Richardson Report

For me, summer is a great time to do something fun and out of the ordinary.   Last year we did our first ever summer reading challenge.  We challenged ourselves to read 100 books from our own bookshelves before the end of the summer.  Sound easy?  What with vacations and classes and friends and pool time there was a lot less reading time than I had anticipated.  We made it - but just barely. I love books.  Always have.  My children love books. But there are two things I've noticed recently: 1) My children and myself are tending towards reading only the "latest and greatest" - what's new at the library or bookstore. 2) During the school year my kids mostly only have time to read their assigned school reading. This is a problem for me.  Josh and I have spent a lot of time and money collecting what we deem the "best" books for our family library...but I have to wonder what good is a family library if no one ever reads from it? Summer...

Enjoying some gorgeous sun at the beach. Logan's first Scout Overnighter! Faith making a cute face.  I'm helping her.  ;-) The surprise party! Fingers in her mouth as always! Another sunny day to play! A fun new game - drop the cars over the side. Exhausted children on the way home.   All six fell asleep!

I haven't posted in SO long, it seems.  Life is just rushing by.  Currently we are doing all of the end of the year stuff and it is a never-ending cycle of busyness.  Can I just say that I hate that kids grow up.  I am so stinking tired, too!  All this rush, rush every day is wearing me out.  I could use a lot more naps than I am getting! The other night Josh and I had dinner with our realtor and his wife - and it was fun!  I haven't had dinner out with another couple in ages.   It was strange to go out without Faith for so long, but also so nice to feel completely comfortable leaving her with Brynne and Hannah.  They are awesome babysitters. Birthday weekend at our house for our Sweet 16.  Plus Faith celebrates her half birthday - sweet 6 months!  Speaking of someone growing up - Hannah got her first 'real' summer job - she'll be working at the Chocolate Company , which is a store owned by her friend's family.  My ques...

We're going to Jughandle beach today!! Faith's first time in the sand and water. Ready, Set , GO! Its been such a busy week, and we only had an hour or two, but we had so much fun in the perfect beach weather.  Good thing we went when we did, because it is cold and foggy again.

Brynne shared some of the photos that she took at the Family Fun center. Waiting to start John gearing up to go Josh taking Justin for a spin Natty enjoying "Cactus Jack's Playhouse" Brynne and "tall Nat"  Faith is five months old now!  She's turned into such a darling, perfect baby in the past month.  She falls asleep on her own - fingers happily stuffed into her mouth, and is pretty regular about her naps.  She has slept all night TWICE in a row this week and even when she does wake up, it's for a brief feeding and diaper change and then back down she goes!  Otherwise, bedtime sleep is usually a lovely 12 hours long! She sleeps a LOT.  Like, I looked up normal sleep for five month olds and she sleeps a lot more.   But she seems to need it.  She wakes up super happy and plays with us for two hours, and then back down she goes.  She is going to bed between 6-8pm, which is pretty dependent on how her naps go....

Hannah came home a day early, so she actually beat us back to Fort Bragg.  Why early? Nicaragua was having earthquakes...repeatedly.  They had a volcano threatening to erupt.  Hannah was safe where she was, but all the action was happening up near the airport and her teacher was nervous that they would get trapped in Nicaragua. But in spite of the craziness that the earthquakes brought (apparently the country was in full-blown panic mode), she had a WONDERFUL time. I'm including a smattering of her photos.  Just a few out of the 575 that she took. Teenage girls are weird sometimes.

Logan's birthday was spread out over several celebrations, so I haven't gotten around to writing about it. On his actual birthday he requested pizza and root beer floats. The following week in Grants Pass we took our family and Jenny's family to the Central Point Family Fun Center.  The kids spent about two hours riding go-carts and they all had a fantastic time.  No photos because I didn't have my camera (it went to Nicaragua).  I'll have to see if Brynne has some.