Christmas Day

We had a busy Christmas Day running around from house to house. We woke up at MeMa's house and opened presents. By time Landon got to his 3rd or 4th present he was overwhelmed and would go back to present #1 or #2. He favorite gift was his hand-me-down car toy from his cousin Hunter. He also enjoys his new puzzles from Gigi that make sounds when you put back the puzzle piece.

It was a great Christmas and we were happy that Larry and Mom got us our roof rack for the car and the portable DVD player for our drive home. Both were well used and much appreciated!

Christmas Eve

This is our last year going to Pittsburgh for Christmas. Next year, we'll have 2 kids and Landon will be old enough that he should wake up Christmas morning in his own house. We are looking forward to having our first Christmas at home next year and starting our own traditions.
Our Christmas Eve in Pittsburgh is always spent with the Nitoski's (Larry's family). We opened all of the gifts from Larry's family, which meant that Landon had his first present to open. Although my pictures don't capture it well, his reaction to his construction truck was priceless. Jason even said "now this is what Christmas is all about". It was so cool!

Landon was trying to steel Larry's gift. :)

Boxes are SO much fun!

Christmas Brunch with the Reese's

We went up to Becky and Andy's house for a visit since it had been a long time since we had seen them. We played at the house for a while and in the evening we went to the National Zoo for ZooLights! It was Landon's first trip to the zoo and he loved it! I'm not sure what he loved more - the zoo or Andy! Landon was all about Andy! The zoo was all lit up and many of the exhibits were open. It was really cool. Maybe we'll make it a tradition?

For the past 3 years, our friends Karman and Chris Reese, have a Big and Little Kid Brunch for all of their friends with children (all around the same age). So this year we were able to make it since we were in town. Landon had a good time playing with all of the kids and with someon else's toys!

Last Grass Cutting of the Season

Landon mowed grass with Daddy. Never to young to learn!

Inflation Nation

The day after Thanksgiving, we took Landon to Inflation Nation with my friend Christina and her daughter Maddy, who is 3 months younger than Landon. Inflation Nation is a huge warehouse full of huge moon bounces. It was a lot of fun and Landon (our 'no fear' child) did very well and had a great time!

Partners in Crime

Landon with Uncle Dave at Thanksgiving = TROUBLE!

Donna & Peter's wedding

My maid of honor, Donna, and her fiance (now husband) got married in Jamaica, so I took a (solo) trip to be in the wedding. It was a fun long weekend and nice to get away from 'the dependents'.


Donna and Peter took about 30+ of us out for a Jamaica excursion. We drove from Montego Bay to Dunn's River Falls. We made a stop to a market to get beer, water and food and then we stopped at this ship site.

After the ship site, we ate lunch and then many climbed Dunns River Falls. I didn't since I am pregnant, but fortunately, I had climbed them when Jason and I went to Jamaica for our honeymoon. Below is our crew!

The next day was the wedding. Everything was absolutely beautiful and perfect! Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of the bride! She looked stunning! What a fun wedding!

Congrats Donna and Peter!

Playing with Daddy

Landon loves to play on Mommy and Daddy's backs. He'll say 'back' to let you know or now we play airplane, in which Landon says 'hair-pain'. He puts his chest on our feet while we are on our backs and flies like an airplane...with no hands! He's a lot of fun!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Mr. Skeleton! Although it is Landon's second Halloween, it was much more eventful because he can walk and he understands much more. We went over to a friends' house who was having a kids Halloween party. There were probably 10 kids all dressed up. It was really cute and I think everyone had a good time.

Dada and Landon eating some dinner... I think chips.

As we all know, Landon is a climber. He has already figured out how to climb out of his crib, and today he proved that he can climb a fence to get to the 'car'. While this one isn't HIS car, he had one just like it, so he didn't want to share it much with the other kids.

I love my car!

Time to Trick or Treat! We walked around our friends' neighborhood (5 families) and went trick-or-treating. It was really fun and Landon did a really good job. He was a little scared at first, but then go the hang of it and would walk up and pick a piece of candy out of the bowl. He had a good collection of candy by the end of the night.

Trick or treating with Madelyn

Trick or treating is hard work, so Dada gave Landon a piggyback ride home.

I love my crayons!

Bath Time!!!

Landon just couldn't wait to get in the tub...so he jumped in with his clothes on!

Landon's Day Care Report from Miriam

"Landon likes to go into the playroom and knock down the high chairs." (I think there are 3 of them). "I always tell him not to do that. I asked him, did you knock the chair down?" He said, "I did!". "I wanted to laugh...at least he was honest!"

Landon's promotion!

As many of you already know, Landon is getting a promotion to BIG BROTHER!! No, we aren't getting a dog...we're expecting Baby Burke #2! We are very excited. He/She will arrive at the end of April. So far I'm feeling pretty good. No sickness, but VERY tired. I have been going to bed at 8:30pm most nights, but this week I think I've been able to stay up until 9:00pm! I'm looking forward to the first trimester being over so I can have some of my energy back and get back to the gym and running. We will keep everyone updated on our progress, but so far, I'm feeling good and we're both healthy!

Virginia Beach Rock n' Roll Half Marathon

After swearing that I would never do a half marathon again (see my November post), I just did another one this weekend. Let me explain. I always wanted to do the Rock n Roll Half in Virginia Beach (it's on my Bucket List), and that one was supposed to be my only one, but we always have something going on Labor Day weekend, so it has never worked out for me. Well, I've been running a lot lately with my running girls and I tossed out the idea in May. Long story short, Casey and I signed up for the race and later found out that Betsey signed up too! So the 3 of us ran our Half Marathon on Sunday completing it in 2 hours 26 minutes and 44 seconds. Which happens to be how long it takes us to drive from Richmond to VA Beach! This time is a little slower (3 minutes) than my Richmond Half time, but I felt GREAT afterwards. It was a really good run (pace), perfect weather, and great company (Casey and Bets ROCK!). We stayed at a hotel right on the water so it was convenient and relaxing too.

Will I do another one? Let's just say, I'm not saying no...we'll see.

Troublemaker

Happy 17-month Birthday, Landon!

Landon is so much fun! He's got a great personality and is talking up a storm. In his mind, he's saying a lot, and I'm sure it makes sense, but we have no idea what he is saying. He picks up words fast - too many to even count. He understands a lot, so it is easier to communicate with him. He loves to sit at the kitchen table with us and he wants to sit in a chair, not his high chair. He likes to put his foot on the table which is an annoying habit that I feel we've been trying to break for months now. His appetite has been good, bad and we're back at good, now. He loves fruits, veggies and grains, but is showing no interest in protein - chicken, meat, fish. Landon loves to be a helper too. We couldn't ask for such a wonderful little boy - we love you buddy!

Donna's Bachelorette Party

Donna and Peter are getting married on November 21st in Jamaica. I am very honored to be part of their wedding. I've known Donna since freshman year at IUP, she is one of my best friends and was my maid of honor. I couldn't be happier for her and Peter!

We had her bachelorette party at Dewey Beach, Delaware. I picked up (college) friend Lisa on Friday night and we drove to Dewey. We met up with about 5 other girls that were already there. We had a great time Friday night and were up until 3am! Below, is the infamous pic of "the blonde, the redhead, and the brunette"!





While we were in Dewey we saw an old college friend, Hootie! He's a great guy and it was fun to see him. He lives in Alexandria and has a beach house at Dewey, so he's there every weekend. He looks great!

Shots...just one of many rounds on Saturday! This was at jam fest around 6pm. There were 13 girls on Saturday night and we had a blast!

Let the night begin! Donna had a great time and at this point she was the Dancing Queen!

This boy in the green shirt was ALL about our group. He was dancing with everyone and was tossing Donna around the dance floor (deck) like a little rag doll. It was quite amuzing!

Here is Donna and Hottie Eric. He's from Boston, and I think they ended up meeting him Friday afternoon because he's in other pictures earlier from the weekend. He was a really fun guy.

The two Dancing Queens on the stage!

Wearing Daddy's Shoes

Landon loves to wear Daddy's shoes, and I finally caught it on camera!

Landon got new blocks!

Words

When we went to see the pediatrician for Landon's 15-month check up, she said that his vocabulary would explode in the next 3 months -- she wasn't kidding! Landon's words include: no (his favorite), ma ma, dada, pa pa, bye bye, ball, bowl, cheese, juice, (s)poon, choo choo, woo(f) woo(f) and hot. Now we really have to watch what we say around him!

Playing with Maddy

Even though they are complete opposites, they did have some good bonding moments - like picking off the security covers off of the windows!

Walking with Grandma and Papa in St. Augustine

We always like to walk arould Old St. Augustine when we visit Grandma and Papa. It is really beautiful and we enjoy the window shopping and getting snacks (smoothie, chocolate, coffee, etc).