27Jan
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Life is full of surprises and I especially love the sweet ones. I got such a surprise Friday night when my sweet husband got home from work. We sat down to dinner, said the blessing and started to eat our yummy Panino’s when Kip handed me a card. I opened the card and immediately noticed the card stock. Knowing that Kip didn’t stamp a card for me, I was a bit baffled, but soon brought to tears…of joy! It was a gift certificate to Simple Pleasures Stamp and Scrapbooking store. He shared some very sweet words with me which opened the flood gates even more. He knew that I was planning to go to S.P. Saturday with a friend and wanted me to have fun and buy some stuff for myself. I feel so blessed to have a husband who loves me and our kids so much. I will share pictures of my fun in a subsequent post.
http://www.simplepleasuresstamps.com/
18Jan
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…and promises. Gillian loves to paint rainbows and many of them are displayed on the fridge. 
I love to watch her and her brother paint. Their imaginations are so inspiring. I love to see how they view the world around them and bring them to life in a painting. When we paint, we pick someone to give a painted cards or picture to. The whole time we are creating this special gift we are talking and thinking of the special someone. Daddy gets lots of cards and paintings to take to work. So if you have received a specially painted card, just know we were thinking of you.
18Jan
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What a blessing to have two kids so totally different. Hayden loves to bake and craft with me and Gillian loves to have tea parties (chat) and craft. Today we are doing a little of both, as we are stuck inside again because of the cold weather.? We took advantage of some very ripe bananas and made banana muffins. Hayden loves to measure, pour, stir and taste his creations. It is so much fun to see the sense of accomplishment in his eyes when we do this. I
Take a look at my mini-baker and his wonderful creations.
18Jan
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So many puzzles, Gillian loves puzzles so we decided to have a little fun competition. I gave each of the kids their own 24 piece puzzle and had them race to see who can finish first.
It was a little unfair because Gillian had just done her puzzle three times earlier that morning and Hayden got one that he had never done before. Gillian did finish first but Hayden was very close behind. Gillian was really gloating about her win (learned from big brother of course).
But, it was the perfect time to teach a lesson on winning and losing graciously.
16Jan
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Each week someone in Hayden’s class gets to take Beau the Bear home. Each child documents in a journal what fun adventures they had that weekend with Beau. This past weekend was Hayden’s turn. Here is his entry:
1/12-1/16 Home with Hayden
Thanks to Martin Luther King Day I was able to spend an extra two days with Beau. Unfortunately, it was so cold that our activities were a little limited. I was hoping to have Beau teach me how to catch fish with my teeth and gather food for hibernation-time, but the snow kept us mostly inside. Beau and I did get to play with my dog, Zippy, and we got to meet our friends dog, Bailey when we dog sat. Beau slept with me every night and sat in on story time too.
My little sister loved Beau and he played with her a lot and spent a lot of time being pushed around in a a stroller. Beau helped us shovel snow and afterward we found out that he LOVES cheese pizza!
It was a great weekend with Beau and my whole family loved having him in our home!
~Hayden
16Jan
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My hope for this year is simple.? I pray that we will make time for what is most important in our lives:
God
Family
Friends
Fun
That we won’t get caught up in the things that can affect our spiritual walk.? That we will be good stewards with our time and money.? That we will be an encouragement to others and that all the things that make each of us weak will not be stumbling blocks for us or those around us. That we can raise our children up to value God’s word and all that He created.
A few things I would love to accomplish as a wife/mother.
Be organized
Be faithful to the scriptures
Be loving, caring and nurturing.
Get scrapbooks caught up, enjoy my hobbies but to keep them in perspective.? Keep journaling the things that are dear to me, my family.? Read more, finish our basement, finish the yard.
15Jan
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A few weeks into the new year and I am taking the time to look back at 2006, the blessings and the challenges. So many adventures for us this year.
1. Santa’s workshop
2. T-ball for Hayden
3. Swim lessons for the kids
4. First family camping trip
5. Big birthday bash for the kids
6. Hayden starts pre-school
7. Gillian rides trike
8. Fun nature hikes
9. VBS
10. Choir & Pioneer clubs
2006 was a fun year for Kip and I with the kids, we really enjoyed watching each of them grow, mature and enjoy life. I look forward to many more firsts with our kids and continuing many new traditions that we started.
13Jan
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For better for worse….
Our goal for this year is to be able to journal the many blessings that we live each day. From the tiniest snowflake that brings much joy, to the biggest events that can make us cry. We hope that you will check us out from time to time as we will be updating this project daily. We are really in the construction phase but, have a few things for you to check out. Please leave us your comments, they will not get published on our site unless we approve it.
Happy New Year and God Bless You and Yours.
~CSRussells
13Jan
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We have been blessed with lots of snow this winter and this week a lot of it started melting off. At this discovery Hayden says “Mom, it doesn’t feel like Winter anymore” I asked why and he said “because all of the snow is gone”. I shared with him that we are supposed to get more snow this weekend. We prepared ourselves once again to be home bound for a few days, as earlier this week the weather reports were warning us that we could get another foot to 18 inches of snow. We were a bit disappointed as it is always fun for our family when we get to play in the snow and when there is no where that we have to be.
We all expected that school would be canceled again today, but were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t. We have about two inches and that is all for now, it is bitterly cold and it is still snowing lightly, but we are hoping for much more tonight.
13Jan
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Both of my little monkeys love to hear stories and recently they have taken to telling some of their own. I have to tell you that I am amazed at how well they can formulate a very interesting story. My thought is at some point is to get their stories on our website. It is a dream to get some of the fun stories Kip and I make up for them published too. I love this activity that we do as a family. It helps them formulate thoughts, ideas and encourages them to use their beautiful imaginations. It is amazing what we learn about the little people that they are while they tell their stories. There is one story that I started about a little boy named Hayden and his little dog, Fluffy. Since the introduction of this story into our “library”, each of the kids has added their own renditions and adventures based on this story. Gillian changes the dogs name to Funny and it is a little girl named Gillian, not a little boy named Hayden who owns the adventurous pooch! It has quickly become my favorite part of our nightly routine. What will Fluffy and Funny do tonight?
