Thanksgiving 2009 & Tree Hunting

With all of the baby posts, Thanksgiving pictures got a little delayed. Here are our pics from Thanksgiving Day at my mom's.

Camryn in her big sister shirt

Keller's 1st Thanksgiving

Little turkey


The "kid" table

Mommy & the big sister

So cute!

Family pics

Cousins

The good

the bad

and the ugly

The day after Thanksgiving we went to a tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree.


Camryn helping us search for the perfect one

The winner

Ready for the ride home

Our pretty tree ... the SECOND time around.

We put the tree up the day we got it, and I woke up the next morning to find it laying across the couch with ornaments all over the floor. We had to take everything off the tree, including the lights, and do it allllll over again. Not my best Christmas memory ...

The Baby Story

If you weren't patient enough to stick with my last long, rambling, random post, you may have missed the big news that we are having another baby! We are very excited that we will welcome baby number two in June! Although we are excited, I don't think our excitement can compare to Camryn's! In case you haven't heard, this is her baby, and Jason and I really have no claim to him or her. And, according to Camryn, we are having a baby girl named Annalise ... which is news to us since we won't find out the baby's gender until February and since we haven't discussed names with her at all!


It really has been so much fun finally letting people in on our secret (I took the pregnancy test Oct. 26!) It's also been fun for me to hear the reactions we are getting from different people. I especially love hearing, "Ohhhhh, I was wondering when you would finally have the next one! I just knew you wouldn't have just one!" Every time, I want to laugh and say, "Really!? Because we weren't sure there would be another one!"


And, really, we weren't. I don't know if Camryn was a particularly tough baby (I'll let you know, maybe around August, when I have someone to compare her to!) or if we just weren't fully prepared as new parents because we had not really been around babies, but those first few months were haaaarrrrrrrddd! I mean, really hard. And once we got past those first few really tough months, and Camryn started to grow into a little person, and we started to have more fun with her, we just weren't 100% sure we wanted to do that all over again. I know some people will never understand that, because they would have their house busting at the seams with kids if they could afford it! I also know that may make us sound as if we don't like kids (which couldn't be further from the truth), or some people may even say that makes us sound selfish. But, for a while, I think we were feeling that God's plan for our family may only be one child. And, for some families, I think just one child is His plan. He is definitely aware of what we can and cannot handle!


I am not sure when I started to become more open to the possibility of having another baby, but if you talked to Jason a few years ago, you know he was done. No more. I wanted to know where he really stood on that - if he was serious, or if he was being that firm to keep people from nagging us about when the next one would come! I remember driving back home from Anderson one Saturday and having a very serious discussion in the car about whether or not we felt our family was complete. We talked for a long time about money, Camryn, our fears, our relationship, etc., and came out on the other side of the discussion deciding we really did want to have another baby ... just not right then.



At the beginning of the summer, the timing finally felt right for us. I stopped taking my birth control, but we decided just to leave the rest up to God. We weren't counting days on a calendar or anything like that - it was just going to happen when and if it happened. Even so, when Oct. 26 rolled around, and we saw the big "PREGNANT" word on the test, there was definitely some shock! There was lots of shocked silence in the house that night and by 3 am that morning, I was laying awake in bed wondering how in the world we were going to do this all over again. Oct. 27 was the day of crying - almost all day long. Yes, we knew what we were getting into when I stopped taking my birth control, but when it actually happens and slaps you in the face that there will not be just one but TWO little bodies in your household, it is HUGE! By Oct. 28 we finally started to get ourselves together and decided we could handle this. Of course, by November 5, when we went in for our first appointment and saw that tiny little heartbeat, we were all smiles. How can you not be when you see that on the screen?



Both of our sisters knew by the first week, because we had to tell someone! We waited until the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to tell Camryn. The first thing she wanted to know was what were we going to name the baby, and she immediately followed that by placing her order for a little sister. Camryn wore her "I'm Going to be a Big Sister" shirt to both my mom's and Jason's parents' house for Thanksgiving, and we let all of our friends know that day as well.


I think it is an understatement now to say we are excited. It is so much fun to share this with everyone - especially Camryn. She prays and thanks God every night for her little sister (bless her heart if this baby is a boy!) and kisses my tummy everytime I leave the house. We are really just enjoying every week and every minute of this pregnancy, because it is likely we'll be done after this. But, who knows ... we may be traveling in the car again and have another serious discussion that changes our minds. I guess it will all depend on how loudly the baby is screaming in the backseat that day!

Oh, the things you can learn from a blog!

They say you learn something new every day! Keep reading . . . you never know what you may find out!

1. If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.


2. Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.


3. 1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.


4. The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache.


5. Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump.


6. American car horns beep in the tone of F.


7. There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.


8. The average person makes 1,140 telephone calls per year.


9. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.

10. The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.

11. Children grow faster in the springtime.

12. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

13. More than 80% of the Earth's surface is volcanic.

14. Humans blink over 10,000,000 times a year.

15. Rats are incapable of puking.

16. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

17. All polar bears are left-handed.

18. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.

19. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

20. There are one million ants for every person in the world.

21. Typewriter is the longest word that can be made using only one row of letters of the keyboard.

22. Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any color.

23. No word in the English language rhymes with "month."

24. The most common name in the world is Mohammad.

25. The most money ever paid for a cow at an auction was $1.3 million.

26. There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye, hip, arm, leg, ear, toe, jaw, rib, lip, gum).

27. Burley baby number 2 is due June 25, 2010!!! :)

28. A skunk's smell can be detected by a human a mile away.

29. The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

30. 99% of the pumpkins sold in the United States end up as jack-o-lanterns.

Happy Birthday to Me . . . Again!

If you remember from my birthday post in September, I mentioned my birthday present from Jason was coming in November. I've been to the Biltmore House multiple times but have never been to see it decorated for Christmas. Two weekends ago, Jason and I headed up to Asheville to stay at our favorite bed and breakfast, the Hill House, and went to see the gorgeous Christmas lights at Biltmore. Of course, I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to depend on the links to imagine what our trip was like!

I think I should start by explaining Jason and I have decided we are the kiss of death for any restaurant in Asheville. The first time we stayed at Hill House, we went to the Melting Pot. Before our second trip, we decided we wanted to go again, so I tried looking it up on the internet and couldn't find it. We ended up being told the restaurant flooded, and since they didn't have flood insurance, they never reopened. So, we did a little searching and found another local place online and decided to give that a try. When we got there we rode up and down the main road through Asheville and could never find it. We gave up, ate somewhere else, and through asking around found out that place had closed as well. During that 2nd trip we found a local place called Cafe on the Square that we adored. We planned to go back this time, but while we were checking in, were told by the innkeepers that it closed after 20 years of operation. See? The Burleys can even shut down a 20 year old restaurant!

Thursday evening, after we checked in and realized Cafe on the Square was no longer an option, we drove around trying to find another place to eat. We eventually ended up at Atlanta Bread Co. I know ... don't judge us. There are no ABC's in the area where we live, and the one in Anderson closed way before we moved. So, it's been years since we've eaten at one. After dinner, we headed back to Hill House to enjoy the yummiest chocolate chip cookies (one of the best parts of Hill House is the bottomless cookie jar in the parlor!) and realxing for the rest of the night.

Friday morning we woke up and had a french toast croissant with orange peel and cinnamon muffins. Terry, the co-owner of Hill House truly makes the most amazing breakfasts! After breakfast, we did some shopping, had lunch, made a quick stop at The Chocolate Fetish (another one of my favorites!) and were back at Hill House by afternoon for naps and several episodes of My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding. Again, don't judge us ... we were on vacation with nothing better to do than watch ridiculous shows on TV! Friday evening was our Biltmore tour which was just beautiful! The lighted trees on the front lawn were my absolute favorite, and we spent a lot of time just looking at them and walking through them. After our tour, we found another great local place, Bistro 1896. Although the food was fabulous, we fully expect it will be closed the next time we go back. After all, the Burleys ate there ... Saturday morning we had potato fritatas and cranberry orange scones before heading out.

So, I guess my 30th birthday celebrations have finally come to an end now! I kind of like stretching my birthday out over 3 months! And by the way, I have the greatest husband in the world for giving me such an awesome birthday present!

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween! Lindsay, Justin, and Keller came over Saturday afternoon for pizza and football, and then we headed to church for the Covenant Carnival. Our church did a great job, and we had tons of fun getting Camryn and Keller all dressed up in their costumes!

Our little sock hop princess

Camryn and her sweet friend Ms. Danelle who she just adores!

Cutest little monkey

Adorable cousins

Camryn and Brady - too cute!

Playing games at the carnival