Tuesday, June 16, 2009

**Update** I didn't realize the names of the clips were going to show on the blog. Not much of a guessing game when the names are plastered everywhere! Oh well, enjoy anyway!**



It's official!! Guess where I am going to be Spring Break 2010? Here's a hint:



Need some more help? Here's another clue:



Surely that gave away the answer, but just in case, here's a "gimmie" clue:



That's right, we're going back to Disney, Disney, Disney, we're going back to Disney...Sorry, I just slipped back into 1989 and a little LL Cool J. On to the present - we have another mega-family trip planned with my parents, my brother and his wife, my sister and her significant other, and our family of 5. Can't wait for Nathan's first trip! I just love the place and have been there more times than I can count. This will be Mackenzie's 4th time and I can't wait to see what things are her favorites this time. As a bonus, my best friend lives just a hop, skip, and jump away, so I'm hoping I get to see her too!

The 3 clips happen to be my favorite experiences at the World. I just love Soarin'. The video doesn't do it justice. It's just not the same as when you are literally hanging over that screen 3 stories high feeling the wind in your hair, the smell of the trees and the ocean. It's amazing. It even gets hot when you go over the desert and cool when they show the skiing on the mountains. The 2nd clip - Tower of Terror is my favorite thrill ride. I love the Twilight Zone theme and the falling of the elevator over and over. You can't leave that ride without a smile on your face. And since I was pregnant the last time we went, I haven't gotten to ride in a looong time! The last clip, sorry to be cliche, but it's just so magical. Try standing on Main Street, looking at that castle and hearing the cheeseball music and seeing the lights in your kids' eyes as they literally ooh and aah over the fireworks and see if you don't walk away a little choked up and thinking that yes, all your wishes can come true! It's the kind of show that only happens at Disney and I can't wait to see it again. We haven't told the kids yet, and probably won't for a while. Who needs 9 months of "when are we going? how many more days?" kind of aggravation? But secretly, I'm already looking for a ticker to start the countdown!

Monday, June 15, 2009

You say it's your birthday

Well, it's been an active weekend around here. One that was quite full of family get-togethers, food and lots of fun. I've actually been looking forward to posting about something that wasn't so serious as my end-of-the year posts about the girls. I just get too emotional about that stuff, but one day I will be glad I took the time to document all of their stages and accomplishments.

In honor of Nathan's 1st birthday, I will be doing a post of all of his 1 year happenings along with a link for a super cute video I made for him, but for today, it's all about the party, baby!


My parents and sister arrived in town on Friday evening when we all went to Joe's for dinner. Yummy and fun! Nathan got his own piece of stawberry cheesecake and all the wait staff sang happy b-day to him. He loved it and we let him eat half of the cheesecake on his own. He was a yucky strawberry mess, but it was fun to watch him squish it and explore. Of course, no camera with me at the time, so no fun pics of this experience.

Saturday was a busy day cooking food in prep for Sunday's party, time spent at the mall , a Wal-mart reunion picnic, time spent at the pool with the girls and my sister, a cookout and a fun game night. Sheesh, no wonder I started to get a little worn out. Sunday was church and a quick dash home to throw everything together for the party. It was just family, but sometimes those are the best kind of parties. Everyone knows each other and can be pretty laid back. My sister-in-law did an awesome job on his cake, as usual. Everyone loves her cake and I'm blessed that she is so generous with her talent to always do a cake for us.

She made Nathan his own little cake which went from cute to demolished in about 1 1/2 minutes.


His favorite part as expected was climbing on the boxes. As long as he was sitting on a box, he was all smiles!


Game time!


My sister and her boyfriend. They are perfect for each other. (Fingers crossed! )


My brother and his wife. They are perfect for each other also.


My mom, who can get pretty animated when it comes to games and the rules. She's loud and crazy and fun, just like a good mom should be.


I am going to focus on my mom's smile in this picture instead of Mackenzie who is looking way older than 8 here and definitely not 3, like she is in my imagination.



Nathan Martin III and Nathan Martin IV.

My dad who was so excited here because he just won $5.50. Seriously, $5 can summon this type of joy.


Robert who also was ecstatic over winning $5. He was our surprise guest, brought down from a neighboring town, just to surprise Marty. The bromance continues....


Little cousin Hudson, who is a mixture of Denace the Menace, Bam-Bam, and a mini-Hulk Hogan and as cute as he can be.


A great picture of Marty's mom.


Not a guest, but a symbol of how crazy talented my mom is. She made this Razorback quilt for Nathan and I love it! It's perfect and something we will pass on for years and years.


A great party for a sweet little boy. Would you still be smiling after all this madness?

He's a tough cookie and we love him to pieces. Seriously, how could you not love this face?

Can't wait to see what fun year two has in store for him! Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

Monday, June 8, 2009

2nd Grade Wrap-Up

Tonight I was blessed by a wonderful sister-in-law who invited my girls to spend the night at her house. (Or maybe they invited themselves and she was too gracious to say no. Hmmm...) That has left me with a little bit of very rare quiet time. Perfect time to finally get around to posting about Mackenzie's 2nd grade year. I have to do these quickly or I will forget all of the marvelous details!

Dear Mackenzie,
If I had to choose one word to sum up your 2nd grade experience, ACCOMPLISHMENTS would be my pick. You have grown so much this year physically and mentally. We are always working on the spiritually and emotionally part, but here's a little secret from me to you - I'm still working on my spiritual and emotional part too! It's a lifelong journey, so don't feel pressured if you don't quite ever get that part figured out. God will take you where you need to go, always. So, let's run through some of your great accomplishments of your 2nd grade year. I usually try not to be the bragging mom, but this is my blog and gosh, I am super proud of you, so I won't hold back here! ;)

Your 2nd grade teacher this year was Mrs. Devine.

Isn't that a great name for a teacher that was, well, divine! You loved her so much! I could tell that she was important to you because you talked about her all the time. You would tell me so many stories about encouraging words that she said to you. I praised God that He had blessed you with a teacher that would help your confidence soar! At the start of the year, you jumped into the AR (accelerated reader) program with both feet. You usually read 2 books a night and then tested on them in the morning for points. By the end of the year, you had over 200 points, won the award for most books read and got to spend the last day of school having a private lunch with the principal in her office! WOW! I was so proud to see your love of reading grow so much.

Of course, you get that from me! I love that you are reading books that were some of my favorites when I was little and we get to talk about them and experience them together.

Some of your favorites this year were the Katie Kazoo Switcheroo series, A Dog Named Kitty, the Little House on the Prarie series, A to Z mysteries and so many more. This summer we are going to read the 1st Harry Potter book together. What fun!

Of course there were other awards during the year (outstanding music student, ambassador for your class, principal's honor roll all 4 semesters, getting accepted into GATE, etc.),

but you were also busy doing so many other things in addition to school. You still love soccer so much and I'm glad you do because your practice schedule really stepped up this year.
Practices 2-3 times a week and games on Saturdays. You even got invited to play in a few tournaments in the spring. We had a great time taking you to a few nearby cities so you could experience some advanced playing. I was glad you learned how to lose graciously many times in the spring. You learned it wasn't really about scoring goals, but about playing as a team and always playing your best, even when you lose.

After watching Avery's dance recital last spring, you decided to try dance again. This time, you only wanted hip-hop. It was fun to see you on stage again. You were so nervous before you performed, but I could tell you had a great time!


One of my favorite memories from this year was Mother's Day. I wouldn't say this to anyone else, but you made my Mother's Day this year. You got out of bed before anyone else and decided to make me breakfast. You know how to use the toaster, so you set out to make me some bagels. It was only after toasting them that you realized you had toasted hamburger buns instead of bagels. I got cereal instead, which was wonderful, but I love that you made me laugh with your hamburger buns story. You also wrote me a letter, which I will quote here:
My mom is the best.
My mom likes to read magazines.
My mom knows how to look the best.
My mom says, "let's get in the car".
My mom can cook spaghetteos.
My mom wishes that I would be a famous artist.
My mom loves Wheel of Fortune.
My mom wants to go to Disney World.
My mom is talented.

Like I said, you made my day. So, so sweet. The best Mother's Day gift ever.

The biggest adjustment for you this year has been learning how to be a big sister for the 2nd time.

You are a great big sister to Nathan and I can tell that you love him so much. However, it has been hard for you to see me devote so much time to him. More responsibilities have been given to you (taking a shower on your own, brushing your own teeth and hair, more chores, etc), while you see more attention given to the baby. These are the hard parts of growing up and being a first born kid. I am trying to find ways to make special time for just the two of us. Even though I can't spend 30 minutes playing with you in the bathtub or rocking you to sleep, there are times spent with you that I love just as much. One of my favorite sounds in the world is hearing you laugh. It's why I love to watch America's Funniest Videos with you. You love that show so much and laugh so hard! I love when we are in the car together and I get to hear you sing or hear stories about your day. I love to take you on more "grown up" outings to see Junie B. Jones or Hannah Montana. You and I are so much alike and I love that we can enjoy the same things like books, music and shopping. Of course I miss those times when you were a baby too. I miss the quiet times we spent just the 3 of us before the house got so noisy and so busy!
But what I am loving more and more every day is seeing you grow in the young lady that God wants you to be. You are so beautiful, smart and funny!

No one else in the family can make me laugh like you.

(I think you get this from your dad!) I am so proud of all that you have accomplished this year and I can't wait to see what 3rd grade has in store for you!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Some Random Thoughts about Summer

I know I said a post about Mackenzie was coming next, and trust me it is on the horizon. I was so emotional about BOTH of my girls moving on to new grades/schools for next year. I found myself tearing up as I led Mackenzie out of her 2nd grade room. But wait, I am saving those thoughts for my next post. Honestly, it's just too heavy for this late at night. And, I don't have access to all my great pics from the year since my external hard drive is hiding out trying to get some much needed rest after all the festivities last week. So, maybe tomorrow....

In the meantime, let's play a little catch up. We spent the first weekend of summer visiting Tulsa and participating in ...drum roll please..... the nation's largest 3 v 3 soccer tournament. Wow, I can see the faces green with envy through the glow of my lap top. Seriously though, we had a great time. The girls got to swim in the hotel pool (well, Avery got to sit on the steps), we had some good meals, and even got to shop a little. Oh yeah, and we spent 9 hours on a soccer field with an almost 1 yr old and lost 5 games in a row. That part was a little rough. But we had fun as a family and got to hang out and meet some families that aren't normally in our radar. Fun times, but we are ready to put soccer behind us for a while!

On to the business of summer! I am a routine kind of girl. August is one of my favorite months. I love the anticipation of school approaching and all of the school supplies sitting out brand new and fresh just waiting to be filled with all kinds of assignments. Oh yes, I am one of those people - a nerd. So here is June - the anti-August, if you will. The time to throw routines and assignments out the window. However I have officially kicked off the summer routine. I'm finding it's okay to be lazy and do nothing, but only if it's on the schedule and during the allotted "lazy time" of the day. So far, it has gone amazingly well. We joined a local gym for the summer to help with the routine issue, to motivate me, and to make use of an outdoor pool. We are waiting for a certain green cast to come off before hitting the pool, but we have hit the gym 2 days in a row. The kids enjoy going to the play area and I am getting in a little structure and fitness. We have been to the library twice and our church's indoor play area. Tomorrow is movie day when we will go see UP. Next week is Vacation Bible School followed by an upcoming trip to St. Louis to visit my parents. Along the way, we are working in plenty of downtime in which we have watched Black Beauty, made tons of smores, and had a mock-campout in the backyard. Oh yeah, lots of reading and I've even had time to get reacquainted with the Gilmore Girls. (Amy, I'm in the middle of season six with the final season seven looming large on the horizon. :( ) You see, even though I was home with my kids (for the first time ever) during last summer, it was spent giving birth then tending to a newborn and getting adjusted to life with 3 kids. Very different. For the first time, I'm not shipping my kids off to a summer day care and I'm not walking around like a sleep deprived zombie in the summer. Now I can throw 3 kids in the car in a flash and actually enjoy the summer environment. Seriously, if summer stays this wonderful, I may change my views on August very quickly!

This weekend I have actually made plans to go garage sale-ing with a friend. We have an early morning coffee date and then we're hitting our neighborhood's HUGE annual garage sale. I'm not sure if I am more excited about the possible used goods I might find or just having some time with a girlfriend away from the kids! Maybe I'll take a camera along just for fun.

I will leave you with something fun. Just when I had put all of my Twilight obsessive-ness to rest, Summit goes and releases the first trailer for New Moon. Man, here comes that weird feeling again. Yep, giddy over a silly vampire movie. Can't wait for November 20. That's all I'm saying. It's got to be better than Twilight, right?