Somebody's been naughty

Last night, Christmas Eve, while Santa was busy downstairs filling stockings and putting presents under the tree, someone was stirring upstairs, and she was up to no good! Michelle was upstairs getting into my 24 hour lipstick. You know, the kind that won't come off for 24 hours, that stains your lips until finally your lips have sloughed off the skin that was dyed red. I ran upstairs and found that she had covered her right arm and half of her face with the stuff. Luckily she stopped there. THere was none on the beige carpet, or the white bedspread or even the linoleum. Just skin, but let me tell you, that stuff is impossible to get off. I have given her several baths, but can't get it off at all. We did have a little luck with a foot sander that I have, but couldn't use that on her face. I just hope it's gone by Sunday.

Lucky for her Santa still came. It was actually kind of funny because she was so upset when she realized it wouldn't come off. Kid's are so funny.

Christmas letter

Obviously, I'm going to be very late getting out our Christmas card this year. For those that I don't have recent addresses for and just so I can say I got my christmas card to someone on time, here is our annual Christmas letter:

Dear family and friends,

Is it just me or does each year seem to get busier and busier? I really was going to get this out earlier, but I was waiting to hear where we would be moving in June and that just set me back far enough that this little note won’t get to you before Christmas. Well, hope it was great anyway! We are still in Mountain Home, ID but just learned that we will be moving in June. Justin got word that he was given permission to do a military sponsored civilian fellowship in developmental pediatrics. He is really excited. He was accepted into programs at Boston Medical Center, Yale, and Stanford. So we will be moving to one of these areas. I think we are choosing Yale, so Connecticut here we come! We are all really excited to move. It will put us close to my brother Matt in New York and my sister Maia in New Jersey. Also, a lot of Justin’s family lives in the Washington DC area so it will be nice to visit them also. We also learned this month that we are expecting number 6 in July, so this summer will be really busy.

Here is the run down on what we are all up to:

Justin: He is one of two pediatricians here on base. As if that didn’t keep him busy enough, he finished and turned in a research paper this summer and will be presenting it at a medical conference this spring. He was also just informed that he will be advanced to the rank of major in the next few months. In his spare time he has been taking guitar lessons and is really starting to sound pretty good. In the ward he is both an advisor in the High Priests group leadership and Den leader over the wolves and bears. It has been a fun calling for him and keeps him on his toes.

Megan: I am young women’s president in my ward. It is a super fun calling but a lot of work. I am really enjoying it. Other than that I have been keeping busy canning for the first time, as well as cleaning, babysitting, gardening, sewing, reading, taxi driving, cooking, and cleaning some more. I really enjoy being at home with my kids. It has been a fun year.

Joey: He just turned 10 which according to the handbook they give you when you move into base housing means he can stay “home alone for up to 12 hours”. He’s never been alone for 12 hours, but we have both enjoyed leaving him at home while I run the other kids to sports, girl scouts, etc. He is in 4^th grade and has picked up football as one of his hobbies this year.

John: He will be 9 in Feb. He is just the same zany kid he always has been. He loves music and can be found bouncing to the beat while playing the piano or singing. He loves babies too. When I babysit for friends he is always a good helper and loves to take care of the little guys. He and Joey still play together a bunch. They were on the same soccer team in the fall and are signing up for the same basketball team after Christmas.

Samantha: She’s in 1^st grade and is reading up a storm. It is so fun to see it all click. She is in ballet and girl scouts and has lots of friends. She is just really fun and good.

Nathan: Is still a ball of fire. He will be 5 in April. I can’t believe he will be going to kindergarten next year. I don’t know how he will manage to stay in his seat all day, as I’m sure they have all day kindergarten in Connecticut. It will be a big change for him. He is doing joy school this year and really likes it. There are 6 other boys and one girl in his class. Teaching them is exhausting as they are all high energy boys (except the girl who is super girly). The other moms all say he is great at their houses. He is super sweet and I can definitely see that he is maturing. He plays really well with Michelle.

Michelle: She decided a few weeks ago that she would start potty training. I’ve never had a child do such a good job with that. Usually it takes a full 6 months to a year of blood, sweat and tears to get my kids potty trained, but she is doing great! She has already made it through 2 weeks in underwear with only a handful of accidents. I’m so happy! She is still my animal lover and constantly climbs on the dog. Her speech is getting really clear and it is fun to hear what she has to tell me. She is just really sweet.

Well, that about sums it up about us. You can get more updates on us at my blog megsrowberry.blogspot.com. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. I am so humbled when I think of Mary giving birth in a stable and laying her son in a manger. I am so grateful for her sacrifice and even more for the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. May we remember the reason for the season.

Love,

The Rowberry family

Megan, Justin, Joey, John, Samantha, Nathan and Michelle

Family Pictures

We got some pictures taken by my friend Brandi. I just wanted to post a few.

Squash smoothies!

I know what you're thinking. Disgusting right? But it really was pretty good! This morning for breakfast I made smoothies for the kids using a jar of bottled apricots, 1 c. of pureed hubbard squash, a tangerine, a half eaten banana and a bunch of ice. I really liked it. You couldn't taste the squash at all and there was enough sugar in the bottle of apricots that I didn't need to add any sugar either. I feel almost healthy :) We also had squash muffins (with chocolate chips, can't really be that healthy) and oatmeal. Yes, I'm turning into my dad. I didn't tell the kids there was squash in any thing so they did pretty well with everything. I had leftover muffins for joy school (it was my turn) and lots of the kids had seconds. I just feel so proud.

Halloween

I forgot to take pictures of everyone this Halloween. I don't know what came over me except that I was in charge of the cake walk at the ward halloween party and was busy making a few cakes that day. I did get this snapshot of John a week before when he went to a friends b-day party. He was Darth Maul. His makeup was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Joey was a zombie, Samantha a witch, Nathan cookie monster, and Michelle was a cat. Justin was Clark Kent and I was also a witch. I made Samantha and John's costumes, but everything else was pretty much thrown together from the costume box which was nice. Halloween was great. We went to the ward party, ate our fill of chili, played games, did the trunk or treat and then drove into town to do a little extra trick or treating. It was great and we ended up with way too much candy. John counted 220 pieces in his bag (and that was after he had eaten a ton all day Sunday and Monday.) I finally confiscated most of it the other day and am still trying to figure out what to do with it. I usually just let them eat it up until it is all gone, but this year they just had too much to do that with. Anyone want any more candy? I will mail it to you!

These are our sad but economical pumpkins. They are actually acorn squash. When we went to visit my parents at the beginning of this month, they sent us home with a box of about 10 acorn squash. So we used some of them for our jack o lanterns this year. They actually worked pretty well, but are a little bit harder to cut than a normal pumpkin. Joey and John cut their own and stacked them to make a totem pole.
These last few pictures are of Nathan's joy school field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun. Nathan's favorite thing was to climb on the hay tower and to go through the hay maze. The tower was pretty tall, but he had no fear.
The hay tower. Nathan is on the second bale from the top. He went to the top too, I just didn't get a picture. I was a bit nervous with him at the top as he kept jumping up and down. boys will be boys.

Nathan's school friends. Levi, Isaiah, Aiden, Mikayla, Nathan and Luke. They had a great time on the hayride.

Military Ball

Ryan, Tom, Phil, Justin and Justin

Last Saturday night was the military ball. They have one every two years here at this base. It was a ton of fun. Lots of our friends went, and it was great to get dressed up and spend some time with out the kids dancing and eating and having a blast. I ended up making my dress just because I'm kind of wierd and I like to do that kind of thing. It was a fun project for me.

Here I am sucking it in.

Brandi, CherriAnn, Amy, Me and Lisa on the red carpet

Justin and I before we left. Isn't he handsome?

Monstercation part two: NYC

After a week in the DC/Virginia area, we packed up our bags and rode the bus to NYC. There is a bus there that runs between the two that is only $15 each way. Originally, we were going to rent a car in DC and return it in NYC. We made all our plans and when we went to rent the car, it turned out that it would be about $2000 to rent in one city and return in another. I was banking on $1000 because it was about $400 to rent each car for a week and return to the same city so that just blew my mind. We had already bought our plane tickets so we couldn't just drive up to NYC and then return and fly out of DC. So instead we took the crazy china town bus from DC to NYC. It was actually a really nice bus with plugins for laptops or whatever you could want. I think it even had wifi and there was a bathroom, so it was a pretty good setup and would have gone pretty well if our kids hadn't been sick. . . . but they were, so it was a very long and painful ordeal. To begin with we started in Virginia and had to drive up to D.C. which took about 1 1/2 hours in the car. John wasn't feeling great, but he held on pretty well. We met up with Justin's parents in DC and ate lunch at a thai restaurant. The adults loved it, but the kids weren't impressed and the sickies really didn't eat much. Then we turned in our rental and got dropped off at the bus station at 3:00. The bus ride went relatively smoothly. Nathan threw up once in a plastic bag, but his clothes stayed clean and he slept most of the time. We got dropped off at 7:00 p.m. to downtown Manhattan. We had 7 bags, two car seats, 2 backpacks and a stroller. When everyone was feeling well we pulled it off pretty well. Basically everyone rolled their own bag and Justin and I managed the back packs stroller and car seats between us. But this time Nathan was just feeling cruddy and instisted on being carried and not carrying his own bag. The boys really didn't feel good either but they had to carry their stuff. We only had to walk about a block to the subway station, but it took forever! The stairs down are always what kill me. We kept seeing a sign that said elevator one block up. So we walked around and around the block trying to find the stupid elevator. We never found it. Hopped on the train and then of course realized we were going the wrong way. Hopped off and back on again. Rode up to 42nd st. took the shuttle to the train station and the train up to Pelham, where our friends the Greens live. Nathan threw up again on the train right in the middle of the aisle. We had a few minutes till the train left so I tracked down the conductor so we could clean it up. Of course he had nothing to clean with so he threw down a piece of cardboard so people wouldn't have to walk through it. It was really gross. We finally made it to the Greens and he threw up again. We hopped in their car and drove up to Poughkeepsie to my brother's house (another 1 1/2 hours.) We finally made it to our destination at midnight. That night was so long. I just had to keep telling myself "We're saving $1000, we're saving $1000". The next day Nathan was feeling much better. We had a great time with Matt and Colleen, but Samantha was pretty sick that day. Justin stayed home with her and Nathan while Matt, Colleen and I took the older boys and Michelle to FDR's home and library. It was really beautiful and interesting. I had a great time! We came back that night and played a rousing game of Settlers of Catan after the kids went to bed on Matt and Colleen's enclosed patio. The weather was perfect! The next day Matt was leaving to go to his 20th reunion in Washington so we hopped back in the van drove out to Jones Beach on Long Island. The beach was alot of fun. The waves were great and it was fun to take turns taking the big kids out to body surf. Michelle hated the water so someone always had to stay back with her and build sand castles, but it was a great afternoon. Everyone seemed to be feeling fine and we were glad to have the sickness behind us. We left the beach around 6:30 and headed back towards the city. Everyone was starving so I pulled off the freeway by a mall figuring there would be some food around there somewhere. Instead of eating, we got rear ended and had to wait around for the cops to show up for about half an hour. It was awful. We were driving a friends car so our hearts just sank. It was such a stupid accident anyway. I just felt so bad. It wasn't my fault at all, but I just felt so awful because it wasn't our car. We got that cleared up and started back on the highway. John had hit his head, but it didn't seem to be causing him any problems (the guy behind us was only going 5-10 mph). As we were driving he kept complaining that his head hurt and then he stared throwing up violently so we rushed to the nicer hospital in the Bronx. After a cat scan and waiting 4 hours in the emergency room they decided that he just had a virus and we all finally got to go to bed! I was so tired. Saturday Justin stayed home with John while I took the other kids to visit our old apartment and then we went to see the Zambrano family and had lunch with my good friend Alicia and her kids. They have a wii so the boys were happy and the younger kids all had kids and toys to play with. It was so good to see Alicia. She is so amazing! From there we picked up John and Justin and drove to liberty park in New Jersey to see my sister Maia and her husband Kendall. We had a really nice visit with them. Got in really late again. Church on Sunday was a real treat because we got to see a lot of people we hadn't kept in contact with since moving from the Bronx. All the kids I taught in primary there were now teenagers. It was amazing to see them still have strong testimonies. That night we ate dinner at the Taylors and that was a lot of fun too. Monday was our last day in NYC so we took the kids down town and saw all the touristy stuff like the statue of Liberty and ground Zero. We ended the day with a ferris wheel ride at the Toys R Us on 42nd street. Thank you Aunt Colleen who treated them to it. Colleen dropped us off at the airport on Tuesday and we made it home safely!
John waiting for the bus in DC. He felt so sick. Joey wasn't feeling great either. He was lying down on the other side of the luggage.

The train stop at Pelham. We were all waiting for Justin to come back with the van to pick us up.
Joey and John at a park in Poughkeepsie. Matt and Colleen took us sight seeing!

Jones Beach!

Michelle and John at the beach. John looked great! But a few hours later was puking his guts out.
Joey at the beach

Michelle, Samantha, Nathan and Joey at our old apartment waiting for the elevator. That's about the only thing they remember about NYC.
Our apartment was on the 19th floor of this building. There are 28 floors.

Posing at the medical school.

Liberty park in New Jersey. you can see the statue in the background. Kendall, Justin, Michelle, Joey, Maia, John and Nathan.

Michelle playing around.

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters! It was so funny, we both stepped out of the car and realized we were both wearing brown shirts, jeans and black shoes. At least we're tacky together!
Samantha and Kendall on the playground. He was a great uncle to play so much with the kids!

Our family and Smiley at the Olmstead 2nd ward

The Diaz family. I taught both those boys in primary. It is fun to see them all grown up!

Irene Adams and Cynthia Figueroa. Awesome ladies!

Our statue of Liberty picture. Much to Samantha's disappointment the line to get on the ferry was about 2 hours long. Justin and I didn't want to wait that long so we took the Staten Island ferry instead and saw it across the bay.

The Statue of liberty

Ground Zero

The ferris wheel at Toys R US. Joey and John had to ride in the cabbage patch car. Ha ha

Justin, Samantha and Nathan on the Ferris Wheel.

Waiting for Justin to pick us up at the train station.

Monstercation part one: family reunion

August was super fun and super crazy! We flew back east to a family reunion in Washington DC and then journeyed to New York to visit family and friends up there too. It was really great to reconnect with so many people we haven't seen in forever.

We started out flying from Boise to DC. We got there on Tuesday the 4th and stayed the night at Justin's parents house. The next day we all went to the dorms at Georgetown and stayed there for the duration of the reunion. It was a pretty nice set up. The campus there is beautiful! Justin's mom worked really hard putting together slide shows of all the kids in the family and we all took turns cooking and taking care of the kids. We went swimming, sight seeing, to the zoo, had a talent show, bbq in rock creek park, picked up Aunt Kristy at the airport for her homecoming. It was a lot of fun. The highlight was going to the temple and out to dinner with all the adults on Saturday evening. It was really neat to be in the temple with all of Justin's siblings. Food afterwards was awesome too. Here are some random pictures of
the reunion.

Sharon directs the kids in making fruit loop necklaces.

Samantha and her necklace.

Racheal eating fruit loops.

Aunt Kim and aunt Shauntelle stringing fruit loops.

Our family at the Lincoln memorial.

Michelle, Laura Dannemon, Samantha, and Sasha.

Nathan at the Lincoln memorial. If you look closely you can see the Washington monument behind him. Also behind him are Samantha, Sasha, Laura and Michelle.

The Zoo Crew

Nathan asleep at the zoo.

Justin on the canal ride.

Joey and John on the Canal ride.

picture day, cool but casual

Picture day conga line!

The push up contest. I can't remember who won.

Grandma and grandpa dancing at the talent show


swimming at the YMCA in Virginia.

Justin, Nathan, and Josh at the pool

Alia's 3rd birthday! We love cake!

Mary, Nathan and Michelle pretending to sleep. They were so cute playing house. They would lie down and take a nap and then a minute later run to the pool and swim then come back and "sleep". It was cute.