.the songwriter.

I overheard Louie singing different songs over and over again while I was cleaning up today. Finally I got the video camera out and was shocked to discover he had been 'writing' his songs on the white board. Every squiggle or shape is a 'song.' So you can tell he had been singing his songs for a long time. Later tonight he made up songs for his letters too. I think it's talent in the making. Who knows, maybe he'll be Jeff's top pick for album of the year someday.

.his story.

One of Tommy's most favorite gifts this Christmas was his very own digital camera. And we can all guess that makes me real happy! I can still remember my first camera. It was a little 110 film camera with a square red shutter button on top and a plastic eye piece window that never stayed up all the way. I got it on a trip to Disney World when I was 6 years old. I can remember taking photos of my little Strawberry Shortcake figurine out on the balcony of the hotel room. If my photo albums were handy right now, you'd bet there'd be a photo of it posted right here. And that my friends began my documentation of life through the eye of a lens.

And now begins Tommy's ...

We've had some pretty stunning sunsets before and after Christmas. This night as I looked outside I decided to grab the camera and take a photo of it. Tommy got so excited and grabbed his camera and coat too and ran outside with me. I loved watching him in action. Check out his tripod stance ...

"Oh, mommy, if you zoom in it takes a much better picture!"

He was so excited!!

Mark wrote a great post on his blog the other day about the boys and life. It was just so beautifully written that I'm going to repost it right here. But hop on over to his blog and send him some comment love while you're at it! Maybe he'll write more often if you do :o)

i no longer consider this website a blog.

blog implies that things are written at least somewhat frequently, unlike this what happens on this website.

that aside, here’s what’s been going on…

so i just finished my first semester of mursing school (that’s nursing school, but since i’m one of the few males in the program, my buddies like to call it the “m”ursing program. it went well, i enjoyed the experience and it went really fast. it’s funny being back in school at 34 years old, it’s amazing what a little life experience will do for you. My brain isn’t as fast, but fast enough I guess. We’ll see how this upcoming semester goes.

i’m still on staff with great commission ministries, going on 12 years now, wow, that’s pretty wild. it’s always an adventure and there are always new and unique challenges and opportunities to reaching college students with the person of Jesus. i’m intrigued with how we grow and mature and move from place to place and emphasis to emphasis over time and experience. the church surely is a living organism that exists in a dynamic relationship to Christ, the world, and those that are a part of it’s expression on a daily basis. we’re blessed here with a great staff team, guys that love Jesus and couldn’t be more genuine. i think often about how despite all of our shortcomings as a church how fortunate we are to be linked with humble, teachable, for the most part self aware brothers and sisters to labor alongside.

this year has seen the departure of friends who have moved on to new opportunities and the reunion of other friends who have been gone for a while and have returned to what i like to call the center of the universe (pause, pause, pause…..) Muncie, Indiana. it’s a really unlikely place, but interestingly enough, hard to escape. sort of like a weird black hole. whatever. anyways, it’s been wonderful to be able to renew a closer friendship with the Eads as they’re back around town. as always we enjoy rich relationships with so many around here, too many to name, but folks that love us and our family so well. if you like topography, then muncie is maybe the worst place in the world to live, but in terms of the riches we experience in relationship, well it’s hard to imagine a more blessed place. thank you to those of you who are our friends and enrich our lives by yours.

the kids. well what to say? first off, props to my wife who does a much better job than i of documenting the life of our family, go here and see the pics, it’s lots of fun. it’s probably because i’ve been able to be around them so much over the past few days, but they’re really such neat and unique kids. i feel like it’s been good for me to just play with them, be able to stop and just look at them, and reflect on what gifts they are in each of their own special ways. and they really are SO different. it’s hard to explain and convey unless you know them, but WOW!

so tommy, he is mr. sensative. so very thoughtful, quite in touch with his feelings (which he knows how to manipulate to work it if you know what i mean parents), very caring. he is so conversant and interested in everything. he loves science and wants to understand how things work. he wants to know what words mean. he has a great imagination, he loves to build legos and then have “setups” where, oftentimes all by himself, he can dream up whatever adventures he likes and spin them out in some epic story. tommy loves art, he’s a great drawer and painter, and again has just an amazing imagination.

lou. well lou is a little different from his big brother. it can come out negative sometimes when you describe lou and that’s not what i mean at all, but we are at a stage where we’re working through some things. lou is determined, lou is focused, lou has lots of persaverence. get what i’m saying here. so there are usually a couple of times a day where jayne or i, usually jayne, are locked in a battle of wills with our lovely 3 year old. we usually win, maybe 80% of the time (read 60%). so that’s fun, but he really is so sweet. he’s our cuddler. he loves his blankie and sippie. he loves to line things up, sort, help put away laundry and dishes from the dishwasher, get groceries into the pantry, etc. he likes colors and the alphabet, he loves puzzles and especially this puzzle of the U.S. which he’s amazing with.

i could go on and on with the kids. bottom line, peruse the rofam blog, that’s where you’ll get the good stuff.

as far as jayne and I, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary earlier this year. we went on an awesome ski vacation which we’d been saving for forever to British Columbia for a week. My parents came and watched the boys and had a really great time so that was awesome. jayne continues to excel with her photo business. she really does have a great eye and takes wonderful photos, which you’ll want to check out here, at jrophotos.com, if you haven’t already. i think 2009 could be the year where things really take off for her.

we’re into our 4th year here in this home, which we really enjoy for the most part. not too much to report along those lines other than the fact that i finally finished, with the help of lots of great friends, our master bathroom, which turned out really well. jayne and i love it, we modeled it after the place we stayed in British Columbia, and though it’s not quite as high end, it’s still really great, so it’s nice to have a house with 2 toilets again! got a shed up sometime in the last year i feel like, well maybe that was last fall??? yeah think so, anyways, that’s great, the shed is great. other than that, we really like our house, has it’s issues, what house doesn’t, but for the most part, it’s a great place for us to raise our family.

well wow, i’m lookin at like 988 words so far, so i’m thinking i’m good for a while. by now i’m probably the only one reading this thing, but it’s been a good exercise for me. i’m a blessed man living a charmed life when i take a good look at it.

the Lord is good. may His Kingdom come.

.the show.

I wish I could say I was there for Tommy's first big school program, but it turns out I started throwing up an hour before it started. I was in a sad state. I caught what Tommy had Sat/Sun and what Mark had Mon/Tue. I was hoping to escape it. Now hopefully Louie won't get it! Thankfully Uncle James went in my stead (well, he was planning to come anyway, but it's nice he was there!) Tommy was super sweet and sang me a song over the phone on their way to the performance. He called me as soon as it was over too. Can't get over how sweet he was!!

I loved watching the video. He is so wonderfully confident. I'm so thankful for that!

Enjoy!

.tommy's creativity.

Tommy has been the busy creative bee as of late. He went to town on a wrapping paper roll and made a submarine. Then he created a person dressed up for winter with another roll. When I looked up from what I was doing he had jumped in my box (which by the way created one of my most favorite storyboards to date of our family) and created an ore out of legos and used yet another roll as a mast.











Tonight is Tommy's Christmas program at Emens ... 7 pm section A if you're interested.

.merry elfy christmas.

in the name of all things ELF, sometimes you just have to waste your sunday morning doing stuff like this ...
{kudos to janet for making me laugh so hard this morning with hers}

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

.south dakota.

Be prepared for complete ocd randomness ...

Over the summer the kids and their Aunt Lynne played a little game of hide and seek with the State puzzle pieces. I remember thinking at the time (filtered through my OCD brain) that this probably wasn't the best idea as those pieces are small and the kids can never remember where they hide things. Well, as it turns out one, just one piece was never found. For some reason one piece seemed worse to me than multiple pieces (again the OCD brain filter). The state puzzle was put away and forgotten about until the other day. That's when I saw the lone missing spot ... and Louie did too, and so began the mission to find the missing piece. I actually had high hopes that his memory would be triggered and he would find it. Nope.

However, today while I was vacuuming the back hallway (by the laundry room) with the hose attachment I randomly started vacuuming the living room corner behind me. I wasn't watching what I was doing and thought that I probably should pay attention Iest I suck up a lego. As I pulled the hose to me I was shocked to see a square puzzle piece stuck to the end ... yes, South Dakota. Louie was just as excited and said repeatedly, "This is where I'm going to go visit!" Apparently, Mt Rushmore needs to be our next vacation destination.

... and now Louie's and my OCD are a peace ... for the moment anyway.

.stone soup.

The first time I ever attempted to make cookies from scratch was sometime early in my high school years. I remember quizzing my friend Holly in amazement that there was such a thing as making cookies from scratch. "You mean you don't just pour the main ingredients from a box? Or better yet, slice it off from a big doughy tube? You can actually make this stuff yourself?"

Well, supposedly.

Turns out our cookies were hard as a rock on the outside and very soft and gooey {read uncooked} on the inside. There is no exaggeration here. Maybe because Holly's mom was and is a fantastic cook Holly thought she would be too. Maybe because my mom was not and I had a hand in the baking which then in turn jixed the cookies, it's hard to say. All I know is that my diabetic grandma who lived with us loved them. "I like how their crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside," she said with crumbs on her lips. Thanks Grams for keeping it from being all for naught.

Why do I tell you this story today? A couple of years ago during our annual ELF party, my friend Steph taught me how to make the infamous Neiman Marcus cookies. At least Steph's recipe seemed infamous. And me, even after cooking class at college, still not being the best of all bakers, decided to attempt this recipe every year at ELF party time. Well, the ELF party came and went this year so fast that I didn't bring out Grammie's wonderful mixer for the event, but I was determined to today.

The boys had fun making their own cookies, that had I actually cooked them, may have had a decent chance of turning out better than mine. It's hard to say. The cookies that came out of my oven today were somewhat reminescent of the first "from scratch" cookies of yesteryear. Only they were hard has a rock, somewhat tasteless and nothing gooey or even remotely soft about them. The funny thing is that the batter was pretty soupy so one would think that something would have at least stayed a little soft. And who saved the day this time? My kiddos who thought they were delicious!!

In my defense, I've made these cookies at least 2 or 3 years now and they've all turned out awesome. Lynne pointed out that I did use regular old Country Crock spread instead of real stick butter, and that, I do believe was the culprit. I knew as I was doing it something about the butter seemed easier than in years past. Ah, well. You live and learn right?

Turns out Thanksgiving hasn't really gone as planned today. Mark is sick, the boys are snotting and coughing all over their beautiful Aunt Lynne and we have rock cookies for dessert ... and yet still I'm very Thankful for today. Thankful that Lynne is here with us. Thankful for the sunshine. Thankful for the kids gooey hands and the sugary, snowy mess they licked up off the countertops. And Thankful for the mixer that will make good cookies, soup cookies, or rock cookies on another day. I'm Thankful for the memory of my sweet Grams and the cookies we'd find crammed in the side pillow of her favorite chair. And if you're reading this, I'm most likely Thankful for you too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

{p.s. check out Louie's quote for the day over in the sayings sidebar}

.spa days.

I wish I could say for sure how long it's been. Mark and I think maybe around 2 years. It was at this time that I had to stop sleeping in our bedroom because I would be up coughing most of the night. That's when we realized that our master bath, that seemed haphazardly put together by the previous home owners had not properly installed the janky shower that now existed. Therefore water had been leaking into the sub floor for a long time and eventually began to mold. And mold being my top allergen was what was keeping me up at night. So out came the shower, and well everything in hopes of rebuilding something much better!

Well friends that day has f.i.n.a.l.l.y arrived!!

Take a look:

{i just love the light shining through on this last pic}

Our inspiration came from the condo we stayed at for our 10 year anniversary trip. And I'll tell you, I feel like I have my own personal little spa when I enter our bathroom. Mark is pretty stinkin' amazing!! I'm glad he didn't listen to me when I asked if maybe we should just go the easy route. I'll take 2 years for this!

.dear light.

The thick, heavy shroud of deep gray cloudiness has lifted from the Moo and we are experiencing sunshine in what feels like the first time in months {i said feels}. I told a friend today that it was a good thing, because I was about to go bury myself in my bed and not resurface until spring ... or summer ... or at least until there was sun!! Thank God, and I truly mean that!!

And along with the sun came snow. Louie was pretty excited about that and wanted to go outside right away. I told him he could go by himself, but I was staying inside since I was still in my jammies. Yes, I am on the verge of entering a new season of life!

It was short-lived however because he dropped his mitten and then it was "dirty." We'll see how he survives playing in deeper snow and getting "dirty" this winter.

I love that our massive piles of leaves are mixed with the snow. It's just nice to have a mixture of both seasons in our yard ... let's say all seasons since we still haven't cut our grass ;o)

Okay, and while Louie was outside for a whole 5 minutes I took pictures of the light coming through the storm door. Did you ever used to make these footprints on the bus as a kid?

dear light, please stay ...

.mrs. rohlfing.

Yesterday at church ... you know our 90% college student church. that because of this church i've often said, "hanging with college students keeps you looking young." ... yesterday at this very church as I was walking away in search of my kids I hear:

"Mrs. Rohlfing?"

I almost didn't stop to turn around. Who's Mrs. Rohlfing?

I said to this young, college-aged boy, "Did you just call me Mrs. Rohlfing?"

He explained that he didn't know if it would be rude to call me by my first name since he didn't know me that well.

Oh my! I did tell him to call me jayne, but as you can see it's stuck with me.

It's begun ...

Too bad I can't walk around as a black and white photoshopped photo to hide the lines :o)

.red light. green light.

Tommy and Louie started soccer "training" at the Y on Sunday. They spend an hour doing fun drills and then scrimmage at the end. I wasn't sure how Louie would do, but I knew his friend Owen was going to be there, so I hoped that work!

Tommy had a lot of fun. There are no pictures of him, but picture him having mad skillz and confidence :o)

Being a young three-year-old in the 3-4 class, Lou was was timid and wouldn't sit in the circle without me. Where was Owen?? Thankfully he showed up just a little late. All seemed to be going well after that, until they got separated into different training groups. Lou did fine for a few minutes and then I think he realized what happened. Thankfully, it's pretty laid back and they let Lou join up with Owen's group.

Mental note next time, Louie and Owen are one.

So, once again I thought all was going to be well for Louie in the world of soccer. That is until midway through their scrimmage he and another boy collided and bonked heads. That was it for Lou as he kept saying in his tears that he wanted to take swimming lessons instead. Next time Lou. I think we have him convinced to go back next week because they get a shirt next week. We'll see :o)

He actually did a great job at following directions. I was real impressed ... and why doesn't he do that at home? Maybe I need to do everything as red light/green light and with a soccer ball. Anyhow, here's a video clip of Louie dribbling the ball. You can see his buddy Owen in yellow pants. Watch how Louie catches up with him :o)

baby it's cold outside

.pumpkin patch.

Be ready for the onslaught of photos. I'll let you in on one of my conundrums. So eventually, like hopefully at the end of this year, I'd like to slurp my blog into a blurb book (because supposedly that can easily slurp it). But if I just have a link to a photo album then my photos won't show up in the book. sigh. Or, I can put together collages, which take a little more time. Or I can just post a zillion and one photos in one post. So if you ever thought, why doesn't jayne just link me to an album, this is why :o)

And this is why it has taken me forever to post about this, because though I did a slight bit of editing, I was more concerned about posting all the pictues. And really, honestly, why should I care what *you* really think because it is my scrapbook, my life, my photos ... well you get it and I know *you're* not thinking anything anyway. (Are you getting an idea of what it's like to live inside my head every.single.day)

Mal and the kids and I had an okay time at our new pumpkin patch location. The funny thing is it actually has a lot more to do, but whether we are just in the blahs or I hate change (or a little bit of both) it just didn't seem quite the same. Maybe the tiny apple orchard we use to go to was more goodrich-esque to me. I need my cinnamon donuts and apple cider to make it feel like a true fall outing. And ultimately I think the kids had a ton of fun running all around the tree farm, feeding the goats and sheep and just being kids. That's what it's all about right? :o)

Oh, and I think I heard a donkey "hee-haw" for the very first time. I mean it really sounded like "hee-haw". I think that was my most exciting part :o)

Louie really liked hugging the little trees. And incedently, this is the tree farm we go to with the b.fam every year. I went to go link to a story about that on my blog, but apparently I've never documented it. oh, the horror! Well, just know it's been done before :o)

.speechless.

I'm not really sure what to say about these pictures of Lou. Maybe they just speak for themselves.

.more brave adventures.

Look behind Tommy. That's the wall he conquered last year at the fall retreat. This year, he didn't want to waste time waiting in the line of something he'd already conquered so instead he headed over to the gigantic swinging zip line. (I don't really know what it's called, obviously). Here's a few photos from Tommy's brave adventures:

From what I've heard, he and his little buddy were the first to actually go all the way to the top and after that all the other chillin's decided they could be brave and do that too :o)