Russell's in Rewind.............

Saturday, we went to a birthday swim party for my friend's twins who were turning 4. So, quite a few pictures from the party.......Camden is all about going in the pool, Case, not so much. He did go in when I would hold him, but he spent most of his time just dipping his feet in the pool. They had pizza and chicken nuggets from Chick filet-I was actually quite surprised that they were actually really good, especially dipping them in the different sauces they had. After the party we had picked Ashleigh up from her friend's house and made our way back home. Tonight was going to be the night that we would be meeting Matt-the young man she is going to homecoming with next weekend. We made it very clear that she would not be going anywhere with him until we met him and his family. So, both his mom and dad were supposed to be bringing him over last night, but it turned out his dad got called to work and so his mom was the lucky one!

Anytime, you have to meet someone for the first time, yes it's usually awkward-but that's ok. Well, being that I forgot there was going to be pizza at the party earlier that day, I had bought to pizzas from the deli the day before and so, that was what we were going to have! We played a game of Balderdash with him and Joel fell for a couple of his answers and Matt fell for a couple of mine. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with him-nobody is ever "perfect" for their son or daughter, or at least in the eyes of the parents, but he seems very nice and a good head on his shoulders. He told us that he would like to go into the airforce and fly, I guess he's currently in a military program that meets once a week, but with being on the football team right now, he's kind of taking a break from that right now. Ok, prob. more info than you really care to hear, but when all this is a whole new experience.....I prob. tend to ramble more than necessary :)

Well, it looks like I will either be dress shopping with Ashleigh today or tomorrow-wish me luck!

Last Night

                                          Two Mickey Mouse pancakes.....coming up!

                                                Case sharing his juice with Cammy

                                                            Case just taking it all in. :)

                                           Camden Loves the Pool!

                                                        Two of my four, gorgeous Russell men!

                                                             Our Sweet Little Mermaid!

                                           Case, being a nut!

                                        Ashleigh and Matt

                                        Playing a game last night :)

                                        I'm watching you Matt......always watching!

33, I mean 34

Well, this weekend marked two big milestones for members of our family. Courtney turned the big 18 and Miss Laynie turned 1. Laynie chose a great day to be born on...which just so happens to be this mama's birthday too. You got to admit 34 really isn't any big deal. it's not 30, 35, or even 40 for that matter. When you are a kid, the first thing you think and plan is what presents am I going to get!!!? As you get older and I use that term loosely, you honestly just appreciate the thoughtfulness that you can tell people extend to you, making your day just a little more special. Is that to say that gifts aren't fun, of course not-who doesn't like to go shopping? Ok, most men don't, but they don't count! All I'm really saying is, it's the little things that matter, and mean so much to me now.
For instance, as I got back from my jog yesterday morning, the kids that were up told me happy birthday right away, and Camden had wrapped two books of his in his blankie and told me that was my present. Mikaila had made me a card and put one of MY magazines and put it in a gift box-it was cute. Then Case felt bad that he didn't have something, and so he went into the playroom and got a little toy puppy, also using the same gift wrap idea as brother, and so I found a puppy wrapped in a cute blanket. These are the things that become memories!


Courtney's party was very cute....red carpet/Hollywood theme. Very creative Aunt Jeni..... the games were fun, the food was delicious, and guest appearances from Ferris Bueller, Charlie Chaplan, James Bond, Audrey Hepburn, Kesha (however you spell it), Kelly Clarkson and anyone else I missed.
Laynie was adorable digging into her lady bug cake-good job mommy!

To a great year!!!!!!!!!!

Their First Time

Cam waiting to go with Grandma for the night :)

Case excited for their sleepover with Grandma!

Friday night Mikaila spent the night at a friend from school's house and enjoyed being able to walk home with her. That's always more exciting than being picked up by mom! As I stared at the clock and saw 5:00 pm, then 5:45 and then 6:15, and hungry family members asked, "Mom, what's for dinner?" I didn't make it to the grocery store that morning and I really didn't feel like doing it then, so that meant we were going out to eat. I wanted to get out of the house anyways, so we picked our not so unusual choice of Chiles. If you're trying to watch what you eat, the "guiltless" chicken sandwhich and steamed broc. isn't half bad. I've gotten it several times and haven't been disappointed. :)

Saturday, I did shopping, picked up Mikaila and gave the boys their much needed haircuts and bath. Tonight they were going to spend the night with Grandma for the first time and then go to a birthday party at Peter Piper on Sunday. We met Grandma, and she took them back to her house from there. They definately enjoyed themselves and have already asked when they can go to Grandma's house again!
I will be totally truthful to say, that it was nice having a little less responsibility for 24 hours......no sandwiches to make, no worrying if the boys would be up before I get back from my walk, no tuck ins, and no booster seats to mess with. So, I'm glad that it worked out all the way around! Everybody needs breaks once in a while :)
Yesterday morning, was a little more hectic than normal.....I decided to get my walk in before taking them to school.  I also wanted to make some muffins, to take over to a couples house that I would be visiting after I dropped the kids off from school. I think I tried to cram too much into the morning, because the kids ended up being a couple minutes late for school......oh well, hopefully they can find it in their hearts to forgive me!



Camden, Casey and Avrey

Camden lovin' his goody bag!!!!!!!!

The Russell men playing out back with chalk.

Our pastors parents-They invited me over, and they live right across the street from the kids' sch.

 They are such an adorable, warm couple!

Casey playing with one of the toy cars they let the boys play with at their house.

Long Weekend

This was really Mikaila's deal, but she let Quinn help, and she let each person pick which cookie they wanted :)

Mikaila "laboring" in the kitchen on Labor Day. She did a great job following the recipe and had fun doing it!

Rocky Sr. Rocky jr. and Drago (the Russian dude)

I think Quinn is part Incredible Hulk/boxer

Some of our weekend included: "Boxing," Cleaning the carpet and couches, Ashleigh being at school from 8:30 in the morning till about 10 at night on Friday (Varsity football game), watching old Incredible Hulk shows, Hanah Montana, Sponge boring Bob, going to MV for church, having lunch at my parents, having dinner st Joel's mom's house, Mikaila cooking in the kitchen, doing laundry, going for our daily walk, and I think that's prob. most everything.

Week Almost Over :)

Gosh, it's already Thursday and then a long weekend, how nice is that?! Well, Ashleigh cheered on the freshmen football team last night, and unfortunately the Vipers didn't pull off a win. She said it went great and it was alot of fun. The Varsity and J.V. cheer squads made little goody bags for the freshmen girls with candy, gatorade, lipgloss, cheez it's and whatever else. I think it made her feel good that she was being treated so nicely and not getting "dumped" on just because she's a freshmen! The girls did so great that they have a much deserved break today, with no practice. Tomorrow is the varsity game, and even though she's not cheering, she will still be there dressed out and participating with the different chants :)

Not that this has anything do do with cheer, but I just added a couple shots of the chair railing in our family room....now to get pictures on the wall! It's such a long wall, that it's always been a little difficult to know just how to decorate it and have it look right....I'll figure it out.

Going Around

Case is so cute "fixing" the microwave.

My Two Workers

Game Day for Miss Ashleigh!

Cam looking at the lego book with Quinn.

You HAVE to be babied, when you're sick....age doesn't matter!!

Something is definately hitting the schools as far as kids getting sick lately...Quinn didn't go to school one day last week, I sent him the next day, and then I get a call from the nurse asking if I could come pick him up. Well, I pretty much just got home from dropping Ashleigh off and so I asked if I could talk to him on the phone and see if he REALLY needed to come home, or if he thought he could make it through the day. He starts tearing up over the phone....ok, I'm coming I said.
Then Friday, Ashleigh keeps texting me saying that she doesn't feel well, and to come pick her up. I was kind of in the middle of painting the moulding in our family room and didn't want to just stop what I was doing. So, I picked her up around 1:30 and brought her home. THEN, Sunday morning we went to go pick Mikaila up from a slumber party and apparently she was under the vent all night and she woke up sick. Now, it's been my turn the last few days. I've just felt achy, a headache, and runny nose. That's to be expected with 5 kids coming and going with being sick! I popped a few dayquill today, so hopefully I'll be in full gear pretty soon.

Ashleigh has her first football game that she is cheering at tonight and I got just one quick pic of her before school this morning. Their "game day clothes" aren't in yet, and they are only allowed to wear their cheer uniforms for the games......so, the coach made some t-shirts to at least wear for today and I ironed on Ashleigh's name on the back in gold letters. Hopefully the Vipers can get a win tonight!