Tree Shopping

Yesterday we went tree shopping.  It was raining all day, so we had our rain gear on.  It stopped when we were almost there (25 minutes away), so we shopped rain free.  It was great this year because Rae is walking around and looking at the "tee"s.  She loved it because some of the newer trees were about her height. 

We had a fun time as usual, but I think the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in the 30 minutes we were at the farm.  We were all freezing by the time we left. 

This morning, we woke up to the smell of freshly cut pine.  Nothing says Christmas like that smell (for me at least).   We are greatly anticipating the birthday of our Lord!

All Better!

Fortunately for us, Rae was only in a splint for a week and a half and a hard cast for two weeks.  Here she is before...

 

 And here she is after...

We are ALL so happy about this! 

Molly had a Thanksgiving Feast at school with her classmates.  Ty enjoyed the feast as well.

JB was putting up a light in the kitchen.  I looked up to see this.  This boy wants to be just like his dad.   Really sweet picture I thought.



Broken

Most of you probably already know about our Sweet Baby Rae's arm.  Here are some pictures of the little one.  Her favorite thing to do in this cast is get dirty of course! 

Here is the crew before trick-or-treating Monday night.  We went to a few houses in our neighborhood with some friends and then greatly enjoyed passing out candy to little ones that came by our house.  Molly decided to be Batgirl to match her little brother.  So sweet!

No comment necessary for the picture below!

Taylor Swift

I guess Molly was about 4 or 5 when she first knew of Taylor Swift.  I think a clip of "Teardrops On My Guitar" was playing on the news or something.  Who knows, I might have had it on CMT.  I've been known to listen to some country music from time to time (much to JB's regret)!  That guitar was covered in glittery sparkles, and that was all it took for Molly to be infatuated with Taylor Swift.  She has since enjoyed listening to her and dressing up like her and talking about her. 

Imagine her surprise when her daddy and I decided I would take her to the concert at Cowboy Stadium last weekend.  Mind you, we were sitting a little high (as you will see in the following picture), but it was awesome nonetheless and something I will never forget doing with and for my daughter.   We had a fantastic time and Taylor Swift was a great performer! 

Here she is with her Taylor Swift T-shirt and signature glow stick around her neck. 

Too much fun for the night!   She sacked out about five minutes after we got on interstate.

The Best Days

I am very thankful that I get to be with these two guys each day.  Here is Rae playing hide and seek with us.  She enjoys climbing in and on everything...including large appliances!  She has finally taken her first steps, but still prefers crawling to walking.  She is also good at making animal noises (especially the Henderson LION).!  It is pretty funny during the football games. 

Here she is doing a little "sleep eating" as we like to call it.  All three of my kids have done this. 

Now for this little guy, I have to tell a story.  Those of you who know his daddy well will appreciate how much like him he is.  Ty wanted to be a superhero for Halloween this year.  I guess he actually wanted to be one last year, but we talked him into a football player because we already had stuff for that.  This year, we were definitely getting something to make him a superhero.  We went to Walmart, and he decided he would most like to be Batman.  I picked up the costume and you would have thought I gave him a million dollars.  He was so excited he didn't know what to do.  He has worn that costume at least twice every day for the last week.  Here is the funny story.  One day last week I was cleaning the bathroom and the babies were sleeping.  He came bopping in there as "Batman" talking to me about something.  When he got ready to leave, I said "Hey, where are you going  Ty?"  Basically, I was trying to remind him not to go in his room because one of the babies was in there.  He looks at me like I should know and says, "Mom, I'm going to save the city."  It's funny because he said it like you would say, "I'm going to get a drink of water, or play outside, or something like that."  Too funny!!

FC Dallas

Just before school started, we went to our first professional soccer game.  Some very generous friends were going and had extra tickets they offered to us.  We left baby Rae for her first overnight stay with Nana and took the big kids to Dallas.  We met our friends for dinner before the game (which was fantastic).  They had passes that allowed us on the field as the team came out.  Molly and Ty thought that was awesome!  It was a great time

First night away from mom.

She did great!

A little pre-game entertainment

It was really cool to be this close as the teams came onto the field.  The kids (and JB and I) loved it!

2nd Grade

This post is a little late, but here is the group on Molly's first day of school.  She is enjoying second grade as much as she did the previous two.  Ty, Rae and I  can't wait for her to get home every day because we miss her while she is gone. 

Braces!

The big sister in her new braces...

BEFORE

AFTER

If you look closely in this picture you can see the expander on the back top teeth.  That has been an adjustment for her because it makes it difficult for her to chew.  She is managing very well and has a great attitude most of the time about it.  Let's just say I would probably not be as positive.  Doesn't God often use our children to remind us of areas in which we should already be much improved (being joyful in all circumstances).  I know He does with me.  Look at that precious smile! 



So much has happened...

It's been so long since we have posted and there are many updates and pictures to share.  First of all, Rae Ann Burleson hit a very big milestone with her 1st birthday.  We just can't believe our baby girl is 1 year old.  She is so great and we all love her so much.  She is a very happy and busy thing and extremely funny to us all.  She likes to cheese any time she sees a camera.  She is also a little chatterbox and a speed crawler (no walking yet)! 

For her birthday, JB decided Molly and I should have a cupcake war.  We love "Cupcake Wars" and we had a great time.  She and I didn't compete against each other.  Instead we worked together and let the cupcakes compete.  We made two cupcakes to go with a regular birthday cake cupcake.  Our two cupcakes were carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing and a banana pudding cupcake with whipped cream.  Daddy and Ty were the judges so no French accents to contend with Uncle Steve.

Here are some pics from our Burleson Cupcake Wars.

 We have a very special Burleson family tradition that JB started when Molly turned 3.  At every birthday, the birthday boy/girl is awakened by singing and a birthday donut with a candle on top.  Usually the birthday donut has sprinkles for the kids' birthdays.  Rae loves this tradition as much as the other two and had no trouble eating the birthday donut.   

Here are some pictures from the party that night after football practice!  We had dinner and lots of time to spend with family

She was not overly excited about eating birthday cake.  Just like her big sister on her first birthday.  Not at all like her big brother on his!

Fun at Uncle Matt's Birthday Party!

We looked up to find Rae diving on the bean bag!

That's some bed head Rae!

Blake says this one needs to get out!

The pool is cool!

Dad and Ty and Uncle Matt went snake hunting.

Ty found this snake skin at Big Dad's catfish pond.