New Blog

Hello Blog friends...

I have a new blog in addition to our family blog.  It is a personal scripture study blog that I would love you to check out!  I need help figuring out what it all means.... 

http://asimpletonsscripturestudy.blogspot.com/

Weekend Stats

Happy Spring everyone....

Spring has sprung here in DC.  I have the allergies to prove it.  The weather has been great in between a few rain showers.  This weekend was fantastic.  I got a new cookbook at the library and found a surprising recipe that I HAD to try out.  It was for yogurt.  Yep folks that's right yogurt.  Now this was a mystery to me.  I had no clue what was in yogurt or how it was made.  But being married to a mediterranean we spend a lot of money on the (to me) disgusting curdled milk.  So I thought why not give it a go.  If I can make a big batch of yogurt for Adam at a low price why not.  So I began......  1/2 gallon of milk and 1/2 cup of store bought yogurt plus a few other ingredients.  Total time to make over 12 hours!!  Yes you read that right 12 HOURS!!!!  Not a lot of work except for every 4 hours adding heat or taking it off heat or draining.  So this morning I wake up hoping for a large batch of yogurt that my husband can swoon over and what did I get.....

less than 1 cup of disgusting milk that now looks like cottage cheese/cream cheese yogurt.  Why did I ever think that would work?  Oh well lesson learned...  Pay the money and save the time.   But to make up for it I made an awesome Garlic and Onion Roast for dinner tonight and it was DEEEElicious!! 

Other stats for this weekend... One hike for Emily and Adam, Three trips to 7-eleven to return a redbox, and Four wonderful Hallmark movies. 

Miles of Smiles....

Not much is new for us over here.  Emily and I went to North Carolina to see her cousin Jacob get baptized.  It was a fun weekend with the family.  I can't believe that Jake is eight already.   

Emma was a big helper with Emily.  We were having so much fun that I forgot to take more pictures....

Other then that we are just trying to make it day by day.  Emily has the best smile and loves to make her mommy laugh....  Here is her week in pictures:

Emily is still obsessed with her tongue.  I keep thinking we will move on from this phase but no...

The weather this week was awesome!  Emily finally got to go play outside.  Next stop... maybe a park?!?!

Ugh I am so jealous of her when I see this picture!  I wish I could just plop down and sleep during the day.   Oh to be a baby again!!

I mean come on!!  How much cuter can you get!  She has learned this week that she can clap her hands all by herself.  A few other things she is working on is waving bye bye, putting food in her mouth, pulling herself up to a stance, and she has learned to give five!!  Busy week.....

What is up for next week?  I think it is about time for those teeth to come through...  maybe not.

Pictures... Pictures.... Pictures....

As promised (Jeez LINA!!) here are some adorable pictures of Emily and our new house. Sorry for all you FBer's most have been posted there as well.

This is our new house...

And this is our backyard. Not so much a yard as a river. Our house is like a cabin in the middle of the city. It is great. Nice and quiet. Very different from the UWS in Manhattan!!

Here are some of Emily. She is growing so fast. Sometimes I think it is right before my eyes.

Like her mommy she LOVES sugar... mmmm.... cake!!

She enjoys reading her books. She has her favorite's already. Her most favorite right now is The Greedy Dog. Kind of fitting since she lives with one just like in the book.

Emily is the luckiest girl in the world. She is only 8 months old and has her very own pony!! AKA Rocky the giant dog. She laughs hysterically when her daddy chases around Rocky trying to get her on his back. I think she is laughing more at her dad then Rocky.

Emily is a funny girl. She loves to make us laugh. She is starting to learn if she can make us laugh then she gets to do pretty much what ever she wants. We are suckers for her big blue eyes!!

2010 so far....

Hello friends and family. It has been a long time since I have updated our blog. Big changes for us since the last post. We have moved from New York City to Washington, DC. So far it is going well. I have a new job at the British Embassy that I love. We are living in a big house with lots of room. Our luck has not been so good since we have moved. Our engine went kaput in our Jeep and is still being replaced. And as I am sure you have heard we have had a couple of inches of snow here over the past week. I think at our house we have about 50 inches. On the good side I got to spend two days snowed in at home being lazy watching TV all day... Best day ever!!

Emily is getting so big. She is 8 months old now and getting cuter every day. She is very smiley and happy. It is funny to see her personality come out more and more. I am getting a little worried about the terrible two's and teenage years because I am afraid the little girl has inherited her dad's temper. Right now I think it is hilarious when she gets really mad but probably won't think so in about a year. She is sitting up on her own now but hasn't made it to the crawling stage yet. I am trying to stop her from trying because I dread the day I can't just put her in a corner and walk away... I mean WHAT?!?! I would never do that.... haha...

Hope all is well with everyone and have a Happy Valentine's Day!!
(Sorry no photos my work has blocked me from downloading them here. Will try again later at home)

Thanksgiving in the Countryside

Emily and I spent Thanksgiving in Ohio at my brother Josh's house with his family. My parents and other brother Dusty and his family came as well. Way to many Burke's in one house for my taste! haha just kidding...

It was a really fun weekend. Emily had endless kids to watch run past her all day long. She enjoyed Ely's endless energy. Her favorite turned out to be Adam (nephew not daddy). Everytime he talked to her she couldn't stop laughing. Her not so favorite... Josh. Not a shocker there. Everytime he talked she cried.

Emily's cousin Emma was a great helper. She read stories to her and wanted to hold her all the time. Emily was very spoiled.

We also made a visit to our good friend Chucky Cheese. Emily slept but woke to take some adorable pictures.
All in all it was a great Thanksgiving. Good food, good fun, and good family...well...... haha..

Thanks to Kristi for letting us crash her house. And thanks to josh for providing someone to make fun of all weekend!

What's been going on

It's been crazy busy for us these last few weeks. I am back at work and Emily is busy growing and growing. She has a doctor appointment coming up soon so it will be interesting to see how much bigger she has gotten in the past month. She feels about 18 lbs to me.

She has adjusted well to Daddy taking care of he during the day. Daddy is doing great! They have already started their Daddy daughter club that I am not allowed to join. Emily is rolling around more now and she started doing the best thing ever!! She can now hold her own bottle! She still hasn't mastered it quite yet and refuses to do it when she feels too tired but she tries really hard to keep it in her mouth.

We have some big changes coming up in the next month. We are moving to Washington DC. Adam has had a long standing job offer so we have been waiting for the perfect job to come up at the British Embassy down there. I received a job offer this week. I will be the Executive Assistant to the Regional Director of UK Boarder Agency. Basically the guy that is in charge of visa processing for all of the Americas (North and South). I am really excited for it. I couldn't have picked a better job to come up. So we will have busy month of finding a new place to live, moving, and starting new jobs. We are looking for wad to hopefully getting more space to live in.

Anyway that's what is going on with us! We are loving Fall and can't wait for Thanksgiving!!