Emmy the Ballerina

I already missed my chance for a Christmas blog, so here's my nod to Christmas:

So Emmy just turned four yesterday and she was so excited!!! It really made her feel like a big girl, especially with two babies at home. She got a bike for Christmas, which she has been loving.

Before that she only had a tricyle and a scooter so she's really stepped up to the big time and joined the other big kids in the neighborhood. She still measures at above the 90th percentile for height, so most people thought she was 4 all year, but now it's the real deal. One of her favorite presents was a ballet outfit and a multi-week class to learn ballet. If you saw my Halloween blog you'll know that Emmy moved on from the typical little girl princess phase and was into witches and goblins and everything non-cute. So on her 4th birthday I was happy to see she was still open to ballet. Gagey was also really excited about her frilly outfit, but that's another story:) Here's Emmy's untrained and free version of ballet!

See below for a video of Gage's new pursuit...

Gage Houdini Martin

So the last few weeks Gage finally figured out how helpful talking can be and began to repeat everything he hears. While he's been repeating a few words for months, he didn't seem interested in actually communicating. It has been so much fun listening to him try and pronounce everyday words, but what hasn't been fun is dealing with his new found attitude. He decided now that he's 20 months old and can talk (if that's what you call it) that he doesn't have to do "baby" things anymore. So he went from two naps a day to none, doesn't want to sit in his booster with a tray, and wakes up at 4 AM because he can!!!! Yep. Hilarious. I thought this didn't hit til the teenage years. The real kicker though is that he decided even a crib couldn't keep him in...

This is the real reason he gets up at 4 AM. He can get free of his cage and start the new exciting day! His parents aren't too excited though. Especially cranky papa bear because momma bear is nursing the new baby, guess who gets to deal with "big boy" Gage? Yep...

Baby 3 at Last!

Its already been over a month since baby 3 finally decided to join us in the real world, but somehow I haven't had time to post some pictures. I did send around an email, but I've felt bad about neglecting my monthly committment to the blog. There won't be many details, but I had to at least post a few pictures.


Hadley Reece
Born November 7, 2007 (11/7/07)
10 lbs 0 ozs
23" long

We love the date, and if I can't remember that birthday then all is lost for me:)

The hospital actually measured her at 21" at birth, but we don't think they were too careful because she measured 23" and then 24" a couple days later. So unless she sprouted an inch a day we're pretty sure they just didn't pay attention. We didn't care for the nurse that cleaned her up and measured her anyway, but that's another story...

A couple pics of Hadley with Emmy, Gage, and Blake:






HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!

HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween is so much fun with kids. I don't even remember having that much fun when I used to go out trick-or-treating. Emmy designed the jack-o-lantern this year on paper first and then I set out to carve her creation.


I think it turned out to be my favorite Halloween pumpkin ever!!! I couldn't have made one that interesting to save my life. Behold, Emmy's 7 eyed Monster!!!


Emmy has been excited for over a month and she could hardly stand it all day waiting for it to get dark. At 4 PM she even said, "You know, its God's fault its not dark yet" HA!!! I had a good laugh at that. I then tried a disertation on how if God gave us what we wanted all the time we wouldn't be able to be happy because everything would be too easy. Of course the point was entirely lost on her. Having things her way all the time sounded pretty good to her:) Hope she grows out of it, but she is a girl... :)

Fortunately it gets dark pretty early this time of year so after an early dinner we all got dressed up, and much to my surprise, everyone enjoyed it...and I mean everyone!

I thought Gage would hate being stuck in his outfit, but he wore it all night long without complaint. He looked so cute as a giraffe.

Emmy was a truly terifying witch. It didn't take any convincing to get her to hold still for makeup. She loves dressing up, and she has been talking about being a witch for ages. She could hardly take it that it was finally time.


My favorite part was when we met some neighbors for pictures, and ALL the girls had dressed like princess brides. That's all Emmy could talk about last year, but this year it was all witch for her. This picture of her among all the sweet princesses makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it. I just love it!


I didn't think I'd be able to convince Blake to dress up, but what better way to utilize a 5-day overdue prego belly than on Halloween?


And of course, I dressed up as myself...white trash hick boy from Eastern Oregon:)

Don't I look handsome:)

Blake got the most attention by far. Everyone that passed would gasp when they realized it was her real belly, and at least 20 people stopped to take pictures. It really was quite a site. Both the kids got tons of compliments too. Their outfits were fantastic. Nobody really loved mine...but a few people did say something about Farmer Bob...or offered their orthodondists number... I think too many people thought my fake teeth were real...or maybe it was just a boring outfit. Most of the parents didn't even dress up, so I personally thought we were the cutest family in the neighborhood:)