Max Turns 3

He's only 3? That has been our thought today. Maximilian seems so much older that we keep forgetting he is just turning 3 today. As his second year of life comes to an end, he continues to be a wonderful challenge. He is stubborn and difficult beyond words, but I wouldn't change him for anything. I tell myself that he keeps me on my toes, pushing the boundaries and challenging me to become a more patient and understanding mother.

What a cool birthday to have! It is always going to be a day of celebration! The parties he is going to have years down the road makes me shudder in anticipation, wanting to lock him up in 13/14 years from now!

We enjoyed a wonderful family day today. Max opened gifts upon waking up and enjoyed them all. For lunch we went to Burger King. Kind of sounds weak, but a play place was there and for him it was perfect. Noelle and Violette had a grand ol' time too. It's the simple things at their age they love. A trip to Lowe's followed, again, this was great fun for the children. It probably shouldn't be noteworthy, but for a little boy all the tools, vacuums (seriously, this child LOVES them), appliances to open, and aisles to let loose in, make it just the place for a family trip.

We decided to try something new this evening. A family movie. The coffee table was pushed aside, blankets layed out, and pillow pets snuggled. They loved it! Despicable Me was the chosen movie, as it was something Tom and I enjoyed watching as well. The kids did not sit there for even half the movie, but were able to go play and come back as they wanted. This is something we will start to do more often.
About 1/3 of the way through the movie we took a break for cake. I had baked a Big Top Cupcake earlier in the day, as it was requested by the Birthday Boy. We sang and ate then returned downstairs to finish the movie and run off the sugar high.
All in all, it was a nice way to celebrate our headstrong, challenging, perfect, Big Guy's third Birthday!

Christmas

The last few years we celebrated Christmas by ourselves. It was lovely, but I missed my family dearly. This year they came to our house and it was magical! Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Alex, Aunt Ceecee, Mike, and three dogs invaded our house. It was as it should be, wonderful chaos.

We had one hang up, as we put together Noelle's vanity table from Santa together and realized the all important large mirror was missing from the box. A quick letter from St. Nick was written with a story concocted that the mirror broke when unloading it from the sleigh. A replacement would be sent in the next weeks.

The tree was filled to the brim with presents. Christmas morning brought gigantic smiles to the children's faces. Their excitement was intoxicating.

Wrapping paper flew everywhere as the children dug in and the adults sipped coffee and shook the grogginess of sleep from their heads. We all loved watching the rugrats excitedly open and enjoy their gifts. The camera was put down the rest of the day unfortunately, so pictures are minimal. We indulged in cookies, food, and family. The children loved all their gifts and had a fantastic time with everyone. We hope they come back next year!

Babcock Christmas

The Babcock clan gathered for a Christmas celebration on the 23rd. We had, of course, a wonderful time with everyone. The children were showered with many wonderful gifts, and more importantly, mountains of love!

All the grandchildren received blankets that Grandma had made over the years. We all teared up thinking of her special hands knitting them with love. She enjoyed knitting and tried to teach us all at one point or another the craft. I was not able to ever pick it up, and wish that I would've spent more time practicing with her.
Noelle and Max jumped into the hot tub and thought it was the coolest thing ever. They were outside, in the snow, in their bathing suits, and weren't even cold! Many requests for large snow chunks were made as they plopped them in the hot water and watched them melt away. Noelle and Max have wanted a hot tub for awhile, but this just solidified their want even more.

We didn't leave until past 10pm. The kids were exhausted, worn out, but begging to stay. Noelle was in the middle of the gift exchange, tuckered out, and taking it all in. The Babcock family is fun and I love seeing how the kids have such a wonderful time around everyone.


We look forward to our next get together!

2010 Coming To A Close

2010 is ending. Another year has flown by, one that seems to have been a fairly eventful one. A year of celebration, tears, birth, death, love, and life. Reading what I just wrote, it seems like a year that most people go through, but it was so much more for me.

My favorite part of blogging is that I can easily go back and have a detailed account of the past year. Month by month see how the children have grown and what we have done. The forgotten phrases that were muttered, the visits to and from beloved family and friends, all documented and easily accessible. The wonder of technology is the essence of recollection for me.

We completed projects around the house, adding much needed space and play equipment to occupy time and expand imaginations. Both have been lovingly enjoyed and appreciated through the months.

A few unfortunate, noteworthy accidents have occurred. Two broken bones and two severely burned hands. Both things we hope not to repeat in 2011. The image of Max's distorted bone will forever be imprinted on my brain, as will the sight of scorched flesh by both Violette and Max.

At the end of February/beginning of March we found out that we were adding another wonderful blessing, Zane Michael, into our happy home. At first we were not sure if the pregnancy would continue on, but after many visits to the doctor we saw a strong heartbeat and I looked at the ultrasound screen believing and knowing (I was right, Tom thought the baby was a girl and I rubbed it in that he was, indeed, wrong) I was looking at a little boy. Born on October 19th, he is the perfect last addition to our family. We have completed our family in 2010. A big accomplishment and we shall continue to watch the children grow, mature, and enrich our lives in the year 2011 and beyond.

We experienced the death of my Grandma also in October. The circle of life continued on as she passed and shortly thereafter Zane was born. It has been difficult on all of the family. She is greatly loved and sorely missed. She passed away more quickly than I had anticipated. I wish I could spend just a little more time talking and laughing at the table while watching my children run around her house putting their chubby hands on everything in sight. She would feed them cookies galore and candy. I still can't believe she is gone, we constantly talk about her with the children as we have many cherished possessions in our house to remind us of her. Heaven is where she resides. Heaven is her new home. May she rest in peace and watch over us all.

I wish for a year filled with love, growth, and many blessings for all.

And She's 5

My little 5 lb. 3 oz. 17 inch cookie crumb has turned five years old. It's hard to believe. It is sobering as a parent. I nostalgically remember her birth and the past years (tear, tear). She has grown in to a beautiful, articulate girl.

The countdown began at the beginning of December. Noelle went to bed saying "when I wake up I will be 5!". Her first words, as she barged into my room, on the 21st were, "It's my birthday! Please get up Mom and make me a special breakfast!". She was very excited to say the least. We planned on letting her open just a few presents in the morning and she proudly donned her new robe and slippers. She also opened a few things for her beloved kitty. When Tom arrived home she opened the rest of her presents and we then sang Happy Birthday and ate cake and ice cream.

During the day Max asked, "when are we going to Noelle's party?". Sadly, we once again did not have a party, gathering, or anything else besides the six of us. One of these years we'll doing something spectacular and grand to make up for the lack of, um, anything over the past years.

Noelle still had a nice day and she now points out that she is older, smarter, taller, and overall better than her previous four year old self!

At her 5 year well child visit she weighed 35 lbs. and was 44 1/2 inches tall. She got a flu shot and didn't even flinch. Seriously, she just glanced and did nothing! A testament to her age.

Wordless Wednesday - Fun With Dry Ice

Roehrig Gathering

Christmas brings the family together. Cousins playing and getting along, adults smiling and talking, passing around of the littlest Roehrg (Zane), it was a great day at Grandpa Roehrig's house this Sunday. We arrived at noon after a calm and easy drive. Aunt Liz, Uncle Larry, Larry, and Colton pulled in as we were unloading. Timing was perfect and the gathering started. Soon, Uncle Don, Alex, Tessa, Chloe, and Macy entered the fun and the chaos was kicked up a notch. We got out some oldy but goody toys and the kiddos dug in.
The kids couldn't resist the shiny wrapping paper for much longer so we decided to let them open presents. Of course, the children received some very wonderful gifts and opened most of them upon tearing the wrapping off.


Amongst all the noise of the children Grandpa fell peacefully asleep while holding Zane. Precious.
Exploring the gifts continued but we all took a break to enjoy some delicious lasagna, then back to the new toys went the children.


We left around 5pm and all four children fell asleep shortly after starting the drive back, exhausted from a great day!

P.S.
As you can see from pictures Violette's left hand is bandaged up. She suffered a fairly good (as in bad) burn from the stove on Monday. She is doing well, but complains about the pain often enough to break my heart constantly. It is healing well, and hopefully for Christmas the bandage can be left off. She does make it look cute though, ranch smeared face and all!

Wordless Chubby Wednesday

Weekend Recap

We don't get away from the kids much. I use the term loosely, basically we RARELY get away from them, the longest periods have been when I'm in the hospital having another baby. Sad. Yes, it's sad, but I'm okay with it. We have scooted away for a couple of hours here and there, but that is about it.

Saturday, the children's preschool offered this wonderful thing called "Shop and Drop". From 2pm-8pm, for a very minimal fee, Noelle, Max, and Violette were separated from us. We played Santa and did some MUCH needed shopping. It was great. Fabulous. Very enjoyable. The children are very familiar with the school and I felt so comfortable leaving them there. The event raised money for the preschool and we were able to get a lot accomplished. A perfect afternoon.

Zane came with us because he's nursing every 3 hours during the day. At his age, he's cute and easy and we loved bringing with us. Yes, he's chubby. He's huge. Really big. I can't believe how much he has grown since birth. Just take a look yourself. Behold, our Budda Belly Baby:
My milk is truly doing this baby boy good! He's also sleeping incredibly well, from about 9:30pm until 6-7am most nights! He'll go through his growth spurts over the next months and sleep less, but right now it's very nice.

Sunday the snow started to fall and Tom took the older ones outside to enjoy. They had a blast, as most children do in the snow. Max and Noelle got a big kick out of throwing snowballs at Tom. Max tried to get me as I took pictures. Typical Max. Violette seemed to enjoy the snow too. This is different from her crawling state last year.

Cheeks reddened from the blowing snow, snow suits were wet, and children had expired. Time to head in. I whipped up some hot cocoa on the stove. The greatest recipe is found on the side of a Hershey's Cocoa container. Follow it. Make it. Enjoy it. Very worth it.Today, I made some awesome birthday celebration cookies (think home made Oreo cookies with sprinkles) for Noelle and Max's preschool. This is the last week before break and Tuesday seemed like a good day to celebrate their birthday's at school. The cookies look awesome and I hope the little munchkins enjoy them! Yep, I took pictures of them.

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Pics