back to school

School started at the beginning of the month, but as usual I am behind in blogging. Zach is in 2nd grade this year and was excited to find that he got the teacher he wanted. Hannah is in 1st grade and we already knew that she got the world's most fabulous teacher- Mrs. Morrison and drumroll please....Jared started preschool! I can't decide who was more excited him or Mom. He still asks me if he can stay longer everytime I pick him up. Here are some pics of the first day.





So hopefully now that life is slowly getting back to normal I can get back to blogging regularly...maybe.

Boys will be boys!

Or at least that's what they tell me. SO the Burgess clan got together for Father's Day! After some convincing, all the Burgess brothers got in the pool with their kids. My nephews are getting older and apparently they felt they had something to prove, because what started as this:


Ended in this


Luckily the younger boys had enough sense to steer clear of the madness,

and I'm not tsure the girls had any idea what was going on, they were having too much fun with the best cousin ever, Ashley.



So while I don't understand WHY the "whose tougher" contest happened, it seemed to be some great bonding experience for them all, which just goes to show that I will never fully understand boys. The best part was that my nephews just kept right on coming, no matter how hopeless it seemed and there were a couple of times when it looked like they might be gaining the upper hand (of course that could be because they were up against a bunch of out of shape old guys). It was oddly heartwarming to see my hubby with all his brothers showing the younglings what's up.

Still I'm glad I'm a girl.

Going Private

So after watching a show the other night where a dad took a picture of his little kid in the tub and then put it on his webpage, and the picture ended up on a child porno site, well let's just say that I have been thinking about making my blog private for awhile and that just put me over the edge. There are some serious sickos out there and I don't want any of them looking at my kids. I want to be able to put pics of my kids on my blog without worrying about who is looking at them, so as of now this is a private blog.

Which you already know if you are reading this. I will try to email those that I know read my blog and invite them.

My little money makers

So a couple of Sunday's ago Hannah wanted to play with hair and decided to make a hair booth. Zach decided to help her, and I decided to take a nap and left them planning. Not too much longer, I woke up expecting to visit their salon downstairs, but as I walked down the stairs I heard voices from outside the front door! I quickly ran outside (after "discussing" with their father what happens when mom takes a nap) and found them with their booth set up talking to our friends from down the street. I'm still hoping that the Morrison's were already out walking their dog and my kids did not go soliciting but I'll never know, because I will never ask...but I digress. So they had set up this booth


and created these amazing hairdos



And the best part (for the kids) is that our sweet neighbors actually paid them for their work, and so did Granny.

Dad got his do for free- Dad discount I think they called it.


I am hoping that this booth phase wears off soon. But their dad really encourages it, he thinks that it shows ingenuity and business sense, so we'll see...but if you need a cool hair-do, or an autographed Ben 10 alien, or an omnitrix, come on over- and I am sure by the end of the summer there will be a couple of new booths to choose from.

O what do you do in the summertime?

So, we have been looking forward to summer vacation and it is finally here. The kids get 6 whole weeks off of school and we want to have tons of fun. We kicked off the summer by having the kids wear these cute shirts on the last day of school.



I found the idea from tipjunkie here and then changed it a little. The front says: Good-bye KINDERGARTEN (or 1st grade in Zach's place) and the back says: Look out 1st grade (or 2nd in Zach's case) Here I come!

This week I am trying to plan the rest of the summer while the kids are in soccer camp. We'll see how ambitious I get...

TFTSMT er F

So I am a little behind on my thankful for the small things posts. So I will try to squeeze a couple in. Last week I fully intended to post about a small thing that makes me very happy- but i forgot. Before I start let me preface this by saying Summer television programming leaves a lot to be desired: you either get re-runs or stupid reality shows. Now that should be a cue to just turn the TV off and do something productive, but well, that's just not how I roll. Last summer, while channel surfing, trying to find something to watch we came across a gem of a show and I am beyond excited that it is back this summer! So last weeks thankful for the small things is: I am thankful for WIPEOUT. If you have not seen this show, you are missing out. It is on ABC wednesdays at 7pm. I don't know why people falling is so stinkin funny, but I seriously laugh my butt off each week. Which surprises me, because I am not usually one for slapstick comedy. I get annoyed at things like Mr. Bean, the 3 stooges, and even Looney Toons, BUT something about watching people who actually think that they can do these obstacles, and then watching them take ginormous spills, is HILARIOUS!

My favorite obstacle is the sweeper shown below:

the arm goes around in circles and people have to jump over it- mostly it knocks them into the water...ahhh good times!
And the commentators are fabulous- so funny. They really make the show. (kinda makes me miss Mystery Science Theater 3000). My favorite is the wrecking ball character. Watch it- you will thank me, or else you will think that I am nuts.
Also, I think it should be mentioned that the best part about watching wipeout is watching it with Kerry. My husband's laugh has always made me smile- and he laughs a lot at this show which makes me laugh. (Just as a sidenote, Kerry is also the one laughing in the theater when no one else is, and he laughs at his own jokes, which makes me laugh, which is probably why he thinks he is so funny). And now Zach has started watching with us and he is worse than his dad, so there is a lot of laughing going on at our house- and that makes me happy. SO thank you wipeout people. You have made Wednesdays at 7pm something to look forward to at the Burgess house.

Oh and the other small thing that I am thankful for is DVR- because So You Think You Can Dance is on at the same time and I heart that show.

Pee-pee in the drive-thru

More from the chronicles of a 3 year old. We were waiting in the drive-thru of the bank today when Mr. Man announces that he has to pee. It's not like we could just leave, we were kind of stuck. I told him to try to hold it, we would be done in a minute. But then a couple of minutes later (that bank is the slowest bank ever by the way, we are always in the drivethru for at least 15 minutes) I looked back and noticed he was really doing the pee-pee dance. "Mom I really have to pee-pee now!" he says.
So, I am trying to figure out what to do when I spot a cup on the floor (yeah my car is pretty messy most of the time). Well, I have seen my mom have her boys use a cup in the car countless times and it seems pretty easy. Plus, we were parked so I didn't think that it would be an issue. I had him get into position and I held the cup. It seemed to be going well- until unfortunately too late I realized that the cup was too small and the pee was still flowing. Well I kinda panicked! I told my 3 year old to stop peeing. Yeah right! I don't think that he is even able to control it once it starts. SO he panicked and there was a little sprayage (is that a word?) and then it stopped. I was mortified, I used every napkin I could find to clean the mess, thinking the whole time, "Don't throw up, don't throw up." Jared was just relieved I think cuz he just pulled up his pants and got back in his carseat. Well, after using all the napkins I hear the bank lady say, "Thank you, have a nice day." I wonder how much of that super fun situation she witnessed? We rushed home and I have been scrubbing the back seat of the car- I wish I had one of those cool little green machines, and a maid for that matter, and maybe even a nanny while I am wishing.
But there is a light at the end of my tunnel: THIS is coming today.


Our old fridge has had it and now I am getting this fabulous piece of machinary. And I am beyond excited. yeah, it is pretty much the little things that get me excited.