~Merry Christmas~

I love Christmas time. I love the hustle and bustle, yet I'm finding I love it even more when God does something, in the form of 2 feet of snow, to make our busy lives come to a screeching halt. We are foced to just relax and truly enjoy each other. Ron has not been able to get to work since last Wednesday. The boys swim & dive practices/meets have been cancelled and the YMCA has shut down for the next 2 weeks so Zack does not have to work. Isaiah knows that mom cannot drive in this stuff so he has not even asked if he can go to daycare. So the Russell's took a little time to carpe diem (seize the day). Trust me...the kid in the picture above is ok. He was a little scared at the top of the jump and then was trying to fake us out at the bottom of the slope.. Well he was going so slow that he didn't even clear the first jump.

See... told you he was ok. This is like his 'Iron Man/Hulk' pose. He is really grunting and flexing his muscles.. Its a guy thing that I really don't understand!!

When I see this picture of Zack I hear Isaiah saying "Is that your baby, Zack mom?". Yep! he is my baby, he always will be no matter what. I love that one minute he is acting like a man and the next minute he is acting like a 5 year old in the snow. Like when I came home this weekend to see sled marks going down my roof and then feet print on the ground running away. He would have gotten away with it too except when I asked about it, Tyler said..."I told you it was a dumb idea Zack". Gotta love teens!!

Just plain- good looks - with this kid!! Look really close at those baby blues. I love em!! There is some people selling aluminum statues down at the corner by our house and after the snow came Tyler told me it looks like a scene out of Narnia... Good looks and a fabulous sense of humor with this one. He is a keeper.

Remember when I said the snow turns my family into 5 year olds? Ron stared at this jump for a lllong time before he did this. LOL!! I should have taken a picture of the landing.. Now that was funny.

You have to look really close at this picture. All 3 boys are on the sled but Isaiah is covering his face as if he doesn't want to see on the way down. Its only like 5 or 6 steps down. Ok so now that we have seized the day and maybe even the week. In all this relaxing...I didn't get my Christmas cards out this year. So I'm going to use this blog as my card to you and yours from us and ours....

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and I hope you find time during the holiday to just enjoy each others company while you are celebrating the birthday of our King!!

~Love, The Russell's

~AND MORE SNOW~

Are these girls the cutest? Bailey (below) doesn't want to come in at all and Rylee (above) is a lil more of a sissy. She can't be more than a few feet away from us for too long or she starts whimpering. They are loving the snow. Its funny how long one snowball can entertain the two of them.

How on earth Bailey knows when the pool is frozen enough to walk on is beyond me.

This is my new office (below). No more snow days for me. Ron dug out the Christmas lights so we could see them. He also plowed a nice little pathway for us to get around in the driveway.

It stopped snowing at around 4pm this afternoon. My favorite part is the trees right behind my house. The snow plow showed up this morning. I think someone must have wanted to go to work or something because they don't normally take care of us folk on the side roads. Ron was talking about ordering a plow attachment for his riding lawn mower....Now that would have been cute. I wasn't going to say it yesterday but after today....I sure miss our snowmobiles!!!

~Snow Day~

The measuring tape is reading 12" as of 7pm and its still coming down. I love that this stuff turns my entire family into 5 year olds. Well except for Isaiah...He's still 3 in every way shape & form. He had a good time today even without the appropriate snow clothes.

I'm sure you can tell what the theme was when building the snowman today....."Go BIG....or go home". Ron is about 6' and the ladder is 3' tall. This is a HUGE snowman. So big that his head fell off and is in need of repair already. We'll keep you posted on the snow we get tonight.. It'll be interesting to see if the kids have school tomorrow!!

TGIM

'Thank GOD its Monday'

I am very thankful for today. I can remember working outside of the home just a few short weeks ago (7 to be exact). Every Monday was the same thing. I would drop Isaiah off at daycare and head down 20th towards the trestle (in construction traffic that is going to be there for the next 2 years). The trestle is only 1.5 miles long and yet it can take 30 minutes to cross on some mornings...usually Mondays. Oh how I hated Mondays and that was only the first leg of my commute...then came the Everett Mall area.. then 164th slow downs and 196th slow downs.. well honestly that is where I got off the freeway to make sure I got my Starbucks before heading up to 220th. My how things have changed....

If you think about it: over the next 5 years we have the gift of 260 Mondays. Each one is the beginning of a fresh, new start of something. The beginning of a new week. No looking back to a not so appealing weekend. Or, a new start to get excited for the next weekend coming that will be as cool as the last weekend. A new time frame to get chores done. A new week of sporting events i.e. 2 more dive meets this week for Zack & Ty. Another attempt to gain more knowledge at my new job. Another Monday that I don't have to sit in traffic to go to work. Another Monday that my entire family is healthy and alive. Another Monday that I have a close bond with my husband and 3 boys. This is cool because 2 of those boys are teenagers. GOD IS GOOD TO BLESS ME WITH MONDAYS!!!