Our Soccer Star

Evan had the opportunity this week to do something fun....soccer camp.

We're trying to take advantage of free fun events offered in our area this summer.

That's Evan in the red, having just kicked the ball in the goal.

The coaches came to calling him "Big Red", a nickname that he cherished.

In fact, the next day he was upset that he couldn't wear that same outfit.

"But Mom, they won't remember that I'm Big Red."

It made him smile wide when he got there and they called him by his new name again.

The last day, after dribbling and juggling, they decided to call him "Spaghetti Legs".

He actually thought that was a cool name, too.

Getting some last minute coaching during their first scrimage.

Taking the ball down the field to kick on goal.

The soccer camp was hosted by a local church, and they had an awards program after the last day.

Each of the kids got a trophy.

Evan was ecstatic.

He said, "Mom, I've never gotten a trophy before!"

Hard to believe that in his five years of existence he hasn't amassed a pile of them.

Funny boy.

I told Evan before soccer camp started that if he stuck with it each day, and he liked playing, that we'd buy him a soccer ball afterwards.

Of course, he had his eye on a RED ball.

I posted on Facebook after the first day that Evan was having a great time and looking forward to getting a ball.

One of Ben's co-workers saw my post, and a few hours later, showed up at our door with a red soccer ball, cleats, shin guards, and socks that his boys had outgrown.

Wow...that was so nice.

And Evan LOVES his new ball....the best part is it's exactly like the one he had picked out.

He can't wait to go back next year...and his twin brothers who sadly watched him leave the house each morning with Mommy to go have fun, are eagerly waiting to join him next year, too.

On a completely different note:

OWEN is POTTY TRAINING!

ok, ok, that sounds so much more dramatic than it is. He hasn't done anything on the potty yet, but we've gotten him to sit down, which really is half the battle. (Actually, it's been more like bribing him....with lollipops. Hey, you go with what works.) He's been showing signs lately of being training ready, so we decided to get started....especially seeing that if he follows the trend of his brothers it might take a while until completion, anyway. So, call me crazy, insane, mentally unstable, or if you're super kind you could call me brave, courageous, unstoppable!: I'M POTTY TRAINING 3 BOYS AT ONE TIME!

Let Them Choose

Sometimes, you just have to let your child choose what they want.

We're getting ready to start homeschooling Evan in a couple weeks.

We're working on converting our finished basement into a classroom.

My parents found this desk for Evan earlier this summer before they moved up here.

It is a great little desk and chair, just needed a paint job to freshen it up.

I had plans to paint them black...I figured that was more durable than white.

I was not thinking like a 5 year old boy.

He did not like my choice of paint color.

He was SURE that his desk and chair should be painted blue.

Oh, ok, I could compromise...navy blue...that might not look so bad.

No, Mommy, not that blue. The blue like on Pablo (see Backyardigans).

Ugh, bright blue.

Are you sure? I'm not sure that will look very good.

No, Mommy. I want bright blue.

Sigh. Ok, we'll go to the store after soccer camp and pick out some paint.

Secretly, hoping I could show him just how wonderful navy blue or even black would look...so classy, you know.

Well, we walked into the paint sample aisle.

Evan, here's the blue section. Do you see something you like.

There it is! Instantly, his eyes fell on this bright blue paint sample.

I pointed out some darker more muted shades.

How about this one?

No.

I'm not going to talk you out of that color am I?

Nope.

So I gave in.

It turned out pretty good. Not the shade of blue I would have chosen...it is bright.

But, it made my son so happy.

You should have heard him while I was painting.

Mommy, that looks awesome.

Mommy, you're doing a great job.

This is the best...this is exactly what I wanted.

And how can you argue with that.

Makeover

This is a project that has been in the making for a long time. It's getting better. We've done a lot of work on it the last 4 years we've lived here, and it isn't done yet. I finally finished my year long project of painting all the cabinets and repainting the walls this summer, though. The big project that remains is the lovely forest geen formica countertop. It will be replaced one of these days, hopefully soon. We're planning to put in tile countertop ourselves...of course, we have all the time in the world to do that, right?

As you can see the countertop doesn't completely cover the dishwasher. There used to be a door over there, Ben took it out and sheetrocked it in, put in more upper cabinets and installed a dishwasher. Unfortunately the countertop there only comes out to cover the back half of the dishwasher. But hey, the dishwasher was free...someone was throwing it out because it didn't work, Ben brought it home a few years ago when I was pregnant with the twins and fixed it. Not perfect, but boy do I enjoy not having to wash all my dishes by hand!

The stove is an old hand-me-down that was given to us by strangers just days before Thanksgiving 2005 when our other one died. It was a neat story...one of those obvious answer to prayer stories! It's next on the list of things to be replaced...the broiler doesn't work, the self-cleaning feature doesn't work, and 2 of the 4 burners decide when they want to work, which makes making supper fun. :-)

As you can see, living in an old home, the projects never really end. But we are enjoying the new semi-makeover, and we're glad to have our kitchen put back together.

Sorry Gramma!

When we were at my in-laws house last weekend, Ben's mom reminded me that she hadn't seen any photos of Owen's 2nd birthday on my blog. Oops! Sorry Gramma! :-) Here you go.

Good Morning, Birthday Boy!

Here's the big boy's big day. We had a fun day at the Children's Museum in Saratoga. I had a blast making his cake. It's my new fun tradition to make a special cake for the boys' birthdays. I'm no expert and they certainly aren't decorated professionally, but it's fun to be creative, and the boys love them. As you can see, Owen loved his Wonder Pets cake.

Carter and I tried to teach him to put up 2 fingers...we'll have to keep working on that.

Playing at the museum in the trolley car

Wait a minute...can it be possible that my baby is really no longer a baby...but a full-blooded toddler? Say it isn't so! I know you're supposed to embrace every stage of life and enjoy it...but this time around especially, I'm finding it bittersweet. It feels like we JUST started having a family, and now to be at the end of that stage, I wasn't prepared for it to happen this fast! (FYI...that is what happens when you bring 4 children into the world in 3 1/2 years!) It doesn't fly...it travels at the speed of light...it zooms past and leaves you looking at a blur. Wow....

Owen was our bonus baby. We didn't ask God for him, like we did with his brothers. We didn't wait and pray and cry and hope for him, like we did with his brothers. In fact, a week before he was conceived, Ben was commenting on a shopping trip how full our van was with 2 year old Evan and the 4 month old twins and our groceries. I made some "funny" comment about how we could fit one more car seat in. Ben very seriously looked at me and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm done." I made some smart comment about how I thought married people discussed those things together before coming to such a final conclusion. :-) And life went on.

Weeks later, it was Christmas Eve and some of my family were at our house. Ben and I camped out on the floor in the twins' room. As we lay there in the dark, I was feeling not good, very nauseas. Now, we have a history in my family of getting sick on the holidays. I was bummed...I didn't want to be sick on Christmas. But maybe I would be ok, because I had kind of been feeling that way a bit lately, and hadn't completely gotten sick. Ben jokingly said something about me being pregnant. We both laughed....knowing the path we had walked to have a family...that wasn't likely at all. Two days later, our family guests had all gone and the nausea was naggingly there...all day. That joking comment stuck with me. Maybe I'll take a test just to rule it out, and then I won't have that on my mind anymore. I was sure it would be negative.

The boys were napping and I took the test. What? I couldn't believe my eyes, and I think I about fell over. Really? I was pregnant? But, I have 5 month old twin babies. I can't be! I was shaking. How was I going to tell Ben this? How would he react?

Well, he was in shock. In fact, he didn't believe me at first. He thought I was joking. I very seriously looked him in the eye and reminded him that we had 5 month old twins. Do you really think I'd joke around about this? That's when the shock set in. I waited to see his reaction. I asked him what he was thinking. He reassured me that he was ok...and how could he ever be upset that God would give us another child? I fell in love with that man all over again in that instant. We'd be okay. We didn't know how, but it would all be okay.

At the half-way mark, we had an ultrasound. It was unmistakable. We were adding another boy to our little brood. And then they told me that there was something suspicious on the ultrasound. There was a spot on his heart, which could mean he had Downs Syndrome. My heart sunk. Those next two weeks waiting to have another ultrasound at a specialist were hard. I did research online to educate myself and prepare myself. But that was hard to read. I tried to trust God and not worry, but the mother part of me was scared. I didn't know how I would handle it, if the news was not good. And if he was a DS baby, how would I care for him and my other boys...I felt so inadequate for the possible road I was facing. I knew I wouldn't love him any less....I just worried I wouldn't be enough for him...that a child with special needs would need a special momma, and I doubted my sufficiency for the task.

After a long time on the table, and lots of views of the baby, they determined that they couldn't find any more markers for Downs Syndrome. The spot appeared to be the only abnormality, and that made the likelihood of him having Downs very small. I was told to expect a normal healthy baby. Praise the Lord! He taught me a lot during those 2 weeks when all I could do was depend on Him. It was completely out of my hands, but I'm grateful Owen was never out of God's hands. And I know that had Owen been born with DS, God would have supplied the grace and mercy and strength to be the parents that Owen needed. And that little boy would be no less loved and adored than he is today.

Well, sticking to his m.o. as the surprise baby, Owen arrived 5 weeks early, 4 weeks before he was scheduled to be delivered by c-section. He weighed in at just 5# 10 oz and was 17.5 inches long. He needed oxygen for the first 24 hours or so to regulate his breathing. And then had to be kept in an isolate to regulate his temperature and had to be under the lights for his jaundice. He at least got to wear some cool shades. 6 days old, we took him home, and our home has never been the same since.

Owen is a delight, a joy, and I can so see why God ignored our plans and gave him to us. How could our family have ever been complete without him? Owen was the baby every mother hopes for...happy, content...and even yes, healthy. He's got a smile that melts your heart, and facial expressions that make you laugh, and is affectionate and loving. He's also all boy and can be quite the little monkey. He loves to sing and pray. He loves his brothers and is usually in their shadow. I often touch his sweet cheeks, look into his big blue eyes, and find myself in awe still of the gift of his life.

Ben put it perfectly when he called him the perfect surprise happy ending to our family. Sometimes when we plead with God for something, he says no, sometimes he says wait, sometimes he gives us what we want, and sometimes, we've discovered.....He gives us MORE than we ask for. So you see, Owen (O-Man as I call him) wasn't a surprise baby, or an unplanned pregnancy...he is a BONUS...an abundant blessing!

I'd do it all over again

We had the privilege of taking a few days off and going to visit my in-laws for a bit. We had a family wedding to attend, and the next day was our anniversary. For the first time, we left all our boys overnight...Gramma was all too happy to babysit...and we got a hotel room with a hot tub, went out to a restaurant for a quiet sit down dinner, and spent lots of time walking around holding on to each other. We usually don't have any extra hands to hold each other's when we're out and about with the boys. It was nice to walk hand in hand. It felt familiar of days when it was just the two of us...when we could be spontaneous and carefree...when we could focus all of our attention on each other. We missed our boys alot...but we were grateful for this away time...we didn't realize how much we had been missing each other. And we've decided this should be an annual tradition. It was sweet, it was refreshing, and it was romantic. I am blessed to be married to this man. I didn't know 12 years ago when I was standing in that church pledging my vows to Ben what the future would hold. The dozen years that have passed have held many wonderful moments, and also some we'd have chosen to bypass. But they have left marks in our life together, that read like lines of a story, our story. We have the ability now to look back with humor at the bad and with joy at the good. And today, I would stand in that church facing that boy looking into those eyes and repeating those words, all over again, knowing what I know now....I'd do it all over again. I love you, Babe!

Tribute to my Terrific Three Year Old Twins

When they say time flies, they aren't kidding! Last Friday, my fraternal twin boys, Carter and Derek turned 3. It is unfathomable in my mind that that is possible. Ben and I were given a great blessing in the birth of our boys. We went from thinking we'd never be able to have any, to having 4! And God gave us 2 at a time, to boot. The whole process was a blessing....two babies who were conceived at the moment we were about to give up hope...each one growing and developing right on schedule...no complications during the pregnancy...carrying the babies until 37 1/2 weeks...an uneventful c-section delivery producing 2 healthy little boys, weighing 5# 9oz and 5# 6oz...taking the boys home from the hospital with me a few days later. I was very aware that not every story of twins has such happy outcomes, and I was so thankful for God's ever present hand, forming, shaping, and sustaining my boys.

Well, Carter entered this world 2 minutes ahead of his "little" brother Derek. We were surprised at how little they looked alike. It was precious to look over from my hospital bed to the isolet they were sharing, and see them snuggled against each other. We took this picture of them sharing a boppy pillow on my bed. I love how they entwined their legs...I think they felt at home...having been used to each other's constant touch in the womb. They were so tiny their little ankle bands kept falling off.

Carter & Derek

This was one of my favorite views around our house when the boys were little. Ben would snuggle them up on his chest, and all 3 would fall asleep. There was something remarkable about holding 2 babies in your arms...nothing like it, except nursing 2 babies at once. It was enough to make your heart feel too big for your body.

Carter, Ben & Derek

And this just may be my favorite picture of all time....

I really need to frame this for the boys and pull it out everytime they argue, don't you think?
They were 4 weeks old, and I put them in their boppy pillow to hang out for a minute while I got their clothes ready. And this is what I found, and had to catch on camera. Now it looks all sweet in the picture, like Carter is soothing Derek with a sweet kiss, right? Truth be told, if you had been in my house that morning you would have heard loud sucking sounds. They were hungry, and since Mommy was busy, they started sucking on each other. I love this picture, and honestly, looking at it makes my heart long for those days again, and makes me want to cry.

That 1st year went by so fast, I guess you'd call it a blur. When the boys were 5 months old, I found out I was pregnant again. The next 7 months were busy, dealing with nursing 2 babies and caring for them, taking care of my 3 year old who was potty training, changing LOTS of diapers, dealing with morning sickness and the encumberances of pregnancy, and getting the house ready for another baby. I wish I could have slowed that year down a bit, but time waits for no baby, and they just kept growing.

Carter & Derek at 1 year old

The next year didn't go by any slower. A few weeks after the boys' 1st birthday, Owen was born. That second year was busy too. And of course, the boys didn't slow down a bit. It was a fun year though, watching their personalities develop. Even though they had a baby brother, and by all accounts should have been jealous, they adjusted remarkably well. Perhaps it was a blessing they had each other during that time. And they were trying on their independence too.


Carter, Mommy & Derek on their 2nd birthday

And this last year, it's been a wild ride...the teachable twos...but so much fun too. They are funny funny little guys, and we are so proud of them. They are learning so much, expanding their vocabulary, love singing, love their family, and have smiles and laughter that fill my home with joy. I am privileged to be their mommy.

Carter & Derek with each other's side of the cake. Derek wanted Thomas the Tank Engine, and Carter wanted the Tractor Tippin scene from CARS.

They had a great birthday, and it was a special day for Ben and I too. It's not so bad that they are growing up...we love this stage of their life. They loved the new swingset that Ben built for them, they had a great time at Hoffman's Playland, and they got to share their celebration with their Nana and Papa this year. Watching their face light up when they saw their cake was precious. Seeing them have a blast on the rides was sweet. And reflecting on the 3 years of joy they have brought to my heart was priceless.

Enjoy each minute.

"Quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my babies, and babies don't keep."

Our Storyteller

Evan and his cousin Chloe last week at the zoo with a bald eagle

Evan's big into story telling lately. It's fun to see his imagination working as he puts his little tales together. This morning at the breakfast table, after we had our Bible time, Evan said he wanted to tell us all a God story. He never did get to a part about God, but I thought it was a cute story....thought I'd share it here. If nothing else, I figure his Gramma B will enjoy it. :-) It went like this. (these are the actual words he used, pretty much verbatim.)

Once upon a time there was a daddy named Daddy and he lived in the Burhans house. His name was Ben Burhans and he loved all the people in his family. One day he had a tiny hole in his shoe. So he took his shoe to his mommy, Gramma Burhans, and asked for new shoes. Grandma Burhans said "No. It is just a tiny hole. You don't need new shoes." Then a bad idea came into Ben Burhans' head. He took some scissors and made the hole bigger. It was a biggest hole. Then he showed it to his mommy, Gramma Burhans. "Look it is a biggest hole", said Ben Burhans. Gramma Burhans saw the hole and knew Ben Burhans must have used scissors or a knife to make the hole biggest. So she took Ben Burhans and put him on the couch.....because he was a little boy. She said, "Sit here and think about what you should do next time." Ben Burhans thought and knew what he should do next time. The End.