happy holidays! {from the nerds}

{our annual family newsletter & pictures}

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the holidays 2010

well, dusty closed the doors of his company of almost 15 years- pro look sports. we sold our house, pulled the kids out of school, and are moving to a commune in montana to grow organic food, raise animals, and live in peace with the universe. ok, maybe not…changed our minds once we realized there was no indoor plumbing. anyway, i wanted to start this letter with something more interesting than, “this economy sucks, happy holidays…how are you?!?”

for those of you saying, “but dusty & jane, your christmas letter is the most exciting part of my family’s christmas celebration and we look forward to it with joyful glee and anticipation” please get a life! ok…this sections for you…the usual facts/jokes about kids, animals, grandma, etc. you are welcome to skip this large section and jump to the “much love” part if you want.

i’ve been looking over copies of the last fourteen christmas letters just to make sure i don’t repeat any jokes. i was appalled at how many of them had a sentence about someone in our family potty training or having difficulty with the situation, in general. i am happy to report, all of our years of mentioning this topic should be behind us. {nice pun.} pfewww.

the reality of this newsletter, for me at least, is this annual broadside; i’m trying to keep all our friends & family current on the ages of our children and our address. then if you are ever traveling from l.a. to new york city and need a cheap place to spend the night, you’ll stop by, and really catch up. that would be the ideal correspondence. from what i hear, we are fabulous hosts!

dusty and i are still at the old address, with all four kids, minus our dog kaymen. we finally grew tired of kaymen’s old age ‘accidents’ {oh shoot. I mentioned it!} and moved him over to the old folks home with grandma pat. they are a happy couple. the doggy door is literally the front door wide open- all spring & summer. as often as we ask grandma to close the door, {considering the air conditioning/utilities we pay for} she continues to sit in her chair outside, explaining to us she needs the cool air from the house to keep her comfortable outside. hmmm.

kiana {almost 13} has only two speeds. overdrive, for the things she likes to do, and snail’s pace doing the menial tasks for a woman of her ability… i.e. dish washing. she is completely devoted to school, dance, and her friends. kiana started junior high this past fall. since she’s almost a teenager, i’ll add a joke for her… how many teen-agers does it take to change a light bulb? one. she holds the bulb while the world turns around her.

myla {almost 11} was going to help me with this letter but then found a rock and a stick and thought of 1,001 things she could build out of them. seriously the girl does not like to get bored. i think how often she must day dream about being the daughter to indiana jones and marie curie to actually supply her with the required adventure and cerebral stimuli her personality needs.

kj (7 and a half} is our california kid that was sent to the wrong geographical family. he digs the ocean and everything to do with it. he’d run around with his shirt off and in bare feet all day if we’d allow it. he’s a blondee that tans up like his dad and plays until he falls to sleep in the middle of whatever he’s doing. school, church- shoot, even eating and sleeping just get in the way. when kj finished 1st grade this past june, we were getting ready for church the next sunday morning, and he asked hopefully, “mom: is this the last day of church too?”

miss sela {4 years.} we used the phrase “big girl” a lot in her potty training {oh man…i’ve just mentioned it again!}, and sela assumed that once you graduated from pull-ups and wet pants to success, you could stay up late, stop sitting in a car seat, and enter into binding contracts such as marriage. she full-heartedly believes her wedding is tomorrow. and she is going to marry kiana’s friend connor. we constantly listen to her pretend cell phone calls about how she can’t go on a date right now because she’s busy. then she hangs up the phone, and asks me {for the billionth time} if I can give her a ride to her wedding tomorrow… what is up with that? fourth child syndrome? miss almost thirteen and miss almost eleven still don’t talk about boys!

as for the adults, dusty turned 40 this year. he absolutely refuses to let grey hair make an appearance, so therefore, he gets his hair dyed every 21 days- and he thinks i’m high maintenance! we are not going to mention any funny stories about moi, because i am practically perfect in every way. are you rolling your eyes?

that’s about it, we hope this finds you in good health & spirits. we also hope that in some way, we have entertained the ones we love. people need a good laugh, especially when none of us can afford to buy christmas gifts this year!

we wish you a happy holiday season, whatever you celebrate, be it Christmas, Solstice, or Hanukah.

much love.
the rhodes – dusty, jane, kiana, myla, kj, and sela.