December 2008 Pictures

I apologize for getting so far behind on posting. Here are a few pictures from December in backwards order:


Abby and Luke took advantage of the great weather the other day. And yes, they are wearing pajamas.


Abby on the way home after one of several Christmas get-togethers.


Abby and her new sweater, one of many articles of clothing she got for Christmas.


Luke and his latest set of overpriced Legos.


Willow loved her new Christmas pillow. This was the first present she opened. She loved all her presents.


Luke and his Christmas concussion. According to Abby, he was jumping on the couch and then fell and hit his head on the coffee table. Much blood and screaming followed. We wrapped his head up and went about our business.


Willow loves to box. She hits the bag and says, "Boom boom!" Then she switches gloves and startes over again.


Willow loved her new barrettes. She wanted to wear all of them at the same time. I eventually had to hide them.


Willow was actually willing to wear a dress. She liked it even. I'm disappointed.

Merry Christmas

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ANh8vNGACHmIswPJGo1B

Luke-isms

"Camden is really puffed up about coming over." (instead of pumped up)

"I'm just neating up my drawer."

"You should have named me Timmy. I like that name."

"It's a good thing I've got long-sleeve socks on."

Happy Birthday Luke

Happy Birthday Luke: The Big 5

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Marriage is like boxing...

Jason and I were sparring with the boxing gloves. Luke asked me if I was winning. I jokingly said, "No. Nobody wins. It's like marriage." Jason quickly added, "Yeah, you just keep going until somebody gets hurt." (Okay, it may be a little sad, but I thought it was funny.)

Predictions for Abby

Abby will swim and play basketball and tennis at Castle High School. She'll graduate with a 3.8 GPA and get a swimming scholarship to the University of Florida where she will major in English literature. She will write her first young adult novel before she even graduates. She creates a wildly popular character in a series of best-selling books that are made into movies. She also writes and illustrates many children's books. She will be about 5'7" tall and, thanks to swimming, she will be skinny and strong. She will marry a veterinarian she met in college and have two boys and girl and lots of pets. They will live in Florida. We'll visit them often and play lots of golf and go to Gators games. She and her husband will go on lots of short term mission trips and she will start an organization that helps with child literacy in third world countries.

Halloween 2008

Abigail Lane is Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series. She's wearing my old USI grad gown with at least 15 safety pins. We ratted her hair to get it big and messy.




Luke is Robin (Teen Titans version) again this year. We lost the mask so we made one out electrical tape, cling wrap and a head band.



Willow started out as a fairy. She was absolutely ticked off at having to wear a dress. She cried and screamed and pulled at it. (I'm so proud. That's my girl!)



So I put her in her cutest PJ's and she went as a baby.



This was Willow's first year and she loved it. We started out at a nursing home and she was very uncomfortable, of course. When we got in the car I gave her some Jr. Mints and she fell in love. She was ready to go trick or treating again to get that rush of easy candy. She loved walking door to door and holding out her bag. Every once in awhile I heard her whisper "Thank you" or "bye".

Now we are home and ready to eat some Halloween pizza and play games.

Peace on Earth...

We know there are many of you out there anxiously awaiting the Burton Christmas lists. I know most people would have to say they wish for world peace, but we want cash. Actually, if you are interested, we have updated our amazon wish lists, note the links on the right. If you would like the honor of being Favorite Person of 2009, we would really enjoy Holiday World season passes...or cash. Whatever. Peace.

There was a race.

btw

Tomorrow's the Day

We run tomorrow. Be there.

Run like the devil's chasing you

This Sunday is the big day. The Half Marathon. I will be running non-stop for two hours and 10 minutes through the streets of Evansville. I would love to have some people on the side to look forward to. Friends make the best mile markers. So if you are free and the weather is good, please find a place on the course and say hi.

I start on Reitz Hill at 7am. (I know, that's early for me too.) We work our way to north on Barker to cross the Lloyd and head towards Harmony Way. We run along the south side of Golfmoor and along Maryland and Columbia to Fulton. We go north along Fulton to Ulhorn and over to Garvin park. We run along the Pigeon Greenway and through Bosse Field. Then we run south on Main street all the way to downtown. It gets a little complicated after that. We are on MLKJ, Bellemeade, Powell, Kentucky and so on. We run through the park on Bayard
and around a park near Kentucky (Akin Park). Those are both good, shady spots. Eventually we get on Riverside (not the pretty part) and work our way towards the river. We finish right on the sidewalk by the river downtown. 13.1 miles of fun.

Here's a good map with vague directions: http://evansvillehalfmarathon.org/course/CourseMap.pdf

I wouldn't recommend being at the starting line. It's very crowded. But I thought it was fun last year to drive to a spot, wait for Jason to go by, pack up and drive a little farther ahead and wait for Jason and so on...until it reached 95 degrees. Then it lost it's fun. This Sunday is supposed to be around 70. Come and say hi.

If you are running too, leave a comment.

Everyone Deserves a Big Breakfast

I have great memories of big breakfasts with my parents. If we went to church on Saturday night, my mom would make us a big breakfast on Sunday morning with eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage or bacon, toast...you name it. It was like a buffet only we ate everything.

I woke up Sunday morning thinking about that since we had gone to church the night before. I wondered why I never made big breakfasts for my family. Then I realized it's because I'm tired in the morning. I just want a cup of coffee. I felt bad.

Everyone deserves a big breakfast every once in awhile. But it doesn't have to be in the morning.



So later we we went to the store and got sausage and biscuits. I made milk and sausage gravy from scratch just like my moms. I thought it was delicious, if I do say so myself. Luke and Willow also loved it. Abby and Jason, not so much. I also made sausage patties and links and fried eggs. It was very filling and worth it for the memories. I doubt it meant anything to the others, but it was special for me.

Free Not-Necessarily-Fire Wood

Free wood. Think of the possibilities!

What's up with September

Abby and Luke are back in swimming lessons at the Y. They love them, especially Abby. I'm hoping she will get to the point where she swims on a team and eventually gets a scholarship from a division 1 school. No pressure. Luke likes it too, but he's a bit terrified of the diving board. I'll let you know if he ever gets up the nerve to jump off.































I have spent my free time this week cleaning up after the hurricane. It feels so weird to say that so I keep saying it when I can. A hurricane hit Indiana. I can't imagine what it's like on the coast. We lost 2 large limbs and several medium and small limbs out of one tree (that tree will have to be put down), 1 large limb out of another tree and 2 medium limbs out of another tree. Amazingly, nothing was damaged but the trees and my newly planted grass seed.

A Little Behind

I've gotten a little behind on the posting. Here are some August pictures to get us caught up.


Willow moved to a forward facing car seat and loves it.




Luke had his first day of pre-school. I forgot to pick him up the first day. I guess I won't be winning mom of the year now.





We finally got around to working on the backyard. We bought 26 tons of dirt and my dad spread it all out with a tractor. We then bought and spread grass seed and straw and commenced with the watering.




And just for laughs:

To my friends and family:

Thank you to everyone who has donated to Race for the Cure so far. In just 9 days, you have given $215 out of my $300 goal. I have two and half more weeks to get the rest. That sounds doable. Thanks again everybody!

Race for the Cure

September 21, 2008. That morning I will be running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. And what is the point of running? How will that find a cure for breast cancer? It won't, but lots of money might. Normally when I run a race, I do it for me. I pay the fee and get a free t-shirt. Good enough. But this race is different. Yes, I pay a fee and get a t-shirt, but this isn't just a race. I want it to matter. Please consider helping me run with purpose by donating to Race for the Cure.

Please visit my Race page to make an online donation.

If you know me personally and would rather just give me the money, that will work too.

I have less than 4 weeks to make this work. Please help me out. If you make a donation of $25 I will write your name on the back of my running shirt, like NASCAR. I will consider business ad space as well. For $50 I will write your name on my skin like a tattoo.

You might feel bad if you don't donate. That's all I'm saying.

Run?

Does anybody want to run with me (Laura) this weekend? Seriously. The long runs are a lot better with company. Please?

I have a new respect for Monopoly.

Here is an interesting story about the game Monopoly.

Willow's Ears (Part 2)

This morning we took Willow to the hospital to have tubes put into her eardrums. We arrived at Deaconess Gateway around 6am. That is a really nice hospital. And everyone we met was great. Willow got lots of attention everywhere we went.


We went back into the pre-op area and got a little hospital gown. There was a bright little crib bed. It was cute but also really sad as I thought about all the little babies that had been there before.










We had a lot of time to kill in between people coming in to ask us if she was allergic to anything and when the last time was that she ate. Might I suggest the first person write this info down for the next 5 people so they don't have to ask?

The anesthesiologist was a bit late because her schedule was wrong, but she was really nice and she carried Willow back to the surgery area around 7:50am. Willow didn't cry, surprisingly. They said for her age it was best to knock her out and then put in the IV.

We went to get some caffeine and magazines. I took a few sips and saw a couple of minutes of the USA basketball team before Dr. Logan came in and said she was all done. This was 8:10am. I asked if she was awake and he said she was and that she was "pissed". That's our Willow.

A few minutes later a nurse came and asked me to come back there and help her calm down. She was screaming terribly when I got into the recovery area. She calmed down for a second when I get to her but then she kept crying because she had a blood pressure cuff on her that was squeezing her arm and a heart rate monitor taped to her toe. She hates that stuff. They tried to giver her some water with a bottle but she didn't know what that was. She's never had a bottle before and she didn't care for it.

They got her vitals and we were wheeled together back to the room. She was crying a lot but I could tell it was mostly because she was so tired and hungry. She finally got to drink some apple juice from her sippy cup.






I tried desperately for almost an hour to get her to sleep but she fought it the whole time. She was still a bit out of it. She had just fallen asleep when a nurse came in. She woke up but didn't cry. I could tell she was different. I guess the drugs had worn off and she was more aware. She just laid there for a few minutes and then we got up and got ready to leave. Everyone wanted to say bye and ask about her. One conversation went like this:
"Does she have any brothers or sisters?"
"One of each."
"She has the most beautiful eyes. What are their names?"
I wanted so badly to say that we hadn't named her eyes, but since everyone was so nice, I just answered with the kids' names.

They wheeled us out, Willow on my lap in a wheelchair. Everyone in the lobby stared and smiled. They probably thought she was sick. It made me so thankful for her health. I'm not strong enough to be one of those moms who deals with that kind of stuff.

On the way home Willow snacked on animal crackers and apple juice. I was going to put her in bed, but she wanted waffles. She scarfed them down and wanted more animal crackers.


Right now she is taking a very long nap. Thank you to everyone who prayed for her. Now pray that I'm not so careless that I let water get in her ears. And pray that this is the last time we have to do this.

Today is Abby's first day of second grade. The main difference for her this year is that she will be riding the bus to and from school everyday. The last two years we drove her in the morning and she rode the bus home. She and Jason walked down to the corner and waited together for the bus. She has a new backpack, new lunchbox, new clothes from Memaw and new shoes. She was definitely ready to go. (Luke starts pre-school in two weeks.)

New Blog

I, Laura, have started a new blog about going back to college.

http://wifemomstudent.blogspot.com/

Willow's Ears

Despite her obsession with food, Willow is the smallest of the children (at her age). She had her 12 month check up Monday. She is 28 3/4 inches which is around the 40th percentile. (For comparison, Luke was 32 and Abby was 29). Willow's weight is 18 pounds, 4 ounces. This is around the 10th percentile. (Luke was 23 lbs, Abby 19 and 5). We didn't discuss this at the doctor's visit, however, because we were focused on her ears, which were still infected.

Willow has had at least 8 ear infections since December. The last several were since the beginning of July. We go in, get a prescription for antibiotics, take it for a week and then the fever comes back (while still on the antibiotics) and we start over again. The fluid in her ears hasn't drained for months and the medicine no longer works to keep it from getting infected.

We met with an ear, nose and throat specialist Wednesday. Now that Willow is one, she can safely have tubes put in her ears to help them drain until her ears mature. We have the surgery scheduled for Tuesday, August 12th. It's only supposed to take 5 minutes and then we'll go home a bit later. I really think this will make things a lot better for her. She will have a lot less pain and she will be able to hear better. I'll post later about how it went.

Super Luke

Abby: Luke, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Luke: A superhero.

Mom: Superheroes don't get paid any money. What job do you want to do to make money?

Luke: A guard at a castle.

Now that I think about it, that may be a really good alter-ego.