Best Friends Reunited!

Awhile back we traveled to Toledo (where we lived for med school) to support some friends the Philbricks in the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis walk.

We of course took advantage to visit many old friends. When Madison was a little baby my friend Julie would watch her about every other week so I could work as a college advisor at a nearby high school. Madison and her little boy Cohen grew to be the cutest little friends and they were able to pick right up where they left off. It was so much fun to watch them play! Thanks to the Sacks for being such wonderful hosts and letting us stay at there house! It was great to stay up late, eat ice cream and laugh until tears came out at those funny comedy videos. Good times!

We were also able to visit our old home and wonderful neighbors Jenni and Steve! So many fun memories in that house. I loved the ten minute walk to the Zoo, Walbridge park, the river, Wixey Bakery, Lickety Split, the train shop.... and so many more things within a minutes walk. Sigh, good times in Toledo.

Letter from Madison

For the several months Madison has had the best nursery leaders imagineable. Well, rumor has it that they are being released so Madison wanted to write a note to them to say thank you. Below is Madison's letter as transcribed word for word.

Brothers and Sister Burnett,

Thank you for being my lovely teachers. Thank you for the nice long activities. Thank you for teaching about Heavenly Father, Jesus and heaven. Thank you loving friends coloring activity. Thank you loving kind, as pretty as rainbows, birthday parties, all around outside! Thank you for loving everyone at church. Thank you for being my wonderful teacher at church. Thank you for teaching us about Jesus, the animals and the pink hammer. Thank you for giving me the purple treat. Thank you for singing some songs. Thank you for giving me some crackers and snacks. Thank you for having a nice snack. Thank you for being my teacher. I love you!

More South Carolina!

South Carolina!

Here are a few of the pictures from our vacation in May! More storries and pictures to come!

Funny Videos

These are some fun videos of the girls yesterday. In the first video Madison is pretending to sing hymns. She made up all the words and must be singing them how they sound to her when we sing in church.

In the second video Emerie is showing off her dance moves. One of her favorite things to do is to swing her left arm back and forth. Towards the end of the video Madison is also demanding attention and the girls have a little dance off. Also in the second video Madison "puts her hands together and runs like this..." Often when we are walking to the park she tells us to put our hands together "like this and run". She mostly will ask Jake to do it and it's really funny to watch because it looks so silly. Madison however is very serious about it. Where did she get this idea? The only thing I can think is this her interpretation of watching people run around the track at the park.

The last video is Madison reading her nursery rhyme book. She doesn't know how to read but just does a great job at memorizing the words. Emerie was trying to climb on my lap and be apart of the story time so the video is a little bit bumpy:) Funny girls!

Emerie all grown up!

I can't believe Emerie is walking and talking and so grown up! Here are a few pictures of her growing up and showing us her personality! She is such a joy in our family and we all love her so much!

Emerie Turns One!

On April 15th Emerie turned one year old! She had lots of fun opening presents, playing with friends and eating yummy cake! Emerie is such a sweet little girl and is learning new things every day! She is so happy in the morning when she wakes up and looks at you with her pretty blue eyes and big smile. When Madison comes into Emerie's room in the morning she imitates me and says to Emmie, "Well hello sweetheart, how are you! Did you have a good sleep!" It's so cute to hear Madison talk in her high pitch "mommy" voice. Emerie just loves it.

Emerie has been walking for over a month now and loves to go to the playground. She likes the slide but isn't so sure about the swings yet. Some of her favorite things to say are, mom, mom, mom, mom... and a few other fun phrases. She loves to say, up, hi, hi daddy, thank you, share (she will scream share at Madison). Madison has taught her the word mine and no! She can say kitty, and make a few other animal names and sounds. She will experiment with most words. It's such a fun age! She is learning so many things so fast. Emerie loves to snuggle and will give very cute hugs. She says ohhh and lays her head on your shoulder when she snuggles. Emerie also loves to eat and sometimes seems like a bottomless pit. She lets us know by her sound effects when she loves what she is eating. Emerie also known as Ems, Emmie, or Madison's favorite, Emsie, can be quite the tease. She has learned to defend herself against Madison and she also knows what will make her mad. It's fun to see them play together and be cute sisters. Madison can pick on her but she also makes sure that she is taken care of. Emerie loves to imitate everything that her sister does, the good and the bad:) She also loves to climb and I recently hid our little rocking chair because she likes to stand on it and rock. What a little daredevil!

She had a fun birthday party with lots of friends over to play and watch her dig into her cake. It took her a minute to get used to the texture but soon she was loving it! We love our Emmie!

Summer Fun!

I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog but here is a fun quick post in the meantime. Emerie absolutely loves Popsicles! I think the first time I have seen her throw a tantrum is when I tried to help her with her Popsicle and she thoughts I was taking it away! Emerie is a sweetheart unless you mess with her Popsicle:)

Easter Egg Hunt

At Halloween, Madison didn't think walking door to door and asking for candy was strange, and she was happy to have a jolly old man with a white beard leave candy in her stocking, so of course she welcomed sitting on a giant bunny's lap and looking for plastic eggs with candy inside! So many fun holidays with lots of yummy treats! Madison have ended up with one egg in her basket without little coaxing from mom. I think she ended up with five or six:) Why look for more eggs when there is candy ready to be eaten in the first one you find!

Emerie loved putting the plastic eggs back together and tasting pieces of Madison's candy when mom wasn't looking. The girls looked too cute in their matching shirts! Madison loved swinging with her friends on the swing and sharing candy. We are lucky to have met so many great friends out hear!

Helping Dad

One of Madison's favorite things to do is to go outside and help Jake in the garden. Especially if it involves water. She loves to water the plants, get out her shovel and dig in the dirt. Emerie was able to join in the fun at a safe distance (she is in the dirt eating stage). They have so much fun outside and Madison gets so excited at every flower and "popcorn" tree that she sees. She sings the classic primary song about "popcorn popping on the apricot tree". The other day she asked if we could eat the trees and I explained that they were just flowers that looked like popcorn.