Wednesday, September 26, 2012

giving up my cape

Superwoman, I am not.  And I have learned over the past few weeks I have to give up on trying to be Super Mom too.  The girl's schoolwork is becoming more demanding, R2 is needing me more (sharing his Mommy-time does not come easy), and Harrison doesn't want to nap, unless it is on me.  There are good days, but if anything comes up during the day that is out of the ordinary; dentist/doctor appointments, staff meetings, and there seems to be one of those every week lately.  So, I had to make a gut-wrenching decision in giving up my classes at the local Y.  You have to understand, my members in my seniors' classes are some of my favorite people on the planet.  I have become great friends with them and a few of them have become our support system over the past few months.  I hope it is just for a season because I really love being with them.  I think lately it has been the only thing I feel successful with.

Wordless Wednesday - story time


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

bowling adventure

We recently went to a cousin's bowling birthday.  The girls had never been bowling before.  They are expert bowlers on the Wii and they assumed their mad skills would transfer over.  Not really.
There were a few tears, but finally they knocked over some pins.  Bella has decided she wants a bowling party for her birthday, thinking we are going to have to practice before then.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Birthdays

Within a month and one week, 2/3 of our family celebrates a birthday, Harrison on August 7th, Landry on the 19th, Mama on September 3rd and Daddy on September 15th.  Needless to say, we usually tap out the gift budget for the year before fall even officially begins.  This year, Ben surprised me with a trip to Fredericksburg for dinner.  We had an awesome dinner at Crossroads (was a toss up between this and Sugar and Smoke).  Ben lost his wallet, but it magically appeared when he went to the car to get my IPAD!!! I was so excited, I had only told him once that I wanted one and he remembered.  That is not usually the case, guess someone had ulterior motives for "my" gift.
Ben's birthday was this past weekend and unfortunately R2's unexpected upfront medical expenses tapped the budget so Ben's gift and celebration was much more low-keyed than mine.  We spent the morning with the kids at the Texas state capital and the afternoon watching A&M and the UT games.  It is a house divided this year and I am so glad A&M moved to the SEC so I can root for #2, Johnny Manziel, the hometown boy.
Our favorite chicken restaurant opened this past weekend in Cedar Park.  We discovered Raisin' Cane's when we were on our way back from Disneyworld.  Ben picked it up for the late UT game while I put the kids to bed and we had an in-house date.

Monday, September 17, 2012

disappointed

We have been looking for a house for years, yes years.  We have been renting since 2007, yep five years of living in someone else's home.  For the most part it has been a good thing.  We got out of debt, only to go back into it when our unexpected budget crashers were born (love them).  We are in a great house now, but it is difficult to make it our own.  I want to work on the yard, paint rooms with colors I pick, and I would love to have a little more space between me and my neighbor's mustang that he still insists on showing off each time he starts it at 6 am.
Over the past 6 months, we have seen two homes that we felt strong enough to pursue.  The first had 5 acres, a wrap-around porch, enough room including a classroom and seemed ideal for our family.  The second home seemed even more perfect; 14 acres, 3200 sq feet, 5 bedrooms, an office, a view of rolling hills that I would have enjoyed each morning on my big front porch.  But, both ended up having foundation repairs that were going to break our budget. I can say I am having a real hard time getting over this 2nd disappointment.  I trust God, just wish I could have faith in His timing.  

tubes

This has become an all too familiar site around our home.  R2 has had 5 ear infections (and that does not include when they were in multiple ears) this year.  We had an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist who did a hearing screening on him and discovered the fluid behind his ears was causing a hearing impairment (most hear at 0-20, his was at 40).  He recommended tubes in his ears.
We went in this past week to Strictly Pediatrics Surgical Center at 6 a.m.  Everything was bright and cheery and the staff was amazing (except the billing department).  R2 was for the most part calm.  Several people told me how quick it would be, but turning your 21 month old over to strangers and being ushered into another room while you know your child is being giving anesthesia, is pretty much gut wrenching.  I went to the restroom and played one 2-minute game on my ipad and the doctor was in the room to tell us R2 had done well.  WHAT?!!?  Seriously, 10 minutes.
About five minutes later, they brought are awake and very upset little man back to us.  They gave him a cup of juice, but he did not want any of that.  He just cried and kept telling us  "go".  We hung out with Nurse Rob for another 15 minutes and got our post-surgery instructions.
We thought once we got in the car, the little man would crash, but he was even angrier.  He was kicking and pushing us away, crying, and screaming.  It was awful.  I thought we had brought home the wrong child.  Of course the drive took forever.   When he finally got home, Mimi offered him some toast, but he wanted some juice and it was the difference maker.  All of sudden, he was our happy little boy.  He played for another half -hour and then we put him down for a four hour nap.
He is on antibiotics, drops we have to put in his ear.  Not the funnest job I might add.  So, the hope is now that he has tubes, there will be no more ear infections and his hearing will quickly improve.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

one big, happy family

Today, is Papa Richards birthday.  We are so blessed to have this man for a Daddy, Husband and provider.  I hope your day is blessed and your year is filled with love, happiness and peace.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Cedar Rock Railroad

Mimi and PawPaw were here recently and wanted to take the kids to Zilker Park to ride the zephyr.  We had recently been to the new Quarry Water Park and we had seen the Cedar Rock Railroad and I asked if we could give it a try instead.  It takes you on a mile- long track through a local sports park.  We decided for nostalgia sake the Zephyr is the one to ride, but to avoid crowds the Cedar Rock is the way to go.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

arty party snacks and gifts

Decorations for an arty party were super simple.  We used our art supplies dispersed around bright colored table cloths and white butcher paper for the girls to decorate.  I have multi-colored Fiestaware that were perfect platters and I was able to use leftover plates, cups and forks from our previous parties b/c I wanted an assortment of colors anyways.
LE got a great assortment of gifts.  LE's American girl doll has a special chest for her dolls and PawPaw was able to create one for LE based on the book.  She also received new art supplies, books, lego sets, and a denim jacket with jewels to decorate.  

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

arty party

We recently celebrated LE's 7th birthday at our house.  She decided on an arty party theme which turned out to be lots of fun.  She did a large part of the planning thanks to pinterest.  She helped pick out the invitations, crafts, snacks and decorations.  We had to scale back a tad from her zealous ideas, but it still turned out to be a great party.  We had marble painting, stamping, collages, masks, and journal party favors.  Mimi made cupcakes of all different colors and paintbrushes out of rice kripie treats.  It is very low-key for the Mama of a newborn and LE and her guests really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

first day of school


It is the first day of school here at the Richards Family Six.  I wasn't as organized and ready as I wanted to be, but with the way our lives have been lately, we would probably be ready to start in time for R2 to begin kindergarten.  The girls decided to start the day with journal writing.  Their assigned topic for the day was "what do you want to learn about this year".  Boo wants to learn math and LE wants to learn about science, what happens when things grow and more about space.
R2 is learning about colors and patience.

Monday, September 10, 2012

meeting his family

I know it has been awhile and these are over a month old, but I am trying to play catch up and not completely skip major events that have happened over the past month.  This is our first official family portrait from the hospital and the pics from the big kids meeting the littlest kid. It took R2 several days to warm up to Harrison so his pics will come later( I am still trying to pick a blog nickname for H, I say Han, Ben thinks Indie).  Harrison is doing quite well and has finally started putting on some weight.  He is so long and skinny, it is hard to tell.  He turned a month old on Friday.  Not sure where the time has gone.