Christmas Has Finally Come and Gone

To begin, I'm going to post some pictures that I really wanted to post in my last blog but I had to wait until after Christmas because they were used in a present we gave to MeMaw and Paw-Paw of their grandchildren:
All the Burdick grandchildren (Ansleigh, Josie, Caden, Jolie, & Joel)


The Burdick Girls- Josie, Ansleigh & Jolie

The firstborns- Josie & Caden


The Burdick Boys- Caden & Joel



Okay, now I can pick up with our week. Monday after work & school we were going to go to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops. We had lots of coupons to eat at the restaurant there at BPS, so we thought we would eat first and then see Santa. Well, you remember the stomach bug we thought Jolie was over, well she wasn't. Although she had gone all day Sunday and all day Monday at school without being sick, shortly after sitting down at the table she got sick all over the table. So we got her cleaned up and she got a new shirt from BPS and then Joe dropped Jolie and I off at Pri-Med. It was about 7:30 p.m. when we got there and we got out at 10:00 p.m. It was only that a stomach bug, not the flu or strep, thank goodness. Sheila came and picked us up and we dropped off her medicine at Walgreens. They told us her prescription would not be ready until 11:30 p.m. So we went and hung out at I-Hop until the prescription was ready. It was midnight before we got home. My dad stayed home with Jolie the next day because we were told to keep her out the next day. Thank God we have such an amazing family. Tuesday Joe and I had a Christmas party with some friends from church. Daddy and Other Mama stayed at home with all three kids. We were so grateful because we really needed that night out. Wednesday night the girls spent the night with Quint and Sheila so that Joe and I could get some wrapping done. All three kids were already supposed to stay with Sheila on Thursday because their school/daycare were closed and I had to work half a day, so Sheila, being a great aunt and sister-in-law, offered for the girls to spend the night. Of course I took her up on it. Joe and I got a good bit done that night. The next morning I dropped Joel off with the rest of the gang.
Joel sleeping at Aunt Sheila's (the outfit he is wearing, the woman who keeps him during the day Ms. Debbie, made it for him for Christmas, isn't it adorable):



The girls told Sheila that morning that they wanted ponytails (later that morning Sheila's sister Stacey came over and french braided their hair, we didn't get a picture, but the girls were so excited about it and were so mad at me that night when I took their hair down):

Isn't growing up with cousins great:


That evening we had our Christmas with Chris, Crystal, Elias & Annaleigh. We had homemade soup, exchanged gifts and attempted to make homemade candycanes. We didn't do something just right and came up with this very yummy, gooing, sticky concoction:


Friday we were up and at them bright and early to meet Quint & Sheila to head down to Greenville to have Christmas with Becca, Angie, MeMaw and Paw-Paw. We met at the clubhouse at Joe's work where we ate breakfast and exchanged gifts:



Then Joe took us on a tour of one of the four courses there at the golf course:

Aunt Becca & Polar Bear Joel:

Aunt Angie, Aunt Becca, Josie, Joel, Ansleigh & Caden (not sure where Jolie was):



We had a great day and it was a lot of fun. We got home just in time to clean up and head to church for the Christmas Eve candle light service at church. Christmas isn't Christmas to me without that service. That night when we got home the snow angle that watches the girls to make sure they are behaving had left them and Joel a present (all lined up as Josie would tell you)-- Christmas PJs. We made cookies for Santa, put out the reindeer food, and got the kids to bed. It was a late late night for Santa and Ms. Claus. I wonder why Ms. Claus doesn't have a name??? Anyway, the next morning the kids woke up to find Other Mama and Pap-Paw at their house as well as all these toys:


The girls got bikes and Joel got a ride on dinosaur, the girls also had pillow pets, makeup, books, snuggies, dresses, socks, hairbows, barbies, walkie-talkies, Baby Alives, bottles and other accessories for their bottles, and a ton of other stuff. Joel got his first tool bench, diapers, formula, soap, lotion, some books, toys, an outfit, and a ton of other stuff. Then they opened up their gifts from us, and then their gifts from Aunt Lisa, then their gifts from Aunt Elisa and Uncle Tim, then their gifts from Other Mama and Pap-paw, and then I finally got them to eat some breakfast. A little later Quint, Sheila, Caden, and Ansleigh stopped by so that the kids could exchange their gifts, and then we all headed to the Burdicks for lunch. We ate and then exhchanged gifts with MeMaw, Paw-Paw, Aunt Holly, Uncle Lynn, and Gigi. Later that afternoon we headed to Aunt Pams to do Christmas with the Andersons which included Ben, Tiffany, Tanner, their foster sons, Aunt Pam, Uncle Mike, Nanny, Kevin, Ami, Shelby, Sydney, Other Mama and Pap-Paw. An extra bonus to the day-- it snowed. It snowed on Christmas. We got home around 6:00 or 7:00 We got the girls bathed and then they passed out with Joe, Joel, and I shortly behind them. The next morning (Sunday) we decided it was best for us all to stay home and rest. So we rested. We didn't even get out of our PJs except to move some furniture around. We got Quint & Sheila's couch and love seat so Joe and Quint got that moved around. My living room is slowly getting put back together. The girls are out again this Thursday and Friday and Joel is only out on Friday. My dad will keep the girls Thursday and then I will be off with all three on Friday. Joe works this weekend, so no New Years plans for us.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I can not thank our family enough for all the ways they helped out over the Christmas season. We are so blessed to have such a loving and involved family. My heart overflows everytime I think about how blessed we are to be raising our children in such a family. To top it off one of the greatest Christmas presents I got came this morning from Jolie's teacher. I was dropping off the girls at school and I had taken their back packs and jackets to their classrooms and when I walked back Ms. Pat told me what a good mother I was. There are so many days when I question decisions Joe and I, or wonder what we have done that they don't behave, or I regret how I have reacted to a situation so to hear someone say that really is so reassuring. Again, my cup runneth over and I know how blessed I am.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year.

Actually a Quiet Weekend

I have heard from some of you that you get tired just reading my blogs, so most of you will be happy to know that we had a pretty quiet weekend, but it was forced upon us by Miss Jolie Hannah. She got a stomach bug and so she, Joel, and I were confined to the house for the weekend. First let me back up and tell you about the week before the weekend. Tuesday we went and visited with Quint, Sheila, Caden and Ansleigh. Sheila cooked the most awesome loaded potato soup and after dinner we took some family pictures trying to get pictures to send out in our Christmas cards:





My two favorite guys relaxing after the photo shoot:





Friday the girls had their Christmas party at school. They were so excited because they had a drawn names at school and so each of them had a gift for another child. Then each teacher had two gifts from the girls, one was a bag full of school supplies to use in the classroom and then the other was a personal gift for them to take home. The girls were so excited to be able to give their teachers the gifts. It was so cute to watch them. Jolie was so excited that she even opened both of Ms. Pat's gifts for her. Then it was their turn to give me all the homemade gifts they had been working so hard on. I was one proud mama walking out of their school that morning. That evening MeMaw and Paw-Paw kept the kids so that we could go Christmas shopping. This was the only night we would be able to do it. We picked up the kids from them at 12:30 a.m. It was around 3 o4 in the morning when Jolie started getting sick. Joe had to go to work so I had to start figuring out what we were going to do because Ansleigh's birthday party was at 2:00 p.m. and we had a Sunday School Christmas party at 6:00 p.m. I ended up seeing if the MeMaw and Paw-Paw could get Josie so that Josie could attend the birthday party and told Joe just to go straight there from work. Then I called and let our hostess know that we would not be attending the Christmas party that evening.

Here is Joe with our beautiful one year old niece:


Sunday we stayed home while Joe went to work. It had been 10 something on Saturday since Jolie had gotten sick again, but I wanted to wait 24 hours before exposing her to anyone just in case. It was a good day. We rested and played games.

This week of course will be a little hectic. Tuesday Joe and I have a Christmas party. Other Mama and Pap-Paw are coming to our house to watch the kids while we go. Thursday evening we will have Christmas with Chris, Crystal, Elias & Annaleigh. Friday we have our candle light service at church and of course Saturday is Christmas. I still have a little shopping left and a whole lot of wrapping.

I know I keep talking about this, but I'm still loving this Christmas season with the girls. It has been so much fun to watch them really get into it and trying to figure everything out. We have been trying to reiterate to them, that yes, we are excited about Santa, but the main reason we are doing everything is to celebrate Jesus' birthday, to which Josie has been questioning, just how old is Jesus and why is he still a baby. I think I'll end on that note.

Merry Christmas everyone and don't forget to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

Another Christmas Weekend.

We packed some more Christmas into this weekend and I am absolutely loving it. It has just been so much fun to watch the girls. Thursday night the girls and I went and did a little Christmas shopping and then stopped by Aunt Tiffany's house to pick up some shirts I had her make for Joel. Here he is in two of them:


I just absolutely love these shirts.

Friday evening we had a quiet evening in. Well as quiet as you can have with a 4 year old, 3 year old, and 2 month old. Saturday the girls were up bright and early, of course, because it was a Saturday instead of a work/school day. We hung out around the house until it was time to head to Wetumpka for Christmas on the Coosa. For those of you who are not from the Wetumpkka area, there is a street parade, vendors, activities for the kids, and later in the evening they have a boat parade and fireworks. We got to Wetumpka in time for the street parade which the girls loved. Every time someone would yell, "Merry Christmas" Jolie would say it back to them. After the parade we walked across the bridge into downtown and looked at the vendors. We looked some but we were all starving so we started trying to decide what we were going to eat. All of the food smelled so good, but do you know what Josie asked for. Not a funnel cake, not peanuts, not cotton candy, but roasted corn on the cob. Obviously it was so good that later Joe and the girls went back for another one. After looking at the vendors the girls played in the park and then we went and found our spot on the river to watch the boat parade. Do you know how Santa made his grand entrance-- on a knee board. The girls loved the fireworks and even Joel watched him. The sound didn't affect him one bit. After the fireworks we ate some dinner and drove around to look at Christmas lights. The girls are sooo cute because when they see lights one of them will start saying "Wait for it, wait for it," until we finally reach the house and then they say "There it is." It is so cute to listen to Lollie say it though because she does not enunciate "for" and so it is sounds like "Wait fow it, Wait fow it" and it is just so darn cute!! We ended up close to Other Mama's and Pap-paws so we stopped by their house to give the girls baths before heading home.

Sunday we had church and got someone to take this family picture for us:


They had been talking about snow for a week or so and we finally had some snow flurries during and right after church, so that made Josie happy.

The kids and I went home and took naps while Joe had session. He came home to find Jolie, Josie, and me in our bed all asleep with Joel in his bassinet beside the bed, asleep as well. That evening we went back to church to see the children's play. Next year Josie will be old enough to participate and she can not wait.

Later that evening I took this picture of Joel in his "Roll Tide" bib. I love his hair:


This Friday the girls have their Christmas party at school, which I know they will love. Friday evening the City of Wetumpka has a living nativity that you walk around downtown to see the different scenes. It depends on the weather on if we will go or not.

This was a productive week for me. I finally got the last of my thank you cards out. If you did not receive one and should have, I greatly, greatly apologize. Let me know and I will send you one. Between the kids and our hospital visits during my maternity leave, things have gotten lost or unintentionally forgotten. I also got the last of Joel's pictures out to everyone. I have started working on our Christmas cards. I have also been going through clothes getting all the summer clothes out and donation clothes, and clothes to pass on to family and friends. The girls and I went through toys. Our SOS group is helping out a family for Christmas and so I gave the girls a bag a piece so we could donate some of their toys. Jolie would have given everything away, whereas Josie tended to hold to more of her toys. Nevertheless, we had 2.5 garbage bags full of toys to give away to another family who otherwise might not have had Christmas (well not just from our donation, but from everyone at SOS). Again, another great teaching moment for my girls.

Joel is doing good. Is thrush is starting to go away as is his cradle cap. He continues to be a happy boy that I could just eat up. It is hard to believe he is almost 3 months old. Time is flying by.

Well Merry Christmas until next time.

Christmas Festivities

We packed a lot of "Christmas" into this last week. Thursday night Joe went with Quint and Sheila to see a play that his parents are in, "White Christmas" with the Millbrook Community Players. Friday we had Joel's 2 month appointment. He weighed 13 pounds 3 oz and was 24.5 inches long. He has thrush, cradle cap, a umblicial hernia, and a cold, but you would never know it by his mood. He has still been his normal happy self.

The umblical hernia is very small and should go away on its own by the time he is 2. My poor baby had to have 4 shots :( After Joel's appointment we got the girls, ate dinner, and headed to the zoo to see the lights, BUT when we go there at 7:50 they had already closed the ticket booths. We had the girls all bundled up to see some lights, so we ended up going to the Millbrook Park where the whole park is filled with lights. We took a stroll around the park and headed home to watch Toy Story 3. Saturday morning we got the tree in the house, finally. We had left it outside to settle and then it kept raining so then we had to let it dry out some. Later that morning we went back to the Millbrook Park for its Christmas festivities. Quint and Sheila met us there and so after looking at all the vendors and the kids playing on the playground we went and ate lunch and then went back for the parade. It was perfect weather because all the kids needed were light jackets. The girls had on hoodies and they shoved the pockets of them full with all the candy they were passing out at the parade. After the parade we went home and got all our heavy coats and headed back to the zoo. I thought we could walk around and see the animals before they put them up and turned on the lights. Wrong. We got there just as they were kicking everyone out. They close for about an hour ~ hour and a half to get the lights turned on and the animals put up. The bad thing was that we had bundled up the kids, got Joel into the stroller and was walking to the entrance before someone told us this. Soo we got back in the van, found somewhere to eat, and then headed back to the zoo. It was a perfect night. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold. We only had to wait for one group of people to ride the train and waited in line maybe 5 minutes to see Santa and that was only because as we walked up he decided he needed a potty break.

Sunday morning at church it was the girls' Sunday School class' turn to light the advent wreath and do the reading. The girls did a good job of standing up front although I was a little scared that Lollie was going to knock over the advent wreath because she was so close: After church I went to the Burdick's play and then did some grocery shopping. Last night we finally got the lights and ornaments on the tree. The girls absolutely loved looking at all the ornaments and trying to find the ones that were theirs. This weekend is Christmas on the Coosa which we always look forward to. This Christmas so far has been so much fun. The girls are really starting to understand things. We have a "Little People" navity set that we set out for them to play with and we have been working with them that Mary was Jesus' mother, Joseph was his dad and was God, that the wisemen brought him gifts, that the sheperds were the first to be told. In today's time it can be really hard to let Christmas be all about Santa for kids, but we are doing our best to teach the girls that we are really celebrating Jesus' birthday. Last night Lol and I were putting up the navity set on the shelf it goes on and she says "Where's baby Jesus," to which I replied, "I don't know did you lose him," to which she responds, "Ohh, Mary's going to be mad." How Cute!! It is also cute because this year Josie is being very specific in what she wants. Jolie is still easy, dress-up clothes, dolls, coloring things, and Joel even easier, formula, diapers, wipes, etc. Also I am so incredibly proud of my girls and the Millbrook Child Develop Program (the school that they attend). During the month of November they had a can food drive for the Elmore County Food Pantry. This was an awesome opportunity to teach the girls that you give to others and you take care of those less fortunate that yourself. The girls were so proud each day as they took in their cans. The Wetumpka Herald interviewed Ms. Jessie, Josie's teacher, about the drive. At the beginning of the video they scan over the children and all the food. Jolie is on the far left standing up in a pink dress. Josie is about dead center standing up on the last row in a red dress.



Well I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season and remember, Jesus is the reason we are celebrating this season!!