For Sale....

Perfectly Healthy 4 year old boy

Loves crying, getting dirty, making messes and throwing fits

will occasionally do chores

Happy Mother's Day~ you're a chore nazi

1. What is something your mom always says to you?
Madison-clean up your room
Nolan-could you please dust

2. What makes your mom happy?
Madison-when we do what you ask
Nolan- cleaning up

3. What makes your mom sad?
Madison - when we don't listen
Nolan-if I get lost

4. What does your mom do to make you laugh?
Madison- tickles me
Nolan- tickle

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Madison-that's hard to guess
Nolan- buy stuff


6.How old is your mom?
Madison-25
Nolan-60

7. How tall is your mom?
Madison-7 feet long
Nolan-8 feet


8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Madison-read
Nolan- say prayers

9. What does your mom do when your not around?
Madison- she relaxes
Nolan- get mad


10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Madison-for being the goodest mom on the whole earth
Nolan- being nice

11. What is your mom really good at?
Madison- she is really good at reading
Nolan- really good at playing bollyball


12. What is your mom not very good at?
Madison- she is not good at flips
Nolan-not good when you get hit by a ball

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Madison- she does volleyball
Nolan- clean up stuff


14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Msdison- pizza
Nolan- pizza

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Madison- is funny
Nolan-being nice

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, what would it be?
Madison- bugs bunny
Nolan- be a boy

17. What do you & your mom do together?
Madison- we do crafts
Nolan- we play together

18. How are you & your mom the same?
Madison- we have the same skin
Nolan- we have the same hair

19. How are you different from your mom?
Madison- we have different colored eyes
Nolan-we don't have the same shirt

20. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Madison-library
Nolan- volleyball

21. How do you know your mom loves you?
Madison- she likes to play with my pet shops
Nolan-dance


22. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Madison-kissing him
Nolan- hugging him

i love these kids

Funny Things Kids Say

Madison "Lets all share crayons so everyone gets the colors. Nolan, you can share this box with Emily, and I'll share this box with myself. It will be great!"

Nolan "Mom, The dog is giving me a hug again"

Me "Nolan push him down, that's not a hug!"

Madison "I didn't steal those glasses, I just took them when she wasn't looking."

Nolan "I'm hungry"

Me "You just ate 15 minutes ago!"

Nolan "I know but my body just told me it was hungry and I listened"

There are no stupid questions:

Nolan "Why does dad have that hair in his nose?"

Madison "how come the boys' feet always stink?"

Nolan "Do I have to take a nap?"

Madison "Can our next baby be a girl named Sparkle Feather?"

Fun Times With Cooper

For some reason the kids are scared of the dog. He does have sharp teeth and he is a puppy, so he likes to chew on things...especially Nolan. Here is a synopsis of what goes on everyday.

• Nolan teases dog


• Dog chases Nolan
  
• Nolan runs


• Dog bites Nolan


• Nolan screams and cries that horrible cry that sounds like a dying pterodactyl and makes those dry heaving noises


• dog runs scared for life that he is going to be attacked by some prehistoric animal who is throwing up


• Nolan tattles on dog


• Mom says "stop teasing dog"


• Nolan goes back outside to tease dog"

Hmmmm... and who said boys weren't smart?!?!

Here is Madison thinking that she is trapped on the tree house because the dog is waiting to pounce on her. Then she gets to the bottom and he is sweet as can be. My kids can be so strange

Coulson Got His Helmet.

Here is my sweet little boy. He looks like a midget football player. Now everywhere we go, people are staring at him. Poor guy. At least we're doing it now. Could you imagine being a teenager walking around with a flat head... and with Judd's genes he would have had no hope hiding it either! I also shaved his head this morning because it was all sweaty and matted down. So I guess I'm traumatized. I can't kiss on my baby's head and he has no more hair! But he's finally crawling. I know, I know, he's going to be 1 next month and he just started crawling. Maybe that head had something to do with it.... but at least we are finally mobile!

Look What Came in the Mail!!

HAHAHAHAHA...I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. I bought these tickets like a year ago, and its almost here. I started watching some video clips on youtube. Just thought I would share. Oh by the way, am I lame becuase I watched this video and was jumping around and crying!???...I knew it. Here is my little shout out video. Imagine me dancing and singing around the house while this is on!! YAY

Pipe Cleaner Fun

So... we were bored today.

Coulson wasn't too happy about it. Sorry if my pictures are a little shaky, but I was laughing so hard while I was taking these. All he wanted to do was chew on my Ipod but I kept decorating him with funny things.

Nothing else has been going on lately. We did decorate some eggs last night. That's about the extent of my Easter cheer. I don't like the "Easter" holiday... actually I should say, I don't like how its so commercialized. I've never told my kids that there is an Easter bunny or even given them Easter baskets. We just have a nice dinner and watch a video on the Resurrection. I don't feel the need to buy gifts for Easter. It seems like the world tries to make us think that you need to buy stuff on every holiday. How about doing something special and memorable instead?? Just a thought.
I do love spring time though. Its almost like New Year's but better. Everything is new in spring. Flowers, trees, baby birds that fall out of their nests all over my yard. It just all ties into the Resurrection (except for the dead birds)
This is the most wonderful time of the year, to me. I hope everyone has a great Easter and takes time to remember the real reason why we celebrate at this special time of year.

no offence....but I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world!!

I finished my cleanse on Sunday. Yay for me. Judd was so supportive through the whole thing! Whenever I wanted to eat something he would help me through it and he wouldn't let me finish early. Anyway, I'm done!! So today I was so surprised to find this delivered to my door....

Judd got it for me as a little gift for finishing and also something yummy to snack on. What a great man I married!!! It makes me feel bad for all of the times that I can be mean, but this kind of treatment deserves extra nice-ness for at least a week!

well.....

So my dog has decided that he is definitely a boy. Ummm... isn't he a little young. 7 weeks!! come on. How old to dogs have to be to get neutered? His main victims are Nolan, who thinks that the dog is giving him a hug, and Coulson, who unfortunately is very vulnerable during tummy time. At first I thought, there is no way, he's just a baby. But oh yes, he grew up fast. Dang. I have to be on my guard at all times.

Otherwise things are going fine. We had our boutique on Thursday. There were so many sellers there! It was awesome to see the kinds of things that people were crafty in. I wondered the whole time why no people were coming to shop and realized afterwards that all of the signs I put up had blown away! I did sell an apron, thanks to Marianne! It was fun to get them all made. Now I just have to decide which one I want to keep for myself.

We took Coulson to the Dr. and found out that he needs to get a helmet. I always knew he needed one. I could tell his head was a little misshaped and square looking. His nick name has been "Sloth" Like Sloth from the goonies. Only out of love though. I love my baby and his head. I'll post pictures of his helmet that should be here in a week or two. Of course you know that is will painted to look like a Longhorns helmet.

Other goings ons... You know that I am a fad dieter. I like to try things to see if they work. Lately I've been doing this master cleanse thing AKA, the lemonade diet. It is not much of a diet because you don't eat food, but it does work for those who want a little renewal. I'm on day 7, and shooting for 10 days which looks pretty doable since I've already made it this far. So you definitely lose weight, probably from the not eating solids of course, but you do get cleaned out pretty darn good. I must say, detoxing can be a great feeling one second and then a terrible one the next. I wasn't doing it for weight loss as much as for the fact that I needed to get over my sugar addictions. It has really helped!! Judd took a Butterfinger out of his secret candy bar stash. (I make him have one of these so I don't eat them all day) anyway, I saw it and had no desire for it. It actually looked gross to me. It was amazing!!! I used to be able to eat 2 of those things for breakfast. YAY for me!

Judd and I are going away for our 7 year Anniversary next week ed. He's planning it secretly. All I know is that it is going to be a "Stay-cation". Meaning that we will be at a resort somewhere here in town. It will be nice to sleep in past 6 o'clock for once!

Congratulations Makenna and Gene!

My little sis tied the knot last week. It was the most beautiful little wedding! My dad and her son, Dylan were able to walk her down the isle. I was making an attempt at being the photographer and then I decided that I would just stick to my day job. I don't really know how to work my camera that well. But... you'll get the point. It was intimate, she looked beautiful and his family was so sweet! His sisters did the music on violin and piano. I'm so happy for you sis!! You deserve the best and I'm so glad you've found your perfect match!!

This is my brother, for those who don't know. I may have mentioned him in previous posts... he's not in jail anymore, and hopefully getting enrolled in school somewhere.

This picture, I thought, was so funny. The wedding was over and you can tell by the look on her face that she just wanted to get out of there and on to her honeymoon. My mom was still picture happy so the fun times had to be put on hold for a few. I would have totally covered if you slipped away when no one was looking!!

The Rich family has an announcement to make...

The Rich family is proud to announce that we are now, officially a family of 6!

About 6 weeks ago I found out that we were expecting a new baby. I know I didn't tell many people, but we were waiting just to be sure......

And here he is. My new baby Cooper! Isn't he a doll!

He's a sweet, mild tempered boy. He spent his first night with us last night, and I must say, its almost exactly the same as having a newborn. One good thing about this baby is that he is pretty much potty trained. He whines when he has to go out. He's only 6 weeks old right now and still adjusting from the plane ride down from Idaho, and missing his mama and sister. But we are giving him lots of love!

Teething, fighting, cleaning, pulling weeds... I love weekends!

I thought it was time to toss everyone a line. I don't know if I've ever brought this up.... but, the main fight in my marriage (besides my spending) is my yard!! Personally, I don't think its my job. I clean the inside, and the man cleans the outside. I think that's how its been since the beginning. It says in the scriptures "God made man to do yard work" (not in those words, but you get the point) Men cleaning the inside is just like giving a 4 year old windex to clean the windows. You end up with something that looks a little better, but only the bottom half is done and you still end up doing it anyway (can you tell I'm a little T.O.'d this morning or what?!?!) Don't get me wrong, I've made attempts. I've mowed the lawn and tried to weed whack but its just not the same.

random question for those who have grass... do you ever pull a chair up to the window to watch your husband mow the lawn??? If so, isn't it so entertaining!! All the stuff they run over and you can see their mouths moving and know under their breath they are saying "retchin' fetchin" and other complaints about you being so bossy. That is entertainment at its best!

Anyway, we did yard work on Saturday for 3 hours and this is how it looks! (keep in mind it still looks like crap to those with nice yards, but this is strait beautiful from what I've had to look at the last few months!

Now don't go tattling to him. I'm not saying he's lazy, because he really isn't, he's busy. He just doesn't have it "on the top of his priority list"

(sarcasm) In other news, its spring break and I'm looking forward to being my children's sole entertainment. YAY... It will be a fun week of arguing, mess making, eating every 15 minutes and pee on the floor because our puppy will be here on Tuesday. I still don't have a name. I've changed my mind since the last time. If you have any ideas leave them for me please!

Oh and fun things to look forward to.

Our playgroup is having a boutique and all the mommies in it are supposed to make something to bring to sell. I'm making aprons that I sort of just made on a whim for Christmas presents last year. They are so darn cute, I just have to find the time to make one for myself. Here is one I made for Maddi. I make children and adults and they are so much fun!! If you want to come to the boutique, its going to be Thursday, March 26th at 10:30 at the Towne Meadows park.

These are some of the fabrics that I'm using for the aprons that are going to the boutique. The bottom fabric is the apron and the top fabric is the pocket.

Besides Nolan, this is my main source of stress...

When these suckers poke through my life will be back to normal.

Madison the Spy and other things

Today was just a typical Sunday. I'm not sure how much I'm liking the 11:30 church because of nap time and all of that... but it sure does make for less fighting. I don't know about anyone else, but I can totally understand the title of the song "Sunday, bloody Sunday" That song was made for my house. I know Sunday is supposed to be a spiritual day, but come on! We are shacked up all day and the kids run crazy, I'm tired, Judd is gone for meetings all day and for some reason the house is always a disaster! But 11:30 church kind of cuts our day in half so the fighting has become less and less.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was looking on Amazon and found the movie "Harriet the spy" I loved that movie! I had to get it because its right up Madison's alley. So on Saturday night we had a family movie night and watched it. It was still as cute as I remembered and the kids absolutely loved it. However.... I didn't realize that this movie would give certain kids bad ideas about spying on their parents. Don't worry, its not like that, yet... but I catch her hiding around the corner peeking at me all the time. folding laundry, doing dishes, talking to myself, she's spying and writing about it in her notebook. Tonight I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner and I knew they were spying on me. I just would talk and say funny things and I could hear them snickering. Now that Coulson is in his walker they have no chance of hiding. He walks around after them and makes these noises. We call them his "underwater whale noises", because he seriously sounds like some marine mammal. Well he was giving away their position so I thought it a great opportunity to grab my camera and jump around the corner and surprise them.

Hopefully this spy business gets old quickly. Who knows what they might over hear or...see

In other news... we've been putting our kids to bed every day at about 7. Lately Nolan has had a hard time falling asleep at night, so I thought it would be a good idea to change his nap into a quiet time instead. so I gave him the rules "stay in here for 1 hour, you can't come out, and if you get bored or tired, lay down." Well I went in my room for my quiet time to read and I ended up falling asleep. He came into my room to wake me up and that was fine. He lasted about 45 minutes in quiet time. not too bad. Well I was throwing something away in the bathroom and noticed blue stuff all over the toilet seat. Hmm. that's strange. Then I turn around to see that Nolan squirted out the whole tube of brand new toothpaste into the sink. I'm just trying to imagine his thought process, but all I can come up with is... male. I made him clean it up. Maybe next time he'll think twice, if its possible for a male brain to do so.

Where do they get off thinking that money grows on trees???

This was my conversation with Madison on the way to the library...

"Can we get happy meals for dinner?"

"no, I just went grocery shopping and there is plenty of food to eat at home"

"I don't want the food at home! I like happy meals"

"I don't have any money"

"Yes you do"

"How would you know? have you been going through my purse again?!?!"

"No, but all you have to do is give them that blue card in your wallet"

NOW... excuse me while I vent!!

Every day I talk to women who have teenagers and are stressed over how much money they cost. There are women who haven't bought themselves anything in years because their kids have to shop at Hollister (that horrible store that I hate)
These are kids that walk around in $200 jeans and Juicy purses. The kids that have high tech cell phones spend all of their time texting. (Has anyone noticed how anti-social kids are lately? They avoid conversation with everyone through their texting) Kids with new cars while there parents drive junkers. What in the world has happened to parents these days?? Why are they so slow to teach kids the value of money?? Why can't they tell their kids "NO!"
Its scary to think that kids can just take that "blue card" and swipe it and money magically appears. You think our society is in debt now... I'm more scared to see it in 10 years. Everywhere you turn there are people going under, not because of job loss, but because they were out buying things they really couldn't afford in the first place, all for the sake of looking cool, or feeling better about themselves. Well here is a news flash, if you don't feel good about your self in the first place, that new car sure isn't going to do it for you. You'll only feel worse because now you will be depressed over that car payment too. Another problem is, people are so impatient. Who saves for anything anymore? They think because they have a credit card they can just go out and buy a new TV. That teaches them no value or responsibility. Everything that I've saved up to buy, I've appreciated more because of it.
So... I guess my dilemma is, how do you teach kids how to be responsible with money? How do you teach them that it is better to save for something rather than finance it? We are counselled over and over to avoid debt unless it is an absolute necessity. To save for a rainy day. I don't know how to get it through my kids heads.
I don't believe in paying for little chores around the house because I think it is a responsibility everyone has to take care their home.
What does everyone do to teach their kids about saving and value?

Top Ten Reasons why I might go Crazy!

10.Nolan crying
9. Kids that leave a trail of mess right after I've cleaned up
8. Cooking dinner for an hour every day just to throw it away because kids won't eat it
7. Nolan whining
6. Judd makes these weird loud noises, too annoying to even describe
5. coughs that don't ever go away, EVER
4. Kids that wake up at 6 a.m. no matter what time they go to bed
3. Nolan throwing fits
2. Female hormones
and the number on reason is....
Nolan in general

On a brighter side...

Top 10 things that make me laugh

10. Nolan crying
9. Coulson in his walker (he wanders all over the house looking for me)
8. Madison's fashion sense
7. Judd's fashion sense (camo and longhorns)
6. No matter how hard I try, my kids always look like hillbilly's
5. When my kids taunt each other (right now Madison is trying to get Nolan to come out side and play with her and he really doesn't want to, so she is out there acting like she is having the best time of her life... oh wait, now they are fighting)
4. How they make up 2 seconds later (now they are coloring together... wait, nope, fighting again)
3. the weird birds that fly into my window and knock themselves unconscious. I know, I'm strange, but seriously, at least twice a day. It is pretty funny.
2. Judd's singing and dancing. I never laugh at his face because I try not to humor him too much. I always leave the room to crack up. He really seriously thinks that he could win American idol. He hates that show, but still, he swears he would win. I'm going to secretly record him and post it some time. Hilarious!
and the #1 reason
The things my kids say. Sitting back listening to them have conversations with each other, or even spying when they are playing alone. Madison plays with her toys like she is a narrator. This is what she will say "brown horse, why are you so sad, said the big, black haired girl horse"
or Nolan singing. He acts shy, but that kid sings all day long. I have to act like I'm ignoring him or he'll stop, but the songs are cute.

so there you have it. For all the bad, there is good. Going crazy is just a part of motherhood.


Trip to Ikea
This morning I decided to take the kids to Ikea. It sounded like a good idea, until I got there. They were having this sale on some dresser so there were like 10,000 people there. I dropped Madi and Nolan off at the kids area to play and wandered around in peace and quiet. Then I get my page from the kid place... like 15 minutes later. I went to see what was wrong. The lady said that they just wanted to leave because they were hungry. Little tirds. So we went up to eat and they were serving FREE breakfast. Yay! While we were eating and waiting in the huge line, to my utter amazement, my kids were being angels! no running, fighting, whining, nothing. We got our food and ate and there were kids throwing fits all around, but my kids stayed quiet and ate their food all gone! We continued shopping and they didn't even ask me to buy them everything. Oh my gosh, they were great!! On the way home I told them just how I felt

"Kids, you were so good in there! I am so proud of you, there were kids being naughty all over the place and you guys just made me so happy. I love you!!"

Madison "will you give us some money?"

Geez why can't they just be good for free!?

Stay in school

There may not be any statistics on this, but I thought it posed a great argument....

Me "Madison, you need to go and get dressed for school"

Madi "I don't want to go to school any more!"

Me "you have to go to school. How else are you going to get smart?"

Madi "I don't need to be smart"

Me "yes you do, that's why Heavenly Father let us come to earth, so that we can learn lots of things"

Madi "I still don't want to go to school"

Mom "well, people who don't go to school go to jail"

Madi "Uncle Craig is in jail"

Me "that's becuase he didn't go to school" (he really didn't. this was kind of funny)

Madi "I'd better go get dressed"

Shhh.....

With months of being pet-less, we've finally taken the plunge. Judd's aunt called us with news of a new litter of Black labs. She breeds them and they are beautiful. She's saving us the biggest, spunkiest male. I'm pretty excited. We aren't going to tell the kids though because we don't get to bring him home for like 3 months and I don't want to hear about it every day. So I need your help. We are trying to pick a name for it and Judd wants the weirdest names ever, so I need everyone to cast a vote. (keep in mind, he's going to be a big, black male)

My Picks

1.Zeke

2.Brutus

3.Gus

4. Zeus

Update: My new favorite

5. Roscoe

Judd's picks

1. Festus

2. Clive

3. Bosifus (boseefus)

4. Trip

5. Bubba

In other goings on.... I've noticed I haven't posted for a while. Nothing's really been happening. Judd just returned from a trip to Idaho. He was there for Grandpa Jardine's funeral. I was happy he was able to go. However.... the second he leaves all of the kids get sick. Nolan was up coughing all night and keeping everyone else up so he came and slept with me, and kept me up all night. The baby wasn't feeling good, so he was up all night. While he was gone I had...

sing it

5 hours of sleep,

4 nights alone,

3 sick kids,

2 trips to grandma's

and a visit to the emergency room.

It was the greatest weekend of my life, not.

I did, amongst all the chaos, fit in a trip to the temple. That calmed me down a bit.

Oh, and we got some more family pics.