We found it!

The remote thermostat for the atomic clock, that is!

It was...drum roll, please...in one of the bags for the fold-up portable canvas chairs. We have 8 of them (we do camping and bbq'ing and love to have friends over, and we prefer to sit in comfort, can you tell...), and, despite how the chairs were checked for the missing thermostat, it somehow eluded us! Back in Virginia, we had 3 of the chairs on the front porch, where the neighbor boys would come and take breaks or play video games with Christopher. That's why we checked the chair bags when we got to NJ, and also why we checked the prickly and thorny shrubbery near where the kids were playing, but it never showed itself in all our searches.

While the thermostat was missing, we'd occasionally ponder what thermostat the clock could be reading, since the outside temp seemed to be right on target. Then, one day last week, the oddest thing happened...it read 98 degrees, when the outside temp was closer to 73 or 75-ish. Turns out, it was reading the heat from the lawn mower, where it was sitting in the chair next to the mower when it was returned to the garage.

Well, one more mystery solved in the Richardson household!
and yes...it's the little things that keep us going HA HA!

Short stories of Pictures

Grandma Roslyn and Grandpa Ray have the most beautiful pink blossom Dogwood tree in the front yard

They also have a door slot for the mail drop. Guess who's never seen one of these before? Guess which mailman gets surprise conversations from time to time...

Christopher has ridden a train in Albuquerque, but never one to NYC. We chose a rainy day to do this one. Oh, that's because most days here have been rainy...

He's so proud...hailing his first cab! The cabbie we got must have known, because he stopped for us even though he was off the clock already. Chris was also very proud to get to pay the guy for our ride.

At Times Square, NYC, for the first time.

This old mailbox is behind his school in NJ. How odd. Interesting, but odd. We don't know the story behind this one yet, but will surely find out soon. The school's been there for a long time, you'd think that someone would have noticed the tree growing around the mailbox way back when...

Making the now craved-for strawberry cupcakes for his class, to share for his birthday on Friday.

Well, we tried to make good cupcakes. When it came time to pour the batter...we couldn't find our cupcake tins! Doubled up papers "help" somewhat, but it's better to find the tins the next time.

Hungry, hungry kindergartners!

Applebee's for dinner. He was pretty happy when all the girls came by to sing him a birthday song, and especially since they brought him chocolate cake, "my favorite", he told them.

Okay, we cheated, but mostly because of the tired-factor. Not quite settled in, and trying to keep up with homework and all the new changes. We'll do another cake this week to make up for no big home cake. He was full, anyway.

I tell you, it pays to shop around in the want ads online! $220 bike for $75, in Excellent Condition! And, after researching it a little more, found it really is a great bike for his age, and should easily last a few years.

Yes, this is Christopher, walking around his present, without even noticing it at first. He was on a mission to see where I was going, not to miss anything, ironically enough.
Didn't take him long to get the hang of it, and the patience of his Papa helped. They went to the larger park, and now he can make it around the park without falling much. Still a little wobbly, but doing great. And, most important of all, he knows the #1 rule: don't ride near little babies, followed by #2: don't ride into Mommies, and so on...

Happy Birthday, Christopher!

Our little guy, Christopher, turned SIX today!!!! Not that we needed "any" reminders, but he's been anticipating this birthday like none before, and he's been asking and counting down for several months now.

We had a good day, we had "the best day ever" and still loving it.

Started by waking up early after going to bed too late, then he joined us downstairs and everyone fell back asleep. Sure, we can't keep this up, but since he has afternoon school and we've been on an alternate schedule in an alternate existence, it's working out okay for now.

He and I made those strawberry cupcakes last night to take in for his class today and share with all his friends. Of course....when it came down to pouring the cupcakes into the holders is when I realized that where I "thought" I had put the cupcake pans is not where they are. I suspect they are in a storage unit, but certainly they are not at the house. So....we doubled all the papers and put them on a cookie sheet, and poured away! Now, it may not have been the best looking set of cupcakes we've ever made, but they worked well enough. Good in a pinch, but not recommended.

Had an unrushed morning, took him to school and dropped him off, went to pick up the game and a card, and got stuck in traffic on the way back. We were supposed to be there by 2 pm, but let's just say that Jersey traffic at 1:30 on a Friday afternoon is ridiculous. Worked out okay, since his school had field day and were still outside playing games when we arrived. He helped pass out all the cupcakes and stood with his teachers when his new friends all sang the birthday song. He was supposed to put up his hand when they got to his birthday number, but he likes to play jokes now, so he told them he was 7 now! Then, he said, "just kidding!"

We took him to lunch at AppleBee's, and we had his gift bad sitting on the table...where he never noticed it until we had inched it to only about 4 inches from his hands. He was excited, it was PokeMon for DS. He had brought in his birthday card, so he was proudly putting it on the table so all the staff there could see. Needless to say, he loved when they brought him dessert and sang the birthday song for him. I think that was his favorite part.

When we returned home, we took the bike out and Mike put it on the front step with a big bow on it. Then, when I went outside, Christopher asked me where I was going, so I said I was taking Maya for a walk. So, he put on his shoes and tried to follow me, all the while squeezing his way around the bike up on the front step...and never noticing it or the ribbon. Then, we told him we were on the search for another birthday present, so he wanted in on that gig. Looking all around, he almost gave up, until he was back up on the top step and realized there was a big blue bike taking up all the room! Then, he was very excited and wanted to try it right away. His last bike left a few months ago, much outgrown and this one came without training wheels. He's ready, even if it takes him a little while to catch on. We all had to learn, huh? Mike just took him to the park, so he could practice in the grass. Even with a helmet, the sidewalks are still hard, so at least he can get the hang of the balancing and some practice in. It's supposed to go back to raining for the next two days.

And since we had cupcakes and chocolate cake, And I have way too much homework to do that has to be finished by tomorrow, we are not baking any more cakes tonight. He'll get his candle in a cupcake, which I don't think he'll mind.

We'll post pictures here soon. When I took the memory chip out of our camera to put in a new one, I realized the "new" one was actually already full. See the fallout from moving too dang much...important things get pushed to the side. But, we'll fix that as soon as I'm caught up on homework.

And now our little sunshine, as I loved to call him when he was little and so innocent and laughing and just the best part of being here, is growing up again! He told us he's now in the "six club", a takeoff of how I'm in the fo-fo club, and Papa is in the fo-five club. I swear, he doesn't forget anything!

Welcome, life with a six-yr older!

...and the temperature saga continues!

remember the atomic clock thermostat that we *thought* was dropped in the thorny bushes in Newport News? the bushes that we trimmed and cleaned up, and that everyone was poking around in to look for this thing? well, that was in Virginia

hmmmmm, very peculiar! we put the clock in the kitchen -- in New Jersey -- this morning, only to find that BOTH inside and outside temperatures were registering!

but, no thermostat! and here we just knew it was in the bushes from the front porch in VA, close to where it had been sitting on the porth since September.

where the heck is the dang thing? Mike checked the temp from my van, and this was the correct outside temp at the time this morning.

we were at the storage unit with the truck the other day, and it did not register. yet, we took it out of the truck this morning and now it does register.

so, we figure, it could be:

• somewhere in my van


• in a box that has been tricky about being moved around (but then, we went thru the boxes)


• in one of the bins in our temp bedroom

• or "maybe" it is a whole new thermostat that belongs to one of the neighbors or is on something they have outside (which brings up the question: how do you change the batteries on the remote when it dies if you don't know where it is in the first place?)
  

• who the heck knows!

it's very, very peculiar! LOL!