Guess Who?

I don't even know if this will be hard for any of you. But it's a little game of guess who. Which baby is which? It was hard for me to find pictures for this fun game. Where one baby is a boy and the other is a girl, they were dressed VERY differently. So, is this Mackenzee? Or is it Landon? {BTW...if you haven't ever used this fabulous foam bath thingees for your babies, I totally suggest using them. I used them for both of my kids and they loved it! It was the only way I could get Kenzee to not scream during bath time.}

What about this one. Is this Kenzee? Or Landon? Landon or Kenzee? Hmmm.......

I honestly don't think this will be very hard for you. I wish I had access to more of Landon's baby pictures so I could make this REALLY hard. But....these will have to do.

Good luck!

A Glimpse....

We were allowed in the NICU to see our new nephew, Jeremy, on Thursday. I was thrilled! Firstly, for the obvious reason....if they were letting people in, that must mean that he is doing better. And then second, so that I could finally see him. Besides being a mommy, being an aunt is my favorite "job". My neices and nephews are like extended children for me. Which means I've got a lot of kids. :0) It also means that my heart is full. :0)

Anyway, to be able to physically see him already was a surprise to me. My BIL, Steve, was there and gave me the "clean up" instructions of washing and putting on the yellow hospital gown before I could go back to Jeremy's special room.

It had snowed on Thursday, and though it had warmed up enough to melt the snow outside, it was still very cold. Which meant, I had super cold hands. I didn't dare touch him because of it. No need to shock the wee one. He's got enough to deal with right now. They did allow me to take this picture of him, though.

He has been taken off of the really big, fancy machine and put on the "normal" fancy machine {this is how Steve described it to me}, which means he is doing better. He's still got a lot of work ahead of him, and they fear he may have a touch of pneumonia, but baby steps is all takes. Right?

He is a beautiful baby. Tubes and all. Perfect porcelain skin and those cute baby fists.

No princesses around here!

Haven't you been enjoying this nice weather? I know we have. The kids are playing outside, we've been barbecuing, and the fertilizer is on the lawn {it's starting to green up!} It's been great!

Mackenzee LOVES to be outside. She would eat, sleep, and basically live outside if we let her.

Yesterday we decided to grill some steaks for the big NCAA tournament finals. So, the kids are out playing on the swingset, Jaysen is at the grill...I'm inside getting the rest of dinner ready {sigh!}...it's a rather nice evening at our house. For the moment.

Landon comes inside begging to play video games. I told him no way Jose! Go outside and enjoy the weather! He instead stomps off to his room to pout. SIGH.

Then I hear Mackenzee yell, I POTTY! {which is what she says when she needs to go potty} She runs to the backdoor and Jaysen asks her if she needs to go potty. She thinks about it for a minute and then says, "Ummm no." And then turns around and runs back to the swingset. {this is normal for her, she likes to "pretend" to go have to go potty to drive her mommy crazy} So, we all continue doing whatever it was that we were doing. Jaysen grilling, mommy cooking, Landon pouting, and Kenzee playing in her "clubhouse".

All is well. Sort of. I realize I am hearing Jaysen laughing outside. So, I walk to the back door and ask him what is so funny. He points to the corner of the yard where the swingset is. Mackenzee is crouching in the corner with her pants pulled down. What? And he just lets her? And then he says, grab the camera and I'll take a picture. What? Shouldn't we be running and yelling at her to stop?

Whatever. I grab the camera, but the time Jaysen gets over to her, she's already done. My daughter peed on the grass. Sort of. I think she ended up peeing more on her pants than on the grass....sigh. Jaysen thought it was hilarious. I explain to him that he is only encouraging her to do it again by laughing and telling her that she's silly. Then I get to be the mean mom {again} and tell Kenzee how naughty she was for going potty outside. Princesses don't pee pee on the grass. She doesn't get it. She thinks it's funny. So much for being a princess I guess. She has no hope. Between Landon teaching her it's funny to toot and Jaysen telling her how silly she is for peeing on the grass....she's a lost cause. :0) No princesses around here!

Prayers Go Up, Blessings Come Down

The newest member of the Burnham family was born on Friday afternoon. Jaysen's brother, Steve, and his wife Beckie, added Jeremy Cale {I hope I spelled his middle name right!} to their little family. I say little family, but Jeremy is child #5 for them. He came after they thought their family was complete. Their youngest child is 5 1/2. :0) Apparently God had different plans for them. We couldn't be happier about it.

I wish I had a picture to post for you. He has dark hair like his daddy {the bald spot too!}. I haven't been able to see him yet.

He was born with Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension, or PPHN. You can read all about it at the link I provided, but basically it means that he's having trouble breathing. When babies are in the womb, as the blood circulates through their bodies, it is diverted from their lungs. They don't need to be used yet because they get their oxygen from the placenta. When babies are born, as soon as they take their first breath, their little bodies kick into gear and the blood immediately starts pumping through their lungs. Unfortunately, for a few, it doesn't go as smoothly. The circulatory system doesn't switch over and the blood continues to bypass the lungs. The blood returns to the heart low on oxygen, which then in turn affects all of the other organs in the body.

Our prayers are with Steve and Beckie. We love you! We are always available for helping out if you need us. ALWAYS.

We can't wait to have you get to go home Jeremy! We're all dying to see you and tell you how much we love you!

And they called it puppy love....

So, do you remember this picture? It was from back in October. Our new six week old puppy....

Isn't he so adorable? You could just pick him up and carry him around. Even Mackenzee did it because he was so small.

It didn't last long......

Look how huge he is now. He's 6 months old. ONLY 6 months. Yeah....

The kids love him so much and he loves them too. Now that Spring is finally here {sort of} the kids have been able to go outside and play, and Toby has been eating it up. I'll send the kids out and not long afterwards I will hear hysterical giggles from Landon. Their favorite game to play is "wrestling". Landon will get on his swing and Toby will "knock" him down off of it and they will wrestle around on the ground while Toby licks Landon's face.

Unfortunately, Toby tries to play this game with Mackenzee, but she's far too small to wrestle back. :0) I picked a Golden Retriever because I knew they were good dogs for kids. I'm glad I wasn't wrong on this one. He plays so well with them. Even when Landon is wrestling with him, I see him pretend to nip him on the arm like he's "getting" Landon, but no biting. {thankfully}

Yesterday Landon ran inside and told me I had to come out and take pictures of him with his dog because "Toby loves me so much mom! See, he gives me hugs." Then he proceeded to walk outside and tell Toby to give him a hug. Toby jumped up and actually gave him a hug!

Doesn't he look like he's even smiling for the picture? I think it's hilarious. :0)

No School Days

Yesterday and today were parent teacher conferences at Landon's school. This means...NO SCHOOL for the kiddos.

Be prepared for this post. I'm going to reveal how bad of a mommy I am....

Now, if you know anything about me, I have OCD tendencies. :0) I like routine. I like to know what's going on, and when it's going to go on so that I can prepare for the going's on. Got it? On a normal weekday, it's just me and Kenzee at home, hanging out. A couple of times a week there are errands involved. But, for the most part, we just hang out. Well, let me clarify on the hanging out...I blog, check my email, do the laundry, wash the dishes, pick up endless piles of toys..you know the drill. As for Mackenzee....she gets in a lot of Dora and Boots, Curious George, and Kai-lan. {My daughter can say Ni-hao [which is hello in Chinese] because of dear Kai-lan!} She also likes to try to drive me crazy by bringing ALL of her toys from her bedroom to the living room and getting into things she's not supposed to. There are usually a few temper tantrums thrown in there as well. {there are also tickle monsters, singing songs, dancing, and lots of trips to the potty} It's our routine. We've got it down pat.

Then comes the Parent Teacher Conference Days. Landon is home. And, as much as I love having him home with me...he seriously throws off my routine. I had plans yesterday. Bank, post office, grocery store, and Target. Guess how much I got done? Let's see...bank? nope! post office? nope! Target? nope! I did make a quick run into Smith's while Landon was at Cub Scouts.....at 4:15. My morning was shot. Between play dates, and fighting siblings...my plans were shot down. And to top it all off....Landon told me earlier in the week that I didn't have to go to P/T Conferences because it was just an open house. His report card was sent home in his backpack, and there was also a note that said I could just come anytime on Thursday and Landon could show me how he does his 50 in a minute and what not. Well, if I'm not required to go, and all I'll get out of it is to watch my kid do math problems {which we do every night at home anyway} I'm going to skip this one. Dragging my mischevious little toddler in there was horrible enough last time. If I don't have to deal with it, I'm not going to. So, I didn't even think about it yesterday. 4:05 comes and Landon says, "MOM! We were supposed to go to P/T Conferences today!" I remind him of what he told me and he said "Yeah, if you were SICK you didn't have to go." What? Then, when I checked the caller ID, I saw that his teacher had tried to call me from the school. Sigh. Good job slacker mom Ashlee. :0( Holy cow. So, not only did I not get anything accomplished, I was probably the only mom that DIDN'T show up to school yesterday. Nice....

Now, for a cute happy thought. Sort of. It's 9:30 in the morning. My kids have already been fighting. I remind Landon that he is in desperate need of a shower. After reminding him THREE times, he finally goes to do it. Mackenzee stars crying and pounding on the door. She strips naked while doing this. She wants to come and play in the shower too. I tell her that she can't. Landon is big and needs to take a shower by himself. She keeps crying and climbs into my lap and I tell her I'm sorry. After a few minutes of her being sad, she looks up at me, puts her hands up on top of her head and says, "I on't be big TOO mommy" It was sad and cute at the same time. She wants to be able to do what Landon does. She adores him and idolizes him. He's just so much bigger than she is, so it makes it hard for her. Sadly, she'll be big soon enough. As frustrating as she can be sometimes, can't she just stay little forever? I mean seriously, she posed for this picture after it all happened. No 16 year old is going to do that for her mommy. :0)

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.