Rise and Shine

I like my sleep, I get it from my Grandma. Kimber, on the other hand is an early riser and I have found that I actually enjoy getting up early with her. I have also come to love the alone time we get. Addie usually doesn't get up until 9:00 or so, so it gives Kimber and me a few hours to be together. Sometimes her day starts at 5:00am so we get lots of time to talk and hang out. I notice things about her that I don't think I would normally pick up on.

This morning during breakfast we had a good talk about Jared. I was wearing one of his shirts because I couldn't find a pajama shirt of my own. (Maybe some of you like wearing your husbands shirts, but I actually hate it! I need a shirt that fits me and that doesn't choke me.) Kimber pointed to it and with a very confused look said, "daddy? where daddy?" I said "yeah, this is dad's shirt, very good." Then a few minutes later I was done so I got up to go do something and caught her trying to take the rest of her food into the living room, a huge no-no. I said "hey, you know we don't take food in there." In a sweet voice, but one that sounded freakishly similiar to Stuart from Mad TV, she shrugged her shoulders and said "why?" She quickly turned around and took her food to the kitchen chair. I watched her as she would grab a spoonful and carefully balance it as she took it into the living room. She had it down before she got very far so she would turn around and go back for more.

It's funny, the things that bring you pleasure. A new outfit or a haircut and a weave used to be what made me happy (don't get me wrong, it still does!!!) but now I find my joy in two little girls who make each day a new adventure.


Plus, I like waking up to this face. The bed head usually makes me laugh too.

Rise and Shine

I like my sleep, I get it from my Grandma. Kimber, on the other hand is an early riser and I have found that I actually enjoy getting up early with her. I have also come to love the alone time we get. Addie usually doesn't get up until 9:00 or so, so it gives Kimber and me a few hours to be together. Sometimes her day starts at 5:00am so we get lots of time to talk and hang out. I notice things about her that I don't think I would normally pick up on.

This morning during breakfast we had a good talk about Jared. I was wearing one of his shirts because I couldn't find a pajama shirt of my own. (Maybe some of you like wearing your husbands shirts, but I actually hate it! I need a shirt that fits me and that doesn't choke me.) Kimber pointed to it and with a very confused look said, "daddy? where daddy?" I said "yeah, this is dad's shirt, very good." Then a few minutes later I was done so I got up to go do something and caught her trying to take the rest of her food into the living room, a huge no-no. I said "hey, you know we don't take food in there." In a sweet voice, but one that sounded freakishly similiar to Stuart from Mad TV, she shrugged her shoulders and said "why?" She quickly turned around and took her food to the kitchen chair. I watched her as she would grab a spoonful and carefully balance it as she took it into the living room. She had it down before she got very far so she would turn around and go back for more.

It's funny, the things that bring you pleasure. A new outfit or a haircut and a weave used to be what made me happy (don't get me wrong, it still does!!!) but now I find my joy in two little girls who make each day a new adventure.


Plus, I like waking up to this face. The bed head usually makes me laugh too.

Addie's way of giving

Each holiday I like to have Addie make a little treat for her friends. I usually pick out what we do and then I let her do most of the work and pick out who she wants to give them to. We added her friends from school to the list this time.

This time we made candy cane reindeer. She picked the nose and eye color for each one depending on who they were for. Then I did the antlers and glued on the face. Addie would make a hole in each tag with the hole punch and string it on. Then I would add the bell and tie it together. We had so much fun!

(I am breaking my own rule today and have been wearing work out clothes all day. Pardon the outfit, I do get dressed and do my hair ever day. I promise.)

Addie loved using the hole punch. She still doesn't have the coordination to hold the paper and punch the hole at the same time, so I helped her out with that. Isn't that what Mom's are for?

I thought it was nice that she put so much thought in to each person's reindeer. They were all different. She is picking out the noses here.

She kept telling me that she was having so much fun making these for her friends. I swear that if we didn't run out of candy canes the whole town would end up with one of these.

And the end result?

And I had to make some yummy whole wheat bread while all that was going on too. And believe me, with the homemade peach jam I made this summer, it's delish!

Addie's way of giving

Each holiday I like to have Addie make a little treat for her friends. I usually pick out what we do and then I let her do most of the work and pick out who she wants to give them to. We added her friends from school to the list this time.

This time we made candy cane reindeer. She picked the nose and eye color for each one depending on who they were for. Then I did the antlers and glued on the face. Addie would make a hole in each tag with the hole punch and string it on. Then I would add the bell and tie it together. We had so much fun!

(I am breaking my own rule today and have been wearing work out clothes all day. Pardon the outfit, I do get dressed and do my hair ever day. I promise.)

Addie loved using the hole punch. She still doesn't have the coordination to hold the paper and punch the hole at the same time, so I helped her out with that. Isn't that what Mom's are for?

I thought it was nice that she put so much thought in to each person's reindeer. They were all different. She is picking out the noses here.

She kept telling me that she was having so much fun making these for her friends. I swear that if we didn't run out of candy canes the whole town would end up with one of these.

And the end result?

And I had to make some yummy whole wheat bread while all that was going on too. And believe me, with the homemade peach jam I made this summer, it's delish!

A Day with Dad

On Saturday Addie and Jared went to cut Christmas trees. Jared's family has a tradition of going to the Grand Canyon and since it's private land, cutting a ton of trees. It used to be a few hundred trees but now it's just a few for each family, one for them and a few for family and friends or to just giveaway to someone in need. Addie and Jared came home with four this year.

The day started at about 4:45 for Addie. The night before she was so excited that she wouldn't go to sleep. We let her sleep in our room (normally a huge no-no) since she would be getting up so early and I didn't want it to wake up Kimber. (Read on in my next post and you'll see why.) Finally at about 10:00 I went and laid down with her and after a few minutes she went to sleep. When I woke her up the next morning she said, "but Mom, the sun isn't up." I realized that this was the first time that she has ever woke up before the sun. She was so excited and got right up.

The flash was a tab bit bright for her that morning.

Here are a few of the cousins

These next two pictures make me laugh. Jared always takes a ton of "nature pictures." One time we went to Las Vegas and stopped at the dam on the way. Jared had the camera (this was back in the days of film) and when I got it developed and looked over the pictures I saw one picture of us and the rest of were of the dam.

I thought that this picture was one of those until I looked closely and saw a little blue speck. That is actually my niece, Karen. I thought he meant for it to be a nature picture...until I saw this one. Maybe he meant to take a picture of them. I love that guy, he makes me laugh and he doesn't even know it.

A Day with Dad

On Saturday Addie and Jared went to cut Christmas trees. Jared's family has a tradition of going to the Grand Canyon and since it's private land, cutting a ton of trees. It used to be a few hundred trees but now it's just a few for each family, one for them and a few for family and friends or to just giveaway to someone in need. Addie and Jared came home with four this year.

The day started at about 4:45 for Addie. The night before she was so excited that she wouldn't go to sleep. We let her sleep in our room (normally a huge no-no) since she would be getting up so early and I didn't want it to wake up Kimber. (Read on in my next post and you'll see why.) Finally at about 10:00 I went and laid down with her and after a few minutes she went to sleep. When I woke her up the next morning she said, "but Mom, the sun isn't up." I realized that this was the first time that she has ever woke up before the sun. She was so excited and got right up.

The flash was a tab bit bright for her that morning.

Here are a few of the cousins

These next two pictures make me laugh. Jared always takes a ton of "nature pictures." One time we went to Las Vegas and stopped at the dam on the way. Jared had the camera (this was back in the days of film) and when I got it developed and looked over the pictures I saw one picture of us and the rest of were of the dam.

I thought that this picture was one of those until I looked closely and saw a little blue speck. That is actually my niece, Karen. I thought he meant for it to be a nature picture...until I saw this one. Maybe he meant to take a picture of them. I love that guy, he makes me laugh and he doesn't even know it.

Cousin Party

In my family, we have "Cousin Parties." The Richardson's are a little crazy. When we get together it's tons of noise, food and laughter. This weekend with my girls and their cousin, Kennedy was no different. Since we were going to be down in the Valley over Thanksgiving weekend anyway, I offered to keep my sister's little girl while she went hunting with her husband. It was non-stop fun the whole time! They had a ball!

I couldn't believe Kennedy and Addie. They were playing Dr. and once I caught on to what exactly was going on I had to take a picture. They were taking turns having babies! One of them would lay across the recliner with their feel hanging over the side. Then they would put a doll in their shirt, cover up and get their heart rate taken. Thankfully, that is as far as it went.

(Can you see the baby in her shirt?)

The new moms.These chairs were set up for the people that were coming to see the new baby. Where do they get this stuff? Girls, I tell ya. Their first visitor.They had a great time playing in the bath together. There was tons of splashing and high pitched screaming going on, but I was able to somehow drown it out.
And after the bath they got to lay on the bed and watch a show for a few minutes before getting dressed.

My sister's house is ALWAYS spotless. Thankfully she has a playroom where they could go and totally destroy it and it was all contained in a small space, rather than all over the whole house. After looking at this picture more closely, I realized this was nothing compared to what I cleaned up before they went to bed that night. They can destroy in no time!

Kennedy had a victory on Friday night, (I won't go into it, but believe me, persistence pays off!) so as a reward they all got to have their toes painted. (Heather, I forgot to let you know that Kimber stepped on Addie's freshly painted toes and then stepped on the rug. That's where the nice little pink nail polish spot on the rug came from. I guess the paper towels under their feel just wasn't enough. Sorry!!!)
They also had a great time playing with the Play-Doh out back. I would rather smell cow manure all week then have to take one whiff of Play-Doh so I was thrilled to let them do it outside, away from me.

These are just a few of the things that we did. I can't possibly name, let alone remember everything. We had a great time! Thanks for letting us help, Heather!