November and December 2009

Christmas, and the rather large number of pictures that go with it, is almost here! Here's an early Christmas present - pictures from November and December.

We've been busy with a trip to the aquarium, hosting our first Thanksgiving, decorating the tree, building gingerbread houses and snowmen, and having friends over to visit. Sam cut his first tooth on December 15th, and second on December 17th. He now rolls wherever he wants to go, which is usually under the Christmas tree. Emily is having a wonderful time in school. She's made some friends and is excited to go in the mornings. She's also really enjoying her gymnastics class with a friend from school.

Enjoy our latest pictures!

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!

Emily and Sam had an action-packed Halloween this year. Pumpkin carving, a Halloween party with a friend from Emily's school (complete with hay ride!), and of course trick-or-treating. Sam stayed home and helped me pass out candy while Emily and John went trick-or-treating with the Russell cousins.

Enjoy our frighteningly cute pictures!

September and October 2009

The last two months have flown by! Emily started preschool, Sam learned to sit up on his own, we planted a million and one bulbs in the front yard for the spring, and we spent some warm afternoons at the playground. It took a few weeks, but Emily has adjusted very well to school. It didn't take nearly as long for me to get used to several quiet hours a few mornings a week!

Enjoy the pictures!

Emily Turns 3!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Check out our pictures from Emily's 3rd birthday party.

Anna and Russ's wedding

Although usually our pictures center around the kids, John and I had a big night out over Labor Day weekend - Anna and Russ's wedding! Beautiful wedding and so awesome to spend time with my high school friends. Apparently I "brought the class" to Table 14, but we still got shushed during the speeches (sorry). What did they expect putting us all together . . . on the balcony . . . in the corner . . . with an open bar??

Here are the pictures that prove we can still have a good time.

Vacation 2009

Once again, our family went to NH for a fun week of vacation. This time, we stayed with Nana and Grandpa Matousek, which was a huge improvement over last year, when Emily spent the entire week asking to see and call her grandparents.

We visited Storyland and Santa's Village, and played in the pool. Emily surprised us all by getting her face painted by a stranger. Sam was totally happy to hang out with us on all of our adventures. John and I even got a day off to go hiking and play mini-golf.

Enjoy our pictures!

August 2009

Think they're related?

August brought lots of exciting events - visits with friends, town fair, and a trip to Davis' Farmland (complete with Daddy face painting). Sam started solid foods, and Emily discovered that it can be fun to bring Sam toys to play with.

Check out our pictures!

July 2009

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We watched a local parade, and Emily enjoyed it until the fire trucks came along with their sirens blaring. Despite the rain we had a fun month, with a visit from Caroline, a playdate with cousin Allison, and even a visit with cousin Mary up from FL.

Sam is now 4 months, and is 26 inches and 14 lbs. He jumped from the 50th to the 90th percentile in height, wow!

Enjoy our latest pictures.

June 2009

Rain, rain, go away! We've been stuck inside for a lot of this month, but as you can see still never a dull moment at the Russell house. What a month! Emily learned to use the potty, and Sam started laughing and being ticklish.

Enjoy our latest pictures.

May 2009

Sam is two months old, Emily is 32 months, and Mommy just turned 360 months. You do the math :-) Oh well, at least Daddy is still 14 months older than Mommy. I wonder when we'll start measuring ages in years again?

Sam's big accomplishment in the past month: SMILING!! We've even heard a giggle or two.

John and I are starting to get the hang of this having two kids thing. This month we took them both on a fun day with both sets of Grandparents at Davis' Farmland, played with cousins, made excellent kiddie purchases at the town-wide yard-sale day, and got the deck all ready for summer.

Enjoy our latest set of pictures!

April Fun 2009

Sam is 6 weeks old and is getting some strong neck muscles! We had a busy month, with two birthday parties for Uncle Paul and lots of visits with friends and family. Emily got to hit a pinata for the first time and even shared her Smarties with Mom.

Here are the pictures from April.

Easter 2009

Emily had a blast dying Easter eggs and going on egg hunts this year. She is a huge fan of chocolate for breakfast . . . and cake for dinner.

Here are our pictures from Easter.

The First Two Weeks Home with Sam and Emily

Sam has had a great first two weeks home. He's now up to 8lbs 2oz and is generally a pretty happy baby. Emily still enjoys being the big sister, although she'd sometimes like to "turn him off" when he cries.

Enjoy the latest pictures, with a bonus video at the end!

Happy Birthday Samuel John!

We're excited to announce that Samuel John Russell was born on March 16 at 4:37 pm, weighing in at 7lbs 4oz and 19.5 inches. Happy Birthday Sam!

Check out our pictures.

Emily 2 1/2 Years

Emily is now 2 1/2 years old, and is getting ready to be a Big Sister. In the last few months, we've had a lot of fun at the Discovery Museum, friend Lily's birthday party, playing outside, and watching Mom's belly grow. Emily is very excited to be a Big Sister and is already planning to change all of Sam's diapers, hold his hand in the parking lot, sing him lull-a-byes, and teach him to walk - or so she says.

We also moved Emily into her "big girl" room. As you can see in the pictures, we kept her new room very gender neutral.

Enjoy our latest pictures, and hopefully we'll be posting pictures of Emily with baby Sam soon!