Sedona

Last weekend we took a 24 hour trip to Sedona to take advantage of Nona's spare night in her timeshare. We went to a light festival at one of the resorts up there, which the kids loved.

Santa was there, but there were very few children around. As we approached him, a young preschooler came streaking past us in tears as Santa called out to her, "Hey, come and sit on my lap!" Apparently, Audrey thought he was talking to her, because she promptly sprinted the twenty feet or so between them, and leaped up onto his lap, where she sat unabashedly chatting and absentmindedly petting his beard with her mittened hand. He didn't seem to mind. Our other two children were either too embarrassed or too terrified to approach him, so I guess this is our one "Picture with Santa" for the year.

The next morning we decided to take advantage of the indoor pool, even though to get to the pool we had to dash through the frosty morning air with inadequate cover-ups. I'm afraid the rest of us didn't look quite as adorable as Kateri.

I just had to include the back view.

After breakfast at a great spot I highly recommend: http://www.mesagrillsedona.com/
We had a fun day of hiking and sightseeing before heading back to Phoenix.

It was great to have some fun family time together!

Thanks, Nona!

Dallas!

Kateri and I went to Dallas for the weekend. It was Jon's birthday, and I had been missing my family a lot.

Plus, I had been dying to meet this little guy since he made his appearance into the world last July. He did not disappoint. My sweet nephew was so happy and smiley and easy to make laugh.
And I fell in love all over again with my goddaughter Evie.

Kateri had the time of her life running around with her little cousins. They spent a whole evening playing our family's version of hide and seek.

They had to go find the scary uncles hiding in the back rooms.



This is what happened when they found him.

It was so much fun watching these three play together...

...and no one makes my face hurt from laughing like these two gentlemen. I have more videos starring them that I could post, but I think I'll save them for blackmail.

After all the craziness, Kateri snuggled with all of her aunts and uncles in turn until finally she passed out.

We even got a (too-brief) visit with Genny and Maggie!

It was way too short of a trip all around, but it was so lovely spending that rainy weekend with my family, laughing at my brothers, eating too much delicious food and sipping coffee with my wonderful sisters-in-law.

During bedtime prayers, Kateri's intention continues to be "That I can go to Dallas another day."

I hope so!

How to Train Your Dragon Halloween

Or, "The Best Day of Kateri's Life."




It's not often that the three-year-old of the family gets to call the shots when it comes to something as crucial as Halloween costumes. We were worried that our annual tradition with the Burch Jerks of all sticking to one movie theme was coming to an end, but a post-soccer brainstorming session in the car led Kateri to suggest her most favorite movie of all time: How to Train Your Dragon.









This was her face when it all came to fruition. (She hadn't even had any candy yet.)

These were the characters we had to work with. Lili declined to be the heavyset chap on the left and decided to be a generic Viking girl instead. (Can you blame her?)

I don't know what was the deal with Lili's sassy Viking poses...I'm sorry, I must not be raising her right...

Audrey's were far more authentic.

Here's Astrid and Hiccup working the sweet shields the Burch clan came up with.

Finn and Lili must have gone to the same school of sassy posing...

Audrey and Lucy were the squabbling twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

They really got into character...it was awesome.

Lucy's faces were the best.

And then there was Lili and Jack.

These two make me laugh. They had really been pulling for Willow as this year's movie, but they both wanted to be Mad Martigan. (True story. My nine year old daughter's first choice of Halloween costumes was a Val Kilmar character from the late eighties. I'm so proud)

Here's another shot of the shields...the designs are copied from the movie.
We spent a fun evening painting them all together.


We had a surprise Viking join the fun. Crazy Uncle Justin showed up in full Viking garb to lead the horde of trick-or-treaters around the neighborhood. He stayed in character the whole time, threatening to pillage the houses we stopped at if they didn't give us enough candy.

The kids thought it was hilarious, as did most of the homeowners he threatened.

Best Halloween ever? I think so.

All Saints Day dress rehearsal: Lili

It's that time again. The girls have their annual All Saints Day presentations tomorrow. I never seem to have my act together enough to take a video on the actual day, so here is a little preview.

All Saints Day Dress Rehearsal: Kateri

Of course, since the older girls have had to practice their Saints speeches every night for the past couple of weeks, Kateri wanted to get in on the action. She picked St. Cecelia, and we tried to keep her speech short and sweet. Here's a transcript, in case you don't speak Katerese:
"Hello, my name is St. Cecelia. I lived a long time ago in Rome. Now, I am the patron saint of music. St. Cecelia..."

Sorry about the flash of princess panties...that's why a dress rehearsal is so important...gotta work out those kinks in the performance.

All Saints Day Dress Rehearsal: Audrey

The Book of Genesis

The kids had a half day yesterday. For some reason, Audrey decide to use some of her extra time making a booklet retelling the story of Adam and Eve:

I love these early attempts at spelling:

Wons a pon time = Once upon a time

And I'm sorry, but the strategically placed bird just makes me laugh. Why go for a boring old fig leaf? Also, God made him out of sand?

I skipped to the last page...there was a lot more about the "rool" breaking, but you get the idea. I also made the mistake of asking her why the cherubim with the flaming sword had no face. She gave me a pitying look and said, "Mom, don't you know angels don't have bodies?" Touche, Audrey.

lately

Lately I've been a terrible blogger, so here's what we've been up to. We celebrated Uncle Steve's birthday with what looks like a blowtorch instead of candles. Luke has become successful at bypassing Abby's fear of him by bribing her with his iPhone. She even will snuggle up with him on the couch in order to play with it...

...but it only lasts so long.

Luke's fanaticism about his winter lawn has reached new heights this year. He trained a hawk to patrol the back yard and keep the pigeons and sparrows from eating his preciou rye seed. Just kidding, this guy just happened to show up on the lawn, but at least he kept the birds away for a little while.

We are busy making costumes for Halloween and the kids' All Saints Day presentations. For Halloween, we are carrying on our movie theme tradition with the Burch fam. This year it's How to Train Your Dragon, so all of the kids are going to be Vikings. Nanny even sent a big box of fun fabric for this purpose, which included my grandmother's old mink stole. I am not usually squeamish about things like this, but it grosses me out big time. There is something about its beady little eyes and dangling paws that makes me shudder. Kateri loves it as long as you don't try to drape it around her chubby little shoulders. Then she freaks out, as well she should.

She calls it "The Wolf."

Fall sports are in full swing. Kateri and Audrey are "playing" soccer. Kateri much prefers the cooler evening practices to the hot Saturday morning games, where she burns out after about ten minutes and wanders the field aimlessly; pink cheeked and dejected-looking. Her coach told us, "yeah, Kateri practices a bit better than she plays." It's true.

Lili started playing volleyball this year. There are actually enough girls for VDM to have its own team, which is wonderful. The girls were so adorably surprised that they had their first win last Saturday.

We went out to dinner to celebrate the girls' good report cards and reminded ourselves why we never let our kids drink soda. Seriously, look at Audrey's face. That's what root beer does to kids...

Kateri didn't have the soda excuse...she was just being a goofball.

Be careful

when you're sneaking up on a little witch doing her homework.

They startle easily. (Or at least they pretend to)

You should probably skip this post if you're not Nanny.

It's just another video of Kateri singing a song.
She picked this one up from Audrey, who learned it in religion class and sang it over and over again for about two and a half weeks. When she stopped, Kateri started...




"Matthew, Judas, Philip, Bartholomew, Andrew, Thomas, Simon, Jude
James and John and James and Peter the Rock, these are the Apostle's names.
Jesus called the Twelve Apostles and He calls us just the same
When we hear the voice of Jesus, the Lord, then we listen for our name. "


With this on repeat in one way or another all month, I think it's safe to say that none of us will ever forget one of the Apostles names again.

Just me and you

School started two weeks earlier than usual this year. The big girls are already well into their routine, and now that Audrey is at school full-day, it's just me and Kateri. All day long. Although we miss her big sisters, it has actually been quite lovely having some one-on-one time with my just-turned three year old. It's nice to lavish some extra attention on her, especially since, (in an example of the characteristic neglect endured by third-born children,) I forgot to charge my camera battery and so we have no pictures of her birthday.

For now, she's my little helper around the house, and we get to read books in bed and play dozens of rounds of hide-and-go-seek. Every time I tell her it's time to go run an errand she asks with a big smile, "Me and you?"

I'm so grateful for this time with my happy little Kateri. Just me and you.

Of course, we are still pretty excited when 3:45 rolls around and these two show up...

Our Scituate Summer: Audrey

On to my water baby:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Audrey is still completely enamoured with the ocean. She is still the first one in the water and the last one out. Her m.o. was to inch farther and farther out until she was "accidentally" well over her head and I called her back in.

The only time she would voluntarily take a break was seconds before hypothermia set in and she was forced to lay like a lizard on the rocks and recharge.

This summer her boogie boarding skills really took off, and her fearlessness was a mixed blessing...watch out Kateri! Her enthusiasm and confidence rubbed off on her older sister, though, and they both became much more proficient. We had some great waves at the end of our stay from a storm offshore and she was pummelled and smashed to her heart's content.

I'm thinking of sending her to Fiji to live with Uncle Cole, who I am sure could introduce her to some real waves.

Oh my Audrey, God has certainly blessed her with an abundance of, how should I put it? Spunk? Verve? Moxie?

And boy did we see it this summer. It is growing more and more apparent to me that my challenge as her mother is going to lie in harnessing it for the power of good.

Pray for me.

Please.

As you can see from the above picture, she needs no coaching to strike a sassy pose, yet somehow manages to ruin many of our group shots with crazy faces:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Anyway, when we wrung the saltwater out of her, she enjoyed many of our favorite summertime traditions...Pony rides at the Farmers' Market...

...the carousel...

...and breakfast at the lighthouse.

There is never a dull moment when Audrey is around. I think Nanny put it best when I turned to her in exasperation after a display of particularly baffling intense emotion:

"She's just got a fire in her belly..."

So, like I said, pray for me. And if you can spare a prayer for her First Grade teacher while you're at it, that would be great.