Merry Christmas!!

Family portrait taken Christmas night

Matthew opening presents Christmas morning

My grandma with all her grandchildren and their spouses (Matthew is the first and so far only great-grandchild)

Making Christmas cookies with Mommy

Riding the Christmas Train with Mommy

How the Russell family celebrated the Christmas Holiday...
1. Marc and I took Matt to see the tree lighting on the square downtown.
2. My mom and I took Matt to ride the Christmas Train.
3. Santa stopped by our house just to say "Merry Christmas".
4. We made Christmas cookies together.
5. We saw all of our family (including grandparents and great-grandparents!).
6. Matt sat on Santa's lap at Bass Pro Shops...(the picture was FREE!!)
7. We sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus" (a tradition my grandmother started with us when we were kiddos!)

I can not believe this was Matt's third Christmas! Time flies!! He is definitely growing into a little boy now. He loved EVERYTHING about Christmas! He danced and sang to the Christmas carols, he gazed at the tree and demanded we turn it on every morning, he laughed at our snowman and lights in the yard and LOVED opening his presents on Christmas morning. I love this time of the year and I am so glad that my little boy does too!

Lullaby

I have been singing songs to Matt since he was born. We sing together all the time but especially at night before bed. Lately, I have been asking him what songs he would like for me to sing to him. He usually requests "Pop Goes The Weasel", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". After singing his requests, I always sing the following three songs "Jesus Loves Me", "How Great is Our God", and a little song I made up when he was born that follows the tune "Are You Sleeping". Sunday night when I started to sing Jesus Loves Me, he sang with me! He then sang the other two songs as well. It was so precious!! My heart melted when he grinned at me and sang the words to the lullaby I made up for him..."mommy loves you, mommy loves you, very much..." It was priceless!

Little Boy's Best Friend...

Man's best friend is proving to be little boy's best friend too! Matthew LOVES his puppy. (Who happens to be a three your old German Shepard.) I often wonder if she is as crazy for him as he is for her! The poor dog can not just "chill out" when Matt is around. He is constantly taking her ball, her bone, poking her eyes, and pulling her ears or tail. He thinks it's all "fun." She is totally irritated. Thankfully, she has a gentle nature and doesn't seem to mind...too much.

The Signs of Christmas

Matthew had more fun with the tree this year than ever before! Even though he still doesn't really understand what this is all about he knows it is something fun! As soon as we got the tree set up and the lights plugged in he marched his way up the stepladder to check it all out.

He was so funny with the ornaments. I had to rearrange the ornaments he had so carefully placed on the tree because they were all on the same branch! He was very disappointed when he ran out of candycanes.

Matthew grabbed these stars as soon as he saw them and started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
A picture of our snowman and his candies. As soon as Matt saw it all lit up he became so excited! He didn't know what to look at first. He glanced all over and just shouted "Whoaa, whoaa, whoaa!" It sounded so much like "ho, ho, ho." It was too cute!

Another picture of the front of the house. Marc and I both agreed that this is the best the yard has looked since we started putting lights on the house four years ago. Maybe we are finally getting the hang of it! It only took us a few hours this year to get it all up instead of the whole day. (Do you think it was because we bought all new lights this year and didn't have to make any extra trips to Lowe's?)

Matthew wanted to get on the roof with his daddy so badly!

I tired to keep Matt occupied in the yard while Marc was up on the roof. Matt and I did all the little things like the wreath and the snowman on the front porch. This wreath was pretty big for Matt to carry. At one point he started dragging it up to the porch.

Thanksgiving Blessings

God has truly blessed my life! I am so amazed at his love for his children. I am so thankful for:
1. My salvation in Christ and his love for me.
2. My wonderful husband who loves and supports our family.
3. My sweet little boy Matthew.
4. My wonderful family. (Mom, Dad, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents...)
5. My amazing friends.

Pictures

I thought I would share some recent pictures. The last one is the second time Matt decided to "pee-pee" in the toilet. Notice he still has on his shirt and his diaper! The rest are just fun pictures from the past week or so. Enjoy!!

Daddy's Jacket

Matt loves to go into our closets and put on our shoes. He has been doing it since he could walk. Lately, he progressed from just wearing our shoes to wanting to wear anything that belongs to Marc. (Especially if Marc is still wearing it!) He pulls his daddy's shirts off the hangers and drapes them over his shoulders and parades through the house. When Matt saw his daddy in this jacket Friday night he just had to have it. He wore it for a good 15 minutes before we finally forced him to take it off. He walked all over the house saying "Daddy jacket. Matt jacket". His latest attempt to steal his fathers clothing occurred last night when he picked Marc's jeans up off the floor and walked into the living room dragging them behind him. He looked up at me and said "Mommy HELP!!!"

Pee Pee

Okay, so let me first start out by saying I am so sorry I don't have a picture for this post. Marc couldn't find the camera so we had to get video instead. Now let me set the scene for you...
I am washing dishes in the sink (the dishwasher was filled to capacity) and Marc is watching tv. The house is eerily quiet. I walk down the hallway and into the bathroom. Where I find Matthew sitting in (literally!) the toilet. When I ask him what he is doing he looks at me like I am a complete idiot and says "pee pee." Then he casually splashes his feet in the water.
It was the funniest, cutest thing I have seen him do in awhile.
Just wanted to share!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We didn't get very many pictures this year of Halloween. Marc brought the video camera to record Matt trick or treating so I didn't take as many pics as I usually do. It was a GREAT night! We took Matt around our neighborhood (Thank you Dad for staying at our house and passing out candy to all our trick or treaters!) and then drove over to Bryan and Amanda's house so they could see him in his puppy costume. (Which he was so excited about before Halloween night. I don't know what changed on Friday night but for some reason he did not want to be a puppy! I had to really fight him to put on the costume. We almost opted for him to wear his jack-o-lantern t-shirt.) He was the cutest puppy on the block. I wish everyone could have heard him say "trick or treat!"

A Visit To The Pumpkin Patch

Mom and I took Matt to the pumpkin patch near our house this year. It was a lot of fun. Matt loved the hayride the best and giggled most of the time while yelling out "bumpy", "bumpy!" (It was more fun than last year simply because the weather was so much cooler.) I did manage to coax him into choosing a pumpkin for painting. He was so careful not to get paint on himself...it was very cute! We did get into a little trouble at the petting zoo though...we stepped into some calf poop. Not the best thing that could happen right before we climbed into the car but...we would do the whole thing over again anyway! Happy Fall!!

More Pictures

I thought I would share a more recent picture of Matthew from the one I posted last week. This picture was taken last Sunday afternoon. I don't really know what we were doing...but the picture is cute anyway. (Notice the hair I had spiked up for church had already begun to fall down. I guess that's what happens when you play outside and sweat all the gel out!)



This house is Marc's new little project. He bought it as an investment. He is planning on renting it out as soon as the current homeowner moves out. I am sure I will have lots of little stories to tell once we become landlords. Please pray that we find nice tenants to rent from us. (And pray that nothing major goes wrong with this house after we officially close on Monday.)

Pictures!

These pictures were from Matthew's birthday back in August. I know...I was very late in posting them! We had his party at our church's playground. Most of his friends were there it was really a great afternoon. It was a simple party...just cake and presents. After the party we came home to a house full of new toys. Marc and I spent a good hour or more just putting everything together and showing Matt how it all worked. I am still trying to make room for everything! I really need to put some of his baby toys he doesn't use up in the attic.

A Sick Little Boy and A Worn Out Mommy (and Nana)

The title tells all.
Tuesday night Marc left for the beaches in Mexico (another work vacation similar to the one we both went on in the spring). It was just too early in the school year for me to take off work so I stayed home to care for Matt and teach. Well...Wednesday morning I noticed that Matt felt a little warm. I took his temperature, loaded him up on Motrin and put the poor baby in the car. I was already running late for school so I had to take him to his babysitters (with instructions to call me if he got worse). Things did get worse.
A doctor's visit and hours later we were sitting in the rocking chair with an ear infection. I stayed home the next day (after being up LATE on Wednesday night) and my mom kept Matt the next night and Friday morning so I could go to school and prepare for open house on Monday night.
Wouldn't you know...Marc was on the beach in Mexico swimming with the dolphins and sipping margaritas while I was up all night with the sick child...When do I get my vacation????

Thanks mom for helping me out with Matt. I don't think we would have survived the three days without you! We love you!

Oh, and I promise one of these days I will post some pictures!!!!!!!!

The Lost Toothbrushes

Okay...I know...still no pictures. I really am sorry. Maybe this weekend I will get a chance to post pic's until then...hope this story will give you a little insight into life at the Russell house these days.

Yesterday morning when Marc was getting ready for work, (I had already left the house for school and Marc was attempting to get himself ready for work and Matt ready for the babysitter's house. Thank you Marc, for always taking care of Matt in the mornings. You are AWESOME!!) Matt somehow got a hold of both of our toothbrushes. Marc saw him run off with toothbrushes in hand while he was shaving.

After putting down his razor he walked down to Matt's room hoping to find the toothbrushes still in Matt's hand. Of course, by this time Matt had already tired of playing with Mommy and Daddy's toothbrushes and was busy playing with something else. Marc asked him "Matt where are the toothbrushes?" Matt responded with his arms up in the air (and very matter of factly may I add) "All gone!" And he went about his business.

Marc never did find the toothbrushes. I wonder if they are in the same place as my missing sunglasses??

Life with a two year old! It doesn't get any better (or comical) than this!

What's Been Keeping Us So Busy??

Sorry for the lack of postings in August. I have been so busy starting the school year that it seems I have had no time for posting! Hopefully, things will settle down soon and life in the Russell house can get back to normal. (Or at least back to our version of normal!) Here's a sample of what's been keeping us busy since August 1:
1. Inservice, inservice, inservice. Since I changed districts I had to attend both the new teacher inservice days and the regular district inservice. So, I started back to work three days earlier than everyone else.
2. Matt had his second birthday. We had a party at the park with all his friends from our church and our family. It as a great day!
3. School started...I changed grades from prekinder to second. IT HAS BEEN A HUGE ADJUSTMENT. I am grading papers every night, planning every night, and questioning everything I do in my classroom. I feel like a new teacher. But, I am hopeful that I will figure it all out soon. My class is very sweet and they are very independant compared to the kinder and prek babies I have loved for so long.
4. Matt started mother's day out on Tues. and Thurs. So, he too has had to make some adjustments to his routines as well. Which has meant more planning on my part to make sure Marc gets him out the door on time in the mornings.

As soon as I can I will get the pictures off the camera and onto the computer. Thanks for being patient with me!

Matt's new favorite place to watch tv is our bed! He climbs up the side, positions himself just right between the pillows and pulls the covers down. He then will proceed to ask for the "mote" and "sows". (remote and shows) The other afternoon he spent an hour watching Mickey Mouse in the bed.

Trucks and Cars

Trucks and cars are suddenly the hottest thing at our house. Matt loves to push them around, crash them into each other, (or the furniture) and make engine noises with his mouth. We were shopping one day at Target and he asked for this truck several times. (I was browsing the toy aisles looking for things I thought he might like for his birthday.) Anyway, it wasn't very expensive so I decided to get it for him. I'm so glad I did! He loves to put small toys in the back and yell out "dump". He laughs so hard each time that he flilngs his head backwards!!

Reunion Weekend

Last weekend Marc and I went to his ten year reunion. I was able to meet some of his friends from high school that I had only heard about. He seemed to enjoy "catching" up with his old "crew". I spent several hours at the "wives" table chatting with other wonderful wives who came with their husbands. It was decided between us that high school reunions are only fun for those who actually went to the high school and graduated with that group of people.

While we were doing reunion activities Matt spent some quality time with his grandparents. He actually spent the week with them before the reunion. From what they tell me he was a perfect boy while at their house...so...who is the little boy that lives with me?

Lunch Out

Today, my good friend Jodi and I met for lunch. (Something we rarely get to do...and today we met without the boys...something even rarer.) It was wonderful seeing her again and it was so relaxing having a real grown up lunch! Thanks Jodi for a great afternoon...next time let's get the boys together so they can play!

Highlights from this past weekend...

Eating Snacks...

This is always a favorite at the Russell house! Matt asks for his "nack" and his "duce" every day. (For all of those out there that don't speak Mattish...that's his snack and juice.)

Drawing with sidewalk chalk...

This was VERY messy, as I knew it would be. But, Matthew loved it! The chalk was big enough for him to grasp with his hands and he wasted no time putting marks on our sidewalk.

Playing with the sprinkler...

Watching the Fireworks...

Matt loved the fireworks. Sorry I didn't get more pictures of this. But, we parked so close to where they were setting them off that we ended up watching from inside the car! Pieces from the fireworks were hitting the car and the ashes were falling all around us. Matt laughed the whole time and said "wow, cool" every time one went off. It was lots of fun watching him have a great time.