Been doing some baking....Just a Word of Caution

It's so fun this time of year to do some baking--goodies that we usually only get once a year. It's also fun to have the kids help me. They just love to "help". Anyway, I took some pictures and just thought I would tell you--Eat At Your Own Risk--this is the "environment" that the goodies came from. :-)















This is what happens when a curious 1 1/2 yr old gets a hold of the BUTTER!

Fun Visit

My brother Joel and nephew Grant (who is WAY taller than me) came through last weekend for an overnight stop. It was fun to have them even though it was a short visit. Grant was so thoughtful and he brought the kids each a present. Sam a BB hoop, Chloe a coloring kit, and Lydia a baby. You can tell from the pics the kids had a fun time. Thanks Grant!





Lydia went up to Joel--pulling on his pants saying....."Game, Game". When he looked down at that inquiring face--you really only can say "Yes". :-) So she picked one of her favorites.



Here is Grant showing Samuel the right way to shoot a basketball. Notice Grant's nice "goose neck" in the last pic.

I Married My Best Friend . . . 12 Years Ago Today

Time sure does fly by. . .can hardly believe it's been 12 years already today. I wouldn't trade it for anything! Through all the good times and some difficult times, I am so thankful that the Lord gave Jeremy to me. What a treasure he is.

Happy Anniversary, Jeremy!

Sample Collages for Katie

Happy 7th Birthday, Samuel!!

Last Sunday night our oldest turned 7--hard to believe!! We had a Dinosaur Themed Party. Sam is really into dinosaurs right now and rattles their names off like no big deal. I just nod my head and smile because I don't really have a clue. :-)

We had lots of family over and the kids enjoyed a "dinosaur egg" hunt in the basement and then we ate Dino Nuggets, Pizza (for the adults), and of course cake and ice cream.

We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us Samuel. He is such a special boy to us and we are incredibly blessed!

Thanksgiving

We woke up to a beautiful Thanksgiving morning....looked out our kitchen window and saw THIS....


Both dogs were outside barking--and this raccoon wasn't about to come down (thankfully for the dogs). Anyway, Jeremy called his brother Jalon and he came over and "took care" of it.

We spent most of the day down at the lake and the kids enjoyed playing on the lake which already was about 5 inches thick.

Christmas Baking

Yesterday was a VERY busy day--baking, craft day, and our Kid's Club in the evening. It was busy but a lot of fun. I forgot to count how many different items we made total, but it was a lot. Good thing I cleaned out my freezer last month. I needed all the extra space for goodies.
Only a couple minor problems with the food items (one of which is pictured below in my last post--DO NOT make the peppermint brownies--did not hold together nicely at all). :-)

You'll notice in the pictures there are a couple of the kids dressed up. Grandma has some GREAT dress up stuff and the kids kept themselves busy for awhile with that while we baked. Sam was a little outnumbered but he still managed to have fun with it. Uncle Jalon and Cody picked out his "special hair piece" for his BD. He loved it and I think it made "dress up" more fun. The kids had a fun day playing together with no problems amongst themselves--which made our day even more pleasant. :-)

Sugar--LOTS of Sugar!!

OK...here's what's on the menu for tomorrow. This is subject to change based on my day today :-)

Chocolate Pizza
Chocolate Mint Cookies (they are a choc. cookie with a York Peppermint sandwiched in the middle)
Swirlicious Chocolate Peanut Toffee (so Jill and I can keep donating to the dentist)
Chocolate Dipped Toffee Bits Cookies
Peppermint Bark Brownies

Parade

I was just looking at the last time I posted and realized I skipped the whole month of November. Hopefully we can get you all caught up on the "happenings" around here.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Moorhead has their annual "Christmas Parade" and Andrew and JoAnna have made it a tradition to take the grandkids--feed them pizza and then take them to the parade. This year it worked out that the whole family could be there.

Now let me say that going to a Parade in the winter up here is just crazy. Some of the candy is frozen before the kids can even get it into their bags (either that or the tootsie rolls are really old!!) Anyway--this year was one of the warmer ones at a whopping 32 degrees (give or take a few) It is a good time even though it's cold.

Random Pics

These are just a few "odds and ends" pictures. Some go back to this summer and some were just a few weeks ago.

Kid Pics

Afternoon with Cousins

A couple weeks ago the Martinson girls and all the cousins drove down to "Grandpa and Grandma's Lake" and spent a relaxing afternoon there. It is so pretty this time of year and the kids had a lot of fun picking apples and then building a "fort". They came into the house and asked Grandma for a sheet--I doubt she will ever get it back. :-)

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

On Tuesday we took a field trip to a pumpkin patch. The kids took a wagon ride through a "not so haunted" forest, ran through a hay bale maze (but all the kids thought it was more fun to play tag on top of the hay), they got to pet some animals, and then at the end they got to pick a small pumpkin to take home.

A funny story...hopefully Jill won't mind if I tell you. :-) If you notice in the pictures there was a "sandbox" that was filled with corn. Chloe and Carly enjoyed playing with it. Over at the petting zoo area there was a place where for a quarter you could buy corn to feed the goats. Well, Carly being the thinker and frugal one like her mom, decided that it would be lots cheaper to just take the corn from the "sandbox" and fill her pockets to feed the goats. She had that cute little grin when she was doing it. Gotta love that smile!!

The kids had such a good time. Sam wanted to make pumpkin pie for "Daddy" but I think this time of year pumpkin in the can is pretty cheap at the store..hopefully I can talk him out of it. :-)

KS Trip

I(we)are a little behind on keeping up with this blog. The first weekend in October we drove down to Kansas City for my cousin Bammer and Heidi's wedding. It was a good time and unfortunately by the time I got out the camera to take pictures of everyone, it was the last night and not everyone got in the pictures. Sorry! I took some pictures of the cousins (and Uncle Dave) playing a "baseball" game with a tennis racket and tennis ball. It was pretty fun to watch and the kids sure seemed to enjoy it. We all stayed with Dan and Kelly which was nice because we were able to visit more than at a hotel.

Homespun Finale

I don't usually like to "brag" about our family, but I would like to take this opportunity to share just how special my husband is. . .

Last night we were at the final concert for Homespun Gospel. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they are a southern gospel group who has been singing together for 10 years. Four years ago, through circumstances only the Lord could orchestrate, Jeremy was asked to be the piano player for this group. He jumped right in and they fell in love with his piano playing and also him. (which doesn't suprise me at all) He was by far the youngest member of the group--he was the age of all of their kids. :-)

The Lord has gifted Jeremy musically and in return he has desired to give back to the Lord what has been given him. His piano playing and music have blessed and encouraged many. He would never tell you, but I have been there after concerts and listened to people (some in tears) about how the music has ministered to them.

Playing with this group has been a blast for Jeremy. It gave him an opportunity to use his gifts. Jeremy has written many songs, most of them are in a binder here at home that not many know about. Some of them, many have come to know and love because Homespun started singing them or we sing them at camp/chapel.

Last night was the final chapter for Homespun Gospel. Jeremy made the decision that he wanted to spend more time with the kids and me and also more time serving the Lord at the chapel and in other ways. It was not an easy decision for him/us because this has been a real joy for both Jeremy and I, but he felt like it was the right thing to do and the right time.

We are both thankful for this chapter of life and it is hard to see it go--but we have lots of fun memories. I hope many of you who have heard them play or have a CD have enjoyed them too. As I know Jeremy would say...."To God Be the Glory" and keep "Looking to the Sky"

Pictures of Lydia

I noticed that I haven't posted many pictures of Lydia on our blog so I wanted to share a little glimpse of one of her favorite things. She LOVES to wear sunglasses! She isn't always the most careful with them, but it's fun to watch her with them anyway.

First Day of School

This posting is a little late...but wanted to share some pictures of the kids and their first day of school. Chloe was a little upset that she couldn't be in the 1st grade like Sam. She has gotten over it and is glad to be in "preschool". Samuel says his favorite subject is Science and Chloe has informed me that she wants to work on her coloring--staying only in the lines.

High Calling of Motherhood Article

I read this today and was encouraged. Thought some of you "Moms" might be blessed by it as well.

Breakfast with Dad

Chloe and I went on a special breakfast date this morning. She had french toast sticks which she ordered off of "that food thing"...also known as a menu!

Martinson Cousin Pics

Yesterday we decided that instead of trying to take 11 kids to a studio for our annual cousin pics, we would go to a park and do it ourselves. We took over 130 pictures and came up with a few good ones. :-) The kids were troopers and it is fun to have some updated pics with all 11 cousins.

"Oh Tom the Toad" . . . .

For those of you who know Chloe pretty well, this will not come as a surprise to you. For those of you who know Jeremy pretty well, you will also know that this "side of her" definitely doesn't come from her daddy. :-)

Anyway, yesterday I was sitting in the house holding Lydia when Chloe hollers from the door to the garage saying she has something to show me. This is a fairly common occurrence and usually involves her bringing me some cute little flowers that she has gotten from the tops of weeds. So when I saw her hand behind her back I knew that must be what it was. To my SURPRISE--she was holding this VERY CRISP dead toad and was proudly showing me. I remained calm and asked her politely not to bring dead animals into the house again.

Which brings me to another story about her....when she woke up this morning the first thing she said to me was, "Mom, Sam says that I'm not very LADYLIKEISH when we are outside". Do you wonder why he would say such a thing?!

"But who do you say that I am?"

Quote from: "From the Rock to the Gates of Hell" by Andrew W. Blackwood JR.

~commenting on Matthew 16:13-19

The easy question led to the hard one. "But who do you say that I am?" The bewildering abundance of contradictory answers shows that the question is important. Sincere people have been asking it for twenty centuries. We simply do not ask this about other great historical figures from the Hellensitic age. Who do you say was Alexander the Great? Who do you say was Julius Caesar? Who do you say was Cicero or Ovid? It sounds silly. You don't need to make a decision about any of these men. If you can't answer from memory, you can look it up. Who do you say is Jesus? The encyclopedia can give valuable information, but the answer you live with is found by searching your heart, not in a reference book.

Swimming--and LOTS OF IT

Pool Parties @ Grandmas





Swimming has become a big part of our summers. Samuel absolutely loves the water and acts like a fish. Chloe doesn't show much fear of it either. Chloe enjoyed taking swimming lessons this year for the first time along with Sam. We spent lots of time at Grandpa and Grandma's house swimming in their pool. They even got an inflatable water slide which the grand kids thoroughly enjoyed.

Lunch date with Dad

Lois, Sam, and Chloe had an outing yesterday afternoon. So...Lydia and I had a little date at the McDonalds in the mall. Afterwards we did a quick Wal-Mart run. Not really a date...but hey, she's only 1...so she doesn't know better!

Summer Highlights Continued

On July 3rd, we welcomed Elealah Joy Rockhold into the family. What a precious blessing from the Lord. We are excited to have another niece and another GIRL cousin. :-)

Chloe Turns 4

At the end of June, we celebrated Chloe's 4th Birthday. She decided on having a "Flip-Flop" cake. She loves to wear flip-flops!! Anyway, it was a fun evening which included her getting a collection of dress-up stuff from Grandpa and Grandma Martinson. Lydia enjoyed Chloe's scooter that she got as well.

Summer Highlights

Thought I would share some highlights of some of our summer. It sure has gone by fast. Back at the end of May, I went outside one day to see what the kids were up to outside--I noticed that Chloe was all "decked out" with helmet, gloves, etc. Sam excitedly told me that he was teaching Chloe how to ride a "two wheeler" bike. I asked him what the gloves were for and he said it was so she wouldn't skin her hands when she fell. He is a thinker that's for sure. I thought it was sweet that he was so concerned for her well being. Needless to say, he is a good teacher because she was riding right away. The day after she learned, I witnessed a pretty bad fall. I ran out to her to give her some kisses only to find out it was a result of her trying to do skid-marks just like her older brother. Do you wonder why I have gray hair and Jeremy doesn't have much left?! :-)