Happy Birthday!

I've kind of been on a "computer fast" while on vacation, so sorry for no blog posts. However, today I did need to give a special shout out to the man of our house. Happy Birthday Lee/Daddy! Your girls love you!



(Happy Birthday to Jesse P too):)

Our family - December 2008

I didn't see a mistletoe...

Is this the same guy?

Friday night we decided to take advantage of the free live nativity at the Creation Museum. One of our dear friends, Carl Kerby, was volunteering as a centurion. We had just had lunch with Carl and his wife that afternoon. Isabel seemed a bit confused as to whether or not this was the same guy she had just seen at lunch.

Time for an update

Does anyone else feel like this time of year goes at like 100 miles an hour? I feel like that is how life has been. I'm looking forward to going up to MI in the next couple of weeks and just chillin. Last weekend I think we had something going on every night. It was a great weekend, just a lot.

One night we attempted to put Christmas lights out on our bushes. Even though we had tested the lights and they worked perfectly fine before we put them on the bushes, about half of them didn't work once they were all on. So we took them down and decided to have very limited lighting this year. Here's Isabel watching Daddy at work through the door.

We had Lee's Joshua's Men end of year banquet one night. It was really cool to hear the guys say all their verses they memorized during the year, eat good food, and play some games.

Last Monday a former co-worker from AiG invited some AiG mom's to get together for a little reunion. We met at the indoor CoCo Key Waterpark. It was so much fun. It made me feel like it was summer all over again, which is my favorite season.

Our attempt to get a picture of the kids together. Yea, they didn't want to stay sitting in one spot.

In other happenings: Tuesday night I got sick, and I mean really sick. I was up the whole night. It was miserable. Thankfully, whatever it was last only about 24 hours. My wonderful husband was gracious enough to stay home and watch Isabel so I could sleep the whole next day. Not only did he watch Isabel, but cleaned the house, did laundry...I must say he's amazing!!!!

I was bummed however because I was scheduled to have my first prenatal appt. the day I was so sick. The office lady tried to convince me to come anyway, but I told her I was miserable. I think she finally got the clue and rescheduled me...for the middle of Jan.:( Another month of waiting. Oh well, God is in control.

STOMP surprise!!!

Cydney and I had been thinking for several weeks on how to surprise our husbands for their birthdays (Lee and Jesse share the same birthday, Dec. 31, and are the same age), something we've never been able to do. It just so happened one day we were both watching TV at the same time at our own individual houses and saw a commercial for a STOMP concert. If you don't know who STOMP is, they are a percussion group that uses basically everything but real drums to make noise (garbage cans, lighters, brooms, paint cans, washboards, etc.) I was looking up info for it on the internet when Cydney called me about it. It was the perfect birthday idea. So we bought tickets, kept it to ourselves until the day of the concert and SURPRISE!!! We pulled it off. The guys had no idea what we were doing until we walked into the theater. It was funny though the whole way there they were trying to guess what it was: Disney on Ice? Bryan Regan? (yes he was in town and that would have been awesome, we think we did see his RV though), Ice skating in Fountain Square?, etc. Thankfully they weren't disappointed when we got there.

It was a fun night. The concert was great, and it even had a lot of humor I wasn't expecting.

Now the photo below is from the concert, but I was asked not to post it on my blog by certain individuals, so I've done some editing so faces would be disguised.:)

Creation Museum Live Nativity

Christmas Celebration: Bethlehem’s Blessings

Featuring a Free Live Nativity December 12–January 4

Come back in time with us at the Creation Museum and experience a journey on the streets of Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago. See the sights in the town, talk to a Roman centurion, and feel what it was like on that special night when our Savior was born. Bring your friends and family to see why we celebrate Christmas.

Also, be sure to stay for our Christmas concerts that will lift up Christ in song, enjoy fellowship with others during our “Christmas Feast,” and explore all of God’s creation throughout the many exhibits of the Creation Museum. This is a perfect opportunity to share the hope that you have with those who may not know that God not only made this universe in an amazing display of His might, but that He humbled Himself to save us.

Celebrate Christmas with us and experience the wonder of all that God has done.

Guests can enjoy:

• A free live nativity on the grounds
• Hayrides
• Seasonal lights
• Music
• Food
• “Christmas Star” planetarium show
• And much more

See CreationMuseum.org for more details. I know certain nights they have more of a performance than others. They have calendars on the website explaining this.

The 19th

Our wedding anniversary - June 19
Isabel's birthday - August 19
Baby #2 - July 19 (or around then, so I've been told)

Weekend in Review

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We had a great time up north and Isabel got to experience many new things. Here's our weekend in review.

Our car reached 66,666 miles on this trip

Having dinner with Lee's family at China Buffet

Examining and buttering up the turkey.

Sledding thanksgiving morning. Let's just say Isabel LOVED sledding. There was just enough snow and my parents had the perfect size hill in their yard for her to sled on. She did so well too, she never fell over and would balance herself all the way down the hill.



Thanksgiving with my family and Lee's family.

Playing Uncle Will's rock band game.The walking headBowlingSnow storm on the way home. The worst was right around Holland, Rachael! Cars were off the road left and right. Thankfully we were not one of them.We did a couple of other things like picked out my parents Christmas tree. There is a Christmas tree farm we go to every year to pick out the perfect tree. We played some games, ate all the time, and just relaxed. It was a nice weekend.

"North Country"

We're headed to "North Country" aka Michigan in a couple of days. So we thought we'd get prepared for the cold weather and snow they have up there. Maybe we'll even get in some sledding.

And another thing...

Lee was watching Isabel the other day while I was out. When I came home he said, "Isabel might just point to the bumbo seat and go 'vrmm, vrmm' cause we were flying around in it like an airplane today.

and another thing...she just might take all the pillows off the couch."

What a great dad!

Sermon Illustration?

Here's Isabel helping Lee set up something for Pastor Brad's sermon illustration. Maybe she'll be a sermon illustration someday...haha. Maybe she already has been...dad???

Pigtails

Today was the first day I've put Isabel's hair in pigtails (well, nicer looking ones). I was babysitting Lydia Leineweber and put cute pigtails in her hair because her hair is very long...then I thought maybe Isabel's hair could go into pigtails. They are a little shorter, but I thought they look cute. I think they make her look like such a big girl. Here are a few pictures:

Isabel's New Love

"Melmo" as she likes to call him.
She even goes, "la, la, la, la - la, la, la, la" like the theme song when you mention his name.

Popping up like daisy's

Isabel's teeth that is. She had all but four teeth and now they've all decided to come in at once. What does this equal? Grumpy (not normally) baby, sleepless nights, doesn't want to eat. Hopefully, they will pop through quickly (unfortunately, this is not usually the case for her).

Lee's new assistant

Her pay is cheap too. All she wants is food and clean diapers. Maybe that's not so cheap!

a little behind...

Here's some pictures from Halloween. Isabel was a ladybug. Mommy forgot to take a picture of her by herself on Halloween so we got one a few days later when we played dress up. Also, thanks to the LaRuffa's I have a few from them too taken on Halloween.

On Halloween

A couple days later

Tagged too

1. What is your husband's name? Lee Russell
2. Who eats more? Him for most things
3. Who said, "I love you" first? Him
4. Who is taller? Lee...by like a foot
5. Who is smarter? Him...I'm always asking him questions because I don't understand
6. Who is more sensitive? me
7. Who does the laundry? Me, most of the time, but he does pitch in
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me - same reason as Rachael...the left side is closest to the door, so the bad guys could get Lee first:)
9. Who pays the bills? Me
10. Who cooks more? Me...although my husband made an AWESOME dinner the other night!!!!
11. Who is more stubborn? Me...definitely me.
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Lee
13. Who has more siblings? Equal, we both have two
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Lee
15. What do you like to do together? Hangout...just be together...again, same as Matt and Rachael...eat out when we can.
16. Who eats more sweets? Me...unless it comes to donuts.
17. Guilty Pleasures? Donuts for Lee...Me, I'm not sure.
18. How did you meet? We basically knew of each our whole life, but I guess my answer is in my hometown.
19. Who asked whom out first? Lee asked me:)
20. Who kissed who first? I think we both went in for the kiss:)
21. Who proposed? Lee...on trip when I tried to surprise him, boy did I get a surprise.
22. His best features and qualities? I married him mostly cause he's funny (at least that's what he always says). He's an awesome servant for the Lord, and an awesome husband and dad...and he plays a mean percussion.

I tag Cydney, Melissa, Janelle

Fall

Pumpkin Carving

Last night at small group, we just had a fun night and carved pumpkins. It was so much fun! We had a contest at the at end and voted on the best pumpkin. Guess who won??? That would be my husband. His talents amaze me.:) Here are a couple of pictures. I'll have to post the winning pumpkin picture later.

Isabel found this cute little bucket, that was a nice hat for her. She had so much fun with her hat and our friend, Marty.

Baby Pié Update!!!

Baby Pié, Kate Evelyn, beat the scheduled induction and was born at 5:15 a.m. today! She was 7 lb., 7 oz. Both mom and baby are doing great! Congratulations Jesse and Cydney!!!

I'll be organizing meals for them. If you would like to provide one, just let me know.

Recipe for Softness

1 palm full of lotion
1 spoon full of sugar

rub hands together for a couple of min., rinse with water, pat dry, and feel like you've been to the spa in 5 min. or less.

Jacob Pié

What a cool dude! Isabel's best bud! I had to post a picture of his awesome hairdo that Mr. Lee gave him!:) Soon to be a big brother too!!! We think he'll be great!

The Blanket Ghost

All night Isabel was wanting to walk around the house with a blanket over her head. She thought it was hilarious. At one point, she even pointed and said, "light," cause she could see the light over our stairs through the blanket. Too cute. We decided to expand on her own fun and add her hat. Sorry for all the laughter in the video...we (I should say I) was cracking up. Also, sorry for the bad video...you'll hear in the video how my husband accuses me of letting Isabel fall on her face while I laugh my head off. Poor baby!

Bows

Isabel is very fond of her bows. She epecially likes to drag out the "o" when saying it. Here's a fun night of playing with bows.

Bows in Mommy's Hair

Bows in Isabel's HairBow in Daddy's hair...WHAT???

"The Big Switch"

You know, "The Big Switch." No, not your TV changing to DTV in February 2009, but Isabel switching her car seat to facing forward. She finally meets the Kentucky State requirements for facing forward...20 lbs. and 1 year old.

Here's Lee telling Isabel all the wonderful things about facing forward:)

Such a proud little girl

Do you understand...???

Okay, I've attempted to get video of this, but my one year old just won't do things on command for me sometimes...so I'm just going to write about it.

One afternoon Isabel was being disobedient, imagine that. In my frustration I asked her, "Isabel, do you understand mommy?" To my surprise, my little girl shook her head up and down in a "yes" motion? Again, how she learned this we have no idea. So anyway, now every time you ask her anything that begins with "Do you understand" she shakes her head up and down to say "yes." Example: "Do you understand Chinese Isabel?" Her response, "yes." "Do you understand Greek Isabel?" Her response, "yes."

Similarly, while her Lolo and Lola were visiting they taught her "beautiful eyes" (blinking her eyes). They would ask her, "Do you have beautiful eyes Isabel?" She would blink her eyes ever so sweetly. Lee started to noticed however that you could ask her anything with the word, "Do you have" and she would start to blink her eyes. "Do you have a toy Isabel?" Blink, blink, blink. "Do you have a book Isabel?" Blink, blink, blink.

I really think Isabel understands more than I do sometimes.

Handsome Handy-Man

Well, it only took us 2.5 years to do it, but we finally (well almost finally...we're still working on it) stained/waterproofed our deck. When I was in WY Lee's parents helped him power-wash it. It looked like new. Now with a fresh coat of stain it looks great. It's a little more red than we thought, but oh well...you're supposed to redo it in 2 years anyway...maybe 4 years for us. My handsome handy-man husband did a great job!

In other news...our roof is finally getting fixed tomorrow...hurray!!!

Maybe you should read the blogs I read

Lee and I had a very nice date this past Saturday. Towards the end of our date we decided we'd stop by Starbucks for a treat. Lee was telling me about this new hot chocolate, salted carmel hot chocolate...he read on some blog it sounded gross, but was really good. When he told me about it I was skeptical myself...so I decided to be adventurous and order it. I tried my first sip and Mmmmm...it was yummy. Lee's response, "maybe you should ready the blogs I read."

Crazy Hair and Laundry Fun

Isabel is very interested in her hair accessories recently. She'll say "bow, bow" and point to her head. The other day she wanted to have several hair accessories in her hair, so we just let her. She looks cute in a weird sort of way.

And yes...laundry and fun to me should never be in the same sentence, but we did have some fun. I had the laundry bucket out in the living room while I was folding some and suddenly I noticed Isabel had climbed in the basket and was going "vrrmm, vrrmm" like a car noise. How she knows this...I don't know.