Family Portraits 2010

Here are a few pictures (out of the 166 total!) from our family photo shoot that we did in May.  We are lucky that we got the shots we did considering how terrible the kids were that day!  We had the shoot at Apollo Park, not far from the base.  The problems were (1) the wind and (2) the fact that this was the first time the kids had been there.  Chrissi Richards, our amazingly talented photographer, said that, compared to the lake and the ducks and the other equally "new" things the kids had to focus on, she was the LEAST interesting thing around!  Poor, Chrissi!  She even came to our house a week or so later to take more shots of the triplets.  She's awesome!

Take a look and enjoy!

On the road again....

In just a few short days, our family will be making another cross country trip - destination....Maryland!  We are so excited to move into our new home and meet new friends.  More importantly, this is the closest we've been to our family in the last 10 years!  I'll be sure to post pictures of our trip and of our new house.  We should be there after the 5th of July so stay tuned for more travel news and funny stories from the Rowdy Rozsas!

Summer Fun!

We had a great weekend with the kids.  I put up a little baby pool for them and they loved every minute of it!  Kolya and his friends even build themselves a little water park with the pool and the slides!  It took a while for Olivia and Matthew to warm up to the idea of being splashed but Daniel had no problem at all!  He is the Splash King!  Enjoy!

New Beds for the Boys

Picture this.....  A few months ago, we found Matthew hanging upside down, on the outside of his crib.  He had climbed out and was trying to climb back in when he got his fat knees stuck in the crib slats.  At that point, unable to move up or down, he decided it would be fun to lean backward and wave his arms around.  I think Mykola had a mild heart attack when he found him in said position!

Nevertheless, it was at that point we knew it was time for toddler beds.  Reluctantly, we took the boys' cribs down and set up their toddler beds.  I had saved the train bed Nicholas had in Germany and found one online to match.  Mykola and I knew it would be an adjustment for all of them, but we didn't quite expect how much of a change it would be for everyone.

The good news is that they, from the very beginning, have slept through the night in their beds.  The bad news is we now need to "babysit" them until they fall asleep.  After a few months, they are figuring out that nap time/night time is not for playing around.....they are figuring this out just in time for us to move and screw everything up!!

That said, these pictures tell only part of the story.  These are some of the places we found them when we tried to let them fall asleep on their own.  Clearly, we needed a better idea!

Olivia needs a new hairdresser!

Olivia is very much a girly girl.  She loves to have her hair brushed and put up in ponytails or clips.  They don't last very long in her hair because her brothers have made it their mission to strip her of anything gender related.  Fluffy scrunchies fall directly into that category!

When she woke up one day after nap time, she was anything but "put together."  Here are a few pictures of the disaster that sat atop her head.  I think she could give Don King a run for his money!

Kolya's First Holy Communion

On Mother's Day weekend, we celebrated Kolya's first holy communion.  My mom and Jack were able to come out and be with him.  We practiced his prayers and receiving the host  over and over again.  He did such a great job that day!  Our whole family came to church to see and support him, even though most of them ended up in the crying room!

Afterward, we had lunch with all the communicants and their families in the Chapel annex.  That, too, was a great time!  Kolya got to open all of his gifts and ride his new bike.  He was really proud of himself, as were we!  Congratulations, Kolya!

Random Pictures and Video

Here are some recent pictures of the kiddos. I took the first set at lunch while they were becoming proficient with their forks. As you can tell, their mouths are full in all the shots! These are from a couple of days ago when they were playing in the living room.Daniel in mid-jump!

Olivia's hair is a mess because she had just finished hitting herself in the face with a sock! Oh, my!

Matthew, striking his "oh, so serious" pose!

The video is from last week - it was taken in the morning after they kids got up and had their morning milk. Everyone was still in a good mood! Enjoy!

The whole gang peacefully and calmly enjoying a show!

Patriotic Program 2010

This year, 2nd graders at Branch Elementary here on base put on a Patriotic Program. Parents were invited to attend the third and final show, so I packed up the kiddos and headed to the school. I got there only to find that none of the doors to the MPR (multi-purpose room) were wide enough to fit our stroller! With some help, I managed to get everyone inside before the show started. We even go to see Kolya lead his line of patriots into the show! How exciting!
The kids all did a great job. I even got to hear my favorite song from elementary school, "Fifty Nifty United States," which I still sing today to the kids. Mykola thinks I'm crazy to sing it to them, but if that song helped me through the years with my geography and state names, it might help them, too!

The other group of kids sang a really cute song, too. I think it was called "The Mighty Presidents." I posted a video of part of it. Check out the Statue of Liberty in the front right corner of the stage. Boy, can that girl boogie!

Dancing Queen....

Really, it's more like the "Shake-Your-Bum Princess!" Take a look...

Abundant Harvest

A few of my friends on the base had mentioned to me that they receive a basket from Abundant Harvest every Saturday. "What is Abundant Harvest," you ask? Well, in a nutshell, it's an organization that gets fresh food from local farmers in the area, and distributes the baskets to all it's participants.

It sounded fantastic! Fresh food for the family and at a reasonable price. I'm in! Well, the first week, I completely forgot to get my basket! In my defense, I was hosting a Pampered Chef party that day and didn't realize what I had done until after one of my friends mentioned it! The next week, I promised myself I would not forget again even if I had to staple a post-it to my forehead. All turned out well in the end, and we've been very pleased (if not overwhelmed at times) with the quality and quantity of the food we've received. Now, if I can only find new and creative ways to use kale, turnips and tangelos! The picture above is of our first basket. Yummy!

Spirit Tree Award Winner!

We are so proud of Kolya! He received the Spirit Tree Award for his class last month! He was so proud of himself. I was happy that I could go to watch him get his award. Congratulations, baby!

Sorry, the pictures didn't turn out very well. My camera's been acting up....but you get the idea of what happened! Here he is just after he got his award!

A visit from old friends....

One day, out of the blue, we got a message that some friends at our base in Germany, Josh & Stephanie Lodde, were going to be passing through our neighborhood. They and their three children were driving from Fairbanks, Alaska all the way to Robins, Georgia. Both Josh & Steph are active duty Air Force and Georgia was going to be their new duty station.

They got here in the early afternoon. We barbecued and let the kids run around the backyard together. Mykola got to catch up on everything going on in the Bio world and everybody got a chance to relax and stretch their legs!

After a few hours, it was time for them to pack up and head east. It was great to see them! Here are some pictures from their visit.

Toothless Wonder Boy!

Just an update... From the opening picture you can see that Kolya has lost his two front teeth. That's four teeth total with another bottom one on it's way out! I hope the top two come in soon. He finds it's really hard to eat apples without something to bite with!

ABCs...123s

Who says hard work doesn't pay off? Everyday, the kids and I have a little school session. We do numbers, letters, colors, shapes, etc. A couple of weeks ago, Olivia shocked the H-E-double hockey sticks out of me when she actually recognized and said about 10 letters. Wow! I thought that was pretty good for an 18 month old. Come to find out, her brothers were not far behind her. And, on top of all that, words and short phrases are coming out of their mouths, too. Among Olivia's favorites are "All right!" "Hi, car" "shoes and socks" "high five" and "touchdown!"

Here is a short video of them going through their letters and numbers. I rarely go through them in order because I don't want it to be done from memorization. They did pretty well, although I think they were pretty distracted by being on camera! Enjoy!

Congratulations, Major Rozsa!

It's finally official....Mykola is now Major Rozsa! On 1 February 2010, Mykola was promoted from the rank of Captain (a company grade officer) to the rank of Major (a field grade officer). It's been a long time coming considering he began his military career in 1993 as an enlisted Army private! We are so proud of him and what he's accomplished thus far, and we know he is bound to do more great things in the future.
We celebrated his promotion a bit early in order to take advantage of the time we had with our families. Many of Mykola's coworkers and friends were there as well. My mother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law helped me cater the event. Everyone had a good time and, thankfully, nearly all of the food was gone. Thanks, ladies...I could not have done it without you!
There is a slide show with more pictures of all the festivities. The link is located in the right side column, under Rowdy Rozsa slide shows! And, again, congratulations, Major Rozsa!

1st Hair Cuts

A few weeks back, it was time for the boys to get their hair cut. Traditionally, it's something that I do because there is NO way Nicholas, Daniel or Matthew would sit through it at the barbershop. Traditionally, their first hair cuts turn out terribly because they won't sit through it for me either! This time, though, I tried it while they boys were getting their baths. Good idea yields decent results! Except for a few long strands behind their ears, Mommy didn't do that badly! Here are some before and after pictures...

Matthew

Daniel

The Albatross

Kolya has been begging to go to swimming lessons for quite some time. For Christmas, he finally got what he wanted! He started in mid-January and in a short time has become a very good swimmer! There are only two other kids in the class so he gets a lot of one-on-one class time. Now, he can float on his back and stomach and can even do the front stroke. His favorite part of the lesson is at the end when the kids are able to jump into the deep end all by themselves! The child has NO fear! Session two starts this week. We can't wait!