Fillmore Thanksgiving

Some 46 Wall kinfolk and friends gathered in Fillmore for Thanksgiving this year. The food was great and the company was even better.


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The Cousin Table
















Dad (Phil), Aunt Flo, and Uncle R.A.

Turkey Day Dash

We had a great family outing on the morning of Thanksgiving at the annual Turkey Dash in Newbury Park. I was really proud of everyone for giving it a great effort; virtually all of us posted significant improvements on last year's times. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy when we took our big group picture. I hope the Thomases can post that one soon. :)


The Odessa Walls -- Tough Hombres
















A Proud Daddy and his girls
















The Sibs

hey everyone... we got our house!! our very first house! just wanted to share... love you all!

and here are the pictures...

Legoland with the Odessa Cousins!

We all had so much fun at Legoland with the Odessa Walls!

Happy Thanksgiving and "Christmas"

Happy Holidays everyone! I had a wonderful thanksgiving with you guys! (Texas cousins- thanks for enduring that drive) :) I can't wait for 'Christmas' tommorrow! To all cooks- the food was AMAZING!

A bit of a Ham

It appears that Michaela got a bit bored recently and decided to play with the camera. What she forgot was the I get to see all the pictures that camera takes. Moo-ha-ha-ha-ha!!


The Thinker

















The Rocker!

















Can't See Straight!

Celebrating Jenna's Birthday (some more!)

The way we Walls figure, if celebrating a birthday once is fun, how much more fun is it to celebrate it again and again? Here are more pics from a couple recent celebrations.


Jenna's special "home" birthday celebration,
along with some early Christmas cheer!
















Dinner at Claim Jumpers: three beautiful
generations together!
















Daddy and his girls enjoy a stroll at the Lakes

Happy Birthday Jenna!!

Jenna, Trisha, Phyllis & I were thinking about calling you today--but we missed our chance!  But now it's too late to call--but we're thinking of you and can't wait to party tomorrow!!  Love you! bw

Legoland!!

We made it safely to SoCal and had a blast at Legoland w/Phyllis, Garrett & Blake!!  So many more great pix to show soon! bw

Fun with Ashley

As some of you may remember, Jenna shares a birthday with Ashley Giboney, who turns one tomorrow! We helped celebrated her birthday this past weekend. I tried to include some video footage of Ashley eating her cake (shades of Michaela's first birthday party)-- but had to give up for now.


Our November Birthday Girls:
Peggy, Ashley, Jenna
















Helping Ashley open her presents

Jenna's 14th!

On November 20, Jenna turns 14! This morning on the way to school, she said, "This is my last dropoff as a 13 year old." (Phyllis, I can still remember what you got me for my 13th birthday: a big ole honkin' chocolate bar and a big bottle of Fizoderm acne medicine.)

It's hard to believe how long ago Jenna's birth feels and how many great memories and adventures we've shared with our beloved Jenna Rebecca! Happy birthday Jenna!

By the way, take a good hard look at Jenna's braces, because on Wednesday (the day after her birthday), they're history!

From Jenna's recent Tilly's photoshoot

Blues Brothers win!

Garrett and Blake's team had a playoff game on Saturday, which they won! Grandma was there to cheer them on and to witness a tree limb falling from very high and damaging a few cars in the parking lot! It was pretty exciting! The Blues Bros came to play : ) Since playoffs are double elimination and we've only lost 1 game, we had another playoff game today at 1:00. We were behind the first 3 quarters 0-1, but in the fourth quarter Blake put a beautiful goal in the net which started a rally. They Blues Bros ended the game with a 3-1 final score. The game was played in heavy fog, so at times we could not even see the other side of the field! In a later game today, Garrett's select team scrimmaged against Blake's select team. Since Garrett's team is older they were favored to win, and they did 3-0. By that time the fog was so thick we could barely see the players right in front of us. We couldn't see the goals, so when the team scored they had to run up to the parents and let us know they scored!

Happy to see...

Oh yeat, Legoland has great food too!

Come 'on cousins! Come to Legoland!!

Come on Alex and Katy and Elijah and Olivia (and any girl cousins who are able)! The Thomas boys love the Lego Technic Test Track, the boats, the Legos! and especially the Build and Test area!!! What do you think you will like best?

Jenna's 14th Bday Party

Jenna had a few friends over last Friday night to help her celebrate her upcoming 14th birthday. (Ask Carrie sometime how difficult it is to coordinate the schedules of 5-6 teenage girls.)

The girls had a fun time experimenting with facial cleansers and makeup, eating dessert at the Cheesecake Factory, taking silly pictures at the Apple Store, and watching "The Devil Wears Prada." It was definitely a girls' night!







Saucy!
















Who's got the cucumber slices?

Soccer playoffs

The Blues Bros soccer team lost on Saturday. We had beaten this opponent before, 3-0, so we were favored to win. Unfortunately, our keeper fumbled 2 balls in the goal in the first quarter which set up the opponents for an early lead. The Blues Bros rose to the challenge when Garrett scored our first goal, on an AMAZING penalty kick he took when his brother was knocked to the ground (with a few extra tumbles!!!) We tied up the score 2-2, but the other team scored again. Ugh. In the last minute of play, Blake forced the ball off an opponent in the end zone, Garrett took the corner kick, and Blake headed it - and it almost went in! So close, yet the game ended, 3-2. Interestingly, all the underdogs won their games on Saturday!! We have one final game next Saturday at 1:00.

Cotillion

Garrett donned a suit and tie to attend Cotillion on Friday night. It's a big crowd of 6th graders at Miraleste, ready to listen to etiquette from an ancient lady, and to learn dance moves from Bobby (an original mouseketeer and from the Lawrence Welch Show). All the girls wear gloves, so no cooties!

Harvest party pix

Here are some more pix from last Wed! Alex was a big helper passing out candy from our trunk. Plus, he really enjoyed "bobbing" for apples. Trisha really did a great job organizing the event--and the tennis courts allowed families to relax and feel like their kids were safe! At the end of it all--we were tired!!

Wonder Walls

Here we come to save the day! We had lots of fun being the Wonder Walls. Olivia was especially cute with her little green diaper over her tights. She used her superpowers to charm everyone she met. Katy got a very special face-painting before all our guests arrived and was pretty charming herself as she passed out candy from our trunk. Elijah had a great time "flying" with his cape. And Alex, he's a pretty cool 8-year old! Oh yes, and Wonder Dad is my very most favorite superhero of all. He is amazing!

Our Harvest Party was a tremendous success--bigger than ever, and the tennis court area proved to be a perfect venue. I have to admit I'm really glad to have it behind us. We're praying that God will bring great things from it!

Blues Bros soccer

Just a little update on our soccer game today: The Blues Bros won 2-1 in a game where we dominated the entire game! Did I mention that we played the 1st place team, the Geckos??? The Thomas brothers were key players on the team providing excellent corner kicks, defensive and offensive moves and leadership. King of the Hill playoffs begin next weekend, so we are hoping for a good position on the bracket. In other news, Austin has been competing today at DTASK (Drama Teachers Association ...something) His group was performing in the Drama category, long skit (8 min). We got to see it last night and it was very moving. We pray his first DTASK competition went well!!

Only child

Garrett, aka Hobo, was our only child to dress up this Halloween and go trick or treating. After the neighborhood party where we all eat pizza and salad, the kids join with their friends and travel in packs through the neighborhood. Blake was off at Astrocamp (science camp) and Austin went to the neighborhood party, but didn't dress up or trick or treat. Guess there comes a time in a young man's life...