The Richardsons

Tomorrow is Annie's 5th Birthday. It seems like just yesterday she was screaming her way all the way home from the hospital and then I hit her head trying to put her in the crib and made her finger bleed when I tried to cut her nails. We are headed to a water park for a special treat and then home for Mermaid Cake! E-man made his own version of a cake and enjoyed getting it all over himself The Neighborhood Pool Here are a few photos at our neighborhood pool. It's been a great way to meet people. Moms have just come up to me and said, "we hear you're new to the area." They all seem welcoming and quick to introduce us to their kids. Hopefully Abegail can meet a few classmate before school begins. Playing with the doll babies in the baby pool Quotes From Annie: A: Mommy, Thank you for the best cake ever! M: We have got to raise your standards. (She also often says, "Mommy, thank you for the awesome dinner." Maybe hitting her head on the crib wasn'...

This week we went into DC twice. I took my kids and their cousins to the National Zoo and showed them where I went to college. They were extremely unimpressed with college, "you don't get recess in college??" Then Look Who We Ran Into.... The Millers from Minnesota happened to be here Thursday on their tour of the East Coast so we met them on the National Mall for a trip to the Smithsonian. Abegail and Tori back together for a few hours E-man isn't exactly the don't touch museum type We've been getting acquainted with our neighbors, almost all of them have seen or heard us. I met one little boy at the pool and said, "Hi Jack, we live on your street." He replied, "I KNOW."

I finally found the camera cord to download pictures, lord knows I can't blog without photos. We are getting settled. We are still getting lost a lot which means a lot of wasted time with the heavy traffic, but we have found the important things like the neighborhood pool, church, Target, the grocery story, and great running trails just down the street from us. Yesterday I took the kids on a half mile hike on the trails that led to a marina where we played miniature golf. In a rare moment I didn't bring along my camera and wish I had. Lets just say Emmanuel is not much of a putter, he's more of the long drive type of golfer. At the end when they have the hole that takes the ball he was flabbergasted and stuck his "stick" down the hole to get it out which got it stuck. The ball was constantly lost in the bushes anyway. They have fireflies here, the bugs that glow in the dark. The kids are fascinated by them and have tried to catch them. By the way a few fir...

The kids are doing great. Me? I keep waving at strange people who I think are our neighbors. I have this card in a frame (which I can't find, but is in some box) that says 'This way ahead, looking back is no longer an option." Still it seems to be I am the one who is slow to adjust. We have met two families in the neighborhood. One directly across the street with an adopted daughter a year older than Annie. The other kiddy corner with an adopted son from Guatemala who is three. It made explaining E-man very easy. He asked the one woman for a drink of her water before even saying hello. He almost tackled the other little boy playing soccer. But both families seem very nice and I can't believe there are three of us with adoption stories in one block. We are moved in, somewhat unpacked and loving our house. The move in went a lot smoother than the move out. We got three random guys who were strong and quick. It was raining but everything was unloaded and in o...

You know the feeling, you think a big change is a really good idea until you can't find a thing and everyone is tired and fussy. Here's some advice, DON'T MOVE! And certainly do not be dumb enough to think moving with three kids won't be the biggest effort you've ever made in your life. Let me start with the process of getting out of our house. I hired two men to load the truck. But Armand and Kenneth forgot to bring along their positive attitude. They arrive first thing Sunday morning. My Dad immediately talks to them about taking the swing set he had taken apart the minute he flew in. They laughed at him. "If you want to take the swing set , that's fine but you ain't takin nothin else then." They walked around the house and said, hmm , hm hm hm hm.....all these boxes..a 24 foot truck? You should have gotten a 48 foot truck. I was constantly telling them what was most important to load and what was not, needless to say all the non imp...

Our New Address: 8011 Hatteras Lane Springfield, VA 22151 571-405-6789

I guess we're really moving. We have a really big truck in front of our house and most of our stuff is in boxes (in no particular order I might add). My life is pretty simple these days, I pack, clean, yell E-man's name, say good bye to someone and repeat. Pack, clean, yell, good-bye.

I took my camera to work today, something I wish I did much more often. Then I took the kids and few of their friends on a tour of the station...here are the snapshots. The explosion at a Farm Supply Co-Op we we're covering This is what I look at everyday Going 'live' My morning photographer in the live truck, working on getting a signal before our 5 a.m. hit Here we go The kids visit, set number one E-man tries to take over....someone call security! The make-up room Annie in the control room Checking out Set number two The whole gang at the interview set In front of the green screen or weather wall E-man adds to the story board A really shiny floor, perfect for the sears photography studio pose Annie outside the station on the 'plaza'