Today's the day!

Everyone is excited! We've got some momentum! No one is screaming "I hate this potty"!

Wish us luck!


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August (attempt 2)

When one doesn’t ever seem to have time to blog and then one actually writes something and is 2 minutes away from hitting the publish button and then for some mysterious reason one’s program up and quits, leaving one with NOTHING to show for 45 minutes of work---one wants to scream. 

And, frankly, one wonders if August was really that interesting anyway.

Probably not, but one is nothing if not dogmatic in completing planned tasks.

So this is what we did in August:

Faith broke her arm.

This is how:  she was throwing a tantrum (the amount of pain that girl has caused herself while throwing a fit is disturbing).  Ryan placed her in her crib to calm down.  She jumped out of her crib and broke her arm.  When you are telling that story to the ER guy, you really try to make yourself sound as sincere and honest and loving as possible. 

Of note:  the girl did not cry once.  Not a single tear.  Not when she broke it, or on the car ride, or in the ER, or while going into surgery, or while recovering from surgery, or at any time while recovering, or while they were removing her cast.  As Ryan likes to say “The child has no nerve endings.  Apparently.”

 

We also tried to do all of the usual summer activites that we could possibly stuff into the month:

We took the kids to the DaVinci exhibit at our local museum. 

Pricey, but worth it, when I heard Emma tell her friend; “I thought it would be boring but it was REALLY cool” and Gabe’s Primary teacher told me that he talked about it all during the following Sunday’s class.

 

We went to Riverfront park, to ride rides, go to the IMAX, play mini-golf and ride the carrousel.

Sometimes that place is fun and sometimes it is not.  This time was a fun one.  Yay!

 

I took the 4 oldest to Silverwood, while Ryan stayed home with Faith.

He’s chicken of rides that make you feel like this:

Again, great time was had by all.  (Maybe because my kids are growing into nice, easy ages?)

 

We went swimming ALL THE TIME. 

Thanks to our ward pool (a family opens their pool to anyone 3 days a week from 11-4.  Nice, huh?) and my friend Jessica S., for volunteering her lakefront any time we wanted.

 

Ryan planned an entire neighborhood triathlon, complete with oranges, drinks, stations, awards, and timing.

Unfortunately, Faith broke her arm 20 minutes before it was supposed to happen.  We let Ryan stay home and run the event, while I headed to the hospital.  They didn’t forget about us though:

 

We did our annual Tubbs Hill hike and swim.

Again, the ages of my children make most of these kinds of activities SO fun.

 

Jane went to a two-day Activity Girls Day Camp that was so darling. 

 

We hit the Southside Aquatic Center, 2 days after Faith had surgery. 

This $35 swimming cast cover worked while there and…..never again. 

 

Our town finally got a yogurt place and I fulfilled my lifelong dream of biking with my kids to get yogurt on a Friday night. 

And last, but not least, we had two birthdays.

Gabe had the usual fancy breakfast, out to lunch date (at a buffet.  Barf.), picked his activity of the day (Tubbs Hill) and dessert with the cousins (Lime Cheesecake.  Not Barf.)

 

Seth had a Phineas and Ferb birthday, planned and executed by his dad.

Here they are with the cake:

and party games that had somehow tie in to the cartoon, but it’s 1 month later and I have no idea what they are anymore.  Coloring pages:

mummy wrapping:

finding Perry the Platypus:

Popping balloons with your bum:

 

My one contribution to his birthday, besides delivering him into the world, was this CRAZY good Strawberry Lime Cream Cake.

 

So there you go.  I’m pressing publish as fast as I can because there will NOT be an August, take 3.

Jane’s 8 year old week…via email

(Ryan’s mom and dad take each of the grandchildren for one fun-filled week during the summer of their 8 year old year.  This year it was Jane and her cousin Elise’s turn.  Karen sent us delightful emails full of pictures and text and I thought I would let these email serve as the blog post for this once in a lifetime event!)

Subject: Day 1

“Love your girls!!  Probably won't send them home so keep the pictures to remember them by. 
Love you all!”

 

Subject: I guess we wore them out.....

Subject: Day 2

“Another fun day!  9:00 and both girls and Grandma are ready for bed.  Good night. Love you all”.

 

Subject: Day 3 - Service Day‏

“The girls were awesome.  They mixed, stirred, measured, and tasted until they had created 2 large batches of cookies - Rice Krispy treats and chocolate chip cookies.  Then they made individual cards for 7 different people, and off we went to meet a lot of ailing older women and one super set of grandparents.  It was interesting to see their reactions.  Jane was very nervous at the first stop and I realized I should have better prepared her for some of the conditions we would see.  This lady was diabetic (we took her cottage cheese and fruit rather than our sugar load.)  Her feet were heavily bandaged and her apartment smelled very smokey.  Jane declined from being in the photo, but it gave us an opportunity to talk afterward about how lonely some people are, that they are Heavenly Father's children, and He is happy when we show them love.  (I also assured her that I wouldn't take her anywhere that was dangerous, and that I would stay right with her the whole time.)  She was very receptive to the goal (showing love to the others) and we were back on the road heading toward our next few stops which included a hospital.  The sweet lady in the picture with both girls is my friend Sherry who made all the crocheted snow hats for the girls.  She was so happy they wanted to meet her (and they really did!) Our last stop we saved for tonight so the Grandpa would be there.  I'm sure you will recognize him.  Fun day.  Love these girls!!!”

 

Subject: Day 4

“We started today at the tattoo parlor and then moved on to the wild animal petting zoo.  Both places were great!!  Between afternoon swims, late lunch at In n Out, and a quick sewing project, the girls managed to eat lots of Skittles, cookies, and pizza.  So as you can see, I am taking very good care of them. They are finishing up a movie right now.  Wish you were here!!!
Love,
Mom”

Subject: Day 5

“Today was a fun day - especially going to the temple and the Visitors' Center.  I told them that it looked much like it did the day Ryan and Jessica got married.  Also mentioned that it was covered with tulips for Heather and Kevin's wedding.  Sorry, no pictures.  I remembered the camera but left the battery charging at home.  It was so pretty up there that my error was annoying.  They continue to be fun and sweet.  Thanks so much for sharing them.
Love you,
Mom”

 

Subject:  Day 6 San Francisco

“This was such a fun day, but unfortunately several pictures I know we took (maybe the camera wasn't cooperating) didn't download.  So I will give you the best of what we brought home.  The BART ride over was fine, however when we got on the cable cars to return from the Wharf we were told that the Powell Street BART station was closed due to a riot.  "Oh Great," we're thinking,which $300/night SFO hotel will be housing the 4 of us tonight?"  Luckily, however, by walking a mile or so to the next station, we were able to board BART and head home tonight.

In between those 2 events, we enjoyed riding the cable cars, looking through every single t-shirt & souvenir store to find the perfect items to remember the day, eating at Subway, enjoying sweet treats from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company, watching the pirate, Jack Sparerib, at Pier 39 juggle and work his magic, taking the tour of the Rainforest Cafe, seeing (and smelling) the sea lions, talking about Alcatraz and how we'd ever escape if we found ourselves in jail there, discussing some of the unusual people (i.e., wierdos) who are everywhere in SFO, watching the jumping bush man and the dancing gold man, and posing with Obama. We were all starving by the time we got to the Dublin Bart station at 8:00 and decided we needed one more trip to In n Out.  Elise has become a fan with us and polished off 2 cheeseburgers while Jane had her usual animal-style burger and fries.  Given the right food, these 2 are serious eaters!!  What a great day!  Can't believe I have to send them home in 2 days. It's going to be danged hard!!
Love you all,
Mom”

(Truly, this week is one of the most anticipated of my kids’ lives.  Karen and Jeff are so generous and we think it’s so neat that they get to deepen their relationship with their stellar grandparents.  WE LOVE OUR GRANPARENTS NUT!)

It’s the first day of school

 

The house is definitely too quiet.  It’s not so-sobbing-sad…it’s just a melancholy noticing-that-time-just-keeps-passing sad.  Ah, parenting.  Such a contradiction all of the time.

Here are the obligatory pictures, and some fun moments/comments to go a long with them:

Emma started 7th grade today.

She was excited, mostly because she thought she had the best outfit of all time.  She even said, “I was dreading school, till I got my back to school outfit and now I’m excited!”  Never underestimate the power of a winning look.

Gabe started 6th grade, which is at the middle school.  I asked them if I could take pictures at their school and they said sure.  We began talking about being embarrassed of their parents (which they haven’t been, yet.)  They were truly confused by the concept: “why would we be embarrassed?  We like you guys.  I act like I’m embarrassed when Dad starts joking around, but I’m just pretending, because I know my friends think he’s funny.”  Sweet, huh?

I started tearing up a little bit, when my boy left elementary school forever.  Boo.  (And yes, that shirt’s too big.  It’s a Men’s Medium, but he couldn’t find a smaller size and HAD to have the Patriots t-shirt to start the year off right.)

Jane started 3rd grade, and as always, was easy and fun.

She had a few eye rolls at all the pictures, but I think she does that because her older siblings do.  She got the teacher who ALL the 3rd graders wanted (and Emma and Gabe had) PLUS, gets her cousin Elise in her class.

Seth started 1st grade.  1st grade is worse (for the mommy) than kindergarten and I’ve gotten weepy any time I’ve talked about my fun, talkative, easy going buddy leaving me ALL DAY LONG.  He’s so happy with whatever you put in front of him, though, so it was fun to see him off today.

I’m slightly worried about his spaciness, though.  I’d left him playing on the playground, with plenty of directions about where to line up and when, and then went to document Jane.  The bell rang, all the kids rushed into line and I took some pictures of Jane in her classroom.  As I was walking down the hall, I hear “Oh, hi!  Mom!  I just didn’t remember to come in when the bell rang, so I’m a little late and by myself, but that’s okay!”  as Seth rushes by.  That kid.

Now it’s just us. 

Faith’s only asked me about 16 times this morning “What we doing today, Mom?”  She’ll definitely be at a loss without her cadre of pals. 

So to sum:  I’m a little blue, Faith’s a little lonely, Seth’s a little too easily distracted BUT my kids aren’t embarrassed of me, all have the teachers/classes we wanted and my kitchen is sparkling clean and will stay that way until 3:05. 

Welcome, School!