Family Fun Night

Last week for Family Home Evening we talked about talents--what they are, the need to practice them, how we should try new things. At the end we challenged the kids to work at developing a talent this week, and for this week's family home evening everyone could show their talent. Needless to say this evening was a very interesting one.

Josh started us off...with a headstand. The kids were quite impressed when he lasted over a minute. Boy, do I wish my camera hadn't been dead. :) For my talent I displayed an assortment of hairbows. Everyone tried them on and the boys tested them to see how well they stayed in short hair. (again, wish I had my camera).

Emma played two songs on the piano. I was excited that she finally started playing again. Aaron dribbled a ball...his record was 21 times. I must admit that I'm not sure if I want him to continue practicing that talent. Abby performed a dance with a gymnastics twist. At times the sound of her head hitting the floor made me worry, but she never stopped smiling. What a performer! Jacob was not all that interested in showing his own talent....he just wanted to help everyone else with theirs! All in all it was a fun (and very entertaining) evening! I'll have to make sure I'm ready for those candid camera moments next time.

Friday night campouts

Usually once a month, Josh goes camping with the Scouts. On those occassions the kids get to "camp out" in my bed and watch a movie there. At Christmas we got a king size bed (which was a great upgrade from the full size bed Josh and I had been sleeping on) so now the kids have plenty of room...which means they don't touch each other during the movie. The simple blessings!
Abigail, Aaron, and Emma all tucked in to watch a movie on their "camp out."

Happy Valentine's Day! Us...then and now.

This picture was on our wedding invitation 8 1/2 years ago. Time flies!

This is us a couple of months ago. We don't seem to take many pictues together. I prefer to be behind the camera than in the picture.

Snow days! part 2

These snow angels were all over our yard.

Aaron was finally tired of playing in the cold.

Jacob could have stayed out there forever...except that he had a hard time walking in it.

Emma was Jacob's unofficial assistant.

Josh was doing the manual labor. The previous time it had snowed we didn't shovel and ended up with an icy driveway.

Snow days!

Emma having a snow ball fight with her friends. I wonder who she's going after now?

Abigail doesn't really like the snow. She would run around for a minute and then come inside because she needed hot chocolate. She already knows what she wants. :)

Emma and Cooper taking a break.

Abigail's 4th birthday

After the craziness of the holidays, Abby got the short end of the stick. We had her birthday party during school time. Easy and all of her school friends were already there. The great thing about it is that she thought it was great. Not sure if I can get away with that for too much longer.

Jacob and Hannah enjoying the cupcakes.

Blowing out the candle.

My boys...

Aaron and Jacob enjoying Jacob's new spiderman couch. Josh relaxing on our new pillows...still wrapped in plastic.

Grandfather and Jacob.

All the kids and Granny...watching a movie.

Jacob got into my mascara. He painted himself with it and then brought me the tube. It was waterproof so took a little bit work to clean him up.

All of our kids have fallen asleep in random places. When I came out of our room one day, I saw Jacob sleeping on the stairs. Doesn't look too comfy!

School and stegosauruses

Abigail and 5 other girls do preschool together. Last month they were learning about dinosaurs. I was teaching this week and for snack we made stegosaurus sandwiches. The kids thought it was great!
Our stegosaurus sandwich.

Hannah and Abby.

Kiera.

Ryn.

Christmas with the Grandparents

Josh's parents came to visit at Christmas. The kids had a blast showing them all the new things they could do.

Granny gave Abigail this monkey for Christmas. It's her favorite doll and she sleeps with it every night.

Grandfather helping Jacob work the jack-in-the-box.

Aaron riding his scooter with his friend, Caleb.

Abigail, riding her "roller blades" that she got for Christmas. Ever since Emma got a pair of roller blades, she has been wanting a pair of her own.

Emma, on her roller blades.

Reading and writing

Luckily, the kids love to read and create things. The older kids like to read to the younger ones (which is a lifesaver to me) and even Jacob will sit and flip through books, especially any book about Elmo or Diego. The only down side to this is that when they try to 'create' something-whether it be a book, game, or a work of art- it usually produces a mess too. Oh, well.

Almost daily, Abby makes up a game. Usually she just writes letters down and tells me what I have to do each time I land on a certain letter. I figure if it encourges her to write her letters I can jump up and down while I fold the laundry. ;)

Jacob loves sit with Aaron and read books like his brother. Sometimes he gets a little too involved in Aaron's books which can lead to a bit of conflict.

Aaron reading to Jacob.

Josh and Aaron reading his AR book. I wonder if this can lead to a reading problem?

Graham cracker houses

This year we made graham cracker houses at Christmastime. It turned out to be a little more difficult than I had planned on, but the kids had a blast.

Emma concentrating on making a design out of the nerds.

Aaron enjoyed eating the best.

Abigail was so proud of her final result. She was more of the supervisor and I was the worker bee. We made a good team!

Raking leaves

This fall the kids decided to help rake leaves. It was quite a site! The wind was blowing so the kids had a hard time getting the leaves to stay together. Their solution: Aaron laid on the pile until Emma and Abby brought over more to add to the stack. Fun times!

Jacob thought it was so funny!

Their attempt to make a pile of leaves.

Halloween fun!

Halloween 2009 was rained out! Everyone had thermals on and were dressed to endure the cold. However the rain compelled us to 'Trunk or treat' in the building. The kids went from room to room and played the games and by the end of the evening they were sweating...but very happy.


All of the kids together. Some look really excited...others look a little scared.

My girls...ready to walk around the tables and collect candy.

Jacob trying to do a rooster inpression. :) What a funny fellow!

Yes...we're alive!

Contray to the conclusions you may have drawn from this seriously neglected blog, the Martin familiy is alive and well. I can't believe it already February of 2010. Time has sure flown. I am determined to post more often (although how could I post less often?). Several weeks ago I downloaded all the pictures off of the camera and realized that I hadn't done that since I got home from Georgia last August. It's sad that 1: it took me that long to download pictures and 2: I had only filled up the camera once in 5 months. My children will grow up and not have any pictures of their childhood. Let's see if I can change that.