Hunter's short essay...really cute!

Hunter asked to type a paper for school (3rd grade, didn't have to, just likes to use the computer) and after he printed it out I asked to read it and he told me not right now. Well, he forgot to delete it after he printed it. This is really cute. He has always liked to write and draw. I have a nephew, Ethyn, who Hunter totally reminds me of. Ethyn also likes to write books. So here it is....word for word his own typing...oh, it is from when we went to Disney Land in 2007.

It is titled "The Matterhorn"
“RRAARR” “AAAAA” “Come on, you’ll love the ride. Just because people are screaming- it’s not going to be scary”, Dad encouraged me. This all started when my family went to Disney Land. The first ride I saw was The Matter Horn. It looked like a mountain and was tall. My Dad kept encouraging me to go on it.

“All right, I’ll think about it”, I told Dad. If I go on it, I thought, it might be freaky. And I don’t know if it’ll be fun. But if I don’t go on it, I won’t know what it’s like.

So I told Dad “Okay”. I went on the ride. “RRAARR” I heard it again. Then I saw a pair of bright red eyes. And then I saw a hairy white body. It was a mechanical Abominable Snow Man. “You were right, Dad, this is fun”, I admitted. I felt good about going on The Matter Horn. “I know, I’m always right”, Dad told me.




THE END

Isn't that cute! I am glad that he is learning that dad is always right.

It's still cold...

Two weekend ago's was the beginning of the Ididarod. It's where you kind of cheer on all the participants in the race. I think there were 80 participants, but we only made it through the first four. It was five degrees and the babies didn't love seeing the dogs as much as I thought they would. Greg was on the phone most of the time...surprise, surprise. So we left and went down to see the snow sculptures. I let the boys pick out their most favorite and we all got a picture by it. In my body I feel like it should be spring, but alas it is still in the 20's-30's. Soon, right? I guess when you have a really cold winter, then you have a very nice summer. I hope that's right.


Snow squirrel from Ice Age

Hunter & Aust with sled dogs in the background. (Hunter and Austin shaved their heads while we were in Hawaii. They tried cutting it by themselves and really the only thing to do was shave it off)

A lady thought it was funny that I was feeding Ryder his sippie, but he couldn't move his arms, she thought that we needed a picture of it.

Sweet little Peyton

Hunter, Aust and Greg (on phone)

Aust is now missing his two front teeth. When his first tooth was loose daddy numbed it, tied a string to it and the door and out it came. Today he came home from school with one buck tooth. It looked too horendous that Greg held him down and pulled it out. Not on the top ten list of how to take out a kids tooth, Dr. Harr!

Greg thought this would be funny...Ryder, not so much.

Ryder and Peyton playing in garage. They were in heaven with brooms, dustpans, hats and shoes to try on.

Peyton fell asleep on Greg. I am not sure if Greg has noticed at this point. Peyton sure is a daddy's boy!

Aaaagggghhhhh!!!!!!!!

Hunter and Austin never had a chance to crawl out of cribs. They were sleeping in a big bed and adjusted just fine. The twins have started climbing out of their play pens. I am not ready for this. I put them down for naps and 45 minutes later they are finally asleep. I went in every two minutes and put them back in their cribs, before they could destroy the room. Finally after just about giving up (yesturday I gave up, and after awhile they were quite so I checked on them and they were both asleep on the floor, amongst all the disaster) I decided that I would lay in Austin's bed. That way they would see me in there and wouldn't try to get out. Worked like a charm. Within a few minutes they were dead asleep! Now what do I do? Do I put them in a big bed since they can get out anyway? I used to love nap time because they were so good at laying down. I am sure this is just another phase that will end soon, right?

Hawaii 2009

Our trip to Hawaii was amazing. I think we utilized every minute. We were wide eyed every morning around 6am, ready to go, even though the boat wasn't docked yet. We visited Maui, Kona, Hilo, Kaui. We tried to do lot's of fun things, in case we never get the chance to come back. On Kaui we got to spend some time with Jason and Ann Reed. That was fun! Sorry about so many pictures, but I really couldn't choose and I still have so many more that I didn't put on the slideshow.

I hate Valentine's Day!

Normally I do. It's so grey outside and if you try to go out for a date, so is everyone else in the world. Not this year, a few of us made dinner for our hubby's. It turned out great, and no kids were involved! I must say Greg and the boys were really sweet to me. I felt like it was mother's day. They made me breakfast and did a cute little scavenger hunt to find my gift (which was an ipod, I broke Greg's running in the rain). Since the boys are getting bigger they can actually write fun things in the cards they gave me. Greg even spent the day downloading music to the ipod (he for sure gets to borrow it :)

Here are a few pictures of our night, and some not of our night. You know I always need to throw in a few of the babies being crazy.
Melinda and Greg

Randy and Katie

Robyn & Kent

David and Cindy

Greg, Kent & Randy

Katie and Robyn

Our new batman, Peyton, crying because he wants to see himself in the camera!

Ryder's new thing, sneaking in the bathroom and eating the toothpaste.

He's happy he got caught!

The babies are wanting to be just like their older brothers. Check out Peyton with his arms behind his head!

Reminiscing

I was going through some pictures and came across these. It is of our Halloween Bunco, while living in Phiily, at Holly Sanders. I am not sure where Deb, Allison, Annie, Alyssa, Callie and Traci are (maybe it's my last year and that's why your not at Bunco. I am losing it), but I loved remembering back. I truly miss my Philly friends.

Little Helps

I have found a few things that have made life so much easier for me. If you have something, please put it in a comment. I am always looking for ways to simplify my life!

1. Plastic bowls with straws in them for .99 cents! Now the twins don't dump as much milk all over the place. Dried milk is a pain to clean up.

2. Rubberbands on my cupboards! Life saver. Even if it is loose and they can get in it, they won't even try. Plus rubberbands are great for days when my pants feel a little too tight! Bonus!!

3. It's called "Present" from Philosophy, it's a face product. It temporarily takes away wrinkles. You put it on, let it dry for over 2 minutes and wa-la! Magic in a bottle is what I call it.

4. Hair putty styling paste. No matter what kind of hair day I am having, this stuff makes my hair do anything.

5. Thanks to Jessi for this one: SmartMouth Mouthwash. It's amazing. My breath doesn't reek near as bad as it used to!

6. Bag-a-bon: It's so great! I put it on the babies everyday because their skin doesn't quite agree with any weather. It's amazing stuff, I think it's for cow's utters, but the babies are so smooth a little later in the day.

7. Cold water, an apple and a cheesestick. I like to eat when I am in the car. If I carry these things in my car with me then I WILL eat them.

8. I have this brush made out of cactus. You rub it all over your skin before you shower and it's supposed to help with your circulation and cellulite. Even though it probably doesn't work, my brain doesn't know any better and it feels good to brush the crap out of your skin!

9. I love to get a pedicure, who doesn't? But I can't always afford to go everytime my nails chip. So I found these awesome strips, and a french manicure set at Walmart and now I can do it myself. It's not as relaxing, but definetly affordable.

10. I love the internet! I know there is a lot of scary stuff on it, but there is also so much great stuff. I don't ever have to leave my house to shop. It's all categorized. You can find anything on the internet. Can't live without it!

If you have anything to share, please do!

Heaven!

So we are in heaven here in Alaska! The kids have been off school for two days now because it has been 45 degrees! Do you wonder why the kids have school off? Well, we had tons of snow last month, then last week we were in the -20's, this week our degrees climbed up to 45 which makes it a 65 degree difference! Awesome, huh? The only thing not awesome about it is now the roads are ice, I can't even get into my garage because it's so slick. I did venture out today and picked up some friends for the boys. It's kinda funny, most kids get off school for too much snow. Not in Alaska! You get off school if the snow melts too fast! Gotta love it!


This is how the kids celebrate no school. Austin, Carter Russell, Hunter, Hunter Russell. Thank goodness for X-box...even the babies think they can play. We let them have a remote with no battery.


This picture was taken about two weeks ago. It's on my deck and we had tons of snow.


This is the same table on my deck today. The snow is melting fast.


This is my beautiful picture of Jesus that Greg got me for Christmas.

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

My mom turned 60 yesturday. My sister put together this slideshow of my mom in her prime. She has the brown, flipp-out hair. She also has the black swimsuit on. I forget that my mom was young once, not always mom. It's funny that our kids are going to think of us as only "mom" and not someone who had another life before them. My mom won a beauty contest in Spartenburg, South Carolina. She danced the Charleston for her talent. It was fun to see these pictures of my mom. Happy Birthday, mom, love you!

Christmas Break

I finally got my camera to down load some pictures to share of Christmas Break. I finally took a ski lesson with Robyn. That was fun, but then my bubble burst when we (Greg & two older boys) went to Aleyeska ski resort and I about killed myself. I will go back to the bunny hills at Hilltop from now on. Sadly we have no pictures of that. We spent Christmas Eve & New Years Eve at the Newell's. We had a lot of fun and love having them in Alaska. Although, everyone needs to tell Greg we need a bigger house so we can entertain at our house, we are running out of room!