Russellsphere

3 day look at the Russell Children and how they are progressing in life. Born within the same minute as Emily (Lauren was first), she has spark and takes life head on. Lauren will offer wonderful cuddles, and has to be held by Daddy for exactly 1 minute when he arrives from work. She is without fear in all situations and storm on in, nothing phases her out. Except the Wiggles which she cries at.. Lauren craves Diet Coke (prefers caffeine free) – mixed with water for a power one-two punch combination. She screams and dances and can also say a few words, she has developed a signature ‘coo’ which only our Lola can do. Lola stands for Lovely Lauren, and is one of a kind and stunning to boot – she is Lauren Elizabeth Russell.

3 day look at the Russell Children and how they are progressing in life. First up, Emily – Nick Name= EmiLou. Emily is doing great, she likes to get into trouble though by grabbing toys from Nicholas and Lauren and stealing other peoples food. She is fearless, when with us, rampaging around the back yard, and first in line for anything. Yet, in the outside world she clutches on to her Daddy and is shy, while Lauren takes the lead. Emily’s enjoying Pizza at the moment, actually she enjoys all kinds of food, from Ice-cream to Peas – she doesn’t care. She likes to sing the ‘Daddy’ song and loves to lay on both Mommy & Daddy. She says a number of words including Bo”al (Bottle) and ‘See!’ (Look at that!). She is beautiful and one of a kind – she is Emily Rebecca Russell.

Nicholas was very excited to meet his new teacher and to find some old friends. Some new faces were around also and Nick mingled well, even the twins enjoyed themselves. His first day is next week :-)

We do not play the lotto much, but I splashed $5 last night for fun, looks like many did – now look at the jackpot = seriously impressive!

It is not often that I blog about work, but I wanted to talk about a project I am very proud of. I have created a new ‘Portal’ for all of our Lotus Notes users, (over 2000) – which is a web product – accessible via both our Notes and Web User community (now talking near 3500 users). The Portal has a lot of technology behind it, that I basically built from the ground up. It is very fast – nothing bloated about it, it is seriously impressive. It features:

* Screen Resolution Detection
* Single Sign On
* Departmental Segregation (Other people can update it)
* Different Skins (Customize the look)
* Quick Link Features
* Video Content powered by Flash
.. and more

The screen shots have some content blurred for security, and feature two different skins.

I have recieved some positive feedback and it ties in well with our Notes 8 implementation. It really is awesome, mainly because I built it.

Emily the super jumper!

Nicholas and I are playing very hard at completing Super Paper Mario for the Nintendo Wii. It is a great game, and Nicholas loves to get into the action. He likes to jump up and down like Mario and solve the puzzles with me. In fact he did solve one puzzle for me!

Movie Reviews

Borat
Wow, this was intensely funny, but you have to have a certain kind of humor – Jenny liked parts of it, but didn’t like how some people were put in such strange situations!! The is a sketch where Borat and his producer are fighting and run into a conference… and it is hilarious!
Kids Review- R rated stuff not suitable for us!

Merlins Apprentice
Merlin was a TV Movie for Hallmark starring Sam Neil and we loved it, and it was quite a success. Merlins Apprentice is a lower budget sequel, and mostly sucked – nowhere near as good as the original, but it was fun watching Merlin again, as the actor behind him is very good! Too bad the rest of the actors sucked.
Kids Review- Emily: I was up one night, couldnt sleep, and I was watching this with my Daddy – it was alright.

2 years ago today, this blog was born. This past year has seen our beautiful children, grow in leaps and bounds. We went to Florida twice, both time were excellent, and we had an AWESOME second Christmas in our newish home.

Of course, we made the decision to try and move into a larger home, and our house is still on the market and I am confident it will happen. We also had a great visit from my mother.

Unfortunately the year wasn’t full of bliss, Jenny had a very serious bout with illness and had to go to hospital, but we got through it and learned how much we count on our family, both sides of the family for love and support. It can make you think, situations like these.

We’re through it now, and look forward to another glorious year, watching our beloved children grow and learn and make the transition from baby to toddler, and the transition from toddler to boy.

Here is to next year!

David Russell – ‘The Dad’ – Born 76′ – I.S. Analyst for Mary Washington
Hospital. Proud parent of many children.
Jennifer Russell – ‘The Mom’ – Born 69′ – Work @ Home Mother. Proud parent
of many children.
Nicholas Russell - ‘The Son’ – Born 03′ – Work: 90% play, 10% sleep. Proud
Child of Russell Parents.
Emily and Lauren – Born 05′ . Proud Children of the Russell Parents and
Proud Sibling of The Son.
The Fish – Born 06′ . Proud Fish and Survivor of the Fish Holocaust of 07′