“Huh? Whatch you talkin’ ‘bout mom?”

You seem to ask me that a lot these days and you know what Parker, I am not really sure half of the time either! Hopefully I will be able to write you this letter and make a little bit of sense. You are already 2 and a half, which is crazy, but let's face it…the last six months have been winter and I wouldn't say they have gone by fast. You are an outdoorsman already, seriously kid it is in your blood. Although this winter was pretty mild, most of it was too cold for us to enjoy being out in it. At least while you and your brother are so little. But you sure are a different kid when you are all cooped up inside all the time. Sorry kid, hopefully this next winter will be better.

Now that it is early spring and things are starting to warm up a bit I have been able to let you go outside on your own a few times and walk around the yard with your fishing pole and your dog. I stay by the window and watch you the whole time since our yard is not fenced, but you have been so good to stay out of the roads and in our yard. You have been a bit curious about dog poop, and hoping that is just a normal stage for a little boy. Even so you are pretty quick to stay away when I tap on the window.

Last time you were out you got a little bit braver and started to follow the neighbor's fence out around the back of the house. I finally coaxed you back over but you were pretty upset and when I asked you what was wrong you said, "I wanna go in that castle." Apparently her shed resembled one!

I brought you inside and was talking to you about how fun it will be when you get to go out and play when it gets warm and all the snow melts. I was trying to tell you how exciting it will be to go to the park and play. But then you quickly corrected me, "No, when the snow melts I'm goin fishing at the river!" Trust me, it's in your blood. I guess I am glad we chose Alaska to raise you. Even if it means living so far from so many amazing friends and family, your Dad and I both know this is where we need to be. I think you will thank us some day.

Your communication skills are getting so good so fast! It is really incredible to watch you grow and learn and it hard at the same time to try and teach you the right things. "Dang it" has become a pretty common phrase around the house and one day I was trying to get you to put something away and we were starting to struggle a bit. You looked at me all frustrated and said, "UGHHH! You drive me crazies!" All I could do was laugh. I think we drive each other crazy. I love you kid, but like I said, it has been a LONG winter!

For Christmas Santa decided it was time you needed a dog. Apparently he doesn't need to ask your mother's permission to get you one. Christmas morning you opened the box and there was your very own black lab puppy. I'm not sure if you or your dad likes her more. But so far you two seem to be the only ones she will listen to. I need to try and remember to get you on tape while you command that dog. It is just too funny. You do it all just the way your dad does it, and you do it all on your own! Every morning you rush out to the garage, scoop out just the right amount of food and bring it into the house. Before the dog can eat you make her "SIT" and "STAY, STAY, STAY" and then after a minute or so you order, "Sam, go eat!" and she does it just as you say. You are pretty good at read her signals too, you tell me when she needs a drink or needs to go outside. Even if I don't really like the dog, it is good to see you becoming so responsible and how much you love her.

You are a great helper to have around the house. You are getting pretty good at unloading parts of the dishwasher and you are almost a laundry expert! Sorting comes pretty easy for you and on our new washer and dryer the buttons are at a level you can control. It only took me once to show you how and now you help me every time. You know where the soap goes and I know you want to do it so bad (mostly because every time you insist "I do it") but I never let you. Sorry dude, that's my part. But it is nice of you to tell me where it goes and as I do it you encourage with "Right there, Yep." Your wife is going to have nothing to complain about.

The way your remember things is so incredible. Just the past few months you have been telling us all about things that happened before you could talk much. A lot of your memories seem to be very visual too. When you see something that reminds you of a picture in a book you can run in your room quickly sort through your books and flip to the page you saw it. You have a couple of 12 piece puzzles that only took you a couple of time to figure out. I didn't even have to help, you just did it. Maybe we are underestimating how much you really can do! You still talk about things you got for Christmas, you can navigate around town and the best part is that you can remember most of my grocery list. I just tell you what we are going to get before we leave and we talk about it on the way. Then while we are there you can repeat it as we go. Then when dad comes home you can "member" what we bought. It is fun to see you learning so much.

Probably my favorite part about your changes in the last 6 months is how you learned to sing! I love your little voice and to hear you sing song on your own or with me. "I am a child of God " and "Happy Birthday" seem to be two of your best, but you know a lot of others and it is really sweet. You learn a lot of new songs in nursery and then when you come home and tell us about them we practice even more. Too bad my voice isn't a very good example! It is impossible to hear your little voice and not know that you truly are a child of God. I hope those words will always be in the back of your mind so that you will remember who you are and how much Heavenly Father and Jesus love you.

You have also learned to say a prayer on your own. They are the sweetest and most sincere prayers that you give, and seeing your testimony starting so small has really helped encourage me to be better at teaching you more about the gospel. I need a lot of work, but hopefully someday you will look back and be able to "member" and see that I do love the Lord and that I do have a testimony of the gospel.

We took you to Anchorage in February and we went to a new place that has giant inflatable toys called "Bouncing Bears" and you are still talking about it! You dad and I have never seen you more happy than when you were running around that place. You had a smile from ear to ear and you were in heaven! It was so much fun to see you so happy and full of life. You are such a great kid!

You are growing up, and it is hard. I love having you be so little. We left you in your crib for a pretty long time. In fact it wasn't until January that we decided it was time to take the side off and make it into a toddler bed. You did great, and I knew you would. So a couple weeks later we brought in a new toddler bed for you to sleep in, and then after a couple more weeks we introduced Eli to the crib, and decided to try letting you two share a room. I regret being so hesitant about it because you both did so great! Our next hurdle is the binky. Will you ever give that thing up?

You have a pair of red rubber boots that you wear everywhere. I think it is mostly because you can get them on all by yourself, but it is probably also because you really like them. You wear them around the house with a pumpkin bucket on your head. Silly kid. I'm not sure if I have any picture of it, but I know I have it on video. I know those times are going to be some of my favorite memories of you being little.

Some other fun things about you lately:

• You sit at the table in the big boy chair
  
• You always shut all the doors in the house and you insist they stay shut, this included the toilet lid and the shower door.
  
• You clean up messes really well and I love it!
  
• You line up all your toys when you play, sometime on the table, sometime on the baseboard heater or in the window seal or sometimes just on the floor.
  
• You sleep with your library books
  
• You can smell chocolate from a mile away, I can't even sneak it because you smell it on my breath.
  
• You still dance whenever you hear the slightest beat
  
• You follow me wherever I go…..I can't ever get away from you (or Eli or the dog)!
  
• You still have BIG BROWN EYES that every one comments on when we go places
  

Some funny things you say lately:

• The costumes are chasing me
  
• Mom, Be patient with me (still don't know where you learned this one, but it works)
  
• You call Utah "Youtalk"
  
• Huh? Whatch you talkin' 'bout mom?
  
• Not today K?
  
• 10 minutes k? (you think that you can play with my things as long as it is only for 10 minutes, and K somehow convinces me)
  
• Talk it Mom (When you want me to read something)
  

So far you have gotten by with few injuries, but if you are anything like you dad I am sure many are to come. You first cut was on Friday 3/5/10. We were waiting for you dad to come home from work and make us dinner and it was already 8 and we were all tired. Just as he pulled in the driveway you ran and tripped and smacked your face on the rocking chair and it split your right eye open in the corner. It was a small cut, but it was deep and definitely needed some stitched. The ER doc talked us out of them because you are boy and scars don't matter and he was sure the needle would traumatize you. I think it was a good choice. So we stuck a band aid on it. You were fine even before we went it, but we just wanted to make sure it wasn't a problem with your eyelid. Any closer to your eye and I would have had a lot more to write about I'm sure.

Keep it up kid. You are growing up to be a pretty good boy and really great helper. You are an example to your little brother and I am sure you will be your whole life. That should be a good enough reason to make good choices and be a good example instead of a bad one. But I trust you little man. You seem to be doing just fine. You are more than I ever expected you to be, and the best first born I ever had! I love you so much, hopefully your good little memory won't remember how long and boring this winter was. I promise it gets better. Let's see what the next 6 months bring!

P.S. Picture for this post coming soon....just had to get it up here since it is two weeks late already.

$3 toddler bed makeover!

We've been trying to get Eli out of the portable crib in our bedroom for awhile now. But if you read my recent post about our night time routine....you understand why that hasn't happened earlier! Anyway one of the things we needed to do is get Parker out of the crib. So first we started by taking the side off the crib and putting up the toddler rails. I was surprised how well he did with the transition. He has only fallen out of bed once...and he didn't even cry! The next step was to move him into a toddler bed....which we just happened to get for free from a friend this summer! Only problem was the bed was freakishly red....and it reminded us a little of a clown!

I guess there is some blue in there too, but it just didn't fit. So I bought some brown spray paint for $3 and Brian took care of that for us!

Parker has been sleeping in his new bed so well! I would show you what it looks like in his room but we haven't moved the double bed out yet, so it is pretty much in the middle of the floor looking ridiculous! But we out one step closer to having our bedroom back! I'll let you know how the rest goes....I'm sure!

And it just so happened that we had been storing this toddler bed in the store of our basement, and we are starting to finish the basement up to open for customers and so it was the perfect time to spray paint it without worrying about a mess, and we needed to get the bed out of there anyway! Don't you just love it when things work out??

Dish Towel Apron

So today I wasn't really planning on doing anything with sewing. In fact I actually put my machine back in the closet because I don't have any fabric and lets face it....I don't get the chance to go to the fabric store very often. Anyway I came across this cute idea on here. Since we own about a million blue dish towels, I thought it would be fun to try for free! Parker helped me with it and we had fun. It didn't turn out perfect, but I think it will serve it's purpose! He went to sleep before I got it done so he hasn't tried it on yet, but my guess is that he will love it too!

Haha, you know you haven't made anything for your boys when you don't own any blue thread! Seriously....I have pink but no blue??

Mr. Potato Head!

I finally finished! It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it was a lot of fun too. And I have to admit it didn't turn out as well as I thought it would, but it did impress Brian. We'll have to try it out at church this week and see how it goes! I haven't done a craft in so long I forgot how much I love it!

So thanks for the idea Kim! It actually got me motivated to do something!

Night time at the Richards

(this post is pretty random...but its more for journal purposes I suppose)
Parker is so silly when it comes to bedtime. Ever since he was a baby he has only liked to sleep in his own bed. Once in a while if he is super tired he might snooze in the car, hardly ever at another persons house, and for sure not at church.
When he was a small baby he had a mobile over his crib and we would just wind it up once or twice and he would be asleep no problem. (Of course he has always needed a binky and a blanket.) Then when he could sit up and grab it we took that down. We replaced it with a little soft farmhouse thing that my mom bought him that would hang from his crib and he could pull the cow and it was a music box/lullaby and the string would retract as it would play. So for about a year when we would put him in there and pull it, say good night and that was it. Sometimes we would hear it playing over and over until he fell asleep, sometimes we would hear it go off in the night, but that thing pretty much put him to sleep for about a year or more. Then one sad day it broke and the string wouldn't move anymore. I took it apart and tried to fix it, but the thing had just had it. I can't bare to throw it away, so it just sits on a shelf.
Anyway after that Parker was having a hard time with going to sleep, so I had this clever idea to sing him a song! Ha...clever? I never should have started that! He will cry for song after song, and if Brian sings to him then right after Parker insists that mommy sing one. But I don't think he understands what one more means because one more always turns into 10. He usually comes up with a favorite and make you sing that one over and over until your face turns blue. ABC's have been the most popular. If he wakes up in the middle of the night for whatever reason, which happens a lot, he grumbles in this deep little man voice while his eyes are still closed, "wanna song"! It is kind of funny cause I am usually half asleep myself, but just as a I am about to step out of the room I hear those words and I want to scream! It is getting old. We've been doing it for too long.
So after prayers I have been trying to keep to one song and then I just hurry and leave the room. He has this little night light that came with his crib and it has some buttons on it that make weird sounds that I guess are meant to be peaceful but they freak him out. So he just pushes the light over and over until he goes to sleep. Well the batteries on that thing finally died a couple of weeks ago. So I grabbed another one that we have, not sure why we have two. I stuck it on his crib upside down and he used that one for about a week. Then one night he started screaming. I went in there and the thing was running out of batteries too and it started playing deep slow music that really was kinda freaky. Poor kid couldn't get it to turn off. I tried to change the batteries but it takes 2 C size and we only had one. So I stuck it in there with an old one and it lasted another night or two and then finally gave up.
When we put Parker to bed we usually turn on the hall light and then go in his room and leave the door open a crack while we get him settled. Then when we leave we flip the light off. Well since nothing else seems to be working for him, Parker has been insisting that we leave the door open a crack with the light on! He gets really picky too, if the door gets shut to far he freaks out! Then you open it back up a little and he shuts right up.
Last night I put Parker to bed around 9:30 and I could hear him in there until about 10:15 or so. Then it was quiet for along time so I figured he was sleeping. It was probably about 11:30 or so and I got up and snuck over to the hall and quietly flipped the light. Just as I did it I hear this deep slow creepy voice say, "PUSH THE LIGHT!" Like it was a threat or something! I hurry and flipped it back on and then just went to bed. Not worth fighting with him about it cause it usually wakes up Eli and then I have to start all over with bed time! I am still laughing about last night! He had to have been asleep when I turned it off. It had been quiet for so long and I didn't hear anything after I turned it off.
I guess I don't know how bed time is at anyone else's house, but that kid is so picky! I am not sure if I should really be giving in to all this nonsense!
Eli is generally pretty easy. When he was a baby he was pretty much sleeping through the night from a month to 4 months or so. Then I don't know what happened. But it was still pretty easy to get him to sleep. I would just lay him down and he would want the blanket over his face. Kinda freaky, but that's how he wanted it and it worked every time.
Now I just lay him down with his binky throw the blanket next to his face and tell him to go to sleep. But he isn't sleeping through the night and that bugs me, and he is still in my room and that bugs Brian. I can't imagine how the night would be with the two boys in the same room keeping everyone awake. Eli wakes up at least twice a night to eat still and Parker usually wakes up at least once looking for his binky. I don't even know how to start it or try it. Sleep is just too precious to me!
I guess somehow we need to get Parker out of his crib in a big kids bed (also for potty training) we need to get him to give up his binky somehow. Then we need to get Eli sleeping through the night and sleeping in the crib in Parker's room. And I suppose we should probably invest in a decent night light!

November Camping

Richards Family in front of the little Forest Service Cabin

Keller Family

Craziness! We got invited to go with the Keller's camping out of Homer in Tutka Bay. My first response was of course no. I don't really like to camp, and I don't really like to be out in the cold. Then I remember how much fun we had last Christmas. I still didn't really want to go, but I knew I would regret not going just for the experience. So I went just so that I could say that I went! And I did have a lot of fun!

We went out on the Keller's boat and the guys fished for some cod to use as crab bait. Most of the kids were just cold, hungry, and grumpy, but Nettie and I kept them entertained up in the cab.

Chubby cheeks!

Then we had to go check on the crab pots that Travis left out there over the weekend. We were expecting to take have a ton of crabs, but sadly...only three. Apparently someone came and stole our crabs and messed with the pots. Jerks. Luckily we found them all!

Grumpy Parker....what else is new? What happened to my sweet little boy?

We made it to the cabin just before dark, and just like last Christmas the cabin was freezing while we got the fire going and all the kids were screaming and crying! We are going to have to figure something else out!

Brian with Trayton, Parker and Tustin making smores outside that night!




Brian and Parker inside the little cabin.

We pretty much just ate and hung out while we were there. Poor Nettie got the flu, but she was a champ and didn't complain at all. My kids kept everyone up half the night I think! They sleep best in their own beds in their own rooms! But Parker got to sleep on his own top bunk and he thought that was pretty sweet. I should have taken a pic! It was so fun. We forgot to bring him a sleeping bag though so we just borrow one of the Keller's. We had lots of blankets though. Eli just slept with Brian and me in our giant queen size sleeping bag! It was awesome, but pretty uncomfortable cause our sleeping pad was just regular size so we were falling off the edges. Oh well.

Yes we let him have his binki....we were all going crazy with the crying!!!!!

In the morning Brian went out duck hunting in his kayak. That's the other reason that I really wanted to go camping was because Brian hasn't been duck hunting in years now and he loves it so much. There was one kind of duck that he saw out there a few days earlier with the scouts and it is one (can't remember the name) that he has always wanted to hunt. I don't think I will ever understand this whole animal killing thing, but I know it makes him happy. So I play along.

Anyway he didn't get that kind of duck, but he got three of another kind. I guess that was good enough for him. They are in our freezer now, still whole. Gross. Brian is starting to get into taxidermy now and he thinks he is going to stuff it. He is going to put it on a shelf in Parker's room with a squirrel he is working on. Can't this guy find anything better to do? I have a whole list of awesome thing he could work on! :)

This is Nettie and Tracker sitting by the fire pit in front of the cabin, OCEAN VIEW!

This is the back of the little cabin....and Parker crying and trying to catch up to me I am so glad they have so many of these up here! They are so fun to use!

The camping trip was a blast and the area was beautiful. The outhouse wasn't too frosty this year either! I would definitely go again!

This is Brian Kayaking out to get the boat un-anchored (is that how you say it?) . You should have seen Travis try! LOL!

As we drove away on the boat I tried to get a pic of the cabin, it is up on the bluff in the trees! Such a beautiful little area!

Halloween

EEEK! So it has almost been a month since I last posted...where did the time go??

HALLOWEEN 2009

Halloween was so much fun this year! The day before Halloween we went to a party at the Henderson's where all the kids dressed up, we made some masks, and at Chili and homemade rootbeer! It was so fun!

Parker found a football and a helmet and was running around the house grunting and chucking the ball! It was so funny to me because I don't think he has ever seen a football game! Someone must have shown him what to do. He was just so cute. He kept trying to put the huge helmet on backwards too. He just couldn't really see out of it. Silly guy!

Eli got his first two teeth on Halloween! Just in time to eat some sweets right? Haha, Poor little guy has been so fussy lately. Now we know why! They are so cute too. He is such a sweet little baby.

On Halloween I was so anxious all day to go to our church trunk or treat, but I was so nervous that Brian wasn't going to be there to help me carry the kids around. He went on a scout overnighter and I made sure he knew that I really wanted him home in time to go. And he made it! I was so excited! He came home with two live crabs...kinda freaky at first but cool at the same time! Parker thought they were pretty awesome. He even shared some of his candy with one. Gross.

I ended up making Brian stand at the car to pass out candy while I took the kids around. I didn't know what else to do cause we got bombarded right when we stepped out of the car! There were a ton of kids there! It was a blast though. I don't think Parker really knew what was going on, but he for sure had fun! He just kept staring at everyone and he ate a bunch of candy as we walked around.

It was a pretty cold night but my kids had pretty warm costumes, Parker was a Monkey and Eli was a Dragon! I layered a bunch under and neither of them complained.

So after we got home from Trunk or Treat we boiled our crab and had a vegetarian pizza, mmm. It was so yummy! Definitely the best Halloween treat! Parker wouldn't eat any crab, but he entertained himself for a long time with the crab pieces that we gave him, and we got to enjoy our dinner for once! It was so awesome! Plus we don't really mind him not eating crab, more for us! Then when he is older and we go out to eat, he won't want to order expensive crab HAHA!

Parker got a bunch of candy. When his friends came over for a minute they were playing and Parker went over to their candy bags and dumped them in his own bucket! Little stinker! We let him play with it and eat as much as he wanted for about an hour or so then we put it away. He had forgotten about it by morning. Every once in awhile he'll ask for a piece though.

Eli got his first piece of candy on Halloween too. While I wasn't looking Parker decided to share a tootsie roll with him. What a good brother huh! Anyways I ended up taking it away and giving Eli just a plain chocolate bar. He liked it, but not as much as I thought he would. I think he was just pretty tired.

The boys each got a Halloween card and $5 in the mail from their Great Grandma Bonnie! Thanks Grandma!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We can't wait til next year!