Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our home all lit up!

We had a wonderful Christmas here in the Burlison household. We had class parties, dance presentations, and hosted some of our dearest family members for Christmas. Busy? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. The girls love doing the gingerbread house every year! Gotta love the premade $9 kits at Target and Walmart. They always love the idea of eating it after Christmas and I love to say, "Sure, have at it, " knowing they will only take a couple of bites.

Our Little Mover and Shaker

My neighbor and I have this wonderful setup. I take the kiddos to school in the morning and she picks up in the afternoon. This allows for our two youngest to have uninterrupted naps (crucial). On Tuesdays she takes the two girls to dance straight from school and I pick them up. Well, evidently some important information fell through the cracks, and I received a phone call from her saying, "The girls are going to have a little performance and Anna really wants me to stay, so don't worry about picking them up." My response, "WHAAATT???????" At that exact moment 3:20p (dance starts at 3:30) Scott comes through the door. I get off the phone and say, "I've got to go!" So I leave and pray the whole way there that I not miss it and that I get there safely. I get there to a room full of parents and kiddos anxiously awaiting to show off their moves. Ugggh, thank God for my trusty neighbor who was saving me a seat and laughing at me as I ran in the door! I could tell Mary Ella was relieved I had made it! Anyways, here are a few pics I took. My dear friend Suzie took pics of her daughters feet, so I thought I'd do the same. Too precious!

Can I party too???

We had Mary Ella's class "Winter Party"....one of the few times a year we can celebrate and serve sugary snacks (legally). Golly, times have changed. No Halloween Party, but a fall "treat"....No Thanksgiving Party, but a Thanksgiving "feast" with healthy snacks....No Easter Party, but a Spring treat. As you see below, Addy took a seat and somehow attained a plate full of goodies.

I got Robbed....

by Build-A-Bear. My sweet, dear friend, Jillian, from Longview joined us with her three boys. Our kiddos had been craving, literally CRAVING, each other....well, specifically Thomas and Mary Ella. They were itching to get out of the car and then they saw each other both wearing these shy, but very happy grins on their face. Thomas can make Mary Ella giggle like no other! We braved the very busy mall so that our children could build themselves stuffed animals. I had always heard these things were expensive, but we walked in and I saw $18-22 price tags and thought, "this isn't going to be too bad." Oh how mistaken I was. We added clothes, a voice, etc... Below is a picture of "Sara", Mary Ella's bear. Addy's bear was blue (her favorite color) wearing a sequin, CUTE, t-shirt with a jean skirt...her name? Barney. Then we had a no name, no accessory bunny rabbit (b/c I couldn't sit at that computer any longer with Addy's "help"). We got out their spending around $85. Yep my friends, that is almost $30 a bear, but doesn't Sara look adorable????? The time spent with our dear friends was totally worth it!

Our current favorite "spot" in the house.

For whatever reason our children enjoy piling into Molly's crib and playing...for a long time, I might add. They giggle away and we just let them have at it. After all, their having fun and are corralled. It is a win-win situation!

Here comes Christmas....and the buzzard!

One of our favorite childhood memories comes from visiting our grandparents. Grandmother would always provide the forbidden sugar cereal and we would sit in Grandaddy Pete's lap giggling hysterically as he counted our ribs and said, "here comes the buzzard. It goes round and round and round." Right about that time he would tickle our belly. As you can see below, Molly seems to find it pretty funny too!

Santa Came!

The grandparents wait with the children before given the Ok to come see!

I don't think Addy's ready for a license yet. Maybe these things need to be made out of steel???? I think Scott and I've pulled a few muscles trying to teach her how to drive this thing.

Molly trying to figure out her car and not quite sure what to think.

I guess I should put out a warning about all the American Girl stuff too. You wouldn't believe the mounds of accessories that go with this doll, but it is too much fun, so I won't complain. These fun dolls teach about history and friendships. I'm sensing an American Girl trip to Dallas soon!

We also got to spend some time with my dad for Christmas. The girls loved seeing he and Mommy Boo. We also got to see our Bostonian sister Kristin and her fiance' James. We have an exciting year coming up for these two. The are graduating from college and will be getting married some time next Fall! What fun it is to add another male to our family as the males are way outnumbered around here.

Kristin and James

I just had to leave you with this picture of our "caboose". Pure happiness and joy unless I'm trying to cook dinner (that 4-6pm syndrome has hit for this little tyke). Oh well, at least with the third one, I know it is a phase that will end. She has also begun to walk at 14 1/2 months. Why would she need to do so earlier???? She's been very content attached to my hip :).

One last moment....

As Scott and I cleaned up downstairs, it got eerily quiet upstairs, so naturally I went to check. I found our oldest princess helping our youngest princess to look the part.

Ahhhh, gotta relish that sibling harmony when you get it!

We hope you and those you love had a wonderful Christmas and wish you many blessings in the year 2009! Most importantly that you all know just how special you are to us.

All Aboard!

On December 5th, we took the girls on the Polar Express train ride out of the Palestine depot. We've been eyeing this activity to do with the girls for a long time and now that we are up here, we took the opportunity. We had so much fun and to see the wonder and excitement in all of our children (even Molly) was a true thrill. I tried to capture it in pictures, but they certainly don't do it justice.

The excitement began building about two weeks prior. We had a countdown and everything. The day came and we got the girls in their pajamas and began our journey to Palestine. It was freezing cold and we pulled up to steam billowing out of the train engine. The squeals of delight were coming from all three girls. We got our tickets and boarded with lot of other kiddos wearing their Christmas pajamas and our hour long journey began.

The hot chocolate and treats were served with music and all. Soon the kids had the familiar hot chocolate ring around their mouths and Molly Kate enjoyed the krinkly sound of the wrapper.

They began reciting the Polar Express book; however, do to all the laughter and giggling we didn't follow along very well. Then they yelled, "THE NORTH POLE". They had decorated an area with thousands of lights and there was Santa waving on his porch (need I say the squeals got louder). He boarded the train and went from car to car giving each "believer" a bell. We listened to bells ringing all the way home.

When we got in the car to go home, Mary Ella said, "Mom, when we got on the train and they were playing that soft music from the movie, I almost cried." I could tell she didn't understand why, so we had the talk about how sometimes when we are real happy and excited about something we shed tears. I love the fact that she is going to be a happy crier....one the best emotions God has given us.....laughter through tears. We were just so thankful to experience this as a family. Even Molly loved it! I hope if anyone has the chance to do this that they would. We are so glad we now have this sweet family memory.

A day in the life....

....of Addy. Many of you know our sweet Addy Scott. She has a sense of humor like you wouldn't believe. Literally, she will have you in tears laughing. Not only is she hilarious at times. She is often very methodical. She organizes, completes patterns and puzzles like you wouldn't believe. She came out of the womb that way. We have a distinct memory of Addy staring at my mother's brightly colored/patterned jacket when she was days old. So with that brief history on her, I have a couple of stories about her.

Story #1- I went to pick her up from school the other day. I walk in the door to her showing me her Christmas tree. I was busy getting her stuff together and honestly was giving the "uh huh, yeeeeaaa" without even looking. Her teacher then said, "It was awfully interesting doing Addy's Christmas tree today......" Out of curiosity I look up. It was a xeroxed tree with circles all over it. Addy had taken the foil star stickers and placed each sticker in the center of each circle. Evidently, she would not accept anything less than center. The leftover stickers were then evenly distributed between the circles.

Story #2- Eating a meal with Addy is, to say the least, interesting in and of itself. I'm not quite sure how she has managed to grow and thrive over this last year because the child would rather play than eat her food. Anyways, I'd given her chicken nuggets and ranch dressing (aka white dip). I look over to find her using a chicken nugget strip to apply ranch dressing all over her toes. I said, "what are you doing!!!???" She looked at me and said, "I'm painting my toe nails". I said, "are you going to lick it off?" She just giggled. I love how she gets my humor.

Story #3- Another interesting activity Addy participates in is packing. Often I will find groupings of plastic grocery bags filled with random stuff around the house. One bag will have the stabilizer leg to Molly's exosaucer, one bag will have Mary Ella's shoes, one bag will have magazines and so on. We know if we can't find something to go looking for bags :).

Story #4: Addy was again, resisting some request (probably to get dressed), so I had to get stern. She responded with , "you agitating me." I must admit that "agitating" is the word I use describe the actions and/or behaviors the girls exhibit toward one another at times, so I guess it should be no surprise that she turned it around on me. She has also told me I need "sassy juice" as well. She was probably right :)! Oh yes, life stays pretty interesting around here.

Giving thanks and Decking the Halls

Well, last week we were joined by my older brother for Thanksgiving. The girls were so excited. In fact Addy would not take a nap for fear of Robin arriving and her missing something. All turned out ok, she got a nap and was ready to play after her five minute "pretend I'm shy" episode. I made pies, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, dressing/stuffing (yes, Jeanine, I used your church lady recipe and got rave reviews!), and rolls. Scott fried the most amazing turkey I've ever had...ugghhh, it was so good! We rolled away from the table and I of course had to clean up everything immediately (what is wrong with me???). The best part was having a clean kitchen and the smell of freshly brewed Cafe Verona waiting for me in the coffee pot....ahh, my sweet reward :). The guys disappeared for a while once Scott discovered Gander Mountain (aka gun store) was open. I jokingly laughed at the thought of Scott in the middle of an East Texas gun department on Thanksgiving, but then realized the Dallas Cowboys game was on, so it wasn't too busy afterall.

Mary Ella also had a Thanksgiving Feast at her school. I love going to her school and seeing her face when she sees me. Even if she's expecting me, she gets this looked of surprised excitement that I am there.

After Thanksgiving, we started pulling out all our Christmas stuff. The biggest task was deciding what we were doing on the outside. Evidently it is tradition in our cul-de-sac to line the yard with white lights (check), colored lights in bushes for girls (check), garland (uncheck-I can't get the darn hooks to stay up), wreaths on the windows (check), and the moving deer that Mary Ella emphatically requested (check). I'm not sure how many trips we made to Lowes, but their profit margins surely increased. This was the end result:

I took a picture of the Japanese Maple tree. When we moved in our lawn guy said people payed a lot of money for those trees and I didn't know why...until now. It turns the most brilliant shade of red I've ever seen.

We went to see Santa at Misteltoe and Magic. The girls had a blast. Addy and Molly were less than thrilled about sitting in Santa's lap. Mary Ella learned to ice skate (balance on the ice skates and walk), Addy enjoyed walking in the booties, and Molly hung out on my side. They ate cookies, cupcakes, ....sugar galore.

I've lost the war with winter cooties. With three children, I've come to realize one will always have a snotty nose or some nasty cough. It doesn't seem like too long ago I would freak out when people would show up in public with kiddos with snotty noses. I think the little bugs and I have learned to peacefully coexist.

Signs of Fall

When we began looking for a home here in Tyler, one of our criteria was to have a lot with some trees. We found one with beautiful, old trees all over it. In the 7 months we've owned this home, several realities have come forth about owning a home with these big, beautiful trees.

1. Hurricane Ike- Seeing these huge trees sway in the wind over your home is a little nerve racking, yet strangely hypnotizing at the same time.

2. A large oak over 100 years old dying and having to pay professionals to cut down and remove it...expensive.

3. Fall- The yard guys come pick up the leaves and after a breezy day our yard looks like this

My pathetic attempt to rake up the leaves. I gave up after our two older children began jumping in the piles and "redistributing" them. Can't complain....it provided at least an hour of entertainment. Now we don't rake to actually pick up the leaves, we play instead. The kids have loads of fun.

Have some time?

As the mother of a kindergartner, I was anxious to get involved with school. When we moved to Tyler, there were only a few commitments I would make within the first year...1. seeking a church home 2. school involvement 3. purchasing a home. I had decided I wouldn't join any service organizations or other groups until a year had passed. A defense mechanism? Maybe. I just don't want to jump into something unless I'm 100% into it.

So, when the Jack Jubilee carnival came up, I volunteered. Now, I even narrowed it down to just finding FOUR volunteers. Each volunteer would cover an hour. How hard could that be???? Well, it turned out to be quite the challenge. I got the directory and began calling. Phone calls didn't get returned and the only volunteers I had were my trusty neighbor in addition to myself. Not long after the initial wave of phone calls, I lost my voice. Therefore, I turned to email. Again, no response. I did finally reach a mom who agreed to a shift, sent her a confirmation letter and all. So the volunteers were 1. my trusty neighbor 2. a school mom 3. Me. 4. Scott. Well, the Jubilee came and I went to help set up and get my "trusty neighbor" started. I then returned home to switch cars with Scott so he could take Addy to a birthday party (did I mention the LSU v. Alabama game was on???? Scott was such a good sport). I then got Mary Ella and Molly ready for the carnival and called the first shift worker after her shift was supposed to be over (I had a bad feeling.) I said, "Please tell me the next person showed up." And she replied, "I'm still here taking pictures." So I get up there to relieve her and fortunately someone (not the person it was supposed to be) was doing just that. So I took advantage of the thirty minutes to take Mary Ella around until I needed to "man the booth". She desperately wanted to do the pony ride and we strolled over there to discover a VERY long line....there was no time. What is it about kids and pony rides???? Anyways, I promised (should've known better than to do that) we would get to it once Scott arrived. Well, Scott didn't arrive until late and the kids needed to eat. Poor Molly was having Teddy Grahams for dinner b/c I couldn't get away. Bottom line is that Mary Ella didn't get to do the pony ride that I had promised. I felt so guilty about it...still do. Here I was volunteering at her school....something that is supposed to be good and it turned out to spoil her fun. Now I'm not saying she didn't have any fun because she did. The pony ride is the one thing she really asked to do and we couldn't deliver. What was more frustrating is that I saw some of the moms I had called walking around with their kiddos, husbands, etc....one even came up to say, "hello." (maybe she didn't get the message???) Don't get me wrong, I don't hold a grudge(well, maybe a little...I'm working on it), but at that moment I was a bit frustrated. How can you not return a phone call about volunteering at your kid's school or more frustrating, commit to it and then not bother showing up or calling? This happens at churches a lot too. I just don't "get" it. I hope y'all don't think I'm an angry person, but golly, whatever happened to personal accountability? What a shame.

Despite this, it will not deter me from volunteering again. I think schools are a wonderful place to volunteer, even if you don't have kiddos there. Afterall, their big (many toothless) grins are worth it :).

You a turkey!

Ok, I know I'm on a posting marathon, but bare with me. I forget things as quickly as they happen, so I'm determined to document this one.

For as long as I can remember, my loving grandfather has called us (the grandchildren) "turkeys." Well, Addy has reached 2 1/2 and, for me, the age of 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 seem to be the most challenging. At this age, I say "come here please" (2 0r 3 times) and I finally give the option of time out. Addy then follows my request; however, she starts coming towards me in slow motion with a smile on her face, sometimes she even throws a dance move in there. Inevitably, this occurs when I'm trying to get them out the door. This is only one example of the boundaries being testing right now. To be fair, Mary Ella did this exact same thing. Anyways, the situation just described had occurred and finally I got her in my arms to do hair and don shoes. She was wiggling and trying to make it difficult to complete these tasks. At that point, I said, "Addy, you're being a little turkey this morning" She whipped her head around and said, "No mommy, you being a turkey." She was so proud of her "come back" that she continued to call me a "turkey" all the way to school. She giggled at herself and, admittedly, I found it pretty funny too. So I guess if she goes to school and calls one of her classmates a "turkey" , it'll be played down to Thanksgiving holiday, right???

Our little spooks!

The candy high started early on Friday afternoon. Mary Ella got home and immediately started asking if it was almost time to "trick or treat". After repeated, "no, not yet" answers, I was finally able to say "YES!" The girls kicked into high gear, dressing up, giggling and squealing with excitement. Here they are:

Mary Ella "the Poodle skirt girl"

Addy, "the doctor"...she already has her prescription of "skittles" in hand. Always prepared!

Molly "the cow"....very appropriate since she has been a bottomless pit since she's been eating.

All three of the munchkins. I tried to get a "happy" picture, but Addy was afraid of our 5th grader next door neighbor. He donned a very frightening skeleton costume with a black hood. Addy did not like this and any time he came around, she covered her eyes with her treat bag or hands as shown above. She keeps saying, "Matt's costume scawy. I don't like it"

All of the cul-de-sac kiddos partaking in pizza before getting "candied" up.

The girls examining and consuming the night's "take." I've been enjoying all the things that they don't like to eat.....yikes! Not a good way to start the holiday season.

Stand-by....recovery in progress

Over this past week I would often find Molly just lying on the floor. Poor baby!

Yes, my friends and family, we have survived the worst of it, I hope. The stomach virus somehow bypassed our other two children....praise God for that. As for this last week, I've had my share of poop, vomit, and syringe feeding pedialyte. Whatever this was took its toll on our sweet Molly. She went a whole week hardly eating or drinking. However, at 4am yesterday morning, her appetite came back in a big way and wanted to make sure we knew it. She sucked down a full bottle and wanted more. Did I say it was 4 am????? On one hand, I was glad to see her eating....on the other, well, you know....sleep is important. So we are fully "in" for the Halloween festivities tonight.

In other family news, Mary Ella had "Red Ribbon Week" this week. On Wednesday, she had to dress western. Don't let the cowgirl had fool you. There is a rhinestone crown on the front of it....princess through and through. The same day she had to draw what she dreams of being when she grows up and, of course, she drew a princess and even tried to spell it, "prnss". Addy didn't want to miss the photo-op. In other Mary Ella news this week, she learned how to tie her shoes and snap. These were big moments for her. She was so proud of herself!

Say in Ain't So!

Well, I hope the first week of our honey bun's second year is not indicative of what is to come. The night of Molly Kate's birthday (Sunday) I started hearing the familiar sound of dog barks coming from her room....Croup. The poor child was on her way back to recovery when a tummy bug hit her on Thursday. She has hardly eaten since. I thought Saturday and Sunday were better, but Monday morning she awoke with upset tummy again. Scott was on call Friday and Sunday...boo hoo! On top of that, Mary Ella and I have some viral chest thing (how's that for medical terminology???). So we are not feeling up to our best either. THEN, last night as we were going about our bedtime routine, Addy fell off the bed and busted her nose. Yes, bloodied it up and everything. Poor baby! Uh oh, as I was typing this, Scott just came in and said he'd just gotten sick!!! UGGGGHHH! Calgon, take me away!

*****Warning*****the Burlison clan will now be quarantined until further notice!

Sharing the Love

I was just going through some our pictures and realizing all the things I haven't shared. Anyways, I came across these pictures of our girls when Molly was Baptized by our loving Pastor Sione' at Grace Community UMC. I think these pictures capture the bond between these three girls. They love each other so much. What a blessing they are to us.

And yet another example.....on Saturday morning Addy made her way down to our room and climbed in to bed with us. Not long after, Mary Ella joined us to snuggle in. As I put my arm over Mary Ella, I brushed my hand down her arm to find her hand. When my hand reached hers, I found that Addy's hand was already in her palm. It brought a smile to my face (even though it was very early in the morning). Don't get me wrong, they have their differences, but that sweet moment was a reminder that their relationship goes far beyond "who goes first" and "who got to the toy first". What a great way to start a day!