First day of school 2011

We are one year away from Kindergarten. Cannot believe how time has flown.

To tired to function.

Riska has Preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays so it is just me and Jack on those morning. It is nice to spend one on one time with him. The only problem is he starts getting tired around 10:30 and we go and get Riska at 11:00. I try to keep him up until after lunch but he was just not going to make it this day. This is before we had to leave to get Riska.

Thanksgiving for Preschool

Mariska Loves Preschool!!! How could she not when they do such fun activities like this one. they are really fun kids to be around and Mariska has a great time.

Thanks for the pictures Karrie!!!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

This was the first year Riska has been to a pumpkin patch. We went with her preschool class and had a blast! Riska was so excited to pick her very own pumpkin. We kept it in the kitchen on the counter when we frist brought it home but I ended up moving it because it would disappear. i would always find on the top bunk of Riska's bunk bed. Hmmmm. I am still wondering whether she actually climbed up the ladder with the pumpkin in her arms, or threw it up there. Would have been a site to see either way.
It was nice having some one on one time away from the house with her. She is such a little character.
The Pumkin Patch had a pyramid built out of straw bales. It was big! I was very impressed with all our kids. they were so excited to climb it and even more excited when they got to the top.
I couldn't beleive we got all the kids to line up and stay at the top so we could get pictures.
I will be honest I wanted to do the corn maze. I was a bit disappointed when we arrived at the straw maze instead. I get it. They are little but I would have gone with her. She did have fun trying to find her way back out.
Mariska's school class plus 3. She loves the kids in her class. I do too. They are a fun little group.
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the past two weeks.

First day of PreSchool!!

That's right! Riska started Preschool. John gave her a fathers blessing for the first time the night before and it was incredible. I can't believe how time has flown! We joined a preschool co-op so I will be one of the teachers. Wish us luck!

GRADUATION!!!!

I am proud to be the wife of a Central Washington University Alumni. On June 12, 2010 My husband and best friend graduated from college with a degree in Construction Management. I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished in his years at school. I will admit that it was hard at times and totally frustrating but 5 years and 2 kids later we are at the end of the tunnel.

This is the Graduating Class. The weather was beautiful. (Would say it was a little too hot but I don't think I will get much sympathy from some.)
I know that some of these are terrible pictures. I tried to get in as close as I could to see John. John is sitting on the far right in the second to last row. He is the top right of the 4 wearing hardhats.
Here he is Shaking hands and getting his diploma or rather the folder his diploma would go in. They will mail the diploma to us who knows when.
The tassel turn.
Mr. Johnathan M. Richmond AC (Associate Constructor)
A huge thank you goes out to all family members and friends for their love, concern and support. I am eternally grateful to John's mom and dad, Jim and Gail. They were a huge help to us during Johns school years. It would have been even more difficult with out them.
I guess it's my turn.

Beam Signing #2

I was on a walk with a friend and walked by the beam that John had signed. I still think this is a way cool way to leave your mark on something. I am so glad John was able to be a part of this. It is strange to think that he is done with CWU.

Beam Signing

The Hogue building at Central is being refurbished and an addition is being built on the existing building. Hogue has been John's home at school for the last two years because that is where all the courses for his major are. They are building the addition first and then moving everything into it so they can gut and redo the original building. Yesterday the final structural steel beam was being placed. The program had a BBQ for all the seniors that are graduating this week and at the BBQ they all got to sign the beam before it was put in its final place atop the building. What a great way for John to leave his mark on a place that has been such a big part of our lives the last four years.
So cool to see all the signatures.

Rough week

So it has been an incredibly rough week at our house.John has been getting ready for finals, building a bridge, and preparing for an eight hour test he has to take on Saturday. Plus Jack has had RSV and Bronchitis, and he just cut his first tooth yesterday. Riska caught some version of what Jack has and so to say the least I would very much like this week to be over and never replay itself again. :) On the positive side of things I got a lot done. I made Cherry Pie filling, rearranged furniture and deep cleaned the living room and two of the bedrooms. Oh and I did all of the laundry. Yeah for clean clothes!!!! Back to the not so positive parts of the week. Last Friday Jack woke up with a really nasty cough. He had a low temp and was a little fussy. I called the doctors office to see if they could see him. I called first thing that morning and still had not heard from them by three, so I called and asked to talk to the triage nurse. When I told her what was going on she told me "you know you really should have called early in the day." When I told her I did and was waiting for the doctor to get back to me she decided to get us in with the on call doc. As John put it "I would rather let my sick dog die than take it to Doctor Vaughn" (On call Doc.) The doctor saw Jack said that there was nothing wrong with him. When I questioned further about the coughing and the fever he again said that Jack was fine and probably had a little cold. i asked about Jack's congestion and he said that it would go away in a day or two. Let me just say that last weekend was a little scary for me. Jack got progressively worse as the weekend went on and by Sunday night I knew there was something more going on than a little cold. I was up all night with Jack and as soon as the clinic opened I called and asked to talk to our doctor or his nurse. They were both with patients so I left my name and # and asked for a call back asap. When Debbie our nurse called me Jack was having a moment and Debbie heard him in the back ground and told me I needed to get him to the clinic right then and that Jack didn't sound good. So I drop Riska off at Anna's and took Jack to the Doc where we find out he had RSV Which caused bronchitis. FUN!!!!! For the last week we have been using a nebulizer (machine that turns liqued into a gas) and Jack is doing much better. He got his appetite back and is starting to get back to a somewhat normal schedule of sleeping. I am so glad things are getting back to normal.

Still Here!!!!!

I'm still here. This has been such a crazy month us. School and play. This is actually the first time in a couple weeks I have looked at the blogs. It was so good to read what everyone had written. Congrats to all who had new babies. We are so excited for you.
I guess this is just going to be a bit of goings on post. Nothing new has happened here. School started back at the beginning of January. Since both John and I are going to school we tried really hard to arrange our schedules so one of us could be home with the kiddo at all times. We were successful but now there are times during the day with only a ten min break between my classes and John's classes so there is a lot of driving back and forth from the school. Takes a toll on the gas bill but in comparison it is cheaper than daycare.
John is pretty confident that we will leave Ellensburg when he finishes school (Sniff, Sniff.) The only thing that is worrying me about this is I will not be done with school. I have already experienced a school transfer and lost credits. Not looking forward to this again. I went to my advisor yesterday and we laid out my options. It looks like I will be transferring to Spokane Falls sometime in the distant future. I can get a Distance AA there and not lose my credits from Central. Once I have my AA it wont be to big a deal where we end up because I will be able to go right into the degree program. Fingers Crossed!
This quarter was supposed to be my easy quarter but it is actually kicking my trash. My grades are fine it's all the work that is getting to me. I am taking Eng 102 and Math 101. The Math 101 class is like taking a second English class. I have four papers I have to write for this math class. The crap thing about it is I will not getting any writing credit for this course. Oh well. Just grin and bear it.
John is busy as ever. Now that he is in his major his schedule stinks. He has at least a three hour break in between each of his classes. I was surprised we were able to fit my classes in between his. This next quarter we will not be so lucky.
Mariska! Mariska! Mariska! We still love and adore her. She is starting to talk a lot more these days. Her manners are improving (at least with me.) Anytime I give her something she tells me thanks. She doesn't do this with anyone else unless prompted. Always says please when she wants something. Loves going to Nursery. Absolutely loves her cousins. Especially Maddy. Maddy is 10 and plays with Mariska anytime she comes over. The other day Mariska did something and got a time out. As I was sitting there with her she stated to call for her daddy. I told her that she was in time out and that daddy wasn't going to come save her. She then started to call for Maddy (who was not here when this happened.) Got to love it.
John and I went on a Date!!!! I know we almost forgot what that word means. We had such a good time and it was not to have the time alone together. Thanks to my wonderful sister in law we were able to go.
Think that's about it.

HE IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After waiting for three weeks the letter finally arrived on Tuesday. Almost ninety people applied for the Construction Management program this year and only 36 would get in. The last three weeks have been torture. If John didn't get in then he would have to apply again next year and that means school would have to be put off until January of 2010 because the only classes he needs to take at this point are in the Major.

I was the one to get the mail on Tuesday. John had just left for school and would not be back for over an hour. As soon as I saw the CWU envelope I ran for the phone. Of course John wasn't answering, so I did what any good wife would do, I didn't open the letter. Nope I held it up to the light and since it was only one page it was easy to read. I can't even explain the emotions that ran through me when I read "officially accepted into the major..." I called Holly (john's sister) for help. I didn't have the car and I wanted to surprise John when he came home. She brought over a couple of congrats banners and balloons. she also brought us a bottle of sparkling cider and Riska sized goblets (picture.) I hung the banners in the doorway and hung letter behind them. The first thing John saw when he got home was the banners and the letter. He was a little confused at what I was congratulating him for because the letter was unopened, then I told him what I did. I wish you all could have seen his face. The sheer relief and excitement as he opened the letter. I am so proud of him and all the work he has done to get were he is. We are extremely grateful and feel so blessed. Thank you for your prayers and support. We love you all.

School Starts

I figure with one more day of freedom (as much as a mom actually gets) I better get a entry in. I am only going to go 3/4 time this semester meaning I only have two classes. John is taking three. He is working nights and boy are we glad because his schedule is scary. He has a class in the morning at 8:00 and then his next class doesn't start until 12:00 and then his last class starts at 1:00. I was happy we were able to get my classes scheduled around his because daycare is expensive. Mariska started in a toddler bed when Aurie went home. It was rough the first couple nights but now she does really well. We are still working on the falling out of bed issue but I guess that will just take some time. Mariska has started to talk more. Usually we can't understand what it is she is saying but now she actually says words. She surprised me yesterday by saying "fish." The best part about it is the way she puckers her lips to say. One would say she actually looks like a fish.

So I look at families with children who are going to school and they make it look so easy. Now I realize that they must have some kind of super power to keep it all together. I don't know if it feels this way because I am taking three ten week classes that have been condenced into 6 weeks or if this is how it is going to be the whole time we are both in school. If I didn't have to sleep I think this would be a whole lot easier.
School is going good so far. I can't believe that I am already at Mid-terms. I have a mid-term on the third and then one at the begining of next week. I have already had a couple tests. I scored the highest in my logic class on our last test. I was so excited because my teacher said that the first test is the hardest. I pulled a 93 out of 100. John was giving me a hard time about it. He said that I just messed it up for everyone else if the teacher grades on a curve. I told him that I honestly didn't care I was just happy for the A.
Not doing so bad in my Geography class. I am a little worried about the final on Thursday but I have been keeping up on the reading and I will start studying tonight. Hopefully this will help me get a good grade. Those two calsses are my favorites. I have a hard time with English because it is so boring. My teacher reminds me of Edna Mode of the "Incredibles." This is the only thing that makes the class worth staying awake for.
Our trip to see mom and dad was a lot of fun. We spent the first part traveling and then the second part taking it easy. We went to the beach while in California. It was so beautiful. I love playing out in the water. Aurie and I had a lot of fun until the last wave took us both down and dragged us across the ocean floor. I hit my face on the ground and scuffed up my elbows and knees from where I hit. I ended up with so much sand in my swimsuit you could fill a sandbox. Mariska wanted nothing to do with the water. I think it is because it was moving and loud. She does fine in the bathtub or pool, so I find that kind of funny. We also went to Utah and visited with family. on our way home we stopped and did a hike at the petrified sand dunes in St. George. Mariska sure got dirty.
Aurielle's gradutaion was the big reason for us going to Vegas this last time. It is weird to think that we are all out of high school. We had a lot of fun spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Wareham when they came down. The day before we left we had our family pictures taken. They turned out really good. I can't wait to get them. If you want to see them you can got to this link;

nffocus.com/frank

I am posting some pictures just for fun. Hope everything finds you all well.