Birthday Bash

So....hi.  I kind of took a not-on-purpose little hiatus from blogging.  Time just got away from me.  I kept telling myself that I would blog about the 2012 Burdorf Birthday Bash tomorrow, and then that turned into the next day and the next.  Needless to say, I have a ton of blogs to catch-up on.  Sorry about that!

Moving on -  Our first Burdorf birthdays times four was on Saturday, March 31st.  It was so awesome that our entire families were able to make it!  When we were first planning, I thought it was only going to be grandparents, but in the end, it was EVERYBODY.  That made me so happy for the kiddos!

We had a day full of cake, presents, food, games (more about that in another post) and family.  It was great!

I let each of the kids have their own cake.  They each got a small round one.  I figure it's not their fault we had them all so close together and we want them to feel special.

Blake and Bowen got Hawkeye cakes.  It seemed appropriate since we are Hawkeye fans and we spend so much time in Iowa City. 

Notice the stray hand trying to grab Bowen's cake.   This photo of Bowen was my favorite one of the day.  There's nothing quite like a first birthday smashed cake picture.  

Brody and his John Deere Gator cake.  He loves tractors and I told him maybe he could think of something besides a John Deere tractor to put on his cake this year.  He replied, "Ok, mom.  I'll have a John Deere gator cake."  Fair enough! 

 Jenna and her diva dancing ways got a disco ball.  It turned out really good and you can't tell by the photo, but it was really sparkly!

 Presents were only slightly chaotic this year.

 Jenna and her cousin, Addy.

 Grandpa Larry with Brody and Bowen

 The kiddos (from left) Aubrey, Addy, Jenna, Brody and Maddox.

 Oh yeah.  We had a slight mishap with our grill.  Aaron went to grill the pork patties and the next thing you know there was fire coming out the bottom and where the knobs were.  I think this singed wire means it's time to get a new grill.  Thank goodness for our friends the Browns!  We went and borrowed their grill.

 Grandma Linda and Bowen.

 Grandma Jo and Blakers.

All in all, it was a great day!  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to our family for making this day so special for our kids!

Join our Team (or donate)

After spending the first 70 days of Blake's life in Iowa City and what we continue to go through with him, we are connected to Iowa City, the hospital, and to the Ronald McDonald House for life.

As many of you know, Aaron and I have been in the process of being healthier by running and eating (me more so than Aaron on that one) in hopes that we can possibly be a transplant candidate for Blake. We run for Blake and we wear t-shirts with Aaron's original twitter hashtag #keepfightingblake on them when we run.

This coming May 6, we will be participating in our first run in Iowa City. This run is for the Ronald McDonald House and all proceeds go to helping them stay up and running. The house runs on donations and we want to help any way we can.

You can come and run or walk with us if you want or you can be a part of our team by giving a donation. No matter how big or small, $5 is as great as anything, we would love for you to donate.

Here's how you can help. Go to the link below: if you want to join our running team and participate click on Join our Team and follow the directions. If you want to just give a donation click on the tab General Team Donation and follow the directions.

Follow this link to our #keepfightingblake team page.

We thank you all for any and all support you have given us through this first year. We will continue to try and give back in any way we can and that includes participating in this run. Feel free to pass this along to anyone who may want to donate to the Ronald McDonald House or who may live in the Iowa City region that would want to run or walk with us that day. Again, thank you!

Spring Break!

Spring break weather was amazing! Honestly, you couldn't have asked for anything better. We spent tons and tons of time outside.

The little guys loved this plastic tractor. They discovered that it has a horn that kinda-sorta honks.

I love baby feet!

In honor of St. Patty's, excuse me, St. Patrick's Day, we did a craft in the yard. Jenna got mad at anybody that would say "Patty's" and would correct them that it was "Patrick's." Little Miss Rule Follower!

We put down a shamrock and let the kids paint whatever colors they wanted around it.

Jenna's, oddly enough, ended up looking like Ireland's flag.

Aaron, Jenna and Brody did some yard work. They raked up a ton of leaves and bagged them up. On that note, I helped with the front and of course there was a garter snake in there. EW! Snakes everywhere. I killed it. It wasn't pretty, but I did it. I know, I know, they don't hurt anybody but they freak me out.

And Aaron and I may have had some green beer. :)

With grilled hot wings. It hit the spot!

What better thing to eat and drink when you're watching basketball? We were so torn with the nice weather in wanting to be outside and wanting to be inside for March Madness. This is what Aaron did a lot of break...

He runs the March Madness pool at the school and had to go through sheets a lot.

Our friends, the Cossolottos, stopped by to see us on Sunday! They moved to the Iowa City area in January and we always love to catch-up with them. Andria is a big of picture nut as I am. I liked this picture...

Sunday afternoon I took on the challenge of walking to the city park with all four kiddos by myself. It was a good "wear 'em out" sort of activity.

Bowen (L) and Blake (R) love the swings!

It's the only place in town where they can swing at the same time.

Jenna was scared to climb up this thing.

And they have a sand volleyball court, so all four of the kids played in the sand. Yep, even the babies.

The kids were burying the twins' feet. It was funny to watch

their facial expressions.

Bowen and Brody - two peas in a pod.

They would have stayed in the sand all day if I would have let them.

My favorite photo of the entire weekend. All four of my blessings.

Content and happy. :)

The Marsh

West Marshall is on spring break from Thursday through Monday. On Thursday, Jenna, Brody, my dad (who had come down for Jenna's birthday), Bailey and I decided to go to the marsh to let Bailey run around.

What a nice, even hot, day for a walk in the sunshine.

Jenna was hilarious. She kept telling me, "Mom take a picture of me like this." She's a creative little thing.

We took time for a group pic. Don't mind the squinty eyes because they were staring into the sun. haha.

We walked through grass. And a cornfield.

And Brody lost a shoe. :)

Then Brody was soooo tired and needed a break.

When we walked through the cornfield I found some ears of corn. The kids figured we could feed the squirrels at our house, so then it was like a scavenger hunt to find ears of corn. I'm in love with this picture of Brody.

He ran out of hands. So we shoved a couple of ears in each of his pockets.

I was surprised at Jenna. She really got into it too.

It was a great day for a great walk. This day, I was thankful for beautiful weather and hanging out with family.

Birthday Bikes

Our first born and precious baby girl turned six (6!!!) on Wednesday. Jenna was so excited for her birthday. We had an early out as the kick-off to spring break.

Aaron and I told her that she could open her "small gifts" before school. She was pretty excited and was able to wear/use everything she got at school that day.

We knew that Jenna needed a newer, bigger bike because she had outgrown her other one. Brody is at that age where he needs his first one.

For those of you that don't know, Jenna and Brody are exactly two years and two weeks apart. Because of the similar bike gifts, nice weather and because he's such a nice guy, Aaron decided to give them their bikes at the same time.

They were pretty darn excited. Jenna and Brody immediately took them outside and started riding them outside. After they showed them to our neighbor, Jon.

Jenna loves her purple streamers. And so do I. :)

She's such a cheeseball.

Brody actually did ride his bike, I'm just not sure why I didn't capture a picture of that.

This bike is just him.

Jenna said..."Take a picture of our shoes." So I did. She was the birthday girl.

Then Jenna wanted to ride Brody's bike.

And then they spotted a helicopter.

All in all...an awesome day!