Easter In a Nutshell (or should I say 'Eggshell'?)

Well, I'll spare you form starting this post like I have the last one or two (or six) posts... with 'sorry it's been awhile, things have been crazy, yadda, yadda, yadda...' Anyway... I'm here now, and that's what matters, right? Right!

Anyway... I'm glad to see that everyone had a great Easter! I have read all of your posts, but I have not gotten to comment yet. I figured I better catch up with my posting while I had a few minutes on my own to think straight. ('cuz y'all know that doesn't happen often...)

Let's start with Easter! We had a busy morning as usual which consisted of me dashing around frantically to get everything ready for the day. (All this after going to bed at 4:45 the night...err... morning before, but I'll get to that in a second...) I had to get everyone dressed and ready, teach my Sunday School class, and then play hand bells during the 11:00 service. We did manage to get the morning off to a good start. First thing's first...

Easter Baskets!! The Easter Bunny came by and brought some good stuff for the kiddos...

We decided to do things a little different this year. We usually go to Michael's grandmothers house or to my parent's house, or struggle to do both. Well, this year we decided to let them come to us. We invited my family up for lunch at our house and it was AWESOME! We actually got to enjoy the day since we weren't rushing from one place to the next. Mom, Dad, and my brother Tim even came up for church, but Tim decided to rest at the house instead. He was diagnosed with Mono last week, so I'll cut him some slack... but just this once. Chris and Pam came up right before lunch, so we all got to spend the day together.

After church, we all went outside to take pictures by the cross. The cross is put up in the courtyard and everyone brings fresh flowers from home to hang on it. By the end of the morning it is covered with all different kinds and colors. It is amazing to see in person. We have taken a picture by it each year and it is a great way to see how the kids have grown.

Here we are...

Dad & Mom

D-Daddy, Moo-Moo, & Allie
(Wyatt is coming down with an ear infection (ughhhh), so he was not feeling too cooperative at the time)Wyatt...
Allie...Allie and Sarah. The two have known each other their whole life are absolutely joined at the hip. I was devastated this week when I found out her family is moving to Columbus this summer. I haven't had the heart to tell Allie yet. I'm waiting to tell her so the thought isn't hanging over her head for the next few months. I dread that task... it's going to break her heart.

Next stop... FOOD! I made everything myself, which I must say was totally delicious to spite the fact I usually hate to cook. I actually had a lot of fun making it all though! Maybe I don't hate it so much after all. I cooked all of my favorites... a spiral glazed ham, homemade baked macaroni and cheese, sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole, rolls, and made a whirlwind cake and icing. (I did stay up until 4:45 am the night before, but it was totally worth it!) It was all so good! I totally had to talk a day off the ole' diet to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I didn't go overboard, but man... it was good!

We all got to spend the day together as a family and it was great to have everyone up for a visit. I really hope that one day we can get all of the family to come to our house for holidays. We really missed being with Larry and Nancy and the rest of the family, but we're glad they got to continue the tradition of Easter at MeMe's.

Now, let's rewind to Saturday. Our church had a huge Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. It was a gorgeous day and they all had a blast.

Allie and (of course) Sarah... before the huntAnd they're off! While it looks like Allie is dodging a pile of dog poop, she is actually stopping short to grab a egg she almost missed out on. I could have had some fun in Photoshop with that one... Showing Wyatt her loot...

Score!

Ah, Sam! The apple of Allie's eye. This kid is such a doll!!
Showing off the eggs he found...Wyatt enjoying his one and only egg. He actually found two, but as he ate the one shown here some kid actually robbed his basket of the other egg. Nice huh?!? Wyatt didn't seem to care much though.

Sam, Wyatt, and Bonnie Greer emptying all their eggs so they can be used again next year...The hunt was so much fun. They had all kinds of activities for the kids before and after the hunt. One of which was bubbles. This picture might look like no big deal to the average parent... but to me it means progress. Allie has never been able to blow out her candles or blow bubbles on her own. It's all related somehow to her speech issues. We've been working hard, and she can now do it all by herself!! I am so proud of her!!

And finally, here's their official Easter picture...

Well, that about covers it. We have been working hard lately to paint and redecorate the house, so hopefully I will have some pictures to show for it soon. We got a new table, new curtains, and I framed tons of pictures of the kids for the shelves. I think it's going to look good when we finish... but finding the time to to it is the trick. I'm just ready for a change! Well, y'all have a great week!!!

Sickness, BE GONE WITH YOU!!!

What's up everyone?!? No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, and yes, I did survive the 80+ hours I volunteered at the Kidsignments sale! I know some of you who went and experienced the chaos first hand probably wondered...

1) Is Caron completely crazy for voluntarily subjecting herself to this?
2) What time will these people get to go home tonight?
and
3) Will the line ever make it to under4 hours long?

Well...

1) I don't think so... but I'll let you judge for yourself
2) 3:12 a.m. was the latest we got out
and
3) Yes! it took some doing, but we didn't stop 'till the last tag was cut!

So was it worth it? Heck yeah, baby!! I got tons of great deals and lots of adorable things for the kids. Plus, it's always awesome to get to hang out with all my friends I work with twice a year. It was also great to see Andrea and Lara, and finally meet Chris and Tara in person!! I wish I could have seen y'all more... we'll just have to plan it better next sale!!

Unfortunately, working the sale has been the about the most exciting thing that's happened around here lately. It seems that 2008 is turning out to be 'the year of the antibiotic' for us. This is way out of character because generally speaking, we rarely get sick! I don't know... it's like there's some kind of beacon light flashing above our house, just begging the viruses and crap to 'STOP HERE!' Or maybe 2008 just happens to be the year the stars and the planets align just right creating some kind of weird gravitational pull that automatically sucks germs and funky illness towards the kids. I mean really... we have never had as many issues around here as we have had lately.

The year started off with your classic 'mini-flu', which is every bit as bad as the regular flu, but just doesn't last as long. Then came Mr. Cold, which naturally brought his good friends Cough and Wheeze. Ear Infection stopped by for awhile. Even Fever who we rarely see has made a few appearances here lately. Needless to say Sleep took off as soon as he saw those guys coming. Finally Penicillin and Albuterol laid down the law and things quited down. Peace was in sight. That is, until the One Year Molar Twins showed up and interjected their own bit of chaos in to the mix.

So, is it over??? Are we finally getting a break form prescriptions, and Kleenex, and nebulizers? Ummmmm, that would be a big, fat NEGATORY. (sorry, I just had to reference that... the definition #3 was just hilarious!) So where was I?? Ah, yes... so today ole' Stomach Virus found out that he'd been missing out heck of a party at 'Casa De Rich' and was slightly peeved that he hadn't been a part the preceding festivities. So he decided to drop by today and went straight for first victim... Wyatt. Of course Michael was at work, so I had the joy of cleaning up the aftermath all by my lonesome. His crib resembled a scene from the Exorcist. I had no idea one kid could possibly puke that much. And to top it off, Wyatt has recently invented a new game called 'Lets pull the crib sheet off the mattress so mommy has to put it back on'. This great game is played daily now, not just at night, but at naps as well. Well, needless to say the game was over and the sheet had been successfully removed leaving the bare mattress to catch the brunt of it. All in all, I had to wash the mattress, the sheets, the bumper pads, the crib skirt, and scrub the carpet. All of this, of course after I bathed Wyatt. I had to put him in the tub fully clothed and still holding his blanket. After I got him cleaned and dressed, I had to clean the tub, start the nasty load of laundry, and scrub the affected pacifier. I finished all this... washed my hands, and turned around just in time to see round two hit. This time... kitchen floor. At least this was easier to clean.

Fortunately it was gorgeous today so we played on the porch a lot. The warm weather couldn't have come at a better time because Allie got to run around while Wyatt took it easy and enjoyed the fresh air. It took his mind off of how bad he felt. And don't think that I hadn't thought about the fact that you can simply hose off a deck when something nasty happens. Carpet... not so much!! Anyway, after four or five more episodes and a few changes of clothes... I think we are past the worst of it. I am sooooo praying that Allie dodges the barf bullet. (But seeing as how we just aren't that lucky... I must confess that I completely lined the carpet in her bedroom with towels in case we get any action tonight. 'Cuz hey, if there's one thing I hate more than scrubbing barf off a carpet, it's scrubbing barf off a carpet at 3:00 in the morning... ya feel me?!?!

Anyway... sorry to gripe so much! A lot of this 'blog update' (O.K., 'vent'...whatever...) stems off my sheer frustration towards parents who insist on sending their kids to school or church or any place when they know they're sick. I mean, I know we're all bound to get sick sometimes... but if Little Sally has a fever and strep throat, PLEASE... for the love of God, don't take her to the McDonald's playground to 'cheer her up' until she is totally well. (Yes, I actually encountered this last week. And yes, I did refrain from informing that mother that she in fact, was a 'effing idiot who showed blatant disregarded for the health and well being of other people's offspring. Yep, I kept my mouth shut alright. Oh ALRIGHT!! Who am I kidding... y'all know me too well. The fact of the matter is I'm a total wimp who avoids confrontation like the plague. If I had any kahunas at all that day, I would have explained to that dumb woman that she was now responsible for the four insurance co-pays we'd have to fork out at $40 a pop, plus another $20 each for medicine. I would have then handed her a calculator, seeing as how as she probably would have needed one to do the simple addition necessary to calculate how much she owed me for her stupidity. I would have then quickly yanked the calculator back, telling her to allow me being that she was probably not intelligent enough to figure the math out on her own. Because after all... if she had any speck of intelligence or common sense about her she would have NEVER MADE THE DUMB ASS DECISION TO BRING A SICK AND CONTAGIOUS CHILD TO PLAY WITH OTHER KIDS!! Sheesh... I told you I had some frustration. Anyway... it's the same kind of thing at school and church... kids barely get over a virus and boom... parent's bring 'em anyway. I hate to be so grumpy, but sickness has already taken a huge chunk out of our year and I am ready to move on with it!

Anyway, I promise to be back in a better mood and with any luck, some better things to blog about. Until then, here are some of the shots from Wyatt's one year pictures. Naturally, Allie wanted to be in on it too, so I took a few with her.




I hope you all are doing well! I'm off to check in on every one's blog!

Overboard...

I don't know... does the purple necklace make it a bit over the top?

Well, Allie has officially been bitten my the make-up and accessory bug. She loves to play with her pretend make-up, and especially loves the real lip gloss she got from her second cousins. We have to play it several times a day... and only slightly disturbing is the fact that Wyatt likes to get in on the fun too. I'll wait awhile before I get too concerned...

Excerpts From Week One In The Adventures Of learning To Self-Feed...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He was actually doing great with the spoon... right up 'till the point when I started recording him! Kids love to make liars out of you! Oh well... I am happy to have gotten one of his 'growls' on camera. What do you expect... he's full-blooded Bulldog!

And since we are on the topic of food... here's the rundown on Wyatt's birthday. Since the 14th was on a Monday, we waited until the following weekend to celebrate with family. I couldn't help but feel a little conflicted about doing it on a day other than his actual first birthday. I told myself 'Dude, he's one and he doesn't even know what's going on' and that 'I need to quit being so firggin' OCD about pointless crap' I mean, I know he won't remember it or anything, but I still felt like I was cheating him somehow.

Adding to my guilt was the memory of Allie's first birthday party. We threw her a huge Luau (on her actual birthday, no less), complete with lays and awesome decorations and tons of food and guests. It was awesome, and so memorable! I think I'm just worried that I'm becoming 'that mom,' the one who tries and tries but just can't keep up with her second baby as well as she did with her first. I'm realistic about it... it has to happen to some degree since time obviously gets divided with two, but I just don't want Wyatt to look back at pictures and feel like he was overlooked. Besides, having a birthday that just happens to follow the chaos of Christmas can be a problem in and of itself.

I think part of it might be that I feel a little selfish having returned from the ski trip only one day before Wyatt's birthday, which suddenly made me realize that I hadn't even planned a party for him. Or maybe it's just the fact that I can hardly believe my baby boy is already an entire year old. Anyway, needless to say... I'm already trying to think of something great to do for his second birthday! I just hope time doesn't fly by quite as fast...

Well, enough of that... on to the pictures!

Wyatt wisely chose Johnny Carino's for the occasion and it was a darn fine choice if I might add.

Here he is after dinner with his homemade... er... Publix cake.

Alright, time to loose the shirt and get down to business...
Here you see his first attempt at feeding himself with a utensil other than his bare hand. Now that's what I call concentration... meticulously watching said utensil for any sudden or unforeseen movements, and guarding against potential miscalculations by the untrained operator (which could prove to be catastrophic...) Wyatt quickly notes that the hand is much quicker and far more efficient...He also notes that he loves him some CAKE!!

A little bit of Park City in our own backyard...

O.K., first off a rant. Sorry, but I GOTTA VENT! I want you all to know that I had worked long and hard on this post last night. I actually had it completely done. Finished! Complete! I went to click 'Publish Post' and it told me it was 'unable to do so at that time'. No problem, right? I'll just hit 'back' and re-try it, right? WRONG! When I hit back to try again... the handy-dandy little 'auto-save' feature obviously had some issues of it's own and none of my post had been saved. No, wait... I take that back... it saved the FIRST TWO SENTENCES OF MY POST! That's it! Let's just say I took it about as well as Katie took her 'rainbow cookies burning in the fires of Hell' In fact, I do believe I quoted her little rant verbatim. Yeah... I was a little mad. So, it was lost. And I had to start over. But not last night. Today. Because last night, well... I was honestly afraid at what I might do if I stayed within punching distance of the computer.

Whew... sorry for that, but I had to voice my frustrations towards Blogger and it's 'Auto-Save' that is not-so-much 'auto' and only 1/4589th 'save' A word to the wise... click 'Save Now' from time to time and save your frustrations for more important things. Like scorched cookies.

Anyway... back to the post. The Georgia snow has come and gone, and so have my dreams of keeping the blog up to date. I have been trying for days to find the time to post some pictures from our ski trip, but yeah... that ain't happened. Fortunately for me, Mother Nature seems to have given me a free pass and allowed to kill two birds with one stone. (Sorry about your birds, Mother Nature...)

So, first... our ski trip. Several years ago, some friends of ours decided to plan a ski trip each year in January. Well, this worked great until we all started having kids. First it was Erin, then Jennifer and I the next year, and finally Dawn. We managed to go three of the past five years, and the husbands even managed to finagle a guys-only trip once. Not too shabby considering there are nine kids between the four couples. Anyway, the first year we went to Lake Tahoe, then Banff, Canada the second, and this year to Utah. We look so forward to the trip each year and we always have a blast! Not to mention that it is nice to have some 'kid-free' time with our friends.

Now to the pictures...

Day One: We started off our trip at Park City. (This was my favorite!)

Here we are waiting in the she ski rental store...

The girls... Erin, Me, Jenn, and Dawn (What do you want to bet that she is actually smiling under that mask?)

This was the view looking down on to one of the restaurants on the mountain. Here you see two half-frozen Richs, looking a bit rough at the end of the first day.

Day Two: The Canyons. This place was also really nice, but a bit of warning to the newer skiers (like myself) who don't have the skills or the sheer stupidity required to do the crazy, thrill-seeker slopes. There were no green trails present at this resort. (Even though the 'effing web site clearly stated that there were...) So if you're coming lookin' for the bunny slopes, well... you'll just be S.O.L at The Canyons. The blues are great and pretty manageable if you have some experience, though.

Jennifer and Alan on the sky car up to the resort.

(Left to Right) Some Random Snowboard Guy, Jenn, and Erin on a ski lift. (Bottom Right) Two random and lost-looking skiers. Brad looking at a trail map while Jennifer feels the effects of altitude sickness. I felt so bad for her... she felt terrible that day!Day Three: Alta (and yes, the sky was really that blue... it was gorgeous!)

The view form the top...Here we are in front of our condo on the last day... sad to be leaving, but so excited to return home to our kiddos.

And speaking of which... being that we are the most thoughtful, wonderful, loving, and caring parents around... we brought the kids back the best surprise we possibly could... SNOW! Well, so the snow came a few days after us, but who cares. The kids loved it!

Here is my little Snow Princess... just slightly happy about getting to 'play in the snow like Caillou'! (B.T.W., does any other mom out there happen to hate that whiny, bald headed little cartoon freakshow as much as I do? And what about his parents... total jobless pushovers with never-ending patience who totally allow the brattiness? Anyone?? Well... maybe I just have some deep-rooted Caillou-hate built up. Maybe I should look in to some therapy...) So where was I? Ah, yes! Allie, my beautiful Snow Princess...

Finally getting to try out her new snow boots...

...and loving the prints they leave behind.

Here she is trying out my latest, greatest invention! It's a snowball maker! This fabulous little creation lets you make snowballs without ever laying a glove the snow! Because, really... who out there likes cold, wet gloves??? O.k., so it's a measuring cup. (which I've heard is used for cooking, which it that thing where you prepare meals yourself at your own home. Needless to say that little cup got more action that it's seen in awhile. I'm just not much of a cook!)

Figuring Wyatt was too young to enjoy the snow, I kept him inside while Allie played on the back porch. However, when he saw her outside... well, let's just say he would have no part of that. He went straight into tantrum-mode and totally freaked at the idea he was not included! So I bundled him up and let him go out and play with too. My bad, Wyatt! Excuse the heck outta' me... Who am I to underestimate you? Here's my handsome little Snow Monster, hamming it up as usual. The hat lasted almost as long as the snow itself, which was gone in no time.

Well, that's it. Consider yourselves almost up-to-date. I still have to post the pictures of Wyatt having his first taste of birthday cake. But, you know... I'll get to it. Sometime.