Dad's 70th Birthday Party

Saturday we had a 70th birthday party for my Dad. This has been in the works for several months and we were trying to keep it a surprise. Since Dad decided to take an out of town business trip my brother had to tell him to be back by Friday night. Since it was the week of his birthday he knew something was up, he just didn't know what.
We decorated with an African theme since Dad was a missionary to Africa for 10 years. my sis-in-law did a great job with the decorations, but I forgot to take very many pictures of them!
Dad has a lot of slides from his college day and from Africa. They have been in his attic for years. We took them out of his attic and I went through about 1500 slides! We had some of them put unto a CD and Tim made a slide show that we had playing at the party.(Sam's will put slides on a CD for .18 cents)
For his gift we ask people to send in letters and scrapbook pages telling what Dad meant to them. We compiled this into a scrapbook and it turned out really nice.

We had a great time and are so blessed to have a such a wonderful father. Dad with all his grand kids
The Whole Russell Gang
Friends from his college days.
Dad modeling one of his gifts. It says Caution- Frequent Senior Moments

Click in the picture below for more pictures of the party.

Dad's Birthday Party

More Christmas

After much delay and being very busy, I am finally getting around to posting the rest of my Christmas pictures. Christmas day was spent at home. The kids got us up about 7:30 and we had a leisurely fun time opening presents. We ate a late breakfast of egg casserole and coffee cake. Since I was behind the camera most of the day I did not get pictures of my gifts. Tim got me a really nice set of pots and pans. He does not like to get me gifts that have to do with "work", but I told him I really wanted them. I am really enjoying using them.
Tim's parents came over for dinner and the evening, we had a nice time and a great day! Click on the picture below for more pics of the day

Christmas Day

New years was spent with my family at my sister's house in Ohio. We had a wonderful time being together. There were a lot of games, lots of goodies, many laughs, and "few" theological discussions. They live next to their church which has a gym. It was a great place for the kids to play. Click on the picture below to see more.

New Years-Christmas with the Russell side

The next week is going to be very busy so you may not here from me for a while:-}

Birthday Updates

Here are some pictures from Walter's birthday. He always lucks out because I shop for his birthday after Christmas and get things on clearance. Since we try to spend the same for each child on their birthdays, he usually gets more for his "buck". We were able to get him a Remote Control video spy car that would have been more than we spend if it had not be 50% off. He also got Adventures in Odyssey cds.
The Birthday Child usually picks where They want to go out to eat f0r their birthday, but Walter wanted me to cook a "Sunday" dinner. He loves fruit and requested an "All fruit birthday". I made Fried Apples for breakfast and Fruit Salad along with our dinner, and he chose Blackberry Cobbler instead of cake. Click on the picture below for more pictures of Walter's birthday.

Walter's Birthday

Brittany's birthday was 3 weeks ago but I never got pictures of her birthday posted. She wanted to go Applebee's for their All You Can Eat Soup and Salad lunch. She thoroughly enjoys birthdays and made the best of her day from dawn to dark:-) Click on the picture to view more.

Brittany's Birthday

Happy Birthday Walter

Happy 11th Birthday Walter!! You are becoming a very talented young man. I am so thankful that you have a heart for God. I hope you always use your talents for him. We love you. Hope you have a great birthday.

What??

Last night we were listening to the radio in the car. The song that was playing had a phrase that said "When I walk into heaven with my white robe on". Chris pipped up and said are they saying "Wife's robe?" He thought that the song said "When I walk into Heaven with my wife's robe on".