Pictures!

I've neglected this poor blog. The honest truth is that I've been too tired and sick to do anything with it. Because, if you haven't already heard, we're bringing in baby Burch #4! We're all extremely excited. I've been hoping for this baby for a while now and I just hope it's growing all safe and healthy in there. I'm due at the tail end of summer (September 3rd to be exact).

In other exciting news, Elijah made it to the State Spelling Bee again this year. He tried his best and we are so proud of him. I'm proud of his spelling smarts, but I'm even more proud of his attitude. When he left the stage after the 3rd round, he said, "Oh, well. I'll just come back next year and do better." I could *never* have gone up on a stage in front of all those people, for fear of failure and embarrassment. But he's a horse of a different color than I am and every day he surprises me.

Charlotte has been outside nearly every day now. She prances around the front yard, having secret conversations with herself, making odd piles of rocks and twigs and surrounding them with chalk drawings. I have no idea what she's doing out there but there can't be anything more dear than watching her play. She's full of shy questions about how the world works and you can just see her soaking it all in, every day. Recently she asked me how gravel works. When I explained, in a confused way, that it created a surface for cars to drive on, she replied..."No. I mean gravel. The thing that makes me not float away." Ahhh....gravity. Yeah, I'm not sure I can explain that one either.

I'm sure everyone will be happy to hear that Lucy has not hurt her head in the last few weeks. Since she spends her days mostly placing her body in harms way I'm sure she will soon bump her head again so stay tuned. As rough and tumble as she is, she has suddenly become very frightened of the trains that pass by our house several times a day. When I hear the whistle blow, it's only seconds until I hear her screams, "Chugga-chugga choo choo!" She's truly terrified. She runs to me, crying and wanting to be held. That's all she needs. Once it passes by, she's fine.

She's been dancing alot lately, graceful moves that she tells me are ballet. One morning, soon after I woke up, she turned on some music and told me, "I'm going to dance. Don't laugh at me, ok?" I obviously answered ok but as soon as she began, laughter just tumbled out of me. I wasn't laughing at her because she was dancing in a funny way. She wasn't. She was dancing so sweetly and slowly and thoughtfully and I laughed because it was so beautiful I couldn't even contain how happy it made me feel. But the damage was done. She was crushed. She gave me a look full of hurt and bowed her head, saying, "You told me you wouldn't laugh,". I don't think my heart has ever broken that hard. I wish I could explain to her why I laughed and I will someday. She'll understand when she's a mom.