Santa Claus is Coming to Town....

This was so much fun, we decided to go with Joe and Maren and take the kids to see santa. Taylor was certain that Madilyn would throw a fit, but I was confident that she would be fine with it. And she was, she sat on his lap and jabbered about what she wanted for Christmas. And he was such a good santa too, very good with kids. But then he gave her some crayons and a paper to color, along with a candy cane. For some reason though, during the picture we couldn't get either of the girls to crack even the slightest smiles. The lady was shaking a stuffed animal with jingle bells on it....this was their response to our efforts! Haha I love it so much, perfect!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season!!!

Our week in pictures...

I love my girls so much, they are the best, not to mention so cute!! So here is some picture to sum up our week...enjoy!

Madilyn is starting to get such an imagination..it is so cute watching her play by herself now. She is really into her animals this week too.

That sweet little face is impossible not to kiss!! She is now rolling all over the place, and she can hold her own bottle, finally!

So Eliza was playing with one of Madilyn's toys that she wanted, so I told Madilyn to get another toy for her to play with instead...this is what she brought her, a stroller!

Just watching a show together, so funny!

One of Madilyn's all time favorite things is the bath, she requests a bath at least twice a day.

This is Eliza's new favorite thing to do...she can get some sweet air!

Madilyn & Charlie

Madilyn has a best friend, that would be Charlie....yes she is quite a bit younger than her, but Madilyn loves having someone follow her around and laugh at her. At the same time, it can be more of a hate, in the love hate relationship. Sometimes Madilyn gets a little aggressive and possessive over her toys, or Charlie's toys. But here are a few shots of the girls together from this week. She really will miss saying, "where'd Charlie go?" or "Charlie play" or "Charlie sad?"

Haha I love Madilyn's open wide mouth. She has it down! And Charlie's is a look of plea more like it.

She does this very often to get a laugh out of Charlie.

So a funny story... We were hanging out downstairs with Tarilyn and Charlie, and Madilyn was doing one of Charlie's puzzles. There was one missing piece, so she said, "where'd it go?" Tarilyn replied, "I don't know, you tell me, it has been missing since you played with it last." So I turn to Madilyn and say, "Did you hide it Madilyn?" She then walked over to the bookcase and starts pulling out books from one particular cubby. After all the books were removed we found a whole stash of things Madilyn has been hiding from Charlie. We were laughing so hard, because we found the whisk Tarilyn had been trying to find, a bottle, a bunch of straw spoon things, and a few other random things. Unfortunately the puzzle piece was not there, perhaps when Matt and Tarilyn are moving upstairs they will find more stashes of things Madilyn hid away.

And before Halloween I would give Madilyn a chocolate a day for a few days, and each time I noticed they were disappearing really fast. But I didn't think too much of it, so one time after I gave her a chocolate I saw her run behind the baby swing we had int he corner. I followed her over and saw that in the back pocket she has been saving all her little chocolates. She is honestly such a little squirrel. Well Taylor and I definitely got a kick out of it. She is so funny sometimes!!

Snow and Sledding!

I took Madilyn out to play in the snow for the very first time, I shoveled the walks while she followed me around. She even "helped" me shovel for a little bit, I couldn't find her gloves though, so she wasn't too happy when she fell in the snow and got her hands cold. But here are some pics to document her first time playing in the snow!!

She saw a dog across the street...thus the smile on her face!

So we decided since we are living in Canada for only 3 more weeks we needed to take advantage of the "good" days for sledding. So it was Madilyn's very first time sledding, the first time she wasn't too sure, second time we had to force her on, but she enjoyed it in the end. The third time, she would NOT go down. So needless to say, it was a short sledding experience, but still fun.

Eliza was so cute!!! Her nose and cheeks were so red by the time we finsihed

Ellie was so cute, she just sat there the entire time not making a peep.

Eliza even went down the hill with Taylor!

This was pretty much Madilyn the whole time, she wasn't too happy to be sledding.

Latest Happenings...and big changes!

Ok, so first off I will tell you how I have a goose ache on my forehead from getting the mail today...you ask, how does that happen. Well I decided to get the mail, but not bother putting on shoes or a jacket in the freezing cold and snow, I guess that shows how lazy I am. But I grabbed the mail, and turned around to run back inside and I hit my head on the door bell. I hit is so hard that it broke into pieces!! Haha, and then I was thinking about a half hour later how dumb and clumsy I was, and then I hit my other side of my forehead on Eliza's door!! Ok, so that is kinda of an indication on how our week has been.

So first off, about 3 weeks ago, Taylor got really sick and went to the doctors and found out he had mono. The same day he found out he had mono, I started getting really sick. Fortunately Taylor was mostly past the really sick part, and just the tired part. So after a week of having one of the worst sicknesses, and developed an ear infection, only to be turned away at the walk in clinic saying their was nothing wrong with my ears. That was a friday, so on monday after having suffered with ear aches all weekend I finally go back in Tuesday morning because my eye was sealed shut and pink. Well you guessed it, I did in fact have an ear infection, and pink eye. So by yesterday I was finally starting to hear out of my ears again without the constant pain and echo...and then Madilyn started throwing up, and once again...so did I. So the flu it was, I felt horrible for Madilyn, and I couldn't even help comfort her because I was too busy throwing up myself. But we all woke up today feeling much better, so I am praying that was the end of our long sickness. So needless to say, I have been pretty down today because I had to miss Harry Potter 7 last night because I was too sick to go. I had my ticket reserved for about a month, and was so disappointed I couldn't go....especially because I heard it was AMAZING!! But Taylor promised he would take me Monday night, I seriously can't wait!

But I have to take a minute to express my gratitude to Taylor, he is the most amazing person! He hasn't been able to study in weeks because he has had to take care of the kids because I have been too sick to do so. I just feel so grateful to him, and all his love and support. I don't know what I would do without him.

And on the last note, actually the biggest note...we are moving back to Hawaii, in January none the less. This was something that was extremely hard for me to accept, so after many tears and fighting my feelings, we decided it was what we had to do. Taylor felt very impressed that he needed to go back and get his 4 year degree (instead of 3 year) in International Cultural Studies before he gets into Med school, so the applications are being put on hold another year, and we are headed to Hawaii because that specific program isn't offered anywhere in Canada. So originally it was going to be April, but we just found out a couple of days ago that it is going to be January. So now we are praying we can find a home fast, because the availability is VERY slim. So we could use some prayers from our family and friends that we can find a place fast! I seriously am going to miss everyone so much, I feel like I just got settled again, and then off we go again. I had no idea that my life would be so "adventurous" but I will take it any day if it is with my husband and little girls. Life is so crazy, but amazing!

A Burnham Halloween!

It is so much fun celebrating Halloween now that I have kids to dress up...well I didn't really dress Eliza up...she wasn't feeling so swell that day so I didn't even bother. But Madilyn absolutely adored the entire experience. First we went to the ward party, Taylor and Eliza took off about a half hour in because Tay wasn't feeling good, and Eliza was tired...so I stayed with Madilyn so she could do the Trunk-or-treat. They had a little family dance, and every time I would stop dancing, Madilyn would say, "mommy dance." So I tell you what, I was SO tired by the end of it all. They had games, and cookie decorating, it was perfect for her. Then they started the Trunk or treat, and I tell you what, that is the best thing ever, perfect for little kids. They had a awesome turn out, so we didn't even make it to half the vehicles before Madilyn was tuckered out. She got some great loot! When we got home, she even laid out all her candy and was organizing it just like I did when I was little. It was so cute watching her have that much fun, she really enjoyed herself. Being a parent really is the best!!! So I didn't get a lot of pics because I was the one carrying her basket, and Taylor wasn't there, so I did the best I could with a very excited 2 year old. I got mostly her back...oh well, she was still a cute giraffe!!

The only shot I got of her facing towards me once the trunk or treat began...pretty much the cutest giraffe ever though!!

This is us...

Okay, so I figured it was about time to update my blog again. So as always I bet you could just guess what Taylor has been doing...thats right, studying! He has been working really hard in school, teaching early morning seminary, and thats pretty much what occupies most of his time. So I am next I guess, I have been trying really hard to stay busy doing little projects around the house, doing hair, watching my beautiful little girls, and I just started a photography class. And before you think to yourself, there are enough people in the world that are photographers, don't you worry...it is strickly for taking better pictures of my kids and family. My sister in law Tarilyn is actaully taking the course with me. we are in week 3, and I started getting really confused this week...so I guess I have some reading to do...all this whitebalance, aperture, and shutter speed stuff. i really am grateful that I have a nice camera to take lots of pictures of my girls, Taylor is the best!!

So that leaves Madilyn and Eliza. Madilyn did something really funny last night, well at least it sounded really funny. I was at my class, and Taylor was watching the girls. Madilyn decided she wanted to sit on her big girl potty. So Tay put her on, and said "okay, go potty Madilyn" and she gave a little toot. So he started praising her, then Eliza started crying in the other room. So he asked Madilyn if she was done, but she really wanted to stay on. So he left, and checked on her a couple of seconds later and she was still sitting on the toilet with a smile on her face. He had to leave the room again because Eliza was crying again. So after he finishes up with Eliza he goes into the bathroom and madilyn is standing there in a pool of pee and says "I go potty!" haha, so he told her that was good, but next time she needed to do it in the toilet. She hasn't gone on the toilet yet, but peeing on the ground I guess you could say was a break thru.

Okay, so the other day I saw madilyn playing with a bunch of my rings, and then they went missing. well today I was doing the wash and folding her pants and heard a little jingle in her pocket, thats right all my rings were in it! Then later today I gave Madilyn a bunch of grapes with her lunch...she seemed to really like them because they were gone next time I saw her plate, this was probably around 1:00pm. So around 6:30pm tonight I saw her tugging at her pocket, so I stick my hand in it to find all six grapes, some "monies" and a button!!! All in one pocket! I guess it shouldn't surprise me all that much since she always has money and buttons in her pockets, but the grapes took it to a whole new level. The best part is that she had a 2 1/2 hour nap with those in her pocket, and managed not to squish any of them!!

Eliza has pretty much mastered the back to tummy, and has been working on tummy to back! She is growing up so fast, for some reason it feels so much fasted than Madilyn. But anyway, she has her doc. apt. for her eyes in two weeks...FINALLY!! They have already gotten a ton better since we made the appointment, so hopefully there isn't really anything wrong anymore. So thats all for now, but I will post some pictures of our Thanksgiving weekend in Lacombe.

Our Artistic turkey!

This is all Madilyn wanted to do the entire time we were at the Lacombe cornmaze!!

This thing was so awesome!!

Family Pictures

I love this one of us on the tracks, and I love the one of Tay and Madilyn...I will definitely get them framed just in smaller ones!

Option 1 to be framed as our big family pic? (above)

Option 2? (above)

Option 3?

I can't decide if I like this one, or the other with the sun bursting thru?? Help me decide everyone!

Maren took our family pictures for us, and I love them! Of course it would be nice to get Eliza's fist out of her mouth, or if Madilyn would smile....but considering we were working with a 2 year old, and a 4 month old, I think they turned out pretty dang good! So thank you so much Maren, you are the BEST!! Okay, so if you guys could please tell me which you like the best that would be awesome, because I am a very indecisive person...and Taylor doesn't know either!! Thanks so much!