A boxhead and a new point of view!

Okay so these first pictures are of Laney and a box that she decided was a hat on Sunday. It was really funny, until we tried to take it off and it got stuck on her ears! She was so not happy about trying to pull it off and I thought we were going to have to tear it open. We finally got it off and she walked away like everything was fine. She left the kitchen and went around the corner to the hallway and dont you know she came back two seconds later with that box on her head again! She is such a little entertainer and I guess some times you have to hurt for your art...

Okay so in an attempt to keep bad things from happening Ben and I can sometimes be a bit controlling about what we will and wont let the kids do. Its all because we usually can picture the end result and would rather just avoid it all together. Well after reading a great blog that my friend Renee posted about letting her boys take pictures with her camera (which I will mention has been broken before) I decided to ease up on the reins a bit and let George take some pictures. It was really neat to see pictures from Renee's kids point of view and I dicided that I would like to have some also. So here they are! Our little budding photographers first pics. I will say that I was totally against posting this picture of me on here, but George would not let it go! So here is what I really look like on Sunday mornings (okay most mornings)! I'm sure this wont be the last you will see of George's take on things as he is already asking me when he can take some more. 

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So today I did not ignore the fact that I had just gone to the doctor last Thursday with tendinitis and go on a two mile walk with some mom friends from preschool. I totally felt so great afterwards, so its not like I can feel that my foot is going to be so very sore by tonight. 

I haven't ignored the fact the the dog really needs a bath and to have her nails trimmed just because I dont feel like doing it. Because if that were the case I also wouldn't be to proud to ask my husband to do it for me. So as far as y'all are concerned Bella does not smell like stinky dog!

I am not as we speak spending my kids naptime updating out blog instead of reading the three chapters I have to read for class this week or not cleaning the kitchen up from lunch. Obviously because my kitchen was cleaned up the moment that the kids got up from the table, by the kids of course and I have a perfectly daily schedule that assures everything gets done on time. ;) Speaking of getting everything done, I am not sitting here putting off doing laundry for the simple reason that all the laundry baskets are full of folded clothes that I never mind putting away! 

I am also not going to tell you that my husband and I stuck our kids in the car for three hours this weekend just so we could visit the town of Forks, WA. Nope I'm certainly not going to mention that it actually took us three hours to get over there and three hours to get back and that we only spent 30 minutes at the beach. I never even considered embellishing the the story to make it sound like we were there to go hiking or that we even spent more time at the the beach. 

Here are some pictures to enjoy!

This is my new favorite picture of Laney (the next one down).

This seems to be as close as we get to a family picture these days.

The kids really enjoyed throwing all the 'perfect' skipping stones out into the ocean.

We really do need to get the kids a sandbox. I know that they would love love love having one. I just cant get past the idea of sand being all over the house.

THE SUN IS OUT!!!!

Okay so we usually come straight home from preschool, have lunch and then its right off to naptime. Well today was just to nice to be inside. Its February and the sun is out that's just not the way it works around here. So instead of going right in I decided to let the kids soak up some much needed vitamin D and run some excess energy off. I am naturally fair skinned, so I have never had any problem staying out of the sun. Me and to much sunshine just don't agree. But living up here I have come to crave being in the sun. Don't get me wrong I am the queen of sunscreen and my kids have never had a sunburn, but some days I will just sit in my car at the preschool with my car facing the sun just so I can feel the warm. So when we have days like these (especially in Feb) you throw all schedules out the window and enjoy it for as long as you can. Because it could seriously be weeks before it happens again. Please cross your fingers that we can have at least a couple more days of this because the "spring" rain will be starting soon! 

The kids were having a blast playing with a bunch of empty boxes today. George was building a fort with all the old soy milk boxes and Carolina kept walking around with lifting this one up over her head. No wonder the kids missing teeth, right...

I'm not really sure why she wanted to wear this helmet. But I do know that she ALWAYS has those two fingers in her mouth. My other two are hardcore thumb suckers, leave it to Laney to have to be different.

I thought y'all might like to see a picture of Bella (or Miss Peebody as she should be named since she pees everywhere. I keep telling Ben she is getting better about it, but I'm not so sure she is)

Here is my handsome Georgie (he actually really loves being called that!) He is so in need of a haircut.

George informed me that this was Buzz Lightyear and that I had to take of picture of him to show to Daddy.

She tried to warn me...

Okay so I don't have a picture to post about this, because well that would be gross. But I did want to tell y'all about. I should have known something wasn't right when I got up this morning. When I went into Carolina's room she was still sleeping and that never ever happens. I have no idea what time that girl actually wakes up, but I'm sure its somewhere close to sunrise. Because she is always awake before everyone else. Thankfully she (almost) always stays in her room until I go and get her up. Anyways, she got up and didn't really say anything except that she got hot last night and took all her clothes off. Then we went downstairs for breakfast and she said she didn't want to eat. (still no bells going off, good job mom!) The kids had a field trip to the fire station (pictures of that are on the way... one of the other moms is going to email me some, again way to be on top of things Mandi) and I had volunteered to drive so I didn't want us to be late. Well we got the school and made it to the firehouse. But the longer we were there the more fussy Carolina got. She didn't want to be a part of anything, but I thought she was just having a bad day. I left her at school after the field trip so I could run to Costco. The kids were going outside to play at school and I thought a little fresh air would be good for Carolina. Well when I got back she was completely laid out on the bench on the playground. She told me yet again that she just really wasn't feeling that good and I being the wonderful and very attentive mother that I am told her "Lina you'll be fine, just get in the car." Lots of love there people...

So we all loaded up in the car and on the way home I was talking to Ben (who was about to leave San Diego) letting him know that we were planning on driving over to the airport to pick him up. When right at that moment Carolina starts yelling that she is going to be sick. We were literally pulling onto the road to our house. I all but hung up on Ben and then I tried to get to the house. Well, we didn't make it... She puked and then puked some more all over the backseat. So much so that I thought for a second that George was going to puke. Thankfully all she had really had that day was water, so it wasn't unbearably gross. So I got everyone out of the car and laid down for nap and then I spent the next two hours cleaning out the inside of my car. 

Lesson learned: When Carolina complains that she doesn't feel good... listen. Oh and don't go anywhere!

The Martin's go to San Diego.

Well half of the Martins spent the weekend in San Diego. All thanks to a very persistent and and wonderful nanny. Thats right Katie finally talked me into going down to San Diego to surprise Ben for Valentine's Day. I cant say thank you enough to her for volunteering to spend the whole weekend with the kids. She really is awesome and even without a weekend away, I couldn't get it through a normal week without her! Although I will mention that I'm pretty sure taking care of three kids all weekend by yourself was a bit more work then she thought it was going to be. lol But the kids had a blast and cant stop talking about their super fun weekend with Miss Katie! 

I totally refused to listen to the weather reports for San Diego and packed sundresses and flip flops for my "weekend in the sun". Which turned out to be more like a weekend in WA then a weekend in CA. And on top of that I found out it was very sunny in WA all weekend. lol But rain or no rain I was determined to enjoy our weekend. I got there on Thursday night and spent a nice quiet night at the beautiful hotel that I found right on the Mission Bay. You could see the whole bay from our room. It was quite a sight to wake up to in the morning.  I even found a Chili's to have dinner at!!! That was awesome, we love Chili's and dont have them up here. Then I spent Friday with Ben's bosses girlfriend Lauren. Who was super sweet and lots of fun to hang out with! The guys pulled in around 5:30pm and Ben was totally shocked. Actually, he didn't even recognize me when he got off the boat. It was our first real homecoming on the pier since he was a JO in Va Beach! I couldn't believe how cool I still think seeing the boat pull in is! Its just not something I guess you ever get used to. 

We went to SeaWorld on Valentines day and then had a very romantic dinner at the IN and OUT Burger that night. It was pretty cool to go to this burger place that we have both only heard of. They weren't earth shattering burgers, but the place was packed and we got a t-shirt. 

I twisted my ankle or something at Seaworld so Sunday we slept in and then drove up the coast to La Jolla beach and then down to Coronado. We had dinner downtown that night and then went back to the hotel since I had to be up really really early the next morning.

It was just an awesome weekend (even with the weather) and so nice to have a little romantic weekend just the two of us. Its been a while and we both needed it.  

Here we are on our way to SeaWorld. It felt totally weird being there without the kids. Not quite as cool as we remembered it being when we were kids. But we are defiantly going to take the kids soon. I know they would love love love it. 

Oh this is our great picture - crappy background pic, figures!

This was Sunday when I finally admitted that I was cold and worn jeans and the only real sweater that I had with me. 

The rocks were so pretty and the waves were huge. The water was so very clear and you could see these huge kelp beds. No somewhere I would ever swim. 

The baby is 2!

Our little girl is 2! How crazy is that? We had a little birthday party last night before Dad had to leave to go out to sea again. Nothing to exciting, just family and a homemade cake. I only bring that up because I am a horrible baker and only by the grace of ALOT of icing does this cake look anything edible. Lucky for me this crowd gets very little sugar and couldn't care less what it looks like. To be completely honest after looking at the "cake" that came out of my oven I almost went to Safeway and bought something that would have looked and tasted beautiful. But I know that when the kids look back on these pictures it will not be a store bought cake that will bring a smile to their face, but another attempt by mom to make a homemade cake. Laney didn't get much of a party. She got a tea set from Sweetie and Pop and a power wheels car from us. The teapot has been a big hit with all the kids and well the car... well the car has been out in the garage since that first night. Not that I don't want them to play with it but there really isn't room inside and the weather just isn't nice enough here yet. I'm sure that it will be a big hit once the weather lets us start spending some time outside. 

 

All three of the kids were happy having a quite proper tea party. Even going so far as to call each other Your Majesty and Your Honor. The teapot makes a pouring sound when you tip it over and the kids think that is just awesome. Laney has it in her bed now and you can hear it for about a hour after you lay her down for nap time. 

Another one "bites" the dust!

Okay so today's blog starts with a bit of history. Most of you know the story of how Carolina lost her front tooth. But just in case here is a recap. When she was about two years old Carolina was in love with wearing her purple backpack (right around the time she discovered Dora). She wore it everywhere. One day I decided to take the kids for a walk around the neighborhood and just as we were getting home Carolina decided that she needed something out of her backpack and then she wouldnt go inside until she put it back on. She was in the process of putting it back on her back as I was hurrying her up the ONE step that we have into our house. Her hands were all tangled up and she wasnt paying attention and SMACK! she fell face first into the concrete porch with nothing to break her fall. I was convinced that she was going to stand up and all of her teeth would be missing! But when she got up everything was intact and the only damage was a bloody lip. I couldnt believe it! There was alot of blood and I screamed up for Ben to come help us. (The poor guy was sleeping because he was on swing shift at work) Once he came down I ran inside to get her a Popsicle to help her feel better. While she was eating the Popsicle we saw some more blood and that was when realized that her front tooth was gone. She had swallowed it and it was never to be heard from again... She had some problems with another tooth that she actually broke in the fall and we were told that tooth had actually "died". We were also told that her adult teeth may not come in until as late as 8 years old. So she has been walking around with this missing tooth for almost three years now with no signs that any change was on the horizon. That was until two night ago. For some reason she was extra hyper Monday night (Dad just got home, maybe that was it) and was bouncing all over the place. Carolina is not what you would call graceful and so when she tripped and smacked her face on the edge of the couch we didnt even flinch. Then Ben noticed that her mouth was bleeding and sure enough another tooth was gone. It was the "dead" tooth and it was knocked out clean. Ben found the whole tooth lying on the floor next to the couch. We are really hoping that it was this tooth's time to come out, but who knows. All we really do know for sure is she has another hole in her mouth and at this rate she will be toothless by the time she's 10 years old! A friend of ours has a little girl who is actually younger then Carolina and she has already lost and grown in 7 (can you believe it) of her adult teeth. Carolina only seems to have the first part of the process mastered... This is a pic taken just a couple of months after she knocked out the first tooth. Lets just hope this one was ready to come out!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. 

 I have this getting out the door for school thing down to a science! So this morning I did not leave snack for Carolina's class sitting on the kitchen counter. Only to remember two seconds before she asked me if she could carry the bag in. I then did not stand in the Silverdale Lutheran Preschool parking lot and say "Oh Crap!" right in front of my children. Nope not me, I never ever ever talk like that in front of them! I didnt then get to walk into the school listening to my super cute 5yr old telling every one that would listen that her Mom had forgotten snack, again. Of course I then promptly drove home and picked up the said snack and did not at any point think about stopping at starbucks and wonder about taking something from there back to the school so I didnt have to drive all the way home. Nope not me. Only health organic snacks for my kids and their closest 9 friends! This kinda stuff NEVER happens to me...

Our favorite child...

So I am looking at this blog and it really seems to stand out to me that most of the pictures are of Laney. I just wanted to set the record straight that she is the only one that still enjoys having her picture taken. Trying to get the other two on camera usually ends up like this. 

 

I'm getting better at this.

Okay, well I was just looking at our blog and wondering why my photos were so much smaller then the ones on my friends blogs. I couldn't find a way to make the existing ones bigger. So I redid last nights blog with bigger photos and have fixed it so any new photos will be this bigger size. Bear with me, I'm learning as I go...

Such talent at such an early age...

So Laney loves to dance. All of the kids will cut a rug most days, but Laney would dance all day long. We have this little blue music box that the Puhlicks gave George one year for Christmas and it is by far her favorite toy. As you can see from the video she knows when each song will end and how to dance to each beat. When I'm in my bathroom getting ready she loves to bring me the remote for our radio in our bedroom. She jumps up when ever a song comes on the TV and also has her own special moves. This has all been going on for about a month now, but this is the first time we have actually gotten it on video. Its so common to see her dancing that we forget just how funny it is. Sometimes when you tell her to shake her tushy she will start shaking her bottom and hitting it. I was trying to get her to do that in this video, this was video number 3 or 4 that I had taped that night. I am hoping to start her in a Mommy and me class soon at the dance studio that Carolina used to go to. Dancing was not Lina's thing, but it feels pretty safe to say that it will be Laney's. At least for a little while...

As you can hear from the video what Carolina sleeps in is very important to her. She must have the right "outfits" for bed. Which is a total change to the mismatch jammies on purpose of last month (a phase that drove me nuts I might add.) George is in a -I dont want to sleep in jammies- phase right now. Which is fine by me, because to be honest he has a lot more sweats and t-shirts then the girls do and it means I dont have to buy him new jammies. I swear with three kids one of them is always going thru a growth spurt! Thankfully Laney has plenty of clothes to grow into, unfortanantly she also does the least amount of growing. She is in 18months now! I cant beleive she will be two this week! What can I say she is our petite fleur.