Another ear infection and the 940 dance company

I took Emilia to the doctor yesterday to find out she has yet another ear infection. This is her sixth time on antibiotics in one year, and her second since she got tubes. It's getting kind of frustrating, but after just one dose of the antibiotic, she seems to be feeling better.

The doctor's office was packed. I've never seen the waiting room so busy. Dr. Randhawa seemed very tired and stressed; he said there are just so many sick kids right now, that he's overwhelmed, but he doesn't have the heart to turn anyone away.

Emilia is continuing to toddle around...she's progressed from walking like Frankenstein to walking like a drunk.

Ella and I went to see the 940 dance company in Liberal on Saturday. We've seen them before when they were in Satanta, but it's been several years, and Ella really didn't remember it. Ella loved the performance. Their last piece was really cool. They gave us 3-D glasses and turned out all the lights in the auditorium. The dancers held lights while they danced, and the 3-D glasses gave their lights a prism effect. It was awesome.

Ella was very enthusiastic at dance last night, and Mrs. Gallagher said she did a great job. (That's saying a lot for Ella, who usually falls down about 10 times a night.) Ella is now into modern dance because the 940 dancers talked a little bit about the differences between modern dance and ballet. Mrs. Gallagher said if Ella continues to be enthusiastic about modern dance, she can incorporate some modern dance into Ella's class. Ella only has one other little girl in her class, so Mrs. G can be pretty flexible. Mrs. G also said she wants to do "whatever feeds Ella's soul." That's why we love Mrs. Gallagher.

Friday Fun

It was beautiful last night, so invited friends over for a high-class meal of Cheez-its, salsa, and frozen pizza, which we enjoyed on the back deck. We set a beautiful tablescape with a vinyl tablecloth, Styrofoam plates, and plastic forks (only the best in our house), and watched the kiddos play.

Emilia has discovered that she loves the backyard. She used to hate being down in the grass, but now she loves to crawl all over the place. She's also learning to walk. She's been taking a step or two for a few weeks, but now she's progressed to walking for several feet before collapsing. She's at the Frankenstein walk stage, hands in the air with very jerky steps. Every time she does, she smiles because she's so proud of herself.

She loves to play with Jaxon, but sometimes things get a little rough.


Ella, Alex, and Ava still love to jump from the eagle's nest to the trampoline. I tried to do it and found the experience entirely too terrifying. I couldn't even climb up on the railing before I chickened out.


Here the girls are cheering as they jump. One of their favorite cheers is "Ice cream, ice cream, cookies and cream, what's the matter with the other team?" which quickly degenerated into pure nonsense involving chickens and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. By the time Ava was in a too-small leotard and Ella was in a princess costume, it had, unfortunately, become too dark for me to take pictures.

Little Baby Bedhead

Proof that Emilia is a Burrows: She has Grandpa Larry's hair.

A couple of pics from this weekend

More hayride pics

Hayride pics

We had our church's annual hayride and wiener roast tonight. I have a ton of pictures that I'll get posted eventually, but here are a couple of the cutest.

Spelling Test

Ella got a 100% on her first spelling test. We're going out for pizza to celebrate. (Okay, really we're going out for pizza because I'm too lazy to cook, but don't tell Ella.)

Ella the Scholar

Ella brought home a homework packet and list of spelling words from school yesterday. She immediately sat down at the table to complete the homework packet and study her spelling words. Although she already knew all of her words but the challenge word "Kansas," which she quickly mastered, she continues to test herself, marking her papers "100%" with a red marker. She invited her friend Addison home after school so they could be "study buddies." (Of course, they forgot about studying until Addison's mom came to pick Addison up, so they had to cram.) Ella wound up studying her spelling words this afternoon in the new eagle's nest. Let's hope she always finds studying this much fun.

Eagle's Nest (Or We Love Brent)

We bought a piece of playground equipment called an eagle's nest from our babysitter, Julie. Her kids grew up playing on it, and Ella has always loved to play on it at Julie's. So when I saw a For Sale sign on it, I immediately asked Julie about it, and we bought it the next day. Brent brought a forklift into town today, and he and Blake helped us get the eagle's nest moved from Julie's backyard to ours. We love those guys.

Chef Ella

Ella has been watching the food network lately and has created two new recipes today. The first, Crisp Blueberry and Carrot Surprise, involves many, many steps and a 900 degree oven. It is, however, written quite clearly once you figure out that "cerit" is her spelling of "carrot." She seems to know how a recipe should be written.

Here's her second recipe of the day, Milky Way Milkshakes.

3 Tablespoons (powdered) sugar
1/3 cup chocolate (syrup)
1/3 cup milk
3 scoops vanilla ice cream.

Blend for 20 seconds.

Ryan prepared the milkshakes after lunch, and they were quite good. I don't usually add sugar to milkshakes, but it really did improve the flavor--I guess Ella's onto something. Ella let me have what was left of hers--she said I deserved it.

Emilia loves Grandpa Bob

Last weekend, Emilia finally warmed up to Grandpa Bob. Here they are reading a book about Grandpa's favorite subject--puppies.

Emilia loves Alex

Emilia is finally starting to let other people hold her, but all summer long, she was pretty picky. She wanted Mommy, Daddy, or Alex. Sometimes she would even pick Alex over Mommy and Daddy. Lucky for Emilia, Alex loves to be a little mommy.

Chocolate Dessert Cakes

If you find yourself in need of some serious chocolate with very little effort, try out these chocolate dessert cakes from my friend Michelle. (While you're there, check out the fabulous pictures of her vacations.) The dessert cakes are warm and gooey and incredibly easy. I was able to make them with an incredibly fussy baby on my hip most of the time. (The incredibly fussy baby was the reason I needed the warm and gooey chocolate.) And the recipe was a family hit. Even Ryan liked it, and he usually rejects my gooiest concoctions.