Twice a Year Blog?

If there isn't already a concept for a twice a year blog, I feel like I've created it. You know, it's kind of like when you are supposed to go into the dentist for a check up...Every 6 months - it's time for an update with the lives of the Burkey's! Better yet, you can read this blog on your phone while getting your teeth cleaned! Woah, that blew your mind didn't it?

Well, let's go ahead and update. Let's see, when was the last time I posted....JULY?! Wow, that's a lot of updating. Time for a bulleted list? I think so.

• The kids are growing, obviously, but at an incredibly fast rate. Like, where the heck does the time go? Micah is 8 and correcting me on everything...he is even beating me at certain video games when I'm trying my hardest (yeah, he doesn't know that). He is doing wonderfully in school - like straight A's all the time. He is rocking it out in soccer. He even scored a goal! Penny is going to be 3 in a couple months. She has all of the sassiness that her Mom has, but she is still pretty laid back and goes with the flow (most of the time) like her Daddy. She is now in Mother's Day Out to get her prepared for pre-school and she is following her brother's footsteps in classroom success. I think soon she will be playing soccer - can't wait to coach her team! Even though I know nothing about soccer! Hello YouTube videos, haha. 
• Current interests of Micah: 
• Minecraft...Minecraft and some more Minecraft. This is like crack to him right now, I dunno what happened but he is completely addicted to it. 
• Skylanders, still. Oh yes, I think we have pretty much kept that company in business with our 50+ figures.
• Soccer. he is starting to look like his Uncle out there. 
• Magic: The Gathering cards. I am not living my childhood through him, I swear! Ok...maybe a little. I kind of suggested he try this out. I know it's super nerdy...but you know, he loves it, it is an advanced game that is teaching him a lot of fundementals and...he isn't in high school yet - so might as well hit this game before he is trying to get girls, right? Yeah, that's how I explained it to Brittany...haha.
• Wrestling. Not only wrestling with me, but he has started watching WWE, including going to his very first Monday Night Raw! Yeah, ladies are going to love him.
• Current interests of Penny:
• Talking. Yes, she does a lot of it. Between Brittany, Micah and Penny I don't think I get a word in most of the time.
• Coloring. She loves to sit down and color on everything. Even the walls right outside our bedroom door with chalk. 
• Anything with a touch screen. Can't tell you how many times Britt has picked up her phone to call someone, only to find her contacts are gone or her home screen is moved around...Or I'll pick up my phone/kindle and there is a layer of finger prints so thick on the screen that I need to get my window scrapper for the car...And Penny sits and watches, laughing hilariously on the inside. I know she is, I can see it in her eyes.
• Being outside. With the nice weather coming around, Penny wants to be outside all the time, playing in the backyard or just wanting to sit and watch the birds. 
• Wrestling. Not really the WWE kind, but the kind where she gets to jump on Daddy and BoBo numerous times, while she laughs to hard her face gets red and she falls over. Micah and her make a good tag-team. 
• Brittany is as amazing as she was last time I posted about her. Without her, I think our world would explode. No, I'm serious...I believe I would blow the house down trying to cook hot pockets or maybe flood the house while trying to give Penny and bath and keep Micah entertained. I have no idea how she does what she does every day with the family - on top of running her own business and diving into huge craft projects whenever she gets the itch. She is such a wonderful woman and I'm so proud to call her my wife. 
• Throughout the rest of 2012, we shot TONS of weddings and became pretty successful in the wedding photography market here in Nashville. I'm proud of the success that she has gained doing something she loves, even if the business-side of that passion can drive us crazy. 
• We just got finished helping Brooke and Raleigh coordinate, design and produce a lot of materials for their Wedding. That's right folks, they finally tied the knot! Brittany did so much work for the wedding, and I am very proud of how it turned out. 
• Coming into the 2013 wedding season, we are gaining momentum again and can't wait to spend my Saturdays with her behind the camera. 
• Current Interests of Brittany:
• Our kiddos. I think this will always be Number 1 for her. She countlessly puts them before herself and that's one of the things I love about her. Those kids are both of our lives, and she does everything she can to be the best Mommy in the world. 
• Our favorite TV shows. Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Revolution, Supernatural, (insert countless chick-flick-esque type shows here). It's her escape in the craziness of the world. Only issue is, she jumps ahead of me on a lot of these shows...when I catch her doing it, it's like she has cheated on me. Haha. And yet...she still does it..................not.cool.
• Crafts. Brittany loves DIY projects. Brittany loves Pinterest. You put the two together and you got a monster. I'm not kidding (See Raleigh and Brooke's wedding) - check her pinterest out...there are dozens, if not hundreds of boards out there with pins...waiting for her to tackle. There are times that I absolutely despise whoever created Pinterest...I have a lot of "Honey To-Dos" because of that site.
• Church and God. It's no secret that both Brittany and I were living life without being heavily involved with church or with God. But over the past year, we have switched churches and have really found our place to get closer with God. We are lucky to say that, honestly. Brittany has really become a big part of our church, stepping into the role of Admin in their office and doing a lot of design work for them. I'm proud of her.
• What have I been into? Well, a lot really. Too much to list out here, so that's why I'll probably start a blog series catching you guys up on my en devours since my last post, in July. There's gotta be a cliffhanger here right? Haha.

Thanks for staying loyal and coming back, with my lack of posts. :)

-The Two-Dad

Catching Up...

Well, I let this blog fall behind again. So lets hit some key points since my last post:

• Micah's new parenting plan finally got finalized with his father. (That was a lot of Fs...) Things really worked out and I believe we are in a place where we can limit the amount of flareups between both sides. But most importantly, I believe Micah will be happier once we settle into the new agreement.
• I got a new job! That's right! Still with HCA, but I'm the new Communications Coordinator on the HCA Rewards/Benefits team. So far it has been incredible, finally being able to tap into my creative side and really feel like I'm making a difference in the work I do. I put together several newsletters, design posters and fliers, design for web, write content, etc. etc.
• Penny is going to be 2 years old in 4 days...It is unbelievable to say that. She has gotten so big. I can't believe she will be so old...it really makes you think about how fast time moves when you babies are so big. Micah will be 8! 8! I met him when he was just over 2 years old...crazy that little man has been in my life for almost 6 years.
• Penny turning 2 isn't always a great thing...she definitely has hit the terrible 2. Though, we have a system...when she throws a fit Brittany or I will ask to have her hands and for her to look at us. Then we calmly explain to her the situation and she replies with "Okkkay...I sorrryy Daaa-yee" (That's how she says Daddy.)
• The photography business has taken off this wedding season. We don't remember being this busy in previous years. Totally a great thing, but definitely takes us away from the kids more than we want. 
• I've gotten more involved with the church. Brittany and I taught a children's class on Wednesday nights. We went to Gatlinburg with the Youth Group in February. We've been asked to help out more with the Youth Group, and we are getting excited for the possibilities. 
• Lots of new stuff happening with our house. We have hardwood floors now! Well, actually they are vinyl flooring panels that look and feel like hardwood but cost WAY less. We love them.
• We finally repaired our fence, for the most part.
• We turned our backyard into a cool hangout spot for kids and adults, with firepit included! Hopefully we don't burn the neighborhood down.
• We are still getting harassed by the HOA. I'm never going to move into another neighborhood with an HOA.
• We have been living with only one car...kind of rough, but it saves us from having a second car payment. Big shout out to my parents, Jason and Hope, Raleigh and Brooke and whoever else have been chauffeuring me around when I need rides to work or practice.
• Practice? What have I been practicing? Well, my old band, Circean, is putting together a reunion show. We've been practicing over the past few months and it has really came together. Good timing too, since the show is actually this Friday.
• We just got back from our yearly trip to Destin, FL. Had such a wonderful time, I think I want to move there...so laid back and a wonderful environment. 
• Tons of new movies are out that I want to see, many of them from my most anticipated movies of 2012 post several months back. I will write some reviews of the movies I've seen.
• Ummm, the Redskins drafted Robert Griffin III...excited would be an understatement for Redskins fans right now.
• Titans missed out on the Peyton Manning Sweepstakes...we still have Jake Locker waiting on the bench, though.
• Ravens just re-signed my favorite running back, Ray Rice to a 5 year deal. 
• Fantasy Football starts up soon, I'm in 4 leagues, running 2 of them and co-running another...Can't wait!
• I'm still madly in love with my wife, even if she does give me a lot of honey-to-dos. She is my best friend and I don't know where I would be without her. We will be married for 4 years this October.

I think that's about it! I'm sure I left out a lot of things, but I'll add those when I get to them. :)

Hopefully my lack of updates haven't lost some readers! <3

Life Quote #5

 "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persucutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

WHCoC Fall Festival

Sunday was the real Halloween, even though we went trick or treating on Saturday. Which, by the way, I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but it seemed to work out well I suppose. So Sunday, after watching my Redskins get beat by the Lions…what?...Britt, Penny and I went to White House Church of Christ’s Fall Festival, and man it was fun! (Micah was at his Dad's)

They had the first annual Cornhole tournament, which lasted just about the whole time (from 3 to 6). Randy and I (Shake n Bake) came into the tournament with high expectations, but got knocked out in the third round by the newlyweds, Wade and Christy. Randy had never played before and I’ve only played twice, but we got a pretty good rhythm going on in the first two rounds. Wade and Christy were just too much to handle though after we were beating them 15-6, they came back as we couldn’t put them away and sunk a lot of three pointers.

After we got knocked out of the tourney I decided to just hang out and eat some chili, play with Penny, talk football and walk around with Britt as she took pictures (which you can see some below).

As the daylight started to fade the tournament came to an end, which led to the devotional and then trunk-or-treating for the kids. Penny fell asleep on me as we were handing out candy, and soon after that we decided to head home.

I was pretty upset we didn’t take the gold in the tournament, I think Randy even flipped a car in rage for loosing…but next year we will take the medal and we will be the greatest corn holers ever on the face on the planet. That’s what shake n bake does to you. Oh yes. Watch out.

……Sorry, a little Ricky Bobby just came out of me there.

Anyways, after the festival we relaxed at home, Brittany edited some pictures while I watched Big Ben loose two of my fantasy games for me when the Steelers lost to the Saints. Then, we watched a killer (literally) new show on AMC called The Walking Dead. I absolutely loved it, and will review it soon on this blog because I think everyone should check it out!

So with that, the Halloween weekend ends and I’m back to work…let’s hope this week goes by as fast as last week!