Family Photos

For Christmas Damon's brother, Brandon, put together a slideshow with pictures he took of all Damon's family. We took them at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house. They turned out great and we had fun doing it, as you can see by the last picture. Thanks Brandon, they turned out great!

Lessons learned

Two weeks ago Jackson started feeling sick. He woke up in the middle of the night coughing and wheezing. Although he was begging to go we kept him home from church that Sunday. By Monday there was really nothing wrong with him. I debated all day if I should take him in to the doctor. I finally decided to because Harrison and Lucy were starting to cough also. I felt silly making a doctors appointment for my kids when their only symptom was a very slight cough. Every time my kids get sick that's how it starts and pretty soon they are wheezing and we are doing breathing treatments and it's no good. So I just made the appointments to be safe.
They could only see one of my kids on Monday so I took Jackson in and made an appointment for Lucy and Harrison for Tuesday. The Dr. treated his respiratory problems and I felt confident that I could still hold preschool the next day. So on Tuesday we went on our field trip to the Science Center for preschool. That afternoon I took Harrison and Lucy to the doctor. He immediately put Harrison on a breathing treatment just like he had done with Jackson. Then he looked at Lucy...she had STEP. He then realized it was strep that was causing the respiratory problems. He misdiagnosed Jackson and I subsequently infected all of Phoenix by taking my strep-ridden children to the Science Center! I'm so grateful I took them to the doctor especially because their symptoms were so slight I almsot disregarded them.
First lesson learned; to trust my mommy instincts.

On Thursday I went to Tucson with my mother and sisters in law to see Fiddler on the Roof. I was feeling very anxious about going and leaving 3 sick children. Not only were they sick but they were sick with strep. It was Lucy's first time getting sick and each kid needed medicines and breathing treatments. To top it off Harrison gets super whiny when he is sick, Jackson gets naughty, and my sweet, happy Lucy was clingy and fussy. I did not feel right about leaving them for someone else to deal with. I did leave them and went to Tucson and had a fabulous time. My children were happy with Grandma Nonna, Grammy and their Dad and they were happy to be with my children.
Second lesson learned; trust the people I love, including my children.

Friday night after my trip to Tucson and the kids were in bed Damon held me and told me he loved me and was glad to have me "back". It was a stressful week for me and I got into a funk where I didn't act like myself and I wasn't really "there". I realized how hard it is on Damon when I get like that because he doesn't know what's wrong or how to help.
Third lesson learned; my husband loves me and wants me to be happy.

What a busy life!

I realized that I have started 5 posts since November and haven't finished one of them. My goal is to get on the ball and get those posts published!

These last few months have flown by. We enjoyed our holidays and are looking forward to spring. The boys are spending more and more time outside riding bikes and playing. My goal for them is to teach them to ride bikes without training wheels and to sign them up for a sport.

Harrison is growing so tall and can write his name really well. He is anxiously awaiting his fifth birthday in March. He is already planning his party. We had to stop and look at the birthday cakes while at Sam's Club today.

Jackson is so excited to be a Sunbeam. He loves his teacher, and friends and going to church. He had a cough the other Sunday and I was debating leaving him home with Dad, who was sick. Jackson would not hear of staying home because his teacher would miss him.

Lucy is 7 months old, sitting up by herlself, has a tooth and is almost crawling. Today she went from a crawling position to sitting all by herself. What a big girl! She is such a happy baby, we are all in love with her.

Jackson- the big 3!

Jackson turned 3 on September 8 (I know I'm a little behind). He was so excited for his birthday, he talked about it and planned his party for months. He had a fun party. We had family and a few friends over for dinner, cake and icecream, and of course a pinata. Jackson chose a Dora the Explorer cake and a Batman pinata. One of his favorite things about his birthday was going to lunch with just Dad.

Bike Ride

The weather had been absolutely beautiful this week. Damon and I have been wanting to exercise more so we took the whole family on a walk. It was quite the entourage. Damon pushed Lucy in the stroller, Harrison and Jackson rode their bikes, and I walked our dog Penelope. We live on a dirt road so getting the boys and their bikes from our house to the paved street was a work out in itself. We all enjoyed being outside together. The boys were happy to ride their bikes, even when they got stuck in the dirt or when the had to get off and push their bikes because of all the rocks.

Slip n Slide

We got out the slip n slide for the first time this summer. I don't think Jackson had ever been on one and it has been a couple years since Harrison did it. It was hilarious! They didn't get the concept of running and sliding. At first they just army crawled on it. Then instead of sliding after running Jackson would jump and land on his knees. Harrison would run the length of it then jump into the "pool" at the end.

Even the dogs liked it.

Here's a good one of Jackson jumping!

I had an AMAZING night!

Lucy is 2 months old today and last night she slept from 9 pm to 6 am!!! When she woke at 6, she only woke enough to eat, she didn't even open her eyes, then she slept again until 9! To make things even better my early bird Jackson slept until after 7. What a GREAT night!

On August 2 Damon blessed Lucy. It was a beautiful blessing. He blessed her to have a good relationship with the Lord and with her mother... how great is that?! Grammy made her a beautiful blessing dress and Aunt Stacy crochetted her blanket. Here are some pics.The last week of July we spent at Lake Powell. We had an awesome trip with Damon's family. Harrison and Jackson were little fish and overcame some fears. They loved playing in the sand, riding in the boats and jet skis, and swimming. Even though they were scared they went tubing and Jackson even got on the knee board. When we got there Harrison was very afraid of the water. He was fine once he got in and could swim around with his life jacket on but getting in was a process. By the end of the trip when he leaned too far over and fell in, it didn't even phase him. I was proad of myself for doing so much with Lucy only 6 weeks old. I went on the knee board, jet skis, participated in our "Amazing Race" and swam to a huge rock in the lake.

Jenna and I were in charge of the "Amazing Race" this year. Damon started this tradition a few years ago and it is now something we all look forward to. Our last Lake Powell trip Geoff and I won the race so we were in charge of planning it. Jenna took Geoff's place and we planned the race. We even did a short version for the kids. They had so much fun and Jackson still talks about the "trophy" he won. The kid's "trophys" were sand buckets with toys inside. We also did "booty" prizes for everyone. We gave every one shorts that said AMAZING race BOOTY prize on the back. The words amazing and booty are big so it looks like it says "amazing booty". It was a fun trip but I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera... arrggh!

Last week my Aunt Connie sent costumes for my kids. I ran errands all day and went to many stores with Batman and Spiderman! My favorite was Harrison's clothes all bunched up and sticking out under his costume.