Camping with the Martins

Warning.....this blog is going to be a long one but a lot happened that weekend and the pictures turned out good.

We did spend a fair amount of time sitting in a circle and catching up. It was good to see everyone!!

Amos had a lot of cool boy toys so Katelyn grabbed a seat on his lap and had some quality uncle Amos time!!

Tristine brought the family pet with them and Natalie and Kate loved it. Kate really loved it and I was totally grossed out. It was a rat whose name just happened to be Katelyn as well. The rat liked to hide in Tristine's hood and as you can tell Kate was determined to find....too bad they had already put it away. I think at some point we will be getting Kate some type of rodent for a pet but I am talking like a hamster or bunny not a rat.

One of the days that we were there a group of about 20 of us decided to go horse back riding. I was expecting a short route on flat terrain but that was not the case. We were going straight up and the trail was rocky but it was a lot of fun. At some points we were going down hill and all I could think about was the movie "The Man from Snowy River" (I think) when he is riding the horse down the snowy hill and he falls off the horse and the horse rolls over him. I didn't think that was going to happen but some of the hills were pretty aggressive.

Just hanging around waiting for the first group to take off. I promised Kallie that I would only put the cute pictures on the blog. Kallie's horse was the funniest thing alive. Her horse had gas the entire trip and I just happened to be a couple of horses back. I don't think I have ever heard a horse fart so much in my life.

Paul loves to cook when we go camping. His dad came over for breakfast and I think Paul was inviting everyone that was walking by.

Grandpa and Sherry had bubbles and donuts so the kids were over there whenever possible. I can't wait to do this again. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. The girls loved playing with their cousins and hanging out with Grandpa.

ER visit

Kate had a small accident and we took our first visit to the ER. My aunt Laura (Mimi) was helping Paul and I by watching the kids so Paul and I could get some yard work done before the move. It just so happened that she fell out of bed and I got a call around midnight saying to we need to get to the hospital. With the personality that Kate has I kind of knew that ER visits were in our future. I am kind of glad that the first one didn't happen on my watch just because Kate is walking around telling everyone that "I hit Mimi's bed". Lucky for us no stitches were necessary just glue. We took pictures at the hospital on my phone and it didn't look to bad. When we were walking out of the hospital Mimi asked if Kate screamed and Kate turned around and said "No Mimi I didn't scream". She actually did really good and only cried when they woke her up to clean it out. She wasn't upset about them cleaning it out just pissed they woke her up. Natalie of course is just drama.....worrying about Kate the whole time. A couple of weeks later Kate poked her eye and ran into the room crying with her hand over her eye and Natalie of course replies with "oh no not again".

Back packs

So my cousin Emily bought the girls back packs for Christmas and they have come in handy lately. Actually they have made things so much easier for me these last couple of weeks. With the move and the craziness lately at least something is easier. The girls look really gross in this picture but I think we had already been driving in the truck for at least a couples of hours that day. The girls love their back packs and they get to load all of their stuff in it and I think it makes them feel important. They are just perfect. I even showed them to my sister-in-law and she said they were really cute and wouldn't mind having some for her kids.

Outside fun

The warm weather is finally here!!! We bought the girls a bubble machine to help occupy their time outside while Paul and I worked on the house

It was so nice out that after the girls played with the bubble machine for awhile we decided to break out the sprinkler.

The girls had a lot of fun and I didn't really work that hard outside because I was to busy taking pictures.

The benefit of playing outside all day is the crash at night. It was an early bedtime which aloud me to blog tonight.

Mother's Day

I got my first homemade mother's day gift. Natalie made me Popsicle stick frame at school. I am so proud of this gift now the trick it to keep it without the girls breaking it. I had a good mother's day. Paul let me sleep in till 11:00 and made the kids breakfast. I got an iphone and they girls got me gift certificates for some itunes. They rest of the day we spent packing and cleaning and getting the house ready to put on the market. We are so busy lately that no matter what holiday comes up no one gets a full day off. Over all it was a good day!!!

School Pictures

Natalie had school pictures and they turned out so good. She actually smiled!!!! She never smiles for pictures. I think the key was that I was not there. They also took graduation pictures and I bought so many pictures it was out of control. I know that it is over the top because she still has one more year of pre-school but what can I say it is my first time with school pictures.

Teacher's week

It was teacher's week a couple of weeks ago and one of the days you were suppose to get a small gift for your teacher. So Natalie and I went to the mall and spent the day shopping for little things to put in a basket. It was a lot of fun and Natalie was thrilled the day was just about her. We went into See's candies to get e box of chocolates and they were giving out samples. Natalie took her sample and inhaled the whole thing a once. It was funny cause it was to big that Natalie couldn't even chew so she was drooling chocolate all over the store.

Camera shy

When I got home from Mexico I was so excited to see the girls that I was taking pictures like a crazy person. The girls finally got tired of it and wouldn't even look at me when I pulled the camera out.

Daddy's Mii

Natalie wanted to create a Mii that looked like Paul. The big tummy needed to be there according to Natalie.

Mexico

We had the best time in Mexico. It was so relaxing and warm that I almost didn't want to come back. I think if we didn't have kids to come back to we might have stayed for another two weeks. The resort that we stayed was amazing. There was no need to even leave the resort if we didn't want to they totally catered to us.

The grounds at the resort had bird cages all over with all different kind of birds. Paul and his brother Amos got to go fishing and they caught an 8 foot sail fish.

There were lizards all over the top of the building sun bathing. Thank goodness they stayed up there and didn't come down to visit me.

Over all we had a great time and I can't wait until we go again!!!!

Babysitter

I have finally found a babysitter for my girls. It is my fault that it took so long (to picky) but I have one now that I completely trust. We have always used my Aunt and while there is no replacement for Mimi it is nice to have someone close by and who can watch them at our house. I have had a couple babysitters in the past but I always had a uneasy feeling about them. I figured you can't be to careful when it comes to your kids. Natalie gets so excited when Paige comes to visit and Kate being Kate doesn't really care who is watching her. Paul and I are happy because we get to get out more now. Paige also has a younger sister so when she gets to old and wants to start doing things with her friends on the weekends we have a backup.

Posed pictures

I took the kids to kiddie kandids to get the traditional posed pictures and they turned out OK. Natalie is going through a phase when she smiles she pulls her chin in and wrinkles her nose. These are the very tame pictures some of Natalie's face expressions were over the top.

Kate got her hair cut recently but I think we might cut it again. She is still getting all kinds of food in it and it still gets in her way.

Funky hair

Natalie had funky hair day at school and she wanted to put as many bows in her hair as she possible could. I think she had a headache by the end of school.

Forts

The girls are really into their forts lately. Everyday after I leave for work the girls tear apart the dining room and drag down every blanket they can find. This fort is actually a car. Natalie was sitting in front driving and Kate was supposed to be in the car but she kept getting out. Natalie was yelling at Kate that she was not allowed to get out until the car stops. Also notice that they are still in their PJ's, haven't taken a bath and their hair is not done and I am about two mins away from walking out the door to work. I would like to say this is a rare occasion but that would be a lie. We spend so much time in our PJ's at our house!!! That's how we roll!!!

No more diapers

Yeah!!! No more diapers!!!!! We let Kate run around the house naked for about two weeks and on the third week we put her in panties. Believe or not that actually worked, she is potty trained. I honestly thought it wouldn't work but she picked up on the concept of going in the potty really fast when she got to run around the house naked. The first day or so when she was wearing her panties she would pee in them but she finally got it. She still has to wear pull-ups during naps and bedtime but we are diaper free and so happy about it.

True sisters

Natalie found the vacuum tube at the museum to be a lot of fun. Her and this other little girl played with it for 20 mins. I love in this video that Kate would rather give the ball to a complete stranger then her own sister. This in my mind made them true sisters. How many of us have done something to our sister just out of spite and because we could. Of course we are all gone up and only handle things in a mature way now!!! HaHa

Kate's potty training

So I am the biggest slacker when it comes to potty training. I had been dragging my feet getting started but Kate didn't seem to mind. When I finally decided to get started I found out that Kate doesn't have a problem peeing in her panties. So far the only thing that is working is if I let her run around naked she doesn't seems to pee on the floor as much. Hopefully we will have her potty trained by the time she starts school.

Butter

Paul has been getting very creative in the kitchen. He makes bread all the time and in the picture below he is making butter. Yes....butter!! It actually turned out and taste pretty good. He has been trying new recipes with chicken and other meats. I love watching him have fun in the kitchen. He also involves the kids and has them help him make pudding and brownies.

Chucky Cheese

So after the museum we went to Chucky Cheese's. It was completely trashy. It was dirty and the games were crammed in there....it made it so there was hardly any room to walk around. Plus there were so many people and I didn't like the food. I don't think we will be going back.The girls did like the rides but the games were a little hard to get into......not old enough for that yet.

Big toys

Outside the Children's Museum there was three trackers that they let the kids climb on. It was so cold that I didn't want to stay long but it took forever to get the girls off of them. Katelyn got into the bucket fine but when she tried to get out she kept falling. It was really slippery and she couldn't get her feet. Of course Paul and I had to stand there and laugh the first couple of times before we helped her.

Children's Museum

We took the girls to the Portland's Children's Museum and had a lot of fun. I have never been and Paul went years ago so it was actually fun for everyone. It was basically just a huge circus with kids running every where.

Natalie was very good at staying close to Paul and I. Katelyn on the hand....we lost three times!!! She had no problem taking off to do what she wanted. We would only look away for a second and she was gone.

While the museum was fun they charge $8.00 per person over the age of one and I wasn't willing to pay that price. I found that our local library lets you check out 3 passes as long as you bring them back the same day. We only had to pay $8.00 for all of us to get in.

They have a really cool water section that the kids spent most of their time. They give you slickers to wear so your kids don't get completely drenched.

Blazers

I know I have been horribly about blogging lately but I am determined to get better. Anyways Paul, I and some friends went to a Blazer game last night and I really had a lot of fun. We were totally in the cheap seats and man that is high up there. I was involved in sports at an early age so after high school I lost interest and didn't follow sports anymore......(Ok maybe a little WWE......go triple H!!!!) It was so much fun to watch the game and totally understand what was going on. I even got into the cheering and try catching the free t-shirts. The only thing that kind of back fired was that Paul was bored out of his mind. Go figure he is not the athletic type.....maybe next time it will be something we both like. He said he wouldn't mind going to Smack down!!

Natalie's bad habit

So lately whenever Kate is doing something to Natalie that she doesn't like and gets fed up she pokes her in the eye and sends Kate off crying. I came home last night and Kate was up out of bed crying so I went to check on her. She wouldn't open her eyes and kept telling me that her eye hurts. I looked at her eye and it was all red and her skin was pink so I though she was having some sort of reaction to something. I asked Paul about it and he said Natalie poked her in the eye again. Paul had heard Katelyn screaming and found her and Natalie sitting in a fort and Paul asked Natalie if she hurt Kate. Of course her response was "No" so then he asked why is she crying and Natalie answered "because I poked her in the eye". Because of all of this when Paul took Natalie to school he talked with her teacher and asked if Natalie had poked anyone in the eye and that she was doing it at home. The teacher said that Natalie was most polite kid she has in the class. She said Natalie always listen, never talks out of turn and always says please and thank you. Paul told the teacher that she must save all the other behavior for at home.

Happy Birthday Mimi

Happy Birthday Mimi!!!! The girls wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Katelyn wasn't much of a talker and Natalie was a little shy but it is what it is. Hope you have a great day.