Monica Walking!

.

And here's the evidence.

Back In Black...

...And loving it, baby!  This morning I got to play in a children's concert with the Arapahoe Philharmonic.  Last Friday was my first evening concert with them.  I sure am enjoying being a cellist again.  It's so fun to be surrounded by cool people playing really great music.  (Hmmm...this concert black looks suspiciously like my X-men costume...)

Halloween Pics

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great Halloween.
Here are the pictures of our family.
Monica was an Oreo:

Cally-Wag was Superman:

And Jeff and I...

...were Wolverine and Jean Grey from X-Men. I don't think I've officially dressed up for Halloween since...maybe junior high? But we had to dress up for a work party. It was actually really fun! Mostly because Jeff made such a convincing Wolverine!

Here are a few more pics of our Jack-o-lanterns.

Livin' in Up in the Breck...

This weekend Jeff and I got to spend a fun weekend getaway at the Breck Inn in Breckenridge, CO. Jeff arranged an opportunity to go up and listen to one of those time-share spiels. Athough we weren't interested in owning a timeshare, they hooked us up with some nice deals...on our hotel room and a yummy fondue dinner. Here are a few pics. HUGE thanks to Mickey, Margaret, and Megan for taking our kiddos for the weekend. It's so nice to be able to leave your kids with people they love being with! And even bigger thanks to my sweet hubby for setting it all up. It was a much needed break for both of us!

Cal's Monster Party

Here are a few follow-up pictures of Cal's friend party on Thursday night. It was a lot of fun, and we were glad to have the excuse to have the Larsons, and Lintons, and the Hoovers over. The kids started out making little monster bag puppets:
Then we went downstairs to read a book about monsters and set a monster trap, which happened to be on top of a huge lawn-mower box with a hole in the top...

Then we came upstairs for pizza and while we were eating we heard our monster trap go off. We went downstairs to find Vincent the Friendly Monster caught inside. (I'm kicking myself for not catching any video of Jeff's performance, but it was a success...the looks on the kids' faces were hilarious!) He said thanks for the cupcake we'd put in the trap, had heard it was someone's birthday, and suggested that we all sing happy birthday to Cal. Then we went upstairs, opened presents and had monster cupcakes. Over all, a very fun evening.

My Crafting High

I'm on a crafting roll! (...So to speak.) Let me explain.

Cal wants a monster-themed party for his birthday, so Jeff and I thought of a couple of monster-related activities that he could do with a few of his friends tomorrow night when we have their families over for dinner. One of these activities (shhhh... don't tell Cal...) is catch a monster, inspired by a children's book we got from the library: The Monster Trap by Dean Morrissey. We thought this would be a good idea only if I could buy or make a monster puppet by the time Oct. 23rd rolled around. Well, tonight (Oct. 22nd) arrived. Still no monster puppet. Our kids were in bed by around 8:30, and at that point I said to myself, "Ange, if this is going to happen, you have to make a monster puppet before you go to bed tonight." (I hadn't thought of how I would do it or anything.) "The rules are...no sewing allowed, and you have to be done by 11:00. All you have is whatever materials you can find in your basement and your trusty glue gun." And this is what I came up with:

So uh, I'm trying really hard to be humble tonight... I mean it's not Sesame Street worthy or anything, but... dang! That's pretty good!

No, totally just kidding! It was more luck than anything else. All I knew was that I was going to start with some green fabric and maybe put some cardboard in the mouth to give it more shape...and imagine my delight when as I was randomly gluing, nostrils and ears popped out! Anyway, he turned out a lot cuter than I was expecting. Here he is in action:





This experience made me want to get onto my blog and tell you all why I LOVE crafting so much. You know what is great about crafting??? It's taking completely raw materials and turning them into something that can be beautiful or cute or useful or of great entertainment value, especially to children. And you can do whatever you want! There are no rules and nobody's judging the outcome. So that's what I love about it. It does the heart good. It gives you energy to stay up into the wee hours of the morning. Seriously, this may sound ridiculous, but I've often thought about how if there was another Great Depression or something horrific going on around me, as long as I could craft (which I would probably be able to because all it takes is a bunch of garbage and your own imagination), I could overcome whatever and be happy.

It's Birthday Week at Our House!

This is an awesome week for our family.
Today is Monica's 1st birthday, and tomorrow Cal turns 3.
So besides the fact that it's so fun for me to think about how these two little babies...

...now look like this...

...and are so sweet and hilarious with their own personalities,
it also means that it's
party time
at our house!

We had a party on Monday with the all the Fosters who live in Denver. It was a lot of fun and our kiddos totally scored on presents. (Thanks everyone for your serious generosity!) It felt like Christmas had blown through our family room after we were done.

Here are some pictures:

It was a lot of fun, and I am one lucky mama!

Cal's Modern Art

The other day I was frantically trying to get something "important" done (I don't even remember what) when I realized that Cal had dumped out a whole bottle of glue onto this little art project. My initial reaction was horror, but when I realized that most of it stayed on the paper and there was only a little bit on the carpet which was easily cleaned up, I figured, 'Well, why not let it dry? Let's see what happens.' It took about two days to dry and was about 1/4" thick, and when it was done I didn't want to get rid of it because it was kind of a statement on my life:
I just thought it was ironic that a To Do List was what he found to plaster in a quarter of an inch of glue, which is how it feels like it's attached to me sometimes. I just can't shake it off, and it's by far the most hindering force in my life that keeps me from spending time with my kids.

"Mom, will you build a tower with me?"
"Um, yes...I will in a minute. I just have to do this and this, and then one more thing, and then I'll sit down and build a tower."

"Mom, do you want to play this game?"
"Sure honey, but can you wait until I put these things away and put in one load of laundry?

"Mom, will you read me this story?"
"Yeah, but let me just wipe off Monica's face and then run this thing upstairs..."

What the heck is so important about running something upstairs? Anyway, it just feels like I'm always telling him to wait because I'm trying to do all my "important" things.

I'm not saying that housework should permanently be put on hold until our children grow up. I mean, a relatively clean, organized home does create a great atmosphere for family life. I guess I'm just saying that in each little situation, I need to ask myself what is really most important...if my "important" things are more important than the fact that Cal gets older every day, and he can either remember me as a neurotic house-cleaner, or he can remember me as someone who spent time with him, heard his questions, laughed at his jokes, and cared about what kind of person he grew up to be. I sure am glad he dumped out that bottle of glue...it's given me the chance to think about this a little. Who would have known it would have turned into an artistic statement?

I Feel So Blessed!!

I feel so happy to have come out here and spent two weeks with my sister Emily, so I just had to make you all understand how fun it's been. At the same time, I miss my husband terribly and I can't wait to be back by his side. You can see how Heavenly Father has put so much love in my life. What bigger or more wonderful blessing can you have than that?

So here's a little about why this trip has been awesome:

SERVICE TIME
Emily just had her third little baby about six weeks ago, so I brought my kids here to spend two weeks helping out with her older two boys, Adam and Peter, and the housework. (I guess I should mention that the reason we’re here when Annelise is 6 weeks old is because she came 5 weeks early and we already had our plane tickets…) It's been so wonderful to be doing someone else's housework and not have to worry about my own at all! It's actually fun doing it for someone else, you know? It feels good to be focusing on someone else's needs instead of my own and it has really strengthened my testimony of how service is more for the benefit of the server than anyone else. That's why we're supposed to do it. It feels great!

GOOD TIMES
Ems and I like a lot of the same things, so we have to take advantage of the opportunity to do those things together whenever we're in the same city. This trip, we've watched a lot of British drama (Middlemarch, Jane Eyre, Cranford…), done a couple of craft projects (making Cal a super- cute Superman cape to match Adam and Peters’), made some yummy food (café rio salad and TWO batches of monkey bread, among other things...), and got our haircut together. We even took before and after shots to celebrate the victory over frumpiness. These are included below, for your entertainment.
Before:

After.

HILARIOUS TIMES
I think I laugh harder with Emily than any other person. I think that’s my favorite thing about being with her. It’s so fun to be with someone who thinks I’m funny, and who I think is hilarious. Anyway, here's a list of some of our quotable quotes, plus a few more pictures of our cute kids:

Quotable Quotes (Maybe you just had to be there...)
"It says here that exotic dancers make the most money
in the height of their fertility." "Don't we all?"
"Forever isn't even a time frame. It's a length of time."
"Poo." (No response...) "Mommy, I said poo!" "I know Adam..." "Put soap in my mouth!"
"Okay, wait. I don't understand a thing you've
been talking about for the last 10 minutes!"
"My blender is digressing?"

Thanks Emily and Weston for a great visit. Thanks also to the Geoff for letting me come out here for this long and for being such a phenomenally great and kind husband to come home to. I’ve had so much fun here, but I miss you, need you, and can't wait to get you back in my life.

My Girl Angie

I've secretly taken over my wife's blog to present to you a video about the most beautiful, wonderful and special woman in the world...my wife.

Jeff

Angie 2008
Uploaded by jeffreydeanfoster

The Hot-n-Ready

"Well, Hot-n-Ready, you've done it again.  You've won my heart again."  That's what Jeff said to me after we finished our dinner on Friday night.  So I thought it was time to stop and write a reflective post about how the weekly Hot-n-Ready is becoming a Yank Foster tradition.  Let's face it.  Our family loves Little Caesar's.  When we lived in Phoenix, we would get a Hot-n-Ready for special, celebratory occasions.  Then whenever we were on a road trip we look up the nearest Little Caesar's because the Hot-n-Ready was hands down the most food for the lowest price.  But now, almost every Friday night (at least during the warmer months) we get a Hot-n-Ready and eat it at Clement Park.  I love how it tastes, especially when I'm really hungry.  I love how it gives me a break from thinking about dinner.  I love the price. But more than anything, my favorite part is the pure satisfaction it gives to my hard-working hubby.  Pure joy with every bite.  Every time.  

Melanie!

Hey Everybody--

My sister Mel is visiting for the month, hoping to get into a major orchestra out here. What do you think... do we look alike? I don't see it, but we got some funny looks at church.

Here's another picture of us. We are the two youngest Richards, the "little girls," who grew up together at the tail end of a large family. Anyway, it's really fun having my kid sister here for a visit.

The Continuing Skunk Saga

Family Portrait

These are some recently-taken photos of our little family.
Many thanks to Wendi, my extremely talented sister-in-law, who took the photos.

P.U.!!!

You guessed it... That's a skunk in our window well.
And I was only about 4 feet away.
(Thank goodness for the glass between!)

You can't see him hardly at all on the video,
but you can hear him rattling around.

First Tooth!

Okay, I know Monica is only 9 1/2 months old so it's not like she's behind or anything, but I was REALLY excited to discover her tooth yesterday because it feels like we've been waiting for it forever! You can kind of see it in this picture above... it looks a little like a reflection of the light, but it's really a tooth in there. It's her lower right tooth. And in my attempts to capture her tooth in a photo, I took a whole slew of really cute pictures of her. I mean, can you help but love this girl??