Quick Glimpse at the Family

 Cameron-  Age 13
Cameron is now in the 9th grade.  He is in indoor track and when he is not breaking bones, is very talented at the high jump.  He also competes in one running event and triple jump.  Cameron's favorite class is tech and he still really enjoys being outdoors.  He ended up shooting his first deer this winter which he was very proud of.   His future goal right now is to join the marines which of course has me scared to death but proud at the same time.  It is so hard to believe this little boy is growing up so fast.  We are very proud of the young man he is becoming.  He is an amazing big brother (especially to Aly who has him wrapped around her finger) and a very good kid!    

Dylan- Age 11

Dylan is still full of energy and a keeps us laughing.  He has a great sense of humor and is the first to give a hug when he sees me upset.  (He is also the cause of my grey hair)!  Dylan is in the 6th grade and excels in school.  He enjoys exploring Terraria or creating a new game out of nothing.  He was on the football team this year and although played hard, did not get the opportunity to show off what he was capable of.   Dylan's future goal is to become an explorer and find animals that have not yet been discovered.

Ethan- Age 9

Ethan is still my "baby".  He loves to have special cuddle time and just read a book together.  He also was in football this year and baseball; both of which he did very well at.  He still likes to follow Dylan on all of his adventures and therefore would also like to be an explorer with his brother.  Together the two of them will change the world...or destroy it depending on how they are getting along! ;)  Ethan has enjoyed being a big brother now too and has done very good with our newest foster daughter.  He can get her to laugh like no other!  Ethan is still my smile boy and tends to try being "tough" in front of everyone.  He has been a good student but has struggled this year with things so is very excited about homeschooling.    

Alyssa (Aly)- Age 3
Oh what can one say about Aly....she is 3 going on 16!  Aly is full of spirit and keeps all of us laughing at her little doings.  She has a lot of personality and rules the boys with her sass.  If you ask her she says she is in charge and her favorite response to things is "seriously".  Aly is so much like Dylan that I see a lot more grey hairs appearing!  Aly loves to color and is really into horses right now.  She attends a preschool where she is loved for her spunk and is enjoying learning her colors and ABCs.  She has a great imagination and loves that she can be a big sister.  She is a great helper and enjoys being little miss "mother".

Ella (aka Beans or Beaners)- 7 months

Ella is our newest addition who has been with us since she was 3 days old.  We are only fostering her at this time but love on her like she is our own.  We do not know what the future holds yet but we just take it one day at a time.  She is a sweet baby with smiles for everyone and loves all the kids.  She is just learning to crawl and rolls to everywhere she can.  She has her first 2 teeth on bottom and although hasn't started solids she loves her baby food...she is over 18 pounds!

Richards New Adventure

      We are starting out on a new and scary journey.  It has been long coming (3 years of two boys begging and 1 mamma fearing the change), but I have finally given into the fear of failure and have started the crazy and exciting life of being a home schooling family.  Before Christmas, we started looking into Dylan starting home schooling and began gathering information to make it happen.  Dylan is a very smart kid with a personality that is a mix of emotions, laughter, craziness, and love.  He has a big heart and wears his emotions on his sleeve.  In the past few years of his schooling experience, he is our one that swallowed a chain necklace (we were already on speed dial from the nurse for various other strange accidents), ate a worm on the playground, pretended to "poop" out a pencil resulting in being pulled from class and getting a talking to where he came home thinking he was going to go to jail for sexual harassment, claiming he could "blow' up the bus (imagine cartoon character here with evil little laugh) with a smoke toy a girl brought onto the bus, and his list of misunderstandings due to his creative side could go on and on!  Dylan has always kept us on our toes, and he honestly views the world through a different lens than I do.  He makes me see life differently, and I am always in awe over his way.  In the past few years though, we have seen his creative side being squashed and his sense of self worth getting worse.  School setting has been hard for him in the sense of just trying to be like other kids.  Common Core has really made things harder for him too and therefore we just felt like it was finally time to see what this boy could do with a curriculum that was tailored more to him.  At the same time, this year for Ethan has been a year of tears and anger.  He has had a hard time with his current teacher and for some reason the two of them just don't get along resulting in Ethan feeling like he is always bad and in trouble.  We really wanted him to finish up the year and "graduate" with the kids he has been with since kindergarten but as the time came closer and closer to school starting again we saw how much anxiety he had over school and therefore pulled him for home schooling too.  

      I honestly don't know how long this journey will go....it may just be this year or it may continue for them until high school but either way, I will be trying to keep track of this journey on here.   I understand many of you may see us as crazy and making a huge mistake but sometimes the best things come from the mistakes in life we make and we will never know if it is a mistake or a blessing until we give it a try.  So here goes nothing as we venture into the unknown world of home schooling!  Oh and please if you have encouraging words I would love to hear them, doubts and negativity though you are welcome to keep to yourself!  I have enough doubts and fear of my own that I am going to screw up my kids that I really don't need to know you think I will too!  Any negative thoughts you have had, I have already thought them and I am sure I have mulled over all the what if's more than I should have!  I am ready to put the fear in God's hands and just take this leap of faith.  Thanks again for joining us and seeing what amazing kids we have!