Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a fun Christmas Eve. We did nativity puppets while we read in Luke, had appetizers for dinner and read "mickey's" Christmas story before we went to bed. Marriner was so excited and Chase, of course, could not wait for morning.



I must have been enjoying the moment far too much to take pictures! I only took three pictures Christmas morning...i was bummed but hopefully my memories will suffice. After we had breakfast that morning we were off to Firth! Mom made us all matching jammies. Here are some pictures of the kiddos patiently getting impatient.

I love how Abby is cradling Gretchen's head.
Sadie and Hattie curiously looking at their feet. It's as if Sadie is saying, "Yeah, they do look alike don't they but I think yours are the ones on the right."

The boys
We spent New Years with Brock's family. Here is Coen, Sadie, and Chase with the famous noise makers and hats.


Sadie is walking everywhere now. She thinks she can even walk down the stairs.....she thinks it's funny when her mom overreacts and tells her to turn around. Me, stairs and babies just don't do well together....my heart has skipped way to many beats worrying about those darn tumbles!
We played limbo with the kids and when we sent them to bed, we all got a shot at some crazy kerioke sp? Brock and Nathan took the show.
"Hey everybody. I'm so happy to be alive" Just a day at the Richards residence.
Our Church is at 1:00 now so we were ready with time to spare for a family picture.
Chase was so excited to get a suit for Christmas. He is the sweetest little boy you'd ever meet

I took these next pictures because I was going to send them in to Regis and Kelly beautiful baby contest.....but I'm a little computer retarded and couldn't figure it out. Well, these weren't a total waste because I get to post them on the old blog!
Posing for the camera...I love you Marriner. Chase is at School when we took these or he would be smiling for the camera as well.



My lady Sadie....I love you sweetheart!

Updates

Just Hanging out with her daddy.
Notice there are no ornaments at the bottom of the tree.....Sadie has taken care of them all. We had to rearrange our living room to fit the Christmas tree but it was worth it. Since we've put it up it really feels like Christmas.
Crawling to mama
"I know I shouldn't bend this but it's ever so much fun to stand by myself and play with a 'no, no' item!"
Just bending the candyland cards....not a big deal (We just won't tell Chase) What could be cuter than a one year old in a gingerbread dress?
Ward Christmas Party. This was the BEST Santa ever! The beard?....yep, sure is real. And his suit?....only Mrs. Claus could have designed such a thing. Sadie couldn't have been happier....but not as happy as these two.................
Marriner calls him "Danta" "Danta tumming to ah house?"


Having the time of his life. It was perfect snow for snow angels, and just falling in to.

I guess girls can wear blue hats but boys probably can't pull off a pink ones!

Merry Christmas!!

Halloween

Gotta love the D.I. I shop there even when it's not Halloween but it came through for the occasion.
"Ah ah ah ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive"........or something like that!



"How do you do it again?"

Top Three

Three things I know for sure.......
1. Flossing is grand
2. Pooping is wonderful
3. And pigtails precious


1. After dragging his feet for.....9 whole years, Brock decided to go to the dentist. After about and hour and five cavities later, he decided that flossing would have been a great idea. We won't even mention the two wisdom teeth that need removed. For all those who don't take a small string and insert between teeth, take extreme caution....you could be on the cavity train with Brock.

2. Marriner has pooped in the potty for three straight days in a row! I never thought it would be music to my ears to hear ( a little graphic) poop coming out and plopping in the toilet. Maybe having two in diapers makes this fecal feat even more sweet. One less bum to change equals a smile on Brooksie's face.

3. I managed to get pigtails in Sadie's wisps. I was so excited even though I may have jumped the gun a little. With little hair to work with, anything will due. I love being a mom. My three angels are only going to be little for a short while and I, as many of you, want to take it all in....pigtails, poop, and all.

Happy 1st Birthday Sadie!

Sadie had a great first birthday. Many were there to celebrate. She wasn't quite sure what to think of everyone watching her but I think she realized this was a special day. She hasn't wanted real food since her birthday cake....once you go sweet you never go back!

"Do you want some mommy?"
Not so sure about what this is.....and how to get this goodness inside me!


Coen and Sadie trying to share!
She loves her new horse. She held on so so tight!
Aisha and Sadie

I learned how to make butter cream roses online. Don't look too close.
The cake kind of reminded me of a 50th wedding anniversary cake....oh well. I wanted to do another flower but couldn't find how to do it.

Throw up, glass shards, and the joys of motherhood

The last twelve hours have been....exciting to say the least. As I was putting Sadie back to bed for the fourth time at 2:00 in the morning(she must be teething!), I hear Marriner coughing. I wasn't going to check on him because as many of you know, nightly checks most of the time turnout ......uneventful. Well I decided to check on him just to make sure. He had thrown up all over himself and his bed. He was all smiles as he was covered in last nights meal. He was pretty excited when I told him he could take a bath. As he was bathing, I put all of the puke covered items in a large garbage bag and tied it tight so I could take care of it in the morning. After I changed his sheets, Cloroxed everything, I put him back to bed. Sadie only woke up two more times!! Well, this morning we got Chase to school, and then I decided to clean the mess in the garbage bag. (Can you imagine the smell....I hope not.) I needed to put Sadie in Chase's room and shut the door so she wouldn't fall down the stairs while I cleaned. I get it cleaned up and put everything in the wash, feed Sadie breakfast, and as I'm taking her up the stairs to get her dressed, I bumped a picture on the wall and it tumbles down the stairs and shatters everywhere. Luckily the picture didn't rip but the frame and glass are everywhere. Sadie gets put back in Chase's room. As I'm cleaning up glass shards, my foot gets cut so I've got blood to clean up too! Meanwhile, Sadie is crying, so once I'm done I head up to finish getting her dressed. As I'm doing her hair I hear Marriner throwing up on the stairs and the tile. I put Sadie back in Chase's room and she definitely is not happy about it. Marriner is crying and the puke is just where the shards of glass were just minutes before. I'm just glad I didn't have to clean up puke covered glass. I was having a great time if you could imagine. I'm now on the ground cleaning up breakfast throw up. Marriner gets to take yet another bath. I finally get Sadie and Marriner dressed(again) and it's time to pick up Chase from school. Let's just hope in three hours time Chase got more accomplished than we did here at home! The joys of motherhood are sometimes overshadowed by the smell of throw-up. . .but they definitely are still there :)

A tribute to our mom

As sisters, we have always wanted to dance together. We never really had the opportunity to do it because Devanee wasn't old enough yet. Nicole was going to be in town so we decided this was our chance. Nicole choreographed the dance...it was amazing. We dedicated the dance to our mother. We kept it a secret from my mom and surprised her. She cried so it was success! Natalie was a champ being 7 months pregnant. She pretty much did everything, I'm so glad that she was still able to do it.


There were parts in the dance that were very symbolic. As you can see, it looks like we are praying. Just as many prayers were given on our behalf from our mom. There was a part where it looked like we were cradling a baby in our arms just as she cradled us in her arms. Nicole did an amazing job at doing what couldn't be said with words. I'm going to try to put the song we danced to on my blog so you can get a feel for it.

Todd filmed it so maybe we can get it on to the computer. It was definitely a spiritual experience.