Christmas 2018

They grow up fast!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Rohwers!

This picture show just how much the boys have grown in the last year (Emily has pretty much stayed the same).  Avritt has now overtaken Emily, and Isaac is now taller than me. Emily is 20 years old, Avritt (on the right) is 15, and Isaac (on the left) is 13.   The kids are all doing well.  Emily is a junior at Hope College.  She is majoring in Special Education, and enjoying her upper level education classes.  Avritt is a sophomore in high school.  He was the lead snare on the drumline in marching band this past season, and did a great job in that leadership position.  Isaac is in 7th grade.  This past year he played lacrosse and football, and also is a percussionist in the band.  The boys helped Mike start a tree house in the back yard this fall.  It is really going to be more of a man cave than a tree house.  It will have six windows, a front door, and will be sided and roofed.  It isn't done yet, but next spring they will resume their work.

Mike and I are staying busy with our respective jobs.  I am a full time math professor at a small, private college.  I teach four classes each semester (about 110 students total), advise about 20 students, and serve on a committee.  I am also a graduate student at Western Michigan University in the Masters of Mathematics Education program.  I have taken 4 classes so far out of a total of 10, and hope to be finished by spring of 2015.  Mike is the CIO of an intermediate school district based in Holland.  His commute is normally 40 minutes, but the recent snowy weather has made for some long trips home.  As more districts in the area have consolidated their technology services with the ISD, Mike's scope of responsibility has increased.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-Ginger

Finally Finished!

It took a couple of years to get this slate finished, but it was worth the wait!

Shed Doors!

I know this may seem like a small thing, but it's huge to me - the shed doors are finally done!!!

Mike did a great job.  They were worth the wait...

Hanging Chair, Check

Just got the hanging chair up.  Both boys commented on how little it seemed to them and how they remember it being much bigger...just a confirmation of how much they have grown in the last few years!

May Night Salvia

The purple blooms are gorgeous!

Recent Happenings

It has been a long time since I updated this blog.  I just found an app for my phone for blogging, so that may help increase the frequency!

Here is what has happened recently:

• Emily returned from her freshman year of college.  She had a great year making new friends, taking classes in her major (elementary education with a social studies major), and getting along with two roommates in her triple room.  She absolutely loved Hope College, and will be returning there in the fall.  She has already been back on campus once to visit a friend who is taking a summer class!
• Avritt made All-State Band (one of 6 kids in the state!) this past winter and also made snare on the drumline for next year, both of which are huge accomplishments.  He starts high school in the fall.  He is growing quickly these days and now has feet that are a half-size bigger than his Dad's.  He is almost taller than me, but not quite.  :)   He will grow into those feet in the next year, though.
• Isaac is playing lacrosse this spring.  This is a new sport for our family, and we have enjoyed watching his games.  One of Isaac's good friends was diagnosed with leukemia last week, and we have been helping to raise funds, organize meals, and do other things like cleaning that the family needs.  His prognosis is good, and the leukemia was found quite early.
• I am officially enrolled in a class this upcoming fall at Western Michigan University where I am starting my Master of Arts in Mathematics Education.  I will be starting a full-time teaching position at the college where I have been an adjunct professor for years.  I am excited and nervous at the same time.  This summer I am teaching an online course through the end of June.  My current project is adding audio and video clips to the Powerpoints that I use in my traditional classes so that the online students get the same presentation.  In the past, I have used the publisher videos and the students have not performed as well as my traditional students.  I have 31 Powerpoints to create and so far have finished 11.  It's a lot of work (3 to 4 hours for each one) but will pay off in the future because I plan on flipping my classes in the fall.  That means that the assigned homework will be going through the PowerPoints and filling out the lecture notes and the class time will be for discussions and working on the assignments so that students can help each other and can ask questions while they are doing the problems.  It's a trend that has been gaining traction and one that I am interesting in experimenting with.
• We sold our trusty, rusty van and bought a Toyota RAV4.  I am thankful every time I drive it.  I absolutely love it, and I'm appreciating the better gas mileage.  We need to get a hitch on it so we can haul around bikes and maybe a small trailer for camping.
• Things are slowly getting done around the house.  Mike and Avritt are going to tackle the shed doors on the new shed, which haven't closed completely since they were built.  We are also going to put up a hanging chair tomorrow in the boys' room that they got from IKEA years ago.  It has been in storage due to a lack of somewhere to hang it.  Since Avritt had to move back into the boys' room when Emily returned from college (he was in her room this past school year), the boys cleaned out their room, got rid of old toys, and made it a better hang-out for them and their friends.  The hanging chair should give the room a good vibe for them.
• It's been fun to see the perennials come up this spring and we have had some amazing blossoms on the May Night Salvia!  I really appreciate the landscaping this spring - it's just weeding and watering this year and not a huge undertaking like last spring to get it all prepped and planted.
• The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, and I am filled with the gratitude that late spring brings.  It was tough to sit at my computer this morning when the sun and chirping birds were beckoning me to go outside.  I did eat lunch outside and basked in the sunshine for about 45 minutes while reading a book (for pleasure, not work).  It was nourishing in many ways.

The Braces Came Off!

Avritt got his braces off this past week.  He wasn't too enthusiastic about smiling for me when I picked him up, but he is happy that he can eat candy and gum without restriction now (Mom still insists on moderation)!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Rohwers!

We wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Here are some of the things that happened in our family this past year:

• We took a family vacation to Universal Studios and visited Harry Potter Wizarding World
• Emily turned 18 and graduated from high school Summa Cum Laude
• Avritt turned 13 which means we now have 2 teenagers
  
• We completed a long overdue landscaping project around our main entry
• Isaac started middle school (5th grade) which ended my career as a classroom parent (yay!)
• We went camping as a family for the 11th year in a row
• Emily spent 15 days in Europe as part of a band trip
• Isaac turned 11 on the same weekend that we brought Emily to college
• Mike and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary
• Avritt was selected for the middle school all-state band (only 6 were selected in the state)
• Emily successfully made it through her first semester in college (with 2 roommates!)
• Ginger accepted a full-time teaching job for Fall 2012 and will also start grad school then
• Mike completed his 5th year in his current job as Director of Technology at a local Intermediate School District
• We have been blessed as a family and want to express thanks to God this Christmas!
  

Emily's Europe Trip

Emily spent 15 days in Europe this past summer as part of a band trip. They toured through several countries in addition to performing in 5 concerts.

Avritt at a Pre-Jib Snowboarding Contest

Avritt participated in an amateur jibulation at our local snowboarding/ski hill. He made the cut into the second. For anyone wondering, here is the definition of "jib" from the urban dictionary:

jib
Verb. To jib. Jibbing. The act of manuvering a bicycle, skateboard, snowboard or skis in tricky manner on top of and around a structure such as a stump, rocks, stairs, railigs, rooftops, etc. When you are playing around, showing off, jumping, flipping, hopping, etc you are jibbing.

Emily and her College Roommates

Emily has a triple room at college this year, and has 2 great roommates! They put together this Christmas card for their college friends. They were having fun being retro!

State Band Competition

Avritt played in the high school marching band this year along with a few other eighth graders. He was part of the pit. The band got 5th place in the state competition.

Halloween

Mike had the clever idea of dressing up like the Swiffer commercials. He is a Swiffer and I am the dust that he picks up! We had fun making this, and even won best overall costume at our friends' annual Halloween party.

College Move-In

Family Picture after Convocation

Emily's Dorm Room (it's a triple - you can't see the bed behind me as I was taking the picture)

Camping Pictures

Camping was a bit different this year. Avritt had band camp, so he was only able to come one day and one night. Emily came a few days when she wasn't working. Most of the time it was Mike, me, and Isaac...so we had Isaac invite a friend. They had a great time!

Bounty from the Garden

Isaac's Birthday

Isaac turned eleven this past weekend! He had a couple of friends over and they went to Craig's Cruisers. We celebrated as a family with Emily in Holland (we went to Mike's office for cake and pizza) because she moved into Hope College the day before.

Isaac's Last Piano Recital

Isaac playing at his last piano recital - ever!

Emily, Isaac, and Avritt with their piano teacher. Each one of the kids took at least two years of lessons from Ardith. The era of making the kids practice and going through piano music for their lessons is OVER. The kids will thank me later in life...maybe...

Summertime on the Deck