Merry Christmas!!!

This has been a crazy year with lots of change!  Nick grew up moving regularly, and he seems to get itchy if we stay in a place too long.  This year, Nick got itchy and we moved to New Jersey!  New Jersey is part of the continental US, but despite that fact, it has felt that we are in a new and strange land.  

Not many people have “the accent”, but when you come across someone who speaks New Jersey- it feels almost unreal.  New Jersey has the US’s highest car insurance rates, and although we have had no accidents, it is easy to see why.  The driving here is crazy and Bryn wants to make sure we are gone by the time she is 16,- because you can’t drive here until you are 17.  We’ve been to Independence Hall and seen the Liberty Bell.  We’ve played at the beach enough that the kids are sick of it.  Arwyn doesn’t like the sand getting in everything.  We moved just in time to tour the Philadelphia Temple’s open house, and then we got to attend its dedication.  We still plan on seeing Washington D.C. and the Statue of Liberty.

Nick is the Production Manager for the Kellogg’s Ego Waffle plant.  (Chase loves the waffles).  He is serving as the Scout Master.  Despite the kid’s underwhelming enthusiasm, while the weather was nice, Nick had us at the beach as much as he could.  He's also taken us kayaking on a man made lake, not far from our house.  

Bryn is in 7th grade.  She doesn’t seem to be too into boys yet, but she is excited about clothes and makeup and friends.  The rest will unfortunately follow.  She is doing great in school, although it has been a big change for she and Arwyn.  They are both started at the middle school this year.  Bryn is still a great help in the kitchen and she has taken up candle making.

Arwyn is in 6th grade.  Everyone single on of her 5 teachers told me the same things at parent teacher conference: “I wish every student was like Ari.”  She is a good kid.  Ari is always reading, although she is probably the only child I can count on to be willing to go biking with me on the bike trail behind our house.

Chance is in 4th grade.  Thankfully, he is still in the Elementary school, although he is “big man on campus.”  He was just chosen as a “Terrific Kid,” for the first quarter.  Chance and the other boys have loved playing in the wooded area behind our house, building forts and hiding from chores.  

Chase is a Kindergartener- a half dayer.  He could easily do a full day, but the half day has been a blessing for Pierce.  Chase is taking to school very well, and he astonishes me with how careful and neat he is in learning his numbers and letters.  He can’t wait to read.

Pierce is at home.  He is a good, sweet kid, but we all love him so much, and he is the youngest- he can’t help that he is spoiled rotten!  He can’t wait for Chase to get home and Chase’s homework and school has inspired him.  He wants to count and learn his alphabet.  He is forever asking me “school questions.”   When I tell him the answer, he tells me I’m wrong, and lets me know what the real answer is!

 We are making good friends here, but being in a newer place at Christmas makes us appreciate the friends and family that we miss.  We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Rowleys

It is a New Year!  We had a family party and made a ton of treats and ate too much and watched some movies we got for Christmas and then Nick and I got tired and couldn’t stay up.  The kids made it until midnight and quickly fell asleep (or so they told me).  I’m not one for making a big deal of the New Year, and traditionally, I’m rather against New Year’s resolutions, but this year I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and I’ve made some decisions to do some things and to try to change some other things about myself.  Wish me luck!

I love Christmas and I really enjoyed it, but surrounded by family and happiness, I also found myself a little blue.  When I realized that I was down, I tried to figure out what was keeping me from enjoying myself.  It took a little introspection to figure out what was bugging me and when I did figure it out, I was a little disappointed in myself.  I’m a very type A, goal oriented person.  I like to be productive and get a lot done and I usually gauge how good my day is or how I’m doing in life by how far on my to-do list I can get.  Well, with everyone on vacation and playing for Christmas, I was lucky to get myself dressed and the family fed.  The house was very lived in and all my projects and “to-dos” had to be set aside, and myI found myself a little depressed because the (eternally unimportant) things that I based myself on weren’t getting done.

I was mad at myself when I realized why I wasn’t totally happy.  It is ridiculous to base my happiness and my sense of accomplishment and self worth and such unimportant trivialities.  So… my resolution is to live more in the moment, as Thoreau said “to live deliberately.”   Dallin H Oakes taught that: “In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.”  I feel like that applies to me, with maybe a little word changing.  I’m not just too worried about knowing something, but also doing something, when the truly important thing is what I am inside.

Enough sermonizing and introspection!  That being said, I find that there isn’t a lot else to share.  Things have calmed down here, considerably.  The kids finished up basketball before Christmas and our schedules have cleared for the near future.  (Thus all the introspection!)  Even though we are done with Christmas break, the kids have had a teacher inservice day, a snow day and tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jn. day.  They have been home a lot!  They were so excited to finally have snow the first day it snowed.  I tried to convince them to wait until later in the day to go outside, when it would be warmer, but they were determined to go out early and play.  It surprised me that, despite the temperature, they lasted a long time outside building forts, shoveling snow, and playing with the sleds.  It’s good that they enjoyed it, because the snow was gone soon enough and I don’t know when we will see more!

Nick’s birthday is on Tuesday.  I’m always excited for his birthday to come.  He is younger than me.  Most of the time, I’m only two years older than he is, but between my birthday and his, if you just do the math on our ages, I pull ahead by another year.  That is part of why I like it when he gets to add another year to his age, it makes us closer in age and makes me feel, if not younger, at least like I’m not robbing the cradle!