Burns Family

Fire!

alex — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:09:50 +0000

As part of building a backyard fence, we started a small and enclosed fire. This magnet drove the boys crazy as they searched for more wood. Cautious Jackson wouldn’t get within 5 feet of the fire, so he threw wood and leaves into the it from a distance. You can guess, eventually he threw a piece of wood that dislodged a fire stick onto the dead grass. We had an immediate grass fire and panic.

Jackson – “OH NO! FIRE! FIRE! RUN PATRICK! OH NO! OUR NEW HOUSE. OH NO. OUR NEW HOUSE. RUN PATRICK”

It was more drama than I ever expected, but I’m still chuckling about it. Here’s a picture of the fire.

Here’s a Patrick quote of the day:

PJ – “Daddy, do you know what the goodest thing is?”

Alex – “best, not goodest. What is it”

PJ – “Milkshakes…You know it.”

Alex – “yep, you’re right”

2011 Award for Presents With The Most Pieces goes to …

alex — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:40:05 +0000

This award is annually given to the person that gave the present, or group of presents, with an outrageous number of pieces. To win this award, you must demonstrate a commitment to buying presents with lots of pieces even when other presents could have been given with far fewer swallowing hazards. The pieces are usually small, but large enough to get stuck in our vacuum cleaner. Many times these pieces are just fragile enough to break when stepped on so pieces multiply themselves over time.

This year’s winner is MamaLinda and Pop for giving a huge bag of blocks to Patrick.

Here’s a current picture of the playroom showing our appreciation for these presents.

Last year’s award went to Lizzie for the book of puzzles where the pieces fall out constantly. I put all those puzzles together hundreds of times and the kids loved watching. The book seems to be missing after our move.

We finished moving

alex — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:11:36 +0000

We finished moving on Dec-23 when we closed on the old house. The new owners are getting a good house, backyard, and neighborhood. The regrets we had between accepting a contract on our old house and closing on the new house are long gone. This new house works well for us. I might regret the size of the new power bill though.

My favorite boxes we moved were labelled:

Extra Rugs
White Towels (box 1)
White Towels (box 2)
Junk

Thanks to the movers who came on Monday for the big things, for the big friends and neighbors that helped with the swingset, and for Pop for making a big load of stuff while I layed on the couch whining about my back, and my parents for watching all 4 kids through much of the weekend.

The house is getting much better. Here’s what it looks like right now.

Patrick’s 4th Birthday

alex — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:59:35 +0000

We had PJ’s birthday party on Dec-22. Thank goodness he’s ok going with the flow. He was happy to have the attention. The night before he said his birthday was going to be “the best day ever.” That’s hard to live up to but I hope we got close.

Lettie scattered small balloons all over his room. He got frustrated with whoever put balloons all over his bed during a night-time bathroom trip. Lettie told him they were there because it it’s birthday and he said that’s ok.

Patrick got a few car and train things. A monster truck is the big hit. Here’s the picture from the morning Krispy Kreme visit. We’ll be back for doughnuts in a week for Amelia’s 1st.

Apparently I have an 80′s side ponytail and I’m a mean mommy

lettie — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:44:45 +0000

Kindergarten has been very fun and also more challenging than I realized. Jackson struggled in the beginning with the transition to longer, more structured days. We had lots of grumpy meltdowns in the first weeks of school. He was even more unstable than usual.
He has adjusted pretty well now and seems to like school. His favorite part of school is recess and he loves pizza Fridays. He complains about naptime and about having to go to mass every Friday. We also hear a lot of “school is hard work!” “i have to be there for seven hours!”
This is school assignment that he brought home in his folder last week.
It says “I feel happy when…” and the picture he drew is me giving him a new toy.
Next, it says “I feel sad when…” and the picture is him asking “Can I have a toy?” and me saying “NO!”

He has a way of redeeming himself, though. This is the surprise he left for me on our bed earlier today. It says “I love you mommy” Sweet boy…

Bye House

alex — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:00:52 +0000

After 15 months on the market, our house finally found a buyer.

We were near the breaking point and ready to rent our house. The expectations from last minute realtor calls were no longer worth the house cleaning. We think about 60 people looked at the house while home prices continued to drop. We had decided to rent it in the next week or so, then we finally received an offer.

As soon as that offer was settled our panic started. We didn’t have anywhere to live. After so many months of waiting we were pretty sure there were lots of houses ready for us to move into. When it was our time to move, none of the houses were working for us. We are committed to leaving this house we lived in for 6 years. The house makes Lettie excessively fertile and has a huge backyard, but we aren’t finding anything we liked. There are 85 houses in the right price range, size, and area but only one of those worked for us. We’ll post some pictures of the winning house eventually. It’s a nice house. You’re invited to see it and the detached garage sometime soon. We move in mid December.

It’s a weird timeframe when you feel like you own a house but you don’t have a key. We keep forgetting what the house looks like. What are the faucet fixtures like? Where does that door go? Does the girls’ room have a fan? Did that room have wallpaper? I guess we’ll figure it all out eventually.

It’s been a long time since we had a blog post. Sorry. I’ll try to do better but noticeable improvement is not likely. I’m sure you’re mostly wondering how the cows are doing. They’re good. We have 2 calves now. Our bull is currently underwhelming because I think he lacks shoulders. Dad says he is in an awkward adolescent phase.

What do you want to hear about? Anybody still out there?

Alex and Lettie aka “Allet”: 10

lettie — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:49:04 +0000

Today we celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. Alex, you are the best: friend husband daddy You are witty, fun, patient, kind, understanding, smart and I’m so lucky you’re mine. This song always makes me think of us. Do you Remember? … Continue reading →

Cute School Treats

lettie — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:12:59 +0000

One more day ’til Jackson is officially in kindergarten!

I’ve had a cute classroom treat idea on my pinterest for a while and I was so excited to make these to celebrate Jackson’s and his classmates’ first day of kindergarten.

It’s simple, quick and candy free! I bought a few bags of goldfish, some cellophane treat bags and typed up a label in photoshop that I printed on sticker paper and cut out with my 2-inch circle hole punch.

Cute!

p.s. You should check out pinterest. It’s an online bulletin board-a way to keep up with and organize all the things you see on the internet. I’m seriously addicted. Like I needed one more reason to be on the computer…

Amelia: 0.5

lettie — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:16:37 +0000

Amelia is a cutie and a sweetie. I’m still amazed every day at how alike, yet how different all the kids are.

First Beach Trip

Amelia has her own personality and quirks. She was the only baby of mine that loved to be swaddled past the age of a few weeks old (she’s over that now.) She’s the only thumb-sucker of the family. She only sucks it when she’s tired. As soon as that thumb goes in her mouth, she’s ready to lie down and then she’s out. Another good sleeper=blessing.
She’s still not sitting up well. She’s just a flexible, floppy little thing. As soon as I sit her in the floor, she lunges to move and get where she wants to be. She rolls and reaches. She often ends up under the couch.

Cobra and Bow are her favorite yoga poses

Her favorite pastime is blowing raspberries. It is a constant thing. It’s her way of communicating with everyone around her.
She has the biggest smile that lights up her face and crinkles her eyes and she shows it to everyone she sees.

sleepy Amelia

She is loving eating baby food. She is all cheeks and thighs. She gets stuck in her bumbo because her thighs fill it up. Delicious, chunky, full of rolls thighs. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Brown eyed girl

Penny: 1 and 9/12

lettie — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:19:23 +0000

Still isn’t talking much. She has gotten very good at miming, though. Her favorite words are Jackson, Patrick, Daddy and WOW.

Sandy Penny

She loves baby dolls and shoes and clothes. Amelia’s dresser is right next to her crib and I often find her after nap time with a heap of clothes in her bed and in various locations on her body. She already likes to play dress-up.

Pigtails

She can keep up with the boys, though. She likes to try to ride Patrick’s tricycle and she can hold her own with a light saber or toy gun. A few weeks ago, she was walking around making shooting noises with her barbie doll.

She's a busy bee. She kind of hops while she runs.

She still drives me crazy by not eating real food. She is a snacker and will always eat fruit, but forget about veggies or meat. She goes to bed without supper almost every night.
She’s working on the potty. I can’t believe I’m already in the middle of potty training fun again…

Here we go again...

She likes to cuddle and hug. She blows kisses and carries her soft blanket everywhere.