the rest of winter, spring & half of summer

time to catch up. it's so hard to update this when it's been so long, but i've decided i need to start. my new year's resolution of writing in my journal isn't going so well, so i need to document our family's memories somewhere. for now, we'll go with highlights for each month:

FEBRUARY

russell turned 29! we had a little get-together to celebrate (with rainbow chip cake, of course). it snowed a lot that month, too.

russell made a lovely dinner and dessert on valentine's day
and, mason's cute toothy grin in the tub


MARCH

we had some rainy days and decided to make a box playhouse
and, i seem to have a surplus of tub pics, so mohawks in the tub


APRIL

we dyed sports-themed easter eggs this year

we had easter dinner with our friends the schenk's. pam made a delish feast and we brought lemon blackberry cake and these huge egg truffles for dessert.

russell had spring break! one of the days, we rode a little ferry across the river to augusta, a cute historic town in kentucky for ice cream

we also visited ripley, ohio, which is known for the underground railroad activity before the civil war. the rankin house is up on the hill. we had lunch at a 50's style diner... note my delicious burger and onion rings and russell's marshmallow rootbeer.
and, here's an unrelated, but cute shot of mason helping me unpack groceries.


MAY

i woke up to breakfast, a box of chocolates, and cards from all my boys on mother's day

my mom came to visit for 2 weeks! we took her on the ferry to augusta, to ripley (the top left picture is from the rankin house on the hill looking out over the river), to the aquarium in newport, and to woodland mound, a hamilton county park with a fun splash playground (bottom picture is calvin with his friend kade).

mason turned one! calvin made him this banner and we had a fun time celebrating, which i'll post about separately, very soon! we loved having grandma here and were sad to see her go.


JUNE

mason got a new big boy car seat in preparation for july's road trips. he loves facing the front like his brother. we got to go to lunch and catch up with the holt's, our friends from freshman year at byu.

russell took step one of the comlex board exam on june 15th (and we just found out this week that he passed!) and then he was done with school for a month. we went to woodland mound with playgroup friends, the aquarium, and a cool butterfly exhibit at the krohn conservatory in cincinnati:

we got to walk around with the butterflies everywhere and try to hold them. it was really hot that day, and it's in a greenhouse, which is why we look a little wilted in these pics. it was fun though, and we also discovered eden park, a great spot in cincinnati.

and, here's father's day and some recent pics of these silly boys. i still have our road trips to post about too, but i guess this is a good start. happy summer!

6 years

6 years of marriage
5 more years of school/residency
4 homes in
3 states
2 sweet boys
1 happy couple

i love you, russell!

"the singers"

just found this funny video that i took when we were visiting heather, ephraim and boys. max told me how to introduce them as "the singers..."

happy president's day

so, it's been snowing ALL day and i got a little cabin fever earlier and decided to check the mail. this involves shoveling a path to the mailbox because someone i live with (starts w/ "r" and ends with "ussell") hates shoveling snow that has been walked/driven on (the mashed down snow freezes fast and is really hard to clear). anyway, we didn't have any mail, but i decided to keep shoveling. about halfway through clearing the driveway, i realized it's a holiday. thus, NO MAIL.

love the long driveway, hate shoveling it. at least i burned some extra valentine's calories.

hope your president's day was snow-free!

the big 0-3

our handsome boy turned three! he was so excited to celebrate his birthday in texas this year...

the special day started out with a traditional birthday breakfast with his dad. they had breakfast tacos at taco cabana (where else?):

grandma and grandpa roberts took us to incredible pizza for lots of food, games, and rides. calvin got to ride the go-carts with russell and they got first place in their race!


then, back to kelly and john's for cake and presents. calvin wanted a baseball cake this year, so this is what i came up with. he loved it, and that's what matters!



calvin got to open some more birthday stuff when we got back from texas. (can you tell he still loves sports?)
everyday is an adventure with this kiddo. he has developed quite the imagination. he loves pretending to be different animals, a "sports guy," and various rescuers (firefighter, policeman, etc). some days, he's all of them at once: last week, he says, "i'm a rescue lion sports guy." it's freezing cold here and he still prefers to wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt. i'm trying to convince him that sports guys wear pants when it's snowing...

calvin's first day of sunbeams (3 year-old class in our church) was our first sunday back. he got all dressed up and was so excited to bring his scriptures. he loves his new teacher, too.
he was asked to give the 1st article of faith in primary and got a little shy, but he still has it memorized and recites it every once in awhile.

calvin loves to sing. he's like his dad and just makes up songs as he does stuff. his favorite song is "i love to see the temple."

he's potty trained! i do miss the sound of a little diapered-bottom running around the house, but we'll have that again in no time with the way mason is moving (army crawl right now). calvin did great and was so proud to wear his big boy underwear on the airplane for our christmas trip.


i wish i could record our conversations everyday! lately, calvin has talked a lot about his big blue truck that is coming to our house and how he will drive it to ohio and it's really big and his dog is in it and he will let me ride in it too. he still loves trucks and dogs. one day at lunch he was saying the prayer and he thanked Heavenly Father for the dog he's going to get. he must know something i don't. he does have an imaginary dog named frenny (?) that hangs around and likes to go to play group at the library with us.

i love to hear calvin say "silly": "siyee" and "smarshmallow." i asked him the other day if he wanted to call me mommy or mom or mama. he said "i'll call you windsay (lindsay)." calvin is such a good big brother and he loves to help with laundry, cleaning, and cooking, which will hopefully last!

we sure love this sweet boy. happy birthday!!

feliz navidad

{ i've been putting this off because i have so many pictures! i decided to try the photo collage thing this time; you can click on the collage to see it enlarged. enjoy!! }

we got to spend 2 weeks in texas over the Christmas break! we did our Christmas morning on friday before we left ohio to minimize the luggage. as it was, we took 2 suitcases (3 on the way home!), 2 strollers, 2 car seats, and 5 carry-ons (not including the baby), so i guess it was a good idea.

after russell's test on friday night:

after a 6-hour delay in memphis because of weather, we made it to grandma and grandpa roberts'! most of the clan picked us up in the rv with a HUGE welcome banner on the side! (i wish i had a picture!)

monday, we headed up to killeen to visit ephraim, heather, max and ezra. they are the texas bbq gurus and recommended that we stop at kreuk's in lockhart. we're glad we took their advice - amazing brisket!

heather and ephraim treated us to some delicious meals, a drive through Christmas lights show, and a fun visit to the 1st cavalry museum. and all these boys treated us to some laughs! they sure had a good time and calvin misses playing army guys in max's backyard. thanks for letting us drop in for a fun visit!

back to san antonio... we performed the nativity pageant at a nursing home, which i'm sure was entertaining on some level! we had a good time. Christmas eve started at bruce, nancy and grandma's home with food, ornament-making, and a program with scriptures and songs.
we got some fun pictures of 5 of grandma's great-grandkids born in the last year...
then to kelly and john's for the opening of Christmas jammies...

FINALLY, the magical morning! grandpa read from the bible and book of mormon about the Savior's birth. we started unwrapping in an orderly fashion, then had some chaos for awhile. we took a break for a delicious breakfast and then started round 2 of the presents. we were definitely spoiled! (i love the pic of russell holding up his "blinded by science" t-shirt from his parents. he looks like a mad scientist with that hair!)
calvin had a blast making SNOW with cousins that night, which was the closest thing we got to a white Christmas.


calvin turned 3 on the 26th. watch for a separate birthday post SOON, but here's a preview pic...


we got some cute shots of the boys in their new sunday suits with grandma and grandpa:


we got to test out a flight simulator at kyle's work.
grandma took us to see the san antonio children's museum and eat yummy mexican food on the riverwalk.
russell and i got to go to the temple.
kim and mike treated us to a heavenly breakfast at magnolia pancake haus.
reese let us take him to northstar mall (that's big...he's a teenager. and it was fun)
we met our good friends the wright's for dinner and shakes at ez's. so good to see them:

on new year's eve it was a gorgeous 75 degrees and we spent most of the day outside. we started with the mandatory visit to rudy's bbq:
then off to breckenridge park to feed ducks and play corn-hole, fox-tail, and on the playground...

we rang in the new year (or in calvin and mason's case, slept through it) at "the shire" (grandma and grandpa's vacation rental home). we had a shrimp boil and strawberry shortcake, played a bunco tournament and monopoly deal, and exchanged white elephants. russell and i barely made it til midnight then somehow stayed up til 3 to get everything packed for our trip the next day.

after another long day of flying we (and ALL our luggage) made it home.
p.s. this little guy came home with three new teeth on top (now he's getting a fourth up there for a grand total of 6)

big thanks to rod and karen and kelly and john for hosting our stay. we had such a good time!
worst part of the trip: coming back to SUB-freezing temps! it was so nice to fly south for a bit of the winter and now i'm ready for spring.

happy new year!

6 months!

this little sweet-cheeks is such a joy to our family. he's already 6 months old and ready to be on the go.

he has a little curly mohawk and the sweetest smile, which he shares often with family, friends, strangers, and even stuff on the shelf at the grocery store. he's such a happy baby.

mason has two teeth and has been eating rice cereal for a couple months. he recently started on fruits and veggies and he loves his peaches and sweet potatoes. right now his mode of transportation is rolling around (it's alarmingly quick and effective) and i suspect he'll be crawling within the next month. mason is ticklish and cuddly and loves to spit and make his big brother laugh.

he looks so much like his daddy. see for yourself! russell and mom in 1981...

mason and mom in 2009:

we sure love this boy!