ISAIAH TURNS THREE !!

Here are some pictures of Isaiah's big day yesterday !!! We had soo much fun. The day started out with breakfast with his daddy. Then I took him to the Mall of America and we rode rides,ate at McDonalds(him not me), and read books at Barnes and Nobles. His favorite was a spider man book. One funny story is that while we were getting a free cookie from the Nestle Toll House store in the mall, Isaiah SCREAMS at the man behind the counter "IT'S MY BIRFDAY AND I AM FREE YEARS OLD. LOOK HOW TALL I AM". To which the man behind the counter says "wow I would have guessed you were at least four year old." SO nice that he was accommodating !!!

I am so very thankful for this "surprise" child !!! I love that he snuggles with me and gives me lots of kisses. I love that he can express his thoughts and emotions as well as wrestle around with his daddy and with me. He is definitely developing into a very type A child which is fine, because his daddy and I both tend to be that way. I think it is hilarious that he is shaping up to be a backseat driver. Whenever I zoom through a yellow turning red light he yells "WAIT FOR THE RED LIGHT". Whenever I turn right on a red light he asks me why I didn't wait for the light to change. Alan and I pray that he would know who Jesus is soon. That he would love Him and follow Him out of a deep desire that the Spirit puts in his heart.

Here are some pictures of the day :)

 

 

 

Ru's First day of PRE-K !!!

 

Ru lookin' beautiful !! She was nervous but after the second day she loves it and all is well :) They eat lunch at school so I hope my girl doesn't bankrupt them !!!

 

Had to get a picture of the little man as well !! Already dreamin' about next year when Ru will be in Kindergarten and Isaiah will be in preschool two days a week !! Woo Hoo !!! As crazy as it sounds in about a month or two we start touring schools for Ru for the next school year. It is a long process but I am praying that I will get on board with whatever school the Lord has already picked out for Ru. Can't lie . . . I am praying pretty hard that the Lord's plans match my own !!!

Minnesota State Fair

That's right folks !!! Our family trekked out to the state fair this year. We decided to bike there and back hoping that we would feel less guilty about what we ate knowing we would burn at least some calories !!! So drum roll please . . . The Burdette family Food list for 2010 !!!!!

1. Fresh squeezed lemonade (Mainly Alan)
2. Mini donuts (Alan and Ru)
3. Cheese curds (Rachel, Alan and Ru)
4. Chocolate dipped Key lime pie (Rachel and Ru)MY FAVORITE !!!!
5. Garlic Fries (Mainly Rachel) PRETTY CLOSE SECOND !!!
6. Foot long Corn Dog (Alan and Ru)
7. Jumbo Root beer Float (Mainly Alan)
8. Mini donuts (Isaiah)
9. Two Pretzels (Alan, Isaiah and Ru)
10. Cotton Candy (Isaiah and Ru)
11. Root beer Float ( Mainly Isaiah)
12. Fudge Puppy ( Rachel, Ru and Isaiah)

THAT is our list. If you notice Isaiah doesn't make it on the list til #8. He fell asleep and missed 1-7. Alan, Ru and I were full when he woke up. His first question was-" I hungy. What are we going to eat ??"

The kids got to ride four rides each and while Isaiah slept,we were entertained by a juggling comedian names Sean Emery :) After that we trekked down to the heritage square for some blue grass!!! Usually we end up listening to Polka music but this year I timed it so that we actually got to listen to a folk/bluegrass band !! They were great :)

By that point, Alan was pretty tired and so we called it a day at the fair. All we had left was our 45 minuted bike ride back home :)

That was our Labor Day. All food named and claimed !!! Til next year . . .

Friends in Texas :)

 

                                                        Some of the Spence-Briggs Kiddos :)

 

Me, Amanda and Sylvia. We were Resident Advisor's in college together. We have stayed friends over the past 10 years. It was soo good to see y'all. Thanks Amanda for letting the kids and I stay at your place. WE had a BLAST !!!!

 

My friend April. We have been friends since 5th grade. It had been 6 years since I had seen her. It was soo good to reconnect. Next time we have to bring our spouses and kiddos!!!!BTW-Italian Margaritas-YUM-O. Thanks for the introduction to them !!!

Shoutouts- I also got to hang out with my good friend Steph Lee and her two precious girls and my good friend Chung. Thanks everyone for letting us visit !!! I had a great time catching up. Love you all.

 

Strawberry Picking and a Murder Mystery Party

 

So the kids and I went strawberry picking with my friend Emily and her son Alex. We had a good time except for the slugs that were all over the strawberries !!! Isaiah ate almost all of the strawberries that he picked and I am sure there were slugs on some of them. He didn't seem to mind :)  I decided to make some quick freezer jam with some of the strawberries, froze some for later, and  the rest we are enjoying now.

 

Yummy :)

 

I am not the "dress up" type when it comes to parties but I decided to try and get into the spirit of the ladies night murder mystery. I went to at least 5 to 10 vintage stores to find a dress and this was the one that was in my price range :) I decided while looking that I just don't do well with this type of creative stuff. I know that some of my friends could have easily pieced together a couple of outfits that would have looked AWESOME ( Laura, Leah, Sara, Emily and Steph. Lee)  and I knew I was not pulling things together like I wanted but alas I tried. I am glad I got into the spirit of things because it was a lot of fun !!!! Thanks Ashley for all of the planning. It was a HUGE success :) 

Last but not least, I am training for a half Marathon on August 7th !!! I am not going to say that I will get there but so far my friend Laura and i have been doing one long run on Wednesday nights. Every week we add a mile. So far our longest run has been 8.5 miles. This Wednesday we might shoot for 10. We should be running two more short distances a week but really-who has time for all that plus lifting weights. I will say that the best part of running is getting to talk with Laura,who is moving to New York in mid August :( BOO that you are leaving, YAY that your hubby got a teaching job :). Yet again, there is NO WAY I would run this far without a friend to talk to. When I run by myself I give out after 3 miles-just too boring.
Oh, I must add that my hubby has been such a great sport watching the kiddos while I run and is doing a great job encouraging me. Thanks handsome man for supporting me and for being awesome !!!

Isaiah happenings !!!

Here is a cute video of the little man. He LOVES to sing and loves Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 :) This age has been a lot of fun. I felt like i missed the two to three stage with Ru since Isaiah was just born and things were crazy. So it has been really sweet to be fully engaged with Isaiah at this age. He definitely has a fun energetic personality.

That's right folks !!!!! He is potty and poopy trained !!!! HURRAY. He has gone one full week without ANY accidents so I feel somewhat confident in saying that he is finished :) I am hoping in the next month he will be out of diapers at night as well. He really dislikes wearing a diaper to bed but his diaper isn't completely dry in the morning yet. I can tell he just goes a little in his diaper during the night so I think we are close. I am sooo thankful that this went so easy.  I know it could have been much worse and I was bracing for it .  I promise no more posts about potty training :)

He also just went in to the doctors for a checkup and for shots. He currently is in the 70 percentile on height and 45th percentile on weight.  After the nurses gave him the shots he was crying, gave them a VERY dirty look and said "You huwt me".

Potty Training

Isaiah is now in the potty training phase!!! We are easing into it and have finally found what makes him want to go potty, wearing underwear over his diaper. Nana had bought him some toy Story underwear and I went out and got him some Thomas the train underwear. He is super excited.

Up to this point I have been teaching him to go potty sitting down but this weekend while we were at a church retreat Alan took him into the men's restroom. One of the first questions Isaiah asked was "Daddy what are they doing??" I am sure he asked it in a loud curious boy voice. So Alan showed him how to pee standing up. And now my little man WILL NOT go potty sitting down. I hate cleaning the bathroom toilet as it is and don't do it very often and now I am going to have to do it every day or two. All I can say is he better have good aim or I am gonna make him sit down to go potty. When my friend was potty training her son, I would always tell him, when I was watching him, that I would give him two treats instead of one if he sat down to go potty instead of standing up!! He always obliged :)

Anyways, it if fun to see the excitement on Isaiah's face when he does go potty for me. He knows it is a big deal and loves for me to praise him. Let's hope I can get him fully trained by mid August. That would be awesome . I can almost feel the extra 50 bucks a month in my pocket !!!!

Dentist Appointments !!!

The kiddos had dentist appointment and I am glad and relieved to say they did AWESOME and have NO cavities. WOO HOO !! This was Isaiah's first time at the dentist and I was afraid he would be whiny and not listen to the dentist or dental hygienist. But he was great. They introduced him to all of the dental tools and he even gave Mr.Thirsty a try. The biggest part was he opened VERY wide for the dentist to check his back teeth. YAY.

This was Ru's second visit and she did great as well. They took x-rays of her back teeth and it looks like her 6 year old molars are in on the bottom and are starting to come in on the top. I asked about sealants but the dentist said that she wanted to wait until the next visit to see if she really needed them.

We celebrated with a trip to Pumphouse Creamery, a super yummy organic and local ice cream shop, once Alan got home. It could have been a very different experience and I am very very thankful that it was an easy trip.

No more dentist appointments for the kids for a YEAR !!!