March, April, and May 2016

I'm finding that updating weekly is kind of useless these days.  The children are not changing as quickly as they do during the baby years.  Life has become much more hectic with their age, and weekly updates are just not in the cards.  So, it looks like I'm just doing major catch up with pictures every few months.  I still enjoy capturing their growth and keeping updated on the happenings of our life via blogging, just not as frequently these days.

March:
March brings the celebration of Violette's birth!  I can't say enough about this little peanut.  She is truly amazing, spunky, sweet, quiet, chill, loves to cuddle, and brings smiles to our faces easily.  It's hard to believe, but she is now seven years old!  For her birthday Grandma and Grandpa Goodhue and Grandpa Roehrig came in to celebrate.  We went bowling, enjoyed some warmth, and ate cake.  At her seven year old well visit, she has grown 5.75 inches in the past year!!!!  It's amazing to me, how much she has shot up and is not one of the tallest girls in her grade.

Spring concerts for Noelle, Max, and Violette's school were also held in March.  Unfortunately, Tom was unable to attend, as he was stuck down in Ft. Wayne, but Zane and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  Noelle was asked to emcee the 1st and 2nd grade concert (Violette is in 1st grade and Max in 2nd grade) which was held before her 4th grade concert.  She stepped up to the mic with much confidence and delivered her lines with a strong voice and tone.  I was very proud of her! Violette and Max also did well, although they both held much concentration on their faces and looked a bit pained during their performances!  

Violette on the second step down, wearing a purple shirt.

Noelle, front and center, rockin' out her emcee position!

The end of March also brought parent teacher conferences.  All three children are doing remarkably well, and progressing way above grade level in all areas.

Easter came and went too, and we celebrated at Charlotte's house

April has come and went, bringing in the start of a crazy baseball schedule.  Zane, Violette, and Max are on three separate teams and we are at the ball fields Monday through Friday, until 8pm.  

Max is playing coach pitch baseball, Violette is on a coach pitch softball team, and Zane is playing tee ball.  Some nights one team is traveling and the other is in Tecumseh, so I have been running around with my head cut off, missing a lot of their games, but they are enjoying it.  Violette is very timid and did not enjoy practices or games.  I see her progressing a lot and she is even getting outs and charging the ball when it comes to her, instead of staring at it and waiting for another teammate to get it.  Zane loves tee ball and really enjoys the social aspect of the game.  He charges at the ball, along with every other child on the team and if he emerges from the pile victorious, he yells, "I got it!" then forgets to throw to first!  At first there was a lot of rolling in the dirt and play diving for nonexistent balls, but he is getting better at staying on his feet, and using his mitt to try and catch balls. Max excels at baseball and can hit the ball very far, make incredible running catches, and throw an out from third to first base with ease.  He lights up when he plays and it's been fun to see him really enjoy it. 

I am forgetting events, I am missing things, but for now, that is all.  Summer is beginning very soon and more time on my hands will yield more detailed updates on children, including Thursday School graduation, end of the Elementary School for Noelle, braces, and other odds and ends of life! 

January 2016

It's a refreshing 41 degrees outside.  The sun is shinning and the air feels incredible.  Snow is no where to be seen, and the we all desperately want to suit up and sled, and have snow balls fights, and build snowmen.  The children keep wishing for a mammoth dumping of snow, about 18 inches, to come in and cancel school and blanket the area.  It is only February 1st and winter is (fingers crossed) not over yet, there is still hope.

The warmer air that has settled over us beckoned to Zane and I this morning.  We suited up with spring jackets and headed out.  The trail was quiet, and we walked and walked and talked and talked for over two hours.  Despite the lack of snow, I thoroughly enjoyed myself with my favorite five year old.

It struck me this weekend that THIS year he starts kindergarten.  I have been able to say "next year" or "in a few years" for the longest time, but now, I must succumb to the fact that he will enter the halls of academic life this freakin' year.  Sigh. Yes, it is about 7 months away, but ONLY 7 MONTHS AWAY!  I'll push the feelings deep down for now.  I'm not ready to deal with them.

January is over and it was a fairly busy month filled with a couple of mini trips away and tons and tons of sickness.  We can't seem to catch a break from the mounds of germs that spread during this time of year.  My children are magnets to those germs.  Fevers, strep, puking, more fevers, it's a never ending cycle, but we survive it and more on.

Maximilian and Noelle had their 8 year and 10 year old well visits together at the beginning of January.  Both are healthy and growing well.  Max is as tall as Noelle and just about the same weight, despite being 2 years and 10 days younger.  Noelle is not happy about it! Max had to wear some shorts and decided it was the perfect opportunity to goof around and smash his giant feet into Noelle's boots.  It was comical and kept us entertained!

The children had Martin Luther King Jr. day off of school and that gave us the perfect opportunity to visit Ft. Wayne and see the city that Tom calls home during the week.  We drove down on Sunday, attended a Ft. Wayne Komets hockey game, enjoyed a night of hotel living, then headed back Monday afternoon.  Before the hockey game Violette proclaimed she really wanted to see a fight, Max wanted to see a lot of goals, and Zane wanted to go back to the hotel and swim.  Well, Violette got her fight, and Max was able to see 4 total goals, and eventually we went back to the hotel! 

Swimming in the hotel pool was a huge hit with all the children, of course!

On the 23rd we drove out to visit Maizey on her 4th birthday.  The Rainforest Cafe is somewhere that the children had never been, and it was close to Charlotte's house, so we decided to have lunch there then head back to Char's house for cake and presents.  The kids loved the restaurant, wandering around looking at all the animals, staring at the ceiling, watching for shooting stars, and when the thunder storm hit they were all smiles!  Very cool place that entertained us all! 

That concludes our January 2016.  I'm not sure what February holds, but I am positive we will soak up time on the weekends with Tom and fight through the days without him home. 

Christmas Vacation Update

Our 11th Anniversary, two birthday's, Christmas and New Years have come and gone.  The children started school today, January 4th, and 2016 is now in full swing.

A run down of events:

Tom and I had the pleasure of celebrating our anniversary with a night away in St. Clair.  The children stayed at my Aunt Judy's house for the night and had a great time.  The following day we celebrated The Babcock Family Christmas.

The four children on the couch, where they slept, snuggling in with three dogs!

The kids went out to breakfast and enjoyed some awesome hot cocoa! 

On the 21st Noelle celebrated her 10th birthday!  She got her ears repierced, after letting them grow in years ago, and had highlights put in her hair by Aunt CC:

Christmas was celebrated at our house with the whole Goodhue clan in attendance.

The First Annual Leg Wrestling Competition took place on Christmas Day.  Grandpa Goodhue took the win and Violette beat Max, twice! 

Max turned 8 on December 31st!  He wanted to use our awesome new present (thank you so much Mom and Dad!) of a family membership to a local Family Centre and have some donuts for breakfast and subs for lunch!

We visited Grandpa Roehrig this past Saturday, played with all the new toys, and were exceptionally lazy the rest of vacation.  It was glorious and despite a lot of bickering and tattle tailing, I was sad to send the kids off to school today.  Christmas Vacation 2015 has wrapped up with many of us sad to see it go.

Now, onto the cold and dark months of January and February and March!