Christmas recovery!!

So we have the largest disaster in our family room. It's full of boxes, toys, and camping gear. That's right. We have our tent!! It's huge, with a 7foot head clearance inside for us tall folk. Target had a great clearance sale on camping items, so we got the girls and myself a sleeping bag, our lantern, and other misc small items, a wash basin for dishes.... the list goes on. So yesterday I got all of our laundry washed and folded, and with Stephan sleeping all day I tend to get behind on putting things away. Today he is working a double shift so I'm working on making our bedroom tidy, and putting away every ones hanging laundry, as I have every ones including the kids clothing in my closet. They have a large dresser and 2 small sets of drawers in their bedroom that houses folded items, I hang their dresses, and tops. Then I'll do some work on the family room I should really do a before and after shot, it's terrible, and to top things off Tristen is teething making free hands hard to come by. Gotta get it done Stephan's hoping that with a clean family room and moving the couch we may be able to put up the tent in the house so all us kids can try out our gear that's indoor safe, and see how the pack n play will fit w/the air beds. Fun!! and EXCITING. it helps to motivate and we have another week of Christmas break!

Chloe Turns 6

This day 6 years ago our oldest daughter was born. She had her birthday party a week early, and we will be headed out to eat at the restaurant of her choice this evening just the five of us to celebrate her official birthday.

The Rouze Family Christmas letter.

Many of you received this but for those I missed here it is!! Along with the Picture taken by our dear friend Warrie, special thanks to her for her hard work and dedication on this project.

Merry Christmas,

This year has been quite the adventure for our family. We began the year with our house on the market, a baby in Heather’s belly, and various other things to keep us busy. We took preventative measures knowing Heather would face some time on bed rest. We also took into consideration the third child we were expecting and the un-affordable costs of daycare. This dilemma left us looking to downsize our living quarters.
A good friend of ours, Phillip, had taken a job which required him travel the country most of the time. He had the perfect house for our family. A cozy little rancher nestled on almost an acre, with three bedrooms and a large family room. He agreed to sell the home to us upon the sale of our house. Of course, with the economy and all, this was easier said then done.
We actually listed our house in October of 2007. The start of 2008 left us without a single offer, and many pains to come. We had reduced the sale price to $40,000 less then the appraised value before our first offer. The first offer failed, then a second failed offer came, and finally God came through! After much prayer in May we received not only one, but two good offers, on the same day. We didn’t get as much as we wanted, but we closed with what we needed.
On May 27, 2008 we sold the big house and made the move. To add to that week in History on May 29th we ended up at the Hospital with a un-official family record baby weigh in. Tristen Leigh Rouze was born, coming into this world at 10lbs and 2oz!
Summer time was spent organizing the new home and enjoying the lower mortgage payment! We took the kids, along with Stephan’s parents, to Pennsylvania for a week vacation. We enjoyed going to Sesame Place, Amish County, the Crayola Factory, and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. The kids had a good time, and the ‘big’ kids had a blast too! It was nice to see the family up north as well!
Perhaps the biggest thing of the summer came when we officially decided to keep our kids out of government schools and home school our children. It has taken a large commitment on our part, but it is well worth it. Chloe has already surpassed Kindergarten standards and is excelling rapidly. Molly is engaged in a preschool program and she too is taking off!
Chloe turns 6 in a week and Molly just turned 4 in September. The kids are growing up fast! They continue to make life interesting and un-predictable! We hope the New Year offers more excitement as we take up camping as a new family activity. We love all of you dearly. May God Bless you richly in the coming year!

Merry Christmas
Love,
Stephan, Heather, Chloe, Molly, & Tristen

Lost tooth!!!

Chloe lost her 1st tooth today!! What excitement! She has heard stories of the dollars her daddy received when he was a kid for each tooth he lost! I'll post a picture of her grin in the morning!

Best Christmas Gift EVER!!!

I receive a call while waiting to get Mikayla.. and it's Stephan singing to me.... "I'll be home for Christmas"

I was overcome with Pure Joy!!


Stephan is off Christmas eve into Christmas Day!!!!! He was supposed to work.. he worked overtime today and was asked to work next Sunday for someone, and he bartered Christmas eve night off!! I'm so very excited, now our typical Christmas will go as planned, and I couldn't have asked for more. So we'll go to my parent's place Christmas eve as usual. We'll have Christmas morning at home, then off to Stephan's mom's for breakfast since our home is no longer large enough to host. And then home for a rest if we desire.. then back to mom in law's for Christmas diner with the rest of the family!... I'm so excited have I mentioned that.....So 3 days until the festivities start!!

Chloe's Princess Birthday party

In the grand schedule December 20th, turned out to be the best weekend for Chloe's 6th birthday party. Stephan didn't have to work tonight so it just worked out well. Due to the size of our house and not having the extra spending cash to have the party elsewhere. I opted to have a kids only party, better yet a girls only party. My ex-sister in law was kind enough to allow me to have my neice Mikayla for the night, since she was the one person Chloe wanted to be there, the 2 of them are only 7weeks apart. My sister Jackie's girls Stirling(11) and Ainsley (10) came out to help with the party. 3 other girls where also able to come to the party, Ally, Katie, and Mackenzie. The night started out with playing, and watching some of "How the Grinch stole Christmas", then we ate pizza, played more, had cupcakes and ice cream, opened presents, played some more...
We played a game of pin the tierra on the princess, and painted nails complete with pretty nail stickers. Then all the girls played until their Dads arrived to pick up them up.
Mikayla, Stirling, and Ainsley all are spending the night.

(Pictures coming soon check back)

Bump in the night.....

12/18/08 2am....... settling in for the night.... yes that's normal for me.. the cat meow wakes Tristen, who then thinks she should eat, so I settle on the bed to feed her, and our dog Roupen starts barking like someone is here. I'm home alone, as Stephan is at work, so I call him. He stays on the phone and asks a fellow officer who works this area to just sing by to check the place out, for a little piece of mind, because well the dog was probably barking at an animal, but you never know. We've lived here 6 months and he has never barked after 11pm. So not only did one officer come out but there where 3. The house lit up w/ spot lights, they got out of their cars and walked the property. Special thanks to the lovely officers that keep my family safe while my husband is at the other end of town keeping other families safe. If I hadn't been feeding Tristen, I would have passed out some Christmas cookies, for their willingness to come out, to calm a officers wife that was totally freaked out by the fact that our dog was going bonkers.

Baking Cookies with Grandma

Wednesday morning we the girls and I where invited by Stephan's mom to come by and help with her annual day of baking Christmas cookies. I dropped Chloe and Molly off at 9am, took Tristen to her pediatrician appointment... she's now 16lbs. I returned at 11am, to start helping. I briefly saw our nephew Luke who turned one that day, and him mom Amy, who where there while I was at the pediatrician. There was a break from baking for a quick sandwich, then Chloe and Molly pushed along the activity of baking. Hours passed and the girls and I where still there, cutting, pressing, decorating, and baking cookies. It was near 445pm that we left to make our way home before attending church. A fun day, and break from school work for the girls and myself. I failed to pack a camera, and was just so wrapped up in helping I didn't even walk upstairs to use my father in laws camera, so this is one event without a single photo.

Men's Campout & Ladie's sleepover

December 12&13, 2008 The men from out church planed a large men's camp out. Yes in December, and yes outside. They had tents, sleeping bags, a camp fire, airsoft guns, and real guns, they ate well, and had a blast. So I had the bright idea of a ladies sleepover at my place with much less invited b/c our new house can not hold too many people. The plan watch Christmas movies and veg all weekend. Not so much. The movies played only Warrie, and Tina spent the night, the crew of kids as in mine and Tina's took forever to go to sleep, and sleep did not come well to me. There was a full moon, and the kids and animals where all in rare form, the 1st night, and we where up bright and early with the kids. The next day went a little smoother however busy with misc tasks. Come night time more folks came out for just diner that equaled more kids. This was a fun but crazy evening. Then bed time came, the little girls went off to bed and I actually watched my 1st beginning to end movie of the weekend. Once the movie was over, bedtime I was happy to great it, Tristen on the other hand was not, I found myself up until 430am. By the time 8am rolled around I was miserable for more reasons than I care to write about, and knew I wouldn't make the 30min drive to church nor last the service, so we opted to stay home. Then my rest began. Warrie sent me off for a nap when I was falling asleep sitting up on the couch, and I had a good 2 hours of rest at least. The men have decided the women need a weekend kid free... smart men.. so they have informed us February is a good time, and they will have another camp out in April. I have learned my lesson.. though a sleepover and the idea of the event sounded great, I was more exhausted than ever... Just to used to the fact that if my girls are left alone in the morning after a late night they will sleep in until they are well rested. So no more mega sleepover planing for me.....

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!!!!

December 9,2008.
Stephan needed to go to a sporting goods store to purchase his sleeping bag for an upcoming(past) Men's camp out. So I decided why not go the open air mall that blows snow each night at 7pm for a kick, it was maybe 65degrees that night. So the white flecks in the photos snow blown from the top of the stores for about 5-10min. The kids loved it and Tristen is always happy to be outside in the fresh air.

Weekend to the lake... 12/05/08-12/07/08

Chloe & Molly

Heather (me!!) & Stephan

Ryan & Warrie

The Lake House!


We took a weekend trip to Lake Gaston w/ Ryan and Warrie. It was cold, and we where lucky the house has a wood stove upstairs and an open fire place downstairs for heat. So we stayed warm, w/the fires burning and space heaters working we had a great relaxing weekend away with good friends. Prior to leaving Stephan purchased us a Wii fit, so we ALL tried it out. We decided for the guys to ride together and the girls to ride together. When we where almost to the lake house, I had trouble controlling the van but was able to barely stay on the road, and we made it safely to the house. The weekend was full of video games, movies and rest. Chloe and Molly always enjoy a weekend getaway and have a way of being well behaved. When leaving on Sunday Stephan noticed the van was not handling well and we thought we hit something, so once on a hard surface he got out to check things out. Turns out we had a flat tire. With an hour drive ahead, the guys changed the tires and we headed for back roads since driving on the spare at a high rate of speed is not recommended. On the ride home we passed a house engulfed in flames, apparently no one was harmed, but it was alarming to see. Everyone made it home safely after a nice weekend of R&R. We had the tire fixed by Ryan's brother CJ on Monday afternoon.

School & Tristen's chair

Real Date December 1, 2008

School is coming along nicely, 73days worth past already. Tristen was no longer liked being put in a bouncy seat or her exersaucer, while we had school. She then preferred to be held so she could see what was going on. That was challenging when attempting to help Chloe or Molly, and having Tristen grabbing papers, pencils, and books. So On December 1st when we adventured out to the post office, we made a stop at Kmart to get something for Tristen to sit in at the kitchen table with us. Now Tristen sits with us when we do our school work.

VIRUS!!!!

So for about 2 weeks we had been with out our PC, it was infested w/crazy computer viruses. Then the laptop I have we have been using for about 1 week. It works for checking email messages, and well I think I wrote all of one email. I have at least 3 blogs to type up, with pictures to go along with them over the next week.. I work Monday and plan to at least get one posted each evening during the week to get caught up. We have been a busy family so watch out the blogs are on their way now that the PC have been healed up, thanks to hours of Ryan's IT help!!

Black friday.

So Thanksgiving went as planned like in years past, Morning and afternoon w/my family and evening and night w. Stephan's. Lots of yummy food... and overeating. This was my first black Friday however since we've been married that we did not buy a single gift. We slept till 9am, hung around the house, and met Stephan's Mom and Aunt Nancy for lunch. Then that afternoon we made a trip Pocahontas state park for a hike. We all enjoyed the mild weather, and the nice quiet hike. Once we returned home, Stephan set up our Christmas tree, I got out the Christmas CDs. Our only Black Friday purchase was a large box of little white lights for our Christmas Tree, the girls helped to decorate it, and it was Molly's year to place the angel on top. We will be having our family photo taken in front of our own Christmas tree. Christmas shopping will come later.

Power of imagination

Chloe and Molly can play for hours with whatever they can get their hands on, and the power of the imaginations. How my couch becomes a dentist chair, or a class room. The toy box became a fire truck the other day as they played with the walkie talkies Molly received as a gift on her 4th birthday. Possibilities are endless. The best thing is when they line up chairs and play church they fill the chairs with stuffed animals and baby dolls and proceed to sing songs they know, and talk about God. Guess we are doing something right...

Pilgrims.

The girls made pilgrim hats as a little art project. This followed a leason on The Pilgrims and their journey on the Mayflower from England to the US. We discussed that frist Thanksgiving and how they where thankful that God got them through, and provided for their needs w/ the help of the Indians..... The next project is to make the Indian outfit out of brown paper bags, so I'll be snatching 2 from Grandma Kruse next week so we can compete the rest of our Thanksgiving projects.

Thanksgiving, Black Friday...... Christmas....

Next week, we'll be having a Thanksgiving feast w/Stephan's family, at his Aunt Nancy's home.. I have come to adore this woman, for all that she is, and love that I have someone with in the family who has been there done that in our faith and homeschooling. When the rest of the family scurries home early, we lag behind and play games or just chat w/ Nancy, Bill and their daughter Debby and husband Ricky. Nancy played a special part in the lives of Chloe and Molly by being their caregiver while I worked full time then part time then full time again, and she continues to have a special place in the hearts of my girls.... The meal YUMMY, dessert good as well, we'll visit with family, and this year will have to joy of having Stephan's Dad's parents Grandmom and Grandpop Rouze at the wonderful Thanksgiving feast. The house is crammed full of family, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times.. not hustle bustle, or obligation to buy meaningless gifts for whoever... Our day typically starts out w/my girls and I at my parents home to watch the Thanksgiving day parade, and to look at the Black Friday ads (to see if we are going to be nuts and wake up at 5am for the big deal) while Stephan sleeps off a night off work. Then the Dinner fun starts at Aunt Nancy's. Then we'll talk about who's going where and where are we going to have lunch together on the next day... Always fun.... This year will be similar to previous years and in so many ways different. We have had the glorious journey of learning less is more.. and that more stuff or more things does not by any means buy anyone happiness. We are tired of worrying about what to buy for so and so... After 7 years.. of Christmas' filled with flying paper at family Christmas gatherings.. who got what.. and what was their reaction... and what on earth did you get I sure missed it only saw the nice wrapping paper fly past my head.... geee... I'm not even sure what I got...... what did the kids get??? Dunno... I get home with piles of toys, clothes, candles, candies, cookies, jewelry, cd's, books, lotions.. and whatever else... and I have no Idea who any of this stuff came from.. it's jumbled and sitting in a pile near my Christmas tree, and now the task of where to put everything, it takes days, weeks, and months to recover from all this new stuff..... is the picture clear in your mind?? Last year our girls received from us Stephan and myself, a scooter, a few movies, cds, and a replenishment of their paper/pen supplies...... from immediate family..... loads of stuff.. some things I wouldn't buy them ever..... This year..... will be more simple.. we have decided one meaningful gift w/a stocking full of new crayons, craft items, and paper.... that will be it here in our home... and we have urged family to just get ONE and only ONE gift for our girls this year.... This year I would be happy enough with nothing for myself. The greatest gift I received this year was the chance to get out of a large amount of debt, move to a house I'm loving more each day, and to be able to home school my girls, and have most of my days spent with Chloe, Molly, and Tristen. I want to reflect this year on the true meaning of Christmas, Christ and the wonderful gift God gave us his son who died on the cross for us so that we may have ever lasting life. What a great gift and so many of us get wrapped up in the have it all that we forget what Christmas is all about..... God has given me so much these past few years, a great family, an awesome husband, beautiful and smart children, a wonderful church family, food, clothing, and shelter.... for those things I'm grateful to the God I long to serve better each day..... I love my Jesus.. and I long for my family to truly seek him... So I'll keep praying that those walls will come down from around their hearts and the blinders off their eyes.. I fail.. and I mess up on a daily basis.. however I'm trying with all I have in me... To serve my Lord.... and to do his will.... My pray is for the salvation of all of my dear loved ones

Fall.

We went out w/ Warrie on this past Monday, to enjoy the fall foliage at Maymont park in Richmond. It was a beautiful day, the girls can make the best of sticks, rocks, dirt, leaves and water. Tristen loves just to be outdoors it just calms her, so anything outdoors with her is great. I took our camcorder however the batteries died with in seconds I should have charged it overnight, My camera survived till the end, then died, and it in need of new batteries. Chloe and Molly have been doing great w/school work. The best perk of homeschooling is being able to get out and enjoy things w/out having to wait for the weekend. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving spent w/family, and are planning a very simple Christmas this year, more details on Christmas in an different post. Well enjoy the slide show and I'll make sure I keep the camcorder charged so I can post some videos soon.

Visit www.moblyng.com to make your own!

Solid foods for baby Tristen.

Yummy, Tristen has started on solids. It's hard to believe that she is already 5 months old. She eats cereal and Daddy(Stephan) requested she start veggies first so that's what we have done. So in the past week we have introduced carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. Next week we'll try some green veggies, then on to fruits the following week. Tristen has to be the messiest eater out of all my girls, she gets her hands in her face and just gets food everywhere, it's too cute and we get a kick out of her being covered in her food. So as a result of her messy eating and to preserve the clothes that have lasted through her 2 sisters Tristen gets down to her onesie to eat.

FLYlady

Well, most know we sold our large 5 bedroom home just before having our 3rd baby, this past May in order to afford me working very part time and being home more. We now live in a 3 bedroom home, with just one living area and a small kitchen. We had already gotten rid of lots of "stuff" that we didn't need before moving, however discovered that wasn't enough. Clutter seemed to overtake us, the amount of toys was outrageous, and enough Christmas decor to decorate several houses. So in a recent yard sale we sold some excess furniture items, some toys, and a whole Christmas village that would take up half of my living room. It's nice just not having those items taking up precious space. The kids came to understand they prefer a clean room, makes it easier to play, and clean up with a new system we came up with, they have 3 large tubs under their beds, one with barbies, my little ponies and items of that nature, the second with Molly's geotrack train set, the other with dress up and pretend items. The only other toy they have in there is a doll house that folds up nice in the corner and a small tub with it's people and furniture lives under their bed as well. The other kids room drama we had was the closet, it's a small one and their clothing collection was just as out of control as their clothes, so we kept only the best condition clothing and passed on the rest that was not torn or stained to charity, and all of their clothes moved to my closet, making room in their closet to store games, books, and building items (tinker toys, Lincoln logs, and the mega blocks will move out of my family room tomorrow to join that collection. So I now no longer have unnecessary laundry, and everything they have has it's place. Tristen's room is still a work in progress, as she still sleeps in my bedroom. My true house cleaning breakthrough came when I some how through reading of a blog came across www.FLYlady.net, this ladies site focus' on routine, and starting out small, and with the Kitchen sink of all things. So for the past 3 days I've had a clean sink, gotten completely dressed w/tennis shoes, and started a quick clean of my bathroom every morning. Since I have 2 bathrooms, Chloe and Molly have received a lesson in what to do, and they are responsible for the quick clean of their bathroom, and boy are they proud. Both girls have also taken to learning how to wash and dry dishes, dusting will be their next chore once I have completed my decluttering process. Stephan and I never really had set chores growing up, so had no real management of cleaning a home ingrained in us so it's been a battle of how to keep a house clean. So far so good, I think the baby steps help, and my girls prefer a clean house.

Stephan and I have also been sacrificing our childhood "stuff" He has sold, baseball cards, magic cards, that where taking up a load of space. I am letting Chloe and Molly pick one of my Anne Geddes baby dolls I'll pick one for Tristen then will sell off the rest. Those dolls gone and I'll have a whole shelf in Tristen's closet. It's amazing how good it feels to get the house work under control and to wake up in the morning to the coffee brewed in my clean kitchen!!

So for any of you who are struggling with the same cluttery stressful mess, try this out it may just be your light at the end of the tunnel in the house cleaning world.

http://www.flylady.net