surprised that no one was injured because they were drunk and lighting explosives, and not really paying attention to each other. It was amusing. The only bad thing was that our house is now covered with the cardboard and paper that came off the fireworks when they exploded.

Satuday we went to see Hancock, and before we went to the movies we had lunch at Jack Astor's. We had a very delicious lunch!! After the movie we went to Office Depot so Cathy could get some school supplies, then we went to Jo-Ann's for stuff for Warm Fuzzies (things that Cathy makes her kids) and the to the Dollar Tree for some back to school treats for bags that Cathy gives her kids. Then we did our grocery shopping and came home. We watched Bee Movie this morning and now we're about to watch the latest episode of Intervention.

Talk to you soon!

The Walkers

What A Weekend!!

2008-06-23T21:26:00.007-04:00

What a wonderful weekend!! We were so busy doing things all over this great state of ours! On Saturday we drove down to Spivey's Corner, NC to attend the 40th Annual National Hollerin' Contest. It was very interesting! Cathy got to see Tony Peacock and cheer for him. He came in 3rd place, but he did great! There were more than 12 people in the men's contest and even someone that came down from Virginia!

After the contest ended, we drove home and on the way, Steve had a bright idea to stop at a local place called "Ron's Barn." Yeah... we should have known by the name what it would be like, but in the back of our minds we kinda had hoped that we found a hidden gem. When we walked in, there was a musty smell to the place, but there were lots of people and it seemed like everyone was happy. It couldn't be that bad right?

Well... to the left was a cafeteria-style line that was rather short. In front of it, there were a few tables. We were taken immediately to our seats and our drink order was taken. Cathy ordered a Coke and Steve had a water. The waitress brought out some hush-puppies and then said, "Help yourselves." Not a good sign... we both anticipated a menu and dreaded the idea of the cafeteria-style line. There were people at the table RIGHT (yes, we were on top of another table) next to us and they got up to go get some chow.

We thought that maybe we were in for a treat when the one man raved about the food. How can you mess up apple sauce? Well, you can and they did. They even messed up Coke. It was by far the most disgusting meal that either of us has ever ingested.

Now, you're probably thinking that we learned our lesson right? Wrong. We decided to order dessert. BECAUSE the man at the table next to use was going on and on about the banana pudding. We decided to get the banana pudding and chocolate pie. Cathy thought both were absolutely GROSS but Steve kind of enjoyed the chocolate pie.

So, at the end of the night, we spent more than $20 for dinner that was disgusting. Cathy enjoyed the corn and Steve enjoyed the pie and green beans. The rest... well, that's another story.

Sunday night we went to a Durham Bulls game with Cathy's 4th graders. She's going to blog about it on her blog, so be on the look out for that if you're interested in reading about the game.

:)
The Walkers

One Year!!

2008-06-11T20:46:00.002-04:00

We've been in North Carolina for a year already!! Can you believe it? It's gone by so fast! Steve celebrated his one year anniversary with Burt's today. He didn't get any recognition at work, but Cathy sent him a congratulatory email and text that made his day. :)

Cathy has survived the EOGs for this year. She has learned a lot from giving these tests.

First... regardless of how many HOURS she spends reviewing and giving test-taking tips... it's all thrown out the window when the test is in front of their faces.
Second... for some kids, being the first one done is like a secret victory. Even if the test takes the average child 60 minutes and they've finished in 20.
Third... there are a lot of things on the EOG that Cathy didn't spend enough time teaching to her kids!! :(
Fourth... Everyone from kids to teachers stresses out about these tests!!
Fifth... sitting/wandering the room for four hours a day is excruciating. It'd be better to be taking the test than to be monitoring the test.

Cathy doens't know how her kids did yet (she's very nervous about it and scared that they all bombed it) and hopefully will know by Friday. Keep her in your prayers!!

We're excited to spend this weekend at home doing nothing. It's Father's Day and both of our father's are out of state, so we'll be chilling out together.

Next weekend we're going to the Hollerin' Festival with Katie (a girl that Cathy works with) and maybe her parents and then on Sunday we're meeting Cathy's kids and parents at the Bulls game. Should be fun!!

We'll write again soon...

The Walkers

Not Even Summer Yet...

2008-06-07T22:33:00.003-04:00

Well... it's not even summer yet but it sure is hot! This week we have had temperatures reach over 100 degrees!

On Friday, Steve attended the second annual Burt's Bees Culture Day. You might remember the post from last year that talked about it. We had just moved down here, and that Friday was his first Friday at Burt's. He got the drum and they all played the drums to find their rhythm as a company. Burt made an appearance. Well... not this year. This year, they went to Hope Crossing, (Aa"green" community) which is a Habitat for Humanity of Durham community of homes. This last week was a "Building Blitz" across the US and for the Durham area, they built ten homes in five days. To make their impact, the Burt's Bees employees went for the day and built a playground.

Steve had a great time and really felt great giving back to the community. It was a VERY hot day though. There were several groups of people that left before 10:30 am, and through it all, Steve stayed and worked hard. He was among 15 that were able to stay through the whole day and help clean up at the end. The temperature on Friday was over 100, but Steve was able to stay hydrated and able to stay cool. He was really proud of the work that he did and can't wait to volunteer in September with the Burt's group. Cathy plans on volunteering with him. The home that Burt's will be working on this fall is extra special because it will be the home given to a fellow employee at Burt's.

Cathy is getting ready for her fourth graders to take the North Carolina End of Grade exams (EOGs). She is quite nervous about it, but we're hopeful that her kids will do well on the three-day test. They'll be taking the reading test on Monday and then Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent doing math tests. She got her scores back for the state writing test (which has been discontinued for next year) and was excited about the results. Her kids did an amazing job and she was very pleased!! We hope she'll have the same results on the EOGs. She'll find out how they did on the math test this coming Friday, but won't know anything about reading until September/October.

Tomorrow we're going to see Kung Fu Panda with Cathy's fourth graders. Acutally, they're meeting her at the movies. She has about ten or eleven kids and their parents/families coming so it should be fun. The movie looks pretty good and we're sure that the kids will really enjoy it. Cathy has planned a "Meet Mrs. Walker at the Durham Bulls game" in two weeks. You might remember that she always did this in Michigan with the Tigers, and fortunately, we're close to Durham and can do the same down here. She has about fifteen families that have signed up for that event. They'll get to have their name on the big screen. We'll be sure to post pictures of the event.

We're excited to head to Spivey's Corner in two weeks. It's time for the Annual Hollerin' Contest. Cathy is excited to go and cheer for Tony Peacock. He was the writer in residence at her school this year and she was really excited to maybe get to see him compete. The contest is the third Saturday in June. He has won the contest several times!! Click this link to watch a youtube video about the contest and to see Tony Peacock!! (After the guy explains distress hollerin', Tony is the first guy and he's wearing purple.)

The warm weather appears to be sticking around for a while, so send cool thoughts our way!! We hope everyone reading this is doing well. Feel free to drop us a line and say hello!! That's what the comments are there for!! :)

Take care,
The Walkers

The New Indiana Jones Movie

2008-05-31T23:05:00.002-04:00

Today we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Cathy had wanted to see "The Strangers" but after reading poor review after poor review, we decided to go see the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We both really enjoyed it!! It brought back so many good things from the other movies, but was really action-packed and fun.

After going to the movies we went to IHOP for dinner. Cathy had never been to an IHOP so it was a first for her. She wasn't impressed with her dinner (pot-roast, mashed potatoes and veggies) but definitely envied Steve's dinner. He had pancakes and a super cheesy ham and cheese omlette.

Tomorrow, we're going shopping and then Cathy is going to do her newsletter for school. She still has another month of school (yuck). Steve just got home (Thursday) from a trip to Chicago, where he presented sustainability information to the Clorox people (representing Burt's). He had a really nice time and enjoyed the opportunity to network and meet some of the big-wigs of Clorox.

Cathy signed us up for a Triangle Area Couples group through meetup.com. We're excited to get to attend our first event and maybe meet some new friends here in North Carolina!

That's it for now...
:)
The Walkers

Where has the time gone?

2008-05-25T18:09:00.002-04:00

Sorry it's been so long since we last posted something!! Not sure where the time goes, but finally the effort is being made.

Cathy's parents came to visit from May 3rd through the 9th. We had a great visit with them and enjoyed showing them the area. Cathy's dad was here in November, but her mom had not been down yet. It was nice to have them here right before Mother's Day and be able to spend some quality time. They came while Cathy was tracked out, so she got to spend the last week of her track out with them. Steve took a few days off too and it was time well spent.

We went to Wilmington for the day while they were here. We went to lunch and then spent some time at the battleship (USS North Carolina). After the battleship, we drove to Wrightsville Beach and spent some time at the ocean. We had a really nice dinner at a place called The Oceanic. We were able to eat outside (on their pier) and enjoy the surf and sun.

Cathy tracked back into her room on Friday, May 9th... and spent the majority of the night getting her room ready for Monday when her kids came back. She really wasn't excited to go bcak. I guess she was feeling like the year is basically over (in her traditional-calendar mind) but really, she has another month and a half before the year is over. Far from being over. LOL.

Steve is getting ready to go to a conference in Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday of this next week. He'll be presenting information about Burt's Bees to people of Clorox (to let them know why buying Burt's was such a great investment). :) He's excited. It's been quite some time since he's had to travel for work, so as much as Cathy hates that he's leaving, she's grateful that it's not an all-the-time thing.

This weekeng we're just chillin at home. It's pretty dead around here. Everyone and their brother goes to the beach for the major holidays, which means that the restaurants and shops around here are empty. We went to Carrabbas for dinner last night (a Saturday night) at 6:30 and we were seated immediately. That NEVER happens.

We'll write again soon... hope you and yours are doing well!!

:)
The Walkers

What A Weekend!

2008-04-20T11:00:00.008-04:00

We had a fantastic weekend!

It started with Friday, and Cathy had her last day of school before her track out. She had to move out of her classroom this time, so the room was totally empty. She showed a movie to her kids (Babe) and they loved it! Most of them had never seen the movie (it's older than they are), but they liked it so much that they clapped at the end of the movie (always a great sign of enjoyment). One her her parents brought in movie theater popcorn for everyone and then another parent sent in bottled water and flavored waters for everyone to enjoy.

After her movie, they had their "Fun Run" and the whole school participated. The kids just ran around the track and they set up an off-track course as well. They ran the course twice and then when they crossed the finish line, they had bottled water, fruit and some crackers.

Her class had their lunch and then recess and then they had their "Track Out Ceremony." Each teacher selects some students to get awards. There are awards for math, language arts, technology, best effort, responsibility, music, art, P.E., and Spanish. The parents come to watch their child get their award and then everyone celebrates.

When her class came back to her room, it was time for their guest speaker to arrive. This year, she's tracked out during Earth Day, so she asked Steve to come in and speak to her class as a guest speaker. He did a fantastic job! During his visit he even had the chance to enjoy a fire drill (lol). Cathy's class asked some terrific questions and Steve was able to share his passion for his job and got to tell the kids about the great things happening at Burt's Bees.

Speaking of Burt's Bees, Saturday we spent the afternoon downtown Raleigh volunteering at the first annual Earth Day Raleigh event. It was so much fun! There were vendors from all over the Raleigh area that deal with the Earth in some way. They had people selling Earth-friendly items, and then some various agencies were present to pass our literature and share their information with the public. There were a TON of people that came down and it was a huge success!!

We were about to go through the "Bee-utify your life with Burt's Bees" mobile tour, when the Junk Man (that's what he's called) came over and asked if we'd help with the trash parade. It was the weirdest thing that either of us had ever participated in, but it was fun. We marched in a big group through the mall and around the Capitol building playing trash and making a ton of noise.

There were two big highlights of the day. The first was that we got to see Burt, and even better, have our pictures taken with him. Cathy had told Steve that she wanted a picture taken with Burt and Steve said, "Yeah, so does everyone else."

The other highlight was seeing the Beemones play live! We'd only seen them play on youtube, but they had their "final" concert at the Earth Day Raleigh event. They were awesome!

Our job at the event was called "Roving Ambassadors of Burt's Bees." We didn't really have to do anything but walk around and answer questions if people had them. So basically, we got free shirts and got to enjoy the day. Our shift ended at 4:30, so by 5:00 we were on our way home just as it was starting to rain. Perfect timing!

We came home and quickly showered and changed, and then headed back downtown to a restaurant called The Pit. We met Joe and Monica Lang for dinner. They went to UD with Steve and live in Philly, PA. Joe is one of Steve's fraternity brothers, and Monica and Joe have been together since freshman year of college. Steve has always told Cathy so much about them, so it was awesome for everyone to finally get together! We were out until 11:00 at the restaurant!!

So that leads us to today. We're going to take it slow today and try to get the house picked up a little. We've got to go grocery shopping and then that's about all that we have planned. Cathy's parents are coming down to visit in two weeks (May 3rd-9th) and we're super excited to see them and show them our area!!

We'll write again soon!!

We Sold Our House!!!!

2008-03-22T09:26:00.004-04:00

Last Friday we closed on our house in Michigan (finally)!!! YAY!!! The buyers made an offer back in January (before Steve's birthday) but their offer was too low for us to accept. We weren't in the position that we HAD to sell the house, so we were content with waiting for another offer that would be more around our range. The same couple that made the first offer played a little game with us (that we didn't like or appreciate) and tried to really put the pressure on us. Again, since we didn't HAVE to sell, we didn't play and it ended up in our favor.

Basically, they made the offer and then put all these contingencies on it. They HAD to hear back from us by noon the next day or they were moving on... bla bla bla. Steve was having oral surgery the following day, and we just didn't have it as a top priority to "jump" simply because they said so.

We ended up deciding to just wait until the next offer came in. We had several showings and all had positive reviews. We just didn't get any offers. The market in Michigan is awful (it's bad everywhere, but really bad in Michigan). About three weeks later, the same couple makes another offer. Again, they were too low and we couldn't afford their offer. It wasn't that we were not interested, we just couldn't go as low as they were offering.

After a bunch of back and forth negotiations, we were able to reach a compromise and they bought it. Cathy's Dad went and signed for us at the closing (thankfully!! It would have cost $200 to have an outside person do it for us). So... we're enjoying having ONE house now!!

In other news, we got a Wii. It's the most amazing thing ever. If you've never seen one or had the pleasure and delight of playing one, you're missing out! We got Guitar Hero III and Backyard Football. We also have the Sports pack and another series of games called WiiPlay. So far we've only played the sports (tennis, bowling, baseball, golf and boxing) and then Guitar Hero III.

Cathy is a natural on Guitar Hero III. Steve started to play it and wasn't very good, so he passed the guitar to Cathy and she killed it. She has started her own band (C@strophy) and she's played a ton of different gigs. She's even had to battle Tom Morello and Slash and she's won! She was most excited when she got to play "EvenFlow" by Pearl Jam. She was definitely in the zone. Steve has been calling her "Nancy" from Heart because she kicks butt on the guitar!!

What's even cooler about the Wii is that it's a Nintendo system. There are these "points" that you can buy (a penny a point) and with the points you can buy classic Nintendo games. We're not kidding!! We bought Excitebike for Cathy (she LOVED this game as a kid back in '85), as well as Kid Icarus for her. She played it all night and couldn't get past the Grim Reaper guy. LOL. We got Zelda for Steve and then Super Mario Brothers 3 for us both to play. Steve thinks it's brilliant for Nintendo to offer these classic games for like $5.00 a game (500 points). It's a great way to make additional money on really old games. However, for people in our age group, these games bring back wonderful memories and put HUGE smiles on our faces!! (Cathy remembered going to Children's Palace (a toy store that was WAY bigger and better than Toys 'R Us) with her allowance and buying Nintendo games).

This weekend is Easter and we're just hanging out for the holiday. Cathy didn't have school yesterday, so she drove up to Burt's and met Steve for lunch. Today we're going to Wii and then maybe go to the new Chinese World Buffet for dinner (lol). Tomorrow we're going to make a ham and then have baked beans, potato salad, rolls and then something yummy for dessert.

Cathy went to the store and bought a TON of candy for an Easter basket for Steve. She hid it in the house and he had to search for it. He's not allowed to eat anything until Sunday.

Enough from us for now... we are thoroughly enjoying having 74 degrees today while Michigan is getting 5-8 inches of snow. It's not too late for everyone that we love in Michigan to move to North Carolina!!! The weather is a hell of a lot better!!!

:)
The Walkers

Update...

2008-03-01T14:39:00.003-05:00

Well... it's been a while since we last posted so we thought it was time to write something!

Last night we went to a Leap Year Pig Pickin. It was at the house of someone that Steve works with and it was interesting. Our experiences with Burt's Bees events has been awkward to say the least. This one wasn't as bad as the Christmas party, but it was a little strange still. We fully expected a pig-roast and instead it was more of a fancy-schmancy dinner party. The only pork that they had was in kabob form and they went with the rest of the Mediterranean-style food. Weird.

Anyway, we did have fun and enjoyed seeing how the rich live. The guy that hosted the party lives in North-Raleigh in a million dollar home.

Last weekend we drove to Wilson, NC to meet Cathy's cousin Corey and his fiance Heather, for lunch. It was a nice afternoon and we enjoyed spending time with them. It's really nice that we've been able to see them twice now since we moved down in June. We're hoping that more family will come down for a visit soon!!

This last weekend after driving back from Wilson, we found a Costco and had a taste of home. We went in and enjoyed all the eye-candy and then of course, had to grab a few gallons of extra-cheap milk. :) In case we haven't said it before, the milk here is SO expensive. It's more expensive to buy a gallon of milk than a gallon of gas. And that's saying a lot because the gas is expensive!!

We've been talking about getting a Nintendo Wii since before Christmas. Well... we finally bought one! Yay! It should be arriving Monday. We also bought Guitar Hero III and are super excited to play!!

That's the latest from here. We're eagerly awaiting the visit of Steve's dad next weekend. Soon after, Cathy's mom and dad are going to be coming down (April/May). Yay!!

:)
The Walkers

Go Tarheels!!

2008-02-12T16:18:00.000-05:00

So this weekend we went to the UNC-Clemson game at Chapel Hill. Talk about an amazing experience. We arrived about an hour prior to the game starting and had some food in the courtside club. They had all kinds of free desserts, drinks and appetizers. Steve gorged himself on warm brownie bites and these chocolate mousse thingy-ma-bobbers. :)

The game was way better than the game in Richmond. Don't get us wrong, we love UD but the Tarheels play on an entirely different level. The game in Richmond was disappointing. The Flyers lost to the Spiders (lol) and the stadium was really small. There are probably high schools with bigger arenas! Anyway, the Flyers were down the entire game and the Spiders just kept hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer. It was fun to spend the night in Richmond though.

We had dinner at a place called the Capitol Ale House and it was okay, but a little pricey. Steve had French onion soup and then this kielbasa and pretzel thing and Cathy had a chicken ceasar salad that tasted like anchovies. (YUCK)

We drove home on Sunday and stopped in Nashville (NC) for our first taste of Bojangles. If you're not familiar with Bojangles... it's an over-priced KFC but instead of being tasty, it's really gross. LOL. They're known for their sweet tea and biscuits. Whatever. Lunch made us both sick and wishing that we stopped somewhere safe, instead of trying something new.

Back to the UNC game... in case you missed it, the heels were down the entire game. The average was nine-points down. At one point they were only six down, but that's as close as they ever got. It was a big deal because Clemson has NEVER won at the Dean Smith Dome. Not in 53 years... every time Clemson plays Carolina... they LOSE. This was a game to go down in history! All the way until the final seconds of the game we were down and then somehow we managed to tie the score and force an overtime. The crowd went absolutely ape-shit and it was as if they had just won the national championship game!

Five additional minutes were added to the clock and it was time for OT to begin. They were down for most of the 1st OT and then they were able to come back and tie it up and force a 2nd OT. Unheard of!! Once they started the 2nd OT they took control of the court and ended up winning 103 to 93. It was amazing! People we losing their minds and going bananas. The people around us were celebrating and grown men were crying like little children.

On the way out we snatched some cups and popcorn buckets (you know the ones that are super expensive and everyone leaves behind) as tokens of the game. We're too cheap to buy them ourselves, but we grabbed like eight cups and two buckets. :) Steve grabbed one for his boss Tom (he went to Clemson).

Cathy goes back to work on Thursday. Just in time for Valentine's Day! Steve is the greatest man alive... he sent Cathy a dozen baby roses today and she got them delievered and was totally surprised! They're in a really nice vase and smell soooo good! We're going to celebrate Valentine's Day either today or tomorrow by going to Outback (yay)!

Until next time... take care and be well!
:)
The Walkers

Update

2008-02-05T16:36:00.002-05:00

Hello! We hope everyone that reads this is doing well. We're okay... hangin' in there. Steve went to the oral surgeon last Thursday and had his tooth extracted. It wasn't as bad as he thought, but it was still pretty painful. He's still recovering and has pain.

We went to the UD vs Richmond game on the 26th. We drove up to Richmond and arrived just in time for the game. We were excited to see Dayton (ranked 14 at the time) beat the Richmond Spiders, however, we were shocked at their performance. Richmond's team was hitting three-pointer after three-pointer and UD did nothing about it. No clue what the score ended up being, but Dayton was crushed.

Anyway... Steve had his birthday last Tuesday. He's 33 now. Cathy made him a birthday cake and made him dinner. She also bought him a UD Basketball t-shirt and a UD business card holder (glass) for him to use at work. His co-workers went all out with gifts. Apparently they call him "Bevis" and decided to take the theme as far as they could go. They bought him lunch and then also gave him a placemat that said Happy Birthday. On the back were numerous pictures of people with mullets (they love his mullet picture that's on his calendar at work). They also gave him the Bevis and Butthead Do America movie and a Bevis bobble-head. All wrapped in mullet-picture wrapping paper.

The calendar that they love so much is one that Cathy made for Steve for Christmas. It has pictures of friends and family thoughout the calendar and because Steve's birthday is in January, he is the spotlight for the month.

Anyway, that's the latest... Cathy enjoyed spending February 5th sitting outside reading a book in 75 degree weather. Does it get any better??

:)
The Walkers

Our First Snow in NC!

2008-01-24T11:31:00.000-05:00

We were able to experience our first snowfall here in NC this last weekend. Cathy had a Junior Circle outting planned for Saturday and she had to cancel it due to the weather predictions. Though she could have still had the event, the snow started to fall around 3pm on Saturday and kept falling until Sunday.

In other news, Steve went to the dentist and found out that his tooth will need to be extracted. He has an appointment on the 31st to get it pulled. He's not sure if they'll be doing a bridge or something else. He's really hoping that the bridge is a last-resort.

Cathy tracked out yesterday. She taught all day and then at 4pm she was free at last! She's been having some issues with her team. They do not communicate and as a result, there are a lot of bad feelings and resentment among them. Cathy gets along with all of them for the most part, but is easily frustrated with their words and actions. She was more than ready to track out simply to remove herself from the team!

This weekend we're going to the UD vs. Richmond basketball game in Richmond, VA. We'll be getting a hotel for the night and coming home on Sunday. Steve was emailed by the UD Raleigh Alumni club about the event and we decided that it'd be a lot of fun to go to a game and support the Flyers. They're ranked #14!!

In other basketball news, one of Cathy's students, Anna, has grandparents that are really into UNC sports. The grandpa attended UNC and has season tickets for football and basketball. Earlier this week he sent Cathy a letter that thanked her for all that she does as a teacher and offered her two tickets for the UNC vs. Clemson game on the 10th. Cathy was so excited!! We're both really excited to go to a UNC game!!

That's it for now. Nothing else really to report about!!

:)
The Walkers

The end of 2007

2007-12-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry that it's been so long since we've blogged!! We're not sure where the time goes, but it definitely goes and then it's been a month and we're behind!!

The last time we wrote it was the day after Thanksgiving and Steve's dad had just arrived for a visit. He stayed with us through Monday and then drove back to Indiana.

We went to the Burt's Bees Christmas party on the 9th of December. To use the word "interesting" would not express how different the party actually was. They held it at a museum and then it was open for exploration. They had several "stations" set up throughout the museum with food. We went to the butterfly house and had some cocoa. Though, we were quite disappointed because the invitation said there would be a hot cocoa bar... and it was just a big thermos thingy filled with generic cocoa. We also went on the train ride... oh so fun! LOL At the museum we weren't sure how it all worked, so we assumed the food in the general area was all that they had to eat. We stuffed ourselves with meatballs and other "junk" and then decided to go explore and as we went around the corner and into a new area of the museum, we saw a carving station with beef and ham, a big salad bar and a potato bar. To say we were disappointed would be a huge understatement.

Cathy got to meet Tom (Steve's boss) and wasn't too impressed with him. He was rather arrogant... which is comical because he always uses the word arrogant to describe Steve. He was "Joe Cool" and had a bunch of punks hanging around and laughing at all his lame-ass jokes. Cathy told Steve that he reminded her of the "cool guy" that everyone wants to be friends with.

At the end of the party they had an awards presentation that we stayed for. The CEO said that there were multiple people nominated and he wasn't going to announce all their names, but he'd let everyone know who was nominated for each award via email. Steve didn't get an award (he didn't expect to), but to his surprise, he was nominated and received a certificate and a $25 gift card to Harris Teeter.

Cathy finished the 2007 year on the 21st. She had her holiday party on the 20th and came home with a ton of gift cards and special presents from her 4th graders. The parents took up a collection and bought her a $150 gift card to the spa... for her to go and relax after all her hard work teaching. She also got some cute handmade gifts. We went to dinner on the 20th with Lisa and Katie (Cathy's coworkers) and had pizza at Mama Mia.

Cathy's principal has announced that she's leaving Oak Grove. She'll be opening a new school in Wake County and February 1st will be her last day. She asked people to consider coming with her to the new school, but Cathy most definitely will not be joining her. Cathy was very happy to hear the news. She likes her principal and came to Oak Grove because of her, but has had some issues with her. It'll be a good change for someone new to come in February.

We flew to Indiana on the 21st. Our flight was very delayed and we didn't get into Indianapolis until after 11:30 pm. By the time we got back to Steve's dad's it was after 1am. We stayed with his dad and Sue Ann Saturday and then got up Sunday and drove up to Michigan to visit Mitch and Jess. Cathy had wanted to arrange a visit with Beckie (she was home from Arizona) but the timing didn't work out for us. We stayed Sunday with Mitch and Jess and then got up Monday and had breakfast at Bob Evan's before leaving to drive to Westland.

We arrived in Westland around 10:30 at Cathy's parent's house and then we went Christmas shopping. It's been a tradition for years that on Christmas Eve, Cathy goes shopping with her dad and brother to shop for her mom. It was really important to Cathy that she be able to continue this tradition this year, so we made sure to get there on time. We went to the mall and then headed all over hell and half of Georgia to find a Nintendo-DS for her mom. We finally found one at Costco and then while we were there, there was a guy buying a Wii. Cathy's dad really wants one. We headed back to the mall to have lunch with her mom at Olga's and then we finished our shopping. We dropped off Cathy's dad and then we headed to two different Costcos to see if we could find a Wii for her dad. Unfortunately, no one had any.

We checked into our hotel and then headed back over to her parent's house for dinner. We had pizza and watched The Polar Express. We left and went to the hotel for the night. Christmas morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed back to her parent's to open presents. Scott gave Cathy the Simpson's movie and then Cathy's dad gave Steve the Simpson's movie. It was funny. Steve also got a bottle of Maker's Mark and then the rest of our gifts were sent to NC so we got them when we returned home.

We went to Fr. Terry's for Christmas dinner. It was nice seeing his sister and then Mary Breeding and Francine (family friends) were there too. When we were done with dinner, Cathy's mom joined us to go see a movie at Emagine. We saw Juno (very cute). After the movie we dropped off Cathy's mom and then headed back to the hotel.

We packed up our stuff and headed back over to Cathy's parents on Wednesday and we went "day-after-Christmas-shopping." Another holiday tradition of the Ghrist family. They go shopping the day after Christmas and everyone can get one gift that they didn't get from Santa. Before we went shopping we met for lunch at BD's Mongolian BBQ. It was sooooo good. We hadn't had Mongolian BBQ since May!!! Scott came with Gunnar (his friend Emily's son) and then we headed to Target. Steve got the new Jason Aldean CD and Cathy got a wireless transmitter thingy for her iPod and some pens.

We said our goodbyes and then drove back to Indiana. We met everyone at a place called Joe's for some pizza. It was the out of town get together for everyone coming in for the wedding from out of town.

After eating pizza at Joe's, we drove back to the farm and stayed the night in the barn.

We got up Thursday and started running errands with Steve's dad. We went to the country club to pay for the reception, we went to the tuxedo place and picked up 11 tuxedos for the wedding party, and then we went to the hotel. We stayed at the hotel for a bit then drove to the rehearsal. It was easy-peasy and then they had the rehearsal dinner. Steve's dad gave him a John Deere pocket watch as the best man gift (it even makes a tractor sound). Then we went to the Silver Dollar Lounge for the bachelor party (yes, Cathy came too). We watched football and then had some beer and then drove back to the hotel (Steve was the DD).

Friday morning we got up and met Steve's dad for breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel. He was getting more and more nervous and could barely eat. We went back to the room and had some time to read Harry Potter. We ended up going to Bob Evan's for lunch before we had to get ready to leave for the wedding. Cathy's parents arrived at the hotel around 2:15 and that's about the time that Steve and his dad left for the church. They were supposed to be at the church around 3:00 for pictures. Cathy and her parents arrived at the church around 3:30.

The wedding started around 4:30 and it was packed. There were people standing in the back because there weren't any additional seats. The wedding was perfect and Steve's dad and Sue Ann were blissfully happy. Steve did a fantastic job as the best man. :)

We drove together to the country club and Cathy's parents followed us over. The reception was beautiful and everything went perfectly. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Steve's best man speech was heart-felt and perfect, and caused quite a few tears. Steve's friend Greta and her husband were there and so were Mitch and Jess. They all sat with Cathy's mom and dad and then we eventually joined them.

We got back to the hotel Friday night and crashed from exhaustion. Saturday morning Steve's dad and Sue Ann had a breakfast for everyone staying at the hotel. We went down and had breakfast with them and then everyone went back to their rooms to get their things for check out.

We headed back to the farm for a luncheon and then a bunch of people came over to watch them open gifts. We weren't able to stay very long because we had a long drive to Indianapolis ahead of us.

Cathy's mom and dad drove us to the airport and then we caught our flight back to North Carolina. We had a very short flight (only an hour and fifteen minutes). Cathy called her friend Katie and she came and picked us up (saving us $60). We got home and dropped our stuff and then headed over to Matthew's house (the boy from Cathy's class that took Ned for us) and picked up Neddy. He was very excited to see us!!

We got home late last night and watched the Patriots cheat their way into the history books (lol). Then we crawled into our bed and slept like babies. There's nothing like your own bed and five cats having a kitty party to celebrate that you've returned home!!

So... that's about it. LOL. We decided to do absolutely nothing today and so far we've done exactly that. Tomorrow Cathy is going to go into work and get some lesson plans done for Wednesday. We don't have anything planned for New Year's eve... but we're more than okay with that.

We hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and have an even better New Years!!

:)
The Walkers

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

We survived our first Thanksgiving in North Carolina! It wasn't the same without family... and it made us sad to not have that connection during the holiday. Cathy was especially sad. This was her first Thanksgiving without her parents in 31 years.

We have had a nice week though. Last Saturday, Cathy's dad came for a visit. She was so excited to see her dad and get to show him the house and the area. He came down to Virginia to pick up an engine for the baby Beast (Steve's old Mustang). Since he was only three hours away, he came down and stayed with us from Saturday through Tuesday.

While he was here, he helped Steve build some much needed shelves in the garage. Almost all the boxes are off the floor and put up. Steve thinks he wants to build more, because there's still too much stuff to actually get the cars inside the garage. We went to see Burt's and took a tour inside, and then drove over to Cathy's school and showed her dad where she works.

Steve was off Monday and then Tuesday had to go back to work for the day. We both were off on Wednesday and Cathy met two of her fourth graders at the movies with their parents to see Enchanted. She said she really liked it. Then she went shopping at DSW and got some shoes (like she needed more right?). Anyway, she spent the remainder of the night getting some things made for Thanksgiving. She made the greenbean casserole and then the turtle pumpkin pie. She also brined the turkey...

We got up around 9am yesterday (Thanksgiving) and checked on the turkey. It was still somewhat frozen... so we went into plan B and soaked it in the sink. Fortunately, it was a smaller bird and defrosted with no problems.

We started to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but Cathy was really upset about it. She had hoped to watch the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it wasn't showing here. There were THREE channels showing the stupid Macy's parade... but not one for the Detroit parade. She ended up turning off the television and listened to music instead.

Cathy had read that oven bags can make a HUGE difference in the juicyness of a turkey, so we went to Wal-Mart to pick some up. We also got some Subway for lunch and then came home.

Our dinner was wonderful. Cathy's turkey was absolutely perfect and she was excited because it was her first turkey. Steve was very impressed ;) We had greenbean casserole, cresent rolls, stuffing, turkey and gravy, Cathy's grandma Ghrist's green salad and then turtle pumpkin pie. It was tasty and we were both pleased with how it all turned out.

Today we slept in and then cleaned up the house for Steve's dad. He arrived around 6:30 tonight. He'll be staying with us for the weekend and Steve is super excited to show his dad around. :)

Enough for now... hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
The Walkers

Such is Life...

2007-10-23T15:37:00.000-04:00

It's been about two weeks or so since we last wrote... sorry. It's not like anything really MAJOR has been going on, we just lose track of time!!

Cathy is finally tracked out! She was really nervous about tracking out of her classroom for the first time. She's got some really amazing parents though, and all she had to do was ask for some help and they came! She worked late on Wednesday and Thursday and when she came home Thursday night, her room was done! She had to take everything off the walls... and then clean the room for Katie (she's tracking in when Cathy tracks out).

On Friday the 19th (Cathy's last day), we went to Chili's for dinner and then the haunted forest with Katie and her boyfriend Judson, and then Lisa. Katie and Lisa work with Cathy and we're really glad that she has them as friends. There's nothing worse than working somewhere new and not knowing anyone. Fortunately, the two of them have very similar personalities to Cathy and the three of them get along so well.

Anyway, we went to the Silent Forest at Walnut Creek (place we saw Kenny Chesney in August) on Friday night. It was fun... rather expensive ($15 each) and they didn't take anything but cash. We laughed our way through the forest part (not very scary) and then we were led into two different haunted houses. The scariest part was at the end... there was a guy hiding in the port-o-potties!!! He scared Lisa to death!!

We debated doing something more, but the longer we stood there and talked, the later it became. We ended up just all going home. It was fun though! It was the first haunted house that we've been through together! Usually Steve hates them, but he was a big sport this year and decided that it could be fun.

Saturday we didn't do anything but sit around the house and do nothing but relax. We had plans for Saturday night... we met over at Judson's place, and then he and Katie drove us to Lisa's place for a party. Her party was fun. We played flip-cup... it was Walker vs. Walker... and of course Cathy won (wink). Neither of us drank a whole lot, but we had fun. It made us both realize how old we are... we'd rather stay home and chill out watching tv than go out!!

Hopefully we'll be able to start a family soon... and that'll help move us to that next part of our lives. We're ready to expand our family and have some kids. Our neighbors all have kids and the one neighbor, Gary, always laughs and tells us that we got it right by not having kids... he always says this when his boys are crying or fighting. It's funny.

Cathy is going home to Michigan on Thursday. It'll be the first time that she's seen her parents since June... she's super excited to see them! It'll also be the first time that Steve will be home without Cathy. He's been away on business and been without her, but he's never been the one home without her... it's always been her home without him! We're going to miss each other a whole bunch.

While Cathy is home she plans on meeting some friends for dinner and catching up and then she is going to spend the rest of the time with her parents. She is going to the cider mill with her mom and then for sure going to Mongolian BBQ with her parents. She'll be home from Thursday to Tuesday. It's supposed to be really cool here while she's gone (in the 60s).

Okay... we'll write again soon!
:)
The Walkers

It's Been A While...

2007-10-07T10:30:00.000-04:00

Sorry about not posting in a long time!!! We're both doing well and wanted to give an update to how we are, for those of you who actually read this (we bet not many read it).

On Thursday, Cathy's cousin Corey and his girlfriend Heather came by for a visit. Corey is the son of Cathy's mom's sister Margie. Heather has her whole immediate family here (Greenville we think) and they drove down from Michigan to see her brother before leaving for the Navy. While they were here (in NC) they decided to come and see us and we were super excited!! They got here around 5:30 pm and came with FAYGO (three two-liters) and BBQ Better Maid!!! Cathy was SOOOOOOO excited!!!!

We went to the Bass Lake Draft House for dinner and enjoyed having the time to talk to them and hear about what they've been doing. They said that they don't plan on staying in Michigan much longer and they hope to move to NC in about a year or so (Cathy was very excited to hear that).

After dinner we drove back to our house and said our goodbyes. Cathy was so happy to finally see some family (she's been homesick since we've been here) and to know that they cared enough to not only come and see us while down here, but to bring Faygo and Better Maid for Cathy (she had blogged on myspace about all the things she missed about home and they were on the list)... really made us feel good.

On to other news... Steve is still happy with Burt's Bees. He has his days where he loves what he's doing and then there are days when he feels like he was hired to do one thing (something that he was excited about doing) but is actually being asked to do something completely different. He doesn't have the complete "team" experience that he needs to do his job well, but he was told that it takes time. So for now, he continues to give 100% and work hard, no matter what the job is that he's doing.

On Saturday, Steve had to be up at 5 am for a training that he did at 7am. He provided drinks, muffins, cookies, donuts and mini-cupcakes for everyone. Cathy thought it was really thoughtful and when she asked him how the group responded, he said they didn't say anything, but they ate everything.

Cathy had a HUGE all-day field trip on Friday. She was up at 4:45 am getting ready and then left the house by 5:30. Her parents and kids met her at school between 6:00 and 6:30 am and then their bus left for the coast. Cathy's class went with another 4th grade class (the other teacher's name is Lisa and she's one of Cathy's friends at school).

They went to the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship in Wilmington. The kids watched a movie about the ship and then they were set "free" on the ship to explore. There were many levels and they got to go down through the stairs and see all kinds of neat things. (On Saturday, Cathy was getting some additional pictures for her slide-show and she saw that there are parts of the ship that are haunted!!!!)

After the battleship, they went to the beach at Fort Fisher to have lunch. From there they went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The group had a presentation on whales and dolphins and then they were allowed to look around and see all the sea life. Cathy was not too impressed with the aquarium. She said that the aquarium at the Toledo Zoo has more interesting fish than the state aquarium does. Pretty odd considering that this NC aquarium is on the ocean and the closest body of water to Toledo is Lake Erie!!!

From the aquarium they went to the beach again (same place that they ate lunch) and spent about an hour and a half playing on the beach. It started to rain... and rained from about 3:00 all the way to 7:00. The kids got soaked, but they were all told to bring a change of clothes for the ride back (smart thinking).

Cathy's group returned to her school early (they had expected to return by 8:30 and instead arrived at 7:30) and then once the kids were all gone, she and Lisa went to grab dinner and some much needed drinks.

That brings us to today. We're going to go to Outback tonight to celebrate Cathy's birthday (she turned 31 on Tuesday). You'll have to read Cathy's blog to read about her birthday at school.

We'll write again soon...
The Walkers

Bad Week...

2007-09-15T21:34:00.000-04:00

The last time we wrote it was Labor Day weekend. That was two weekends ago...

The Sunday of Labor Day weekend we ended up taking Bob (our cat) the the 24-hour animal hospital because she was breathing really fast and had no balance. She wouldn't lay down all the way, she kinda was avoiding her stomach touching the ground. Steve noticed that there was something wrong when she tried to jump on the back of the couch and fell. It caused us to really worry, so we took her to the hospital just to be safe.

The vet at the hospital said she was fine. She didn't see anything abnormal and she said to keep an eye on her. She said it was most likely a cold, so she prescribed some medicine that we had to give her twice a day.

We didn't see any improvement on Monday... or Tuesday... or Wednesday... or for the rest of the week. In fact, she seemed to just get progressively worse. We both had a lot going on and neither of us could take her to the vet until Friday.

Cathy had her first field trip to the North Carolina Legislative Building and the Capitol building in Raleigh on Thursday. She had fun and enjoyed seeing both places, but couldn't take off work.

Steve had important meetings and was not able to get out of work either. The soonest that we could get her in was Friday (the 7th). Steve took her in after work.

At this point, she was not able to even stand up and had NO balance. She was anti-social (very much the opposite of how she normally is) and she wasn't really able to chew. She could lick her food, but not actually chew. We knew there was something REALLY wrong when she refused to eat turkey... which is her all-time favorite thing to eat.

Bob was very weak and not even able to meow. She could still purr, but not meow... she was moaning all the time.

The vet told Steve that he couldn't diagnose anything without blood work, but it was most-likely a Potassium deficiency. He said that with medicine and special food, she'd be able to come through and live a healthy life.

We both kinda assumed that that was the problem. Never in a million years would we have imagined that she had something much worse.

On Monday, the vet called Steve to tell him that the blood work came back and it wasn't good. Instead of being a curable Potassium problem, she had an incurable disease... FIV which is basically the feline form of AIDS. He said that he'd support anything we decided to do, but we really needed to think about Bob's quality of life. Steve sent Cathy an email at work telling her the bad news... and then asked her what she wanted to do. She called him right away (her kids went to lunch)... and together we made the decision to put her down.

Cathy had a conference scheduled for 4:00 that she rescheduled, and came home right after school. We had the vet appointment for 5:00... and as soon as Cathy got home (4:20)... she went to find Bob. Bob was on the floor in our bathroom and was laying in the doorway. She was on her side... and Cathy layed down on the floor and cried and cried and cried. She pet Bobby and listened to her purr. Bob couldn't really move... she was somewhat paralyzed and confined to that spot. Cathy had about thirty minutes alone with Bob and she cried a lot and asked Bob to go on her own. She asked God to take Bob out of her misery and let her die on her own, rather than from something we did to her. Cathy couldn't imagine having to actually be there when the vet put her to sleep forever.

Steve called Cathy at 4:50 to tell her that he was running late and asked her to meet him at the vet. She gathered Bobby one last time and carried her limp body downstairs to her cat carrier. Cathy drove to the vet through tears... and when she got to the vet, Steve was just pulling in. Cathy opened the back door to the Escape and saw Bob's back leg bent (which was weird because she had been so stiff)... and it looked like she was trying to itch a spot on her neck. Cathy scratched the spot for her and Bob's eyes got really big... and then her whole body relaxed and she kinda moved positions.

Steve came to the car and took Bob. We went inside... and the tears started to flow even harder. Neither of us were ready to say goodbye to her. They let us have a minute with her, and as we opened the cat carried to get her out, Steve noticed that she didn't appear to be breathing. Her eyes were still big... but she wasn't breathing. The vet technician checked and said that she couldn't officially confirm anything, but she didn't appear to have a heart-beat. The vet came in and checked, and confirmed that she had in fact passed on.

It was so very sad... but Cathy was releived that she was able to go on her own. She was a great cat... the greatest that Cathy has ever known. Bob was her 21st birthday present and Cathy hand picked her from her litter. She drove home with her and Bob was snuggled up on her chest... and from that moment on they've been inseperable. When Cathy went through her divorce, her ex had all the animals for about a month. It was pure torture for Cathy to be going through the divorce, and not to have her cats. She was able to bring Bob and Haid to her apartment (Cu was her dog that her ex "had to have" and then later got rid of). Bob has been such a sweet kitty... and her life was cut short by a terrible disease. If you ever had the pleasure of meeting Bob... you know how cute she was and what a great personality she had. Cathy and Bob had a very special bond... they would have conversations together (weird right)... and Bob was always by Cathy's side. She would sleep on Cathy's head... right next to her pillow, and occasionally was known to actually eat Cathy's hair. Bob liked to beg for food while Cathy was eating... and Steve would get so mad whenever Cathy gave in. Bob was one of a kind... and missed so much more than words can express. There's a hole in our hearts that can't be filled.

To make things worse, the vet told us that FIV is transferrable through saliva. Our cats all share a feeder and water... and he was very concerned about the other five cats. We immediately began to worry about their lives. It was awful to lose Bob, but there's no way we could stand to lose all six of them.

Steve took Toebe and Tommy on Wednesday to be tested and we got a call Wednesday night saying that they both tested negative. On Friday, Steve took Mindy, Hurmin and Eddie in, and again, all three tested negative.

So the good news is that all five are okay... but we still lost our Bobby. We had her cremated, and Steve was able to bring her home on Friday. It's been an exhausting week of tears for both of us. Just been a really bad week.

Keep us in your prayers...
The Walkers

This is a slide show in memory of Bob... she was the best cat ever.

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-01T19:56:00.000-04:00

We are excited to have made it to Labor Day weekend. Hopefully the weather here will start to cool off now that we're in September.

Can you believe that we've been here almost 3 months already?

Cathy had her first parent-teacher conferences this last week. She has to schedule them herself on her own time (yes... very crappy), so she had some on Thursday. She didn't get home until after 7pm. I'm telling you... she's going to work herself to death. She's been going in at 7am and coming home at 7pm... she comes home, we eat and then we go to bed. It's starting to kill her. When she goes back on Tuesday she has more conferences on Tuesday (after her Homework Club that she does voluntairly) and then Wednesday and Thursday. She's a hard worker.

Things are going well at Burt's. Steve is happy still and taking each day as it comes. Like any job, he's realizing who to trust and who not to trust and he's learning the in's and out's of the job. He's happy to be there and have a challenge, but it's stressful when he can't completely do his job. He depends on others being on the same team as him when it comes to completing tasks... and for many "teammates" Steve's needs don't come as a priority. With time it'll all get worked out... but for now he gets to bang his head on the wall daily.

We went to a new place Friday night for dinner. There's a hole-in-the-wall place called Andy's (not Cathy's favorite name) that we went to in Holly Springs. They have a 50s diner theme and the best burgers and cheesesteaks! http://www.andyscheesesteaks.com/. After eating dinner there we came home and watched some television.

This is the first Labor Day weekend that Cathy hasn't gone to St. Ignace/Mackinac Island in 20 years. Since she was 10 she and her family went up north to camp. She hasn't missed a year in 20 years... even when her parents drove her twin to Montana for college... she went up north for Labor Day weekend.

So to say she's depressed and sad, is a HUGE understatement. We decided that next year we're going to go up there no matter what we're doing here. So instead of spending this weekend going to the various sites in the UP and going to the Antler's, Soo Locks, Mackinac Island and camping... we're here doing nothing.

HEAVY SIGH....

We'll write again soon.
The Walkers

Another Week Goes By...

2007-08-25T17:38:00.000-04:00

This week Cathy went back to work and we were both excited to see her find something to occupy her time! She was glad to get back into her normal routine. It's not good when she has too much time to sit and "think" about all that's going on with moving and whatnot.

Steve is still enjoying his job but has started to realize that there's a LOT for him to do, and only so many hours in the day to complete everything. He's a very driven and motivated person, so when he sees a task to be completed, he works until it's done. He's getting a little frustrated at BBI because he isn't able to find one or two small tasks to be done, he's finding HUGE projects on top of HUGE projects on top of HUGE projects. He's experienced a little bit of overwhelmingness this week.

Cathy had the best day teaching 4th grade this last week. She has really been able to connect with her class and will tell you that there isn't one child in her class that is a behavior problem. They all work well together and she really enjoys going into work each day. She has made some friends at school and it's made going to work each day delightful. She is MUCH happier at Oak Grove than she was at Childs. Even though she did have some great friends at Childs and Lincoln, she just didn't like how her principal ran things... (or didn't run things) and she really did not appreciate the things that some of her teammates did while being paid to teach. As Cathy says, "They wouldn't last ONE DAY down here."

On Friday Cathy got home and we headed into Fuquay for our cheap Mexican... delicious as always. Then we went to DQ for our dessert... we came home and watched some tv, but we were both so tired that we were in bed by 9:45. Yes... we're definitely getting old... Friday night and we're in bed before 10pm.

Today the dryer guys came AGAIN... and AGAIN there was a problem. It's becoming comical how this whole thing is going down. Steve finally called Five On Your Side (the news station's problem-solvers) and we're anxious to see if they contact us and do a story about our Home Despot problems... September will be 3 months since we've been here... and it's taken that long for Home Depot to bring us our dryer.... our NEW dryer that we spent a LOT of money for...

We're going to go to Outback for dinner tonight because Cathy was talking about it with Katie (her coworker) and it got her all hot and bothered... and now we have to do something about it. We've got a 6:30 reservation and she's as happy as could be.

Cathy's mom had surgery last week and she's home and doing well. There's a physical therapist coming in to work with her on mobility and moving around and even though it's painful, she's giving it her all and doing very well! Thanks for all the prayers!!

We're going down under... be back later!
:)
Steve and Cat

Is It September Yet?

2007-08-18T22:19:00.000-04:00

It's crazy how busy we're able to get around here.

On Tuesday, Cathy's mom Cathy went into the hospital for her hip-replacement surgery. Everything went well and she's back home now and is ready for the recovery part. It reminded Steve of his mom and all the surgeries that she had. He knows first hand how stressful it is when a parent is in the hospital. We sent her a really nice bouquet of flowers and a balloon... which she absolutely loved.

Nothing of any particular interest has happened this week at BBI. Steve is still settling and if asked to do it all again he would do it in a minute. On Wednesday, Pam Z. was in town on business and we were able to meet her for dinner at Mama Mia in Cary. She used to work with Steve at FM and we always go to her birthday karaoke parties. Anyway, she was in the Durham area and we met her for dinner and it was super nice to see a familiar face and to laugh with her.

Thursday and Friday Cathy went into work... she was technically required to go in and work. She's all prepared and excited to go back on Monday. She said that she missed her kids and will be glad to get back into the routine. She thinks she's really going to like the year round schedule... having three weeks was just about perfect for her. She tracks out again in October and hopes to get to go back to Michigan for a visit.

Last night Cathy went to a coworkers house for a "sleep-over." She wasn't going to go but decided that it'd be good to socialize with people and form better friendships. She came home today and was VERY tired but said that she had a good time. They ordered pizza, drank a little, did Dancing with Darren (he apparently has a video teaching the dance moves for Britney Spears, N'Sync and a few other has-beens). They played SCENE IT on DVD and then watched SHAG (the movie that Cathy and her mom used to always watch together).

Today we went and saw the Simpsons movie. Talk about hilarious!! We laughed and laughed throughout the whole thing. It was very funny and well worth the price to see it. Tomorrow we're planning on going to see HP and the Order of the Phoenix.

Enough for now... it's bed time.
Steve and Cat

Weekend

2007-08-12T20:14:00.000-04:00

We had such a great weekend!!

On Friday Cathy went into work to get her paycheck and ended up staying all day (and night) working on things. She had papers to grade and she did some lesson planning. She ended up coming home around 7:00 and we decided to head to Fuquay-Varina for some Mexican for dinner.

We absolutely LOVE this Mexican place. It's called El Mason and it's soooo cheap and soooo good. They have this page of combo meals and just about anything you can think of is put together into a combo for $7.25. We usually both get water so our meal with tip comes to less than $20.00. They give you free chips and salsa that's made from scratch and delicious.

After eating Mexican we have a ritual of heading over to the DQ (Dairy Queen) for some ice cream. Steve always gets a Blizzard and Cathy usually gets their chocolate covered strawberry waffle bowl sundae... but this time she decided to get a banana-split but in a cup instead of the boat. This caused a GREAT amount of confusion because they have a banana-split Blizzard... but Cathy hates Blizzards (unless it's cookies and cream) because she hates things in her ice cream (weird right).

Anyway, she didn't really get a banana-split... she got a sundae with every topping they have dumped in a cup with bananas. She kept raving about how good it was... and they put it in a 44oz cup. It was MASSIVE and only cost $3.50. Yes... we definietly made out.

On Saturday we waited around ALL DAY for the Maytag person to come with our new dryer... yes we have a dryer but we'll have to do a separate blog just about the drama with the dryer. Anyway, they NEVER came. Talk about pissing us off and wasting the entire day.

We ended up going shopping. Cathy had gone to DSW on Thursday and bought $130 worth of shoes (yes... and they were almost ALL sandals). Anyway... the one pair (cute Sketchers) gave her really bad blisters after wearing them on Friday, so we took them back to DSW on Saturday. Cathy was really good about the whole thing... and DSW refunded not only the shoes but the coupon value (she had a $30 coupon).

Then we went to Old Navy and Steve got a TON of new clothes. They had so much on sale!! He got a bunch of dressy shirts, some belts, a jacket and some shorts. He was very happy with his shopping trip!

We also went to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought some things there. On our trip we also hit Target where we bought more things for the house and some other odds and ends.

Because it was getting late, we went to one of our other favorite places to eat, the Bass Lake Draft House. They have pretty good food... it's sometimes over-priced (depending on what you get). We don't eat there very often, but it was pretty good. After dinner we walked to the coffee place and got some ice-cream.

We came home and watched The Brothers Grimm. It was very interesting... nothing like we had expected. It was good... very graphic and violent, but it was entertaining. Not something that we'd need to see again, but it wasn't bad.

Today we slept in. Steve went outside this morning and watered the lawn and talked to our neighbors. After noon we went to Lowe's for grocery shopping. That's about it for today.

We're both hoping that Cathy's mom's hip-replacement surgery goes well this week. She's going into the hospital on Tuesday and then coming home after Friday. We're praying that it's as smooth as possible and her recovery is speedy. We both wish we were home to help her and make her as comfortable as possible... but we're not able to get back. If you're reading this and you do live close to her... PLEASE stop over and see how she's doing.

Keep her in your prayers please!
Signing off..

The Walkers