Slacker!

I know I have been a terrible blogger for the past 6 months. I keep waiting for life to slow down a little, but I have come to the realization that is not going to happen any time soon, if it ever happens at all . So here is a recap of some of the main events from the Burke home since October ( Starting with the most recent photos/events).

Family Easter Pictures/Easter Outfits

Kudos to my mom for the kids Easter outfits!  Since Easter Sunday is General Conference, we wore our Easter clothes to church yesterday.  Everyone looked darling!  Jackson has wanted a suit for a while now and was so excited to wear a tie and suit to church.  Now he said he wants a tuxedo! Go figure.  Avery and Sage looked beautiful.  I can’t get over Avery’s eyes in these pictures.  Sage loves dressing up and wants to wear a skirt and tights everyday.  She is such a doll.  Josh and I threw a splash of green on in attempt to coordinate with the kids.  For an amateur picture, these pictures turned out pretty good!  Good job Josh! 

We rushed home from church to take pictures of everyone in their Easter outfits and realized our camera battery was dead so we had to tell the kids to stay in their church clothes for a little longer.  It got a little tense in our house for about an hour.  “Don’t eat that”, “Don’t lay down”, “Keep your shoes on”, “Stop running around”, and finally, “SMILE”.  Right after we took the second family photo, the battery died again.  Phew!  Thank goodness they turned out ok because there was no way we were going to be able to keep those kids in their church clothes for 1 more minute, let alone another hour.   

Disney on Ice

Josh happened to be out of town while Disney on Ice was in Salt Lake, so my Mom and Ty took the kids & I to Disney on ice. They ate pretzels, kettle corn, cotton candy, and even got a prize from Grandma Di & Grandpa Ty. It was such a great production and they loved it! Thanks Mom & Ty!

Jackson Principal’s Pride award

Jackson received a special reward from the principal at school.  It is called “Principal’s Pride”.  Each month teachers nominate students to receive an award during a special lunch hour with their parents.  Jackson has made huge improvements in school this year and he was so proud of himself and this accomplishment.  Good job Jackie!

Jr. Jazz

Josh and our Brother-in-law Kevin, coached Jackson and his cousin BJ and their Jr. Jazz team. It’s a good thing there is not traveling or double dribbling called in these games or we may still be there. It is hilarious to watch. Jackson & BJ both did very good, but they forgot they had other team members besides each other. They are best of friends and play on every sports team together which makes it so fun.

Andre's Baptism

The day after Christmas was a very special day.  Josh’s 16 year old nephew Andre was baptized.  Andre started taking the missionary discussions and decided to be baptized.  Josh was able to baptize and confirm Andre. It was a very spiritual experience for Josh and Andre and the whole family.  We are so proud of Andre and the decision he made. 

Christmas Morning Before the Chaos…

The TRUE Meaning of Christmas

This year we decided to start a little tradition for Christmas. We want our kids to remember that Christmas is not only about presents, so during the month of December we had a nice nativity with Mary, Joseph, and an empty manger as part of our Christmas Décor. On Christmas morning before we opened presents or even looked to see what Santa brought, the kids placed the baby Jesus in the empty manger to set the day off with the true spirit and meaning of Christmas.

Avery & Jackson Surprise from Santa…I-Touch

Avery and Jackson were shocked as they opened their last gift from Santa.  I-Touch’s!  Neither had asked for them, and they were pretty giddy about Santa’s surprise.

I Love Christmas

There is nothing quite like Christmas. I get so excited to see our kids open their gifts on Christmas that I find it hard to sleep Christmas Eve. What a special time of year with so many memories.

Avery's Mini Locker

This was the only thing Avery asked from Santa.  A mini locker. Supposedly Santa had a really hard time finding one of these :)

Barbie Make-Up

Sage did not ask for anything BUT Barbie make-up. Needless to say, Santa did not disappoint. She was very happy to finally have her ONLY wish.

Sage & Her Vanity

Sage also got a cute vanity for her room for all of her make-up.  Sage is as girlie as they come and loves to play in her room and look at herself and talk to the other person in the mirror.

Avery's Family Birthday Party

Avery had a friend birthday party last year, so this year she had a family birthday party.  Getting all our family together makes for a very large group.  Avery is loved by everyone.  Avery you are so grown up!  Really, how did time sneak by so fast?  It seems like yesterday that you were a little girl escaping her crib and knocking on our front door at 10:00 pm with a huge smile and wild hair!  You have been such a joy in our family.  You are so happy all the time and have been so mature for your age since you were little.  I catch myself looking at you sometimes in awe.  You are so beautiful inside and out.  Thank you for choosing our family.  We feel so blessed to have such an intelligent, spiritual, beautiful, talented daughter.  We love you sweetheart! 

Avery's New Rollerblades & Cute Hat

Jackson's Birthday Party -7years old!

Jackson had a birthday party with his friends this year at “Jumping Jacks”.  It is like a big warehouse with blow up jumping thing.  We wore all those boys out!  It was so fun to watch Jackson with all his friends.  He got about 6 Nerf guns from his friends so that seemed to be the popular gift this year.  Jackson I cannot believe you are 7.  You are such a sensitive, loveable, giving, unselfish person.  You care about your sisters and your family so much.  You always think about others before yourself.  You have grown up to be such a handsome young man.  You crack us up every day.  We are so grateful that you chose to be in our family.  I can’t imagine what our family would be like if we had not been led to you 7 years ago!  We love you Buddy Boy!

Jackson's Birthday Cake

Those of you who know Jackson well, know he does not like cake or ice cream.  His food of choice would be glazed donuts and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  I had no idea what to do for a birthday cake for him since he doesn’t like cake, so we stuck candles in a glazed donut.  He loved it!

Grandma & Mac

My Grandpa is a war veteran and was given a full military ceremony with Taps. My cousin Mac who lives in San Francisco area is a Marine and was able to participate in the ceremony and handed the folded USA flag to my Grandma. Needless to say there was not a dry eye in the place. Mac is kind of treated like a novelty in our family because we don’t get to see him much since he lives further away than most of the family and has been unable to be at any family events since he has been in Afghanistan etc. He definitely made the cemetery service very special.

Flowers

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the flowers at the funeral because they were beautiful! My mom did all the floral arrangements. This is one on his casket that was so gorgeous.

Grandpa's Funeral

I posted a while back that my Grandpa (My mom’s dad) had prostate cancer and was on hospice and was not doing well. He passed away in November with all of his 7 children under the same roof, which by the way has never happened since the oldest child and the youngest child are 18 years apart. It was expected, but was such a long road of pain and suffering. It was so awful to watch him go through the pain and agony that he went through. Although it is so hard to not have him here, it was a blessing for him to not have to suffer anymore. It was a beautiful funeral and family reunion. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.

Halloween....What a "Drag"

At some point in every man’s life they dress up like a girl. Like I said before, my Uncles Halloween party is an annual event that we never miss. We laugh until our stomach aches. We played a game where we broke off in groups in different rooms. Each group received a box that had various dress up/costume items & make-up. Each group chose a person and used their creativity to dress them up. Then they were each judged. Funny thing is, each group dressed up their “model” as a girl. They are each very outgoing and were not afraid to strut their stuff.

It was a Kodak moment for sure.

Halloween 2009 - Josh & I

I am not real fond of dressing up for Halloween but my Uncle Tracy has an annual Halloween party every year where if you don’t get decked out, you should just not go. It is always fun to see the creative ideas every year by all the families. I tell myself every year that we are going to be prepared and have great costumes, and EVERY year we are scrambling the night before and the day of the party. This year Josh and I ended up being Hulk Hogan & Mr. “T”. We could not stop laughing as we were painting Josh’s face.
P.S. This was all done for character so please no one take offense.

Halloween 2009 - Jackson & Sage

Jackson & Sage fortunately still let us help them decide their Halloween costumes. Jackson would be happy as any super hero. Sage actually surprised me that she agreed to be Batgirl. I thought for sure she would go with one of the princesses. They are cute little Super Heros!

Halloween 2009 - Avery

Avery is growing up way too fast and now has a mind of her own. We did not have much of a say in her choice of Halloween costume this year. She did not like any of the ideas we had, nor did she want to be part of a group/family costume idea. Regardless, she chose to be a baby, a big baby! Ha ha. Avery is such a doll. I really can’t believe how fast time goes by.