Here Comes Santa Clause

We had our annual branch Christmas party tonight. Santa Clause was there and we

followed our Russell family tradition - atleast one Russell cried! I know I've posted a lot of pictures but I liked them all!

First is Anna Elise - she has always cried or refused to sit on his lap but this year she surprised everyone and at the last minute decided to sit on his lap! She even responded to him when he asked her name! She is growing up! She wasn't real happy about being on his lap but did cooperate very well and loved her present. (She had a pretty ponytail with a ribbon in her hair and it kept falling out - I just wanted everyone to know that I did fix her hair!)

Calvin has never had a problem with Santa or with anyone for that matter. He climbed right up on his lap and talked to him and posed for his picture.

Then there is Madeline. You have to laugh at the procession of pictures.

At home before we left

in line waiting for Santa Clause

and then it hits her,

going to Santa

trying to get away from Santa

and then trying to find Daddy to save her
She did manage to say goodbye to Santa through her tears and seemed confused by the present. So classic for her age!

After the branch party we made a quick detour to drive by the 'Christmas house'. Every year these people put up 100's of inflatable Christmas decorations. They are in their yard, on their roof, on their shed, in the trees, everywhere. It's crazy. The kids LOVE it. There are several crazy houses that we go look at, but this house is their favorite and really close to our neighborhood. This is part of their back yard and most of the side yard. You can't see the other half of the backyard or their front yard. They have a huge corner lot and it's stuffed full of these things.

CHEESE

Lilah is smiling now. OK, she has been for a couple of weeks but it's taken me until this week to get pictures. She has huge smiles for her dad which I haven't been able to catch. She still winces and closes her eyes when Madeline gets close (for good reason, Madeline loves her and is always poking her and getting in her face). She does seem to like Anna Elise and will give her some small smiles which I did manage to photograph.
Lilah sleeps so good at night! I feed her at 10pm and the past two mornings I've had to wake
her up at 7 or 7:30 to feed her because I need to get on with my morning. She isn't even 2
months old yet! She doesn't always nap very well and she is not a good eater, but I'll happily deal with that when I get a full night's sleep! She is growing! We are going to miss her 2 month check up since we'll be in WA - but I weighed her and she is somewhere between 10 and 11 pounds, she seems to be getting longer and isn't too chubby. The acne and cradle cap have set in, but it hasn't gotten too bad yet. Such a patient and sweet girl!

Family Pictures

Here is a sample of our family pictures, it was freezing when we took them and considering the ages of the kids, it went fairly well. Thank you so much Ashley!

Anna Elise

Calvin with Lilah

Madeline - we have the most of her, but she is going through such a cute stage! Unfortunately the cute state is also the hard stage. She isn't quite as cute while throwing a temper tantrum or hitting her brother.




I LOVE this picture of my 'men'. So Cute!

Here is one Mike and I - kind of funny to be taking pictures with just the two of us - I don't think we have any pictures as a couple since we had Anna Elise!

A couple of family pictures. It's so hard to get us all in one picture, I think that Ashley had to do some cutting and pasting to get us all looking decent in one frame together!

Mt. Everest, here we come!

I've always said that Madeline can climb (and she can!) but she chooses not to and doesn't
get into trouble. Well she's decided that she does want to climb and she has been!
This week she climbed up my piano and got my mascara. Then she put it on. Anna Elise tried
to get it from her and Madeline hit her with the wand. So, although Madeline managed to mascara her whole face - she didn't get it on her own clothes, just Anna Elise's.
The top of the piano used to be a 'safe' place to put things...not anymore!

Here she is after we cleaned her off a little....

Anna Elise holding her face still so we could get the picture.

Madeline wanting to clean up her own faceOur piano - so you can see how high it is - you can see my pink mascara on top if you look close.

Since I'm here, I thought I'd add a few more pictures from the week.

We had family pictures taken this week - I 'won' a photoshoot from an amateur photographer at our Enrichment service auction. I've included one of our own pictures from that day. The real family pictures will hopefully be coming soon! (notice Maddie's pigtails)

The kids were coloring and this is where Madeline choose to sit and color - she has better balance then I do!

Anna Elise is growing her hair out. I took the time to round brush it with a blow dryer and she looked so cute! We might have to do that more often!

A couple of new pictures of Lilah - the cute outfit is from my sister, Betsy

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? No
2. What kind of car did you drive? An old brown Toyota Pickup
3. Did you pass your drivers test on your first try? No - nobody who went to Othello and got the mean guy did, I was the first to discover the secret of Ellensburg where I passed on my second try.
4. Were you a party animal? No
5. Were you considered a flirt? you have to talk to boys to flirt with them, don't you
6. Were you in band, orchestra or choir? No
7. Were you a nerd? maybe a little bit
8. Were you on any varsity teams? golf my junior year
9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? No
10. Can you still sing the fight song? does the BYU fight song count...
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr Cordell - he was an amazing teacher
12. Where did you sit for lunch? In the hallway in front of my locker
13. What is you schools full name? Wahluke High School
14. What is your schools mascot and colors? The Warriors /maroon and gray
15. Did you go to homecoming and with who? I went with Digger Jensen one year and I can't remember who the next year! Sorry!
16. If you could go back and do it again would you? no way
17. What did you remember most about graduation? I bawled through a lot of it and I was terrified about my speech
18. Where did you go for senior skip day? we didn't have one, but we did go to Disney Land for our senior trip
19. Were you in any clubs? National Honor Society, SAFTYE club, and pep club
20. Have you gained some weight since then? when I'm not post partum, only a couple of pounds
21. Who was you prom date? Kory Garner
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? we didn't even have one, I do think I was in Mattawa that summer though.
23. Did you have a job in high school? I worked for my dad in the orchard

I tag Marci, Lindsay, Charity, Susi, and anybody else that graduated from highschool in '94

Happy 4 Weeks Lilah!

Lilah is 4 weeks old today. I can't believe she is that old already. She is such a good baby!
Lilah is really strong - she always has been. She has been able to hold her head up and look around since she was only a few days old. Below isn't the best picture of her, but you can see she is holding her head up. She has a strong suck as well and has always been able to keep her pacifier in her mouth.
Lilah is an amazing sleeper. Last night Lilah went 7 hours between feeds, she ate at 10 pm and then 5 am - I just need one more hour and I won't be going back to bed! She has slept really well ever since my mom went home, so from the time she was about 9 days old - she must've known I wouldn't be able to take an afternoon nap after my mom left and she felt sorry for me!
Lilah does like to be entertained when she is awake. She likes to be held, but she is also good if she is in her seat or on her blanket and she has a toy to look at or someone to talk to her. I send Anna Elise over to talk to her and she quiets right down. She is quickly adjusting to her siblings and their loud voices, pokes, hugs, holding, ect. Madeline loves to burp her but doesn't always pat her on her back, she'll pat her anywhere she can reach. Anna Elise just wants to carry her and so we are working on that - she can carry her if mom is there to put Lilah in her arms and
take her out after she carries her a few feet. The kids all love her.

Lilah isn't perfect. She isn't the best eater and at times won't burp, but I can deal with that!

This last picture is my favorite, I think it looks the most like her. Babies can be really hard to photograph and I don't know if these picture do her justice. She is so cute! I think she may look more like me then the other three. A lady at church told me she looked just like me - I don't think I've ever heard that about any of my newborns - even if it isn't true, it felt good!

Random Thoughts and Happenings

I've been pretty busy this week. I really wanted to do a 'three week' post for Lilah, but she was three weeks old on election day and I was pretty preoccuied. Then Mike went out of town and it's really hard to take pictures of an infant by yourself...so I'll wait and do a 'four week' post in a few days.

Yes, my husband abandoned me only 3 weeks after I'd given birth and left me alone with all four kids. Why am I afraid to be alone with my kids? We've survived and are looking forward to his return this afternoon. Mike had to go to Logan UT for his business. That is where the headquarters of our franchise is. My sister, Betsy's husband was also in Logan for his job and he and Mike ended up in the same hotel. How crazy is that?

Today was the primary program and it was entertaining. I was glad to not have to juggle all four kids alone for the whole meeting. Keeping them all under control until the sacrament was over
was hard enough! Lilah woke up and needed me to hold her - so I was a bit handicap with the kids - at home I can threaten and bribe the older kids and I can hold Madeline and Lilah at the
same time - at church - that stuff doesn't really work as well and I have to be quiet and be careful not to give anyone a show since I'm wearing a skirt....its just harder! As soon as the sacrament was over Anna Elise and Calvin got to sit up front. Madeline was really determined to go with them, but her Aunt Rachel talked her into staying with us. Madeline very loudly and repeatedly pointed out 'Talvin' and 'Lise' to everyone. Anna Elise did very well. She had her part memorized, but was a bit shy and her teacher didn't give her much of a chance to say it before whispering it to her, but that was ok. She did a very good job singing. Calvin had a great time doing the program. He had the whole congregation laughing at him, and he knew it! He is a little jokester. He told me all morning he wasn't going to sing. I begged and bribed him to sing but he said he wouldn't. He marched right up there and yelled the words to the first two songs before I caught his eye long enough to give him a stern look and shake my head. Yelling for a song is cute, yelling for the whole program is distracting and tiresome. He was a good little boy and listened to me and stopped yelling (I was suprised he obeyed so well) He did yell his part into the microphone, but sang in a normal voice for the rest of the time. Everytime he was tempted to yell he would get a grin on his face and look at me - then he would shake his head and keep singing. After the program he came running over to me and said "Momma, I tricked you, I did sing". He'd spent all morning telling me he wouldn't sing to trick me!

I am adjusting to having 4 now. I think as long as I have a stroller or shopping cart I'll be ok. My first outing to the library was a disaster. We always keep both strollers in the car. I had forgotten that Mike had taken them out. So there I was with all the kids and no stroller. I should've gone home and come back later, but I didn't. Madeline ran all over the library, I usually just go to the children't section but that day we saw a lot more of the library. All three kids dropped their books repeatedly since we didn't have a place to put them. On the way out to the car Anna Elise took advantage of the situation and tried to go her own way back. She listened when I told her to come back, but Madeline, who copies everything they do and say, followed Anna Elise out but didn't come back, so while I chased her down Calvin tried to cross the street himself and thanks to some lady he didn't. I told the kids when we got back to the car that if they were ever that bad at the library again we wouldn't come back. I'm willing to try it one more time with a stroller and see how it goes.

My maternity leave is half over and I can't believe how fast the time is flying by. I have to go back after Thanksgiving. I am only back for a little over 2 weeks and then I'm taking 2 more weeks off to go home to WA for Christmas - so it shouldn't be too bad. I'm going enjoy the next weeks just being a mom!

Halloween

Here are pictures of the kids on Friday night.  They had a good time trick or treating with their dad.  The kids all have colds and Calvin was pretty grouchy.  He whined the whole time.  Anna Elise is really shy but did manage to say trick or treat for the sake of getting candy.  Madeline wore another gender neurtal costume and got called a boy all night again!  Last year she was a pea pod and she was also mistaken for a boy - why is boy the default?

 This is Calvin - he went dressed up as an NHance shipment (that's my husband business and these are the boxes we get all our product shipments in).

Here's our little giraffe

Here is the giraffe exploring the eye holes of the our shipment

Here is our little princess, our shipment and giraffe all together!

I've been tagged

My sister Janet tagged me.  Since she posted the most hilarious post a few days ago, I'll comply and do the tag.  If you haven't seen Janet's cool falling off the bed trick, click on her blog on my list and go see it! 

Here is the 3rd picture in my 4th folder, as requested... it's part of our NHance display that we use for the fair and homeshowes.  It broke and Mike took pictures to email to somebody to see if they could fix it.  Pretty boring.  Maybe I won't get tagged anymore!

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is almost here. We went to the branch trunk or treat on Saturday. Unfortunately we took the camera but not the memory card so we don't have pictures. But, we have another chance on Friday. The kids had fun. Madeline kept handing her candy back to people and asking them to open it for her.

On Monday night we carved our pumpkin for FHE.

Calvin had spilled dinner on his shirt, that is why he is with out one (he is normally fully clothed).

He had a great time helping with the carving and cleaning.

Madeline was terrified of the inside of the pumpkin. Here she is screaming when Mike pulled the seeds and strings out.

I tried to be a bit more diplomatic about showing her it was harmless and she calmed down but still wasn't too sure about it.

By the time we were done we had talked her into touching the seeds. She was very proud of herself for touching it! Anna Elise wasn't really that interested in carving the pumpkins...

But we talked to her into cleaning out a couple of handfuls of seeds.Mike absolutely refuses to put his hand into pumpkins or touch anything that comes out of the pumpkin. After a few scoopfuls I got exasperated and switched places with him.

This is how you clean a pumpkin out!

Mike carved three different faces onto the pumpkin. I took some pictures and he didn't like them. So he deleted them and after taking only 1 picture the battery died. So I don't have pictures of the other two sides of the pumpkin. Here is the 'space man' face that Mike liked, you're missing out on the 'nervous' face as well as the 'happy' face. Happy Halloween!