Richardson Report

Brynne celebrated her 14th Birthday last week!  Per her request, Josh and I shared the cost of an iPod touch with her.  She was T.H.R.I.L.L.E.D. to say the least.   Otherwise, it was a quiet birthday for her.  We made lemon cupcakes and took them to school to share.  It was a new recipe but turned out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself (see all my lemon-y pins on pinterest for the recipes!) Strawberry Shortcake for her birthday dessert. Love note from Mom and Dad and bouquet of flowers - she loves to have fresh flowers in her room. The GIFT!! On Brynne's birthday, Faith turned 4 months old.  She hasn't grown any longer ( I seriously think she did her first six months of growing in two months) and still fits size 3-6 months.  She hasn't been my easiest baby, but life is slowly getting more manageable with her.  Good thing she's so cute! Growing 4 month old playing with her sisters! Hannah leaves for Nicaragua in ONE WE...

Hannah found this book at the library and it is so cute!  Natalie thinks it's a hilarious joke.  Younger kids might actually be fooled. The picture links to the book on amazon.

Okay sisters (and anyone else who's interested) - If you want to get some really fun books from the library, you need to get everything your library has by Sarah Susanka. Here are two of her offerings: And my favorite: And then you're going to want to go here: HOUSE PLANS Josh and I both love to pore over her books and enjoy the craftsmanship in the photos - someday, probably in the next life, we'll design a beautiful house!

In response to my last post - you are right that it came down from Salt Lake.  I ended up being able to go - I left Brynne home and took Hannah (Brynne also ended up babysitting the boys of our Bishop who just brought his younger kids with him).  Of course, I spent almost the entire meeting in the foyer with Faith who refused to take a nap.  She was SO excited to be at that meeting! Anyway.  I do know that it's nice for the youth to be at the meetings, it's just hard.  Trading off doesn't  always work.  We are lucky to have somewhere to leave the kids, unlike many families in our stake.  Josh couldn't really leave to trade off with me, not to mention it would be a minimum 30 minute switch, and Logan's not ready to babysit his sisters at night. I don't have an alternative for Salt Lake either, other than to stream the meeting online?  It's not the same, but it's not too bad. ************ I ate at a Red Lobster for the first time. ...

I was so irritated on Sunday.  Stake Conference is this weekend and it was announced that our visiting GA was inviting all youth 12+ to the Saturday evening adult session. I immediately thought: "Thank you for un-inviting me , and many of my friends". Any mom in the stake with children until 12 probably won't be there.  Unless Grandma steps in. I vented my frustration to my poor husband.  He just assumed that I would take precedence over attending and one of our older girls would babysit.  I told him that's not how moms think -and most likely that other moms in the stake wouldn't be leaving their teens at home.  Plus, what about those moms who only have young children? You've just effectively taken away all their babysitters. He said that he did make this argument a month ago when the meeting was being discussed.  I guess he got outvoted. When these sorts of decisions come down - I have to say that it makes me grumpy.  Don't the people making...

So What's NEW? Hmmm... In baby news, I'm pumping again. Long story short - after 3 months of every. single. feeding. being a pain in the patootie, I decided to pump and at least create some emotional distance between me and Faith's feedings.  Then Josh could take a turn, too.  BEST decision I've ever made.  For whatever reason, Faith takes a bottle so much easier.  I think it's 2 reasons, if I had to hazard a guess.  First, I think she gets irritated that my milk takes 30-60 seconds to let-down.  Second, even after three months my fast let-down is still a little much for her so she gets annoyed with the extra air bubbles and such.  And then there was the reflux.  And the dairy intolerance.  All these things combined to make feedings hard.  They involved me dancing around the house all exposed to the world, as I tried to get her to latch on.  I could never tell if she was hungry, had a bubble, or was full because her respo...

Natalie celebrated her birthday on Saturday.  It was such a fun day!  Since it was raining we couldn't do any of the yard work we needed to do, so after basic chores were done, the day was ours!  Just relaxing together as a family is such a treat these days. Making the requested birthday "muffins". Present #1 - balloons!   I have to tell you, this cooperative play game is actually fun for adults! Hannah practicing her flirting techniques on us...   (I can just hear her saying "mo-ooom" when she reads this) Hey boy!