Let the Spewing Begin

It's 10:30 at night, Todd and Connor are sitting at the kitchen table watching "Sahara" (duh...please read a few paragraphs down and you will realize what a bad parent I am...letting my 3 year old watch a movie like that this late at night...I am just asking for bad habits and scary thoughts), I just gave Carly her last bottle of the night. So I will now begin doing all this blogging and catching up and whatevering for posterity's sake.

So a while ago Angie sent Abi some clothes that she had purchased at a great garage sale in Denver (pretty good garage sale by the look of things). I was so excited to open the package right away and had Abi try on everything (well, at least as much as she would allow me to do...by the way, while I am thinking of it, Lori...thanks again for your clothes, did you get my email?). I wanted to take pictures of Abs in each of the outfits so that I could show them to Angie, and this is the best I could get based upon the fact that my focus was a moving target(I took over 50 pictures and this truly is the best I came up with):


Todd and I went on a double date with Nikki, one of our oldest and dearest friends...I say that because we grew up in the same neighborhood together. We hit a bucket of balls at the driving range. You know, for not being so good at the sport, I LOVE IT!!! I can't wait to get back out there again. It was fabulous to sit and talk adult talk for so many hours. Poor Ken was home alone and sick watching our three little ones. We didn't get home until about 10:30 at night and all the kids were still awake, I couldn't blame him. It will be a long time before we burden him with that task again. You can read in greater detail about the evenings events on her blog. She's even got pictures of my enormous backside...THANKS FOR THAT ONE!!!

A few days later my friend Emilee came into town and we met up at the Living Planet Aquarium (aren't her girls adorable? And she's pretty hot too..can I say that?). I was quite impressed with the set-up and all the kids got to see. Connor loved the story time, but did not love the sharks. He is starting to get scared really easily (any of you mommies gone through this? How do we help Connor through this "developmental stage"?) and the sharks weren't on his list of things that make him feel warm and fuzzy. If you've got a few hours, a rainy day and some money (it costs some), take the kids and check it out yourself (call me to go with you because I bought a season pass).

That same day, after the naps and afternoon rituals it was time to get dinner going. I had found activities for each of the kids to keep them occupied while I prepared dinner. I had to scold Connor at one point because of where I found him:



He really likes the fish, and occasionally uncle Ike helps Connor up to the top of the fish tank to feed them. This time, Connor thought he would help himself. Yes, I was upset about what he was using as his method of climbing. What made me even more upset was the special cargo in his ladder:


Connor adores his little sister, but he has yet to realize just how fragile this 20 pound infant is (I know 20 pounds doesn't seem fragile, but she can't exactly pin him to the ground when he's annoying her). This was never so apparent to me as it was yesterday afternoon. Once again, it was dinnertime and I needed the kids occupied. I asked Connor to grab a book and read it to Carly, whom I had laid down on the living room floor. He obediently grabbed a board book out of the closet and laid down next to his sister on his stomach and began reading the story to her. So cute! I began setting the table and on one of my passes to and from the cabinet I glanced into the living room and my heart dropped to see Carly's face purple, no sound coming from her and Connor sitting on her chest. I just started yelling "Get off! Get off! Get off!" He did so and Todd came running in to see what was happening. Carly eventually caught her breath and started whaling. I was so grateful to hear her cry. Connor obviously saw the panic on my face and no doubt heard it in my voice and backed himself up to a wall. Todd calmy explained to Connor why we were all so worked up and why he can't sit on his sister and gave him a time-out for a few minutes. Afterwards he came up to Carly, gave her a kiss on the cheek and said he was sorry. I felt so bad for both Connor and Carly. We usually let the kids sit on our chests when we are laying on the ground and playing around, but we are big enough to handle their weight...Carly isn't quite THAT big yet. Phew, the ordeal is over and we are all breathing well. He has avoided Carly today. Poor guy. It took me three hours for my hear to slow down and beat at a steady rhythm last night.

Last Wednesday I thought my friend Cortnie would call to hang-out...she was SUPPOSED to be in town, I think she still is (hey girl, no guilt intended. Ha Ha Ha). But she never did, however, another Hawaiian friend called and we met up at the Gateway Discovery Museum. Another fun and expensive activity, but I love reasons to get out of the house. So I toted the three little ones like and insane mommy and met Shawnna (another insane mommy with three kids under three) and we had a blast! Of course, I think it would be best if I could have been one-on-one with Connor. He totally gets this kind of thing, but needs a little encouragement, but I had to stay near the stroller, keep one hand on Abi and one eye on Connor at all times...it was a busy place! I think we'll go again (Todd and I with Connor and Abi for that whole one-on-one experience). Maybe for "E" day...EXPLORING! (I will write more about each of the kids individual experiences on their blogs)

By the way, "A' day has turned into "A" month. Connor now has a serious obsession with airplanes...and his daddy too. They went and got some more little diecast planes and Todd couldn't pass up the "dueling helicopters". "B" day was lame...we decorated boxes and blew bubbles. We've both been too busy to do "C" day yet. Todd has been drawing up plans for his brothers addition, a project for Beacon Metals and submitting his book to be bound (which we got back today and it looks beautiful! My husband's dissertation has been published!!!).

The kids and I were supposed to have a playdate on Thursday, but Abi had a high fever, which began the whole family gets sick thing into full swing. None of us can kick this lame cold. Abi had a fever of 102 and Connor followed suit with the fever Saturday afternoon. Thankfully Carly never got the fever, just a constant runny nose (which makes for great pictures). Todd and I are battling to get over it, but I am beginning to wonder if I have allergies.

Saturday was a VERY big day for the Riches family. The Salt Lake City Marathon was going on and a few of them were participants. There is something quite invigorating about cheering someone on from the sidelines...constantly looking to see if they are the next ones to come into view or not. My own Todd ran the half marathon with his sister Tammy. I have to post this picture and tell a funny story about it:

We saw Tammy and began yelling her name to get her attention and we (Ken, Tonya, Alicia, Rachel, Connor & I) were so thrilled that she was making such incredible time. She recognized us and began raising her hands triumphantly in the air and relishing in this amazing moment when some girl came up from behind her sprinting to the finish line and bumped into Tammy sending her winning arms flailing. Hello!?! Like there isn't six feet of running room anywhere else for you...you just had to bump into the cutest teeniest little girl on the path to the finish line. I give you, blonde runner, a thumbs down. Maybe she didn't have any family or friends cheering her on and she was hoping we'd notice her and cheer for her too...in that case, sorry, we didn't know your name or we would have yelled it too.

So here's a picture of the half milers and the Conster Monster:


And when I said it was a big day for the Riches, I wasn't kidding! Todd and Tammy did the half, Chad, Kimi & Isaac finished the 5k and then Chad & Kimi ran the 1k with Whitney (more to come on this amazing little girl), Hannah and Hunter:

They have inspired me (either that or the need to lose 15 more pounds has)! I am now training for the Murray Fun Days 5k!


I said that I had more to come on my super cute niece Whitney (I hope you don't mind if I go on about your daughter for a minute, Kimi). I have MANY awesome nieces, but none of them are as mature as this gorgeous young thing (mostly because they are all younger in age than her). She has started her own company making flower clips for little girls hair! So I purchased a few from her and I am going to show two photos of my baby girls modeling her creations! Thanks Whit! Keep up the entrepreneurial spirit! (of course, we must admit, behind every good girl is a good mother...that's you Kimi)




And last, but not least, the biggest news around our home can best be shown in the video clip below (no...it's not that we have a new dog, it's that Carly can sit up by herself):


All right, so now it is off to each of the kids blogs for a little updating. Remember, I do this all for posterities sake. If you get a little bit of enjoyment out of it, by all means, ENJOY!