Christmas

Thanks to my in-laws, I have a new camera. My last one broke on my Utah trip, so that is one of the reasons I haven't blogged recently. I have taken some pictures of pre-Christmas activities with my phone, but I am having a hard time getting them to show up on the blog. If I get it worked out, I'll post them later. For now you can see the photos we took with out awesome new camera. 

 Santa Came

 D loves Pokémon. This year he got a Pokémon guide book. He was pretty excited.

 You can never have too many Legos.

 Cocoa almonds. A favorite snack of the whole family. D was nice enough to share.

 Our little monkey.

 This one's for Grandpa Albert. We are all prepared for a hike.

 The fun gift from Mom and Dad.

 I am not sure what he is doing here. Kissing it? He was pretty excited about it.

 Star Wars! Of course, we had to watch the movie later that day.

Power Rangers Megazord. He picked this out himself with money from Great Grandmas. He loves it. We let him buy it on Christmas Eve and he played with it for hours. Christmas morning, before even seeing what Santa had brought, he sat down to play with it some more. Maybe we should let him do all his own toy shopping. :)

 Looking for the hidden pickle ornament.

 Dad even played Star Wars with Dallin. They ran in circles all around the house making all the sound effects. Dallin told Dad he would like being the bad guy because "bad guys can do whatever they want."

 I got a heated blanket for Christmas. I spent more of my Christmas right in this chair under the blanket  It was the warmest I have been in a long time. And, yes, Russ brought snacks to me. So sweet.

 Playing Kinectimals and loving it. 

 D and I are studying up on our Pokémons

Dallin got a kids sized sleeping bag. We decided to watch a movie last night so Dallin got all snuggled up to watch Harry Potter. Russ and I got the last movies in the series, so we decided to watch on every night.

We snacked all day, which was nice since I didn't have to cook anything. I did make a pumpkin pie per Dallin's request, but other than that is was crackers and cheese, chips and dip, cinnamon rolls, etc.  I have decided I am getting too old for rich snack foods though. I spent Christmas night throwing up. Russ was kind enough to let me sleep in till almost 10 this morning and I feel tons better. Other than the end, Christmas was great this year. Hope you all had a great Christmas was well. 

Finally...Catch Up Time

Sorry, I have been a huge slacker. I finally figured I can post pictures still on the blog without the before mentioned added steps by using Russ's google account. Since he never posts, I doubt he will mind. So you can disregard the part at the bottom of the post that says it is buy Russ. You know if will always be me. Here is a catch post.

In October Dallin and I went to Utah. While Dallin stayed with his Grandma and Grandpa Richins, I went to the Grand Canyon with my family. My Dad has hiked the Grand Canyon many, many times and I always have wanted to go. I figured this year was going to be my last chance so I decided to give it a try. It was hard to train with no mountains near me, but I did a lot of running and some long walks. The night before I was so nervous, but I am glad to report I did much better than I thought I would. Also, I learned that blisters, even popped blisters,eventually go numb when you walk on them long enough. Lew and Ty also hiked with us. They are rockstar hikers. Dad stayed with me. Of the 23 mile hike (about 7 down, 7 across, and 9 up), only the last mile or two where really hard on me. I was sure happy to see the top. 

The whole reason for the Utah trip was because my baby brother Ty was leaving on his mission. My mom was able to plan his farewell and temple trip when we all could be there, which was awesome because I am in PA and Ash is in AZ. It was fun getting all together.

Ashley was able to visit one of the weeks I was there. He came with her two youngest kids. Dallin was thrilled to have Katie there. At first Dallin wasn't happy when I said Katie was coming because he only remembered little 2 year old Katie, but when she got there he changed his mind. He said she was a big kid now and they had a blast together. He cried when she left. He was so lonely with just MOm and Grandma to play with.

Halloween we carved pumpkins. We never did when we live in Michigan, and dallin never asked. He just seemed to assume we couldn't because we lived in an apartment since there was so much we said we couldn't do because we lived in an apartment. Dallin and I carved all three of them because Dallin was too impatient to wait for Russ. I am pretty sure Russ was a bit relieved he didn't have to carve pumpkins.

Where we live Halloween is scheduled at the Saturday before from 4-6. It was strange to be trick-or-treating without it being dark. Also, people who hand out candy all seem to sit on their front porches. I guess that makes it fast because no knocking on doors and waiting, etc.  Russ likes the way they do it, but I am still not so sure. It is nice to know you won't have people knocking on your door at 10pm. Also, this year we missed rain from Super Storm Sandy that came on Halloween because of having it on Saturday instead.

For Halloween this year, Dallin wore two different costumes. First he was football player. It was a costume borrowed from my Mom. My little brothers wore the same costumes. (Notice it is Phoenix Cardinals  not AZ) Dallin made Russ wear his old high school football jersey so they would both be football players. After a little bit, they came back and Dallin helped Rus pass out candy. Then he decided he wanted to go again, so he put on his Shadow costume. Shadow is a character from Sonic in case you didn't know. 

Dallin turned 5 in November. He got to have three different birthdays, two in Utah and one in PA. His cake was an easy on this year.

For Thanksgiving we decided since this is the first year it would only be the three of us that we would get out of town. OK, so we only went about 45 minutes to OH and we go that far every Sunday, but still. We went to a movie, out to dinner, and checked into a hotel and spent a lot of time swimming. Dallin loved it. I have to say I thought it was a fun Thanksgiving too.

So now you are all caught up. I'll try to not get so far behind now. I figure I have a couple years will Russ's photo album fills up. We can worry about that then.

Little Writer

Dallin loves to make up stories and books. He is always "writing" a book. Recently I came across a website called Storybird. You can use art already there and write a story to go along with the pictures. Dallin asks to do it all the time. We recently figured out how to incorporate one of his favorite car games, Back And Forth Story, into Storybird writing. Dallin selected a group of artwork and started the story. (Of course, this time I did all the typing for him. Usually he does his own typing and the sentences are very short and hard to decipher.) When he finished the first page, we could make it Russ's turn and he would get on his computer at work and write the next page. We did this a few times till Dallin was ready to finish up the story. Dallin thought it was a blast and I had to read it to him over and over again. You can read it here.

I've Started Finally

My Christmas shopping, that is.  I've started looking for online deals to get some of my shopping out of the way. I've got some good deals too, mostly clothes. This year we have decided to use the idea I am sure many of you have seen on Pinterest. Dallin is getting something he wants, something he needs, something to wear, and something to read. That is it from Mom and Dad besides PJs to wear on Christmas Eve. Santa always brings one or two things and stocking stuffers. I already got the "something to wear" from some great online clearance deals. They are summer clothes, obviously,  but he is all set for winter anyway. I also got a great deal on a lunch box since school purchases are all done. That is the "something he needs" since next year is kindergarten and if he goes it will full day. The last thing I got was the "something to read." I got the book The Lightning Thief. Has anyone read it? I was hoping since he loves listening to Fablehaven, he might like it too.  It's the toy gifts that always get me. I never know what to get. Any suggestions? What are you all getting for your kids?

Bouncing Bubble

Sorry my voice is so loud and screechy. :)
VIDEO0004 from Nicole Richins on Vimeo.

We Have Doors!

Remember what our cupboards looked like last week?

We decided it was time to go out and buy one of these.

We are now the proud owners of a drill. Because the doors to the cabinets are over 50 years old, probably not the best quality, and have been painted numerous times, they are warped. They don't lay flat or fit well on the cupboards. We ended up having to make them work using the handy dandy drill. Here is the end result.

Luckily you can't see too close. If you are looking at them as a whole, they don't look too bad. Just don't look too closely. :) Russ kept reminding me they are just temporary until we get new cabinets. I reminded him that 15 years is usually not considered "temporary."  Seems a little more long term to me, but that's ok. They really aren't that bad. They are just old and have seen better days. Either way, I think it is definitely less jump-in-your-face than the blue was. I have learned that I definitely did not marry a DIYer. He does not like it even a little bit. (But that is OK by me)

Let's Go Tomcats! Let's Go!

First football game of the season. We decided it would be fun family activity. Dallin could hardly wait. He wanted to go the moment he woke up this morning. He made sure we all had our Thiel College shirts all ready to wear. He even "dressed up" as a Tomcat. He did it all on his own. Once I saw the state of my eyeliner, I informed him I would be buying him his own for future Tomcat costumes. :)

He's got his Tomcat face on.

Dallin and Mom ready for the walk up to the college.

It was a close game. We lost, 16-13 to Juniata. Still, it was a good game and we almost made it at the very end there. I hear that this was not a normal game. Let's just say that Thiel's football record isn't the best. I don't believe they won a game last year. Yes, this was still a loss, but it was a close loss. Either way, we enjoyed it. Dallin loved getting to yell and cheer. I was surprised he got so into it. I was extra surprised Dallin made it the whole game with only needing to walk around a couple of time. As a matter of fact, he is unhappy that he has to wait 2 more weeks for another home game.

The football Russ helped Dallin to catch. He was pretty excited.

I will say, it was a hot and muggy day. Since Thiel doesn't have game lights, the games are at 1:30 in the afternoon. I didn't think about sunblock. Both Russ and I are a bit burnt, but Dallin seems fine. As I am writing this Dallin is in his room getting his PJs on, yelling "Let's go Tomcats! Let's go!" Russ is glad to have a football buddy.

Sad State Of Affairs

After 8 years of marriage, and almost as many in grad school. We were finally able to buy a home. We were so excited. I had major plans on what we could do to update our 1950 ranch. Then reality hit.  It started with our very blue kitchen. My mom came to visit and we decided to start with the country blue cabinets. Here is the before:

Here is the after:

Yup, it's not great. We had to paint and paint the yellow (I think six coats. Words of advice, three coats of primer over country blue) and after all that work my friends still asked me if they were a green color. Yup, blue and yellow make green. :) Also, for whatever reason, the hardware doesn't want to line up right anymore. Maybe it was mad about the spray paint???

So, three weeks later this is where we are at.

This leads me to the many other issues I would like to tackle one day but don't know when or how. Anyone good at removing many layers of pink carpet from a bathroom floor by any chance??? Or a carpeted kitchen? How about the water spouts that come up from a hole in our kitchen floor? I guess it is handy if you want to fill up a large bucket. I currently use it as a hook. Very vintage, right???

 

Now on to the room I would really like to makeover for my little boy, Dallin. He loves living in a house. Last week, out of the blue, he told me he hated having to live in an apartment. Then he told our neighbor how he use to "live in a very, very, very, very small apartment, now I have a HUGE house." (just to clarify,  1,100 sq ft is not huge but it feels that way to him.)

So here it goes. That is what Dallin's room usually looks like (this is embarrassing):

In case it was not completely obvious, Dallin loved stuffed animal. What in the world do I do with all of them? And yes, those awesome sheets are the same sheets my mom took to college with her. Totally vintage, right? (as long as you don't look at the holes) Our big problem is all his toys need to fit here:

Hmm....anyone else figure out kid toy storage? You could be rich. Also, what do you think of the awesome roller shaded? They grace most of our house. We did choose to remove the dingy lace curtains that were over the awesome roller shades.

One last picture:

 

Not much to see. Oh, other than the awesome pink carpet.  Ask Dallin how much he likes that. He keeps asking me to rip it out. There is hardwood underneath. And the head board is not attached. It was from craigslist and my attempted to make it look less like a prison cell.

It's a boring, messy blank slate. While it is a vast improvement over the apartment bedroom that was more storage than a place for Dallin to play, it still needs some serious help.

Dallin wanted to share what he wants to do in his room. He got a little shy after we started. And I guess there was some confusion on wallpaper and paint. it is because I keep mentioning how much wallpaper we have to remove in this house.

Dallin's Room from Nicole Richins on Vimeo.

So many possibilities, but no direction on where to start. 

My Dilemma

So I have a dilemma. Apparently, since I such a diligent blogger :), I have hit my limit of photos I can upload without paying. I am not sure what to do now.

 -I can pay $30 a year to have more space. Not my first choice.

 -I might be able to use something like Photobucket and then embed my photos. That would add a lot of steps, but it might work.

 -I could quite blogging all together. That is temping, but then I would feel like I should be journaling or scrapbooking.

 -I could start a new blog all together. That would require a new email address, which would mean either managing two or having to change everything to the new address.

 Any thoughts? I am not sure. What would you do if you were me?

Kitchen Colors

So, we are in PA at least. We have been here for a week and a half. We are all unpacked thanks to the awesome man I married. He is a go getter when it comes to just getting things done. If it was up to me, we would always bee living from boxes for weeks.

Well, I would like to start painting something or working on something, I am just having a hard time decided what to do or how to start. I was thinking the kitchen just because I will have my mom here for a week and it would be easier to tackle with her around. You remember my blue kitchen?

Here is more of what I was thinking. I would like input if anyone has any.
I was thinking of painting the lower cabinets yellow, the upper cabinets the gray color and the walls the lightest color. The teal color is for accents and I was thinking a white color for the moldings and doors. What do you think? One day I want to be able to replace the cabinets with nice wood ones, but that isn't in the cards any time soon. If anyone thinks of a different idea/color scheme, please share. I am struggling getting it together in my mind.

My New Obsession

Russ came home for MN today. He was at a math conference. Whenever he comes home from a conference he has two things: a magnet for Dallin and left over snack foods he bought while there. This time he brought home these:

Oh my goodness! They are amazingly addictive. They have now become a new favorite snack of Dallin and me. I have already told Russ that he can buy me some for Christmas, because that will most likely be the next time we get them because Emerald Nuts are not cheap. :)

I have seen other favors that I might like to try, but do I really dare when I know I LOVE these???

Goodbyes

I realized I am not very good as goodbyes. I don't like them. I just feel awkward. And sad. And I don't like it. Today D and I went to lunch with a friend of mine. She is one of those friends I could talk to for hours (and we usually do when we get together) and I had to say goodbye. It made me sad. I am having a harder time leaving Michigan than I did leaving Utah. Maybe because I knew since I have family in Utah I will always have ties there. That is not the case with Michigan. I will have to make an effort to see most of these people again, and even then, some of them will move on after grad school themselves. I guess I am just better at see you laters.

Scheduled Fun

So, the summer schedule has been awesome! Dallin knows what to expect as far as fun with Mom and I know what I need to plan. Here are some of the activities we have done.

Last week Dallin wanted to make a project he found in the Friend.  It was a prayer rock. He was so excited to get to paint. It has been a while since we pulled out the paints

Last Thursday for Thoughtful Thursday we picked up trash from our apartment complex as we walked over to visit a friend. I was going to take a picture, but didn't realize that there was no battery in my camera. I was worried Dallin would hate the idea of picking up trash, and at first he did, but after a while he thought of it as a scavenger hunt. He even got to wear fun gloves to pick up trash. As a matter of fact, on the way home from our friends' home he was upset i didn't bring another bag and gloves so he could pick up more garbage.

Friday we tied a record high. It was so hot. And of course Dallin got to choose get out of the house Friday activity. And of course he choose the MSU museum. It is a large non-air conditioned building. It was so hot, but I figured it was probably the last time we would go so I agreed (Not till after trying to thing of many other ideas he would like instead.)

Two headed calf.

"Lucy" (model)

Can you tell how sweaty he was from the heat in that museum?

African elephant

"I am visiting Grandpa in the Desert"

Super Hero drawing

"Mom, would you be happy if you found that in your bed?"

Running from the bear

Random fact i found interesting

T-Rex and D

Today for Make it Monday we did freezer paper stenciling.  I am sure any of you who read blogs often or are on pinterest has seen this. I have wanted to try for a while and, since Dallin has been begging for a Green Lantern costume, I decided to give it a try.

If you are posing in a super hero shirt, you can't just stand there all normal like. What do you think? It makes me want to do more. Please disregard my messy house. It will be like that for the next 2 weeks till we move.

As for the 4th of July, we didn't do much. We rented a movie and had hotdogs and caramel corn. The local fireworks were canceled because of the heat and dryness. Instead we walked around and watched other people shooting off fireworks. (Here a lot of the large ones are legal) Dallin was actually more interested in chasing fireflies than watching fireworks anyway. There where a ton of fireflies on the 4th. Dallin did inform me he was no longer going to call the fireflies, but rather lightning bugs. Hope you all had a great 4th of July. And thanks to the Meyer girls. Your instagrams on FB made me feel like I was there!