Happy St. Patricks Day!!

We had a very fun St. Patricks Day and made the most of the 70 degree weather as you never know when it is going to disappear. Poor Maggie is sick with some sort of stomach bug/fever and has been since Sunday so she wasn't in the best of spirits most of the day.














We went to the park after getting Owen from preschool and met up with some friends. Maggie was still running a fever but said she felt like going and she played some. I think it was good for her to get some fresh air.
Josie had fun swinging with her buddy Molly.












She kept cracking up. I can't wait until we get our swingset for the kids, she will really enjoy the swings I think.


















Owen had a blast and it was a much needed trip for him as he has been stuck inside several days since Maggie has been sick and has had LOTS of energy built up.















I attempted to get a good pic of the 3 of them in their green today, but Maggie was just not up to the photo op which NEVER happens so I knew it was time to get home and she must not be feeling good. Here is the best I got of them.
























Nothing big going on tommorow other than library time and hopefully Maggie can go back to preschool if she is feeling better.
Here are some more pics of today.


And here is Josie this morning. I walked in the room and found her like this watching Regis and Kelly.












When they clapped on the showe she would jump up and get excited and say "yeahhhh."















She is soooo cute,and quite the pistol. She has gotten to know the word NO quite well and falls apart when you say it to her. Either with hurt feelings (when Joe says it) or totally mad (when Maggie or I tell her). Ahhh, such the baby.

Welcome baby Jackson

Neila-Susan had her baby boy this past Wednesday. His name is Jackson Grant and he is absolutley adorable. We went up Wednesday and took Carson to meet his new baby brother. Both mom and baby are doing great and came home today so we have another one to join our group of crazy, but fun, kids. :)



















In other news, Owen took a major face plant yesterday right into the concrete. He and Maggie were outside racing and he fell flat on his face and busted his lip, and busted up his face pretty good as well. The good news is he won the race. :) The bad news is I hadn't gotten easter pics yet so I am hoping he heals quickly. He really does look awful.















We went out today to look for the kids a swingset and shop a little. It seems like it's been forever that we had a Saturday to just spend the day together so it was really nice. We headed out at lunch time and Joe took the kids in Chuck E Cheese to play some games while I went to Target. After that we grabbed some lunch and went to Coldstone for some ice cream.
Then it was off to look at swingsets and then to the mall. The kids had fun (obviously since the day was basically about them having fun) and we met up with our friends Jeff, Shelia, and their kids for dinner and dessert. Josie didn't nap all day and did great to be so sleep deprived. She has gotten into throwing her pacifier (or anything else in her hand) down and saying "uh-oh" all the time so her poor paci hit the mall floor so many times I sure hope her immunity is up right now!

We are all better from our visit from the flu thankfully. Nothing big going on this week other than getting things ready for our big "rekid sale" me and a few other friends are doing in a few weeks. I have ALOT of work to do to get ready for it so I am hoping to make some progress this week.


Our last bit of news is HUGE and very exciting. We were driving in the car this week adn Maggie said, "Mommy, what did you tell me you have to say to ask Jesus in your heart?" I told her that you have to tell Jesus you have sinned and done bad things and that you are sorry and ask Him to forgive you. And then you have to ask Him to live in your heart and help you to be good and act in a way that would make Him happy. And then you tell others about Jesus.
I could see her back in her carseat just talking to herself so in a bit she says, "mommy, ya know those things you told me you have to say, I said them!" I said, "you did maggie???? that is wonderful." She says, "so what does that mean I am now Mommy?" and I told her it meant she was a christian. She said, " what is a christian?"" So I explained to her what it was and told her how great it was that she now had Jesus in her heart. She then turend to Owen and asked him why he didnt want to be a Christian. :) I told her Owen could do it when he was ready, just like her. Anyhow, I know at the age of 5 she doens't grasp all she said, but I am thrilled that she has the desire already in her heart.

The Flu strikes

The Flu has struck the Burke house. So far it is just me, which I am thankful for. I am pretty much positive I got it from working at the Peds office. I worked this past Saturday and saw 12 positive flu cases in the 4 hours I was there. And 2 of the kids sneezed or coughed right in my face. So that is probably my culprit. And for all wondering, No...I didn't get a flu shot. But of the 12 kids with flu I saw they had all gotten the flu shot so I am not feeling it would have been of any help to me anyhow! I am feeling much better today, yesterday was absolutly horrible. I have never had the flu before. Yesterday was the first time ever that I have had to call Joe at work to come home, but I knew there was no way I could take care of the kids. He came home and I slept all day, sort of. I finally went in the evening to get a flu test done and checked out and it was positive. So I guess now I just wait it out. Today is much better, which I just attribute to God since I knew Joe had to go into work today so I got Owen off to school, thanks to my friend Shannon who took him, and Josie down for a nap and Maggie is no trouble at all. I was supposed to take her to see a play at the Derby Dinner theater today so I am sad we didn't get to go do that. But she had no idea about it so she doesn't know she missed out. Well, I am going to rest a little before my wild man gets home from school!

February Recap

Not sure what has kept me so busy since January but it seems as if February was a whirlwind. Anyhow, here is a bit of a recap. We got some nice weather early in the month which we took advantage of the let the kids go out and play. Carson came down with his Lightening McQueen car and the kids had a blast with that. How cute do they look, I said they looked like they were in the Wiggles Big Red Car.


















We than had a huge snow/ice storm, which turned out to be a lot of fun for the most part. The kids gathered a bunch of snow off the deck(I knew it was clean because I had to dig a hole out of the thick layer of ice to get to the snow) and we made snow cream, which they thought was delicious.


























Joe got to be home a few days that week as well since the electric was out at his office and here at our house as well. We got together with the Thompsons one night and let the kids try out sledding by our house. It was total ice so they flew down the hill once they got going, we even let Josie have a quck try at it.














Our electric was out for not quite 24 hours. Luckily we live in the same neighborhood as some of our friends so we all went through our freezers and found what we could and went down to Shannon and Prestons, along with Nick and Neila and hung out for the afternoon. We had chicken fajitas on the grill which were great and played games while the kids kept busy playing. It was alot fun, but we were all very thankful when we got our lights and especially heat back!

The friday night before Valentines Day our church had their Daddy/Daughter date night so Maggie and Joe went out for their date. I figured she'd have more fun with Daddy to herself and not having to carry Josie around the whole time. She may have one more year with Daddy to herself before she has to let Josie join in. She picked out her dress this year and told me that this year she wanted to wear a "real" dress. (last year she wore one of her dress up princess dresses) This made Joe and I both sooo sad. She is growing up way too fast. She looked adorable and she knew it. While she was waiting for Joe to get home from work she kept looking in the mirror just talking and spinning around. I was taking her picture and Owen wanted to be in them soo bad too....which is rare. Owen was sooooo sad when they left and said he wanted to go to daddy/daughter date night. Carson came over for the evening while NIck and Neila went out for Vday so I took them to get pizza and then we played play-doh so that seemed to get his mind of Joe and Maggie being out. They had a great time and danced most of the evening they said. Here are the pictures of Maggie and Joe....and Owen. And here is our littlest Valentine all decked out in red....one of her best colors!

































February has brought about Josie's new favorite place to play.....













I was gone one day and the kids were all in the front room playing while Joe made lunch. He said he went in and JOsie was gone and Maggie and Owen didn't know where she was. He looked all over yelling for her and finally he heard her say, "ahhhhh" she had gone up the steps and was playing in Maggie's room!!
And this is another of her tricks....although she has yet to take a step.




















Valentines morning I made the kids heart shaped cinnamon toast for breakfast....Owen dressed his up a bit with his candy hearts.



















Joe and I got to have a Valentines Day out which was great. Nick and Neila-Susan watched the kids for us Saturday and we went out to dinner and then to the mall and shopped around a little. It was so nice to be able to go out and just talk to each other.


I had Neila-Susan a surprise baby shower in February as well which was alot of fun. She is due pretty much any day now with baby Jackson and we are soooo excited for him to get here.




















The bigger Maggie and Owen get the more I see them playing together and getting along. Don't get me wrong....we still have WWF around here 50% of the time but it is getting better. The other night after baths I let them watch a show before bed and I came in to find this.....




















They can be sooooo sweet with each other sometimes. Maggie is such a little mother to Josie and Owen when she wants to be.



February also marked my 30th birthday. I cannot believe I am 30 years old! I can't say thus far that 30 is any different than 29 though. :) I got to go into WV for my birthday for the week since Joe was out of town so it was sooo nice to get to spend it with mom, dad, and see others there. Joe got me a massage at a spa there in WV and when I got there the lady told me there was something for me and brought over a vase with 30 roses that Joe had sent. What a nice surprise!













One of my best friends growing up also had a spa package from her husband for Valentines Day so she booked a massage the same afternoon so we got to go together and shop a little afterwards which was so fun.


Well, that is our February recap and here is what the girls have been up to today while Owen napped. Josie loves my tupperware cabinet.




















And Maggie has asked me to take her picture all afternoon.
This was a self portrait she took herself.












Let's hope I get better at blogging in March!