The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It's been far too long since I've truly blogged and I miss it.  Yes, I've kept up on big events fairly well, but I've neglected to record all the incidentals. All the little details that really make up our life.  So here it goes....

The Good.

Gabe and Nyah are adjusting wonderfully and enjoying their respective schools and friends. It feels like over night that Gabe has just taken off with reading - it is so fun to see!  And Nyah with her super-social attitude is flourishing in preschool.  I have to intervene quite often when she enthusiastically invites her classmates for sleepovers at our house!!  We have a fantastic next door neighbor with 2 little boys that are a perfect match for my 2 big kids.  And with this mild winter, most days they can all be found outside happily playing together.  (Unfortunately their favorite place is the "mud pit" as Gabe so appropriately deemed it - an empty lot down the street full of wonderfully thick and moldable mud. Gabe quite literally can't get enough of it!)  Ian is growing bigger and talking more every day, much to the delight of us all. He is obsessed with pointing out anyone and everyone's "EYE"! (Which most strangers understandably interpret as a cheerful "Hi!")  Needless to say he loves the game of naming all the parts of your face.  He is a darling.  And he actually cuddles! Which is very exciting for Eric and I!  There was a brief 3 day stint where he discovered how to climb out of his crib that had us all scrambling... but once I placed his mattress directly on the floor inside his crib, that was over. Nipped right in the bud, whew.  It was extremely disconcerting to find him wandering around the house dragging his blanky and sucking his thumb at times when he was supposed to be asleep and safely confined to bed. I have to admit he startled me half to death several times!  And as sweet as he looked, I didn't appreciate his attempt to nix all naps and get up any time he felt like it during the night. Oh no, that wasn't going to fly.  Once I figured out how to thwart him, he accepted his renewed lack of freedom quite well though - maybe it was a relief for him as well.

The Bad.

That's easy. I'm writing this at 2am since I foolishly indulged in a very late afternoon nap after church today.  Not much worse than laying in bed for hours not able to sleep.  Yuck.  Moving right along....

The Ugly.

Gabe has discovered the art of teasing that comes naturally to all older brothers.  He delights in finding anything that makes Nyah scream. Which really doesn't take much.  She is the perfect victim.  If he calls her one of her nicknames at the wrong moment, she screams. If he looks at her the wrong way, she screams.  You get the picture.  My days are punctuated with the bloodcurdling screams of Nyah or the outraged "STOP IT"!!!!!  When I hear Gabe giggling or else loudly proclaiming his innocence, I know exactly what is going on.  What mother doesn't, really.  My other favorite phrases I hear at least a thousand times a day is Nyah yelling "You're not the boss!!" (aimed usually at Gabe but even myself at times) and Gabe saying "sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry" (always to me or Eric, never to the party he has offended).  Oh and Ian's "MINE!!!" every now and then too!  Our communication skills are really going down the toilet as of late.  Gotta brush off one my parenting books tomorrow.

Well I hate to end this way but I really couldn't change the sequence of this post... not with that perfect title.  Now I'm off to bed!

Be My Valentine

I love Valentine's Day. Isn't it great that we get a holiday all about love? It gives everyone a chance to remember who is special to them, who they love and maybe don't always appreciate.  It gives us all a chance to make sure our loved ones KNOW that they are loved.  It's wonderful. It feels good and it's fun!  My parents always made is so special for us growing up and I've tried to continue in their footsteps.  So to begin with we had pink heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. There is my girl, keeping me company! 

And that is the view from below... this poor, sad face is a regular occurrence in the morning. That boy is not happy until he has eaten! :)

 

Later we headed over to Mindy's to drop off our valentine's... the kids LOVE the whole doorbell ditching tradition we have when delivering Valentines! It just wouldn't be Valentine's Day without that excitement!!

Please ignore me and focus on how adorable that baby girl is! Ririe is so precious!!!

Valentines from cousins!!

Then we had a lovely dinner at home all together complete with a lot of secretive valentine deliveries at the door and a lot of giggling!  I sure love this wonderful little family of mine!

Dinner with my favorite people in the world - my loves!

snowshoe date

It's official, we both love snowshoeing! We hiked up to Donut Falls and it was such a fun date!  Being outside in the mountains is a favorite for both Eric and I and the snow made everything so beautiful that day.  The waterfall was mostly frozen over - really cool!  

Birthday for Daddy

Happy Birthday Eric! We had fun celebrating our main man this year.  We had a birthday dinner of his favorite foods, including cheesecake, and Gabe topped the evening off with a scavenger hunt that he put together all by himself! Eric had to follow the clues to find his presents. It was so cute.  And he loved his wonderful drawing from Gabe and his new snowshoes!  

There are some that don't appreciate the quality of singing voices in the Richardson family

Christmas day 2013

 This year we spent Christmas Eve and day with Eric's side of the family. After breakfast we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's.  We had so much fun opening gifts and hanging out together!  Then later we had everyone over to our house for Christmas dinner - chicken a la king.  It was a lovely day!

Ian wasn't so sure about Crystal wearing a Darth Vader mask...!

He likes her much better this way!

Our beautiful family - we are so blessed!

Christmas dinner at our house.

Christmas morning 2013

Our first Christmas in our new home.  We had a relaxing morning (if you can call getting up at 6am relaxing!) of opening gifts, playing with toys and eating Christmas eggs - yum!  The kids were up and waiting at the top of the stairs in the pitch dark at 6am so we hustled them into our room while we got ready and let Ian sleep a bit longer!  The poor guy still had to get woken up, we just couldn't delay Gabe and Nyah any more.  It was so exciting to see what Santa brought!  We LOVE Christmas!!

 

Gabe created this amazing 3 dimensional beach scene for Daddy - he is so creative.





Lucky me! I got a 3-dimensional diamond ring that Gabe made for me out of paper and tape - it was beautiful!!

Enjoying our long-anticipated Christmas eggs!



Snow babies

After living snow-less for 4 winters, we are loving the snow. Bring it on!

lost Halloween pictures...

I just found all these cute pictures on my computer that I forgot to post. I couldn't leave them out of my blogging family journal!

Look at those masterpiece pumpkins...

Kids really don't like to pose for pictures.

Everyone is looking at the camera - woohoo!!

Halloween night, Nyah decided that she absolutely had to be a kitty cat. Thank goodness for Grammy's costume box and skills with the eyeliner!

the real santa

You really learn a lot when you eavesdrop. The topic today was about the "real Santa" because obviously there are a lot of fakes out there. To set the scene, we are in the minivan on the way home from school and it's Gabe, his friend Cole, and Nyah.  They are discussing whether or not it was the "real Santa" that came to Nyah's preschool.  The boys think not because his beard was not curly.  Gabe insists that Santa's beard is not flat and straight, like the imposter in the picture with Nyah.  Cole is just all around skeptical because he says he has noticed in the past 5 years (his life span) that all the pictures of him on Santa's lap are different.... different beard, different hat, different hair.  He is convinced that Santa is much more elusive than we think.  Gabe on the other hand insists he saw the "real santa" last year and he has a curly beard.  Then Cole asks if he had mistletoe or holly on his hat... because if not, he was not the "real santa".   He then asks if Gabe knows about St. Nicholas from the Dutch and how he is for sure real because someone saw his flyin' freakin' horses!! (his words) This enlightening discussion goes on for awhile before it slowly digresses into giggles about underwear and toilet paper.  I just love kids!!!!

turkey time

Turkey, pie, football, family.  Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite holidays because the preparation is all food and when you have a bunch of people involved (which most Thanksgiving feasts do) then it's really not that much work. At least it wasn't for me this year!  I got to make the mashed potatoes and some scrumptious pies.  I just love how simple this holiday is because it tends to make it easier to really focus on the thankful part of the day and the real reason we celebrate.  It's funny because one day I was telling Gabe the story of why we have Thanksgiving and I started crying!! It cracks me up now, imagining him watching me bawl as I try to express to him my feelings about our country and how it was founded.  I just have such admiration, even love, for our pilgrim ancestors and the founders of our wonderful nation.  The entire thing from Columbus to the Revolutionary War to the establishment of our government was so obviously guided by God.  I firmly believe that.  I know things weren't perfect. People aren't.  But God works with what he has. And the really cool thing is that nothing, and no one, can stand in the way of God's purposes. Anyway, little tangent... I just love the holidays and love our country and love my family.  Here are the stars of the show this year:

Amy, me, Mindy, Mom... the cooks.

Everyone checking out the ads for Black Friday shopping!

Ian (who has never sucked on a binki) found Gage's and decided he is a big fan!

Nyah loves looking at books. Or hunting magazines it appears!

Guess who lost a tooth after dinner?! Isn't he adorable with that big gap!!

Gabe's Mayflower. It is a work of art. Three levels inside, deck with railing, flag and too many details to mention. Amazing what that kid can do with paper, scissors, and tape!