The Richardsons

Mom standing in the rain with no umbrella E-man was Batman, I could not get a picture of him standing still. Abegail was Gabriel from High School Musical, and Annie was Thumbelina. My Mom and Dad came down for the occasion and suprised everyone with costumes. They went as pirates. It's the first time I've ever seen my Mom without her real hair. No one knew who she was. People kept saying to her "we haven't met before. " No worries all is back to normal today. Trick or Treating was exceptional. With every house, parts of costumes landed in my paws. E-man made new friends and allowed himself inside most houses. I hate to always rag on him, but I do have to laugh at some of the things he does, call it poor coping skills.

Abegail had her soccer banquet last night. Her last game is tomorrow. I have grown to love her team and their families. There is even a family on her team who are originally from Minnesota. The girls are adorable and the families supportive and wonderful. We are sad to see it end. Thankfully Abegail will be with her awesome coaches for three more weeks because SHE MADE THE ALL STAR TEAM! E-man made a Halloween box for us to pass out candy. Obviously since he can fit in it, its a bit big but "Mommy I made holes so you can see out of it."

Despite the pending federal charges, I must say the balloon boy's Dad has got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if I could just send E-man up in a helium balloon when he had a big mad? I have actually been day dreaming about it since it happened. It would be at least a six hour break depending on how far he traveled. I probably wouldn't even mind the helicopters buzzing above or the ransacking of my house as authorities searched for my poor six year old boy that took off in a balloon. E-man too is fascinated with the story. From the day it happened we came home and he said, "did the boy fall out of the balloon?" I said, "no he wasn't in the balloon." E-man asked, "where was he?" "He was in a box in the attic," I said. "So he didn't get to go up in the balloon?" E-man asks. "No," I said. E-man was absolutely awestruck thinking about the possibility. Today we went to the grocery store and E-man wo...

He might not be the boy to take to a restaurant but he can mow a mean lawn. E-man loves to push things and without the grocery store full of old and disabled people to run into, the lawnmower is the next best thing. I have decided 6 is the perfect age to start manual labor. He mowed our lawn He mowed our neighbors lawn Our other neighbors lawn And our back lawn, then he was done.

It's Columbus day weekend so that means no soccer games, no religion class and a full weekend to prepare for Halloween. For my sister, holidays are full celebrations, not a beat is missed. She is always prepared for the kids to enjoy every activity that comes with the season. For me, holidays are another thing to try and survive, but I'm trying to have a more positive attitude. Saturday was rainy and cold. When I say cold I mean 60's, not the 30's and snow Minnesota was experiencing (no homesickness on this day). So we postponed our trip to the pumpkin patch and just picked out a few near my sister's house. The kids and their cousins got busy carving and painting. Sunday was beautiful and we carried out our fall tradition of heading to one of the pumpkin farms, actually more like a pumpkin amusement park. There were slides, rope swinging, baby pigs, a corn maze and stuff we didn't make it to. It was a gorgeous day so all of Virginia stopped by making i...

So I finally decided I would volunteer for the room mother position. Politically correct is room parent, but lets be real, only moms do this job, no slight to Dads, its just the way it is. Yesterday there was a room parent meeting. In Minnesota, I think the room parent planned a couple parties and went to the ice-cream social. I could be wrong, I was not a room parent there but that's the feeling I got. It is VERY different here. They have a room parent coordinator who went over all the responsibilities. They got to teacher appreciation week, support staff appreciation week, and then bus driver appreciation week. At which point I burst out laughing. Now I like our bus driver as much as everyone. The kids have always come home. She always says E-man is good whether or not he is. (one of my favorite types of people, ignorance IS bliss) And at the end of the year I might even buy her a tulip to show my appreciation. But seriously..a whole week for bus driver appreciation???...