Happy Mother's Day to the BEST Mom Ever!

The Best Mom Ever would be my mom in my opinion, just in case you weren't sure!

And just so everyone is aware, after a quick search I have realized that I don't have ANY pictures of just me and mom since Lyla was born.... this is officially the last one!  All pictures either have Lyla or Em in them!  hahaha

I love my mom dearly.  I would not say she is my best friend, she never wanted to be my best friend, she is my mom.  She always likes to tell me, "there are just some things a mom doesn't want to know" whenever I start to get carried away and share just a little bit too much information about something.  No, I wouldn't call her my best friend, but I do talk to her more than anyone else in my life.  We talk on the phone, text, email, whatever the form of contact may be at least once a day.  And on the rare days that it doesn't happen, I always feel a little off until I talk to her.

I have learned a lot from my mom over the years and she is still teaching me new things all the time.  She taught me not to take things too seriously, what seems like such a huge deal right now isn't going to matter a year from now.  She has taught me to be honest, there isn't any good that can come from telling lies.  The truth will always come out in the end.  She taught me to enjoy reading.  She taught me lots of basic things too, how to do laundry, how to drive, although she did forget to teach me how to cook... but I guess there is still time for that!

We are a lot alike when it comes to some things.  Her and I prefer to plan our outings around what, where and when we are going to eat.  If we are going out for a day of shopping, we decide where to go based on what restaurants are near which stores!  We both have a very warped sense of humor.  When I still lived at home we used to love to watch beauty pageants on tv and make fun of the dresses and hair and how they would answer different questions, we also get the same fun out of watching the Olympics! 

We are also quite different.  I have only heard my mom say swear words very few times in my life.  When she does, you know its bad.  I on the other hand talk like a sailor (I think I get that from my dad)!  I like to go out and be in crowds, she would much rather stay home.

She always had funny rules for us growing up, some examples:
You could only have a band aid if there was blood.  If you want one just for the feel better aspect, forget it!
When you are sick, you should eat eggs.  Don't know why, but that's what we do.
When we were learning to drive she would always say "Watch your speed....".  Yes mom, I'm watching it get faster, thanks for pointing it out... haha

My mom has set a pretty high standard for me to live up to as a mom, but I'm doing my best!  I just hope someday Lyla can have same the respect and love for me that I have for my mom!

5 Things Friday - Guilty Pleasures

I'm starting a new thing I'm going to call "5 Things Friday".  Basically a list of five things for any random topic of my choosing that week!  This week:

Guilty Pleasures

1.  Boy Bands
I love boy bands, the old ones like New Kids on The Block, not so old like Nsync and 98 Degrees, and the new ones like One Direction.  Love them!

2.  Cup O Noodles
I love a good cup of noodles.  I don't care that there is enough sodium in them to last you a week or that they cost like 30 cents each....  They are so yummy! 

3.  Books for Young Adults
You know, Twilight, Harry Potter and the like.  All the books written for people who are obviously younger than I am!  I love to read them because when I'm reading for pleasure I prefer to not have to think too hard!

4.  Chick Flicks/Romantic Comedies
I don't care how cheesy they are or the fact that you can figure out the entire plot of the movie in the first 5 minutes!  I enjoy them!

5.  Chips
I try really hard not to have any in the house because when I do, I have no control!  You know what they say, you can't eat just one!

You won't like me when I'm angry....

Some people say I have anger issues, some say a bad temper, some people just call me a bitch.  It is what it is I suppose.  My favorite is when Gary says I'm "Hulking Up"!  I think that's truly the best description!  When I'm happy everything is fine.  I'm nice, easy to get along with, just a sweet girl.  But when you don't treat me or someone I care about with the respect that they deserve, then I am not going to be happy about it and I'm not going to have a problem telling you about it.  I also refuse to be walked on, I'm too strong for that.

You may also see the Hulk appear if I get too hungry.... but that's a whole different subject entirely! 

Changes Changes All Around!

If you are one of those extra, super, duper observant people you will notice that the blog has a new name! 

No longer being referred to as the "Burge Fam" blog, I have changed it to "Kate's Kaleidoscope". 

The definition of kaleidoscope is a constantly changing pattern or sequence of objects or elements.  I think this is a good description of my life.  Things don't stay the same for long!  If they did, we would all be so bored! 

When I started this blog a year ago... yes, a year has already passed.... I wanted to keep everyone updated on Lyla and how quickly she was growing and changing.  No worries, I'm still going to keep everyone updated on the little Bean, but I have realized that I really enjoy writing.  I enjoy just jotting things down that are on my mind and those things often don't have anything to do with the "Burge Fam", they have to do with me. 

I have seen some fun ideas on different blogs that I am thinking about incorporating here, I haven't totally figured it all out just yet.  But I'm excited about it!  So stay tuned!

Back to reality after a FANTASTIC Weekend!

As great as it is to spend time with our family and friends, my favorite weekends are when its just the three of us doing whatever we feel like doing!  And this past weekend was exactly that.

Friday night we went to Home Depot to get some supplies for working outside at our house.  Then we had dinner at Wendys (fancy, I know!).  But hey, we like it and we had coupons!  And Lyla is much more comfortable in that sort of environment.  She was standing in the booth next to me eating her nuggets and dancing to the music they had playing in the dining room.  The next thing we know she is shaking her butt in the air and says "Shake Your Butt"!  hahahaha  It was fantastic!

Saturday morning I needed to run up to the mall for a couple things and Gary and Lyla came with me.  I guess it was "Free Comic Book Day", Gary could tell you all about it, but I'm not a nerd like him, so I don't know anything about it.  But he took Lyla to the comic book store while I did my own thing and she was just as excited as he was!  It was cute seeing them together!

Saturday afternoon Lyla and I went on what seemed like a thousand walks, but I didn't care, the weather was so great I loved being outside and spending time with her!  While we did that Gary was busy pulling out plants/weeds along the side of our house.

Saturday was also Nathan's birthday!  We didn't get to see him on Saturday so we had to send him a special message to be sure that he knew we didn't forget!

Sunday Lyla and I went and did more shopping while Gary kept working out in the yard.  Sunday afternoon I painted Lyla's toenails!  I have been waiting almost two years to paint those piggys! 

She loves them!  She kept taking her shoes off to look at her "pink toes"!

So that's a quick rundown of our weekend.  It was perfect!  :)

Heard Around the House - In the Car - She really just never stops talking!

I have been wanting to do some "Heard Around the House posts" but they all keep piling up in my head and I just don't get around to posting them.

Lyla has turned in to quite the little chatterbox!  It doesn't matter where we are, she just talks nonstop!  And she doesn't even care if there isn't anybody to talk to, she has no problem just rambling to herself!

Here are some of my favorites lately:

She likes to say that she goes to "work" every day, not daycare.  So after I picked her up one day we had this conversation in the car:

Me:  So what did you do at work today?
Lyla:  Make money.
Me:  How did you make money?
Lyla:  Hot Dogs.
Me:  So you sold hot dogs and made money?
Lyla:  Yes.

Later when I was retelling this to Gary:

Gary:  Lyla, can I have some of your money?
Lyla:  No!  :) 

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Her and I sitting in the back of the car on the way home.

Lyla:  (saying something I totally can't understand)
Me:  Finger?
Lyla:  (repeating whatever it is I can't make out)
Me:  Touchdown?
Lyla:  (repeating it once again, annoyed that I can't understand)
Me:  Can you use it in a sentence??
Lyla:  hahahaha Mimi funny!
Me:  I will take that as a no.... 

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She hasn't been really crazy about eating pasta dishes lately.  I made stuffed shells for dinner last night and wasn't sure if she would eat it or not, but figured I would give it a try.  I put her plate of shells in front of her.

Lyla:  MMMMMM Red Tacos!!

And she ate them!  So Gary and I just called them red tacos all night!  Whatever works right??

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Busy Saturday

Saturday's schedule was booked solid from start to finish.  First thing in the morning Gary had to go to work for a couple of hours so Lyla and I were trying to use that time to get a few things done around the house, like laundry.  Well my hands were full trying to get her and the laundry basket downstairs, I put my cell phone in the basket... and forgot about it.  Forgot all about it until I saw it falling in to the washing machine that was halfway full of water.... ugh  I yanked it out of there and took it all apart and put it in a bowl of rice.  Amazingly enough when I put it back together on Sunday it actually worked and is still working!!  But it wasn't a very good way to start the day.
When Gary got home he got ready and we headed to WashPA for things that we had going on there the rest of the day.  One of the things was a celebration dinner for my cousin who graduated from Pitt.  It was really nice getting to see all of our family from around the country (Texas, Colorado)!  All the cousins were there except for one, which for us is about as good as you can hope to get!  We got a couple pictures of the whole gang.  I hope some of the family can share theirs with me because when I got my camera and looked whoever was using mine only took two pictures...  But they are still great pictures nonetheless!

After the party my cousin Kristen came back to our house to stay.  We had so much fun!  I really wish that we didn't live so far apart because we always have a blast any time we are together! 

Edit:  Grandma just sent me two more pics from the party!