Richardson Report

Middle-Aged Mormon Man posted this thoughts on the SECRET to a HAPPY MARRIAGE . He's absolutely spot-on. PS - I have noticed myself the truth to the statistic he states that people seem to bond better over shared negative experiences.  Perhaps that's why the tendency to gripe when women get together.  But it bothers me, big time.

(click to enlarge) Josh and I got a kick out of this map of California.  So true!

 My favorite thing to do is take pictures of my kids when we spend some time at the Botanical Gardens.  Sorry if that gets old for everyone else, but for me it's fun to see how the kids are growing.   So this is last week. Can that kid get any cuter?  He's pretty photogenic.  Lucky! Shannon and her little ray of sunshine came down to visit for the week.  The first two days were simply gorgeous; warm and sunny.  We took the little ones to the beach and the park. Kenna has been planning a tea party for ages - so with the addition of a cute little girl cousin, she felt THIS was the WEEK to have it.  And so we did.  And everyone had a lovely time.  We made fruit salad.  Everyone helped a little, but Kenna very patiently and determinedly kept on chopping up tiny pieces of fruit - she had a vision!  And they had tiny sandwiches that were made using a bottled water cap as the cutter for the bread, cheese, and turkey. Time to start!

Doesn't he look so cute! Here he is posing.... ...and this is what he did when I asked him if he likes to kiss girls. The frames are a deep blue - so pretty!  Don't tell him I called them pretty.   Handsome, mom.   HANDSOME!

This week was our first week back at school after Christmas.  Boy, was it chilly!  Us Fort Braggians are used to a very narrow temperature range.  Highs over 65?  We're sweating.  Temperature drops below 50?  We think we're in Antarctica.  Temps for a week that rarely broke 45?  Brrrrrrrr.  We actually saw FROST on our grass!  It's a rough life. But still, life goes on.  Our new grammar program has been a hit, so far.  Brynne likes grammar, and this is a program that teaches in manageable, bite-sized portions. I'm using a new writing curriculum this year.  I'm learning a LOT about teaching writing, but I haven't spent as much time on it as I would like, so it's slow going.  But luckily, the author of the new curriculum has some helps that I can purchase, so we're using a few of those.  Because of that, we read "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes", which is the true story of a little Japanese girl who dies of leukemia (caused by the WWI

So Jen, this one's for you. After Josh picked up that piano that you so kindly gave us, it got deposited in the middle of my living room.    Which was fine, except quite squishy.  When Christmas came with the requisite tree, I had to move a couch upstairs.  But even so - between the coffee table and the couch, the piano and bench were just in the way.  Because of other changes, we were able to get rid of our monstrosity of a computer desk (and I don't miss it a bit). And this allowed us to move the piano into it's new home. Josh bought special sliders online for, like $10.  And between him and I, we were able to move that 800lb piano easily!  It was mostly me.  'Cuz I'm so buff.     But really?   Huge fan of the sliders .... The downstairs (kids cleaning the kitchen after dinner is photo-worthy, too)  Here it is in it's new home!! See?  It looks good there! Happy New Year!

  After watching me sew patches onto Logan's scout shirt (oh, joy), the younger set wanted to do their own sewing project.  Natalie did about three seams and was tuckered out.  Kenna persevered to the end and made a sweet little pillow for her bunny.    There was scrap fabric strewn all over my room since all the fabrics had to be investigated as to color, size, and scarf-workability.  :-) Logan had a little lesson in machine sewing and made a pillowcase to match his green camouflage sheet that he loves so much.  We're also having a "game-a-thon" today.  It's been fun.  We aren't all playing all the time, but there is usually a game of some sort in progress at any point in time.  It's our final day of real vacation and it's been full of games, projects, and reading!  Finally - Satin got her stitches out today.  YAY!  The vet was very impressed with (and got a good chuckle out of) Satin's ACE bandage coat.  But it worked, and tha

Read it and tell me what you think!  An acquaintance of mine shared this and I thought it was pretty darn interesting. I Am a Mormon Because I am a Feminist

Seeing as how it's the new year, it seems an appropriate time to have a fresh start.  Welcome to the newest Richardson family blog. It's crazy to me that I ran out of space on the old blog.  I've learned, though, and I shouldn't have problems here.  For one thing, I need to re-size my photos before I put them on.  If I do that, I should never have a space issue.  After pondering life, it just seemed easier to start a new blog.  Sorry if that's worked out to be inconvenient. So!  On to the latest news! We had a pretty nice Christmas.  A couple of the kids were sick, so it was very quiet and tame, but I found that to be somewhat relaxing after the craziness of the rest of December.  We were able to communicate via Skype and Google+ Hangout with extended family members.  That's always a lot of fun.  A couple days after Christmas, we went over the hill to play with Josh's parents for a couple days.  Josh and I spent an enjoyable evening with our good frien