McAlister Matters

  We'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We are disappointed that we won't be able to see everyone this year in person. It's been a good year in many ways despite the pandemic. We lost some vacations but we gained a pretty Penny! We found new ways to exercise, do school and visit remotely. We adopted some house plants and finally got a cat! Thankfully my job situation has been pretty stable and wasn't impacted by the pandemic too much.  Penny started crawling just two weeks ago but already wants to stand up next to everything and help with the dishes. She is already very speedy when she wants something and terrorizes poor Paul's block creations. She's like Godzilla to his tall towers. She's also still obsessed with the cat and laughs whenever she see's it. BTW, she has the cutest laugh!   When asked what he wants for Christmas Paul always replies that he wants a yellow present, and maybe a green or red one too. What's inside doesn't seem t

There were no trick-or-treaters this year because of COVID-19. Instead, we had a scary Halloween candy hunt in our basement that the kids loved. Sarah made chocolate pudding brownie sundaes which were amazing. Kahlan was Cinderella, Juniper was Snow White, Paul was Spiderman and Penny was the Dalmatian of course. I had to dress up for my company costume zoom party. I showed up as Groucho. Recently Juni cut her hair. It was down to her waist so Sarah took off 4 or 5 inches. We carved pumpkins with the kids. Kahlan had to count all the seeds for a school assignment. Lately Paul likes turning on and off the lights. Penny's been sitting up and getting in crawling position. She also has her first tooth coming in! We're sad we can't travel or see many people this holiday season. Utah's COVID cases have spiked since school started. Hope everyone is staying safe! Click for more pics!  

This week on Labor Day we went to Farmington and played kick ball at a park with Sarah's family. While we were there Sarah found a cat for sale online that we decided we wanted to get. So we took the kids on a surprise drive and picked it up. The kids were so excited! So we got our very first family cat! We're calling her Slinky (Malinki). She's a beautiful Russian Blue / Siamese mix. She has emerald color eyes and soft fur. She's 7 months old and very affectionate. She took a few days getting adjusted to her new house. She retreats to the downstairs when things get too loud and crazy, but she's good with the kids and lets them pet and play with her. She was litter trained and is pretty respectful to everything. Slinky demands occasional affection throughout the day, which is great. We all really like having her as a new addition to the family!  Monday night the big wind storm hit us as the temperature dropped 40 degrees. We usually get strong winds from the canyons

Summer is ending. The older girls are excited for school to start next week. Kahlan will be attending online school. She's already introduced herself to her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Hancock. Juniper will be starting the online Upstart preschool program too. We got some new family photos taken yesterday! All the kids did great. Paul was a little shy but we got a couple smiles out of him. We are hoping to get our new dishwasher this week. We've been waiting for 2 months! It's been a super hot summer. Luckily the kids have been able to play in the pool a few times. From our garden we've made canned salsa, lots of pasta sauce and an apple pie. We've also canned some blackberry and plum jelly.  Click for more pics!

Kahlan turned 7 on Tuesday this week! We had another picnic party under the pear tree. She received books, dolls, sunglasses, clothes, bubbles and art supplies for presents. She also got some badly needed new shoes. We had cupcakes and ice cream, corn dogs and hamburgers. We love Kahlan! It's hard to believe our little girl is growing up so fast! Kahlan will enter the 2nd grade next month. She will be taking online classes for the Fall quarter. Kahlan is so creative and energetic! She makes great art and origami and has made tremendous progress on the piano. She's a wonderful big sister and helper. She's good at making up games and songs and activities. She wants to be a teacher and often makes lessons and teaches an imaginary class. She can build incredible worlds in MindCraft and Roller Coaster Tycoon. Kahlan is an excellent reader and bike rider too.  Click for more pics   

Today we blessed Penelope Rosemary McAlister at our house. We had Grandma and Grandpa Musser over and everyone else join in via zoom into our living room. Brother Pillsbury from the bishopric also attended. Penny did really good, was calm and just fell asleep during the blessing. She wore the same dress as the other girls in the family that Sarah also was blessed in. The rest of us wore masks. It's the middle of July now so it's hot here. The kids played in the pool again yesterday. This weekend we planted our new little grape vines and made 9 more quarts of pickles. The girls have been practicing ballet. :) Click for more pics

It was a quiet 4th of July weekend, except for all the neighborhood fireworks. We enjoyed some barbecued hamburgers, watermelon and root beer floats. The previous day the kids got to play in the pool and had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Musser.  It was hot and we worked outside in the morning putting in our grape trellis posts (the brown ones). It's been a long project but it's almost done! In the afternoon Sarah canned some beautiful pickles. Yep, the canning has started. A few weeks back we picked all our cherries. We got enough for 10 pies and enjoyed one for Sarah's birthday. We also got an extra box full for some cherry juice (sour!) and cherry jelly. All the kids have been reading. Paul loves his ABC Book of Mormon book. Kahlan read about 10 Juni B. Jones books this week! Juni has some Pinkalicious books memorized that she reads to Paul and Penny! Penny has been talking to us and her stuffed bug. Our family started doing a family history night with the kids so we