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 !!!

My Celebration Race !!!

 

This is the "after the race" picture.

I had a blast doing my first race. There are many reasons why people do these races. Some run to win the grand prize, some run to achieve a goal, some run to be apart of the community and I am sure the list could go on. For me though, this race wasn't about how fast my time could be or about winning it (HAHAHA like that would EVER happen)or even about meeting a "goal". I knew I could run 6.2 miles and I knew I wasn't about trying to run it the fastest I possibly could. For me personally, it was a celebration of how far I have come in the past year and about continuing to try new active activities.

I ran this with the ladies I have been training with over the past year (excluding one who got knocked up). It was good to have support because it rained a good bit at the beginning of the race. On my way to meet up with my friends I was thinking about how maybe they would all want to just skip it and go eat breakfast and chat. Oh the thoughts!!! But no way was that actually going happen. Emily would have never gone for it :) So by the end of the race I had wet socks, wet feet,soaked and once I stopped running COLD !!! Not picture perfect weather.

So now that I have finished race numebr one will there be a second one?? Hmm . . .I am thinking probably so. Maybe a half marathon?? Maybe the next race I will be more competitive about my personal time. I don't know. I guess it will all depend:)

Oh yeah--and a BIG THANKS to Eric Miller for watching my kids all morning long. Alan is out of town and there was a ladies event at our church that most everyone went to but us racing ladies. That is how awesome of a church community I have :)!!!!

GO BIG OR GO HOME !!!!

 

Today at Old navy the first 50 people in line got 50 percent off of their purchase. Most people could pass on this but since I have been losing weight for over a year I have had to get new clothes EVERY season !!! The quality isn't great at Old Navy but that is ok because I plan on these clothes being too big next summer :) So me and the three ladies I work out with decided to go for it. The mall stores open at 10 a.m. but you can get into the mall at 7 a. m. So we decided we would meet at 7:) Well, I didn't sleep very well and kept waking up so by 6 I decided to go ahead and get dressed. I left at 6:15 and was in the mall at 6:30. That's right the mall was opened at 6:30 and older people were already walking around the mall for their exercise. It was nice and quiet and my friend Emily met me at 7 with Sara and Laura filing in just a bit after. We were the first in line and by the time we went in I think there were 48 people in line. So we didn't have to get there THAT early but that's ok because it was fun to talk and not be interrupted by kiddos.

I made Alan take off until noon so I could do this. He has been super busy but was a really good sport. I knew I wouldn't have enough time to get everything by noon so I told him to bring the kiddos at 11:15. I had until then to find and try on all my stuff. It was just enough time :) Then I took the kiddos and went upstairs to shop for Ru and Isaiah. Isaiah didn't need much because of hand me downs from his cousin Samuel but Ru is so ahead of the curve that I always have to get her clothes every season. Nana supplied all the dresses for the summer for Ru but she needed shirts, more shorts, and sunglasses :) I left Old Navy at 12:15. I spent $150 dollars and saved $150 dollars. Pretty good :) I was hoping to make it in at 100 dollars since I am doing a diaper study that pays me $100 dollars but that obviously didnt happen.

My best buy was a pair of dark denim Jeans for $1.75. That's right one dollar and seventy five cents AND they are Super cute. I bought lots of tank tops, cami's, short sleeved tops, one pair of denim capris, one pair of denim burmudas and one pair of khaki bermudas.

My head is spinning. I was so anxious and only had a skinny Mocha from Starbucks until I got home. I am thinking about whether or not I should have stayed longer, looked through clearance more closely and bought more. But I think I am good. I know I am crazy and insane but I think I needed everything that I bought. As for Ru, they had jeans super reduced but I was freaking out trying to decide whether to try and buy her jeans(that would have been like 6 bucks)for next year. What size would I buy her, would they fit?? I just couldn't take the pressure and that was how I knew I was done.

Do I sound crazy?? Welcome to my world as a mom !!!!

MIS MATCHED

 

So here she is. My mismatched little girl. I know it isn't that horrible but really it took everything in me to let her leave the house in those tights. She asked me if I loved her outfit and I said I loved the dress and the tights BUT not together. She then declared that her OUTFIT was beautiful and only a pink and brown striped bow would make it perfect. Nice. So it isn't horrible and I will continue to let her pick out her own outfits within reason. Meaning it can mismatch as much as she wants but it better stay modest :)

Easter Part 1

 

After church we went to take some photos. I love how both of my kids are posing :) Love it :)

 

 

 

Trying to get in a good "couple" shot :)

Easter part 2

 

After lunch , all of the kiddos got to smash confetti eggs over each others head. It was lots of fun.

 

After church but before lunch, we went and took some pictures of the kiddos. I love this picture of Isaiah :) He looks so darn boyish :) He isn't a baby anymore :(

 

 

Ru looking beautiful in her dress from Nana and Papaw :)

Easter Part 3

 Molly and Ru searching for eggs. (We couldn't find any other baskets and used Halloween baskets for Ru and Isaiah)

 

Alex searching for his eggs :) This year, I put the first letter of their name so they could search for their own eggs. It seemed to work well.

 

Cory and Alan going through the Resurrection eggs with the kiddos.

 

Hanging out with our friends!! We had a great time !!!

Stairs

 

What is it with falling asleep on the stairs? At least this time around my child chose the bottom of the stairs and not the top :) Smart :)

Natalie and Bryan visit !!!!

 

Natalie, Alan's sister, and Bryan came to visit from Lubbock. We had a blast !! When went on  a double date sans kiddos to Bryant Lake Bowl. We can tell who won :)

 

Another day we went downtown to see the sights. Here are the "copying sisters".

 

Since Natalie and Alan don't do adventurous rides, Bryan and I were riding buddies at the Mall of America. We had a great time.

 

Here is "Twinkle Toes" at the Bowling Alley. He would do a Fred Flinstone dance before he bowled. Every time !!

Slacker !!!! ( not really though)

Yesterday after I picked Ru up from a play date, I told her we were going to home so I could get dinner cooked. She asked why Daddy doesn't ever cook. I told her he has a job a QBP and that my job is to hang out with them, cook, clean, grocery shop and go to the Y :) Ru then said, WHY do YOU have FIVE jobs and daddy only has ONE !!!! hehehe

Proof of my girlie girl :)

 

 

Ru

Back from a loooonnnggg break. Ru had her early childhood screening test this morning. They ask a kids 62 questions as well as testing their hearing and vision. Every kid has to take it before entering into the Minneapolis public schools. She is in the 99 percentile on weight and height. Of course !!!! The important thing is that her BMI is well within normal, which is what you have to look at when you come up against a kiddo well out of the normal range :) Can you believe they actually give BMI measurements for 4 year olds? I don't really like the BMI measurement but I guess it will do. She also got 56 out of the 62 questions right. But really she missed four out of four questions in one category which tells me that she didn't understand what they wanted from her. The other two questions she missed were ones I expected her to get but easily fixable
(Like where is your ankle. She pointed to her elbow. Weird. Oh well)
Also, for those of you who don't keep up with facebook-Ru lost a tooth and one more is very wiggly. It will be out in two weeks, I bet !!! OK that's all :)