Richele’s Blog

WOW! I cannot believe it has been three years since I started this blog. I have not been consistent with it (obviously), but as the years have gone by I have loved reading other people’s blogs and learning from their experiences. I want others to be able to do the same with mine and I also would love to have my life documented in a unique way.
With that being said, I will share from my life here and anyone who wants to can keep up with what is going on in “my world”.
WELCOME…there is more to come!

Mike and I took Alyssa to see the Broadway series play Annie on Saturday.  It was wonderful!  The cool thing is, the first time I saw the play was in London and I was the same age as Alyssa!  I still drink out of my “London Loves Annie” souvenir mug.  The music, the dancing and the story were all great.  Although I have seen the play three times now and the movie at least 100, I cried!  When the orphans are singing “Maybe” and all they want is a Mommy and a Daddy it was touching.  When Daddy Warbucks sang about how one little girl changed his life, it was moving.  What a fun day we had!  We now have the play soundtrack and it is even on my i POD!  We have all been singing the tunes around the house and the favorite is “It’s a Hard Knock Life”.

Annie was wonderful and I highly recommend if you have a little girl in your family that you take her to see it! 

I am BACK to blogging!  I don’t know why I stopped or what took me so long to get back, but I am here and that is what counts!

Happy New Year!  One of my many New Year’s resolutions is to spend time doing things I love to enrich my life.  I got a head start on this when I joined an adult tap and jazz dance class back in November.  I love it!  It is SO much fun and great excercise as well.  I am also wanting to narrow down my activities and volunteering so I am not spread so thin.  I desire an organized peaceful home (which may be a stretch with 7 and 2 year old girls, but I’ll give it a shot!) so I am organizing my home room by room, junk drawer by junk drawer.  I want to create an environment each day that will welcome my family.  Santa helped me out with this by getting me an i Pod media and speakers for Christmas.  Now all I have to do is download my favorite relaxing or energizing tunes, and have music playing in the kitchen/living room at any time.  Another resolution is to deepen my already existing friendships.  I love spending time with girlfriends but usually find myself seeing them at functions when we are busy.  I am going to make it a point to have lunch with someone eash week and also to have one family over for dinner in our home at leasst once a month.  Good times are had when we take time out to relax and hang out with friends!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.  I hope all of you did too! 

Most of you know I am a native of New Orleans, Louisiana.  I lived there until I was four when my family was transferred overseas to Europe.  We came to New Orleans to visit twice a year as all of our extended family was there.  It was our true “home” as we moved around every one to five years.  When Mike and I married in 1995 he got a job there with Mobil Oil working as an engineer offshore.  He worked mainly offshore of Mobile, Alabama and stayed on Dauphin Island (another area that has been devastated).  From our first home we could see the 17th street canal (one of the levee that was breached today).  It is now underwater along with most of the city. 

We had to evacuate twice during the five years we lived in New Orleans, the last time being for Georges.  Our oldest, Alyssa was only two months at the time and we truly didn’t know if we would have anything to go back to.  We were so thankful that George took a turn and New Orleans was spared.  Every hurricane season we would talk about the fact that if any hurricane were to come directly in the mouth of the Mississippi it would be devastating.  It had never happened quite that way until Katrina.

As I watched the news late Sunday night and saw the magnitude of the storm, my stomach began to ache.  I knew this could not be good.  Because the people of New Orleans have had to evacuate so many times without anything happening some of them (thousands) tried to “ride this one out”.  My entire family did evacuate and are safe in various places in Texas, north Louisiana and Florida.  I am praying for the safety of those who did not who are yet to be rescued.  It is overwhelming to all who are involved to even conceive of how they will clean up and put their lives back together.

Please join me in continuing to pray and help in any way possible.

There are few friends who come along during a lifetime that “stick closer than a brother (or sister)”.  Janah is one of those friends to me!  She and I have been through raising toddlers together, pregnancies and babies.  Both of our girls are about the same age apart, so at any given time we can understand what the other is going through.  Also, we share a very crazy sense of humor, outlook on life and fashion sense.  We both love shopping, decorating, and scrap-booking.  I could go on and on!  There is never a dull moment when we are together that is for sure! 

Last night Mike and I went out with Janah and her husband Ted to celebrate her birthday.  We at a delicious meal at P.F. Changs. 

This is Janah’s orange slice shrimp and it was terrific!  We went to Starbucks afterwards to gab some more!

Happy Birthday Janah!  I hope to have the opportunity to celebrate many more with you.

Last night was Ladies Night Out for our Sunday School class!  We went to the new Lupe Tortillas’s restaurant.  Everyone had such a good time even though we had to sit out in the heat for an hour waiting on a table big enough for all of us.  We were glowing in Houston’s humidity and heat!

 After finally being seated we ate and continued to chat for 2 1/2 more hours!  Most of us have children, so the idea of an unitterrupted conversation is foreign.  It is great to connect with other women and deepen friendships just by sharing a meal!    It is such a blessing to have such wonderful friends in my life and I am so thankful!  I look forward to another ladies night out soon!

Yesterday was Samantha’s first day of Mother’s Day Out Preschool at the Met.  It seems like only yesterday I was starting Alyssa off in the two year old class there.  I have been telling Sam that she was going to school like a big girl.  She was so excited about the new backpack and nap mat too!  We got up early and got ready to go.  My Mom and I tried as best we could to capture some pre-preschool moments before we left.  All Samantha was interested in doing however was unpacking her new backpack to find all of the goodies Mommy had packed inside!  We did alright though and I noticed that I even inadvertently dressed her to match her bag!  Too Funny!

I fully expected her to cry when I dropped her off as she does every Sunday morning before Sunday School.  She seemed alright as she walked by herself up to the building carrying her own lunch box.  She would have it no other way!  She shocked me when I dropped her off by not saying a word and looking inside to see what was going on.  When I picked her up at the end of the day I got a great report!  Samantha had lots of fun and even slept on her new nap mat!  What a miracle!

I enjoyed my “free” time as much as she enjoyed her time at preschool.  What a blessing!

I am so happy to finally be set up with my blog!  I have journaled on and off since I was a little girl and this is even better.  I hope this can be a place to share thoughts, experiences and photos with those I don’t get to see on a daily basis.  Thank you to my technologically advanced brother Brad who bought my domain name for me years ago!  Also tonight I have to thank my Mom Sandy for helping me set this up.  I guess I am way behind the times!  My Mom who is officially a senior citizen (although that is not what you would think upon meeting her) helped get me up to speed. 

Please check back frequently to see what I am up to and how fast the kiddos are growing.  It feels great to be able to check this off of my “to-do” list!  Each of my family members has a blog and I am the last one!

I am posting the most recent picture of my beautiful girls here now.  Stay tuned for more!

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