Spencer

 

Spencer...I know this post in months old, but things got a little crazy these last few months. I am sure I have said this before, there is nothing like going back over the past years photos to make you fall in love with your kiddos all over again!! Spencer is no exception, man this kid makes me laugh. He is such a fun guy to have around, full of personality, and usually is always happy.

 

 

This is the kind of stuff that makes us laugh...he is very secure in who he is, so he can pin all of his sister's clips in his hair and rock it!  Or put on his sissy's ballet dress and eat chips and know that he is the man!

I don't know why, but I have the most pictures of Spencer while he is sleeping, and usually always in the car, the kid can fall asleep anywhere!

Here is one of the very few photos that I have with Spencer and "his Lola" (my mom) While we were in Utah, we lived with her, and they bonded...very closely, he was often found in Lola's room, in fact, before he would come and see me in the morning, he would go in and snuggle with her. Maybe because he got this kind of treatment...snuggles in warm blankies, books, and usually some kind of treat!

My sister had a rabbit for a while, and Spence thought it was so fun to terrorize the poor thing, good thing it was fast!

Happy 2nd birthday!!!

Halloween, he was a bat! We were very lucky to be able to have Daddy with us this night, he was driving truck for the whole year we were there, and it wasn't very often that he was home, it just so happened that he was home for trick or treating!!!

...(I just want to mention the trick or treat bags...thats right...I made those!!! I don't want to toot my own horn or anything...but I am awesome!!)

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

Grandma Martinson made him this awesome Mater cake...he loved it, but was a little weirded out that we cut him up and ate him!

This was my mother's day photo shoot with the kids...when I have tried to get nice posed pictures of Spencer...this is usually what I end up with, hence why all most of his photos are totally candid!

I cant get this photo to rotate, but we were so lucky to have some of our cousin's come up this summer and Spence and Isabelle just loved to hang out together!!

Sleeping, once again!!! I love this photo, I love the lips, the sunglasses....everything!

Spencer is finally a BIG brother...he it totally excited...(can you tell??)

This photo, you can totally tell they are brothers!

As I was going through my photos...I happened on to this one, I didn't take it, I am pretty sure Isaac did, but he caught Spence in the act of getting into the snacks!
One of the many things that have made me laugh these past few months has been Spencer's attempt at being sneaky. He will ask for a treat or fruit snack and if I say no, he looks around and then tells me..."Mommy...you need a nap, go take a nap!" (so he could have some 'alone' time with the snack basket!) as if I would let him out of my sight now!!!

 

This last photo is, once again, not turning, but is a picture (again, one of many) of him sleeping, he fell into a Cheetos coma!!! I sure love this guy!

 

Spencer is really loving his little brother, and loves that we get to be together all day, now that the older two are in school all day...But he really does miss Isaac a lot, at about 1pm everyday, he looks up from what he is doing and asks to go pick up Isaac and Sissy! He is a helper, always looking to make someone laugh, friendly (most of the time), he loves to go on walks with me and the baby! He is such a good sport about entertaining himself...an all around pleasant kid to be around all day, I am one lucky momma!

Isaac

Isaac!!

Its hard to believe that this was him just 2 summers ago...right after we made the move to Utah (its wierd that Spencer is currently wearing that outfit)

Isaac started out this year in pre-school, he loved going to the same school as Ellie, he was super excited! (you can tell by the silly grin on his face) While we were only there for 1/2 the year, he was awarded student of the week, and he was getting really good and writing his name and spelling the word, MOM!!! (I love it) it seems like all his drawings and pictures were always dedicated to me on the back!

(such a proud moment!)

sorry for the bad picture...its the only one I have of the boys :(

For Halloween last year, he wanted to be a vampire...unfortunately he got strep throat so he couldn't go to school that day, but he was a happy camper otherwise!

These pictures are one of the couple of trips we had to take to the doctors for the strep throat that Isaac kept getting...he was a trooper through the whole thing though!

So, we move to Washington, and when the sun finally started to shine, after what seemed like an endless winter, we went to the beach...Isaac loves to throw the rocks into the water, and of course, likes to find whatever is living under the rocks! He and Spencer sure like to hang out together and the love it when their cousin, Hunter, joins in the adventures

This last picture was taken during our snack time, the seagulls were very interested in our crackers, and the boys got a huge kick out of throwing the crackers and seeing them flock around us!

 We did an Easter-egg hunt at the karate studio the kids were attending. Isaac had a great time, but as usual, half-way through the excitement, he wanted to go home...he doesn't do to well with large crowds for an extended period of time...(he is like his daddy that way)

Isaac had a harder time adjusting to this move, he was quite clingy to me, but I have just been amazed at how much he has grown. He loves to be outside, I wish I had the pictures on this computer, but a couple of weeks ago, he wanted his training wheels off, so Daddy took them off. Looking forward to teaching him how to ride his bike, he got his video camera out, but before he could even turn around from getting the bike all set up, Isaac was off....never even looked back, didn't wobble, didn't struggle, its like he has been riding a two wheeler his whole life! It was a bittersweet moment for Dad, he is proud that his boy is such a natural, but then kinda sad that there was a missed teaching moment...but to be honest, I really wouldn't expect anything else from Isaac, he is constantly surprising us at his natural ability to do things and handle certain situations. Its a lesson for me, to maybe let him spread his wings a little more often and see just how he can fly!! As long as he still climbs into bed with me in the morning for his snuggles, I am ok with him stretching those wings now and then!
Isaac, like his big sister, has discovered his love of playing in the woods, frog hunting, searching for salamanders, picking up slugs, bugs, spiders....anything of the sort! This hobby of creature finding is driving Mommy nuts, but Daddy was nice to bring an old aquarium home, so the creatures can all stay OUTSIDE!!!

I just can't believe how fast this little guy has grown up, he starts kindergarten in the fall. He says that he is ready now, before, he said he didn't want to leave mom, and he still gets that way, but I think he is maturing and ready for some adventures! 

Just some notes for my own record keeping...Isaac just loves music, and he seems to have a natural ability to remember lyrics to songs, even if he has never heard the song before. I catch him singing lyrics to songs that have only been played in background, or songs from shows he has seen. The other day, I heard him singing a song from the "veggietales"...I heard him singing, "God is bigger than the boggey-man" it was awfully cute!!!
He loves to come in and get snuggles in the morning, and he reminds me half-way through the day if we haven't had our snuggles, and he insists that we get our snuggles in!
He loves to see things crash, anything from toys, to cars, to trains...anything that crashes he loves, but he does not like the noise! He is still deathly afraid of fireworks, but he loves to look at them from a distance! Other than that, he has no fear of anything else, he is quite the dare-devil. He thinks he can do pretty much anything the older kids are doing, stunt riding on his bike, scooter tricks, he even wants to start trying tricks on a trampoline! He falls down a lot, but he is never one to not want to try again, when he falls off his bike, he comes to mom for a bandaid and a kiss and he is right back out there!
Isaac has a very tender heart, and is very interested in just about everything, he asks a lot of questions, about big things, like God and death, birth, heaven, etc... I was talking to one of my friends the other day, and telling her about Isaac, and I said that sometimes I wasnt quite sure how to answer some of his big  questions, and she said, "Well, maybe he is preparing you for the questions that you need to know how to answer without hesitation..." (food for thought)
He wants to know all about how things work, how the water gets through the pipes, how our hands work, our toes work, how the computers work, anything and everything. Needless to say, we do a lot of you-tube watching how things work or are made!
He doesn't read yet, but you can often find him in his bed, or on my bed reading though books, he does love to look through them, and can pretty much tell you whats going on from the pictures!
Isaac is a really good friend, he includes everyone, and makes sure that everyone is having fun!

We sure love the addition he brings to the family!

Just a tiny update!

Well, as per the request of my Dad, I will go ahead and finally update my blog! But I think I will do this one in a couple of installments, maybe one entry per child!

Ellie

Ellie started out her first grade year in Utah, she loved it, and her love of reading started here!!

 I cannot begin to say how much I love and appreciate this girl, and the growth that she has done over this last year has been incredible...pictures are worth a thousand words...

During her Thanksgiving program that her class put on for their families...they all got to show off their reading skills! It was very cute!

Finally, around Halloween of 2011, she lost her first tooth...after months and months of asking when she was going to loose it, it finally came out! Her second tooth came out just a couple of weeks later, but as of right now...June of 2012, she is still waiting to loose the two front teeth! (She keeps telling me that the dentist said she should loose them in a couple of months...that was about two months ago...and well, they aren't loose at all, but she keeps holding out hope!)

Ellie wanted to be a witch for Halloween, and it was an awesome costume...made by ME!!! I think I did a pretty awesome job, if I say so myself! It was a lot of fun doing this for her!

Ellie just being crazy!!! We love her craziness, even though it drives the rest of us crazy as well sometimes!

I didn't take any pictures of our big move to Washington right before Christmas...and I was so sick for about 12 weeks because of this baby, but one morning I woke up to this note stuck to the fridge...This is so typical of Ellie, always leaving me notes and little reminders how much she loves me! She loves to write stories and whatever it is she is thinking at that moment. The other Saturday, I got to sneak away to the adult session of stake conference (the rest of the family was sick) I took a notebook with me and I was thumbing through the pages, and I came upon something that Ellie had written and drawn, I have no idea when it was written, but it melted my heart!

This picture, I assume is Ellie and God and apparently God has a cape?!?!

I will do my best to decipher this...
"I believe in God. And I believe, that he loves one another, even if they are bad or good and kid or men ....If they are a girl or a boy. Do you believe in God? I do."
Sorry, I can't make out some of the words in the middle there....but if you are like me and wonder if anything I say, or their teachers in primary teach, ever get through...well, this tells me that something is getting through...and this is her sweet testimony! (out of the mouth of babes!!)

This is Ellie, at the end of first grade, she has grown up so much, she is reading chapter books after chapter books, in fact, she goes through them so fast, I can't keep up with her! She is super excited to be a big second grader in the fall. And though she wont admit it, she is excited to have her little brother start school as well!  Ellie has a tendency to be a bit snippy and impatient with just about everyone, but especially her brothers, so we are working very hard on HOW we say things to each other, and speaking softly to each other. Ellie is excited to be a big sister again, and she has bonded quite nicely, already, to baby brother...she loves to sit and feel him kick and she talks and kisses the belly all the time! She is really hoping that he comes on her birthday this year.  We are learning about money management as a whole family, learning how to budget and save and stay out of debt (or get out of it, in mom and dad's case), She has really grasped the idea of earning money, and she likes to pitch in and do the jobs that she gets paid to do. She likes to do dishes, and sort laundry, she is excellent at setting the table, and even though its her least favorite chore, she is really good at cleaning her room and putting her clean clothes away! She is a big help around the house, and I do rely on her a lot! Her favorite thing to do when she is outside is ride her bike and play on the monkey bars, and she has the calouses(?) to prove it. She has discovered playing in the woods in front of the house...it kinda reminds me of when I was growing up, going and playing for hours in the woods!
We sure love this girl, we love the spirit she adds to the house and the family!

Food for thought!

I know...its crazy two posts in two days! Well I got home from a fabulous evening at my friends house where I learned all about good food and nutrition. It was wonderful, and the wonderful thing to me is that most of the stuff was review for me, but I came home tonight and folded some laundry then climbed into bed and opened my scriptures and I read this verse:

"...and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understanding great knowledge when it is given unto them in plainess, even as plain as word can be."

It hit me tonight, that yes, this was all review to me, I know exactly what this wonderful lady was telling us, and have I put any of it into practice. NOPE. Why? Why wouldnt I do these things? Is it to hard? Is it my pride, well probably. Are the things she is telling me not plain as plain can be? It is pretty straightforward, and if you want to throw the word of wisdom into play here, it totally fits into the word of wisdom and the way God intended us to take care of our bodies. Dont even get me started on evil and conspiring men in these last days.
All this comes into play with the thoughts that I have had this last week, about my duty. My duty as a mother especially, and how I feel like I have been lacking and not preparing my kids to go out into this world that is falling apart everywhere we look. That is 9 short months I am supposed to send my baby boy to kindergarten...for 7 hours a day 5 days a week. How everyday I send my beautiful, spunky, 6 year old off to the first grade for 7 hours a day, and how I ask myself, "have I sufficiently helped my kids put on their armor today? Not just spiritual, but physical?" And if I were going to be honest with myself the answer is no. I have slacked big time. I had a spiritual awakening earlier this week, and this evening, once again, I had a physical awakening of sorts as to what I should and need to be doing desperately not just for the kids but for myself, so I can be that Mom that can help my family face whats out there.
So here I am confessing and making a promise to myself and to the Lord that I am gonna try everyday to be a little better. That I will make the changes that I know that I should be, and I know its not going to be easy, because lets face it, if it doesn't hurt(even just a little), then you probably aren't changing!
I feel like I have been given a wealth of knowledge over the last year, that I have so willingly put on the back burner and said to myself, "oh, well thats really good to know!" I feel like I have been in the right place at the right time to receive this information, and yet I haven't put it into action. I don't know how many more times the Lord is gonna put it in my face before I have to have that wake-up call, and I seriously hate it when the Lord finally has to give me that wake-up call. Times a ticking!
I pray that the Lord will be with me and my family on this journey. I know that right now I have a choice to make and I feel like the Lord has faced me in the right direction, now its up to me to take the first steps.

Thanks for reading my ramblings, I don't even know if you can understand what it is I am trying to say, but I had to get it down, and for some reason, I felt that this blog is where it needed to go.

A very long overdue update!

Sorry no pictures for this update, my camera bit the dust a while ago, and so all I have are words!
So, for the 5 people that actually read this blog, you already know, but we moved back up to Washington State right before Christmas. It is absolutely crazy moving that time of the year, but luckily we had fantastic weather, and as I recall, I think we even had sunshine the day we moved into our new house. Erik got a job up here, he still is driving truck, but its a local job, so he is home every night and has all his weekends off!(Many thanks for the many prayers that were said on our behalf) I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have a husband and a daddy home everyday! He works long hours, but at least its not driving to Texas anymore!

Ellie started her new school, and unfortunatly has taken longer to make friends than she would like. The school boundary system up here in Ferndale is crazy, so we are doing the best that we can. She likes her teacher, and she of course is a great student, but socially is struggling just a bit. She keeps telling me that she wants to be homeschooled...we will just keep that on the back burner for now!

Isaac, what can I say, I just smile when I think of him. He is so active, he does miss his preschool in Utah, but since we have moved has taken up a new hobby...Momma! He follows me around, would prefer to always have some sort of physical contact with me, but will make due with eye sight! He is constantly checking up on me, asking me if I feel alright, asking what I am doing, tells me he loves me almost every other hour. He tells me "but I love you" when I want him to go do something without me (like sit in primary.) He is just so tuned into me...I am his moon and stars right now. It occured to me that he will be 5 this summer and that means he is supposed to start kindergarten in the fall. So keeping him at home with me and just hanging with me, doing chores, watching shows, playing with cousins and friends, thats ok with me. And just between you and me I really don't think he is ready for kindergarten...maybe homeschool is closer than we think?!?! (I am just sayin)

Spencer. My handsome, husky, hunk of a boy! We love him in this house, we can't get enough of him. He has come into his terrible three's....at one time he was the pleasant one that just kind of went along with everything...well not anymore, he grew an opinion. And his opinion is...don't treat me any differently than my older brother and sister. He loves to dance and in our new house we have an intercom system that also plays the radio throughout the whole house, he likes to turn it on and have a dance party in the living room, its great fun, the whole family gets in on it!
He still likes to climb up into my lap and read books, but I will say he is getting quite heavy...but he doesn't quite like the seat next to me yet..he wants to be on top of me still.

Allia, well, I am doing fine. I love being back in Washington, though I miss my family tremendously. I hesitate to even say anything, because of the last years pattern, but we are expecting baby number 4, due in August! I have been soooooo sick. I can't remember another pregnancy being this sick and I dont know if its due to just being older and out of shape, don't know, but so far this pregnancy has kicked my butt. We are so excited, and we did get an early ultrasound, and we saw a healthy baby, who actually measured larger than we had thought, so that is a really good sign! I am trying to stay positive, but with 2 past miscarriages in the last year, everyday there is always a hint of nervousness. I am hoping that the morning sickness will let up, so I can actually make my house pretty and feel like we have "moved in" , things have been unpacked, but not well organized yet, I am hoping that the "nesting" instinct will kick in and I can get back on top of things soon. I love our ward and being back with old and new friends up here, and if any of you are reading this, I am sorry I have been so anti-social...now you know why!

Well, there you have the update on the Martinson Family! I will try and get some more photos up here and maybe someday pictures of our new home!

Family Update!

Wow, so much has happened since the last time I updated.
Lets see, Ellie started the First grade. She loves her new teacher. I just had a parent teacher conference and found out that Ellie is reading above her grade level. She is doing great in her spelling and she is really enjoying math. She is very helpful and a hard worker. (of course, I didn't need a teacher to tell me that)

Isaac started preschool and he loves it!!! I love that he loves it so much. He goes everyday in the afternoon. He is learning so quickly. I don't know if its because he is left handed, but he is struggling picking up the writing things out...but in the month or so that he has been in school, he has come so far. When I met with his teacher, she said that he is a typical 4 year old boy and sometimes struggles to keep his hands to himself. He knows how to spell his name, and if you ask him I am sure he would sing to you in the "BINGO" tune..."I-S-A-A-C, I-S-A-A-C I-S-A-A-C and Isaac was his name-o!!"

Spencer is missing his brother and sister while they are at school, but he also really does enjoy being an only child. I rather like having an only child for a few hours a day! He does go down for a nap on most days, so its quite in the house...if you have been to my house recently...you know thats something that we don't come by very often...and its LOVELY!!

Erik is still driving truck, he gets to come home for a couple nights a week, so that is nice. I really really want my husband to be home every night, but we will take the job that we get for now! He is enjoying the work that he is doing. He loves his dog, I love that he takes the dog with him on the road! He has a traveling buddy, and we get a dog 2 nights a week, so the kids are happy, and I don't have to take care of the puppy!!! Best of both worlds!!!!

As for me, I am hanging in there, I am counting my blessings everyday. I have a great husband who is working so hard for the family. I have 3 beautiful children that keep me on my feet everyday. I have a home that keeps us warm, and food in our bellies. I am currently recovering from my second miscarriage this year. I thought the first one was hard, well, I am learning that we are never finished learning and that these things don't get easier. I am not angry, I have learned over the last year that I am can't do anything without my Lord and Savior. He has brought strength into my life when I didn't think it was possible. He has brought peace and healing when I couldn't do it on my own. And isn't that the lesson anyway? We can't do anything without Him. I had a moment when I was emotional and worried because everything and everyone in my life depends on ME being strong. But if there is one thing that I have learned this last year is that I can't do it all. I have to draw on the strength of the Lord to get me through the everyday things, not to mention the "hard" days. I have learned and am still learning everyday that the Lord has a plan, and the hard thing is, is to be ok with the plan...no matter what it is.