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!

Grandmas!!!

Mackenzee adores her grandma. No matter what Grandpa Burnham says! ;0) She loves going out to Jerome to visit.

Grandma Leppert came to visit us when Mackenzee was born. But since then, we haven't had the opportunity to see her as she lives in Utah and doesn't come up to visit very often. So, it was great to hear that she was going to be here for Thanksgiving this year! Mackenzee was able to "officially" meet her great grandma and she didn't hesitate to ask her for a hug right off the bat. And of course, her great grandma didn't mind at all. In fact, she ate it up. ;0) I couldn't resist taking a picture like this one. I mean...who spoils you with more love and attention than a grandma? And there were two there today just for Mackenzee!

Thankful for.....

FAMILY! The best part about the holidays is the time we get to spend with our families. This year we spent Thanksgiving with Jaysen's family out in Jerome. We were lucky enough this year to have Jaysen's Grandma Leppert here as well. We all ate A LOT of yummy food and were bursting at the seams by the time we were all done, but it all tasted so yummy!

Grandma Leppert wanted to make sure that we brought our camera with us (like I would forget!) so that Jaysen could take family pictures of each of her grandkids' families for her family record. Though there was much groaning involved, we were able to accomodate her wishes. ;0)

Stacy, Jordan, Jeff

Haylee, Gage, Breanna

Kaden, Steve, Beckie, Meghan

Whitney, Jesse

And you know us!

Jaysen, Kenzee, and myself

Landon was unfortunately gone this weekend.

So, yes.....I am thankful for family! To be a Burnham! For Jaysen..who is a wonderful husband, for Kenzee who makes me laugh, and for Landon who always has a hug when you need one.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving full of food and family!

Homeless

So, I'm a mean mom. Today was mom day in the car, which means no DVDs just my music. Isn't that horrible? And to make matters worse....it was Christmas music! Just trying to get into the spirit of the season here! Anyway...we're in the car, the kids are laughing LOUDLY because Landon is tickling his sister. So, I crank up the volume to level 23 so that I can hear the words to the songs. And then...this happened. The song "Homeless" from Michael McLeans the Forgotten Carols starts to play. I'm singing along and then suddenly I realize the car is silent. The kids are listening. Mackenzee is humming along. Honestly, how do you describe it? Warm...fuzzy....good stuff. It's Christmastime everyone!
By the way...this was the only video I could find for this song. Fast forward to the last couple of minutes of this families Christmas movie to listen to the song if you haven't heard it. It truly is a beautiful song.

I'm Thankful for.....

So, it's the Family Home Evening just before Thanksgiving. What do you do? You talk about what you are thankful for. Having a 2 year old and trying to get her to participate makes FHE a little more difficult in the preparation dept. for me, but I much prefer her being a part of it, than to have her squirming away to play something else. So, go team!

Anyway...this year, with Landon being practically 8 I really wanted to help him understand what it meant to be thankful. So, as soon as he got off the bus I ran them to the dollar store with instructions to find things that represented the things they were thankful for. Check out what my kids got.....

My dear son Landon.....

He is thankful for skateboarding, riding bikes, and snowboarding (though he doesn't snowboard). He is also thankful for Superheroes, school, money, food, books, and sports. The M&M's represent Mom & Mackenzee. I thought that was cute. The things we couldn't find representations for we just wrote amongst the other items. We got family, friends, Primary, Our Country, Music, Prophet, Jesus, toys, house, art, tv, and Toby.

I think he did pretty good.

And not that she really understood the whole idea....these are the things Mackenzee picked, and which were honestly about accurate for what a 2 year old little girl would be thankful for! ;0)

Stickers, flowers, pink, food, money, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Choo Choos, ice cream, suckers, princesses, Toby, dancing, ba-ba's, and pretties (for her hair).

We did ask her who she loved and so we wrote down Mommie, Dada, Landon, and Kenzee. Yes, she said she loved herself about three times. ;0) And Landon wanted to make sure we wrote Jesus on hers to so that she would know "he existed".

So, after we did all of this, I did try to explain to Landon about being grateful for those things he was thankful for. That there were those among us who didn't have the things we did. Like our home, food, clothes. When you are young, you just assume that everyone has the same stuff. Like it's just a given. Everyone gets a house with their own room full of toys, right? Once I explained that it was not so, he seemed a little shocked. But, I am hoping with this realization he will be a bit more grateful for what he has and what he gets.

So, not to jump the gun here, as I know we are still two days away from the big day....but....

I am TRULY thankful to all of you! My friends and family. You make my world a little bit brighter. And thank you for letting me tell you time and time again that my kids are cuter than yours. I'm sure by now, you've seen that I was only being honest. But still...thank you! ;0)

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Blog!

I know...I know...another one? But I was thinking....I originally set up this blog to be about my kids and family stuff....but I feel I've been posting more random stuff than family stuff....So, I thought

Why not make a blog full of the random stuff?

Why not? It doesn't cost anything extra. I can write down the musings of my brain and not have it interfere or take attention away from my adorable children? So, check it out! And don't forget to stop by my recipe blog!

www.random-ashlee.blogspot.com

www.burnham-baking.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

A European at Heart

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city soul with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian people - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

Bee Movie

Tonight was a big night in the Burnham home. After much deliberation, we decided to take Mackenzee to her very first movie. It's a big deal! Landon went to his first movie when he turned 2, but he also sat still all the way through Toy Story at home, so I knew there wouldn't be a problem. Mackenzee can't sit through a 30 minute Dora episode! Anyway...Jaysen wanted to give it a go, so we went for it. We took two cars, just in case....better to be prepared than to throw all of that money in the garbage by having ALL of us go home if she didn't make it. I also made sure to buy the JUMBO popcorn. I was hoping that even if she didn't watch the movie, that the huge tub of butter would keep her busy. ;0)

As far as the movie goes...it was ok. I won't be buying it. It wasn't bad, it was just really slow. And the plot was a bit much for kids I think. The bees suing the humans....kids don't even know what that means. And pollination? What 8 year old understands that? But that is the movie. No bees working...no pollination...no flowers....you get the idea. There were some funny lines in there to get Landon laughing. Like poop-water (the guy got toilet water splashed on him when he tried to flush the bee down the toilet).....yeah. Little boy humor...sigh. But, it didn't grab Kenzee's attention. We made it through the movie, thanks to the popcorn, and two drinks (yes, she drank both of them almost all by herself). But, she moved around a lot. My daughter does not sit still. And yes, Landon and her had to fight a couple of times in the middle of the movie over a drink, or the tub of popcorn. Sigh. But at least we made it!

Honestly, I wouldn't spend your money on this movie unless it was a matinee...dollar theatre even. Better yet, wait till it comes out on Netflix! It's too bad that it was Kenzee's first movie, and it was such a dud!

Piano Man

Landon is becoming quite the little pianist. He is having such fun with it too! This last week he was given a new book of Christmas songs to learn and the first song he was given was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He made me sing that song while he played it over and over and over again. And though I do love hearing him play....I needed a moment of silence. ;0) So, bath time it was! After both he and Kenzee had been taken care of I went about my business and left them to play with eachother before I made it be bedtime. (Side note: No jammies for Kenzee until it is ABSOLUTELY necessary! She thinks it's bedtime RIGHT THEN if we put them on her! Sigh.) Anyway...not two seconds later, I'm hearing Rudolph again! But this time it was a duet. Can I just tell you how beautiful the music sounded? (HA!) But it was too cute not to snap a picture. Mackenzee was playing and singing along to whatever song she thought they were playing and Landon was just ever so diligently playing his first Christmas song of the year. He's even improvising. You know the echo in the song?

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer (reindeer)

He's adding that into the music. Although he's having a hard time figuring out the notes for "like a light bulb". ;0)

As a side here....I just realized yesterday that Thanksgiving was in one week. Are you kidding me? It's not time for that yet! And, as we all know, Thanksgiving is always one month from Christmas. So, we're about 5 weeks from Christmas! That's insane. Not that I'm not almost done with my shopping. Most of you already know that I start shopping in September. But, I'm not ready for the holiday. It's come around too soon. I don't feel Christmasy. Even with listening to my Josh Groban CD yesterday. Sigh. I told Jaysen that next Friday was Christmas tree day (I always put it out the day after Thanksgiving because honestly, as long as it takes to get it all put together....I'm not having it up for only a week!) His eyes started bulging. I don't think he realized that we were so close either.

So....get ready people! Ready or not....here it comes!

Thankful-Josh Groban

Everyone needs to have this CD in their collection. Josh Groban just came out with his Christmas CD "Noel" and it's amazing! It's almost like the songs we've heard for years were never sung right. He has such an amazing voice. This song is called "Thankful". Check it out!

Celebrity Look Alikes!

My sister in law told me about this website and the fun stuff that you can do as far as face recognition goes. So, I did a little playing around with it this morning instead of the things I was really supposed to be doing! You should go and check it out!



This one was kind of a disappointment. She looks equally like us? Sigh. No bragging rights on either side! ;0)




And, though I know it's not realistic, I did one of Landon with Jaysen and I as well. Partly to make sure they didn't say that every child looked equally like mom and dad, and partly out of pure curiosity. Check out the results!



Even better! I put Jaysen's picture in to see what kind of celebrity I was married to. I knew he was cute...but wow! Look who he looks like!

I've Gone Scrap Crazy!

So, this past weekend I did some serious scrapbooking and I thought I would share my pages with you! Sadly, I have oodles of pictures that still need attention, but at least a few were taken care of! I need to do this more often! As you will see, the journaling still needs to be done, so I guess none of these are "complete". Oh well!

Girls Night

We went to Hands On for Girls Night last night. I have never actually painted pottery before and I really enjoyed it. I could have stayed there for hours to be honest with you. Very relaxing, and it doesn't require a lot of thought. So, you could sit there and chat while you painted. I picked a Christmas tree and I'm so excited to get it back! We get to pick them up on Monday after they've baked them and glazed them and all of that good stuff. I think the girl that worked there thought I was wierd though. I painted the tree green, and then put a white wash finish on it to make it look "snowy" I guess. ;0) And it turned out cute! Trunk brown...you get the idea. Well, it needs ornaments right? I asked for gold paint as I thought of putting a gold garland around the tree, but they don't carry gold or even silver. The best they had was a butterscotch color. Not good enough for me! ;0) So, I just picked red. So, there are little red circles all over my tree. I thought it turned out cute. The Christmas colors I use in my house are green, red, brown (tan) and gold. Classic colors of Christmas right? So, I was trying to keep along those lines with my pottery piece. Well, the lady came to check on us and she wanted to know if I wanted more colors. I told her I didn't need anymore because I was finished. She had this look on her face like "Are you kidding me?" She said, "That's the only color of ornaments your putting on it?" So, I said, "Yes....I'm a plain person." She was speechless. Literally. It took her a second and she said, "Oh. I'm sorry, I've just never heard that phrase before." I just told her that with me, less is more. She just walked away. My tree is cute dangit! I'll post a picture of it when I get it back. There is nothing wrong with one color of ornament! ;0)

Anyway...I'll definitely be going back.

And....to top off girls night...we went out to Tomatos for food afterwards. We finished up painting by 6:45 and honestly, none of us wanted to go back home quite yet. So, we went for it!

All in all a fun night!

Let's Make Out!

Everyone loves kisses right? Smooth, creamy, melt in your mouth kisses.....

I'm talking about HERSHEY KISSES here people! Well, they've come out with holiday versions for us who love the kiss. ;0) My favorite.....

The MINT TRUFFLE!

Look at these babies....Dark chocolate outside, and creamy mint on the inside. It's like you've died and gone to heaven. And I'm not kidding. I'm sad they are just out for a few months. I might have to stock up. You can't just have one kiss! You have to have several! They are too good not too. Addicting.....yeah.

So, go try them while they are out! You won't regret it, I promise!

Conked Out

So, I was sitting here checking my email (go figure) and all of a sudden I hear this snoring sound. I ignored it for a moment thinking maybe it was something off of Blues Clues. But, after a few minutes of hearing this noise I had to investigate. And this is what I found. Now, for any of you who know my daughter....she pretty much will only go to sleep if she's in her crib. So, for her to conk out on the couch like this....means she must have been dog tired. She didn't even blink when the flash on the camera went off. This time change has really thrown off her schedule.

Anyway...she's just completely adorable...how could I not nab a photo?

Doghouse

Today was the official doghouse building day. Jaysen had Landon help him screw it together. Landon felt so important. I was actually surprised that Jaysen actually let Landon hold the drill and drill the screws in. Let's just say that a few of those babies are completely stripped. They are never coming out. Which is ok, since it's Toby's house. But, it was interesting to watch Landon attempt to hold the heavy drill straight up and push the button at the same time. :0)

Even better...when they were all done putting the sides together, Jaysen took a moments break, and without hesitating, Mackenzee grabbed the drill and figured she's make sure those screws were TIGHT enough. She had no problem holding the drill up and pushing the button. Silly girl. Anyway...the puppy house is done. He's got a nice warm home, with a soft little bed inside of it. And do you know what he's doing? He's whining and pawing at my back door. That's right. Sigh. At least he's not barking.

Spiderman!

Though Jaysen took Landon to see Spiderman 3 this past summer, I hadn't seen it. And as most of you know, the movie came out onto DVD this week. (Side note: if you are planning on buying a movie, buy it the first week at Target because it's always $5 cheaper than anywhere else.) Anyway...I took the plunge last night and watched the movie.

The mysterious black goo from space was a bit much for me to believe...but it was a pretty good storyline. I liked the whole Harry aspect of it, but wondered why they killed him off in the end. And, if any of you watched it...the ending left something to be desired. Because it wasn't really an ending. Segway to Spiderman 4!

Yes, they will be doing another one. The script is in the process, but they are unsure if dear Toby Macguire will be on board for another one. He apparently doesn't seem to think that they would be able to come up with a good storyline that would top "3". The villians supposedly in line (yes, more than one again) are 'The Lizard', which is Peter Parker's professor at the university, and Carnage.

The Lizard becomes a lizardbecause he lost an arm and decides to inject lizard DNA into himself, which turns him into a lizard. Peter at this point is his teaching assistant, and they are still close, but The Lizard dislikes Spiderman (I don't know why) and so there is this whole drama involved with the alter ego again like there was with Harry's dad.

Carnage is some serial killer that I'm assuming, breaks out of jail. In the comic book he is cell mates with the guy who became Venom, but they killed him off in the movie. The other version is that he somehow hooks up with Lizard, who, if you remember, still has that sample of the black goo from "3". The black goo still "remembers" Spiderman (because it takes on the characteristics of what it bonds to. that's why the other guy looked like Spiderman too. You know, Venom.) Anyway... Carnage is an even darker version of Venom, because the guy it takes over is a serial killer. Makes sense?

So, there you have it. The saga will continue. Which I am glad, because the ending just wasn't there for me in "3". I would have preferred an ending like "2" where you knew Harry was going to become the green goblin. There were no bad guys looming in this one, just the dumb love story left hanging. Tie up your loose ends people!