Recovery mode

We are in recovery mode this week at our house.  Last week was no fun at all. 

At the beginning of the week, I got a call from school that Bowen's lymph nodes were huge.  I picked him up, did a double-take because they WERE huge and called the doctor right away.  We were able to be squeezed in at 4 PM in Ames and the doctor then did a double-take at how big his neck was.

Long story short - positive for strep AND mono.  Now, this would be not awesome under any circumstances, but when you have an immuno-suppressed child, YIKES.  Keeping Blake as healthy as can be is a chore.  He doesn't get it and gets in Bowen's face and wants to take a bite of things he's eating and there I am freaking out like a crazy person - "Put that down right now!!! You're going to get sick!"

Bowen was home the rest of the week and the boys' birthdays were on Friday.  Friday morning about 2 AM Blake woke us up with a, "My belly hurts!"  That was followed up with some throwing up and rubbing his back while he puked in a bowl.  Good times.

Friday was miserable. Blake kept saying his belly hurt and had a hard time keeping anything down.  It's scary because he can't get dehydrated because that kidney needs to stay happy.  Blake just wanted to cuddle.  Both boys wanted to sleep.  I felt so terrible they turned the big five and there they were....sick.  I told them they got a redo.

Tuesday morning I took Jenna and Brody in for check-ups since they hadn't been for awhile.  I asked Dr. Nau to take a quick peak at Blake's eyes and sure enough - pink eye.  I was like, seriously?!

So, more medicine and another trip to the pharmacy.

**Knock on wood**  Things seem to be on the up and up.  That's a hard thing about big families.  If one person is sick, it's hard to keep it away from everybody else.

I'm praying the sunshine and fresh air works its magic and we can be done with this.  I am thankful though because we did have a very good winter with staying healthy!

Brody's debut!

Brody FINALLY got to make his first pitching debut last Sunday.  He's been waiting for this day for awhile.  Previously, he has only played t-ball and Sunday was the real deal.  No coach pitch, entirely player pitch.  That's kind of a lot in second grade I think, but we just roll with the rules.  

Brody, as my mom would say, was like a fart on a hot tin skillet Sunday morning.  He had his uniform, belt and all the things laying out for over a week.  This kid loves, loves, loves baseball.  

Aaron, I mean Coach Dad, let the kids pitch an inning at a time.  Brody pitched second in the first game and in typical fashion, I was a nervous wreck.  What is it about your child pitching that makes your stomach do flip-flops?!  I'm the same way with Jenna.  

Anyway, Brody did ok the first game and found his control even better the second game.  After the game I told him I was proud of him and the kid was just smiling from ear to ear!

I was able to get some pictures of his very first go-around.  

We'll just keep working at it and I'll keep my fingers crossed he keeps lovin' it!

Pie in the Face!

Waaaaay back on March 19th we had our annual Burdorf Birthday Bash! As always, we packed a ton of fun stuff into a short period of time.  We had an Easter Egg Hunt, played hockey, played knockout, played volleyball, watched basketball, ate too much, opened presents, ate some more and....played Pie in the Face!

I'm sure you all have seen these videos that people post and we were lucky enough to have a friend gift us the game.  It was an instant hit at our house and I knew we wanted to play it for the birthdays.  We did a kid round and an adult round and the top two from each round had a face off.

You can do whatever you want, but we passed it around the table and when you got hit with pie in the face, you were out.  Whoever was the last man standing without pie in the face was the winner.  Blake and Uncle Mitch were their respective round champions.  When all was said and done... Uncle Mitch reigned victorious!!

Let me also say that a select handful of people who shall remain nameless did NOT want to participate and I kind of made them.  If you're at my house, then you know there's a chance Jamie will make you play games.  That's just how I roll!

I have about 400 more pictures, but who doesn't like to see pie in somebody's face?!  Here are some of the best ones...  ENJOY!

A big thanks to our family for always making this weekend so special and so much fun!  We love you guys!!

Blogging Goals!

Alright friends, I've been thinking about this blogging thing.  I genuinely miss blogging, but haven't (obviously) been making it a priority.  My goal is two times a week to post something on here.  

It's so funny because one of my favorite things to do is go back and look at the blogs I've posted and lately, well I just can't do that.  Makes me sad I don't have my "electronic scrapbook" up to date.  

We headed to my dad's for Easter.  It was a nice, low-key day that involved all the good stuff: family, the Easter Bunny, church, card games, picking-up poop in Grandpa's yard (scouts honor the boys thought that was fun), basketball on tv, pie, ham, deviled eggs and all that yumminess.  

Here's a picture we snapped after church.  Don't mind the awkwardly leaning, tired looking mom.  Why does nobody ever tell me to stand up straight?! Ha.  Next time, I guess.    

I hope your Easter was as great as ours!  See you back here sometime this week. :)

Oh hey....Happy Easter!

I just so happened to glance at my blog today and I noticed two things: 1. I still had a Christmas/Winter Wonderland background and 2. I hadn't posted in over a month.  A month!  Yikes.

I apologize if anybody has been checking this on a regular basis for my absence.  The days and weeks get away from me.  

We are staying busy as we typically do.  We've started baseball and softball practices for spring league.  Aaron is coaching Brody's team and I'm coaching Jenna's.  Aaron is the high school boys golf coach this season.  We've had spring concerts.  We had our birthday bash last weekend.  I feel like I might still be recovering from that. :)

We have no big Easter plans since we saw pretty much everybody last weekend for the birthdays.  Hanging out at home, heading to church and going to my dad's on Sunday for lunch.  Sounds like a plan to me!

The Easter Bunny was uptown a few weeks ago and I snapped a picture of the kids.  Gosh, they're getting big!!

Happy Easter!

The way I see it....

Everybody has a story

Do you ever read those books where you get to the end and you think...yes! That right there! I couldn't agree more! That happened to me on Sunday when I finished a fictional book called, “One Hundred Names.”

It's about a journalist who is in the midst of scandal at the same time her mentor who taught her everything is dying of cancer. Kitty (the journalist) asks her friend what was the one story she wishes she would have written and didn't. The answer lies within 100 names on a single sheet of paper. Her friend passes away before she can ask her what the link is between the names. Doing this story as a tribute to her friend is a journey that Kitty decides to embark upon. She learns a lot about herself and others along the way.

Not to give away too much, but in the end she comes to this conclusion – every single person has a story to tell. Every single person has an extraordinary story. So much truth, am I right? I don't know if this story resonated with me because of my job or just because every person has a story that is unique unto themselves and I love learning about people.

This theme has been swirling around in my head lately ever since the last board meeting when they were talking about bullying. I kept thinking, what are we doing to throw these students together where they are with people they wouldn't normally be with? What can be done to pair two seemingly different kids to let them get to know each other better?  People, I truly believe, are more sympathetic and kinder when they get to know people.  And yes, I do think it is as simple as getting to know people.

Again, at church yesterday it hit me. Our minister was talking about differences amongst people and said that when it comes down to it, “people are people.” She encouraged us to meet in the middle and find out where others are coming from.

We are all just people. We all have things that have shaped us and molded us into the people that we are. We all have things that have happened to us that make us think the way we think. Wouldn't this earth be a much better place if instead of judging people, we started by learning more about them and respecting them?

I resort to thinking that everybody fights battles that we know nothing about. We all have inner struggles that we deal with. We don't know what it may have taken somebody else to even pull themselves out of bed this morning.

We are all unique. We all have our story that nobody else does. Nobody.

I'll leave you with these final thoughts from the book:

“We might all think that we are unremarkable, that our lives are boring, just because we aren't doing ground-breaking things or making headlines or winning awards. But the truth is we all do something that is fascinating, that is brave, that is something we should be proud of. ”

You are remarkable in a way that is uniquely you, I hope you remember that, but that's just the way I see it.

Dance Marathon 2016!

Iowa State's Dance Marathon was at the end of January.  Without a doubt, it is our absolute favorite day of the year!  At the beginning of the week we had to start counting down how many "sleeps" we had left until the big day.

Dance Marathon is neither a dance nor a marathon, but a celebration of LIFE!  For 12 hours, these students stand "for the kids" and raise money for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital.  This year, they raised over $362,000!  That does so much good for families just like ours. 

 This year, I thought I'd do something different for my post.  I thought I would ask everybody in the family what their two favorite things were about dM.  Here goes....

Jenna - 1. The morale dance!  Everybody learns it at the beginning of the day and it is done at the top of every hour.
2. Playing laser tag and doing the inflatables.

 Brody - 1. Playing with the college kids
              2. Power hour - this is the last hour of dancing.  There are glow sticks and tons of dancing and it is CRA.ZY.  I'm with Brody, it's awesome!

 3. Blake - 1. Hanging out with Nathan (our new family contact) and his girlfriend, Becca.
 2. The army inflatables

4. Bowen - 1. The morale dance (you can youtube this to see what I'm talking about).

 2. The game room (see above and below).

5. Aaron -  1. The hypnotist

 2. Seeing the "reveal" for the first time this year!  That was at the very end when they let everybody know how much money was raised.

I'm probably going to list more than two because I'm the blogger, so I can make my own rules. :)

 6. Jamie -  1. Power Hour

2. Seeing all the dM alumni

3. Connecting with other families (there are a few moms I've become close to and we love to catch-up).

 4. Hearing other miracle kids' stories

5. Having Steph and family with us. It means so much to us that they are now part of our family.

 

 6. And this is my favorite, hands-down....

Last year and this year we had the honor and privilege to share the last family story of the night.  It's a lot of pressure because everybody's tired and you're supposed to be super motivational.  I don't talk, Aaron talks.  The whole day I harass him with suggestions like, "You should talk about this..." Or, "Make sure you don't forget to say something about that...."  I make him nuts.  I know I do.  :)

 

Here's the thing though about Aaron.  He nails that speech.  I mean, he hits a home run out of the park.  He has the college kids laughing and crying and cheering.  I am so, so proud of him how he can convey our story to these dancers.  

One funny he told during the speech I have to share.  He was talking about me carrying the twins 37 weeks and then being induced.  He said both twins were good-sized, 7 lbs. apiece.  Aaron then proceeded to walk over and high-five me.... :) :)  

Another year over and more memories made.  More funds raised for a cause near and dear to our hears.  Thank you dancers for inspiring me.  Thank you families for sharing your stories of hope.  We feel so incredibly blessed to be part of this amazing thing called Iowa State's Dance Marathon!