Thank You!

The older I've gotten, the more sentimental I become about our service men and women.  The Sunday before the 4th of July our church did a special anthem recognizing the different military branches.  People were asked to stand when the branch they served was being sung about.  Seeing the different men and women from our church standing in honor of their branch just about had me in tears.  I am forever grateful to all the men and women who are currently serving and those who have served in the past.  I also greatly appreciate the spouses, mothers, fathers, siblings, and other family members of those serving.  To feel such pride and fear at the same time, it just makes me really appreciate everyone who goes through that.  I tell my kids with great pride that their Pap-Paw and gradfathers served our country.

On the Tuesday before the 4th we found out that Joe got the job at Hyundai. He started this past Monday (July 9th).  These first few days have been orientation so we don't have much to report yet.  He is supposed to find out what department he will work in today and start working on one of the shifts this coming Monday (6:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.). Starting on August 6th they will start a 3rd shift.  Monday through today he has not had to be there until 7:45 a.m. and I can not even begin to tell you how nice it has been to have help in the morning, and to have him home each night by 5:30 p.m.  Tomorrow and Friday he works from 7:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. 

Joe somehow managed to get off for the 4th and so we did what we always do- a family gathering at the Lake.  It was a great day to spend with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins and we had a blast.



Friday the 6th we planned one last hoorah at RTJ.  More times that we can count we have made the drive to Greenville so the kids could "play" at Joe's work and  ride the golf course.  I wanted them to have closure and not just say he doens't work there, end of story.  So we invited Quint, Sheila, Caden & Ansleigh to go down Friday afternoon so that we could get our closure from RTJ.  On the way down we stopped at the Hyundai plant so I could show the girls and Joel a little bit of where Joe would be working.  When we finally made it to Greenville we ate dinner at Old Mexico and then headed to the golf course.

We had a blast and stayed until about 9:00 p.m. that night.  On our way home we ran into a bad wreck.  It turns out that Joe knew and worked with one of the guys in the wreck.  The doctors still don't know if he will fully recover.  He is 30 with three young kids just like us.  Please keep him and his family in your prayers. 

Saturday morning we hung around the house and then headed over to Chris and Crystals.  It was another fun day.  We ate some yummy food and played outside.  At first we hooked up the sprinkler and the kids and I ran through it.  (Yes I played too.  It is hot!!!)  Then Joe and Chris set up the slip & slide.  Again, I played too.  After Chris seeing how much fun I was having he joined in too.  I was very very sore the next day.  I guess that means I'm getting old :(

Sunday we had lunch with MeMaw and Paw-Paw and then Joe went to help his brother while the kids and I went home to clean.  It was a really good weekend.

This weekend Joe works at RTJ for the last time.  I know it will be bittersweet for him. 

In other news I have started planning Jolie and Joel's birthday party.  They will share a party this year, but I think it will be so much fun that they won't mind that they are sharing.  Jolie keeps begging to go to the beach so mabye one weekend before school starts back we can take them to play in the sand and swim in the ocean. 

The girls continue to have a fabulous time at MCDP.  Yesterday they took Taekwondo lessons at school and LOVED it.  The teachers said they did really good too.  Here are some pictures Ms. Jessie has taken of Jolie this summer:

 This one Ms. Jessie texted to me.  Jolie told her to send it to me and to tell me that her toe said "Hi."

She has a really good one of Josie that she has to get to me.  I love knowing that my kids are so loved :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and staying cool.

Love you all!

Happy Birthday Grammy and other Burdick News

It has been a quiet couple of weeks for us ever since our trip.  We have had some things going on though. 

Joe has been taking steps to move through the hiring process at Hyundai.  He has done a computer assessment, hands on assesment and a two part physical.  The physical, drug screen, and background are the last steps in this process.  We have talked about the pros and cons and even though he would be on swing shift he would actually see the children more than what he sees them now, which is super important to us. We both know it is in God's hands and are at peace with that.  If this is the job for Joe, then God will provide as he always has and everything will work out.  If this is not the job for Joe we continue on our search for the job that is right for Joe.  In the meantime he has put in his application at Bright House for a warehouse job, but has not heard from them yet. 

We had our Family Vacation Bible School the week of June 11-15.  I love that we do our Bible School at night and make it a family affair.  Even the adults have class, sing, and do crafts.  It is a great bonding experience for everyone in the church.  The adults get to play with the kids and the kids get to learn from and about different adults in the congregation.  It was a cowboy theme and the kids had a blast.  They looked forward to it every night.  Each night we would have dinner, then go up for Bible time, then the classes would split.  The adults would go do their craft, the younger group of children would either go to recreation or crafts while the older group of children did what the younger group was not doing.  Joe and I kept the nursery each night. 

After a week of VBS we didn't do much that weekend.  Saturday morning we went to Bass Pro Shops where they were having a special Fathers Day weekend.  They kids got to fish, make crafts, shoot dart guns, and watch some videos about outdoor safety.  After that we headed home because Joe had to head to Hyundai for some test and the kids and I hung out the rest of the day at home.  That Sunday was Father's Day.  We spent the day enjoying Joe and what he means to our family.  The kids made him handmade cards, and his present were two beta fish. Each girl picked out all the stuff to go inside in the bowl. They were so excited about it. They all love to go and look at the new fish. Joe loved them too.  Sunday night we had a yummy homemade dinner of steak, twice baked potatoe casserole, and baked beans with Pap-Paw and Other Mama, Ben and Tanner came a little later. 

Josie has been on two field trips with MCDP (the preschool), and Jolie has gotten to go on one.  They both went to the Prattville Y for a day of swimming and had a blast.  The pool is shallow but they still wear their floaties.  Jolie was brave enough to go down the slide and land in Ms. Jessie's arms.  Ms. Jessie bragged and bragged about how well Jolie did on her first ever summer field trip.  She got to ride the bus for the first time and they had Mexican for lunch.  Last week Josie got to to the Rosa Parks Musem and splash pad afterwards.  I was really impressed with how much she retained from the museum.  When she got home she was able to tell us the entire story.  I love how it reiterated the Sunday School lesson I had taught her and the other ones that age the week before.  We are all God's children.  He loves us all and created us all.  He took the time to "design" us all from our skin color, eye color, hair color, height, birth marks, freckles, our family, what country we would be born into, everything.  No one is any more special because we all have the same Creator, who loves us all whether we love him back or not.  How awesome is that?  All that to say I was really impressed with Josie for what she retained and for what she came away with from the museum. 

This past weekend Joe worked while the kids and I hung out at home.  They play so hard throughout the week at MCDP, the past couple of weekends they have just wanted to rest.  Sunday evening we did get outside to play.  At first I was spraying them with the hose and then we filled up the kiddie pool, but then they got into the mud.  They would sit down and cover themselves in mud.  They were having a blast.  Joel watched and stomped in the mud, but didn't partake in getting completely nasty. 

So that is what has been going on in the Burdick household.  Mainly just work/preschool, play, eat, sleep, and do it all over again. 

I do want to recongnize my mom/Grammy today.  Today is her 50th birthday.  We are 20 years apart so she turns 50 today and I turn 30 at the end of July.  We called and wished her a happy birthday this morning, but then the girls got upset when they realized they wouldn't be getting any cake for her birthday :)  Happy Birthday Grammy, we love and miss you!!

(Her birthday we celebrated during a family trip to Kentucky three years ago).

(Grammy's first time meeting Joel.)  

Anniversary Trip

I can not even begin to put into words what this past weekend meant to me.  Joe and I have not been on a kid free weekend or vacation in probably 3 years nor on an anniversary trip in probably 7 years.  I thought a ten year anniversary was special enough to deserve a kid free trip.  I'll admit it was hard for me because this was the first time I had left all three kids, but it was so worth it.  Every day life begins to wear you down and sometimes marriage is more of a business than two people in love.  Did you do this, did you pick up this, can you clean this, etc.  Sometimes it is hard for love to flourish in an environment like that.  I treasured every second of this weekend.  I enjoyed it just being Joe and me, and having all of his attention on me and all of my attention on him. 

Joe took the day off Friday so that he could deliver kids to grandparents so that we could hit the road as soon as I got home. I got off at 12:00 p.m. and we left the house within five minutes of me getting home. Next we picked up Quint from his house, and then Sheila from Hyundai. We were offically on the road. Yay!!! We arrived at Orange Beach a little after 4:00 p.m. We unpacked and got settled and then decided we needed to eat before everywhere got busy. So we loaded up and started to search for dinner. We ended up eating at a place called Tacky Jacks on the water. After dinner we walked around some and took these pics:


                                

After Tacky Jacks we did some shopping and headed back to the condo.  The next morning we all slept in.  By the time we all had gotten up, showered, and finally decided what we wanted to do, it was lunch time so we headed out for lunch.

Finally ready to start the day :)

We ended up splitting a pizza from a place called Rotolos. 

 After lunch we played putt-putt and raced go-karts at Adventure Island. 

After Adventure Island we headed back to the hotel to swim in the indoor pool.  The water felt great especially after playing out in the hot sun.  After the pool we headed up stairs to get ready for our evening dolphin boat ride.  The boat left the dock at around 6:25 p.m. and we didn't get back until about 8:30 p.m.  It was a beautiful ride and we actually did see some dolphins. 

If you look real close you can see dolphin fins. 

After the boat ride we headed out to figure out what we were going to do for dinner.  We ended up driving to the Wharf.  We didn't eat dinner there, but we did take a ride on the huge ferris wheel.  It actually wasn't scary at all and was kind of relaxing.  We then headed back out trying to figure out where to eat.  We ended up eating at a place called Lesters.  They had a live "band" (I put that in quotations because it was a two man group).  I actually got the courage to walk up and ask that they dedicate a song to Joe for our anniversary, and the biggest surprise Joe actually slow danced with me during one of the songs.  It was really sweet.  I think by that point it was like 10:30 and we headed back to the condo and then down to the beach.  When Joe and I first planned this trip we decided that we wanted to renew our vows.  So we each wrote our own vows to read to the other.  So at 11:00 p.m. Saturday night on the beach in the moon light we renewed our vows to each other.  It was funny because we had to use our cell phone to be able to read what we had written but it was something I will always remember.  After renewing our vows we caught back up with Quint and Sheila on the beach and we layed there looking up at the stars and the moon talking about how small we felt compared to the huge ocean in front of us and the vast sky above us.  It was an awesome night. 

The next morning Joe and I got up early and went and played in the ocean and then swam in the indoor pool.  (Quint and Sheila slept in and I let them.  Joe wanted me to wake them up, ha ha.)  When we got back from the pool we showered and started cleaning up and packing.  We left the condo about 10:30 a.m. and did a little more shopping.  We then headed to Calypso Joes for lunch before heading back home. 

It was a great trip.  It was so nice not to worry about anything and just live in the moment.  I'm so glad that Joe and I were able to reconnect.  We are both so grateful to Other Mama and Pap-Paw for giving up their weekend to keep the girls and MeMaw and Paw-Paw for giving up their weekend to keep Joel.  It meant so much for us to take this trip. 

Josie & Jolie

Two things I want to share this morning.  First a conversation Jolie and I had this morning:



.Jolie: Who put our heads on?

Me: God.

Jolie: How did he do it?

Me: I'm not sure, you'll have to ask him one day.

Jolie: (looking to her side) God, how did you put our heads on?

Jolie: (talking to me) I can talk to him because he is everywhere and because I know he is right here beside me.

Me: That's right. He is always with you and he loves you.

Jolie: I love God too.


All I can say, is on days like this I feel like I must be doing something right as a mom.


Today is Josie's last day of school.  Here are some pictures I took.

 Josie and her friend Kielie: