This weekend was full of lots of parties! On Friday evening we attended Max’s winter carnival. It was fun. We are always thankful that my parents ‘want’ to come with us. They are a huge help. At some point between dinner and the end of the carnival, Zeke became amped up. I had to work in Max’s classroom and when I finally met back up with Jamie, he was d-o-n-e. The boys then headed out to spend the night with MeMe! Zeke went to birthday parties on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We were tired by Sunday evening! We are home today…Zeke woke up in the middle of the night with croupe. Lula woke up this morning ‘barking’. Come on Spring!!

OK…so maybe it is a little early to be talking about second grade…BUT, we only have 3 more months of school! We had Max’s parent/teacher conference on Thursday. He is doing great. The improvements he is showing are amazing. At the beginning of the year he came in reading on a ‘level 4′. Now he is reading at a 10/12. The goal is to have him at a 16 by the end of the year. I know he can do it. As his teacher said, ‘the lights have come on’. He is still exhibiting some very ‘boy’ traits, but it looks like he will be going on to second grade. We are so very, very proud of Max. He LOVES to write and pays very close attention to his penmanship.

Speaking of Max, the poor little guy doesn’t feel so well tonight. He started complaining of a sore throat yesterday, but no other symptoms. He did fine all day today until late this afternoon when he started running a temp and saying his head hurt. Jamie ran him to the AM/PM clinic and although his strep test came back negative, they still prescribed him a round of antibiotics. He is pretty bummed about missing school tomorrow. Zeke’s speech teacher called to say that she is not feeling well, so no speech for him tomorrow. Looks like a pajama day at the Russell house. It’s about time…we were having withdrawals from all the snow days!

We have enjoyed some more snow here! Thank goodness it did not result in ’snow days’. It was pretty and just dusted the ground, but I loved it. Both Zeke and Blake had trips to the doctor. Zeke had a sinus infection. Blake was fine. No problem found. Glad she was not sick, but frustrating. At our house, if you only sleep 3 hours at night, you earn a trip to the doctor! I got to go to Max’s Valentine’s Day party on Friday. It was sweet. Then I stayed for Jump Rope For Heart. That was awesome! The kids had so much fun. It was an exciting event and his PE teacher was so organized. I even tried to jump for a couple of one minute rotations. WOW…jumping rope is hard! I thought I might pass out after 30 seconds! I made a red velvet cake for the family yesterday, but unfortunately I did not have enough food coloring. It looked link ‘pink velvet’. I think the boys were a bit disappointed it wasn’t strawberry. Next year…strawberry cake out of a box! We continue to stay busy here and are looking forward to warmer weather so we can be outside.

Max just celebrated his 100th day of school (minus the 6 snow days, of course). But, more importantly he achieved his goal of 100 sight words by January 30th (well, by February 4th). So, we have 100 down and new goal of 100 more by the end of May! Super proud of our Max!

So, the winter storm did come in. It did bring a good amount of ice, topped by a good amount of snow. We did keep our power and I am so thankful for that. School was cancelled on Thursday and Friday. Even Jamie came home early on Thursday and got a snow day on Friday! Amy and the boys came for lunch on Thursday and then Amy and Carder came back on Friday. It was nice to have them here. I made cookies and we watched TV while the boys made forts and played. The big question was if Max’s 10 AM party at the Science Museum would happen or not on Saturday. We made the call to all the parents that if the museum was open, we would have the party. We woke up on Saturday and called and sure enough they were opening…at 11. So, with just a little delay, we finally celebrated Max’s birthday with his school friends! We had a lot of fun and I think everyone enjoyed getting out of the house.

On Saturday evening, Amy, Blake and I headed to Edmond for our annual Miss America watch. Blake could have cared less about the pageant. We did get her to wear a tiara and wave briefly for some photo ops. She wasn’t feeling that great, so I’ll let it slide this year (smile). We missed Nanna watching with us this year. Just another ‘first’ we will experience this year. Blake was still not feeling well on Sunday morning and I knew the nursery workers at church would not appreciate her hacking cough or extremely runny nose, so I stayed home with her and Zeke.

I never really considered that we would not go back to school this week. Then I saw a tweet from a friend asking if anyone had heard about school cancellations yet. Oh no. Within the hour I heard we were out. So, yesterday we spent our snow day at ‘Camp YaYa’. We made bubble gum, we played games, we ate and we played in the snow. It was a good day. So….here we are on Tuesday, groundhog day, home again. I do think it is supposed to get above freezing, so maybe some of this ice on the roads will melt. No big plans for today. The boys do have gymnastics tonight so they can get out some of their snow day energy!

I have ignored my blog! It seems I don’t have a lot of ‘me’ time these days. Blake stands in the kitchen and yells and points and demands some sort of food at all times. Zeke is still really into Super Mario Brothers and constantly wanting me to ‘help’ him. He is really good at the game and I do enjoy playing with him…just not ALL the time. Max is gone most of the day, but when he gets home he is ready to go. He usually has some project or idea that we must start working on immediately. I love it, just doesn’t leave much time for anything else. We are preparing for a major ice storm, so we will see what the next couple of days hold. They are comparing it to the storm of 2007. That was the storm where we lost power for about a week. Ugh. I am just praying it does not interfere with Max’s birthday party on Saturday morning. This is his first ‘friend’ party. We invited everyone in his class. Let’s just say it would be less than fun to have to reschedule the party. So…we wait and see what happens!

I am thankful to be getting back into a routine finally…with Christmas break, weather and some Monday holidays, things weren’t running real smoothly. It is so evident that Zeke does so much better with routine! He is so sweet and so funny. We were playing Mario the other day and he let me have the mushroom. I told him, ‘thank you’ and he replied with, ‘does that make your heart happy’. I told him it did and he said ‘It’s my pleasure’. I still smile when I think of that conversation!!

Our first born is 7 years old. How does that happen? He woke up a 7 year old yesterday and was proud to tell everyone about it. I took lunch and cupcakes to school. He chose to take Auntie’s dog ‘Spurgeon’ for show and tell. He got to do the ‘birthday dance’ with his friends. We ate at Joe’s crab shack for dinner. He declined the BIG birthday celebration at Joe’s, but settled for them singing ‘Happy Birthday’. Earlier in the week my mom took him fabric shopping and he picked out some fabric for a new robe. He picked out wrestling fabric…nice. MeMe took him shopping yesterday and he picked out a new ‘bomber’ jacket. Tonight we celebrated with a family party and he will have his friends party in a couple of weeks. I’d say turning 7 has been fun for Max!

Max, we are SO proud of you. You are growing and learning everyday. You are starting to make better decisions and really becoming a GREAT helper. You still get annoyed with your little brother and sister, but you are such a good big brother. You do like to be in charge! We love you so very, very much!

I can’t believe we are already almost a week into the new year. On New Year’s Eve we watched the OU bowl game with some friends. Since OU managed to win, Jamie let Lula put on her ‘I ‘heart’ Stoops’ shirt. I actually bought it at the beginning of the year with high hopes for OU football. After that first loss, Jamie said Blake could not wear the shirt. Then the deal was she could wear it if we beat Texas. Then, I finally worked it out that she could put it on if we won a bowl game. I have pictures. Blake also went for her ear tube check on New Year’s Eve. I was disappointed to find out that her right tube is out and her ear was full of fluid. She is on antibiotics…yuck. I am praying this will not be the start of ear infections again. Our New Year’s Eve night was pretty uneventful. We went to my parent’s for dinner with Chris, Shelly, Selah and my parents. We let the boys do sparklers and poppers…they didn’t care that it was only 7:30 and not midnight! I think the kids were all asleep by 9:30 (late for them) and Jamie and I did manage to stay up until midnight. We talked about 2009 and talked about our hopes for 2010. One of the reasons I love keeping a blog is to look back over the year. 2009 definitely had some pretty sad times. Jamie and I each lost our last living grandparent. We had friends who had miscarriages, friends that lost a baby after only spending an hourwith him. We had rough times with our kids…ugh…the first weeks of first grade. But, Jamie has an amazing job, we have a roof over our heads, we have friends, family, our health. So much to be thankful for!

The kids are back in school and we are back to our regular routine. It was nice having Jamie home for Christmas break…it made things a little more manageable around here. Jamie and I have also decided to have Zeke evaluated for some possible OT dealing with some possible sensory issues. We have been encouraged by friends and think we have found the right place for him. It will be a commitment in many ways on our part, but we want the best for him! He continues to do great in speech therapy and has managed to get his ‘f’ sound 100% in conversation! He is a very hard worker.

Max continues to work hard at school. He is still a little behind with his sight words, but we have taken a new approach and I feel like it is clicking with him and he is retaining what he is learning. Max received a toy shaving kit for Christmas and actually ’shaves’ before school. He thinks he is so big!

Blake received several dolls for Christmas. She (and the boys) are really enjoying them. She carries them around and the boys pull of their heads. I guess this is normal???

I have TONS of pictures…Christmas, snow, lipstick face, etc. I will start working on them all soon and get them posted. Happy New Year!

We woke up Christmas morning to a lot of snow. The interstates were still ‘closed’ and our plans were in question. The boys woke us up a little before 7:00 and were eager to see what was under the tree. We opened stockings and presents and ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Since we obviously were not getting out soon, the kids played with their stuff and even got to go out and play in the snow! They had so much fun. Well, Zeke had fun until he decided he was too cold and wet. We came in and got cleaned up and then decided to try to get to Edmond. It was almost lunch time and the boys were excited to get to MeMe and Coach’s. It took us about twice as long to get there, but we took it slow and did just fine. It was eerie to see all the abandoned cars on the road. We didn’t count, but the Gutteridge clan counted over 70 on their route. We had our Christmas Eve dinner for lunch and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and blew out his birthday candle. It was fun hanging out into the afternoon. We got home and I started getting everything ready for Christmas dinner. Popps made it in and my parents came too. The boys were tired, of course and starting to break down, but we survived the evening!

Last night we celebrated with Chris, Shelly, Selah, YaYa and Papa. Chris and Shelly made it to Shelly’s parent’s house on Saturday and came into OKC yesterday. As we were loading the car to head over to my parent’s it started snowing. Another white Christmas! We had fun opening presents and eating a yummy dinner.

Jamie took this week off, so it has been nice to have him around. We have played A LOT of Super Mario Brothers (4 of us at one time) and Jamie took the boys sledding on Saturday. We are still working to get this house in order. Tonight we get to have a family dinner with Chris and Shelly and aunts, uncles and cousins. We are so blessed and so thankful!

It’s Christmas Eve. We are sitting at home. We had grilled cheese for dinner. We sure are missing the ham, lasagna, potatoes, etc. BUT, we have 10 inches of snow!! Some sort of new record for OKC. The interstates are shut down and we are not going anywhere tonight. It was hard not being at Christmas Eve service. BUT, here we sit…healthy, warm and so blessed. So, we really can’t complain. The kiddos are in their Christmas pajamas and we’ll read the Christmas story in just a bit. Santa’s reindeer have been fed and in a little less than an hour, everyone should be tucked in and asleep. It has been a nice day. Different for sure. Lula got into some lipstick…lovely…and, that gave us all a big laugh. We are praying that we will be able to head to Edmond in the morning or at least by lunch time. Christmas dinner is at our house tomorrow night and we are hopeful that Popps will be able to make it in to us. Wow…a white Christmas…it is pretty fun! Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

A week from today Christmas will be over. That is so hard to believe. I think back what we have done in the past week and know this week will be packed with just as many things and go just as fast. Last Friday we went to Jamie’s work party. It was a lot of fun. We had wonderful food and played dirty Santa. The kids spent the night with my parents and then picked us up early to head to Texas. We arrived in Texas just in time to go to Selah’s first birthday party. It was so fun to celebrate her first year! It was a fast trip and we headed home Sunday morning. The week was full of Christmas shopping, Christmas parties at school, pajama days, making cookies and Zeke’s Christmas music program. On Friday evening we celebrated Hannah’s fourth birthday with her. Zeke loves having a cousin his age! As I type this I am still in my pajamas at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. Wonderful! It is cold today, but Max has managed to bundle himself up to play with the neighbor friends. Blake will wake up in an hour or so and we will get everyone bathed. Christian is going to babysit Zeke and Blake while Jamie, Max and I go to my cousin’s outdoor (yep, outdoor) wedding tonight. We are so excited to see family that is visiting from out of town and welcom Denecia into our family! We are officially on the Christmas countdown here. We are looking forward to making cinnamon rolls, baking, wrapping presents and spending time with family!

I’ll start with the most exciting news. On Tuesday evening, Max asked Jesus to come and live in his heart. It was precious. We had read his library book and Zeke had picked out a Curious George book to read. The boys and I were sitting on the bed talking about the day and other stuff. I have no idea how the conversation happened or what brought it up, but Max started asking questions about Jesus, heaven and hell. They were not much different than questions he has asked in the past. When I told him you have to have Jesus in your heart to go to heaven, he said, ‘Oh, I’ve done that’. He has said that before and I usually just smile and say ‘good’…knowing that one day, he will feel a tug and know if he really has or not. However, before I could say ‘good’, he said ‘Wait, I want to do that’. So, we prayed together. Every pregnancy I have prayed that my baby would grow up to love the Lord and trust him as his/her personal savior. It was amazing to watch and listen to that take place.

In other big news, both boys went to the dentist on Thursday. No cavities! Whoo Hoo. Max got his 3 year no cavities ribbon and Zeke got his 1 year ribbon. Max’s tooth was so loose and the dentist did not mess with it. We got home and Max decided to eat one of his Christmas peeps. That really hurt, so I asked if he wanted me to give his tooth one yank just to see if it would come out. He wanted me too, so I pulled, and out it came! He looks like such a big boy with that bottom tooth gone! The tooth fairy came and left him a two dollar bill. We were all glad the tooth fairy and the elf on the shelf did not have any run-ins!

Yesterday we had a little mishap with our ‘Elf on the Shelf’, also known as ‘Boomer’. I had laid Max’s pants out on the floor for him. That way he could hop out of bed, put on his pants, choose a shirt and be dressed for the day. I have no idea where Boomer originated, but when Max woke up he was face down on Max’s pants. Max came running out of his bedroom in a panic! We are not allowed to touch the elf. (It’s in the book…he’ll lose his magic). So, I carefully scooped up the pants with Boomer on top (not touching him) and put him on top of the boys dresser. Of course, he fell over and I reassured Max he must be very tired from going back and forth to the North Pole. Before leaving for school Max again looked at me with wide eyes and said that Boomer was laying on his gloves. So, together, we went into his room to investigate. Boomer was sitting up now (he must have had enough rest). When Max saw that he was now sitting he gasped and jumped. It was so funny. I wish I had video. Boomer was indeed sitting on his gloves, so we slid the gloves out from under him, knocking him over again. Max kept telling him he was so sorry we had knocked him over. I assured him all would be OK and I was sure he would be happily sitting before the day was over. And, when Max got home from school, Boomer was sitting, as happy as he could be.

I want my children to understand giving. I want them to know it’s not all about them. I think there will be a day when they ‘get it’. I know they are still young. However, my sweet Zeke really blessed me today and yesterday. I had a new Christmas CD in the car and we were listening to it. All of a sudden ‘Away In The Manger’ came on. Zeke commented that they ‘used to’ sing that song at school, but Miss Rachel couldn’t find her CD. That is when he said, ‘We should give her ours’. Without hesitation I said, ‘What a great idea! We will give her ours’. I was so proud of him. At only four he recognized a ‘need’ (of sorts) and wanted to give! So, today he carried the CD into school. Miss Rachel was teaching a class, so I relayed the story to his teacher and Zeke was able to give it to her later in the day. When I picked Zeke up, there was a sweet thank you note from Miss Rachel in his Zeke’s box. The last line of the note read, ‘I’ve been wanting this one!’. She had been wanting that exact CD. I am so proud of my kiddos. They always seem to surprise me in one way or the other. In fact, Max surprised me tonight when he gave up going to Zeke’s school fundraiser at Chuck E. Cheese. He gave up pizza and games to watch (for the second time) his cousin Carder’s school play. School function instead of Chuck E. Cheese??? Wow…must have been some play!

Blake is 31 inches tall, 23 pounds and doing great! She got one shot that she was not happy about at all. In fact, she wasn’t happy about the appointment. She is growing, growing, growing!