April and May 2011

Easter fun with the Russells, two trips to the Boston Children's Museum, and fun at the playground, Davis' Farmland, with bubbles, and on tractors. April and May were a blast!

Check out our pictures, and even a few videos.

March and a Little April 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Sam!! And Happy Birthday John! And Happy Anniversary Sara and John! Phew. Quite a month.

Sam had at least three birthday parties to celebrate the big 2. One with all the Russells, one at home with a brownie Spiderman "cake", and one with the Matouseks to celebrate the birthdays of cousin Tom, Grandpa, John, and Sam. Both of the Russell boys enjoyed their celebrations and presents.

Besides all the parties, we had a lot of fun in the last month and a half. Surprise snow storm on April 1, playground fun, and puddle splashing galore.

Enjoy the pictures!

February 2011

We mostly spent February indoors, as the snow outside piled up. Activities became more and more creative as we tried to find fun things to entertain our stir-crazy kids. One of the highlights was a trip with all the Russell ladies to see Princesses on Ice.

Enjoy our pictures (more than we enjoyed the snow storms)!

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas! Emily and Sam thoroughly enjoyed Christmas Eve with the Matousek/Pilkanis clan and Christmas Day with the Russells. Every present Emily opened was "just what she always wanted!". But it took Sam 2 days to get through all his gifts - he was just too busy playing with his new toys to want to open more presents.

Enjoy the many many pictures.

December 2010

This month has been all about getting ready for Christmas! We went to a great childrens' Christmas party, visited Santa at the mall, and enjoyed a Christmas tuba concert. Emily had a blast building the first snowman of the year, but Sam was not quite sure how to feel about the snow. In other news, Sam graduated to the kids' table at Nanna and Pop's house!

Enjoy the pictures!

November 2010

November flew by - John and I had a great weekend getaway to Boston, we decorated our Christmas tree, and did our best to enjoy any not-too-freezing days outside.

And the highlight was John graduating from Harvard - whooohooo!!!

Enjoy our pictures.

Thanksgiving 2010

Although neither Emily nor Sam would try turkey, they had a lot of fun playing, feeding the geese, and snuggling with family on Thanksgiving. They were both a lot of help making our turkey cake. Well, Emily helped and Sam devoured toasted coconut.

Enjoy the pictures.

Murder Mystery Party

John and I joined some good friends for a night of excellent food, plenty of wine, and a little murder.

Enjoy the pictures!

October 2010

Show me your mad Halloween face!

We had a fantastic October - what a beautiful month! Halloween, Halloween parties, pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving, making scary gingerbread houses, playing in leaves, splashing in puddles, and even running around the beach. John and I joined the other Russells for the Falling for Science event at the Discovery Museum (mmmm, science of the martini), and much fun was had by all.

Enjoy the latest pictures.

September 2010

Back to school for Emily! She was so excited to be heading back to preschool and her friends- what a wonderful change from last year. We also squeezed in one last beach trip with Nana and a visit to the zoo.

Sam is picking up new words every day, though "Mommy" is still the one I hear most often! He and Emily are playing so well together suddenly. Nothing makes me happier than hearing them giggling together or watching Emily find ways to include Sam in her games. It helps that he is a wonderful tea party guest!

Enjoy the pictures.

Emily Turns 4!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Birthday presents, birthday playground trip, birthday dinner with Nanna and Pop, and of course birthday PARTY!

Em had a blast celebrating her 4th birthday, and we all had a lot of fun too - especially the adults who were brave enough to try the bounce house!

Enjoy the pictures.

August 2010

We had quite a month! Visit to the Discovery Museum, apple and flower picking with friends, and crazy face painting at Davis' Farmland. We enjoyed a great visit with lots of John's family - Aunt Ann, John, Jimmy, Mary, and their 4 kids. And of course we spent lots of time just playing around outside.

Oh, and John finished our fire pit - awesome!!!

Enjoy the latest pictures.

July 2010

Don't you love the sunglasses?! This month we took a trip to the Tower Hill Botanical Gardens with Nanna and Pop and had a great trip to Davis' Farmland. Sam really loves the animals there, and Emily even went into the Splash Park.

And yes, you will see pictures of Sam painting with colored vanilla pudding. What was I thinking?

Enjoy the pictures.

Tanglewood 2010

John and I had our first weekend away in 2 years! We went to the Berkshires, and had a wonderful and relaxing time wandering through the Botanical Gardens, exploring the sculpture garden/woods at Chesterwood (the home of Daniel Chester French who sculpted Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial), and finding a cool pottery studio.

The highlight though was picnicing under the stars at Tanglewood, listening to Mahler's 3rd symphony. By the way, this is the longest symphony EVER! We enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you very much Nana and Grandpa for watching Sam and Emily!

Here are our pictures.

Flip Flop Fiesta 2010

Emily had her big gymnastics end of the year show - the Flip Flop Fiesta - on June 14. She did a wonderful job on the bars, balance beam, trampoline, and floor exercises. Way to go Emily! And congratulations on your first big trophy!

I tried to get her centered in the pictures, but I will admit that some are more like "where's Waldo". Happy hunting!

Enjoy the pictures.

June 2010

Emily gets her nails painted, John and Pop install a kitchen pantry, we plant some flowers in the garden, and the kids have lots of fun in the pool. Oh yes, and Emily learns how to walk like an Egyptian. Great month!

Check out our pictures from June.

Emily sings supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at warp speed

What else need be said?

May 2010

What an awesome month! We had a visit from Andy, Meghan and new baby Mackenzie, went to CT to stay with friends and their girls for a night, explored the Boston Children's Museum, built a fire pit in the backyard, and had tons of fun playing outside.

Emily just finished her first year of preschool. She made a lot of friends and is already looking forward to a few weeks of summer camp at school. I can't get over how bright she is - not to brag but my girl is wicked smaht.

May was a huge month for Sam - 3 new teeth, eating with a spoon, learned how to say "kitty" and is WALKING. He took his first steps at 14 months 2 days. I'm glad to report that he's still a very happy, cuddly little guy.

Enjoy our pictures!

April 2010

Wow! What a month! Easter, visits to the Butterfly Place and Davis' Farmland (with friends), and lots of time outside enjoying the lovely weather. And yes, I was very brave at the Butterfly Place and faced my irrational fear of butterflies and moths. Fortunately, the Goliath Moth had not yet emerged from its cocoon - yuck! In other news, Sam cut his two top front teeth this month.

Enjoy the pictures!

Happy First Birthday Sam!

Sam turned the big ONE! He thoroughly enjoyed his cake and even put up with the silly hat I couldn't resist buying for him.

Enjoy our pictures from his party.