Emma's Christmas Experience

Emma chose making gingerbread houses as her Christmas experience this year. This new tradition has already made a huge difference in our holiday enjoyment. We are spending more time together as a family and making some fun (albeit messy) memories.

Isn't this the face of pure Christmas happiness!? Even I had to overlook the coating of sticky, gooey icing covering our kitchen when I saw how much fun they were all having.

Even Torah had a few brief moments of silence in between her usual screaming. This was, after all, her Witching Hours.

And now, the finished products:
(Two kids had pre-made kits from Costco, and the other two made theirs out of graham crackers. Bet you can't guess which are which.) :-)

The Russell Family 2010 Gingerbread Village.

Torah - 6 weeks old

I don't know about you, but the past 6 weeks have flown by for me! Seriously, did we even have November this year, 'cuz I'm pretty sure Halloween was just a couple days ago.

I dedicate this episode of Tuesdays with Torah to that greatest of all childhood inventions:

Footie Pajamas!

A huge Thank You to Jessica for sending these to Torah. I didn't even know they made them in her size. They are perfect for our frigid moderately chilly temperatures.

Notice the pacifier? I have worked and battled and forced that thing on her for the past 6 weeks. My brain just can not accept the idea of a baby who isn't instantly soothed by sucking on a nana.

But NO, this is what she did mere seconds after the last shot was taken. Argh!

Micah's Christmas Experience

He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!

This year, we've decided to take this quote to heart. We are going to simplify Christmas, get back to that "real meaning" stuff. Sure, Santa will still visit our house on Christmas Eve and we'll still exchange gifts Christmas morning. But that is not (hopefully) going to be the climax of the season.

Instead, we are focusing on experiencing the whole Christmas Season. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, each family member will get to select one Christmas activity that they think will help make this time of year extra special. The options are wide open - Christmas caroling, baking a special Christmas treat, sledding as a family, etc.

Saturday morning, we went out for Micah's chosen Experience. He wanted to cut down our family Christmas tree. For the past few years, we've had one of those pre-made, pre-lit trees. But this year, he was craving messy pine sap & needles a good 'ol fashioned real tree.

Actually, I think all he really cared about was the excuse to use a saw and chop something down. Which he did - all be himself.

Presenting the Russell Family Christmas Tree!

The kids decorated it Sunday evening. And, reminiscent of my childhood Christmases of old, Dad's job was to set up the tree in the stand (although Nathan somehow managed to get it standing up straight without uttering a single swear word. Amazing!), and wrap it in lights. Then he disappeared while the kids & I hung the ornaments.

Every single ornament on the tree is either handmade by the kids, or has some significant memory or sentiment attached. It may not be the most fashionable or color-coordinated tree, but I think it is beautiful!

Thankful Lists 2010

Jared
1. my grandparents
2. soccer
3. friends
4. my country
5. Baby Bjorns
6. time
7. hot pads (for cooking)
8. Baby Torah
9. Bainbridge Island
10. education
11. my characteristics
12. Netflix
13. my name
14. hand sanitizer
15. laptops
16. Apple.com
17. Ryan (a good family friend)
18. my family
19. church
20. pie
21. Roku
22. thumbs
23. hot tub
24. snow
25. FOOD

Micah
1. soccer
2. my shoes
3. Ghana
4. the World Cup
5. Apple products (as in ipods, not fruit)
6. duct tape
7. Martinelli apple cider
8. the pledge of allegiance
9. study sheets
10. mini oranges
11. Baby Torah
12. PS3
13. kleenex
14. brooms
15. everything my parents do for me
16. pie
17. music
18. waffles
19. the United States
20. our home
21. the world
22. grandparents
23. friends
24. hot tubs
25. the holidays

Emma
1. my body
2. soccer
3. grandmas
4. grandpas
5. family
6. friends
7. Torah
8. swimming
9. clothes
10. house
11. food
12. electricity
13. cousins
14. China
15. magnets
16. refrigerators
17. a bed
18. furniture
19. electronics
20. a tree house
21. milk
22. water
23. pictures
24. phones
25. Holidays

Adana
1. my Turkey blankie
2. Torah can be really good
3. my good teachers
4. cups
5. I can feel better
6. we can eat pumpkin pie
7. my Baba
8. caramel corn
9. babies
10. Thanksgiving
11. birthdays
12. good body
13. water & milk
14. being nice & helpful
15. corn
16. cups (I usually don't allow duplicates, but this one slipped by. She must really love cups.)
17. soccer balls
18. apple juice
19. pictures
20. moms
21. trees
22. bows
23. Maradona (our bird)
24. orcas
25. dolphins

Power's Out Vacation

I LOVE snow! I love watching the huge, silent flakes falling gently all around. I love how the earth gradually whitens and everything looks so crisp and clean. I love how all sound seems muffled when everything is blanketed with snow - except for the thrilled laughter of children as they slip & slide & throw snowballs (and then scream & cry because they got snow in their face and down their neck).

But I HATE power outages. And The Inconvienent Truth of living on a tree-hugging, tree-obsessed peaceful & pastoral little island is that we have a mess of trees - trees that grow tall and old and diseased, trees that grow over power lines (which, for some incomprehensible reason, the island refuses to bury safely in the ground). Trees that ALWAYS fall and knock out every stinkin' transformer on said little island any time the wind blows stronger than 5mph. ARGH!

The snow started falling on Monday. The wind picked up. Power out by Monday afternoon. And no, we don't have a generator. Sadly, the last few times we've had a bit of extra money to spend on any type of home improvement, the weather has been lovely and the need to buy a generator has somehow been shoved to the dark recesses of our brains. We do have a fire place, of sorts. More accurately, we have a brick hole in the wall which manages to suck every bit of heat straight up and out the chimney. Still, Micah insists that he will master the art of firebuilding. He built this fire without a single match - only flint and steel.

So what's a family to do when faced with cold, gray days and frigid, dark nights? Well, I suppose some families might just hunker down, snuggle under covers, play board games by candle light, eat a fun picnic meal of cold bread & cheese . . . But not us! It's not the cold and dark that becomes a problem so much as the BOREDOM.

Bored kids = restless kids = obnoxious kids = ANNOYED PARENTS.

So we did what any wimpy, bored, hungry family would do - we declared it was time for a Family Vacation and headed for the blissful power-guzzling city of Seattle. First stop was Red Mill for some hot, juicy hamburgers. Mmmmm . . . Then over to our hotel. We decided to stay at the Sheraton because (1) they had adjoining rooms and (2) they have a really cool display of gingerbread houses. The one above was about 4 feet tall. The trunk was formed from rice crispy treats, and the detailing was awesome:




We even managed to get a rare family picture:


although the sweet bell hop who snapped it held the camera at a bit of an angle. That Christmas tree in the background really is standing straight up.

Reason #3 for staying at the Sheraton: the awesome pool on the 35th floor! Check out the view from those windows. Thrilling! And soooo steamy hot on such a blustery day.

Torah - 5 weeks old

My apologies for Tuesdays with Torah coming on a Friday. We had a bit of a snow/wind event at the beginning of the week, resulting in our whole island losing power Monday - Wednesday. Ugh. I soooooo despise power outages!

Torah, however, didn't seem to mind a bit. And it did give me an opportunity to use her toasty warm, snuggly snow suit. She was so bundled up that she reminded me of the little brother on Christmas Story - "I can't put my arms down!"
(By the way, this was taken first thing Monday morning, so that's not nearly the amount of snow that we ended up with. )

This is her favorite position to be held in. She loves to be slung over an arm. She will completely relax, drooling all over the floor, and usually falls asleep. It must feel good on her gassy little belly.

This girl adores her big brothers! And I adore her sweet smile.

1 Month Birthday

I couldn't decide which 1 month pose I liked best, so I posted them all. I just wish that computers were scratch-n-sniff, because she just came out of the bathtub and smelled sooooo Baby Magic yummy!

Month 1 notables:

• Torah is starting to recognize her family & treat them to heart-melting smiles.
• She only wants to be held. Always. 24/7. Lucky for her, we are more than willing to oblige.
• She sleeps her first few hours each night snuggling with her Baba while I get to sleep in a bed. Ahhhh . . . The rest of the night, mom & Torah catnap together in the La-Z-Boy. It's a good thing she's so dang snugly, and smells sooooo yummy!
• She's had a couple of outings - bowling (which she slept through), a movie (Megamind, which she cried through and spent most of the time pacing the hall), and daily walks (riding in her sling, which she loves because, you know, it means she's being held).
• She barely tolerates her car seat (again, it means she is not being held. Seeing a pattern?) The worst part of it is that if she happens to fall asleep in it, she won't stay asleep in it when I bring her inside. What sort of kid doesn't like sleeping in her car seat!?

Torah - 4 weeks old

Don't you just LOVE baby feet!? I could kiss these tasty little morsels all day.

This picture is for Katie B. I won this shirt in a raffle at her Indie Banditas Bazaar last fall, before I was even pregnant. Love the shirt, and the adorable little smiley girl wearing it. (And check out how red Torah's hair looks! I've always hoped for a red head girl. But I think it's just the lighting of this shot, because it doesn't look red at all in real life.)

This one is sort of out of focus, but I had to include it. The look on Torah's face is classic. Adana must kiss her 5000+ times a day.

Happiness is . . .

. . . fitting into your pre-pregnancy jeans again! I am now officially no longer pregnant. :-)

Torah - 3 weeks old

Welcome to another edition of Tuesdays with Torah! Goodness, I can't believe how fast these weeks are passing.

We are starting to establish a bit of a schedule. After I get the older kids off to school in the morning, I put Torah down for a nap in her Moses basket. She sleeps on the bathroom floor while I take my shower. She really likes her soft swaddling blanket, and I'm slowly but surely convincing her to take a pacifier. Seriously, what sort of baby doesn't take a pacifier!?! How in the heck am I ever going to sit through sacrament meeting or drive to Seattle if she can't be hushed up with a Nana.

She'll usually sleep for about an hour in her basket. Progress! That's the longest that she goes "unheld" all day.

Of course, sometimes our perfect angel does cry a bit. But I still think she's pretty dang cute even when she's screaming.

The rest of her "schedule" is still pretty newborn-ish. She eats & sleeps & poops, and in the evenings she cries. We call it the "Witching Hours." All of my kids have hated the hours around dinner time. Thankfully, Micah is taking Home-Ec this semester and he LOVES cooking. He's cooked dinner the past two nights. Monday night, he made a brussel sprout/apple casserole and a grilled romaine salad. Yum!! And tonight, he made Breakfast for Dinner - pancakes, eggs & bacon. Double yum!!

Sticking with the MICAH ROCKS theme, I just love this picture. Micah rocked Torah to sleep - sound asleep - then he played Angry Birds on my phone while she slept. (And while I'm typing this, he's changing her diaper. Oh yeah, Micah rocks!)

Torah - 2 weeks old

Don't be fooled! She's only pretending to be sleeping contentedly in her basket. She'll do that for, ohhhhh, about 42 seconds before she realizes that she's not being held and DEMANDS immediate action. But I keep trying.

I just love to kiss those cheeks!

A Busy Halloween Week

Let me just begin with a great big THANK YOU to my mom & dad for flying up to visit this past weekend. I knew that Halloween weekend was going to be a busy one - kids' Halloween parties, soccer games, etc. So I was very grateful when they volunteered to come up and help out so that I could continue to rest and recover with Torah. They drove my kids all over the island, helped around the house, sat through rainy soccer games, and so much more . . . THANK YOU Mom & Dad!

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins on Thursday night. Again, thanks to Gma & Gpa for helping out with that task. Nathan & I must have been high on something when we let them pick out these pumpkins. They were HUGE! Next year, we're definitely putting more stringent size restrictions in place.

I love this picture of Emma. She was sooooo cold after her drizzly soccer game on Saturday morning. Gpa got her a hot chocolate and she used it to warm her cold, stiff fingers.

Adana put together quite an eclectic costume this year. I found this cute pony costume for her to wear, but that just wasn't "Adana" enough. She had to add orange wings, a princess tiara, and have Gma paint a stripe down her nose and a mustache on her face. She was SO pleased with it and had a great time at her preschool Halloween parade.

Emma's teacher required her class to read a biography about a famous person, then come to the school Halloween parade dressed as that person. They also gave an oral report to the class about who they were dressed up as. I didn't want to have to come up with TWO costumes for Emma (one for the biography and a "real" one), so I made sure she picked a character that would also provide a cool costume. She chose Queen Hatshepsut, the only female Egyptian Pharaoh. The costume looked fabulous and she did such a great job with her presentation to the class!

Micah decided to dress up for Halloween this year as a geriatric Superman. I sure wish I had his self-confidence. :-)

My brother & his family came up on Saturday and went with my kids to our church's Halloween party. Torah & I stayed home. (I really dislike Halloween, so I was thrilled to have an excuse to not go.)

They also had a Trunk-or-Treat at the church. Nathan dressed up as an Arab sheik and handed out candy from the back of our car.