4 years of little man

I honestly can't believe that 4 years ago today we welcomed Kaden Hawley Russell into this world. He is the most amazing, loving, little boy, and we are so blessed to watch him grow and learn and love every day.

At 4, he loves his Papaw more than anyone else. He loves the Imagination Movers, Handy Manny, Lego's, cars, and trains. He loves to race on Mario Kart and jam on Rock Band. He says "willn't" instead of won't. Sometimes, he wipes your kisses off of his cheek, but will then turn around and "kiss you all over" your face while giggling. He is sneaky and loves to push his boundaries. He layers his clothing, wearing at least 2 shirts all the time, but within the last two weeks, he's layering less and less. He loves icing, and leaves the cake. He "willn't" go to sleep in his own bed, but happily falls asleep in our room or on the couch. He loves animals and music and sips of Mommy's frappucino. He knows no fear and makes my heart stop at least once a week.

Unfortunately, Cody was sick today and had to go to the doctor. It worked out well for Kaden, because he got to spend the first 1/2 of the day at home with Dad and the second 1/2 with Mom! Dolly & Jason joined us for pizza and then Papaw joined us all for cake. Great Grandpa Jack even stopped by with a birthday present! We celebrated with a Handy Manny cake and Super Man wrapping paper!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's weekend kicked off with mad crafting on Thursday night to get Valentines ready for Leah, Cody, and Hannah's classmates. Cody & Hannah took cootie catcher/fortune tellers while Leah opted for the lollipop flowers.

Saturday morning Leah received a very special delivery ... her love, Cole, dropped off a wonderful Valentine's gift. Leah was giddy for a good 45 minutes after he left! And their picture is on the headboard of her bed!

Then it was time for sledding!! The kids really enjoyed themselves and I'll admit that I did, too!

Ava didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else and needed a helping hand back up the hill.

Sunday we didn't have any major plans, just relaxing and enjoying the day. We had the chance to travel to Broadripple to see one of my favorite up & coming bands, One eskimO. The kids did REALLY well with being quiet and listening to the music and we had a chance to chat with the band after the performance. Kaden's really not into having his picture taken these days, but I promise he enjoyed the show. He even asked to buy his own disposable camera and was taking his own pictures throughout the show :-)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!

Party Weekend!

February 6th was a jam packed day! We started off with celebrating Ryan's 4th birthday with an awesome party at Hoosier Gymnastics! Kaden, Leah, & Hannah had a blast running:

swinging:

balancing:

jumping:

balancing some more:

Whew!

Wait, don't forget more swinging!:

Then it was time to take the kids home to the baby sitter while Mike & I went out with Amy, John, Cassie, & Joe for an early Valentine's Day celebration. First we watched the Naptown Roller Girls Tornado Sirens wipe the floor with their opponent, then we toured downtown on our way to Ruth's Chris for dinner.

Sunday came and it was time to cheer on the Colts! Pre-game Rock Band was a great way to kick off the evening!

Check out that creative football padding!

From socks to nursing pads, these kids are showing their enthusiasm!

Mikey will always bleed Steelers colors, but he was a good sport and got behind the Colts.

Look closely ... he's even sporting one of my earrings!

Despite the Colts loss, we had a great time with our friends and ate tons of food. Thanks to the Kello's for hosting the evening events. Let's hope that we're celebrating again next year!

AFC champs celebrate at Jump & Play

The kids got in to the football action, cheering on the Colts and their AFC Championship title.

And what better way to celebrate victory than a birthday party at Jump & Play?

2nd trip = disaster

On January 23rd we set out for Ohio for a visit with Angie, Jon, Isaac, & Rose. We were on 70 about 4o miles from home, when Mike very seriously said "OH Shit. Your alternator is going bad and it's going out NOW." He passed by a rest area, despite my suggestion to stop, in hopes that we could make it to the truck stop at the next exit. It quickly became apparent that we were not going to make it that far, so he told the kids to hold on and whipped a quick U-turn. I thought we were going to end up with a flat tire as we bumped down the center median waiting for an opportunity to cut back over to the far right ... where we successfully coasted into the rest area on the other side of the highway.

We happened to be very close to where one of Seals Ambulances is stationed, so they sent a crew & an extra truck to rescue us. Mike took off in the truck to get the replacement parts we needed while I was left with 4 kids and a very small rest area!

(shhh, it's a deer!)

the culprit:

All I can say is I'm very thankful that it happened while Mike was driving and around to fix it!

We were unable to complete our trip, despite Mike's relatively quick fix, because of the unexpected damage to the budget. At least we know that our car should be good and ready when we reschedule our visit with Angie & her family!

RBA

It's official. The Russell's and the Kello's need to enroll in our own chapter of Rock Band Anonymous. We are obsessed! And we're turning our kids into Rock Band addicts, too! Here are a few pictures from one of our late night jam sessions:

Despite all the activity, Zoey passed out on the couch!

John was in the ZONE. Check out those moves on the bass:

and the mic:

Are you ready to rock?

first trip of the new year

New Year's Day we hit the road for Pennsylvania to visit with our kinfolk. I snapped a few pictures of the tunnel in Wheeling, West Virginia. I have fond memories of traveling through this tunnel with my parents when we lived in Maryland and would travel to Indiana to visit family. I thought that was the longest tunnel in the world! Mom & Dad would always honk the car horn as we traveled through, something that we do for our kids now, too!

Our travel was uneventful, but the time in PA was very emotional and draining.

Our saving grace was having Amanda, Dan, & Meghan to keep us smiling.

I mean, check out those grins ... they'd make you smile, too!

Rock & Roll!!

Leah loves her some Dan!

And so does Mike!

Took advantage of the opportunity to get a picture of Nunny with all her grand kids.

Kaden just does not like to be photographed these days!

We headed home after watching the Steelers game. I've never been quite so glad to get home to my own bed, but that relaxation didn't last long. Life went right back to the fast track with the end of Christmas break and heading back to work.