He's Home!

It was a great homecoming and i have plenty more pics to follow--but for now i'm exhausted. Happy Sunday and Father's Day everyone!

Finally.

Mike is getting prepared to come home. He is in Kuwait and awaiting his flight out of there.

If you want to keep updated on his arrival time you can check this website. He is supposed to be on Chalk 12, which is not yet posted, but will be in a couple of days. The ceremony time can and will change up until 2 hours out--so just because you look once, doesn't mean it will stay the same--but it's still a good guideline. Planes get diverted and delayed all the time.

It will be cutting it close, but i'm hoping for a Father's Day arrival, considering Mike left last year in the early hours of the morning on Father's Day. It would be a fitting day to come home, and a great way to celebrate.

I'm. SO. READY. and. SO. EXCITED!

Bath Buddies

It's been awhile since I posted any bath pics. Here they are still playing away and enjoying the water. Splashing is still one of their favorite things to do, although now they also love to try and drink the water--gross! I'm working on that one!

Happy KiddosShe's definitely a "green-eyed" beauty now. Those baby blues are long gone

See ya later!

Don't Get Between This Boy and His Watermelon!

look he even ate chunks of the outer rind! and this little princess loves it tooafter watermelons they had some fun dumping water on themselves and each other. such silly kiddos!

18 Month Update

Whoa. 18 months sounds so big, huh? and i can't let this milestone month go by without a little update-- so here ya go!

There is so much changing and growing going on in this house.

-Talk.They communicate better and better everyday--with a mix of words and sign-language, our lives are getting quite a bit easier.


-Move. Their gross motor skills are also improving--they've always been a little slow in this department, but now they are walking, running, bouncing, dancing, kicking, rolling, climbing, sliding, and maneuvering stairs and other high places like they've been doing it their whole lives.

-Develop. Their fine motor skills are starting to develop as well. They have learned to make fists to "pound" fists with others, they are making the first steps towards working a spoon to feed themselves, they are starting to use writing utensils, mimicking hand motions to songs, stacking blocks, placing puzzle pieces, pointing, undressing, putting on shoes, etc.


-Eat. They eat pretty good most days. Their favorites include string cheese, blueberries, watermelon and cookies (animal crackers), but most days i can still get in a good portion of meat and vegetables to their diet. On the days that they don't eat so well...we just leave out the cookies and try again the next day!


-Sleep. They still sleep like champs although now that they have learned how much fun it is to play with each other nap times have become a little more interesting. On a good day i have to go in the room at least once to referee and lay them back down...on a bad day i may go in the room 5 times.

-Play. The reason for their existence of course. Well it's what they do best anyway. Thank goodness they play so well together and independently. At the end of the day my house usually looks like a tornado blew through, but those are the days you know they had the most fun. I love to look over and see them sitting beside each other on the floor playing with their toys and jabbering to each other. It's the sweetest thing.


-Love. As I said before they really do play together and most of the time, they have fun doing it. They also want to kiss each other first thing when they wake up and last thing before they go to sleep. One notices when the other is crying and goes over to try and coddle/kiss/pat to make it better. They also really notice when the other is not around or in another part of the house--if they aren't right near each other they call back and forth for each other in their own language just to keep tabs. Just today they spontaneously hugged each other. I just love watching them interact.

~Nora Grayce Burns ~

Nora's my itty-bity princess. She is the girliest girl there ever was. She grabs anything that even resembles a necklace or bracelet and layers them on. I've looked up before and seen her walking around the house with toy links on her arms and a measuring tape wrapped around her neck. She LOVES a purse. She already has 3 of her own and one is a Vera! She slides them up her arm and walks around with her hand in the air to make sure they won't fall off and its not unusual to see her carrying all 3 purses and her easter basket all at once on the same arm. I have to watch out for her to get near mine because inevitably i will be missing my check card or military ID when i need it most! She also loves to sit with me in the morning and do makeup and hair. she watches intently and tries to do it all herself. Such a big girl.

What Nora loves more than accessories and pretties are her babies. She has a couple of favorites at the moment. One is a bath baby that we have at bath time and then i take it with us when we go to the pool and beach. They other baby is a precious moments angel given to her by her Mamaw Carol. Nora loves this baby to death and it goes almost everywhere we go. She is always carrying "Baby" on her hip or on her shoulder while patting its back and saying "aw". Really, where does she get this stuff from?


Nora is still high drama. Everything is a big deal...excitements, to owies, to getting in trouble. She can turn on the tears in under a second. I truly believe one day should could make us some good money as an actress. I just roll my eyes and walk away sometimes so i can laugh and not let her see me.

Lastly she has started to notice/communicate with me when she needs a diaper change. She whines when its dirty, runs to the bag to get a new diaper and then many times wants to help me wipe and put a new diaper on. These are great first signs to start with potty training, so that will definitely be on the agenda in the coming months. One baby diaper-free sounds good to me!

~Holden Reece Burns ~

Holden is my sweet, rowdy, curious kid. One minute he's loving on me and the next minute he's yelling at the top of his lungs. He rough and tumble and full of giggles and can stare you down until your are downright uncomfortable.


Holden really seems to like music. He always sways or claps when music is on, he lights up whenever i sing him a song and often I will catch him in the car clapping to the radio--a few times on beat even! He loves to drum on anything he can, play the xylophone, and carry this radio toy around that sings kid songs over and over again.

The kid LOVES him some cookies. He gets it honestly, with some sweet-toothed grandparents. I love to tell the story that in the grocery store one day i had just gone down the last aisle and just kind of said out loud, but to myself, that I guess I got everything, and Holden looks straight up at me and says, "cookies?" . Now i'm sure it was just a coincidence--but it was awesome, and we headed straight to the cookie aisle to make sure he had his cookies!


Holden is still brave as ever. He would walk right into the pool if i would let him. When in the parking lot and getting the kids into the car, i always have to do him first because he would run off and touch all the cars, where as Nora will stay put and "touch our car" the way she's supposed to. He will go to anyone, talk to anyone--especially a man. He isn't afraid of any animal yet. He walks right up to dogs 3 times his size and starts "not-so-gently" petting them. He goes full speed ahead 100% of the time and is always falling on his face because of it. He's always making my heart skip a beat while i try and get to him before he crashes or find where he went in the .2 seconds i looked away.

They really are great kids. i say it a lot, but really. i'm so very very blessed. It's been a wonderful 18 months and looking forward to all the months to come!

Happy Birthday Uncle Alex!

We hope you have a great day! Love you, Holden and Nora

Goodbye Brinkers!

Last Friday the twins and I joined the Williamses at Buffalo Wild Wings to say goodbye to the Brinkers before they left the island on Saturday. We had a great last evening together...wings, fried food, trivia, friends...really what more could anyone want? I just wish we weren't saying goodbye to our friends...

MB and Evan...don't you just love that smile? all of us...N is in my lap and H is hidden between Bethany and Bryan
Bethany and Kelsey doing a last dance together

this is right after H pinched Britta's bottom....such a ladies man! although prolly not the way to win over his future mother-in-law!

my sweet friends

We love you Britta!

this picture makes me sad. i held it together until this moment....i love the army and all the opportunities it offers us--but always having to say goodbye...to my husband, family, and friends...that's the hard part.

Good Luck at Fort Hoochie Coochie (Huachuca, AZ) Brinkers! Hope to see you again soon!

Pot Roast!

Elizabeth's 6th Grade Graduation

in Hawaii, 6th grade is a part of elementary school...and there's a graduation ceremony at the end of the 6th grade year, complete with a diploma! (halfway thru! 6 more years to go!) So the kiddos and i got up early, went to pick up some leis for our favorite grads, Elizabeth, Kelsey and Tatum, and then we headed to the school cafeteria to watch them walk across the stage. Of course it was super unusual weather this day complete with rain, hail, lightning, thunder and power flickerings! It was still a fun morning and as always good to be with all our friends!
The families with our favorite grads!

Movie Monday

one of the kiddos favorite new games!

There's No Place Like Bellows

There is never a day at Bellows Air Force Base that isn't gorgeous--even when the sky is grey and its cool and rainy, the colors that come off of the ocean are remarkable...just look. i'm gonna run the risk of tainting this beautiful post--but doesn't this picture of HRB remind you of Ace Ventura?

you know it does ;)

okay, back to the beach...

such a funny walker!

HRB's footsteps

Oh! I just love the beach!