Oh Aren't They Cute!!!

Amaya is Jordan's keeper. She is always willing to play with him and keep him entertained so that I can either wrestle Caden to change his diaper or clean up whatever mess Caden has made or put Caden in time out. Poor Caden. I seem to complain about him a lot. He's just at a hard age and I think it's only exacerbated by the fact that there is another little one who also needs attention.

Here is my little family. Yes. Amaya is wearing a turban. It's called a Turbie Twist and she was fresh out of the tub when I took this picture. Also, if you look at Caden and Amaya you will notice their eyes are focused on something else. They just could not keep their eyes off the television long enough for me to take the picture. At least they held their smiles.

Chasey Shad, Caden Shawn and Jordan Casey. THE MEN!

Not much going on this week. So far. Last week was a fun one, though. We had Amaya home with us most of the week with a horrible cough. I took all three to the doctor's office on Wednesday (fun. let me tell ya) and found out that Jordan and Amaya had bronchitis and Caden had yet another ear infection. So, we are still finishing off three bottles of antibiotics. Chase and I have been fighting it but I had to get a prescription of antibiotics myself yesterday (thanks Mom!) and hopefully we will all be better soon.

I have had so much trouble with my ears and throat the last three or four weeks that I haven't really been able to sing. It's driving me crazy! One of my favorite things to do is turn up the music and just sing: in the car, at home, wherever I am (where others are not, of course) and I just haven't had the voice for it lately. It's my week to sing on the worship team at our gathering on Sunday and I really hope I am able to.
Today Caden told me he broke his toe. He was concerned because apparently a piece of his toenail came off. It took some convincing to get him to realize he was okay and he was toe was, in fact, not broken. He's funny.
Today he dropped something and proceeded to exclaim, "Oh my gorsh. Oh my gorsh."
Also, although I hate to admit it, he has also been known to say, "OH CAP!" It's possible that, "OH CRAP!" is something he hears his mother exclaim every now and then without thinking. I'm working on it.
Amaya talked with a friend from school on the phone when she got home from school. It was really the first time and it was cute. They talked for all of twenty seconds and then it was over. I think the conversation went something like, "Amaya?"
"Emma?"
"Hey what are you doing?"
"I'm watching TV. What are you doing?"
"I'm a my grandfather's house."
"Oh. Okay. Bye."
"Bye."

Kids are fun.

Spring Break me off a piece of that

We got to spend a lot of good time with friends and family over Spring Break. In fact, it was the best Spring Break I've had since I was in school myself. We spent Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday in Austin visiting my grandparents and other family that live there. It was their first time meeting Jordan and he was so very impressive with his constant spitting up. I'm sure they were loving that. Jordan is quite the accomplished spitter-upper. It has gotten to the point that I don't want other people to hold him because I feel so bad when he covers them in spit-up. YUCK! There are some other moms out there who I know understand but I still don't think that means they enjoy being spit up on, but, as someone pointed out to me at least it's not breast milk spit up. And, I guess that is a good point, juice from another person that is than regurgitated onto someone else.....that does sound gross. ;) Oh well, at this point there isn't an hour that goes by that I'm not cleaning up something that is coming out of at least one of my kids. Especially with it being cold and flu season. Again I say, "YUCK!".

So, back to Spring Break...we got home from Austin on Tuesday afternoon and spent some time at home just unpacking and doing laundry. Wednesday we got up and were excited to meet up with Heidi, Rachel, Ian and Hudson to travel to Richland Hills CofC to play with Julie Kiser and Ryan. Very cool place and FREE!! We watched the kids play (well, I spent some time keeping Caden from escaping into the dark corners of that enourmous building and never finding him again) and then we to "Chick-a-Lay" as Caden calls it to eat lunch. The kids had fun and were so tired when we got home. So, home for naps and then off to the Chappotin's front yard for a cookout. Just a few of us from house church and some of Chris and Heidi's neighbors hanging out in their front yard eating, talking, playing and chasing Caden, Ryan and Grace. Jill was smart and kept Kylie in her stroller for the most part.
I didn't get many pics of the first half of the week. Too busy living and playing but here is one of Caden. He's either sharing Cheetos or stealing them. I'm not sure which.

Amaya's favorite thing when we're in the car is to get the music cranking and Caden singing and dancing with her. He loves it to because he loves any chance to be silly with Amaya. His face is so full of joy and admiration when he watches Amaya. He wants to do everything she does and say everything she says. And, of course she just finds it delightful when she can get him to say and do what she wants him to.

Thursday was lunch in Cleburne with Heidi and Rachel. We met up again because we all decided Mexican food sounded good on Wednesday but had already promised Chick-a-Lay to the kids. So, we satisfied our craving at Barrara's (I can't spell that) on Thursday. Amaya spent the night with Nana and Duke that night and the boys were in bed by 7:45. I spent the evening at the Osborn's with the Owens. Fun times.
Friday we finally got a chance to go see my grandmother in Arlington. She lives so close but we hadn't seen her since Christmas. With our school schedule, her working schedule and all the sickness that's been going around we just haven't been able to find a day to get together. So, Friday we went to visit with her. These are pics from her house. Caden wasn't doing much except looking pretty cute in this picture. He did feel that the beads made him "pitty" (pretty) and who can argue. He does look pretty. Also, the cookie he's eating had probably been licked by both of my grandmother's dogs before he decided to eat it himself. I would have a picture of her on here but she does not allow pictures to be taken of her. NO FUN!

Little Jordy and Nana at Grandma Pat's house. He enjoyed himself immensely. Can't you tell?

Amaya had to find something to occupy herself while we were there. She put a crocheted toilet paper roll cover on her head, a St. Patrick's Day headband and to top it all off two bright yellow, used ear plugs. You can see them in the pic and I have no idea what made her think, "Oooh. Festive! I'd like to wear those on my head somehow."
And to end this and to maybe redeem Amaya a little for the previous picture.....

Didja get me some chaps?!?!

Today was the one day of school for the entire year that Kindergarten did not have to wear uniforms. It was Western Day and we were just so very excited. We didn't have anything very "westerny" so I went to the store and found Amaya some boots and a cute shirt. We already had the purple cowgirl hat thanks to Gram. I got home and told Amaya about the "Cowboy Store" I bought her stuff at and the first thing she asked me was, "Didja buy me some chaps?" I could not get the scene from the movie "Son-In-Law" with Paulie Shore where he is trying on clothes and he tried chaps without pants or underwear on. It was funny that she even knows about chaps.
You would think that on this day they would have had all of kinds of fun cowboy activities planned, but according to Amaya, they just wore cowgirl clothes and had a normal day. I guess that was enough of excitement for these little guys. Or maybe I'm just used to preschool and they don't really do that kind of stuff when you're in big kid school. The important thing is Amaya had fun with it and was happy to get to dress in "regular clothes" as she called them.

Bring back those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer....

Okay, so it's not summer that I'm thinking about just lazy, crazy, hazy days in general. I've been filling an SD card up with pics of the kids for Chase's Mom's birthday. We got her a digital photo frame and I'm giving it to her with a card completely full of pictures. I've got everything starting back to when Amaya was born.....

This is our little Sumo Baby. Wasn't she precious? ;) She had creases all over her (you know, like when you wake up and the sheets have left an imprint on your face) from being crammed in my stomach. She was a big girl. 9 lbs. 13 0z. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, and you're right: I AM an amazing woman! :)

I also realized that Jordan does favor Amaya. They don't look exactly alike, but they do look more alike than Caden and Jordan do. Let us compare.....

Okay. Never mind. Now that I look at all three lined up like that I don't think they look that alike. They are all adorable, though.

So, sifting through the pics I have found so much great stuff. Allow me to share:

Caden at Sea World. Look at that smile. I love Caden's smile.

Ghost-y Caden and Pumpkin 'Maya. I showed Caden this picture and he thought Amaya was holding a bunny.

Amaya and Caden's first gingerbread house.


Amaya's 2nd Birthday. We had a Lion King party. It was her FAVORITE movie at the time.

And, last, Amaya's 1st birthday. I LOVED her little overalls. My neighbor loaned them to me. Her little girl had turned one the year before. SO cute.

And, now, the latest pics of little Jordan Casey!

Valentines and Vomit

We've had a crazy February. It's gone by fast and we've had a lot of fun and some not so fun. We've had two weekends of children with yucky tummies (I HATE IT!) and hopefully are on the mend for a while. I went back to work this month two days a week at The Little Hearts Preschool teaching music and being an aide (which is code for butt-wiper and janitor). Valentine's Day was fun. Both kids had parties at school and were able to give and receive Valentine's from friends. Mom went to Family Christian Stores and found some cute Valentines that said things like, "God love is powerful" and "God loves you". Very appropriate for little ones to give I thought. Amaya filled out all her Valentines and it took some convincing to get her to agree to buying Valentine's instead of making them out of construction paper. Now, don't misunderstand me. I LOVE doing things like making your own Valentines. But, Amaya has 19 other children in her class. Last year she had eleven. And Mommy ended up making 8 out of the 11 Valentine's after Amaya got tired after just three. So, this year I was voting for taking the easy option what with having a newborn and CADEN. And with our box of ready made Valentines we had enough left over to give to everyone at church. So, it was a very fun time for all of us. And Caden has really come to realize is love of "Chok-it!" (chocolate)
So, being back at school.....that has been interesting. I really enjoy being there - once I get there.
Getting there is the hard part. Amaya has to by at school by 7:40. I need to leave by 7:50 to be on time and that means having everyone ready for the day and out the door by 7:30. I make lunches the night before. Get everyone's bags ready. Clothes laid out. Well, my goal is to do all these things the night before. Sometimes I fall asleep. So, it's something we're working on. We'll get there. At the end of the day you can only do what you can do, right?
So, here's some pics from this month:

This is Amaya before her school talent show. Her class did a dance to "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson. Interesting song choice I thought. But, still, fun to watch. We would have had pictures of the actual event but Caden dropped my camera on our tile floor and I then stepped on it. Broken camera. I've got to stop stepping on my electronics. It's not good for them. The PTA of Deer Creek Elementary had the talent show as a fundraiser and Amaya was so excited. There were TONS of people there and we ended up standing in the back of the auditorium but we got to see her perform and look grown-up and so little all at the same time.

Just a few pics of our last house church. The best thing to do before the grown-ups even attempt to eat is get all the children food, drink, napkins and seated. Of course, we still get up and down the entire time but at least we try. We are a house church of twelve adults and 13 children. Actually that number doesn't seem so bad when you look at it in black in white. It's the full color, live version that can make you a little overwhelmed. But, what a blessing and and a joy it is to see these children being family and growing up in a community of faith and seeing the examples of not just their parents but the adopted mommies and daddies as well. We love our kids and wouldn't change the way we do church for anything.

So, that was February for the Russell's. I have to go now because Caden is eating chapstick and just dumped out an entire bottle of Mr. Bubbles bubble bath on his floor, rug and rocking chair. How ironic that I just wrote about the blessing of children and now look what my little blessing just did......AAAAaaaahhhhh!!!!!!

100 Swedish Fish

Just want to apologize before you watch. I have a coughing attack in the middle of the video, but she was so cute and doing so well that I didn't want to redo it. So, you have my lovely coughing. And if you know me you know how lovely that sound can be.
Sorry!

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school and we are excited and anxious to see what wonderful things this day has in store for us. Well, that's mostly Amaya who feels that way. There has actually been quite a bit of preparation involved in this day. First, we had to decide on a snack that we could send a hundred of to school. We picked Swedish Fish, as you heard in the video, and then found out that it wasn't supposed to be candy. I suppose I should have known that, but I never thought about it. Amaya wanted to take something she really enjoys. She picked Swedish Fish, so we took Swedish Fish. Next we had to get a hat (thanks Mom) and decide on a hundred things to put on the hat. At first, we thought jelly beans but that became jelly beans and one gorilla. Which turned into jelly beans, a gorilla, a fairy and a dime. And it just went on from there to our version of an "I Spy" hat. So, tomorrow is the 100th Day of School Celebration and Amaya can't wait!!

Caden's Second Birthday Party

Last Friday night we got together at my parent's house to celebrate Caden Shawn's second birthday! We've been excited for Caden to have his "Doooooor-othy" party for awhile now and it did not disappoint. ALMOST all of our closest friends and family where there and we had a fun night of eating Frito pie and just enjoying watching the kids play together.

Duke takes Caden by surprise to get a pictue of the birthday boy.

Caden and Gram

Emma, Torie and Amaya enjoying some "girl time" away from the little brothers!

Caden's favorite part: singing "Happy to you!" and blowing out the candle.

Cake eating....so cute.

Chase and Ryan help Caden open and enjoy his presents!

Caden opens his present from Papa and Nana: Thomas the Train books!

We LOVE books at our house!

Aubrey (in the corner).

Charlie, Handy Manny, Ryan and Caden put Caden's new tools to good use.

A (almost) happy end to a fun night!
All the brothers and sisters get together for picture.
All cooperate, except the birthday boy.

Ryan, Torie, Ashtyn, Aubrey, Amaya, Caden, Emma and Charlie

To all of you who were there we appreicate and love you so much for a being a part of this special day in Caden's life. To all of you who couldn't be there know that you are missed and that we love you!