Brass Band Rehearsal

Aren't I lucky? I get a concert in my very own living room, every week in December! The brass band is getting bigger every year...

Riley Penguins

Let's hear it for penguin pajamas!!!

Rachel and Isaac

Eliza

Josh and Madi

Christmastime

Josh at a live nativity scene

Eliza at the live nativity scene (including a real baby!)Gingerbread bakers (this is the one day a year that I wish we had a dog, to clean up all the dough smashed into the floor...)

Rachel wanted to make a "real" gingerbread house

Josh with Bridget and Camille, at the Air Force Band Christmas Concert. The music was fabulous! (especially "Sleigh Ride") After sitting through about 5 band concerts already this month, Josh wasn't excited to go see yet another concert with Lyrad and me (the older kids all had social events to go to), but when later telling Eliza how the concert was, he said, "Even I have to admit that it was good..."

Band competition

Eliza on trombone (2nd from left)

Eliza (2nd from left)

Madi on trumpet

Eliza (2nd from left)

To see Eliza's and Madi's marching band in action (2 minutes long):

http://www.youtube.com/user/aliciaburkriley#p/u/0/MLlu0RD4bcE

(if the link doesn't work, search "Vanden marching band Nov. 09 you tube"

Isaac on piano, with jazz band

Thanksgiving

No Burk family gathering is complete without lots of cards... especially Capitalism.

Not only was it great to be with relatives, but it was great to not have to cook all the food! The only things I made were pies: coconut, dutch apple, pumpkin, chocolate peanut butter, pecan, cherry. Yum. The Month of Eating officially began.

Soccer at the park was great... my dad picked up where he left off 20 years ago (as a soccer coach).

Dan took us 4-wheeling in his Rhino on very steep, muddy hills! Very fun (but scary)!

Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren (except Kevin and Isaac).

Grandma with all of her granddaughters.

Eliza and Brittany singing "Yellow Submarine."

We had a fun Thanksgiving at my parents' house. The night before, we had my parents, all 6 of their kids, plus the four spouses, and 13 grandchildren there. Jon brought Beatles Rock Band so the cousins had a blast singing together. I felt like a slacker when I noticed how fun my siblings all are: one uncle takes the kids all 4-wheeling, one uncle lets them play Rockband (and took us to Magic Mountain and Disneyland in the past), another uncle takes the nieces and nephews shopping and buys them name brand clothes, another uncle plans fabulous backpacking trips and invites them along every summer, and what do Lyrad and I do? We bring a soccer ball and frisbee to play at the park! We better step it up somehow...

Peter Pan

We went to see the stage play of "Peter Pan" at a local theater, complete with flying characters and the great song, "I Won't Grow Up." We went with our friends who just moved in down the street. (We love it when such a nice, fun family moves into our ward and carpools with us and plays soccer at the park with us!) The teenagers thought the play was a little corny, but the flying on wires was impressive. Joshua was impressed by the pirates but was very unimpressed by the crocodile (a 3-year-old in a crocodile Halloween costume who said "RRRRAAAARRR").

Veteran's Day on the coast

We went to San Francisco on Veteran's Day...

We had fun at the Exploratorium (science center)...

We ate our lunch at the beach...

We hiked among the redwoods in Muir Woods...

Band Concert

Isaac's the pianist in his high school jazz band. We've gone from wishing Isaac would practice piano longer... to wishing he would stop at night so we could get some sleep! He loves improvising and working on new songs. At home, I enjoy his playing (and singing along to) songs from the musical "Joseph." (Now THAT'S what I should capture on video!)

Here's Eliza's band. She's in the brass section in the back, playing trombone. We can't see her but we can hear her.

Our new niece!

Lyrad, Baby Molly, Isaac, Nick (Lyrad's youngest brother) and Josh

Eliza loved playing with Johnny and tried to get him to say "Eliza". But it's easier to say "Madi," so he called both girls "Madi"!

We drove 3 hours to Reno on Sunday to be at cousin Molly's blessing, then drove 3 hours home that evening. Rachel stayed home to be in the primary program (she sang and played flute with her primary class, so the music leader really wanted Rachel to stay).

Halloween time

Isaac (with Interact Club) helped out at an elementary school harvest fest, and he had the fun job of spraying peoples' hair! Josh and Rachel were willing victims.

Here's Josh's zucc-o-lantern.

Eliza loves Pumpkin Stew.

Rachel decorated lots of pumpkin cookies.

Isaac and his friend Jocelyn took their 4 youngest siblings trick or treating downtown one afternoon. Their family has 3 girls and 2 boys (like us) and other than their daughter at college, their children are matched up in ages to our children. Isaac and Jocelyn are the same age (and are good friends), Eliza and Madi and Juliana are the same age (and are best buddies), Rachel and John are the same age, and Josh and Justin are the same age and are best buddies.

Jumping Madi

At Girl's Camp (in July), Madi wore footie pajamas during the cold nights. The 3 girls in her group wanted footie pajamas, too, so they went to the store together last week and picked out matching p.j.'s. They'll wear them to 6 a.m. seminary sometime, too. Madi LOVES taking jumping pictures.

Red Ribbon Week posters

Here's Rachel's anti-drug poster (the pink one above). She won 2nd place out of 6th graders.

Here's Joshua's poster. He won 1st place out of 3rd graders and was thrilled!

Isaac in action

Here's Isaac heading the soccer ball (during the first second of this video). I wasn't very successful at capturing Isaac on video this season; everything happens too fast in the games!

Watch out for bats!

At the library costume party

Rachel's new favorite animal is a... bat! Perfect for this time of year. She checked out every bat book in the children's nonfiction section of the library, and she cut out black fabric to make bat wings to sew onto her black dress so she can be a bat.

Eyeballs

Grandma Shirley sent Josh a mold for making chocolate eyeballs... what could be more fun for an 8-year-old boy?

Biggest corn maze in the world

The biggest corn maze in the world is now the flattest corn maze in the world, after a big storm ruined it last week. Luckily our YW trip to the corn maze was before the big storm! Joshua loved coming along with us and trying to find his way through the tall cornstalks in dark.