Maybe I first!!

Jack has this thing with starting every sentence with either Maybe or Because. Maybe we can have ice cream. Maybe I need to go to the bathroom. Because why did you do that? And so on.

He has another issue with being first or being the leader. No I am the leader. He has to get out of the car first (before Sissy) he has to walk ahead of her, etc. Maybe they will end up track stars, because don't think for a minute that Claire isn't ALWAYS trying to do whatever it is that Jack has in mind. She will counter with No, Jack, I first. And so it begins.

Our Girl...

Claire-bear turned two.

If you call her Claire, Sissy, Hey You, etc... She will promptly correct you and tell you "No [insert name], I Care Bear", so now you know.

Her latest thing is playing Simon Says. In the effort to keep her from touching all uncharted surfaces of a public toilet, I distracted her with the game...that was 2 weeks ago and she hasn't stopped playing since.

It is do or die, we have given her a two week window to adjust to the idea of pony tails (she calls them princesses) or we will be cutting back the Canadian passport; mullet; her golden camaro hair; the ol' yep nope; hockey hair...... because she is all business in the front and party in the back, but the party has come and gone. Time for pony tails or a trim, her call.

She spent the morning of her party in the ER with Daddy. She had dislocated her radius at the elbow, apparently more commonly known as a "milk maid's elbow" commonly to who? Dairy farmers, I dunno. This was probably just the start of trips to the ER with this one. Jack, so cautious... "Mommy, can I jump off this?" Claire- "YEAH!!! [as she jumps]. All is well, and the doctor taught Jeremy how to pop it back into place.

She loves her baby. She was nice enough to teach baby to crawl over the weekend, albeit face down on a tennis court. That lucky baby got scuffed up one side of the court and down the other. Baby enjoys rousing games of Simon Says, jogs in the stroller, and a taste of every beverage and meal.

She has already started lying about her age. She tells everyone she is five.

Claire likes for Mommy to cradle her in her arms and sing Rock-a-bye Baby to her twice before bed, this being the only time Mommy is permitted to sing...EVER. Likewise, Claire enjoys singing to her babies, Rock a Baby in treetop, as well as Happy birfday, and Tinkle Tinkle little Star.

Our girly girl is the greatest thing her un-fancy family could EVER hope for!!

Happy Birthday, Claire Bear.

Love, Mama, Daddy, and Jack

Claire turns TERRIBLE two

We had originally planned to be out of town for Claire's birthday, but had to make a call at the last minute not to go, long story. BUT, we did not want to let Claire's birthday pass without some pomp and circumstance. Additionally it was the Nana's 60th birthday. I give you Super Cupcake III and Super Cupcake IV, in honor of these two fine ladies. (Note: we finally painted the dining room and finished the wood trim, so yes that is our house).

Nana and Claire-bear enjoyed a wonderful party together on Nana's birthday, incidentally on our 6th Wedding Anniversary, June 29th. We had a nice family lunch full of presents, food, and cake. Claire was a lucky girl and got a dollhouse, Cool Bake Magic Oven (like an easy bake oven but uses "cool technology" instead of heat from a light bulb), My little ponies, doll house accessories, a super hero memory game (guess who picked that out!), a baby doll.....and on and on. We were very happy to have Papa Fred feeling up to coming over as well. I think the promise of cake is always a great motivator! Claire bear had a "Costume Change" mid party. She is a girly, girl full of girlish ideas, if I hadn't been present at her birth I would question the authenticity of my maternity! She had to change into her "pincess skirt" in order to take her baby for a walk in her stroller..or maybe I should say a RUN in her stroller. I could hardly track her with the camera at the pace she takes her babies burning through the yard!

Summer Lovin'

Summer is flying by in a blur of trips to the park and pool. Both of the kids took swim lessons. Claire, our dare-devil, immediately tried to jump in and took to it with gusto. Jack was reduced to tears, but won the heart of Rebecca, one of the two swim instructors. Thanks to Rebecca, Jack now loves swimming and the pool; a modern day miracle. We haven't forgotten that long winter and have enjoyed getting outside as much as possible. But the midwest was hit with an unbelievable amount of rain and days outside were few and far between for a while. Enjoy the pictures from swim class and the park.

Super Cupcake II

The Jack Rochford 4th Birthday Extravaganza began on Thursday and didn't wind down until Saturday. We gave him waffles with strawberries for breakfast (his request) and let him unwrap presents to start his day. At school, they partied some more. It was his snack day (he has to bring the snack for his class). He got to pick and decided on Oreo Cakesters and Goldfish Crackers, yum. Usually it is Kashi granola bars and fruit- brain food. I had taken the kids out on Monday while J played basketball to pick up a cake pan for Jack's big day. He wanted the "Super Cupcake". I think Williams and Sonoma calls it the Giant Cupcake, whatever...it is a big frickin' cupcake right. So I think, I can do this and I give it a try on Tuesday...FAILURE, complete and utter failure. Had to scrape the ginormous cupcake out of the pan kicking and screaming. Try, try again... I give you: Super Cupcake II

We took Jack out for the night to Bounce Zone on Thursday and jumped, bounced, dove, ran, slid, and climbed for as long as his attention span could take it. (roughly an hour) and then we were off to play the arcade games. We headed out of bounce zone to meet Nana B for dinner and then home to crash.

Friday was another celebration at Betsy's with his friends and then out on the town with Mommy, Daddy, and Claire-bear. Saturday was Jack's special day of fun out with Mommy and Daddy. We took him to lunch, walkin' around, and to see Iron Man. Now before you tsk, tsk and cluck, cluck too much. We kinda went back and forth as to whether or not he was ready for it or not... and decided we would leave if it got bad. Jack gave the movie... ** (two stars) which translates to "Can we go home now?" but the action sequences got **** he loved watching Iron Man fly!!! His favorite present was the talking Iron Man action figure that Nana B and Papa Fred got him. On Saturday the whole family came over to celebrate with pizza and a super cupcake. Papa Chip, Mommy, Daddy, Claire-bear, Uncle Riley, Aunt Missi, Cousin Xander, Nana B, and Papa Fred all came over for the festivities. We had an amazing weekend full of fun and CAKE. Gotta run!

The Paparazzi's got nothing on me!!!!

Sponsored by Heinz Ketchup, the best thing to come out of Pittsburgh (besides Keith Dziki)

Back by popular demand.... the little Rochies.

Things have been all a-buzz 'round the Rochford hacienda. The kids had a visit from their Great Aunt Nona and Great Uncle Arvin (referred to as Nona and Poppy). They came up for a long weekend from Colleyville, TX ~ some of Mama's kin.

We also had a visit from KEEF!!!!!!- that is actually Keith Dziki and his wife Carrie and son Liam. Jack is a devoted follower of ALL things KEEF!!! If we talk about plans to go to the park or out to dinner, "Is Keef coming?" "Will Keef be there?". Keith and Jeremy played in a charity golf outing with Uncle Jimmy (Rochford)- the trio took third place and helped raise $4,000 for the Little FLower School scholarship fund.

Claire is teething. In case you don't have kids or in case yours remained sane while teething, let me just tell you, not our girl...oh no. She has been a GRUMPY, GRUMPY girl. But she has such a great sense of humor and a lovely, lovely heart~ so I suppose we will keep her. She loves her babies, she loves her puppies, heck .. she loves everybody. She is her father's daughter, never met a stranger and never lost a friend.

Jack is nearing the end of his first year of preschool- with perfect attendance. He has learned so much this year and done so well. He just celebrated his 4th birthday. He is having trouble with going to bed at night, keeps getting out of bed...needs a drink of water, "because there's a tiger in my room", you know, the typical stuff.

They are both doing amazingly well. Each a joy, for each their own reasons.

Looking forward to a summer rolling in the grass, throwing the ball, taking walks, maybe a trip out east thrown in for good measure, and time with friends and family.

Pictures as far as the eye can see.

The Rundown in Bulleted Points

It has been a while (yet again) since I last filled you in on the latest with the little Rochies.

-Claire now sleeps in a "big girls bed", it is a toddler bed about 6 inches off the
floor. She rolled off the bed the first night, but not again since.

-Jack has began saying "Are you kidding me?" Complete with a sardonic tone. He
learned that from Mommy. From Daddy he has learned "Focus."

-Jack has a favorite pew at church. Last week he asked a gentleman to move down,
albeit politely, so we could assume our usual seats.

-Claire has been melting our hearts with her "ur welcome", "love you", and "no
barking, puppies". I can't quite describe it, but she is so incredibly funny.

Just a few of the many reasons they will later be annoyed with us.

Claire has been very potty focused lately. She is an artist and it is her medium. She does it with all of her clothes on, with all of her clothes off. She reads on the potty, sings on the potty. She likes all potties. Her pink potty, the big potty, and most of all public potties, eeeww. Jack on the otherhand constantly likes to see just how close he can cut it. He doesn't want to go potty now when it is available and waiting, he would prefer going after you get out of the house and down the road about a mile, funny how that works.

For your viewing pleasure

Sorry for the delay, now back to the program

So the blog was a little behind, now it is about back up to speed, phew. Things are going well. Jack is doing well in speech therapy, so well he is trying his hand at talking back. We don't care for it just yet, because our satire is lost on him. Still loves to throw a ball. Wants to throw the ball inside, outside, at school, at home, throwing the ball.

Claire is battling her second round of pneumonia this year. She is usually so happy and easy going, you only notice she is sick if you know her well. She just isn't quite herself and will occassionally let out a terrible cough. But she is wheezy and a little less happy than usual. She is taking breathing treatments and some meds and will hopefully be on the mend soon. She constantly wants to sit on the potty and is talking about the potty, we'll see. Because although she is spending some good quality time in there, she isn't actually going potty. She is talking more and more every day. Good fun! She is so stubborn! She wants to do everything herself, our little independent child. My mom just chuckles quietly to herself. I suppose she has earned the right to do that after years with me.

Claire is no longer the baby of the family! My brother and sister in law adopted a baby boy!! His name is Xander Riley Smith (that is pronounced Zander). He is adorable! So cute and so tiny! I forgot they start out that small! What a blessing!! Our family needed that influx of joy!

Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas

We had a big family dinner on Christmas Eve. We had Papa Fred, Nana Brinda, Papa Chip, Uncle Riley, and all the Rochies together for a big dinner. Yum. We had been reading the story Santa is Stuck, which is a story about Santa eating too many yummy treats and then getting stuck when he tries to fit back up the chimney. So when we put the cookies out for Santa, the kids both wanted to eat them because "Santa stuck, Mommy!" so we got the kids ready for bed, put out the cookies and walked Uncle Riley out, I turn around and find Claire bear sitting in the middle of the dining room table, guzzling Santa's milk and nibbling his cookies! It took her only a matter of ten seconds to scale the table and start in on the goodies!

The kiddos made out like little bandits and were so much fun! They loved all the paper and the gifts were just what they wanted! For Jack a digital camera, a smart cycle (a bicycle game that hooks up to the tv and you pedal and steer to play different learning games), cars, and toys, oh my. Claire got a pink vacuum like mommy's, BABIES and more BABIES, a new talking kitchen, a tea set, and a pink barbie laptop! Alot of fun and I am excited to see what next year will bring!

Time for a good sense of humor

A couple weeks before Christmas my Dad went to the emergency room because he was in unbearable pain. For those of you who don't know my Dad, he is Chuck Norris. He doesn't know pain, he causes pain (wink), but he most certainly never admits to being in pain. I am gonna go ahead and bypass retelling what we had to go through to get him from the ER to being admitted for more tests. It was really bad, he was not receiving an adequate level of care, they were not taking his pain seriously, and apparently my mom was afraid I was going to get myself arrested if those two things didn't change. Luckily, Riley (my older bro) came to join us, and play the good cop. After days of tests we had our answer. Multiple myeloma (a blood cancer that plants itself in the marrow and specifically attacks platelets) with a 5 by 10 centimeter tumor on his tailbone, thus the excruciating pain. Dad and I have been getting by, doing what we do, joking around. Mom, not such a fan of all the joking jokes and laughing. This is cancer and dammit people, it will be taken seriously. Dad did 15 radiation treatments trying to shrink the tumor and make him more comfortable, but the tumor didn't respond as the doc had hoped. So, now instead of a hoagie, he has a hot dog bun on his tailbone. He and I had a better schtick to use if they could get it down to the size of a golf ball, but no luck. Now he is doing some intense chemo. His age makes him inelligible for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. The docs tailor the chemo down to the DNA level. Amazing. He has a great attitude and is ready for a fight. The hardest things are managing the pain, not just the tumor, but apparently cancer just hurts. All the pain and medicine are messing with his short term memory, he forgets things he just heard and that is really hard to see. My brilliant Daddy can't remember what you just told him, but can tell you the atomic weight of Boron. Ha! He is hanging tough and will do the chemo for nearly a year. He gets 2 weeks off between each block. I will keep you posted. This is really hard, my Daddy is my favorite.

Decking the halls...

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