2009--A Year in Review--long post!

JANUARY

We welcomed the New Year with our favorite friends and went to Sonic for some ice cream on a very cold night!!

We took Zach and Savannah to the Monster Truck show with some of our friends Brad and Christy. Morgan stayed with my parents. Zach seemed to enjoy it a little more than Savannah.

We welcomed my nephew Brooks Paul Russell at the end of January. He is so precious.

February

Todd and I celebrated our 13th anniversary. I took him to the driving range!!

We also celebrated Mardi Gras! We had King Cake and Savannah ended up with the piece of cake with the baby in it. She's gotta buy the King Cake this year!

MARCH

It snowed the first of March! This little comedy routine landed us at Pri-Med later that evening!

It was fun to play in the snow!!

We went to watch my brother play baseball against Prattville Junior High School.

Zach went on a field trip to the Pretend Hospital.


APRIL

The kids spent the night with Uncle Loren and Aunt Jennifer.

Todd and I went to the Auburn "A-Day" football game.

Zach played baseball and was chosen to receive several game balls throughout the season.
MAY

Zach celebrated his 7th birthday!

We went to Jose's to celebrate Zach and his baseball friend's birthday!

Zach's Field Day

Savannah's Awards Day

School's Out

Zach and Mrs. Wingo

Savannah and Mrs. Jackson.

Rainy summer day!

Hanging out with friends.

Zach's baseball party! He won the MVP trophy!

Kite flying!
Sunday afternoon slip 'n slide

Todd and I volunteered at the School of Education Luau! We were able to go to the Luau for working.

Summer Day at Wonder World Family Amusement Center

Todd playing with the kids after work one day.


Playing at the park and creek in Millbrook.

JUNE

Playing at the Splash Pad in Montgomery.

Grilling out at the river.

Summer fun program at Bass Pro Shop

We learned to make homemade donuts.

Todd turned 33 in June. He was also laid off from his job on the same day!

JULY

Picnic at the Splash Pad

On our way to Orange Beach.
Zach after his first deep sea fishing trip
The Gang at the Beach

Zach and Todd went to the Lowe's build and grow program

Back yard camp-out!

AUGUST

Zach started football for the Prattville Youth Lions.

First day of school

September

Morgan's 13th birthday!

Morgan's birthday present--Tickets to the Taylor Swift concert

OCTOBER

Aubie came to the Early Childhood Center where Todd was doing some intern work.

NOVEMBER

We went to Branford, FL to visit Todd's Grandparents.

Championship game for the PYL

My Family!

DECEMBER

Our tree!

Savannah and her BFF Emily celebrating her 10th birthday!

Looking forward to a Happy 2010

End of Christmas Break

We have kept Landon for Alicia since the kids have been out for Christmas Vacation. Alicia's nephew, who is staying with them right now, also came over to hang out. The kids have really used the Wii and almost worn out Mario Kart and Family Game Night that we got for Christmas. However, after a week and a half at home with 5 kids playing and arguing over who is going to be controller one, Todd said that we were going to the park. The first day that we went we only stayed a couple of hours! It was COLD! Todd and the kids invented this game called Hide-N-Chase. They used the entire playground. They had so much fun and actually got hot!

The next day we packed a lunch and headed to the park with 6 kids! Savannah's friend Emily spent the night with us and tagged along. As we were walking out of the house to head to the park, it started drizzling! Well, we decided to go on anyway. We were the only people at the park when we got there. We had out picnic and the kids (and Todd) were ready to resume their game from the previous day. They played in the misty rain and finally it stopped and they had so much fun!! Especially since we were the only goof balls at the park on a cold wet day!

Savannah fell while being chased back to base!
Thursday afternoon, we loaded up and headed to Dothan. Todd's friend, Matt, invited Todd and Zach to go hunting with him. Zach was so excited! Matt lives in Dothan, so Friday morning, I took Zach and Todd to Matt's house and they headed to the hunting land, where they even spent the night! Zach loved it!! They didn't see anything while in their tree stand, but they were hunting, so they were happy!!

We are heading home in the morning and excited to get things back to our normal! Todd will be starting his internship on the 11th! He will be teaching 5th grade for 6 weeks then 2nd grade for another 6 weeks. He is so close to graduating! May 15th is the big day! I am so proud of him, I never thought that the time would come. Now, if I can just get done.

Another year has come and gone and as I look back on 2009, it wasn't THAT bad of a year! We made it through despite Todd being laid off! It is nice to look to the future at the beginning of a new year, to set goals and make plans. Here is to 2010 and the hopes of a better year!!

Holiday Updates

I must say that this is the cutest little face!! I just want to squeeze him! This is my nephew Brooks! He will be a year old next month! I can't believe it! I have gotten to see him a few times over the last several weeks and I have to say that I miss him this week! I hope to see him soon!!

The kids had a great time "playing" farm down at Todd's Grandparent's house! We had an interesting time riding in the wagon and watching sugar cane being pressed. I was also able to get some pictures of an old tobacco barn for my classroom. I thought that might make an interesting add-on to a lesson about farming one day, especially since most tobacco barns have been torn down.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal in Dothan with Todd's parents. There was enough food to feed an army, but that is usually how it is during Thanksgiving.

Friday, we left Dothan and headed to my parent's house in Clanton. We had a great time. We were also able to snap an "official" Russell family picture! I think that is a pretty good looking group of people. I can't believe how many of us there are! It is really nice when we are all able to get together, we always find something to get into, especially my brothers.

We wanted to go down to Dothan to witness this next event with our own eyes, but we didn't make the trip. Lucky for us, Mrs. Pam was able to snap pictures of our very own Santa's Helper, Santa Ron!

We had a good Christmas and our family elf kept us busy! He didn't get into much trouble this year, but he did manage to roll our living room and wrap up our doorway with wrapping paper and the kids had to bust through!

We went to my grandparents house for our annual Christmas dinner! It is always fun to get together with family that I don't get to see very often. We always play an entertaining game of "Dirty Santa"

Christmas afternoon we went to my parents house and as usual had a great time.

I love going "home," even though it is not actually my home (I have never lived there), there is just something about being home! I love to watch my kids interact with my parents and have my brothers give me such a hard time. I wish that it was easier for us get together more often!

Todd took me on my first hunting trip this past Saturday. I really had a good time. Believe it or not (I am not a big fan of outside!) I really want to go again. We only saw an old red fox, but it was still fun, until the sun went down and the hoot owls came out! It was kind of spooky.

This is a picture of us in the shooting house!

Today is Savannah Brooke's 10th birthday! I can't believe that she is 10 years old today! She is a wonderful kid and everything that I wish that I was. She is smart beyond her years and talented in so many ways! I couldn't be prouder to be her mother! I can't believe how fast she is growing up, it seems just like yesterday, I found out that she was breach and that I was going to have to have a C-Section!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAVANNAH!!

Well, that is the Holiday update for now, I am sure that there will be more to add in the coming days, because our life is never dull, but that is the way we like it!

Christmas Tree!

We went and cut down our Christmas Tree with the Goffs this past Sunday afternoon! We had a good time and found a tree we love. It is perfect in the house. We just need to get it decorated! Morgan has had the flu, Zach came home sick Monday, and Savannah is going to the doctor today! Hopefully we can get everything done this weekend!

Football

Last night was the last night of football practice! I can't even tell you how excited we are about it! Zach and Todd have been having practice three times a week since July! It is time for a break. The midget team has made it to the championship game, which is tomorrow. We are excited and hope that the boys can beat the #1 Millbrook Mustangs! If not, it is ok, they have worked hard and played great!

I have been working on making signs for us to hold up and I am going to paint the windows of the car!

The boys get to ride a bus over to Millbrook and get dressed in the high school locker room. They are so excited! That is such a big deal to 6 & 7 year olds!

Here are some more pictures from throughout the season.

AUBIE!!

Todd had to get a resource person to come to the ECC (Early Childhood Center) where he has had to do internship this semester. He thought that since it was football season, he would try to get some Auburn cheerleaders, a football player, and AUBIE!! The only person that he was able to secure was AUBIE! He checked with his teacher and she said that the kids and I could come to the center too! I was glad that school (for the kids) was out, so I didn't have one of my classes and the kids were out of school, and we were able to go! The kids had a great time seeing AUBIE up close! They also had a good time playing with the kids!

No Cute Title

The last few weeks have been so busy for our family. I am not sure how we manage to keep going but we do. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break, because I won't have to go to class for a week, but I will still have school work to do. I am just glad that we will have a little time to breathe and enjoy one another.

Last week, the Prattville Youth Lions Midget team won their first round of playoffs, so we play again this weekend. I really think that most people are sick of football. I know five people in my house that are ready for it to be over. We play in Tallasee at 9:00. Let's cross our fingers.

Savannah and Morgan are going to Dothan this weekend. So it will just be Todd, Zach, and me for the weekend. Should be different and quite. Just us and Zach.

I do ask that every pray for my family. My parents, brothers, and I are going through some stuff right now and know that we could all use your prayers.

Did We Vanish

No we didn't vanish, but some days I wish that I could. Here is a quick list of the things that have kept us so busy the last month or so:

Prattville Youth Lions Football practice and games
Savannah's tennis lessons
Morgan's guitar lessons
my 15 credit hours of school
Todd's 15 credit hours of school
the kid's school work
laundry
the list goes on and on

I just really have not had time to make a post. Besides that I figure that most people don't really care about all the school work that we do at our house. Over the next few weeks, I do have a few things that I want to update, but I can't do it right now because we just got home from a whirlwind trip of over 580 miles in less than 24 hours!!

Just wanted everyone to know that we are still alive and here, just that we are drowning in school work.

Update soon!!!