Happy Halloween!

I haven't blogged in a long time! Things that will be coming:

1. Anna's Wedding! (Matt's youngest sibling and only sister) Her sealing was this past Friday.

2. Burk Family First Annual Cupcake Wars! What an adventure...and a messy kitchen!

3. Halloween!

On another note, I have been feeling pretty pathetic, hence the lack of blogs. I have been having high blood pressure/heart rate for the past month or two with this pregnancy and it has been making me feel really tired and I haven't been feeling up to much. I was just put on some medication for it and it is finally borderline normal. I think I might have to up the dose next time I see the doctor to get it lower still. Fun, fun.

Jonah's Glasses!

Before we get to the glasses pictures, my kids got stuck in a spider's web at the zoo!



Kaylee turned into a princess...





Jonah was having difficulty doing his schoolwork for me so I took him in to the eye doctor. Turns out he has double vision due to his eyes turning out from each other instead of focusing together in front. So he has some prisms in his lenses to help him see straight. He says it is helping, so I'm hopeful he will be more willing to read his work next week during school time.

Back to School

Where or where did I put my camera this time?!? School started yesterday and Kaylee was so happy to go. She came home talking about her gym class, recess, and eating in the cafeteria. James didn't say much about school, but he said his day was good. Jonah is not sure what to think about having school at home. Like I mentioned on Facebook, I have an appointment for him to visit the eye doctor Monday morning so we will wait until Monday to do school again with him. He told me he has been having trouble seeing for at least a year. I'm not sure why he never told me, but I am wondering how that has affected his behavior at school. He enjoyed taking his break and having recess with Jared and when the break was over he'd tell Jared to pretend he wasn't home because Jonah had to do his schoolwork! It was cute.

My family came up to visit from Texas last week. Everyone was here except my sister who just moved to Provo. We had a fun time together. Also last week I went to the doctor for the first time. I heard the baby's heartbeat which is always nice to hear. The doctor told me she thought I was measuring 18 weeks instead of 14 so I had an ultrasound the next day. The tech told me I was right where I thought I was at 14 weeks, just a few days earlier than what I thought, and he was able to tell what we are having.....ANOTHER BOY! Poor Kaylee will never get a sister. I had a girl name all picked out and we are kinda stumped about boy names. I think Matt and I like one name but we can't figure out a middle name. When we get closer to February I'll tell you what name we have picked out!

Console Table!

We (meaning Matt) built this table last weekend from Ana White's website. Matt cut the boards and we used our nail gun to put it together. I did nail a few boards in place. That was pretty fun using a power tool. I decided to let the kids prime the table, so we found large shirts and brushes for everyone. Wow, were they excited to help paint!






Here's the crew outside almost done in the 105 degree heat. It was so hot my can of primer was starting to get a little gloppy and thick.




All primed! My nice little children rinsed their brushes off and then flicked the brushes all over our wood deck. The deck now is freckled. I'm not quite sure what to do about that yet!



This is a nice red "oops" paint from Lowes that was only $5! It's slightly strawberry in color.



I decided to use an antiquing glaze to give it some character. I think it turned out great! And now it's all ready for my sunflower space.

Jared's 3rd Birthday! (and the zoo and other pictures)

How did I forget to blog about Jared's birthday? Apparently I didn't get a picture of anyone but Jonah and Jared and I guess the kids had been swimming outside because no one has a shirt on.


I made him a train cake with candies! I think that was his favorite part.


Jared has the biggest smiles!


Has anyone heard of squinkies? He wanted some for Christmas when those annoying commercials for every toy imaginable shows every 2 minutes, but I only saw girl ones. So I found Cars ones. Out of the 4 he only knows where two are right now. They're barely a 1/2 inch big so I guess I should be glad he still has two of them!





If we want to go to a zoo here we go to Evansville. It's about 1 hour away. Here are the kids getting soaked in the mist! It has been so hot here and this day was just like all the others.


The Cheetah is right behind the kids. I guess I scared Kaylee and told her the cheetah had gotten out and made footprints all over the cement floor and so now she thinks all the animals can somehow get out and she gets scared. Silly girl.


This is at home in our backyard. Our driveway is gravel of all things. So they dug out some rocks to make a little "pool". Kids are so funny.


James decided to wash the van as a thank you for saying we would take them to Holiday World.

Fun Weekend!

We went to Holiday World two weekends ago and it was awesome! It is an amusement park and water park. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures because 1. It was unbearably HOT and 2. Matt had the camera while Jared and Kaylee were riding rides without me and I could have taken their pictures and 3. I just forgot to with all the excitement.

Jared loved the log ride. He loved everything and was laughing the whole day! Kaylee was scared of the log ride. I took them on a tube ride and they really liked that. Matt and James and Jonah rode 2 of the roller coasters. The first one they liked okay but the second was too much for James and Jonah. Then they tried out some of the scarier water rides that Kaylee and Jared couldn't go on, so I took them to the kiddie slides and wave pool and lazy river. We had so much fun! Like I said, it was pretty much around 100 degrees (or more with the heat index) so we tried to drink a lot.

The downside of this was late that night (around 3:o0 a.m.) Jared comes into our room burning up. We think he has heat exhaustion or stroke being we were outside all day and he was looking pretty bad by the end of the night, so Matt took him to the ER. It turns out he just had a virus that hit him. So then two days later Kaylee gets it. And now a week later James has it. So for the past 2 weeks we've had to stay inside and I've had to take care of 102 degree fevers and horrible sore throats. Let me tell you, I'm ready to hit the pool and relax. James feels better today so we'll see if he's up to it. There's only about 3 weeks until school starts and I feel like summer has just gone by without us. We still want to pack in a camping trip with the kids.

S'more Party

We were invited to a s'mores party a couple weeks ago by a family in our new ward in Vincennes. A few young couples came. They had chocolate, coconut, strawberry and regular marshmallows along with Hershey bars or Reese's PB cups (which I ate and didn't bother to put on a s'more because, well, those are one of my favorite chocolates and don't need to be on graham crackers to enjoy them!). The toasted coconut s'more was pretty good!



This is Jared and his little friend eating a marshmallow.



Jonah and James had just finished up a week of scout camp. Jonah's still wearing his shirt and James' face is painted. They had a lot of fun!


Do you see the water spigot in the background? These three decided to turn it on and make a big mud stream! They were soaked and muddy when we left, but they were full of giggles. It was funny to watch.



Kaylee enjoying a strawberry flavored s'more.

Losing Weight

Matt and I have been trying to exercise and eat healthier this year. We started out doing Yoga and Pilates just about every day and drinking green smoothies. We both felt really great and were getting toned. I noticed around a month ago that despite everything we were doing, my clothes were starting to feel a little tight. I checked my weight and I had gained 5 lbs in a month! Granted, we were not exercising as often and were eating out more, but with baseball season and us hardly ever home it was hard to eat right and exercise.

So I figured I needed to get into shape again and tried to talk myself into exercising but I was just so tired. And hungry. And my kids kept saying strange things to me about when they were going to be able to meet their new sister. Suddenly, a light clicked and I went to the store and bought a pregnancy test. And what do you know, we are having a baby around February 8th! So much for losing weight and getting a flatter stomach!

We are excited for our last addition to our family and everyone seems to want a girl, so we will see what happens!

Memorial Day and Baseball!

One of Matt's co-workers gave us this big pool last weekend! James was really sad right before this picture because he thought this was the deepest it got! Don't worry, James! It fills up! They have been playing on and off in it. I think after I write this I'm going to jump in it! It's nearly 100 degrees right now!
Summer time is full of sunscreen, swimming suits, and popsicles.


We grilled kabobs for the first time ever and they were so good! I think I'll make them again soon! Yum!
Kaylee started t-ball this year.
In the dugout!
This is Memorial Day weekend at a park with friends.
This is one of Jared's new friends - Genevieve. They get along really well together. They're both fairly active and exuberant so it's funny to watch them play together.
In case you were wondering how Jared and Kaylee entertain themselves while Mom and Dad watch the brothers play their 2 hour baseball games - you need wonder no more!

Easter Pictures!

Kaylee reminds me a lot of her Aunt Anna. Anna is going away in October for 18 months on a mission to England. We will miss her. She was able to come visit for Easter!

What would Easter be like without Easter eggs and big grins?

James is famous for his big smiles. Jared had fun dying eggs pretty much by himself this year.
Who had the pink dye you ask? Kaylee!
Meet Jessie, grandma and grandpa Burk's beagle puppy. She howls a lot! (but was the star of our Easter gathering!)

Kaylee's Preschool Graduation

Kaylee graduated from Preschool a few weeks ago. She went three times a week at the High School in Robinson, so we got a great deal on the price since it was part of a class for the student helpers. They took many field trips and did so many crafts! Kaylee made some friends as well. Too bad we moved to another town so she won't be going to kindergarten with them.


Kaylee was so happy to receive a real rose all to herself! Here she is with her friend Elizabeth.


This was one of Kaylee's teacher Aides.


The whole class!


These were the graduating girls moving on to kindergarten.

We're still here

I have a lot of pictures to post as soon as I find my camera. Kaylee graduated from pre-school and it was so cute! She is the first one that actually went to a preschool so I didn't know what to expect.

Also I will post pictures of our new house! So far we haven't felt the need to paint anything. I did order James and Jonah a huge Mario themed wall sticker thing and they wanted the wall to be a light blue. It's currently a pale green blue but it might work. I stashed it in a closet so I think they've forgotten about it. We only really took down the drapes in the living room and put up 2" blinds. They look a whole lot better!

James and Jonah are doing fantastic in baseball this season. James is catching some amazing fly balls and making some great plays. Jonah is batting really well and was first in the batting order last game! We are so proud of them. Kaylee is playing t-ball this year. Need I say more? Twirling in the outfield, sitting and playing in the sand, and our most favorite - filling her hat with sand as she waits at each base and then putting the hat back on her head. Lets just say our bathtub has never seen so much dirt before!

As some of you have heard on Facebook, Jonah wasn't doing so well at the new school our house is next to. To make a long story short, ever since we moved from the Kansas City area Jonah has been picked on by bullies and he was not a very happy boy at home or at school due to stress, etc. I decided to take him out of school once he was facing some severe punishments at school. We will home school him next year and I am so happy with our decision. Jonah has perked up tremendously since we took him out and his stress level has gone down. I have finally picked all the curriculum I wanted and I'm just waiting for some E-Bay auctions to end in 5 days to get everything I need for next year. I'm very excited for next year!

So that's what we have been up to!

Our First Ana White Project!

One of my college neighbors, Heather, wrote on her blog close to 1 1/2 years ago about Knock-Off Wood, a blog that taught you how to build furniture all by yourself. It was just a little blog and was just starting out. I instantly clicked the link and fell in love. I wanted to go right to the store that day and buy some wood, but then Matt lost his job and we couldn't. All during those months of unemployment I'd watch Ana's blog daily and it kept growing and growing and she kept adding plans that I wanted to make! I'd show Matt and we'd have a list of things we wanted to make later.

So finally, we were able to build something after more than a year of stalking her site! You can find Ana White here at her own site now since she outgrew her blog. The plan we made is here, the Lego table.

We plan on putting Lincoln logs and Legos in the two dividers like she did. I have the Lego baseplate ordered and it should be here today or tomorrow! I should have waited to blog about it once I had all the toys in since it's still in the garage right now, but I couldn't wait! From the little picture blogger puts on it you can hardly see the screw holes I puttied with wood putty. Next time I will use my nail gun. We started building when the stores were closed and couldn't buy the correct size nails or else you wouldn't see a thing. Impatience does not pay off!

We learned so much from doing this and we are excited to build more! I am dying to build this entertainment center, but we are taking baby steps.

So what do you think?