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~

2011 Christmas Letter

Dear friends, family and others (if you watch Modern Family, you'll get that!)

I was reading an online blurb the other day that said most people hate getting those "annoying family letters" every year.  It went on to say that some people believe that other's lives aren't that great, but no one will ever put the 'real stuff' in the family letter.  Interesting thought.  Personally, I love the letters.  I love seeing and hearing how everyone is doing, especially those that I don't get to see as often as I'd like.  As for the 'real stuff'.  I think we all have our ups and downs.  No one has a perfect life, if they did they would be too busy living off the coast of France, basking in the sun and celebrity, to write a Christmas letter! 

So, to get to the great stuff at the Rousehouse....

We've had a great year, no really, it's been great!  Our family has walked through several big changes, that have turned out far better than I ever dreamed they would!

Claire is the solid rock in the family.  She is strong, confident, talented, happy, helpful, kind and all around amazing!  She is in 4th grade at Shuler and, although I don't find the curriculum to be challenging enough, she is loving it.  She is active in ELP (TAG from my generation) and an advanced book club.  She excels at FourSquare and enjoys the Science Club.   Claire is still swimming her heart out for the Walnut Creek Dolphins, doing very well this year and continuing to be a great mentor on the team.  She also loves piano and enjoys both the lessons and the recitals.  Most of all, Claire is happy.  She reached that critical age of 10, double-digits.  By all accounts, we survived the first 10 years and are actually looking forward to the next 10.  We are incredibly proud of Claire and so grateful to have been blessed with the best first-born child ever!

Ella is having the best year yet (well, at least that's my opinion!)  She is in 2nd grade at Sayre Montessori.  This is a new school for Ella and has been an absolute God-send.  She is so happy and absolutely loves school!  Before Ella, I thought one-size-fit-all when it came to parenting, schooling, health, just about everything.  After Ella, I have learned that it's okay to question, to advocate, to research, to make tough choices that in your heart you believe are what is best for your child.  Ella is doing great academically and is also enjoying riding her electric scooter and playing with neighborhood friends.  She is very busy swimming for the Dolphins.  She loves the meets and is well on her way to qualifying in several events for state!  Ella started piano this year, and although practicing isn't her favorite part, she loves her lessons!  Ella still loves to draw, write, listen to music and sneak into our bed in the middle of the night.

Avery, my sweet Aves, is 4 years old and in the pre-K program at Sayre.  Aves is passionate about, well, everything.  She is full of life and has a hilarious, loving, clever, intelligent and very strong personality.  She loves her school and is always very excited to tell us all about her "work".  Avery spends her free time talking, playing with Jack, swimming lessons, talking, watching Scooby Doo and talking.  Avery brings a special kind of happiness to our family that is indescribably wonderful and exhausting and we are all so grateful for it!

Dave and I are still going strong after almost 12 years of marriage and 10 years of sleepless nights and parent/teacher conferences!  We are very grateful for all of the grandparents in our lives who help with the girls.  Not only with carpooling and date night, but with their constant love and support they give to all of us.
Dave is happily working at Hummel's and I accepted a position with Simpson College this fall.  It was a huge leap of faith for me to leave DMACC, the only workplace I've really ever known, to go to Simpson for a full-time position.  As so often happens with those faithful leaps, it is great!!  I absolutely love my job! I love the people I work with and I love getting to be home with the girls during the winter and summer break.  I am very blessed to have found the perfect position to blend the two things I love most; my family and my sanity!

So, life at the Rousehouse is good.  We are very blessed and very grateful.  We have been reminded many times that life is short and precious.  We do not take our family, our friends, or our health for granted.  We praise God for the gentle reminders to slow down, play a game, bake some cookies, or snuggle for one more minute. 
We wish for peace, love, and happiness for all of our friends and family.
Blessings,
David, Janelle, Claire, Ella and Avery

Trees and Thanksgiving!

A few of my favorite things........

Trees and Thanksgiving,

pictures and pies.

Doggies and daddies,

and kids piled high.

Games and cards,

food and fun.

These are a few of my favorite things!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving this year

with (almost)ALL of my brothers, sisters, in-laws and cousins!

(We miss you Kelli and family!)

Cousin Sophie is getting so big and she did great

"hangin' with the big girls"

It was a whirlwind of activity at times, but I am so

grateful to have such a wonderful and loving family!

My three girls and cousin Sophie

After Thanksgiving, the Rousehouse family tradition

is to drag out all the Christmas decorations, put up the

tree, and decorate the house.

This year the girls and I decorated the tree while Dave hung up

the outside lights.  The girls get a new ornament from us

and from their Godfather and great Grandma every year,

plus all the ornaments they made in preschool/school over the years,

so they are starting to get quite a collection.

 It was so funny.  Every time I'd pull an ornament out

Aves would say, "is it mine??"

"No, it's Claire's"

The next one, "is it mine??"

"No, it's Claire's"

Poor kid just didn't understand that Claire has

6 years of collecting to her 3 years.

Finally, we started to get to some of hers, which she

loved so much, she didn't want to put on the tree.

I had to take a picture of her holding each one before

she'd put it on the tree. 

Besides the couple of ornaments that Jack ran off with,

and the couple that Aves just couldn't part with,

we got the tree decorated.  We also took our annual

'tree decorating' photos for our Christmas card.

I love that I'm so much more relaxed about 'the Christmas photo' than

I used to be.  In the early years, I'd take the girls to the photographer,

sweating and swearing to keep them clean and beautiful. I'd bribe them with

Goldfish and suckers to smile, stop crying, stand still, etc.  I'd be sweating,

angry and overwhelmed by the time it was done, and the pictures

(while perfect) never seemed to really show the kids I knew and loved. 

Finally, one year I just didn't do it. I don't think it was a conscience decision

so much as I simply forgot to schedule the appointment. 

So there I am, just a few short weeks before Christmas with no picture card. 

I remember sitting in front of my computer

trying to figure out what to do. Dave said, "just use the pictures you

took of the girls decorating the tree".  That's crazy I thought.

They aren't dressed up, they don't match or coordinate, I'm

not sure Ella even brushed her hair!

Well, I ended up doing it, and the rest is history!

Now, you get to see my girls in all their glory.

Happy, comfy, unkept and celebrating the true

joy of Christmas!



The Rousehouse!

Claire carefully decorating the top half

Ella, part decorating, part entertaining!

We had to get a picture with Jack too!

3 angels.  What a blessing!

Ahh, yes. My angels!

Avery takes decorating very seriously!

Dad gets to do the final touch, the tree topper!
Notice Ella's wardrobe change halfway through! :)

My beautiful family!

Claire and her dog, Jack

Tree is done, girls are happy, mom ready for bed!

One of the girls favorite traditions this time of year is the

Johnson Family Christmas Tree Hunt.

They head out each year with Grandpa and Grandma and

Aunt Jamie and Uncle Kyle to help them pick out and

cut down Christmas Trees.  The girls love it!  And it works

great for me because I don't have to deal with the cold

or the needles, but my girls still get that great holiday experience!

The Crew! Do you think the trees are too big??

As we all know, I love this time of year!

We also know that I occasionally struggle with control

issues, high expectations and unrealistic demands on

myself and others.  So, as always, I say some extra prayers

this time of year that I remember why I love the holidays

and how much I have to be grateful for!

Family, traditions, cold nights and warm blankets.

Food, gifts and giving.

The Grace of a very loving God that blesses

me with another year beyond any I deserve.

Happy Thanksgiving!