all about burke

Burke has been busy this week! He is so close to finishing up his Wolf requirements for Cub Scouts and will be able to get it and some arrow points in January. He spent some time learning about tools with my Dad when they were visiting, and was so excited to get this birdhouse kit in the mail this week (thanks Grandpa!). He put it together that very night and did a great job.

Here it is hanging in our backyard. Burke is hoping that a bird family will be our visitors this month:

Burke has started piano lessons (long overdue) with his favorite teacher and person (his Dad). He is doing really well and likes creating his own songs too.

He has worked really hard the last few weeks on a research paper and project about Ferdinand Magellan. I always enjoy learning new things along with Burke. He was really excited to learn how to use a needle and thread and sewed this boat by himself.

Burke loves to learn new things. Rob and I have noticed how much happier he is when he is challenged, and keeping busy working on new skills and accomplishments.

We also attended a pizza party yesterday to celebrate the end of his soccer season. His coaches had great things to say about Burke's good attitude and what a good listener he is.

Keep up the good work, Burke!

"like Hewitt"

These two are pretty good buds. Tosh always lights up when the older boys get home from school and can't wait to get outside to play. Lately he has been trying to dress like Hewitt (which usually means changing into shorts and taking his shirt off). Tosh seemed somewhat upset this afternoon and came up to me and said, "I want hair like Hewitt has!" We talked about it for a little bit and he cheered up when I suggested that we could try to straighten his curls. I did my best (even tried my straightener after blow-drying it) and the result was pretty funny. Here are his brothers' reactions when we went outside to show them the new look:


I kept thinking that Tosh was wearing a wig!

What a funny boy (shown below wearing the "Super Hewitt" cape):

chop chop

I decided it was time for a change and chopped my hair off this week. I was a little shocked at the amount of hair on the floor...an entire cat pretty much.

It's already saving me time in the shower and is much easier to do.

Burke and Hewitt had their last soccer games of the season on Saturday. It will be nice to have a break until we start up again in January. Rob caught this great photo of Burke in action on the soccer field. He scored another goal yesterday and received an Orange Crush soda (5th award of the season) for "crushing" it during the game. I have really liked Burke's coach and we will have the same one next season.

It has warmed up from last week which I really like, honestly. I think my blood has thinned. Hewitt was wearing moon boots with shorts yesterday. Always a good look. Today after church he took off his white shirt and is only wearing a sweater vest with a cap. He looks like a Newsie.

Having a year supply of food storage has been a goal of ours for a long time (like for 11 years). We've always had a fairly good stock in our pantry, but we decided to go for it and order a bunch of food that will be good for 20+ years. I have to say that it feels really nice to check this off the list of things we've wanted to do. The boys helped load in the boxes, and Burke told Rob that "this kind of work is way better than usual housework. It's fun!" We still have lots of organizing to do, to find a place for everything, but we are feeling grateful for the large pantry in our laundry room and for lots of storage space under our stairs.

We pulled the remainder of our baby stuff out of the closet to get ready to give to Rob's sister. Liv was so funny playing with the toys and lounging in the bouncy seat.

I took Liv to the doctor twice this week. Once for a double ear infection, and again for her 18 month well check. She's had a growth spurt! She's 21 pounds and 31 inches (up to the 30th percentile from the 5th). I've heard that if you double a girl's height at 18 months it will determine her full grown height (and for boys you double at 24 months). According to that, Liv will only be 5 feet 2 inches (I am just under 5'4"). We'll have to wait and see.

Burke just brought home this poem that he wrote at school:

Bio Poem

I Burke,
A skinny, tall, and smart boy
Sibling of Hewitt
Lover of math, desserts, sports
Who feels hungry
Who needs ice cream, brownies, and cookies
Who fears heights, and robbers
Who would like to see an alien, a time machine, and Spain
Am a resident of Chandler, Arizona
Welcome you to my poem

I guess we really do need to feed him more...

Tosh helped me decorate the Christmas tree and put up the other decorations yesterday. When he came across one of our nativities, he was really concerned that Jesus would be sleeping on hay and not in a nice bed. It was really neat to sit and tell him the story of Jesus' birth. He was so wide-eyed and sweet. He loves to play with our Fisher-Price nativity under the tree and look up at the lights and ornaments.

Happy December!

hewitt's latest

Hewitt hasn't been writing as many books as he used to. I think it's because he is reading more and more. He wrote a book this weekend that was pretty fantastic (in my humble opinion) and I wanted to record it. Here it is:

Something is Wrong With the Days

Sunday is sweaty.

Monday is a mummy!

Tuesday is terrible.

Wednesday is a whale.

Thursday is out of thread.

Friday is fine.

Saturday is sad.

The end

Other books (as in other books in this series, with cover illustrations listed in the back):
Fine Baby Monday
Old Sunday
Look at Tuesday!
Bye Days
Hello Days

thanksgiving recap

We had a nice Thanksgiving week, even though it was a bit different than expected. Those of you that have been following this blog know that my mom has been sick. She felt well enough to run a couple of errands with me on Monday morning, but by that evening became very ill and we ended up taking her to the emergency room after dinner. My brother Mark and his family arrived at our home while we were still waiting in the ER late that night. My mom ended up needing to stay in the hospital the entire week and was released yesterday (Saturday). I have kept it together fairly well this week, but have broken down a couple of times over the stress and worry of my mom being sick, and not being able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. I am however happy to say that she has finally been feeling better and acting more like herself today. She even helped embroider my Christmas stockings this afternoon.

It was fun spending time with my brother's family this week. His oldest daughter turned 16 on Tuesday, so I arranged for Rob and me to go on a "double date" with a 16 year old boy in our ward at church. He is a really friendly and great kid and we took them out for ice cream and then came home and played some games here with the rest of the family.

We went for a hike on Wednesday and most of the crew spent time in the hot tub. It has really cooled off here. It was the first time we have ever seen steam coming from the water. Here is Mark, Katherine and Rob on our hike:


Rob and me with the view of the never-ending south-east valley:
The kids always have so much fun with cousins. Hewitt decorated a "Flat Stanley" that his cousin brought and they did all sorts of things with him (jumping on the tramp, took him to the park, etc.). I didn't take many photos this week, but here are several great ones that I "stole" from my niece's camera:
Liv loved the attention that she got from her teenage cousins, and I LOVED all of the help! My nieces are such cuties. My cousin Bob was able to join us for Thanksgiving dinner and it was just about perfect except of course that my mom was missing. A friend gave me this idea to make these little turkeys and so my nieces helped me make these with little name cards for place settings. They were very simple and so cute!

I snapped this shot of all of the cousins after turkey dinner and just before putting Liv to bed:

It's always fun to host a party. Thanks for coming Dunnings!

Rob's birthday was on Thursday and it got slightly overlooked with all of the other things going on. I was a horrible wife and totally forgot about his presents until after the kids were in bed and the adults were in the middle of playing games on Thursday evening (so he opened them on Friday)! Happy Birthday, Rob. I really do love you. :)

I took these photos of Liv and Rob after church today. She was giving everyone kisses before heading down for a nap.
It is back to school and work tomorrow. My parents are planning to drive home to Utah on Tuesday as long as my mom is feeling well enough... Happy Thanksgiving!

photo highlights of the week(end)

I love how Liv was sitting at the piano with her legs crossed:

On Saturday after soccer games, we joined our stake for a "Day of Thanksgiving" and went to Mesa to walk around the temple grounds (and for lunch at a nearby church). The kids enjoyed climbing trees outside the church building and being outside on a beautiful (and windy) fall day.

Tosh has felt a little under the weather this weekend (has a bit of a runny nose and cough)

After returning home from the temple, we took the kids to a nearby park:

These two are always pretending something or other...

Burke was very focused on practicing some soccer skills with Rob

My parents finished their mission on Thursday, and arrived from Texas just before dinner this evening. The kids were outside waiting for them when they pulled up (my younger boys had been playing "pirate" and that is why they are shirtless).

We were all so happy to see Grandma and Grandpa!