Summer snapshots

 I take A LOT of photos with my phone and also put quite a few photos on Instagram.  I heart Instagram.  I feel like they are little snapshots of our life.  The true thing.  The real deal.  Our summer days feel like they have been flying by, but here are a few snippets of what we've done so far.

We happened to be in Omaha for our niece's baptism and the Hawkeye baseball team just happened to make it to the Big 10 championship.  What are the odds?!  We had to go cheer on the Hawkeyes.  Obviously, Bowen wasn't excited.

We were surprised with kites in the mail!  They are big and sturdy and super cool.  We love them!

We recently had a bad wind storm sweep through.  A couple neighbors lost big branches.  Bowen drove around with me taking storm photos for the paper, hopped out of the mini van and got to work at our neighbor, Jon's. 

 You all know we love our baseball/softball.  Many an hour are spent doing toss drill or with the mom pitching some BP.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  LOVE it.

 This summer I'm trying to notice the little things - sunrises, sunsets, puffy clouds, pretty flowers, etc.  I've kind of become obsessed with all things related to the sky.  I captured this while taking pictures at a softball game.  The lady next to me turned around in her chair because she couldn't figure out what I was doing.  She was like, "Wow.  Those are really pretty!"

 A couple friends of mine and I have a garden!  Growing my groceries makes me happy.  Fresh is best!

 Jenna and I take our girl time whenever we can get it!  We try to sneak away for groceries or errands when we get the chance.

 We love our small town farmer's market.  They added giant games, including Jenga.  It's so fun!

One day I was at work and Aaron texted me a picture of Blake with a mohawk asking if he could keep it when he was cutting his hair.  I said sure.  Well, he literally let him keep it.  I actually really ended up liking it!  It fit his ornery personality and when Aaron shaved it off I was sad.

 Nature walks are a must at our house.  It wears them down and we get to be outside and we love the scenery.

 This was an adventure.  We did family photos and when we were leaving Blake got stung by a bee right under his nose.  After an hour drive home (nobody said a word on the way) I turned around and freaked out when I saw the left side of Blake's face.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  It was like something out of a movie.  Jenna and I headed to Ames, Aaron was trying to make calls, I was talking to first nurse while relaying questions for Jenna to check on Blake.  We were concerned his airway would close up.  Anyway, long story short, we were able to turn around and watch Brody's baseball game.  Whew!!

A trip to Minnesota for McCoy's birthday!  Aaron and Justin, the grill masters, were hard at work smoking meat.  It was so yummy!

 Lots of reading this summer.  Kudos to our local library for their summer reading program!  The kids always get excited to go and cross off their reading minutes.  Me?  I'm just a self-proclaimed book nerd and proud of it!

Sunset chasing?  Yep, the twins and I did that a couple of nights ago.  I love the silhouettes of the windmills. 

Ahhhh summer.  You need to slow down.  I actually broke down and let the kids buy a couple of things off their school supply list.  I know.  I know. I need more 80 degree days with a little breeze and low humidity.  THAT is my summer love language. 

Iowa City and Instagrammers

Since I'm still camera card-less, I thought I could share some Instagram photos from semi-recently.  

First up though, Blake and Bowen both had doctor appointments in Iowa City last Friday.  Luckily, there was no school, so Aaron came with to the appointments, while Jenna and Brody got spoiled at our friend, Sara's.  It worked out so well!

Nephrology was the first appointment of the day.  We weren't due for labs and Dr. Jetton was like, I just don't have anything to say.  I feel bad.  I assured her it was fine.  We love being boring and uneventful!  We are due for boring and uneventful.  She just told Blake to keep on keepin' on!  

After that it was the eye doctor times two.  Both of the twins kind of have one eye that is a little lazy, so we wanted to make sure it wasn't too bad and they didn't need glasses.  Have you ever been to the eye doctor at UIHC?  I love that hospital, but for the love of all things, it is the LONGEST process in the history of everything.  I hate that we had to see three different people, plus dilation and it lasted about two hours.

Bowen was a rock star.  He sat up in the chair like it was no big deal.  Blake was not as enthused about things and understandably so.  At the end of the appointment we got the verdict...no glasses for either of them and back in six months!!  Woo-hoo!!

We are supposed to have Blake's big urology check on Friday, but I'm still not sure that is going to happen.  He's got a little bit of a cold and with the sedation, I just get nervous because of all the junk in his lungs.  We will see.  Anyway, happy thoughts and prayers please that if we do indeed have the procedure that his urological stuff looks awesome and he can continue to pee like a regular boy and we don't have to go back to the OR to fix his appendico (catheter) site.  

Here are just some random photos from my Instagram account, in absolutely no particular order, just some stuff we've been up to...

I took the kiddos to the apple orchard by myself on a night Aaron had to ref.  We had so much fun and of course I couldn't get non-ornery photo. 

 This was actually a photo of Brody jumping into the corn pool, from that same orchard, but on a different day.  I went with him on his field trip and it rained the entire time.  It was miserable.  We got home and Brody said, "Wasn't that the best field trip ever mom?!"  Gotta love kids!

 Aaron is a member of the track committee at West Marshall and to raise money for the new track they did a color run to kick-off homecoming week.  So FUN!!  The four of us did it.  Aaron and Blake greeted runners/walkers at the finish line. 

 A photo from the eye doctor day.

 We always have to get decked out in our Hawk gear for "Hawkeye Saturday" as we call it at the Burdorfs.

 Aaron and I were lucky enough to be asked again this year to do our school's homecoming dance photos.  It was such a good time!  Those kids are a blast!  It is tradition at every dance we shoot to take the first couple shot.  This was this year's. 

 I bribed the boys with a horse ride at this mechanical horse outside of Hy-Vee.  Worked like a charm.  And no, I'm not ashamed of bribery. 

 One early out day Jenna wanted to do something crafty because she was bored.  She wanted to make this for her awesome third grade teacher!

 The first Character Counts award winner at our house this year goes to Brody!

Aaron and I did the Kick-off to Kinnick 5K that finished inside Kinnick Stadium.  It was the first 5K we've ever actually run together, like side-by-side. :)  It was also awesome that Steph and Isaac were nice enough to watch all the kids for us!

If you are on Instagram, feel free to follow me: jburdorf  :)

Instagrammers.

It's almost the weekend!  And that means the countdown is on at our house for the birthday bash!  We are super excited, but not ready at all...  I know I should be making a grocery list or something right now, but instead I thought I would share some of my Instagram photos from the last couple of weeks. 

In celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday they had Wacky Wednesday at school.  Brody was all about being wacky. 

  

Oh Bowen...  No matter how crappy of a day I have, this kiddo can always put the biggest smile on my face with his personality!

 Baxter delivery day is a favorite at our house.  Not for the mom and dad, but for the three boys.  Baxter delivers our dialysis supplies once a month and then in turn, the boys think that it's their own personal playground. 

 My kitchen sink sometimes looks like this.  UGH.  Behind clothes, I loathe dishes.  Does yours ever look like this?  Just say yes, it will make me feel better. ;)

 Last Friday we went to Ames and made a stop at Target.  The kiddos are OBSESSED with getting Icees everytime we're there.  And who can blame them?  They are delicious!

 Did you know March is National Kidney Month?  It is.  I wore green last Friday in honor of my baby boy.  Kidneys are amazing organs.  If you have healthy ones, take care of them.

 We had a super fun family day on St. Patrick's Day that started off in a festive mode with green chocolate chip pancakes. YUM!

 

 After church we went to Des Moines to get party supplies and made our first ever stop at Bass Pro Shop in Altoona.  Oh my word.  That place is AMAZING!  I mean seriously cool!  And I don't even hunt.  Or fish.  But, after walking through there I want to. Ha!

 

I ran the second longest run of my life recently.  10 miles!  Woo-hoo for double-digits.  

Aaron had to get a new mask for umpiring this summer.  Blakers kind of liked it a little.  We were trying to get him to say, "strike," but he would only say "ball." Clearly he has a tight strike zone!

  

I've seen this quote before and I just like it.  Don't you think it's great?  Sometimes life doesn't end up how we ever imagined, but that's ok.  We get dealt a certain set of cards and we just do the very best we can with that hand.  Clearly, there's a higher power that thinks we can handle the things that have been set before us.  Sometimes it's hard, but we just need to remember that. 

As I'm typing this I'm reminded of another quote that is similar - 

"You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it."

Ok, sorry for the overload of quotes.  Have a super weekend my friends!

 (Oh...and if you want to follow me on Instagram I am: jburdorf)

Instagrammers.

It's Sunday night already.  How can that be?!  Why do weekends always go so fast?  Mysteries of life I guess... :)

Anyway, I haven't posted any instagram photos for awhile, so I thought I would.  Nothing overly exciting, just a glimpse into our life.

I snapped this shot during state wrestling.  We were watching it on t.v. and Bowen kept wanting to "hug" Blake.  Or, maybe he was watching a little too much wrestling...?!

 

For my Christmas present, Aaron got me tickets to the Miranda Lambert/Dierks Bentley concert.  It was really good!  And, it was nice to have a date nite. :)

 

The downside to date night is that we got home late.  Like, hours later than we would normally hook Blake up to dialysis, which meant he was hooked-up way longer the following morning.  Poor kid.  He took it like a trooper though. 

 Brody is a dribblin' fool!  He dribbles all the time in the kitchen.  I keep telling him to work on getting his eyes up.  The fact that he is enjoying basketball outdoes the fact that the constant dribbling can sometimes give the mom and headache - ha!

 

 Jenna wanted us to put one a fashion show one Saturday afternoon for Aaron.  Don't you love the outfits?!  Brody's tie cracks me up and Jenna just loves anything glittery/sparkly!

 

 I think there could be a lot of truth in this...

 We love stocking hats.  A lot. 

 

I don't drink very much pop.  Or soda, if you prefer.  I guzzle coffee.  And water.  And milk.  Yesterday, I was craving Dr. Pepper.  It just sounded so good.  And I ended up having two glasses. Yummm....

 

For the most part, my training for the half marathon is going well.  I've been pretty dedicated to my training plan, except for this past week.  I don't know if it was all the snow.  Or the fact that my family was home and it threw off my treadmill time or what, but I took off six days!!  Yikes.  Anyway, to make up for it, I ran 7 miles on Saturday and 7 miles on Sunday.  It felt good to get back at it. 

  

 Mandy and Justin and Maddox came up I-35 on their way back from a wedding in Kansas City, so we met them at Perfect Games in Ames so the kids could burn off energy and we could get an early supper.  My dad and Linda were on their way back from Minnesota and heading back to Knoxville, so it worked out and they met us too.  It was so nice to see family...!!!

 

Aunt Mandy and Blakers...

 

Consider yourself caught up...:)

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!