Aaron's 4th Birthday

My little boy turned 4 on June 1!  Hard to believe, he still seems like a baby to me.

Aaron can be very cheerful and happy, but for some reason, he wasn't quite sure about opening gifts, which is plain to see by the scowl on his face.

After a little prodding, he soon got in to the spirit of things.  He was quite impressed with his Herbie car.

And a train table!  We had one when Andrew and Noah were younger, but they never played with it so we got rid of it.  Aaron loves trains, and he loves his train table.  Unfortunately, he and his younger brother aren't very good about keeping the pieces together, so I plan on hot gluing them down.

Pretty pleased!  Tunnels, hills, noises and all!

Luke was ecstatic to have his own cupcake.  He's never noticed when I've given the boys dessert after dinner before, but when we were eating the leftovers the next day, he made certain to let it be known that he wanted one too!

4 is a big milestone in our house because when you turn 4, you don't get a pacifier when you go to bed anymore.  He put himself to bed for a nap a few days after he turned 4 and I went to check on him and found this!  He didn't get to keep it.  

Andrew is 8 (and a recipe for chocolate cake)

Andrew turned 8 years old yesterday!  Hard to believe he is already that old.  He is such a great helper to me.  He will usually do whatever I ask him to right away (unless he doesn't hear me because he is reading!), and he is great with Aaron.  A couple of weeks ago he told me he was going to be so busy when the new baby came because he would have two babies to take care of (Aaron and the new one) and I would have a lot of weight to lose!  So thankful he is in our family!

He waited all day until Daddy came home to open his gifts.  Pretty excited!

He's not the only one.  :-)

An army guy vehicle.  He asked me this morning, "Mom, how did you know I would like that?"

Big box of crayons from Noah.

Daddy's gift.  Description here.

The neighbors gave us this tin of "ca-corn."  Aaron loves it.

Andrew's cake~He wanted a cake with Lewis and Clark floating down the Mississippi River.  They were trading with the Indian on the river bank.

8 candles!

Grandma Roffel's Chocolate Cake
So-Easy Black Magic Cake
From a cookbook called Creative Cooking
I think box cake tastes pretty good, but if you have a few extra minutes, this cake is extra-moist and delicious.  Grandma gave me the recipe a few years ago which she had photocopied on her printer.  I can see food splashes on the page so it was a well-loved recipe.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup black coffee
1 cup buttermilk (or just plain milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add eggs, coffee, milk, oil, and vanilla.  Beat 2 minutes on medium speed ( I just whisked it good for a few minutes.).  The batter will be quite thin.

Pour into a greased 9x13 and bake at 350 for 30-35 min.

Cool and frost with your favorite frosting.

A very late post, but...Happy 5th birhtday, Noah!

Noah turned 5 on April 11.

Noah's favorite toy:  a matchbox car/truck.  He loves them!  Every nap time he brings a hoard of them to bed with him and sometimes puts them under his pillow while he sleeps.

Blue Grandpa and Grandma got him a bike for his birthday.  Its a little large (my fault), but he'll grow in to it and he can ride it with a little bit of help already.

Noah's cake~My attempt to give him a fun cake with minimal effort.  I think he was fairly pleased.  :-)

Daddy had a little addition to the cake when Mommy wasn't looking...

Noah was my smallest baby, only 7 lbs 4 oz when he was born, and he is still the most petite of all the boys.  He's also the quietest, probably because his older brother and his younger brother both jabber constantly, and his baby brother has some rather strong vocal cords also.  Noah is much different than Andrew, something I'm discovering more and more as I begin teaching him how to read.  He's not as easy to teach and has more disciplinary issues than Andrew, but he can also be very sweet.  He's been helping me a lot more around the home lately and he always wants to be around me, even asks me to sit outside while he plays.  He loves to have his back scratched and his favorite foods are cheese and sausage.  He's not a big sweets eater, he even declines candy on occasion!  We love seeing his personality change and develop as he gets older.

Note to self

Plan for a bigger budget when Daddy does the birthday shopping!

(If you aren't as tech savvy as Chris, he got the boys a NOOK tablet.  It's a learning tool, guys, remember that!)

Happy 7th birthday, Andrew!

Andrew turned 7!  7 seems so old to me.  But thankfully, he is still a cuddly little boy and quite loving and attentive to his mother.  :-)  

"A wise son maketh a glad father."  Proverbs 15:20

Andrew's mind is continually stretching and growing and we can see him pondering spiritual things.  Although he doesn't understand everything yet, we are so thankful that he is thinking about God and eternity and we pray that he will grow to love the Lord and to serve Him all of his days.

Special birthday breakfast.  He'd been waiting a long time for his birthday.

It was a special day so he got his own cup of heavily sugared coffee for breakfast.

He got some lego which he's already built multiple times already.  Noah is pretty interested too.

His favorite candy.

One explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs~a volcano!

Trucks, lego, and playmobil from aunts and grandparents.  

Cady is one week younger than Andrew and he gave her a tiny American Girl doll. 

Frog's Birthday Parties!

 First present of the day, a monster truck tractor!

 Blue grandpa and grandma gave him a tractor with trailer!

 And some horsies for the trailer!

 Mmm, birthday cake!  He liked it when mommy put fire on it.

 Friday night was bonfire time with the Engelsmas.  The boys hooked the sled to the wagon for rides.  

 More cake!

 White grandpa and grandma gave him a ride-on dump truck which has been a great hit with all the boys.

 Cousin Ethan made Joel a crown and a sword!  Thanks E!

The prince of the family.  :-)