Family Bonding.....

My older sister, Melanie, came up from Rexburg for Paige's baby blessing.

It's so fun when they all come to visit. Especially for my kids. They miss their cousins SO much. What was even better, my nephew Austin was able to come and stay with me for the weekend too while his parents went up early to help out Crystal. So, the boys especially had a good time. There were two birthdays in our family in March, and so I was able to pass along the presents in the actual same month as their birthdays. Last year, I think poor Emily got her present in September. :0(She was so cute about the present too. I got a great big hug from her for it and she immediately went off to play with her new Blendy Pens. {by the way, they are nifty little pens!}

No hug from Nathaniel, but that's ok. He's 16 now....hugs aren't expected. :0) He did get excited over his iTunes gift card. Please use it on GOOD music Nate. Please? No screaming songs....for at least a couple of them. Try out Jack Johnson or even Panic at the Disco. Good stuff there! Just some suggestions anyway.....

Mackenzee ate up all of the attention that she got from cousins and her aunt Melanie. She actually fell asleep in Melanie's arms as she was read to. I was grateful as otherwise there would have been no nap for my little girl and it made the night bearable. She was getting pretty whiney :0).

The last time they came to visit, I took our Wii and Guitar Hero over to my mom's house for the kid's to play with. Nate and Jon were amazed at my wicked awesome guitar playing skills {I can only play on the Medium level} and so they went home and bought Guitar Hero for themselves to practice up. My sister prepped me before they came, letting me know that Nate was going to BRING IT so I better be ready. I rarely play the game, but figured it was all in good fun anyway. So, I took over the Wii again this last weekend with our Guitar so we could battle it out. They brought their guitar and so this time two people could play at a time.

Austin was really uncertain about playing it and wouldn't for a while. But Talon said he would help him, and after that first song, he was hooked. He didn't need any help.... ;0)

Landon got crazy with it. He was dancing and singing along. He does think he's the expert at the game....but then again....he thinks he's the expert of everything.

The little girls wanted to join in on the fun, but couldn't play it by themselves. I helped Savanna and Stephanie play...and actually sat Kenzee on my lap and help her strum along to a song as well. Emily was finally talked into playing and had Stephen push the colored buttons while she strummed. She did pretty good!

Stephen got a little hooked on the game as well. {Melanie, you're really going to have to buy one now!} Here he is playing against Nate. Don't they look fierce?

Stephen nabbed a shot of me as I was playing against Nate. He wasn't content with me just playing on the medium level against him, so I told him I'd give the 'hard' level a go. {He plays on the expert level} Do you see the concentration on my face. The hard level really is HARD! All those buttons to worry about! But, I will let all of you know...that I am still Queen of the Guitar Hero around these parts. Which is saying something since I never actually play the game. :0) I'm pretty impressed with myself. I barely beat Jon though...by only about 600 points {which isn't very much in this game}. Next time they come I may have my work cut out for me.

Talon got pretty good at the game as well. He played a couple of songs on the medium level by the time the day was through.

All in all it was a fun weekend. I love hanging out with the family, and playing around with the kids. Even if they do think they can take me in Guitar Hero.

Truly Blessed

My sister blessed her baby this last weekend and so the WHOLE family went up to Boise for the special occasion. It's the first time that all of us have been together since Christmas, so it was fun for all the cousins to get together and play.

This is my baby sister, Crystal, with her adorable baby, Paige.

This is Paige. The newest member of our crazy family. She is so tiny! She weighs almost nothing {at least compared to my baby} and is such a good baby. She slept most of the afternoon.

This is my Grandma, holding her newest Great Grandbaby. She won't be the newest for long as my cousin is having a baby in about three weeks. :0) Lots of babies around here! My Grams made the blanket that Paige is snuggled in and she just loves it. She would turn her head so that she could feel it on her cheek. Such a cutie!

And these are ALL of the crazy kids. My mom's 15 grandkids. Good looking bunch of kids if you ask me. :0) I think it must be genetics.

I figured we'd better get a picture of all of them together because it doesn't happen very often.


Sadly, I realized I didn't end up with a single picture of my parents with their newest grandchild. So, if any of you have a copy...I'd love to get one from you! Thanks!

Anyway...all in all such a good day. I ended it with TWO yummy brownie concoctions that my sister made. I'm going to post the recipe on my baking blog, so if you want to check it out.....you won't regret it. They are SO good. :0)

She is adorable Crystal! We love her to pieces!

Baby Love

So, my sister has gone home. She left this morning. I was sad I couldn't spend more time with her. She came over on Monday and hung out for a few hours while my mom taught her piano lessons.

And then on Tuesday they were gone all morning shopping for things they needed for a project my mom was working on. So, I didn't get to go out and visit until 2:30ish. But then I had to leave at 5:00 because of Landon's scout meeting, so it wasn't for very long. And yesterday, my dear son decided he needed to be sick and stay home from school. I didn't want to get new baby sick, so there was no way we were going out to visit with my sicko. Miraculously, he felt better around dinner time so we were able to go out around 5:30ish. But, it just wasn't long enough! :0)

The short time we did get to spend with her was nice though. I know my mom LOVED having them stay with her so she could be a grandma to them all. We miss them so much since they moved away last summer. I enjoyed holding Paige immensely as well. :0) She loves me. Seriously...I'm her favorite. :0) Landon was quite taken with her as well.

He was dying to hold her on Tuesday, so we got him all set and he just stared at her for a while with a big goofy grin on his face. Kenzee held Paige a few times as well and "helped" Nana rock her to sleep last night. She couldn't get enough of her. Crystal got Kenzee to tell me that she wanted a baby sister...but just so you all know...this is still not going to happen! I will enjoy holding my new neice and soon to be new nephew {Jaysen's brother is expecting a new addition to his family in a few weeks as well.} and be content.

Anyway...it was great to have you here Crystal! Sorry we couldn't visit more! But I'll see you in a couple of days!

I've been pinned!

My son is now a Bobcat. Not a real Bobcat...in the cub scout program. :0)
I am clueless when it comes to scouting stuff. I' m a girl. SO, obviously I haven't had any experience in this kind of stuff. So, when my friend {who is also one of the den leaders} called to tell me about the Den Meeting, and that Landon could get his Bobcat if he finished the stuff in the book I was totally confused. You mean we're supposed to do some of this stuff at home? Yeah....Clueless. She kindly explained it, and so I was all set to get Landon in gear during Spring Break so that he could get his Bobcat at the Den Meeting.

I explain all of this stuff to Landon, and we started going over the little "pamphlet" that is attached to the front of the manual. It took a little time as there was a lot to cover. Part of me was truly sad that part of the required curiculum now contained 'How To Protect Your Children From Child Abuse: A Parent's Guide' because it shows what a truly sad world we live in. My kid is 8. He should be able to live in innocence and not even have to know that there are bad things in life like this. But, I understand the reasoning behind it. It's better to make them aware to prevent horrible things, than to keep them in innocence and have it be taken from them. It's just sad is all.....

Back on topic here! We went through the pamphlet...it took some time. Then we started to get into the memorizing stuff. After about 20 minutes of attempting to get both the Cub Scout Promise and The Law of the Pack memorized, Landon wanted to quit Cub Scouts. :0) Sigh. I'm sure he was figuring it was Spring Break and he just wanted to go off and play. So, I told him fine. I wasn't going to force it. I reminded him that all of his friends would be getting their Bobcat at the meeting, but if he didn't care, it was up to him. He was shocked that I gave in so easily, but merrily went on his way to play. I figured he would change his mind about wanting to do it all after the Den Meeting when he saw his friends getting their awards. Imagine my surprise when not 10 minutes later he came back to me and said, "Ok, I've got it this time." And said the Law of the Pack from memory! Kudos to you Landon. He didn't give up. {which is unlike my son...he'd rather take the easy road.} So, we finished up the requirements for his Bobcat and even got some of the requirements done for a few other areas in the Wolf portion of the book. So, we were all set!

The Den Meeting was last night. We played a few games and at the end they got to break the pinata they had made at the last pack meeting. Landon had the final hit to the pinata that broke it open {Sadly, he later told me it was because he could "kinda" see and knew where to swing. CHEATER! Melanie...we should have put that blindfold on tighter! It wouldn't have hurt him...too badly anyway.... :0)} Anyway, during the "awards ceremony" Landon was able to get his Bobcat patch {something else for me to pretend to know how to sew onto his uniform!} and unknown to me...the mommies get little pins too! I assume it's because everyone knows that behind every little boy who has accomplished their scouting goals is a mommy who helped him do it. So, Landon "pinned me" last night in front of everyone. It was cute.

AND...he saw that a couple of his friends got their little Wolf badge to hang their beads on. He immediately turned around and said, "How come they got those?" Yes, he is addicted to scouting now. I don't know if it's for the right reasons...but hopefully he'll at least learn something in the process of getting all those little beads and arrows. :0)

Thanks Jodi and Melanie for being such great Den Leaders! Landon is having so much fun with it thanks to all your hard work.

Kissing Cousins

My cousin, Ryan, was at my Grandparents house for Easter yesterday. He has two adorable little blonde boys. Brennan, the oldest, is four. I think Mackenzee has found a new boyfriend. :0) They had so much fun playing together. At one point, she really wanted to sit in the chair with him, so he scooted over and let her climb into his chair with him. He was even nice enough to share his drink with her, which made her day because there was ice in it. :0)

Such cuties! Yes, I realize they are related...but friends can kiss! And, like Brennan said, "I'm just making friends!" As you can see, Kenzee didn't mind at all. :0)

BTW...lots of posts today. It was a busy weekend...so keep scrolling down! I think there are about five of them!

A Hunting We Will Go

One of our favorite parts about holidays is going to our families' houses. We are so lucky to live so close to both Jaysen's parents as well as mine, and so we can see both sides of the family and not have to miss out on any of the fun. :0)

After I picked up Landon, we were supposed to meet Jaysen and Mackenzee out at my Grandma Casperson's house. They had already done the egg hunting at the Burnham's, so Kenzee had gotten her practice in for the one that my Grandma does for her grandkids. Sadly, she had already filled up 150 eggs before she realized that not only were most of her grandkids too old to hunt eggs, but most of her great grandkids weren't going to make it to the party. By sad, I mean sad she spent all that time on 150 eggs for four kids. It wasn't sad for the four kids who got masses of eggs after the hunt was over. :0)

Landon has yet to learn the fine art of letting the little kids get some too. Do you see how full his basket is? Even if one of the little ones found the egg first, he was such a stinker and ran and grabbed it first. Let's just say that Mamma took about 7 of those big eggs and gave them to little cousin Bailey. NOT NICE! I made him stop looking too. Here is this 8 year old hunting for eggs with two 2 year olds and a 4 year old. Not quite equal there. Sigh.

Here's the four cuties with their Easter Baskets. Again...notice how full Landon's basket it compared to the other children. Sigh. That's ok. It's over...We'll just have to remember for next year and have a little "talk". :0)

Here are the kids checking out their loot. Landon came out of this with almost $6.00! What's up with the money eggs anyway? Seriously...they never had those when I was a kid! Strictly jelly beans man! Oh well. And, you know those big eggs that I gave to cute little Bailey {who is watching Landon in this picture here} they were the ones with all the quarters in them. :0) Landon was more than a little mad at his mommy for giving away all of his money eggs! I didn't feel bad. Like six dollars wasn't enough? He made $11.00 between the two Easter Egg hunts. I don't think he's hurting. Aren't I mean?

Here's Kenzee checking out her candy stash. But, my daughter is not my favorite part about this picture. If you look in the background you will see little Bailey {I keep saying little, but he's the same age as Kenzee} hiding underneath the pool table. His little fist is clenched SO tight. Do you see it? He managed to nab a piece of chocolate without his mommy noticing. :0) Sh! Don't tell her! Anyway...he ended up with melted chocolate all over his hand.

Such fun! The kids always have fun with it. Thanks Grams! We love you!

This is for you Jodi!

Let me just start by saying that Jaysen didn't take all of the pictures that I wanted him to. I wanted you to get the full effect. July is a long ways away. :0)

I wanted him to take pictures inside some of the really cool cabinets that pull out and what not. Your mom loves them and I'm sure she told you about them, so I wanted you to have the visual. But, oh well. :0)

AND...I'm also going to say here, for the record, that I am totally jealous of these cabinets. They are gorgeous. And there are so many more than what I've got. I know, I know, thou shalt not covet...but I am. :0)

These are the cabinets above the washer and dryer.

Here's the view from the dining room. It's totally different now, huh? The countertops haven't been put on, and the tile backsplash is missing too, but I think she said they were getting done this week.

Here's the other side of the kitchen from the dining room. She put in the extra cabinets on the other side of the fridge. That long one next to the fridge has individual little pull out shelves. So nice! She moved that little side table that used to sit here to where the high chair used to be. I asked her the other day what she was going to do with all of her favorite pictures that she had on her fridge {see how bare the fridge is?} That's the only downfall here. :0)

And here's the tile. It turned out really nice too.

Now you just have to come visit so you can see it in person! :0) It really is like a whole other room. It's beautiful. Your mom, with all of her stressing, did a fabulous job choosing everything. :0) I never doubted her for a minute. But I do understand the stress. It's hard to decide, because once it's in, you're stuck with it whether you like it or not. :0)

Anyway...there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this little tour. :0)

Ready, Set, Hunt!

After church, Jaysen took Kenzee out to Jerome for the annual Burnham easter egg hunt. I had to go pick up Landon, so we had to miss out on all of the fun. :0( Grandma Burnham is a true Grandma and had already given me Landon's eggs that he would have got if he were there (isn't she awesome?) so I got to give them to him when he got home. He was thrilled to see all the extra eggs he got to open up. Especially the "special" one with the cash inside. He's already trying to figure out what he should spend it on. :0)

Anyway, I sent Jaysen with the camera.....

The Little Princess

Sadly, Landon was gone this year for Easter. So, the Easter Bunny only had one child to leave a basket for.

Mackenzee woke up and the first thing she said was, "treats?" because I told her the night before that she had to go to bed otherwise the Easter Bunny couldn't leave her any treats. :0) She remembered. Luckily, the Easter bunny didn't bring too much candy our way this year. I put in a special request because the person that ends up eating the candy in the end, is trying to make her "end" smaller. Instead, Kenzee was given oodles of Barbie Mariposa fruit snacks. OOOhhhhhh AAAhhhhhh. Right? :0) She also got lots of stickers and a brand new package of Dora panties. The Easter Bunny must have known we were doing well with the potty training. :0) He's such a smart guy that bunny.

The best thing he left was a beautiful new "Princess Dress". That's what Mackenzee called it. She wanted to put it on right away. I knew we'd never make it until church without getting something on it, so she had to wait. That didn't keep her from asking every few minutes though. She carried it around the house with her and everything. Sadly, she wanted to wear her crocs with them. What? She only has three different pairs of "princess" shoes! We did some negotiating and we compromised on her black sparkly shoes. They worked.

Isn't she adorable? She knows it too.....

I hope the Easter Bunny treated all of you as well!

We've Dyed and gone to egg heaven!

It's true... :0)

Ok, not really. If you've been reading along, you know I've been yucky sick this last week. It hasn't been very fun. But, Easter is coming this weekend and I had bought the fun little egg dying kit for the kids to use and I wasn't about to let it go to waste! Besides, it's tradition. We ALWAYS dye Easter eggs.

Let's just say it wasn't the most fun we've ever had doing it, and it was probably the quickest egg dying party ever held. BUT! We did them and the kids had fun...as short lived as it was. :0)

Here's hoping you have a very Happy Easter!

Splish Splash

Landon is taking swimming lessons this week at the YMCA. Sadly, he is 8 and hasn't ever taken "real" lessons before. He took a few at the gym a couple of years ago before Mackenzee was born, but all he got out of that was how to doggy paddle. :0) So, I figured it was about time he learned how to swim for real. {I'm such a slacker mommy}

He has been having so much fun with it. He's learned to float on his back and stomach {he loves the "Dead Man Float"} and he's started to swim forward and on his back as well just using basic strokes. He's doing pretty good too! I know I'm his mom, and so I'm extremely partial, but when they did their little race at the end, though he didn't win, he was the only one that actually SWAM for real. They are in water that's only up to their shoulders, so the kids usually just walk as they move their arms. You can see them bouncing up and down as they tried to "swim" to the finish line. Landon doggy paddled the whole way across the pool. I was pretty proud of him. :0)

And, as I'm trying to watch my son and be a good mommy, my dear daughter is trying to slowly kill me with her toddlerness. I love her to death, but today was definitely one of those "I'd love to trade her in for a new pair of shoes" days. We had places to go after swimming lessons. Important things to do. So, she couldn't get dirty and wet. She didn't care. She ran splashing through all of the little puddles that had been created by the previous swimmers and crawled around on the dirty pavement barking like a dog. At one point, she booked it for the pool. I was waiting for that one and caught her before she reached the steps. I swear she does stuff like this just to watch me get frustrated. Here she is with that little smirk on her face, like, "will you catch me if I make a run for it?" Sadly, she looks so much like me as a little girl in this picture that it's scary. Was I this bad? I tell myself that I wasn't....mom...you tell everyone I was really good ok? Mackenzee gets her "crazy" on because of the Burnham genes, right? It can't be because of me......sigh. :0)

Anyway...Landon's favorite part of lessons is free swim, because then he gets to go down the slide. It would be my favorite part too. :0)

Here's to hoping he learns how to swim even just a little bit out of this. Make this slacker mommy feel better! :0)

Weekend Getaway

We had planned on going to visit by brother Cameron in Utah this last weekend. It's been planned for about a month now. We had to wait for basketball season to be over so we'd have a free Saturday. :0) Unfortunately, Mackenzee decided to get sick on Tuesday. We kept our fingers crossed that she'd be better by the weekend. Thankfully, her fever only lasted for 24 hours, but then her nose exploded with a cold and a cough magically appeared. And, to top off that, Jaysen had to go and get sick on us as well. He had caught whatever bug Kenzee had. I called my SIL, Holly, on Thursday night to let her know we might have to bail. She said that as long as it was just colds to still come. So, I told her I'd keep her posted.

{This is Cameron and Holly}

Miraculously, Jaysen woke up Friday morning feeling better, but with the same nasty cold that Kenzee had. So, I called Holly again, and she said that we still had to come, colds and all. :0) I think both Austin and Landon would have had heart attacks if the trip was cancelled. So, we packed up the car and headed off.



And, though I know most of you will be shocked at my laziness...I didn't take a single picture the entire weekend! What's wrong with me? I took the camera...just didn't take the pictures. Sigh.

{Landon and Austin}

Anyway, we had a great time! We did absolutely nothing and it was fabulous to just hang out. They have a new home now and so we got to snoop around and check it all out. It's ginormous! So much so that they don't even use the basement. I think Holly should use it as a girl haven though. Set it all up with her crafting stuff and have girls nights galore down there. :0) I would come!

{Greta and Alina....and Santa too. :0)}

The kids had so much fun playing together even though I heard Alina tell Mackenzee "I hate you!" a few times. Gotta love girls.....they didn't really like "sharing" too well. I told Alina that she could come home with me and she was mad when she found out it wasn't real. :0) Normally none of my neices and nephews actually take me up on the offer. It's been made to most of them because they're all so stinking cute...but she's the only one that literally wanted to hop in the car and head out of town. I loved it. :0) And...I've never heard Greta talk SO much. It was non stop. I couldn't believe my ears. Normally you have to drag even just a word out of her. She is still scared of Jaysen though. She said it's because he's a boy and has cooties. I can't say that I blame her.

Poor Jaysen slept most of the weekend trying to get better, and Kenzee nose was an ever flowing river of snot. So gross! Cameron had a hey day playing the Guitar Hero we brought with us {Just go buy one Cam!!!} :0) and the boys tormented the girls non stop. What can you do? I just sat back and watched it all. :0)

We did go to the Mayan for dinner on Saturday night. I can't say that it was the best food I've ever had {Kind of like Cafe Rio} but the atmosphere was so fun for the kids. We had to wait an hour for our table {With 2 two year olds!} but the kids had so much fun watching the little shows and the people diving into the water. Kenzee was scared to death of the man walking around in the headdress and loincloth. :0) It didn't help that Cameron growled at her to scare her when the man came around. {MEAN!} But she lived.

And now we are home...Thanks so much for putting up with us this weekend! We hope we weren't too much trouble! Unfortunately, I have begun to get whatever Kenzee and Jaysen had. I hope your family doesn't get it! I'm sorry! But you said we should come! :0) I'll send a couple bottles of cold medicine to replace the ones we drank. :0)

March Madness?

Saturday was Landon's last basketball game for the year. Landon played great and scored 5 baskets! He was definitely on a roll and had so much fun playing with his friends. It's been so much fun to watch him play with his friends.
After the game was over they had an awards assembly where they passed out medallions to each of the kids. In 2nd grade, they don't keep score, so there was no 1st place team. Everyone gets a participation medal. He was so excited to get it though! In soccer they have only passed out ribbons, so to get an actual engraved medal made his day.

I want to thank all of the family that came to his games to support him. He really loved having you there rooting him on and it made him feel truly special. :0)
Now that basketball season is over, we are able to get our Saturdays back, which will be nice. It's been almost three months of Saturday games, and Jaysen and I were ready for a free weekend. There won't be much time for relaxation though. He's got swimming lessons starting next week and then soccer starts up the beginning of April. Jaysen is already thinking of coaching the soccer team too....I swear it never ends! :0)

Can We Go Bowling?

Landon has been bugging us to take him bowling for a while now. It seems everytime we go down to the bowling alley or call in, it's league night and they have no lanes available! Apparently, EVERY night is league night.

So, when he asked me yesterday morning if we could PUHLEASE go, I let him know they probably weren't open AGAIN. Miracle of all miracles....I called down there and they were letting "regular" people play! Finally!

We had Landon's basketball game at 12:15 and while we were there Jaysen's parents invited us to go out for lunch with them and Jaysen's brother, Jeff. So, off we went to eat and Landon was so excited to see Gage there with his dad, Jeff. Gage is the same age as Landon. So, of course, there was some instant negotiating going on between Gage and his dad over our bowling outing. The begging and pleading if he could come. Finally, Jeff caved under the pressure of Gage's pleading eyes. Not only did Gage get to bowling with us, he got to spend the night too!

So, off bowling we went and on our way there Gage reveals that he has NEVER been bowling! What? Well, he did pretty well for a beginner....

Do you see that picture of a strike? That was Mackenzee's first ball...the boys went crazy!

We had a great time, and now Gage wants to go bowling ALL the time. :0)

Pinkies Up Daddy!

I caught Mackenzee sneaking MY Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies into her bedroom yesterday and figured I better see what she was doing with them. This is what I found.....