It has been quite a few years since we had spent a Thanksgiving in San Diego and we were very excited to get to head to Grandma's house this year for it. All the girls were coming home as well and GG and Papa made the trek over there with us.
Deke had to stay home and work so for the first time in almost nine years of marriage we spent a holiday apart. We had a busy week. We played games, snacked, watched movies, sat by the fireplace, ran around to different places, let the kids play outside and of course stayed up super late every night into the wee hours and just visited. Emma loved playing on the floor with toys and especially loved any time she could get closer to Wilbur. Wilbur is Brenn's dog and he and Emma have a bond. They love each other. She was only about a month old when they first saw each other and he loved her little feet and would always try to lick them. Over the last nine months they have really bonded.
Whenever he hears her cry he will come running in to check on her, sometimes if we are tickling or wrestling with her he will come in and start barking at us because he is worried about her.
If she is down on the floor then he tries to lick all over her if he can and she loves him so she would happily let him. When he comes into the room she gets all excited and starts moving her arms and legs reaching for him and smiling. They are so cute together. Hunter, Avery and Eden of course were non stop playing with each other.
Hunter and Ave also enjoyed lots of playing and snuggling with the aunties which is one of their favorite things. Kimbre, Brenn, and Marley are three of their favorite people.
The weather as always was gorgeous there and the leaves were all changing into beautiful colors. Some of the leaves were the size of Emma's head and it was fun to let her hold a few and check them out. On Thanksgiving Day we enjoyed a delicious meal with all the trimmings.
Mom's turkey looked beautiful on the new platter that Grandma bought for her.
The kids and I had fun making mini cornucopia's out of sugar cones and filling them with Runts candies and mini pumpkin candy. They turned out really cute.
The dinner was delicious and so was the dessert. This year one of the pie choices was key lime and it was so yummy I kept going back for mini slices.
While we ate Miss E literally entertained herself the whole time in her highchair with a clear plastic cup. It was hilarious to watch her attack it with her mouth and lick it and make all sorts of sounds as she banged it against her mouth.
It was such a nice day to eat and relax and be together and reflect on our gratitude for the blessing given to us throughout the year. The next morning we decided to go shopping just us girls and mom for "black Friday" Without kids and with all the girls it was really fun and we ending up finding some cute things. While we went out GG helped the kids make this cute turkey out of a cake and sugar cookies for the feathers. She is such an awesome great grandmother.
Not only watching and playing with all four kids but also taking on a project like this with them while we were gone. We also went to see Part 1 of the last Harry Potter which was sooooo good. I can't wait to start reading the books. I want to read all the books and watch each movie again before the final movie comes out in July. We also headed over to a nice little spot with some beautiful red leaves and took some pictures.
It was such a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. On the drive home Hunter was in the back drawing a picture on the magna doodle. "Mom, look what I drew for you" he said and passed up this picture:
This is a picture of his family. Can you see Ethan and Dylan as angels in the sky with their halos? Or how about Miss E in her stroller? Then of course all of our names written across the top of the screen. My heart was touched. This is what I am so thankful for, put so simply in a sweet drawing by my seven year old. I feel so grateful for the outpouring of blessings Deke and I have had this year for our family. We have been given such a wonderful family as a support system and I am so grateful for the family that I was born into.
I love them so much. Grateful for a wonderful, loving husband that makes me laugh, is so attentive to my needs and emotions and is such a tender, involved daddy. Someone that supports me and shares with me in the joy of raising our children. He is such a good man and I love him so much. I can't even explain how many times in my life I have gotten down on my knees and thanked Heavenly Father for Deke. I would not have been able to go through some of the things that I have walked through without him by my side. Grateful for my five babies, Hunter, Ethan, Dylan, Avery and Emma and the joy that they constantly bring to my life.
Grateful to have the gospel as my foundation and a loving family to help support us as we walk through this life. Thank you Heavenly Father.
We have lots of different Christmas traditions but I think our favorite creative outlet of the season is always our gingerbread houses. Hunter makes lists of what he wants to create. Avery talks about all the different candy choices in length.
I vie to beat Deke and try to think of an original idea sure to blow his socks off. Deke plans secretly in his head how to remain the champion. Every year we end up doing the houses with different people which is really fun and it mixes up who you get to work with. Last year the Grant's made houses with us and I am pretty sure that Dylann and I won for the best graham cracker barn ever constructed. This year Deke's parents came over to make the houses with us. I was sooooo excited to be partnered with Nalene to melt our creative crafting energies. The only thing that could hinder us would be our need to constantly be visiting with each other. When she arrived with a book and magazine pages prepared I knew instantly that our house was going to rock. Watch out Deke I'm coming for you. Deke and Hunter were teamed up while Avery worked with Grandpa. 
Avery decided that she wanted to make a Tangled tower, Hunter and Deke worked secretly on their project. 
Nalene and I decided to make a ranch style house with a wrap-around porch. Our progress got delayed however halfway through when I had to stop and feed Emma so we fell a little behind. 
We spent close to an hour working on them and it was really fun. It is always interesting to work in pairs and combine ideas to come up with new and inventive things. Here is Grandpa and Avery's Tangled tower. 
Ave did so much better this year with actually trying to help build. Last year all she did was watch Kerry construct the house, eat candy and lick the frosting off of her fingers. We had to really monitor her candy eating. However every time I turned around she was putting more candy in her mouth. Deke and I kept telling her no more but she kept sneaking some. I love the star shaped marshmallows around the top of the tower. Grandpa did a great job helping with it even though he had no idea what Tangled was other than Ave's sort of vague explanation. My favorite part of the tower however is this: I laughed so hard when I saw that Dave had taken some pull and peel licorice and made Rapunzel hair for one of the gummy bears. 
It was just what Avery had wanted. It was awesome. Deke and Hunter had made a Fortress. Let me go back, actually according to Hunter its full name was the Fortress of Cardinal Secrets. 
It definitely looks like a Fortress especially with its rows of gummy guards up top. Hunter added a little pile of freshly caught fish in one corner and even had one roasting over and open fish on the other side. 
He came up with that all by himself which I thought was very clever. Just when I thought it looked a little simplistic for Deke, then they turned it around to reveal rooms inside that Hunter had "interior decorated." There was four rooms inside that could be filled with stuff. Sweet. 
Nalene and I found that a wrap-around porch is not easy as it looks but I think it still turned out really cute. It is probably my favorite part of our house. Nalene had brought frosting bags and tips and so we were able to have time to do a little work on the roof. 
I definitely liked the idea of using frosting bags and think we will incorporate it again next year. I loved being able to make window panes with it. My other favorite thing about our house is this little chair that Nalene made to go out front. Is is adorable. Have I mentioned that my partner was awesome?
Throw in a nice little fence and some snowmen marshmallows going for a sleigh ride and your golden. 
We actually didn't have time to do the judging and headed off to temple lights so there is no official consensus as to who won. Then a few days later I think that decision was clear. We had so much left over candy I told the kids we could do another house during the week. 
We decided to attempt a graham cracker ship. This was sooooooo much fun. We first built the ship and then gave the deck a gummy crew complete with little mops to "swab the deck." We added a bowsprit and cannons on the side. 
Railings to the top complete with a gummy captain at the wheel. I don't know if you can see it but I bit his leg off and shoved a pretzel in it so he had a peg leg as all good captains should. 
Someone was walking the plank and another sailor was working up in the sails that we made out of straws, Ritz and wax paper. I love the skull and crossbones that Hunter drew. 
We worked for over an hour on it and the kids were so cute they were sooooo excited. That night when Deke got home he was both surprised and impressed. He agreed it was the clear winner. :) 
So much fun, we all look forward to this every year. By the way a side note on the little candy eater of the bunch. You remember when you were a kid and your parents would tell you if you ate too much candy you would get sick but then you never actually did so you figured they just made that up. We tried to tell her. Literally two seconds after walking in the door from the temple lights Avery announced her tummy hurt and then threw up all over the floor. "Daddy my tummy really hurts" she told him. We reiterated again the importance of moderation in sugar consumption and I think she now definitely understands. Poor Ave.
Picking up the handmade ones from the past and reminiscing about when they were made. After decorating the tree reading the Spider story and putting the spider on the tree. Blankets, sweaters, slippers and socks laying around everywhere for snuggling up. 
A pile of Christmas books ready to read throughout the month. Hot chocolate with breakfast or right before bed. A fridge filled with projects from preschool and first graders. 
Helping the kids wrap presents for teachers or grandma's or each other. 
Babies in fleece feety jammies all ready for snuggling. Small Christmas trees lighting up the faces of my sleeping children. So many warm wonderful things to go with this holiday.
I love the face of the teacher behind us. Says it all about field trips from a teacher's point of view doesn't it? There is a little girl in his class named Allison and they have liked each other off and on all throughout the year. As we are sitting on the bus his buddies are talking about how Allison said that she likes him and they are all giggling about it. Allison and another little girl were sitting up front making silly faces and waving at him in the mirror above the driver. This goes back and forth for a few minutes and then Allison looks up at the mirror and blows a kiss to the mirror. Hunter got this funny, embarrassed look on his face and they all started laughing. Gross one of the boys laughed "she blew a kiss at you Hunter" He laughed with them but I could tell that part of him liked the fact that she had paid this attention to him. As a mom I couldn't help but have visions of sixteen year old girls calling my house and talking to Hunter outside at school. Not sure if I am ever going to be ready for that. Once we got there we walked in the Symphony Hall and it was so neat. Most of the kids had never been in a building that big or ever seen a balcony before and they were all intrigued. We arrived early and were able to watch the dancers take their warm up class before the show. Lots of men doing lots of leaping in very tight tights. This led to a lot of furrowed eyebrows and negative comments from the boys. 
A lot of commitments to ask their moms to start dance class from the girls and expressed desires to be a ballerina too one day. After the warm up they had one of the ballerina's do a Q&A session with the audience and were taking kids questions. Kids were asking all sorts of questions about dancing and the life of a ballerina and the story of the Nutcracker. Hunter raised his hand and waited patiently. "What are you going to ask bud?" I said happy that he had finally found some interest in the dancing. "I want to know what type of machine it is that makes the certains go up and down on the stage and how it works." Go figure, I thought. They only did a small portion of the whole ballet for the kids to see. As an adult I loved it and thought it was beautiful. 
The kids did okay. However the part they picked had no rats, no soldiers, not even the nutcracker. We ended up watching the sugar plum fairies and the different dances from around the world. At the end Hunter was instantly questioning where the boy things were that I had told him about. How was I supposed to know that they wouldn't even show the kids the Nutcracker when we went to see it. Once we got outside it had started pouring down rain. I'm sure it was entertaining for the people driving by seeing adults trying to maneuver bus loads of kids through downtown Phoenix streets in pouring rain. The boys loving it and trying to find puddles to splash in, the girls complain about being cold and getting their dresses wet. We originally were supposed to go to the park and eat lunch afterward but due to weather we headed back to the school . 
There we turned off the lights in the room and ate our lunches at the desks and watched A Chipmunk Christmas Carol.
It was really fun to go but most of all fun to watch him interact with his peers. Then it was off to go pick up the girls from Aunt Lisa's house. As soon as I got there Ave piped up, "Mom you are back already?" and Emma took one look at me and literally started going, "MMMMMmmmmmmmm" at me. Nice.
Hunter has always loved learning and been curious about the way things work. From books about food chains in the morning at the breakfast table till dark he is taking in the world testing observing and discovering it. He LOVES Science. For about a year now he has been so into science and experimentation. The other day he got a book order at school and all he really wanted was a Snow Science kit that came with a book and two different experiments so that is what we ended up ordering. He is constantly taking things apart and testing their boundaries to see what different things they can do. I seriously have to watch my recycling bin because he will use everything from 2 liter bottles to cereal boxes and comes up with functioning inventions. He is always talking about, drawing in his notebook and coming up with different ideas to invent or create. The day I registered him at Boulder Creek Dr. Coleman was walking around introducing herself and came up and talked to us. "I have a question for you." Hunter quickly said to her. "Do you have Science at this school because I love Science." She smiled at him and then quickly assured him they did and told him about the different things that the first graders did in Science.
At school when they had millipedes in class during their Organisms unit all he wanted to do was research them. I took him to the library and I swear we read every book they had on Millipedes. By the time the unit came he knew all sorts of facts about them. When they arrived in the classroom he couldn't wait to run experiments on them. One day Mrs. Painter was letting him read one of his Millipede books in front of the class. Dr. Coleman, his principal, came in for something and hear Hunter reading. She asked him to tell her more and her proceeded to tell her that they were Myriapods and that they could have up to such and such legs per segment and so forth. She praised his reading abilities and said "Mrs. Painter you have a scientist in you classroom" she told him that he was the "First Grade Scientist" and Hunter was elated. The nickname has stuck. A few weeks ago he missed the bus so I took him to school . One of the secretaries asked for his name and when I said Hunter Burch she smiled and said "Oh yeah, the scientist." Hunter was seriously beaming. Two weeks ago he was student of the week. 
We filled out the poster for his classroom and put some pictures on it for him. Each day he got to bring in something that was special to him. Mostly books and LEGO creations were the chosen items. 
Each student of the week gets to eat lunch with the principal on Thursday which when you are in first grade is an exciting thing. I went just to get a picture of the two of them and talked with her for a few minutes. When Hunter walked up she smiled at him and said, "Okay let's talk Science." I think I got a wave after the halfway hug he gave me as he started in on his upcoming snow science experiments. I am so thankful for Dr. Coleman and Mrs. Painter for their encouragement. I am so proud of the little sponge that he is and how bright he is. At the end of the week he gets a book from his class. Each child has a page in the book to write things they like about him and draw a picture for him. This book is so precious to me. They all wrote a lot of really sweet things about him but the two most common were "Hunter is really smart" and "Hunter is cool." Smart and cool two good qualities. Maybe he could be a cool scientist like Indiana Jones is a cool archeologist. If anyone could do it he could.
This time we worked on the numbers 11 and 12, the letters M and N and the concepts of more and less, the short sound of "i" and word families. 
We did an activity with shaving cream and food coloring that the kids really loved. Anything involving shaving cream always seems to be a hit with these guys. We read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and then made our own "cookie books" and filled the pages with the phrase "If You Give a Mouse a....." and then had each kid pick things that started with M to finish the sentence and then draw a picture. They turned out really cute and it was hilarious to see what they picked. Last preschool go round Emma was much smaller and not mobile yet so this time it was a little more challenging. 
Of course right in the middle of our art project I hear a noise and sure enough she has nabbed the bag of popsicle sticks and is starting to pull them out of the bag.
Thus begins the exploration and curiosity stage. She loves the kids though and gets so excited when they come. They also love her which can sometimes be a distraction since they get talking and laughing at her instead of paying attention to what we are talking about. 
They are usually really good with her but this time someone poked her with a pencil right by the eye. She started crying and when I looked up she had a little trickle of blood coming down and I saw she had been poked. It scared me how close it came to hitting her eye. It has a little scab on it now which is so sad. Her first real ouchie :( Since Christmas is coming we chose to do a couple of art projects that were holiday related and traced everyone's hands and feet and made reindeer. 
I also let the kids watch Frosty one day and we made snowmen. It was really fun I Ave had a blast. She keeps asking Deke and I when Santa is going to come down our jiminey?
I love this preschool thing! It is nice for me to have the time with just Em to run around and do errands when it is not my turn. 
It is so fun for me and Ave to do together when it is at our house. Most importantly though Avery is loving the experience and the socialization. She was so excited the other day to tell me that her and her friend Claire have the same jacket. It cracks me up to hear the little girly things that they already talk about. Knowing that we will soon be moving it was sad to think that this was my last turn to teach before we leave. I am hoping to find some ladies in my ward that would be interested in starting a group or possibly join a current group of moms so that she can continue going to preschool. We have both really enjoyed it.
