My Birthday Lunch at WUBC

How special I felt to see all the care abs details on setting a table for my bday lunch at work. Miss Barbara did it all and I am so touched.

Christmas

Will "this is not the best Christmas because of Connecticut."
Looking forward to Aunt Michelle and Jeff coming today.
Trey reading "twas the night before Christmas" and the Bible, Luke chapter 2 to us on Christmas Eve.
Trey showing Katherine how to ride her new bike.
Calling Grandma and Grandpa to say thank you for all our neat gifts. And $200 cash for Will!
Will playing MLB Spot it with Katherine (and its for 8+ so Will let's her play it the 4 year old way).
Wearing Rudolph noses that our neighbors the Paul's gave us.
Mommy and Katherine wearing their matching aprons baking Cinnabons (Russo/Rosen family tradition)
Wearing new pjs on Christmas Eve that Aunt Michelle sent us (which she does every year).
Going to candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve.
Will is maturing so nicely. He is seeing glass half full and being so silly and funny.
Trey being so sweet and giving one of his new pink (his fav color) tennis balls to our neighbors dog.
Trey tries on his new basketball shoes from Santa before opening anything else. Then it's on to super skinny jeans and sperru shoes from Grandma and Frandpa. He loves fashion and has a good eye for it.
Bobby and Will, two peas in a pod, napping mid-morning. Will amongst the mess of presents and wrapping on the floor. Think they were exhausted after hours and hours of analyzing nfl stats.
Christmas Eve dinner at Little Pappasitos.
Cut and bake sugar cookies baked on Christmas Eve to leave for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.
Hosting Christmas dinner with Russos and Rosens on 22nd. Good family time, homemade Lasagna, lots of apps and desserts and bday cake for me. Made blessing bags for the homeless. Every driver took 2 home to keep in their cars. Setting a beautiful table thanks to Miss Barbara!!! Our gingerbread house as the centerpiece.
Will "I'm going to relax amongst my abundant toys!"

Bundled up

It was cold this am so Katherine got herself ready! Love all her patterns!!

Trey and heaven

Last night, the first day bts after the tragedy in Connecticut, I was in kitchen sweeping and everyone was upstairs getting ready for bed. Trey came down and grabbed some paper and started doing some graffiti. I kept on sweeping and asked how he was and he said fine. I asked if he wanted to talk abt anything abt the shootings. He said no but then said "I heard in heaven you can do anything you want". I said "oh yes, it's beautiful and you can be with your family forever." He said "oh good, I get to finally meet Grandma Barbara." I wanted to cry but said "oh yes Trey and you know she already knows you because she can see you from heaven and I am sure she loves every bit if you." He kept on drawing. I am so thankful he thought of her when he thought of heaven. Sweet boy!!

Here's a pic of his normal, goofy center self but under that surface of attention-getting and a loud personality is a sweet and affectionate boy.

Will compliment

Just finished dinner (i made Jacob's stew) and Will was cleaning up his plate. He said "that was so good - as usual mom!." So sweet. I also got lots of "I love you" s too during dinner. Love that boy!!

Here's a recent pic of him being goofy in the car. Look how big
his legs have gotten. No wonder he has leg cramps at night.

Thursday Dinner: Trey story

We went to grab a quick dinner at Molinas. I brought baseball trivia cards and Bob and the boys played (I had nothing to contribute). Then Trey said "mom ask me a question!" I said "what kind?" He said "any!" I asked him "who discovered America?" He answered "Jesus!" Sweet boy does have a heart for Jesus!

Gingerbread House Decorating

Our yearly tradition at our church was today. With my new job, I had to work it so Bob was solo with kids. They did a really nice job. Will had the most stamina with it.

Sweet , and now also very funny, Will

Yesterday I went shopping alone for about 5 hours and Bobby texted this to me:
Will: when's mom coming home
Bobby: in about an hour and a half. Why? Do you need something?
Will: No. I just miss her.

I LOVE that sweet boy! He has also gotten very funny and changes his voice and body posture when saying something funny. Here he is one morning getting ready for school. The other picture is he and his buddies Sean and George being "nerdy" at the park during Thanksgiving break. They played football like that too! Bobby and I love that he's getting confident and comfortable being silly.

"Conversations"

I had bought this games years ago, when Will & Trey were little.   I found it and put it out.  Our first night with it at dinner, these are some of the cards we drew.  We now pull it out most times we are together eating at the table.  It is usually Trey who pulls it out.

 

 

#1 Katherine answers "to grandma and grandpa's".

#2. Trey says "having a family".

#3. Will says "anything that kids can have."

Bobby says "water".

 

Trey - "Elites (nike socks), flat tops and shoes."
Will - "books"
Katherine ' "desserts"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Making place cards for dinner today.  Trey was in charge of writing our names.  He decided to do  formal names for everyone.  Katherine picked up the acrons yesterday and I glued them on each card.

Miss Barbara Quotes

Home has got it be safe.

I can care for you but I don't have to carry it for you.

Rules without relationship causes rebellion.

Miss Barbara quote

"Your house is the training ground for life."

Her challenge to me and Bobby - what behavior are you accepting or allowing in your home that will not be acceptable behavior when they are out in the world?
WOW!!!

Will's Football Game

Dads text to the family about your game Will.  He is very proud!!!

Will's team gave the Wolverines their first loss today and reclaimed at least a share of first. They are now 5-1. Will played well against a tough offensive line. He only had a couple tackles but held the nose well and blocked well. He had two carries for about 10 yards. Played the whole game except kickoffs. Team showed a lot of character being down 7-6 at half then controlling the ball for at least 15 minutes of the 20 minutes in the second half. Funny how sports go. Last weekend was one of the worst and this one has been the best. Michelle: how's Sam doing. I plan to make his game next week.

Trey Football Game

Here's a text dad sent to the family about your game last night.  He is a very proud dad!!!!

Ok, I haven't bragged on the boys lately but tonight I have to share. Trey's team has had a rough season as you know. He's played well but they were 0-4-1 coming into his 'Friday Night Lights' game tonight against one of the better teams in the league. Well it all came together for the Freshman Ducks as the entire team played great. We won the game 24-7. Oh, and Trey played great defensively containing one of the biggest backs in the league (the kid is Will's size), not letting him get outside of him and making alot of open field tackles. But that's not the highlight. That would be the four touchdowns he scored accounting for all their points. The last was on the final play from scrimmage when he returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown with 3 seconds left to put an exclamation point on the night. As usual Trey took it all in stride but dad is beaming with pride! Tomorrow Will gets to play both ways and he's very excited to be playing defense. They have a tough game against the first place team . He's supposed to get a few carries as well. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

Trey's 8th Birthday Party

Happy 8th Birthday Trey!!!

It was a week ago today that your party ended.  It was a sleepover and I let you 9 of your closest friends thinking about 5 would end up coming.  Of course that was not the case.  You are a boy with many friends - ranging in ages 5 to 16 - that all but one said yes.  So that night we had 11 boys in the living room on our floor, in sleeping bags. 

Before the sleepover we borrowed the church van and all headed to Sky Zone to jump.  When we got back home, our plan was to "Ding Dong Ditch" our neighbors Claire and Myra.   On the way home in the van we were talking about a plan to surprise the girls and one of the boys said "can we take off our shirts?"  I said "of course".  Trey LOVES to be shirtless!  The minute we got home, a herd of boys ran upstairs, got dressed and came down with their shirts on their heads, bare chests and baseball hats over their shirts.  You couldn't have asked for a more perfect "Trey Event"!!!  You all then went crazy up and down the block, Ding Dong Ditching, riding scooters and chanting "Hippies #1".  That chant went on ALL NIGHT!!!!!!

Here's a picture of the gang, ready to head out into the night!!!

It was a wonderful night for you.  I am so happy you are my son!  God gave me a very precious and special gift when he gave me you.

Love, Mommy

Katherine's Costume "Photo Shoot"

Katherine,

The boys had just left the house at 7:30 and I've been wanting to take pictures of you in your Halloween costume.  Your 4th birthday party is going to be a costume party and I wanted to take pictures of you in your costume for the invitation.  The timing was perfect - you were so excited to try your new costume on and I was ahead of schedule getting ready for work.  So we headed outside and you said "I would like to take 10 pictures".  Who could say no to that!!!

 

Here's where you told me you wanted to pose!  And you certainly did!!!

 

"Buzz, buzz"

I love my cutie pie bumble bee!!!  You bring us such joy!!
Love, Mommy

From Miss Barbara: God's Little Things

Miss Barbara sent this to me and I love what it says.

Meditate On Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17 See The Little Things God Does Many a time, we look out only for big demonstrations of God’s love to feel loved and favored by God. My friend, don’t just look out for the big blessings. Bless God when you do get them, but look out for the small blessings and tokens of His love that He showers on you each day. That little baby that smiled at you? That’s Jesus winking at you from heaven! That little note of encouragement from your colleague? God moved that person’s heart to bless you and to show you that He cares! What about yesterday’s shopping trip in which you found an item that you’ve been looking for at a special discounted price? That’s God placing you at the right place at the right time! Beloved, don’t just look for the spectacular to be happy and miss all the small mercies from heaven. It’s the little things that matter in life—a note, a smile, a hug. Good gifts from your heavenly Father sometimes come in small packages, just like the manna from heaven. See in them how much He loves you, cares about the smallest detail of your life and is thinking of your good throughout the day! Blessings, Joseph Prince

Roger on Will

Yesterday in a meeting with my pastor and boss, Roger Patterson, he told me that he just told his wife Julee that week how Will Russo has changed so much since being baptized this summer.  He has seen so many changes in him on the football field - he's become more confident, more focussed, more fun, and it is so good to see!!! How awesome that felt to me.  I was so proud!!!  I know that Bob can attest to the opposite in the beginning of the season. All I know is he loves going to practice, he has moved from playing an offensive positon to also playing on defensive AND he's happy when he comes home.  Thank you God!!!

I have noticed too at home that Will has become a lot more fun loving. He has such a cute face that he scrunches it into a big smile with tiny eyes and morphs his big, huge body into a kind of old man pose and then says something funny with a little voice. It is is so fun to still be able to kiss his cushiony face and hug see his huge precious pale-skinned body and know that inside he has a sweet young heart. 

After a week at Pine Cove.  I was so hapy to see him.  See how big he is!! 

He is so sensitive and so good natured.  He always asks me if I'm okay and if we're having a good day.  He wants to make sure all is good.  He hates having a "bad" day or even a "bad" night.  I need to make sure my attitude and moods are in check so he is not thinking that they are related to his behavior.  Which they are not, that is just my inside voices and other noise making me pre-occupied and not what he is doing.  

His favorite thing to do now is play catch in the front yard with is football - either with Bobby or Trey or even by himself.  He'll run back and forth in the yard or in the street, throwing the ball and catching it himself.  He also loves to ride his bike up and down the block with Claire and Myra and just talk.  I don't reallly know what they talk about but it's usually books or school.  Such a pensive guy!!

One of our favorite things to do is read in bed.  We all get our pjs on and teeth brushed and get in bed with our books.  Katherine does too!  She often brings a book to old for her (like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" because she loves the stinky cheese) and "reads".  It's great quiet bonding time because I love to ready.  Will is so into making sure he has enough time to read before bed.  It really calms him down.

I think he is a voracious reader and is reading his first book on his Kindle Fire. He is really enjoying that. He even let me download "Little Women" on it and told me that after he is done reading and goes to sleep, I can borrow it. So sweet!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

 

Getting his Kindle Fire on his 10th Birthday - 7/7/12

at Hyatt Lost Pines, Bastrop, Texas 

First Day of School

Boys went off great! They were so ready - clothes laid out night before, lunch boxes labelled, up without
an alarm. No time for staged pictures but got some on our walk. Will was very concerned about being I. Time for 4th grade and we made it. They both have 26 kids in their classes.