A five almost six month update on us Burch's...

Okay so this has to be a record for the longest time I have gone without blogging. However I am back, I will explain my absence in another post but be reassured that it is for good reason :) :) I am frusterated at myself because I have missed recording some of the cute things over the last few months that the kids have been up to...thank goodness for scrapbooking! So here are just a couple of pics from each of the last few months to start to catch up. AUGUST: We have a kindergartener!!!! He is loving school like we knew he would and at parent teacher conferences his teacher told us that his phonics and vocabulary skills are through the roof and way advanced for his age. Hunter has always had an amazing vocabulary, when he started talking it wasn't really words it was full on sentences. She told us that the other day he had a group of five kids around his seat explaining to them what the word echolocation meant, which animals use it and then quizzed them to make sure they had retained the concept. She thought that he did such a good job that she let him teach the whole class about it on a Friday afternoon. She said the only problem she has with him is his incessant need to socialize. She has moved his seat four times, not because he isn't getting his work done but because no one he sits next to can because of his visiting. :) He is doing so well and she tells us he adds a lot of personality to the class. I have missed him so much but it just feels so right that we have just enjoyed it so much with him.

SEPTEMBER: I find another cute tutu for Ave who continues to love dress up and all things of a girly nature. Her favorite book is now Pinkalicious and her favorite pastime is playing and loving on her baby dolls. She can be quite the bossy pants but then in an instant be so stinkin sweet. Deke who has a good "green thumb" plants a garden in the back yard. Here is a shot of some of the tomatoes, the kids loved watching the veggies grow and tasting them. We seemed to have a surplus of radishes which I disliked because I don't even like them but hey the kids will eat them so it is all good.Hunter still continues to be our LEGO master. I asked him what this was and he looked at me and said "Mom, it is a banana tree can't you tell?" Now I took a close up picture of the banana hanging once I figured it out I hope you can see it but looking at the whole creation I would not have guessed that banana tree was what he would call it. However his little mind cracks me up for surely it is a little banana hanging from a tree.OCTOBER: Halloween! Lots of people don't enjoy Halloween, but I love it. I love all the fun traditions we have of making fun foods like boo bugs and ghost pancakes etc etc. I love all the kids in there little costumes especially the babies. I love the fall it is my favorite season. Here are some pics of the kids from Halloween. My mom and Eden came out to trick or treat with us which was so much fun. Hunter was a GI JOE ninja combination, Eden was Snow White and Avery was a fairy princess. They were all so cute and it was so much fun. NOVEMBER: Hunter is halfway through his soccer season, this was his first organized sports team and he loved it. It was so cool to watch his progress throughout the season. It was great to have lots of family get to come and watch him and his different games.

DECEMBER: will update on another post but it has been good to finally catch up a bit. Hope everyone is having a HAPPY HOLIDAY :) :) :)

Well....

SUPRISE!!!!!! Due date: April 29th Baby Burch #5 is on its way!!!!!!

Scooby scavenger party

For awhile now Hunter has loved Scooby Doo. I think we have rented every Scooby Doo movie at the video store. Hunter loves mysteries and they are wonderful because they are not scary but you still have to figure out the mystery. Deke and I wanted to do something really fun for Hunter's birthday so we decided to plan a scooby doo scavenger hunt party for Hunter. We decided to call it the "Mystery of the Missing Birthday Cake" Deke and I came up with seven different clues and using a cute icon from the internet I made some clues for the boys to find. Then we picked six different businesses in a shopping center that the boys would go in and out of to find their clues. We contacted the managers and told them what we were doing and asked if we could hide clues in their stores. We started at Grandma Burch's house with all his boy cousins and they were given the first clue which led them to Sports Authority where they had to search the store and then find the next clue which led them to Burger King where they had to run through the playground on all fours barking like dogs two times to receive their next clue. They then headed to Peter Piper where they each got four tokens and played games to recieve tickets. You get the idea. One of my favorite parts of the whole thing was when they arrived at PetsMart. They had to each put together a Scooby mask to wear and then had to go to the front of the store and sing "Who let the dogs" out for the cashier's. Then they finally arrived with the last clue to the Fry's bakery where they picked up Hunter's hamburger shaped birthday cake. Aren't the little cake french fries cute? It all came together but it took a lot more planning and time then I thought it was going to. In the middle of the hunt as we were running up to one of the stops one of the boys said, "Hunter this is the best birthday ever," Hunter excitedly replied, "Yeah it's exactly what I was wanting it to be..."Deke and I overhearing this looked at each other and just grinned. Watching his joy as usual made it all worth it. Between Hunter and Avery both having birthday's a week a part it is always fun but by the end of it we are always partied out. Happy Birthday Bug, we love you!!!!

Shoe party

Of course when it came to deciding what to do for Avery's birthday party the choice was easy, a shoe party of course. I went over to K-Mart and got these cute little girl shoe boxes and filled them with all sorts of foot related items: they each got princess shoes, toenail polish, princess socks, strawberry foot lotion, shoe string licorice, and even found some high heel fridge magnets. Then I made some little shoe cards to go in and the party boxes were done. We had her party at Lisa's with her two girlfriends and Dylan her best little guy friend. I had bought some foam at Michael's and some rhinestones and stickers and they each decorated a high heel. I was worried that they would breeze right through the project but they didn't. They spent like thirty minutes decorating them and giggling. Avery's present for her birthday was a little tutu. I will post pictures that I took of her alone in her tutu in another post that are absolutely adorable. These pictures don't do it justice :)

She had a little cake just the right size for the four of them a cute little icecream cake. Lisa gave her the book "Pinkalicious" which is so cute and Avery absolutely loved. After they decorated their shoes Avery gave them each their boxes and they giggled and played with all the things inside their boxes. It was so cute and they were so sweet, she is getting so big and we love her so much. Her party turned out just like I hoped and she loved it and so did the other little girls. Happy birthday sweet girl. More cute pictures to come :)