As promised.....Party pictures!!!!!!

Ok so I can't arrange pictures very well but you must admit, they are darn CUTE! Nuncle Chris got her the bike and we had lots of fun in the bouncy house, courtesy of our neighbor "Little Jack." (There are 3 Jacks in our neighborhood, 2 of which made it to the party.) And of course I had to go with ice cream cake from Carvel. A birthday party at the Burns' house just wouldn't be complete without it! Eliana certainly has that big "cheeeese" smile down, doesn't she? :)

Happy Birthday Eliana!

Today my baby girl is 2! Time certainly flies when you have kids doesn't it? I remember so clearly this morning 2 years ago...going to the hospital, then coming back and leaving again 30 minutes later and just barely making it back in time to have her there and not in the car! She wanted to make a quick entrance which was totally fine with me! It's so easy to express the joy she has brought into all of our lives. She's funny,cute,smart,sweet and helpful. And it's great to see her and AJ becoming friends and playing so nicely(most of the time) together. What a little blessing she is! Happy 2nd Birthday Jelly Bean! We love you. I'll post pictures of the party tomorrow.

Any ideas for child #2?

As many of you know Eliana's birthday is Friday and I can't figure out for the life of me what to get her! I was in the store tonight and it seems like we have EVERYTHING already. I definitely don't think our kids are spoiled...maybe the toy designers just aren't making anything new and interesting lately? I never had this problem with AJ. I guess being the 1st born has it's advantages.

Quotes from my Kids

AJ: (after being asked to help me with something): "Sorry Mommy, I'm busy right now."
Eliana: (5 minutes later): "I'm busy right now Mommy."
Me: "AJ, can you pick up the books on the floor in your room?"
AJ: "Ummmm, no thanks." (Thanks for being so polite AJ but I didn't offer you a cookie.)
Eliana: (as we just start eating dinner): "We forgot to pray Mommy."

Happy Father's Day

I must say that for the past 18 years Father's Day has been a pretty sad day for me. Not having my dad here is extra depressing on this day every June. One thing that cheers me up is seeing what a great dad Jonathan is to AJ and Eliana. So funny, creative, attentive, loving and patient. They think he is a KING! It's so easy to let the things that drive you crazy about your spouse get to you (especially when you're a type A personality and he's like, type W). I should learn from my kids how to appreciate all those wonderful qualities as much as they do and stop worrying about the small, unimportant stuff that I often let bother me. We had a great weekend. Yesterday we went to Gearfest at church and AJ and Eliana had so much fun climbing all over the fire trucks, tractors, bulldozers, race cars, etc.....and last night J and I went to the movies for the 1st time in forever! Today we went to a birthday party and jumped in one of those bounce houses for hours. They should sleep well tonight. Go Celtics!

Summertime fun

We went to the beach on Tuesday and had so much fun! Both AJ and Eliana are getting much more adventurous when it comes to the ocean.....a little too much I'd say when I'm there with them by myself. Since the heat wave is over we were able to paint some shells we collected yesterday. Here's a sample of our artwork. Also I bought a book of summer crafts for kids to plan something a few times a week. Now that school is finished for the summer I need to get in touch with my creative side to keep the kids happy! If anyone has any fun projects their children enjoy please let me know!

You know your kids are growing up when....

Your 4 year old enjoys watching TV in his underwear or completely naked and...... he wakes up at 3 AM saying" I have to pee" rather than just wetting the bed.

Not too long ago if AJ had an accident in the middle of the night it was a BIG ordeal and it took forever to get him back to sleep plus changing all the bedding too! What a little man he is now!

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Here are some party pictures from yesterday! We love you Daddy!

Yeah it's over...now we can celebrate!!!!!

No more late night studying at the Burns house! Jonny passed his last 2 tests with flying colors today and now we can relax and get into a routine starting Monday (his birthday) when his new job begins. But in the meantime we've planned a movie night for tonight and I think tomorrow we'll go to the beach since it's supposed to be insanely hot for the next 4 days. Then Sunday is Jonathan's birthday party. It should be interesting next week....I haven't had to get up and go in the early morning for awhile (I'm not looking forward to that) and it'll be just me and the kids all day. They will definitely miss having Daddy around all the time. He is waaayyyyy more fun than Mommy! :)

AJ graduated! (well sort of)

Not from the preschool, he still has one year left, but he and his classmates gave a lovely performance for us this morning to celebrate their 1st year. He's had so much fun, learned so much and made some good friends this year. In his end of the year progress report his teachers wrote, "AJ has a very caring personality." That was so nice to hear!!!!! We must be doing something right! Sometimes I think I'm so concerned with his academic accomplishments that I forget there's more to life than just getting good grades. Go AJ...we're so proud of you. Here's some pictures from this morning.....

My Very Smart Husband strikes Again!

Today he passed another test...Go Jonny! One more on Friday and he's DONE.....your prayers are appreciated.