D: what kind of Popsicle do you have Eli?
E: flavor
D: yes, what kind of flavor?
E: flavor, that’s what kind of Popsicle I have.

This morning’s offering (while getting shoes on to go to daycare) was a bit more strange:

When I get bigger I’m gonna be a girl and have a baby in my tummy. Noah will get in my tummy and he’ll be small like baby Caleb.

Caleb is a new baby that belongs to our friends who live a few blocks away. This evening my niece, Alexis, stole the show. After dinner she was washing her hands and splashed a couple drops of water on her dress and proceeded to sob. While doing so, she yelled out:

I’m melting!

I’d hate to see what happens if she were to get caught in the rain. The crazy thing about this stuff is for every item I post here, they’ve said 30 weird and hilarious things that I didn’t manage to write down.

Over the past 4 years, our family has been greatly blessed by Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, MN. In July of 2008, during a routine ultrasound, we learned that our unborn baby boy had something called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS – left side of his heart is too small to be functional). On November 11th, Eli Mathias, was born – our miracle baby. He had his first open-heart surgery at 10 days old. Eli had his second open-heart surgery at 5 months old. He had his third (and hopefully final) open-heart surgery last summer, at 2.5 years old. Between surgeries, doctor visits and heart catherizations, Eli has spent several months throughout his short life at Children’s Hospital.

Today, Eli is 3.5 years old and has a zest for life, he loves to watch movies, help out around the house and outside, play baseball and talk your ear off. We thank God every day for the miracle that Eli is and for the joy he brings to our lives.

Our friends, The Porta’s, have a little boy named, Elijah, who also has a heart defect which has required surgeries and visits to Children’s. Together we have created a team called, “Double E” to raise funds in honor of our boys.

We ask for your participation in a variety of ways – join our team, make a donation or say a prayer for the families at Children’s.

Below is the race information and our web address. On our website you can make a donation or join our team. We would LOVE to see as many people possible come help us raise funds and raise awareness for pediatric cardiovascular care at Children’s of Minnesota.

Come support “Double E” and Children’s Hospital of Minnesota on Saturday, June 23rd at 9:30am at Father Hennepin Bridge in Minneapolis.

Elijah Porta and Eli Burlingame are amongst the many thousands who have received care and love from the doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital.

Visit: heartbeat5000.kintera.org/doublee
for more details, to join our team or make a donation.

Thank you so much!!

Dave has gotten most of the yard raked and ‘cleaned’ up. I’m ready to do some landscaping, planting and gardening. We bought some landscaping stones last fall to put in along the sidewalk and we put most of those stones in last week and hope to finish it up this week. It looks wonderful, certainly makes the front of the house much nicer looking. Below is a picture of it in the partial stages. I hope to get a picture up in its finished stage soon.

The garden location will be moving this year to a different location. We are moving it to the back, center of the yard. It will get more direct sunlight, which will hopefully help it to grow better this year. We also need to dig down into the ground to lay some netting under the soil to help prevent critters from eating the roots of my plants and killing them. Another garden biggie this year is going to be putting up a fence around it to keep out other critters. Not a whole lot survived in my garden last year due to critters. Hopefully this year will be more bountiful.

In other good news…we’ve made some major headway with Eli’s potty training success. He has very few accidents and is doing a good job of telling us when he has to go potty (and sometimes even poop). He has been getting A LOT of M&M’s. Each time Eli gets on the potty, Noah points to the M&M’s and says, “M”. Noah gets an M&M each time Eli gets 1 (sits on the potty), 2 (goes potty) or 3 (goes poop). Lots of M&M’s in our house right now. Speaking of…we need to buy more.

In some more other good news…Noah is almost completely OFF his need for his pacifier. Sometimes during the night we’ll give it to him to help him fall back asleep. Otherwise he doesn’t need it for falling asleep at nap time and bedtime any more. Whoohoo!!

These are two big praises to my prayer requests. :-)

Good to know he used his manners!!

It was bittersweet, sad and fun. I was able to share a lot of memories of Mom with Sarah. We did some good laughing, lots of reminiscing, lots of sorting and lots of ‘goodwilling’. Dad wasn’t around much of the weekend, which in hindsight, was probably good for the both of us. Sarah and I went through everything that was stored in the two bedrooms, mine and Brianna’s old rooms. We made a good pile of stuff to possibly sell at a garage sale, bagged up lots of clothes. We started a few tubs of items to save for the future – stuff I eventually want and stuff to save for Dad.

I asked Dad what items he wanted to keep for decorating his new house. He said he didn’t know what he wanted for decorating, I told him that since I had his entire house decorated in my mind (I’m a woman, I can’t help it) that I would only keep the essentials. He just laughed at me. :-)

It was a very bittersweet weekend. It is yet another transition we have to deal with in this healing process. I know Dad needs and wants to be out of a house that has so many memories (good and bad) but it is also the house that I grew up in, have many memories (good and bad) and find comfort in calling it

This morning he’s filling up the ice cream buckets and moving his toys from one spot to another. Now that the toys are dumped out on top of the toy box, he’s using the bucket as a chair. When I think about it, I’m not that different from him. I enjoy sorting things; it gives me great satisfaction to see things organized and put away. I also derive great joy from finding new uses for things. It’s funny how similar we are despite the difference in age.

SHAVING CREAM FUN!!!!!

Evan

Messy hands!!!

Eli

Playing in the shaving cream.

Ewwey gooey squishy!!!

Even Noah had fun. Although we decided next time to give him whipped cream, he tried eating the shaving cream and didn’t think it was yummy.

Eli and his messy hands!!

Look at me!!!

Ahhhh!!!! Messy Alexis!!

Alexis let me put her hair in pigtails. So stinkin’ cute!!!!

Messy fun!!!!

I’m a boy! I’m messy! I’m lovin’ it!!

Alexis drawing pictures.

After our messy fun and a bath, they are settled on the couch, in their jammies, eating popcorn. So cute!!! It was fun a really fun evening.

Taco-Stuffed Pepper Cups

Ingredients:

• 3 medium green peppers
• 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• 2 tbsp chopped onion
• 1 can (16oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp taco seasoning
• 1/4 c. fat-free sour cream
• 1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
• 1/4 c. chopped tomato

Directions:

1. Preheat  oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large skillet, cook the turkey and onion over medium heat until meant is no longer pink; drain.
3. Cut peppers in half, clean out the seeds.
4. Stir in beans, tomato sauce and taco seasoning; bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 mins until headed through.
6. Spoon into peppers.
7. Place in an ungreased baking dish.
8. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until peppers are tender.
9. Top with sour cream, cheese and tomato.

Happy New Year!!

                Every year around this time, I often find myself saying, “wow, the year went by so fast!!” Do you find yourself saying that too? I decided to not push myself to get our Christmas letter out before Christmas. I’m learning to slow down and prioritize more. God has given us many challenges this year but has also blessed us, very richly!!

Dave had an eventful year. He started off the year working full-time for FedEx and now, has spent the past 4 months home with the boys. He is truly enjoying his time at home with the boys. Dave had surgery in July to repair a broken jaw he sustained during a softball game. He was on a liquid diet for six weeks: not fun! He has also kept himself busy with his band, My Fall Lament. They had a few gigs this fall; unfortunately, I haven’t been able to attend any yet. They are typically during the week and late at night. He has also spent a lot of time playing for the worship team at church—a truly blessed time. Dave and I took time to read the Five Love Languages, and now know how to better serve and love each other. He has been busy filling my ‘love tank’ by doing a lot of small projects around the house. Our laundry/storage room is almost done (in an unfinished way) and the downstairs bedroom is nearly done.

Eli turned three on November 11. My baby is three!!!! He is so talkative, imaginative, busy, playful, loving, stubborn and tenderhearted. Eli has transitioned into big brotherhood very well. He does a great job of caring for and playing with his little brother. But he can be a bit of a stinker as well. He has been known to hit Noah, sit on Noah and yell at Noah…all the things big brothers tend to do. Eli had his third open-heart surgery this summer. We spent two weeks in the hospital waiting for the ‘all clear’ from the doctors. While in the hospital Eli ate A LOT of chips and salsa, fought taking his medication, played with his cars, took some naps, went for A LOT of walks and watched A LOT of movies. In looking at him now, you would never know he had open-heart surgery 5 months ago. His color is fantastic, his saturation levels are in the high 90’s and he has energy…A LOT of it.

Noah turned one on November 15^th. My baby is one!!! He is so much fun to watch grow up. He is so busy, so cuddly, so talkative (lots of babbling, mom, dada, up), learning to sign (more, all done, milk, eat) and so sweet. Noah has mastered the younger brother ‘annoying me’ tactics very well. He always wants to be by Eli, do whatever Eli is doing and more often than not, Eli doesn’t want him around. Noah is very curious and can be helpful…sometimes. He does a great job of taking stuff out of something, but will then try to put it back. Just this week Noah took off walking. He’s been taking a few steps here and there, walking along stuff but now he’s walking! He’s sweet and I enjoy loving on him as often as I can.

I’ve been doing alright. I had an interesting year at work; I’m still work for CESA #11. I was partially laid off but then reinstated back to full-time a few months later. I dropped several districts due to caseload changes and travel a lot less this year than in the past. It’s been crazy but I still truly enjoy my job. Dad, Brianna and I celebrated Mom’s one-year anniversary by having a picnic in the cemetery with her. It was a beautiful fall day and we had a wonderful time being together and remembering Mom. As we were packing up, Brianna said, “That was fun. We should do this every year.” Dad and I agreed. I’ve had a tough year emotionally but I keep reminding myself to lean on God’s grace and to have hope in Him. It’s been a challenge, but I know He’ll bring me through it.

As a family we took a vacation back in February. We went to Puerto Vallarta, MX with Dave’s parents. Just an FYI to all you travelers out there, NEVER fly internationally via standby. It seriously felt like the trip that wouldn’t end. It took us 2 days to get there and 2 days to get home. Despite travel horrors, we had a wonderful time relaxing in the sun, lots of pool time and lots of Grandma and Grandpa time.

Please follow us on our blog, www.theburlingames.com. I intend to do a better job of updating our blog on a more regular basis with news, information and pictures of my sweet boys.

We hope and pray you all have a truly wonderful New Year!!

Our family Christmas

Eli is opening his new puzzle.

Noah being his cute self! He wasn’t sure what to think about opening presents, but he had fun nonetheless.

My boys opening their presents.

Burlingame Christmas

Alexis and Eli helping Grandma make dinner rolls.

Nate and his sweet kiddos – Evan and Alexis.

Alexis opening her present (she got a doll bed to go with her doll that she got for her birthday).

Dave and Noah watching the present opening extravaganza.

Eli opening one of his many presents.

Everyone helped Owen open his really big present (it was a kitchen play set).

Dave put Beth’s kitchen mittens on Noah, he wasn’t sure what to think of them.

Grandpa and his boys watching Star Trek.

We had a wonderful holiday season. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the Paulson Christmas gathering to add to this post. That was a ‘fail’ on my part. Next year!