Everyday Romneys

2012-01-24T10:46:00.001-08:00

Since it is looks like this today and most days from January to April,

I thought I'd list some things I'm looking forward to, in order to break through the doldrums of a northwest winter.

Today:
Driving Emma to her city choir class, which means a SOLO trip to trader joe's!

This week:
Ryan's parents coming to stay for the weekend

Next week:
I just put list together for the 14 Days of Valentines that I do for Ryan and the kids, and now I can't wait to do it!

In February:
Finishing Emma's room makeover. She's been asking for it for her 13th birthday for months and months. We've gotten started and it's going to be cute. Plus, I'm really appreciating the super positive interactions it's helped Emma and I have.

In March:
One word--HAWAII!!

In April:
Training for my May marathon with my besties. I thought everyone was done running marathons, except me, but my whole running crowd surprised me by wanting to train. Here's to 3 hour long gab, uh, I mean running, sessions.

And by then Spokane will begin to be gorgeous and I will want to live in the moment...until then, I stave off the winter blues any way I can!

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Quick Quote

2012-01-19T18:38:00.001-08:00

(A conversation, post-tantrum)

Faith: "mom are you happy?"

Mom: "I've been happy. You were the one having a tantrum"

F: "but I'm not sad now! I des (just) smelled my Special (her blankie) and now I'm happy!"

Jane: "That's what I do! I mean, not her special, but you know..."

December Summary

2012-01-13T12:28:00.001-08:00

It’s all of the usual Holiday stuff…parties, concerts, visitors, presents. But it was good. Last December I was struggling with some real depression and it was an awful month. This year, I just kept reflecting on how much better I felt this time around. Yay for getting through a hard thing and learning from it!

On to the family stuff:

4 kids in school means LOTS of holiday concerts. I only got a few pictures, though, because really, my child’s head in a crowd of other kids is kind of pointless. Emma played in the middle school orchestra, Gabe played with the middle school band (SUPER impressed with that program!), and Jane and Seth sang with their grades at their music programs. Here’s Jane at hers:

We did lots of partying, too. Also: barely photo-documented. But we were busy with the ward Christmas party (neat, neat experience: our ward put on a party for the local women’s shelter. Such a great idea.), neighborhood cookie exchange, Rowell’s ornament party, book club (where we put together bags to give to those down-on-their-luck people you see off the Division exit in Spokane), Ryan’s work party (we were in a fight the whole time. Lame.), and our progressive New Years party (pictures are of some of the games we played:)

Lots of fun. Exhausting, weight gaining fun.

I figured out that if I was going to make these holidays fun for the Mother, too, I needed to have the kids DO THE WORK WITH ME. Here are pictures of them stuffing Christmas card envelopes, unwrapping candies for cookie ingredients and delivering the goodie plates. It made my month SO much more fun.

Poor Gabe got braces on the first day of Christmas break. He had a sore mouth. And turned into a Older Looking Kid in 2 hours—it was weird.

Christmas Break had almost NO snow (I will NEVER complain about that. White Christmas, Schmite Christmas.) but was still cold so we did lots of indoor things:

Cookie decorating playdates:

Game playing (here, with Quirkle, a TOTAL hit because it’s a game 6 and up can easily play but adults enjoy):

jump rope/games inside the church gym:

and trips to the children’s museum with Grandma and Bekah:

Also, you’ve got to love the kid who demands you be a good mom to him. Seth came up to me last month one night and said “Mom. You have to take me on an alone date. I really really want to do that with you.” And how could you say no to that? Here we are eating frozen yogurt and playing Go Fish:

I have been debating starting a new post dedicated to Christmas, but I’m just going to forge ahead here. Stop reading, I’ll never know.

For Christmas Eve, Grandma Dorrie and Bekah joined us (yay!) and we did the usual:

Lunch at a restaurant (a local Brazillian place)

and a movie (Muppets. eh.)

Then we headed to the Daines for the annual Bethlehem dinner and nativity play, where we were completely shocked by the surprise visit of the Romney Grandma and Grandpa!

And opened the Christmas Eve PJs. This was the point at which, sick of fighting kids to take decent pictures, I launched the Guilt Trip: “If you guys had any idea how much time I have spent this month getting Christmas ready for you all, you would BE THRILLED to sit still for 3 minutes to let me get a picture of it!!” It Worked…sorta.

After, we came home and left donuts and hot chocolate for Santa.

Christmas morning:

And Christmas Fancy Clothes for Church (which, by the way, is just the most lovely way to spend Christmas day: singing and listening to talks/testimonies praising Jesus Christ. So perfect.)

I made (if I do say so myself) the BEST MEAL EVER and actually planned ahead (so I wasn’t angrily peeling potatoes while everyone else played) and decorated and everything.

It was very gratifying.

Really I would give this December a solid A. Yay for figuring out how to run our family holiday a little better this year.

Not a Bed of Roses

2012-01-09T15:56:00.001-08:00

In the last 8 hours:

1. Seth and Jane were super late getting ready for school and I yelled "focus!" at Seth in a lame attempt to get him moving.

2. Faith screamed for half of the morning and I thought I was handling it right but I have no idea and it's made me teary with frustration twice

3. She also barfed (in a tantrum) 3 minutes after we headed out for errands so she smelled like vomit the whole time

4. Gabe is sad in his room and after 10 minutes of back rubbing and cajoling, he won't tell me what's wrong

5. Jane just called from school and Seth fell off of his scooter and has a big goose egg on his forehead and the school had me sign a "head trauma" when I picked him up

6. Faith just dumped 400 cashews on the floor and yelled "you are the meanest mom" and is now locked in her room until she can a) talk nicely and b) clean up the nuts

So, today's not awesome. That's all.

Awesome stuff you say because you are a parent:

2012-01-07T12:33:00.001-08:00

“I said to clean it off, not lick it off…

but whatever.”

--Ryan (regarding some toothpaste on the staircase bannister)

Just can’t wait to get on the road again…

2012-01-05T12:17:00.001-08:00

I am a huge road trip girl. My whole life, I’ve loaded into a van (or station wagon) and driven at least 12 hours a few times a year. I’ve learned a lot along the way.

(p.s. They don’t always look this angelic.)

I think Road Trip Success comes from 2 things: Not Being a Wimp (yourself or as a parent) and PLANNING ahead.

1. Don’t be a wimp.

Seriously. And don’t let your kids be wimps either. I think the most important part of going on road trips is just deciding that it’s not that bad to sit still in a car for a day. My kids know that when they get in that car, we don’t stop for whining or fighting or boredom or hunger or (hardly ever) bathroom needs. They learn pretty quickly how to entertain themselves. ESPECIALLY if you aren’t pandering to them.

a. Along with not being a wimp: drive without your husband! Take a cell phone, tune up your car, know your route and JUST GO. What’s the worst that could happen? Honestly, I almost prefer solo trips because my kids realize that there is no adult that can help them and they bug me less. Also, I LOVE to listen to audio-books for hours on end.

b. Bathrooms: Force them to go the minute before you leave and at EVERY gas station/restaurant, etc. Even if they went when you got to McDonalds…make them go as you walk out of the door. Also, limit soda. I NEVER let my kids get refills. Warn that you will NOT be stopping and that they will have to go on the side of the road if they need to go before the next gas/food stop. And follow through. I’ve found that sticking in a movie can very effectively distract a 5 year old with a full bladder.

2. PLAN activities.

Don’t just rely on your movies. Because a) they’ll get boring and b) come on! It’s hours and hours! There’s so much reading, listening, talking and interacting that can be done. Make movies your treat.

For normal road trips (8-12 hours), I usually bring dvds, children’s audio books on CD, new library books that I don’t let them touch prior to the trip, 1-2 carefully chosen toys.

For our Texas Trip, I did a bit more. Ryan and I made a binder for each kid and filled it with games (logic puzzles, license plate games, mazes, coloring pages, etc) as well as a map and details of each leg of the trip. I also created a daily Journal Questionnaire that I asked (made) them fill out every day and hope to turn into a book. We added lined paper and an envelope with sharpened pencils, crayons, and pens. The older kids all stuck their homework in that binder and I loved having it all in one place.

a. IMPORTANT: space your activities! NEVER do 2 things at a time. For example, we’ll get in the car at 4:00 and I’ll tell the kids “We’ll turn on the first movie at 7:00, so sleep or read, but DO NOT make noise”. At 7:00 they’ll watch their movie and then when the movie has completely ended, I’ll feed them breakfast from our food stash. When that is totally done and cleaned up, I’ll have them change out of pajamas. By this time it’s, 9:00…we’re halfway there and they’ve only watched one movie. I’ll then put in a CD and tell them that in an hour, we’ll do the next movie. One activity at a time, very spaced out, makes each one new and interesting.

It’s not my very favorite thing to stare at the central Montana scenery for hours on end, and I’m thrilled when I jump out of the car, but, honestly, we’ve had so many great experiences due to the cheap method of car travel. Share your suggestions in the comments, please!

What a Year it’s Been: Family Home Evening, January 1st

2012-01-01T19:44:00.001-08:00

Quick Quote

2011-12-22T15:44:00.001-08:00

Mom: "Faith, your nose needs help."

Faith: "I know. He keeps saying 'Help! Someone help me!"

November Summary

2011-12-18T19:53:00.001-08:00

Before December is done, I need to do a November recap. Mostly so I can talk about Faith’s birthday, so here goes:

Faith turned the dumb age of 3 on November 1st and since she basically had been talking about a party for months, I was forced into having one for her on her birthday. We had a million 3 year olds. I made Ryan come home from work and help. It was a total 5th Child Birthday Party: very loose theme, cheapo store-bought invites, a during-the-party-realization that it was lunch and I should feed the 3 year olds, etc.

It was kind of a Dora party and so they made Dora bracelets:

and they played a kind of Backpack game, and I did a musical chairs to Dora music, and I fed them quesadillas because it’s a Spanish word and I had a kind-of treasure hunt with a Dora thing stuck on cupcakes as the treasure.

I rule.

Whatever…she got lots of presents:

I also fed Faith Fruit Loops for breakfast (to be fair, cereal really is her favorite breakfast):

and I fed her McDonalds for her dinner/family party.

…where we couldn’t even light a candle so we had a lame birthday song and pretend-blowing-out-of-candles. At least I homemade the cake. Being the 5th child does have it’s advantages (siblings who dote on you, parents who slightly know what they’re doing), but awesome birthday parties aren’t one of them. Sorry, F. I promise if you keep only turning 3, I’ll do a better one next year.

But I was a good mom, when, on Veteran’s Day, I heard, last minute, about a REALLY cheap entry fee into a ski resort’s water park, I decided just to bag everything and take the kids. We had a super fun day:

They have a surfing ride that had a line 45 minutes long, but when the worker saw Faith and I watching, he asked if she wanted to jump the line and he’d take her on a ride. It was really cool:

Seth also lost his first tooth…2 months into First grade is very late to lose a tooth, in case you’re wondering. It’s the best when you lose it at school, because then you get a cool carrying case and a sticker. Except then you lose it in the pebbles when you’re tossing it around on your walk home and you have to write a sad little note to the tooth fairy, begging her to pay you anyway.

And we had a cool Family Home Evening where Ryan had everyone illustrate the Tree of Life story from the Book of Mormon:

And then the whole rest of November is 400 pictures of our trip and you’ve already been privileged with those beauties. I’m sure more stuff happened in November but by December 18th, I can’t remember them.

Yay! November summary done.

Wait! Seth was also in the paper for winning the No Cavity Club at our awesome local pediatric dentist. He got a $25 gift card and his own photo shoot:

Okay, now I’m done.

Who Drives to Texas? Part 8 (Finally!)

2011-12-13T15:12:00.001-08:00

Some numbers:

Odemeter at start of trip:

176, 725 (Go little blue van, go!)

Odometer at end of trip:

182, 319

Mileage Grand total:

5, 594

Hours spent traveling:

Books (audio, children) completed by Jessica:

Pages read in Jessica’s paperback book:

Books brought on road trip:

6 (sorry, Ryan, I thought I would have time to read!)

Times pulled over by a cop:

2 (once for failing to switch lanes when cop on side of road, once for speeding)

Tickets received:

1 (for speeding)

Meals eaten in a restaurant in 15 days:

Hotel stays:

1 (Thanks fun family and friends)

Different states’ license plates we saw:

States we drove through:

And now for some non-iphone pictures…

The whole family and the presidents:

Giving proper respect to the home state:

Our Kansas City hosts (Mark and Carie) and the incredible Chocolate Bag dessert:

Faith and her cousin, Luke (Nate’s little boy):

Nate’s twin girls:

Everyone was soooo happy to see Grandma Dorrie:

Cute Sam and Stephanie, hung out with us in both Dallas and San Antonio:

The Alamo…oh! that weather is looking so lovely right now:

Me, Adrianne, my kids, her kids, her brother’s kids and my uncle’s kids:

Who drives to Texas? Part 7

2011-12-07T16:10:00.001-08:00

I was so excited to go to Arizona with my family. I get down there once in a while to see Adrianne and my uncle and aunt, but we never get to have all of our kids and spouses together.

Both Adrianne and Dane and Lorena appreciate a good Sight See, so I knew we'd have perfect hosts.

Our first night we stayed with Adrianne (best friend since high school), and everyone (even Ryan) kept exclaiming over her super-talent at making everything she touches beautiful. Her house was perfect. (bonus: seeing one of Adrianne's younger sisters. Love me some Smart sisters.)

We chatted and I ran (Adrianne wussed out. Something about 6 months pregnant. Whatever.), then we packed up the car for Casa Grande Ruins. Very cool--highly recommended for anyone in the vicinity.

I love this one of kids pouring over their Junior Ranger guide books, that's Adrianne's Gabe in the cowboy hat ("I wouldn't be afraid of snakes because I'm wearing a cowboy hat and cowboys are tough"):

And I actually remembered to take an adult one:

Notice my jacket. Um, Arizona: when I visit in the winter I expect 70 degrees at least. Got it?

We met up with Dane and Lorena (no adult picture. Dang it!)
at the famous Rosa's. I've been there on every Arizona visit.

And then hit the Mesa temple Christmas lights:

We spent that night with D and L (too short) and then hit the road at 5:00. Little did we know that we were embarking on the most ambitious leg of our road trip.

Faith had been running a fever for 3 days as we headed for Utah and, although the plan was to stop in Kaysville, By the time we were in St. George, we were worried about her. We just wanted to get her out of that carseat and in her own bed and near doctors we knew. We'd also noticed that the snow was supposed to start.

We made the crazy decision to drive straight through. Dinner in Pocatello, kids to sleep at 9:00 pm, and 24.5 bleary, snowy hours later, we rolled into Liberty Lake at 4:30 am. It was not fun the last 2 hours but we were so glad we had a whole day to recover from our odyssey. (Faith woke up with no fever, of course, and was greatly improved.)

One post to go: a round up and a few never-before-seen photos. Stay tuned, folks!

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Who drives to Texas? Part 6

2011-12-05T11:08:00.001-08:00

Oh, San Antonio was SO much fun! We loved getting to stay with my brother, Matt and wife Janelle.

We did the necessary San Antonio things on Monday.

Alamo (where the kids had fun with the "can you find?" paper from the front desk):

Gabe used his $15 souvenir money on this:

Shockingly, Jane was accidentally bleeding from that super safe souvenir within the hour. (nothing violent, just dumb)

I highly recommend the boat tour through San Antonio's famous riverwalk:

On Tuesday, people who had barfed in the night (Emma and Gabe) stayed home with Ryan and had their first brush with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, while the rest of us went to a virtually empty children's museum:

On Wednesday, we hit the awesomest outdoor African safari park, where the inmates got VERY close:

Super, super fun!

We also hit the famous Rudy's BBQ, where it was super fancy. Note the "plates":

It was delicious and Matt sent us home with a bottle of their yummy sauce, so we can have a little Texas all year long.

When I download my regular camera shots, I'll have more pictures of my brother Sam and his fun wife Stephanie, who hung out with us in both Dallas and San Antonio.

Watching cousins play together, long talks at night with adults, and an accidental 6.8 mile run with Matt were other highlights.

Why, oh why, does 60% of my siblings live on the other side of the country??

Who drives to Texas? Part 5

2011-12-01T13:56:00.001-08:00

The last week has been so filled with family and fun that I haven't stopped to post, but since we are driving through a VERY desert-y Texas/New Mexico/Arizona today, I had some blogging time.

We spent last Wednesday visiting Ryan's sister in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and driving to Dallas.

Had to take this picture, as we crossed the border into Texas:

The next few days were spent with all Romneys (except grandma and grandpa, SUCH a bummer), doing these like

Eating:

Giving uncles pedicures:

Baking:

Attending the Cowboys game:

Playing games:

Visiting big fun centers:

And talking, talking, talking:

Family reunions are only sad because they remind you that you really wish you lived closer to each other. Greg and Christy were relaxed and generous hosts and we enjoyed mild Texas weather and so much playtime and catching up time. There was a little tearing up on my part when we had to say goodbye on Sunday, as we got in the car to see my side of the family in San Antonio.

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Who drives to Texas? Part 4

2011-11-23T11:13:00.001-08:00

These are the pictures from yesterday:

Our second stop at Panera. The soup! The bread! The Mac and Cheese! The pastries! (note the soft cast/sling on our boy....ugh.)

Panera was in Joplin, Missouri, where a huge tornado hit. We asked a lady at panera where we could go to see the major damage and she said "go down to main street. It's decimated. That's where my house was." :(

It was crazy and a sobering experience for our family to see the destruction.

This is the next picture:

Lots of cousin love! We ended up in Tahlequah, Oklahoma at Ryan's sister's house. I LOVE hearing the sounds of cousins playing and laughing. We talked our faces off with Brooke and Spencer. Yay for hanging out with far-off family!

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Who drives to Texas? Part 3

2011-11-22T14:52:00.001-08:00

No driving yesterday! We stopped at my friend Carie's house and just had the best day...until we had to take Seth to the emergency room. But I'll get to that.

After a lovely run with Carie, we headed to Liberty Jail, a place with historical and spiritual significance for our church. It was neat to be there:

We stopped for lunch at Panera. (Don't have one in Spokane and holy cow! We stopped there AGAIN today for lunch.)

We headed to downtown Kansas City and went to Kaleidoscope (a Hallmark owned children's art museum). We had so much (free!) fun:

Gabe using their wall kaleidoscope maker:

Lots of art to make:

The adults dropped kids at home and left for dinner at Jack Stack (cuh-razy good barbecue) and the famous chocolate bag for dessert (picture on my regular camera--but that thing was a. A work of art and b. so so so yummy).

We got home to news that Seth had jumped off a ledge and hurt his arm. We weren't too concerned till we heard him whimpering at 12:30 in the morning. One middle-of-the-night ER run later, the radiologist confirmed it was a bad sprain. Phew. We tend towards broken arms around here and we were scared. Ryan reports MAJOR charming of the nurses on Seth's part:

He is now complaining, as we drive to Oklahoma, that is itches. I hope it itches so much he NEVER jumps from at 5 foot ledge again.

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Who drives to Texas? Part 2

2011-11-21T16:06:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Mount Rushmore day. It was sub-zero and snowy but brilliantly sunny. After a quick stop at a local church meeting, we headed up the mountain.

My family of groomed sight-see-ers were suitably impressed/excited and there was a neat feeling there.

We headed back to the car to drive to Kansas City, but made sure to detour at Wall Drug (because how can you pass 153 billboards and NOT check it out?):

Some of the photo ops:

If you know Seth, you know this kind of personal space invading is NOT just for wooden figures:

It was a long 11 more hours, but we made it to KC. Remind me to detail our extensive car trip activity preparation. Here they are in one of there more sedate moments:

The next 10 days only has a few 4-5 hour car rides, so we are looking forward to our driving break!

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Who drives to Texas? Part 1

2011-11-20T20:22:00.001-08:00

So Ryan's family is having a reunion in Texas for Thanksgiving. And we are driving there. Because we want to.

Yesterday was Day 1. We left at 4:00 am and the roads were nasty (due to the fact that the first major snowstorm of the year happened the day before). We made it through okay and drove through it all the way through the entire state of Montana. It's a long state.

We tried to stop at Big Hole battlefield (outside of Billings, MT) but the rangers there were NOT interested in doing anything with any visitors 30 minutes before closing time. Lame. Here's our picture in front of the battlefield:

And in the visitors center, where these lucky kids had their history major mom give them all the details of native American/US government relations and the ensuing battle at Big Hole (somebody had to...)

We rolled into Rapid City, SD after 16 hours in the lovely blue van. We dealt with the last excruciating hour by having Ryan tell us HILARIOUS stories about his siblings.

In going back and re-reading what I've written, I realize that the day sounds miserable. Guess what? It wasn't. It was great. Good kids, pumped up parents, lots of activities and a fun destination= awesome.

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ROCKtober!!!

2011-11-10T15:01:00.001-08:00

I was trying to make this recap extra exciting with my title. Did it work?

We’ve had the loveliest, warm, sunny fall (almost makes up for the CRAPPY early summer) and one day, I actually stopped in the MIDDLE OF MY LIST (!), and played in the leaves with Faith:

We continued our yearly tradition of heading up to Greenbluff (a community of farmers that put on fun fall fastivities) between soccer games one Saturday.

We ate:

The big kids did the corn maze:

The little kids did the hay maze (notice Faith’s favorite pose for the camera. ???):

but we didn’t have to spend a million dollars for pumpkins because…

this year we grew 9 in our OWN BACKYARD:

I made this lovely pizza, which is totally random to include in my October wrap-up but I make a BUNCH of yummy things that disappear in about 1/5 the time it takes me to make them, so I’m including this for posterity:

I also participated in a makeover/image consulting class for 6 weeks this fall and LOVED it. I just felt like as I move from young mom to not-young mom, I wanted to direction in how to look good with what I’ve been given.

Ali (from Biggest Loser fame) was the keynote speaker at our event. Here she is in the dressing room:

And here is one of my “After” shots:

I know, I look completely different. Just kidding. In this picture, I just look like my mom and her sisters. Am I right, Abbie? Erin? Bekah?

We also watched conference:

(I keep changing my favorite talks as I read and study them. The one about families and bearing children. No wait, the time management one. No, I know, the Forget Not one. So lucky to have prophets and apostles that give us inspiration and direction.)

We also did the regular:

Dental checkups (is Faith not hilarious in this picture?)

And participated in swim meets (I realize my Super Swimmer probably deserves a decent towel, but he’ll lose it anyway, so rags it is.)

Wasn’t that SO ROCKING? No? Well, I’m pretty wiped by the end of each day, so I don’t what your problem is….

5 kids at Halloween=Major Busy

2011-11-01T06:09:00.001-07:00

(Halloween just gets more involved and crazier every year. But I kind of like it, because, unlike Christmas, I’m not feeling like I should be having this major spiritual experience for my family. In December, I resent the crazy. In October, I think it’s fun to just enjoy the silliness of costumes, parties, candy, decorations, etc.)

Here’s the total for the month:

5 pumpkins carved (3 at 6:00 am this morning while I was running. Thanks, Ryan!)

8 Halloween parties attended (1 birthday, 2 school, 1 church, 1 work, 1 neighborhood,1 mom’s luncheon, 1 adult dance party!)

1 Darth Vader costume for Ryan, made from a Gabe’s size 8 cast-off costume.

3 different costumes on Jessica (1 wonder twin, 1 witch, 1 Jaclyn Smith/Charlies Angels)

5 childrens’ costumes (1 crayon, 1 Tom Brady, 1 Cleopatra, 1 Frankenstein and 1 butterfly)

2 plates of treats on our doorstep via the Boo Ghost

4 dishes prepared for the annual Halloween dinner (dinner in a pumpkin, glazed carrots, orange jello, breadstick bones and blood)

1,004,640 sugar grams consumed

7 family members exhausted but content after a month of family fun!

Growing Pains

2011-10-25T10:45:00.001-07:00

So Faith is getting older and I’m really, very sad about it. (She turns 3 next week. Boo.)

I’m so sad about it that I’ve seriously contemplated having another baby. Which is saying a lot because I have been So Done With Having More Kids for at least 2 years now. I’m NOT having another baby because I remember that being pregnant is hard and losing the weight is hard and nursing is hard and teaching a baby how to sleep is hard. And then my friend talked about how she doesn’t like the feeding kids baby food stage and I remembered I don’t like that stage either. And then I watched Parenthood and Christina just brought home her new baby and I remembered that leaky, sleepy, crying, hormonal, chubby, confused stage and I don’t want to do that anymore.

So I’m not having another baby. Because you can’t just keep having babies because you are sad that your current “baby” is turning 3. You have to have a Last One, right?! And at some point just come to terms that your house will be baby-less at some point.

And that you have to figure out how to say goodbye to:

1.The lisping.

2. The sweet, yummy, perfect lips and cheeks.

3. The 36 inch person who thinks they know all of the stuff and are the boss of the house.

4. The buddy that, no matter how frustrating at time, also fills you with joy and laughter.

5. The running and hugging and yelling when you walk in the door.

6. The extreme expression of likes, dislikes, excitement (“Mom, I’m des so decited that my burtday is almost coming!”), happiness, etc.

7-438. Other really awesome things about having babies and toddler and pre-schoolers in your home.

So, I honestly am sitting down and reading to Faith a little more often than I used to. I’m turning off the radio and listening to her hilariousness while we run errands. I’m stopping and putting her on the counter by me and looking into her eyes and watching her face while she talks. I’m climbing in her bed after we are done with the routine and smashing her a little while longer before I head to my other kids/book/TV show.

And I’m really trying to remember this quote:

(Except I’m actually crying right now, so I have to keep working on this one.)

All I have to say is having little kids is a joy and I am fortunate to have gotten to have one in my life for 12 years now and I will miss having a 2 year old because it’s (mostly) fun.

Quick Quote

2011-10-14T09:56:00.001-07:00

Seth, upon observing Jane's tears one day, came up to me and asked:

"Mom...did Jane just have her first broken heart?"

Huh? Where does he come up with this stuff?

This morning

2011-10-08T17:15:00.001-07:00

This morning I woke up at 6:10, checked the weather (36 degrees!) and began to pull out my cold weather running gear.

Ryan and I discussed routes and let Gabe know (awake for his Saturday morning tv watching) to make sure faith went potty when she woke up.

We headed out, anticipating the first sunny day since Monday and anxious to get out and enjoy it. We began to run, talking about a city council issue, Steve Jobs, the great book I'm reading to my kids, the value of general required classes in college. I love talking to him, with no interruptions. He's so smart and balanced and good at expressing himself. Plus he's interested in my opinion.

We ran around our local lake, up hills, through trees, around marshes and next to cute, remote, 1950s looking lakehouses. It was foggy at first and then the morning sun peeked through the fog and lit up the lake and trees. Kind of indescribably beautiful.

By mile 9, I was tired and so we put our headphones in--he finished up "The Help" on his audiobook and I put on my running playlist. As the music played and we ran back into town in the sunshine, I welled up with joy of it all.

Running with a strong body, beautiful scenery, quiet and conversation, a good husband--
I just kept thinking: "THIS is happiness. THIS is joy. I am blessed".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

September Recap

2011-10-05T07:30:00.001-07:00

(Anyone else in complete denial that it is somehow OCTOBER already?)

It has been so hard to get to the computer to blog lately, that all I seem to be able to do (out of guilt) is document pure family history stuff. Maybe I’ll feel caught up after this and can blog about waaay more fascinating stuff that doesn’t include 29 pictures of my kids and my life.

Onto my kids and my life:

Ryan and Jessica--

The big news for us this month was our marathon. I had talked Ryan into training for it 6 months ago and I ran some long runs with him and some with my friend Laura,

who was also training. We really enjoyed having this same goal together.

It was a good, though REALLY HARD, experience. The weather could NOT have been crappier. Seriously, I have never run in weather that bad-- Thunder and lightening, hail and torrential rain from miles 8-14.

Some of us got the time we were hoping for (3:50:56):

And some of us just ran a race without killing ourselves:

Ryan’s sister Betsy and my sister Bekah drove 1-3 hours to see us finish. Bekah even ran with me and we had a great visit with them after the marathon.

As for future marathons…I’m ready for #3. For Ryan? Let’s just say the jury is still out.

Emma--

Our stake did a Temple Walk for the Young Women Labor Day weekend. They left from our stake center and walked to the Spokane temple. It was 12.5 miles and Emma did every one. It took about 3 1/2 hours. I walked the first hour with her and there was such a sweet feeling there.

She is also ON TOP of school this year. The first year of middle school really threw Emma for a loop and she struggled with turning stuff in and staying focused in class. She seems to have really learned a few things and has a 95% or better in ALL of her classes 1 month into school. I asked her what she’s changed and she said “I just tell myself you can do whatever you want after your work is done and you’ll have more fun because you won’t be worried about school”. Wise words!

Gabe--

This is my Do Everything, Super Motivated by Goals child. He got his Arrow of Light with the usual fanfare that our stake puts on: (not super politically correct) American Indians, colored smoke, drums, actual arrows, a bridge to pass over, tears of the eagle stones. It’s pretty fun for the boys. Gabe was the only kid his Den leader (who has been doing Webelos for 4 years) has ever seen get EVERY possible activity badge and arrow point. Love that kid.

He’s really enjoying middle school. He likes his advanced classes and says that he has more friends in middle school than in elementary school. Here he is with his Theme Island project:

Gabe’s also become completely obsessed with anything football. Completely NOT following in his father’s footsteps, he reads the sports page religiously each morning, TiVos NFL games and has plans to play football next fall. Let’s hope those twigs he calls limbs fatten up a little before then.

Jane--

Nothing major to report about Jane. She is doing soccer, piano and really enjoys her teacher, Mr Stallings (our family’s 4th year with him). She put together this poster for a farm animal project:

Seth--

Seth continues to be Seth. He’s been begging to read personal scriptures with me in the morning, so we’ve started that and I’m impressed with what a good reader he is. He's also doing soccer and while completely clueless about the game, he actually is pretty coordinated. His favorite birthday gift was an asked-for slushy maker and so we’ve done those a few times after dinner much to his delight.

Ryan took the kids on a little date a few weekends ago. They got slurpees

skipped rocks by the river

and got beaned in the head, not once, but TWICE, by their oldest sister with a rock that didn’t get skipped too effectively.

There was much blood on Seth’s part and worried/sorry tears by Emma and complete incredulity by Ryan that it would happen 2 times in 3 minutes.

Faith--

Faith wins the award for BEST POTTY-TRAINER!! I knew that when she decided it would be easy and it was. She was having no accidents and wearing panties at naptime by Day #4! So exciting. Here she is displaying the reward panties sent by Grandma Nut:

She is the best, funniest, most talkative companion for me all morning long. We do everything together and I love it.

Except when she goes to playgroup (last week at my house):

(I love that, too, first time in 12 years that I’ve had a guaranteed kid-free block of time!)

She got her cast off mid-September

and celebrated by dropping a huge rock on her foot that had her limping for a few days.

The Whole Family--

Ryan and I have 2 very consistent personality traits: He is VERY frugal and I am VERY rigid in my scheduling and following the plan. So that is why our Labor Day excursion was so unexpected and so fun.

We literally decided at noon on Sunday to have an overnighter in Sandpoint Idaho and were gone as soon as church got over at 4:00. We NEVER do stuff like that. The kids couldn’t believe it and kept saying “thank you!” and “this is so fun!”

We stayed in the little bungalows we’d stayed in for our couples weekend in June:

took walks:

had picnics:

swam in the most beautiful location:

played long involved board games:

and went canoeing:

It’s good to remember that there are some SUPER good memories that you can create when you leave the budget and schedule at home, once in a while.

This all seems so rosy and perfect (except for the injuries). It’s not. It’s just what you get when you only post a few times a month. I’ll try really hard to post something whiny soon. =)

Today's the day!

2011-09-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

Wish us luck!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

August (attempt 2)

2011-09-22T17:24:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-14T17:33:00.001-07:00

(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

2011-09-07T11:46:00.001-07:00

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!

Here’s SIX things I like about you:

2011-08-29T11:32:00.001-07:00

(By Gabe Romney…transcribed from the birthday card he made for Seth)

1. You’re always happy

2. You’re always trying to help

3. You are great at making friends

4. At times you can be my best buddy

5. You’re a kind little brother and a great big brother

6. You are the BEST brother in the world!

11 Things I would like to tell Gabe on his 11th Birthday

2011-08-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

(by Ryan)

1.) You have the drive and dedication of someone twice your age.

2.) I love your blend of natural mathematical talent and hard work – it’s so fun to see those two together.

3.) Boys are mean when they are unsure of themselves, there are a lot of insecure boys in middle school. Don’t let their underdeveloped characters get you down.

4.) You swim like a fish

5.) I respect how seriously you live gospel principles.

6.) Failing something hard/new ALWAYS trumps succeeding at what is easy/safe.

7.) You do a great job of being responsible with your money.

8.) It is sweet how grateful you are for everything.

9.) I want to be your best friend

10.) I have never met a kid who earned every Webelos pin they make, … well until now. You are awesome!

(taken at the Pool Party Pack Meeting where Gabe was awarded most of his pins)

11.) I feel profoundly blessed that you are my son.

Quick Quote

2011-08-23T16:36:00.001-07:00

While at girls camp, Emma had her first NON-digital, disposable camera:

"Ugh! I just took another picture of my pocket! Now I have 3!"

Mr. Mom: The texting edition

2011-08-18T17:13:00.001-07:00

(While I was at Girls Camp, Ryan took the week off of work to take care of the kids. Texts can be such a fun, real record of our life, I thought it would be fun to include some of them from that week.)

Jul 25, 2011 1:28 PM

R: Jane: “I wish I woke up at 6 so I could say bye to mom”. We all miss you.

Jul 25, 2011 2:00 PM

R; Just dropped off E. *sniff* I’ll miss her.

Jul 25, 4:02 PM

J: Swap out the laundry!!

Jul 26, 1:21 PM

J: Camp is most relaxing place ever.

R: Good.

Jul 26, 2011 9:11 PM

(referring to the finals he was completing for his MBA class)

R: Starting first test now. I’m so exhausted.

Jul 26, 2011 11:23 PM

R: Just finished 1st test. Felt like I did average. Boo on average. Whatever. Doing next part early tomorrow.

Jul27, 2011 5:16 AM

R; Just starting next test.

Jul 27, 2011 6:55 AM

R: DONE!!!

Jul 27, 2011 8:37 AM

R: Not bad for a dad:

J: WHAT?! That was the only parenting thing, I did better than you!!

R: Nuh-uh and you still do.

Jul 27, 2011 10:24 AM

J: Guess what? When you have 45 minutes to study, ponder and pray you have am amazing scripture experience!

R: Good. I have been yelled at and cried at no less than 20 times because I couldn’t find those purple flip flops.

Jul 27, 2011 12:02 PM

(Ryan was coming up to camp for bishops night and I had some requests)

J: Please do not forget to get a sleeping pad from Laura.

Jul 27, 2011 2:12 PM

R: I’m carpooling with the YW presd’cy. Hope it’s not awkward.

J: Why? And you have room for my pad, right?

R; Way to keep focused on MY issue.

Jul 27, 2011 3:31 PM

J: Hey! You got my pad?

J: And my big green blanket. I was cold last night.

J: Am I obnoxious?

Jul 28, 7:08 AM

J: I love you! How’s your morning?

R: Good run. Pretty morning. Got a lot of you in my head. Trying to get past it.

R: I’m down 3 lbs since Sat. What do you put in my food?!

Jul 28, 2011 3:15 PM

R: Us after the movie:

Jul 28, 2011 8:13 PM

R; “Dad, does mom want a picture of me?”:

Jul 29, 2011 10:34 AM

(Before a doctor’s visit to address an hugely infected wart on Jane’s foot)

R: Faith: “Dad, where are we going?” Me: “To the doctors.” F: “Well my tummy’s fat as can be!”

Jul 29. 2011 11:21 AM

(R was at the podiatrist when I got home)

J: I just got home and found this:

J: Is this how you take care of our children? One ripping down street signs and the other with a blood infection?

J: Attempting repairs:

R: Been there. Done that. He did it two days ago, too.

R: In the waiting room:

R; F: “I yike dese comics, Dad.”

J: Hey! My flowers are dead!

R: What?! They weren’t yesterday!

R: Are you exaggerating?

R: Um, speaking of dead, you might want to feed that fish.

J: The flowers look pretty bad. The rest of the house looks pretty incredible, so I forgive you.

Jul 29, 2011 11:45 AM

J: Hey! Tell Greg (the podiatrist, our friend) to hurry it up! I miss you!!

Every Day

2011-08-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

I'm sure for some, this wouldn't be enough for an anniversary:

For me it is. Because the celebration is in the everyday steadiness, loyalty, excitement, inspiration, romance and growth that is this marriage.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

July…also known as the best month of 2011

2011-08-11T16:33:00.001-07:00

I LOVE Summer. Love it. Love it. Love it. Boo on Back to School and Autumn.

For the 4th of July, we had a great day. I was determined to have it be all holiday-ish because last year was lame and to see good fireworks, because, we’ve missed out on fireworks for various reasons for years.

We started out in proper 4th of July attire:

and rode bikes to the little tiny town parade, which was super fun

I love watching the littlest kids try to figure out the candy-grabbing thing:

We spent the afternoon at the Daines’ lakehouse and had lovely weather.

We got back in time for fireworks viewing over Liberty Lake, on the deck of our friends’ house. It was beautiful and perfect.

We’ve also had some good time spent playing Summer Bingo (see last year’s post for explanation). We’ve had plenty of outings, which include strawberry picking

and crafting

(I had to take a picture for Ryan to prove I knew how to push a needle through fabric)

and cookie making

all in efforts to earn tickets and keep kids occupied. It’s working well.

One of our yearly summer highlights is the Family Fun Run we get to do. This year, Gabe and I ran together and he made me run fast.

It is a very hilly 4 mile course and Gabe did it in 30:41. I kept him in my sights and finished in 30:55 (which was apparently fast enough for a 1st place finish in my age division…it was fun because my 3 other friends placed as well. LOVE running buddies.)

Jane competed and was super tough.

Here’s Seth and his friend Katie at the starting line.

I love our active community and my active family!

Emma and I got to go to Girls Camp (seen here, while I monitored the tubing river and Emma floated it).

I was the leader of the high adventure canoe trip, which turned out to be a little bit crazy. This is a picture of me and some of my girls taking cover in my van while a MAJOR thunderstorm raged through our camp (post-canoe trip, pre- bedtime).

Since more than half of our bedding was sopping went, I made the executive decision to take the girls back home for the night and have them dry out and return in the morning. As we drove out we had to drive around numerous downed trees and large branches.

We got up to the larger Girls Camp in one piece and had a great remaining week. Emma loved it…this is her look on Bishops Night

(Ryan attended because our bishop was gone). Despite 29 mosquito bites,

it was one of the highlights of my summer.

Reason #26 We Love Ryan’s Company: they pay for families to do fun stuff together 4-5 times a year. This summer it was the Spokane Indians baseball team. We are SO not baseball fans but it was the most entertaining night. We want to do it again!

And, also, I love my Zoku popsicle maker. It’s almost a nightly tradition around here:

S’mores popsicles:

Watermelon popsicles:

Cherry Chocolate popsicle:

Is it any wonder that I am wishing for 3 MORE months of summer?

5 for 5

2011-08-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

--Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The difference between parenting your first child and parenting your fifth:

2011-08-05T16:27:00.001-07:00

About a month ago, I dished up a plate of dinner for Faith…on a red plate. She came to the dinner table and announced: “I don’t want a red plate, I want an orange plate.” I continued to serve up dinner to the rest of the crowd. Faith grabbed a stool, scooted it over to the counter, climbed up, opened the cabinet containing plates, found an orange one, got back down and brought it over to the table. I scraped her food from her red plate to her orange plate and she got into her chair, ready to eat.

Ryan looked at me and said “And that is the difference between parenting your first child and parenting your fifth child.”

With my first, I would have insisted that she eat from the red plate. (“No child of mine will be so picky as to need to have a certain color plate!”) I would have been unyielding in letting her know that I was the boss and, because we are a family, we simply don’t cater to those kinds of demands.

With my fifth, I think “Why would I possibly put up a fight over a plate?! Plus, bonus! She got it herself, without any trouble to me.”

Sorry, Emma (though there are bonuses to being first. I’m a first and I like a lot of things about it.) I sometimes (LOTS of times?) feel guilty, but I also, sometimes, just can recognize the growth and appreciate it. Yay for 12.5 years of learning how to be a Mother. I’m going to be so PERFECT after 40 years, I just know it!

Quick Quote

2011-07-31T21:40:00.001-07:00

After helping to prepare the Mother’s Day Brunch, Jane said:

“Thanks for the Mother’s Day Brunch…

ME!”

Having trouble switching tasks

2011-07-24T09:12:00.001-07:00

Potty training attempt #1 (May)

After a few weeks of talking it up, I decide, on a whim, to bring the potty-chair up to the main level. Faith excitedly jumps on it. Sits/tries for 3.5 minutes and begins yelling “I can’t! It’th too hard!” She gets off crying.

Over the next 2-3 days, I bring it up and she gets very upset, insisting “I NOT try it. It’th too hard!”

I come down one morning and don’t see the potty chair. I ask around. Faith, says matter-of-factly, “I took it back to the bathement, because I HATE it!”

Potty training attempt #2 (July)

After reading a particularly inspiring potty-training book from the library, Faith decides she’s a teensy bit interested in being like Ashley (the main character) so we retrieve the potty chair from the basement again.

But not really. After gently cajoling to sit on the potty, try on the gorgeous Dora panties, watch Dad sit on the potty-chair, etc., Faith is in intractable tears.

About 30 minutes after we switch activities, we notice Faith hoisting the potty-chair and heading down the stairs with it “Becauthe I don’t like it!”

What’s that phrase again? "No one goes to kindergarten in diapers”? Something like that?

Because nothing more exciting than a birthday recap post

2011-07-21T15:11:00.001-07:00

…ESPECIALLY one from an adult birthday:

I had a great birthday last Friday because I am

a) 37

b) know myself

These are things that I LOVE to do

--be with my kids

--be active

--read

--nap

--bake/cook

--be with my friends

--eat

So, I decided that my birthday would include all of those things.

I woke up early and attended my favorite class at the gym.

Then I corralled all of my kids into the car and we drove to Sandpoint and did a long hike.

Then we ate the best Mexican in the Northwest (Joel’s in Sandpoint).

Then I came home and read and napped.

Then I ate a homemade Chinese dinner that Ryan prepared (notice apron wearing).

Then I opened presents custom made for me (books, cookbooks, fancy popsicle makers, pedicure gift certificates). Jane makes an excellent photographer…if you want her for your next birthday party.

Then I made a big old chocolate cake that I’d been dreaming about for months during my sugar fast.

Then I got together with all my friends and their husbands and ate a table full of desserts, made by my friends that, luckily, are fabulous cooks.

So, in conclusion, 37 is a fine age to be, because you know who you are, what you want and how to get it…at least one day a year.

June June June June June

2011-07-18T22:10:00.001-07:00

So waaay back in June, we did some stuff.

As previously mentioned, we had Jane’s baptism, which, of course, meant Grandparents. Grandpa Sherrill and Grandma Genie stayed with us for a few days before the baptism and we had a great time.

They got to witness the fun 2nd grade play that Jane was in, “Save the Plants”.

Though we have seen it twice before with our other second graders, I still think it’s cute. Jane was Marigold and had her parts well-memorized. Between Emma and Gabe and their past parts, we could practically put on the whole thing in our living room.

Jane loved her teacher, Mrs. Ota, and so did we.

Grandma Dorrie stayed after the baptism and got to visit Emma’s middle school for Parents’ Day. It was fun to have Emma show us around her school—made me realize, again, how old she is getting.

Grandma Dorrie also awesomely babysat while Ryan and I went away for a much needed getaway to a little town an hour north of us, Sandpoint Idaho. It was the best place to go because there wasn’t much to do. We just slept and ate and watched movies and ran and hiked and played golf. It was so so lovely.

We stayed in a super cute little cabin next to the Pend Oreille river.

It was the first time I’ve EVER played golf and I was surprised at how very much I liked it. Ryan’s the most fun to play games with---just competitive enough to make it fun, but never irritated or stressed out.

We hiked a gorgeous trail called Gold Hill. It was fun and peaceful…even when a huge thunderstorm hit. This is what we looked like before

and after the hike.

The only problem with the weekend was when we returned and Grandma said, “Um. Before you go downstairs…”

There was a HUGE town yard sale while we were gone and my kids were participating on our street while Grandma monitered in and out of the house. Except while she was chatting with her sister and my kids procured a couch.

Yeah. A couch. With huge rips and detached upholstery. It was FREE from our neighbors and, before my mom even knew what was going on, it was being transported into our basement.

Upon arriving home, and hopefully without crushing their excitement, we explained that we couldn’t fit it in our house and that they would have to disposed of it by paying dad to take it to the dump….or by returning it to our oh-so-generous neighbors. They opted to go the returning route and are, sadly, back to being a 3 couch family.

The last week of school was a huge bummer weather-wise. Field days were rainy, though Gabe did the Romney name proud by capturing the Musical Chair prize, beating out 40 kids.

We are really talented at shoving people out of the way so we can get the last of anything around here.

Poor Faith and Seth came along while I worked my shift. Hopefully the Tigger hugs warmed them up.

Gabe (seen here running the Goodbye Gauntlet) had a great end of the year, receiving his citizenship award, along with a few other awards.

We were really proud at how he involved himself in activities and sets goals for himself. His swimming has been a great experience for him and he’s got some medals to prove it.

Continuing the theme of Rain Wrecking Stuff, Ryan’s work pays for a fun family day at the local amusement park. It looked like this for about 1 hour of the day…

and then like this:

We left after 4 hours. It kind of sucked.

Good thing we ended the month with a trip to Sunny Northern California. We stayed with both California Grandparents and took advantage of all of the amenities.

Good places to eat:

Grandpas who teach how to putt:

so we can get holes-in-one:

Grandma Nut’s fabulous pool:

And the ALWAYS popular game, Jump The Hose But Don’t Slip And Get Knocked Unconscious:

We lucked out because Ryan’s sister Brooke planned her trip at the same time and we LOVED getting to hang out with her and Spencer and cousins we don’t see enough.

I also got to hang out with some old high school friends at Tammy’s parent’s pool.

It was a perfect visit…fun stuff for the kids to do so that we could chat without them bugging us. Tammy is super fun with anyone’s kids and they had lots of fun goofing off in the pool.

Great picture to end on, huh? We are LOVING summertime THIS MUCH around here.

Lots of squirting

2011-07-09T16:41:00.001-07:00

Before the bumper boats ride:

During the bumper boats ride:

--Seth has lots of fun floating and squirting other riders

--The worker tells all boats to come in, as the time is up

--Mom is talking and waving to Ryan, Gabe, Jane and doesn’t realize Seth has ignored the summons

--Seth is spinning in circles, crying, in the middle of the “lake” because he “doesn’t know how to steer this thing” and, as evidenced by the continually left turning spin, we can tell he’s telling the truth

--Parents and worker try to instruct Seth how to return to land: “stop touching the controls!” and “put both hands in the air!” and “Now. Just hit the left one and then the right one”…to no avail

--Worker climbs in a bumper boat and goes to rescue Seth

--Seth begins to SQUIRT the worker with his water guns. Ryan: “SETH! Do not squirt the helper!!”

--Seth returns to land and reveals…he has peed his pants while in the middle of the lake. “I tried to hold it, but I was stuck there, Mom!”

After the Bumper Boats ride:

(We attempt an automatic bathroom hand-dryer drying of the pants. And do not allow him to sit on our laps the rest of the day.)

Being Baptized

2011-07-05T21:08:00.001-07:00

I guess being the third child means that the Big Events seem a little more run-of-the-mill, but it also means that your parents know what they are doing for those Big Events and they go off much more smoothly.

(It apparently also means it takes a month to get a post about your baptism. Sigh.)

So Jane was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on June 4, 2011. It was pretty much a perfect day. We had almost all grandparents and local aunts and uncles in attendance, lots of friends supporting, and gorgeous weather. We did a stake baptism this time, and kind of lucked out because of all of the children being baptized were kids we had a relationship with and it made it a more intimate event. Emma sang a lovely rendition of I Feel My Savior’s Love (despite teasing of cousins in the audience) and I only got a little teary during Jane’s Spotlight at the beginning of the service.

I shared with the audience that Jane is loving and fun, that she tries VERY hard to do her best and her favorite thing in the world right now is jumping rope. I told them how she laughs loud, is the queen of witty one-liners and how she truly has seemed more mature and ready to make this important covenant.

Some of the pictures from the day:

With Grandpa Sherrill and Grandma Genie:

With Grandma Dorrie:

Grandma Nut at the “after party”:

With her almost-perfect daddy:

Good thing this self-portrait in the chapel was taken before the baptism:

Manning the barbeque:

Jane’s friends were there, but they don’t still or look as pretty as their moms do:

I’m grateful that Jane has the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in her life. I love that the Holy Ghost can be her constant companion now and know that that will bring her safety, peace and true joy. She brings talents and light and fun to our lives and we treasured getting to spend a day focusing on the special girl that she is.

Some Summer Favorites

2011-06-29T11:01:00.001-07:00

Favorite new game:

Mexican Train Dominoes. We learned it while in California last week and it is the perfect game for our whole family. I ordered it on Amazon yesterday. Come over and play it with us!

Favorite summer salad (I had it last night. Wish I’d taken pictures because while the leftovers taste good, wilted lettuce leaves don’t photograph so well):

Mexi-Lime Salad topped with Spicy Honey Chicken

(This is actually my favorite salad for the past year or more. My cousin-in-law Brooke featured it on her blog a while ago and I added the chicken recipe from Our Best Bites to make it a dinner salad. It’s my go-to recipe when we have dinner guests because everyone LOVES it.)

Favorite new movie:

Temple Grandin. It is fabulous on every level: great acting, great cinematography, well-told true story, MANY lessons to learn about love and difference and hard work and achievement. Totally ter

Favorite new book:

Not exactly a summer read, but it’s kind of like Freakanomics for parenting and children. I like it because it’s interesting and gives me things to think about in a different way and apply without a ton of stress.

Favorite summer snack:

I know, I know. Every other area in the country has had these for a looong time. Spokane lags in the food department. We just got one 25 minutes away and we go every weekend. I love it because you can indulge with chocolate and treats or go fruity and sugar free and feel virtuous.

Favorite new children’s pictures:

Randi from M Photo again. Because she’s the best. We did just the kids, on the day of Jane’s baptism, and I snuck in a few. Have to show them off.

Favorite Summer Dream:

That I actually can take a half hour every few days to post all of the the fun and funny stuff that goes on around here. We’ll see!

There’s a reason it’s so cheap

2011-06-15T15:13:00.001-07:00

I love where I live because:

1. It is beautiful: Mountains, hills, trees, flowers, green everywhere.

2. My little town is perfect: well-planned neighborhoods, walking trails, parks, good schools, community events.

3. It is close to a town big enough to have some shopping, restaurants, events, colleges.

4. The cost of living is low: cheap preschool, haircuts, housing, food.

5. My husband drives 4 minutes to get to work.

6. I love the people that live here…down to earth, educated, faithful, fun.

I don’t love where I live because:

This is what Field Day at the elementary school looks like EVERY FREAKING YEAR:

on June 15. Pouring rain and 55 degrees.

On June 15.

May Summary

2011-06-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow. I just went through all of the May pictures in preparation for this post and there is a lot of stuff. Fun stuff. I’m sure it wasn’t all fun in May, but who takes pictures of the days you yell at your kids, or they come home with sad report cards or they start pounding on their brother? No one. Rest assured those days happen often AND we have a lot of unproductive, disorganized, frustrating days…but what follows are the happy, productive, silly, bonding days. It’s what’s on my camera.

Jane had a birthday:

(I’ve realized our birthdays involve a lot of food. Is that just us? Am I dooming my kids to a life of food=fun/love issues?)

Jane picked orange rolls and bacon for her birthday breakfast:

She also devised this special hair-do for her special day (3 little braids, braided into one big side braid):

We picked her up from school and went to Wendy’s with Dad:

And picked up donuts for her class right after:

For dinner/party, she wanted a ham and cheese sandwich picnic in the park with the Daines. She got it:

Here’s my cute fruit pizza birthday “cakes”:

And some fun presents:

Jane is a joy and just LOVES anything you do for her. She skipped around in 7th Heaven all day and it was so fun to watch her feel super happy and special all day long.

Wicked!

About 15 months ago, I heard Wicked was touring in Spokane. It was a million dollars, but I knew this was something that wouldn’t happen again for a long time, so we splurged and bought early tickets, with good seats. We bought with a group so that we could order early and I have been guarding those tickets for a year. We couldn’t believe it had finally come.

Ryan and Faith stayed home for a little milkshake-park date and they couldn’t have been happier.

You know what’s SO fun? It was EXACTLY as fabulous as I was hoping it would be. The kids were thoroughly into it and appreciative, the set and actors were just as incredible as when I went in New York, our seats were great and we lucked out and got to sit right in front of some of our very best friends. TOTALLY worth the money. Truly.

Emma has “Theme days” at school. For posterity, I give you:

60s:

and 90s:

(Yeah. That’s basically EXACTLY what I looked like in 9th grade. Minus huge pinned-in shoulder pads and zits.)

Jeanelle comes to visit from Seattle:

It’s so fun to meet a blog friend in real life. Even when your kids are crazy. And your table is embarrassingly scratched and ugly. And your BBQ stops working and you have to grill on your indoor grill WHEN YOU KNOW JEANELLE HATES FOOD SMELLS ON HER CLOTHES. I credit Jeanelle for acting gracious and interested and at-east. And for bringing yummy Chex Mix for my kids to snarf.

Faiths acts hilarious all the time:

In Emma’s bra (do you think my 6th grader will be embarrassed that I’m displaying her bra on the world wide web?)

With stickers on her head:

You give her a sticker, she puts it on her head and wears it there until she goes to bed. It’s awesome.

Evidence that it WASN’T actually winter during the entire month of May:

See? We actually wore shorts and ate popsicles

and planted our garden

during the 2.5 days that it wasn’t 49 and rainy.

I actually attended a field trip with my kid:

(Gabe came in a month ago and said “Here’s a note to see if parents want to come on our field trip, but you never do that, so I’ll throw it away.” Cue huge guilt. Ugh. It’s just hard to be gone all day when I have a 5 and 2 year to disperse! So I figured it out in time to go with Jane.)

We got to attend a play downtown and walk around Manito Gardens. It was so fun to have alone time with her. She’s incredibly good company.

Jane’s cast went on and off.

In 2.6 weeks. It seems fine. That’s all.

I made homemade tamales for Cinco de Mayo.

With these huge banana leaves. It took FOREVER. I never wanted to look at tamales again when I was done.

A lovely Mother’s day:

which included a walk

and almost sugar free dessert

as well as a lovely church service, permission to just sit around whenever I wanted and a gift certificate to a local spa. Ryan ALWAYS does a great job on days like this.

The Piano Recital:

My kids love their teacher and have really grown this year in their ability.

My Half Marathon

It was fabulous because I trained with all of my FUN, FUN friends:

And the weather was perfect (a slight wind at our backs and sunshine):

And I KILLED my personal best.

I ran that baby in 1:49:40. Which is 7 minutes faster than I was hoping for AND averages to 8:19/minute miles. Not that I’m bragging or anything. Maybe just a little.

The End. (And FYI: that took my 63 minutes to find, download, save and transfer all the pictures, organize and write the text, adjust pictures and bold the print and proofread—which I probably didn’t do very well. This is why posts are few and far between these days.)

Things Jane Has Done While Wearing a Cast

2011-05-31T15:13:00.001-07:00

1. Jumped ON a diving board, but not OFF the diving board (phew!)

2. Jumped on the trampoline.

3. Played in her piano recital (both hands!)

4. Had the “best birthday of her whole life!”

5. Ridden a scooter, one-handed, while a tow rope was attached to it. What?

6. Seen the play “Wicked” and only felt scared right before Fiyero turned into a scarecrow.

7. Done the neighborhood slip-n-slide (Wet PLUS running PLUS falling? You see a problem with that?)

(We’re so relieved it comes off on Thursday, because she’s obviously been REALLY hampered by it for the last couple of weeks.)

Jane is 8

2011-05-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

(guest post by Jane's dad)

Dear Jane,

I am glad for the excuse to tell you what a great girl you are. Birthdays are a blessing because they remind me to pause and appreciate the good things that you have brought into our world. But they are also tinged with the realization that time does pass and that you won't always be something that I can scoop up. I want you to know that I just plain love who you are. You are a big joy in a little body. You laugh hard and play hard. You have the scrapes and scratches to prove it (and I guess a hot pink cast now too). You are brave enough to withstand the heckling that younger sisters are sometimes subjected to. You aren't intimidated by work. I love having a girl that stops me 5 times in a day to tell me about George Washington Carver; or one that comes downstairs after being put to bed saying how her inventor book is more interesting than the latest chapter book. I am glad that your "R's" aren't all the way grown up yet. You crack me up with your one-liner commentaries. I wish I could freeze time with you. I love soaking up the minutes I get with you. They will never be enough, but they are more than I could have ever hoped for. You - Are - Awesome!

Love, Dad

Consequences

2011-05-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

Some people helped with dinner chores:

Some people didn't:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quick Quote

2011-05-19T12:18:00.001-07:00

At a VERY involved Arrow of Light Ceremony, Faith noticed the man in the Indian headress:

"Hey! Dat’s a coot tookey!”

Join the club, Jane

2011-05-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

After falling off of her scooter while riding home from piano last Wednesday, Jane was in a lot of pain, but seemed to recover quickly. We didn't think it was broken because a) she slept great b) she hasn't needed painkillers since Thursday c) she played in get soccer game yesterday.

Well, we were wrong!

We noticed a weird bump yesterday, called a doctor friend, and visited urgent care this morning. They are calling it a "green stick" fracture...meaning her bones are soft (like a new branch on a tree) and it mostly bent, with some minor fracturing on the edges. It's hard-splinted now and we'll take her in tomorrow for a real cast.

Our main worry? Jane turns 8 in 8 days. How does one get baptized by immersion when one has a cast on??

The only "non-broken" members of our family are Faith and Ryan now. While it's a tough, cool club to join, we are hoping to keep it pretty exclusive!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

April!

2011-05-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

April started with my kids’ Spring Break. I had the same plan as last year: one big activity/outing per day, and it worked out great.

Jane was really sick on Day 1, so we made that Craft Day. (This is evidence that I’m a good mom: I hate crafts but do them once a year anyway.) I picked the most perfect ones. The kids made this lion,

which was great for ages 5-12 and then made their own marble maze.

They played and ran timed trials with their mazes 121 times in the next few days, so it was the activity that kept on giving.

The other Spring Break activities included…

Bowling with our friends/neighbors, the Fuhrimanns

Jumping at the super fun/super expensive trampoline place in town. Seriously, it was the most active fun I’ve had with my kids in a long time.

The last day was the best. Ryan took the day off and we used this little kids magazine we found to be tourists in our own downtown.

It had a little detective theme and we walked about 2 miles, checking out the different sights and learning about stuff like the most dangerous saloon in Spokane (cool!)

and hydroelectric power (snore…though it came in handy at a charades night a few days later).

The rest of the month was filled with…

Uh, this was the part where I look at my pictures so I can remember. But there are none, just a few videos of Faith counting to 29 (yeah: Genius 2 year old) and bunch of self portraits of those silly kids. And this shot:

which represents this fantastically crappy spring we’ve been having here in Spokane.

I’ll actually have to rely on my memory for a little person by person recap:

Emma spent a lot of time with us, as she is allowed to play with friends, talk on the phone and watch TV when her grades look like she can handle those distractions. There is some slooow progress (both Emma and her parents are learning a lot). Gabe spent April running 50 miles, total, in the school’s running program, getting a lot of migraines and taking 5 pages of notes on General Conference. Jane also ran (36 miles), played soccer (1 goal = big milkshake) and got one of the larger parts in her second grade play. Seth talked a lot and played with his friends a lot and did his jobs really slow a lot and kept learning to read like a champ a lot. Faith had an easy phase in April and continually amazes us with her vocabulary and memory. She has lots of buddies in her older siblings; we think she’s a pretty lucky kid. Ryan finished his MBA class with 100% and is really questioning the wisdom of being on the city council. I am training for a half marathon and have lost 29 lbs since January!

We ended April with another week of fun: a trip to Women’s Conference for Mom and a long playdate with Grandma Dorrie for the kids.

I joined them the last two days for a much-anticipated-by-Seth trip to the Bean Museum, where they got to pet a snake. Seth asked me to take a picture so it’s look like he’s fighting the animals:

plus the Market Room Buffet at Brick Oven.

After, we met up with cousins McKennah and Cecily

(between dance competitions) to bowl.

Jane won

and Gabe, um, didn’t:

We also had a SUPER fun dinner at Cade and Stacy’s, where this crowd:

just sat around being hilarious for a few hours.

We even got Aunt Bekah to be our Easter Outfit photographer:

Man. April sounds really fun, when you read about it like that!

“I learn how to love them, dear Mother, from you…”

2011-05-08T10:03:00.001-07:00

I watch my mother and I learn compassion and to value things that “lovely, of good report and praiseworthy.”

I watch my mother in law and learn to keep a sense of humor no matter what and to serve unceasingly.

I watch my friend Brenda and learn to be a “mother bear” when it comes to defending my kids.

I watch my friend Rachel and learn to teach self-confidence to children simply by being self-confident yourself.

I watch my friend Laura and learn to say things nicely so the EVERY kid in the neighborhood wants to be around you all the time.

I watch my friend Alison and learn to teach my kids to find causes and stand for them, no matter what.

I watch my friend Penny and learn to make my kids’ safety paramount in my decision making.

I watch my friend Daralee and learn to teach my kids self-reliance and to place value on what is really important.

I watch my friend Tessa and learn how to teach your kids optimism, service and friendship.

I watch my friend Randi and learn how to teach children to develop their talents and let them be who they are.

I watch my friend Jessica (Albrecht) and learn how to take charge and make sure the programs, relationships, lessons, etc. that are good for her kids are in place, organized and the best they can be.

I watch my friend Meghann and learn how to arrange my priorities so that I am giving my kids my time and attention.

I watch my friend Cami and learn how to cheer and encourage my kids in all that they do.

I watch my friend Jessica (Shenaman) and learn how to make every situation fun for my kids.

I watch my friend Melissa and learn how to be calm and how to say yes to my kids as much as possible.

I watch my friend Adrianne and learn how to work to continually progress in the skills of mothering.

I watch my friend Paige and learn how to make my kids the most important variable in the hard, hard things life throws at us.

I watch my friend Andrea and learn how to put my desires aside in order to do what is best for my children.

I watch my sister-in-law Heather and learn how to parent by the Spirit.

I watch my sister-in-law Betsy and learn how to go to any length to make a holiday, a birthday, an event, a playdate for my kids as fun as possible.

I watch my sister-in-law Brooke and learn how to model overcoming change and challenges and grief by following the Savior.

I watch my sister-in-law Meridith and learn how to calmly and carefully do Motherhood like it’s the only job worth doing.

I watch my sister-in-law Christy and learn how to enjoy my kids, without stressing and worrying.

I watch my sister-in-law Janelle and learn how to only do the things that really matter for the growth of my kids and the strengthening of the family unit.

I watch my sister-in-law Kelsie and learn how to give my kids a happy home by supporting and loving their father.

There are many blogging friends out there, too, who teach me things like organization, perspective, applying the Gospel to parenting, how to celebrate, how to slow down so that I can be a better mother. I have women in my life who aren’t mothers yet, who cheer me on and applaud my efforts and make me feel like I just might be doing something right. I have men in my life who inspire me with their fathering and their examples, their praise and their support.

I don’t do this job in a vacuum. I can only do this job because I have examples and friends and books and a husband who help me. Mostly I can do this because I have a Savior who, through his Grace gives me power to do more than is humanly possible in mothering these sweet, good, challenging children.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Thoughts from Women’s Conference

2011-05-05T15:19:00.001-07:00

I got to attend BYU’s Women’s Conference over the weekend. Some observations follow:

--BYU is a beautiful campus: the buildings, the blossoms, the huge so-close-you-could-touch mountains, the feelings that’s here. I feel lucky all of the time that I got to attend all those years ago. I have lots of fun memories.

--There is so much variety, even among a bunch of American Mormon women. I loved the different clothing styles, ages, conversations I overheard, groupings. Variety and difference are beautiful. Sometimes I forget that I/we all don’t need to act the same. It’s our differences that makes this life experience rich and meaningful and lovely.

--Sometimes, even for a Type-A, follow-the-rules girl, like myself, skipping a class and going to lunch my mother in law and sister in law can be WAY more enriching than any old class would be. Plus: Kneaders.

--I have a problem: while in the first class, “Ideals are Stars to steer by, not Sticks to beat ourselves with”, I literally had a knot in my stomach while I tried to pick the Absolutely Perfect lecture list for the next two days. I was all anxious that I would miss The One that would make me Perfect. I had to talk myself off the ledge and remind myself that it would be great, no matter what I picked and what I heard. Sheesh.

--Also funny: In the Avoiding the Time Traps of Technology class, I observed 1 woman texting on her phone during the opening prayer (yeah, yeah, my eyes were open…), 1 woman get up and leave when she got a call on her cell phones, and 2 women having a discussion about Angry Birds. One of the best classes I went to, regardless of anyone’s technology addictions.

--Having two days of almost total alone time is really really nice sometimes. I spent one segment between classes reading EVERY SINGLE PLAQUE next to the Minerva Teichert (one of my faves) paintings that line the walls of the Joseph Smith building. (Downside: you have to take pictures of yourself and that doesn’t usually work out so well).

--If you don’t have a friend at Women’s Conference…you better have a husband who doesn’t mind getting calls after every class, so that you can share all the brilliant things you are learning with SOMEBODY.

--It’s a good thing I’m a trained runner—getting into popular Women’s Conference classes requires it. You should have seen me, literally, FULL-OUT 9 minute-mile running to get into NieNie and CJane’s class. I kept ignoring the vision of my 36-year-old-tight-jean-leopard-print-flats self tearing through the campus with a bag bouncing across my back by telling myself a)You’ll never see these people you are passing again and b)when will you get a chance to see/hear those two in person again? (TOTALLY worth it, btw—hilarious, interesting, spiritual).

--It was wonderful. I really just spend the whole entire time feeling the abiding peace and joy of the Holy Ghost. I felt personal promptings that including (mostly) affirmations that I’m doing just fine and (a little bit) ideas on how to improve. I was reminded, through that Spirit, of the blessings that come from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and obedience to it. It is thrilling to know what I know and have what I have and to be able to share it with my children and others.

--I have returned home just a little bit better than when I left.

The Weekend that was so lovely it deserves its own post

2011-04-25T15:13:00.001-07:00

Friday:

No pictures of this, but Emma and I got to participate in a huge Easter choir concert and it was a phenomenal experience. The director is unparalleled and spending hours practicing and performing with friends was a blessing. I feel grateful, during activities like these, that I get to experience holidays through music and get to raise my praises to heaven through song.

Saturday:

The egg dying:

so chill and fun. I think the first 60 degree day and the sunlight streaming through the window made everyone extra happy.

A sunny Egg-Salad-Sandwich Picnic:

Can I repeat: NICEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR?

The family candy/egg hunt:

The church egg hunt, also not documented with pictures, was way more fun this year (Egg hunts seem to be more enjoyable WITHOUT snow). We loved the part where they sent the million kids out hunting in the forest and then told the adults to line up for the food. Everyone was happy!

Sunday:

Alas, no Easter Sunday clothes pictures. It’s way too hard to

a)get everyone dressed, happily, in time for church AND pictures

b)get everyone dressed, happily, in time for church AND pictures, when the 2 year old is taking her nap until the last possible second

c) get everyone dressed, happily, in time for church AND pictures, when the 2 year old is taking her nap until the last possible second, AND your husband left for meetings 40 minutes earlier.

Everyone did look very cute and I was very pleased with the matching. We’ll do a repeat next Sunday, when we visit Utah, and have Aunt Bekah take pictures.

But I did capture some of the always fabulous Easter dinner with the Daines:

and Uncle Doug and Aunt Marcy (who couldn’t be more positive, loving, thoughtful and fun to talk to):

Hey look! I was there:

Last night Jane said the family prayer at the end of the day and was thanking Heavenly Father for each family member. When she got to me, she said, “Thanks for mom and um….the food she makes.” I took that opportunity (my counselor told me I could) to, kindly, remind those children about who organized all activities, purchased all eggs and dye kits, initiated Easter dinner planning with Heather, bought all new Easter clothes, provided all baskets, made all the food, etc. etc.

I wanted some credit. So, shoot me.

It takes a village

2011-04-20T13:42:00.001-07:00

So this is how Faith refers to the following people:

Really. For example: Faith was in the tub and she called for Daddy to come get her. When Ryan appeared she said “No! Not you, Big Daddy. I need Yittle Daddy get me out da tub!”

It’s nice to be the well-loved, much looked after, doted on littlest sister.

March (can I really remember that long ago?) Summary

2011-04-18T21:05:00.001-07:00

I really don’t think I can remember much, so I guess I’ll just caption the few pictures I took. You can tell who’s home during the day, because they’re basically the only people I document.

Here is Seth with his Leprechaun trap.

We obviously didn’t read the instruction that told us to make it small enough to fit in a backpack. It was kind of hilarious because Seth literally thought he was going to catch an actual Leprechaun. Too bad Mom didn’t “have enough energy” on St Patricks Day to let the Leprechaun in the house and he wasn’t able to leave his usual trail of footprints and pot of gold. We’ll never know if that Leprechaun trap would actually have worked.

Luckily my energy was drained AFTER I purchased the appropriate green gear:

Speaking of my massive energy drain, I seriously got so fed up with reminding people to do 100% of their daily jobs instead of 63% and then having to deal with the stomping, yelling tantrums that resulted from reminders and THEN having to deal with fighting children all morning long before school that I just decided that I only had the energy to do the basic Mom stuff (feed, clothe, love the children). We didn’t have fancy breakfasts, just healthy boring oatmeal. I didn’t give rides to school/soccer/cub scouts/swim practice. We didn’t have fun holiday celebrations. Pretty soon I started hearing stuff like “Hey, guys, maybe if we stop fighting, she’ll make us waffles tomorrow.” And “I can’t get distracted because I want mom to give me a ride.” It was decently effective, I must say.

Also, I eat Spinach Smoothies every day, and I’m pleased to report that 3/5 of my children now suck down a serving of veggies with every breakfast. See:

Dress up week at the Kindergarten Center included:

Wacky Wednesday

and Crazy Hair Day

Gabe competed in the Math is Cool competition and his team took 2nd place.

There was a lot learned by Gabe about working consistently and up to his potential and Mom learned a lot about letting kids learn from their mistakes and dealing with the frustration/worry that comes with it. Cryptic enough for you?

Emma got to go to her first New Beginnings for Young Women and it was beyond cute in it’s theme and message. She LLLOOOOVVVVEEEESSSS Young Women. Loves.

Aunt Betsy came to visit and we had a lovely time sneaking in lunches and pedicures and one late night talk. We love having cousins come, too, of course, but sometimes an aunt by herself is LOTS of fun.

Note to self: You remember a lot more about a month when it’s not been over for 3 weeks. That’s all.

How To: Do it EXACTLY right and STILL fail Love and Logic

2011-04-12T15:21:00.001-07:00

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I really ascribe to the “Love and Logic” parenting program. I wish I was a ~~thousand~~ million times better at it. The following is a conversation where I actually did it perfectly (see my italics for the editor’s notes and L&L descriptions) and, well… why don’t you just read to see my results:

Seth: “Wah wah wah! Gabe is doing blah blah blah same old whine something mean to me!”

Mom: (Displaying empathy, when she really just wants one single solitary morning where the boys do not fight before school) “Oh, that’s no fun! Sorry, bud. What are you going to do about it? (Making the issue HIS problem, not Mom’s.)

Seth: “I don’t know!! I already tried that Ignoring One you always say!”

Mom: (Classic Love and Logic here: helping the child problem solve, but not forcing) “Would you like me to give you some ideas?”

Seth: “Uh-huh!”

Mom: (As L&L suggests, she throws out some outrageous ones that the child can reject first, because who wants to listen to dumb ol’ mom, anyway?) “Why don’t you go punch Gabe in the stomach!?”

Seth: “No! He would fight me back and he’s better at fighting than me!”

Mom: (Throwing out another TOTALLY outrageous suggestion, while preparing her rational suggestion that Seth go do his dishwasher job and laundry cubbie, so he doesn’t have to be around Gabe) “I know! How about you go cover your ears in TAPE so you don’t have to hear what Gabe says to you!?”

(And here’s where it all breaks down…)

Seth: “Oh! OKAY!”

He returns, 2 minutes later.

Seth: “Mom! That was a great idea! I can’t even hear him in here!”

I give up.

For ideas that actually work…head over to Stie’s How to Tuesday!

Kindergarten Self-Analysis

2011-04-02T11:49:00.001-07:00

So Seth was supposed to color Red (or reddish pink, apparently) the “Intelligences” that seem most like him, Yellow for the ones that are kind of like him and blue for those not resembling him at all.

Do you see how well this kid knows himself? (If you can’t tell, artistic is also colored red…)

I love it!

Notes from parent-teacher conferences

2011-03-31T17:45:00.001-07:00

1. Your kid is mostly the same at school as he is at home. We walked into Jane’s conference and the teacher asked “is Jane really messy at home? She’s my messiest kid here.” Yeah, well, she’s our messiest kid here, too. Seth talks all the time at kindergarten, too. Gabe cares most about getting done fast, which is what we deal with during chore time, here, too.

2. There are character traits that seem to run through the entire family. EVERY SINGLE CONFERENCE, the teacher said “They are so smart and are doing fine. I just wish they’d take a little more time on their work. And they struggle with organization.” In fact, I’ve heard that at every single conference since Emma started Kindergarten. Heck, I’ve heard it every single conference since I started going to school, because guess what? That’s exactly the kind of student I was, and frankly, I’m still kind of like that.

3. It’s good to take your husband. I’m glad I don’t have to be the filter. I’m glad he was able to tell me what he heard, because, I was kind of only hearing the negative. It was good to have him remind me that there was 90% positive there and I should probably focus on that.

4. My kids are really nice kids. I’m grateful that we don’t have behavior issues and that they are known as kind, fun students.

5. You feel very proud and very embarrassed in the same 20 minutes. Like when Jane’s teacher points out the that Jane got a 4 for effort in every extra-curricular class (music, computer, PE, etc.) and that she’s never seen that. That it’s an indication of a girl who puts her best, cheerful effort in EVERY place she goes. And then tells us how they had to take pencils with erasers away from Jane because she was EATING THE ERASER HEAD OFF OF EVERY ONE. In fact the aide asked her, “What are erasers for Jane?” and she replied, in all sincerity: “For eating?” ?!?!

6. Even though I’m a little crazy to think that I’m smart enough to guide 5 different human beings, I’ve also learned that I don’t need to feel guilty for their failings. I’m trying my best. So are they. When either of us realizes we need to do things differently, we will!

Some stuff about Seth’s mouth

2011-03-25T10:05:00.001-07:00

1. When I went to Seth’s Valentine’s party the aide came up to me and said “That Seth. He really talks a lot. He talks more than any kid in the class. He just follows us around talking.” “Really?” I replied, in complete sarcasm. Then his teacher came up to me “That Seth is a kick. He’s so fun and good, but he really never stops talking, does he?” “Um, no.” I replied, again. Then his student teacher comes up to me “That Seth. He can talk to anybody. It doesn’t even matter if you’re listening or not.” “Um-hmm.” I replied.

I left the Valentines party feeling very vindicated.

2. Jane has never been able to say her Rs very well. In fact, she’s in speech therapy currently, trying to learn how to pronounce them (smiling lips, a rolling feeling in the back of your mouth). Seth couldn’t say his Rs, but I always suspected it had more to do with the person that he talked to the majority of the day (Jane), then actual physical issues, or whatever.

A few weeks ago, apparently due to some eavesdropping on Mom/Jane speech practice, Seth decided to try to say his Rs. And so for the last 2-3 weeks, we the Poster Child for Hard Rs in our house. Every R sounds like this: “Mom, is it time foRRR the biRRRthday paRRRty yet?” It’s pretty funny, and kind of amazing how quickly he’s picked it up. He’s actually surpassed Jane in his ability to consistently use them in everyday speech. Heck, he’s suRRRpassed us all in his attention to Rs.

It’s pRRRobably all the pRRRactice he gets.

How to: run your first marathon

2011-03-22T17:08:00.001-07:00

Bold Print: I have no education, whatsoever, in exercise or physical anything. I don’t even read running magazines. I have to try VERY hard to follow my doctor’s advice when it comes to taking care of my legs/feet. I am in no way an expert.

That being said…I did run my first marathon last May and it went so well, I want to do it again and again. This is what I’d tell someone that was thinking of running a marathon.

1. You CAN do it. I made my decision after watching “Biggest Loser’s” marathon one year. I thought: if those people who were inactive and 350 lbs 4 months ago, then I can certainly do it. What you don’t know yet is that you build really slowly. You run 8 miles and then 10 miles and then you think “I can run 12, because it’s only 20 minutes more than I ran last week”.

2. Cross-train, cross-train, cross-train. I cross-trained really hard and had no injuries, at all. I felt like it was because I was working ALL of my muscles regularly, not just my running muscles, and so nothing was getting over-used and strained. Others I know, who didn’t cross-train, got injuries. Also, I was reading an article about running your first marathon, and the #2 thing they said to do, after checking with your doctor, is to begin weight lifting! My cross-training included 2 days of serious weight-lifting and one day of boot camp.

3. Use this plan:The Less-Is-More Training Program . It’s a 3 day a week training plan and I really liked it. I felt like I never got burned out on running or was achy from pounding my feet 4-5 days a week. You have to be running 4-6 miles to start it, and it starts at high mileage right from the start, but all of my friends, who trained with me and didn’t use my plan, want to use it for our next marathon.

4. Convince SOMEONE to do it with you. Those long runs were actually FUN to me, because I knew it was my alone time with my friends. Plus, you want to talk about it non-stop, so you need someone who cares.

5. Realize that your body will need to recover. When I ran 15 miles on a Saturday morning, I was kind of useless until about 2:00 pm, after a long nap. It’s a sacrifice for your family, so tell them thanks a lot.

6. Research your marathon. Don’t start out on a challenging, hilly, high-altitude one. You can find ratings and opinions on sites like this.

7. Download some new upbeat, dance-y tunes every few weeks. “Rockstar” by Pink gets old after 115 miles of training.

8. Good shoes. Everyone who knows me, knows I get by on cheap. You can’t go cheap on running shoes. Go to a running store and have them fit you…it’s worth the extra $50, I promise.

9. Don’t expect to lose weight. Unless you are a boy.

10. Start early experimenting with food and liquid during your long run. You want to have a fueling habit that your body can count on. You can find books at the library or websites that will give you ideas on ideal marathon training nutrition. (I ate a banana and a yogurt 30 minutes before each run, fueled during the run with G2 and jolly ranchers and tried to eat a complex carbohydrate—whole wheat bread/crackers within an hour of getting home.)

There you go! It was so fun! I get a giddy feeling in my stomach whenever I remember it and can’t wait to do Top of Utah in September of this year…anyone want to join me?

**More How-Tos: Check Stie’s fun How-To Tuesday here.

It's dangerous out there

2011-03-13T21:08:00.001-07:00

Ryan just called a sibling whose parenting he particularly admires and asked the following question: "When you become a perfect parent, do you stop hiding from your kids? Because right now, I'm afraid to leave my room because I might encounter one. I'm just wondering, does that end sometime?"

It's been a long Sunday.

Obviously.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Little

2011-03-11T15:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I spent some time putting together my blog book from 2009. Being 2 years behind is no big deal, except…those posts are about kids who were so much littler 2 years ago. It made me sad. Little 6 month old Faith, 3 year Seth, 5 year old Jane…I was a little teary.

The fact is, no matter what I do, there’s no possible way to stop them from getting bigger. They’ll just keep doing it and doing it, until I have no more Littles at home. I’m sure there will be good things about that, but I couldn’t think of them yesterday.

So that is why…I didn’t really mind at all when this one:

got a little stomach flu yesterday.

With a little perspective, I was able to stop my busy and stay home with and enjoy my Almost Not Little boy—reading books, paying games, taking a nap together.

A little Tender Mercy, I think, that on a day when I was especially mourning my babies, I got to spend a little extra time with one of them.

How To: Make a Monday dinner Pot Pie from your Sunday dinner Pot Roast

2011-03-07T21:48:00.001-08:00

My friend, Christie, had a fabulous idea to put together a How-To Tuesday blog party. Go here to see all of the links to the Tutorial Party.

Here’s my silly offering:

I’m not a very creative cook. Detailed, yes. Successful, yes. But not so much creative. I made a pot roast and then ate the leftovers till they were gone. Until…I went to my friend Julie’s house after I’d had Faith. She fed our family a yummy pot roast on Sunday and then while we enjoyed dessert, whipped up a second meal for me to take home: Beef Pot Pie.

I’ve been doing it ever since.

Step 1: Make (and enjoy) your pot roast. This is my favorite recipe: Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast. (Note: I add beef broth in place of the water in this recipe and I add carrots, onion and celery about 3 hours before it’s supposed to be done.)

Step 2: On Monday, over the din of piano practicing and people getting their feelings hurt and Faith asking to watch Despicable Me for the THIRD time today…pull out your leftover tupperware full of pot roast and veggies. We had asparagus as a side last night, so I’m planning on throwing those in, as well.

Step 3: Last night’s pot roast make AMAZING gravy, so we always make mashed potatoes. For the Pot Roast, I needed some cooked chopped potatoes. Pull out 2-3 medium potatoes.

Step 4: Peel and chop your potatoes.

Step 5: Microwave with an inch of water for 5-6 minutes (till they are soft but not mushed). Make sure your lid is slightly ajar so that the steam doesn’t blow your lid off halfway through.

Step 6: Chop your roast and dump the pot roasted veggies into your pan, along with your cooked potatoes.

Step 7: Begin your quest for thyme in your ridiculously underorganized spice area. (Someone do a tutorial on spice organization—but not the drawer kind. I have no drawers.)

Step 8: Yay! You found it!

Step 9: Sprinkle 1/2 t. thyme over your meat and veggies (more if you’ve slowly upped your husband’s thyme tolerance over the years), along with garlic salt (because your husband’s always had a high tolerance for both).

Step 10: If there isn’t enough gravy from the crockpot, add some beef broth (I bet you wish you’d saved that half of a can you threw away last night, don’t you?! Now you’re going to have to grab some beef bullion and make some more) and stir it all in the pan.

Step 11: Make (or buy) a single pie crust and lay it over the top. Try to care more than me about how the top looks.

Step 12: Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes (I know the picture said 30, but it wasn’t enough, all right?). Pat yourself on the back for having dinner done at 5:06 pm.

Step 13: Enjoy your finished product:

February Summary

2011-03-05T16:12:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the big and not-so-big events of February…

Not so big:

Everyone got new Valentines shirts for the 1st Day of Valentines. Here are Faith and Seth in theirs. Sorry, no pictures of any of the rest of the “days”.

Oh! Except on Day # 9 (or something) when I took each of them out to lunch. Taking 5 kids, individually, out to lunch takes quite a bit of planning, calories and cash, but I was happy when they later reported that it was their favorite “Day” of the entire Valentines month.

Faith reminds us a few times a day: “Dis what a mah-key (monkey) yooks yike, Mom!”

At Emma’s parent teacher conference (no comment re:that particular “thrilling moment in my parenting career” in an effort to protect the ~~guilty~~ innocent), we got to see the locker that the ASB decorated for her birthday:

Big:

We had lots of relatives visit us this month…mainly to come to Emma’s special temple trip:

But we had lots of fun with Grandma Dorrie and Grandpa Rick while having our Valentine’s Day Dinner (strawberry crepes):

And going to the Children’s museum:

Grandpa Sherrill and Grandma Genie showed up next and we made those Californians go to the park in our unseasonably warm (43 degrees) and sunny (for an hour) February day:

Aunt Bekah came, too. She is very good to remind us to take pictures when we look our best:

Grandma Nut and Grandpa Romney came, as well, and we took advantage of her (and Genie’s) sewing expertise (since I certainly don’t have any) to learn her new sewing machine and create a few projects.

In other Valentines Day festivities, I was in charge of Seth’s party this year…which meant copying everything I did for Jane’s first grade party last year…which meant copying everything my mom did for her Kindergarten class the year before that.

Emma finished her big China project, complete with her kimono (my purple robe from college) and homemade fried rice samples:

On the last day of the month, we celebrated Ryan’s birthday. The only one who seemed to put in any effort was sister Heather, who brought a package full of things that Ryan loves (past and present):

Besides the lemon and lime pies, we had a nice lunch out and a FHE of newly purchased Mario Kart.

Also in the Decidedly Big category…First Friday. This is the annual costume party that the Albrechts throw. Check her blog for the full story (the costumes were incredible this year). But, please, tell me you know what Ryan and I are!? I was shocked at how few people did.

On that Super Note, I’ll leave you for today. Comment powers, activate!

Quick Quote

2011-03-02T10:14:00.001-08:00

Seth: " Buckle up so the Police Mans don't get you!"

Jane: " duh! The Police don't work on Sunday!"

So, hey…feel free to speed on the Sabbath…apparently the police officers are all at church!

Having a Snow Day is fun when…

2011-02-25T08:21:00.001-08:00

It’s the only one you’ve had in two years.

Your kids have lots of silly cousins to play with and a babysitting grandma willing to host for the afternoon.

You have a husband who shovels with you in the quiet, peaceful dark of the early morning.

The sun comes out for much of the chilly day.

You have lots of hot chocolate on hand.

You’d already had a stay-at-home day planned anyway.

You have this cute kid to bundle up.

Kids come in saying “Mom, my face ees fwozen!” and then trot back outside to play again.

You are leaving on a girlfriend getaway the very next day!

Thoughts about Emma turning 12

2011-02-23T20:09:00.001-08:00

**For my non-Mormon friends: In the LDS religion, 12 is kind of a big age. From 3-12, kids attend the children’s Sunday school organization. When they turn 12, a girl enters Young Women and attends classes and activities geared toward adolescents. They are able to enter areas of our temples for the first time. It really symbolizes an end of childhood.**

In the months leading up to her birthday, people would ask me how I felt about her turning 12. I would answer: “Oh, she’s really ready. She’s so mature and excited about this next stage in her life. I’m happy for her.” I meant it.

And then 4 days before her birthday, during our family scripture study, we got a knock on the door. All of the girls in her new Young Women class were there, surprising her and welcoming her with a song and a candy-gram. Cute, right?

Except I was standing at the door, barely able to be civil. I was so surprised by my feelings and surprised by the realization that I was MAD at these ladies for coming to take my child and turn her into a teenager! I knew it was illogical and tried to get over it, but I quickly figured out that night that this transition was going to be a little more painful for me than I thought.

We celebrated with a birthday lunch at Red Robin, jumping at the local trampoline place with her three closest friends and present opening in the car. As we drove, I listened to these girls talk about BOYS, as they got more and more hyper and goofy, and again had to face the fact: she is not a child anymore.

I got choked up as I decorated her birthday table, and sorted pictures of a baby that will never be a baby again, a kindergarten that I’ll never get to hang out with again, an innocent 8 year old fresh from the waters of baptism that is starting this probably not-so-innocent phase. I remembered an older friend telling me “After they turn 12, it just goes by in a blink.”

Boo.

Since her birthday we’ve had 2 Beehive lessons, 1 youth fireside, 2 Young Women activities (all of which she LOVED LOVED LOVED). She’s already busier, different, more mature, truly-- in 10 days. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but I can feel the change.

There are wonderful things about this 12 year old…a family trip to the temple to do baptisms, as I thrilled to introduce her to the peace and profundity that can be found in temple service. Or family prayers that show a spiritual maturity that she needs and shares with her siblings. She is a capable babysitter, a good example to her friends, fun to talk to when she unloads after school.

I know it won’t be bad. I know there will be joy in this stage, too.

But I’m allowed to mourn my first little girl, just a little bit, aren’t I?

It's what's on the inside that counts...

2011-02-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

Katelyn's valentines box:

Emily's valentines box:

Erika's valentines box:

Payson's valentines box:

Austin's valentines box:

And.....

Jane's valentine's box:

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This is what happened in January

2011-02-07T11:30:00.001-08:00

Nothing. Which was lovely.

Okay, not nothing, but apparently nothing I felt deserved any pictures, so maybe I’ll just highlight each person and call it good.

Emma

Emma competed in a piano competition. There was an astounding lack of practicing involved, even after an embarrassing rehearsal in front of her orchestra class. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), she had an amazing judge that really spent a good 10 minutes giving her tips and the second highest rating possible.

She’s kind of casting around for something to do after school. She was worried that she would be too busy (this might be the ONLY way she doesn’t take after her mother) and so didn’t sign up for any extra-curricular anything. We are debating a city choir or sewing lessons to fill her time. As for now, she plays A LOT with Faith and so maybe we should just leave well enough alone?

She’s also growing like crazy (12 next week!). And so Ryan is constantly wondering why her clothes are so tight. I didn’t buy them that way, I promise…she’s just turning into an almost teenager apparently. At least she knows how to put clothes together well…cute sense of style.

Gabe

He had his first swim meet. He was really nervous, but had no reason to be as he took 2nd in both events (breaststroke and butterfly). He LOVES swim practices, even when it/s 12 degrees, snowing and he just got home from Math is Cool.

He also feels the need to steal my phone and take 7200 self-portraits. I find stuff like this:

every day.

He’s become a huge reader as well. He’s finished 39 Clues and is on to Harry Potter. He loves to stay up late reading AND he loves to wake up early to read. I wish he needed as little sleep as Emma…all these early mornings/late nights have resulted in some forced early bedtimes due to grouchiness.

Jane

It’s so funny/pathetic how much she DIES to have any sort of one-on-one time with an adult. She gets so excited about her 20 minutes Speech Therapy at school and was on cloud nine when she got to go to the Stake Baptism Preview with just Mom and Dad. Ryan has been spending a few minutes at bedtime with a different kid each night and she’s always convinced it’s her turn.

After a letter regarding Jane’s lateness was sent home last month, she is proud to announce she hasn’t been late in 5 weeks. Of course there are many tears, and even a few last minute paid rides to school, but we are celebrating around here.

She gets along great with Seth, less great with Emma and Gabe. My latest argument solving tactic involves sending the disagree-ers out to the COLD garage to “work it out”. I tell them I’m happy to work it out for them, but since it “drains my energy” they’ll need to restore my energy with a chore. They usually opt for self-mediating…and the 20 degree temperature in the garage seems to hurry them along.

Seth

He really really really really really really really really talks a lot. Really a lot. I have no way to properly convey the amount of talking that goes on. It’s cute and funny. And exhausting. (Really. Try having someone talk in your ear for 4 hours straight. See if you say, at the grocery store “Seriously. You cannot open your mouth on more time till we are in the car or you are in trouble.”) It’s also not particularly socially acceptable, so we are working on when it’s his turn and when it’s the rest of world’s turn.

He also really really really really really really really really does a lot of arts and crafts. Ask anyone if they’ve ever been around him for more than 15 minutes without him sitting down to cut, draw, tape, glue, or color something. Look for him in the Louvre someday.

Faith

She is SO GOOD right now. A friend commented the other day “She seems to have really matured in the last few weeks” and it’s true. It’s like a few rational switches have flipped on in her head and we’ve only had 2 rage-induced barfing episodes in the last 6 weeks. YAY!

She is talking like a 3 year old. It’s so fun. Honestly when someone who is 3 feet tall with a little munchkin voice says stuff like “I show you how I draw a dog. Oops, mom! Dat not a dog! I sink dat a balloon I draw!” you pretty much want to die of cuteness attacks.

While talking like a champ, we sometimes worry about her hearing. She grunts “huh?!” about 48 times a day. It doesn’t sound funny when I type it, but I really think she acts like a 88 year old man, with a cone to his hear (“Eh?!”) half the time.

Cute stuff that I have to record: She calls all of her siblings “guys”. Like: “The guys home from school afer my nap, mom?” or “Hey! I hear guys now, mom!”. She also is big into arguing “Yes you was, Sef!” over and over. And if she’s doesn’t know something she tells us, “I not know!” And also, in case you were wondering, “I not Yike that salad, mom!”

Ryan

Same stuff. His work paid for everyone to go to a hockey game, with a catered dinner on the floor of the arena. We left the little kids at home and had a great time.

He’s exercised every day since the New Year and is pretty proud of it. Head over to our sports club around 5:30 and you’ll see him riding an exercise bike, with a BIG huge marketing text balanced on the handlebars.

Also, he’s been Mr Fun FHE lately. We have a guy in our ward, who seriously is one of the best jump-ropers in the nation. Seriously. Ryan asked him to meet us at the church and do some demonstrations. Best Family Home Evening on record.

Jessica

I’m doing better. I think the no-sugar (yay! Down 14 lbs), extra prayers, less computer and counseling appoinments are making a difference, I think.

I truly have the most active, fun group of friends/ward and have a girls night, or a couples date or a recipe group or a play group to go to 3 days a week. I’ve actually NOT done 2-3 things, in a effort to put my energy where it’s most needed, and Ryan’s been shocked. Mostly it’s rejuvenating, but I’m trying to strike that balance.

I pretty much wrote the most boring summary ever—was there a single piece of humor in these last 10 paragraphs? Whatever. Now I can go cross this thing off my list!