Richardson Report

I do send out a letter to some people with my Christmas cards.  Not everyone because I feel like a bunch of people already KNOW all that stuff anyway.  I went pretty simple this year - just a little picture.  Dad and Shannon worked together to get our family photo done this year.  We needed to update to include our little Fay-Bay in our photo.  Thought they turned out pretty nice.   Our letter: Natalie (5) and Kenna (7) have been homeschooling this year and we are having so much fun! So far we’ve studied Skeletons, Pilgrims, Ancient Egypt, Fairytales, and Worms. Pretty sure their favorite activity by far was inspecting the live night-crawlers we rescued from the bait store. Logan (11) played soccer this fall. He spent a good chunk of time in the goalie box and did pretty well for his first time! He’s in Scouts and loves it. Loves his class at the charter school.  Started both piano and clarinet this year and enjoys them. Brynne (14) had a delightful 12 day

I love Christmas books.  I've collected a few over the years.  This year I went on a search for some new ones.  We checked out bunches from the library to try.  Here are four that were winners with all of us. "Dream Snow" by Eric Carle.  I love Eric Carle books and hadn't stumbled across this one yet.  The surprise at the end was fun.  This is a great book for toddlers and preschoolers. This is a sweet story of how our unintentional sharing brings joy to those around us.   Plus it made me chuckle! I normally don't go in for snowmen at Christmas time - they are just not my thing,  but I really loved this story and appreciated that it didn't make Snowmen the point of Christmas.  There was actual reference to the Savior as the reason for Christmas. Oh goodness, how I loved this sweet story.  Of all four books, this one may have made my voice crack and my eyes water - which always makes my children turn to

I just loved my Halloween Cow and couldn't resist sharing this one... A little backstory to the following photo... I read once that when you chop off the ends of green onions you can put them in a  glass of water and they will grow again.  I've been doing that for awhile and get double the green onion for my money, essentially.  (I'm all about saving 69 cents whenever I can)   Kenna decided to do it herself and then planted her onion roots in a little garden that she made herself.  She was pretty proud of her little space. Natalie loves to sweep and vacuum!  Faith loves to watch (and so do I). I think this was Kenna's first trip to a bookstore since her newly emerging  reading skills really took off.  What a difference when you can read the titles of the books! -side note: I thought the book in the photo "The Book with No Pictures" was pretty funny. Faith will wear a headband on Sundays for about

I used to blog regularly about what I'm doing for school.  I not only don't have as much time as I used to, but last year school was not as exciting to me.  Kind of sad, I guess.  I miss that excitement I used to feel.  With so many of my older kids in school it feels different.  I feel less like a homeschooling mama - maybe because I'm still so tied to the school calendar. That said, we are doing some really fun things in school this year.  I really wanted to spice things up to make them interesting for the kids AND me. I've organized our school year by month, and each month has a weekly rotating subject. Week One: " Jot It Down " Fairytale curriculum Week Two: Ancient History Week Three: Science Week Four: American History Our fairy tale curriculum has been loads of fun.  We do a different fairytale each month and I check out as many different versions of the chosen story as I can find.  This month we did Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  There wer

A couple months ago I heard one of the best talks I have heard on the topic of journaling.  Keeping is a journal is one of those topics that makes a lot of people sigh when it comes up.  It's like ONE more THING to do that you just don't have time to do properly.  I thought I'd share a couple things I remember from the talk, though, because it really was excellent. Sister Galloway shared a few journaling experiences she has had over the years.  She keeps a couple different journals.  In one she writes down promptings she's received, things prayed for, and prayers answered (which is probably the most important of the three - recording the answers). In another journal she writes specific things that she is grateful for - which I think is often a record of blessings that she has noticed during the day. She shared some specific instances where journaling has helped her through difficult times, and when it helped her sustain a child through a difficult time.  She talked abou

Birthdays - yes we had them.  They were sort of lame this year due to illness.  One thing that I did that was both really smart and really yummy - I made Josh a birthday dessert a day early.  I had every intention of making something else ON his birthday, but it worked out well because I was too sick to actually cook anything super yummy when the day arrived.   But what I had made earlier were German Chocolate Cake cookies - found HERE .  They were DIVINE.  Divine, I say!  Not too tricky and totally worth the effort. So since October has been filled with colds and such, school has been fritzy and scattered.  It's happened, though.  Several habits have eased my life. 1. I printed and laminated a morning job list and a start-the-school-day list for the younger girls.  Now instead of reminding Natalie half a dozen times to do various things, I just refer her to the list and check up on her periodically.  Kudos for kids who get the list done without reminders (as I like to say, &qu

Previous post has been edited to include thematic elements in movies.

When the kids were really young (early Oregon days) our Stake President gave a Fifth Sunday lesson in which he went over some of their family rules and why they chose them.  I missed the lesson because I was in the Primary presidency at that time, but Josh was able to attend and he took some notes.  I remember I was really interested to hear what they did as a family, but years later I only remember one specific rule that we took and made our own.  However, I know that talk and many others have influenced rules that we've set down for our family.  Some things have changed a little over time as we've adapted to circumstances, while others have held firm for a decade or more. To have successful homes, values must be taught, and there must be rules, there must be standards, and there must be absolutes.   James E. Faust The purpose of a family rule is to create a certain atmosphere in our home, as well as to allow for the best spiritual development that we can achieve.   In a

I think we've settled into a pretty good routine.  After going just about crazy the first two weeks of school I got serious and calendared/scheduled out our lives.  Just having it written down and organized helped me so much.  Besides planning and executing homeschool activities every day for 1st and Kindergarten girls (plus the baby and the regular housework/meals, etc), the afternoons and evening are just a zoo.  It's like a race to the finish but when bedtime comes we haven't finished everything yet.  Cuh-razy.  But life with six kids!  I'm still overwhelmed most days, but I've learned to simplify and I'm picking my projects carefully. Blissful moments To help with the back-to-school adjustment, we decided to have a movie/TV fast for the month of September.  It's not so hard during the week when we're all much too busy to think about tv time, but on the weekends we are TIRED and we just want to veg.  But I'm so glad that we did this bec

We had our first (annual?) sisters weekend in September.  WHAT a BLAST.  I'm so glad we did it.  I think everyone agreed we must do it again.  I don't think we've ever hung out all as sisters like that before.  We were either children still, or we had husbands and our own kids hanging around, which changes the dynamics somewhat. As a family of girls, we did what girls must do when they are together.  Talk, eat, and shop!  We dedicated one whole day to just shopping, but we also went to Comedy Sportz one night, did the river cruise, and wandered downtown Portland (hello, Powell's books and Voodoo Doughnuts).  It was a short trip, but I think we made the most of it! Jenny and I driving up together. On the Portland Spirit for our Willamette River cruise Just embarrassing Shannon Lunch at Cheesecake Factory.  yum ! On the way home, some of us took the long way home and Mom took us by a few of her favorite places. Awesome nursery that specializes