Santa Came!

Yesssss!!!!!

That's what came out of my daughters mouth when she saw what Santa brought her. She's never said that before. It was awesome. Though all she truly cared about was the Hello Kitty bandaids and the chapstick. Sigh.

Landon was thrilled to see that Santa had deemed him "nice" after he saw a Wii sitting next to the TV. It did have a large sign on it though that said it was for the Burnham FAMILY. I don't think he paid much attention to it. :0)

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Ours was great as we were able to spend the time with both of our families. It was great to have all of my siblings here, the cousins had such a great time playing together. And little Breanna Burnham is now 12! Holy cow! She was totally decked out in make up last night and everything. She's still the same Breanna though. :0)

Merry Christmas!

Santa Cookies

Santa let Landon know that he was expecting some cookies when he came to deliver presents on Christmas Eve, so last night we hurried to make some for him. We were able to make these at my mom's house with the Callens, which made it even more fun! My sister, Crystal, and her family came on Saturday for the holiday and so we went out last night to visit and make the special cookies.

I cheat on Santa cookies and just use the holiday cake mix for them. The recipe is on the side of the cake mix box for those of you that haven't tried making these yummy cookies yet. It only makes a couple dozen cookies, which is great, and the kids only care about frosting them anyway...so it gets my part out of the way quick! ;0)

It was hilarious to watch Riley and Mackenzee attempt to frost the cookies. Riley piled his frosting high, while Mackenzee was more concerned with just piling on the sprinkles. Genea had to make hers just perfect, and Landon just wanted to eat his. ;0) Santa is definitely going to be on a sugar high tonight!

It's finally here!

Today is the day! The ACTUAL day that Landon was born eight years ago. He is now officially 8! Sniff sniff. One year older and WISER too....Happy Birthday....to you!

Early Christmas

We alternate years on which family Jaysen and I spend Christmas with, and this year is with my family. So, Jaysen's parents came over this morning with their presents for the kids. They always give jammies to the kids, which I love! Kenzee got a cute pair of pink jammies, and Landon got blue. They also brought over poppers for all of us, which is a tradition for them for Christmas Eve. They buy these LARGE poppers that have small toys/trinkets in them. So, the kids got to pop theirs (though Kenzee just tore hers apart).

And then there is always the "Mr. Right and Mrs. Right" game where you pass things to the right and left and then whatever you end up with at the end is what you get to open. Jaysen's parents put cash in envelopes and there are a couple of envelopes that have more than the others, so everyone hopes they get those. ;0) So, they brought over envelopes for us as well. No big winners here. ;0) But the kids were thrilled to find $10 in their envelopes.

So, thank you so much Perry and Rita! The kids love their jammies and Landon has already been trying to decide what he's going to do with his cash. It's nonstop presents around here!

Christmas Recital

Tonight was Landon's Christmas Piano Recital. He got to play Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for his solo piece and then two ensemble pieces as well. Before my mom had to cut back a bit a few years ago, she had oodles of students who took group lessons. Meaning, she had four full sized keyboards hooked up and each student used their own keyboard and they all played together. So good for kids who need help with timing and counting (which is most of them!) Anyway...she got out three of her keyboards and had the kids play a few songs as ensembles. Each child playing a different part (harmonies and what not). It makes it so much fun for the kids. Landon was really having a hard time with one of the songs, and so in order to coax him into playing I told him that I would play the treble clef during the recital and all he had to play was the bass clef notes. He did awesome. And it's always fun to play a "duet" with him. He even got to play the final song, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, with a couple other students while we all sang along. He was so proud of himself and he had so much fun with it. I think all of the kids did. No memorizing pieces, just playing fun Christmas tunes with their friends.

Good job Landon! You did great!

Something to think about.....

Ok...so I'm going to get a little deep here.
Landon had his interview with the bishop tonight for his baptism. The bishop gave him homework and told him to go home and read with us D&C 20:77,79 and then to talk about it.

77 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

79 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

We hear these scriptures on a weekly basis. Half the time I don't even get to listen due to my wonderful 2 year old. But, having to fully explain the meaning of these verses and how they pertain to Landon getting baptized really made me think about it. When we get baptized we promise to take on the name of Jesus Christ....to keep His commandments, and to remember him. Of course, we get plenty in return, but what I had to explain to Landon was that we don't just promise to do all of this on our baptism day. We have to do it EVERY day. And by taking the sacrament on Sunday it helps us to remember those promises we made when we were baptized. That was 20 years ago for me.
I know....I'm getting kind of deep. It's been so interesting as Landon gets older the kinds of questions he asks and the innocent faith he shares with me. And after reading these verses with him tonight it makes me want to pay attention just a little bit more.
So, thanks Landon.

Fierce!

My kids crack me up! It's close to bedtime, and they're all ready to go with just a few minutes left...so I tell them to go play in Landon's room until it's time for prayers. Moments later Kenzee comes out wearing these crazy glasses and vest and holding a Nerf gun. The vest is HUGE on her hanging down past her knees. And right behind her comes Landon....glasses, vest and gun in hand.


Looks like he decided to break out his new Nerf War game. Kind of like Laser Tag only with Nerf guns. They looked hilarious. I couldn't help but snap a pic of Landon looking so "fierce" and Kenzee trying to be cool like her brother. Goofy kids!

75 and "many more on channel 4"

My grandpa Casperson (Landon's great grandpa) turns 75 on the 19th. Yes, this is the same grandpa that puts up all those crazy lights. He is 75.
We had his bday party last night. The last few years it has become tradition to play prize bingo, so we played a fun game of that before cake and ice cream. My grandma is his same age, and is not very happy at the number. She doesn't look 75, so I told her that nobody needed to know. ;0) But, my grandpa has been going around town letting everyone know the milestone he has reached. 75 and still kicking! He makes me laugh.
This is a picture of my cousins little boy, Isaac, and Mackenzee getting friendly with the bday cake. After attempting to blow out all 75 candles (yes there were really that many) Isaac pitched in and blew out the last of them for Gramps. And what is the best part about the candles after they're blown out? Pulling them out and licking off the frosting. So, Isaac dug in. Well, Mackenzee was not going to be left out of the fun. So, she climbed up next to him and grabbed some of her own. When they started double dipping into the icing, they needed a little rescuing...but it was too funny. Gramps just went along with it and opened his presents while they attacked his cake.

So, Happy Bday Gramps! You made it to 75! And, as Landon sang last night to you...."Many More on channel 4!" (We can forget that whole Scooby Doo on channel two though)

Gingerbread Houses!

It's tradition in the Burnham family every Christmas to make Gingerbread houses and yesterday was the day! Everyone was able to make it, which was a miracle in itself ;0) as poor Rita struggled to find a day where we all could get together. Jaysen and I decided to ditch our ward yesterday and head on over to Jerome for church so that we could be there for the big event. Where we don't get out of church until 5:00 it really makes getting together on Sundays hard. So, we happily went to church in Jerome and were able to get out at a normal hour! ;0)

The kids had so much fun decorating their houses. Even the older ones got into it. This was Mackenzee's first year of really being able to participate. She came last year, but didn't really grasp the concept as a one year old ;0) and so she just played with Jaysen while Landon and I decorated the house. But this year, she got her own half of the house and did a great job! I didn't even have to help her beyond the icing. Landon did a great job on his half too, and I gave him the front of the house to make beautiful. He added candy cane light posts to it...it turned out cute.

Such a stud!

I just had to post this picture of Landon in his new "birthday suit". ;0) He looks so handsome.

Thanks to Lisa for cluing me in on where to find this awesome suit. I should have known that Target would have one for me at half the price!

Happy Birthday to Landon!

Though Landon doesn't turn 8 until the 23rd, but we had his birthday party with his friends today.

It was a GI Joe party, so we all wore camouflage and played "army" games. The boys (and Alyssa) had so much fun and it was fun to have them all over. One of Landon's friends, Ben, said at the end of the party that it was "the best day ever!" Made me feel pretty darn good! And Landon was lucky enough to have his cousin Austin come as well. He was so excited!

No...I did not make this amazing cake. My friend Alicia made this for me and I am so impressed! The kids gobbled it up! Thank you so much by the way! It was so yummy! The fondant was good too. The kids were worried because it didn't look like regular frosting and so I told them that it was marshmallow frosting. The only boy who had seriously dug into it said, "Yeah! I can tell!" the others quickly inhaled theirs right after that. ;0)

So, Happy early Birthday Landon! I can't believe you are turning 8 already. You are supposed to be my baby. And now you are getting baptized! Well, not until January, but still! When did you get so big? We got him a new suit and tie for the landmark birthday and I made him try it on. It made him look even older. It truly makes me want to shed a tear to think he's growing up.

Rock and Roll!

So, Landon was thrown a birthday party this last weekend with the Holtmans and came home with quite the new toy. He has been talking about wanting to play the guitar for a little while now, but I told him that he needed a few more years of piano under his belt before we jumped into the guitar. That way he would already be able to read notes and music and what not. He'd have a much easier time learning to play that way. Well, apparently they make a "Learn to Play Guitar" that you plug into your tv.

I'm thinking it's similar to the Guitar Hero game, but this guitar tells you the right spots on the arm of the guitar to push so that you are hitting the right note. You have to strum and press the right spot at the right time. It looks hard to be honest with you. But, he loves it. He strums and sings along. He thinks he is WAY cool!

I told him to strike a pose for me...apparently guitar players are tough. Did you know that?

I Hate Snow!

OK...so maybe hate is a strong word. We woke up to snow on the ground Saturday morning. And luckily it melted off of the roads quickly. It stuck on the grass though. Which again...is ok I guess. Landon was gone this last weekend and so I didn't pay much attention to it, though we did go buy Kenzee a pair of snowboots. ;0) PINK snowboots. Of course.

Anyway...it has snowed pretty much all day here. Soft, white, fluffy snow. It is pretty. I will admit that. So, it's time for Landon to get home off the bus and I thought, "We should go out and make a snowman." Keep in mind...I don't like snow. I want nothing to do with it. It's cold, wet, slippery....you get the idea. But, I'm trying to be a playful parent here! So, Kenzee and I bundle up and when Landon got home, we went out to make a snowman. We start with the base of it and Landon is telling me that he wants it to be as tall as he is. Now, when I say "we" started, I meant that I was starting and he was watching. So, I told him to get with it and start getting snow on this snowman. After three handfuls of snow, he wanted to be done because his hands were cold. What? Of course your hands are cold! Your playing with snow! Sigh. So, our snowman shrunk to a midgit snowman shorter than Mackenzee and Landon watched Mackenzee and I finish it. Sigh. This experience only made me dislike snow even more! Bah Humbug!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Tuesday is Grandpa Burnham's (Jaysen's dad) birthday. So, we went out today to wish him a happy birthday. The kids love going out to Jerome to visit. Especially little Mackenzee. She has adored her grandpa since she was just a little baby. He knew just what to do to make her smile. Still does. So, Happy Birthday Grandpa! We Love You!

There's a new game in town!

That's right! I am so pleased! As most of you know, we have a DVD player in our car. It's one of the reasons we bought this specific car. Until we had it, Mackenzee screamed nonstop whenever we went anywhere. She does not like to be buckled into anything! Anyway...though I do enjoy having this option..it does get really old listening to Dora over and over and over again. So, every now and again I turn it off and it becomes "mom time". The kids are never happy when its mom time. But, they get over it. So, last week, we were driving home from Jerome and I wanted to listen to my Christmas music. Of course, the kids immediately requested the DVD player to be turned on. I tried to suggest that they look at the Christmas lights as we drove past them, but they didn't seem too interested. So...I told them it was a new game. Much like it's cousin game "Slug Bug", the person who sees the Christmas lights first gets the points. But, no hitting is involoved. You simply yell "Light Bright!"
Can I just tell you how fun this has been? I get to listen to my Christmas music, and the kids are still enjoying themselves in the car. Of course, this only works at night when the lights are on, but still. Actually, Mackenzee has been the instigator of this game since Wednesday. Even if the DVD player is on...I will hear "Yigh Brigh!" And the game starts all over again. She's really good at spotting the lights too. But, of course, Landon always wins. :0)

Burnham Family photos 2007

We just got our pictures back from our photo shoot a few weeks ago. So, I thought I'd share. We were able to get Mackenzee to smile (after several shots), which I was worried about. My "Jessica Wall" has been officially updated. Newer, cuter, capture the moment pics. Love them! Here are the "formal" pics.

Kenzee just doesn't sit still so poor Jessica was running around after her trying to nab a good shot of her. Kenzee would find a spot that she liked, pose (for two seconds), and then go pick another spot. This one turned out super cute. Shows her little dimple and everything.







Actually...this one of Landon is the one I took in October down at Shoshone Falls. Before his hair got so shaggy it drove me crazy! It was another month after I took these pictures before we had our photo shoot so you can imagine how long it was in the front. I tired to spray it down, as it tends to go everywhere when its long, but then it just looked wet. Sigh. This is the second time he's wanted to grow his hair out so that he can look like a skateboarder. Is that what a skateboarder looks like? I didn't know that. He does look so handsome in this picture though...so at least we got something. Especially after I forgot it was picture day at school and the school photos turned out HORRIBLE! Long hair, going everywhere, and an old worn t shirt. Yeah. Good job on that one mom!

And then, our family picture. Honestly, it's not my favorite of all time. But it works. I feel like Jaysen's arm completely covers me, it's a family picture with my head poking out from behind. Oh well. At least everyone is smiling and looking forward.

And...I can get last years picture off the wall! Yay! Not a huge fan of that one. And now we don't have to take another family picture for a while. It's done!

What Were They Thinking?

Sigh. It WAS a calm Sunday morning. The kids were playing. Jaysen was back in bed and I was reading the newspaper. Good stuff. Landon runs up the stairs asking me if I have a box big enough to turn into a house for him and Mackenzee to play in. There is no such box at my house. Disappointed, he goes back downstairs with Mackenzee trailing behind him.

A few minutes later I hear..."This will be a perfect turbo shoot for us! Come on Kenzee!" After investigating I find my children with the box that holds the Christmas tree after it is taken down. I had put it in the basement after putting the tree together. His plan, had I not foiled it, was to have them both climb in and then slide down the stairs in it. What??????? I told him that I was going to need the box after Christmas was over, so he was out of luck. (Here I was thinking I had made it impossible for him to "turbo shoot" down the stairs)

Again....a few minutes later he brings the box that Toby's doghouse had come in up the stairs (not sure why Jaysen put it down there instead of in the garbage) and wants to know if I "need" that box. What is a mom to do? I don't need the box. At all. So, I tell him I don't need it for anything. The turbo shoot is back. Of course, he decided it first required some decorations. So, Kenzee and Landon took some markers to it and made it "beautiful". Landon added some flames. Sigh.

At this point Jaysen figures out what is going on and gets all excited about it. "This is the kind of stuff we did as a kid!" So, he got a knife and cut holes in the sides of the box for handles and made sure we used EVERY pillow in the house to use as padding at the bottom of the stairs. He even had to try it out first to make sure it was "safe". I think he just wanted to relive his "glory days". ;0)

So, we load Landon on and push him down the stairs and there was no turning back. Even Kenzee wanted in on the action. Yes, my two year old! (though with Kenzee Jaysen only let her go from the halfway point down the stairs) They even made me try it. Seriously...it's not my idea of a great time. But I'm a playful parent...I like to have fun with my kids. So I went for it. Once. That was plenty. Though I did get a round of applause from the kids ;0) Sigh. They'd still be going at it if it weren't for nap time. And now Jaysen thinks it needs "improvements". He wants to "fix it up". It's a box for heaven's sake! Boys! They are crazy!

I Told You So!

Today is the first day of December! We are officially in the MONTH of Christmas! And, miraculously, even with today being a Saturday, we truly had NO plans for the morning or afternoon. So, I reminded Jaysen that there were oodles of Christmas lights in the garage waiting for him to hang on the house. His reply, "It's only going to be like 30 degrees today. It's too cold." Sigh.

Let's flashback two months ago. It's October. Still pretty nice weather outside. I mention to Jaysen (A couple of times!) that perhaps he should get the Christmas lights hung before it gets too cold outside. I even remind him of last year when he waited until December and froze to death hanging the lights.

I have no pity for the man.

So, there he was this morning. In the cold, stringing lights. Complaining about how cold he was. So, I enlisted the help of the kids (after bundling them up sufficiently) and we went out to help.

I can't say that anything looks professional. Especially the bushed done by my son. BUT! The lights are up. We are festive! Not anything like my Grandpa's....but it's ok. ;0)

Go Tigers!

Ok...I realize this picture is her Volleyball picture. But, I don't have a basketball picture yet. ;0) At least you get to see what she looks like. :0)

Last night was the big rivalry game between Jerome and Burley. Burley has been ranked #1 this season, but the Tigers haven't lost a game yet. So, last nights game was huge! I'm so sad that we had to miss it, but luckily the games are on 1400 AM and so we were able to listen. Talk about a finish! Burley chucked a shot from half court at the final buzzer and actually made it. This tied the game up and threw it into overtime. But, Jerome wasn't going to let them get on top....heck no!

Final score...55-52. The Tigers won! Congrats Jordan! We are so proud of you!

Santa wrote my son a letter

Yes...it's true. See for yourself. ;0)

He mailed a letter all by himself to Santa several weeks ago. He wanted to get his request in (for a Wii) early so that his name would be on the top of the Wii list. He put it in an envelope, licked it shut, addressed it to Santa Claus, North Pole, plopped a stamp on it and put it in the mailbox himself.

So, you could imagine his surprise when he brought in the mail for me today and there was this envelope with his name on it amongst the junk mail. When he read who it was from he started yelling excitedly. He couldn't even get the envelope open. I made him read it out loud so we could all hear what Santa had to say to him. Because, honestly....not every kid gets a letter from Santa like this! ;0) Did you know that Santa has a Wii too? He plays "reindeer games" on it. I had no idea....

We had piano lessons tonight and he wanted to make sure that we took it to nana's house so that he could show her and have her read it. And, the first thing he wanted Jaysen to know about when he walked in the door after getting home from work was the letter.

I guess Santa Claus is really coming to town! You better watch out!

It's Snowing!

Ok...not really. Landon was so excited to wake up to snow yesterday morning. Again...not quite enough to do anything with, but still...snow! So, I decided that when he got home from school, we should just make snow of our own! Sadly, my son has never made a paper snowflake! I remember making them ALL the time when I was little.

Anyway...we had to wait for Jaysen to get home to help since there were scissors involved and OF COURSE, Mackenzee was going to need to "make" one as well. (She did more tearing than cutting). But, it was a fun evening for us! Landon made some really great snowflakes and was excited to learn how to do it. And so that it could look like it was always "snowing" we hung them up in the front window for all to see.

Good job Landon!

O Christmas Tree!

So, I was a bit of a slacker this year. Normally I put my tree up the day after Thanksgiving to kind of kick off the Christmas holiday. But, with family in town it just wasn't going to happen. And, more importantly, Landon was gone. So we needed to wait for him.

So, yesterday I hauled out my tupperware containers full of my Christmas stuff and started digging out the tree decorations.

We use a fake tree. Real trees give me a rash on my arms when I decorate....so no real trees for me! I honestly don't mind. To get a nice real one you have to fork out mucho dinero! And though I know we all have extra cash lying around this time of year...I just can't bring myself to do it. Anyway...by the time I put the tree together, branches and all, and then spread out the branches, and then put my 8 strings of lights on (at least 8!) it takes several hours. So, if I'm putting this much time into it....it's got to be up for a LONG time!

So, I get the tree all ready....lights, garland, angel on top (with Mackenzee "helping" with the lights).....and then I tell Landon it's time to decorate. He doesn't want to. What? I LIVED for decorating the tree. It had to be done JUST SO. No two ornaments right next to each other, and proper spacing was required. (I know....but I can't help the way my brain works!) So, I started decorating without him. Halfway through, he must have seen how much fun I was having and decided to join in. My ornaments are not properly spaced. ;0) I'm ok with it. :0)

So, the tree is up! Does this make it official? It's really Christmastime?

BTW....I stole this great idea from my sister in law Jodi. She buys her girls a new ornament each year, and then when they leave the house to be on their own...they'll have their own set of ornaments to decorate their tree with. Good idea huh? So, we started this tradition this year too. I'm sure you can tell which ornament belongs to which child. ;0) I've even got a miniature tree to hang their special ornaments on, which Landon thinks is awesome!

Turkey Time!

Yes, Thanksgiving is over....but yesterday we made our turkey cookies anyway! Unfortunately,

the orange frosting tube got lost before we started making them and so we had to improvise a little bit with the beak. Savanna is super creative for a 6 year old though...and came up with our awesome candy corn beaks.

The kids had fun getting "creative" with their sugar cookie creations, and soon turkeys turned into candy concoctions. The older kids didn't mind eating them though!

Honestly, without the orange frosting they look a little more like wierd faces...people who are having a really bad hair day and in desperate need of a nose job. ;0) Oh well.

Christmas lights

If any of you are looking for a great place to take your kids to see Christmas lights....look no further! My grandpa takes this stuff SERIOUSLY! Every year it gets bigger and better. And though the pictures are great....up close is quite the experience. So, get going! 2507 Twin View Lane. Take Addison heading west (Like you are going to Filer)until the 2500 mile and take a left. Go down another 2 1/2 miles or so until you get to Twin View Lane (it's on your left). But trust me...once you go about a mile....you'll see the lights. I promise. You won't be able to miss it. ;0)
Merry Christmas!