My 5 year old boy!

On January 13th, Luke turned 5! So hard to believe he is that big! He is supposed to be my baby! No body was more excited about him turning 5 than he was!! He loves being 5 and tells everyone all the time that he is now 5!
This year for his party, we reserved a spot at the new Altitude Trampoline Park that opened recently here in Little Rock. We have never been before but we showed Luke pictures of the place on line and he was super excited! He couldn't wait for the big day! He had told me back in December when we were sending out invitations that he wanted a sports theme so that is what he got! Footballs, soccer balls and baseballs!! 11 of his friends showed up for the big party and showered him with attention!

 

We all sang happy birthday to him before diving into cupcakes!

But the best part was all the JUMPING!! The boys kept piling on top of each other....silly boys! They were all sweating and exhausted by the end of the party.

Luke and his buddy Landon!

 

On his actual birthday, we always let the kids pick a place to eat dinner for their family birthday dinner. Luke picked All Aboard....the restaurant that brings you your food on a train. He loves that place!

Here are a couple pics of my big 5 year old at the restaurant. We love you Luke and could not be more proud of the young boy you are becoming!  Thank you for your sweet heart and funny jokes! You are the best!

 

Ella and Luke's Birthday Q and A update 2014

A couple of years ago I got the idea from a friend to do a birthday Q and A for the kids each year to see how their answers change as they got older. Here is Ella's for this year:
1. What is your favorite food...Triple Cheese Party Pizza
2. What is your favorite thing to do at school....art and music
3. What is your favorite thing to do at home....playing on my iPad and with my brother
4. What do you want to be when you grow up....teacher for PreK
5. What is your favorite book....Percy Jackson
6. What is your favorite movie...Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters
7. If you could go anywhere right now where would you go....New York City to see the sites!
8. If you could do anything you wanted right now, what would you do...buy a pony!
9. What was the best thing that happened to you when you were 7....when I got my ipad and my American Girl Doll...oh and when I found out I was going to have sisters!
10. What do you think will be great about being 8....I get to be in charge of my siblings!

And here is Luke's:

1. What is your favorite food...banana muffins
2. What is your favorite thing to do at school....play outside
3. What is your favorite thing to do at home....play on the Xbox
4. What do you want to be when you grow up....engineer
5. What is your favorite book....Avengers
6. What is your favorite movie...Thor
7. If you could go anywhere right now where would you go....Colorado to the cabin
8. If you could do anything you wanted right now, what would you do...go on a trip to Hawaii and ride an airplane
9. What was the best thing that happened to you when you were 4....I found out I was going to be a big brother
10. What do you think will be great about being 5....getting to be as old as some of my friends at school, my friend in my class is already 5.

Daddy and I love you guys! You have made us so happy! Please always remember how special you are to us and to God.
Love you,
Mom

What is wrong with my kids???

My kids came in the living room the other day asking me to take a picture of them like this! They are so silly but sure have a good time with each other!

Ella's 8th Birthday/New Year's Eve Party

This year for Ella's 8th birthday we decided it would be fun to actually have her party on her birthday. So we invited her friends over to spend the night and have a Birthday/New Year's Eve party with us. On December 31st, 8 little girls came to our house ready to party!

We decorated the house with a combo of Happy Birthday and New Year's decorations and had music and a disco ball going when everyone arrived....true party atmosphere! The disco ball was a huge hit!

Here is the birthday girl before everyone got there. Boy, she is looking grown up! Although she doesn't look too excited in this picture she really was. We curled her hair and got her all fancy! She loved it!!

Once everyone got there they played a game of Twister while I set up the pizzas.

We had french loaf pizza for dinner and everyone got to make their own. I don't know if anybody actually ate any pizza but they had fun making them!

We then played the donut game which is a game we got from my sister Julie. Thankfully, Lyle had the night off and in between quarters of the Duke vs. Texas A&M Chickfila bowl game, he was able to help out. It was so funny watching them try and eat these donuts without using their hands! Luke even got in on the fun!

Then for some reason everyone was ready to put their PJs on. So we had 9 little girls in Ella's room changing clothes and squealing the whole time!! They played a couple rounds of Just Dance on the Xbox. So funny!!

Then it was time for sundaes!

Luke was right in the middle of all of it!!! They were really nice to him, thankfully!

We had a timer set up with the countdown to the New Year's going so when it got close the girls' put on their party hats and horns for a quick picture before going outside to pop poppers.

Then we made a toast to good friends and a good 2014!

Happy New Year, Ella!!

We finally got everyone down and quiet to watch a movie around 11pm....although I heard the next morning, Ella and a friend stayed up until 3 am! They thought they were so cool!

The next morning around 7am, everyone was ready to go and very hungry!!

I made chocolate chip pancakes along with biscuits and sausage. Did you know you could have too many chocolate chips?? Apparently one of the girls thought so and didn't eat!! At this point I was telling myself....only a couple more hours!!

We sang to Ella while she blew out candles and then everyone ate and talked about the night before.

There was some more Just Dance and some playing outside before parents came and it was time to go home....my favorite part of the whole party!!
Ella had a great time and loved having everyone over. I was happy that she was so happy!

Just Dance

Probably nothing funnier than watching Luke dance to a Britney Spears song in his underwear! The things he does for his sister! They are playing Just Dance on the Xbox.

New Year's Eve 2013

Another year has come to a close. This year we celebrated with these girls.....more on that later!

2013 was a busy one. While Lyle and I didn't have much change with our careers, we did have a lot change with our family. Welcoming two new little faces to our family in 2014 will be the best....no matter how or what the situation maybe. We are so looking forward to it.
Lyle is continuing with residency and will be finishing up his 4th year in May. He is getting to do tons of surgeries now which makes him very happy. He is filling out applications for transplant fellowships and will be interviewing starting next month. We should find out where our next journey will take us in June or July.....stay tuned. I am also continuing with my research. Hoping to wrap up a paper before the babies come. I am pretty sure I will stay home afterwards but may continue part time. We are still not sure how all of that will go just yet.
Ella started 2nd grade in 2013 and is doing fantastic! She loves everything about school!! She has tons of friends and comes home everyday saying she had a great day! 2nd grade is really a special year for kids at CTK because they get to celebrate First Reconciliation and First Communion. She is very excited about both. She also started piano lessons in 2013 and is doing quite well.
Luke has had a good 2013 as well. He got to start school at Ella's school this year and OH has that be fun!! I love the days when they come home saying they saw each other in the gym or passed each other in the hall. He is making lots of new friends as well and getting to do lots of new exciting things....things Ella remembers doing when she was in PreK. He also has two seasons of soccer this year and did awesome! He will be starting T-ball soon!!
With the end of 2013, I am reminded of how lucky we are to have such a great family and wonderful friends. We know who is responsible and we say Thank you to him for watching over us and supporting us along our journey. Please continue to do so. Here's to 2014!!!

Oh what a Christmas! 2013

The excitement for Christmas this year was high and it did not let us down! We left on December 21st to head to Dallas for several days. We were excited to spend Christmas in the new house! We had quite the schedule planned so I'm just going to jump in....
On the 22nd, Gail had planned a big family reunion. Most of our uncles, aunts, and cousins whom we had not seen for several years were able to attend. It was great getting to see everyone and getting to introduce them to Ella and Luke.
Here is an amazing photo of the whole crew:

And one of the Burdine family:

And then one of just us:

The next day, Belle was performing in the Nutcracker at the Bass Hall in Fort Worth so the girls got all fancy and attended the performance. Ella was so excited to wear her new dress and I curled her hair which made her even more excited.

And finally one with the Star of the show:

Belle did a fantastic job! We were very proud of her! Ella loved the performance. Her favorite parts were the Swan princess and the snow that fell down in between acts.
Finally it was Christmas Eve! Its a good thing too because I really don't know how much longer we could have kept the kids away from the presents!

Absolute Chaos!!! But sooooo much fun watching their faces!

We were able to snap a quick family picture before we headed to church at 7:00. I think this picture says it all......we were tired! The last Christmas photo as a family of 4!! Oh, how different next year will be!

That night the kids could barely contain themselves! They were ready for Santa! They kept tracking him on Nortrack all day and around 9:30 when they saw that he was in Miami FL, we heard loud squeals and Luke shot across the house saying, "Miami, FL! I am going to bed right nowwwww!!" It was hilarious!

First we had to set out the milk and cookies!

In case you are wondering, Santa responded to Ella's questions and told her that "Yes, indeed, Rudolph was real!" The kids woke up around 7 the next morning to this site:

The biggest surprise was that the kids got mini iPads this year! I think that was their favorite and really shocked them! They also got roller blades, Xbox Skylanders game, table tennis, bow and arrows, iPad cases and ear phones, along with iTunes gift cards and some other little things that made everything perfect and filled their little hearts! Once again, I am reminded of how truly lucky we are for we have been blessed with a great Christmas yet again!

First snow of the winter

The kids were lucky enough to get out of school Friday and the following Monday due to sleet and snow. We only really got about 2-3 inches but it was very cold and everything froze really quickly so the streets were pretty slippery. Perfect conditions to use the sleds!! It was so funny watching them spin and slide. They picked up quite the speed!