McAlister Matters

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