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2007 in Retrospect

Here are some things we've learned from our three boys in 2007:

• You can grow up to be Batman if you want. He makes $7 a week.
• If a crayon doesn't say washable, it's not. And it won't come off a wall.
• Moon sand doesn't stay together like it does in the commercial. It goes everywhere - and never dries out, so it ends up in the mom 'vault' of contraband toys.
• Ice cream can magically heal a boo boo.
• You can't really fly on a broom like Harry Potter - no matter how much you try.
• We've learned not to drag out potty training - just do it. Put the big boy pants on the child and plan to clean a few messes, but they get it pretty quickly.
• Kraft macaroni and cheese is good. My homemade is not as good.
• Laundry never ends.
• We learned three month olds are not good travelers.
• We've learned we don't remember as much as we thought we would from when the older boys were babies.
• Skechers are the cool shoes this week.
• We learned not hold a child's liquid amoxicillin prescription bottle while making a bottle. One will spill.
• We learned most of our toys were made in China and I'd say 60% have probably been recalled.
• We then learned to correct the kids when they put a toy in their mouths.
• The age listed on the Transformer box is a big lie. The box should say something like 'For any crazy fool who has a spare three hours to change this toy into something that a five year old will then want changed back to the previous toy'.
• Scooby Doo doesn't encourage 'potty talk'. Spongebob does.
• Dinner happens every night. Even when you don't want to think about it, all you end up with are hungry mouths and eventually a hot dog.
• Crock pots rock.
• We learned we are so very lucky to have three healthy, happy (most of the time) boys who think we can make almost anything better and the endless support of so many friends and family who make our blissful world possible.

Here's to a wonderful 2008!

More Christmas Cheer

Good morning all! It's New Years Eve. We have low-key plans for the evening. Our friends Brad and Angela and Aunt Katie are coming over for some dinner and fun. Little do they know that I've discovered karaoke on our cable. Ha! We always get together on New Years and other holidays throughout the year.

They are all so much fun and we have a great time. They have a baby that is two days older than Bo - Cooper. We had thought it would be fun to be pregnant together and didn't plan to at all, but ended up pregnant together and DUE THE SAME DAY. Coop flew the nest two days earlier than Bo did though. Anyway, with the new year coming, I am thankful for friends and family - to us, they are both.

Have a great new years - I am working on one more post today - a recap if you will of the year...

Happy New Years Eve Eve

In case I don't get around to 'blogging' tomorrow - I thought I'd send wishes to you all for a lovely new year. I am including input from my two older boys tonight...

Drew wants to tell everyone 'Go go Auburn' (mind you, Alabama is on tv right now winning 27-0). He also wants me to share that he likes Star Wars. When I asked Jack, he said a 'potty word' that I won't share (nothing bad, just a reference to poop) but then he changed his mind and wishes you all a Merry Christmas.

Anyway - happy new years eve eve. I am working on some resolutions - the standards: weight loss, organization and patience. Wow. As Drew and Jack bicker over who stinks more, I'll need the patience one the most!!

Holiday Musings

I wanted to add a picture of our gingerbread house. It's pretty rough looking. As you can see, I don't decorate edible things well. The boys helped a lot with it.

Below are two of my favorite holiday photos. The first is a sign from Callaway Gardens about keeping kids at hand. As a mom of three boys 5 and under, I appreciate children being 'in line'. The next is the back of a can of cranberry sauce (the jellied kind). It directs you on how to maintain the shape of the can when getting the cranberries out. Who actually puts this much thought into the shape of jellied cranberries? I just mash them up...

Well, the holidays are wrapping up - although we are still in the 12 Days of Christmas. We are moving the three kings closer and closer each day to the manger scene. They are in the foyer. Jesus, Mary and baby Jesus are in the den. That's quite a trek when you're only five inches tall.

Christmas Lights

I am going to tackle the weekend bit by bit... First off, Aunt Katie was nice enough to treat us to a weekend of Christmas Lights. We went to Callaway Gardens and the kids had a blast. The only one not too entertained was Bo - but that's mainly because his two top teeth are cutting in. The kids got to paint Christmas ornaments and we saw more Christmas lights than imaginable. It was wonderful! The boys were so well behaved. Thank you so much, Katie!!

We got home Sunday and went to John's mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve for lunch and presents. Once again, the boys were great - with the exception of Jack asking where his other presents were once we were finished opening. We went home that evening and had a family dinner of our own with the boys on the good china. They get a kick out of 'fancy' dinners every now and then...

We put reindeer treats out and made chocolate chip cookies per Santa's request. The kids went to bed and slept till 7am :) Santa brought lots of goodies for the kids. Our families came over for lunch and we crashed Christmas night - whew...

We went to my parents yesterday for lunch with them. The kids had a good time riding their scooters that Santa brought at gramma and grampa's house. Thanks to all of our families who made this a wonderful Christmas!!

Four days and counting...

Bo was quite entertained with grandma & grandpa's Christmas tree.

Again, I cannot fathom the fact that Christmas is only four days away... Anyhoo - it is what it is. I am going to wrap up the tiny bit of shopping that's left today and call it done. We are going to watch Christmas movies tonight and celebrate two things tonight - John got a new job! and today marks the anniversary of the day we were engaged. Awww... That's cheesy, but we are looking forward to spending some time with the boys and toasting John this evening.

Other than that - we had a wonderful dinner with grandma and family last night. I got to hold my new niece and she sure is sweet. They say she cries - John and I don't buy that. She's the sweetest baby whenever we're around her :)

I will also be wrapping gifts this weekend - have fun!!

One final thing for the day

Can we not all return to the good ol' days of regular holiday goodies?!?! I am getting tired of chocolate chip-macadamia nut-white chocolate-coconut-raisin-cranberry cookies. Give me a plain chocolate chip cookie and I am good. All these peripheral add-ins are quite frankly, unnecessary.

Just a thought...

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Many of you know my mom and I wanted to take a minute to wish her a wonderful birthday! She is truly a blessing. Whether it's an evening out, emergency babysitting when I got the stomach bug or just listening to a post-partum new mom work out some frustrations, my mom has been there. So, thank you and happy birthday mom!! I love you!

John and I are so lucky to have our families close and supportive. I cannot imagine tackling life with three kids without my parents and John's parents. I can call ANY of them ANY time and we cannot say enough about how much that means to us. My grandparents lived far away until I was in high school and I love that our kids will see ALL of their family this holiday. So, thank you grandma & grandpa, cawkie and pops, and gigi for everything - we need you so much and appreciate you. You all take time to make our kids feel special and we look forward to spending the holidays with you all :)

Not much else to report today - I am slowly wrapping up my shopping - there always seems to be just one other little thing to get (even when I think I am done!). Jack wouldn't listen yesterday when we got home and I had to call Santa and report the behavior, but Jack quickly changed his ways, so Santa said he'd still get the toys he requested. Drew had a small incident at school involving playing hockey with a girl's water bottle, but he also apologized and we have moved on... Ah - parenting...

Dinner with Santa

Last night John, the kids and I went to have dinner with Santa. Aunt Katie, Aunt Cindy and my niece and nephew joined us. It was wonderful. The boys behaved quite well and asked Santa for the toys they want for Christmas. Side note: moms and dads, doesn't it drive you crazy when kids start adding completely random things to their holiday wish lists a week before Christmas?!?!?!

We had a nice meal and went home. Today, we're all pretty tired, but it was well worth it. Six days and counting till Christmas!!! Can you believe it?

One Week and Counting

Can you believe that Christmas Day is one short week away? SOMEBODY (me) needs to wrap up some holiday errands. Most everything is done - just a few things needed. We had a big weekend - breakfast and cookies with Santa and making our holiday goodies.

Breakfast with Santa went okay - Jack wanted nothing to do with Santa there. When we got to the cookies with Santa at the lake in our neighborhood, he was all about Santa and told him about the Mickey Mouse clubhouse he wants. I was so proud!

Drew was a great help with the goodies we made. We made a gingerbread house Saturday night. There were some structural problems, but we got the whole thing propped with toothpicks and let it 'set' overnight. Then I put coconut all around it to make it 'snowy'. That's pretty big considering I DESPISE coconut. Now, my whole dining room has a coconut-ish aroma. But it does look nice. Anyway, we also made the traditional cookie-press cookies. The only problem with the recipe is that I forget it makes dozens and dozens of cookies. We had fun with it all!!

Bo has been a little whiny, but the next minute he has the biggest smile. That can only mean one thing - more teeth. John verified that there appears to be the top left one coming in. We've been checking daily and it finally seems to be on the way this morning. Happy Christmas everyone!

Bubba the Elf

We had an interesting night at our house. There's an elf that Santa accidentally left behind last year when he came. Well, his name is Bubba (I know - it's all I could think of) and he's been making a ruckus in our area. He hit our house last night! Bubba knows which boys and girls are on Santa's good list - so if he visits, you know you are on the good list!

Bubba colored a picture of our Christmas tree but left the crayons all over the floor. He also left a note for the boys and candy canes. They were thrilled that he visited last night.

So - be on the lookout - there might be an elf that is on the loose in your neck of the woods. I've heard of rogue elves leaving messes after making cookies and even rolling the Christmas trees with toilet paper as a trick.

Have a great weekend... While we gear up for breakfast, cookies and then dinner with Santa - I'll be planning cocktails with Santa!!!

Getting Ready for Santa

Drew had a field trip last week and he rode the 'Polar Express' to see Santa. Here he is after telling him what he'd like for Christmas.

The boys are great - just excited about the holiday. We're having breakfast with Santa and cookies with Santa this Saturday and then dinner with him Tuesday night. That's right - we'll eventually get a good photo of them with him!! We hope you are all enjoying the holidays. I realized how fast it's going. I am going to try and make a point to slow down and thoroughly enjoy this time with the kids.

All the latest, and over my grudge

Yes, I have been holding a grudge against the internet. I updated the blog with pictures and a witty narrative. Then it happened. The internet went down. So, I have been holding a grudge and refused to work with it. I am over it now though...

The kids are great - enjoying the season - even if it IS 80 degrees outside. We decorated like mad fools all weekend getting ready for the neighborhood open house (which we participated in). BONUS - our house has been clean all week AND it's ready for Christmas thanks to the event. Anyway, the kids were patient while we got everything decorated.

We are looking forward to Christmas. Saint Nicholas visited last week - the pictures above show the boys that morning. St. Nick brought them each a book, candy (for the older two) and a toothbrush (I hope our dentist friend Mark appreciates that!!). Have a great week - I have MANY more pictures to post as the days progress :)

Hit with a flying plastic pizza

Sometimes, our house is a lot like life - according to Forrest Gump. You never know what you're gonna get. I have three boys - four counting John - in the house. I grew up with two sisters. My life is an adjustment at times.

You've heard the saying 'boys will be boys'. Each day they need time to just get the energy out. Whether it's running around outside (the best option for this!) or playing in the house, you can bet at some point each day they'll be wound up. Last night, for instance. After dinner, they decided to throw Jack's plastic food in the air in the foyer (high ceiling AND stairs to throw things down). John and I agreed it was probably a bad idea. Being the mom-in-constant-training, I decided they should just get it out.

Jack loves playing with play food and kitchens, so they were throwing the play plastic pizza when things got out of hand. A piece apparently went flying. Jack was hit. On the face. Right below his eye. A little tiny bit of blood and some swelling. All from plastic pizza. He recovered well and it wasn't too noticeable this morning.

But a lesson for you all - don't throw your plastic pizza.

A Holly Jolly Weekend Slide Show

A Holly Jolly Weekend

We are exhausted from our weekend this Monday morning! We had a busy weekend starting Friday night. We went to dinner with Aunt Katie and had mexican food. Jack wore the Captain Hook costume (complete with feathered hat) for the whole evening - including dinner. People got quite a chuckle... Saturday morning we had a Christmas parade. Drew wanted to ride so badly on the float. John's mom crafted two wonderful shepherd costumes for the boys (and King costumes for the other kids too!). We got the kids ready and left early Saturday. When we arrived - neither Drew nor Jack would ride the float. At my wits end, I tried everything to get them on the float. Finally, Drew agreed and rode. Jack walked behind the float. Once again, people chuckled at the rogue shepherd tailing the float - which won Best of Show award!!

My mom and dad took the kids for a spend the night Saturday so John and I could complete our shopping. We both had a weird feeling about a live Christmas tree and decided that we'd find an artificial tree. Wow. The prices on trees are outrageous. Not to mention, you cannot find an unlit one that looks nice anymore. Anyway - we've put up one we used in the playroom last year in the living room. We went to every Christmas tree shop around - even perusing live trees. Talk about indecisive. We did get the tree decorated, some lights put up outside and the mantel decor complete...

Then we overslept this morning - we're wiped out from the marathon shopping and Christmas decorating. Maybe we'll finish decorating tonight. But I honestly can't promise anything :)

Homework

Drew has homework - usually Tuesday and Thursday. I have a wonderful routine of getting him to do homework and have a snack and then he and Jack can watch a little tv. Good times. We got home yesterday and I was in a hurry to clean and get things ready for a book party I had last night. I checked the folder and didn't see any homework. The party ended, the kids went to bed and then I spotted it. The homework. ARGH!!! Now, my kindergartener is the child without his homework already. And he's only five.

Let me know where to send my own nomination for Mom of the Year.

Bo is still super fussy getting teeth. The frustrating thing is that there are no teeth visible coming in (aside from the two bottom that are already there). So this could go on for weeks... Great.

The Ballerina Costume

Have you seen the movie 'Elf'? There is a scene where Will Ferrell's character, Buddy wants to get his dad a present. Buddy has been in the North Pole since he was a baby and doesn't understand much of the 'people culture', so he sees a sign that says 'For Someone Special' near lingerie in a department store and buys it for his dad. Well, we decided to watch this the other night with the kids and this was probably the only questionable scene. When the dad opened the box in the movie, my boys thought it was hysterical that Buddy bought a ballerina costume for his dad. We didn't correct him - easier to explain it's funny that he bought a ballerina girl costume instead of lingerie... Well, Drew thought it was so funny that he shared it with his class and teacher yesterday.

Thanks, movie makers. I appreciate that.

I am planning the family Christmas card - I was going to design it. I don't know. I really think I may just order some. But I did get a couple cute shots of the kids last night!! I am putting on a couple of pictures we had made last week... These are not my pictures, these were done professionally...

Thanksgiving, Part Deux

War Eagle. Enough said - not a great game for either side, but we did manage to pull it out, so war eagle.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents, Katie and Gigi on Saturday. My mom made pastitio - a wonderful greek-style lasagne dish. The boys had a blast playing with gramma and grampa. We watched the Iron Bowl Saturday night. Sunday was spent doing laundry and working around the house - getting ready to deck the halls next weekend. We have narrowed down the plan for exterior illumination - probably wreaths on the windows with lights on them. I have to get greenery for the mailbox. I will use scissors to cut it this year - no knives!!

The boys also had fun playing in the leaves outside yesterday - as you can see from the pictures. John let them play with the leaf blower briefly...

Our Thanksgiving Slide Show!

A Filling Holiday

Whew! We had a lovely Thanksgiving! We watched the parade and went to Cawkie and Pop's house (John's mom & dad). Drew got the wish bone from the turkey. He's been debating ever since what to wish for. As if 'poof' whatever it is, will just show up automatically.

Drew also has his list for Santa ready. Unfortunately they don't make the things he's requesting. I mentioned that to him and was quickly corrected - "Mommy, the elves can make whatever we want." Yeah, daddy and I better get working!!

I am attaching a slide show of the holiday festivities. We had a dance party - have I ever mentioned these before?? - Wednesday night. This is a Burke tradition. We play different dance music (disco, kids, Auburn band music, etc.) and the kids dance around. Our favorite songs include: "I like to move it move it" (from Madagascar), "Jump in the Line" (Harry Belafonte), "YMCA", "Copacabana" and any Auburn music. Bo participated in his first conga line. It was fun. The boys had a blast.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are ready for Thanksgiving - I love the holiday. I have to fix a peanut butter pie (per John's request) tonight and assemble the salad. That's it. We're going to watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving show tonight (thank you, Ms. Dabbs!!) and the parade in the morning. I get a little bored around the middle of the parade - how many showtunes can you really handle in the morning? But I love seeing Santa arrive at the end. LOVE IT.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Look for more pictures Friday or Monday :)

Good morning!

I took Nyquil last night to head off a cold I seem to be getting. Now I am trying to wake up - even though I've been out of bed for hours now...

The picture above is Bo in his bouncy seat. We didn't strap him in and he managed to do this in less than 30 seconds. He is getting more teeth - as you can see his finger is in his mouth. He is sleeping pretty good - some days he won't wake up at all, others he'll wake for a bottle once. He did last night, but I didn't hear it. John mentioned it this morning.

We watched Shrek 3 last night - those movies crack me up. They are getting so excited about Christmas - I love it too. When one doesn't behave, you just have to tell them Santa is watching and they'll end up with nothing on Christmas morning if they don't behave... Instant behavior modification.

Parents of a toddler

Okay - if you have a weak stomach or have no kids, you may want to skip this paragraph. Jack came to us yesterday (we were outside) and said, "I went poo poo." After a pause he added, "on the floor - BUT IT'S OKAY." Then reiterated that it's okay. I don't know about you, but no poo poo on the floor is okay in my world. We hurried in the house (expecting to see more or less 'loose' poo on the floor) only to find one large poo in the middle of the bathroom floor - no more than a foot from the potty. He can't explain how the poo ended up on the floor. He's three - what can you say?

Anyway, we had a great weekend (aside from the magic escaping poo). The older boys went camping with daddy. They met our friend Mark and his little girl Meghan - the boys had SO MUCH FUN! Sunday was filled with Cooper's dedication (CONGRATS!!!), a great lunch with Cooper's family (we felt so honored to be included - thanks!!!) and then our social butterfly, Drew had a birthday party. The day was topped off with a great meal at Aunt Katie's church for Thanksgiving - thank you for including us! It was a great weekend.

This is a good time to say thank you to all our friends and family for always supporting us and your kind words throughout the year. We are blessed to have so many wonderful people to help if we need it and who think of us every day. We appreciate you and wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving...

Apologies for the rant...

I apparently was in a bad mood last night - the kids found every single one of our parenting 'buttons' to push last night. They were better this morning. I think Drew is bouncing back from the virus still and Jack is just Jack.

CONGRATS to the Ubils - my vote is keep going for three kids - it's really not much more work than two! I already have a feeling it could be a boy for you this time. I think I am the only one not capable of producing different gender children. We are excited for you!!

What's new in your corners of the world everyone?

Livin on the Edge

That's what our older boys are doing right now. I am beginning to think that my voice is inaudible. Certainly they hear me when I tell them 'no', but apparently, I am wrong.

Big week for them - they both have Thanksgiving feasts in their classes. Drew had a book sale at his school and to top it off, he gets to have all his grandparents come to his class tomorrow. Very exciting. It's 75 degrees here and the high for tomorrow is 58 degrees. Wow - we are in for a fun weekend - they'll probably all get colds from the weather change...

Here's an old picture from Christmas two years ago - the fresh greenery holiday. As I plan the decor, I want to use fresh greenery again (opted not to last year)... I'm going with magnolia this time. The last time I did this (from around these pictures) I sliced my wrist open fixing branches to the mailbox and ended up with several stitches. Yes, that's right. Somewhat accident prone am I. Here's to a good holiday - and a safe one at that!

Happy Veteran's Day

I know it was yesterday officially, but Happy Veteran's Day to all the Veterans we know (grandpa, pops) and thank you for your service.

Not a thrilling weekend by any means... We watched the Auburn game (well, most of it), watched Ratatouille (cute movie) and cleaned up some in the basement. We have a small project in the works - finishing out a room in the basement. We figure we need to get rid of most of the stuff there to make it feasible.

We are also planning the holiday decor for the house - John's always thinking of the 'exterior illumination'. The kids tree this year is in the works (we got a tree after Christmas one year for a steal and they have it in their playroom to decorate). Everything is rolling right along :)

More updates

One quick thing - here are pics of Drew and Jack when they were Bo's age (and a picture of Bo). Just an interesting comparison.

After missing a week of school - Drew is finally on the mend (just in time for the weekend...). He had to get checked yesterday again, and it's just a virus. Moms, watch out for this freaky fever virus. Then the baby had a slight fever yesterday... Argh - we are ready for the kids to get healthy! We think the baby is getting top teeth in.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!! I know your mom is making fabulous desserts!!!

WAR EAGLE folks - I think we'll need it today :)