My BABY!!!

She has her first tooth!  Bottom, just peeked through the other day...  Odd thing is I can only feel terribly sad about it.  They grow too fast and I can't slow it enough!  Oh where is my newborn.  On the other hand she is six months old and only 13 pounds.  She is definitely a peanut.  However she is full of  smiles and pure joy!  The happiest baby EVER!!!

Mourning for Michael!

I cant believe it I am in shock with the rest of the world...  Michael Jackson has passed away from cardiac arrest this afternoon.  I grew up listening to him and dancing my life away mainly with my cousin Aubrey.  I will treasure his music after all he is the "King of Pop!"  I guess everyone knows how much I love him because my phone has been ringing off the hook.  So goodbye Michael you will be missed!

Poor Monkey!

My poor baby has been so congested lately that after a couple weeks of it not clearing up I decided to take her in.  I know bad mother for waiting so long but we have been through this enough that I thought I could beat it with our nebulizer at home!  Turns out the poor monkey has a double ear infection with bronchitis.  I guess I learned my lesson and will be more haste in my future medical decisions.  What a wonderful baby though, you would never know she has been sick she still always smiles and laughs. Such a happy and pleasant spirit!  I adore her!!!

The pictures are from Fathers Day!  The kids all made Ryan some home-made cards. It was super cute!  You are such a great dad, Ry-Guy!

Happy Fathers Day!

To the very special men in my life I want to wish a very wonderful Happy Fathers Day to them!  I feel that I had the best father ever.  I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way but it is hard to explain just how wonderful my father truly is.  He is a caring thoughtful hard working tender hearted grateful man.  He is the best confidant and you can always trust him.  The older I get the more grateful I am for my dad.  I learn from him on a daily basis and I want to be more like him.  He is a strong leader in the church and so many look up to him.  I am also grateful for my Papaw and how wonderful he is.  I feel so blessed that I was able to be raised by them and to see him on almost a daily basis.  These blessings are hard to realize until you have lost them.  The fact that I don't get to see him nearly as much as I would like to makes me grateful for my youth and all my memories.  I also am grateful for my Grandpa J and all that he taught me before he passed.  I know that he is a strong leader and a great "father" even on the other side.  Finally my "Father" in law Gail.  He has been so good to me and my family and so willing to always come and help.  I fear sometimes that we call on him far too much and that he is going to tire of us.  However I have learned that he never fails to follow through and he always wants to be there.  

Now to the "father" of my children Ryan.  I am so grateful for you and the fact that you have made it so important to be a good father to our kids.  I think that the children have been extremely blessed.  They will understand how truly lucky they are the older they get.  You always go out of your way to talk to the children and reason with them, to take them on "daddy dates" and to spend quality time with each of them.  You are lovable and entertaining and the children love "their Daddy!"  Thanks for all you do for our family!

I am so grateful for all you "fathers" and for the examples that you all have been to not only me but my children.  I love you all dearly and miss you all that I don't get to see.  I can honestly say that I have not had one poor male role model in my life and that is something of an accomplishment in and of itself.  That is a rare occasion now a days! Loves and kisses and many wonderful wishes sent to you all on this holiday!!!   XOXO

Oh Blakely!!!

I am sitting on the couch this afternoon when Blakely walks in and hands me the phone and lets me know that it is for me.  This is a common occurrence in our house all my children love to answer the phone but Blakely especially loves to also make phone calls.  The lady on the other end informed me that it was 911 and she was wondering if we had an emergency.  It took me a while to realize that Blake had called and then just sat and chatted for a while with the lady before handing it over to me.   I think that Blake realized she didn't know how to answer the questions that were being asked.  I assured the woman that there was no emergency and that my 5 year old must have been "making calls" and she finally believed me and let me go.  I know several of you that get phone calls from her on almost a daily basis.  She absolutely  loves the telephone!  Sweet precious Blakely she was scared to death and really upset after I let her have it for calling the police but hey at least I know that if something is ever really wrong maybe she'll remember the number.  If I haven't traumatized her enough!  

Time Flies!!!

I am so super sad my baby is 6 months old and it seems like yesterday that she was just born!  She has been a precious little peanut and I absolutely adore her.  She surely is little... By far my tiniest one that I have had!  Of course with Burkinshaw flowing through her, her head is large and in charge.  She is a beautiful girl and so happy all of the time.  I never know when she is awake because she never cries.  She sits in her crib and just smiles and laughs and coos at her blankets.  Her siblings adore her and maul her constantly.  I am shocked that she still likes small people and isn't scared of them.  I can't turn my back for a second without someone picking her up and carrying her off somewhere.  I love to snuggle her and I look forward to the times when the kids are all asleep and her and I sit in the front room alone to talk and bod with each other!  I love this stage of life and I am trying to soak in every single moment so that I can cherish all the memories.  Greer, Mom and Dad and your sisters and brother love you to pieces and feel so blessed that you joined our family.  You are such a wonderful spirit to have in our household and we can't imagine life without you.  We truly adore you and look forward to all the many years ahead!

Potty time!

We're attempting wish us luck!

Summer Fun!

We have jumped into this summer with both feet.  I thought that the kids were going to be really bored and require a lot of entertaining.  Come to find out we have been so packed with stuff to do that the kids have hardly noticed that it is almost mid June!  Time is just flying by.  We are swimming a lot and keeping the shelves at Wal-Mart very low on sunscreen.  We have spent a lot of time with cousins and friends and with the family! It is so enjoyable to see the children play so hard that at the end of the day they can hardly keep their eyes open long enough to make it through dinner.  Thanks to everyone who has helped to entertain and loaned their pools to us at moments notice.  We look forward to the rest of the summer...

10 Milestones in 10 Years

Today Ryan and I celebrated ten years of marriage.  It is hard for us to believe that we are getting older!!!  I decided that I would write down ten milestones that took place in these past ten years some good some not so good but ALL learning and growing experiences that have made us better people and a tighter couple!

1. The purchase of our first house together.  I remember feeling so grown up and thinking that it was so fun to "play house" permanently.

2.  This might sound cheesy to some of you but when Ryan bought and surprised me with my first car I remember feeling so cool.  To have someone purchase something for you of that magnitude made me feel special.  Even though it was a need because we were both working and needed our own forms of transportation.

3.  Ryan starting his very own business with his partner Rustin Randall.  It was so awesome to go to "Mainstream Wireless" and hang out because my man owned it.  We had some great times with all our friends there and some not so great times with all the times the cops had to come and investigate the robberies.  Ryan became a dang good detective if you ask me.  Or anyone else he caught the guy himself!

4.  The birth of our first child Navie.  I don't think that you can ever truly prepare for how your life changes when you become a parent.  It has been wonderful yet scary and challenging all together.

5.  The surgery that changed a lot for us.  Every once in a while we think about this and wish we could rewind the clock.  However I think that Ryan and I have matured and learned a lot about ourselves going through this experience.

6.  The birth of our second daughter Blakely.  Life still seemed pretty easy with two!

7.  The sell of the Burkinshaws and Randalls baby "Costa Vida."  That restaurant was so much fun and we have some amazing memories there.  Those boys put in a lot of hard work and really established themselves during this step in their business.  It was sad to see it get sold but it felt like we had come full circle and really accomplished something great! 

8.  The birth of our first and only son Jagger.  I think that it was fulfilling to have a son after thinking that we were only going to have girls.  Don't get me wrong we cherish our girls but it is nice to get to see your world through the eyes of a rough, car playing, skateboarding, wild but terrible sweet loving little boy!  I adore watching Ryan with him!

9.  The purchase of our home that we live in now that feels like we could stay in for a very long time.  I love to plant my roots and it makes me feel extremely satisfied that we have not only a neighborhood that we love but that is full of children and a great school district to send our children to.  Plus add a great ward on top of that.

10.  The birth of our daughter Greer.  I forgot how wonderful it feels to have an innocent sweet baby around the house and to see the children shower her with attention and love.  We cant get enough of her and love to watch her grow everyday.

Ryan, you have been so instrumental in helping me grow into the person that I am more proud of today than I was in the past.  I feel that we have grown closer and are learning everyday how to become more united and unified in our eternal goals together.  I am proud of the father that you are to our children and for how they love to see you and spend time with you.  Thank you for sacrificing for me and for showing me what it means to love with you whole soul!  I love you Ryan and here's to ten more!!!  

Little Helper!

Jag has become my little helper as of lately.  Now it could be because he likes all the noise that comes with the"helping" machines or that I am praising him enough that he loves the attention.  Once again (I have no idea how) I have a child on a nebulizer.  Greer has that raspy breathing and so I started her on the breathing machine to help her break up the congestion in her lungs.  Jag found this whole thing fascinating, he obviously forgot what it was like to be on the other end of the machine.  Every time I start it up he says "Mom, I hold it!" He is insistent!!!  He just sits there and follows Greers face around as she turns to look at everything.  He makes sure that it is always by her nose and that she is getting a good mist right in her face.  His other obsession is our "Shark vacuum" he loves the thing.  He turns it on and goes around the house looking for something to suck up.  Sometimes he even helps it along by throwing food on the floor so that he can have something waiting for him and his noisy sucker.  Finally his last fun chore is rinsing out his dishes in our water fountain by the sink.  He climbs on the counter and regardless of if the plate is paper or not he is cleaning it off in a waterfall of H2O.  This is the messiest of all his likes and it is hard for me to let him do it all the time.  I have quite a clean up after these episodes.  Jag is such a great kid and I absolutely adore him and everything that he does.  Way to go Jag for being a helper, just try to hold onto this trait for a while OK!

An Addiction!

My mother introduced me to something that I have just grown to obsess about!  She was visiting and I was complaining about how "streaky" my mirrors and windows were.  My mother quickly took me to The Home Depot and bought the most fabulous thing in the world.  It is a double sided squeegee!!!  It has a fluffy pad on one side and a blade on the other.  You spray the window down then rub it with the fabric and squeegee it off.  I am crazy about it.  I can honestly admit that my mirrors and windows stay so clean that I lay in wait wondering when someone will touch them so that I can clean them again.  I just get the biggest satisfaction cleaning the glass.  So to you mother,  thank you for showing me something wonderful and hopefully next visit you can share how to get those showers sparkly clean!!!  I am secretly hoping that there is a new fun tool involved in it!