New Years Eve Party Countdown

Happy 2013! This year I continued our tradition of spending time with the children. When we got home from bowling, I had balloons hanging on the window with a number. Every hour the children got to pop a balloon and inside there was a simple activity of something to do together inside the balloon. Bean was completely freaked out to pop the balloon, but insisted on doing it! Some of the activities included calling both sets of Grandparents at midnight, thumb wars, arm wrestle, hot cocoa bar, eating whipped cream straight from the can and playing hours and hours of Monopoly. At midnight we sipped on Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, watched the ball drop on t.v., had a dance party in our living room and made lots and lots of noise! Chief was a party pooper and went to bed at 7:00 p.m. The night was full of great food, lots of laughing and precious memories with my children. We are excited for 2013 and what is in store for us. We are so blessed and so excited for another baby to arrive in our family

Sledding

We got an awesome snow storm. Finally! Jeremy took all the children sledding. I stayed home and deep cleaned. I've got a baby on the way and lots of cleaning to do! The children all had a ball with their dad. I am grateful for such a wonderful husband and father to our children. I hope I can join them next time before our little baby gets here! (No pictures, this time)

2012 Kid Questionaire's

Lillian Mary A.K.A.- Bean

What is your favorite activity? Playing with my friends and dancing.

What is your biggest goal? To get along with  my siblings.

What is the hardest thing of the year? The hardest thing of the year is math.

What is your favorite book? Judy Moody Girl Detective.

What is your favorite color? Turquoise, yellow, purple, pink, green, orange, gold and silver.

What is your favorite song? Taylor Swift, I know you are Trouble.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a stay at home mom.

Greatest Lesson Learned? Do Unto Others as you want to be treated.

What do you want to learn? I want to learn more about Science.

I want to get better at? Not yelling.

What do you like about your mom? She tucks me in bed at night and reads me a book.

What do you like about your dad? He goes on dates with me.

What do you like about your brothers? They are nice and play with me.

What do you like about your sister? I haven't met her yet. She will be born next month.

What do you enjoy doing? Reading, playing outside,playing with friends and going to the library.

 

Oliver George A.K.A.- Chief

What is your favorite book? The Monkey Book!

What is your favorite color? Orange!

What is your favorite food? Pizza

 

Grant Alvin A.K.A. -Granny

What is your favorite activity? Playing football and basketball.

What is your biggest goal? To live in a house bigger than a box.

What is the hardest thing of the year? Putting up with my sister.

What is your favorite book? The 4th Stall

What is your favorite color? Green

What do you want to be when you grow up? A professional sports player.

Greatest Lesson Learned? I don't learn lessons.

What do you want to learn? How to use a snowblower.

I want to get better at? Math.

What do you like about your mom? She is kind.

What do you like about your dad? He takes me air-soft shooting.

What do you like about your brothers? They are fun to hang out with.

What do you like about your sister? In a sarcastic tone, "I like that she lies and is always getting me into trouble."

What do you enjoy doing? Playing basketball, football,sitting in my room and listening to music.

 

Monte Everett A.K.A.- Goose 

What is your favorite activity? Basketball and going to Gym.

What is your biggest goal? I really want to get better at Basketball.

What is the hardest thing of the year? Math tests.

What is your favorite book? Stormbreaker

What is your favorite color? Red

What is your favoite food? Chicken Adobo Least Favorite is Noodles with fresh tomatoes

What is your favorite song? Bom Bom

What do you want to be when you grow up? A Lawyer.

 Greatest Lesson Learned? To not pick my nails. (He had to go to the doctor to get an ingrown toenail removed)

What do you want to learn? To get better at math, especially division.

I want to get better at? Fishing.

What do you like about your mom? Her cooking.

What do you like about your dad? He has fun with us.

 What do you like about your brothers? They play with me. 

What do you like about your sister? She helps.

What do you enjoy doing? Camping, fishing and hiking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bowling with Friends

On New Years Eve we met some friends around 3:30 at the bowling alley. I seriously LOVE to bowl. I am not good at all, but I just love it! The kids all had a great time! This just may be a new tradition of ours. The bowling alley was doing a special and you got to bowl for a couple hours,  a large pepperoni pizza, drinks and a bag full of New Years Eve party hats and blowers.Chief by far was the funnest to watch. He is very easily excited. When he would roll the ball down the alley he would jump up big with his arms and say, "YES, I did it!" He is such a joy!

Chief loved this noise maker!

Great form Goose!

Christmas Card 2012

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!

Keeping with tradition here are some of the funny and not so funny things that can be found in the pages of the Richards naughty and funny books.

Oliver was looking at a book during church. He came to a page in the book that was colored all over and said, “Oh cute, I colored all over you!”

In July I discovered Oliver escaping from the backyard. He was climbing over the chain-link fence barefoot. 

 

Whenever a motorcycle passes by Oliver points and says, “Psycho!” He can’t quite say motorcycle.

I recently asked Oliver if he wanted a baby sister. He replied, “No I just really want a donut.”

Oliver has a bad habit of rolling down the car window and throwing his shoes out.

“Mom, I want my wedding dress to have a really long train on it, so I can bounce a baby on it.”-Lillian

“Mom, you know how sometimes I wear my pink tutu to bed? Well whenever I wear that tutu to bed in my dreams I’m dancing.” -Lillian

“Mom, do you ever wonder where the cookie dough in the fridge goes? Well at night I like to stick my fingers in it and take a ball of it to bed for me and Oliver.”-Lillian

“Lillian we really need to work on your math facts.” “Why mom, what did my brain ever do to deserve that?”-Lillian

“Mom, when you and dad are in Tennessee can you get me a souvenir? I’m thinking I want some bubblegum and Taylor Swift’s autograph.”-Lillian

After showing me a couple of warts on his feet Grant said, “Mom, do you like my collection? I have both plantars and commons.”-Grant

“Mom, I accidentally carried my deodorant in my pocket all day today, I thought it was my calculator. When I got to math I realized it wasn’t.”-Grant

“Mom, when I was little I didn’t think there were airports. I would try and flag the airplanes down by waving my hand. I never did get one to land.”-Grant

While visiting the Outer Banks this past summer Monte was swimming in the ocean. All of a sudden he came hopping out saying, “There’s a fish in my shorts, there’s a fish in my shorts!” Sure enough he reached into his swim shorts and pulled out a silver fish!

Grant was practicing playing his cello in the living room. Monte piped in, “Grant will definitely not be playing at my wedding!” -Monte

While visiting Tennessee I called Monte and asked what souvenir he wanted. He replied, “I want a can, an antique can.” -Monte

After school Monte came walking up the driveway and said, “Here mom, I brought you a snake that I caught in the field.”-Monte

 I caught Oliver pouring a bottle of syrup all over the kitchen floor.

Oliver wanted eggs so he took out all 18 and started cracking them all over the floor.

Oliver George is one smart and curious boy! He now takes the broom and goes into the garage and presses the garage door button with the tip of the broomstick to get the garage to open.

While putting Oliver to bed he pulled the covers up and said, “Night, night I love you.” I gave him a kiss and told him I loved him. I thought to myself how wonderful, Oliver is going to go to bed without any hassle! Well Oliver had other plans. I came upstairs to check on him and found that he had dumped an entire huge can of fish food into Monte’s fish tank along with the fish net and some GI Joes.

Christmas Day 2012

The 3 older children woke up Christmas morning at 6:00 a.m. Of course they tried getting Chief up and he did not like the idea. It didn't take Chief long to catch on and he ended up being great! The day was wonderful and very relaxing. We stayed in pj's all day and played games, ate food and sipped on Eggnog.  (Sorry about the super long post! You will have to click on older posts to see it all)

 

 

Santa knows me all too well and filled my stocking with some of my favorite treats. 

THANK YOU Grandma and Grandpa Sugar for the Air Hog Helicopter's the kids including Jeremy love them and have been flying them around all day!

We played lots of games, watched some movies and munched on little smokies, cheeseball and crackers, relish tray and sipped on Eggnog.

 

 

 

 

 

Bean was very excited to get Mckenna!

Santa hid a fishing pole in the tree for Goose. Of course he spotted it!

Chief is my little musician and loved his guitar!

 

 

Can't wait to play the fishing game with Chief! Unfortunately, I bought the wrong size batteries so we haven't played yet.

 

 

Bean is all about sewing and crafts!
She sewed the little owl pouch on Christmas day. It turned out so cute!

 

 

G was thrilled to get an airsoft gun. He loves playing with his father and brother.



A Loom Kit for Bean

Now she has her very own mini pink glue gun. She was thrilled and I am sure she will be gluing all sorts of things!

Goose loved his mini shovel. He loves this kind of stuff!

Another fishing reel......

 

 

Chief was so thrilled to get a big bin of playdough and lots of playdough tools.

So excited! This gift ended up being a hit. He played with it for hours on Christmas day!

Goose loves that Santa has a sense of humor and added a whoopie cushion to his stocking.

 

 

Racing to the tree!

Hunting for the green dill pickle ornament.

This boy never ceases to amaze me! Goose once again found the dill pickle in the tree! He has eagle eyes and spots things so quickly! Every year this boy has found the pickle, which means he gets to open the first gift which is always something fun to do as a family. This year our family got a board game.

 

Stockings are full and this year Santa didn't leave them on the children's beds. Instead, they were carefully set by the fireplace.

Waiting patiently at the top of the stairs waiting for the GO!

It is never a good idea to wake Chief at 6:00 a.m.
He ended up being a good sport!

 

After we opened our gifts we had some cinnamon rolls. I am not use to a gas stove and overcooked them a bit! So frustrating! I left one blank, I am not a frosting lover.