The Russells (and then there were four): Spring Break

Last week was my Spring Break and I enjoyed a wonderful week off with my family! We went to Houston on Sunday and stayed at my Aunt Sara and Uncle Dean’s house until Tuesday. On the way there we stopped in Hillsboro at the Nike Outlet and bought the twins their first pair of Nike’s. Tayden had a blast pulling all of the shoeboxes off of the shelves, taking the shoes out of the box and displaying them nicely on the top of each box. He can move quickly!!! SueSue helped wrangle the kids so that Tim and I could get some new shoes as well.

My aunt and uncle completely spoiled us with delicious meals and beautiful surroundings – thank you so much Lovey and Dean!!! We were able to relax and the kids had fun playing outside, riding in the golf cart and wagon and playing with all of Lovey’s fun toys. On Monday, we went to Wonderwild – an indoor playground that is a mixture of bounce houses, slides, ball pits, etc. Brooklyn loved the tall slides and would quickly make her way up the stairs and slide down all by herself with no fear. Tayden went down the slide a few times, and usually ended up going backwards on his tummy because he got a little scared. They had a blast!

The twins got to spend a lot of time with my cousin Kasey and her husband David (Davis) who now live in Houston, and also got to meet their adorable new cousin Gracie. Brooklyn still says, “Oh Baby Gracie,” and pretends to hold her. One evening we were sitting on the front porch and talking about the statue of Jesus that was there. A little green frog appeared and Brooklyn got a scared and wanted to be held. Uncle Dean began stepping behind the frog so he would hop off the porch. He hopped on Jesus at one point, but then made it off the porch. On the way home we talked to the twins about praying and modeled how we close our eyes. Brooklyn will now close her eyes and say, “Love you Jesus.” This is the most precious thing ever!!! At the mention of Jesus, she immediately wants to discuss the green frog and Uncle Dean. My mom joked that it is her version of the Trinity – Jesus, frogs, and Uncle Dean.

On the afternoon that we left to come home Lovey got out her musical instruments and we had a family sing along (this was captured on video, and I will share soon). Tayden stole the show with his foot stomping, which is hilarious to watch. He didn’t want to part with his xylophone so Lovey allowed us to take it with us in the car. Brooklyn quickly fell asleep, but Tayden however played Jingle Bells for the first 45 minutes of our trip. He absolutely adores music. He loves singing to any song, but his all time favorite is Just a Kiss by Lady Antebellum. Last night I taught him some of the sign language to Jesus Loves Me and he picked it up really well. He wanted to sing it over and over again, which was again the most precious thing ever.

Brooklyn is now saying – stam up (stand up) when she wants us to help her do something, opie door (open door) when she wants to go somewhere, and hold you when she wants to be held. She loves people and constantly wants to name everyone that we know and what she remembers about them. Tayden is interested in knowing everyone’s name and will constantly ask, “Name?” This includes everyone on tv, his toys, and everyone we see in person. He wants to read all of the time and can remember parts of books that we haven’t read in days. I am amazed at their incredible little memories and vocabularies. They love learning new things and it is so neat to watch their excitement at things we have long taken for granted.

On Friday, SueSue kept the twins so that Tim and I could go on our first double date in over two years with Kasey and David. We went to Tillman’s and sat outside on the patio. It was a beautiful night and we had such a great time talking to them and enjoying delicious food. It was definitely a treat – thank you SueSue! The remainder of the weekend was spent relaxing and with Tim showing houses. He has quite a few real estate deals working which is truly a blessing. This is the time of year that it usually gets busy! We had planned on putting our house back on the market here pretty soon, but we talked about it and I think we are going to wait a few more months.

In true Russell fashion, Brooklyn came down with a bad cough at the end of the break. She isn’t running a fever and doesn’t have any other symptoms, but we are going to take her to the doctor tomorrow to have it checked out.