Welcome to the Martin's

Snow Pics

2008-03-01T16:03:00.003-05:00

So right after the beach pics, come the snow pics... and I'm late posting these too. These happened mid-January.

This was JL's first real experience with snow that I can remember. The snowflakes stuck together and floated down in large clumps, which made it fun to watch and easy to photograph.

This is my favorite pic from the evening. It looks like he is watching the snow, but most probably he is looking for the "Mu" (moon) or a "vee-uu" (airplane, that's the sound it makes according to him). He probably spends a third of his outside time looking up. :)

snow on our porch bench

...and how it accumulated (unfortunately JL was in bed at this point)

Beach Pics

2008-01-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

After Christmas we went visiting - first to Jon's mom's place then to Hilton Head to visit Jon's dad and family. We only were on the beach for about 15 minutes, because it was pretty cold, but Jon managed to get a few good pics...

I really like the way these pics turned out - maybe I'll make them into a collage or something...

After the beach we went to the nearby mall which had a play place with an ocean theme. Here is JL with his aunt sitting in a oyster shell.

Christmas pics

2008-01-05T15:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, time for some catch up blogs...

Here is JL looking at the Christmas tree soon after we set it up. He would squint at the lights whenever we turned them on.

Helping Daddy start a fire in the fireplace Christmas morning. This is the first year we have used our fireplace and we're really enjoying it. Jon is loving chopping down dead trees in our side lot and splitting firewood (I'm not kidding - for Christmas he got an axe! :). I'm loving roasting marshmellows and drinking hot chocolate in front of a toasty fire!

Well, the boy just woke up... tune in next time for after Christmas beach pics :)

Thursday Dinner

2007-11-15T18:45:00.000-05:00

Wow, its Thursday already?

First, to make up for the lack of pics the last couple days - a couple pics showing pre-dinner preparations:

I had a whiny boy this afternoon while I was trying to make dinner, so I put him to work washing dishes. We ended up with more dirty dishes than we started with, but it kept him busy for about 20 minutes!

After a while his shirt got wet so I took it off. Then, every time his tummy touched the counter he would suck it in sooo far (I wish I had a pic, but you can imagine :)

Tonight I made a new recipe: Baked Lentils with Cheese. We all decided it was a keeper - very tasty! We also had garlic bread and fruit.

And here is my happy husband after a yummy meal!

Tuesday and Wednesday

2007-11-15T12:50:00.000-05:00

So.... I don't have pics of dinner Tuesday or Wednesday. But I will attempt to recreate them in words :)

Tuesday evening we had Francesca and Josiah over for tacos (with sides of spanish rice and corn with green beans). For dessert they brought one of Si's famous apple pies with vanilla ice cream, yum! It was great to get together with our good friends (its been way too long).

Wednesday Jon and I went out to Fuddrucker's for our date. This is one of our favorite places to go on a date because of their delicious hamburgers and laid back atmosphere (= no waiters, so no one is "checking on you" and you can stay as long as you want).

Tonight I am trying a new recipe, so I will try hard to remember to take pics! :)

Monday Dinner

2007-11-13T08:05:00.000-05:00

So, I'm taking Billie's challenge to post what our family eats for dinner this week, so here it goes!

(L to R) Jon's mom, sister, Jon and JL

Last night we had minestrone soup with biscuits and fruit...

...and a apple cake to celebrate Jon's mom's birthday which was last week (she made it herself and it was very good)

Pumpkin Pics

2007-11-08T13:20:00.000-05:00

Pre-Carving Pictures:

Helping Daddy Carve:

The Finished Product:

Meow!

Building...

2007-11-08T13:08:00.000-05:00

A couple months ago, my parents gave us a set of wooden blocks that I played with as a child. At first JL was not very interested in them, except to knock down any tower Jon or I would try to build. But about a week ago, JL decided he would start building, and these are a few of his first creations...

All by himself!

Carwash

2007-10-15T11:49:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago (before the watering ban) we washed our cars. JL helped me wash mine.

He loved it.

He got soaked. He only had one dry stripe down the center of his back (I guess he couldn't figure out how to make that wet too :).

Soon after we washed our cars my car died. So I have been without a car for almost 2 weeks now. But God has graciously provided us a good deal on another car (1999 Corolla with relatively low mileage), so I should have a car again in just a few days. :)

Goin' for a walk

2007-09-20T20:18:00.000-04:00

Today we went for a walk to the library, then to the grocery store. I had never taken JL to the library just for fun before. They had a basket of board books in the childrens area, so we sat down and read most of them. I think he enjoyed the new books and my undivided attention (at home I am sometimes distracted with what else I could be doing or I get board with "reading" his books before he does - sad but true).

I love having so much within about a mile walking distance of our home! A park, recycling center, lake, library, grocery store... even our pediatrician (though we've yet to actually walk there!). We really had no idea what we were getting when we bought this house, but as the years go by, we are realizing more and more how much God blessed us in choosing this house for us. Now I just need to work on decorating the interior, so the inside is as much a blessing as what surrounds it!

Male Bonding...

2007-09-15T18:08:00.000-04:00

Last weekend Jon and JL built a bat box to help control the mosquito population in our backyard (http://www.batconservation.org/content/Bathouseimportance.html)

Reading the directions

Taking turns hammering...

Using the BIG hammer

JL's Favorite Pastimes

2007-09-08T10:39:00.000-04:00

Chasing Bugs...

He was a little sweaty, so I flipped up the back of his hair.

(and then we cut it all off that evening :)

There it is!

Coloring ...

JL takes his coloring seriously

It keeps him occupied while I do the dishes or straighten the kitchen.

He also likes to put the crayons back in the box and dump them out again.

Where is it?

2007-08-08T12:03:00.000-04:00

So, last night Jon was lying on his stomach on the floor and JL walked up and pulled his shirt up exposing a few inches of his back. He looked at his dad's lower back, pointed to it and replaced the shirt. Then he did it again and this time he shook his head as he looked at his back. We were starting to get curious about what he was doing, as he repeated his actions a few more times and added his "where is it?" sign with his shoulders shrugged and hands raised. We had no clue what he was looking for (he must have done this about 8 times). Finally he walked over to me and lifted the bottom of my shirt and it dawned on us... he was looking for Jon's belly button! Well, Jon rolled over onto his back and JL was relieved to find his dad's missing belly button. :)

One more try...

2007-08-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

I've tried blogging before without much luck at staying current, but reading my friends' blogs has inspired me to give it another try... so here it goes!