Sushi

On Saturday, Dustin and I took the kids to Mimi and Papa's to stay the night. We had to talk at a Pre-Cana (engagement encounter) at a church on Sunday, so we had a "date night" on Saturday. We went with our friends Kate and Micah to the new sushi place in Edwardsville called Wasabi. We are glad we went with people who know how to eat it! They were very helpful with their suggestions. We went all in and ate actual raw fish! I liked the tuna the best, followed by the yellowtail and then the shrimp. I also had hot Saki. I've decided that's an acquired taste. Kate and Micah had a huge boat/plate of sushi, while Dustin and I opted for the beginner's combo plate. We had a lot of fun! Then we went to the Bier Bunker to have some drinks. I told Kate I'd blog this, so I hope she reads it!

At the Bier Bunker drinking coffee.

I'm not sure what we're laughing at...probably Dustin.

Always in shades of black.

2 Weeks in Review

It seems like it has been forever since I have blogged! I have been SUPER busy at work, so I've been bringing stuff home. This means less blogging time at night! So I'll recap our last couple of weeks. No big news, really. Our Valentine's weekend was spent in a very low-key way. Friday was a "Family Movie Night" where we went downstairs and watched a movie. Saturday, Dustin was doing some Knights of Columbus stuff in the morning and then he and Randy went to sign the boys up for Tee-ball. Can you believe Braden is old enough for that??? That evening, Dustin made a delicious dinner that we ate with the kids. Turns out Kendall REALLY likes Filet Mignon. Sunday, we went and got new cell phones. We are like teenagers with them! We are all about texting and checking our email on our phones. I know, we're dorks, but we're having fun with them. Dustin swears his new phone is the best thing he has ever purchased. I'm not sure I feel that strongly about my phone.

I joined Weight Watchers (again) on Feb. 12th, so my first weigh in was on Feb. 19th. I was excited to see how well I had done, and to my astonishment...I lost 6.4 lbs! So hopefully next time you see me I will be even thinner. I'm hoping for a small loss this coming week!

Redecorating

It has been a slow process, but we have been trying to update our upstairs a little at a time. After we had the carpets cleaned, I was looking at the empty room and the stuff on the walls and got the urge to change it up a little. Our living room doesn't leave many options as far as seating arrangements, but the walls were a fairly easy fix. We took down the OLD picture of the kids we don't know walking by the beach and the crocheted sign, as well as the quilt rack and every cow or country themed decoration in the house. After that, the walls looked really bare. We made a trip to Garden Ridge on Saturday afternoon to try to buy some newer, more neutral wall art. We were successful, but that just made us want to replace a lot more stuff! Dustin and I went around the house and touched up spots on the wall, which made the house look MUCH better. Hopefully our visitors hadn't noticed the dings in the paint as much as we did. We had already replaced light fixtures in most of the rooms, but we hope to revamp the kitchen a little and possibly replace a few of the ceiling fans and bathroom fixtures. Time (and desire) will tell what improvement comes next. For now, enjoy the new, updated look of the Riechmann living room. Come by and see it in person if you are in the area!

Not a particularly impressive wall, but I was just taking note of the cowless decor.

New picture and sconces.

A hot guy painting my wall.


The new picture that replaced our quilt rack. It was a PAIN to hang. I nearly had a heart attack watching Dustin stand on a ladder on the stairs. Braden kept asking why I was so scared. He obviously doesn't know the danger of hanging wall art.

Is It Spring Yet?

This Saturday we went outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. The kids were even able to wear their spring jackets. Dustin needed to get on the roof to take down the Christmas lights (don't worry, they had been unplugged since the first week of January), so we played in the driveway to supervise his work. Braden enjoyed playing with his long-lost golf clubs. Kendall did a little riding on her Muffin Man truck. Unfortunately, she went down our slightly steep driveway a little too fast and scared herself out of wanting to ride it anymore. We visited with our neighbors for a bit and then went for a walk before the kids took a nap. It was a great, fun-filled morning. I can't wait for more warm weather!

Dustin waving from atop the roof.

Kendall trying out her golf club.

Braden is happy to be outside.

Giving me a thumbs-up because he found where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live in our yard. (That would be in the sewer cover.)

Riding on her Muffin Man truck.

Pajama Day!

Braden was so excited about pajama day at school last week. They had originally planned to have it two weeks ago, but the snow days threw them off. The day finally came last Wednesday when Braden could wear his Wall-E jammies. They had hot cocoa and popcorn and watched a "show" at preschool. It was one of his best days this school year. I took some pictures, but he just looks like he's ready for bed. In reality, he didn't wear those pajamas to bed the night before or that night after his bath. He was kind of bummed about that, but I told him I needed to wash them first.

Smiling for the camera when we got home from Pajama Day.

Digging through all of the books. An event that drives Daddy crazy.

"Yeah!" from Kendall.

I'll leave you with a few "Braden-isms" from the past couple of weeks. He's been really into the new president, as you'll see from his comments.

At Grandma Riechmann's:

Braden picks up the phone on the counter while Barb is talking on the cordless.

Dustin: "Put that down!"

Braden: "I want to talk to somebody!"

Dustin: "You don't even know who Grandma is talking to."

Braden: "Yes I do."

Dustin: "Oh really?"

Braden: "Yes, she's talking to Barack Obama!"

(She was not talking to President Obama, but to her brother in Minnesota)

In the car on the way home from school:

Braden had been arguing with a friend at school about a favorite toy airplane. I was trying to remind him why it is important to share.

Momma: "Braden, you should share with your friends."

Braden: "But I wanted to play with it."

Momma: "You don't always get what you want."

Braden: "I wanted to play with it."

Momma: "God would want you to be nice and share with your friends."

Braden: "And so would our new president?"

Momma: "Ummm. Yes, I'm sure he does."

Clean Carpets

Today, we had our carpets cleaned. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of life, but our carpets do look a lot better now than they did this morning! We had originally scheduled them to be cleaned last week, but the big snow came and they cancelled on us. That was fine by me since I didn't have to stay home in the basement with two rowdy kids. In order for them to clean the carpets, we had to move a lot of the furniture (and toys) out of the living room and into the kitchen. When Braden snuck into our room at about 5:30 this morning, he asked me, "Hey Momma? Why is our couch in the kitchen?" I told him they were coming to clean the carpets and to be quiet and go to sleep.


The kids thoroughly enjoyed running around the empty living room this morning, but they didn't have a lot of time since we had to get ready for school. So, when I got home from class tonight, we had a family fun night of running around the empty living room. We played football, which consisted of Braden running around with the "fitball" while Kendall or Daddy chased him. We also swung the kids around until they were dizzy and then watched them walk around and fall to the ground (a game that we probably enjoyed more than they did!). And finally, we played Duck, Duck, Goose! That game is slightly harder to play than I remembered. It is problematic when you have only four players, two of which don't really understand the rules, and who think that when anyone says "Goose" you should all run around until someone falls on another person. Anyway, a good time was had by all. We wore them out and put them to bed before we moved all the furniture back. I don't think they'll be too happy to see the room back to normal in the morning. Here are some pictures of our shenanigans.

Kendall paused for a brief moment to let me take a picture.

All of our living room "stuff" in the kitchen.

Daddy and Kendall hanging out by the stairs.

Playing a game of "fitball" in the empty room.

Cooling off by the fan. It's apparently hard work to run in circles for 30 minutes.

Our First Princess Tea

Kendall and I were able to go to a Princess Tea at a church in Edwardsville. Kendall is a fan of the princesses, so we thought we'd give it a try. Jaycie and Olivia went along with us so we didn't have to go alone! We bought the girls' princess dresses at a decent price since the invitation said you could dress up in a costume. They were so cute (but they left a glitter trail wherever they went)! The girls had fun and the princesses were really nice. I think I'd like to take Kendall to a real princess tea at Disney someday. A mom can dream, right?

Kendall and I with Belle (our favorite princess).

Coloring and enjoying the yummy fruit snacks (no really, they were yummy!)

Cinderella posed with us. Kendall isn't so sure this is the real deal.

Our tea time friends Jaycie and Olivia.

Kendall and me with all the princesses (some were obviously better dressed than others)