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!