And Then We Both Started Working a Third and Fourth Job

Oi vey. Took the family out to buy shoes. Yes, stupidly we did not think to stagger the shoe buying extravaganza. Hubby had been out with the boys on Saturday to get new running shoes for himself (I know, the selfishness; he'd only had his current pair since COLLEGE. Is it a wonder his knees were killing him???). He had the great thought to suck it up and plunk down the gold bullion for shoes for our masses. I am no longer complaining about the costs of registering for sports themselves, now I'm complaining about the SHOES we need for all these sports. Football cleats, basketball shoes, running shoes, ... times three. And of course, I upgraded my running shoes now that the inserts seem to be working and my plantar fasciitis is fading away to a painful memory (thanks Megan for the nursing advice as always!). The bill? $350. At the outlet.

As if that wasn't enough to send me home sobbing in bed with a nice Oktoberfest beer and a big square of bitter chocolate,... these were the two revelations that life, it is a'changin':

1. Jared is wearing a size 9 shoe. In men's. Dude. That's big. No more cute baby shoes for him. Pretty soon, I'll be wearing HIS handme downs.
2. We stopped at McDonald's for dinner and only two out of the four kids ate Happy Meals. We've graduated to the real food menu. No more toys. Now I have to order the Happy Meal to give the kids the toys. Wow.

I think I'll go to bed now and let my body age gracefully in my sleep,....

Tired, oh so tired,...

Well, that's the truth. Too much going on to sit my booty down and blog. So sorry.

The doggy is doing well. We're like two chubby chicks running around the neighborhood while the B asks me over and over again, "What color is that car?" To which I answer, "What PANT color PANT IS PANT it PANT ? PANT"

Flashbacks to Jared in the singleton jogging stroller, learning how to count while mommy ran around and around the neighborhood. I'll never forget him asking me why I breathed so funny. Ha. Now you are 11 and have to endure conditioning in your Junior All American Football. Karma WILL come back and bite you.

I made Kyle PROMISE to do well on his 6 addition test so I could take them all to Coldstone just so I could have marshmallow icecream with brownies in it,.. I did wear my jogging clothes, so that accounts for something, right?

The boys are at 29 Palms playing football. Zach just won 30something to about 12. He did loose a game last week. The girls and I are hangin'..

The B has been totally enjoying her Disney princess handme down gown from my friend Beth's girls. She wore it all day yesterday and I could just kick myself for not taking pictures as she: cleaned the dishes, did the pogo stick with her brother when he refused to dance with her, walked the dog, went in the car to drop off said brother at football, and then went for a stroller ride. It is hard to snap a safety harness around all that tulle! It's a tough life for a princess!

Here is another article I wrote, quite a while ago,... enjoy.

And some commercial breaks from our regularly scheduled programming,...

The boys commencing on their epic mountain bike ride. Unfortunately, the girls didn't fit in the camel backs as I'd hoped. I had to bring them back home with me.....

Kyle at winterball. As you can see, he's getting used to the crowds. : )

Sophia isn't the only one who could benefit from some food from a blender,...

This is one I like to call 'the old married couple.' When I'm old and senile, I'm going to make them live together and take of me.

Not sure what Sophie likes more, watching her brothers play football, or the gold disco pants,..

Zach taking an intermission to do "I'm a little Teapot" It's all part of pyching out your opponent,..

Five is just not enough,..

so we became foster parents tonight.



Meet Jane, our newest three year old.



It's been very lonely in the house with Max gone. So, we got in contact with our favorite doggie rescue joint, Coastal German Shepherd Dog, and pleaded for a puppy and offered to foster this magnificent dog as well. To, you know, help bring up the young pup.

The puppy will be ready in a couple of weeks. We got Jane today so we could help get her out of a kennel and back into a home environment and get to know her before the house truely becomes out of control with yet another youngster who doesn't sleep through the night, nor is potty-trained. What kind of masachist am I? My husband does wonder. (Yes, Teri, you will be so pleased to know that the human babe did indeed NOT sleep through the night a second time. Now we all seem to be nursing colds, so back to square one with the sleeping thing.)

It's very sad, all the doggies in rescues and shelters. This dog's ears are ravaged and I don't even want to use my imagination to figure out why. It's unbelievable how uncaring people can be.

Plus now we can take part in the Blessing of the Animals at Church with a REAL animal and not just a bunch of rats. And I'm not even talking about my boys,...

Anyway, it's a great organization and if you ever get the whim, send over a donation. They'd great appreciate it.

And then the baby slept through the night,...

.....And there was much rejoicing in the Richardson household. However, as we all know, tomorrow is another night,...



"I'll show them. I don't need sleep to grow teeth! You should have never taken me through that Ripley's Believe It or Not museum! I want to make my own record! Smallest amount of sleep ever recorded for a human infant! That's me!"





"Grrrr,.. I'll give those sheep a one-two alright,.. a one-two punch outta my crib!"

Is the baby speaking to me through her pictures or am I just sleep deprived and hallucinating? Hm. Thought so.

Oh the limelight! It blinds me!

What do you mean you can't read it? Man, you MUST be getting old. Basically it says blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, "interception by Zach Richardson." In the local paper the Yucaipa, Ca. Mirror. Oh, here's the Internet version:

JAFF Micros lose one, then win one, 25-0 (visit the link soon people, it won't be up forever. This is Yucaipa, you know).

Last Saturday, Sept. 13, the JAAF Division II Jr. Micros evened their record to 1 and 1.After a close loss to Indio, the 7 & 8 year olds traveled to Banning to play the Pass Redskins. The blue offense was lead by Austin Mills with 102 rushing yards followed by Tyler Harland with 91 yards.Behind an offensive line lead by center Mike Rinick was Harriston Tate, Kohl Fromm, Gavin Norris, Blake Brown, Jessie Humphries, Adrian Quintana, W/B Blake Seaton and Q/B Mark Kirkland.
The littlest T-Bird defense held the Redskins to 14 total yards.The gold offense lead by Nick Quass, Andrew Vara, Marc Estrada, Ross Harps, Kadian Meek, Caleb MacGregor, Colton Tuley, Colby Mushinski & Jake Fermanian ran the ball very well. Helping the strong defense was Owen Fromm, Matt Crengros, Christian Jarish, Drew Hammond, Chase Samuelsen and Zach Richardson, who also had an interception.Final score: Yucaipa 25, Pass 0.


Yep, we're gettin' ready for that Pro Bowl.

I'm just a posting FIEND!

Still Gainfully Employed

Here's an article in Imaging Notes I wrote a while back and well, finally remembered I wrote it.

Forget Underdog, Downward Dog Saves the Day!

So I've been battling a nasty little case of plantar fasciiatis (sp all over that thing please) since the In laws visited in July. At first I thought the pedicurist had done some bad juju on my foot. But it felt better as I eased into my little jogs about suburbia, so no matter. Then, as I had to get up, oh every 45 minutes during the night to soothe the savage beast in my bedroom (aka, Sophia) the hobbling got worse, the pain got worse, it felt like someone had a cigarette lighter burning the arch of my foot and it wouldn't go away. I don't do well with chronic pain. I ignored it, until I couldn't ignore it anymore and finally went to see the good ol' doc. I can't imagine a life with no exercise; ask hubby and he'll tell you it's the only thing that keeps me on an evenkeel since he won't pay for medication. Darn him. Since the babe sleeps at the very times I can finally get out of the house, and also has a bad case of stranger anxiety, the gym is pretty much out. It's 250 degrees here, so the rowing machine, the 'CONCEPT II Evil for me to do' machine in my backyard is in direct sunlight when the girls are nestled snug in their beds for naps, and I'm afraid I'll light a fire with the friction of the chains as I pretend to row across concrete without actually going anywhere. The MOST BORING EXERCISE EVER INVENTED. Not enough room in the TV area to shadow kick box, I gave away my aerobic step pre-Indonesia so that leaves me with the double jogging stroller. I can't be defeated by a stubborn tendon!
I certainly fit the profile for this injury - getting old, gained a bit o' weight (thanks girls!), feet not structurally sound (as if a size 12 wasn't ENOUGH torture to live with in this lifetime.)
So, I got some good stretches from runnersworld.com, listened to my doc and bought a shoe insert, gave up my flip flop addiction and put all those cheap and cute but crappily made Payless shoes in the back of the closet and it started to get better. Then our friend came over and showed me some yoga moves and that really started things progressing. I'm doing downward dogs all over the house (that sounds kind of illicit, but it's not) and the stretch in the tendon is amazing, I'm telling you, all my running friends (momcolumn!). So, thanks for the stretch. Anything to keep me out of Birkenstocks, I'm all for. Hurrah.