Instagram

So, after much nudging by my friend Randi, I finally got on Instagram.  I totally love it.  It’s like a mini blog/facebook thing, where you post a picture with a short caption and people can see it whenever they log on.  Grandparents/Aunt Bekah would love it.  I like it because it’s a smaller audience, which makes it easier for me to post random, seemingly boring kid pictures and I LOVE it, because I feel like I’m capturing moments that I’ve been letting slip by now that I only blog once a week.  Anyway…

I decided I’d post the month’s instagrams (with captions), so that I can have those pictures/moments for my blog book. Here goes!

May 10

“I think I love the sun a little bit more because I live in the Pacific Northwest”

 

May 12

“Jane scored a goal!”

 

May 18 @Madeleine’s Café & Patisserie

“Pre-marathon brunch!”

 

May 18

“Here’s the three year old who was cheering when she heard she got to skip her nap today…”

 

May 19 @Winderemere Marathon

“This is what 26.2 looks like (3:54 finish, if you’re interested)”

May 19 @Winderemere Marathon

“This is what it looks like when 9 mom friends run a marathon. And this is only 2/3 of our kids.”

May 22

“Jacket, check.  Healthy, check.  Hair done, check.  Shoes at the windy 50 degree track meet, doh!”

 

May 23

“Jane: ‘The thing about birthdays is you’re just happy all day!’”

 

May 23

“Which bike?”

 

May 25

“I’ve got a new ‘nappy buddy’…when my kids start trying to give up naps, I pull them into bed with me and get another year or so of naptime.  I L.O.V.E. it.”

May 28

“Making up our own disc golf course…since it seems North Idaho College doesn’t have one anymore.”

 

May 31

“My lilacs finally bloomed!”

 

June 1

“High-brow reading while mom helps at the middle school book fair.”

 

June 1

“Dance party on liberty lake…#whoknew37wasthisfun?”

 

June 2

“Cutest sisters ever!”

 

June 5 @Chez Romney

“My caprese chicken salad…top 10 favorite summer meals!”

 

So there you go…moments captured, via Instagram.

Quick Quote

 

Jane's definition of a picky eater:

"You say 'Do you want this?'

and they say "no yuck!'.

Then you say 'Do you want this?'

and they say 'No Yuck!'.

Then you say 'Do you want pizza?'

and they say "Yeah!"

Once upon a time it was April…

6 weeks ago.  I can’t even remember what happened. 

Oh no!  I just looked at my pictures folder and there are, like, 6, and they are all of Easter.  This is going to be sparse.

We decorated eggs and went easter egg hunting and it was a very lovely sunny day (which is ALWAYS a blessing here in Spokane).  Ryan had us on a mean budget and so I didn’t even get to buy new Easter clothes so no Easter Sunday pictures.  Here are some the activities we could afford (just kidding, Ryan):

 

We had playgroup at our house, with a Spring theme and it actually was Spring-ish (note the blossoms), so thank you, Mother Nature, because playgroup is A LOT more fun when you can go outside.

I just texted Ryan, asking for pictures from his phone and this is what he sent:

(he was King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon for a primary activity)

and we went to the Museum of Arts and Culture and looked at their Native American exhibit and their VERY COOL impressionism exhibit. (Can I just say:  my kids are superstar museum goers, especially Gabe.  They totally listen and go slowly while I explain stuff.  I love it.  I always feel like an awesome mom when we go.)

After he sent me those two pictures, he texted:  “I don’t have much from April”

and I said  “Me neither”

and then he replied “Take a picture of a soccer ball, cause that’s all we did.” 

Which is true.

Except we also (and by we, I mean, Faith) thought our Sonicare needed airing out and decided to leave it on the front porch for a day or so.  That’s worth taking a picture of…

And Gabe continued to swim:

And Emma, Jane and Seth all did after-school running programs (wonder where they get that interest?), but I have no pictures of it, except this one of Gabe and Seth cheering Emma on at her first meet.

 

And Faith is funny and her favorite thing to do is play “castle”, which is just a more elitist form of house.  The BEST is when she plays with Ryan…he lays on the couch and she walks around telling him all of the stuff they are "doing” (“Okay.  You be the PrinTH and I am your Printhess and mom is da queen.  And we go on our hortheth, with our pretty dretheth.  But you don’t wear a dreth, wight dad?)  He always has some pretty hilarious additions, but my favorite is how she is completely satisfied with him just lying there while she spins her fantasy world.

So that’s April.  The End.

Mothers Day Bests

1. When I realized that Emma snuck out with Ryan at 11:00 Saturday night to buy me these flowers.

2. When Jane said her favorite thing to do with me is "read scriptures in the morning". I love it, too, and am glad it's a happy time for her.

3. Seeing how much Gabe really cared about making sure he could make me breakfast this morning. Things were running really late before church and he was pretty bummed when we told him we'd have to do his muffins and scrambled eggs for lunch. I could tell he really wanted to do something special.

4. When, in church today, an older mother whose son had gotten married this week spoke of the joy she had felt all week and she bore testimony that she knew it was a result of the daily efforts...trying over and over again to teach and love her children. It was just what this mother needed to hear today.

5. When I came home from choir practice to a slightly chaotic dinner preparation. Finally Ryan said "I'm sorry. I need your help. It's really hard getting all of this ready". Honestly, just having him admit that the thing I do every day was difficult for my super capable husband...made me feel valued and accomplished.

6. Skype-ing with my mom and sister...total craziness but everything that woman says and does makes it clear that she loves me and she loves my kids.

Good day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

How to be a Great Mom (By Ryan)

Moms are great each in their own way.  On this Mothers Day I wanted to share 3 things that make my mom a stellar one.

1.)  My mom can do anything.  When there is something ... anything to be done, my mom just does it.  She doesn't whine or complain or wait for someone to come save her, she just rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.  Having a mom teach you this everyday of life through her constant steady example is invaluable.  Thank you mom.

2.) My mom is selfless.  My mom isn't happy unless she is helping someone else.  As a child I watched her make meals for sick friends, pack boxes for people who were moving and scrub the home of a friend that just needed a little extra help. 

As a twelve year old boy, I had a paper route. Often my mom would come help me with the task of rolling and rubber banding 180 newspapers.  I cherished the help at the time as it saved me from a task that I hated.  But it wasn't until recently that it came into perspective how kind and selfless this was of her.  Here was a tired mom of 7 rowdy and obnoxious children  who went to bed at midnight and woke up at 5am taking 30 minutes of her 5am hour to help her son do something he could and should do by himself.  I now appreciate the generous act many times more than I appreciated the help with my job when I was twelve.  Thank you mom.

3.) My mom is kind.  I am sure that my mom had people in her life that annoyed her or rubbed her the wrong way.  I think we all do at one time or another.  However, I never knew about them.  My mom didn't gossip about people when they weren't around, she didn't make mean comments about the people she interacted with when she talked with friends.  She chose to be kind.  I didn't know it but she instilled in me a discomfort with rude personal attacks because they were absent from my life.  I didn't see them occur or happen to overhear them as I was near her.  I appreciate her teaching me the value of living a kind life.  Thank you mom. 

We never do this. Okay, ONE of us never does this.

A month or two ago, one of my oldest best friends, Tammy, emailed me about coming to visit.  Adrianne, my OTHER oldest best friend, was coming to see her during the weekend of Tammy’s baby shower.  They both thought I should come too.  Of course, I said yes.  I’ve learned over the years that spending time and money to let someone know how important they are to you is always worth it.  One reason we’ve stayed friends for more than 20 years is because we make these kinds of efforts to be together at important times.

So I was all set to go.  And then…we were at dinner with our friends, the Beykirchs.  Kevin began to talk to Ryan about a Southern California sailing trip some guys were putting together.  They wanted him to come.  “I can’t”, Ryan said, “It’s the same weekend as Jessica’s Girls Trip”.  And then the craziest thing happened:  Melissa, Kevin’s wife, said, “I will watch your kids.  All 5 of your kids.  And all 4 of mine.  And my brand new puppy.  All by myself because my husband will be off surfing with your husband in Sunny California.” (So, I added those last few sentences.  But that’s actually what she was saying.  And everyone needs to know the magnitude of what she volunteered to do.)

Here is a list of the things Ryan does his best to avoid:

1.  Spending money on himself

2.  Putting people out

3.  Getting scratches on his car from the handlebars of kids bikes.

This trip was obviously going to require him to do 2 of the 3.  I thought he’d never do it.  That’s why, when I got the trip itinerary via email, I gasped out loud in Target.  I couldn’t believe it.  I got 3 texts from friends within 2 days expressing the same shock. 

So while Melissa (with some help from other devoted friends) wrangled all of our kids, I did this:

(hiking in the Oakland hills)

(lots of GOOD food eating)

(pedicures)

(at the baby shower)

 

and Ryan did this:

(christening the boat)

(surfing…and breaking the board)

(runs on the beach)

(navigating…when he wasn’t trying not lose his lunch due to seasickness)

 

And Melissa has qualified for sainthood.

Thanks to the friends who invited and organized and stayed home with our kids, so that we could have a fun, girls/guys bonding weekend at the same time!

On the advent of spring

I love where I live.  I think I’ve said that many times.  Spokane has so many things going for it (no traffic, good schools, beauty, low cost of living, neat communities), that we all just overlook the weather.  And when I say overlook it I mean we deal with it, but feel very free to complain about it…mostly in March, April and May.

Because in Spokane, spring sucks.  It’s gray and cold and rainy and while every holiday, every news report, every clothing advertisement tells you it’s warmish and pinkish and sunny…in Spokane, it’s not.

Except for a few days here and there.  And when those days happen…it’s like you live in Disneyland or something.  Because everyone is so happy and everyone is outside and the grills are going and the parks are full and the shorts come out and you feel like you just got a free vacation or something plopped in your lap.

It happened here last week.  We had a week of sun and temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s. So the Romneys…

1. Got out their new summer clothes.  My kids are so much cuter in their new, non-ripped, non-stained clothes.

2.  Had 5 meals outside (in the backyard, at the park, at the soccer field).

3.  Ran and biked like crazy in SHORTS!

4.  Walked to church and back.

5.  Hiked Tubbs Hill and ate on the deck of the Coeur d’alene resort.

6.  Pointed out every blossom and tulip and daffodil that came across our path (life again! instead of bare limbs and yellow grass!)

7.  Grew a whole bunch of cute freckles.

8.  Had a hard time getting much done because when it’s that nice, you really just think you need to play.

We are back to the 50s (but still sunny! yay!) and back in our long-sleeves, but that week was the shot in the arm we needed to get us all the way to late June…which is when real summer starts around here. 

Quick Quote

 

Seth: P_________ is kind of the class clown.  But I don’t really like his jokes.  Because they are mostly about caffeine….and your tush.

 

NOT CAFFEINE!  NOT YOUR TUSH!!

March!

So in March we had St. Patrick’s Day:

And went to Utah for vacation.  Here’s us at the zoo:

Seth was in love with my cousin Rachel (who is 4):

I took the big kids to a live session of General Conference, which was a neat experience:

We got to hang out with baby Molly (Sam and Stephanie’s first baby).  Gabe was very feisty about getting his turns…it was pretty cute.

We stayed with Aunt Betsy for a night and had fun at Hunger Games and at this play place with this crazy ropes course.

We ate tons of food (here at Sweet Tooth Fairy)

and got to tour the church I went to when I was 4-5 (built 114 years ago!) and saw my old house.

And apparently that’s all we did, because I have pictures of nothing else.

 

How about a little review of each kid, for journaling’s sake?

Emma is doing well.  She had a little bump in the Doing All My Assignments road (exactly like last year) but she got back on track quicker than last year, so that’s progress, right?  She is in the Spokane Area Children’s Chorus and they had their first concert last month (right while we were in Hawaii, so no pictures!).  She’s also started track, which we are pleased about.  She is a girl with lots of athletic ability and little interest.  But she’s realized she’s fast and has decided to try to be a sprinter.  Fun!  She’s pretty even-keel, even as a teenager, but there are still friend dramas that come up.  After reviewing this paragraph, she seems like a pretty normal girl!

Gabe is at a good stage as well.  It’s fun to see him pick things on his own (trombone, swimming) and excel at them.  His grades were good…truly would have had straight As if he’d only had me sign his Language Arts planner and his Band practice sheets.  He’s realizing that it’s pretty silly to miss a 4.0 for lack of a few signatures. His favorite thing in the world is to be out on the culdesac playing the big crowd of boys who live here.

Jane continues to be funny and so serious about doing what’s right.  Mention something that she could improve on, and she gets right to work on it.  She’s a good girl.  She plays piano and soccer right now and loves when it’s the weekly 8-9 year old church activity day.  She’s also hilarious…constantly making up dumb songs (it’s like we have our own soundtrack, sometimes) and she’s got this new chest-thumping pose that she says is her new “thing”.  Silly.

Seth is doing great in school, working about a grade level ahead of 1st grade.  He’s still a little spacy, but he’s aware of that issue and I feel like he works on it….when he remembers.  He’s always everyone’s friend and his motto is “Why Use 8 Words, when 58 words will do?”  He enjoys playing soccer, but we have to be careful about complimenting him on something as he dribbles by, because he will seriously STOP in the middle and chat with us about why he did what and what the coach said, while we urge “SETH!  Talk to us later!  Keep moving!”

Faith is SUPER fun to be around all day long.  She’s still the queen of routine (hey that rhymes!  Something she can also do.), and if you do something, ANYTHING two days in a row, she will seriously think that’s the way it should always be.  She loves going cross-eyed, because I make a big deal about how it’s disturbing.  She also CAN TOTALLY WHISTLE!  What 3 year old can actually whistle?!  She memorized her first Scripture for primary and I have it on video, but I’m way past the point of including video in posts.

We are boring…I’m marathon training and Ryan is running a weight loss contest at work.  Our spring has been decent, which is HUGE around here.  I’m realizing I’m in a new Older Kid Phase of parenting which requires 1) Lots of Driving and 2) just being around a lot so you catch them when they want to share.  I love being a mom.  I’m reading actual books more, which means blog reading and facebook reading is suffering (but I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing).  Ryan does homework (5 classes away from his MBA degree) and church stuff and handyman stuff around our house and our rental place.

Sorry that you just had to read a Romney Christmas Card in April!  I just thought I should record some every day things.  On this sunny, quiet Spring day…the every day seems pretty great.