Caleb And His Daddy

Just chilling together.
Horsing around on the bed together.
Look at those happy faces:-)

Caleb's Last Name

Caleb is doing so well with recognizing and writing his letters. Now he can actually write his last name and spell it to you to. When we play in his room now, he says he wants to do homework. We get out the crayons, markers, paper and scissors and go to work. We're so proud of him. We got him on Christmas night and just dropped him off a couple of hours ago. It's amazing how much we miss him already. He's so much fun having around. Next time we see him, he'll be four years old. The second copy has both of his names.(sort of)

Baby Girl Or Boy?

We watched Maggie this morning while Amanda and Andrew went to find out the sex of their baby. We waited anxiously for the news. They're having a baby...BOY!!!!!!! It's a boy!!! No names thought of yet. We were so sure it was a girl. That's all we know around here:-) Congratulations to Amanda, Andrew , and Maggie:-) May they all be healthy and happy!

After Presents And Dinner

I've been trying to upload a video of them dancing to "Fire Burning On The Dance Floor" but for some reason, it won't load. So, I just threw in a couple of still shots. They were so funny to watch. Caleb was doing some breakdancing moves. He's pretty good at it too. I wish we as adults had as much energy as they do. Well, here they are just spinning and laughing in this video, before the dancing got started.

A Special Christmas For Margaret And Caleb

The Tripps came over on Saturday for a nice big dinner. Caleb and Maggie opened more gifts and played together. Maggie loved her new dress up trunk and Caleb loved "more" Bakugans. That's all he kept saying he wanted for Christmas. I guess he got a package at his Mom's house and Amanda bought him some more. He is amazed with these things. As you can see Maggie tried on some pretty dress up clothes. She is so funny. She walked around in these little heeled shoes and put everything she passed by, in these bags she was carrying around. They both shared quite well. Caleb actually tried out the tiara and did some cheering for us and he allowed Maggie to use his Bakugans. They do well playing with one another.

Another New Tattoo

He loves tattoos and chose the spot to put it on. I told him to show me some muscle. Take a guess what the tattoo is...yep, it's from Lightening McQueen! Oh yes, and he wanted to make sure we could see his freckle. Can you spot it?

A New Lightening McQueen Tent

We saved a few Christmas presents for Caleb to open, so we could have another Christmas that Maggie and Caleb could share together. They were due to come over in the late afternoon. So, after breakfast and playing with some of our other Christmas presents, I couldn't wait to give him this one gift. (I'm worse then the kids.) I was excited to try it out and knew he would love it. Which he did:-) I wasn't sure how he would do sleeping in it, but he did a great job. It's pretty sheer, so you can see right through it. It doesn't get dark when the lights go out, so it worked out great. It's pretty cool.

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas To Family And Friends

Christmas Eve At The Tripps

We had so much fun at my Sister's house. I haven't laughed so hard in years. I don't know if my sister was just tired or if this pregnancy is making her loopy, but she was hysterical. We laughed so hard:-) We visited for awhile, played with Maggie before she went to bed, opened gifts and played games. It was a great night! I love you Manda!

Our Russell Family Christmas

We all had a wonderful Christmas together. It was great to see the little ones get so excited for Santa Claus. Thank you everyone for everything. We love you!

Our Russell Family Christmas Eve

Santa's coming, Santa's coming!!!

The Candy Cane Train

This was a train ride from Bath to Wiscassett. The train had carolers, Santa's Elves, hot cocoa, cookies, story book readers, and best of all Santa Claus himself made an appearance. It was all aboard The Candy Cane Train. It was a beautiful ride. The kids enjoyed watching out the window and wishing the train would go faster.

Our Christmas Tree

Well here is the finished product. David and I got the tree on Thursday night. We put it up, put the lights on and waited for Caleb and Alyssa to help decorate. Well, Alyssa had to work and Caleb was more interested in going through all the decorations and leaving them for me to put on. Maggie helped me a little, not a lot but more than anyone else did:-) I think it came out pretty nice. Some of these decorations are David's when he was a child. A lot of them are decorations, that the girls have made through the years. I love going through them every year and just remembering when my girls were that young. What a difference a camera makes. The top is with my camera, the bottom two are with my iphone. Not as great as they say.
What a ham!!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dad and Donna, Happy Birthday to you!! I was going to have David and I sing on video for you, but I figured just having you imagine it would be so much better:-) We hope you both have a great day! We look forward to spending some time with you in a couple of days. Love, Michelle and David and Caleb too. xoxoxoxoxoo

Caleb's Name and School

Caleb is learning so much at school. Moving him out of daycare and putting him into pre-school was a great change for him. Every week that we see him, he's learned something new. He now knows how to spell his name out loud and recognizes some letters. He can actually write his name now too, as you can see. I bought him a white board and he uses it all the time. The first one was written at Grammie and Grampie's house, practicing with his Daddy. He's doing a great job. He's such a big boy:-)

Some More Of Our Weekend

There are a couple of pics, with Caleb and Maggie playing in his room on Saturday. I also had to get a shot of my beautiful anniversary flowers.( My favorite color is yellow.) I can't believe a year has already gone by. I'm very lucky to have met and married such a wonderful and caring human being. He is one of a kind!
What a beautiful day on Sunday. We did what we could to stay outside and enjoyed every minute of it:-) We played baseball, soccer, rode scooters, played ball with the dog. Alyssa came over to play too, until the two of us went off to the movies. We saw The Blind Side. What a great movie!

Another Visit To The Bounce Zone

Thanksgiving At The Russells

More Old Photos

Alyssa's 21st Birthday

We went to Margarita's to celebrate, but I couldn't find my camera. It was too dark in there for my IPhone camera, so we got some pictures before and after. Alyssa loved her gifts and had a good night with her family.

Maggie Loves Her Georgie

Building With Daddy And Grampie

We visited Grammie and Grampie on Sunday. Grammie brought out the blocks and the boys started building. Of course Caleb couldn't wait to break it down. They got it pretty tall.

Check out the sneakers. I bought these sneakers, because they were on clearance and so cheap. The thing is they are two sizes too big! I figured I 'd put them away and he'd grow into them. Oh no, he saw them and wears them every time he's here. I thought for sure he'd fall and break his neck, he insists they're fine and they're cool and they make him run really fast. How can I argue with that?

I know it's a little early for Christmas elves, but this is so funny, I couldn't resist. Enjoy our little family dance.

Old Pictures

I am just learning how easy it is to scan old pictures. So, here are some of my girls before digital cameras or at least until I had one. Here are Ashley and Alyssa in about 89 or early 90.

Michelle Marie at the Tripp camp, when she first got her Cubby. And with them is Sophie, Cubby's sister. This is my Dad's dog(and Alyssa's).
Ashley and I posing together, before going to a friend's wedding. She is only in Jr. High in this picture!

Alyssa's Graduation 2007. Ashley came home from Florida for her sister's graduation.(I can't get this one to rotate:-(, sorry!) I think she's been home once since then.Even since this picture Michelle has grown a few inches, she's taller than Alyssa and me. This one is of my brother Chris and Alyssa.Ashley's Graduation in 2004. WOW!!!
This is my sister's wedding, July 2006. It's a rarity to get the three girls and I all in one photo. They've changed so much over the past couple of years. And my beautiful little sister, the blushing bride.

Jumping In The Leaves

He looks like a lefty with that bat. He is a great hitter:-)

Nothing more fun than jumping in a pile of leaves on a beautiful fall day!

Maggie and Caleb at the Park

What a gorgeous day for the first of November. I got to spend it outside with my two favorite people. We walked to the park, well Caleb didn't, he rode the new found scooter. Everything Caleb did Maggie did. She chased him everywhere and did everything he did. On this swing, on that swing, up the slide, down the slide. Once she caught up, he'd start again. All of a sudden Caleb noticed the tennis courts were empty, so I said, "Let's go run around in there." Caleb wondered where all the tennis balls were. We told him you have to bring your own. Once again he ran she chased him and they laughed together.

Caleb Tries The Scooter

I had forgotten we had scooters in the basement from when the girls were younger. Caleb saw them and had to try it. You can lower the handles, so I adjusted it to him and he did pretty well. He rode it off and on for most of the day. What a beautiful day it was!!


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The Fun After Trick Or Treating

After we came back from trick or treating, we stayed at Abby and Kirk's for awhile. We ate and then the kids played together. Cole has this Jump-a-lene thing downstairs and they had a ball running and jumping into that.

Happy Halloween

Here is our little Batman. We went over to a friend's house for trick or treating. Cole and Caleb have played together before. Amanda was going to meet us there later with Maggie. She didn't do the trick or treating thing, so she came later. The boys enjoyed themselves walking around to the houses. Caleb really enjoyed seeing all the other kids dressed up. He was listening to all the comments Batman got and at one point he said to me, Shell they like me, they like Batman. He was so proud. We didn't see any other Batman! When we got back to Abby's, Caleb wanted to give out the candy. So, he did and had a great time doing it. He and Maggie would sit on the steps and wait and say, where are more people? They had Halloween music playing and he even did a little dancing, while waiting. After dinner they played together for quite awhile. I'll put those videos up tomorrow. Little Batman was exhausted and went right to bed when we got home.