a wedding!

the update continues...

when we returned from vacation, it was time to prepare for a wedding - ours! davidrussell and i had a very very very small ceremony when we married 11 1/2 years ago. we were married on a saturday morning with david's parents present and david's bf from college, todd. after the ceremony, todd, david and i ate subway and then davidrussell and i drove to hilton head in a rented convertible. why hilton head? b/c at the time, david was a loan officer and he won a weekend getaway to hilton head over memorial day weekend. we saw an opportunity.

anyway, through a number of casual conversations over the past year, our friends discovered they all shared a dream to give us a big formal shindig. they pooled money, resources and brain power and made it happen. we were floored to say the least. it was an overwhelming lesson in receiving and love. a picture of God's love - He just wants us to receive all that he has for us. and there's no tit for tat. just. receive. from. God. stop trying to pay Him back. it's impossible, you'll never afford it and it's not what He's asking. 

so august slipped into a blur, especially when i started feeling sick. 4 weeks to the day (i suspect) i conceived, my girls started hurting, i felt super tired and my relationship with food became strained. i was fitted for my dress 3 weeks before the wedding. 3 days before the wedding the alterations had to be completely re-done as i had "grown" 2 inches in my chest and 2 inches in my waist. we were keeping the pregnancy a secret until the wedding so only the ladies at david's bridal knew. i'm hoping the pictures come back soon. i'll share them and more when they come. here's some snapshot highlights...

zoolander, davidrussell, and mac

my dad walking me down the aisle. alli is pleased.

edible flower.

bridal luncheon.

pants-pooping photo. this is the part where i'd like to remind you i'm pregnant during this whole event so things like this were happening to me and i couldn't even drink! 

this photo speaks volumes...

dora, where did you get that hot orange bag?

the surprises just kept coming.

What Do You Do Tip #47: You enter a room blind-folded, your favorite song is blaring and your blind fold is removed as you hear 100 people yell surprise! WHAT DO YOU DO? Answer: you receive it, which in this case looks a lot like dancing.  

family vaca 2008 Second Stop: Destin, FL

Second Stop - Destin, FL!

from henderson we drove to destin. no, not straight through. we usually stop in alabama on the way there and on the way back. yes, it takes a little longer to get there and costs a few hundred dollars more by the time you add up hotel and food both ways. but we feel like our kids' lives are worth an extra 300 dollars as we can't guarantee everyone would make it there alive if we drove straight through... for a number of reasons.

davidrussell and i agreed - this was by far the best family vacation we've ever been on. with kids, i mean. the boys are growing up and so we're not tied so much to a nap schedule and we can stay out later than 7 pm. 

it seems like we learn so much about our kids on vacation. and there seems to be this growth dynamic that happens right before our eyes. this thing, "the vacation," seems to not only offer opportunities to grow, but also opportunities to illustrate how they have grown. it's a unique opportunity to see their strengths and weaknesses, their gifts, what they love. (and that applies to mom and dad, too.)

it's also funny to see how much they remember from the previous year. so b/c these little guys have remembered some stuff, we've stumbled into some beach vacation traditions. such as,

daddy always gets mini cereal boxes at the grocery. i'm not sure the boys even know these are available at our local grocery store at home. 

another unexpected tradition is fishing... jellyfishing, that is. these are the only ones we've learned how to catch.  

the lifeguard explained the small blue ones are babies. (whatever.) these didn't seem to sting. but we also caught clear ones and pink ones the size of dinner plates. 

3rd tradition - being stung by jellyfish. one day mac was stung 8 times, 3 times in the same place as shown here. we were all stung once or twice through the week. mac made it into a sport. 

so we've become experts on jellyfish stings. here's what you need to know:  1. jellyfish are more present than ever. (see jellyfish story.) 2. take a spray bottle of vinegar with you to the beach. 3. if someone is stung, rub wet sand on the area as this removes any stingers. 4. spray with vinegar. 5. do not use fresh water as this makes pain worse. here's # 6...

yes, you can actually pee on your loved one as the ammonia also brings relief. last year, when mac was stung for the first time, i was unaware of steps 1-5 and only had "Friends" as a reference so i took him up to the house and said, "it's ok, honey. sit here and mommy will get some 'medicine.' i grabbed a cup and headed to the bathroom." what can i say? he stopped crying instantly. "WHAT? I WOULD HAVE DONE IT FOR ANYONE OF YOU! HE'S MY SON AND HE NEEDED MY HELP!"

the 4th tradition we seem to have developed on our summer vacation is my favorite - trying something new. everyone seems to be in the fullness of their adventurous spirits and excited about trying new things. (both of the boys were actually potty-trained on vacation!) we had a ton of "firsts." some on purpose, and some unexpected. 

here's a few...

we all drove go-carts for the first time. super fun.

we went out for a late dinner (i.e. 7ish) and stayed out, listening to a band, even did a little dancing.

mac tried his first meatball sandwich. "so, mac, how is it?"

we played on the beach at night.

mac walked all the way up to rick's crab trap and bought some candy all by himself. 

when he returned, he decided to share with some friends he made on the beach. later, it occurred to me this event marked another first - mac bought his first round (of skittles). i felt proud and alarmed all at the same time.

davidrussell and i had our first complete conversation on the beach with kids. now that the boys are old enough to play together without one of us doing the "hunched-over-follow-around-coverage" walk around the smallest, we could actually sit next to each other and chat. at first we didn't know what to do with ourselves. it was great. (perhaps it was this kind of "connecting" that lead us back to another 3 years of no conversations on the beach. haha.) 

mac and i rode bumper boats for the first time. 

we're pretty sure this is where the boys received their first bacterial infection. the tied had been rough all week, but had calmed significantly on our last day. it made me for these awesome sand bars that went 30 feet out. the boys (and lots of other kids) played in these all day. it was a bunch of little baby pools. 

sure, it made for lots of fun and cute pics. it also made for a vomiting fiesta all the way to nashville. the poor little guys were so sick, they just slept and puked for about 10 hours. while it sucked for them, it actually worked out pretty well for us as we made great time driving back. i mean, we couldn't feed them or anything so it cut down on stops significantly. we stopped in nashville for the night and by the next morning, everyone was ready for eggs and bacon. cracker barrel was right next to our hotel so there ya go. God is good. 

well, those are some of the highlights. i hope next year i'm able to say: here's my first time taking a baby to the beach. but we'll see. we like to call our beach trip "annual," but we want to be open. it sure is a blessing!

here's some more pics... 

we stopped for some cheap shoe shopping at the Zappos Outlet in Shepherdsville, KY.

bode is right. this place is disgusting. here's a brilliant review that says it all.

bode and his muscles.

mac and his daddy.

jellyfish, beware.

i love this guy.

family vaca 2008 First Stop: Henderson, KY

First Stop - Henderson, KY!

david and i lived in henderson, ky for 3 years. it's where we were married and began our life together. there isn't much there other than some special friends of ours - the owen family. we hadn't seen them in a long while and finally we were able to find a date on the calendar that worked for all of us and make a weekend visit. for us, it happened to be the beginning of david's 2-week vacation so we just decided, "why not just stop in henderson on our way to florida?" and that's what we did. 

 brian and cindy have 3 boys so it was an all-boy weekend to say the least. we arrived just in time for grilled out burgers and delicious beers. we sat on the patio and caught up while the boys got acquainted and sweaty.

really sweaty.

so, of course a bath was in order...

saturday morning, davidrussell and big O made super yummy and fattening breakfast. big O makes scratch gravy now. impressive. 

we hung out and hung out and hung out some more. the boys did... well, boy stuff.

will and i bonded over our macbooks...

big O and cindy had arranged for a sitter to come saturday evening so we could go out. (awesome.) we payed a visit to henderson's newest attraction, ruby moon vineyard and winery. after that, we grabbed dinner at hacienda. if you know evansville or henderson, then you know hacienda. if you don't, well, insert your own favorite mexican chain.

after an evening of good cocktails and conversation, we headed home to find what we expected - a bunch of sweaty super heroes. it was unbelievable at this point that we'd only been in their home for about 29 hours. between the 4 of us, we had roasted marshmallows on the fire pit, ate a ton of food, went for a long walk, ate some more, got in the Word (c'mon), laid in the hammock (cindy is a good snuggle friend), enjoyed a leisure wine-tasting, cut out laminated cards for cindy's kindergarten class, ate more food - this time, mexican, and even found some shoes at stein mart. 

sunday morning came early, bringing a special surprise - did you know they make these breakfast corn dog things made of sausage and pancakes?! cindy had one ready for each boy, it looked like a sunday morning carnival. we paid a visit to good 'ole First Baptist of Henderson (where we were married) and listened to brian speak some words from the Lord. it was time to say goodbye, so there was only one thing left to do... cracker barrel, of course.

great friends, great family. we love these people.

back in the blog saddle

i suppose i'll start with an update on my big news. it still stands. a dedicated blogger would document the good, the bad and the ugly. but what about the crappy? i don't know. my first trimester was crappy. with my first 2 babies, i was very nauseous all the time and exhausted. this pregnancy has been no exception. so that's where i've been... in bed. or on the couch. bode has met his t.v. watching quota for the year. i've felt really guilty about that when i've been awake. anyway, i'm almost 17 weeks now and feeling lots better. thank you God! 

i mean, i really feel like i missed out on 2 months of my life. i tried to put any energy i had into actually enjoying autumn with my family. it was such a warm, beautiful fall. but i missed a lot of it. last week when the weather was in the 70's, i felt like it was just for me. God said, "hey, i know you missed out on some of this season you love so much, so here's a bonus week for you." when stuff like that happens, it reminds me how much He loves me - pretty cool, huh. so i hope all of you enjoyed my special bonus week gift my heavenly dad gave me. 

i tried to enjoy it as much as possible. went for a run, to the park, just played outside. probably my favorite was last tuesday. mac was out of school for election day, but bode was not. so mac and i went to Cincinnati Nature Center and did some hiking. very fun and nice to have some special time with mac. 

my blog feels a little empty to me as so much has happened in the past few months and little of it is represented. so my plan is for the next several posts to be an update of sorts. that's the plan anyway...

some news...

(now might be a good time to invest in Yum! brands.) 

off to kindergarten

i just dropped my tiny newborn baby off at his first day of kindergarten. that's how it goes, you know... you have a tiny little newborn keeping you up all night and then, all of a sudden, you take them to kindergarten. 

he's been bouncing off the walls with excitement. we've been discussing it for weeks, he loves to talk about how "great kindergarten will be." it's all day, so i've explained he'll be eating lunch there. he asked, "will i eat dinner there, too?" and "will i stay there and sleep there?" no, buddy, you won't live there. i'll pick you up everyday. 

he was so excited to see his teacher, mrs. cooper, aka miss meghan from preschool last year. over the summer she went from "miss" to "mrs." and also from preschool aid to bonafide kindergarten teacher. so it's a day of firsts for all of us. 

i was fine until i said goodbye and then i totally teared up and did that laugh/cry combo thing. mrs. cooper fussed over me a little and looked as though she was tearing up, too. it was really funny. i've always wondered what makes a mom cry on this day. what specifically is it that brings the tears? is it b/c she's not ready? or she'll miss him or she's worried? or she's just so proud of him? or maybe she has regrets. maybe she knows the highs and lows school can bring and she longs for a way to prepare him, shield him. well, i suppose you could say it's all of that b/c what made my eyes sting this morning is how much i love my son. i just love him. 

and so begins little man's 13+ year career as "full-time student." 

now what? i guess bode and i will go to the pool. 

or maybe we'll just listen to lee ann womack all day. sniffle, sniffle... sob, sob... i hope you dance, mac. for the love, i hope you dance.

we're back!

am i the only blogger (or person for that matter) that has grandiose notions of blogging constantly about my life as it's happening and, therefore, placing ridiculous expectations on myself to which i can not possibly measure up? 

so we're back from 2 weeks of super fun vaca. from henderson, ky to destin, fl, the russell family shared i adventure after adventure. instead of blogging about how much fun we were having, i decided to keep having it. like erica says, "i don't want to miss the moment b/c i'm trying to capture the moment." that being said, i'll tell you all about it, minus the parts that aren't your business or i just don't feel like talking about. but my boundaries are loose so anything i don't share will result more out of laziness than appropriateness. 

we came back refreshed and rested... except for bode who came back super sick. so for the past 2 nights, the only one who has slept is mac. the rest of us are exhausted zombies. so today, instead of talking about vaca with you, i'll probably take a nap. in the meantime, here's a small preview: