proud parents

Leah is LOVING school. It's so much fun to hear all the new things she's learning. Last Friday she came home and shared that she'd received a token from the principal. Each month the students are asked to nominate classmates that are strong in certain character traits. They then draw the names of two kids from each class room to recognize. (Last year, Cody was recognized for Honesty, and received a token and a t-shirt. They've eliminated the t-shirt except for two randomly selected children from each grade level this year.)

We're very proud to say that Leah was recognized for Citizenship! Way to go, Leah!

holiday tradition

We've made it one of our family traditions for the kids to write their letters to Santa:

and then we take them downtown to drop in Santa's mail box:

and walk around and enjoy the beautiful Circle of Lights:

This year we went with The Kello's:

Our plans for hot cocoa at South Bend Chocolate Company were thwarted by the large crowds of people that had the same idea we did. Maybe we'll have to plan an evening with Dolly to enjoy the lights again and have that cocoa ....

countdown to Christmas

On December 1st, Santa delivered a pre-Christmas surprise to our house! An Advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas! Each day has its own door and Santa has filled it with wonderful surprises! The kids are doing a great job taking turns and not peeking ahead ... because they know Santa is watching them!

**Our Advent calendar included all kinds of goodies! Candy canes, chocolate (that was usually eaten before breakfast!), Christmas Classics Sing-A-Long DVD, foam capsules that grew into animals in water, stickers, a great new card game that ALL the kids can play called Blink, and Smurf pins (even a couple of pins for Mommy - I love the Smurfs!).

There were also two bigger surprises inside. The first was an extra special gift - the kids had plans to spend the night at Dolly's house on December 5th, and Santa delivered tickets to the Nutcracker to Dolly's house! Dolly topped the night off with a trip to Max & Erma's for warm cookies and milk after the performance! The second big suprise came on Christmas Day - a gift card to the movie theater! We combined that with movie passes from Papaw & Totsie and all went to see The Squeakquel!**

teaching him young

Cody had a project due just before Thanksgiving break. Mike and Kaden made a quick trip to WalMart for some supplies. When they came home, Kaden had his hands behind his back. He said "Mommy, we got something for you ... we love you!" and handed me some flowers! "Mommy, do you know why we got you flowers? Because you LOVE them!" Keep it up, Little Man!

our gang

At long last, more of the pictures from our fall afternoon at the park with Dolly!

my favorite boy

in need of new pictures

Wow. How old are the images on the side bar? And while I love my blog banner, that's a pretty old picture, too! I'm meeting up with my sister tonight and hope to have some great pictures from our photo shoot a few weeks back. Keep your fingers crossed that I've got something Christmas-card worthy and a few extras to update the stale side bar!

acorns, frogs, & debit cards

Kaden.

Oh, Kaden. How I love him. My silly little boy. And he is ALL boy. I love how he tries things that Leah still hasn't thought to try. I love how he'll randomly stop playing to run up to me and say "Mommy, I love you!" and then run back to playing. I love all of his little quirks, from his days of carrying around naked Barbie dolls to his continued infatuation with layers of clothing.

But there are days ... days when all I can do is shake my head and wonder how I'll ever learn what to do with this BOY.

As fall approached, Kaden & Zoey were very intent on collecting all the acorns in Amy's yard, much to the disappointment of the squirrels. Kaden brought home a large bag of acorns they had collected. I told him to leave it in the car. Later that night, I was telling Mike about how Kaden had smuggled the bag of acorns into the house and dumped them all over the bathroom floor when he was supposed to be brushing his teeth.

As I told the story, Kaden looked up at us from the bed, and put on his little ornery grin.

Kaden: I put them in my drawer. (snicker snicker)
Me: What?! Which drawer?
Kaden: (laughing openly now) The drawer with my short sleeves.

So we headed straight into his room, opened the short sleeve drawer, and found nothing. We opened the drawer below it and found a TON of acorns, safely tucked between layers of shirts!!! We were laughing SO hard!

Mike: Just wait until he's older and it's a frog he's hiding in your drawer.
Me: Kaden, don't ever hide a frog in Mommy's drawer.
Kaden: Ok....I will!
*********
Fast forward to today. We were on our way to my parents to watch the Steelers game and had to make a quick stop at the grocery store. I ran in, grabbed the stuff we needed, and headed to the self check-0ut. I opened my wallet, and no debit card. So I called Mike and had him come back up to the door so I could grab his card to pay. When I got back in teh car, the kids said that Kaden had been playing with my wallet. "Kaden, where are Mommy's cards?" I don't know. "Ok, well, when we get home, we have to look for them."

After watching the game, we were in the car on our way back home.
Me: Don't forget, we have to go straight to your room to pick up and find my cards, ok?
Kaden: They're in my pocket you know.
Me: What?!
Amid an explosion of laughter from everyone, Mike reached back, and sure enough, there in Kaden's pants pocket were my cards!! Whew - I'm not sure what I'll do when he hits his teen years!

i see ...

Does anyone remember me mentioning a video of Leah reading?

Yeah, I know. It's been a while. But better late than never.

the future of roller derby

Several local dentists offer a candy buy-back program after Halloween. $1 per pound. Sounds like a good deal, right? Well, when Karie told us that her dentist not only was offering a candy buy-back, but was renting out the roller skating rink, and providing free skate rental, you can bet the Russell's were there ... with the Teany's & The Kello's, of course!

Leah did a great job! Kaden had a little more trouble staying upright ...

so Leah offered a helping hand:

Can't you just see them at 16?

h-a-double l-o-w-double e-n

This year we had a Cat In The Hat theme for our Halloween costume, prompted by Papaw & Totsie's great score on Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes. Cody was The Cat In The Hat, and Hannah's polka-dot dress reminded us of the mom's dress from the book. I think this was the most excited I've seen them for Halloween! They could hardly sit still for a couple of pictures before we headed out to Trick-or-Treat!

Leah & Kaden were grooving while they waited for Papaw & Totsie to answer the door:

Yup, definitely trouble, just like the original Thing 1 & Thing 2!

As we got ready to leave Papaw & Totsie's, Leah went back to ask Totsie a question.

L: Totsie, what if I don't fill my bag after we go to the houses of all the people we know?

T: Then you can come back here and I'll fill up the rest of your basket.

Satisfied, we were able to get in the car and continue on our way :-)

We hit the streets in Amy & John's new neighborhood. The adults could hardly keep up with them!

After two wings of the neighborhood, we headed home for hot dogs over the fire. Then, while Mike & John tended to the fire (or something like that), Amy & I tried to get the kids all settled down to sleep in the living room. Kaden was the lone hold out (who's surprised? Not me!), but the adults finally all escaped outside. Some of the firewood was damp, so John & Mike were taking turns fanning the flames. They said it wasn't cheating ...

Amy & I didn't really care if it wasn't manly behavior, we just wanted to stay warm and cook our smores! After we got too cold, we headed inside for a lively game of Phase 10. Then John got very serious during our discussion of Jon & Kate ... and the rest of us laughed our butts off! Poor John was the victim! All in all, one of the best Halloween's for us. I even forgot about all the work we had done during the rest of the day moving Lindsay from a 3rd floor apartment to a 2nd floor apartment ... until I woke up Sunday morning to burning calves!

pumpkin push-ins

This year we opted for the Mr. Potato Head style pumpkin push-in decorations. What can I say, I'm not a fan of mess. I really don't like pumpkin guts and wanted to avoid carving. Last year we painted pumpkins, which was fun, but thought this looked even better. It was super easy, & the kids had a lot of fun!

end of soccer

The last games of the fall soccer season were October 17th. Leah scored another goal during the game - one that was witnessed by both parents this time! - and so did her best friend Natalie. Go Gold Thunder!! Leah was thrilled to receive her certificate and her trophy! She's already looking forward to playing in the spring.

Cody's team had an undefeated season. The Rabid Red Birds were unstoppable with the combined offensive force of Cody & his friend Ben! Cody's looking forward to spring soccer, too ... and it'll be interesting to see how he does in the U10 league.

I never thought we'd be a soccer family, but we're all having a great time! Kaden will sign up in the spring, so that will provide even more entertainment.