Oh My!

SNOW DAY!

For the second time this winter, we have been "blessed" with snow. Now, I am pretty sure everyone knows my feelings about snow. I do NOT care for it! I am cold all the time with out it so why would I want to go out in it? But, that being said, I did have fun playing in it this year with my kiddos from school and with Shea and Mattie. I think they said that we have not had this much snow in over 30 years. Crazy!

What is new at the Burks house these days? Well, Shea is obsessed as ever with Pirates and Star Wars. I even had a friend from school help me redecorate Shea's room with a pirate theme. It turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. He has grown up so much and I cannot believe he will be in Kindergarten next year. I think he is excited about coming to my school. He is still mommy's little guy. The other day, he "gave" me one of his prized star wars toys as a gift. This morning, he told me not to listen to daddy - only him. Uh-oh!

Mattie is becoming a little lady and has quite a little sense of humor. She makes the funniest faces and is getting really good at giving us "the eye." She has become a little parrot, copying everything we say and do. We cannot keep the girl fed. She is constatly bringing us things from the cabinet, handing it to us, and giving us cute little puppy dog eyes while signing "please". How can you resist that? She is quite a little climber too. She learned how to push out the kitchen chairs over to the counter, then climb on the chair to get to the jar where the marshmallows are kept (her favorite). The jar had to be moved! Apparently she figured how to get out of the crib last night seeing as she wasn't in it when we went in to get her this morning. TROUBLE!! For such a little thing she has BIG personality.

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Catch Up Time! December

This December seemed to fly by. I think I got all of the Christmas shopping done in one week. Once again we had about 5 Christmases. Some of our pre-Christmas activities included riding on the Polar Express, breakfast with Santa (in which Shea would not talk to Santa without his Target catalog and Mattie just screamed!) and a trip to the Gaylord Texan to the ICE exhibit.

This year we even had a white Christmas. I don't ever remember having a white Christmas in Dallas! We all thought it was very cool. Well, everyone except the dog!

#1 Houston: After a 6 hour trip filled with car-sickness and screaming babies, we finally made it to Nauntie and D's for our first Christmas of the season. We also got to see Jay, Romy, Sherrry and Robbie. We all had lots of fun. Shea got the new Millenium Falcon. The thing is bigger than he is and one of us has to carry it around for him.

#2 My Parents: Christmas eve is always at Kaki and Paw-Paw's house. Mattie fell earlier in the day so she had a nice black eye for all of Christmas. All the kiddos got tons of presents. Shea once again got lots of pirate gear and some cowboy dress up stuff - complete with stick horse.

#3 Santa: As always Santa was very good to us. I guess we were all well behaved through the year! Mom and Dad got new bikes! Shea got Pirate legos, a new gun, and bendaroos. Mattie got a new pink car and lots of "Little People" toys. She wouldn't get out of the car for days.

#4 MeMe and Pop Pop: Down to Chris's side of the family for Christmas morning. Shea got tons of Playmobile pirate stuff which took us about 4 hours to put together. Mattie got fun toys, but I think her favorite was the pair of squeaky shoes. She loves to stomp around. At least we always know where she is.

Another Christmas gone. We are truly blessed to have so much family to share the holidays with and so many happy memories!

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Catch Up Time! November

So much time has passed again since my last post. As Shea would say, we are just "busy, busy, busy." Let me see if I can catch everyone up on the last few months.

November:
The weather was pretty nice for a lot of November so we spent lots of time outside. I think we spent an entire weekend outside in the fort we built out of the "pirate ship" and camo teepee. We had lots of fun but I must say that I am a little to big to fit inside there - hence my legs hanging out in the picture.

Mattie discovered that the vacuum blew out air when the attachments were being used so she would stand in front of it and let her hair blow in the breeze. This made her look like she was part of a model shoot with her jammies hanging off one shoulder and her long hair blowing.

We did out traditional Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot and had lots of fun. Shea ran practically the whole thing. Thank goodness there are lots of us there so someone could keep up with him. Lord know I am not about to run!

Nanny and Pop-Pop "without the mustache" were in from New Jersey so we had lots of time to visit with them. Jay also was here and brought his new camera to help us with our christmas cards. I believe he took almost 700 pictures. Due to the wiggly nature of the kids - only a handful were usable :)

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October Happenings

October was a busy month. With school, soccer, sunday school, Halloween and just random other stuff it feels like we never sat down.

SICKOS:

I spent lots of time this month figuring out make-up work for all the sick kiddos in my classes. Strep and the flu were running rampant. I was lucky enough to catch the flu! I was confined to the bedroom for 4 days. Fortunately, I had a very mild case so I was never too bad - just couldn't get rid of the fever. I am knocking on wood as I say this b/c now that it is written it is inevitable to happen but I am soooo surprised that Shea and Mattie have not gotten the flu. Mattie has had several people at day care with it and so has Shea. Mr. Shea did have a sinus infection but for once we did not have to go on steroids for the horrible cough! Yeah - that daily asthma medicine is working!

SOCCER:

Shea has been playing soccer. He is the littlest one on the team as he was put on an older team. 4 year olds are not very good at soccer. By the last game of the season we finally had a few things figured out. Shea took a very hard penalty kick to the chest but handled it like a pro - after some crying and kisses of course. I think Dad took it the hardest.

HALLOWEEN:

We made it through this halloween with only 1 costume for Shea (last year we had 3 or 4). He went as Wesley the pirate from the movie "Princess Bride." I think he was the only 4 year old dressed like this! Mattie went as Tinkerbell. She picked the Pink Poodle costume 1st but it wasn't in her size. I was going to go to another store but then wised up and realized she is only 1 and is not going to remember so what did it matter if she wasn't what she picked out. Tinkerbell was in her size so we went as Tinkerbell. Yeah for Mom for this moment of clarity! We had lots of fun with all of our festivities with friends. We hung out with Kaci Rae at the Y, hung out with friends in the neighborhood, then trick-or-treating with other friends. We had lots of fun and both kids got lots of candy - the good stuff!

KITCHEN:

You don't even want to get me started. No - it is still not finished. Almost. We have all the major stuff just need painting finished, handles and knobs, and the backsplash. It looks really nice but I am sorry we even started this project. I think the funniest thing that happened was when we put in the new refrigerator. Shea looked at it and said, "Helllllllllooooooo georgeous!" I was practically on the floor I was laughing so hard. He learned this from Alvin & the Chipmunks.

OTHER:

Shea is doing great at school. He is writing so well and can count really high and even subtracted for Devin - about the number of green beans he still had left to eat. He and Chris went to the Speedway to watch a race. Shea said it was too loud. His is quite crafty in how he gets things he can't reach. For instance, he uses his ever present sword to turn on lights. One day I got mad at Chris for leaving the pool gate open which he apparently didn't do. Then Shea let us know - very proud of himself- that he opened the gate. He figured out that if he turns the toy bucket upside down he can reach the lock to the pool gate and get to his toys outside. Needless to say that gate is locked with the key and the key is hidden.

Mattie is crazy. Her favorite word is "NO" and she is not afraid to let you know that she is not pleased. She can now say mama, dada, bubba, no, and stop. She will scream bloody murder until she gets what she is looking for and then laughs with a maniacal little laugh - Dr. Jeckel and Miss Hyde! Her hair is so curly - just love it. I was finally able to get it into pigtails with out her yelling at me. She also now has tons of teeth which she uses to bite everyone when they don't get out of her way. Yes-sir-ee she is quite a handful but she is very funny and like to make people laugh and she gives the best hugs - complete with little pats on the back.

New things!

What is new around here? Nothing and tons!

Shea has started Pre-Kinder and has to wear uniform each day - so cute. He loves his class and was excited to see all of his friends back after the long summer. He is taking guitar lessons and playing soccer. We have only had 2 weeks of both - so I will fill in more details later. Shea is still obsessed with pirated and wants his room redecorated to reflect this obsession!

Mattie is at a new day-care. She is staying with a good friend of our's who runs an in-home day care. Our little miss is a little hot tempered and has started biting people. We all dodge whenever she opens her mouth but some of the other babies haven't figure this out yet! She now thinks the dog and cat are hilarious. This is a major turn around as I thought she may not be an animal lover. Mattie has started walking and is finally getting some more teeth in. She has quite a little personality on her in is quite funny. We also love that she goes to sleep easliy each night - we learned what NOT to do after the 1st.

I am having a great year at my school. I am teaching 4th grade Math and Science. I never really enjoyed 4th in the past but I am really loving the change this year. I have two great classes. Still struggling with balancing everything but doing a much better job of it so far!

Chris is good. Football season has started so he is camped out all the time checking on his Fantasy Football stats. He is also coaching Shea's soccer team which he is handling quite well even though he isn't sure about it!

The kitchen has been a boil on my butt! This was supposed to be done the week we were in New Jersey. Six weeks later - no kitchen. I have cabinets but nothing is working yet. I got tired of washing dishes in the bath tub so I switched to paper and plastic. I think even the strongest environmentalists would agree with this decision! Things are finally moving forward so hopefully it will get finished soom - knock on wood!

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New Jersey

We had a great trip to New Jersey this year. The plane ride was a little crazy with Mattie- she did NOT want to stay in her seat and let everyone know about it!

Our first day trip was to Ocean City. The weather was cool and rainy but we still had a good time. Shea rode all the rides with his cousin while I just got to sit and watch - BUMMER! The one thing I was allowed to go one - got me SOAKING wet! Because of the rain we weren't able to go down to the beach.

Anther trip we made was to Philadelphia. This was really cool. The weather was absolutely perfect for a walking tour. We ate authentic cheesesteaks and walked around what used to be Benjamin Franklin's house and Post Office. I got to have a little reinactment of "National Treasure" as we walked past Independence Hall - you know - where to find the glasses that will let you read the map...

Another cool thing was the "Pirate Adventure Tour" we took. We got painted up like pirates and boarded the ship. W got to fight off the bad pirates and hunt for the treaure. Some parts scared Shea a little bit but Mattie, Pop-Pop and I had a great time. I think I am going to open up a boat like this around here somewhere. Anyone want to invest?

We had a great time but were happy to come home after our very busy trip!

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Mattie's Birthday

We were very excited to celebrate Mattie's first birthday. I had to go crazy with her little tutu and matching bow. Doesn't she look like a little present? Hopefully some day I will get some proffesional pictures in her outfit. Miss Mattie would not take a nap the day of her party so by the time everyone was arriving was about the time she was ready to go to sleep! I decided on a cupcake theme. Due to the success of Shea's pirate theme cake I went all out and bought the special Giant Cupcake pan. Well, easier said than done. The damn thing was a BEATING to ice. I basically ended up fingerpainting to get icing into all the little crevices that are supoosd to look like the wrapper! They came out cute - just not up to my picky standards!



We had a great time visitng with all of the family and friends. Mattie got tons of wonderful presents including her new pink chair that her brother keeps stealing. She will also be one of the best dressed kiddos around!

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Happy Birthday Shea!

Boy, how time flies! Shea turned 4 years old at the beginning of May. I can't believe it. I am amazed everyday by him and how smart he is. I just love to watch how his little mind works. I must say that he is quite the little negotiator when he needs to be.

For his birthday we had a Pirate Party. All of our neighborhood friends came as well as a couple kiddos from his class. There were tons of people there! We had a great time swimming, eating cake, and opening presents. Now we just have to make room for all of the new toys!

Mr. Shea has learned SOOO much this year in preschool. He knows his most of his letters and numbers, how to write his name - yes, almost legibly. He was also fascinated by the inaguration of Obama. He chose to watch the Presidential Address on TV one evening rather than watching cartoons b/c "Bawack Obama was on TV and he lives in the White House."

He also likes his little sister - most of the time. He is always trying to teach her the importance of sharing her toys. Unfortunately, we don't practice what we preach when it comes to Shea sharing his toys! He tries to keep her in line by telling her to "be quiet b/c he can't hear his movie." She thinks this is funny which just makes her louder which in turn makes him pretty mad.

And what is Miss Mattie up to these days? TROUBLE! Aww...not really. She is now crawling and pulling herself up on all the furniture. Even though I swear she has been teething for the last 6 months we have a whopping ZERO teeth in our mouth! She is quite vocal and doesn't take any crap from anyone. Mattie has also decided that baby food is no good and only wants real food or formula and BOY can she put it away! She has made it 2 months now without an ear infection - different issues however, but no ear infection. Keep your fingers crossed - we have a check-up next week. She cracks me up with her little personality - well, I don't know how "little" it is! She is a little dramatic. Where do these dramatic children come from, I ask you? She loves to throw herself backward or slam her head to the ground when mad. I have learned to have one hand ready for catching at all times.

Proof that one of my children look somewhat like me!

A message from Mattie

Hello All!

This is Mattie and I am taking over for my mommy right now. She has just been too busy to update the blog. This is mostly my fault but - oh well!

It has been a pretty busy month around here. Daddy was out of town for almost a week so Mommy was a running around like a mad woman. Thankfully, Kaki helped us out a lot.

I think my teeth are coming in so I have been a little grouchy. Plus, I once again have an ear infection. Yep - that makes 5 in my 6 short months here on Earth! Needless to say, I have just wanted to be held ALL DAY long! Mom is complaining, but the way I see it, I am just helping her get her arms toned up. I mean - she is always saying that she needs to work out. What better way to do this than having an extra 15 pounds strapped to you as you do things around the house! Right?

I am doing all sorts of cool things these days. I can eat real food. I love oatmeal and veggies! I can roll over pretty well now - especially to get toys I want to play with. I can sit almost all by myself and gripe if I have to recline. I am a busy girl - no time to relax! Mom thinks she heard me say ba-ba for my bottle but I think she is just a little delirious from the lack of sleep.

I think my big brother is the coolest thing EVER! I love watching him and laughing at him. He actually gave me a kiss the other day. Later on, I scratched his arm on accident so he is keeping his distance now. He really is pretty sweet to me. He hands me all sorts of toys when he thinks I need something to play with. He is so smart too! He was telling mom all the letters on the fridge and what sounds they make - WOW!

I think I am getting a little sleepy so I am going to head out for a nap! Bye!

Happy Thanksgiving ...Merry Christmas...Happy New Year...Yada..yada..yada

Once again it has been a while. I have gone back to work and my kiddos are being pretty good to me! I was ready for all the fall and winter breaks though!

Thanksgiving...we introduced Mattie to our little Family tradition of the YMCA Turkey Trot. She managed to sleep all the way through it! Shea, who usually likes to do his "big runnin'" opted for a ride on the stroller this year. He and Kaci had a great time at the petting zoo after the run. They also enjoyed beating the hell out of each other! At one point we had to ban shoes from them both or we were going to be making a stop by the emergency room.

Christmas came and went so fast my head is still spinning. We were here, there, and everywhere for almost a week. Poor Shea thought Santa didn't come because it didn't snow. They really need to start making "A Christmas in Texas/Arizona/Hawaii" type holiday programs! Once again, Santa was quite good to all of us (apparently the recession didn't hurt him too bad)! Evan Mattie was quite excited by all the presents. We were excited to see all the family who we haven't seen in a while.

Happy New Year to all! Chris and Kelly actually went a New Year's party while gracious Kaki & PawPaw let both kids spend the night!

The past couple weeks have been crazy with everyone being sick. Kelly is the only one in the house that has not contracted an ear infection, strep and/or the horribly nasty stomach bug (I'll leave it that). We have also generous enough to share these germs with family members not in our household!

Mattie is getting to be such a big girl. She is 5 months old and almost sitting up. She is now eating cereal. This is after a major struggle with the Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome brought on by her mother and a bright flash (gotta capture those "firsts" you know!) She still has her little red headed temper and loves to "talk" to us all day long. She has also decided that her toes make quite a tasty addition to her diet.

Shea is as precocious as ever. We love to hear what he has to say especially when he is really dramatic and the hands and facial expressions get going. We call him "parrot" these days and we REALLY have to be careful what we say. A couple weeks ago his favorite expression was "Holy God." Well, at least it wasn't "holy shit" He has stopped getting his head busted up at school and is hanging out with the good boys. He also has started get goodbye kisses from a few of the little girls - uh oh!

Chris and Kelly are still around but nobody really cares about them anymore. Apparently, they merely serve as transporters of babies to various grandparents!

Poor Second Baby

I know...I know...there is no mention of Miss Mattie in this blog other than she was born! The reason is that she does NOT like to be alone or put down so it is rather difficult to type while holding a bobble-head! Let me bring you up to speed on our little girl.

1. Colic - enough said? Poor Mattie basically screamed her way through the first few months of life. Chris was about to trade her in!

2. Red Head - enough said? She wants what she wants when she wants it and she wanted it 10 minutes ago! Some say she gets this from her mother but I don't know what they are talking about!

3. Non-napper. We only take cap naps. Thank goodness she started sleeping through the night very early on!

4. Cheeks. She has the fluffiest, squishiest cheekies ever - LOVE them

5. Bouncy Seat - She loves to be bounced and shake in her little chair. Shea is very good at helping us out with this. He did however almost send her into orbit one day.

6. Little Sister - Mattie thinks that Shea is the coolest thing ever. She watches him all the time. She even tries to imitate his little "Happy Feet" dance.

7. Precious - Of course we just adore her! She makes the silliest little face and laughs. It is amazing how a tiny hand holding your finger or a big gummy smile can make you melt!

Where, Oh Where, Has My Baby Shea Gone?

Those you you who regularly read the blog know that I rarely have a sappy entry. (I find passive-aggressive sarcasm a much better "voice" for me.) Anyway, yesterday something happened to me that I feel I need to write about. You always hear people say to cherish the moments you have with your kids because they grow up too fast. Yesterday afternoon this hit me like a ton of bricks. I was playing with Shea in his bedroom and we were having a good time just hanging out, painting and coloring. Then, he climbed into my lap and threw himself backward like he usually does when we are playing. As I was looking at him, I couldn't figure out why he looked so "weird" to me. Then it hit me - he was no longer my little baby Shea. He is now my little "boy" Shea. I know I was warned, but I really just can't believe he has grown up so fast!

I started this blog almost a year ago so there are no "baby" picture of Shea so forgive me while I stroll down memory lane for a little while.

Look at what I can do!

Lassie Comes Home!

We are excited to let everyone know that baby girl Mattie Anne Burks was born 08-08-08 at 6:15am. She was very good to momma - 5 hour labor and about a 10 minute delivery! My kids are good to me :)

If you are wondering about the title I need to explain that Shea has been calling the baby "Lassie" through the whole pregnancy. Not quite sure - but maybe he was hoping for a puppy!

Things have been been a little hectic around here but we are finally starting to settle into a routine.

Shea has had his nose a little out of joint with the new baby but is quite protective of her. At first he really didn't want much to do with her but has lately come around and has been quite the little helper. He likes to get her rocking in her bouncy seat and turns on the music to her swing when she is crying. The other day Mattie was crying in the car and Shea told me that she did not like the song that was playing and that I needed to turn the radio off.

Some day I might actually get a picture of them together but here are a few separate ones until then!

New Living Room

After having the floors done in or living room, I realized we were living in a wooden box with the wood floors and paneled walls. So, we decided that we would finally get the living room painted. Well...the project turned out to be a lot bigger than that and started LOTS later than was supposed to! Here is the list of what all we had done: ripped out the wet bar to turn it into a little office area since Shea's room is now where the office was; tore out the windows and door to the patio and added sliding french doors; tore off all the paneling in the living room had the walls textured and painted; then you will see Chris's new entertainment center!

Like I said before, this started WAY later than anticipated. It started about a week and a half before my due date. Let me give you a little play by play on how this all "went down."

Wednesday: doors come and start to be installed. Shea and I spend the night at my mom's because there is still a huge hole in my house and no AC - pregnant women don't like this :)

Thursday: finish installing doors.

Friday morning - 1:30am: Kelly goes into labor

Saturday: nothing happens - kelly in hospital

Sunday: nothing happens - Kelly & baby come home from hospital

Monday: painters start and are so loud that Kelly, Mattie and Shea go to her parents house to escape the noise

Tuesday: Painters are no shows - trapped in bedroom

Wednesday: Painters tape and bed the walls - trapped in bedroom

Thursday: Painters texture walls - trapped in the bedroom

Friday: Paint the walls. Kelly, Shea, and Mattie once again head to her mom's to escape the smell and spend the night

Saturday: TV installer comes. Kelly, Shea & Mattie still @ mom's because we aren't allowed to touch anything :)

Sunday: Put the whole house back together b/c the housekeepers are coming on Monday to do a deep cleaning.

Monday: Housekeepers come and the house if finally back to normal by the afternoon!

Before Pictures:

After Pictures: