The Eve of Jesus' birthday "Santa's coming!"

Christmas Eve at the Rousehouse has become very special these last

few years.  As the girls have gotten older, and the holidays have

gotten busier, we have set aside Christmas Eve as a time for

our family to worship and play together.

In the evening we all bundle up and head over to our

church for a great Christmas Worship service.

After that, we eat then get the house ready for

Santa's visit!

Two years ago, in a flurry of wrapping paper, tears

and a terrible case of the 'gimmies', I decided that we needed to

start slimming down at Christmas a bit. I was concerned that the

girls were more worried about what Santa and everyone else

was giving them for Christmas than enjoying the spirit of Christmas.

In order to try to right their thinking, we decided to ask Santa to

do things a little differently. 

We wrote a note to Santa and asked that he only fill our stockings

on Christmas Eve.  We asked that he take the big gifts he had

planned for us and give them to children who needed them more

than us. 

It was a brave experiment that went beautifully.

The girls were thrilled with the fun trinkets in their stocking

and didn't seem to miss the extravagant gifts at all.

Instead, they enjoyed the time with family, opening and giving

presents, laughing and relaxing together.

We have continued that tradition, and the girls seem genuinely

thrilled to ask Santa to share their gifts.  They love leaving him his

milk and cookies and as Ella put it best, "I hope I get a cool

notebook and maybe a pen from Santa this year!"

Three little elves all ready for Santa

Several years ago I started giving the girls matching pajamas

every Christmas Eve. They would get to open a present early

and I'd get to see them all looking so cute and coordinated

on Christmas Day.

Well, my dear Claire is a bit of a clothes snob. Well, maybe not

a clothes snob, more of a picky 10 year old!

I swear, I can't remember the last time I picked out an outfit,

or as it appears, a pair of pajamas that she liked.
Where did my baby go??

"Dad, you're killing me with these kid pjs!"

My Christmas beauties!

Ice skating

Ice skating.  Sliding around, in the cold, on slippery ice.

Not my idea of a good time.

But, we live in Iowa so I was destined to have to try it at some point.

Well, as often happens, I stand corrected.

I love ice skating!!

Claire begged us to try a new tradition at the Rousehouse and go

ice skating on Christmas Eve.  Despite my many protests,

we loaded up and headed out after lunch.

What a great time!

Everyone enjoyed it, even me!  It was a beautiful day.

So nice in fact, we were stripping our coats off before long.

By the end of our skating, we were all looking pretty good

out there and we headed home with no broken bones or

missing fingers.  And, a new tradition was born!



My wonderful family

I really was having fun, I promise!

My 2 beautiful ice skating princesses!

Gingerbread houses at Sayre!

Sayre kicked off the holiday season by inviting all of the

families to come and make Gingerbread houses.

The kiddos made the houses during the day and then

the whole family came at night to decorate.

Sayre provided everything!  'Real' chef pastry bags with

frosting, tons of decorating candies, and a room

full of good families!

The girls and I went and had a great time.  It was

fun to watch each of my girls approach the 'house' very

differently.  Ella jumped right in, Avery chatted with her

BF Eva, Claire carefully planned every detail out.

I just sat back, watched, snuck some candy, and

enjoyed every minute with my girls!

Avery and I discussing some structural and landscaping issues

Ella's gingerbread mugshot

Avery: so proud!

Claire, enjoying her perfect creation!

My three beautiful gingerbread geniuses!

A look at Avery's first semester at Sayre ~

 Avery's first semester of school is over and she certainly

has a lot to show for it!

She has grown so much at Sayre!

My wish when she first started was that they find ways

to celebrate her strong personality and encourage

her budding creativity and clever intelligence.

My wish has certainly come true!

Here are just a few of the fun things Aves has done so far this year ~

 Birthdays are celebrated a little differently at Sayre.

On each child's birthday, instead of bringing a treat to share,

they bake home-made banana bread (happens to be A's favorite!)

After they bake it, they celebrate their life, through the seasons.

Avery created a photo book, selecting a couple of pictures from

each year of her life.  She then shares that book with her

friends, as she walks around the 'floor calendar'. She then carries

the globe and walks around the sun 4 times, for the 4 years she's been alive.

I was able to come and join in the celebration and it was really cool!



Avery mashing the bananas for her bread



She is a mixing machine!

Walking the globe around the sun, to represent each year of her life

Beaming mommy in the background.  Man, I love that kid!

Jump Bunch comes to Sayre every Thursday for their

'active play'.  They do some really cool stuff.

On this day, they were working outside.

Stretch Aves!

Ready for action!

All the kiddos at Sayre worked together to bake and serve

their own Thanksgiving feast.  They made all sorts of yummy stuff

and then celebrated family-style.  

One of the things I love about Sayre is that they always eat together,

family-style, on real plates and utensils, with folded cloth napkins.

Maybe after a few years Avery will actually be able to sit through

a whole meal at home too!

Beautiful girl, with her place mat she wove herself

Some of Avery's favorite activities at school are the sensory opportunities.

On this day, they went outside to wash and carve their pumpkins.

Avery talked about washing pumpkins for weeks. She loved it!

They do everything on their own at school, even filling up your pitcher

She loved this so much, she chose to do it everyday for over a week.
Their favorite activities are available to them, once they've had a 'lesson' on it.

Mmm, pumpkin guts!

Most recently, the kids planted bulbs to grow over the

Christmas season.  Avery loves her plant and proudly

displays it in her bedroom.

That little tongue! You always know she's working hard!

As you can see, Avery has been hard at work these past

few months.  I am so grateful for the awesome opportunities

that she has at Sayre.  I am so proud of my little bug!

To what do my wondering eyes behold...

Three loving sisters and a bedtime story!

I walked into Avery's room tonight to find Ella and Claire

reading her a bedtime story.

These sweet moments between sisters are so special.

I hope they always cherish each other, or at least tolerate each other!

Enjoy~