WE HAVE MOVED!

I am excited to announce that I have a new blog!!!!  Please come check it out and follow me at www.martinmommy.com.



A huge thank you to my husband, Nathan, and my brother-in-law, Jeremy.  Nathan spent many hours customizing the site to my *high* standards.  I am still trying to figure out a few things on WordPress, but I am very happy with it so far.

Here is a screen shot of my new blog.

Hope to see you there!

Family Fun Saturday

We had a very fun and busy day today.  Cooper and Nathan are now taking karate on Saturday mornings.  Also, Cooper and Kindle started rehearsals this morning for the Nutcracker.  They will be in the Nutcracker on December 17 & 18 at Reinhardt University.  They are really excited.  Cooper will be a soldier again this year and Kindle will be a mouse.

Cooper as a soldier last year.

Kindle as a snowflurry last year.

After rehearsals, we headed out to the land to see my parent's house.  We were curious to see the progress being made.  The kids were so tickled to discover how much had been done.

The framers were up there working on the house while we were there.  The kids were tickled about that also.  Nathan and the older 4 went inside (see photo above) and even went up the stairs to the 2nd floor.

 
Nathan wanted to check on the deer stand that he, my Dad and his brother, Michael, have been working on.

This deer stand is 15 feet tall.  He is adding a railing so it will be safer for Cooper.

Here is the view of my parent's house from the top of the deer stand.

The kids had a lot of fun throwing rocks and getting all dusty while Nathan was checking on the deer stand [no photos because Nathan obviously took the camera to get these photos].

After we went to the land, we headed to Dellinger Park in Cartersville.  The kids had a great time on the playground.  One of the great things about my kids is that they are very outgoing.  They made friends with all of the kids and played hide-n-go-seek and tag with them.

Grant counting

Kindle hiding

Celeste went on the slide over and over again.  She also figured out how to hang from the top of the slide.  She was so proud of how strong she was.  She had a wonderful time.

Gunnar hung out with me in the sling.  Nathan captured this photo of Gunnar and I.  

Cooper was too busy for a good photo of him at the park.  I *tried* to capture one, but he was always moving and never looking at the camera.  Oh well :)

We concluded the evening with Mexican for dinner and a little Super Mario Bros. on the Wii.  We had an awesome, fun-filled day together.

Ice Cream Faces

My kids are big fans of ice cream.  They always beg me to take them to get ice cream.  Typically, we might get a Junior Frosty at Wendy's (they are 69 cents at the one by our house).  We decided to splurge and go to Bruster's for a treat.  They kids are so excited because they have so many choices.  Nathan and I really enjoy their ice cream too.  As a Fall treat, they are offering Hot Apple Dumplings with Cinnamon ice cream.  We decided to go ahead and get one.  It is super yummy!

As you can imagine, they made a big mess.  This week's You Capture assignment is faces, so I thought this was perfect.  These are our ice cream faces.

Celeste decided she was not going to eat her dinner, so she didn't get any ice cream.  She was crying, but I managed to get a photo of her smiling through the tears (note: the tear on her cheek).  This is her "I had to learn the hard way that we eat our dinner" face.

Gunnar obviously did not eat ice cream.  But I wanted to snap a shot of him as well.  I call this his "Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis?" face.  Everytime I look at the photo, that is what I think of.

It's Mario Time!

After spending the summer off and on trying to beat Super Mario Bros for Wii, they did it tonight!

The kids and Nathan have been playing the game together in the evenings or on the weekends.  They love to play with their Daddy!

They have been on the very last board for over a week.  They would get so close and just not make it all the way.

We had watched a YouTube video showing a guy beating the whole game, so we realized the end was just a jump away.  Finally, Nathan did it tonight.

Cooper is soooo excited!  He could hardly sleep.  He and Grant were in their beds talking about it over and over again.

We unlocked the Secret World 9.  Cooper can't wait to play it tomorrow!

After the credits rolled, I tried to get a final shot.  Cooper's head was in the way, but you get the idea.

This is the first video game Nathan has ever beaten, so he was pretty excited too!  I am terrible at video games, so I was very impressed with their skills!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Who's Got the Pumpkin?

Yesterday, we had a fun filled day at Berry Patch Farms.  We have been there several times over the years and have always had a great time.  Nathan carried Celeste around in the backpack I bought at the consignment sale.  It was her first time riding in it.  She thought it was such an adventure!

They have some farm animals.  They really like the baby cow and goats.

Next, the kids went to get their face painted.  Grant was the "brave one" that decided to go first.  It is so funny to me.  As a child, I loved to get my face painted!  Cooper and Kindle have always been hesitant to get their face painted.  They have done it in the past, but typically turn down getting their face painted.  After seeing their little brother go first, they decided they wanted their face painted too.

We then headed out to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin.  You get to ride on a hayride out to get a pumpkin.  The kids always love that!

Gunnar hung out in the sling the entire time.  He was so sweet.  We got lots of compliments on how cute the kids all were.  Grant and Gunnar had matching shirts.  Kindle and Celeste had matching shirts and hairbows too.

Each of the kids picked out a baby pumpkin or gourd.  We also picked out a bigger pumpkin for our front porch.  They loved walking through all of the pumpkins.  There was also some cotton plants.  We had just been discussing in Cooper's school about what clothes are made out of (cotton, wool, etc.), so it was neat to tie it all in.

 

 

We took the hayride back and headed to the playground.  The kids wanted to slide over and over.  They had a really great time!

 

Since Gunnar was in the sling, I wasn't able to get photos of his cute pumpkin shirt till later.  He looked so big in it with his jeans.

 

This post is also my submission for this week's You Capture.  The theme this week was "togetherness".  As you can see, yesterday was full of togetherness and I loved every minute!