Balloons for Jada

Eleven years ago yesterday, Sept. 1, 1997, I went to all my classes at UW. I was in my final phase of the el. ed. program before I started student teaching. It was the beginning of semester and I know some thought I was crazy starting these courses when I was due to have a baby towards the end of September and Journee was not yet quite 2. I, however, knew if I was going to get through with my schooling it needed to be now or it would be even harder to get back to later. After my classes I had my normal check-up with the doctor. We found out my blood pressure was high and he sent me over to the hospital for an ultrasound to check the baby. It was then that we discovered we would be having another girl. The doctor said the baby looked good but we should probably induce the next day. The next day, Sept. 2nd, they started my labor. It was very slow to get going with little progression. I would spend the whole day and night continuing on slow but steady. It wouldn't be until the next evening, Sept. 3rd, before we got to welcome Jada into our lives. Once she decided to arrive she didn't hesitate. I went from a 4 to the doctor isn't going to make it in time, in about 30 minutes. The nurses delivered her. The doctor left his softball game and got stuck behind an accident on his way to the hospital.

(Sept. 3, 1997)
Jada Adelle Burton was a healthy 6 lbs. even.

Her exciting entrance was fitting as she was always on the go. Always an adventure to be had.

(First birthday)

I couldn't help but think today how I would know what kind of a cake to make for her birthday tomorrow, not sitting here wondering what to do. She would know what kind of a cake she wanted weeks in advance. She was always so excited. I miss that so much. On her 8th birthday, she requested a monkey doing ballet. I told her no at first, I didn't know how I would pull that one off. I am so glad I attempted and let her have her wish.
(2) (3)
I was talking to Gerry the other day and asked him if he ever remembers Jada being angry. I couldn't think of a time. He couldn't either. She would get sad or things would upset her but she never got angry or lashed out at others. She was the peacemaker in our house. Always there to comfort or sacrifice to help make the others feel better. I miss that, too.
(4)(5)
I still don't understand how she could be needed somewhere else more than she is needed here. She would have been joining Journee in middle school this year. Journee is sad and missing that. (Jada would have been kicking the boys for her :-)

(6) (7)
We all miss her. It is as simple as that. It is something that does not go away. Our family continues on and we will continue to do so but we are not the same. We don't understand, but we have faith she is where she is suppose to be and that we will be 'whole' as a family again, but we still miss her every single day.

(8 years old)

So, tomorrow we will celebrate. We will celebrate her birth, celebrate her life. She is still part of our family even if she is not physically here.

I am sad I don't live closer to her grave so that I could decorate it for her. I think I will make a balloon birthday cake for her. We are planning to let balloons off for her tomorrow. We are going to attach messages for her on them. If you would like for us to include a message from you, please leave it in the comments or you can e-mail me (ashgerburton@yahoo.com) and we will include it with ours. We would love to have more to share and send to her.

Lesson learned the hard way

This is a story about Allie, our ever mischievious, just turned 6, started the first grade, bouncy, lovey, girl. Allie loves to play outside. She loves nature. All of nature, animals, plants, bugs, the weather, all of it. She is usually the last one to come inside because she likes to be out so much. Well, the other day she found a big fuzzy caterpillar. She was instantly taken by this little creature and started building him his own mansion in an old shoe box. He had everything a caterpillar could dream of. He had a bed made out of an apple off the apple tree, leaves carpeting the floor, beatiful rock furniture and painted walls. She even made sure he had a pet, a little fly. How lucky could one caterpillar get?

I thought it was cute but did not want Talon to keep getting into the box or this caterpillar crawling all over the furniture, so I repeatedly asked Allie to take it outside. She could play with it just as well and he would be happier outside. After the umpteenth time telling her it needed to go back out, I let it go, you know the whole choose your battles. I was in the kitchen finishing up the dishes when I heard this horrible scream. I ran in knowing something had to be terribly wrong. Allie was bawling and screaming. Somehow the caterpillar had slipped out of her hand and in the mix up she accidentally stepped on it. There it was squished flat on the floor. She was so heartbroken. "Mom, I really, really liked him!" I gave her a hug and told her I was sorry. I felt really bad for her but I probably wasn't as sympathetic as I could have been since I had been asking her all day to keep the little guy outside. So, I also took the time to explain to her that she hadn't obeyed. I had asked her to take him out and if she would have listened this probably wouldn't have happened. She continued to cry for about an hour. I hope in the end, this hard lesson sank in a little and maybe next time she will remember and obey. There's always hoping.

First Day of School

Friday the elementary kids got to go and meet their teachers and put their school supplies in their desks. Today was the first day of school. The kids were so excited. It was like Christmas Eve trying to get them to bed last night. They had fun picking out what they were going to wear and had everything layed out and ready for this morning. I remember doing the same thing. I always loved the first day of school. Now, I am just wondering where the summer went. I think this was the fastest one ever.

Journee-7th grade

Kyle-4th grade (Mrs. Hessenthaler)

Karlee-2nd grade (Mrs. Ohman)

Allie-1st grade (Mrs Gerhart)

When I went to download the school pictures I discovered this one that Gerry had taken a few weeks ago. He came home from working on the house a little earlier one evening, (just before dark) and got the chance to help Allie learn to ride a bike. She had been asking all summer, so I am glad he was finally able to do it. He was feeling pretty bad about it. Anyway, it only took about 10 minutes to teach her how to get started and steady her a little and she was off. She did an awesome job and she was so thrilled. It made all of us happy. Now every chance she has she is out riding.

Way to go Allie!

A silly

Last night, Gerry and I had quite a laugh as he told me something Azurdey did. He was helping her go potty. (I know, I know, bathroom humor ;-) Anyway, she 'tooted', passed gass, farted (use whichever term you are most comfortable with) when he set her on the toilet. Then, again when he was helping with her panties. She got a very serious look on her face and said, "Stop it, butt!" What a silly girl.

I also wanted to make a note about the picture I put in for my header. Gerry's aunt is putting something together and wanted a family picture. As most of you know, not my favorite request as we do not have any of our 'whole family'. She said we could include a separate picture of Jada, but I decided to just photo shop her into our last years picture. It is pretty obvious she is just stuck there, but it is nice to look at it and see us all together, so I thought I would use it as my header for awhile.

Talon's First Birthday

Talon turned 1 year old on July 30th!
He is such a sweet little boy. He loves to give hugs and kisses and he is quite tolerant of all the love he gets in return (Azurdey's tackle hugs or being drug around by Allie and Karlee). He now has 4 teeth, two on the bottom and the top two just broke through last week. Talon is starting to talk a little. He says mama, dada, peek-a-boo, ball, gotcha, and doggie. Those are the most obvious ones. He is starting to mimic a lot. One seems to be the magic number in our home, as all of our kids have started walking at 12 mos. Talon is no exception. For the past couple months he has been taking a few steps here and there but it couldn't be considered 'walking'. On his birthday he decided he could walk clear across the room. If he needs to get somewhere fast he will drop down to a crawl since he is still a little bit unsteady but for the most part he now walks where he wants to go.
Talon's favorite toy has to be a ball. He gets so excited and squeals when he sees one. He throws them and chases them to throw them again. So, I decided to make Talon a beach ball for his birthday cake. It wasn't quite as simple as I thought it would be and looked more and more deflated as the day went on. Really, it did start out round.

We were in Colorado on his actual birthday, so we celebrated a couple days late on August 1st. We went out to Horseshoe Bend and had a picnic and went swimming. It was over 100 degrees that day so it was a great way to cool off.

Mom has been watching Teri's kids and so she brought them out to join us. Journee's friend, Katelyn came, too.

Talon caught on to the whole opening presents thing real fast and loved tearing the paper.

Allie's 6th BIrthday!

July 25th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLIE!

Allie is now officially 6 years old. We had a fun time celebrating her birthday. A few things about Allie. Allie is a kidder, she loves to joke and picks up on things very quickly. She will also tell you just how she sees things. She loves to color and draw and makes all kinds of projects. She is becoming a great reader and likes to read Dora stories to Azurdey. Like her sisters, she loves to give hugs. She has great smile and her giggle is infectious.

Allie wanted a mermaid birthday cake.

Her birthday menu included tacos, chips, and her number one request-watermelon. After we ate we met up with Rob's family and Grandma Hyde at the park for cake, rainbow sherbet and presents.

She got lots of fun presents including a barbie scooter.


Allie really wanted to go swimming, so we rented the pool. I think it may become a tradition as we did this last year on her birthday, too and what could be better on a hot July day. (One of the plus-sides to having a summer birthday.) Everyone enjoyed the splashing, relaxing, and especially the nice, cool water.

This turtle was one of Allie's presents.

Hailee and Allie