Happy Birthday Ethan Samuel!

Happy birthday, Ethan! Fun parties await you tomorrow and Sunday! Thanks for another year full of laughter, boo boos and kisses! We love you!!!!!

We've Been Doing...

A little bit of this:

And a little bit of that:
A little bit of this:
And a lot of this:

And that:

My camera battery has been dead for a couple of weeks and I forgot to get another one when I was at Walmart (of course, no where in Henderson sells a battery for my camera, and I go to Walmart every 2 weeks). Ethan's face looks 1,000 times better! You can still see where the knot was and his eyes are finally more yellow than black. We can actually go back out into public without being stopped by everyone wanting to know, "What happened?!"

Ethan's specialist appointment was Thursday. I was a little nervous about showing the nutritionist his 3-day food log (I have to take this every visit, so they know the amount of calories/protein, etc. to compare to his lab work) but Dr. Walker said it looks like that of a typical 2-year old. 2 year old!!!!!!!!!?????????? I can NOT believe he will turn 2 Friday!!!! I will continue, before this post turns depressing...

Dr. Ward talked to us more about doing enzyme testing on Ethan. She has found a laboratory in San Diego, CA that will run the tests for us. This will determine exactly what foods Ethan can and cannot eat, without us having to monitor his blood levels every few months. This will also tell us if it is okay for the doctors to lift the last food restriction that Ethan has: meat. All we have to do is go to the lab at Jackson General Hospital and they will take 7-10 mL of blood from Ethan. They will also have to have a "control" to compare the enzyme-activity too. They prefer it to not be someone 'blood-related' to Ethan. That is where Nanna comes in. As bad as she hates blood, she was more-than-willing to go with us and get labs run, as well! Dr. Ward and Dr. Walker are working on the date for us to have this done, and then it will be 3-4 weeks before we will know what the results are. I will keep everyone updated!

It has rained here all week and we FINALLY had sunshine this afternoon. Noah, Ethan and Max were glad to get out in the yard to play for a couple of hours! Also, Noah and I went to the library this morning and had a great time! 11 books and 2 movies later, we were ready to go! Did you know that they will let you check out cake pans and other cool stuff like that?

I guess that is all for now! Hope everyone is having a great fall!

War Wounds and Such...

Tuesday night I was in Jackson. I had my cell phone on vibrate. Timmy tried to call 10 times. My friend Heather had my phone and finally realized it was vibrating. I was talking to ladies about jewelry and Heather excused me to the front porch and told me I needed to call Timmy. I knew something was wrong. Needless to say, while running from the bath tub, Ethan ran smack into the door facing and a knot swelled up the size of a softball on his forehead! I was up most of the night watching him and making sure he was alright. He was fine. However, his face is not. Two days later, his eyes started turning black. We took him to the clinic and Rick said he is fine, but that he will look worse before he gets better. Worse? Can he possibly look worse than this????!!! I asked Rick if he needed to get his camera out to document for Ethan's chart before he called Protective Services. I honestly feel people staring at us when we are in public.

So, that is the drama for our week! Isn't it terrible??!!! I cannot believe my almost-2-year-old has a knot the size of Montana and 2 black eyes!

Okay, moving on. We took the boys to a football game here Friday night. We had a great time! The air-vac helicopter landed mid-field, and some friends of ours' daughter sang 'God Bless America' in remembrance of 9/11. The boys thought the helicopter was great! They both enjoyed the game and we got through all 4 quarters without one fit/meltdown/incident!

Timmy surprised me this week end and mulched the flower beds. I surprised him with Tennessee/Memphis State football tickets for the week end of November 6. We then surprised Poppa and Nanna by asking them to come spend the week end at our house while we are in Knoxville so they can take the boys to Fall Festival at Noah's school. Poppa then suprised all of us by agreeing to do so!!!!!

We have also decided this week end to go with Joy and the rest of Timmy's family to Gulf Shores for fall break. We were not going to go, but Joy really wanted us to this year, so we are working on reservations. I cannot believe we are going to the beach again...and I am looking forward to seeing the ocean!

Okay, I think I have updated everyone on what has been going on with our little family this week! Hope everyone is staying well...I have never seen so much flu and strep throat!!!!

Just Another Week...

Our lives are now being taken over by Noah's homework. No lie. Mrs. Brandi sends homework in a packet every Monday. It is due on Friday. We usually start on it on Thursday. That ended this week. We spent over 3 hours working on homework Thursday night and agreed/promised/assured each other that we will space homework out all week. However, that will still be 45 minutes of homework each night! Who knew learning to write Aa-Oo and 1-5 could be so frustrating????!!!!!


Tonight was the 2nd home game for the Chester County Eagles, and now that Noah is a student, we must show our support for our school by attending the home games! We plan on going next Friday for our first attempt at a football game with both boys...will update on how that works out!



Timmy will be 35...YES 3-5 Thursday and I am trying to think of something fun/creative to do for his birthday. He has already gotten his gift (Nike Shox that were a must have a couple of weeks ago) so I am thinking we might surprise him and actually go to Jackson for a nice dinner. Since Los Portales has opened in Henderson, we rarely venture past the city limits!

Noah has decided to start changing clothes every day, as soon as he gets home. Lately, he has been sporting the layered look. Warm up pants underneath shorts. Very cool.






The boys have been enjoying Mario Kart. Actually, Noah plays and Ethan sits beside him with his 'controller' and watches.That's about it for us! Hope everyone has a great holiday week end! We are looking forward to Poppa and Nanna being here tomorrow!

Likes and Dislikes

Noah's first homework assignment was to create a folder with creative ways to show his likes and dislikes. Below is Noah's completed homework project:

McDonald's? Like.

Brushing teeth? Dislike.

Ruby-Spencer? Like.

Taking naps? Dislike.

Max? Like.
Cleaning room? Dislike.

Bicycle? Like.

Taking medicine? Dislike!!!!!!!

I'm Back...Finally!

Whew! Things have been extra-crazy around the Burks house the past couple of weeks and I have not gotten on here to do any posts! So, be ready for a lengthy update...this post will be all over the place!

First and foremost, thank you all for your prayers for Laura, Wes and the rest of my family the past several weeks. Laura is doing great and getting back in the swing of things. The only thing I can think of when I think of Laura is summed up in one word : Hero.

A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ~Christopher Reeve

David and Trina are parents for the 3rd time, as of 7:45 CST this morning! Daniel Mathis Stark was born and weighed in at a hefty 8 pounds 5 ounces and is 19.5 inches long! I will post pics after I go visit on Saturday! Mom and baby are doing well! Poppa and Nanna are there now, staying with Ava and Bella.

We are finally getting in to the swing of things with Noah being in full-time Kindergarten...I had my very first P.T.O. meeting tonight. We are currently in the middle of raising money for the P.T.O., which includes soliciting friends/family members/co-workers for $2.00 donations. Noah actually made all of the phone calls and so far, in just 1 day, has raised over $40! He is quite the little fund-raiser! He has stayed on green light every day and is already reading color words. I cannot believe it! We have to keep a log of all the books we read, so we are going to be needing losts of extras!

I came home Saturday night, and found out that Timmy had lost his wedding ring while doing yard work. He had ridden the lawn mower all over the yard and had absolutely no idea where he lost it....he borrowed a metal detector and well, the pictures explain for themselves!

Starting the hunting process...

Yes...he had Noah listening for the 'beeps'...
What? I think Noah found something!

Whew! Thank goodness!

Noah Sayings...

Noah: "I have a wave in one pocket and kisses in the other." He then takes his left hand out of his left pocket and waves. How cute is that!!!???