Halloween

This Halloween I wanted to make sure we had a few reasons to wear our costumes, so I threw a small Halloween Party for the Pre-schoolers at my place. It was a gorgeous morning (above 20!) so I took the opportunity before the party started to snap a couple pictures of Ellie as "Cinderella." I told her to show me her "princess" boots, ...AAAAAAND this is what I got.  Scandalous!   Haha!

I asked each Mom to come prepared with an assignment so it didn't all fall on one person (me), ...so we did crafts, a game, had a dance party and ate some Halloween snacks.
Here's my friend Brittany Fuller with her daughter Ava.


Here's my friend Darla Major.

And here we are at our Ward's Halloween Party/Chili cook-off.  Noah asked me weeks ago if he could be the Green Lantern for Halloween.  I tried to encourage him to be Indiana Jones or some other costume we already have, but he was set on it, ...so I scoured all the Halloween stores and finally found his costume (not easy to find and not cheap either).  In the meantime I also found some great prices on a few other costumes (thank you thrift stores!) and since the boys love dressing up anyway I thought I would pick them up for fun.  Well, as you can see in this picture, Noah is NOT the Green Lantern.  Oh well, there's still school and trick or treating right?  Not so!  He went as Batman for school and Spiderman for Trick or treating!  Haha!  Lesson learned.  Don't get them a costume until the VERY last minute because kids change their mind (or just don't present the costume too early so they don't get entirely disenchanted with it).   As I said in my last post, I went as Miranda.  Here's more of a wide shot so you can get the full-effect of my gorgeous costume.  I have a running joke with Joe... he bought that shirt a while ago and I think it is BUTT-ugly.  He really likes it.  So as a joke I told him that I just went through the closet and found the ugliest shirt I could find and this is what I came up with!  Haha!  Take THAT Joe.

I also mentioned it was a chili cook-off, so here I am with the other winners. This is a pretty proud moment for me because Joe is known as the man-cook in our house, so to be holding a ribbon for this proves that I can cook too. Feels good. I, of course, stayed in character ALL night long! It got pretty obnoxious, but I managed. Tee hee! Everyone else on the other hand....

Tonight (Halloween night), we invited the Bootlands over to our house for some Halloween snacks and trick-or-treating fun.  So I had to make some cute Halloween themed treats of course!
 
L-R: Jen, Jake, Noah, Kanoah, Jackson, John.
 
While I was dealing with other kids, Jen helped get Ellie Princess-ified.   Thank you Jen!

Let the trick-or-treating begin! It was a pretty mild evening considering we just experience Hurricane Sandy two days before (we didn't get hit as hard as NY of course, but it was sure windy and rainy and we lost power.  Thankfully that was about it!). It was raining that night, hence all of the umbrellas, but we still had a good time.  I am loving the leaves!  And I am loving how Ellie looks like a Southern Belle in these pictures with her Dad holding her umbrella.  Haha!  Too cute!

My little pumpkin Zoe was a trooper!

And sadly, this random picture below is the ONLY group shot we got of the kids. But they sure are cute! And we sure had a great time with the Bootlands! I had hot apple cider waiting for us when we got back which was a very welcomed treat after our wet and drizzly night of collecting all that candy! Until next year. Happy Halloween!

May I Rant?

I suppose this isn't so much "ranting" as it is "whining."  Halloween is one of my favourite times of year.  I know this is super lame, but I should have known better I guess.  Joe even warned me, but this year I dressed up as "Miranda" (a you-tube singing sensation.  She re-makes music videos in the ugliest voice ever and dresses up super awkwardly/nasty).  She's hilarious.  But she is also an inside joke.  All of my friends know who she is because we've watched a bunch of her videos and have laughed out loud viewing them, but I dared to put myself out there and dress up as her for our Ward's Halloween party (it was either that or a zombie and I didn't see that as fitting for a family-Halloween party in a church gym).  Perhaps it was a test to see if anyone else out there had the same humor as me.  Well, I suppose Joe DID warn me that no one was going to know who I was, but I also didn't want to be a bum/boring and come as nothing (like him), so I took a chance.  When I got there, I immediately regretted it.  Not very many adults even dressed up, and those that did went as obvious or clever characters.  There was only one person during that whole night who knew who I was.  The point of me telling this story is not because I felt dumb (which I did at some points, but I just tried to own it!), but it was because I realized I had no tight connections there who knew my personality well enough to get me.  Miranda is an inside joke that I enjoyed with my friends back in Edmonton.  Of course no one would get it.  Later that night when I got home and wiped off all that nasty lipstick I checked on facebook to see a group picture of my Edmonton-friends at Fort Edmonton's Spooktacular which we went to last year altogether.  Those memories were SO fun and remembering them stung a little as I realized even further that I do not have that here.  I wanted to cry.

So I did.

And then I cried some more that night as I tried to explain to Joe how I felt.  It sounded so silly coming from a thirty-something year old's lips.  What am I, a teenager?  I think I had dared to hope that by putting myself out there with the girls and trying to get together for girls nights (which we have) that I would immediately find some great connections, but I think I am realizing that that will just come with time.  Of course these girls don't get me yet.  It's because we haven't had enough experiences together to create any inside jokes.  So, I am putting myself out there again this weekend and going out for appies/desert.  Hopefully people actually come AND hopefully it can be the start of some great memories.

To my Alberta friends, I say to you with tears in my eyes, you don't know how awesome you are.  I miss you.
 
(By the way, my chili won first prize as most creative, ...which come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing...).

Visitors! Visitors!

Now, you need to pronounce the title "vee-see-tors! VEEEE-SI-TORS!" like Jack the mouse from Cinderella. Except I think I am mis-quoting because in the movie it is singular. Anywho, IIIII got to have plural visitors last week and it was awesome! Both Jenny and my parents came to visit for Zoe's baby blessing as you saw in an earlier post.  Jenny came for the weekend and then went back home to Cleveland and my parents stayed with me for the rest of the week.  It felt surreal seeing them in the flesh because we are always Skyping.  Especially Jenny.  She's my laundry-folding-Skype-buddy.  And with six members in my family, I am constantly doing laundry, ...which means we skype a lot.  Jenny's first item of business being across the border and officially in Canada again was a Coke slurpee and a Mr. BIG chocolate bar.  Haha! 
Our second item of business was getting out of the house and going on a girls-date. My parents were so generous with their time. I don't think my Mom minded too much. She wanted to get to know little Zoe. Jenny and I went to this movie called "Pitch Perfect" which reminded Jenny of her choir days, ...except this movie was about an accapella group. Hence, the picture of us wailing. Who took the picture you ask? Well, we tried to take a timed one off of our car after the movie, ...and then got spotted by two women who laughed at us, ...and then offered to take a better shot. Haha! Yes. We are shameless. I think we were just a LITTLE too excited to be out of the house!

Here's my Mama with Zoe. She loves her grandma! She is in this phase where she is always talking/cooing, so it was really cute to watch her with my parents. My Mom was amazing. She made dinner every night (which was such a relief for me), helped with laundry, cleaned my bathroom, walked the kids to school a few mornings and watched the kids so I could run errands and get out of the house.  Joe and I even got to sneak in a couple of dates!  But I think the nicest part about it was sitting in the evenings and visiting.  Dad was telling us stories about his university days in New York at Julliard and I loved it.

I'm so sad this picture below is blurry because I love it for so many reasons! But mostly because my Dad has chocolate on his teeth and looks creepy! Haha!  This was Family Home Evening making banana-boats.  My Dad told the kids a story about his Ancestors, Eleanor and Thomas Ord.  He may have forgotten that kids under five don't last longer than a minute.  Mine last less than thirty seconds!  But, I enjoyed the story Dad.

We made sure to take a trip to Niagra Falls. Thankfully we were able to hit it before it got too cold. It was actually quite a pleasant day! The Falls always make me feel so small every time I see them! It's crazy!!

Here's my Dad being a goof/hunk.

This bird landed right in front of us! So, my Mom and Ellie started to feed it. It kept getting closer and was NOT afraid at all! So I started taking pictures....
And then I looked around and all the sudden Ellie was surrounded by tourists trying to get a picture of her with the bird as well. Maybe they didn't realize that I was her Mom. ...So I took their picture too! Haha!

After the week was over, we packed up the kids and drove down with my parents to visit Jenny and her clan for the weekend for Abbott's baby blessing.   Abbott is about seven weeks older than Zoe.  Cousins!  So chubby and cute!  I love how he's placed his hand on Zoe's leg (below).  Perhaps you could get away with that a couple hundred years ago Abbott, but not today!   ...unless you're a baby I guess.

Not the greatest shot, but Milo and Ellie were playing in this box together forever. I love how kids don't need luxurious toys when you can have a box.

Here's a group shot after the blessing. It's funny because I sent the kids downstairs during the blessing so that we could all enjoy it. Well wouldn't ya know a kid got hurt so I had to fly down there in the middle of it to make sure they didn't come up. The whole reason I came was for the blessing and I totally missed it! I guess that's what comes with kids. Uncertainty and spontaneous crying!  Oh well.  I suppose the company was enough for the trip....

I love you Jenny and Mom! Thanks for such a great week/weekend! I love you girls (and miss you Sarah). 

Being Poor Students

Sometimes being poor can be super humbling.  It is an interesting place to be going from both of us working super-sweet jobs to becoming a full-time student and stay-at-home Mom.  We are totally living off the government and student loans and other people's generosity.  And it's weird. 

Yesterday I got a call from the boys' school.  The secretary started saying, "Well, I just wanted to tell you about something that's going on at our school, ...and I don't want to offend you, but I wanted to let you know..." and at this point I am thinking, "What did my kids DO to deserve a call home?  I hope they are behaving!"  But then she went on to explain that they have this "Angel" system where people have donated money to the school so that children that don't have much can benefit.  For example, each week kids are allowed to order pizza and every morning kids are able to order milk/chocolate milk as a snack.  Well, I threw those forms away because I knew it was a luxury that just wasn't going to happen.  I knew we wouldn't be able to keep up on that along with all the field trips and school photos and all the other stuff that sneaks up on you, it just didn't seem realistic.  I explained to the boys that other kids might be getting pizza that day and that they wouldn't be, but I would put something extra special in their lunch on pizza-day.  Well, talk about feeling left out.  Jackson cried the first week every other child got pizza except for him and his teacher felt so bad she gave him her piece!  Then last week their teacher told me that they "won" a draw for each of them to get pizza next week.  They were so excited about it.  It was heartbreaking and so cute at the same time.  Interesting how such a small thing can make a kid happy.  Well, ...the secretary went on to ask me if I would be interested in having the kids receive pizza every week for free (covered by this "Angel" program).  I almost cried.  Not out of pride, but out of gratitude.  Of course I would like my kids to have pizza and milk every week like all their friends.  I know it sounds like such a silly thing to be grateful for, but I just LOVE how because someone else gave, people like my kids can be blessed.  Now obviously we are not destitute.  We're just living off of student loans!  So my kids are not entirely without, but I love that they are able to enjoy that perk with all of their friends and not feel left out.

I also had a similar feeling with signing up my family for a YMCA membership.  There is an assisted program and because we are students and making no money, we are eligible for the program, meaning we don't have to pay full price.  Thankfully, because someone else donated money to the Y, my family can afford to use the facility!  And babysitting is half off!  Honestly, that is such a blessing!

There are some major perks to being poor!  Haha! ...but at the same time it is a very humbling place to be receiving all of these blessings because other people choose to give.  I wish I could do something back.  Why should I get these perks/blessings?  It makes me want to be better at serving and doing what I can for people now so that I can somehow bless other peoples lives, and then when Joe has a salary again, we can pay it forward.

Thank you rich people!

Zoe's Baby Blessing Day

Last week, Zoe was blessed on October 14th, 2012.  Colette made this gorgeous blessing dress for her for the occasion.  I wish more family could have been there, but my parents were able to come, along with Jenny and Abbott.  We sang "Our Savior's Love" during sacrament meeting as a special musical number, which is one of my favourite Hymns.  I love singing with my family!  It is one of my favourite past-times. And... drumroll.... I didn't cry!  This is a Christmas-miracle.  But I think it also helped that I could hear Ellie screaming in the third pew because Noah wasn't sharing with her.  Haha!  Poor Joe.  He tried.  He gave Zoe a beautiful blessing (which I will record in another entry).  It makes me grateful for a husband who has the worthiness and authority to give such a beautiful thing to our daughter and to our family.

I absolutely love all that lace!

Here are some more pictures of that day. Joe was making fun of me because of all the combinations I was making everyone do, but he will thank me one day for being so thorough.

Thank you Zoe for being such a wonderful little girl! You have no idea how much joy and love you bring into our home! I love your sweet little Spirit!

Sometimes Life is This Cute...

I love capturing moments like this.  The kids were getting ready for bed and singing Zoe some bedtime songs.  We usually do this every night but it generally turns into the kids jumping around and being crazy.  So, this was nice.  Zoe was even "singing" along too!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Our first Thanksgiving meal sans family!  We are usually at the in-laws among the chaos of family visiting in one small space, enjoying each others company while some one else makes all the food.  It's usually between Colette, Joe and Christie (although somehow the whole Burnham clan ends up in the kitchen picking away.  You know.  "Helping."  Haha!).  I show my appreciation by helping with clean up though!  This year, who made the turkey you ask?  Joe.  It was Joe.  I'm not even going to pretend I did it.  He didn't trust me.  He's made turkeys before and promised to allow me to help, ...but alas, with the kids and company, that didn't quite happen.  So, this year I learned NOTHING!  I still have never made GRAVY for pete's sake!  He let me bake the pies though and buns for the meal.  Let me.  Haha!  It is seriously so nice having a man who loves to cook.  Although one day I would like to prepare a big meal and do it well and really wow him.  Anywho, ...like I said, we had company!  YES!  Friends!  Steve and Krysta Pederson just so happened to be up that weekend and we invited them to crash at our place and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with us!  I think having friends there took the sting away from missing family at this time.  Which of course, I am truly thankful for!

Unlike me, I forgot to snap pictures of us with the Pedersons. But those apple pies sure look good.  Nailed it!  (Although Joe teasingly pointed out that it wasn't a true-weave....  Jerk.  I laughed though.  What a bum.  It tasted good anyway....).  Anywho, after they left, Joe went back to studying and finishing a paper (Boo!), so I decided we were going to have a fun Monday off regardless. I didn't want to end up wasting away the day, so I took the three eldest to Frootogo Farm (I am loving that place) to check out pumpkins and play at their park.  I'm not gonna lie, even though I got to leave Zoe at home with Joe (she was napping), it was pretty stressful.  I've  never seen it so busy but I guess everyone had the same idea as me and wanted to check out the millions of pumpkins on their day off!  One Mom vs three kids?  Yikes!  Do you know how many other boys have the same colored blue coats?  Sheesh.  We had a fun time though.  We went on a tractor ride out to this massive patch of pumpkins!  It was beautiful and the kids really enjoyed the ride.  I wasn't about to haul anything back by myself AND keep an eye on three kids at the same time, so we just checked out the biggest pumpkins, the wartiest pumpkins, the white pumpkins, the smallest pumpkins, the rotting pumpkins....  My Mom and Dad are coming to visit this week and they promised to do pumpkins with us, so it's something to look forward to (Yeay!).  Here are a few shots from our afternoon there.  (LOVE Noah in this shot below.  Too funny!).
They have this huge playground there that I couldn't say no to. This is where I wish Joe could have been there as an extra pair of eyes because every time I looked away trying to search for one child, I lost another. Baaaah!  Let's just say I was glad when it was over and we all left together.
We finished off the afternoon feeding the goats, which was a hit.  In the spirit of thanksgiving, I am so grateful for each one of my kids.  They each have their own little (and big) personalities that make them unique and special and I couldn't imagine my life with out them.  Especially after listening to General Conference this weekend, what I took most from it was that I need to hold tight to my little family and love them and cherish them NOW!  I do not know the Lord's plan for me, but I do know that I have them now and need to make sure that I am better at showing them how much I love them.  I end up hating myself by the end of the night because I fail every day at being the Mom and wife I want to be for them.  I have a lot of "Why can't I just be more like this or that...."  In the end, it's Christ that I am trying to be like.  Thank goodness I can repent at the end of the day and try to be better the next.  My kids are too good for me.  So is my husband (what with the way he can cook a turkey and all!)  I hope they can forgive me for all my faults, and remember the good times we share together, like this Thanksgiving weekend.