Christian Andrew Burke

Well Christian turns 7 today. I met Christian and Daniel 4 years ago almost to the day and I can't believe how he has grown. He is smart, funny, kind, athletic, hilarious, sweet, and the best big brother. It has been fun to watch him grow into his own personality. The thing I think I love the most about him is how he is so friendly and once you have met him you are his new best friend. Daniel is the same way and it is so impressive to me how they can find the good in everyone. I thank my Heavenly Father daily that I have been given the opportunity to be apart of this great family for eternity. I am so lucky that from the beginning he completely excepted me and I hope that we will never have any big issues with the fact that I am not his Mother. Here are some photos through the years. Happy Birthday Christian I love you!

GO PATRIOTS

We are hoping that the PATS make history on Saturday and have the perfect season 16 - 0.

Christmas

This Christmas was the best Christmas I have ever had, I don't know if it was because of Ryan or the fact that we didn't go anywhere on Christmas day but we had a terrific time. Ryan did great and loved ripping the paper and my family all came over on Christmas Eve so on Christmas day it was just us. I love this Holiday because we get to do things with family, eat good food and give gifts. Last week we made a Gingerbread house and Christian had so much fun.

This is Ryan ripping the paper and of course trying to eat it

Here is Christian and Ryan in their new PJ's

Daniel's Mom made us a blanket that has the Red Sox's on one side and the Angels on the other side, don't we both look lovely it is 6:30 in the morning and we had been up since about 4 because of the terrible wind blowing things down outside. Daniel's mom also made the boys Patriots jackets that are so cute and Christian loved that they matched.

This is Christian playing with his toys like 5 minutes after we finished opening them. He loved all his gifts and he was so cute with Ryan and wanted me to take their picture together after every gift. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Parties, Parties and More Parties

I love this time of year when we get together with Friends and Family. Today we had breakfast with Santa at church and then we had Christian's Birthday Party. His birthday is not until the 28th but we always try and celebrate it early in the month since Christmas and New Years are crazy. He had such a good time and we had a wonderful turn out. Ryan loved being outside and watching all the kids, until about halfway through the party when he realized that he hadn't taken a very good nap and he was tired. Christian absolutely loved all the gifts he was given and loved playing at the park with all his friends. It was a great day!

Playing around

I love it when Dan plays with Ryan because he gets him to do things that he will not do for me. Like tonight Ryan sat in his Bumbo for about twenty minutes and played the piano. Ryan has not sat in his chair for about two months for me, he just cries because he wants me to hold him. So it was fun to see him playing tonight. I can't believe how fast he has grown he will be 8 months old in a week and I just love to see his personality and stubborness come out. Also Christian decided that he thought it looked fun to have a broken leg so he put on my Dad's boot and walked around for about an hour pretending to have a broken leg. It was cute, I just hope he doesn't need to ever really have one.

I can't believe how similar their expressions are! They are both very pleased with themselves.

Sorry the Video is so dark, I guess we didn't have on enough lights.

Needed Alone Time

Ok so Ryan is about to be 8 months old and I rarely go out with out him. This weekend was a huge exception!!!! Friday night I got to go shopping alone. It was really great to be able to just walk around and not worry about children. I went to Mervyn's which ended up being way to crowded but it was still alot of fun. Then on Saturday night Dan and I went to an Adult only Christmas party and had blast. It was only the second night we have had without Ryan. Now we have had a lot of offers from family to watch him so we could go to dinner and stuff but since we both work we never really felt like we needed it. Well after being together with out the kids I see why people do it so often. We did spend way to much time there but it was great. We were the first to arrive at 6:30 and one of the last to leave around 11:30 (thanks mom for making it possible). Part of the reason we were there so long is because it was at the Garces' home and Dan has been having Nick withdrawals because we haven't been able to have them over while my Dad is staying with us and Nick has been working on Sunday's so Dan has missed him.(He is going to kill me for posting this) Anyways we had a great time and it was so nice to be without the kids. I think from now on I will take my family up on their offers to go without the kids. Also on Saturday Christian had his last football game and had a pizza party. Dan and I each got a gift card from the coach for being the team mom and the assistant coach which was really unexpected and so nice. It was a fun season but I am glad it is over. Next year Christian wants to play tackle football so we will see how that goes. Also yesterday the Pats won again so it was a great day at my house. Here are some photos from Christian's last football game and party. We got Ryan a new hat since it was so cold on Saturday and I just love him in it.

Patriots Fans

Ok so this post is for my husband! Family Night tonight was spent of course watching the Patriots and Dan was in his usual Patriots attire and he had Christian wear his outfit to school to bring good luck. It was a very close game and most of the second half I didn't want to be near Dan thank goodness they won or it would be a tough week. This is what I found after I had finished cleaning up dinner at the beginning of the game.

Aren't they the cutest Patriots Fans ever?

Ryan learned to clap on Thanksgiving so of course Dan got him to cheer tonight.

I love these boys!

Girls

So this week my Sister in law gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Madison June Garthe. Ryan has been sick so Christian and I went to see her and Christian wanted to take her home. He loved her so much and has now decided that it would be ok for us to have a girl. Before this he wanted us to have 6 boys so it was so fun. She is so cute. I am so glad that both baby and Mommy are feeling great! Love ya Jess!