Mysterious Reaction

A few days before Traeton turned eight years old I took he and Addison into the doctor's office for their well-child visits. Everything was routine. Nothing was a surprise. Praise the Lord they are healthy.

Trae and Add each got a shot or two to keep them caught up on their immunizations. No biggie. The next day one of Addison's shot locations became hot and hard. No big deal, we've seen this before. I was not concerned.

The next morning, however, her whole bicep was swollen to the point of splitting the skin. There were also blisters all over the area. I called the doctor's office, a little more concerned. They said 'circle it'. If it gets bigger then we want to see her.

That night Todd, who was on call at the hospital, had me do a drive-by, front-door exam on her. He was very concerned. He said that if the swelling went down into her elbow she'd have to been seen in the ER. Whew, all night I woke every few hours to check her out. We made it through the night.

The next morning we visited the doctor's office. They were not very concerned. They felt it was probably an allergic reaction to the immunization. We covered it up and headed to Estes Park for a camping weekend. By time we got to Estes her whole arm was swollen to the point it was stiff-straight. Weird!

We enjoyed the beautiful mountains, great fellowship with our church group and Todd's 34th birthday. Addison was a trooper! Never once did she complain. She would get frustrated because her balance was off and it was really difficult to climb around with only one working arm.

So the weekend passed and the swelling began to subside. She was good to go, back to normal within a few days.

Todd's next call night, a few days later, her ankle began to get hot and hard. Her ankle and foot swelled so quickly. She was completely unable to walk.

We returned to the doctor the next morning. They had no idea where this was coming from. We had no idea what was going on. The only thing we could think of was it was a major reaction to a bug bite from Estes Park. Bizarre but possible I guess.

Long story short, they sent us to Children's Hospital with a possibility of surgery to release the pressure from the swelling to regain circulation to her foot. We arrived at Children's. It is a beautiful facility. We bounced around all day long from one department to another. No one knew what was happening. No one could give us a diagnosis. We were over-done! Finally at the very, very end of the day we were seen by a team of six dermatologists. Within seconds they identified it as a poison ivy reaction!!!!! What!?!?!?!

They said she got it in Estes Park. Then how do you explain the exact same reaction on her arm the week before Estes Park?

So with that she started some heavy duty steroids and it all disappeared.

Still mysterious. Todd doesn't agree with the poison ivy diagnosis. I just don't know what to believe. I am grateful it is over and so is she!

This is a picture of us sitting in a room at Children's Hospital. Did I mention she was a trooper? She was amazing! I only hope and pray that when I face some mysterious ailment that I can weather it as well as she did.

Traeton Turns Eight!

Eight is a great age. We are loving eight. Traeton loves being eight. So many things come with eight. Traeton is a proficient reader so he is super helpful in many areas. Traeton is gaining oodles of freedom which he loves. And greater responsibilities which we love. Traeton is a huge help around the house and with the family.

Traeton called most of the shots on his birthday day. For breakfast he had his favorite, cereal mix - a little of everything.

Traeton chose to go see a movie the morning of his big day. No surprise there. But he did have two very special guests, Nana and Bebee, join us which made the whole event even more enjoyable.

We did have to make a quick stop at Wal-Mart for some last-minute birthday party supplies.

Daddy was on a short shift the day of Traeton's birthday so he was home nice and early. This provided the perfect opportunity to open presents before things got crazy at the party. As you can see all his gifts consisted of supplies for a new pet. Traeton had been asking for a new something for a long time. We decided it'd be fun for him to get a guinea pig - a pet all his own.

After opening presents we headed out to dinner at the restaurant of his choice, CB and Potts. We were joined by the grandparents. Here Traeton opened the presents from them which were all super cool. Traeton got a full-size air hockey table which has been lots of fun. He also got a motorized airplane that has yet to be built. Together with his grandpa Traeton will spend the next several years preparing this plane for flight. So much fun!

After eating a quick dinner we hurried home to prepare for the party, the big birthday party!! The theme for this year was Mad Scientist. Traeton personally made all the invitations on his homemade paint spinner. At the party we did all kinds of fun experiments, made goop, exploded things and made our own snack, drink and frosting concoctions to eat. It was a blast!

Due to privacy issues I don't have a lot of pictures I can post. I really want to respect the privacy of all the children who attended so I won't post any pictures of them. But this one is perfect of our master scientist, Dr. Slime.


Happy Birthday, son. We love you.

Mount Holy Cross

Burrrrrr......

At the tail end of the Burmeister family trip to Durango a few of us split off and hiked deep into the woods to tackle the beautiful and famous Mount (of the) Holy Cross.

Todd and myself along with Tony and Lindsey Brown (Todd's sister and her new-ish husband) left the family for this super adventure. None of us thought to check the weather forecast and we all regretted that in a big way! A big cold-front came thought and dropped the temps to freezing levels. We shivered our way to the top.



This was my first 14-er since before children. It is pretty difficult to tackle a mountain of this size with little ones in tow or on the back. I have put this part of me on hold for this season. Never was that more apparent than when we calculated it took us four hours to summit and three hours to descend. People were passing us all over the place.



Here is a picture of Lindsey and I trying to boulder our way upward through dense clouds. Yes, those are socks on our hands. It was Lindsey's brilliant idea, we needed gloves but had none. Socks were the next best thing. I am so, so thankful for my sock/gloves because our hands were frigid and we needed them for bouldering up and down the mountain.

There is the summit, right behind me!! Can you see it!?!? Neither could we... At times we could just put one foot in front of the other and have faith we were heading the right direction. From time to time climbers coming down would steer us this way or that.



Every once in a while God would open the clouds so we could see across the valley or to the peak. It was pretty incredible. I am glad we made it to the top. There were moments when each one of us second-guessed ourselves and thought we should turn back. This is the second time Todd and I have tackled Mount Holy Cross. The first time we weren't able to make it due to bad weather. This time we prevailed though!!

Oh, in case you are wondering why it is called Mount (of the) Holy Cross it is because when there is snow on the mountain it gathers on a vertical crevice and a horizontal crevice so that the snow forms a beautiful cross.

This is Todd being crazy. No, this is not the summit. This is on the way down, a rock that juts out over a cliff. (The first picture of the four of us together is at the summit.)

Durango Celebration

Durango, Colorado
A very neat town in far southern Colorado. I have to admit that my expectations were quite low. I didn't really expect that there was much to Durango, let along much in Durango. But I was wrong, and I love that I was wrong.

This June 22 the Burmeisters celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary. For the occasion the whole clan gathered from San Francisco, Chicago and Denver to caravan down south to Durango. It was a great week filled with great memories, isn't that what you really want your family vacation to hold, lots of great memories?

On our way down we swung by the Great Sand Dunes. I was amazed at this gigantic sand box right in the middle of nowhere mountainous terraine.


We had snow sleds to slide down the hills. It took some work but we were finally able to send the kiddos down.


Some of the highlights of our trip included riding the famous Narrow Guage Railroad.


This was especially exciting for Elias.


The train took us up into the mountains outside of Durango to the zipline park called Soaring. It is a one-of-a-kind, largest-in-the-world zipline park. There are 30-some zip rides that take you through the trees, over rock formations and cliffs and over the ginormous Animas River.

This is a picture of Addison and Traeton linking together for a tandem zip over the river.


This is a picture of Traeton and Addison zipping over the Animas River! Exhilerating!


The last night we were together as a family in Durango all of Glen and Jan's children and grandchildren put together a special evening for the lovely couple. We made a gourmet dinner that they enjoyed out on the deck of our cabin as the sun set. All the children took turns serving them and performing for them.
It was very special for us to honor them and their marriage in this way, I hope they enjoyed it as well.

Addison Turns 5!

Tonight is officially the very last day of summer vacation for our family... Tomorrow morning kicks off our 2009-2010 school year in full swing. Traeton had his first day last Friday but Addison's first day is tomorrow and Elias' first official day is Tuesday. Here we go!!

Our summer turned out to be a lot more than we had expected. As I begin to catch up on the many events of our summer you will see that we sped through our summer at lightening speed!



Alas, I step back in time to Addison's fifth birthday. It landed on a Monday. As birthday tradition goes in the Burmeister home the birthday girl/boy gets to dictate much of how the day runs. This begins with their choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One of which will be out at the restaurant of their choice. For breakfast Addie chose cold cereal, of course! The most sugar she can consume in one sitting is bliss for this little girl.



After breakfast we went to get her haircut. This was a very big deal because it was finally time to cut her hair back to one length. You see when I was gone in the Philippines last fall Addison took the scissors to her own hair. She took a chunk out so short it took seven months to grow long enough to even it out.



Afterward we went to her all-time favorite restaurant for lunch, Gunther Toody's! We had so much fun sitting at the bar, playing cheesy games and slurping chocolate shakes!



That evening we celebrated Addie's birthday at Pump It Up! It was a wild time with lots of jumping, sliding and sweating! Addie invited friends from school, our small group and our neighborhood. It was so much fun and great exercise, too.

Shared Father's Day

Father's Day this year was a very special one for not only the fathers of our family but for Addison as well. As I mentioned a few posts ago it is 'All About A' and that theme continues as this Father's Day fell the day before her big fifth birthday. Since we had the whole family together we decided it would be a good time for her to receive her birthday gifts from them.

With the arrival of her fifth birthday came time for her to receive the most special gift this side of heaven - a handmade doll house from my dad, her Papa. He began the project right around her first birthday and for the past four years he has been working on this masterpiece. It is completely made from scratch! Every little detail was placed, painted, glued, nailed by hand. It is truly a work of art. My dad invested countless hours in this gift of all gifts.



He even had a plaque engraved with the house's address:
62204 Addie's Way (62204 being her birthday, June, 22, 2004)
The address is attached to one of the front steps.



My dad made sure each member of our family had their own bedroom in the doll house. Addie has the largest room of course, complete with pink princess wall paper. Elias and Traeton each have their own rooms with their names on the wall and our room (the master) is the tiniest but in my opinion the most beautiful.



After Add opened all her gifts which consisted mainly of doll house furniture and
characters we enjoyed dinner as a big family at our local Japanese steakhouse. Delicious! The children had a blast as all their food was prepared in front of them.

Catching Up To Do

By reviewing my last post I can see that I have a lot of catching up to do. We have been going non-stop since those last posts so there is a ton I need to write about. Please stay 'posted' (hehe) for upcoming posts to catch you all up on our fabulous Summer of 2009!!

The Next Morning....

After Addison's big graduation night we woke and hustled out the door to the 24th annual Firetruck Brigade. This was a new event to us. We heard much about it from friends at preschool. It was everything they explained and tons more.


The Brigade begins with a firetruck parade complete with blaring sirens. There are dozens of trucks organized chronologically beginning with the oldest and finishing with modern-day trucks.


As the trucks finished with the parade they took up position in the Arapaho Community College parking lot. The newer trucks put up their ladders. This was an amazing sight! The picture doesn't do this justice. These trucks are powerful! We watched them as they raised them, there was something majestic about the whole thing.


Traeton, Addison and Elias had the opportunity to spray a hose...


climb on antique fire engines...


dress up as a firefighter....


get up close and personal with the 'jaws of life'...ride an antique engine, watch a few demonstrations and have tons of fun!

Next year is the 25th anniversary of this event. I was told that next year Denver will be hosting the national Firetruck Brigade so there will be over 300 engines. Pretty cool, I am marking our calendar right now to ensure we won't miss.

All About A.

It has truly been all about A, which in my opinion, is a great thing. Beginning on Friday Addison rose to the spotlight of our family and stayed there for many days. As you can see by the pictures Addison has successfully completed preschool and graduated with much pomp and circumstance Friday evening.


Addison just recieved her mortar board and diploma. She shared with the audience that when she grows up she wants to be an artist.


This is Addison with her teacher and grandmother, Mrs. Ready. I was told she worked very hard to call her Mrs. Ready durning school but often slipped and called her Nana.


Team Burmeister so, so proud of our little graduate!

School's Out, Let's Roadtrip!!

SUCCESS! We have now completed our second family road trip of 2009. This time we traveled across the uninhabited state of Wyoming to the north western corner where God created the incredibly beautiful and mind boggling underground (at this moment in time) volcano called Yellowstone.



We traveled with our dear friends, the Bisping family. We each had our own RV. Yes, this is everything the Bispings packed and brought laying on the ground next to our RV. Due to some scheduling and logistic issues we had to do some fancy loading and unloading and reloading.




Early one morning we stoked up the campfire and roasted s'mores. Yep, after breakfast because the night before we landed in our campsite way after bedtime which also means way after s'mores time.



Bison are HUGE and bison are EVERYWHERE in Yellowstone. The first day or so we'd stop for every sighting, near or far. After the first day we quickly learned there are thousands of bison in the park. There is no need to throw on the brakes every time a bison came into view thus causing major traffic jams on the thin two-lane roads.



Never-the-less to be so near the largest mammal in the North America is completely awe-some



"Yes, baby boys, turn your backs on the ginormous animal behind you, look at me and smile!!" These animals could crush these baby boys with a single snort from their nostrils. It is an amazing amount of trust to turn their backs to the bison, scoot backwards toward it (I kept pushing Elias closer to it) then casually smile at the camera - CRAZY!!



With a slight turn of our head to the left or right we'd move from God's great bison to one of the most powerful volcanoes of our time simmering beneath our feet. This geyser is called 'Dragon's Mouth' because of the sound it makes as it releases built-up pressure.




Does he look bored? Yes, there are hundreds of geysers in the park but come on each one is so unique!



Yes, we are wearing coats and gloves! The weather was still quite chilly. Every day we saw every sort of weather from the warm sun to sprinkling rain to driving rain to sleet to snow. We even drove through blizzard conditions over a mountain pass late one night as we tried to get back to our campsite!! If I had to do it again I would still go up early June as the park was pretty empty.




One of our most favorite things about our trip to Yellowstone was seeing all the wildlife. This little herd of mountain goats stopped us still. The baby danced back and forth over the road as the adults casually grazed on the grass along the edges of the pavement.



The waterfalls were powerful.



Addie wouldn't go near the red dirt. She truly thought it was disgusting. There were beautiful colors everywhere, in the dirt, on the rocks and in the water. The volcanic activity and chemicals cause all kinds of different reactions to various elements.



Our grand finale was to visit Old Faithful. Here is the whole gang, drenched from a down pore minutes before the eruption of good ol' O.F.

Dinner Time Conversation

Tonight at dinner was one of those times that really makes me proud to be the mama of our three little treasures! I am seeing the fruits of my labor and it feels great!

As we often do during dinner conversation I threw out a question to the children. Tonight's question was: "What is your favorite Bible verse?"

Traeton immediately answered without missing a beat, "In God We Trust!!"
Hmmmmm, the verse that is printed on our currency?!?!? Oh, my, at least it has to do with God.

Addison went next, "What is a Bible verse???"

And so it ended, just as quickly as it began.

Another Uplifting Conversation...

As a parent I take my job extremely seriously. I devote that largest part of my day to our children, helping them to be all God has created them to be. I also spend tireless hours developing myself as a mother, reading, studying, praying and conversing with other mothers in my same stage.

It is very disappointing when conversations happen like the one I posted a few days ago entitled: "Dinner Time Conversation".

I was comforted by a dear friend of mine as she shared a recent conversation with her children.

Speaking of a fabulously touching, meaningful conversation with children:

On Mother's Day, we're driving out of church.
Dad: "Let's all give 10 reasons why we're so glad Mommy is our Mommy. Cole? Why don't you start."
Cole: "Uh....."
Dad: "OK, what about the great things she cooks?"
Lacey: "Uh...."
Mom: "Anyone?? Anyone??"
Children: "Uh....well, uh...."

And thus the conversation ended.

Tooth Fairy Failure!

What happens to a mama and daddy when they fail at the very simple job of being a tooth fairy!?!? Todd and I found out very early this morning...

Traeton lost his third tooth yesterday afternoon. We had a crazy, busy evening with Growing Kids God's Way, rushed bath time and several other little things. I admit I completely FORGOT about the tooth! It is quite amazing that I did forget because most of his classmates have lost 6-8 teeth and this was only his third - quite a momentous occasion - especially since the last time he lost a tooth was almost two years ago. Loosing teeth is not something that happens here very often!

Anyway... It is about 5:30 a.m. I am just getting Elias his morning coffee (hot cocoa) and getting ready to put him in front of Sesame Street for 30 minutes so I can find a moment alone with the Lord before our day gets rolling too fast for me to catch it.

Traeton's skinny little bod slinks around the corner in a very down-trodden way. This is NOT my boy, I know immediately that something is not right. The fact that he entered the room silently was alone enough to alert me that something was amiss. Traeton is the loudest moving child ever to exist, we call him 'Thumper' because he runs, jumps and thumps everywhere he goes. Every single morning I know he is awake not because I can see him but because I can hear him.

Even after this odd entrance I am still completely oblivious to the fact that I forgot the tooth! Then he opens his little hand and his itty-bitty tooth is sitting in his palm and the tears begin to roll. 'She forgot me.' He says. The pit arrives in my stomach. He was so, so excited for this.

My mind races, 'how can I fix this??' I grab my phone, I will text Todd who is still upstairs getting ready. He can rush in and put something under the pillow while I distract Traeton. I have half the text written when Traeton sobbingly says, 'I am going to tell Daddy that the tooth fairy forgot me.' Crumb, what do I do now...

As soon as Todd and I have moment alone we begin scheming - after we admit we are the most rotten parents ever - about how to fix the situation. Todd has the grand idea of pulling out a 'bigger' gift from the gift cabinet and put it into his backpack with a note saying, "Sorry Traeton, this was waaaaay too big to fit under your pillow, I hope you don't mind that I left it in your backpack instead." So into the backpack goes the gift with the note.

Traeton eventually discovers it all and doesn't believe, even for a second! He was totally on to us. Todd, being the very black and white kind of man he is couldn't pull off the lie and admitted the whole thing, guilty. So now Traeton knows the tooth fairy does not exist and he knows that we totally forgot him and his tooth last night.

Parenting is so hard. Can I get an 'Amen'?

Pool Opening Party - part III

So this morning everything was a go! All the food ready, the volunteers showed up and worked hard, the weather was beautiful! Perfect setting for a pool opening party.

The party was slated to begin at 12 noon. At 11:30 I run home to heat the Chick-Fil-A nuggets. I am home for just a few minutes when the phone rings and I am told someone pooped in the pool! Thirty minutes to go time - poop in the pool! The pool is emptied of all warm bodies. Emergency phone calls were made. Pool people show up and measured the chemicals - they add chemicals - we wait 30 minutes - they shock the pool (more chemicals) - we wait another 30 minutes. Finally the party ends at 3 p.m. with the pool still closed!

I have a marg in hand and I am heading out back to sit in the sun and read a book.

Here's to the 2009 Weatherstone Pool Opening Party!

Pool Opening Party - part II

I don't have much time to write. Todd is waiting for me to watch a show with him, one of our many, many recorded shows.

Anyway, it is Saturday evening. The pool party did not happen today. We are on for tomorrow. I just wanted to share that today's weather was absolutely gorgeous! We could have easily had the party. As a matter of fact the pool was packed all day!

I know I am whining...but it is what it is....

Pool Opening Party

As a Weatherstone Block Captain we are required to help host one event a year. For the past few years my event has been the pool opening party. I don't know why, we are not huge pool people. Probably because I am perfectly fine being at the pool for several hours during the event, not wearing a suit and working the event.

It is pretty easy and this year will be much easier since we are having the food brought in by outside vendors. In years past we've rented a ginormous grill, had hots and hams donated and found volunteer grillers to grill the whole time! Ugh!

Anyway, this will be the sixth year (not my sixth year) of the event. It was scheduled for tomorrow 12-noon to 3 p.m. Yes, I say was because we changed it! The weather forecast for tomorrow is rotten, windy, cold and rainy. Easy decision, right?? Well, the hitch was that today was absolutely beautiful! One of those days that you think, how in the world could tomorrow be so bad that we'd have to cancel the event?? I mowed the lawn and got a sunburn! It was very difficult to make the call but we did.

And now as I am typing this post the rain is pecking at the window. The cold front has arrived, whew! I don't think I've ever been so grateful for a cold front to arrive as I am right now.

So, the Pool Opening Party is now going to be Sunday, same time, same place, different day!

Loving Spring!

Spring is the best, isn't it?!?!

I love spring because it is a joy to see everything come back to life. Every fall and winter I seriously doubt whether or not our flowers and shrubs and fruits will come back but they do every spring, much to my surprise! This spring our strawberries are so lush and filled with baby berries! Our challenge now is to keep the birds away so we can actually enjoy them.

Yesterday we planted a cherry tree and today Todd planted an apple tree. I have wanted fruit trees in our yard for a very long time and after being in Portland with my friend, Lisa, I got motivated to get it done! We still want a few more but they aren't the cheapest things around so we may have to wait until next year for those.

I love spring because I love seeing my babies' short, fat little legs in shorts. Winter is a long time to have thier little limbs covered with clothes. I love to see them enjoying the warm weather with thier white little legs and arms running around everywhere.

I love spring because I love open windows with the fresh breeze floating through the house.

I love spring because there are birds everywhere sharing their music as they come and go.

Thank you, Jesus, for the seasons. There is a time for every season and a season for every time.

I Should Be....

Tomorrow morning I am hopping on a plane and flying west to visit a dear friend of mine who now lives in Battle Ground, Washington. I should be upstairs packing and putting the final little things in my carry-on but here I am playing around with my silly blog! You know I have been having some big-time blog-envy, not healthy at all! So I humbled myself, admitted my covetousness and asked for help from a friend who's blog is absolutely adorable. She shared some of her tricks and so I have been doing my best to employ them. What do you think?

snowed in!

This is what our house looked like yesterday afternoon. At this point it had rained for almost 24 hours then turned to snow Friday morning. By 11 a.m. the Traeton's school called and said, "Come get your child immediately." So with that we began our comfy, cozy weekend at home drinking hot cocoa with marshmallows, eating Easter candy, reading stories, playing in the snow and having snowball fights and making a snowman. We still have to hit the sledding hill. Because this is a spring snow it is very, very wet and heavy - pretty much slush. Everyone's snow clothes are so wet, dripping actually, it takes a long time for them to dry for the next outing.

This is Todd and the children shoveling the driveway the first time. We have shoveled it several times since.

Elias did his best to help out but he still hasn't figured out how to put his thumbs in the thumb-holes of his gloves. This puts him at an extreme disadvantage, not having thumbs to pick up the shovel.

When school let out we brought home two neighbor friends to hang out with us for the afternoon. We had tons of fun painting rocks, pictures and making mosaics. Good times had by all!

Todd, Traeton, Addison and Elias are itching to hit the hot tub right now. Everyone is suited out except for me. Since it is not Todd's favorite thing to take our three little jack rabbits into the hot tub alone I should sign off to join them.