Martinez Moments

Songs and Giggles

2012-12-16T15:46:00.003-08:00

Just a quick post to share some video. The first one is this years Christmas Musical at church. I just mashed together some clips so that you could see the kids without having to listen to the whole thing. I think you'll really enjoy the back of Jonah's head in this one ;) and the second is some precious giggling from my littlest one.

Anywhere, Though Sadly, Not Anytime

2012-12-02T09:16:00.003-08:00

I've been meaning to put this post together for a LONG time! This post is all Jonah (though if you manage to make it to the end of the post you'll be rewarded with the sweetest video of Rowan and Liam). More specifically, it's all about the places we find Jonah sleeping!

Sleep is very elusive in our house right now. The only one who is really getting any quality sleep around here is Liam. He sleeps through everything! Jonah and Rowan are another story. Rowan is now 5 months old and has already had three colds in his short little life as well as a new tooth, robbing him of quality sleep and consequently robbing us of quality sleep. Jonah has been potty training, making night time really fun, and he also wakes up randomly throughout the night and can't get back to sleep. But enough whining, back to the story.

Every night before we go to bed we go in and check on the boys, cover them up, pick up their books, smooch them all over. But the best part of the whole thing is Jonah. Where or how we will find Jonah sleeping! We have taken several pictures for the purposes of documentation, but believe me there could have been so many more :) And in all of these pictures he was sound asleep, completely dead to the world!

These first few are in the toddler bed in the old room.

That's Jonah's elephant (or elmetant), who is frequently part of the show.

Legs wrapped up like a mermaid

Elmetant again.

This was transitioning to the new room right before he got his big boy bed.

Now we're in the big boy bed with the toddler rails.

This one is my personal favorite. We had a babysitter that night and after she left I went in to check on the boys. Now, imagine, there was no light on in the room when I went in there. I couldn't find Jonah anywhere! I looked in the bed, he wasn't there. I looked in the closet, under the bed, in Liam's bed, everywhere. I thought the babysitter kidnapped him! Not really. Then I looked closer and realized he was stuffed in the 6 inch space between the rail and the wall, face flattened against the mesh! So, like any good parent, I left him there until Edwin got home so that he could see too :)

Here is another perspective of that same cozy sleeping space.

Same PJ's (they're his favorite), different night. He clearly likes tiny places for sleeping. This spot between the head board and the gym mat I keep under the bed is BARELY big enough for his little body. And he was sound asleep here!

I called Edwin in to see and help me get him back into bed. Edwin grabbed his legs and gently started to pull and Jonah sucked in those little legs like a turtle with it's shell and continued to sleep!

Look how small that space is!

You made it! So here is the video I promised :)

Birthdays, Brothers and Goodbyes

2012-10-16T14:46:00.001-07:00

September was a fun and busy month for the Martinez Family! Liam's birthday is the 23rd of September and just like his mama, he LOVES to celebrate birthdays. This year, his 4th birthday, he got three parties. So he told me when he turns 8 he gets seven parties! Ha, just like his mama!

The weekend before Liam's birthday we went up to Canada and celebrated with our cousins. Alek was born three days before Liam so we had a joint Race Car themed party. Mady put everything together and it was amazing! I would put more pictures here, but I had too many pictures to share already. But they each had their own checkered cake, there were edible stoplights and little candy cars with bear cracker drivers, gift bags and games galore! Mady had them running races, painting Lightning McQueens, biking, doing crafts, it was AMAZING! She and Edwin's other cousin, Ceci, have an incredible gift for planning parties. If you ever need party planning help they are the ones to call. Edwin and I just brought some of the gift bag items and the food. Pretty good trade off, don't you think?

The weekend of Liam's birthday we had his second party here at home. He requested a green frog party, so that is what I gave him! Granted, I didn't manage to come up with games (though there was a frog piñata), but the kids and adults I think had a great time. And as always, we had plenty of food, because that is what we do! Liam requested his favorite, Sopa Verde, so we called it frog soup, and tried to stick with the frog theme throughout the food. My precious friend, Renee, offered to make the cupcakes, so OF COURSE I let her! I gave here a picture and she made the magic happen.

Liam loved every minute of each of his birthday and is still talking about them both. I imagine he'll be talking about them for a long time, because he still talks about his fish party we threw him when he was two! Amazing that he remembers it! He is so fun to throw a party for. It was worth every minute of work.

Below are just some other random pictures from September and early October. My sweet little Rowan is such a delight! He smiles all the time and giggles and just makes my heart melt constantly. I mean, just look at that face!

And I love this one of Jonah, because I know without a doubt that he is going to be bigger than his daddy long before I'm ready. I know it's going to happen overnight and I'll love looking back at him, so tiny in his daddy's tee shirt! What big clothes to fill.

Super cute little boys! Liam and Jonah love Rowan so much. The are constantly laying by him (or on him), giving him hugs and kisses, reading to him, making him laugh, talking to him in really high voices like Edwin and I do. I love it!

Someday I'm going to do a blog post totally devoted to the places we find Jonah sleeping when we go into check on him at night. There are SO MANY! This time I came in and he was NO WHERE to be found. I looked in the closet, in Liam's bed, under the bed, felt the covers, I couldn't find him anywhere! Now, remember, it was dark in there. All I had was the night light. So I turned on the light and finally saw him mushed in the six inch space between the bed rail and the wall. I don't know if you can see it, but his face is literally mushed agains the mesh! So, what did I do? Like any good mom I left him there another half hour so that I could watch Edwin's reaction when he went to check on him! :)

I mean, really, isn't he the cutest baby!?

The worst part of the month was saying goodbye to Heidi. For those of you who don't know, she has helped our family tremendously in the last two years since Jonah was born. She's been the Jill of all trades here, but most valuable to me was her help with the kids. She is the boys honorary auntie in every way. They love her so much that when she is in the room, they forget about me! And now, she's gone to Russia. Heidi was like my right arm and it hurt to see her go :(
The boys were pretty sad too. I think they both totally understood she wasn't coming back and were pretty upset when she drove away. WE MISS YOU ALREADY, HEIDI!

And last, but not least, a super cute video I got last night of Liam and Rowan. Now, I don't know everyone in the world, but I'm fairly certain Liam is the best big brother the world has to offer!

FIRST First Day of School!

2012-09-04T14:55:00.004-07:00

Today was my baby Liam's first day of Pre-school! We have been waiting for this and talking about it for a LOOOONG time. Liam was made to go to school. Everything about it suits him and he's been so excited. And school did not disappoint! He loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back. It was such a blessing to drop him off and have him be so happy to be there. It was almost as if we didn't exist after he entered his classroom.

Little brother Jonah did not want to be left out and had to take his backpack too!

With his buddy Merritt, who will be in pre-school with him

Organizing school supplies with the teacher

Checking out some of the toys. Jonah still wanted to stick around an play too.

Friday night Edwin took Liam and Jonah on a campout in the back yard. They loved EVERY minute of it. He made a big deal of setting up the tent, roasting hot dogs, making smores, counting stars. They can't wait to do it again.

And for Labor Day drove up Mt Baker and went on a hike. The boys had a great time and even little Rowan was a good hiker.

Exploring the water coming out of the rocks.

Rowan's mule

And this little guy is too cute not to get his own picture on the blog!

Rowan at 7 Weeks

2012-08-31T20:23:00.002-07:00

We had A friend of ours, Gabe Rodriguez, come over and do Rowan's 7 week photos. We've done all the boys at that age. He did a phenomenal job, I love them all! But these are my favorites. The kids had a great time with him too. The were hamming it up for him! Thank you so much Gabe!

August Update

2012-08-27T15:00:00.002-07:00

OK, so here is the thing about pictures and videos and blogging. I barely have time to take pictures. I almost never remember my camera so all of the pictures and video end up on my phone. Most of the really good pictures and videos are on Edwin's phone, so I never see those after they're taken. Thankfully my phone sends the pictures to my computer, but not the video. I rarely hook the actual camera up to the computer and download the pictures and video from that. Then I have to get them all on the blog, or at least on Facebook? Pictures are relatively easy to upload, but video takes way too long. The result? Very few pictures and even fewer videos end up anywhere that anyone but me ever sees! All that to say, here is my meager offering of pictures taken in August. No time for video with the current list of things to do sitting next to me on the couch. already posted some of these on Facebook, but thought I would try to get a blog post up.

August FLEW by! We celebrated Jonah's birthday not one, but three times! Once on the actual day, a party here at home and one in Canada with our cousins. Liam learned how to ride a bike. No pictures of that, only video. Maybe I'll try to post that later. We spent a lot of time outside, playing in pools and at parks, we went to the fair, we survived our first road trip to spend 10 days in Spokane and hit up a lot of attractions, saw some good friends and ate really well, and I can't even remember what else! In kid news Rowan is already 9 weeks old and he has started interacting and smiling with us more. He is the sweetest, cutest little baby! Liam is a fantastic older brother. I love to see how he has matured since Rowan's arrival, even with Jonah. Jonah is talking better and better. He is improving on speaking in full sentences (all of which usually contain some sassy-ness so we are constantly cracking up). Maybe I won't have to develop a Rosetta Stone program for him. Edwin is still really busy with the business (I think I write that line in every blog post, but I don't have time to go back and see). And I am just trying to keep my head above water. I find I almost never sit when I'm at home anymore, which made Spokane such a treat. I actually read a book for the first time in almost a year! Two, if I'm being honest (:

So here are some pictures for proof. I don't have pictures of a lot of the fun stuff we've done because those are on Edwin's phone, so I'm missing half the month's fun, but here is what I could come up with between my phone and camera. No video, that would take too much time, so this will have to do!

One of Rowan's first smiles. There are so hard to capture because he gives me his shocked look as soon as I lift up the camera.

Liam and Jonah LOVED the fair! This was our first time on a ride and they are forever changed. We went to another fair in Spokane and went on a ton of rides and they loved it. Liam gets the giggles (all on Edwin's phone, of course) and Jonah looks like a stoic statue. He loves it but he shows NO emotion.

We went to the fair with these three characters

This was taken at horse show that we went to see. The kids loved it.

These were taken at a really cool pool near my parents house in Spokane. The boys love water. I can't wait until they learn how to swim. Maybe next summer!

At Riverfront Park with the parents

Reading the paper with Daddy

This was taken at Jonah's birthday party. It's so hard to get all three kids looking cute for a picture!

Jonah eating his favorite meal, ribs, for his birthday. Everyone else had finished and Jonah was still gnawing on rib bones for a good 45 minutes.

The party was a John Deere Tractor theme. This is the piñata.

And the cake.

I love this shot Edwin took of the tractor on the cake with the actual tractor in the background.

This was the second party in Canada with the cousins. Mady and Ceci put everything together for our little man.

I took this picture of Liam's drawing pad because I was SO proud of him. When I went to get him out of quiet time he had been writing his letters. I had no idea he knew how to write them all! As well as my name and his. This kid loves his letters!

Playing in the pool in Spokane. We were loving the 90 degree weather. It was pretty hard to come back to Bellingham with the forecast looking the way it does. :(

Love the hair

What's Been Going On

2012-07-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

July has flown by and been really slow at the same time! The transition from two to three kids hasn't been easy for me, but I feel like we're finally starting to get into a rhythm. Rowan is a remarkably easy baby. I'm pretty sure that so far he's been my easiest! He is a very sweet baby and the kids seem to really love and accept him. It's just a process learning to keep up with three kids all under the age of four! Edwin has kept busy with work but tries to be around as much as he can and we've had a lot of support from family and friends.

Some days I just shake my head in wonder that we've come all the way from a doctors office with the prognosis that we had a 1% chance of ever having our own kids to this crazy and, for the most part, wonderful life! Three perfect, healthy, beautiful, busy boys. I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with them and I know it's going to fly by and they'll be off on their own before I'll ever be ready, but some days I feel like I should be committed to a mad house! But despite the madness we've still managed to have a lot of fun this month. Before we had him I was determined not to let this new little bundle keep all of us locked inside the house for the entire summer. Turns out he's incredibly easy haul around (so far anyway)!

Here are a bunch of pictures of what we've been up to and a sweet little video at the bottom...

Big Brother's first cuddles with his new toy! Liam loves Rowan so much and I am blessed to see how gentle he is with him. He asks all the time if he can hold him and feed him. If Rowan is crying Liam tries to comfort him. He will sit beside him and "read" books to him, wants to help with bath time, and is always interested to know where Rowan is and what he is doing. So sweet!

Rowan about to get strapped on to Mommy. He'll be spending A LOT of time this way out of necessity :)

Rowan snuggling with Grandpa

During this transition Liam has been a pure delight most of the time. He's still a three year old, but I have really enjoyed his little spirit lately!

Jonah graduating from the Plasma Bike to the Strider. He is a natural at just about anything athletic!

Meeting cousin Irie and getting some much needed cuddle time with Nana. Poor Nana wanted to be spending time with Rowan when he was born and was so excited to finally be near by when one of our babies arrived, and then Irie came down with some sort of flu the night Rowan was born! But she has been able to make up for lost time.

Enjoying a warm evening on the patio with Nana. We finally got a few days of warm weather and really tried to make the most of it by being outside as much as possible.

Irie, Liam and Jonah waiting for Daddy to take his turn on the slip and slide.

Edwin trying to show the littles how its done!

Liam, Morgan, Merritt, Jonah, Lauren and Elliot having a picnic in the back yard watching Edwin mow the field. They were anxiously awaiting a turn on the tractor. Edwin took each of them for a lap around the field and let the steer and work the tractor controls. They loved it!

Our sweet neighbor, Janet, called up and asked if she could take the boys on a hike around our properties and picnic lunch. They had the best time and were talking about it for days! I had a pretty great time without them as well :) They went all over, picked berries, visited her dog and the tree we planted when Liam was born, picked wild flowers, and ate a ton of food. I love our neighbors! We have been so blessed by so many of them. And they all seem to enjoy our kids!

This is seriously what happens to Rowans hair naturally after every bath! It just sticks up in every direction and we have a hard time getting it to lay flat.

Sleepy baby with a mohawk. All natural, I'm not kidding!

Another proud big brother! Though Jonah is not as interested in Rowan as Liam is, he's still pretty interested. He loves to give hugs and is actually pretty gentle. He likes to give him toys, which I have to really watch out for :) And he likes to make an announcement every time Rowan cries, "baby crying, Mama!"

Grandma and Grandpa came back over for ten days to help out with the kids and keep me sane. We started their visit with a belated birthday celebration for grandpa. All they really care about is decorating and eating cupcakes, so it's not too hard to put a celebration together. If anyone thinks their birthday is about them in this house, they're wrong! It's really ALL about the cake!

Nana left some sparklers at our house so we made use of them one evening! You can't really see anything, but I like this picture of everyone :)

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Christine came up to meet Rowan and show off Charlotte. She is the cutest little girl with the longest legs you've ever seen! She'll be a looker, thats for sure!

Could these two cousins look any different? They are actually first cousins!

We decided to take advantage of Grandma and Grandpa's time here to help us to take the kids to the Seattle zoo. Come to find out Grandpa wanted to go to the zoo WAY more than the kids did! I don't know who had more fun :)

And after the zoo we stopped by Dan, Mikki and Ellie's to introduce Rowan. The boys LOVE Ellie and it looks like she has another new fan!

We also made it up to Canada to visit Edwin's cousins. The boys had really been missing all of them. Liam asks about them all the time. We had to wait for Rowan's birth certificate to go up. We had a great day playing on the trampoline, playing in the pool, eating food and catching up!

This is the perfect example of how sweet Liam is with Rowan. He loves his little brother so much and he's so helpful!

Rowan James Martinez

2012-06-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

Rowan James was born June 27th at 2:22 in the afternoon. He is 8 lbs 9 oz. and 21 inches long. I haven't had any time to get pictures on the computer, but here is a link and some information to see some of the shots the hospital photographer got:

http://www.our365.com/BabyPhotography.aspx

Search by customer number 702501394195433
Click on Christina M.
Password is the same as the customer number
Last 4 digits of last name Mart

Here are a few quick photos that we took as well. No explanations because I'm typing with one hand. (There's a newborn who won"t go to sleep in the other one!)

Finally Blog Worthy!

2012-03-11T13:25:00.004-07:00

My new (and first) baby niece, Miss Charlotte Ann Grant! Born Thursday morning, March 8, to my brother, Jeff, and his wife, Christine. Now that is blog-worthy, don't you think? Here she is, just two and a half days old with the new daddy.

And here she is again with her Grandma, who is thrilled to finally have a grand daughter to shop for!

And here she is with her favorite Auntie ;) snuggling up to her cousin, due in 3 1/2 months. The baby in the belly was getting in some good love kicks to Charlotte's little bottom!

We spent the weekend with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin Ellie in Everett as a half way point to spending time with Charlotte. The boys LOVE it there! They had so much fun. Ellie and Mikki spoil them, so who wouldn't love it. They spoiled us too...

And some odds and ends from the camera...

Last week we were so surprised to wake up to this! The kids had an amazing time playing in the yard and the sun was so gorgeous and warm that even I enjoyed the hours outside!

My two favorite goof balls. I love that they are playing together more and more now. It's so fun to hear them giggling and laughing (and then, of course, screaming and crying) together.

So, no, the camera hasn't been broken and the blog still works. I just haven't had much blog worthy stuff lately. We've all been sick off and on most of the winter. Jonah had his surgery to get tubes put in his ears and he's a totally different kid now. So fun and happy! His vocabulary is finally taking off now that he can hear and he is transitioning into a lot of big boy things as well. Edwin has been gone to Guatemala A LOT. I went on a four day weekend retreat with some girlfriends, which was an amazing break for me. And Liam has just been getting more and more mature in so many ways. He is often a huge help to me, he's very loving and cuddly, and more than anything he loves to play with his best buddy, Merritt. Oh, and the baby in the belly is growing well and moving around a ton. He/She looked great on last ultrasound and I have been feeling pretty good, aside from the normal pregnancy tired and off and on heartburn.

So, that's all for now. I'm hoping to have more blog worthy stuff in the next few months. It's been kind of boring around here!

Getting Sentimental...among other things...

2011-12-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

Settle in for a long winter's blog...

Since I've only been blogging once a month or every month and a half it seems like I always have a million things to say. You may remember my last post at the beginning of November. We had had a somewhat difficult fall and were all pretty worn out. I am glad to say that things have been better around here for most of us!

For those of you who didn't know I am expecting a third little miracle July 4th. It's been a rough pregnancy so far, but we are nearing the end of the first trimester and I have hope things will get a lot better in the next month.

Jonah is feeling 110% better and is back to his crazy cute little self. He views the world around him as his own personal jungle gym. I am amazed at his acrobatic skills every day. He isn't afraid of anything (with the exception large dogs)! His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds every day and I love to hear him talk!

Liam is as smart as ever. He cracks us up all the time with the things he has to say. And he is so helpful. It has gotten to be a lot of fun doing things with him, taking him places and experiencing the wonder of the world again through his perspective. One of my favorite changes in him is his recent realization that Jonah can be fun! They play together all the time now. I hear them giggling about everything. and Liam now knows that Jonah will copy almost everything he does. This, I have found, is very dangerous!

Today was Liam's first participation in a Christmas program, or any type of program for that matter. I had been really looking forward to it, but I didn't expect to be so emotional about it! I helped lead worship this Sunday so I was there to see the program in the first service (Liam was only in the program for the second service). As I watched all the cute little kids I couldn't hold back the tears.

Most of you know that we went through 3 1/2 years of infertility before we conceived Liam. There were so many moments that I would be completely overcome by grief during those years. It would hit me at the most unexpected times. Today, all of the sudden, I was instantly transported back to a Christmas program about 5 or 6 years ago. I remembered so clearly sitting in the seat next to Edwin, watching all those cute little kids and my heart completely broke for the thousandth time. I was overcome with the realization that I would probably never get to sit in that seat with a huge grin on my face watching MY little boy or girl sing her heart out, or pick his nose, or just stand there like a statue. I actually had to get up and leave in order to go and compose myself.

Flash back to today and I was overcome with wonder! There I was watching the program, knowing that my little Liam, MY precious miracle would be up there in a little over an hour. That I would get to wave at him from my seat. That Edwin would be running around the sanctuary with a video camera trying to capture what would be to most people the most boring video they'd ever seen! God has been so incredibly good to us. He has given us more than we ever deserved. And this moment was such an overwhelming reminder of His grace and goodness.

So, without further ado (and mostly for the grandparents, because no one else will think it's interesting), Liam's inaugural performance...

And here are a few pictures of what we've been up to the rest of December.

We have had some MAJOR transitions. Edwin's parents and two of his cousins and their entire families all moved to the area on November 30th! We went from having very little family close by to having a ton of family close by. The cousins are all up in Vancouver and I took the boys up there a few weeks ago to begin getting reconnected. Here are just a few of them.

And this is Edwin's nephew Irie. Edwin's parents are raising him full time right now. Hopefully we'll all be able to help each other!

Meeting Santa and Christmas tree farm

Doesn't Jonah remind you of that kid in The Christmas Story with that poofy red coat?

Seeing the lights go on on the Christmas tree for the first time.

Watching Charlie Brown's Christmas

Discovering Nutella

Out to see the Lights Of Christmas at Warm Beach Camp with the Brennans

The crash after all the fun

It's been an interesting fall....

2011-10-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't had ANY desire or energy lately to take pictures, let alone get a blog post up. But I thought I should make a little effort here for those of you who don't get to see the kids in person very much. The truth is Jonah has been sick for most of the last three months. And not just a little sick, he has been really sick. So, we haven't been out of the house much or done anything very picture worthy. Poor Liam! He and I are going insane with all this social isolation. It can wear you down pretty quick!

Anyway, I'll spare you the details (mainly because I am so sick of the whole thing) and get right to the few pictures we have taken. We went to the pumpkin patch a few times this month (we live super close and it is really cheap), once with Daddy and once with the Brennans. We didn't get many pictures, but at least you can see what the kids look like these days!

This one was taken right after Jonah took a face plant in the sand, running around. He was so crabby this day to begin with. Poor guy was still feeling pretty bad.

Liam couldn't care less about the pumpkins, he just wanted to see the animals. He still LOVES animals.

This is how Jonah spent most of the day.

Pumpkin patch take 2: Feeling a little better (but not much)

I am learning more and more that little boys need to get outside no matter what the weather. Good thing we have a great place to put on the rain gear and get crazy! I thought they'd end up a lot dirtier, but Merritt and Morgan were ready to head inside pretty quick. We might have to start calling them "the city kids". Liam and Jonah would stay out there all day if I let them.

Well, sadly, those are the only decent picture I have. Here's to hoping we have a much more fun November!

Shifting Into High Gear!

2011-09-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

Jonah is officially walking! He started about a week and a half after his birthday and is getting faster and faster every day. This video was taken about two weeks ago and he is a lot more steady now. Never a dull moment!

Liam decided one night a dinner that he really wanted to sing and sing he did! I LOVE it when he sings, it makes my heart so happy. And I think he has pretty good tone! He does, however, forget the words to most of the songs, but what he lacks in precision he makes up for in creativity. He kind of reminds me of my dad that way. I don't think I've ever heard my dad get the lyrics right on any song!

Finally, these are some of the shots taken on Jonah's One Year Birthday shoot. He is hard to get a picture of because he NEVER stops moving, so he gave the photographers a run for their money! But I think we got a couple of good ones.

Happy Birthday Sweet Jonah!

2011-08-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

You are sweet and cuddly, crazy and aggressive, funny, super active, cute, charming, curious, adventurous, and I ADORE you!

We had a great birthday week with Jonah. It started off Tuesday with a one year photo session (I will post some of those photos as soon as I get them). Then Wednesday, Jonah's actual birthday, we celebrated just our little family. And Saturday we had friends and family over for a party. It was so much fun! The weather was great, the food was amazing, and the kids had a blast. I am so thankful for my community and how they love on my kids so thoroughly!

Sorry for the media blitz, but I got a lot of great video throughout the week! The first is a slide show of the pictures from Jonah's party and the second is a video of the party. The third and fourth videos are from Jonah's actual birthday. In the third one I had blown up the pool to see how big it was and the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. It was a little tall for Jonah by the time I blew up the third level so it turned into more of a wrestling ring. And I had to put the fourth one on because Liam made me laugh so hard. It's a great example of his incredible negotiating skills and his pure joy over birthday cakes and celebration! Enjoy

Untitled from Nina Martinez on Vimeo.

Annual Vacation with the Brennans!

2011-07-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our annual trip with the Brennan family. This is one of my favorite trips every year and they are getting better and better as the kids get older. Merritt and Liam LOVE spending time together and Jonah and Morgan are getting to be more fun as well. The adults don't get as much down time as we'd like, but we have a ton of fun anyway. It's so fun to see the trips evolve as our families evolve and every year we dream up what we're going to do the next year!

This year we went to the bustling town of Cle Elum, WA. Why on earth did we go to Cle-Elum? Good question! With four kids at 3, almost 3, 1 1/2, and 1 it made more sense to find an amazing house with an amazing yard to spend all of our time at and Cle Elum had just the one with an amazing price tag to boot! And as it turns out there was a lot to do there. We found some great parks, went on a beautiful hike, toured the neighboring towns, hit the mining museum, rented some quads, and really enjoyed the house and it's amenities. So much so, that we didn't get a whole lot of pictures or video this year! But I put together a slideshow and video with some of the good stuff.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Jonah started taking some steps on his own! I know, we are in BIG trouble now! We got the first few on video the night before we left. There is also a picture of Liam and Edwin at Larabee State Park and the boys playing around in the Galaxy the day before we left. Enjoy!

Cousin Fun

2011-07-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a really fun trip to London, Ontario, about 2 hours outside of Toronto. Edwin's cousins, Pablo and Ceci both live there for the time being with their families and we flew out to spend a week with them. We all had a great time, but Liam was in heaven! The whole week before we left he talked about his "cousins" non-stop. I don't know if he knew exactly what he was in for, but he enjoyed every minute. The traveling there and back was a real bear with Jonah, but it was well worth it!

We stayed with Pablo, his wife, Mady, their son Alek (who is three days older than Liam) and daughter, Mia (5 months older than Jonah). It was a packed house, but full of fun. Ceci and her husband, Julio, also have 2 boys, Sebastian, 5 and Julian 2. The boys played really well together which left a surprising amount of time for us to enjoy the adults. We REALLY miss them and are hoping they might find themselves in Vancouver, BC soon (Edwin and I have been working on importing as many family members to this area as possible over the last several years and our efforts have not gone void!). Liam and Alek really have fun together and Sebastian was incredibly loving and sweet to all the younger kids as well. They are all so different and it was really fun to see their unique personalities. We didn't get a ton of must see video, so I put together a quick on of Liam and Alek having fun and also a slide show of our time down there. (Don't forget that you have the option to watch them full screen)

In other news, the boys continue to change at the speed of light. Liam's communication capabilities are off the charts! He never stops talking and what he has to say is so adult sometimes. I think Edwin's cousins got a kick out of Mr. Chatty. You have to spend more than a few hours with Liam for him to warm up, but once you do you cannot get him to be quiet, so most people don't believe me when I tell them he talks...A LOT. Here are a few of his recently acquired sayings:

In answer to anyone asking him to do something he doesn't want to do, "Not today," or "I don't think so."

When really wanting someone to listen to him, "Do you understand?"

"Mommy turn the music down, I'm talking to you!"

When talking about things he knows he'll finish his sentence with, "Did you know?"

Jonah is on the move and he never stops moving! He will try anything and has NO sense of risk! He has gotten to be quite the trouble maker, but he is so stinking cute! He has started to stand up on his own in the middle of the floor and has pretty good control when walking with any kind assistance. I am pretty sure he is on the verge of walking and that TERRIFIES me! I have no doubt that he will run just moments after he figures out how to walk and our lives will be high energy ALL the time! I can't take my eyes off of him for even a second as it is. Below is video of proof!

The Monthly

2011-06-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

I think I may rename my blog to something like "The Monthly". It seems like every time I write a post I am apologizing for the time that has passed since the last post! I guess thats what having two kids means for me, less time to post. So I'll just continue to cram tons of random stuff into one and maybe someday I'll get more consistent!

June FLEW by! I cannot believe it. And I think the rest of the summer is going to fly as well, since we have a lot of fun stuff coming up. The best thing about this last month is how much time we got outside despite the weather. I suppose it's all relative. I mean, I know the weather this last month was disappointing, but it was A LOT better then the month before it. So, that's something to be thankful for, right?

Here are a slideshow and a video of some of what we've been up to. I'll let them speak for themselves! And just as a reminder (for those of you who don't spend a lot of time on the internet) You have to click the title of the blog post in your email to see the media and if you want to see either of these full screen just look for the button on the bottom right that looks like four arrows all pointing outward ;)

How are you doing last night?

2011-06-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome, June. Please don't rain all month. We really need some sunshine! It felt like a really long May. The few days that the kids and I were able to get outside were so blessed. But the rain always came back and it starting to get a little oppressive! So I don't have a whole lot of fun pictures and video, I think we just hunkered down and tried to survive the last few weeks. But here is a little glimpse of what we've been up to.

We headed out to Edwin's family's place in Birch Bay a couple weeks ago and got to do some kayaking. I think Liam had more fun thinking about it and getting ready to go do it than he actually had in the kayak. But we had a good time none the less.

Jonah is still very adventurous. He is ALWAYS finding something to get into, or some way to get in trouble. He's creative, fast and won't take "no" for an answer! Here I was cleaning out his little drawers and he had some ideas of his own...

And he's always super happy after bath time.

Liam continues to change at the speed of light as well. His vocabulary has sky rocketed. My favorite is when he uses new phrases that he has learned but doesn't quite get them right. Like "how are you doing last night?" and when he is heading upstairs from the shop he says, "I'll be right back down stairs!" He still loves letters and counting and isn't very into things like his bike or motorized tractor. He's also in a phase where he doesn't entertain himself very well. He spends most of his time following me around and if I'm not paying attention to him he gets naughty! But he is sweet and very helpful and funny and so very cute!

Aww... brothers. If only they acted like this all the time! Jonah loves to be anywhere that Liam is and follows him around the house. But he is also very bad about trying to get into whatever Liam is doing. Liam doesn't show a ton of love to Jonah, but we're working on it and praying about it. He is just recently starting to get that Jonah can be fun, especially when there's nothing else to do. But the toy thieving and aggressiveness is a little frustrating.

This is Liam and his buddy Merritt at the Ski to Sea Parade. They loved it!

Forced to pose for a picture, but Liam was really patient and did his best to hold Jonah up!

With Grandma and Grandpa

And Mommy and Daddy

Jonah Jokes

2011-05-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Jonah has the funniest little laugh and the one person who can make him laugh the hardest is his big brother, Liam.

(reminder - the videos don't show up in the email you get so you have to click on the title of the blog to watch it on the blog itself.)

Semana Santa

2011-04-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Guatemala for Easter week. It was a long trip down and back but our time there was wonderful! Liam hasn't been to Guate since he was 5 months old and this was Jonah's first time there and meeting a lot of the family. Usually when we go down we spend a lot of time working and driving, so it was really fun for me to get to stay in the city and spend the whole time with family. We had some kind of family fiesta every day and I think I ate enough food to hibernate the rest of the year! Oh well, back to the gym tomorrow.

Liam and Jonah had a great time. Liam got to play every day with his cousins and there were a ton of things planned for them to do. The communication was definitely somewhat of a barrier, as was the fact that he's so tall! None of his older cousins could figure out why he seemed so behind since he's the same size as them. But they all have a least a couple of years on him! And Jonah was just...well, Jonah. He's everyone's friend. He'll go to anyone and he smiles all of the time. You can't help but want to have him around!

We didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked with Edwin's parents due to some unfortunate circumstances, but hopefully we'll get to see them again soon. We did get to spend quite a bit of time with Edwin's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids, so all in all it was a very precious time.

Here is a slide show followed by a video of our time down there. Remember, if you want to see it full screen you can just click the box in the lower right had corner that has arrows pointing outward. Enjoy!

The Toy Bin Trend

2011-03-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Jonah is getting more and more active by the day! And as is true with ALL kids the toy bin continues to be a huge hit. It didn't take long for us to get some video showing Jonah's enthusiasm similar to Liam's when he was that age.

And here is a picture of my little cutie playing in the clean laundry.

Keeping up!

2011-03-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

Well, February and into March was a wild ride! We started to potty train Liam on the 11th of Feb. We did the 3 day potty training method and I am happy to tell you it only took Liam 3 1/2 weeks! Oh, it was awful. Edwin left for Guatemala just a few days after we started, so it was just me and there were many times when I would have liked to throw in the towel. But the day after Edwin got back it finally just clicked and we haven't had an accident for a week!

This trip for Edwin to Guatemala was my hardest yet. It seemed like everything that could go bad went bad. Colds, stomach flu, broken appliances, migraines, teething, weather, potty training rebellion, terrible twos, no sleep...I could go on. I was physically and emotionally spent most of the time that he was gone, but we are all doing a ton better now that he's back. And we did have some fun times while he was gone.

Liam now likes to do EVERYTHING himself. Commence instant meltdown if you try to do something for him that he wants to do. But it has its good sides too. He now likes to do things like "help" with the dishes.

For half the time Edwin was gone I went to my parent's house in Spokane for some help. I am so grateful for all the energy the put into the three of us! It was really a relief. And they had a lot of snow, which Liam loved. He doesn't really need to play in it, he just wants to eat it. But he humored Grandpa long enough to help build a snowman.

I love it when I go check on him and he is sleeping in some strange position. He is using the giant Tweety bird at my parents house as a pillow.

Jonah decided to do all of his growing up while daddy was gone. He is now just 7 months old and he cut two new teeth, went from rolling to swimming to crawling across the room, started sitting in a high chair and eating some foods on his own, started sitting up and saying Mama. Now he is starting to pull up to standing a little bit. He's a little daredevil too. He's getting into and trying everything which makes for several bumps and bruises. And he's still the life of the party. He is always smiling, and chatting and giggling. I catch him laughing at himself a lot! I love that about him. And the best part about him is that he is still a fabulous snuggler. Poor little guy, though, gets left on the floor to fend for himself a lot in this busy house. I fight the guilt that I'm not doing as much with him as I did with Liam. I need to read books with him more, sing songs and play games with him more. Liam tends to suck up a lot of the time I have to do those things!

Here is the little guy crawling through the exersaucer.

And here is a little video of my funny baby...

Catching up with Jonah

2011-02-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

My little guy is growing up so fast, too fast! I am constantly amazed at how big and strong he is and how he is blowing all of those little baby milestones out of the water.

He started rolling over from his tummy to his back in December and then hit a little lull. But by mid January he perfected his roll over both ways and hasn't stopped since. Today he is making his way all around the house, devouring solid foods like a starving wolf, exploring everything and anything and lighting up my world with his sweet, easygoing, humorous nature. Jonah is such a fun baby and it just kills me that he won't be a baby for very much longer!

Here's a little video of some of his milestones from the end of January to now. Remember, if you're reading this on the email, you have to click the blog title to go to the actual blog post in order to see the video.

And here is a picture of Liam, just because it's funny. He could care less about the Lincoln Logs, but the Lincoln Log container was a TON of fun!

A Decade Ago...

2011-02-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

we got married on a sunny day, just like today, and I am so GLAD! Happy 10th Anniversary to the perfect and only man for me! We can't be old enough to have been married for 10 years already, can we? Of course, we did get married when we were just babies, so I guess that makes sense.

You know I can get really wordy and sentimental sometimes with my cards and posts, but I decided in honor of our 10 years AND it being our golden anniversary (ten years on the 10th day of February) I'm just going to sum it all up with my top ten favorite memories and/or things I love about you!

10. I have been married to you for 10 years and I am still finding out new things about you. Most recently, how creative with designing things you are.

9. Your sense of adventure and desire for the spontaneous. I can't imagine how boring I would be without you!

8. That we literally built our own home together, with our own four hands.

7. Surfing with your for the very first time in Hawaii, on our honeymoon, and the excited, proud look on your face when you saw me get up for the very first time.

6. Your ability to love people, no matter who, no matter what. People are constantly drawn to you and your incredible nature. So much so that I have to pray sometimes that we don't run into anyone we know when we go out together and I want some privacy!

5. How life is more important than time to you (this one is a little love/hate :) ). It doesn't matter if you have a whole list of things to do, you will always slow down and give the best of yourself to the kids and I. Like the time you had a million things to accomplish in the shop and yard, yet you patiently allowed Liam to help you put the table together, even though it took 10 minutes to screw in each screw.

4. That you are so in tune with the needs of people around you. You anticipate what someone will need even before they need it. And you make yourself available to serve so that everyone else around you can just relax and enjoy themselves!

3. Our last minute trip to Disneyland, planned the day of, about 3 hours before we hit the road! Grilling burgers in the back of the pick up in the parking garage, driving all night, listening to tunes and talking about everything. This one is a definite repeat someday, but maybe we should go to Disney World next time!

2. Your incredible good looks, and the fact that you were kind enough to pass them on to our kids, who are SO CUTE!

1. The phenomenal father and teammate you have become in raising our boys. You are fun, sensitive, loving, stern, flexible, patient, and willing to learn. Liam and Jonah are so lucky to have you and so am I!

I know there are so many more and probably some that would rank higher even than some of these, but these are all precious to me in every way (and they were the extent of what I could come up with, with our two screaming blessings in the background!). I am humbled by you often and more in love with you than ever before. May God grant us many more decades and millions of memories in the years to come. I love you.

Back from Owie

2011-01-24T13:19:00.001-08:00

It's funny how you talk about a vacation, plan for it for over a year, and then your sitting on your couch looking at the pictures you took on your vacation, wondering if you were actually there. It goes so fast!

We just got back from a 10 day trip to Maui (or as Liam calls it, "Owie"). We spent half our vacation celebrating my brother, Jeff, and his new wife, Christine's wedding, and the other half playing with my parents. We were also sort of celebrating our 10 year anniversary, coming up in February. The weather was amazing, the people were a ton of fun, and the sights did not disappoint. I had Aunts and uncles and cousins to play with, we met the important people in Christine's world. All in all we made some great memories.

We started our vacay with a day on the beach followed by an incredibly delicious welcome BBQ hosted by the bride's family. The next day we toured around the area where we stayed and then hit the rehearsal. Sunday was the wedding and then Monday through Saturday we did whatever we wanted! We took our sweet friend, Heidi, with us to watch the kids during all of the wedding stuff. She did an amazing job and the kids love her. I wish we would have begged her to stay for the whole 10 days so that we could have gone out more!

There were only two downsides to the entire trip. Liam was terrified of the ocean, which killed our ability to hang out on the beach...in Hawaii...are you kidding me?!? It was so bad that every time we got in the car he started to panic that we might be going to the beach. His little eyes would go moist and his face would get red and he would start coming up with any excuse not to go to the beach. "Liam take a nap," "Liam stay in his seat," "Back to Owie house," "Back to Owie Condo," "Go to store." You get the idea. It didn't matter how much we tried to convince him we were NOT going to the beach, he wouldn't relax until we got where ever we were headed and he could see we weren't at the ocean. And then half way through the trip Jonah got a really bad cold, followed by Liam, followed by my dad, my mom, Edwin and then me. Again, are you kidding me?!?

But, those aside, we had an amazing trip. So much so that Edwin is now trying to convince me we need to buy a condo there and go all the time! He does this everywhere we go. Maybe we should wait awhile and see if Liam gets over his fear of the ocean. I would hate to live in Hawaii and not be able to go to the beach!

Here is a slideshow of some of our photos. Turns out we were having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures most of the time. I guess we will have to go back for more!

NOTE 1: The email will not show the slide show. You have to click the title of the blog post and that will send you to the actual blog with the full post. This is ALWAYS the case with video/slideshows etc.
NOTE 2: there is an icon at the bottom, second from the right on the slide show that looks like four arrows pointing in all different directions, making the shape of a square. If you click on that you will be able to view the slideshow full screen! And turn on your sound if you'd like to hear some tunes...

SNOW!

2011-01-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

We got some serious snow on Sunday and it was glorious! It was also Liam's first time really playing in the snow. He LOVED it! I put together a little video. By the way, I was recently told that when you get the emails for Martinez Moments you don't get the videos. No problem, just click on the title to the blog post and it will send you straight to the blog, which is better for viewing photos and videos anyway. The emails are only meant to be an alert that there is a new post.