Easter 2016

Our annual tradition of mom's side of the family coming to our house for a fun visit and Easter Egg hunt continued. Aunt Cara and Uncle Gary came over Saturday night with cousins Emma, Maddy and Zane and so did Grandma Joy and Grandad David. We woke up Sunday morning to super cool Easter baskets and then were able to squeak in an Easter egg hunt in the backyard before the rain arrived.

Some of the most memorable gifts the kids received this year were: a homemade dress for Kaitlyn and a matching doll along with a matching bow tie for Mikey all made by Aunt Cara! The kids received from the bunny some cool sleep sacks/ blankets that look like a mermaid tail and a sharks mouth. Kaitlyn hasn't gotten out hers yet! Of course the kids received 2 fun Easter baskets baskets that surprisingly showed up on our back gate (who could have put them there- Nana Pat and Papa Joe??!!) they were full of goodies and treats and toys. Another fun Easter moment was the kids receiving fun Easter cards in the mail from Aunt Winnie--- and Kaitlyn read hers out loud to us all by herself!!! Mikey absolutely loved the picture of the bunny on a skateboard on his card! 

Happy Easter to you all- He Has Risen!!!!

Cousins!

 My Easter babies

A Little Mermaid

This past weekend I was able to sneak away with my girl for a little mommy-daughter time. We went uptown to the Charlotte Ballet to see a production of the Little Mermaid. It was a wonderful show and a beautiful afternoon with my girl. I love being able to steal away for special moments with each of the children like these. 

Kaitlyn in front of the museum of modern art 

My little mermaid!

Zoo Day

Mikey's class took a field trip to the zoo and I was lucky enough to be able to tag along (have I mentioned that I love my job?!). We got Katie on the bus and then drove down to Columbia to the zoo where we waited for Mikey's class to come in the bus. When they came, we split up into small groups and went to explore the zoo. Mikey is so interested in all different types of animals. He really pays attention when learning about them in class and when we watch nature shows on television at home. All week he's been asking me questions about green tree boa constrictors, cuckoo birds, lizards, gorillas, frogs, piranhas and  lions just to name a few!!! When we started walking around the zoo, he just wanted to know everything about every animal! When we at the grizzly bear exhibit, he asked 'how big are their teeth? What do they eat? Is it a daddy or a brother? Where does it live? I hope it doesn't poop! Why does he sleep like that?' And on, and on, and on.... And it continued at every animal exhibit for the rest of the morning! Man, do I love this boy! I love seeing a tiny glimpse of how his mind works and also the difference between he and Kaitlyn. 

We had such a fun time hanging out with his friends and one of his teachers. I am so glad I was able to experience this with my boy. 

Learning about the grizzly bears

With his friends and his teacher Ms. Tessa

Feeding the giraffes!

A class picture with the class pet- Seth the Soth in front of a Sloth exhibit!

Another Sloth at the zoo!

Clean Chompers!!!

The kids got a clean bill of health from our favorite dentist yesterday. 

Have I mentioned lately that this boy is a CLOWN?! (Love him!)

Kindergarten Ready

It was a BIG day for us yesterday. Mikey and I went for his kindergarten registration and screening. He was such a big boy. 

Where Kaitlyn was shy and nervous, Mikey was excited and cool. He was a little shy at first when the principal introduced himself but warmed up quickly and couldn't wait to go back for his screening. When the teacher came to let me know how he did, she told me he did amazing. She asked him if he would count for her and his response 'I can count to 100, but I'm only going to count to 10 right now'- and then proceeded to count to 40. What a clown. As we were leaving the principal asked 'Mikey! How'd you do?' Mikey said 'it was no big deal. Look- I can even walk down the hall all by myself!' Oh my. 

I just can't believe that soon both of my babies will be in elementary school! 

Mikey

FIVE

It is with a Mama's heavy heart that I write this post, but of course it is full of love and anticipation of the years to come. The baby of our house has turned f-i-v-e. Oh, and boy did he. He was SO excited and proud. He literally yelled all day 'I'M FIVE!!!'. It was adorable and sad all at the same time! He's so grown up this 5 year old man. The day before his birthday, he went into his closet and picked out his own outfit for the day: jeans, white t-shirt and a black corduroy blazer. Um, ok- are you going to day care or to a job interview?! His birthday was very low key and laid back which was a nice change for the Burke family! I was able to go have lunch with Mikey at school and I brought him some fun balloons and cupcakes. Later that night, Mikey chose all of his favorite foods for dinner: tiny hot dogs (pigs in a blanket,) tuna fish, cheezits (the white ones- not yellow please), cheesy poofs, chips/ salsa/ sour cream, pickles and of course finished off with cake and ice cream! Papa Joe came over to help celebrate and brought gifts from the Marinelli's. Mimi and Papi sent an amazing gift (Playstation 4- holy cow) that the kids played for the rest of the night. It was so much fun to celebrate with our big, big boy!!!

Mikey's cupcakes for school

Mikey's dinner of 'favorite things'!

Kaitlyn got Mikey an orange scooter!

I love that Mikey's teacher had all of his class 'sign' the balloon that I brought! Awesome!!

Nana pat and papa Joe brought balloons too.... But I see theirs had a little something 'extra' for Mikey. 

Pre- Valentine Post

Our Burke 2016 is full of 'repeats' but it may be my favorite yet. For their school parties, the kids wore shirts they wore last year (yay- they fit!!!!) and for their valentines we did a craft we've done before too. We threw in one new card for our family and teachers that was really fun but the best part of all was that the kids did it ALL THEMSELVES!! I watched Kaitlyn and Mikey unwrap old crayons and break them up to make the new, heart- shaped crayons. They each painstakingly wrote the names of all of their friends on all of the packages and then folded and stapled the bags together. At one point Kaitlyn said to me 'Mom, I wish I had a short name like 'Mia''!!  Ha! I was so proud of both of them (especially Mikey and his 23 Valentine bags!!). I can't wait to hear about how the parties went (and to post about it later!!)

Mikey and The Panthers

This weekend our city is going to celebrate a pretty big Super Bowl. The Carolina Panthers will play the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. Needless to say, everyone around here is pretty excited! Another thing about our Carolina Panthers is their dance: the 'dab'. The kids have been 'dabbing' for weeks now!

This morning, it was a bit of a struggle to wake up the kids for school (as they may have stayed up a bit too late last night goofing off whispering and laughing to each other in Kaitlyn's bed!). I said 'it's Friday guys- and its football day at school!' I got nothing. They were so tired. So I said 'Mikey, you get to 'dab' at school today!'. He screamed back to me from the bed:

'I already did!!!!'. 'I dabbed yesterday!!!'

Oh my.