Every little boy needs one

I feel bad for all the children in the world that do not have an Aunt Erin. I am not sure if a true out sider can ever fully understand what an Aunt Erin is. So here is my explanation of an Aunt Erin.

A - always calling and checking in on her nephews. Aunt Erin calls daily to talk to Mason....and Kade too of course. She doesn't just ask how the boys are, she wants to talk to them so they know that she is thinking about them.

U - unbelievably aware. Aunt Erin always pays attention to everything the boys say. She will bring a gift that I never knew they wanted because I hear them say so much during the days. Aunt Erin listens with a keen ear and remembers.

N -  never too far away. Aunt Erin is always willing to come visit even if it means driving on a thunderstorm day!

T -  terrific. Aunt Erin is really terrific. She loves her nephews and niece with all her heart. She makes each one of them feel that they are special and super duper loved.


E -  energetic. Aunt Erin always jumps out of the car or runs out the door the second she sees the boys. She hangs on their every move when she is around them. It is really awesome to see.

R - ridiculous. Aunt Erin does what mommy and daddy can not. She gives into every whim and gets to be 100% fun all the time.


I - insane. Aunt Erin gets to be silly, sappy, wild, crazy, and without nagging like mommy! She is always tons of wild fun if it is going for a gator ride, feeding the donkey, fun treats, and so much more!


N - never failing. Aunt Erin loves my children with so much "ummph". I love the way they tell me "Aunt Erin will help us ,or let us, or get it for us." It has never bothered me because I know her love for the kiddos is NEVER FAILING and I know I can always count on her to be there for them.

It is funny how growing up I remember not liking to live in my big sisters shadows. I hated being compared and it always seemed to happen. I never really appreciated the relationship we could have and did have. Tonight as we were saying our goodbyes from our quick visit, I realized how lucky I am to have "Aunt Erin." I know she came to see the boys but a little part of me thinks she also wanted to check on her baby sister too.  Its a pretty awesome thing to have an Aunt Erin to love us!

Just the two of us

It has never really been just the two of us. When Mark and I were dating, he was already a father of two so every other weekend he had "dad duties." On his "off" weekends it was just the two of us but we were both really busy with second jobs and friends that we never had tons of time for "just the two of us." This is what we looked like when we were dating. Young, happy, carefree, and did I mention young!

About nine weeks after we got married we found out I was three weeks pregnant! Taking it slow just isnt our thing. So we quickly went from very little time for just the two of us to almost none at all. This is us on our amazing wedding day!

We went home that night and since it was his weekend with Nolan and Gracie, they spent our wedding night with us....literally, they ended up in bed with us! Soon, I became fat and pregnant with Mason and I loved it! We went from having children in our home every other weekend to all the time within the first year of being married.

My parents do not live close by. Mark's mom doesn't drive at night, in the rain, in the fog, or if its too windy, so we have come to believe that date nights will be few and far between. We are totally fine with that. We catch our alone time when we can. Once Kade came along, alone time became even HARDER to find as he never really slept and I was always holding him.

Well, last night was WONDERFUL. It was our weekend where it was just the little boys. Once Mason and Kade went to bed, Mark and I watched a movie, just the two of us. It was comical going through the On Demand list. There are so many movies I want to watch with the kids....but this was grown up night! So, we settled on Social Network. We ate our candy bars, drank our rootbeers, and stayed up watching an adult movie together....it was AWESOME!

I choose to not use babysitters too much. I don't like to pay someone to tuck my children in bed when that is something I really like to do. If I was working and we were not on such a tight budget I might feel differently but for now, babysitters are not my thing. Plus the one we love and trust is a senior so she is always busy, which we totally understand. I choose to live three hours from my family so I can not complain or get jealous when my friends get nights out where their parents keep the children all night. I enjoy the once a year when Mark and I have different stuff going on that my mom takes them or the times I do have a sitter.

But I tell you one thing. A quiet evening at home with Mark reminded me of all the movie nights we had when we were dating. How tired we would be from working and we would come home and just sit quietly in the same room watching something we both enjoyed.  I wish we had more time for nights like last night but I wouldn't trade our loud, messy, always on the go life for anything.  We aren't the same younger couple in the first picture but we have so much more in our lives right now. I think our marriage would benefit from more movie nights like last night and hopefully we will slow down enough to take time for "just the two of us".

Its that time of year.....

This Sunday, baseball season began for the Burdette family. This is usually our busiest time of the year. We live at the ball park watching Nolan play ball while we try to keep an eye on the three smaller children. Well not this year. THREE of the Burdettes will be playing ball while Mark also coaches Masons team! I am so excited but nervous at the same time

Nolan: Well he is just about as good as they come. He loves baseball and is pretty focused on keeping up with school and rest so he can play ball. He is entering into that weird 11 year old hormonal stage so that will be a challenge this year. He is also helping Mark coach Masons team. This is going to be AWESOME for all three Burdettes to work together. My biggest concern with Nolan is his adjustment to sharing us on the ball field. He has never had to share our attention and this year he does not just have to share with one but two other people.

Gracie: Our wild lady is so ready to play a sport. We have tried in the past with no luck. This season she asked to play softball. Mark of course is THRILLED to have to play but we are so nervous for her. We want her to be successful and love the game. We want her to learn team work, respect for a coach, and problem solving skills. We want her to have fun. We do not want her to think she can quit, compare herself to Nolan, get upset if she misses a ball or strikes out. We want this to be the year that this amazing little girl finally finds herself!

Mason: He has dreamed of the day he can play baseball like Nolan. I can not wait to see him develop into the ball player Nolan is. I want him to value his team and learn how to be a team player. I want him to make new friends and most of all have fun!

Mark:  Coaching is something Mark loves to do. I do not know that he really wanted to coach this year with three children playing. I insisted because I wanted Mason to have Mark as a coach at least once. I hope Mark loves every second of teaching Mason how to play the sport that this family loves so much. I hope he has time to work with Gracie and her team and share all this amazing knowledge of softball. I hope he can balance work and three teams along with finding time for Kade and mommy! I hope he soaks up every second and realizes how lucky he is to have this chance.

Kade: I hope he can hang in there through practices and games! Potty training would be AWESOME, but I am not rushing it!

Myself: I am SO excited to be able to be the team mom for Masons team. I can not wait to get my hands dirty being super involved. My biggest concern for me is to feed my family. I do not want to rely on McDonalds to feed this bunch. I want to still have dinners, even if it means eating at 4:30. I want good homecooked foods in their bellies as they go on the field. I want to make sure I do my part to make sure they have everything they need, including a good meal, to play their best.

Wish us luck this season, we are going to need it!

How Can Life Be This Busy

So I know I shouldn't complain about being so busy when I don't have a "paid" job. But it seems as though we have not stopped in weeks. Finally our dentist vists are starting to slow down. I think we only have two left. We enjoyed a great visit two weeks ago with Grandma Cathie and then last week we had a huge dentist appointment. This past weekend, we had baseball, softball and t ball tryouts of the kids. This week, thankfully, we have very little on our agenda. I am so THANKFUL for that. I know our busy season starts in two weeks. Living at the ballpark, sub par dinners thrown together as the kids have to be at the park by five, and very little family evening time.

I am loving this weather. The boys are loving playing outside. Today we were outside from 8:50 until almost 10:00, it was wonderful! I love that the boys are so tired for their naps and they get to enjoy afternoon play time and arent stuck in because it is too cold outside. I am even more looking forward to this weekend. I can not wait for the 70 degrees to hit and to spend the day at the park playing with Mark and the kids.

I need to remember how lucky I am. I need to appreciate our busy life with four awesome children and a great area to be busy in. I need to be thankful for a husband who comes home after working on his feet all day and still comes outside and throws with the kids. I am thankful for Marks ex wife who we are able to work with the spend as much quaility time as possible with all four kids, not just the little boys. I am thankful for the time I have with the boys during the day. I love watching every little thing they do as they explore and learn. I know my time as a stay at home mom is coming to an end soon and I need to take time to soak in every second.