June

 

The next few posts are going to be all “this is what we did…” but, in the end, this is a journal, so bear with me.

1.  Look close at this awesome picture (is it even possible to take good pictures of children’s school performances??):

That’s Emma in the navy blue at her violin concert.  We had a violin in the basement (I played for 10 years) and the school lessons were free.  The cost was about equal to the effort Emma put into it, but she is signed up for violin at the middle school next year, so maybe the passion will surface one of these days.

 

2.  Ryan’s company paid for us to go to the local amusement park this year

They even gave everyone wristbands for free soda at every refreshment stand in the park.  Our kids were in carbonation heaven.  We also became well associated with every restroom Silverwood has to offer, due to the excessive bladder fillage that was happening.

This is what the four oldest kids did the whole day:

This is what Faith did the whole day:

It was pretty bad, but after an exhausted, cried out nap and a trip to the water park area, she got a teensy bit better.

Seth, true to his “Funnest Kid Ever” status, looked like this before he went on his first major roller coaster:

And looked like this after his first major roller coaster:

I sat next to him and listened to him laugh the whole time.  See?  Funnest Kid Ever.

3.  Here’s Gabe in his Dale Chihuly costume.  We put off a much needed haircut for a month so that we could roll his hair in sponge rollers to mimic the curly hair of Washington’s most famous glass artist.

4.  And how cute is this?

For Jane’s birthday, Jane asked for a new outfit for her “Jane” doll that she got for Christmas.  Ryan’s mom, having noticed Doll Jane’s loved on appearance during her last visit, requested Doll Jane for a complete makeover.  Real Jane even noticed new blush on Doll Jane’s cheeks.  Grandma also sent a matching pajama outfit for Real Jane and they look pretty cute going to bed together.

  

5.  Jane had her “author party”, where the first grade teacher gives you a book full of all of Jane’s notable assignments and then plays a slide show, to the song “Let Them Be Little” which makes you start to bawl by slide #3.  Don’t look to Jane’s journal entries for any real family history, though, because apparently she played soccer that I never signed her up for, went on a few trips that I wasn’t present at, and viewed some movies that I never drove her to.  Maybe she should label it a work of fiction, just to avoid any embarrassing Oprah moments in the future.

6.  Here’s the Romney’s first garage sale attempt (at our town’s famous community wide yard sale event). 

I sold everything good the day before via Craig’s list and Gabe was selling his VERY used Battleship game for $10, so we didn’t get a lot of stranger traffic.  Despite Seth’s awesome sandwich board sign:

Luckily there are 26 kids on the court so they all went around purchasing each other’s yard sale crap and bringing it home.

7.  We had a fun visit from Grandpa Sherrill and Grandma Genie, during which we did the usual:

Trip to Manito park:

    

Trip to Tubbs Hill:

Huge Sunday eating:

We did get crazy and take a trip to our county park:

and make some backyard S’mores:

8.  We had a fun end of the year party on our court, complete with a garage full of hot dogs and kids

and these cute, cute summer-themed cupcakes:

 

8.  Here’s Faith at my friend Jessica’s house, while I participated in a birthday brunch.  I’d left her there the day before while I helped out at school and Faith wasn’t about to be tricked into staying a second time—she stood by this door, with her hand on the knob for at least 15 minutes.  That girl is tenacity embodied.

 

9.  Some other random pictures (because this post isn’t long enough):

How Faith spends much of her days.  Not kidding.  It’s exhausting. 

Which is why I’m including this picture, so that we both remember I smiled with her sometimes:

           

Gabe’s fishing pictures from Cub Scout Camp:

  

And an honorary picture of Cousin Swap.

 

Ryan’s oldest sister sent her two cute, cute girls up and they partied for a week with my girls and the Daines cousin.  They tubed, swam, got primped at the local beauty school, slept little, roasted marshmallows and did a mall scavenger hunt.  Fun week to be a girl around here.

And I’m not even done…stay tuned for the Seattle Vacation Recap.  It’s pretty exciting around here.