Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving

Oh wow am I behind. I'm not sure how I let myself get this far behind, and now I'm racking my brain trying to remember everything. First, I know we have had a couple of big accomplishments in the Burdick household: (1) Joel is finally walking. At 14 months the boy is finally walking. Sometimes he still crawls because he can go faster that way, but he can walk all the way across the room when he wants. (2) Josie is reading. One night at bedtime she was looking at a book while I was drying her hair and when I turned the dryer off she started reading some of the words to me. I called Joe back to our room and she read us a whole page. A lot of words she sounds out and of course she is still learning, but we are so proud of her. My eyes just teared up as I listened to her. (3) Jolie was moved up to a new class today. She was out sick yesterday and went to work with me, so this morning when I took her in her teacher asked me if it was ok if they moved her up. She said that she already knew everything they would go over and she would do better to in the next class up. Needless to say Joe and I are very proud of all three of our beautiful blessings.

On Thursday, November 17th both girls had special Thanksgiving lunches at school. Joe went to Josie's school to eat with her and Sheila went to Jolie's school to eat with her. Josie was dressed up as an Indian when Joe got there and she had even picked out her own Indian name: Walking Skunk!!






Saturday, November 19th we had a special Thanksgiving with the Burdick side of the family. It was a great day of playing, eating, and spending time together. We also had Aunt Becca and Aunt Angie take pictures of the kids for us since Joel had not had professional pictures taken since he was a week old. I think they turned out great.

















On November 20th we had our special Kirkin service at church. That is when we celebrate our Presbyterian Scotish heritage. We had bagpipes, special music, and recongnition of the different families. After church we had fellowship lunch. After fellowship lunch we gathered up lunches for some ladies who had not been able to make it to church and the girls and I went and took them lunch and visited for a few minutes. I thought this was a great teaching moment for the girls and they did really well and I really think they brightened up the little old ladies' day. That night at Awana the girls got a special treat-- a Christian magician. He did magic tricks and incorproated talking about God into his act. They loved it.

On November 22nd Aunt Sheila spent a special day with the girls and Caden. She picked them up from preschool (Josie's school was out all week for Thanksgiving), took them to Pump-It-Up, then out for lunch, and back to her house to make cookies. They had a blast!








On the 24th (Thanksgiving day) we had lunch at my grandmothers, aka Nanny. It was a really good day except for my migraine. The kids had fun playing with Tanner and being the center of attention at lunch. That night the elves came to decorate the house. The girls woke up in amazement. The elves had decorated the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, their room, and Joel's room. Their snow angles had also come from the North Pole to start really watching them. Every night they go back to report to Santa and come back to a different spot. The girls love trying to find where the Snow Angles have hid each morning.

On Friday the 25th after Joe got home from work we went and picked out our Christmas tree. We took it home and set it up and decorated while we watched Christmas movies.

Saturday while Joe was at work the girls and I took a birthday breakfast to Nanny. Poor Nanny though, Joel ate more of her biscuit than she did. After that we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some things for me to fix for the Iron Bowl game. As we were leaving we saw Santa at Wal-Mart. Josie looked at me and asked if this was the real Santa. I explained to her that Santa is so busy getting everything ready for Christmas and there are so many girls and boys that he sends out special elves dressed like him to talk to all the girls and boys. I told her that the older kids knew they were elves but the little kids didn't. She thought she was big stuff being let in on this secret. Jolie stuck with that this was the real Santa. After Wal-Mart I went home to fix spinach dip, chicken salad, fiesta ranch dip, puppy chow, and pickes wrapped in cream cheese and lunch meat for the game. As soon as Joe got home from work we Bama Burdicks headed over to the Chris & Crystal's to watch the game who just happen to be Auburn fans. Crystal had fixed chili, mac & cheese, and had tons of fruit. The food was good, the game even better- Roll Tide-- and the fellowship best of all. Everyone was civil during the game and the kids played well together. At halftime we took the kids outside to play and when the game was over we went outside and threw the football around. Josie did amazingly well catching and running after the ball. Joe and I were very impressed.

Sunday the kids and I went to church. It was beautiful. Christmas is my favorite time of year. The beautiful nativity scene out on the table, the Chrismon tree, the greenery, the poinsettias, it is hard not to feel festive in there. That evening we went to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa.


Yesterday Josie had a field trip to see the play at the Wetumpka Depot. Aunt Mona went with her and she said she really enjoyed it. Aunt Mona brought pencils and bookmarks for her to pass out to her classmates, so I know she thought she was big stuff yesterday. Jolie came to work with me because she was not feeling 100%. After work I picked up Joel and Josie and we went home to a home cooked meal Joe had cooked for us all. The kids were all so tired from not being on their normal routine for so long that Joel was asleep by 5:45 and slept until 6:30 a.m. and the girls were alseep by 6:45 p.m.

We have a lot coming up in the next few weeks. This weekend, well Saturday, we are going to Callaway Gardens in Georgia with Other Mama and Pap-Paw. The girls love seeing Christmas lights so we just knew that they would absolutely love seeing all the lights. We are going to spend the night and come back Sunday morning. Sunday Joel and I will go to a baby shower for Crystal and Joe will take the girls to church to decorate the float for the Christmas on the Coosa parade the next weekend. The next weekend is the parade and Sunday the church is taking the float back out and going caroling throughout Wetumpka. The next weekend Joe works and we have Ansleigh's birthday party on the 18th. I can't believe she will be 2. Time is flying by. Of course the next weekend is Christmas. Sometime in there Josie will be performing with the children's choir at church, but I'm not sure when yet.

Well I think that has you caught up for now. I hope everyone enjoys the advent season and remembers why we really celebrating- the birth of a precious little baby who came and lived and died because he loved you so much that he wanted to spend eternity with you. Merry Christmas and God bless.
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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Decorating for Thanksgiving

Last week was a quiet week for us.

Josie got sick twice with the stomach bug so she went to work with me on Monday and Friday.

Friday evening we had our dinner in and movie night which we had not had in a while. The girls actually sat through most of the movie.

Saturday Joe worked and the kids and I worked on crafts. I am trying to stress to them about being thanful for all the blessings that God has given us. One of the ways we are doing this is by making a thanful chain. Every day each one of us says what we are thankful for. I write it down and connect it to the chain.


We hung up a handmade manner reminding us to "Give Thanks"


We hung up scripture reminding us to give thanks:






Then we started making handprint crafts. First we did handprint boats to represent the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria that the pilgrims came over on:


Then we did handprint turkeys for grandparents and aunts & uncles:

(Josie's hand is blue, Joel's green, and Jolie's purple)

We also managed to get some housework done.

Sunday the kids and I went to church and went home for naps, and then we had Awana.

This week will be another quiet week, but I am really thankful for that :)

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful artwork God has provided for us. I love looking at all the differernt colored trees.

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