Random Pics of Girls (and Daddy's pumpkins!)

Halloween

Pumpkin Carving

We had a chance to steal daddy for a bit on Saturday. We took advantage of it! We carved pumpkins! Daddy has the finished product on his phone, of course, so they will be posted later. The girls had a great time!

Vala'sPumkin Patch

On Friday, we made a trip out to Vala's Pumpkin Patch in Gretna, NE. It was, in one word, crazy! All pumpkin patches I have been to in my past could not be added up to the size of Vala's. Wow! It reminded me a lot of the zoo; you just need more than one day to see everything. They had everything from pig races, pony rides, pumpkin cannons, corn mazes, haunted houses, campfires and all the food you can imagine! For us being there on a Friday, we thought the attendance wouldn't be bad. Right. It was PACKED! Wow! Everyone needs to experience Vala's. It is the largest pumpkin patch in the U.S.

The girls had a great time! They were wiped out afterwards!

This pretty much sums up our trip...thumb's up!

Aubs in the corn pool!

Addy being burried!

My little gymnast

So, I have kept EVERY leotard that I owned! Including my very first competiton leotard ever! Addy starts gymnastics at Premiere Gymnastics on Friday and we pulled out my old box of leos. She pulled a couple out to try on including this one. Isn't she adorable? Besides the crazy, morning hair? I can't remember the exact year of this leo, but it looks early 90's. I have a picture in this leo that is almost identical. I will have to try and find it.

Bye Bye Binkies!!!!!

It's official! Aubs is now binky free! Over our long weekend together; no long car trips, no sleeping in different places, etc....we did it! It wasn't easy, but it never is. I wasn't going to jinx myself by telling you before her first day of daycare this week. I made them write it on the board for the entire staff to see so no teachers gave it to her. That happened with bottles...finally got her off ba-ba's and a teacher gave her one and we regressed a bit. She took a snooze for daycare without it and made it the entire trip there and back-almost quiet.

First Day of Pre-school!

Thursday was Addison's first day of Pre-school! Wow...kind of emotional for mommy. So I just HAD to get a couple pics before we left. Addy, of course, won't take just a normal picture. I felt like I was shooting a photo session! She posed each pic....hope you enjoyed seeing my diva in training! Enjoy your long weekend!

HOME!

You know? It's a lot like finding your wedding gown...you just know when it's the one. We fell in love with this one from the moment we saw it online. It was perfect for us...a park within walking distance, plenty of room in the backyard, close to major intersections for us to commute to work, etc. It just didn't even match up to its competition.
Of course, there are a ton of things we would like to change RIGHT NOW to make it our own, but we are being smart about it and making little changes at a time. We are going to live in it for the next 5 years, so we have time.
All of us have adjusted, and it's nice to feel like we have a "home" to come home to now. Thanks for everyone's support and help with moving. We are greatly appreciative.

Inside our home....

Here are some pics of the inside of our home....

I fell in love with this stairway. All of us sleep next to one another upstairs.

Great room in the kitchen for cooking. It's nice having a breakfast bar too!

The "blue" room...learning to LUV the paint. This isn't our furniture, but our inspiration. This is what I would like to do in here.

The "man cave" which Adam has already been transforming. We just got a fresh coat of paint on and are in the process of looking for the right furniture for his cave. There is also a separate office/toy room to the left at bottom of stairs.

Our backyard! It's nice having a fenced in yard for the girls to play. We love the trees as they provide privacy.

Long time coming....UPDATE!

Well, biggest news of the summer....WE ARE ALL MOVED IN! And the girls love all the room to run and climb and be naughty. They are lucky they are so darn cute to me because they would get in a lot more trouble!

I will post pics of our home as soon as I get some updated photos, I promise.

Here are what the girls are up to:

Addy Grace has been a busy girl. Between posing for multiple pictures and painting her room pink, she has found the time to be a GREAT BIG SISTER! I couldn't ask for a better sister for Aubs. She will from time to time say: "mom, if I keep having to help, I won't have time to do my things," like if she were raising Aubrey. But for the most part, she is a great role model for Aubrey. Its funny...we ask her about having another brother or sister in the future, and she says no. She doesn't want to "give Aubrey back"...I want to keep Aubrey mommy. When I explain that we will get to keep her and have another one to play with, she is ok with it.

She starts preschool on the 1st of September. I won't mention that I cried when I got her school supply list....She is excited and it is still in the same place as Aubrey, so it will be nice to have them all at one building.

She is gearing up for our vacation to Disney in December. She is an avid Disney Princess fan and Fairy fan.

Aubrey Ann has been busy growing!!!!! Holy cow! Although she is only in the 15th percentile for weight, on a good day...she is now in the 65th for height! She is such a ham with a great personality! She finally has adjusted to our new home and gotten her WONDERFUL sleeping patterns back on track. She has been bottle free for a while and we are working on getting rid of binkies!

She is such a monkey! She can climb on things I can't even imagine a one year old climbing on. But as I hear more and more about Adam and my climbing skills when we were little, it sounds like its payback from our parents. She can eat like a horse, but just must work it off with all her spriting and climbing. She is the greatest one year old we have! The girls truly love one another as they give lots of hugs and kisses. We are enjoying that now as I know it will get worse as they grow; or at least I hope it doesn't.

Adam has been busy in his third year of residency. He is now a supervisor, so spending even more hours, unbelievable I know, is a must. Next month, September, he will get a little better schedule. We are both looking forward to a vacation in December. He truly loves his job if he can spend 90 hours weekly at the hospital and still look forward to helping others. His daddy abilities are the best! When he is home, he spends time with his girls and spoiling them. They are the love of his life and he shows them daily.

I have been busy with work. Believe it or not, I am busier than ever. I am lucky I love my job and my crew I work with/for. They make coming to work fun...and I love helping others change their lives. It is easy to go to work when you are rewarded with hearing wonderful accomplishments that you were a part of. I wouldn't change a thing.

It is my goal to keep this updated more now that we are all settled in. I promise Grandma Linda...we will! Luv you all!

Aubrey's Party

A special thanks to all those in attendance to help us celebrate Aubrey's first birthday! I have to admit, it was GREAT! Not having to worry about a place to have it, where everyone would stay, having a pool right there for the girls to swim...it was perfect and couldn't have been perfect without help from my family. Thanks for making her birthday memorable.
We were in Ames for Jenna's (my cousin) wedding, so with all my immediate family traveling down to Ames for the wedding, and Adam's family close, we decided to tackle everything in one weekend. What a great idea and Aubrey went away with a ton of new clothes and toys!
Aubrey update: SOOOO close to walking it isn't funny. I think she just knows how good she has it right now. She will get ready to take off walking, then decides to crawl because she can get there faster. She has been eating like a maniac now that we are on full table food, but still is only the 12th percentile for weight. She is now in the 50th percentile for height and 75th for head! She has 8 teeth and working on 9 which have been keeping her up at night lately. She is getting used to daycare: she likes her teacher. But I am a little nervous...she goes to the toddler room soon now that she is one, and is terrified of a couple male teachers, so we will see how it goes. Daddy is ok with her being a little nervous around boys!:) She can say mama, dada and Rasha clear as day. She also has started to say nana, as in food or banana. She LOVES music; especially Jack's Big Music Show on Nick JR. This girl can dance all day!

A great family pic!



Opening Elmo...loves Elmo!

The Burdorf kids...trouble.

Mommy and my baby...not so much.

Aubrey Ann is 1!

Happy Birthday Aubrey Ann! We love you!

Aubrey-9 Month Update

Aubs turned 9 months on the 20th of February. Can you believe she is that old? Wow...it has gone by soooo fast! Here are some updates on my baby girl:
She weighed in at 16lbs 6oz, which puts her about the 25 percentile for weight. Her height was actually up and put her in 35th or so. She is a peanut, but very eager to MOVE! She has been crawling since her 8 month birthday, and started pulling herself up on furniture a couple weeks ago. In the past couple days, she has already been scooting along furniture, so I hate to say it, but she will gain more confidence and take a couple steps I'm afraid. I would love to just have her crawl a little longer, but I don't think it's up to me.
She is a GREAT sleeper; through the night anyway. We will put her to bed between 8:00-9:00pm and she will wake up about 7:30-8:00am unless I have to wake her up if I have early appointments at the gym.
She is LOVING table food. Bananas and cheerios are some of her favorites along with Townhouse crackers. She is slowly learning a sippy cup and is great with her hand-eye coordination.
She is starting to say da da, ma ma and ba ba but I don't think she associates those with what they are yet. I thought she said craker the other day, so we will keep working on that one.
She is great at waving "hi" and saying something that will resemble "hi" and is getting better with her kissses. Those kisses usually come with a nose full of boogies or running nose, but I will take them anytime, anywhere.
She is a great baby and I am lucky to have her! She keeps me busy and is getting very good at sneaking Addy's favorite toys when she isn't looking. Addy gives her squeezes and kisses all the time, so I think they will never have any bad sister moments, right? I can keep dreaming....

The Zoo...

A couple weeks ago, when the weather was beautiful, we headed to the zoo. Daddy even got to go! Aubrey was only a couple weeks old the first time we went after she was born, so she got to enjoy all the animals. We were actually suprised that the majority of the animals were outdoors. The girls loved it; we did too. We got the opporutnity to use Aubrey's new wagon that grandma got her for Christmas. It worked great! We are looking forward to MANYmore zoo trips!

So proud of my honey!

Adam got an interview for a cardiology fellowship through the University of Nebraska Medical Center. I guess I wasn't really nervous about the whole process, thinking that he is bound to get numerous interviews and offers, but he told me a couple things to be concerned about. I had NO IDEA it is one of the hardest specialties to even get an interview for, let alone get into a program. I have always thought of my babe as the smartest, kindest man and who wouldn't want him, but after hearing about the specialty's competitivness, I was freaked out.

So he called me the other day with a ton of excitement in his voice telling me he got an interview at UNMC. This would be his first choice, so we are thrilled! His interview will be on March 14th. Please send up some prayers...he LOVES this program. Love you babe and so proud of you. Keep working hard. We love you:)

Family Pics-Christmas 2010

Burdorf's

Ulrich Grandkids

Merry Christmas 2010 (Finally)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Burdorf's! Sorry, yes....it's taken me til the end of January to get our blog updated. It has been a crazy month for us. With Adam averaging 80 hour weeks and me taking on two clubs for training, there is little time for this. When I am home, I am catching up with hugs and kisses.
Christmas was great this year. It was nice being able to spend time with both families and spend some additional time off up in northern Iowa. Sadly, we didn't do much but catch up with family, but that is exactly what we wanted to do over our vacations!
Thanks to our families for working with everyone's hectic schedules...we made many memories this past Christmas/New Year and want to thank everyone for aiding in those.

Ulrich Christmas...Addy's new ice skating shirt. Thanks Von Banks!

The Burdorf Grandkids....all angels, of course.

Little sister, Boo Boo, wanting to help sissy open her gifts.

Boo Boo opening Violet. A great gift to take with us on the road!

Brody the man....LOTS of love all the time.

Merry Christmas...I think.

For the first time since I remember, I haven't been around my extended family, in-law or mine, to celebrate Christmas. And I will be the first to tell you, I MISSED IT! Of course it wasn't that we chose to do it that way, but Adam was on call all weekend. I am really not fond of his profession all ready, is that bad? But I am the first to admit how proud of Adam I am. It isn't easy, especially this rotation he is in. It is extremely emotional around this time of the year in his cancer rotation. He is one of the strongest guys I know.
It's probably kind of selfish of me, but I want daddy around on holidays...I am jealous of everyone else. Yep, jealous and selfish; kind of an acceptance admission today I suppose. I want daddy to be able to watch his daughters open their presents, celebrate with their family, go to church, etc. We had all the intentions of making it to 3, yes 3 different masses, but failed every attempt as Adam had to head in to UNMC. Poor Jill, I know, but it hurt Adam too. Yes he chose this profession knowing this is the type of work involved, but man I'd love to have him around more.
I missed celebrating with family. I would've given anything to be in Sioux City with the Burdorf's then traveling to Armstrong to see my family, but there is NO WAY I would leave Adam here over Christmas. He told me several times to pack up and go, but I couldn't take his kids away from him on Christmas. NO WAY! I was kind of in a funk all of Christmas Eve and Day...It just didn't seem the same. Well, this is me hiking up my big girl pants and sucking it up because it will not get any better. Sorry for complaining, but I like to put my thoughts down sometimes. It isn't just tough on me, or his girls, or him....it's all of us. Especially around this time of the year.

But anyway, enough crying on my end. We did get to see Grandma Linda and Grandpa Frank on Christmas Day. They made the trip down to Omaha...thank goodness. That helped my depression funk. We had a blast while daddy was away. We played with the girls new toys, ate a ton of food and played wii. Gma and Gpa even broke out a couple dance moves on Just Dance 2. Poor Aubrey has had a temp and a bug for a couple days, but was able to crack a couple smiles and snuggle them of course. Addy kept them busy building her gifts, shopping, dancing and watching movies. Adam did make it home eventually and we then ate our dinner and played a quick game of cards before gma and gpa took off for Sioux City. Thanks gma and gpa for coming down to celebrate with us. It means more than you will know....there is just something magical about family. I am blessed to have the greatest family and friends. Thanks for your support and love. Without you we would not be half of who we are. Many thanks and Merry Christmas.

Two of my favorite girls