January, oh January, where did you go?

Well the month is over and I have no idea where the time has gone. I feel like I have nothing to show for January other than 4 children who are still alive and relatively happy. I guess that's good enough for right now.

Since realistically I'm never going to catch up, I'm simply going to recap.
Here are the Top 10 things that happened at our house in January:

10. We made it home from Grandma's house alive...barely


9. Jillian turned 5, 6, 7, and 8 weeks old!


Holding Jilly on her 6 week birthday

8. Play dates! (indoors since it was only nice enough to play outside maybe 1 day the whole month)




7. Library Day moved from Wednesday evenings to Saturday since Jillian likes to be fussy still some evenings


6. A smashingly successful Primary Activity - we learned about Fire Safety, practiced the new song "I Know that Jesus Loves Me," and introduced the theme for the year with some visitors from the past. Finished up with hot chocolate and donuts for treats! (btw I was called to be Primary President in late September...it's keeping me busy)


5. Grace and Sabrina learned the joy of crafting




4. Wicked awesome stomach flu - just for half of the family - Grace, Jillian, and Mike were spared
No pictures - you're welcome!

3. Jilly and Daddy worked on some tricks...they'll be joining the circus in February


2. Fabulous family pictures! Thanks Aunt Julie!


1. Mike grew a beard! (a first for him, he hasn't shaved since Jan. 1)

Wow!

**Make sure you scroll down to see my catch-up posts.

I seriously can't believe how behind I have gotten on my blogging. Actually, I've pretty much gotten behind in everything. I guess that's what happens when you have a new baby in December. What a busy month!
We are "enjoying" the remnants of our 4th snowstorm since Jillian was born. Yes, we have had snow in our yard for a solid month! CRAZY! It has obviously been ridiculously cold as well. When we went to Oklahoma the week after Christmas we were running around in sweaters with no coats for the first few days because these days even the 30's feel warm to us! Tomorrow will be Benson's 4th snow day since the beginning of December. I am really hoping that all this cold weather will mean another mild summer. Welcome to Kansas, I guess.
Jilly is growing like crazy already. She tends to be a little fussy in the evenings which cuts into my blogging time after the other kids are in bed. She is also pretty spitty like Sabrina was which means that between caring for her and doing laundry I often feel completely overwhelmed. And I've hit a wall where my new mommy adrenaline has worn off and all I want to do is sleep as soon as she falls asleep. But we'll get there. The first few months are always the hardest, right? So I will probably be trying to catch up for a while. We have just started to get a few smiles out of her. Here's a video of Mike trying to get her to smile from this past Sunday night. He got some better ones out of her earlier, but this one was still pretty good. Even with all the work and lack of sleep, we are so happy to have Jillian and love her tons! We think she's pretty darn adorable.

Jillian's Special Day

Yesterday was a special day for Jillian. She turned 1 month old and she was given a name and a blessing. She was blessed by her Dad at Grandma Stacey and Grandpa Jeff's house in Bartlesville so more of our family could be with us.

Jillian is wearing the dress that her 2 older sister's also wore when they were blessed




1 - The men in the circle for Jillian's blessing - Great Uncle Ryan, Grandpa Gary, Dad holding Jillian, Grandpa Jeff, Uncle Bryce, and Uncle John; 2 - Our family (we were all dressed alike for our family pictures), 3 - The Richards side in attendance, 4 - The Burkinshaw side in attendance


Grandma Stacey holding Jillian Stacey


4 Generations - Grandma Stevens, Grandma Stacey holding Jillian, and Me


Grandma Stacey and Mommy doting on Jillian

What a great way to start out 2010! We are so grateful for Jilly and her safe arrival in our family.

Christmas Vacation

The Sunday after Christmas we took Jillian to church for the first time. Of course everyone wore their matching Christmas outfits.


After Sacrament Meeting we hoped in the car and headed for Oklahoma. Mike drove with us and met my Dad half-way between Manhattan and Bartlesville. Mike headed back home to work for 2 more days and my Dad drove the kids and I the rest of the way to Grandma's house! We were able to spend time with all of my siblings but Chelsea and her husband Matt, who we really missed.

On Monday we decided to see if we could completely traumatize all 9 grandchildren at the same time. Yes that's right we tried to take a picture. 3 toddlers+ 3 babies less than 6 months old+ a 5 year old who hates group pictures more than almost anything is not an equation that will equal good pictures, but we did our best. My favorite part was when Sabrina was sitting on a piano bench with a twin on either side of her, struggling to hold onto them to keep them from sliding off the bench and saying in the sweetest voice you can imagine, "I don't think they want to get their picture taken." Nope, I don't think they do! With the magic of Photoshop we did get a picture that all the kids were in with no one visibly crying. Maybe in a few more years.

From left: Olivia (Paul), Aislee (Paul), Sabrina holding Ewan (Paul), Benson holding Sam (John), Grace holding Jillian, and Spencer (Kathleen)





After picture taking we went bowling at Phillips which is becoming a Burkinshaw Christmas tradition. We had so much fun! With the aid of gutter guards and a ramp our kids are now old enough to be able to bowl by themselves and they had a blast!

On Tuesday the kids went sledding on the hill in Grandma's backyard.


Mike drove down Tuesday night after work. It took him a little longer to drive down because of bad weather and he arrived late that evening to a screaming baby and Sabrina having just thrown up (that's what happens when all you eat is junk at Grandma's house). Needless to say I was happy to see him!

On Wednesday we headed down to Broken Arrow so I could get my haircut and see some friends. We had lots of fun hanging out with the Fuller's and then we went to the mall to do a little shopping and out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurant's, Zio's.

We spent New Year's Eve playing games and visiting with Mike's family who drove up from Houston so we could bless Jillian on New Year's Day.

We had a very fun week and are grateful for the time we were able to spend with friends and family!


1 - Ewan and Jillian, they are only 2 1/2 weeks apart, 2 - Sabrina helping Aunt Sarah bowl, 3 - Aunt Sarah and Jillian napping, 4 - Aunt Jenny painting Sabrina's fingernails, she painted both Grace and Sabrina's fingernails and toenails and did a great job especially considering I don't think she's ever painted her own nails, 5 - Grace showing off her mani/pedi, 6 - Our kids with our friend's the Fuller's. Boy do we miss our Broken Arrow friends!

Top 10 Christmas Memories

Top 10 Memories from Christmas 2009

10. Matching Christmas pajamas. Still can't believe I found matching ones to fit all 4...it may never happen again.




9. Watching Benson, Grace, and Sabrina play outside in our practically "white out" Christmas!


8. Grace pulling the kitchen towel off the refrigerator and putting it over her head to kick-off our live nativity.


7. Sabrina assigning everyone parts in our live nativity.

Grace was Mary and took her part very seriously. Benson played the part of Joseph and a sheep. Sabrina was an angel, not just any angel but the "sister" angel. Daddy was the donkey and a shepherd. And Jilly of course got to play the part of Baby Jesus.

6. Hearing Benson ask literally EVERY 2 minutes all day if he could do his dinosaur excavation kit until we FINALLY let him around 3pm. The mess at the end was pretty awesome too!




5. Hearing Sabrina over the monitor in her room playing with her new baby doll that talks:
Baby: Waa! Waa! I'm hungry Mommy, feed me!
Sabrina (in a sing songy voice): Not right now! (lots of giggles)
**We keep wondering if that is some kind of commentary on our parenting?!**

4. Jillian sleeping for 7 1/2 hours for the first time! Too bad we were up late helping out Santa or we might have woken up feeling very refreshed on Christmas morning! But it could have been worse. It was definitely the best Christmas present she could have given us this year!

3. My FAVORITE Christmas present, my 45 minute uninterrupted nap from 7:15 - 8:00pm.

2. Watching Benson knock over the bowl containing his new beta fish, dumping out half of the nasty fish water all over our nice rug. And catching the whole thing on the video camera, including Mike's response (no swear words involved). Don't worry the fish survived and was later named Zachary.

1. Watching our children enjoy the magic of Christmas, from acting out our Savior's birth and appreciating why we celebrate Christmas to their happiness over receiving so many wonderful gifts from Santa and family!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!