The Russells (and then there were four): Thanksgiving 2011

I had a wonderful week off!!! I easily got used to spending more time with the twins and Tim. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a few minor hiccups. We were all loaded up to head to my sister Jamie's and as we pulled out my car ran out of gas. Yes, you are seeing a pattern here. Tim drove my car to work the night before and underestimated how much gas we had left. He quickly took the neighbor's truck and came back with gas. We went to Jamie's and had a delicious lunch complete with fried turkey, all the sides, and yummy desserts. The kids played with all of their cousins and were wiped out. They both fell asleep in the car and as we were carefully carrying them in the house we realized that Titan had pottied all over the kitchen. UGH!!! The kids woke up and Tim spent over an hour cleaning up the mess. On Saturday night we had Thanksgiving part II - just our little family. I had made double of everything and it was all just as good the second time around.

November 24th is a very special day for us. On that day five years ago Tim proposed. On that day two years ago we had the sonogram to find out that we were having a boy and a girl. I love that all of those anniversaries fall around Thanksgiving, because they are the reasons I celebrate. I am so very blessed to serve a God of endless blessings, who forgives, protects, heals, and loves me unconditionally. He brought me the greatest husband in the world who loves me exactly where I am, while encouraging me to reach for the stars. He blessed Tim and I with two precious children and gave us the honor of being their earthly parents. Many times I catch myself watching them play and I can't help but remember how they entered this world. They were tiny, weak, and helpless. God held them in His hands and made them mighty, healthy, independent little people. I recently revisited my "bucket list," and realized that I could cross off many things - getting married, becoming a mom, and witnessing a miracle. I was fortunate enough to witness two miracles in this life. I am also blessed to have an amazing family. I don't know what I would do without my mom. She helps us so much and I love spending time with her. My sisters and their families are so much fun and truly add so much to our lives. I am lucky to have sisters that I also consider friends. God also blessed me with a wonderful extended family. My grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins have been so good to us and have helped so much with the twins. I wish that they all lived closer!!! I am also very fortunate to have great health and a wonderful job that allows me to work with great students and my awesome coworkers. I could go on and on, but I will stop for now.

Brooklyn and Tayden have both mastered eating with a spoon and love it!! They still try and tip the bowl over. Yesterday I was giving them snack and Brooklyn fell asleep. I went to lay her down and when I came back Tayden was touching his nose. He sounded really stuffy and I started to think he had stuck a raisin up his nose. As a child I had a passion for sticking things up my nose - peas, stickers, etc. I asked him over and over if he had a raisin in his nose and he kept telling me no. I had almost given up, thinking that there was no way he would have done that, but I remembered we had a great nose picking tool that we acquired at one of our doctor's visits. I ran to get it and my first time in yielded great results - a massive raisin. Needless to say, Tayden will no longer be eating raisins unless someone is sitting right beside him. Shortly after the retrieval he picked up some junk mail from the table and started to "read" it. I caught it on film and have posted it below. I have also posted a video of Brooklyn dancing - hilarious. I think I have finally figured out how to post videos from my phone. Brooklyn is talking and singing like crazy. She loves to dance and take off her clothes - not at the same time!!! It is getting harder and harder to keep a diaper on her. She pulled one off yesterday and tinkled on the floor - YIKES!! Her hair is getting so long and she loves to smile and say, "HI." Tayden has started to say his name and I love you. We watched Saturday Night Live and Lady Antebellum was performing. We replayed it a few times and he grabbed a toy that vaguely resembled a microphone and stood in front of the tv singing at the top of his lungs. X Factor here we come. Both babies can scream on the same key at the same time. It is pretty neat, but can definitely be pretty annoying if it continues longer than 30 seconds. They make life exciting, hilarious, and precious every single day!!