Where have I been....

So it seems I have been way too busy to get on my blog for awhile. Sorry!! I had my first ever mini vacation as a mom. Mom and Dad came and got Maggie and Owen last weekend for several days. Joe was supposed to be in Mexico which meant I was going to have 3 full days to myself...well with Josie. But Joe got sick so he ended up staying here, which threw off my productiveness a little...but I still got tons done. Of course you would never know it by looking at my house now!
Anyhow, the kids had so much fun and did not want to come home Wednesday. but once they got here (and saw their clean organized rooms) they were glad to be home. Mom and Dad took them to see Madagascar 2 which they both really liked. Maggie told Mom it was the funnest thing she'd ever done. I missed them both so much but did enjoy reliving having only one child....I had forgotten how much simpler life was with just one. And how easy it was to have a clean house! Nothing else new going on here, just trying to get ready for Christmas...I am looking forward to heading out Friday for hopefully some good deals.
Here are some pictures of the Josie from tonight while playing. Is she not the cutest ever...even with her crazy hair.
















Josie is crawling like crazy and her bottom tooth FINALLY broke through. It has been right under the surface for seriously like 5 months. If you look really close you can see it in a few of the pictures.
We are heaeded out Wednesday to Ohio to visit Joe's family for Thanksgiving which will be nice. None of his family has gotten to see Josie yet so that will be fun for htem to all meet her.

And lastly....here is what I found tonight when I went up to put Owen to bed.














I had told him to potty and brush his teeth. Thankfully he wasn't doing both at the same time.... just likes to be prepared I guess.

I am going to be changing my blog web address in the next day or so...if you want the new one just email me at meghanburke1@msn.com and I will give it to you! I want those who enjoy reading it to get to continue....

Soccer Banquet

Last night was the kids soccer banquet where they have pizza and the kids get tropheys and such. It was fun and the kids were both so exicted to get their trophey.











This year they made them with the kids pictures on them so that was really cute I thought. Maggie will miss soccer as she really likes it, better than dance she tells me. Owen probably won't miss it much since he spent half the time asking Joe, "where is the bench? I want to sit on it." I am glad our Tuesday nights will be less busy as we have dance from 5-6 and then always had soccer from 630-8ish.
A funny Maggie story: Yesterday at MOPS Maggie said they were coloring and she and some girl both reached for the same crayon. Maggie got it first she said, and said the girl got mad and said to Maggie, "your a loser." Maggie was telling me this story and seemed more puzzled by the whole thing than upset. I asked her what she said back adn she said, "nothing, i just looked at her funny." I told her it was no big deal and that wasn't nice of the girl and she was not a loser. Maggie says, "Mommy, I know that. I got the crayon so I for sure wasn't the loser... I was the winner." hahaha...I love the innocence of my kids. After I realzied she had no clue the girl was calling her a name I changed the subject....well, of course after finding out just who this little girl was. :)

Here is my little Josie this morning before we left for preschool.











Her hair is getting so long but I don't want to cut bangs so I am just letting it grow but I have to constantly keep a bow in it or it's in her eyes.

And I am way behind here..but I remembered I never posted our family pictures that we got taken at the beach this year. So here they are......

Having Fun

We haven't been up to much around here other than just "life." We have been hanging around home mostly, playing and enjoying the nice November weather before it disappears. Josie is growing so much and acting so much older. She has gotten crawling down as of today. But still doesn't seem totally sure about herself and the fact that her arms are holding up the front end of her. Here she is playing in the floor the other day.











Last weekend was Light up Shelbyville. This is basically just the town's kick off for Christmas, there are lots of vendors in the street with give aways and candy. Lots of food for sale and other carnival items. This is Me and Neila Susan's 3rd year attending this and we always enjoy ourselves and of course end the night with a funnel cake! We were all going to go but Saturday morning Owen got sick. Appears he got the horrible stomach bug that is going around this town. He was pretty sick all day and no matter how many times we gave him a bucket and told him to get sick in it...every time he got sick he'd stand up, walk to the middle of the floor and puke! So my carpet is in major need of Stanley Steemers now. He stayed home with Joe the night and rested up while Me and the girls met up with Carson, NeilaSusan and her mom downtown. We let the kids get their faces painted and Maggie wanted a pink heart.

















She loved it and kept asking if she had smeared it. After that it was to the horse drawn carriage rides down main street.


















Maggie loves this and every year picks the horse she wants to pull our buggy. This year we had to let several people ahead of us so she got the horse she wanted. After that we just walked around some and signed up for give aways.













Josie enjoyed all the people and lights and was really good right up until the end. It got pretty cold that night so I think she was very ready to get back in the warm car.


Owen was much better Sunday morning but I kept him home from church just to be sure he didn't spread his germs around. Joe and Maggie went to church and when they got home we just had lunch and hung around the house the rest of the afternoon.

The kids have begun playing together alot more latley. Yeseterday Maggie was helping me cook in the kitchen so she had on her new apron and hat from thirty one! How cute is this.














After awhile Owen comes in dressed as the black spiderman and they began playing the Maggie was the chef and Owen was spiderman who stopped in to get something to eat.












While eating a bad guy came in (me) and he had to save the cafe.
I love my kids imaginations.

I had a very sweet moment with Owen last week. He and I were driving to Josie's 9 month appointment and listening to a christian radio station. I was singing along to a song and looked in my rearview mirror at him and he had the sweetest smile on his face. I asked him what he was smiling about and he said, "I'm just thinkin about God and Jesus." I told him that was a great thing to think about and he just kept on smiling and said, "thank you." He is such a sweet boy.

Last Tuesday I took all the kids with me to vote and as we were headed there I was explaining to them what voting was and why we do it and what a great privledge it is. They were all great in there and no one busted out our political views while in there which was a relief. When we were leaving Maggie said, "America is so great. We can vote for who we want to run our country, we can pray to our God and no one can tell us not to. This place is great.... let's stay here along time."
I hope and pray it stays that "great."

Josie has begun blowing raspberries (which I never understood why it's called that) but it is a favorite pastime of hers. Owen absolutley LOVES this as he thinks she is making tooting noises. It's like they have found their own little common ground and he has really connected with her on this level. I haven't broken it to him that she has no idea what a toot even is and that isn't why she is laughing too.

You all get a small sneak peak of the kids Christmas attire. I tried their outfits on them today and they both loved them and wanted to leave them on. So for a big part of the afternoon they played in these.











Maggie jazzed hers up a little big.

Happy 30th Birthday!!

So today is Joe's 30th birthday!! I thought he was going to be out late on business tonight so we surprised him last night when he got home from work with his favorite cookies (in the shape of a 30),







decorations and gifts. Maggie was so excited all day and decorated herself. She put up streamers, balloons, and set out every picture of Joe she could find. It was so cute, she tried to put a piece of tape over me in a picture of the two of us. I asked her why adn she said becasue it was his birthday so all the pictures should just be of him. When he got home the kids made him close his eyes until he walked into the kitchen.








Then it was time to tear into cookies. I had wanted to have him a surprise party but with work and our schedules there just wasn't a good time to do it.








After dinner and cookies we headed to the kids last soccer game. Maggie had become quite the soccer player, last week she had 3 goals (which thriled Joe). Owen informed us the other night he wants to play football. He saw peewee leagues playing and was in awe that they were running, hitting, and tackling and no one got in trouble.

Owen loves to put Joe (and my:) shoes on and walk around the house.















Here he is today showing off his picture he got in the mail from my friend Val's little boy Lucas. He was so excited to get it and has carried it around all afternoon. We are at odds about what it is though Val so even the score for us. I say it's a house..he says it is a rocket. :)

That's my girl!

The preschool had an election for Maggie's class and let them vote for president. Maggie showed me her "ballot" after school and how happy was I! I asked her why she voted for McCain and she said, "Mommy, he just looks like a better man." Ahhhh, out of the mouth of babes. My lesson a few weeks back obviously taught her about seeing the wolf in sheep's clothing.





















My friend Valerie (her blog is linked) wrote an awesome blog regarding the election tommorow. It's definetly worth your time to check it out.
I hope everyone takes time to vote tommorow!!

Trick or Treat Fun

We have had fun the past week at all our trick or treat festivities. Last weekend we went to the "2nd annual" trick or treat party at Carlyn and Connall's house in Lexington. The kids loved it and enjoyed playing games, bobbing for apples, and all of Kirsten's yummy halloween treats.



















Josie had fun on the swing and enjoyed watching the kids knock down the pinata.
















There was a good number of kids there and they all looked so cute in their costumes.












We missed Emma being there....and you too Josh and Tab!
Carlyn wore vampire teeth with her costume which Owen thought was great. On our way back home the kids were looking in their treat bags and saw they had vampire teeth. Owen said, "Look, Carlyn gave me her teeth!!!" Maggie looked in her bag and said, "hey, she gave me her teeth too!"











They wore them right away and still are calling them Carlyn's teeth. :)


Our next party was Maggie's Fall party at the farm/pumpkin patch. I left Owen with Shannon and took Josie with me and Mag. I had no idea how extremely cold it was out that morning so when we got there we bundled Josie from head to toe in the stroller.











Josie is not one to like blankets up around her face and she hates hats. But for over an hour this girl did not move from this position. She must have known this was keeping her warm. All you could see of her was 2 little eyes.















It was very cold so I just took a few pics as Maggie didn't do much. Here is Maggie with her buddy Isaac.
We went on a hay ride and picked out pumpkins and then it was back to the inside to warm up and have snacks. I left Maggie there to go home with Isaac and Josie and I headed to the library to meet up with Owen, who was with Shannon, for his trick or treat party at Library. I didn't take my camera in so I have no pictures of that. Here is Josie at the pumpkin patch with Maggie's class.



















The next party was Owen's Fall party at school. I made pumpkin cookies for the kids which turned out adorable.











My friend Sheila was so sweet and came to the house to keep the girls so I could go be with Owen. Josie slept the whole time and Isaac and Maggie played so it worked out well. Owen loved having me there and showing me his class. Here he is downstairs on one of the bikes.
















The class sang songs for us which was really cute.



















Mrs. Boyd told me Owen is her leading singer. She said he always sings all the words right with her....I was told the same thing at church last week as well. Both said he has a very loud singing voice, but in a good way. I can agree with them...he loves to sing LOUDLY.


We carved our pumpkins Wednesday night.....well it turned out Joe and I carved them and cleaned them out. Maggie and Owen attempted but thought the "pumpkin guts" were too yucky.



















Maggie picked the biggest pumpkin and Owen wanted a little one.















Josie got one to play with as we carved. Here are the kids that day with all the pumpkins out front.



















I was going to make fall cards with these but time has gotten away from me....so enjoy them here!

Our pumpkin carving turned out great and we only ended up doing 2 of the 7 we had.




















I had a much needed mom night out to the cheesecake factory Thursday evening. We had a great turn out and had so much fun. I have so many great friends here and always have so much fun when we get together. My cousin Jay gave me a cheesecake factory coupon when he was here so I used it and got 5 free pieces of cheesecake for everyone which was great!

Lastly for our party week was friday night when we went "officially" trick or treating. We took the kids around our neighborhood first which they thought was so much fun.



































A few houses had people dressed up in spooky things which Maggie didn't even notice. Owen was okay with the first few but when the guy started talking in a scary voice Owen decided to come back and wait with us while Maggie got the candy. After he saw what she got he decided to go for it as well with a little help from daddy.
Here are my "Pirates of Shelbyville"












We then headed to church for trunk or treat. We had a trunk last year and had fun doing it so we did it again this year. It was so much fun, the kids had a blast and Joe and I enjoyed ourselves too.
























After getting candy Maggie enjoyed handing it out to the kids coming through. We stayed pretty late and Josie crashed out on Joe while I had the kids on a hay ride. She is such a trooper!














Here are the kids (and Joe) checking out their goods. Josie wanted to be in on it of course...here she is trying out a sucker...with the wrapper on.

















Well, that is it for our week of fall parties. It was fun but I am glad to have a break from cookies, candy, and treats for awhile.



I took these of Josie the other day eating her cheerios.






















How cute is she....I said if only General Mills could see these she may have a commercial career.