Temple Trip

Last Saturday, we went up to the Temple in Laie to support a family in our church who were sealed together that day. I forced the kids to put on some nice clothes for a few minutes so we could snap some family pictures before I went inside for the sealing, leaving Sean alone with the kids and a McDonalds just a few minutes away. It was a beautiful morning and the crazy part was how gorgeous the weather was when I went inside the temple, and how things changed within the short time I was inside. When we left the temple, it was pouring! I felt like we were in Forks, Washington (a little throw out to all you Twilight fans). Welcome to Hawaii, where it is guaranteed to rain at least once every day.

Who's Under the Hair?

It's been a LONG time since Jaxon has seen the inside of a barber shop, beauty salon, or any type of hair cutting establishment. For the past two weeks he has been open to the idea of getting a 'trim', so I made him an appointment with the stylist who cuts my hair. Jaxon was brave and mature and went in there with no reservations. At first he said, "Cut it short", which almost required a defibulator to get my heart started again because I was in such shock at hearing those words from his mouth. But, on second thought, he decided to just get a little bit taken off, so I could see his eyes again. They really are a gorgeous blue color. About 20 minutes later, a new Jaxon emerged. Its great to see those baby blues again.

Fun Sunday Surprise

Yes, we live in paradise, but there are a few things that this island doesn't have. The top two that come to mind are Target and Krispy Kremes. So, whenever our sweet parents come to visit, they usually come with a few dozen donuts and something from my favorite store. Well, tonight we were in for an awesome surprise. We were into the 'cleaning up dinner dishes and giving baths' portion of the evening when there was a knock on the door. Our sweet neighbor, Lauren, came bearing Krispy Kreme donuts. She had just arrived from a week on Maui (yup, they are more civilized on that island and have a store there) and offered us a choice of a dozen variety donuts or a dozen glazed. Oh, what a hard choice. I didn't even use a life line, I just decided to go with the variety pack and we were not disappointed. You should have seen Mason's face when he saw the box. Yes, I am proud to say that my 14 month old son can identify a Krispy Kreme box and the pure joy that can be found inside. He was screaming for the box and was so happy as he was placed in his high chair with a sprinkled chocolate glaze ready for him to devour. What a great way to end a weekend and what an awesome neighbor: she had brought back dozens for the whole neighborhood. I love our neighbors!

This picture is of Mason doing the sign for "more", telling us he wants another donut. A true Burke.

Raiders of the Quarter

At Jaxon and Colton's school, the students are rewarded for good behavior and citizenship by being named "Raider of the Quarter". Their school is Red Hill Elementary and the students are the Red Hill Raiders. Well, for two years in a row, I will take the liberty of being a bragging mom and state that both boys were Raiders of the Quarter for the first quarter of each school year. Last year Sean was deployed and missed the little ceremony, but this year he was around for it. So, way to go Jaxon and Colton! Jaxon actually missed his ceremony because he was on a Student Council Leadership field trip. He's at that age where he was more excited for the cake afterwards than the certificate he got.

Typical Car Ride

I'm sure everyone else's children are perfect angels on car rides. Luckily, we live on a small island and no long car rides are ever necessary. Except for the occasional traffic jam, we are rarely in the car for longer than 20 minutes. Last Saturday we were driving a whopping five minutes from Colton's soccer game to BK for lunch and I thought I'd snap this picture of the kids which totally typifies a normal car ride for us. Ella was on the verge of picking her nose, Mason was grabbing for something, Jaxon was looking like he was on the verge of a meltdown, and Colton was being his happy, goofy self. Oh the joys of children!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween started as soon as our costumes arrived in the mail. The boys wanted to be Star Wars characters, yes, even Mason put his two cents in and voted to be Darth Vader. Since the local WalMart didn't have the required costumes, I did what I do best: looked online and ordered off the internet. I LOVE internet shopping. With four 'spirited and outgoing' children, mall shopping doesn't work for me. Anyways, I digress...back to Halloween. The kids were so excited to get their costumes and start wearing them as soon as they could. Since I wanted to get my money's worth from each of them, I let the kids wear them as much as possible: outside playing, grocery shopping, to sleep...whenever a little pizazz was needed to the day. The boys were a little bummed that our church's Halloween party didn't allow masks, but they still had a blast going around our chapel which was decorated as a Halloween town and getting candy from the different decorated stations and playing games. I was going to just wear my annual glow in the dark Halloween jammie pants, but Sean pulled out a pirate bandana and eye patch an hour before trick or treating which inspired me to cut up some clothes and make a homemade pirate outfit. Sean, for the fifth Halloween in a row, missed out on the fun because of work. Last year he was deployed, and the year before that, a training exercise. Next year I am making him take leave so I can enjoy more or the candy-getting experience and not run around in a crazied state the whole night. I love the genius who invented the Mr. Potato head pumpkin pieces that you can stick right into the pumpkins to decorate them and make funny faces. In Hawaii, pumpkins get rotten really quickly, so we waited until Halloween day to carve ours. The kids loved decorating some other ones with the funny faces. And no mess - yea!!