Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The Start of The Magical Year

I'm just planning on this being a magical wonderful year, no matter what.  The first reason is because this is the ONE and ONLY year that all three of my children will be in the same school.  Just saying that makes me a little sad actually, and it already feels like the year is going to fly by.  Seeing as how it's still August and I'm blogging about the FIRST day of school I shouldn't fret about that too much I guess.  I just know it's going to cruise though.  It will be so lovely and easy for me to just take all my kids to school at the same time, just around the corner, and pick them up at the same time every day. And at a school that I absolutely and totally adore!  Wow!  I can already tell I'm going to miss that for the rest of having kids in school.  Again, I MAY be getting a little ahead of myself.  Another contributing factor to this so-called magical year is that my wee little Bundle is going to start full-day kindergarten.  I know I'm going to miss her and it's so weird and crazy and sad and happy to see my baby gal go off to all-day school, but she's going to love it.  This girl craves action all day long - activities, art projects, playing pretend - she never lets up.  The thought of her being actively engaged in learning all day long is a very happy one because I think she's going to EAT IT UP.

And let's not lie.  I am not going to be sad about having some quiet time every day.  

There, I said it.  I confess.  I'm going to love it.  

We also have three of my favorite teachers in the whole school this year.  Stomper has Ms. Parker - she is the cutest gal whom I know from high school.  She's a good friend of my younger brother and it was fun to see a familiar face when she started teaching a few years ago.  But now that we have her for a teacher I'm learning just what a wonderful teacher she is.  Fabulous.  Organized.  Funny.  Playful.  Strict.  Yay!  Bitty, for the first time ever, has a teacher who also taught Stomper.  Never have they repeated teachers before, isn't that weird?  Mrs. Farrell, I already know, helps these new 4th graders really apply what they spent the first years of school learning.  She's great, I feel like we've been neighbors for years, I'd do anything for her, she calls me sweetie.  Of course I love her!  And Bundle....the lucky duck!  Her teacher, Mrs. Yaeger, started teaching 3rd grade the year Stomper was in 3rd.  I didn't want him with a new teacher I didn't know, and was relieved when he wasn't assigned to her class.  And Stomper had a great 3rd grade year - I loved his teacher and still do.  But I also saw that I was very dumb for having any doubts about Mrs. Yaeger.  What a cool lady she is - another person in life I just wish I could be neighbors with.  And happy for us, she switched to kindergarten last year and I was just psyched to get Bundle into her class.  Three absolutely wonderful teachers, three exciting grade levels for the kids, and I will actually be able to get stuff done at home without either feeling guilty for distracting Bundle to leave me alone or having her at my heels all day. 

Now I feel like a bad person.  I really am going to miss her - my alone time with her is almost gone, and I'm sad!  It's just that (yes I'm doing some justification here) I know she's going to love it.  It's time for her, and it's time for me.  I may cry a little, and I may not!










So fun to see the kids meet up with some of their favorite school chums:




Someone Turned Nine!!

Just a few weeks ago it was looking like Bitty's birthday would coincide with the first days of school once again, and it was with great relief that I got word that our school district's schedule had changed.  Sorry for anyone who was not happy with our later start date, but I was so happy that Bitty's birthday happened on a summer day instead of in the chaos of the start of school.  It didn't take much thinking for Bitty to decide how she wanted to celebrate her birthday - I asked her what she wanted and she knew right away how we should spend the day.

The morning began with waffles.  Not just any waffles - Belgian Waffles.  The good kind made hours ahead with yeast and chunky sugar and whipped cream on top.  And of course a there had to be a small gift or two from her family.




Bitty has wanted rain boots for a very long time - just ask Aunt Sheri

I LOVE surprised-birthday-face



We didn't have any special lunch plans so her dad came and picked her up for a surprise Birthday Lunch at Whole Foods - her Aunty Margaret takes her there some times and she loves going.  I think it's just a happy I-am-special kind of place for her.

I love the picture I snapped of Bitty and Troy right before they left:


That girl's happy face is one of my favorite things in life.  So cute.  

After their lunch, we headed off for her official birthday celebration, which was to take one of her bestest friends to Build-a-Bear workshop and go bananas.  We didn't go as bananas as she would have liked, but if felt pretty bananas to me.  




Introducing - Lolly the Teddy Bear!


Bitty's friend picked a bunny named...Samantha?  Maybe?  


Introducing....Evo!  (Still not quite sure where that name came from)

Introducing....Rizzo!  Bitty really wanted to pick a bear that no one else picked but finally caved and didn't put up a fuss when her little sister wanted the same bear.  



A note on Build-a-Bear....these things are starting to pile up at our house.  They have come into our home through Christmas, birthday parties of our own and other kids' - we've got a quite a few.  It's getting ridiculous but I guess I'll have to stand up for them.  They're very very sweet little plushies (possibly a new noun I have just coined) and each one is known by name by everyone in the family and are deeply loved by each kid.  I guess I'm just resigned to my fate of death-by-plushie as we are gradually buried alive year by year.



After our exciting outing we hustled home to tidy the house and get to work on dinner.  Bitty was so cute about this too - I asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner and surprisingly she came up with a very specific idea - teeny tiny little hamburgers on teeny tiny little buns.  Okay!  It's your birthday!  I'll do it!  We invited grandparents and the family of one of Bitty's other dear dear friends (it helped that her parents are our dear dear friends as well).  We ate teeny tiny hamburgers on teeny tiny buns as well as grapes and salad (it's a Romney dinner!  Of course there's salad!) and a fabulous (though not very pretty) cake, which fit Bitty's requirements of a LEMON cake with VANILLA frosting with STRAWBERRY ice-cream with CHOCOLATE sauce.  She wanted all bases covered.



This is sad but it doesn't happen often any more that my mom actually looks into a camera when her picture is being taken so this was fun and a rare chance to catch her eyes for a picture









Getting ready for her last surprise .....
A New (to us....) Bicycle from her grandparents!  

Bitty my darling girl, happy birthday and may the year ahead be a wonderful one.  Sometimes I wish you came with your own instruction manual so I could be a better parent for you, but no matter what our ups and downs are each day (and the ups are definitely more frequent than the downs!) you are my treasure and I adore you.  I often just sit back and look at you in wonder, trying to fathom that you are really my daughter!  We are so lucky to have you!

Monday, August 25, 2014

Romney Gatherings

Hi.  School just started today and already I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open but....I MUST BLOG ON!  As per usual, the things I want to make a record of are piling up faster than I'm writing them down and, well, you know.  It's how I do stuff I guess.

The middle of August brought almost all of my family together.  Adam and co. came down from Seattle - I was going to call it The Great White North but I think it's been hotter up there than it has been down here for most of the month.  Sheri came up from the south, although her dear hubby couldn't make it, which bummed us all out because we love our Peter.  In all seriousness, Peter is one of my and my husband's dearest friends.  I'm very grateful that I get along so well with each of my siblings and count them each as a close friend and confidant.  Peter, we need to see you soon.  Anyway, with my brothers' families both in town we were able to plan some fun family time.  Adam and Whit spent part of their vacation at a hotel in Park City and we were only too happy to come take over the pool for an evening, plus hang out in the room eating pizza and salad (as Sheri has noted, no Romney meal can possibly be complete without a salad!), playing cards, getting totally cuted-out by two seriously adorable almost-one-year-olds, and letting all those piles of cousins just go play.  Little girls everywhere.  EVERY where.  Although...we didn't get very many pictures of them.  They just weren't holding still.  But these two babies, who met for the first time on this evening, probably got slightly over-photographed.  We couldn't help it.  I mean, look at them!












The next day Sheri and I decided to go crazy and try to kill ourselves.  We did this by first going to the zoo with our combined six children as well as my parents.  I'm so glad my folks came - they really had a good time.  I don't know when my dad actually visited the zoo last.  It seems like it wasn't that long ago, but there've been many additions to the zoo recently, and dad seemed very excited to be there.  He really had a good time - as noted by the way he talked extensively to many zoo keepers, was super interested in the animals and even climbed around on some of the kid stuff with his grandkids.  It was really fun, and the trip yielded some great pictures of him.







After the zoo - this is the suicide part - Sheri and I picked up my husband and went to have a last summer hurrah at Seven Peaks Water Park where we discovered that although many summer Saturdays had low attendance, if you pick one of the last Saturdays before school it's going to be packed.  There were so many people there!  And it wasn't even that warm.  I swear, I've never felt summer cool off as early as it has this year.  Maybe we're in for some hot weather ahead, but August has been so mild.  We still had fun - and we still spent the last of our Seven Peaks dollars on those delicious fries.  So sad that my favorite part of the watermark is their french fries.

In the evening, though we were nearly dead after that day, we had some super with my parents who returned for more grandkid time.  Most everyone enjoyed a walk to the park after dinner, which made our movie plans not happen due to group-exhuastion, but that's all good!  Walking to the park on a summer evening is much better than a movie, especially when you get pictures like these:









Oh we love our cousins.  It was a busy weekend - especially without Peter there to lend a hand.  Sheri and I had plans to hang out late and talk and watch movies but instead we did this really weird thing where we were tired and went to bed.