B is for...

Okay! You all can chip in and get me this tee because we are having a BOY!! And we are very excited! It's crazy to be a family of four boys. As a young person, I don't remember thinking about if I wanted to have boys more or girls more but I know I didn't think I would be a mom of a house full of just boys. We are happy just the same!

....and he's healthy...but you know you really only wanted to know if it was a boy or girl!

Lovely Grandma Richins

Our sweet Grandma passed away this evening at the age of 95. She was a mighty lady and forever the hostess. She lived an incredibly active and full life right up to the very end.... but I still think it was too soon.

Grandma Belva Margaret Parker Richins 1914-2009

Our Halloween

Here's Jake and Sam at Jake's kindergarten's Halloween party. I thought masks were not allowed at his school so I cut out the face of Yoda. I was wrong. Masks were allowed but I know Jake wouldn't like wearing something covering his face so I was glad we cut it out. I think it looks pretty cool. Jake is using "the force" here...surprised you didn't know that. "Weapons" were not allowed at his school so he couldn't use his light saber...good thing "the force" was allowed.
I love this photo of Sam showing off his glow-in-the-dark costume...that I painted, thank you very much. Someone asked me if I used a stencil. What?! Of course not! Anyway, I love Cameron in the back there trying to escape his stroller prison.
Is he a cute bat or WHAT?! Made this one too. It was very easy.

Scott took the boys out trick-or-treating in a light drizzle. But they still got a lot of candy. Sam started wailing and wanted Scott to say, "trick or treat". Scott would not do that and after a while Sam got over that.

Our Jack-O-Lanterns! Nancy and Robert came over and we had fun having them with us for Halloween! Jake got a little pumpkin from a school and wanted that one and the one we bought him to be pirates. Sam's is the smiley one and mine is the one that got the swine flu just a few days before Halloween. Oh, so sad. Blaaaaah.

Here's Nancy's! She did a great job! I love the quirky look. I made a stew in a pumpkin that night, which was mildly tasty but fun to see. I didn't take any photos of it. Nancy did, though.
Candy, candy, candy!

Jake was happy with his results.
Sam was happy, too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy, Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeen!!

I just found a funny little post on The Emotional Life of Candycorn and it made me and the kids all laugh!

Party Like it's 1999

So we had a little Halloween Party with a few families this past weekend. I was a Retro Mom in a party dress. Jonah likes to be a goof in pretty much every picture. We had three other families over. One of the games was to make a mummy out of your mommy.

We ate Zucchini Soup and mummy dogs and other treats as well. (Gretta took a ton of food pictures, but we haven't downloaded those yet.) We decorated Monster cupcakes and cookies.

Lots of cupcakes, cookies, candy and noise!

Simon's mouth looked like this the entire evening, the little sneak! He is crazy for any kind of treat! He did not have time to dress up for this party! Jonah was Captain Underpants at the beginning of the night but there is no photo evidence!

Gretta works hard on her monster cupcakes.

Retro Mom, an angel and a princess at the end of the night.

See Jonah's awesome Lego shirt? I stenciled that a few weeks ago at a friend's house, using freezer paper. I love parties!

Quote of the day...

Overheard in Sasha's prayer tonight.

"Please help Mom to remember to make a huge breakfast tomorrow. Please help Mom to have fun downstairs. Please help Mom not to break anything."

I guess I need a lot of help.

Love these!

How fun are these? Found on Etsy, Here.

Getting Ready

We are all very excited for Halloween around here! On a recent Family Night we went to our usual place for squash and pumpkins. Sasha was very prepared this year with a list of types of pumpkins we needed. It read, "long pumpkin, short, tiny, big!" She was very efficient as she checked them off her list.
Simon likes to help too.

This is was what Simon thought of the camera in his face.

And this is Simon practicing his Halloween get up with black marker. He may need a little help with that! Deja vous!!

Crazy!!

Welcome Ollie and Penny.

Look what we got last week?! We rescued a brother and a sister from a woman who rescues puppies. She had about 60 when Vaughn picked these two up. They are Labrador retriever, terrier mix and should stay fairly small at about 25 pounds. Vaughn picked Jonah up from Scouts last Wednesday and the puppies were in a covered box in the back seat. Jonah even carried the box into the house for Vaughn, having no clue what was in the box!! Jonah was so stunned that he just stood there in surprise. He knew we were going to look at puppies but he thought it was supposed to be the next day. The girls were just as stunned! It was so fun to see their reactions.

They are very sweet puppies and keep each other from being sad.

Her official name is Penelope Mango.

His official name is Oliver Smudge.

(He has the smallest dusting of white on his nose)

Everyone is very happy about the new additions.

In 1914 a Great Lady was Born..

My mother was born on the same day as my father (one year apart). Her birthday is on August 29, 1914.

There is a sturdy brick home that we pass on the way to the outreach center

that was built in 1914. Every day there are fresh flowers in the window. It reminds me of my mom.

A few weeks ago, many family members gathered to celebrate her 95th birthday. There was a "Fish Feast" at the old "Oyster Bar" in downtown Portland. We went to this restaurant many times when I was a little girl. Thanks to Margaret's hospitality, Mother can't stop talking about her wonderful birthday weekend.

There were great breakfasts, barbecues, a daliah festival, and lots of little children bringing in eggs, going in doors that were supposed to be closed, and loving their great grandma with a shower of "we love you" cards.

I have been doing a little research to find out what was happening in 1914 when mom was born. Probably the most significant event of 1914 was the beginning of World War I.

1. Imagine- if this were to happen now, while we were in Europe. In July, Austria and Hungary declared war on Siberia. During the month mother was born Germany declared war on France. Then Britain entered the war. Japan delcared war on Germany and bombed China.

This was also the year when the bra was invented. I don't think that had any connection with the war.

2. In 1914: Arizona and New Mexico had just become states (in 1912) two

years before she was born. We would have at least four boys who

wouldn't be citizens of this country if this hadn't happened. --Cameron,

Jacob, and Sammy Brooks were all born in New Mexico and Jonah

Hromiko was born in Arizona.

3. Tinker toys were invented in 1914 and erector sets and Lincoln Logs

were favorite toys. Tina, Stephanie, and Kathy are holding one of

our giant tinker toys. Below I am reading to Nan, with Stephanie and

Kathy listening.

4. Ocean liners (Floating hotels) were the rage. Both the Titanic and

Lusitania sunk during this decade. It cost $60 for a twelve day cruise.

5. The song "Aba Daba Honeymoon", a favorite cousin's camp song, was

written in 1914. Charlie Chaplin was becoming famous, and Movie

stars were wearing lipstick, and showing their legs. 30 million

Americans went to a movie every week.

6. Henry Ford discovered how to mass produce affordable cars. It had

taken 14 hours to build one car. With Ford's assembly line, it took one

hour and thirty three minutes. Up until that time, cars came in many

colors. Ford discovered that black paint dried faster than the other

colors...so all his cars were painted black for speedy delivery.

What didn't Mom have when she was a child ?

1. She had no deodorant - It wasn't invented until 1941.

2. She had no fingernail polish - invented in the 1920's

3. What would she do without frozen foods. Birdseye invented it in 1928.

4. There were no ice cube trays (invented in 1928)

5. Can you imagine mom without a cake mix on the shelf? (It wasn't

invented until 1949.

6. She never tasted a chocolate chip cookie until 1930.

7. She had no band aids (invented in 1920)

8. She didn't even have sliced bread..Professionally sliced in 1928.

9. Ball point pens were not invented until 1930. I don't know how she

survived without scotch tape. (invented in 1930)

10. There were no traffic lights until 1928.

11. Thank heavens for the 1950's when "Peeps" and credit cards were

invented. Simon is eating his Easter peeps in the picture above.

Happy Birthday, Mom. What a wonderful, long life you have lived.

To all of you who read this blog, I hope that you will forgive me for creating an on-line album for mom's birthday. I would usually make a hard copy and give it to her in person. But here we are in the middle of Denmark, so this album I hope will be read on her new Apple Computer.

The posts that follow are a collection of pics that I love--of all of our family.

from the Richins, Marcusens, Camerons, and Wilbergs. (when you finish each chapter--just click on "Older Posts" for the next set of pictures.) Hope you will enjoy them as much as I have. If you want to see them up close...just click on them. Love to you all, Belva

Family Album- The Richins Family

1. The William Dwaine Richins Family: Dwaine, Margaret, Janice, Harold,

Bill, and Belva.. Front porch on on new home- Tandy Turn.

2. Mother's sisters- Donna, and Arvilla, Mom the graduate, and Grandma

Gee.

3. Grandma and Grandpa Gee, me the graduate from BYU, and Carl.

We were newly married. Dwaine and Margaret well educated. Janice

in green.

4. Bill and Harold page.

5. Ginger and Kelly, Kelly and Eric, Eric kissing a llama, Ginger and Bill,

Bill with little Kelly.

6. Harold and Bill's dog, Jonathon, Khai, and Harold and Kathy.

A lot of campers, water rafters, and outdoorsmen who travel all over

the world. Nice to have you back on the mainland, Harold and all of

the family.

Family Album- The Marcusen and Cameron Family

1. The Marcusen Family: Janice, Dick, Margaret, and Glen and a little red .
beatle.

2. Janice and Margaret, Dick and Janice, Margaret, Janice and Glen,

Janice with baby Margaret, Janice and Margaret having fun, and

Grandma Richins with Margaret for Christmas.

3. Harold, Glen, and Janice. Glen. Little Glen, serious Glen,

and little Glen with glasses.

4. Kevin and a Nicole hug. Kevin and the dog. Handsome Kevin.

Kevin the scare crow. Kevin and Nicole smiling. Fourth of July

with Margaret, Nicole, Kevin, and Marina.

5. Lovely Margaret, Marina a sunset, the Cameron Family on the beach,

Nicole pondering, Margaret with bees, the rest of the family.. a rooster,

and a goat.

6. Margaret and her buggy, Nicole hugs Gretta, Nicole and Marina with

great hats, and little boy Glen..how cute.

7. Dick and Carl, Glen and Nick. Glen and Tara on the fourth of July,

Glen with Grandma and Grandpa Richins at Sisters, Glen in the

Kitchen making a great breakfast.

What a great family ! A life full of musicals, flowers, vegetables, crazy

goats, chickens, and many talented, enthusiastic people. Thanks for

the memories and celebrating so well, Mom's Birthday. We love you.

Family Album- The Wilbergs

1. The Little Boys and Girls of the Wilberg Family: Simon, Zoe with Emily,
Cameron, Jake and Sammy, Jake, Max, and Sam with a lovely face, Max

and a little boy from long ago- Nick.

2. Nick and his masterpiece, Grandma Richins with Tina, Tina with a bear made by Grandma Richins.

3. The Nick Wilberg Family: Nick and Max, Emily and Zoe, Zach and Max, Abby.

4. Nick and Zoe, Max and Zach, Emily, Abby and Zoe.

6. The Berrett Rice Family: Berrett baptizes Adam, Tina, Happy Birthday

Davis, Tina and Berrett, Lila, and the Rice Family busy reading.

7. Lila on the fourth of July, Lila and Davis with hair, Adam relaxes,

Adam and Lila ready for Halloween, Adam hanging on.

8. The Hromiko Family: Vaughn Baptizes Gretta. Vaughn, Simon Jonah,

Sasha, and Gretta. Stephanie, Gretta, and Sasha. Sasha the cat with

ears.

9. Gretta is baptized (love those little feet), Jonah growing taller,

Faces- Stephanie and the girls, Vaughn and Simon. Gretta and

Sasha resting in San Francisco, Simon by the chicken coop.

10. The Scott Brooks Family: Sammy (those eyes), Little Cameron,

future Presidents- Sammy and Jake. The Whole family (one is

on the way).

11. Jakes first day in school (a hard day for Kathy). Celebrating Jake's

birthday with a light saber cake by Kathy, fourth of July in the Nation's capital, Kathy with little Cameron on his birthday, and Sammy and Jake watch the birthday candles on the spectacular cake.

12. The Robert Ricks Family: Riding on camels, Pyramid watching,

Nan and Robert visit the middle east. Jordan was their home this

summer.

13. Robert and Nan, Robert shoots a turkey at our Thanksgiving turkey

shoot. Three faces of Nan, Nancy and Stephanie at the Golden Gate.

This is a letter that I wrote for Mom's birthday book. I thought I would publish it here so that all of you, who were not there, could read a few memories about our early life in Eugene, Oregon. (Click on each page and you will enlarge it to read).

Mom's Letter page 2...

Mom's Letter page 3....

Mom's Letter page 4...

Thank you for the memories and the good life that you have lived.

Have a healthy, Happy, 95th year. You have been a wonderful example to us all. We Love you, Belva