Derek's car

We saw some great cars at the rod and custom show on Saturday, I could not help but take a photo of what I know Derek would really love, the infamous "rat mobile"

Thankful grandparents

There is a lot to be grateful for, however it is so wonderful to have such a great family. We feel like the house is about to explode sometimes when the kids are home, but I would not trade the good feelings I have for any amount of quiet. Obviously we missed the Michigan Weavers, but we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Thank you all for being great people.

Thanksgiving 2006

Here are the kids playing under the table right before the big Thanksgiving meal.


This picture reminds me of the black and white one of Mom when she was little. This was for the day we had the kids pictures taken.


The holiday season is officially upon us. I feel extremely overweight and tired already. It was great to get together as a family. The kids especially enjoyed being with their cousins. Too bad Derek and Brit couldn't have joined us, but I'm sure they enjoyed their time in Michigan. We actually loved our Thanksgiving's in Wisconsin. Now, we have a month to prepare for Christmas, may the force be with us!

Reasons for Divorce, According to Reid

This morning at breakfast Reid asked me why an older lady that I visit teach lives alone. I told him that she's not married and doesn't have kids, so she just lives by herself. He asked if she's divorced, and I said yes, and then he started talking about his friends who live next door, whose parents are divorced. (There are six kids in their family.) He told me that when you have too many kids you have to get divorced, so we can just have one more baby in our family. I asked him why he thought that, and he said that when there are too many kids and they all get in your bed, there's no more room, and you have to get divorced.

I'm Taking A Bragging Moment

I just swam a mile and I wanted you all to know it! Goodnight!

Hi everyone. I'm surviving my week of single motherhood. We miss Derek a lot.
I just wanted to put up a few pictures of the boys since it's been a while.
Reid feeding Luke pudding Ethan's method of flattening his hair... he's going through a phase where he doesn't like his spiky hair like he used to.
Before Derek left we took the kids to Bounce Arena-- a fun place with lots of those air-filled bouncy things

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYSON!

I'm giving out some head-butts today!

Ironman Continued!

Everyone froze on the beach waiting for the start of the race. It looks nice, but the wind was howling and it was freezing.

The swim was absolute chaos! Only 2200 people in the water at one time. There were elbows, feet and arms everywhere. It was like swimming in a washing machine.

On the bike I felt invincible, but it was like a shot of adrenaline every time I would see Dad, Alyson, Connor, and Preston. This is 55 miles into the bike. I am carrying my "Special Needs Bag" to mile 65 where I had to serve a 4 minute "time out" for riding in the middle of the road trying to pass a huge group.

This is me leaving T2 for the marathon! I was feeling good!

I came into the finish strong, but as soon as I saw Alyson, Connor, and Preston I burst into tears and didn't stop crying for quite a while. I'll have to show you the official finish line picture! I'm in full baby mode!

IRONMAN!

This is the sunset from our condo on the day we arrived!

This is us hanging out on the beach. Dad took the picture.

We ate at Hammerhead Fred's the night before the big race!

5am the next morning I got my body marked for the race. It was freezing cold!

Just a little over 2200 bikes in the transition!

GRANDMA'S GONE MUSHY!

Well Adam may be made of iron, but his mother has gone completely mushy!

After carefully instructing Adin that he needed to "watch Mia" while Grandma had a much needed shower, Miss Mia managed to evade Adin's careful watch and fix lunch! Aren't those lever door handles swell? Her meal of choice was dry oatmeal. First she fed Maggie by carefully dumping her water into her food and then filling the water dish with dry oatmeal. Then she dumped an abundance of the stuff into a laundry basket. When I stepped out of the shower I heard the gleeful laughter of two suspicious sounding kids..............they had dumped the rest of the oatmeal on the floor and were sliding in it!

BOO!

Happy Halloween from the Richards! It would have been nothing but scary and creepy at our house if it weren't for Paige and her desire to be angelic and beautiful.

SCARY WEAVERS!

Well, we had the great fortune of having Mom and Dad down for our Halloween night. We had some great Chili and breadsticks and the kids had their fun doing some trick or treating. This is a picture of us at our church "trunk or treat". By the way, I was a high school student. I had a "pho-hawk" and wore my Abercrombie and Fitch clothes (very scary).