Outdoor Fun!

We've enjoyed a couple of nice days this week, and Brendan really enjoys playing outside! Daddy had a great week with several of his Fishers track runners advancing from Sectionals to Regionals next week, and Mommy loves being able to play at home with Brendan 2 days a week. Working part-time has been a wonderful blessing to our family. This week, the highlight was our weekly "treasure hunt" (aka Friday morning Garage Sale shopping) - this week Kaylee and Steph came with us!

Brendan loves his new backyard playground - this was a treasure we found last week, but we haven't had very many nice days since then to get outside and enjoy it. We look forward to spending lots of time climbing and sliding this summer! By the way, Uncle Tyler, make sure you save a storage unit for us this winter...we're going to need it! Actually, Brendan is the one that is going to need it.



Thank you, to my boys, for a wonderful Mother's day! Brendan enjoyed a fun afternoon with Nana and Papa, Uncle Jeremy, cousin Katie, Aunt Linds and Rob. Katie and Brendan loved playing with the bubbles! It is an amazing opportunity to be "mom" to such a fun little guy, and Adam is great at showing his appreciation.

Have a great weekend!!

Time to Catch up...

Okay...so I know there are a few of you that read this, and I promised an update this week! We're still here, doing well. Brendan is just as cute as ever, and he's learning new things every day. Here is a run down of his latest feats:
-He sleeps through the night, nearly 12 hours! (For those wondering, he has only been doing this consistently for about 4 weeks)
-He loves climbing the stairs and we no longer have to use the gates - he insists on walking down the stairs like a big boy holding the wall or hand rail
-He is drinking milk and eating dairy - no more Soy milk!
-He has started holding our hands to lead us somewhere - usually he wants to go outside
-He is cutting his upper molars
-He is napping great now - at least 2 hours in the afternoon, but often up to 4 hours
-He is starting to use some words! Just since Sunday he has been repeating words - yesterday it was bubble, book, duck. Today it was car, bird, go, out. Okay, so maybe we are the only ones that understand what he's saying, but we love hearing him make an effort to say words. Oh yeah - he knows his name, too - in his language, it's "Neh Nen".

And now for the pictures!! I'm sure that is all anyone wants to see anyhow, right?

Oh yeah, I thought of one more thing, and unfortunately I don't have a picture for this. Brendan loves to play at the playground, and loves going down slides. This afternoon we were playing at Kennedy Applegate's house, and while Molly and I were talking Brendan RAN down Kennedy's slide. He had previously sat down and went down the slide on his bottom, but this time he decided to stand at the top and run all the way down. He fell when he got to the small drop-off at the bottom of the slide, and laughed - of course!! I'm just glad he's okay!!

Last weekend Daddy ran in the Indianapolis Mini Marathon...congratulations, Daddy! He accomplished his goal of under 2 hours - he finished in 1 hour, 54 minutes. Mommy ran really hard in the 5K (3.1 miles), and next year might try the Mini again. (By the way - thank you, Aunt Janet, for watching Brendan while we ran!)


"Uncle" Chris and Brian Dawson stayed with us on Friday night to run in the Mini, too. Chris stopped in Indianapolis while on his way to New Hampshire from Houston, TX. He was towing his motorcycle behind a U Haul - congrats, Chris, on your promotion and we hope you enjoy your new position in New Hampshire! Chris' girlfriend, Rebecca, flew up to Indiana from Houston to visit Chris and meet his family, and she ran in the 5k also. (Brian and Sherry's kids are in the picture with Chris - Vince is on the motorcycle, Blake is walking behind it)


We had a cookout after the Mini on Saturday, and Rob, Lindsay, and Katie joined us for lunch. Vince, Brendan and Katie enjoyed playing in the hammock.


Here is another picture I thought I would throw in... While we don't watch much television in our home, Brendan has grown to enjoy a few morning shows on the Disney channel. I thought this was really cute this morning - I think he watched the entire 20 minute episode of Tigger and Pooh sitting here on the floor.


This one is from Gracie's visit a couple of weeks ago. Aunt Debbie and Jenn came up from Ocala to visit our family in Springfield, and while they were here we made a trip to Meijer. This was Brendan's first time riding the penny horse!



That's it for now...I have a few more pictures from the last 3 weeks that I can post later this week.

More Florida Pics

We had a great time on our first spring break road trip as a family! Brendan did fantastic, and slept great during the whole trip...probably because we wore him out during the day! The car ride went surprisingly well for Brendan and Kaylee (5 months old), and we would definitely do it again.

Brendan really enjoyed our balcony - he could see through it and watch the pool and ocean, but it was tall enough that he couldn't throw anything over the edge (although he tried!).


We tried to get a sunset photo opportunity on the beach one evening, but as you can tell we didn't have the sunset part. Brendan didn't enjoy standing still or being held, of course!



This was the last day of playing on the beach. It was a really nice day, and our best move of the day was bringing the baby pool down to the beach. Brendan knew where the big pool was, and as soon as his feet hit the sand on the beach he ran back towards the condo towards the pool. This actually allowed us to spend a few hours playing with him down at the beach!


We tried really hard to get lunch in before Brendan's nap, and believe it or not he would close his eyes and feel around his plate for food, and continue to eat! We knew it was time to lay down when that would happen.

This was our last feast at Flounder's on our last night - we realized that we didn't get a picture of both families together, but here is one of each of us. No, we didn't leave Brendan back at the condo...he was enjoying his buckled-in seat at the end of the table.

This one if for you, Kelly Applegate...we photographed our food just for you! It's actually for Nana also...She and Adam share a love of shrimp like none other. What a great way to end a wonderful Florida vacation!

Spring Break Vacation

We're enjoying a week vacation in Pensacola Beach, Florida with our friends Matt, Stephanie and Kaylee. Brendan absolutely loves the beach, playing in the ocean and swimming the pool. Our first day was very warm and sunny, so fortunately we spent lots of time outside. It's been cloudy, windy and cool for the last 2 days, but we're still having fun (and staying sunburn-free!)


We found out that Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Dawson were going to be here at the same time for a deep-sea fishing excursion, so they came to visit our condo and went to dinner with us. We really enjoyed their visit, and Brendan had fun showing them the beach. Cousin Chris and his girlfriend (from Houston) came to go fishing with Grandma and Grandpa, and we got to visit and share our condo with them, too.


Brendan is learning to strike a pose and smile for the camera...

Little Kaylee Murray is enjoying the view of the beach from her spot in the shade. Her new sunhat and swim suit look really cute!


We're having a great family vacation! We're praying that the weather forecasters are wrong and we won't have any rain for the last 3 days of our trip. Until then, we'll layer up with the windbreakers and head to the beach.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We hope everyone had a wonderful day, celebrating our risen Savior.


Brendan and Mommy started the day with an amazing Easter service at church, hoping Daddy would be feeling a little better by the time we got home - he had a little touch of the dreaded stomach virus traveling around. We had planned to travel to Ohio for lunch with Mimi after church, but we didn't want to spread our germs so we stayed home. We ended up enjoying an unexpected day at home with each other - at least Brendan and Mommy enjoyed the day!


Brendan especially enjoyed his Easter "basket" when we returned home from church. He picked out most of the things in it (including the lamb, his first dinosaur, and the microphone - probably his favorite), so he was very excited to see them again and finally get to play with them.

It will be a very busy week this week at the Russell home - Adam has his first outdoor track meet as a Fishers Tiger, and I will be very busy getting caught back up after missing almost a week of work last week. This week will be my first week in a few weeks that I can enjoy my 2 days off (Thursday and Friday) at home with Brendan. We're looking forward on getting caught up with a few things at home, and maybe visiting a few friends we haven't seen in a while!

Have a great week!

Fun in Florida!

Hello from Brendan and mommy in sunny Florida! We are enjoying a visit with cousins in Ocala, trying not to pass along the stomach flu... Yes, Brendan got the dreaded virus just before our trip. Since he's never been sick like that before, we thought it must have been something he ate so we decided to go ahead with our plans. If you want more details about the trip, just ask...but be glad you weren't near us on the plane! We're hoping Brendan is on the tail end, but we're still taking it easy.


Here are a few pictures to share from our first day. Brendan and Gracie played in the pool, and we ran a couple of errands in the afternoon. It was a fun and relaxing day...we're trying to get Brendan healthy for the Pirate and Princess Party at Disney tomorrow night!

Warm Winter Day

Today was the warmest day we've had since the fall, and it was a great day! Brendan took a great 3 1/2 hour nap this afternoon, and when he woke up Daddy decided he wanted to take Brendan to play at our neighborhood park. Brendan just loved running around outside, and he really enjoyed the playground. It was very fun to watch him explore and learn new things. We had to post some pictures below...

We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful son! This weekend, Brendan spent the night with Nana and Papaw Russell for the first time by himself so that mom and dad could go to the Everlasting Love Tour at Madison Park Church. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to really dig into God's word about love and marriage - the speaker was incredible, and it was awesome to experience God working through him. On Saturday afternoon we headed up to the Farm to get Brendan. He had so much fun, and was adjusted so well that he really didn't even notice mom and dad weren't there! He also had his first visit to the sheep barn, and he ran up and down the aisle between the pins saying "Baa Baa". Next time we'll take our camera! Thanks again, Nana and Papaw!






Check out the rest of our pictures in our Picasa web album!