Retaining Wall

I kept Chase pretty busy this week with the Honey Do's. Besides chauffeuring me around town, providing top notch child care services and other miscellaneous errands, he built me this lovely retaining wall.

He had lots of help.

And he worked well into the night.

But he got it done! I only got reprimanded once during this project, so I consider it a success! He was meticulously flattening the gravel that the stones were going to sit on and it just kept calling my name. I couldn't resist the urge to feel how flat it was so I took off my shoe and stepped on it. I really just wanted to graze the surface but I kind of got carried away. It was kind of like walking in the sand at the beach to this homegrown Idaho girl. When he saw that it had been messed up, he blamed it on Gordy. I was going to let him take the fall but then it did occur to Chase that a 5 lbs dog couldn't have made such a mark and he immediately turned to me. Sigh. He got over it after claiming that he had to "start completely over" which trust me was the drama king inside him as it only took him 2 minutes to fix.

How to Train a Husband!

Scene: A couple sits in a truck parked outside a moving Mexican food establishment that is covered with rust & grime, waiting for husband’s horse meat taco to be prepared.

Wife: Chasey, I’m so glad that you picked me to be with forever.

Husband: I’m glad I picked you too.

Wife (LLLLOONNGGG PAUSE. While she wasn’t necessarily fishing for anything, this was not the response she was expecting nor did she find it acceptable.) : Come again?

Husband: I’m glad I picked you too.

Wife: HMMMM, well, I have a free will in this whole thing too you know.

Husband (Preoccupied by the horn that is blasting, beckoning him that his food is ready and contains just barely above the acceptable limit of animal feces): Yeah, Yeah, I know.

As husband jumps out of car, Wife thinks to herself, I know how to handle this and slides a perfectly manicured (i.e. only slightly chewed) finger down to find the cute little button with the padlock symbol on it and gracefully pushes it down. Husband doesn’t seem to notice the clicking sound that indicates truck is now in lock down mode. Husband grabs food, actually hands over cash money in exchange for something Wife wouldn’t allow her dog to eat and heads back to vehicle. Grabs handle and looks up, shocked when it doesn’t budge.

Husband: The car is locked.

Wife thinks “Duh.”

Wife: I think you need some time to think before you get back in here.

Husband: My food is getting cold.

Wife is unconcerned by this as nothing was ordered for her and she is already well fed.

Husband: I’m sorry.

Wife: Scream it.

Husband: I’M SORRY!!

Wife: Now say you’re glad I picked YOU.

Husband: People are starting to stare.

And they were ;)

Husband then mouths something. Wife is educated beyond a kindergarten level and figures out that he just said, “I’m glad I picked you.”

Wife: Try again.

Husband: Let me in.

Wife: No, try again.

At this point, people were actually getting out of their cars to witness this profound moment.

Husband: I’m glad you picked me!

Wife: Sigh, I was just beginning to have fun.

She unlocked the door and remorseful husband climbs in.

Full disclosure: This story just came to me in a dream. I swear that it didn't happen last weekend at approximately 2pm. My husband knows better ;) Or he does now anyway.

Mommy's Big Baby

Poor Izzy is feeling very neglected lately. We have been going through a lot and all of a sudden the bed wetting, the temper tantrums and other lovable baby traits have all started to surface. Last night, she actually wanted me to feed her. But all I can to say to the blogger world out there is that we are doing the best we can.

Isabelle as Stewie

Any of you seen this commercial before? My three year old has no idea what Family Guy is but she thinks this clip is hysterical everytime we see it on TV. One day she came up to me and acted it out and we both laughed and laughed. Ever since then, whenever either one of us has to repeat ourselves, we repeat this and it gets the other ones attention. While I doubt any of you will really ever see the humor in it that we do, please indulge us.

Massive Trauma

It's official. I have become one of those parents that puts their kid down in the chair in the font of Claire's and lets a stranger manhandle their child in front of tons of concerned citizens. Trust me when I say the other patrons probably thought I was killing my child because you could hear the screams from outside of the building.

But what is done is done and Izzy now has pierced ears.

Doesn't Izzy look excited?

She doesn't realize that her mother is about to torture her in the name of cuteness.

Still excited.

A little more concerned.

Putting on a brave face.

Processing what just happened.

Major trauma.

In all fairness, Izzy has been asking to get her ears pierced for a couple of weeks. I tried pinching her and giving her a little taste and she still wanted to go through it. But now she has been running around telling everyone that the mean people at the mall "hurt her really bad". One thing these pictures don't show is the shaking, sweating mommy in the background who felt like an extremly bad parent for the rest of the day.

Easter 2010

Unfortunately our only unique Burke Family Easter tradition is the fact that Izzy dresses herself in the most embarrassing pj’s the night before and I fail to remember that I will be taking pictures the next morning. But alas I thought I would post anyway. Those of you who live in the Idaho Falls area know that we got hit with snow the entire weekend, so any outside egg hunts were out of the question for this family. I did see in the newspaper that the few brave souls who courageously battled the weather made a killing in candy. But that's ok because while we had fun with Easter baskets, I want Izzy and Cambri to understand the real reason behind the day.

John 3:16,17(16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

I did feel an incredible hole throughout the day without my Mom. Easter Sunday marked 1 month that we have been seperated, it also brought me one month closer to our reunification.

Sisters

"Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all comers." ~Pam Brown

While Cam Cam and Izzy are blessed to have each other, sometimes I worry that I’m in way over my head with two girls. Izzy had a feisty sparkle in her eye yesterday at Sam’s Club and I knew I was in for it. Of course this all started because she was upset at me for making her ride in the cart because “four year olds” are too big for carts. I had to remind her that if she wasn’t prone to running around like a demon child then I would have been willing to negotiate. But because I had to pull her out from the back of the person’s pickup truck that was parked next to us, my amenable attitude was out the window. But lucky for me, Sam’s Club has carts like these. So I threw both my kids in and off we went.

Somewhere near the produce section, Isabelle became hysterical. After calming her down, she threw her pointer finger at her little sister and said, “SHE DID IT. SHE PULLED MY HAIR.” While I understand that my three year old is dramatic, I thought even she was pushing it as her sister is only nine months old. But then I watched little Cam Cam latch onto her hair so I tried to put her in her place by talking stern to my nine month old, warning her that the next time she would be in BIG trouble. Cambri just smiled at me in her sweet, simple way. When I started laughing, Isabelle was beside herself with rage. I swear I was waiting to hear the “You love her more” argument but even little Izzy isn’t quite that articulate yet. I was working on distracting Cambri with other things in order to solve the problem. This did not make Izzy happy as she was expecting me to spank little Cam Cam for this grave misconduct. So Izzy took matters into her own hands. I turned my back, but out of the corner of my eye, I watched Izzy sink down into her seat and lean her head right into Cam Cam’s hand. I’m sure that you see where this is going. The second that little Cam Cam grabbed hold the chunk of hair that was right in her face, Izzy whipped straight up and started screaming, “SHE DID IT. SHE DID IT AGAIN! YOU SAID YOU WOULD SPANK HER!” I’m going to take the liberty of reminding all of you that we were in a public place where groceries are sold during the five o’clock hour. It was packed and people were beginning to stare. And while all of this was going on, all I could think about was this quote.

Of two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer. ~Louise Glück

I think I'm in trouble.

The Fridge

I have come to the conclusion that the first thing to go when your life falls apart is the fridge. I was absolutely embarrassed when I took a long, hard look at my fridge last week. It was a wreck! To make matters worse, I spent the night at Paula’s house (see top picture) and her fridge was perfect. Why can’t my fridge understand that I can barely get myself out of bed on a daily basis? Step one: clean the fridge. Step two: Pray that the good Lord does not keep my on this earth for 50+ years. Step three: ?????? I’ll have to get back to you.