2012 has arrived with a BANG!

Broken pipe leaking in our bedroom wall... detected Jan. 1st. Smells awful and I can't sleep in my own bed, both water heaters went out = no hot water in the house... Jan. 7th, getting fixed today, driving to soccer 4 days a week now, yes, I said 4 @#%^ DAYS A WEEK!!, breathe...... (why again does my kid like soccer so much! And remember that is on top of all other activities my kids seem to love and enjoy. Only reason we are doing them. Wrecked on my brand new bike... ok really just fell over because I couldn't un-click my shoes from the pedals. Massive bruises, cuts, scrapes, bruised ego. You can laugh, I would. Bobcat hiding out in our front yard bushes. Tried to get one of Jackson's friends... I swear I live in the freakin ZOO. Scared to go outside. A bobcat really??? Haven't seen my hubby since Jan. 1st, only at church, sitting up on the stand if that counts. His work load is ridiculous! BUUTTT.... 2012 is an even year and they always tend to go better for me. I think it is going to be a good one. Don't you?

Quick catch up, and then onto Summer!

Rylie did here first Science Project. The Science of Cereal. She got the 5 most popular brands of cereal to test which one got the soggiest the fastest. Honey Bunches of Oats won for soggiest.

We had a very cold week this past Winter that left us stuck in the house for 3 or 4 days. School was cancelled and everything. Everything was covered with ice outside. If we wanted to leave the house we had to walk wherever we went. So we didn't go far. I did not enjoy that week one bit.

Spring Break Britt was out of town for the week so the kids and I made the best of it. We took ourselves 20 mins down the road to Arlington stayed in a hotel and went to Six Flags! Good times! We also took a ride to Fossil Rim with some friends. Fossil Rim is where you drive through and see all the wild animals. Some will come right up to your cars. These animals are not caged they just roam around. Those Ostrich are scary with their red eyes!

Jackson got bit by a neighbors dog. It was awful. Britt was out of town that week too. Pictures are gory - sorry! He was not teasing the dog either. He just went to pet him and the dog latched on and wouldn't let go. Not my favorite week that week either. Everything healed up fine but he has some crazy scars on his hand. Hope they fade as he gets older.

Rylie had another piano recital. She won an award for being the student who practices the most and it shows. She got to bring home a big trophy. Hopefully that will give her the motivation to keep practicing. I love to hear her play.

The Dallas Mavericks won the Championship. This was one happy house. I was so happy for them! They deserved it. It was awesome that they won the championship but I was the most happy when we got to go to the game where they beat Colby and LA. Boy, was that exciting! Made up for those bad two weeks I mentioned above and pretty much anything else bad that happened before that. Aww Shucks Colby... better luck next year! GO MAVS!

Our Sweet Girl

This is one post I have been dreading to write. I am almost a year late in doing it. I just kept putting it off and putting it off. Which has put me even more behind in blogging. Last November (2010) we lost our sweet Rugby girl.

She was such a special dog! We got her before the kids came along at a time in our lives that was really hard. We had been through a rough couple of years of infertility and I had lost hope and had been told that there was no hope by Doctors. Britt was in the middle of his first year of Law School and had accepted a Summer position in Nashville, TN. Which meant that I would be alone in Lexington, KY while he spent his Summer in Nashville. We decided that getting a dog would be the best thing for us. We are both dog lovers and knew we would eventually have dogs. So this seemed like the perfect time. A dog would keep me company while Britt was gone for the Summer. We started looking around Christmas time. We knew that we wanted a Boxer. Britt found an ad in the newspaper and we were set. We drove to Indiana to get her. She was 8 weeks old. I will never forget when we saw her. A family had sold all of her brothers and sisters and planned on keeping her but decided they couldn't. They already had Rugby's mom and grandmother as pets. We got to their house and they opened the door and she came bounding out and practically fell down the stairs. She was tiny and the cutest thing. She came right to me and I knew we had to have her. I cried all the way back to Lexington with her. I was so happy! Little did I know she would be the one thing I needed that would bring the joy back into my life.

She was a little stinker in the beginning. She was into everything and she had to sleep in our bed under the covers if we wanted her to stop crying.

A few years later the kids came along and she was just like a big sister to them. They could pretty much do anything to her and she was calm as can be. In fact in the 11 years we had her she never even growled at them. Such a sweetie!

Rugby did not really start to slow down until around 9 years old. She was so full of spunk! The last few months of her life she really slowed down. We knew that it would be soon. We are so thankful that she just went to sleep one night and we didn't have to make the decision for her to go. It was one of the hardest days we have had in a long time. We miss her so much! So thankful for the time she was with us. She helped us more than she could ever know. We love you Rugby Roo!

Here I go....

This may take me days but I am going to catch this blog up!

IKR

IKR stands for "I know right?" This is the new thing I have been hearing coming out of my kids mouths. Sometimes they say "I know right" and other times they just simply say IKR. I mean seriously guys, c'mon, you should know that. This is right up there with "HAGS." I am either old or this generation is just way to complicated for me. LOL

COWBOYS vs Steelers & a 9th Birthday!!

December 28th, 2001 was a fabulous day in the Richardson house! We were blessed with a baby boy after a long loong looong wait!!! Seems like just yesterday that we brought him home. The years have flown right by us and now he is 9!! Boy how we love this little guy. What a blessing he has been to us. He is quite the little ham and keeps us laughing and on our toes at all times!

Jackson had another fun birthday party this year. This is the 2nd time he has shared his party with one of his best buddies. If you know Jackson he is the number one Cowboy Fan of all time. Just make a visit to his bedroom if you don't believe me. Well, his buddy Bryce is the number one Steelers fan so what better birthday party then to invite all their friends and have a football game. COWBOYS vs Steelers ( guess who won??). There were 26 boys at the party and guess what???? we did not have one fight or wrestling match the whole hour and a half. Now that is miraculous if you ask me.

COWBOYS won!!! Happy Birthday little man of mine! We love you!!

Snapping Dragons!

Rylie made the the music group at her Elementary this year. They go by the name Snapping Dragons and she is having a ball. They have performed at a Hockey Game, StoneBriar Mall, Hebron High School's Holiday music performance and will be performing again this May for a competition. They sing, play several different musical instruments and have a lot of fun together. The group is made up of 12 - 5th graders and 12 - 4th graders.