fun friday, 2.8.13...

lots of love this Friday prepping for a fun holiday next week...

...and happy to have a very loving guest with us too!

another doodlebug...

So using the new tractor calendar that Boppa R gave him, C got to put a sticker on everyday that he was able to go to the potty all by himself all day with no accidents.  And we told him that when he had 10 stickers in a row, he could go to Doodlebugs, the pre-school program at the nature center that W attended last year.  Everything finally started going smoothly and sure enough, those stickers lined up and soon it was Doodlebugs Day!

I was so proud of him!  But being that we know the Doodlebugs routine, I don't think it really hit me until that morning how big my little guy was getting!  Really, off to pre-school?!!!

be still my heart....

OK, and when they all lined up I seriously died.  How can I have 3 kids in school already?!  And how proud and happy do they all look!!!!

C was not nervous at all about going.  First of all he knows the Doodlebugs routine since W went through it last year, and since W doesn't have school on Tuesdays, we signed him up to go with!  So fun for them to do this together and it really made the transition easy for C.  Then he will be a total pro when he goes by himself next year.

The program is on Tuesday mornings from 9:30am to 11:30am.  They play, read a book about nature, and do crafts and activities that go along with the book.  This first day they talked about Groundhog Day, read a story(don't remember which one), played shadow tag outside (they always go outside no matter what the weather!), and then turned cracker and cereal boxes into little groundhog faces!

C was beyond excited and so proud to tell us all about Doodlebugs and his teachers and the kids in his class and show off what he had done.  We went over to Mrs. L's after school and had a special snack and told her all about it, and then when Dadda came home, we celebrated with supper at noodles & co!

We are so proud of you C!  You are such a big 4 yr old now and we are glad that you can go to Doodlebugs and learn and explore on your own!  But we are even more glad when you come back to tell us all about it...

a blessed January 2013...

I know January was a long time ago (moved to Jan date on blog though to remember where it is).  Although with the amount of snow and cold that we have had this spring yet it really doesn't feel like it!  And if you would ask me about our January this year, I might sigh and say it was one to forget - lots of sick and head lice.  I still get tired and shudder thinking about it all.  But in looking through my January photos (long story, but we thought we lost all our photos - we didn't! - and have had to go through a bunch of folders to get them visible again), I found quite a few that made me realize our January wasn't all terrible.  In fact there were a lot of moments that I was thankful for!  So that was the push I needed to start back again with my monthly posts...help me get back to counting our blessings and thanking God for all of them!  (but the sick and yick?  we can forget about that, can't we?)  Also it will be a place to share some of the fun random photos that we end up with...

We started January off with a special visit from Aahma B!  She came to attend some fun art classes with the kids for their Christmas present from them.  First off she took both boys to a clay class at the nature center where we go to DoodleBugs.  They had a great time and in a few weeks we were able to pick up these materpieces:

The theme for the class was "Cheers" for the new year, so each boy made 2 animal glasses that they can drink out of.  W made a cheetah and a snow-shoe hare, and C made a fox and a wolf.

Aahma took G to a knitting class at a favorite local yarn shop.  They were hoping to go to an art class at the same nature center as the clay class, but not enough people had signed up.  That didn't stop the knitting class though!  G was the only person signed up for the class, and the instructor was wonderful and so impressed that G could knit and was only 7!  She and Aahma fawned over G and gave her a lot of attention which G just ate up.  The one-on-one was nice though as G learned to purl and has been having fun knitting and purling in her stitches.

There were no baby art classes, but H did enjoy some Aahma time as well and tried to impress her with reading the big kids' books...

Then the stomach flu hit!  Never fun, but S and I are always blown away by the empathy that the kids will show each other when someone is sick.  Like making up trays for supper with get well cards and flowers for example. =)

January means ice skating at school!  This was G's 3rd year ice skating and W's first.  G is getting better and more confident each year, and W was such a trooper doing his best on the ice despite lots of spills.  He always got back up without fuss and kept on going.  This showed us how much he is growing up...sigh!  The kids enjoyed special time with Dadda this month as Momma does NOT know how to skate at all so Dadda would take them to practice at the park rink when he had days off.  We decided as a family that Momma would have to learn to skate when H is in kindergarten - no more excuses then!

As mentioned previously, we also dealt with head lice this month along with a lot of other families at school.  The boys got buzzed or short haircuts because of this, and H thought he needed to be included in the fun.  So off came the tiny bit of fuzz in the back!  His first official haircut.

Notes:
:: S had his hours increased to 45 per week from 40.  Being salary and manager, this is not a big change for our family right now as he has been working 45 pretty consistently for the past 6 months.  We are not complaining much either as he is fortunate to have a 3 minute commute everyday where he could easily be commuting 5+ hours a week!
:: G is struggling with her math facts, particularly the mad minute time tests.  Trying to find some new ways to help her get past these!  We did get such a nice email from her teacher though telling us about how great G was putting on a play (small group assignment)...to quote "she was animated, expressive, and FUNNY!"  We have always known this (hello puts on daily shows since she was 3!), but it was fun to hear it from her teacher.
:: W jumped back into the swing of school wonderfully.  He seems to not be so tired at the end of the day too which is great.  His writing is getting so much better and he is starting to write words without having to ask for help all the time.
:: C's big thing this month has been getting over the last hurdle of potty training (yes, our boys were late potty-trainers!).  Everything is great except that #2.  But he is 4 now, so putting some big boy responsibility and the incentive that he gets to go to pre-school when he is completely potty-trained will hopefully do the trick.  It is definitely getting better!
::  H!  His walking has really taken off this month!  He started the month probably 30% walking/70% crawling, and ended the month walking almost 100% of the time!  He also added stairs up and down to his list of proficiencies.  He likes to say no when you ask him a question now, and the kids get a kick out of asking him no questions and hearing him "answer correctly" (like, Were you born in outerspace?  Can you fly?  Do you like broccoli? =)  Word list additions: Khay(Grace), noo(noodle), book, "Hi Da!", "Bye Da!", "Yuh-you(Love you)!"

fun friday, 1.25.13...

giggly girls sitting and knitting together... (sorry no knitting in this photo, will catch it next time)

silly mommas trying to re-create matching outfit photos for our babies, feeling like we did this just yesterday for our now preschoolers...(both sets are betrothed, by the way! =)

In the words of my lovely friend, "it was fun, in the crazy 7-busy-energetic-little-people way that we are so fond of..."

for the love of chocolate pudding...

It is cold.  And we have had 3 weeks of sick and yick at this house.  So we I needed to make an awesome comfort food treat on Saturday with the kids while S had his marathon inventory day.  I was originally thinking brownies or Grandma K's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but then we watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS and they made chocolate pudding.  CHOCOLATE PUDDING!  Yes, that was it.  Unfortunately I didn't have any box mixes, or the fancy expresso powder or even heavy cream in the house that ATK's recipe called for.  Then I remembered making pudding with my dad when I was little out of the Betty Crocker cookbook.  I pulled mine out and found the recipe, and then decided to mish-mash the two together based on what ingredients I had in the house for the following deliciousness.  (kids helped measure out everything and G was an awesome stirrer!  Dad, I may be able to attempt your scalloped potatoes in the near future if she keeps it up...=)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding (our version)

1/2 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 large egg yolks
3 cups skim milk
1 stick butter
5 oz chopped dark chocolate  OR  1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt together in dutch oven or large sauce pan. Whisk in yolks and 1/2 cup of the milk until fully incorporated, making sure to scrape corners of  the pan. Whisk in rest of the milk until incorporated.  Place pan over medium heat; cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbling over entire surface, around 5 to 8 minutes.  Cook 30 seconds longer, then remove from heat.  Add butter, chocolate and vanilla, and whisk until melted and fully incorporated.  Pour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl to get out any cornstartch lumps. Press parchment paper against surface of pudding, and place in refrigerator to cool, at least 4 hours. Whisk pudding briefly and serve!

Please, please try this pudding.  It was NOT hard to make (seriously...if I can do you, you can!), but it was hard to wait for it to cool!  And I won't tell at all if you make it again 2 days later because you couldn't stop thinking about it and it was all gone before your hubby even got home Saturday night.  And I really won't tell if you decide you just can't wait for it to cool and pour it into a mug and call it hot chocolate (seriously...the high is -4 today and the windchill is -30, who wants cold pudding on a day like this?!).  I will tell if you put your kids in matching pj's and feed it to them as a bedtime snack though because you will need to grab your camera for the silly crazy giggly fest that just might happen because of it...

fun (farming) friday, 1.18.13...

Weeks with school can get long and there is never enough time after school before bed to do all the things everyone wants to do.  So we stay home during the week working on reading and other school things, but on Fridays we always try to do something fun after school.  I hope to post more about the things we do this year each Friday!

This Friday was an extra special one especially for W.  He asked his Boppa R to come and talk to his kindergarten class about Farming for the letter F.  What grandpa can refuse a request like that!

So Dad came up to the cities for a very quick trip and talked to the class after lunch on Friday.  It was awesome.  Farming is something that these city kids don't get a lot of exposure to so they all paid very close attention and asked good questions.

Dad did a fabulous job and had a bunch of pictures of his farm and fields which really helped show and tell the kids about farming and what he does.

The day was not only fun for W -  H had fun playing in the classroom with Boppa while I did my job as a room mom and helped with the once a month pizza lunch that happened to be on this Friday too.

And C particularly had fun too because he got to pretend he was a kindergartener for a couple of hours playing at recess with W, eating pizza lunch with the class, lining up with them and sitting in the big kid chairs to listen to Boppa talk too.

The kindergarteners were very excited for the fun stuff that Dad brought along for them too.  He had a tractor calendar and pencil for each of them (thanks to the local John Deere dealership!), and a little bag of soybeans and corn from the farm too.  Thank you so much for coming up to do this, Dad!  I think I might have been just as excited as W was!! =)

Now Fun Fridays are usually about doing something fun for the kids after school and that is how I try to plan things, but today was a much needed "fun" day for me too.  Got to see my dad and have lunch with him before he headed home, and enjoy all the bakery treats he brought up for us!  Then after school we headed to sister.in.law C's house to bring over a belated birthday gift for my niece G.  The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and I very much enjoyed a lovely afternoon sipping tea, laughing at toddling H and the dog Pippen, and chatting with C while she baked bread!  The past few weeks of Jan have been particularly rough with sick and ick, so today was very refreshing to be out in the real world again!  So thanks to Dad and C for not only helping the kids have a Fun Friday, but me too.  Love you all!

happy 4...

When your birthday is on New Year's Day, it is inevitable that it is going to be swallowed up by holiday celebrations and family that just saw you at Christmas so won't be able to come for your birthday.  So when a chance comes along to celebrate big, you have to grab it.  And that is exactly what we did for C this year!  We were in Edgerton for Christmas, and being that we were able to spend almost a week there, one of the days we set aside especially to celebrate C's birthday.  He was super excited, I mean what could be better - celebrating your birthday on the farm with the whole Roskamp family (we do know how to celebrate quite well, if I do say so myself =)!  Even though it was a few days before his real birthday, we called it his birthday party day, and he was just fine with that.  And what a party day it was!

 first up was scooping snow with Boppa in the tractor...

and then playing on the snow piles they just made...

and sled rides from Uncle M and Dadda...

 and just having fun in the snow (cousins!!!).

Then came doughnuts from the Edgerton Bakery....so delicious that they were consumed before any photographic evidence could be taken.  And believe me, if you had a bakery doughnut in front of you, grabbing the camera would NOT be what you would do first!

And of course there was other farm fun to be had throughout the rest of the day...playing in the shed with the pedal tractor and bikes and other wheely things, playing down in the basement with all the toy tractors, reading Aahma's big stack of kids books, and playing with aunts and uncles and cousin E!!!

But the main party was in the evening.  Things were started off right with homemade pizza!

  Auntie A and Uncle M made the pizzas...

while all the kids were entertained by Boppa's glowing Apple devices (enough in the house for one for each!)...

until we made them clear off so that we could eat!  SOOOOOOO delicious.

And what is a party without presents, right?  First up one from Uncle M, Auntie A, and cousin E.

(can I quick pause though and tell you how much I love this sweet boy?!!)

what is it...

awesome alphabet letters!!!

Auntie A made C a set of fabric alphabet letters - 2 alphabet sets and his name, all in a handy dandy bag with a big C on it for his name (which I think might have been his favorite part!  my favorite part is that there is enough letters to actually spell things out with the 2 sets and his name!).  

He loves these - thanks so much Auntie A!

Next up one from Boppa and Aahma.  They gave him a super cool electronic apple (no not one of THOSE Apples =), that has all the letters to push and all sorts of alphabet games.  We didn't get a picture of him opening it, so instead I will show you a photo of the lovely gift givers...

 who gave up their 39th anniversary to focus on their grandson.  Thank you so much Aahma and Boppa!  (And C LOVES the apple!)

Last was the gift from Uncle L and Auntie J.  He couldn't really open this one, so we told him to sit at the kitchen table and wait...and well...I will let the photos tell the rest:

Auntie J is a very talented musician and music teacher, and she is also a very talented cake decorator!  (remember the dino cake she made for W?)  She made a phenomenal Lightning McQueen (both boys are obsessed with Cars!) cake for C!  The details are incredible and she got the shape and character spot on.  I also love how she changed the McQueen's number from 95 to 4 for C, and also put his name on the cake.  And C's reaction?!!!  Precious and priceless.  And so excited!  He hasn't stopped talking about this cake.  Thank you so much Auntie J!!!  We love you!

The cake was admired by all...

"but can we eat it?!!!"...

yes! (but NO ONE volunteered to cut that cake!  we made the baker herself do it!)  And I have to say, it was a very delicious cake.  S even said it was pretty good for chocolate cake, which, from him who does not like chocolate cake, was a big compliment. =)

Happy Birthday C!  And special thanks for the super special day for our big boy!

You might think that his actual birthday, a few days later, was pretty dull compared to his birthday party, but we did our best to make it a fun day.  One big bonus C gets with his birthday being on New Year's Day, is that Dadda will always be home for his birthday!  And that is pretty great in C's book.  We also have special neighbors who will always come over to help celebrate too!

 gifts from Dadda and Momma...

best one being head lamps for everyone (seriously, they played and played and played with these!)...

 and C's yearly request for banana cake.

Happy 4th Birthday C!  We love you so!!!