Happy Anniversary

So Rhett and I have been married now for 11 years. 11 long, fun, frustrating, crazy, amazing years! It is hard to believe! I love Rhett! He is a good husband and father! I don't know what I would do without him! He is my best friend and loves me no matter what! Happy Anniversary to us! :)

Christmas 2009

I will admit, I am a bit of a Scrooge. While I love Christmas and all that it means, I hate decorating, planning, shopping, wrapping, etc. But this year I actually planned ahead (a little). I started shopping in November and had most of it done before December 1st! Yay for online shopping! :)

I also talked Rhett into letting me get a pre-lite tree this year. I guess he was sick of having to take cover and listening to me curse the tree while trying to put the lights on! So I even got our tree up and mostly decorated the week after Thanksgiving (a first for me).

So while I am a scrooge, I try hard to be happy, excited, and stress-free for my kids. I want them to love Christmas! We took them to get a picture with Santa, of course. But that sure was an exercise in patience for me!

We use to go to a tree lot in Sandy where they have a giant sleigh, reindeer, and the cutest Santa ever. But this year, the cutest Santa ever was not there. Instead they had some young, Hispanic dude in a terrible costume. Plus, instead of taking your picture, you had to bring your own camera and tip Santa for a photo. I didn't bring my camera.

And how do you respond to your 6 year old when he asks "Why does this Santa Claus look so different than the real Santa?" (Logan is very observant, so we had to have a talk about how the Santa's at the mall and other places are 'helpers' and not the real Santa.) We did eventually make it to a mall to get a picture that turned out okay. Of course Colton was terrified of Santa!

Ti's the season for family parties and get-togethers. We had our fair share of those as well and had a lot of fun at all of them! It was also fun for the kids to be surrounded by their cousins and all our family traditions!

And the first time I pulled out the "Santa is watching" card, Logan responded with "I don't care cuz if I'm on the naughty list I can do whatever I want and it won't matter!" What the.....?!?! Okay, I wasn't prepared for that one! Good thing Logan is a pretty good kid, most of the time!

Christmas morning was great! Both boys slept in till after 9:00. We had to go in and wake them up. (We would've let them sleep in longer if we didn't have to be at Rhett's parents house for dinner.) Logan, of course, was so excited! He had a blast passing out and opening up presents. He was so cute with Colton trying to explain to him what all the toys were and what they did. Colton on the other hand was more interested in the wrapping paper, boxes and bows. But he did finally come around to his own toys! Logan was so excited that Santa came and brought him exactly what he asked for! Amazing how Santa knows! :)

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Over all it was a fun morning for all! The kids had fun and Rhett and I had fun watching them! Even thought it is a lot of work and preparation, it is so worth it to see the smiles on the kids faces!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well with wishes for a great new year in 2010!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to All!
This year we spent Thanksgiving with Rhett's side of the family. We enjoyed a yummy traditional dinner at Rhett's parents house surrounded by his brothers and sisters! Of course I took my camera, but didn't pull it out to take any pics! But regardless we had a great day stuffing ourselves silly! I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

Happy Halloween!

On Halloween, Logan couldn't wait for trick-or-treating! We invited Grandma R, Uncle Randy, as well as Holly and Savannah. We had a pumpkin shaped pizza, bread sticks and Halloween cupcakes! Then off to trick-or-treat. This was Savannah's first year trick-or-treating and she didn't quite know what to make of it! This year Logan was a pro! Colton just sat in his stroller and was along for the ride. Unfortunately, my camera got changed from its auto-focus setting so some of the pics are blurry. I know, I know, I am a real pro!

And we're off! Logan took off right away. Savannah on the other hand was in no hurry. She didn't understand why we kept sending her up to the doors of houses that we weren't going into.



Even after getting candy, she would just look at us like "Now what?" It was pretty cute!

This 'Haunted' House was a hit with the kids. Logan just wanted to stop and play!




At this house, Logan couldn't quite grasp the idea of this talking pumpkin. "How does he know my name, mom?" "Is that pumpkin real?" We must have spent 10 minutes at this house alone. Logan loved running up and talking to the pumpkin and having the pumpkin answer back!

Here is Colton along for the ride. At this point he is tired, hungry and ready to be out of the stroller.

Back at home I tried unsuccessfully to get a pic of the kids. Logan wanted to eat candy, Savannah was getting tired and seemed a little confused still, and Colton (who refused to wear the hood to his frog costume) was just plain ornery. Overall it was a fun and funny night! I am glad we were able to share this time with Savannah, Holly, Grandma R, and Randy! Happy Halloween!

Pre-Halloween Party

So my sister, Missy, decided to have all the cousins over for a Halloween party. Logan and Colton have 10 cousins on my side of the family, plus I invited Rhett's Parents and his sister Holly along with her daughter, Savannah. So there were 13 kids and a lot of ciaos! But the kids had a great time! We had dinner, showed off costumes, played games and made masks! Fun was had by all. Here are a few pics from that night.

Here is Mason showing off his mask he made.

Here is Annabell dressed as a Peacock, crying, with Sara Jane and Grandma H and Elliott.

Grandpa R and Colton. Colton is not enjoying this crazy evening!


Kari and her daughter Londyn. Don't ask why this photo is out of focus.

Grandma R and Grandma H chill'n.

Savannah, Holly and Logan working on masks.

Around the table making masks, Mason in front not looking, Logan, Missy, Annabell, Max, Mitchell and Sara Jane.

Logan showing off his mask.

Thanks Missy for hosting such a fun Halloween Party! We had a blast! Happy Halloween!

ANGRY LETTERS!

About a week or so ago Logan got in trouble for not going to bed on time. His punishment was no stories before bed. Well that didn't make Logan happy and so he tried to beg, plead, cry and any other tactic he thought would make me give in. After about 20 minutes of this, I told him to go to his room, that I couldn't talk to him right now(I admit, I was quickly losing my temper and didn't want this to turn into a yelling match with my 6 year old).

A very unhappy Logan went to his room while I went downstairs to straighten up, turn out lights, etc., before going to bed myself. When I got to my room and was getting ready for bed, I notice a note on my bed. It was from Logan.



Translated, for those who can't read Logan's phonetic spelling it says:
"Mom, I know this isn't a good time to do this but I want to talk to you. Read the sign". In case you can't see it very well, underneath the last sentence, he wrote the same sentence again in 'jagged' block letters.

Logan came to my room just as I finishing reading this and asked if I got the note. So we spent a few minutes talking about his note, as well as the consequences for not obeying. He then asked if I knew what the last part of his note said and did I know why he wrote it that way. I told him I knew what it said, but didn't know why it was written in 'jagged' letters. His reply: "Those are my angry letters. They let you know I am mad!"

Even now when I think about it, I crack up laughing! Little kids say and do the funniest things! I sure do love my Logan! For as much as he tries my patience, he sure is a funny and wonderful kid!

The Tooth Fairy

Logan lost his 1st baby tooth!

About a week or so ago Logan came to me crying and said that something was really wrong. He assured me that he had been brushing his teeth and taking good care of them, but one was "moving in my mouth!" He was quite upset about it and afraid to tell me. So we sat down and talked about baby teeth and permanent teeth. Logan was quite excited when we got to the part about the Tooth Fairy. After that he sat and wiggled his tooth every chance he could.

On Saturday as we were driving in the car, he finally wiggled it free. Again this scared him a little, but soon he was talking about what the Tooth Fairy might bring him. And after Dad told him that if he caught the Tooth Fairy by her wing he could make a wish, Logan asked everyone we saw/talked to that day if they had every seen or caught the Tooth Fairy.

He even thought for awhile that he would wait and save all his baby teeth so he could "put all my teeth under the pillow at one time to see how much money the Tooth Fairy will leave me." (I love the thought process and logic of little kids!)

That night, after convincing him he couldn't save the tooth until all his baby teeth came out, we carefully put it under his pillow. Logan asked for the hundredth time how to catch the Tooth Fairy and finally went to bed.

The next morning he was happy to find a "golden quarter" which he immediately put in his piggy bank. We had to ask to see the golden quarter to then explain that it was really a gold dollar coin. That Tooth Fairy must be rich!

So another first at the Richards house! Who knew you had to explain the process of losing your baby teeth and the Tooth Fairy! Obviously not me (I know, Mother of the Year Award, here I come)! But I had older siblings who went through that phase first, so I didn't question my teeth falling out -that I remember anyways.

So thank you Tooth Fairy for remembering to stop by our house! (Especially since I took a sleeping pill before bed and slept soundly all night through!)