A Word, or Two, on Our "Duperhero"

The "Duperhero" in our house:
-Runs the fastest
-Shouts the loudest
-Taunts the most
-Flies the highest
-Sneaks the best
-Pushes the hardest
-"Un-nerves" like you wouldn't believe
-Loves to be rough and tumble
-"Gackles" (tackles) the greatest
-Bounces the best on the furniture
-Climbs to the highest of places to rescue a binky or piece of cake

But with, or without, his "Duperhero" outfit loves the deepest, helps the most, cuddles the sweetest, compliments like no other and gives the very BEST Eskimo kisses.

Oh, how blessed we are to have a "Duperhero" like Jensen in our lives! We love him greater then any Superhero strength!



Pictured here with his "Duperhero" bat costume, princess wand, and binky. I guess I owe a post on the reintroduction of the binky...

Faith's Snow Shoot

Love, LOVE, LOVE these sweet pictures of Faith in our first big snow if the year! The pure joy on her face is priceless and what childhood should be filled with. Jensen opted to stay inside, it was too "coady" for him outside that day.

Just Jacob...

A post devoted SOLELY to our Sweet Baby Boy Jacob. Who is ONE!!!! Just how did that happen? What a complete and utter blessing he is in our lives. A perfect addition to our little family. All of us Rotter's would agree that life wouldn't be the same without him. Jacob is just all around sweetness...with a bit of determination thrown in to complete the perfect package. Let's be honest, to survive with big brother Jensen...determination is needed for sure! :)

At ONE, Jacob...
-weighs 20lbs 13 ounces
-has 8 teeth
-is on the RUN (started walking at 10.5 months)
-says about 18 words including mama, dada, baba, papa, nana, up, more, ball, cat, dog, hi, bye, this, yea
-loves to give kisses and has progressed from his "African" tongue clicking to actual kissing noises to let us know he wants a kiss!
-Loves to "pet" mama when he's eating
-Still not sleeping through the night, but is getting better
-loves his blanket at night and rubs the satin edge while he falls asleep
-has mastered opening cupboards, finding toothbrushes, and eating out of the trash...all very desirable traits to have
-LOVES being in the mix with Faith and Jensen
-laughs at all the right times

Here are a few pictures from Jacob's Birthday. On his actually birthday we had cake at home which he loved. He picked up the entire plate and ate the cupcake that way. The next weekend, we had a swimming party/Haiti fundraiser for Jacob! What fun we had and what generous friends to donate to Haiti in honor of Jacob's birthday!

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Christmas

Christmas in Photos:

Greetings From Our Family to Yours!

All things considered "tacky," this is our Christmas card for 2009. I could claim it's due to us being more environmentally friendly seeing as how 2009 was a big year for us environmentally. We potty trained Jensen AND signed up for recycling. Yes, both in the same year. I could claim it's to be gentle on the pocketbook, because last time I checked there were no coupons for stamps...you know me and my coupons. I could claim that even though I LOVE getting and giving Holiday cards, it's because Christmas cards really don't have much to due with the actual origin and meaning of Christmas, but don't tell Hallmark. But truthfully, I ran out of time. Somewhere between teaching, mothering, wifing (is that a word), being an accountant, personal shopper, elf, and spreading holiday cheer...I simply did not get to cards. I'm hoping for Valentine's cards, but don't don't hold your breath. My CPR card expired in the spring and I'm feeling a little shaky on my first aid skills.

For a small glimpse into our lives, feel free to scroll through the blog. If you'd like to be a regular "reader" on the blog, leave a note w/your email address in the comments. I usually keep it locked as private. Something a bit creepy about random blog stalkers (like myself) reading about the kids. BUT, you too, can gain membership for FREE...no coupons needed!

2009 has been a great year for our family from the birth of Jacob in January all the way through December it's proved to be a wonderful year for our family. Joe and I are loving each and every minute with the kids (okay, some are a bit more hairy then others) and are trying to treasure them, as we are already witnessing just how fast time flies.

Jacob (10 1/2 months) started WALKING this week. He looks a bit like a drunken sailor, but he's officially on the move! He is such a sweet, sweet boy who just takes "it all in" day in and day out. Still not a sleeper, but I'll take the middle of the night cuddles any day! He can't get enough of Faith and Jensen and is starting to interact with them more and more.

Jensen is our little "Joy Boy!" He can turn the saddest of situations into pure joy. Last week, I found him cutting the beard on my prized antique (it was my dad's-sorry I just called you an antique, dad) plush Santa. After a stern lecture and time out he was crying these HUGE walrus tears, and calling mommy a "Bad boy!" At my wits end I was saying (yelling), "Why, WHY would you cut Santa's beard?" He whimpered back, "My couldn't see his mouth!" All I could do was laugh. Luckily, I caught him just one snip in and Santa's beard was saved. If anyone is sad, he is the first to notice and cheer you up.

Faith is still creative and determined (gets that from her father) to the ends of the earth. She is on a bunny phase lately. As in, she's convinced she's getting a bunny. She writes letters about when she has a bunny, goes to the pet store to check them out, creates special bunny food, created a bunny trap in the back yard (in which a very large, brown-haired, brown-eyed, three year old "bunny" actually ate the carrots in the trap). On top of all of this she is the BEST big sister. She loves her brothers to pieces and goes to no end to be sure they are happy. We've even caught her in a few "white-lies" protecting Jensen.

Joe just rounded out his hunting season with a cougar. Whatever happened to bringing home a Christmas goose???? And WHEN is chicken season?!? All joking aside, we are really proud of him. He loves back country hunting and we love that it makes him happy.

I'm still busy teaching and loving being able to spend half of the day home with our kids and the kids of my teaching partner (we job-share, kid-share). The kids keep me busy and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Moments to Remember

Faith started Kinder Dance the first week of November and today she had her debut Performance, as a "Snowflake," and I had my debut as a stage mom. Let me tell you...LOTS of work. No clue how those moms on "Tots to Tiaras," or whatever the name of that TLC show is, do it. "Costume" for The Moments to Remember performance included the cute little outfit you see, blue eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, lip liner, lipstick, blush, a high pony tail with long tight curls and LOTS of hairspray.

You want the dirty truth? I don't own hair spray, a curling iron or blue eye shadow. Thank heavens for the Dollar Tree. I just knew I would need aerosol spray (we're after beauty tonight and not saving the environment) to hold that girls curls. Where is Aqua Net when you need it? The Dollar Tree saved the day, with classy "White Rain" aerosol hairspray. After 45 minutes, Faith's hair and make up were done and I used so much hair spray that she claimed she was tasting it through the air.

Being new to the "stage mom" scene, I went a bit overboard with the lip liner and lipstick. No biggie. Joe told her she looked like a real famous lady on T.V. named Blanche...you know, from the Golden Girls. Luckily she has no clue who Blanche Devereaux is, because if my "Old Maid" victory dance, complete with hunkering down like I was walking with a cane and saying my name was "Faith Old Maid Rotter," threw her into a tantrum last week, being referred to as Blanche might simply put her over the five and a half year old edge. Thinking she wouldn't want to be know as Blanche, the vain, man-hungry, Southern Belle, and KNOWING I'd rather her be more like, Rose or Dorthy (definitely NOT Sophia), I quickly fixed her lipstick into more suitable "snowflake" fashion.

Faith looked beautiful, twirled perfectly, LOVED the evening, and reiterated as we were leaving that she's NEVER playing soccer again (she previous post), because she only wants to do one activity at a time...and she's choosing dance! I couldn't be more proud of her!

Side Note: Wikipedia has some great facts on The Golden Girls. Now, I thought I was a fan of the show back in my younger days, but I never knew that Dorthy's brother, Phil, was a cross dresser. The things you learn on a Friday night around our house.

And just for the records, after reading all the character bios, I'm real conflicted over which Golden Girl I'd most like Faith to be like. Who would you choose for your daughter?

Reason #1,245...

...why we are cutting back on T.V. in our house; "We are attempting to preserve the vision of our children. Keeping our fingers crossed they have eyesight for things like, say reading!" Right below reason #1,244: "We watched SIX straight days of television during the supposed Swine Flu outbreak at our house, and we haven't been the same mentally since then and are hoping to correct the toon-headedness in our brains." Jensen would seriously be thrilled if he could actually climb IN the T.V.