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!