to all a good night

I know that our crew is eagerly awaiting St. Nick's travels around the world this evening. Extra good behavior all around today and Leah is promising to fall asleep so that Santa will come. (She actually spent the night on the futon in Hannah's room last night and went to sleep really quickly ... they're planning another "sleep over" tonight.)

We will be headed to my parents house this evening for munchies, games, & movies. I just have to interject how much fun the Wii is!!! We hooked ours up Friday night at Lindsay's birthday party and it's a blast!! For Christmas day, our plan is to open gifts at our house Saturday then pile in the car (yup, still in our jammies) and head to my parents to open gifts there. Then we'll come home and relax a bit before putting on our Christmas best and heading back to my parents for Christmas dinner and my dad's birthday celebration.

Mike & I will be at work on the 26th and 27th (Hannah is thrilled that she'll be attending daycare for two days ... no, really, she's very excited!). Then we'll load up the car (the kids clothing is already packed, yup, I'm a planner) and head to PA. We'll be coming back home sometime on the 30th or 31st. Busy busy.

I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas and hope that the New Year brings blessings for us all.

dear Santa ... love Leah

Dear Santa,
Welcome to Santa! I saw you on the TV. I love you. I've been a lot good this year. Kaden is special, too. I would like some doll cards, please, some new clothes for Amber, a picture, a coloring book and some chips. I'm three! I have a lot to say. I love you!
Love,
Leah

dear santa ... love Kaden

The images I have won't upload properly, but here is the text from Kaden's letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,
My sister Leah is helping me write this letter. She says to tell you that I am pretty. I want a clean SpiderMan, a chalkboard, more toy cars, and a coloring book. My Dolly wants me to have a drum kit but Mom says that's too loud. I have been really really good this year.
Love,
Kaden

we made a mess ...

and had a blast!

We hosted a cookie baking/decorating/general mess-making "party" on Sunday. We were sad that Angie, Isaac, Rose, Cindy, Ella, & Jaxon weren't able to join us, but we had a wonderful time with Jennie & Ryan. Lots of flour everywhere, but other than that, the mess was minimal. Jennie brought an excellent lunch and we got to enjoy our cookies for dessert. The kids are still talking about all the fun they had.

We're definitely adding that to our list of annual holiday activities.

Christmas at the Zoo

Tuesday evening, Mike & I took the kids to Christmas at the Zoo. The weather was unseasonably warm (it was 62 degrees when we left the house) but also slightly rainy. At least it was slightly raining until we got to the Zoo, then it was definitely raining. I must say that it is very pretty to walk around the Zoo at night with all of the Christmas lights. I thought the train ride was awful - 1/2 the lights were out! - particularly for what they charge you to ride it. We were going to do the cookie decorating, but it's $2 for a cookie ... after we'd just paid for the crap train ride, we decided to forget the cookie decorating (hey, we're having a cookie baking/decorating party on Sunday anyway!) and headed for White River Gardens.

I think this was the best part of the evening. The kids loved all of the trains and I loved that we were finally indoors!! There were two carolers in the rotunda who were absolutely wonderful. They took requests from the kids and encouraged us all to sing along. At one point, the man said to us "we're going to do this whole song ... if you need to leave before it's done, that's ok. The night's getting on and you've got a lot of kids!" He paused, then said "I was one of 4 kids. You kids are lucky to even be here!" That's what I thought!! Many thanks to Papaw & Totsie for the gift of the Zoo membership that we continue to enjoy throughout the year.

As far as life in general, we are getting better at managing 6 people on these types of outings. I'm even getting better at managing 4 of them by myself. The kids & I ran several errands the other night without incident, and I've successfully navigated Wal-Mart after Thanksgiving with them by myself. (Talk about a confidence builder!)

I'd post some pictures, but I've not scanned all from our photo shoot and would like the Christmas card pics to be a surprise for most folks. We took a few snapshots at the Zoo, but I've lost my USB cable for the camera, so those pics are stuck on the camera for now. I hope to have Leah & Kaden's letters to Santa up by the first part of next week, and I'm going to try to post a video clip of Leah singing Up on the Housetop.

dear santa ... love Cody

dear santa ... love Hannah

did santa do that?

Saturday evening we took the kids to Monument Circle to see the Circle of Lights. As we approached, Cody was in awe and said "Did Santa do that?"

The kids had a marvelous time walking up the steps and enjoying the lights. Heck, I had a good time, too! After we walked around and admired the lights, we dropped their letters into Santa's mailbox ... they are so excited for him to get their letters. Hannah is getting a little old for this gig, I think ... she's the one with all the questions about how, exactly, does Santa receive these letters. And how, exactly, does Santa get to all of these places on Christmas to deliver the toys?

Then it was a stop at South Bend Chocolate Company for some hot chocolate and chocolate covered pretzels. A drive through Arbuckle Acres on the way through Brownsburg to enjoy some Christmas lights, and then home for bed.

Sunday we picked out a Christmas tree and did all the decorations. We've got our countdown to Christmas and the kids are thrilled. I'll be posting their letters to Santa over the next week or so ... they are truly adorable.

santa claus is coming

... but maybe not to our house, if Leah has her way. Don't get me wrong, she's VERY excited about Christmas. In fact, on Thanksgiving, we had some very small snowflakes and Leah kept running around saying "Do you know what happens when it snows? Christmas." But last night, Leah revealed some hidden fears about the big Claus.

Leah & Hannah accompanied me to the store and we were looking at the Christmas decorations. Leah started talking about how she was afraid that she'd miss Santa. I tried to explain to her that she's not supposed to see Santa, that he comes while she's sleeping .... "I don't want him to come while we're sleeping." Why not? "I don't like people in our house that don't live in our house, especially at night."

Wow. I am continually amazed by how much this 3 year old has to say. And wonder if my explaination that it's ok for Santa to be in our house while we sleep will provide her any peace of mind.

In other news, the kids have drawn names for each other and will be spending some of their own money to buy one of their siblings a gift. Hannah already knows what she wants to get for Leah ... should be a fun shopping adventure and I'm hoping it teaches them a little about the value of their money and that the focus of the season (and really life in general) isn't about receiving lots of stuff for you, but giving to others. We will also have the kids help us pick out something for Toys for Tots. Hannah & Cody have been on the less fortunate side of the spectrum (anyone else remember the Christmas right after their home and all of their belongings burned down?) and I hope that they can appreciate what they have now, but also learn that it shouldn't be taken for granted.

Holiday photo shoot tentatively scheduled for next week, so check back for some new pictures and maybe even a music video.

Oh, and a special thank you to Jennie for assisting with the blog banner!

count down

to Thanksgiving. I think we're all looking forward to the holiday for various reasons. Clearly, I will be glad for a few days off work. I will also be glad for a break from the chaos of 4 children and thankful for the time to focus on Leah & Kaden. I think it will be good for Mike to have some more time with Hannah & Cody as well. We continue to wait to hear from Carol - so the status for H&C's visit with her remains up in the air. If nothing else, H&C will enjoy a visit with Nunny and their cousins.

I feel as if I ought to mention the nice day that we had as a family ... yes, that's right, all 6 of us ... on Sunday. Scott delivered Leah's new bedroom set (which she is THRILLED about) and then we spent the late afternoon/evening with Scott at his soon to be in-laws house so that Mike could watch the Steelers game. Unfortunately for Mike & Scott, the Steelers did not perform very well, but we had a nice time anyway. The children were all well behaved (miracle of miracles!) ... when we got home and got ready for bed I realized it was the first time we'd had a nice day as a family since early August. If we could just have more of those ....

little man

so our little man gave us quite a scare last week. He started coughing on Thursday morning (the 1st), so I gave him some of his D'Allergy and sent him to school. When we picked him up, they said he had coughed a bit at nap time and was otherwise ok. He woke up in the middle of the night, which is not unusual for him, and seemed fine. By 7:00 Friday morning, he seemed to be breathing a little hard and followed me around while I was getting ready for work, just throwing himself to the floor & crying when I couldn't pick him up. We kept him home from day-care, and Mike kept an eye on him. By noon, he had called the doctor's office and had an appointment for 3:30. I met them at the office, and he was sent down for a chest x-ray. The Doc called, said he had pneumonia, and called in an antibiotic. I told her I was concerned with how hard he was breathing, but the hope was that since it had all started so recently, he'd be able to stay at home. Mike assured me they would be ok, so I set off for my night out (see post below) ....

And, of course, got the call just before the show started that Kaden was being admitted to the hospital. I got there as soon as I could after the show ... poor little thing! He just looked so pitiful, with his oxygen mask and the pulse-ox secured to his foot. On Saturday, the doc had an IV started for antibiotics, and we ended up starting fluids on Sunday. Breathing treatments every 3 - 4 hours .... My personal breaking point came on Sunday, when his IV site started leaking and they had to restart ... it was AWFUL. The really bad part was that Little Man had started to perk up on Sunday morning after the fluids started. But the IV team really sent him crashing again. Fortunately, this IV site held (thanks to some creative thinking of the nurse on that evening) and Kaden was well enough to go home on Monday evening. We were all very thankful to have him home, and he was definitely glad to be back!

Leah visited on Sunday afternoon (before the second IV) and it was so cute to see them together. She sat next to him and read him a book, and he just kept hugging her and putting his head on her shoulder. You should have seen Leah's face light up when she came home Monday night to see Kaden there!

Happy to say that Little Man is doing very well now. He's back to day-care this week and is as happy as ever. We're going to start Singulair once a day to see if that gets a handle on some of his allergy/sinus issues ... and hope we don't have to go down the road of testing for possible asthma.

change

So I had the opportunity to attend the Tori concert at the Murat on the 2nd. I can remember the day that I lived & breathed everything Tori. I would have been able to tell you what songs she was performing, where she had been the last several nights ... would have been jotting down the set list to share on-line as soon as the show was over ...

my, how things have changed.

I have Tori's newest album, and I'm pleased to say that I knew all of the songs she performed. We had EXCELLENT seats, and I'm thrilled to have a copy of the show (thanks, Jennie!), but it's just not the same. My evening was clouded by thoughts of Kaden (I'll post the details of that later tonight) and, as much as I enjoyed myself, it was on a different level. I'm often resistant to change, but it's brought some of the best things into my life ... It's important to take a few moments now and then to reflect on where you've been in life and where you're headed, and to count your blessings. Guess that's what the whole personal growth stuff means, eh? So, I won't bore anyone by listing the set list here, but just know that if you'd like to hear the show, I'll be more than happy to share my CD.

trick or treat

Well, here a few pictures of our group of guys and ghouls. Papaw stayed at our house to scare away all the trick-or-treaters so the kids would have some of our candy left, while Dolly & I escorted the kids. Kaden did well getting into his pumpkin costume, but refused to leave the hood up. The poor little man's basket got really heavy, but he refused to give it up for someone else to carry! Hannah was royally ticked by the end of the evening because everyone kept telling her she was a beautiful witch ... "I don't want to be beautiful, I'm supposed to be scary!" Our little ghostie had trouble keeping her eyes in the right place and finally abandoned the costume all together. Cody was his usual happy self and was thrilled that he got to spend part of his evening with his best bud Isaiah.

time away

Mike's trip to PA was a nice break for everyone. I think that he had a great time with his family and I know that I enjoyed the relative quiet of being home with Leah & Kaden.

Now it's my turn for a break from EVERYONE: I've been gifted with some tickets to see Tori Amos at the Murat on Friday night! Planning to go with Jennie - we'll enjoy dinner out, see the show, and have a great time! I haven't seen Tori in concert since ... hmmm, since 2003 ... so I'm VERY much looking forward to this. Angie gave me the latest Tori CD for my birthday, and I love it ....

In other news, the kids are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Halloween tomorrow. Seems like the weather is going to be favorable for our green witch, our vampire, our ghost, and our pumpkin (if Kaden will wear his costume!). I think that Dolly is going to join us, so I'll hope to post some pictures by the end of the week.

... to grandmother's house they go ...

yes, folks, that's right. Tonight is the night. Mike will be leaving with Hannah & Cody for a quick trip to the great state of Pennsylvania. Saturday is Ron's birthday, and Mike's been trying very hard to be with his mom on those special dates - I think it's good for them to be together and nice for Mike to be able to reconnect with the memories that he has in his home town. So look out Nunny, here they come!

I must admit that I'm looking forward to a weekend with just Leah & Kaden ... time for us to do some reconnecting of our own. It's been a very hard week at work, both professionally and personally ... one of those times when there are a lot of very sad situations that make you appreciate your own health and put your problems into perspective. I will be attending a funeral on Saturday for a beloved hospital employee, Bud White. My Aunt Teresa and cousin DeLaney are coming to town to watch L&K while the rest of us are at the services. After that, I'm going to take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my family, and hoping to enjoy a fun activity at Traders Point Creamery with Jennie & Ryan on Sunday.

good taste

Ok. It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Tori Amos. A couple of weeks ago, Mike took all the kids out to the store while I worked on some things at the house. I put in a Tori video and worked away. The kids came back home just before the video finished. Hannah said that she liked the music, but wasn't too keen on Tori's looks. End of discussion.

... until ...

Two days ago Hannah was with me on the way to pick the other 3 kids up from Alice's. I had a compilation CD in, which happens to have a Tori song on it. Hannah hollers out "Hey, Jenni." Yes? "Isn't this that girl from the TV?" Why, yes, it is. "I really like this."

Be still my heart, this child has just won a piece of me.

dolly is magic

At a young age, my little sis had aspirations of changing her name to Dolly Parton Hand. While my parents did not assist her with legally changing her name, her wish has since come true in the form of being known as aunt Dolly to the brood of children that live in my house.

Dolly, we say, is magic.

Magic? Yes. Magic.

Dolly is the best aunt ever, and the most wonderful sister to boot. She's gone WAY above & beyond over the last several months. Despite all of the craziness (and there is a lot) at our house, Dolly keeps coming back. Ok, so I bribe her with frappucinos and Top Chef, but even when I don't have anything fun to offer, she still comes whenever I ask.

Dolly is also a very gifted photographer. The amazing level of energy possessed by our four children is not easily harnassed, and I'm proud to share this selection of pictures from two recent photo shoots. In some, everyone is actually looking at the camera at the same time!

so much to say

so much to say, so much to say, so much to say .... Sorry, got on a little DMB kick there. Hannah & Cody seem to be doing well in school. They're enjoying it and both are making new friends. In fact, Hannah's friend Taylor got to come play at our house Wednesday because the kids had 1/2 day of school. When Mike went to drop Taylor off, Hannah was invited to stay at Taylor's house! The two girls ride the same bus and are in the same class ... and, being the girly-girls that they are, discovered that they wear the same size shoes & pants :-) Cody is anxiously awaiting his turn to invite one of his friends over.

And now for a few pictures.

On the 29th, we took the kids to Octoberfest at Brownsburg Meadows (yes, it's a "nursing home", but it's close to our house and it was a free event with food & games!). Chocolate the Clown did face painting:

This photo is of Leah, our champion, after her 'nastics Show-Off Day. She's quite proud of herself, if you can't tell:

And here are a few of my little angels. I took this picture of them sleeping after they had squeezed me out of bed at an extraordinarily early time of day ... but who can stay mad at those little angel faces?!?

And here's a fun one of the Bathtime Buddies. Leah's mohawk fell over before the picture was taken, but she sure enjoyed Kaden's!

Last one for this post is of Hannah & Leah. I'd say out of all the adjusting that's going on at home, Hannah & Leah are the two that clash the most. They're both used to being the oldest girls and calling the shots .... Hannah tries to tell Leah what to do, Leah gets mad and refuses to play with Hannah and then Hannah pouts because "Leah likes Cody more than me." Ah, well, this picture shows there's still hope:

no pictures ...

. . . but I felt obligated to post something! Leah & Kaden had their "school" pictures taken about 2 weeks ago, so I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of those prints so that I can post them.

Everything's about the same at the Russell household. Hannah has finally stopped coming home with darts for excessive talking in class, and Cody has made several new friends, including one boy who attends the same school & the same day-care. Both H&C are getting excited about Halloween. Hannah wants to be a green witch. Cody wants to be a vampire. No, wait, he wants to be Batman. No, wait ... you get the idea.

Leah & Kaden are growing by leaps and bounds. Leah's latest phrase is "you fool!" Not sure where she picked that up, but it's pretty funny. Kaden's vocabulary is growing every day, but most of his favorite words revolve around food (that kid LOVES to eat!).

cousins

Mike's sister, Cyndee, visited this weekend with her three kids, Shelby, Harlee, & Lexi. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. That many children with Russell blood in one spot is trouble waiting to happen!

holiday world

Holiday World was actually a wonderful experience. I would recommend it to those who have children in a wider age range, because there was plenty for everyone to do ... even Little Man! The park is very clean, all the employees were friendly, the free soft drinks were wonderful, and the lines were not long at all. (In fact, the longest line we waited in was for the deep fried Oreos!)

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying themselves on some of the rides:

first day of school

Finally, some pictures from Hannah & Cody's first day of school!

They're both wearing new outfits (courtesy of Totsie & Papaw), which they were thrilled to go pick out. New shoes (courtesy of Nunny), too.

They could not decide if they were more excited about riding the bus, or the fact that they had packed their lunches. Personally, I expected the novelty of both things to have worn off by now, but the kids still seem thrilled with both ... even though Hannah has taken PB&J for every meal but 2!

holiday world watch out!

Ok, life is a little too busy with 4 kids to update this as often as I would like. School is going pretty well for both kids. Hannah is making lots of friends (though she can't remember any of their names!) and her only struggle so far seems to be trying NOT to talk during class. Cody goes to Kindergarten every Monday, Wednesday, and alternate Friday's, and is spending his "free" days at Alice's (the daycare that Leah & Kaden attend). Cody has a new friend in his class who just happens to live across the street. They stopped by to play last night and everyone had a great time, so that should be lots of fun.

Torrie is in town this week and will be here until the 30th. We're going to Holiday World this weekend ... heaven help us! The kids are very excited ....

In other news, H & C decided that they should call me mom. It's not something that they practice all of the time, but they're testing it out.

Leah is doing very well. She seems to be adjusting well to the change in lifestyle, and is learning new things every day. At dinner on Monday she announced: "Mommy, I have 3 boyfriends." Look out world, here comes Leah!

Kaden is learning new words every day. One of his favorite activities right now is putting on and taking off his shoes ... or Leah's shoes ... or mommy's shoes :-) He's a little too young to join in the play activities of the older three, but he's very happy and loves chasing after everyone else.

Taking the camera to Holiday World and will, I mean it this time, post some pictures within the week after we return. (I know, I know, you'll believe it when you see it!)

what a week!

Ok, is this week over yet? It's been one thing after another, most of it unpleasant. But there are moments of sunshine, which is what keeps us going.


Mike did finally arrive with the kids, and we're settling back in to some semblance of a routine. My sister came to the rescue in a babysitting pinch yesterday, and had an enjoyable day with Hannah & Cody. While they were all coloring pictures, Cody looked at Lindsay with a big grin on his face and declared "I am much happier here."

We will all be attending a pool party for Leah & Kaden's daycare on Sunday, and just learned that Leah's "Show-Off Day" for her 'nastics will be on Saturday September 8th. We were contemplating a trip to PA that weekend, but might have to leave Saturday afternoon instead of Friday evening. I hope she doesn't experience any stage fright ....

I keep intending to upload pictures but am ill prepared again today. Waiting for Lindsay to bring pictures of baby Meghan and some new photos of L&K. And for Angie & Jennie, I re-enabled my PictureMail account last night, so I'll try to e-mail our Joey pictures and clips by the end of the weekend!

Delayed Arrival

Well, it seems that life always throws us a curveball at the most inopportune times ....

My trip to PA & back was uneventful. Meghan is an adorable little (and I mean little!) baby and I was sorry that I couldn't stay longer to spend more time with her & Amanda (don't worry, I'll have some pictures of Meghan up soon).

Mike, however, has had quite a time of it. He flew for the first time and did NOT enjoy it, but he made it safely. He picked H&C up from their grandmother's Monday afternoon and was to be back in IN late Monday evening, driving back a van for his brother.

The best laid plans ...

First, it was a flat tire. And no jack. AAA to the rescue. Ready to hit the road. Stop for gas. Van won't start. Ugh. He was going to drive his mom's car back to IN, but it was 2:00 a.m. by then and I strongly advised that he spend the rest of the early morning in PA, see if he could fix the van after he had some rest & the parts store was open, and try again to depart. As of noon, still no luck getting the van running. I think he's got one more thing to try and if that doesn't work, Scott'll have to figure out how to get mom's car back to her and the van to IN. Let's send out some good thoughts for Mike before he cracks, and wish them a safe arrival to IN before another evening goes past!

Thanks & Goodbye

Thank you to Jennie for the blog banner! That's one of the most recent pictures of the kids all together. It's quite amazing that they sat still long enough for the picture to be snapped, given the fact that it was taken at Traders Point Creamery and we had all just gorged ourselves on ice cream and the kids really wanted to chase some more chickens.

Lindsay & I are off to Pennsylvania tomorrow afternoon to visit with Amanda & new baby Meghan. Hope to put some pictures of everyone up on this blog after we return.

Mike will be flying to Pennsylvania Sunday morning. I think that the two of us might pass each other long enough to have dinner before Lindsay & I leave to head back to IN. That seems to be the story of our relationship these days - we pass in the morning and again at night. I miss seeing him more often and can't wait for his class to be done so his schedule will be more compatible with mine.

Countdown to H & C's arrival: 3 days.

getting started

Ok, so Jennie got me interested in the idea of trying to blog. The hope is that I will be able to keep it updated often enough that our out-of-state family & friends can see what the kids look like and hear what we're up to on a more regular basis. (I still haven't figured out why it's so darn hard to pick up a phone when you've got kids!)

I had a professor in my masters program who said that her motto was "I am in the process of becoming." I really loved that, and it's stuck with me ... I think that pretty much sums up life ... it seems we're always in the process of something new.

So, join me as I try to chronicle the Russell family's process of becoming. We've got several life changes coming up soon:
* Hannah & Cody join us for permanent residency in Indiana and the Russell household on Monday night
* They'll start school on August 14
&
* Mike hopes to be finished with his medic class by the end of fall!