Russell Update

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-12-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Riding the car ferry over to Thanksgiving Dinner in Newport Beach, it was a great day.

2008-12-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

Waiting for the Car Ferry to take us from Balboa Island to dinner in Newport

2008-12-09T07:02:00.000-08:00

We had dinner on the water in Newport Harbor in the old Pavilion Building

Thanksgiving dinner with the Carman Family

The girls made a great fort in the corner to entertain themselves as the evening went on.

2008-12-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

The girls with Suni and Gg

The sunset was beautiful during our Thanksgiving dinner on the water in Newport

Abi fell in love with the cousin's daughter Hannah Beth

A visit with Great Grandma Carman

2008-12-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

Santa at Disneyland

2008-12-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

The girls were thrilled to learn that Santa was at Disneyland and only for one day!!!

Disneyland

2008-12-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

We actually got Abi on the Log Ride

Coming back from the log ride sopping wet!!

2008-12-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

2008-12-02T09:42:00.001-08:00

The girls with Ariel

Watching the Disney Holiday Parade

Coco loves Papa

2008-12-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

Waiting for It's a Small World

Happy Birthday To Me

2008-11-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

2008-11-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Sushi at Mikuni's

Spinning the birthday wheel - I won a beer glass!!!

Reading cards from the girls

A Day At The Nature Preserve

2008-11-20T19:12:00.000-08:00

2008-11-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day

2008-11-20T19:09:00.000-08:00

Coco at the start of the parade

Coco half way through the parade

Guess who got thier ears pierced??

2008-11-17T16:43:00.000-08:00

Coco showing off her red earlobe complete with a new flower earing!!

2008-11-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the actual moment it happened!

Lindsay and Lucas, The Birthday Boys

2008-11-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

Lindsay and Lucas share a birthday dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory

2008-11-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

2008-11-08T12:23:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Dr. Russell :)

2008-11-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Lunch with the Chinchiolio Boys

2008-11-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

Abi and Coco love hanging out with our good friends Lucas and Jace. Here we all are headed out to lunch together.

Happy Birthday Lindsay

2008-11-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Obama

2008-11-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

Follow this link to a great video!

A Day in The Delta

2008-11-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

A quick stop at the Clarksburg General Store for some sandwiches

A perfect picnic at our favorite winery "Bogle"

Relaxing and enjoying the amazing Fall weather

2008-11-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

Journaling

Bobbing for Apples

2008-11-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treat

2008-11-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Abi and Coco as the Diamond Princess and Dorothy

2008-11-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Mitchie and Shane from the movie "Camp Rock"

Our little Dorothy

2008-11-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin even joined the party

All of the kids before we headed out trick or treating

2008-11-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treating

Bobbing for apples & pumpkin carving

2008-11-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

2008-11-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Look at our teeth, they even glow in the dark!!!

2008-11-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

Abigale making dinner for the family. I am not quite sure what all she put in this mixture but it tasted rather interesting!

Pumpkin Picking

2008-10-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

2008-10-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

The goodies we are taking home

2008-10-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Coco letting us know that she had had enough of pumpkin picking

The breaking point

Waiting for the wagon to come pick us back up

2008-10-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Heading out to the actual pumpkin patch

2008-10-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Collection Table

2008-10-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

So my girls love to collect, collect, collect. All of the "stuff" usually ends up in piles throughout the house forgotten until somebody steps on it and it becomes just another mess to clean up. In order to appreciate all of our wonderful collections I decided to set up a nature table just outside of our back door. This is a place the girls can arrange and rearrange all of their treasures for everyone to see and admire.

2008-10-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Abigale hard at work making sure everything is in just the right place.

Coco Turns 3

2008-10-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe but our little Coco Loco has turned 3. We had a wonderful time celebrating at her school, in our backyard with a small party, and up in Applehill with just the 4 of us.

Jumping in the jumpy house with Taro

Enjoying a snack with her friends

2008-10-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Pinata time

This was right before Coco burned her lip trying to blow out the last candle

Enjoying the cake

2008-10-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Coco was great about sharing her presents with Abi. Here are the girls enjoying two new dolls.

2008-10-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon of Coco's Birthday up at Apple Hill. Yummy apples, beautiful weather and no weekend crowds!

2008-10-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Having a Birthday Dance Party with friends at school

2008-10-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Reading cards from her friends at school

Boo Packages

2008-10-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Abi and I made these fun Boo Packages for our friends out of recycled grocery bags. We were quite happy with how they turned out.

2008-10-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

Each Halloween Season we have a tradition with our nieghbors. We "Boo" each other with little holiday suprises and try our best not to let them know who did it. Here are the girls ready to head out into the night to do some "Booing". They thought it would be a good idea to dress all in black so they would blend in withthe night sky.

Farm Fresh To You

2008-10-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Our box of Farm Fresh To You produce arrived today. Every other week we will be getting an amazing box of organic fruits and veges delivered to our house from a local Northern California farm. I'm hoping this will inspire me to add a little variety to my cooking. Plus it's nice to know it is food grown right here and stuff that is in season. We also get to take little visits to the farm throughout the year with the kids :)

Where are the tomatoes?

2008-10-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Our tomato plants are producing the last fruit of the season and the girls want to make sure to get every last one. Earlier today Coco was busy picking some tomatoes for today's lunch. For the longest time she wouldn't tell me where she actually put them after she brought them into the house. I finally found them while picking toys up off of the family room floor.

Cosumnes River Preserve

2008-10-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

We spent a lovely morning at the Cosumnes River Preserve. It had rained hard the night before so everything was fresh and green.

The new kitty

2008-10-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Abi and El Gato

Halloween Preview

2008-10-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

Guess who I am going to be?

Weekend Trip to Lake Tahoe

2008-10-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

2008-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

2008-10-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

2008-10-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

Exploring

Collecting

Walking

2008-10-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

Picnic by the lake

Tattoo

2008-09-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

2008-09-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

2008-09-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Shaving Cream Painting

2008-09-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

We trashed our side yard this weekend with a shaving cream art project. We added food coloring to shaving cream and let the kids go crazy. We ended up with large paintings, marbelized paper and a fresh smelling driveway :)

2008-09-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

2008-09-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

As you can see Coco was all about turning this into a body art project.

VolksWaffle

2008-09-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the Second Saturday Art Walk in Sacramento and had an amazing dessert of fresh waffles with Nutela. Not only did it taste amazing but this was the little street vendor parked on the side of the road that we bought it from. This guy has converted his bus into a traveling waffle maker and calls it the VolksWaffle. Smart guy and a very smart treat.

2008-09-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

One of Coco's many outfits this morning.

Whose Cat Is This?

2008-09-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

This cute little kitten (with a collar) showed up at our house this morning and will not leave. He is super friendly and Abigale, who is afraid of everything, has actually become quite attached.

2008-09-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Abigale loves that fact that the cat has followed her around all day

2008-09-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

The house that Abigale built for the cat.

Chalk It Up

2008-09-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

After taking the girls to the Chalk It Up festival in Sacramento we came home and tried to make a few masterpieces of our own.

2008-09-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

Working on a butterfly

Spirit Week

2008-09-13T06:54:00.000-07:00

Abi dressed as a punk rocker for her school spirit week.

Dance Class

2008-09-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here are Coco and Abi just after ballet class. I am so glad that their classes are at the same time!!!

2008-09-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Coco has been waiting for this day for quite some time now. She is finally old enough to begin the big girl ballet class. I think her favorite part of the whole experience was just putting on the tutu and slippers.

A Day In San Francisco

2008-09-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a picnic and live music at Yurba Buena Garden

2008-09-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

2008-09-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Abi's face just before we drove down Lombard Street.

2008-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

Guess where we are?

2008-09-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

2008-09-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Two Little Piggies

2008-09-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

So the girls were playing in the back for quite awhile yesterday evening and I decided to take a peak to see what they were doing and this is what I found! Two little piggies covered in mud. This of course was Abi's lovely idea and although it was a huge mess they sure did have a great time.

2008-08-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here is Coco heading off to her first day of preschool in the big girl class. She insisted on wearing Abi's Christmas dress from last year and she was thrilled about her new princess lunch box. Both girls are off to school today - yikes! What is a mom to do? Oh wait I can think of a lot of things to do :)

These Boots Are Made For Walking

2008-08-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Coco pulled these boots out of our dress up box yesterday and insisted on wearing them all day in 95 degree weather. She explained that she was a Rock Star and that it is a rule for Rock Stars to wear black boots.

2008-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

My little Rock Star

Hot August Night Concerts

2008-08-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Each Friday we walk to the live concert in the park series. Here are a couple shots of the lakes and parks in our neighborhood.

2008-08-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Dancing the night away

We have a great group of friends we go to the concerts with each week.

Fort

2008-08-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Lindsay helped the girls build a fort out of their bunk beds

Figs

2008-08-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

We have a fig tree in our back play area that has never produced fruit. For some reason this year it decided to give us lots, and lots of figs - yum! If you look at the pictures of the playdate you can see part of the fig tree just above the playhouse.

Coco and Jace have a playdate

2008-08-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

A Day At The California State Fair

2008-08-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a fun filled day at the California State Fair today. We worked really hard in our yard yesterday so we felt we all deserved a break. The weather was not as hot today so we were able to stay for quite awhile without all getting too cranky.

2008-08-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

We all loved the Ferris Wheel

Hold on tight

2008-08-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

My highlight ... The Gardens

2008-08-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Lindsay's highlight ... any and all Fair Food

2008-08-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

Coco's highlight .... the Carousel

Abi's highlight ... Carmel Apple

2008-08-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Come on dad get the ping pong ball in the bowl!!!

He did it! Heading home with a goldfish named Princess. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Saturday Mornings at the Russells

2008-08-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Waffles with tons of sticky syrup, cartoons on the tv, pillows thrown about, clothing optional, and a lot of serious lollygagging.

Hot August Nights

2008-08-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the girls ready to head out to our neighborhood Hot August Nights concert. Every Friday night during the month of August our neighborhood hosts a live band at our outdoor theater. We walk over with our friends, have a great picnic and some margaritas and then dance the night away with the kids.

2008-08-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Success! Here is Abi celebrating her first day of Kindergarten with an ice-cream sundae. Abi's first day of school went well and although she told me she felt very shy she also said she had a great time. As I picked her up her teacher told me she was her shadow all day - hopefully she will feel like breaking out of her shell a little more tomorrow :)

Abi's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is here, Abi's first day of Kindergarten. She is very happy about being able to wear a uniform and she is anxiously talking about all of the new "jobs" in her classroom. We decided to take a chance and try out an area charter school this year instead of the school right by our house. It is a montessori school just like her preschool so she should feel comfortable with the transition. I will report back and let you all know how the first day went!