What's New...

What's new...

Well to start it's "The Case of the Missing Camera Part 2."  I have lots of pictures to post...but no camera to get them from.  I know it's got to be around here somewhere.  Hopefully it will turn up in the next few days.  Lately I've been scatterbrained about where I put stuff.  I'm known for putting something down, often times in weird places, and then walking away and forgetting where I put it.  Does that happen to anyone else or is it just me?

This past weekend we actually got snow!  On Saturday we spent about 2 1/2 hours playing outside in the snow.  The kids were excited to bundle up and go "exploring" with Daddy.  Andy had been out earlier and had found some cool animal tracks.  The kids followed him around and they took pictures of things that they discovered outside in the snow.  Of course all these fun outside pictures are on the camera so I'll post them later.  We got out the sled and pulled the kids a few blocks to one of our local parks.  Ava and Isaiah loved zooming down the slippery slide in their snow pants.  At lunch time we had two hungry, worn out kids!  They both love being outside and with the first "real" snowfall this year, going out made it even more exciting.

On Sunday we had our 4th Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's house.  My that house was full of people...we figured it was a record high.  I have LOTS of pictures that I plan on putting into a slide show...if I ever find my camera.  We ate yummy brunch food, opened gifts, and did a "Gag" gift exchange as well.  We had so much fun and enjoyed seeing everyone back together.  Let's see, who was all there...Grandpa and Grandma, Dan and Janet, Jody, Tim, and Ayden, Tim, Deanna, Brad, and Leita, Darrell, Rayla, Kirstin, and her boyfriend Joe (turns out he was one of Andy's former football players at Gilbert), and of course us. 

We recovered from the flu but the kids are now on drops for pink eye.  It never ends!  I guess I'll take a simple case of pink eye over the flu any day!  Their eyes cleared up in one day and look much better. 

Well, Andy's a pretty happy camper!  We bought a new car today.  Andy's been wanting a Camry for a while now and we found exactly what he was looking for and couldn't beat the price, low mileage, financing deal, and low interest rate.   Plus Janet works at Wilson's Toyota in Ames and helped to get us a great deal!  We ended up with a 2009 model and it really is not that much different from the 2012 models we looked at.  We love our Envoy for this time of year since it has 4 wheel drive...but look forward to using this car more in the spring, summer, and fall...it gets such better gas mileage.  Here are a few pictures that I took from the website so you can see.  The kids rode home with Andy from the dealership tonight and said, "I love this car."  I think this is the first time that no one wanted to ride with me. 

 



...and let it be known that I did not persuade Andy to get this car.  I of course wanted him to get it, but kept my mouth quiet and let him make his own choice. 

My Three Happy's:
1) Teaching only 4 days this week...we had inservice yesterday. 

2) All Valentine's Day presents for the kids are bought and hidden away.  I also got stuff to make valentines for Ava's preschool class and little baskets for Ava and Isaiah to stuff for their friends at daycare.  I've learned to buy in advance.  I always wait on things like this and when I go back to actually get everything I want, there's no selection left.  Target's dollar section had some cute things too!

3) My organizing project from last week: organize three shelves (spices, baking items) in the kitchen.  Man...I found some stuff I've never used...to the trash can it went.  Lots more room, plus I was able to hide our sugar and flour containers in this cupboard which made more counter space.