End of the school year!

I haven't blogged in FOR.EV.ER, so I decided to share some photos from our end of the school year.  I cannot believe this school year is over.  I think it was the fastest year yet with all four at the "big school!" Add to that this whole moving across the state thing and we have a lot going on.

Here's a few things we had going on towards the end of the school year:

Jenna and Brody had their first ever piano recital!  They did awesome.  Brody was cool as a cucumber and Jenna was her regular nervous self.  That being said, they both introduced themselves and what they were playing and I was very proud of them both.  We will miss Mrs. V, our piano teacher, oodles next year!

 

In May I was able to accompany the twins on their field trip to the Blank Park Zoo.  I am so fortunate to get to go on field trips with my kiddos and I definitely don't take that for granted.  Blake was obsessed, and I do mean obsessed, with riding the dang camel!  I have no idea why, but that's all he talked about, so an over-priced camel ride is what he got. 

May means track and field day for the kids.  This year with Jenna being in fifth grade, she was on a different day than the boys, which was such kind of awesome.  With multiple kids I'm running around like a crazy person trying not to miss anybody, which I always do.  Jenna had a great day! This girl and her long legs have taken a sudden interest in running.  She has more of Aaron's speed than I thought, I think!

 

 

 Bowen is a long jumper.  Yes, yes, I know he's only six, but I'm placing my bets now.  He got up there and killed it.  He had great form and the eighth graders who were working  were like, "Whoa.  That was a really good jump!"  I love these pics I got of him soaring through the air. 

 

I always get a kick out of the kids trying to do the high jump.  They literally get over it any way they can.  It cracks me up!  Brody's  big feet knocked the bar over.  This one also likes the running thing. Who are these children?!  Surely, they can't be mine. 

Brody won the 60 yard dash, coming from behind to win.  At the end, with a big smile on his face he told me, "Mom, I think I ran so fast because I really had to pee!"

 

Blake didn't get a ribbon for running, but I was so proud of him.  He hates being the center of attention  and usually has a meltdown when everybody is staring at him.  I was concerned he would get behind and quit running, but he didn't!  Small victories, folks.

 

 The twins started t-ball!  Six years in the making and lots of older siblings' games and it is finally their turn.  Burdorf and Burdorf are doing awesome. 

 Aaron had his final presentation about leadership for a couple of professors from UNI.  He compared leadership to a kidney and it was a very well thought out, emotional, personal presentation.  I was impressed and teary!  I'm so proud of him for reaching this goal!  Seven years in the making and having to put it on the back burner to put family first.  We celebrated with a date night at the Big Steer in Altoona. 

Bike rides and walks are the name of the game with all this nice weather!  The twins and I got caught in a rain storm, but were rewarded with this beautiful rainbow. 

 Jenna's TAG project on Mars.  Yes, I know she looks 16 and I'm not ok with that.

 Poor Mr. Blake has been fighting impetigo three times!!!  Ugh.  I don't know if it's his immunosupression or if it's just that hard to get rid of, but we're ready to be done with it.

 With Aaron's new job, he umpired seven games at the end of May and then cancelled the rest of his season.  One super cool thing he got to do was umpire the West Marshall game when they played at Duane Banks Field at the University of Iowa.  Go Hawks!  We all headed down to cheer for the Trojans and the umpire! ;)

 I'm sure the pitcher has good form, but I like looking at that professional looking guy in blue behind him! haha.

 After the game we got to take pics on the field and Brody was stoked to get a foul ball.

 This one is hard.  The last day of school.  Our last day at West Marshall.  I get teary thinking about how many wonderful people there are in this school district that have been so good to my kids and our entire family.  West Marshall has set the bar high for Shenandoah.  Thank you, thank you to you all who have impacted my kids, my husband and our entire family.

 The night after school got out was also the first farmer's market of the season.  You may not know this about me, but I love farmer's markets!  They are my summertime fave.  They had the life flight helicopter on-hand and we asked a million questions, of course.

 Our local firefighters are awesome.  Seriously.  They let the kids try on the gear and Fire Captain Blake was ready for anything!

 HUGE homemade bubbles, anyone?!  These were crazy cool.  Brody and Jenna totally got the hang of it.

 Look at that thing!  It was pretty messy when it popped though.

 This is what I want to be doing all summer, but alas, packing calls.  We spent a couple days acquainting ourselves with our new community and framing out a bedroom in our new place for Jenna.  I prefer reading and popsicles, but there's so much to do before our move on June 24th!