MS walk at the zoo

A couple of weekends ago Jake, Kadence, and I went to the zoo for the MS walk. Uncle Mitch and Aunt Jenny went with us. We had so much fun. Kadence loved seeing all the animals. I also think the four of us adults liked seeing all the animals just as much.








These two birds came right down infront of us and Kadence held onto Aunt Jenny as tight as she could. She wasn't quite sure what to think of them.
One turtle climbed up onto the log and it started swaying back and forth. We watched for quite a while to see if all the turtles would stay on the log. It was funny watching them try to keep their balance.



Gotta love the Giraffes!
Check out this little guy. He was so active and so CUTE!
These guys are enormous. I can't believe that Toby is going to get that big. What are we going to do with him then?

We had so much fun this year at the MS walk we decided that next year we are going to put together a team for Pops so everyone should come. You'll love it!

Tagged by Jenny Moses!

So my new sister-in-law tagged me and when I read the directions I thought it was such a good idea. What I did was go to my 4th folder in my pictures and post the 4th photo in there. I smiled so big when I saw it was this picture. Oh what a joyous day! This past May I graduated from ASU West with my bachelors in Education. It was a long time coming and was such an awesome day. My whole family was there and took me out to lunch and threw me a party that night. I am so glad that I decided to go back to school after having Kadence to finish up my degree.


Now I get to tag 4 people. So.....Amanda Stephan, Erin Marie, Shannon, and Cassidy! Let's see whatcha got ladies.

The joy of having a child on the move!

So last night Jake decided to get ready for work a little earlier than usual and good thing he did. He had to get all his work stuff into his car from being off work for three days and to his surprise could not find his KEYS!! He had seen Kadence playing with them earlier in the day but did not see where she had set them down. Kadence and I were eating dinner watching Jake look all over the house for them. He even asked K where they were and she said "huh" and shrugged her shoulders. I was laughing so hard. He did finally find his keys after about ten minutes of looking and got off to work on time.
Ten minutes is not actually all that bad for looking for something Kadence has wondered off with. Last week we had a movie from Blockbuster for over a week because we could not find the dvd case. We had the dvd but not the case that went with it. It took us over a week to find that thing. I looked all over the house for days and even super cleaned our house over the weekend trying to find it. In the process I did find a permanent marker in the plant pot and magnets in the dryer. Oh the joys of being a mom!!! I LOVE IT.

Run Away Dogs!

I left for work this morning and got into the jetta to see Jake's work stuff still in the car. I knew he would need it for work tonight before I got home so I went back inside to tell him. As we went back outside the dogs joined us to unload the Jetta. Normally, the dogs hang out in the garage or our front yard and occasionally our neighbors front yard sniffy around so it's not a problem. Well, I got in my car, backed out of the garage, and started driving slowly down the street watching to see if Jake got the dogs back in the house. I noticed he was LOOKING & CALLING for them so I got a little nervous. I started searching our neighbors front yards as I was driving and then as I turned the corner to face Happy Valley Road there they were! Those stinkers. Then I noticed Buster (my dog) become alert and take off after a guy on a bike heading west on the north side of Happy Valley Road (we live on the south side). So yes he ran across five lanes luckily with no traffic. Then Seargent (jake's dog) took off after Buster and the guy on the bike but by the time he headed across Happy Valley Road there were cars coming. He was almost hit by a big truck and like four other cars. I was freaking out!!!!!! I finally got onto Happy Valley Road heading west after the dogs, who are after the guy on a bike. This poor guy because by now Buster had slowed down and Seargent (half pit bull and looks really mean) was right on his heels. I caught up to Buster and coaxed him into the back seat of the car to turn around and see Seargent running towards me in the middle of the road. I was so mad at him but he looked like he was having so much fun (as if he were saying "Hi mommy! Oh this is so much fun, can we do this more often. Why do you look so upset?") I drove home so mad and telling them that they were bad dogs. By the time I got home and Jake asked me where they were I just started laughing as I said "running after a guy on a bike down Happy Valley Road." That poor guy! I wonder what he was thinking as he saw my two dogs running after him. Hahahaha it does make me laugh!

A day at Schnepf's Farm

So since Jake had Saturday off and he normally does not we decided to have a fun filled family day at Schnepf's Farm out in Queen Creek. I was hoping the weather would be super nice like it was last weekend but it got a little hot in the sun. Kadence made sure we remembered to stay hydrated by signing "drink" every five seconds. I think she didn't really want something to drink she just wanted the cool water to drip down her shirt. When we were eating in the shade or watching a show in the shade it was absolutely perfect. We started our day by watching pig races. Oh yeah that's right I said pig races. Kadence loved it. At first she had no idea what was going on but once she saw the pigs running around the track she would get all excited and squeal and clap. Then we went to watch a man whose act included juggling and some tricks with his dog. Kadence was not quite as amused by this and made her way to the playground. All she wanted to do was drive the train and she loved it. we also watched a guy named comet and his frizbee catching dogs. It was a pretty good show and Kadence seemed to really like watching the dogs run back and forth. After a snack and lots more water, mostly down her shirt, we were off to the train ride. It was nice and Kadence managed to stop squirming long enough for us to actually ride it. She is a trooper. Since Kadence is such an animal lover we wanted to take her to the petting zoo. She loved seeing all the animals and got very excited when the goats would turn to look at her or move when she pet them. Kadence probably could of stayed in with the goats forever but Mommy had had enough so we moved on. She was amused by the sheep and we are not quite sure why. The donkey thought we had food on the stroller for him so he stuck his head through the fence to see if he could find anything. It was really funny and Kadence laughed at him. Jake was more amused by the HUGE cow they had. He did not move from this position the whole time we were there. He would just lay there and stare right back at all the people and kids staring at him. Jake also liked to antagonize the really mean billy goat. Kadence did not like him at all. He was butting the fence and making all these crazy noices. He actually really scared Kadence. We found that our window of opportunity for picking a pumpkin was shrinking by the minute. So it was off to the pumpkin patch. Kadence went out with Daddy to pick out our BIG family pumpkin. Of course Daddy and Kadence found the biggest pumpkin in the patch to take home. It was almost as big as Kadence is and she loved it. Mommy then thought it would be fun to go the the baby pumpkin patch so that Kadence could pick out a small pumpkin just for her. Well, not to our surprise but all she wanted to do was play in the dirt and pick up rocks. Quite a few times throughout the day Kadence would be walking around the farm and stop to pick up rocks. At one time she had about five rocks in her hand. Jake and I did not mind so much because we realized that we did not have to pay for rocks. Our day at Schnepf's Farm was so much fun and have decided to make it a yearly trip. Anyone who would like to join us you are more than welcome. It really is a fun family outing!

K and sign language

So the other day I was teaching Kadence to sign "drink". She already knows "more" and "all done" so I figured I would move on to drink and eat. I did not really think she had picked up on it too much in just one day but you will never guess what happened this morning. She was eating breakfast while I was paying bills online and walked up to me with a bottle of water in her hands. Of course I already knew what she wanted but I asked her anyway. I said "Kadence do you want a drink of water?" She looked at me and did the sign for drink. I was blown away because I did not think that after one sitting of practicing she would pick up on it so fast. I love sign language for babies.

Just a quick back up story. I spent almost a week teaching Kadence to sign "more" and "all done". One night my mom was babysitting for us and while she was feeding K dinner she decided to teach her some sign language. Can you see where this is going? My mom asked Kadence if she wanted more and when K did the sign my mom was amazed. She thought she had the smartest granddaughter ever...and OF COURSE SHE DOES!!!!

Us in a nutshell

Good Evening Everyone! Jake and I have decided to join the world of blogging. I have put this off as long as I could because computers are the devil and our lives are kind of crazy and not too exciting to read about. So the validity of some of the stories we put on here may be questionable, so as to make the appearance of an exciting life, but should be entertaining.
For those of you that do not know here is the skinny on the three of us. I graduated in may magna cum laude from asu with a degree in early childhood education. I work Monday-Thursday for a tutoring company. I love my job and the people I work with so that makes it easier to leave Kadence at home. My job is super flexible if something does come up so that is nice as well. I am now getting used to getting up early (because K is a good sleeper and does not get up early) and getting myself ready for work before Kadence gets up and then getting her ready for her day. I go to work, come home, make dinner, say good-bye to Jake, bathe Kadence, get her ready for bed, go to sleep myself, and then do it all over again the next day.
Jake is a workaholic. He is the coolest man in the whole wide world. He is such a stud........ sorry jake got a hold of the computer whlie i was tending to Kadence. Anyways, he is a workaholic. For those of you who don't know he is a police officer for the city of phoenix. He works four ten hour shifts and then has three "off days", even though his off days more often than not turn into trips to court, off duty jobs, training, or other such nonsense. He loves it though so it is worth it becuase he brings home the bacon.
Kadence spends monday thru wednesday with daddy. She loves it and it is a lot of fun for him too. It is always fun to come home at night and see the amazing hair style and outfits that daddy creates for Kadence to sport that day. The amazing cleanliness of the house after two children, kadence and daddy, play all day in it is always a treat. She then spends Thursday with her favorite person...Grandma! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are Mommy and Kadence days which are of course my favorite.
Kadence has started walking and our lives have changed forever because of it. She seems to be a totally different girl. She wants nothing to do with us anymore all she wants to do is WALK!!!!
Seargent and Buster are our two furriest family members. They are in and of themselves a completely different set of challenges. We, however, cound not imagine our lives without them. Buster is my dog. He is a five year old spoiled beagle. Sarge(jake's dog) is, as the name suggests is a scary looking pitbull mix, who is afraid of his own shadow. Lucky for us the bad guys dont know that.
We recently had a new addition to the family. His name is Toby the tortoise. He is only four weeks old and very cute. He doesn't do much. Kadence trys to grab at him and love him like Lenny from of mice and men all the time and Sargie wants to eat him.
And now you are all caught up on the exciting life in the Burke household, and from now on will be able to stay up to date on the innerworkings of the well oiled machine that is the Burke family.