a blessed 2010

Christmas  Letter 2010

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…just a little late!  We hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday season.  We loved receiving cards, photos and letters from many of you.  Although this was the year that I was sure I could get our Christmas card out right after Thanksgiving, God put something in our path and we needed to slow down and let everything be for a long while.  But I still wanted to reflect on the blessings of this past year and send our greetings to all of you, so here we are!

 

S – He is still enjoying being pharmacy manager at Costco.  Doesn’t come without challenges though!  The pharmacy has been busy, especially the past couple months, so that means some extra hours.  We are glad Costco is only a mile away so we can visit Dadda whenever we like!  S also keeps busy with house projects, his biggest this year was redoing a retaining wall and our garden area.

 

C – My job has many demands and is pretty much a 24-7 position, but I love it.  I am very blessed that I am able to stay home with our kiddos.  I have now added “room mother” to my list of duties now that G is in school.  I love being able to go to school once a month to be able to help out with lunch and recess duty.  It has been a joy to see G happy and thriving in this new setting. 

 

G – Her whole year has been pretty much the process of getting ready for and starting school.  S and I were a little nervous about it beforehand, but G has always been excited for and confident about loving school.  And she sure does.  She is a Kindergartener at Calvin Christian school and we couldn’t be happier with the school or the great teachers there.   G’s favorite activities are school, reading, playing with her brothers and friends, singing, being outside, drawing/coloring, crafts, and of course putting on shows full of costumes, dancing and singing.

 

W – He is our sensitive little guy, reacts to every little thing, can’t stand and conflict or tension, and has a tender heart for everyone around him.  This has not always made it an easy year, especially with him growing more to the point now where he can verbalize and understand his feelings and also with having G go off to school, but the sweet hugs and snuggles and smiles have got us through it all.  W’s favorite activities are reading, storytime at the library, playing with his trains and trucks, being outside and playing ball, eating fruit, and playing with his brother and sister.

 
Little C – It never ceases to amaze us the amount of growing and changing that the kids do when they are little!  He started out the year not even walking, barely talking and relying on us to feed him and do everything else, and now he is running all over, talking very well for a just two year old, and insisting he do most everything by himself.  Little C’s favorite activities are reading, playing with trucks and trains and toys, getting into mischief, climbing on everything, and following and copying and playing with his siblings.

We also had a busy year with lots of activities and trips –

January:       Little C turned 1, enrolled G in Kindergarten for the

                         fall at Calvin Christian
February:     Little C had dental surgery, month full of sick and snow
March:          Eastman Nature Center classes for G, trip to farm for

                         Mom and kids while S painted our bedroom
April:              trip to MI to celebrate Grandpa Aukeman's 90th birthday
May:               Mother's Day in Willmar, vacation to Nebraska - Omaha

                          zoo and Marcus & Amy’s house
June:              worked on garden, W turned 3, VBS, strawberries
July:               10th anniversary, visits from all the Roskamps
August:          green beans from the garden, G turned 5, annual trip

                          to the state fair
September:   G started school!, C started teaching W's

                          Sunday School class, relocated and painted office
October:         beautiful fall weather, big bike ride with the Bruin's, rock

                          work on the farm
November:   Little C had 2nd dental surgery, hosted Thanksgiving

                          with family and friends
December:    sadness in losing a baby by miscarriage, joy in watching

                          kids' Christmas programs and celebrating holidays with

                          family

This is not the place to put all the details and sadness of what we have experienced in the past couple months, but we were definitely given a greater appreciation for this blessed season and the true meaning of Christmas.  Without Christmas, without Jesus’ birth to celebrate, the birth and death of any one of us is completely meaningless.  God gave us a great gift by sending His son to the world to save us, and through Him we have redemption and hope and a future beyond this world.  We know that our lives, no matter how long or short, have purpose.  God’s plan is way bigger than what we can comprehend.  So all we can do is trust and hope, and know that we are fully resting in His almighty hands.

We wish you God’s peace, joy, and hope for 2011!

Love,

S, C, G, W, and Little C

R family after-Christmas

After spending the Christmas weekend in Willmar, S had to go back to work.  December through January is his "busy" time at the pharmacy...so many people trying to get things in before the year end, and then re-doing insurance and prescriptions once the new year begins.  G was still on Christmas break though, so we decided that the kids and I would continue on to the farm to spend some time with my family.

We did not get together for an official Christmas with my family this year, but since some of us were there during our visit, we opened gifts together.  On Monday night we opened gifts with Uncle L and Auntie J.  Here the kids are showing off their present from Boppa and Aahma...flashlights - best. gift. ever.

Here are the happy soon to be newlyweds in their new Roskamp Farms Etc. coats.  L's coat had worn out, and for J, this is the official "welcome to the family" coat...although S and I didn't receive ours until we had been married about 4 years! =) =)

This is the sweet gift that G made in school for us.  She was so proud that she helped make this and kept it a secret!

And yes, the boxes are still the best part of opening gifts...

On Tuesday, after I spent a wonderful afternoon visiting my good friend M, we picked up Grandma Kole and brought her to the farm for a visit.  So we opened more presents with Nana!

And the kids put on another Christmas program for her too.

It was a lot of fun to watch the kids play and have so much fun on the same snow piles that I played on as a kid (new snow though, obviously).  

Although there may not be anything growing in the middle of winter, the farm is definitely beautiful at this time too.

A great reminder of God's faithfulness through the seasons!

At first I was dragging my feet about traveling so much over Christmas, but it turns out the change of scenery and the special time with family was exactly what we needed after a rough couple of months.  We are so very blessed!

B family Christmas...

We traveled for Christmas this year and were blessed with good weather and roads (for the most part) and a wonderful time with both sides of our family. For the Christmas weekend, we went to Willmar to celebrate with S's family.

Friday evening we went to Christmas eve service, then since our good friends M & A from Brookings were in Willmar for the weekend, they met us at S's parents' house. It was so nice to visit with them again!


G & W (and sometimes C) had a fun time putting on their own Christmas program for everyone that night.


Christmas morning in Christmas pajamas! (don't ask how obsessed I was with finding matching Christmas pajamas this year...=)


the silly Christmas sunglasses in their stockings were a hit


Then of course there were presents (and aunties and papas and mommas taking pictures of kids and presesnts =). S's sister and brother-in-law could only be there Christmas morning, and S's brother and sister-in-law could only be there Christmas afternoon, so we spread present openings out over the whole day!


In the hour overlap that everyone was there, we made sure that we got a family picture...


...and enjoyed a lovely dinner together (with Papa's yummy homemade french bread).


After dinner came more presents...more kids and a sweet dog made for quite the happy chaos!


Then we settled in to enjoy a relaxing afternoon of playing, reading (yep, G is reading to S here!), and Ticket to Ride Europe, with lots of hot cider, tea and snacks.


We had such a good weekend spending time with family and celebrating Christmas together.

G's December memory verse

G came home with her memory verse at the beginning of December and both S and I were a little shocked at the length of it. She had to memorize Luke 2: 8-14

• ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. ” ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

But do you know that she picked it up so quickly and was so proud to be able to recite this passage? And she recited it to every grandma, grandpa, nana, auntie, uncle, church friend, and random stranger in the store that would hear her out. What a beautiful passage to have hidden in her heart!

(momma note: of course I didn't record the first time she said this nice and slowly, or even the second time she said it just for fun...this was the third time requested by me to record it, so she was a little antsy and wanted to get it over with!)

2010 Advent calendar

I love the idea of doing something for Advent with the kids, but day-to-day life never seems to afford the time to make or plan something out. We have done a few different things the past few years, but with the kids' ages and attention spans it was kind of hit or miss. So I finally resigned myself to give it a few years. Then I found this Advent calendar, and knew we could do it - or at least try! I printed everything out, modified some of the activities, and G helped me put it all together. I figured if it didn't work out I wouldn't be out much time or materials - only paper, envelopes and paperclips! But it turned out that the kids loved it, and S and I really enjoyed it too.

We hung the calendar on the dining room wall.


Each day had a small Bible passage from the Christmas story. To help the kids listen and remember the story, we had them act out the passage using our incredible nativity set (made by S's Uncle D).


They really liked this part!


Following the Bible passage, there was an easy question or two and then a fun activity for the day. Here they were dressing up like Mary after reading about the angel telling Mary she would have a son, Jesus.


Here they were getting piggy back rides after reading about reading about Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem.


Here they were at the Holidazzle parade (thanks for the pics Auntie C!) after reading about the angels apprearing to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shining all around them. I modified the activities suggested to fit our schedule and what I wanted to do with the kids. Our yearly family trip to this fun Christmas light parade happened to fall on a perfect day! (as did caroling with our church - that happened on the day we read about the angels singing to the shepherds!)


Here they were with their star cookies they made with Aahma B after reading about the wisemen following the star.


We enjoyed this little calendar and how it helped us keep our focus during this blessed season. With all the chaos of our lives at the time and the busyness of the season, we were able to take time each day to read the Bible, think and talk about the birth of Jesus, and do something fun together.

just because it's Tuesday...

I get annoyed that the children love playing with the vacuum hose attachments, but when I walk in the room and see this, I can't help but laugh! W&C were roasting "marshmallows" on "sticks" over a "fire."



"gotta blow on them to make sure they are cool, momma!"



after looking at pictures on Auntie A and Uncle M's latest blog post, G wanted to peel her clementine just like Uncle M...and succeeded!



G had her first Christmas "program" at school Friday morning...she was so excited and we couldn't have been prouder!

homemade baby neck gaiters...

When G was 3, she stayed outside in the snow and cold for a little too long one day, and got frostbite on her cheeks. Since then, her face has been really sensitive to cold, and we often have to bring her in before she really wants to be done playing in the snow. Now that she is outside at school during recess, and I'm not there to check her cheeks, I have been looking for something that she can use around her face and neck. Scarf came to mind first, but G would wind it too tight, and it was just awkward. She did show some interest in getting a face mask stocking cap, which I put on the possibility list. And then I remembered that I bought some Columbia neck gaiters on super winter clearance last year! That was it! Only, where did I put them? I did find them, but they were pretty tight and G thought it was itchy, as it has some wool in it.

But it got me thinking that I should be able to come up with something that she could use like that neck gaiter. And these are the homemade baby neck gaiters that I came up with:

This was seriously so easy. Last Friday I took the kids to the big box craft/fabric store and let them pick out polar fleece - it was 50% off and I only bought 1/4 yard of each, so it was CHEAP! I had a plan in my head and measured the kids' heads and was ready to make them after they went to bed as it was snowing outside and I knew we would be out the next day!

Problem was both S and I fell asleep with the kids. So didn't get them made. Next morning they were SO EXCITED for 10 more inches of snow and were just itching to get out there. S was too as he wanted to get the driveway shoveled out. So in a matter of 5 minutes, I cut out the polar fleece (with a bad kitchen scissors as I couldn't remember the new spot I put my sewing scissors) in approximately a 24" x 6" rectangle. Then I quickly went to the basement where my sewing machine lives and just used the thread in the machine (I believe it was khaki colored), and quickly sewed the short sides of the rectangle together (I did this sitting on the old baby exersaucer since we didn't put the chairs back down in the basement after Thanksgiving yet).

And voila! Easy for the kids to pull over their hoods, soft, keeps those baby cheeks warm, and cute to boot.

(had to adjust G's as it was too big)

Hope you are finding ways to stay warm this winter!

a blessed November...

OK, feeling a little blah about the monthly posts, and also not feeling like taking a lot of time to do one for November, so I am going to change things up a little bit: 11 thoughts and 11 photos for the 11th month...in 11 minutes.

Thoughts'n'stuff:

1. C's dental surgery went very well at the beginning of the month, big thanks to Aahma B for coming up to help us out with the kids, and also big thanks to our church for providing meals that week - what a blessing!
2. G had a day off of school so the teacher's could work on quarterly report cards, and she was very put out about it. "Why do the teachers need a work day anyway!!!" She was mopy all morning and I finally took her and the kids to noodles for lunch to cheer her up! The girl still loves school.
3. We are still working on potty training with W. It is still going very slow. W still says he will go on the potty when he is 7. Sheesh.
4. We sold green car!!!! YAY! SOOOO happy to be back down to 2 cars. Thanks to S's sister M and brother-in-law C for passing along the information and our 8 billionth craigslist ad to C's co-worker, who purchased the car. Super nice lady who loves Honda's and will take good care of green car.
5. Little C still imitates his brother and sister constantly. Fun to see some of that - like wanting a kiss when he gets a bonk ("bonk.....head.....kiss?"). Not so fun to see some of it too - like fussing when turning off the tv after a video.
6. S turned 32 this month. His birthday was on Sunday (typically the busiest day for us with church and all the activities that go with it), and also right after C's dental stuff, so I wasn't sure we would have anything for his birthday! But we were able to find a gift, make a cake, come up with dinner, and even invite J&C and family last minute to come over making it a really nice day for S and all of us. (Random fact, S's birthday falls on the same day of the week as his brother J, and both G & W too!)
7. Had our first parent teacher conference for G this month. Also got G's first report card. Other than keeping focus, she is doing so well in school! We could tell that, but it was nice to hear that from her teacher Mrs. B too. Also found out that G is working in the challenge program with a few other classmates doing some creative writing - so excited about that!
8. S always asks G how her day was when he comes home in the evening, and has started asking W too. W is taking this seriously and is now thinking of things for us to do during the day to tell dadda later. =)
9. My brother M and pregnant sister-in-law A came to visit us over Thanksgiving. There was a big winter storm predicted for the day they were planning to drive up, so they decided to come the night before and just drive late into the night. We were all very glad they did, plus it felt like we got an extra bonus day to spend with them too! We had a great time with them - lots of visiting, card games, reading kids books, trip to Old Navy at midnight for the girls, and trip to IKEA for M&A to get a baby crib!
   
10. Hosted Thanksgiving for the first time (between that and the parent teacher conference, I was feeling way too grown up this month!). It really wasn't that scary being that I split the food with sister-in-law C (Thanks, C! Everything was delicious!!!). I did prepare and cook the free-range turkey, and freaked out only a little bit when trying to get it and the stuffing in the oven - why haven't I ever paid attention to mom or grandma when they were cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving????? Thanks to an oven bag, it was not hard at all and the turkey turned out great. We had such a lovely Thanksgiving. J&C and girls and Pippin joined M&A and us, as well as friend C from church. It was such a nice group and we had a very relaxing day with lots of food, fellowship, and laughter.
11. And we did take advantage of Black Friday this year. We have been using hand-me-down TV's almost since we have been married, and have talking about getting a new one for quite a while, but S said that when we did get the TV, we were going to get the TV and all accessories to go with it! We didn't do a speaker system, but we are set up now with a nice new big flat screen, blu ray, and lap top so we can stream internet to the TV as well. Felt a little crazy just buying all that stuff, but we had saved and found good deals, so we went for it!

Photos:

family photo - was hoping to take this on Thanksgiving, but didn't think about it, so this was the day after (the turkey remains are on the table ready to be thrown out, does that count as a holiday picture?).



silly faces!



squeezy happy faces!



reading books with Aahma B



I love it that the boys want to dress up with G yet



"ooooooo, look at that turkey!"



that turkey...=)



happy thanksgiving table

(and C was napping, we didn't just leave him out!)

Took some Christmas card pictures of these cute people while they were here. We got some great ones and then a few iffy ones (see preggo pic in A's post here) - the great ones were due to the cute model couple, and the iffy ones were due to the photographer. =)



the kids love doing silly faces for the camera



We got Christmas trees and decorations up on time this year! Makes the house look so festive and really puts us in the mood for December and the Christmas season.

So there you go. Something a little different. I don't know that it went any quicker (11 minutes? Are you kidding me?), but was nice for a change, at least for me! May you all have a great December and blessed Advent season!

so thankful...

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Hymn: Now Thank We All Our God
Text: Martin Rinkart; Trans. by Catherine Winkworth
Music: Johann Cruger; Harm. by Felix Mendelssohn
Tune: NUN DANKET

today...

...I am thinking a lot about my beautiful children!

So I thought I would share some random pics from the past week or so.

G dressed up as Peter Rabbit last week for National Young Reader's week. The tan pants were because Peter is brown in our book, the white shirt was for Peter's white belly, "blue jacket with brass buttons, quite new" (or as close as we could get!), and bunny ears and bunny ear pig tails completed the ensemble. She was so excited, especially since they got to parade through the school and introduce themselves to the first and second graders: "Usually I am G, but today I am Peter Rabbit!" She loves school so much and is doing very well (we got her first report card and had our first parent teacher conference - yikes, I am not old enough for those!).




W's latest trick is winking. So cute! He winks his left eye like his dadda (I wink my right), so he now claims he is on his "Dad's winking team." This is a fun game the kids have been into lately when S and I like or do different things.
G: "I am on Dadda's peanut butter cracker team!"
W: "I am on Momma's cheesy cracker team!"




This is the best photo we have gotten of the nice new dental work in C's mouth. Out of the 14 teeth in his little mouth, 8 of them are crowned now - a good friend from church told me the hymn that comes to mind whenever she sees C now is "Crown Him with Many Crowns". Ha! Besides the cute baby bling on his 4 back molars, the one bonus of having to go in for more dental work in the hospital is that the pediatric dentist was able to fix the crown in the front of his mouth that he broke earlier this year. I looked back for a good before picture and saw this one:



How cute are these boys?!! Makes me long for warm, sunny weather on this cold dreary day, too. (and should probably think about giving W a haircut...=)

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year
(M&A, J&C&nieces&pup, friend C),
so it may be a bit before you hear from us again
as we busily prepare the house and food for the holiday.

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family/friends, good food, and many things to give thanks for!