Christmas pictures with 3 boys

So, every year I take a picture of my cuties and send Christmas cards to friends and family. Well, as you can see, it didn't work to well. Cache, for the life of me wasn't having it!!! And Caleb and Sawyer hated posing.

Several attempts later, Still struggling to get "just one good picture"!!!! Not happening.

Although we didn't get any good pictures, we did make some pretty good sugar cookies. Don't hold out for the Christmas Card this year from us, we decided to scrap it. Better luck next Christmas!

The Christmas Sweater

"Glenn Beck" is a house hold name in our house. Terry loves this guy, So when he came to Boise to perform "The Christmas Sweater" you better believe that he got tickets. Before the show, Terry went to the book signing. Honestly, I like Glenn Beck but I wasn't totally sold on the idea.
Well, Terry talked me into it and I got a babysitter for the kids. It was the first time I had left Cache.

I enjoyed the show but was relieved to get home. I am such a wimp!!!! Can you blame me.....

Happy Birthday, Sawyer

My little love bug turned 7!!!!!

..........And I am a LOSER!!!!!!!!!! I forgot the camera on Sawyer's Birthday. I was running around all day getting things ready to take Sawyer and his homies to Planet kid, and I forgot the Camera!!!! Not only that, but I am posting this a few days late. The big day was Nov. 19.

Sawyer is definitely the middle child now! Thank goodness he is such an easy going kid! He loves life and ALWAYS has fun. He is a party animal. He is an amazing little athlete, has a killer game of "SLUG BUG", and always has a smile!

...........And here I went to lunch with Sawyer and these are some of the boys that run with him. They spent about 2 minutes in the lunch room and then packed up there lunches and headed out for recess.

Trick or Treat

Cache hit his first "trunk or treat" full bore!
The ol' pro's taught the newbie how to PARTAY! Skater punk kid and dessert commando showed smartie the in's and out's of trick or treating.

This picture does the job.... it shows Sawyer's love and help toward new baby brother. Have I mentioned how much help he is!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHH, so handsome, Need I say more.............

I know, it's been a while..........

It's a rough life!!!! Cache sleeping so peaceful. Honestly, I thought our family was going to die. By this picture you would think he was an angel! Well, aside from his reflux, Cache was very colicky. We all took turns walking the floor with him. He has been so demanding of my time it was hard to do anything. I don't know what happen, and knock on wood, but he is over it! He is now a total angel!!!!

And speaking of angels, we had Caleb's 10th birthday party!!! Twelve 10 year old boys racing

go-carts. Luckily everyone walked away in one piece. What the hizell was I thinking!!!!

And football has come to an end! We survived that, too. Both boys play and had great seasons. This is Caleb's first year in tackle. He was such an asset to the team, maybe it was because he is literally a foot taller than everyone else

And my little Sawyer..... I caught him putting on Caleb's football gear and playing tackle by himself. He cannot WAIT until he gets to play tackle. Even though he plays flag football, every now and again he had an "accidental tackle" HMMMMMM

I AM A SLACKER

WOW..... Blogging has really taken a back seat! I have been so preoccupied with caring for my new little rug-rat and running two active boys around, that I have neglected posting! So I thought I would take a second and put some pictures of Cache on here, since he is 6 weeks old today and changing way to fast!!

Cache, ready for church. He hated it!!!!
Terry's birthday party. Wasn't much to it this year, just a homemade cake decorated specially by the boys. (Lots of frosting)
Cache sleeping. Note the bib!!!!! He is a spitter. He has reflux really bad, so he is always wearing a bib to catch the spit up.
And Cache hanging out. He is so fun to have a round. I forgot what it was like having a newborn around. He is so sweet, spit up and all!!!!

What have I gotten my self into.......

Here is Caleb playing his first year in Tackle Football. He is doing awesome. As a mom, I am struggling watching him get hit and pushed around. I don't like that part a bit! Especially when he gets hit so hard he loses a tooth.....
I couldn't believe it! The kid had his mouth guard in and still lost a tooth! It didn't bother him to much.

And Sawyer... he is playing Flag Football. He loves every minute of it. He has played for about 3 years and this season he got to play up a team. Juggling both boy's practices and games has been crazy. I keep asking myself why I signed up for this! But they are such good little football players I had no choice. And they are such good big brothers.....

I have more help from them than I know what to do with. They are so willing to do anything for Cache.

And Cache.... He looks so peaceful in this picture but let me tell you, something so small has me running ragged! Wow, it has been a while since I have had a baby around, I feel like I have been out of the loop!

Life with 3 very active boys is crazy! What have I gotten myself into.......

Welcome Home, Baby Boy

Friday, Aug 29, 2008 at 7:49 am Cache Lee Richards made his appearence. Yes, he was late by one day. Earlier that week I went to my doctors appointment to find out that I was going to have to have a c-section. Apparently Cache was so comfy that he had no intentions on coming out. We went ahead and scheduled it and waited till Friday. Friday morning, we went to the hospital and about an hour and a half later we had a beautiful bouncing baby boy. He was 8lbs 7 oz and 21 in long.

Cache is so lucky to have two big brothers love him instantly so much!

Let's get ready to RUMMMMMBBBLLLE!

We have officially started football. Last Saturday was the Jamboree on the Blue and Orange Tuff. Boy did the kids love that!! Caleb got to start and played the whole game. He was so proud! I guess I have no choice, I am going to have to figure this game out!

As for Sawyer, he has started practice, and wished he got to practice five nights a week like Caleb.

UPDATE

Here's the deal.... NO BABY! I am technically due Thursday (the 28th). I am having a few contractions but nothing is happening. At this point, it is looking like I will be OVERDUE!
Damn it!!!!

Why???

Why do I keep sending money on nice toys for the kids, when a large cardboard box will do???? Seriously...We bought some things that came in these huge boxes and right away the boys went to work on there "forts". I am at the point where I would like to throw them out but I think the kids would have a cow!!!!

And this cash register........



Sawyer and I were at Albertson the other day. We walked down the "little toy isle" and Sawyer spotted the most awesome cash register he had ever laid eyes on. He was begging me to get it for him! "Mom, it is only a $1.99, can I please get it" I was thinking what a rip off!!! This thing will be lost and broken by this afternoon! Well, he talked me into it and lets just say he takes better care of his "Cash Register" than any other toy he has, and he plays with it more.

Talladaga Nights, Baby

We are having a blast this summer. We now have a loooong driveway and the kids can drive their go cart all over. When we bought the go cart it had a governor on it so it would only top out at about 15 mph. Well, we took the governor off and watch out. The race is on!!!!

Caleb got his New Gun

Not my idea of a great toy, but Caleb got his gun. He worked extremely hard for this gun and has wanted it forever. He earned $100 (by mowing lawns) and read a chapter book over 220 pages. (Let me remind you that he had to pay me back for his spending spree at the book fair with the money had earned so far) So now the gun is here and he is getting ready for bird season.
I never saw myself as the kind of mom that had to haul kids around to baseball and football, have a garage full of fishing equipment, hear hunting/shooting stories, and do TONS of laundry because the kids got dirty 10 different times in a day!
I always thought girls would be so fun but some how I am getting a lot of satisfaction out of being a mom to boys!!!!

We moved..........

Good-Bye, Star..... Hello Middleton! We moved, Not far. We literally moved about 10 miles. It was kind of bitter sweet because we built our home in Star. We lived there longer than we have lived anywhere else. We are looking forward to our home in Middleton.
To make a long story short, we owned this house in Middleton for about 1 year. We had a renter in it and all was going great. It is just over 2 acres and fairly bigger than our house in Star. The renter calls one day and explains that he needs to move. In the mean time, our HOA were being a-holes. We were fined constantly for having our boat out to long, a wreath on the door, dogs, ect. The list goes on. We really needed more room. So once our renter decided to leave, we decide to move! Now we will have more room for all our toys, and speaking of toys....... We got a pool. I hope it's not to white trash. Seriously, we have been having a heat wave and I enjoy a dip in the pool every now and again, especially since I won't be out on the wakeboard this year.
And this is just random. Here the boys are helping me with dinner. They certainly are not naturally good in a kitchen. They are clueless! I guess boys will be boys..

The Richards Family went camping

We went Camping and SURVIVED!!! We ventured out Friday afternoon with all our Gear. We aren't avid campers, so in some respects we Roughed It! We set up camp right next to this little stream. Obviously the boys saw water and off came there shoes. Can you tell that the water was a little cold..... Then we took a little hike. We set out on a trail that looked manageable. We thought we were going on a leisure little hike, and it turned out to be all up hill. Me being almost 8 months pregnant did help!
We did the traditional "Roast Marshmallows" The boys like playing in the fire more than anything. The gooey marshmallow was just an added benefit.
We stayed up really late telling stories!!! No scary stories for us, we can't take it!
The next day we found Hot Springs. Again, off came the boys' shoes and in went there feet.
All in all, it was a great trip and we survived.

Lunch Money Mystery

So... a few weeks before school got out, I received a call from the school cafeteria. Caleb needed more money in his lunch account. I wrote a check out to the school and sent it with him the next day. A few days went by and I received ANOTHER phone call from the cafeteria. Caleb's lunch account was now overdrawn and please send some money for him. I was SOOOO confused. I went back through my check register, found the check, faxed it to the lunch lady and explained that I had sent the check with Caleb. She said she would take care of it! Well, she did some diggin' and discovered that Caleb did take the check to school. But instead of Applying it to his lunch account, he decided to have a "FREE FOR ALL" at the book fair! I couldn't believe it. I didn't think Caleb could or would do something like that. The devilish side of me was a little impressed to think that my 9 year old figured out that the check was just as good at the "BOOK FAIR" as it was in the "CAFETERIA". So, how do I teach him a lesson??? I decided that I was going to have him earn the money and pay me back. This is his jar, so he can see the money he has earned and that he has to give it back to me. Sawyer decided he wanted a jar as well- Probably to antagonize Caleb. I'm not sure who this lesson was harder on, Me or Caleb.....

"MOM! Caleb said the Tooth Fairy is NOT REAL???"

Sawyer lost one of his front teeth. The other front tooth is litterally hanging from a thread! We put his tooth in an envelope and tucked it under his pillow. I explained that he needed to be asleep before the tooth fairy would magically fly into his room and exchange the tooth for money. Talk about excited.... The next morning, what did Sawyer find? Money under his pillow. He was a little upset, so I asked him what was the matter? "MOM! Caleb said the tooth fairy is NOT REAL???" I looked at Caleb with my evil eye and explained, "OH, she's real! How else did you get that money under your pillow? " "Caleb said you put it there!"
Oh the things kids say these days! I guess my babies are growing up.....

Best Fishin' Hole around

This is a stocked pond close to our house. I've been told by the boys, "That this is a great place to fish! It is FULL of fish. You are pretty much "guaranteed" to catch something. On this particular afternoon I decided I would join them and just read a magazine while they canoed around and fished. Not a lot of action. Wouldn't you know it, a few days later Terry and Caleb decide to go out again. They came home claiming to have caught the "Biggest Bass Fish EVER" Apparently, this fish was so big, Terry could fit BOTH fists in it's mouth! (Of course, no evidence) So the next outing, Terry and Caleb decide to just go for a quick morning fix. They both came home claiming to have seen a "Sturgeon" at least 4 Ft Long!!!! Again, No Evidence! I don't know, Sounds "Fishy" to me......
On the other hand, here are two of the best little athlete's I know! They have had such a great season. Sawyer wrapped up his season with his last game being in a HUGE rain poor! He thought that was great! Covered from head to toe in mud and grass stains. Caleb's team is still playing! They are in the Play-offs. They are doing awesome! I keep telling the boys, one of them better get a scholarship or go Pro, for all the running around we have had to do this year. Hopefully we will get a little break before FOOTBALL starts (in August)

Take me out to the Ball Game....

Batter up! We have had a great season. Both the boys have really learned a lot! Even though Sawyer is in T-ball and should hit the ball from the T, his coach insists that he will pitch it to him when it's his turn. He is a great little athlete. The best part of his games is when he runs his little heart out to get to 1st base, stops and yells, "Love ya, mom! Talk about proud mamma.

Caleb has done extremely well too, getting to try several different position from Pitcher, 1st base, 3rd base, and out fielder. He says his favorite position is pitcher. He's not about the yell, "Love ya, mom" but when catches a fly ball or strikes someone out, I get a cute little smile from him, whispering, "did ya see that". It's all good. When you're 9, you gotta be cool!

........And the Orioles Game. When we lived in Baltimore, we got the chance to see an Orioles game. That was a few years back, and let's just say it was more exciting to have peanuts and cracker jacks than to watch the actual game.