Colton's Birthday

Colton turned double digits on March 11th. I was supposed to be the one to whisk him off to Disneyland Paris for the day, having fun, going on rides and spoiling him rotten. The only problem with my idea was that I had surgery three days before his birthday. I thought I'd be fine to drive the four hours and ride the big rides, surgery or not. I was wrong. I was still super sore a few days later and there was no way I was going to be able to be jostled and shuffled around three days later. So, Sean came to the rescue. He already had the day off from work, so as soon as Colton was done with piano lessons Thursday afternoon, Sean and Colton drove off to Paris. I was so glad Sean could take him, but I really wished I could have gone. Sean was under strict orders to spoil Colton just as if I was there, (I tend to spoil the kids just a tad more than my husband). Sean agreed and off they went. They spent all day Friday at the park and had a great time. They didn't get home til almost midnight. It was soo strange and a bit sad to not have Colton around for his birthday, but they had a great time and we celebrated again when he got home. We celebrate brithdays for at least a week around here, so we had Colton's birthday on Saturday when we got home, then a week later again at a birthday party with his friends. Here he is Saturday morning after getting back from Disneyland:

Colton only wanted Lego's for his birthday. We discovered Lego.de which is awesome! We can order lego sets from the German lego store and they arrive at our door in about three days. Plus its really cool to try to translate the German emails that they send us.

Colton had a cool 'Knight's Training' birthday party the next Saturday with his friends from school and church. Sean organized an obstacle course in the backyard for the knights to work their way through, with Jaxon, the Black Knight, being the biggest obstacle they had to face. They practiced shooting a bow and arrow, threw a javelin, and battled with Nerf weapons.

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Fire Pit

I like our house. So does Mason. The other day, he went around saying, "I love my house. Mom, I love this house. Did you know I love this house?"
Me too, it's pretty nice. One of the cool features about this house is the backyard. I probably won't think it's that cool when it takes me 3 hours to mow it while using a riding lawn mower, but for the moment, I think it's great. About a month ago, Jaxon had his friends Spencer and Dallin over. It was still chilly outside, although Jaxon refuses to wear a jacket on most days, and the boys asked if they could start a fire in the fire pit. Well, they are boy scouts, and the hose extended over there in case things got out of hand, so, ok, sure, you can build a fire. They spent about 1/2 hour trying to get one started. They were never able to get a roaring one going, but it was fun watching them try. They gathered sticks, twigs, leaves, anything they thought would burn well. Jaxon even grabbed antibacterial hand sanitizer because he read "flammable" on the label and thought that might get stuff going. We tried to roast a few marshmallows and hot dogs, but the fire didn't last too long. They had a great time trying and it was fun to see the possibilities for smore-making that are in our future. Mason and Ella LOVED being out there, watching the action. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the pit:


Mason liked eating his marshmallows off of a skewer. Even though he didn't want to waste time roasting his, but rather dig in and eat them right away, he wouldn't just put the marshmallows in his mouth. He had to stick them on the skewer, then eat them off the stick. Funny kid.

Ella Turns 6!!

Princess Ella turned 6 on February 8th. We celebrated a few days early since Sean had to work all day on the 8th and we wanted to celebrate the WHOLE day, so we pretended that Saturday the 6th was Ella's birthday, too. We opened presents, Ella decorated her own cake, and we went to the ice skating rink. Here is the birthday girl with her brothers:



Here's Ella with her cake that she decorated all by herself:



Ella loves dolls and was so happy to get some new ones from her grandma:

Batman and Robin

Mason and Olivia are an amazingly awesome dynamic duo. They are faster than a mini cooper on the Autobahn, more powerful than the Euro compared to the dollar, and able to leap tall bunkbeds in a single bound. I love when Olivia comes over. Cookies are baked, toys are played with, and adventures are had. She helps Mason get in touch with his inner super hero, and fun is had by all.

Finally!!!

Yeah!!! I waited and waited and waited to see if I could finally upload pictures to the blog so I could keep all of you on the edge of your seats to find out what we've been up to the past few months. And, it took forever, but I was able to add a picture!! Which means....I'm back!! I probably won't be able to upload as many pictures as before for each post, but that's ok. So, let's catch you up: In January, Sean and I escaped for 48 hours to London to see a couple of plays. We had a 'Wicked' good time seeing the true story of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the next night we were thrown back into revolutionary times as we watched (and Sean quietly sang along to) Les Mis. It was his second time seeing that one, my first. I am a girl at heart and although I thoroughly enjoyed Les Mis, my favorite was....

Yup, Elphaba won me over. I loved the plot and the twist at the end (go see it, I won't ruin the surprise for you!) and the MUSIC!! I downloaded the music a few days after getting back and guess which child LOVES to dance and sing to the Wicked soundtrack in the kitchen on a daily basis? You guessed it, MASON!! We have been singing 'Popular' so much that it is always running through my mind, morning, noon, night, middle of the night...
Well, Sean and I had a great time and a big shout out THANK YOU to the Turner's and the Creer's for watching our kinder so we could enjoy London as just a couple. Fun. Here we are on the Big Bus tour, driving around London, with Big Ben in the backround:

We went to the Tower of London and took a Beefeater's Tour. What is a Beefeater? Go to London and find out!! Here we are with the London Bridge behind us after touring the Tower:

We got caught in a rainstorm Friday afternoon. The closer we got to Buckingham Palace, the worse it rained. I think the Queen may have been a little bit threatened by our awesomeness and caused the rainstorm in a feeble effort to drive us away. Didn't work. We got drenched, had to go to the nearest department store (thank you Gap) to buy me new boots since my shoes were completely squishy, warmed up with some hot chocolate from Starbuck's, (delicious, I might add), and dried off before setting out to see Wicked. The rain storm made for some amazing views as the sun started to set:


All in all, a fabulous weekend getaway!

Super Heroes

So who do you call when there is trouble in your neck of the woods? Who do you turn to when there is no one else around?





"I need a hero............I'm holding on for a hero til the end of the night........he's gotta be strong.....he's gotta be fast.........and he's gotta be fresh from the fight......................."

(Flashback for all those of you who grew up in the 80's and remember Footloose)


Here are my favorite heros:



No one is messin' with the Burke Household when these superheroes are on duty!

Sibling Affection

My kids love each other. They don't always like each other, but they do love each other. The other day it was heart warming to see Jaxon return from an outing and the other kids swarm him with hugs. I think he was even touched by their outpouring of affection. Usually they are physical, but not in the 'hug and kiss' sort of way. More of the 'attack and wrestle' sort of way. So, luckily I had my camera handy and was able to remember this moment in time, because I have a feeling it will be a LONG time before such outward expressions of affection are displayed.