A Legend Forever in Time

August 12, 2012 was a very sad day for the Richardson family.  Debbie's Dad (Mikey's Grandpa) passed away after a sudden, vicious attack on his immune system from a nasty virus.  

Jim Thiel was truly one of the most incredible men I've ever had the privilege of knowing and spending time with.  He is a family man through-and-through and cherished his wife, Marion, like I want to cherish my husband.  He is the definition of a patriot, serving his country through war as a belly-gunner on 50 successful missions (unheard of!) and loved this country every day of his life.  

I delayed writing this post because I know there are no words I could type that would come close to doing justice to a description of Grandpa Jim.  He was everybody's hero.  He was selfless, volunteering more than anyone I know (without paying attention to his age or status).  As I looked through some pictures I have of him, I was struck with the BEAUTY that I could not find a single picture of him without his wife by his side.  They were inseparable, and while I know his faith in our heavenly Father has taken him to paradise, I ache for Grandma Mar as she discovers a whole new world:  one without Grandpa Jim.

The summer of 2010, while I was pregnant, Mikey and I made a trip to St. John, IN to visit them.  I now cherish those memories even more.  While there, we shopped, dined, toured, etc. and we couldn't step foot outside the house without people waving us down to say hello and ask how Jim and Marion were doing.  Even the police officers and store clerks knew them personally.  People we'd never met knew all about our expecting twins and our Peachtree City golf carts.  I was shocked how "popular" they were...they run that town!!

Grandpa Jim was so full of life.  He was always the ring leader when the family got together...making everybody (including strangers) laugh until they cried.  His jokes were the best...and I will never forget the time he got everybody kicked out of the Oktoberfest celebration for dancing on the table...at 84 years old!!  

Grandpa Jim will never be forgotten, and the imprint he left on this earth will carry on and on and on.

We miss you and love you Grandpa Jim!!

BABY DAY!!

July 25th was a very big day.  Two of the most anticipated babies in our lives were born this day.

Early that morning, our great friends Tony and Claire met their precious baby girl, Harper Kate Stravelakis.  She was born with a head full of dark hair and a healthy appetite.  She was just over 9 pounds....bless her momma!!!

Mikey, Debbie and I got to swing by the hospital a few hours after she was born to meet her.  She was gorgeous and so calm and content...a trait she has carried with her for her first few months of life!!

Later that day, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Erin and Taylor, met their handsome and sweet baby boy, John Reece Ward.  He goes by "Jack" and he couldn't be cuter.  He was also big and healthy, weighing in right at 9 pounds...bless his momma too!!!

Mikey, Mike, Debbie and I all got to go stop by and visit this little fella too.  You can't tell from my pictures, but he has the CUTEST little creases in his forehead that make it look like he is really inquisitive.  What an incredible day full of blessing galore!

Welcome to the world, Harper and Jack!  We love you both.

We have a RENTAL? What?!?!

Mikey and I have talked about moving for a long time...and decided in the fall of 2011 to try to sell our house ...

We listed it for sale in October 2011...and gave up in April 2012.  

If you've never tried to sell a house...let me tell you:  IT SUCKS!  
If you've never tried to sell a house with two toddlers living in it...let me tell you:  IT REALLY SUCKS! 

We had over 50 showings during that time, and a lot of positive feedback, but nobody bit.  Having to keep the house in showing condition and cleaning every.single.time. we left the house "just in case" someone called was truly exhausting.

We gave up the idea of selling in April, but then decided to try our hand at renting.  Starting August 10, 2012...we officially rented our house and moved in with  Mikey's parents.  We actually rented it super fast, and due to some school district stuff, we had to move out completely in less than 4 days, and guess what:  IT SUCKED!

Man-oh-Man....am I Captain Whiney or what?  It was all worth it and the renters have been good so far.  Hoping that continues!

Living with Mikey's parents has been interesting.  They are awesome and completely welcoming and helpful and hospitable.  It's just hard having your family's mess in somebody else's house.  I was always a bit stressed about that...not to mention fitting all our stuff into their house wasn't the easiest thing to do.

After 3.5 months there, we moved in with my parents, and have been here for a few weeks. Luckily, we recently found a house we hope to buy in January, so we will have our own place in a few more weeks.  Woo-hoo!

4 Month Hiatus

I can't believe I have been away from my blog for 4 entire months.  I've thought about it often, but just can't seem to find the time or motivation to update it.  I want to get back into the groove so I can at least have a little documentation of life, since it seems to be FLYING by.

So much has happened since my last post, here are some majors that I intend to dedicate individual posts to ASAP:

- July 25th:  Jack Ward AND Harper Kate Stravelakis were born on the SAME DAY!
- August 10th:  We moved out of our house, rented it and have been living with family since.
- August 12th:  Mikey's Grandpa Jim passed away.
- September:  Mikey's Mamaw got diagnosed with bladder cancer.
- September:  Parks and Marlee started 2 mornings a week at "Children's Morning Out" at the Methodist Church.
- October 3rd:  Unexpectedly got a positive at-home pregnancy test.
- October 4th: Went to the OB doctor and discovered I was 8.5 weeks pregnant!
- October 27th:  Spent half the night in the ER getting fluids and meds from a nasty GI bug.  Not fun.
- November 18th:  Went under contract on a new house for our family!


I feel like there are lots more "BIG" things that have happened, but I can't think of them right now.  I will hopefully add them as they come to me.  Baby post coming next!!!  Woo-hoo.

Birthday Party at the Beach

My mom recently celebrated a momentous birthday!  We decided to take a family beach trip to celebrate...and headed down to Pensacola for the week of July 16th.  Mom, Dad, Aunt Libby, Patrick, Mikey, Parks, Marlee and me.  We stayed at "Portofino" in Pensacola and had a blast.  The water was CRYSTAL clear and the sand was clean and soft and white.  I haven't been to the gulf in years, but I was very impressed.  So pretty!

Unfortunately we did have quite a bit of rain (especially after Mikey showed up on Tuesday...he had to work the first part of the week).

Here's our trip in pictures...

over 1 million $ and counting on the ceiling, walls, etc.
hope they have a good fire policy!

Waiting to see the Blue Angels at "Crabs"

Upside Down Angel

Our view of the beach (the other end of the porch gave views of the sound)

Inked

Fun

One of the better pictures of my dad

The famous Jim Murray smile

Aunt Lib and Pat at Maguires

Jungle Jim Time

Sup

Patrick loves Lucy  :)

Our view of the sound and 2 of the 5 towers at Portofino

Sister Sister

Crossword Cheating

Patrick OWNED the kitchen
Frying up some oysters here

Motorcyclin Mama

Nice dinner!!

My wonderful parents and daughter

LOVE THIS

Marlee pre head injury  :(

Beachin with Uncle Pat

I want to eat sand

The crew, minus Mikey and Me

2 babies

Lib getting inked

Diapers FULL of sand

Matching Daddy and Parko

after 3 attempts, this was the BEST picture my dad got of us

Liberachhi and Mikey

Just walking on the dock wit my gramps

The beach wears babies flat out

Only family beach pic....dumb weather  :(

Getting out the cowboy boots and packing up the bathing suits 

New Car

We said goodbye to my first car, a 2005 4Runner.  I bought it new right out of college when I got my first job.  She was a good 'ol girl and we did a lot of miles together.  She smelled really bad, thanks to Shayla and Kaly, but was very trustworthy.

We traded her in on this baby:

It's a 2007 Expedition with just over 100K miles.  Leather seats (my favorite part), Captains chairs in the middle row, automatic opening and closing rear hatch and even a DVD player for the kids!  I really love it.  It's definitely bigger than my 4Runner, but we took it on a road trip to Pensacola a couple days after buying it and it was great for the long ride!