One of my resolutions post-Nolan was to simplify my life by reducing the number of volunteer commitments I have (an ongoing problem for me). With that in mind, after four years of working with the Community Leadership Development Program through the local Chamber of Commerce (a year taking the class and three years on the planning committee) today was my last day to coordinate. I'm a little sad about it, since I have really enjoyed being a part of the program, but it remains one more thing that takes time away from work and home - which is enough to balance at this point! To ease any sadness, I chose the "Travel, tourism and agriculture" day as my last one so that I could spend it touring a brew pub, a local olive oil mill and wine tasting... not a bad way to say good-bye!

We took off Friday afternoon for a weekend with family and friends in Kirkland & Bellevue, WA. The typically four hour drive took about 6+ hours with stops for play-breaks and potty-breaks and we finally arrived around 9pm. The kids were so excited about seeing their cousins they managed to come alive and play 'til almost 11pm, which messed them up for most of the rest of the weekend. Oh well!
BIG THANKS to all of the people that hosted us this weekend.... Melissa for coffee, Kristi for water, Maureen & Karen for Sat. lunch and Sun. breakfast, Pat & Donnah for dinner and especially Chris, Tia and the kids for letting us base out of their house for a few nights. We had a great time and Carson is anxious to come back! After six more hours of driving and breaks today (although I can't complain about stops at Cabela's & Costco!) everyone is tucked in bed and sound asleep...

So for the last few days we've been repeatedly losing our son. It's not hard to guess where he is when he disappears - it's always the same place.
Out the dog door!
He discovered this little trick a week or so ago and has become completely enamored with it. So much so that we've had to start keeping the door closed, which has caused Bogart to perfect the art of wedging his nose between the slider and the dog door insert and sliding the real door open himself. (Which of course, defeats the purpose.) We've also had to cover our little concrete back porch in the old patio cushions (and one very ugly old couch cushion from our trailer) in order to stop Nolan's fall when he dives head first out the dog door. (Mom & Dad had a hard time accepting the scraps and blood flow coming from his nose. He, on the other hand, apparently thought it was worth it!)
So we've dubbed him "the tank" whose ongoing mission is apparently to charge forward at all times. (Oh, and to carry as many things as possible out with him... is that my sweeper??)

Carson caught his first frog last weekend when he was out for a walk with Daddy. Mr. Frog spent the night in our fish tank until the next day when we could put some water in the swimming pool and really let Carson play with him. He was pretty darn excited about the whole thing (Carson - not the frog), as you can see from the smile plastered on his face in both this video, and this one as well. After a very social day (for a frog), Mr. Frog was last seen hopping towards the back fence croaking, "Freedom!!"

A freak afternoon windstorm brought down all of the cherry blossoms on our street this afternoon covering the cul-de-sac in a "dusting" of pink petals that Carson dubbed "snow". He played outside with his truck for a couple hours running through the "snow drifts" and throwing "snow balls".
It was beautiful - and more importantly - it felt like spring!

 

You wouldn't believe the money we save on soap this way...!

Apparently I'm regressing because when Scott asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I finally settled on Enchanted Forest! So we packed the kids up and spent a day with Alice in Wonderland and the Three Bears. It was perfect! Pictures from the day are posted here. Once we were home Daddy took over the kitchen and produced and amazing dinner of Greek Cinnamon chicken, which I highly recommend.


But the real news of the day was the arrival of our newest nephew, Andrew "Andy" Layne Pankion - on my birthday!! Sheri and Michael called at 5 o'clock this morning to share the news that Andy had arrived at 3:01am Alaska time and everyone was doing fine. He was 19", 7lbs & 2oz. Welcome to the world little Andy! I will gladly pass my birthday over to you and willingly give up having them myself:)
  

Pretty much every night when we get home (unless it’s REALLY raining) we take a stroll to “baby park”, which is a short walk/bike ride from our house. There is a network of paths that run behind the houses in the neighborhoods around here and forms what we call “the walking path”.

It’s nice because you only have to worry about cars when the path crosses the street and there are a few parks and things, like "baby park", along the way that provide opportunities for breaks and distraction. (“Baby park” differentiates the little park on the walking path from “Big park” which is Discovery Meadows. Big park is also technically in walking distance but it wears poor Carson out so badly the trip home can be less than enjoyable. In general though, McMinnville’s parks ROCK!) Carson usually rides his bike to “baby park”, Scott and I walk and Nolan rides in his stroller and eats Cheerios. Sometimes we manage to go straight to the park, and sometimes we get distracted by really important things – like throwing things down the big storm drain.

But we do arrive eventually and let the kiddos run around for a while… all three of them!

Carson came home with us on September 26, 2006 - which made him 9 months and 24 days old. Today Nolan is the same age!
So here's a little break-down on Carson and Nolan at 9 months and 24 days...

It was a great weekend in the Burke house! Saturday started out with one of my favorite activities - house demolition! Really, if you've never had a chance to hammer (or kick!) a hole through the wall just for fun you should add it to you list of things to do someday. I learned that when I took students to New Orleans to gut houses in 2006 and got a chance to tear out walls again yesterday with some friends who are remodeling their house in Dallas. Thanks Paula and Murray for letting us kick holes in your walls for a couple hours!

Scott's mom and sister arrived in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day hanging out with the kids, which involved tickle wars....

...serious banana eating (all eating is serious to Nolan)...



...and using sidewalk chalk to draw pictures and trace the kids...



...won't Carson be surprised to see his head...!