Josie the ballerina

Josie had her first dance recital this weekend. She looked so so cute and did a great job. In between tap and ballet she came to change shoes and told me, "mommy, I am sooo nervous." I am pretty sure she has no idea what that even means as she didn't act the least bit nervous.

































I told her to show me a ballet move and she did this......






























Her buddies Nicole and Julia came to see her perform and brought her a flower to wear in her hair.....pink! She loved it!


































She was on the front row and got all the moves just right....well pretty much!











































She really loves dance and has signed up for it again this spring. Sweet little ballerina Josie!!!

One blessed girl...

So Joe had 2 trips planned last week and this week that were going to keep him out of town from Tuesday - Friday both weeks. Last week Mom and Dad came down and stayed with me to help out....and to see the kids in their Christmas program at school. Well, yesterday I was talking to Mom on the phone and telling her I had a horrible headache. I have a busy week with the kids school parties and Josie's dance recital and such so I was really hoping it went away. I had it all night long (everytime I woke up to feed Emmie my head pounded,,,,,which was quite often). Mom called me at 7:30 this morinng to see if I felt any better. I told her not really, that my headache stll hadn't gone away. I began my day, getting kids to school, getting oil changed in car, and other errands and got home around noonish. I put Emmie down for a nap and told Josie I needed to lay down hoping to get rid of the headache. Around 1:30 my phone rang and it was mom callling to check on me. I told her I was resting and we chatted for a minute or two when my doorbell rang. I walked to the door and could see a person standing to the side of the door. I was about to say, "mom, someone is at my door hiding off to the side" when I realized it WAS HER!! I always love seeing my parents but today I was beyond thrilled to see mom. I am such a lucky girl to have the parents that I do. They are always so willing to help out and know just when I need them most! I can't even begin to say all the times mom has driven up just to watch the kids for a few hours that I need help with or just to be with me while Joe travels. And dad never complains that I "steal" her away so often. So thank you so much Mom and Dad for all you do....I am so very thankful for you and love you both so much!!



Another nice surprise was at the end of the week....Joe got home and called to tell me he was on his way to the house and for Mom and I to get ready and decide where to go out to eat. So when he got home we headed out for a night of dinner and a little shopping together. It was so so nice and fun to get to hang out with mom and no little ones to compete with (cause I rarley win, haha) So another thank you to my hubby for that nice surprise!

See, I am one blessed girl!!

Christmas Play

the kids had their Christmas play at school this week. Maggie had a pretty big part this year, quite a bit of speaking, so she was really excited about it. Owen was in the singing part as most of the Kindergaren class just had the choir part.

Joe was out of town this week so Mom and Dad came down to stay with me and also got to see the kids play, which was a bonus!

Maggie did awesome and got all her parts just perfect. Owen sang great too and had lot of good faces up on stage!

Here are my two angels.....

The little girls....

These two keep me busy all day....and I love it. I love these ages and love that they still "need" me so much....although some days I forget to enjoy it! I love my memories when Maggie and Owen were this age and we would spend our days going out to lunch, shopping, playing, playdates, and just enjoying our little life. And I am so happy I get to do it all over again with these two. Love Love Love my 2 littles.

Christmas Fun!

Today was a day I always look forward to....the day Shelbyville does their Christmas parade and the library does their Santa day. It is always such a fun thing to do with the kids and a perfect family day.

The parade is always at 10 in the morning and this morning Maggie and Owen both had basketball "tryouts" for their teams this winter at 9. So Joe took them there while the little girls and I headed to get a good spot for the parade. Joe, Maggie and Owen made perfect timing and got there just as the parade was beginning. The parade is about what you would imagine from a small town parade.....lots of fire trucks, homecoming queens, candy, and well, this year a camel!























We met up with some of our friends that we just happened to see there






















...here the kids are waiting for another float with candy.


































There was quite a bit of candy thrown which all the kids dove for, and Emmie was given a few pieces which kept her quite busy during the parade.




































After heading out from the parade we went up to the library to see Santa. We were first in line but he hadn't made it yet from the parade so we had to wait just a little bit. Joe took the kids downstairs to get them some snacks (cookies and juice) while I held our place in line. When we got to see Santa all the kids piled on his lap.......poor Santa!!!



















He is back there, you just can hardly see him from all my kids.














Emmie Jayne gave him a look when I picked her up and she looked back to see who had been holding her. She gave him a big old smile when he handed her a candy cane.




















That's my happy baby Emmie!












After seeing Santa we went and made some crafts (Maggie's favorite part of the day), had some more snacks and got faces painted.

Josie wanted a reindeer and than later went back for a snowman on the other cheek



















Owen opted for a ornament (Josie got a little better artist)






















And while they got faces painted I tried to keep Emmie Jayne occupied with looking at books..........and not tearing the pages out!

























The kids had a great day and then we headed home for a big UK game. (no clue who they were playing, but I know it was a big game)

A Thanksgiving tradition.....

Spending Thanksgiving at home with just the 6 of us is becoming quite a tradition, unfortunatly. We had planned to go in to visit family for Thanksgiving this year, as well as last year if you remember our that post. (Josie began puking on the way there so we had to come home and I threw together a full Thanksgiving meal in a night) Anyhow, this year our plans got changed as well because Emmie Jayne had whooping cough, which if you don't know lasts like 100 days.....no seriously. So she was up through the night lots and also we didn't want to risk spreading it to anyone.

So we had another Thanksgiving at home with just us. I made a fulll Thanksgiving meal which I had not planned on but the kids voted me out. They didn't realize until 2 days before Thanksgiving that we weren't going anywhere or that no one was coming here. Owen asked me when everyone was going to get here for Thanksgiving and I told him no one was coming. He than asked when we were leaving to go there and I told him we weren't going anywhere because the baby was sick. He totally broke down and said we had to be with family on Thanksgiving....it was a tradition. I have no clue where he came up with that. haha. Anyhow, I then said we were probably going to have something else for Thanksgiving dinner and both he and Maggie insisted we had to have Turkey and all the sides. Once again, because it was tradition! This was particularly funny to me coming from Maggie who eats no meat at all.....so I couldn't figure out why she was so set on the turkey.

Anyhow, since they were wanting a full Thanksgiving meal, I did what all good mommys would do and headed to Kroger to get my turkey and such. The meal was delicious...although it always tasts better when you don't have to cook it. well, maybe next year I won't! The kids made turkey hands like they did last year, as well as Joe. We made a family turkey too with leaves saying what we were all thankful for. We found out Josie is thankful for Maggie, Owen was thankful for Joe and somehow this momma who slaved all night so the kids could get their meal was not anyones pick of what they were thakful for!! haha. But we all decided Emmie Jayne is very thankful for her momma's milk, so I guess that counts. Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Plague.....

So the plague has hit the Burke house.....well, not really the plague but you would think it was the way it is responded to! Emmie Jayne has whooping cough, she began having couhing fits a few weeks ago...and they continued to get worse over about a week until she was getting up every hour- few hours through the night coughing. She was fine during the day aside from during naps sometimes she would begin coughing and wake up. But other than that she was 100%. I mean eating, playing, climbing, nursing (really well).....no signs she even felt bad. After about a week of this I had a feeling we may be messing with something more than a typical respirory issue and one night ended up taking her to the ER to have her evaluated and probably tested for whooping cough. Well, when we got there and they heard what I said and watched the video of her coughing (yes, I am a nurse so I knew they woudl want to see the cough.....but also knew it wasn't frequent enough they probably wouldn't have a chance to so I videoed an episode) they all of a sudden went in panic mode and began gowning, gloving, masking everyone and anyone within a mile radius. They asked if I wanted a mask....I found this amusing since I am her mom so of course I have been with her the past month and she had already been treated with the antibiotics that kill of the pertussis bacteria so she wasn't even contagious anymore. Anyhow, they swabbed her and decided they wanted to admit her, not for the way she appeared but because during her fits she would occasionally struggle to get her breath and were afraid she may need assistence to get her breathing back. I said okay, and off we went to Kosair to be monitored for the night.

Well, by the time we got in a room and settled it was around 2 am and I was spent. Emmie wasn't sleeping well at home already, up about every hour, and when she was up the only thing that would soothe her was to nurse her.....meaning I was the only one she wanted. Well, the hospital was not helpful in helping her sleep either....just when she'd fall asleep and I would get her laid down someone would come in to check on us or need something from her. So finally about 6 am I just turned on Dora and thankfully she laid there about 30 minutes while I rested my eyes.

Doesn't she look so pitiful.......






























this is not a "I feel bad look", it's more of an exhausted look. But don't worry....it didn't last long.









Well, breakfast came in around 7:30 and Emmie Jayne ate and let's just say hit the ground running. Let me point out that she had a pulse ox on her toe (which never went below 98%, so I was about to rip it off after a few hours that morning), we were confined to a room because she had a "communicable disease", she feels fine, there is lots of new exciting things in her to check out/climb! This may have been the least relaxing day of my life. I don't think we sat down once aside from her nursing, I just followed her around everywhere keeping her from tripping or going to far from the pulse ox machine. Several hours into this the hospitalist comes in with her group of students and they are all watching her and such. She tells me that she has seen 15 other cases this week of pertussis and asks me questions...I am a good medical professinoal and show her my video of emmie coughing so she can show her students, all the while Emmie is like a monkey swinging from a tree.

The doctor was super nice, and at one point Emmie climbs on my lap to nurse to which I happily did since that is the only time I didn't have to chase her down. At this point I didn't care at all that there were about 15 people in the room, mostly males, I just wanted to sit down! The doctor asked if she was getting plenty of fluids and I told her yes, she was nursing practically ever 1-2 hours to which she replies.....well, at the age she is your milk is nothing more than water, no benefits at all to your milk. (WHAT!!!) I had alot going through my mind at this point, but was too tired to argue my points so I just covered Emmie Jayne's ears and smiled and said...."well don't tell her, because she thinks it's the best water she's ever had!"

So anyhow, the Dr. agreed with me, that Emmie had no reason to be there and definetly could go home. So thankfully that afternoon we headed back home. Emmie is still coughing....about 5 times in a 24 hour period and we can expect this until sometime in January probably.....it's called the 100 day cough because it can last just that long. I must say though, I have yet to see what all the craziness is over this. Josie had RSV at 3 weeks and was in the hospital for a few days and it was so much worse than this. I mean, it was 24 hours a day oxygen in the 80's and a sick sick baby......Emmie has about 10 minutes a day she is coughing, oxygen never drops and she is her happy, crazy normal self. I'll take whooping cough over RSV anyday!
So here is my Emmie Jayne's first, and hopefully last, hospital visit......


















































she hated that bed and at one point I had to pee so I put her in it and put up the sides so she hopefully wouldn't jump out. While i was in the bathroom I hear all this beeping from her machines and go out to find she has climbed up and turned all the knobs on the machine and set off all the alarms. The nurse came in as well to see a big happy smiling Emmie Jayne looking so proud of herself.

Family Pictures!

We haven't had a family picture taken since Josie was younger than Emmie Jayne. So I decided it was time to have one taken since I have a million pictures of my kids so I will know what they look like at every age....but none of Joe and I. So 20 years from now we'll have no clue what we looked like at age 30. :)

I have found a great photographer in Louisville that I just love and set up an appointment with her. I decided to dress us in all grays/blues as that is my favorite color scheme and goes with our house colors. The kids all looked cute and the pictures went great considering I haven't slept longer than an hour at a time in the past week and Emmie Jayne is smack dab in the middle of having whooping cough during these pictures (more on that later).


Emmie is not into sitting still rigth now....like at all. She is a happy, easy going baby...but likes to be on the go so getting a picture of her sitting still was difficult. She was all over the place but as she was walking she was saying, "cheeseeeeeeee."" At least she has that part down. haha


Enjoy some of the pics from our photo shoot!!

Owen's tooth came out.....finally!

SOOOOOO, BECAUSE OF THIS............
































This little smile...




























will now look like this........































He was so so happy that is tooth fell out. A few months ago he told me he was the only 6 year old he knew that hadn't lost a tooth and he didn't guess he ever would. hahaha. The tooth fairy showed up that night and left him 5 dollars. (you get the most for your first tooth!) He was quite excited to head to school the next day to show all his friends. Little man is growing up. :(

Worth Every Penny....

Joe and I both went to a christian school growing up and both felt like it was beneficial to our lives. So thankfully when we had children it was never a question of if they would go to chrisitan school for either of us, it was never even a discussion. I love the small classrooms the kids have and that they learn about the bible every day, pray numerous times while they are there and are surrounded by others who have the same morals as us and love the same God we do. But my biggest love of their school is that it has kept their innocence longer than they would have had it otherwise despite what we do in our home. the other night I got a blessing from God that I will remember if I ever begin to hate writing that sum of money over to their school every July.......

We were in Walmart and I saw a lady I see often there late at night. she ususally has 6 small children with her and speaks horribly to them, cussing and being mean the entire time. I was telling Joe this as we were walking to the car and the kids were listening to me. They began to ask me what the lady does or says to her kids....I told them she just said really mean things and bad words to them. Owen asked what kind of bad words. And I told him just really bad ones.....than asked him what the baddest word he knew was. His eyes got huge and he said, "gosh mommy......like stupid?" (this made my heart smile a bit) I told him, yes....bad words like that. Maggie then piped in and said, "Mommy, I was thinking something alot worse than that, and I turned to my 8 year old asking her what the worst word she knew was.....she says, "I was thinking something worse than stupid mom, like kill....did she says kill to them?" (this made my heart beam)

I know many people will laugh that my 6 and 8 year olds don't know what a cuss word is..and I know that someday they will. But right now it is worth every penny we pay to keep their hearts as innocent as they showed me they are tonight....for as long as we can. :)

Super big sister

The other nigth I was putting Emmie to bed and told the other kiddos to get their PJ's on and brush their teeth so I could come put them to bed after I got the baby to bed. I nursed Emmie and laid her down and this was her sweet little face as she said "nigh nigh"







She doesn't look very sleepy but she did go right to bed.


























I headed over to the kids and heard them giggling. I look in Maggie's room to find this.............

























Maggie was reading them "The very Ugly bug" for thier bedtime story. She is such a great big sister to all of them, they are super lucky......and so am I.

Josie's fall party

Josie had her Fall party at school today. It was her first preschool party and she had no idea what it was all about. She kept thinking it was going to be someones birthday party.

I took Emmie Jayne with me which didn't turn out to be as crazy as I had thought it would! She was good and just played with the toys and such.

The class sang some songs for us, which was cute and sweet....Maggie and Owen both had the same teacher and I remember them both singing the same little songs.

So sad how fast it goes!






















Then it was on to snack time.






They said all their little prayers and Josie was a pro at it.....since she has heard Maggie and Owen say the same things for years.















They played some games and sang more songs...




























and then it was time to go home. Here is Josie with her wondrful teacher Mrs. Boyd! We love her!!








She loves pink which makes her even more super to Josie!! Owen has always said Mrs. boyd looks like Cinderella. haha