Today was a big day in the Burch house. I flew on a plane – BY MYSELF. (My issue with flying hasn’t changed in the last few years – see here.) Wade was left in charge of three kids for several days – BY HIMSELF.
All of this came about when I received the sad phone call that my Uncle Bob had passed away. He lives in Washington DC and had been in the hospital for a while after his appendix ruptured. He never recovered and we received the news that the funeral would be tomorrow. My Mom, sister, and I were all planning to meet up in DC.
The picture above is of my Uncle Bob, my cousin Heather, her husband John, and their children. The picture was taken at our wedding so it is almost 11 years old (more to point out the kids are significantly older at this point!)
Month: May 2015
I had to leave town unexpectedly for a funeral. One last hug before I fly out.
Wade wanted to have a cookout for his group at work. We pulled out Bobby, our yard games, and invited the group. There were a few kids and tons of adults. The only small miscalculation we made was the number of younger kids and the power of “red jeep.” We should have unhooked the battery from the 24V toy. The little kids ran over everything before we could get them out of the driver seat or even into the wide open field!
By the way, when you have a cookout where mostly men come (without their wives) you end up with chips and chips and chips. Nobody takes these home with them. We will be eating chips for a LONG time.
One of my favorite times of the day.
We had a Hallmark cookout and Teague was quick to make some new friends.
Already she wants to pick out her own shoes.
I don’t normally have trouble throwing things away that are worn-out or broken. These bowls are both. They are literally falling apart. The problem is Teague brought these bowls with him from Korea. I have pictures of him eating out of them as a baby in his foster home and he continued to eat out of them here. They were always Teague’s bowls and he was the only one to use them. In the last few months they have started to crack and the plastic edge pieces are no longer attached. I can’t convince myself they are worth putting in his “Korea” bag, but I am still having trouble just putting them in the trash. I finally decided a picture would solve my delima. (A quick Amazon search assured me I can also still buy them. However, when I asked Teague if he wanted new Pororo bowls he told me “no”.)
New glasses! The right ones!
Sometimes I find astronauts reading books in my living room.
Her favorite pose of the moment.
(Although to get the full effect you need to see her pumping her arms up and down in excitement.)
6:49 pm
(It was a crazy, very bad, no good day. All of my kids went to bed early and I was in bed by 7:30.)
6:49 pm
(It was a crazy, very bad, no good day. All of my kids went to bed early and I was in bed by 7:30.)
6:49 pm
(It was a crazy, very bad, no good day. All of my kids went to bed early and I was in bed by 7:30.)
Wade’s smile looks a little forced as I leave him with the kids and head out to Girls Night Out. (The kids look pretty happy though!)
I believe Alex’s words were the equivalent of “oops” as he literally patted her on the head.
These two played and played all afternoon.
When you won’t stay seated in the high chair you have to eat on the floor, but at least you have company.
Happy Mother’s Day
Drywall dust – fun for the entire family.
Drywall dust – fun for the entire family.
A girl and her bubble bath.
Alex showed up looking like this and begged for a picture.
I’m sure he’ll regret that some day.
Teague is working so hard to be completely self-sufficient in all things clothing. Taking off his shirts is the only thing he can’t quite manage.
When I picked Kaitlyn up from Moppets today she had a Mother’s Day gift for me.
Winter is over. It’s the perfect time to finally get my coat closet (there are no closets in the entryway, hallways, or backdoor area of this house)! I have wanted a coat closet from the day we moved into the house. We ordered the doors last fall and they arrived around the holidays. Now life is finally slowing down a little and Wade is getting started on the project. I’m amazed at how quickly he is moving on this one. It might even be done in under two weeks – a definite record for us!
The fort building has moved outside.
The yumminess of paper cannot be described.
I bribed my kids to dress up and go out in the backyard not once but twice on Sunday afternoon for pictures. I was desperately trying to get a picture for Mother’s Day gifts. I finally got enough decent pictures I could then turn them over to my husband for photoshopping magic (which is never my preferred way of getting a good picture). He ended up taking each child from a different picture and creating this masterpiece (mind you Alex’s open eyes are from a fourth picture). I thought the picture was cute but definitely not one of my favorites or at all one of my best. I was so late in getting this together that I couldn’t even have a quality print done from Mpix or the like. Instead I had to rush a print from Walgreens. Then I went to pick up the picture and I was informed I needed a copyright release. It took me a minute of staring at the woman blankly before I even realized what she was saying. Then I truly started laughing. I told her I took the picture in my backyard two days ago. She kindly removed the notice and let me have my pictures. I am going to take the incident as a compliment.
When Daddy is adding a closet to your entryway and there is a huge box (from the new doors) what else do you do but make a fort in the kitchen?
Teague has taken to playing with his backpack everyday after school. He especially likes to put his monkey inside very carefully (as pictured) and then wear him around the house.
She spent the last 15 minutes crawling all over the robot. The minute I try to get a picture she won’t go near it and screams if I try to put her on it. Go figure.
I have no idea why he thought this would be a good idea. I did make him stay there after the box collapsed while I found my camera.
“Mom, I don’t need a nap.”
The love between these two.
Today ended up being the big day. Kaitlyn gave up her pacifier. I had said it would happen at 10 months. I had said it would be after our two big date nights (Sunday and Monday nights – meaning babysitters). Then this morning happened. For some reason I was extremely tired. I never take a nap when Kaitlyn has her morning nap, but this morning I couldn’t wait for her to get tired. The minute she started rubbing her eyes I put her in her crib. She appeared tired so I covered her up and then went downstairs and snuggled into my bed. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard her throw her pacifier on the ground (a new game she likes to play – and most of the time I will go get it for her one time). I decided today I wasn’t playing. After fretting for 30 minutes she finally took a 30 minute nap. Her afternoon nap was only an hour (usually 1.5-2 hours) and she fretted for 30 minutes but no pacifier. At bedtime she fretted for 10 minutes with no pacifier and slept her normal 12 hours.
I’ve always loved that Alex wants to take care of Kaitlyn. It’s especially nice when he wants to give her a pacifier or read her a book in her bed early in the morning when she’s awake before she should be. The other day I was working in the kitchen when she woke up from her nap. Alex told me he was going to play with her. I didn’t think much of it and planned to go up when I had things under control. Then I realized he was playing on her floor with her. How did he get her out of her crib?!?! Today I saw exactly how he did it. I’m not quite ready for this.
4:29 pm.
4:29 pm.
4:29 pm.
We went to pick up Alex’s new glasses from a new place. Oops. Instead of two new different pairs we had two identical wrong pairs waiting on us. They quickly realized their mistake and offered to let us take the wrong ones with us while they ordered the right ones. Now Alex can do a little advertising while he waits for his to arrive.
So excited for his babysitter to arrive.
A new game.
Baby dolls.
Last day of soccer.