I have been extremely lax in my duties as family historian, not updating the news in 2 1/2 months (and, believe me, there was plenty of news I could’ve been posting about). I’ll admit, much of this is because I’ve been lazy about posting the pictures, because it’s a tedious process. However, I think I’ve come up with a new method that works much better and so hopefully that will ensure that the rest of year is updated properly.

Since last update:

August birthdays were celebrated – Laura, Lindsay and Ted

September birthdays were celebrated – Grandma G, Daniel and Nicholas, Cindy, Pam. We all headed upstate to celebrate Grandma’s 80th with a big party, and the whole Russbertardo clan headed to Massachusetts to visit the Beverly Russells and attend a wedding (of honorary family members)! (Pictures and posts about those coming soon.)

October birthdays were celebrated – Harmony, Emily, Thomas

Stay tuned for the complete overhaul, which will also likely include a whole new look!

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated the family website and for that I apologize. Three months with no updates is completely unacceptable, particularly because I generally pride myself on being prompt with things like this and keeping up with them.

For now, I’ll do as I did in the last post – a quick update, and then I will keep the ball rolling and post things as they come along. Also look forward to this Sunday’s picture-of-the-week. I will also try to post about things that, perhaps, people won’t necessarily deem post-worthy, but it might be nice to just have a little window into the family fun!

1. Happy Birthday to Chris and Ami, who both celebrated birthdays in May.

2. In July, Kara, Rich, Emily and I visited Grandma and Popops in Virginia. We enjoyed the fourth of July ice cream social and then fireworks on the neighbor’s dock.

3. Then I headed upstate to visit Grandma and Ted with Mom and Lindsay

4. The next weekend found me, Pam, Lindsay and Mom picking Katherine up at Bowdoin College in Maine where she was doing a workshop. She serenaded up with the theme from Harry Potter with four other musicians.

5. In July, Grandma celebrated her birthday and Jack celebrated turning 10!

6. Just last week, mom and Carol both celebrated their beginning of August birthdays!

Coming Soon… Pictures from the Impromptu Dinner with Grandma, Popops, Jack, Lindsay and Mom… and a from scratch, impromptu strawberry pie!

Someday I hope to be back to regular posts when things are actually happening. In the meantime, here’s a update on the recent goings-on in the family.

1.) Kevin celebrated a birthday on April 22.

2.) Joe celebrated his 27th birthday on May 1.

A bunch of us gathered together on Easter to celebrate with a meal of ham and pasta with meatballs and sausage, courtesy of Pam.

The photo gallery has finally been updated with the first of the 2011 events, Kelly’s Thirtieth Birthday.

Click here to view the album.

As usual, the entire photo gallery can be accessed using the links on the right and left sidebars.

Happy Birthday to James, who celebrated his birthday on March 28!

Happy Birthday to Lori, who celebrated her birthday  on April 1!

Perhaps in the future I will be more on time with the birthday posts (and will also hopefully have the pictures up from my birthday party soon).

From the birthday party photobooth:

Cousins.

Yesterday I celebrated my 30th birthday, with help from the family and quite a lot of friends.  A great time was had by all.  Pictures coming to the gallery soon, but here’s a sampling.

Bobblehead Dwight surveys his new living arrangements.

As mentioned in the previous post, I recently officially bought an apartment, joining the string of Roberts Cousins who now have a new place to call home (and this will likely prompt a home tour soon).  Here are the before pictures of my new apartment, as I work on picking paint and getting new furniture.

Before beginning the project, which will truly be under way in just over a week, here are the before pictures so you can see what I’m working with.

The Living Room/Dining Room/Office – the top is the view standing outside of the kitchen and the bottom view is the other side of the room (the three windows in the wall lead to the kitchen). As you can see, I’m trying to pick out paint – I did the samples today.

The Bedroom, as seen from the windows.

The hallway leading from the bedroom into the living area.

The bathroom.

The fridge and stove.

The view (well, I won’t be doing anything to improve on that)!