Andrew is 9

Andrew requested a carrot cake for his birthday, then he helped me make it and frost it. 

JB and Millie took him a special lunch at school.

He just started Junior Jazz, and spends most of the time talking with other friends on the team. He had a game start at 8:30 at night and was thrilled he could stay up late.

Andrew is so enthusiastic for life and eager to please. Except when he is very persistently trying to argue a point. Like trying to persuade me to give him a later bedtime or his own personal electronics, like SO MANY other kids have (he says). Then I counter with all the parents I know who are like me. And we do it again the next night.

Millie calls him An-shoe or Drew-Drew, which sounds like "ju-ju." They are often each other's favorite sibling. She leads him around the house by the hand, and he rushes to see her first in the morning or when he comes home from school. "MILLIE! Did you miss me?"

Our Christmas-time baby wants another birthday party, but it may have to wait until summer for a half-birthday, or until he's 10. I bet he would love the attention.

James's tummy

Our pickiest eater has been to two ward Christmas parties now, and each time he filled up on rolls and cookies.

This plate below has 6 cookies. I was talking to someone when I looked over and saw it. A friend took the picture because she thought it was funny. I was mortified.

The other ward Christmas party is the YSA (singles) ward where JB is now the first counselor in the bishopbric. It was a catered meal, from Blue Lemon, and much too fancy for James's taste, and again he only went for rolls and cookies. 

I earned a gift certificate at work to Sizzlers, and James ordered a kids pizza. He was thrilled when he saw the big plate of pizza and fries just for him.

He didn't finish it all and said he was hungry an hour later at home. It's his modus operandi.. He would eat a Nutella sandwich for every meal if allowed.  We try to have him at least taste dinner, or eat 6 bites. But it is a fight every day.

Millie bo billie

Just another update to this post, because I will never not take pictures of a child napping.

The days of me tucking her into her bed for a daily nap are over, but sleep can still happen if give her a princess show next to me on my bed while I nap (essential for me because I wake up at 3:30AM).

Notice the white "silkies" in her hands or by her face. She has her own, but constantly sneaks into my drawer and takes mine.

When she doesn't fall asleep, she sings along to the princesses and my nap dreams are peppered with the dialogue from the movies.  This used to happen with the boys at this age, too. "Cars" was the soundtrack to my naps for many years.

She also fell asleep during Ben's 6th grade music program, which started at 1:15 PM.

But then she screamed when JB tried to carry her home. Does anyone have any advice in helping a 3 year old who insists "NO, MOMMY DO IT!" when she wants anything? I have to be the one to give her a sippy or read her a book or carry her, or she screams. We just give up because we don't want the screaming. But if I'm not around, she acts just fine.

It's enough to run my working-mom guilt into high extreme.

Ballet!

Our darling tiny dancer had her first recital of sorts - it was a day for family to come watch all that they have been learning the past few months.

Here she is with her friend Hazel.

She has loved ballet.  She knows the different positions (things which are all new to our family). She paid rapt attention from the very first day, and talks about Miss Kim, her teacher, and twirls around the house.

This session is now over. I remember signing up for it as soon as I got the text from Hazel's mom, in the hotel room in Haiti.  It feels pricey, and she's only 3, but maybe we'll just see how long she wants to go. It's great to find something your children love to do.

Always football fans

I am a month late in posting this one -- my brother Joe was given four tickets to a BYU Football game and we got to go with him!



It was the week before his baby was due, so Susan rested at home and he invited me and two boys. Ben was invited by his friend Jackson to go with them, and I took Max and Andrew and met Joe there.

We had to have a Cougar Tail.

It wasn't that cold, but my boys felt chilly I guess. It was a perfect afternoon/evening for football. I do not enjoy the traffic and the long drive, but I do love my Cougars and the memories of going to BYU football games when I was a student.

Meanwhile, Ben met the quarterback, Zach Wilson! Here he is with his friend Jackson and Jackson's brother. Their friend's dad had some connections and they were on the sidelines for a little while. 

Zach's mom Lisa took that picture. She and I follow each other on Twitter and I messaged her Ben was super excited to meet Zach, and that he was very nice.

Ben is 12

Ben was the sweetest, happiest, calmest baby. He remains a sweet, happy, (mostly) calm young man.

He wanted socks, and specific athletic clothing like a new visor. He is really into styling his hair up in a certain way, and visors help him achieve a great look.

For his birthday, we had a deal for donuts so I brought them in at lunchtime for his class and then ate lunch with him. It was fun to see him among his friends.

He loves the Utah Jazz. JB took him to a game last month.

He also loves the Kansas City Chiefs, and competing against the other Young Men in their Fantasy Football League. 

Normally 12 would be a big birthday in our Church, but the change last year launched Ben into Young Mens and Scouts just about a month after he turned 11. It has been great to see him flourish in these responsibilities and opportunities all year.  My favorite is watching him carefully pass the sacrament. And I love it when it is his turn to hold the corded microphone in the front and take it to someone who needs to stay where they are to bear their testimony.

3 year olds, am I right?

Girlie is trying to give up her nap, but she still gets sleepy. She also still needs a diaper to poo.

I don't want to talk about it.

She is 3 years, 4 months old, which is around the time when the boys started to taper out their nap (and finally click with potty-training). Lately the strategy is to try to put her down for a nap but then give up and let her watch a Princess movie and see if she falls asleep. I can't take her in the stroller or car for a ride past 4pm if she hasn't napped, because then she's up late sitting on the couch next to JB watching sports.

We are working on not screaming. Her little voice though is so sweet as she jabbers away. She just adores princesses, and thanks to thrift stores and neighbors, she has a dress-up dress to match Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Tinkerbell, and soon to be Belle (at Christmas).

She has very opinionated tastes on her clothing. Preferably pink. Often she doesn't want to wear any clothes, and rips off her outfits when she gets home from anything. On Sundays she really wants to wear her Nona dress.

She also is very opinionated on her books. I read the same ones every night, and when I try to mix in a new one, it just gets added to the pile. Pinkalicious, Disney princesses, and Mo Willems are the favorites right now.

I bought that pink BYU jacket in a size 3T back when I was pregnant with her. When she put it on, she said, "Wook! Go UTES!" So we have to work on that.

Girly girl

I had to hide some of these stuffies one day. Millie was running out of room to sleep. She takes them from the boys' rooms. She picks a new favorite animal or doll every few days and carries it everywhere. I would complain, but I am the one who gave most of them to her, anyway.

Her hair is still wispy, but here's my first attempt at a braid!

And here is her attempt at putting on makeup like mom. More specifically, she's pretending to put on eyebrows. I was in college when I started.

I have to read several princess stories every night. When she finally watched Beauty and the Beast, she was pretty scared. The Beast is intense. She repeated the lines from the story book as she watched, for example hollering, "Gaston is jealous!" when he was going after the Beast.

Recommendations again

Books

The War That Saved My Life. This made me cry
 -- and then the sequel The War I Finally Won made me cry harder. (Favorite line: "What if my fear keeps me safe?" I had an ah-ha moment.)
-- very much like Goodnight, Mr. Tom, which I recommended last time

The Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. Max and Ben loved it and I loved it. Start with Steelheart.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. We read it for book group and wow. It dealt with two themes that each could have been their own book - blue people/discrimination, and pack horse librarians.

Beyond the Bright Sea. I loved the imagery, and her finding herself. It is suitable for teens/tweens.

A Gentleman in Moscow. This is such a sweet book. Don't read it thinking something major is going to happen and you need to read fast; just savor it.

The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek.  It's brand new, and it's like Stranger Things in North Carolina. It's by my favorites, Rhett and Link, whom I wrote about here.

Throne of Glass. Intriguing and page turning. But NOT the sequels. Bleh.

I was lukewarm on The Library Book (too many facts, felt like a textbook) and I quit halfway during America's First Daughter.

JB has been reading The Case for the Book of Mormon by Tad R Callister. If I can get it back from the library I want to read it, too. There are a lot of holds.

Movies

I have been watching TV Christmas movies for a month now and I am not ashamed.

Christmas Around the Corner - struggling family bookshop revived. It's on Lifetime, directed by Anne Shirley herself, Megan Follows. This is one TV Christmas movie I saw last year and recorded it to watch again this year. Blatant dog food ad in the middle though.

The Christmas Contract - woman takes her best friend's brother back home to Louisiana as a date. Reviewers pointed out being distracted by the cicadas but I didn't even notice. It's what my childhood in Missouri sounded like.

A Very Merry Mix-up - she's going home to meet her fiance's family without him, but goes to the wrong house.

Cute, but one and done: Nine Lives of Christmas, Trading Christmas, A Christmas Detour, and The Mistletoe Promise.

Before Christmas movies started playing, I liked Hallmark's My Favorite Wedding, The Last Bridesmaid (Paul Campbell is v funny), and Love Fall & Order because it was filmed in Utah. Falling Inn Love on Netflix was cute, too.

Shows

Provo's Most Eligible, season 2. It's on YouTube, and I want other people to Binge the Cringe and talk about it all with me. JB is a great sport and laughs about it with me. (We like Scott and Caleb)

We have a lot of episodes of Modern Family and This is Us and Big Bang Theory on the DVR to watch together if we ever can again. It's college football and NBA season so that's what we watch as a family.

Halloween 2019

Sunday before Halloween, the grandkids wore costumes to Sunday dinner. Except Andrew who was sick, so he and I stayed home and watched movies. Millie had told people for a week that she was going to be a unicorn. So I made her that unicorn headband. And she chose her Tinkerbell costume to wear to dinner. 

I made a spare in case one broke, and she made JB try it on.

Max dressed up as JB (which looked familiar to his own wardrobe anyway), and Ben dressed up as Papa and he says they got a kick out of it.

Then I came home from work that week, and JB and Ben had been making a DOTS costume out of a diaper box. It's amazing!

James and Andrew thankfully loved the costumes that my friend gave us - a ninja and a good guy from Halo (even though kids shouldn't play Halo)

On Halloween, Millie chose Snow White to be like her doll. She has loved all the dress up clothes another friend gave us.

We dressed up warm for trick-or-treating but it wasn't as bad as I feared.

I wanted a picture of me with the kids, so I asked a neighbor to do it, and she had me stand in front of their candy stand, so that's why this is the picture I have of Halloween with my children.

Max hung out with his friends, because we felt he was too old for trick-or-treating. But I saved him some candy. Millie did NOT need that huge bag.

By the way, here's the stroller I took around the neighborhood. Water bottle (because a thirsty Richards is a grumpy Richards), extra bags to drop in Millie's candy so her bucket wasn't too heavy, her Snow White doll, and an extra coat and blanket.

Lagoon at night

We have missed the Christensen family ever since they moved from our ward 6 years ago. So we jumped at the chance to meet them at Lagoon at the end of Frightmares.

Kimi had four boys then a girl (and then another girl) so I always picked her brain for advice when I had four boys in a row. She and I love Downton Abbey etc. And Andy and JB get along great.

Millie did have a great time, she was just tired and cold when we took photos to document it. See, here she was earlier before it got dark.

We haven't been to Lagoon in the evening in a long time.  Next time I'll remember more warm weather clothes if it's October.

I have been sad each time a great family moves away from our ward, but our stake president says that now we can have friends all over. 

Family photos 2019 part three

This is my favorite picture. 

Right now they squabble and call "unfair!" and tease and pester, but they also can be very sweet to each other.  I always hope and pray they will grow up to be close friends and supportive siblings. 

We got Millie to warm up to take happier pictures by having the boys each take a picture or two. And she wants to be like her brudders.

It also helped that I gave her a unicorn to hold, and that her brudders were doing these faces behind the scenes:

Wallin Photography in action:

Wrapped up in between takes, like little models.

Family photos 2019 part two

These boys are so cute. And growing as tall as church steeples. 

I am surrounded by handsome boys.

And then we have this pretty lady! 

She didn't want me to put her down, but next year she will be too big to hold (she'll probably try anyway). My baby girl who came years after I thought she should be here.

I think JB still looks the same as when we met, when we were in our 20s and had energy and time but no aches and pains.