Sunday, June 29, 2014

My favorite thing...

My favorite thing in the whole word to take pictures of is my kiddos.  Obviously.  I'm a bias mama who thinks she has cute kids!  What mama would say otherwise?!  To go a step further, I love to photograph my kiddos in their element.  No posing, just doing what they do.  

I was messing around with my favorite lens for our camera (55-200) the other night just following the kids around.  Here are some of my favorites. :)



 Clearly...Blake was having quite the day.  Pouting.  Whining.  Not getting his way.

 Anybody else loving the World Cup right now?!  I have never considered myself a huge soccer fan, but we're kind of addicted at our house. 
 Sneak peek at Blaker's belly.  It's looking so, so good!!
 Remember the birthday post?  Best smile goes to...Brode.  Hands down.

 Bowen was very determined.  He actually made a few and was so excited.  Giving high fives and the whole deal.


Dirty legs are surely a sign of a successful summer day, wouldn't you say?
 

Here's to more days like this during the summer.  
 *THE BEST!*

Monday, June 23, 2014

Three years ago at Rose Festival...

Our small town celebration, the Rose Festival, always makes me emotional.  If you are new to our blog, here's why.  It was the day we got to bring Blake home from the hospital!!  Yep, after a 70 day stay at UIHC, the Friday of Rose Festival he got to come home.  We wasted no time showing him off to the public as we took him out and about with the rest of the family. 

It's amazing to see how much the twins have changed.  Here they are in 2011.  They really do like TWINS!!
Bowen is on the left; Blake on the right
 
And in a rainy 2012:  
Bowen on the left; Blake on the right
And in 2013.  Look at that long hair on Mr. Blake.  
Blake on the left; Bowen on the right.
 So, last weekend marked the fourth Rose Festival (3 year anniversary) of our family all being together under the same roof since the twins were born!  Happy, happy day. :)

My monkeys in 2014.  Uncooperative.  Not in the mood for pictures.  And don't mind the crazy sun. ;)
Blake is on the left; Bowen on the right.


 Blake and Bowen we love you!  You complete our family, orneriness and all!!! :)

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Since the last time I blogged...

We have been very busy, as I said, around our house the past month or so. I decided to do a quick "what we've been up to" to get you all caught up.

1. Red Shoe Run:  Once again this year we did the 5K for a place near and dear to our hearts, the Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City.  It was another great turnout and I plan to (fingers crossed) do a separate post about this because it was such a great day!  Blakers and Steph posed for a picture at the end of the day.
2. "Frozen": Do you want to build a snowman?!  Just kidding.  Iowa State showed "Frozen" at Jack Trice one Saturday night in May.  It. Was. Awesome.  We sat with a bunch of other Dance Marathon families and watched it on the big screen.  Everybody brought blankets and filled up the field and then had to move to the chairs.  The place was ridiculously packed.  Such a great, family fun night.  We can't wait to see what they show next year!
3.  Track and Field Day:  The end of the school year meant elementary track and field day.  It's one of my favorite days of the year.  I spent the morning on a field trip to a farm with Brody and the afternoon watching the kids at track and field day.  

 This was my first year having two kids participating and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off!  Plus, I was trying to get pictures for the paper at the same time. 
 The kiddos had a good day!  Brody got first place ribbons in kick-the-shoe (above) and in the long jump.  Jenna got first in the softball throw. 
4.  Little League:  May also brought the start of Little League games for Jenna.  This week, we start tournaments, so we'll see how many more games she has left.  This is the first year that Jenna has pitched. 
I have to admit I get a little teary looking at these pictures of her pitching.  She looks so grown-up and so determined.  Jenna says she really likes to pitch, so we'll see how this goes.  
5. Summer sports photos:  It seems that everything happened at the same time, as it does every year.  We have been so busy (which is awesome!) with little league teams from different towns, middle school and high school baseball/softball pictures.  In-between teams, these monkeys wanted their turn...

  
6.  Six and seventh month kidney-versaries:  Blake is doing so well right now. *knock on wood*.  People ask me, "How long have you been home?"
I respond, "We don't talk about it.  We don't count days.  We just say we've had a good stint at home."  
At the last two check-ups with Dr. Jetton she pretty much says, "I don't really have much to say...Blake's just doing so well and looks so great!"  Fine by me. ;)
We have made major progress in the meds department.  At it's worst, I think he was taking 22 or 23 meds a day and at seven or eight times a day.  Right now we have gotten that number down to 9!!! meds and he only gets meds at 8 AM and 8 PM.  I cannot explain to you how gosh darn amazing that is!!!! :) 
7. School is out!  We finally got out of school the Thursday after Memorial Day.  It was really late this year.  The kids were excited, obviously!  
 
8.  Middle School Staff Golf Outing:  We couples golfed with the Middle School staff one Sunday afternoon.  I am so bad, but it was a kid-free activity with friends, so hey!  It was a good time!
9. Outdoors, all the time:  We busted out the sprinkler this past weekend because it was finally warm enough.  Look at Bowen's face.  That is the face of the child who will give us more gray hair than all the other combined, I'm quite certain of that!
 The light was perfect.  I have a bunch of other fun pics to share with you too.
 I'm not kidding when I say the first thing the twins say when they get up is, "Go outside?!"  All day everyday if they could. 
10. Father's Day:  Today we didn't really do anything super special for Dad's Day.  We ate donuts.  Played ball.  I grilled.  Watched college baseball.  We let Aaron sleep in and let him put his feet up and watch sports on t.v. 

 I'm pretty lucky to have this guy as the father of my kiddos.  This last year we have been through some incredibly hard times with everything going on and he showed me yet again what an amazing guy he is!
Ok, so that's just a small look at everything we've been up to!  I promise I won't go a month until my next post.  I need to learn something from my friend, Mary, and post something weekly. 

Have a great week!  We are gearing up for the Rose Festival!

Friday, June 13, 2014

We're still here...!

Hey all....Long time, no blog, eh?!  I just realized it's been over a month since I posted anything on here.  Sorry about that, but we have super duper busy living this crazy life.

Just know we are all doing well and that I don't have super huge plans for the weekend, BUT updating the blog is on the list.  Promise.  Pinky-swear.  Scout's honor.

I'm sure you're all up for some pictures of the kiddos and seeing what we've been doing lately.  Plus, I have a long list of back-logged blogs I need to catch-up on (Burdorf Birthday Bash 2014, anyone?!). 

Anyway, thanks for your patience and please check back.  I will post something over the weekend.  Yes, I will, yes I will, yes I will... :)